GENEALOGY.

FIRST GENERATION.

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DR. JOHN1 VIETS, or Viett, a young physician from Europe, came to America a few years previous to 1700, settled in New York, where he married Catharine Meyers, and in the year 1710 removed with his family to Simsbury, Connecticut, where he lived until the close of his life, thirteen years later.

The earliest written reference, probably, relating to our ancestors is in the records of the First Dutch Reformed Church of New York, now the Marble Collegiate Church, as follows:

A 1700 Apr 24 Johannes Veet, j.m. Van Brisach, in

Sweden, en Catharina Meyers, j. d.

Van N. Yorck, beÿde woonende alhier.

In the New York city record of marriages is the following, referring, no doubt, to the same persons:

April 27, 1700, John Veet and Catharine Meyers.

That these records refer to our ancestors is almost or quite certain, for both names and the date agree with this view. But a difficulty arises in the fact that the church record seems to indicate that the groom was from Brisach in Sweden, for no tradition points to that country as the early home of John Viets.

An explanation may perhaps be found in the fact that there appears to be no place named Brisach in Sweden, while there is a place of this name on the Rhine, in the Duchy of Baden, Germany. Brisach, or Old Brisach, stands on the right bank of the river, is said to have a fine cathedral, and a

population of 2,355. On the left bank of the river is New Brisach. If we are right in supposing that the record should read Brisach in Baden instead of Brisach in Sweden, the early home of our ancestor was on the Rhine, among the hills of Southern Germany. To confirm us in this view we have the family traditions, which point to Germany, never to Sweden, and the still more convincing fact that the library of Dr. John Viets, if we may trust the appraisers of his estate, was in the German language.

It should, however, be mentioned that in one branch of the family there is a tradition that Dr. Viets came from Holland, and the biographer of Bishop Griswold speaks of the descent of the bishop, on the Viets side, from Alexander Viets, an eminent Dutch physician. But the last statement lacks confirmation from any other record or tradition, as regards both name and nation.

After carefully weighing such evidence as we possess this may be said with confidence: John Viets, or Viett, was born in Germany, possibly in Holland, at a date not far removed from 1665; received more than a common education; studied medicine; came to America about 1690; brought with him to this country fifteen books in the German language, which in those days was a library; was entitled "Mr.," which, as the term was used at the time, indicates that he belonged to the better class, and was a man of respectability and enterprise. Judging from his descendants, and from the race to which he belonged, we may picture him as a man of even features, good looks, physical force, and fair intellectual ability.

There is a tradition handed down by Mrs. Captain George Viets, whose mother was a granddaughter of Dr. John, which runs as follows: "John Viets was a good linguist, able to read and write several languages; on completing his studies in Germany, including medicine, he took a sea voyage for pleasure and travel, and came to New York; three times he undertook to return to the Fatherland, but was shipwrecked and driven back on the American coast each time, and was thus led to the conclusion that Providence had decreed that he should settle in this country."

Another tradition is from Mrs. Andrew Clark, a greatgranddaughter of Henry, the oldest son of John Viets, as follows: "John Viets was a gentleman's son in Germany; was educated for a physician; took a sea voyage, as was customary for young men before settling down; was shipwrecked on an island in the Atlantic, where, with other survivors, he lived ten days on fish caught and roasted in the sun; a vessel laden with mahogany rescued them, but the captain and mate dying soon after of a fever, Dr. Viets, with such knowledge of navigation as he possessed, managed to bring the vessel into New York harbor."

Both tell us

These traditions have points in common. that our ancestor was from Germany, was educated for a physician, went to sea, was shipwrecked, and finally landed in New York.

That John Viets came first to New York and lived there several years, there is no doubt. There he married his wife, and there two or three of his children were born. He must have found in the mixed population of the place many of his own countrymen, the Germans, although the greater part of the inhabitants were English and Dutch.

He was probably led to remove to Connecticut by the same motives which are ever urging people to change their residence, the pursuit of fortune and a better place for himself and family.

The copper mines in Simsbury had been discovered a few years before Dr. Viets settled there, and made the place famous both in this country and in Europe, but there is no evidence that he ever was in any way connected with these mines. The statement made in a local history that he was connected with a company of German miners as physician and surgeon, is, I think, without foundation, for his advent antedated that of the German miners by eleven years. Residing as he did about three miles from the mines he may have been summoned there in cases of sickness or accident among the miners.

Mr. Levi Clinton Viets, who is separated from Dr. John by only three intervening generations, and has always lived in the vicinity of his Simsbury home, gives the following as

his opinion after carefully considering the family traditions: "John Viets came from a respectable but not wealthy family and was fairly well educated for a physician in Germany. On completing his studies he decided to go to America. He had two objects in view, one to see the world, the other to find a good situation for the practice of his profession, and for that purpose took with him his books and a choice selection of medicine to use in his practice; but if he did not find a situation to suit him he would return to his native land. In his attempt to return he was prevented by storms and shipwreck that nearly cost him his life. After this he abandoned his intention of returning to Germany and settled down to the practice of medicine, in which he was not particularly successful, but it afforded him a living. In 1710 he had a wife and several small children; his wife was forty-four years of age and he was past middle age, and his practice not large. He probably thought it would be better for him, and much better for his family, to move into the country, where land could be had for nothing and the prospect for his children would be much better than in New York."

The earliest written reference to our ancestor which we possess, subsequent to that of his marriage, is found in the Simsbury town records, under date Dec. 18, 1710, when the following vote was recorded: "Mr. Viett admitted to become an inhabitant here in Simsbury." This was the way newcomers were naturalized, by a vote of the freemen at a duly warned town meeting. The next reference to him is under date Jan. 5, 1711, eighteen days after he was admitted to citizenship, when the heirs of Sergeant John Griffin deeded to "Mr. John Viett, now resident of Simsbury, a certain piece and parcel of land situated within the township of Simsbury, at Samon Brokks, near the Falls, somewhat northerly of Thomas Griffin's house where said Thomas now dwells, and northeastward of said Thomas Griffin's field. . . . The said parcel of land is II acres, 3 roods, 8 perches, be it a little more or a little less." By Samon Brokks" is meant Salmon Brook, a name applied at that day to the region bordering on the brook of that name, and extending from the Farmington at Tariffville, northward into the present town of Granby.

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The land referred to could not have been a great distance from the intersection of the Granby and Simsbury roads a mile north of Tariffville. Here our forefather settled and built, unless there were buildings on the place when he received it from the Griffins, and the deed mentions none. Dec. 11, 1712,

he was "granted liberty by the town to keep a house of public entertainment for the year ensuing." The next reference to him bears date April 9, 1713, when he mortgaged the land received from the Griffin family to Mrs. Hannah Merriman of Windsor, "with the dwelling-house, linseed-oil mill and other buildings standing thereon for the sum of ten pounds current money." In April, 1723, a few months before his death, he received a grant of eighty-two acres of land from the town. This land was bounded "on the north by the highway leading from Salmon Brook mill towards Windsor, and on the west by William Hays' and Joseph Lamson's land."

In the inventory of Dr. John Viets' estate, as probated, are the following articles which show that he was a man of sufficient enterprise to have provided himself with the implements in use in those days: Saddle and bridle, collar and traces, horse cart irons and cart saddle, sledge and wedges, ax, stubbing hoe, andirons, chisel, numerous pewter cups and plates, iron pots, hooks, trammel, brass kettle, earthen jug, hand bellows, mortar and iron pestle, trunk and chest, spinning-wheels large and small, and numerous phials and bottles. There are also mentioned a library in German and a picture, which if preserved, would now be of considerable interest. This inventory mentions seventy-eight acres of land, part of a building and lumber, but has no reference to any other real estate. From this it may be inferred that he had disposed of his home place, and was beginning to build on his new grant of land.

Dr. Viets died in middle life, it is said of a fever. He left a widow and family of children, the oldest of whom was perhaps sixteen years of age and the youngest eleven. There are three records of his death, the Hartford probate record, the Simsbury town record, and the record made by his oldest son Henry. These agree except that the two official records write the name Viett, while the son, who probably made a note