The Press., 1914-05-06
"Reminiscences of WiIIingtOn by Na- tive of the Town. Tradition and "Reminiscences of the Rider Family of Willington, Conn.

Of Wilmington, COnn.
 In the writing of these reminicen- ces am somewhat in the position of the boy that. once heard of that told the miller of the olden time that there were some things that he knew and some things that he didn't know. So with me in writing of the Rider family there are some things that l know, but of their early history much of it is tradition or at least such as l learned from those who knew them we'll and were intimate with them.
 Among the many inscriptions copied from the old Hill cemetery by MT. J. N. Enc and published in The Press of Nov. 18th, 1912, I find the follow ing of the early Rider family: First, Mary, daughter of Joseph and Mary Rider who died May 18th, 176O in her 9th year; second, Hiram, son of Joseph and Mary Rider who died March 23d, 1787, in his 22d year third, Mrs. Mary Rider, no date or age given; fourth, Jane, wife of Jo- seph Rider, who died Aug. 24th, 1792, aged Al years; fifth, Joseph Rider, who died March 1st, 1914, in his 77th year; sixth, Puanna Relict of Joseph Rider who died March 3d, 1888 in her 83d year. MT. O. w. Rider of Holyoke, Mass. informed me that the father of the Riders in Wilmington was one Joseph Rider, but whether he was a native of the town is uncertain, but as his children were the first of the name buried in the Hill cemetery, we may assume that he was among the earlier corners to the town. From the above record we may assume that Joseph Rider was three times married and that by his first marriage had two children born to them and that the two children both died quite young and that Mrs. Jane Rider, his second wife was the mother of the children of Joseph and Jane Rider who were among the we'll known families in Willington when the writer was a mere lad. Joseph Rider had three wives and seventeen children. Tradition said that the Rider homestead was the place occu- pied in my early days by Dea. Rufus Rider and that gave the name to that school district as several of the dis. tricts were so named after some prominent family in the vicinity of the school, like the Peck family in the southwest part and the Fenton family in the south, and the Topliffs in the southeast. As the writer re- calls there were three sons and three daughters. The sons were Rufus, Hiram and Talmon Rider and the three daughters were Irene Rider i Weston, or as she was familiarly called Aunt Rena Weston, Sarah or Sally Rider Holt and Aunt Ann Rider. The latter some years later married man in Albany, N. Y. To James and Irene Rider Weston were born six children, Orin H., Olive, Drill, Owen, Oliva and Oscar Weston. To Ralph and Sarah or Sally Rider Holt were born four daughters, Jane, Juliana, Laura Ann and Susan A. Holt Talmon Rider married Marcia Dexter of Mansfield, Conn.,, and to them were born six children, three sons and three daughters. Joseph Gerry, Eunice, Mariett, Wareham, William Wallace and Jane Rider. William w., the youngest son of Talmon Rider the writer supposed was living in Albany, N. Y. (His death was noticed in The Press recently. Rufus Rider, who occupied the Rider Homestead, being in another part of Willington, was not so we'll known to the writer as the other members of the Rider families, and he only recalls that him had four sons and several daugh- ters. The sons that were known to the writer wer Talmon,. Rufus, Thom- as and Hiram o. Rider. Talmon Rider, 2d, died of what in modern medical phrase is appendicitis about 184O, while he was the proprietor of what was the Wilmington hotel, now Maple corner Talmon Rider, 2d, married Julia Buckland. He had one son, Charles, who died young, and two daughters, Julia, who married Horace Walker of Norwich, and Har- riet. who married first John Bartlett, and after his death married Rev. N. L. Lippett of Norwich.
 After Dea. Rufus Rider moved to what is now the Baptist parsonage on the Hill. Thomas, son of Deacon Ru- fus, lived at the old homestead near the old David Glazier place. He married Sophrona Durham of Mans field. They had four children. Charles and Ashley died young. Caro. line Durham married George E. Rob. bins, and Charles Dunham married Della Barrows.
 Betsy, daughter of Dea. Rufus, married Simeon Williams, Cornelia married Lee Buckland of Hartford,