Hezekiah Nichols House (1810)

Interestingly, the house at 1810 Huntington Turnpike in Trumbull was built in 1810. A sign on the house indicates it was the home of Hezekiah Nichols. The Nichols family gave their name to the village where the house is located. The name on the sign may refer to the Hezekiah Nichols (1781-1835) who is mentioned in the Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut (1899):

Hezekiah Nichols of Nichols, a son of Andrew Nichols, Esq., succeeded to the homestead and a goodly portion of the estate of Nichols. He was related to the Rev. James Nichols, the last Episcopal clergyman who went to Scotland for ordination, and to the first ordained in America — Rev. Philo Shelton.

His first wife, Prudence Polly Shelton, was his cousin and a cousin of Rev. Shelton. As related in Part II of Rev. Samuel Orcutt’s A History of the Old Town of Stratford and the City Bridgeport, Connecticut (1886):

Hezekiah Nichols became a member of the Congregational Church of Trumbull, but his second wife, Avis Peet, retained for many years her fondness for the Episcopal Church, in which she was born and reared, and the Rev. Mr. Rutledge, rector of Christ Church, Stratford, held mission services in the “north and south rooms” of Hezekiah Nichols’ house at Nichols’ Farms, which aided in preparing the way for the present Trinity parish of that place.

[. . . .] At the time of Mr. Nichols’ death his estate, in addition to tracts of land in Stratford and Huntington, extended from Huntington turnpike to Bear swamp road, a distance of nearly a mile. The greater portion of his lands at Nichols’ Farms is now in possession of his eldest son, William Grandison Nichols.