Rev. Daniel Elmer

The Rev. Mr. Elmer was the Pastor of The Church of Christ in Fairfield ( currently Fairton ) New Jersey. Tombstone inscription: "In memory of the Rev. Daniel Elmer, late pastor of Christ's Church in this place, who departed this life, January 14, 1766, aged sixty-five years."

Children with Margaret Parsons:

1. Daniel
2. Margaret, married Lummis
3. Mary "Molly", married Ogden
4. Elizabeth
5. Ruhamah, married Dayton
6. Theophilus
7. Theodorus

Children with Abigail Lawrence:

1. Theodosia
2. Silvanus (Sylvanus)
3. Rumolla "Rumolly"
4. Rachel
5. Samuel
6. Victorina

For inscription of gravestone, see: http://dunhamwilcox.net/nj/cumberland_nj_cem1.htm

Mr. Elmer's new dwelling was burnt to the ground about the time of his death, and with it all the previous records of the church. For the time and place, the estate which he left was large, £428, 4s, 6d. He was twice married. His first wife died soon after the}^ came to Fairfield. She had seven children, three sons and four daughters. Her remoter descendants are very many. His second wife was Susanna Webster, and their children were two sons and three daughters. She survived him and after his death married in succession two other husbands. But her grave is by the side of her first husband's. His off- spring have been as prominent and influential in this county and State as those of any other man who has ever lived in this county.

The first minister who was the pastor of the place long enough to make any great and permanent impression on the people and to identify their interests with his own was the Kev Daniel Elmer He was born of honorable ancestry in Hartford Connecticut in 1690 and was graduated at Yale College in 1713 He taught a classical school and married Margaret Parsons at West Springfield Massachusetts Subsequently he preached during several years at Westborough in the same State He removed to Fairfield with his wife and five children probably in 1727 and he became the settled pastor of the church in 1 729 As early as the previous year

Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society, Vol 4, New Haven's Adventure on Delaware Bay, by Rev. Epher Whitacker, page 221