Darien, Connecticut
Fairfield county. Until 1820 Darien was a parish in the town of Stamford. The soil is excellent, and well adapted to tillage and grazing. It lies 5 miles W. from Norwalk and 42 S.W. from New Haven. Population, 1830, 1,201.
During divine service, on Sunday, 22d of July, 1781, a party of British troops surrounded the meeting house at this place, and made the whole congregation prinsoners. The males were tied, two and two, and the Rev. Moses Mather, D.D., a man distinguished for his learning and piety, placed at their head. They were marched to the shore, taken to Long Island, and afterwards to New York, where they suffered a cruel imprisonment.—Some of them never returned.
