Biography
Noah Phelps was the fourth of nine children born to David Phelps and Abigail Pettibone. David Phelps was the son of Joseph Phelps and his third wife, Mary Case. David married Abigail Pettibone on April 25, 1731 and died of smallpox on December 9, 1760. Noah married Lydia Griswold of Windsor, Connecticut on 10 June 1761 in Simsbury, Connecticut. They had six children: Noah Amherst (3 May 1762), Lydia Griswold (25 Feb 1764), Chandler Conway (22 Oct 1766), George P. (18 Aug 1773), Elisha Phelps (16 Nov 1779), and a son (18 Nov 1783, died at birth).
He held a variety of essential positions, including Surveyor of Lands in the greater Simsbury area in 1772 and 1783, Justice of the Peace for Hartford County in 1782, Judge of Probate in 1787, and Major-General of the Militia, 1796-1799.
Noah Phelps was a leader within the Simsbury community. He chaired the town meeting that passed the Articles of Confederation in January 1778, and in November 1787, the meeting picked him and Daniel Humphrey Esq., as delegates for the Convention of the State of Connecticut, set to convene in Hartford in January and vote on whether or not to adopt the federal constitution. They were directed to oppose it, but "one of the delegates though voting as instructed by the town, took occasion to state that his personal convictions led him to favor the proposed constitution." This might or might not have been Phelps.
Phelps died in Simsbury 4 November 1809, honored and respected. On his tombstone is inscribed: "A Patriot of 1776. To such we are indebted for our Independence."
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