30 THOMAS3 NORTHRUP (William2, Joseph1), b. March 16, 1701, Milford; Married: 1722 in Milford
Abigail Terrill, dau. of Daniel.(Her b. 3 SEP 1699 in Milford, baptism: 03 Sep 1699, First Congregational Church Milford, Death: Aft 1750 or Death: 1727 in Newtown, CT) Removed to Newtown, Conn., and resided there until the children were grown and settled. His wife died there and he went to New Milford and resided with one of his sons. Among the residents of Newtown, in 1712, were Thomas Northrup, Benjamin and Jeremiah and John (brothers) Northrup. Children b. in Newtown:
Children of Abigail Terrill and Thomas Northrop are:
70 i Job4, b. Apr. 25, 1731.
b. Apr. 25, 1731, Newtown, Conn.; m. Apr. 8, 1756, Violet Peck, dau. of Joseph and Rebecca (Shepard) Peck, in Newtown, and removed to Woodbridge, Conn., where he lived and reared his family. His wife d. Feb. 17, 1813, aged 78. He d. Nov. 9, 1813, while on a visit at Sherman, Conn.
71 ii Thomas, b. Dec. 2, 1732.
b. Dec. 2, 1732, Newtown; m. Aug. 25, 1757, at New Fairfield, Conn., Joanna, dau. of Amos and Mercy (Martin) Leach. In 1759 had son in Sherman and 1765 son in Fairfield He d. (???), and his widow m., 2d, (???) Page, and removed to Vermont, to her 3 s., and d. there about 1832, aged 99. Thomas was a farmer, but sometimes preached.   http://www.shermanhistoricalsociety.org/northropbio.html
72 iii Isaac, b. Aug. 6, 1734 in Newtown, CT. (see below)
iv Sarah, b. (Newtown CT); d. at Newtown, aged 96.
73 v Abraham, b. Aug. 13, 1738 or 1733 in New Fairfield
b. Aug. 13, 1738; m., 1778 son born in Sherman. 1st, Martha Waters, who d. July 6, 1809, aged 70; and m., 2d, Polly Green, when he was over 70 years old. He d. June 14, 1829.
74 vi Joel, b. March 3, 1742. Newtown
), b. March 3, 1742; m. Eunice (b. Dec., 1744), dau. of Elder Elihu and Sarah Abby Marsh. She d. May 1, 1811, aged 67. He was a cooper, then a tailor. United with the First Church in New Milford, then with the Separatists. Was very religious, a great reader, and accumulated "a comfortable property." Resided, after marriage, first in Newtown, then, about 1784, removed to Brookfield, then to New Milford, where he d. March 10, 1824
most from A Judd Northrup

It is interesting to imagine the reasons for the family's moves from one location to another. Below is a map of the movements of Thomas -- Milford to Newtown to New Milford.

What was he moving TO? What was he moving FROM?
It is probably safe to assume the economic opportunity of more good land was one of the reasons for the first move to Newtown.

We can only speculate:

In 1708, 36 Connecticut Englishmen petitioned the General Assembly to settle an area north of Stratford. The 36 became "petition proprietors" legally entitled to own its common land and share in the division when the town decided to parcel out tracts into private hands. In May 1708, the General Assembly voted that the land on the west side of Stratford or Potatuck River should become New Towne of the town of Newtowne.

In 1709, a "Town Plat" (a design for town roads and properties) was established calling for a 132-foot wide north-south road (now Main Street), intersected by a northern and southern Cross Highway (now West Street/Church Hill Road and Glover Avenue.) Their 4 acre home lots in this center were usually saltbox or small cottages. In the back were a barn, privies and other small outbuildings, and typically an orchard farther back. Small gardens were started for vegetables and herbs.

Each 4 acre meadow plot was a little southwest of the area shown - by Deep Brook. Each had an additional 20 acres elsewhere. As time went on, people built home by their larger plots and started to form small communities. There were now 48 early proprietors with a 49th parcel was reserved for the minister when one was chosen.

LIEUT. JOHN3 NORTHRUP (Jeremiah2, Joseph1), He and his brothers, Jeremiah and Benjamin (Deacon Benjamin A Northrup mason), were among the first settlers of Newtown, Conn., where they took their "pitch" with others for home lots, commencing Apr. 7, 1712, Each to have 4 acres of meadow land

May 1715 "Upon the petition of the inhabitants of New Town , This Assembly grant them liberty to embody in church estate as soon as God in his providence shall make way therefor."

Life of the town probably included clearing forests, setting out the roads, fences and meadow as designated in the plat, building the meetinghouse and organizing a school for 4 or 5 months in the winter, A tavern or two probably existed from before the incorporation but more may have been established. Mills were established by Town meeting vote and commissioned to various citizens at an early date. Travel, mostly by horseback or ox cart, was difficult over the primitive roads of the era which were little better than rutted paths.

Children would have worked on the farms with their parents at least into their teens. At that point the parents might have hired out their sons as farmers for cash or sent the sons to be apprenticed in a trade like the carpenter or blacksmith trade. They may have tried to keep one or two children at home to help with the farm and household. A girl would have continued to live at home until she was married.

ISAAC4 NORTHRUP (Thomas3, William2, Joseph1)born b. Aug. 6, 1734 in Newtown, CT. **(Thomas3, William2, Joseph1), He d. at the age of 77. about 1811 [one source says says died brookfield NY] Newtown, CT .   Isaac was right in the middle with two older brothers and two younger as well as a younger sister. m. Lydia (b. Apr. 11, 1747), dau. of Elder Elihu Marsh MARRIAGE: Abt 1768, Brookfield, CT , and sister of Eunice, who m. Joel Northrup.

Waning, too, was the influence of the Congregational church. Once utterly dominant in the colony, Congregationalists saw Baptists, Quakers and even Anglicans establish congregations in Connecticut in the early 1700s. In the 1740s a wave of intensely emotional religious revivals, known as the “Great Awakening,” swept the colony, further weakening the established church. The “Great Awakening” provided deep divisions in the Congregational church between “Old Lights,” true to the established Congregational church, and “New Lights,” who favored a less rational, more emotional and often anti-establishment approach to religious experience. “Old Lights” were appalled by the “screechings, cryingsout, faintings and convulsions” that accompanied the preaching of such celebrated ministers by George Whitefield and James Davenport: but these preachers succeeded in pulling many followers from the established church, particularly in eastern Connecticut. Many “New Lights” abandoned the church for evangelical sects more sympathetic to their views and became Baptists and Methodists. Some “Old Lights,” repelled by the excesses of the Great Awakening, sought order and reason among the Anglicans. The Congregational church never recovered from these blows. The basic values and ideals of the Puritans would continue to influence Connecticut for decades, but by the 1750s their utter dominance had ended and a new, more in­dividualistic, religiously diverse and far more economically aggressive society had emerged.
By Bruce Fraser

1765 Elihu Marsh, Sr., bought land, in New Milford(Merryall), removed to the north part of Bridgewater, he appears to have been residing there during the Revolution. Resided for a time in Mansfield, then to New Fairfield, and later to New Milford, he purchased more land, 1769 & 1770 West side Candlewood Mountain ( Jerusalem, on Rocky River)New Milford where he built his homestead, he resided there until his death. [while living in New Fairfield, and three years after settling in New Milford.]

25 acres lying north of Azariah Canfield's dwelling-house, and in partnership with John Marsh and Abraham Marsh, sons of John Marsh, late of Dutchess county, deceased, and also with Mary Marsh, late of Dutchess county, deceased, and also with Sarah Lake, wife of Daniel Lake, dau. of said John Marsh, deceased, also with Mary Marsh and Hannah Marsh, all the natural heirs of said John Marsh." This land lay in the vicinity of the home of the late Wanzer Marsh in Merryall. In April, 1769, he, still of New Fairfield, purchased another piece of 170 acres, for 70 pounds, lying "on both sides of Rocky river, and in August of the same year, he being then of New Milford, purchased a piece on the west side of Candlewood Mountain, with a dwelling-house on it." In May, 1770, he bought 86 acres, for 40 pounds, "lying southerly of my dwelling-house on Rocky river," of Zadoc Noble, which was formerly James McKeeney's home-lot. His home was at the place now called Jerusalem, where he resided until his decease (Most of Jerusalem was flooded by Candlewood Lake but Jerusalem Road exists to this day.)

for more Marsh details http://www.dunhamwilcox.net/ct/new_milford6.htm

Matthias, son of Thomas Marsh (brother of Eunice and Lydia) or grandson of Elihu Marsh

IS THIS HOW MARSHS AND NORTHROPS CAME TO BE IN KENT AREA
settled at "Beekman's Precinct," Dover, in Dutchess Co., N. Y., and when residing there bought of Elnathan Brigham of Mansfield, Conn., for 5, 675 pounds, old tenor, 436 acres of land in several pieces; one piece "on both sides of West Aspetuck river, containing 97 acres," and 255 "acres on the west side of the country road leading to Kent," and other pieces adjoining the last, as well as one on Long Mountain. Some of the above described land he sold to Reuben Bostwick, and some to his brother, William Marsh, and some of this land, after passing through the hands of two or three parties, was purchased by Elder Elihu Marsh of Rocky river, and was afterwards occupied for many years by his descendants.

Thomas3