David Lambert (1700-1782)

He was born at Milford, Connecticut, where his father emigrated in 1680 and his great-grandfather, the Magistrate William Fowler, was one of the first planters. After his father died in 1718, David inherited his father's, "homelot lands with the housing, barn, and orchard thereon" which he sold in 1722. He used the proceeds to buy up land outside Norwalk which he suggested be named "Wilton" for his father's birthplace. In 1726, he built the David Lambert House. He held various local positions including that of "Brander and Toller of Horses" (when the region was well-known for the quality of the horses it reared that were mostly sold on to the West Indies) and from 1748 until the early 1760s he opened his home (that he named "Lilacstead") as a tavern. Lilacstead sat on a farm of 100-acres and was worked by his slaves. By the time he died in 1782 he had amassed a not insignificant fortune of $61,800, yet the only outward signs of his prosperity was the large library he kept with several volumes on history, philosophy etc., and a coat and vest with silver buttons, but otherwise he lived without ostentation. In 1727, he married Lurania, daughter of John and Mercy (Fowler) Bills, and had 3-children.