DANIEL ELMER, son of Samuel, and grandson of Edward Elmer, of Hartford and Windsor, Connecticut, was probably born in East Windsor, in 1690.
He taught, after graduating, the grammar school in West Springfield, Massachusetts, studying theology in the meantime with the minister, John Woodbridge (Harv. 1694), and as early as 1714 he removed to Brookfield, Massachusetts, where he preached until sometime in 1715. He then removed to New Haven, where he was residing in 1716–17.
Meantime, he had married, in 1714, Margaret, eldest daughter of Ebenezer and Margaret Parsons, of West Springfield, and sister of Jonathan Parsons (Y. C. 1729).
He next went to Westborough, Worcester County, Massachusetts, where he preached for several years, and received a call from the people to settle; but dissension arose, and although he built a house on the farm set apart for the use of the first settled minister, and dwelt in it, yet by the advice of an ecclesiastical council he desisted from preaching, and finally removed, about August, 1724, to Springfield. In March, 1725, the birth of one of his children is recorded in Windsor.
In 1727, he removed to New Jersey, with his family, which now consisted of a wife, one son, and four daughters; and in 1728, he was ordained over the Church of Christ in Fairfield, formerly Cohansey, Cumberland County. The location of the church determined its Presbyterian form of government, though apparently the unbiased preferences of the community were towards Congregationalism. At the division of the Presbyterian Church in 1741, Mr. Elmer adhered to the “Old Side,” but a clear majority of his congregation, including even his eldest son, failed to sympathize with his views, and a rupture took place, two congregations being formed, so that the rest of his life was passed in disquiet. He died in Fairfield, January 14, 1755, aged 65 years. The inventory of his estate amounted to £428.
His wife died after 1730, and he married, about 1745, widow Susanna Webster, from the vicinity of Philadelphia, who subsequently married a Westcott, and later a Harris, but lies buried by the side of Mr. Elmer, in Fairfield; she died November 14, 1784, aged 64 years and 8 months.
By his first marriage he had three sons and four daughters, all of whom left descendants; and by his second marriage, two sons and three daughters, -only one of whom left descendants. The eldest son, Daniel, was educated as a surveyor, and the father appears to have followed the same profession to some extent. Jonathan Elmer, M.D., United States Senator from New Jersey from 1789 to 1791, and General Ebenezer Elmer, the last surviving Revolutionary officer of the state, were his grandsons.
