John Billings is said to have been brought up in the family of Peter Durell of Newton, Mass. He came to Paris with the early settlers, and married here, Phebe, daughter of Eleazer Cole. He was born April 30, 1771, and his wife, October 31, 1777. His three oldest children at least, were born here. He began on the place recently occupied by Jonathan Starbird, and moved to Woodstock prior to 1815.