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HISTORICAL CATALOGUE
OF THE
FIRST CHURCH IN HARTFORD.
HISTORICAL CATALOGUE.
HISTORICAL CATALOGUE
OF THE
FIRST CHURCH IN HARTFORD.
1633-1885.
Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Isaiah xliii, 6.
PUBLISHED BY THE CHURCH. 1885.
29
Published in accordance with a vote of the Church passed February 6, 1883.
CHARLES T. WELLES, Committee GEORGE LEON WALKER, on the CHARLES T. WELLS, Catalogue.
PRESS OF THE CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD COMPANY, HARTFORD, CONN.
B
PREFACE.
-
This Historical Catalogue of the Members of the First Church of Christ in Hartford, may be regarded as the concluding portion of the attempt of this Church fitly to commemorate the events of its origin and subsequent history. Two previous portions of this endeavor are already in possession of its members, and to some extent, of the public, in the form of memorial volumes. The first of these volumes, entitled Commemorative Exercises of the First Church of Christ in Hartford, at its Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary, October 11 and 12, 1883, gives, as its title indicates, the proceedings at the celebration of the quarter-millennial anni- versary of the earliest definitely ascertainable date in this Church's history.
The second of these volumes, a History of the First Church in Hartford, by its Pastor, published in May, 1884, gathers up in fuller detail the incidents of the founding of the Church, the biogra- phies of its Pastors, and the events of its long and diversified experience.
To these two volumes it has now been deemed best to add a third, giving, as far as can well be done from extant documents, a list of its members; to which are appended also certain cata- logues of baptisms, marriages, and deaths, which are of interest to enquirers into the history of families connected with the earlier life of this Church.
But this endeavor to present a roll of this Church's Member- ship is inevitably fated to only partial success because of the great and melancholy imperfection of its Records. Few New England churches of kindred distinction and antiquity have so poor documentary monuments as this one. The entire body of
iv
FIRST CHURCH IN HARTFORD.
church-memorials, commonly preserved by a church as its " Records," from its organization to the year 1685, have disap- peared. No contemporary document in present possession of the Church gives a single name or fact of its life previous to the date above written.
From 1685, at the accession to pastoral service of Rev. Timo- thy Woodbridge, its sixth minister, to the death of Rev. Edward Dorr in 1772, a record is preserved of such ministerial actions as the reception of members to the Church, the baptism of children, and a few marriages, and entries of death or burial. Occasion- ally a Church action like the choice of a Deacon or the discipline of a member is also recorded. But from the death of Mr. Dorr
in 1772, down through the entire ministry of Dr. Nathan Strong to the accession of Rev. Joel Hawes in 1818, occurs another blank; with the important exception that the names of members living in 1807, at the time of the first occupation of the new "Brick Meeting-House," and those added thereafter in Dr. Strong's ministry, have with more or less accuracy been pre- served, though not in a contemporaneous register. Of this en- tire period, from 1772 to 1818, not a Church document remains. The parallel records of the Society alone survive to give occasional intimations of what the Church was or did. From the ordination of Rev. Joel Hawes to the present time, the records of the First Church in Hartford have been preserved with the degree of care- fulness ordinary, perhaps in our churches, among which entire accuracy is, certainly, seldom, if ever to be found.
In this state of affairs an effort to give anything like a complete list of this Church's members is seen at once to be impossible. Any attempt to indicate who were members previous to 1685, or between 1772 and 1807, has to be based on documents of a collat- eral, and in some instances of a merely secular, character. But so often are the Pastor and the officers of this Church appealed to for information concerning persons presumed to have been mem- bers of the Church; and so dilapidated and worn is the solitary little volume which covers the period from 1685 to 1772, that it has seemed wise for the Church to put into type all it could tell, on adequate documentary grounds, of its own membership.
In doing this it has appeared best to confine this record to such
V
PREFACE.
lists of names as for one reason or another had been authenti- cally preserved, if not always by the Church itself, yet in connec- tion with the planting of the Colony and the life of the Church.
A considerable number of names of persons known to have been members at different periods in the recordless period, could indeed be gathered by the antiquarian investigator from family genealogies and the archives of other churches. Such for example are undoubtedly Susanna -, wife of Mr. Hooker, the first Pastor; and Agnes -, wife of Governor John Webster; and Susanna -, wife of Treasurer Whiting; and Elizabeth, wife of Rev. Teacher Stone, dismissed to this Church from Boston, July 25, 1641; and Rev. Samuel Stone, jr., son of Teacher Stone, by a former wife; and Mrs. George Fenwick, popularly known as " Lady Fenwick " of Saybrook, uniting with this Church as the nearest place of communion, and others of either sex, both of the first generation and of their posterity.
But the gathering together of any considerable number of names by this kind of antiquarian enquiry not only involves so much labor, but must result after all in so imperfect success, that the adoption of the course taken in these pages appeared the only reasonably practicable one.
Much effort has been made to justify the statements concerning the death or removal of members, especially of the present century. Respecting these the record even in later days was found to be very imperfect. In the endeavor to make it as accurate as possible, family histories have been interrogated, monumental inscriptions inspected, and very many letters writ- ten and received. But after all efforts there are doubtless not omissions only, but mistakes. These will be easiest forgiven by those who know most of the difficulty of any undertaking like the present, and who will consider the special difficulties of memorials so imperfect as those here dealt with.
In spite of whatever attempt, it must remain true of the mem- bership of the Hartford First Church, as Sir Thomas Browne said of the race generally, that many "must be content to be as though they had not been; to be found in the register of God, not in the record of man."
vi
FIRST CHURCH IN HARTFORD.
With these explanations this little volume is commended to the present, membership of the Church and to their successors, as affording the best attainable knowledge of that cloud of wit- nesses, who, having been numbered of this earthly fellowship, do now rest from their labors.
July, 1885.
G. L. W.
CONTENTS.
Preface, iii
Historical Notes,
ix
Notes on the Articles of Faith and Church Covenant, .
xii
Articles of Faith, .
xvi
Covenant,
xviii
Covenant and Full Communion Membership, ยท
xix
Pastors and Teachers,
3
Ruling Elder, . .
5
Deacons,
6
Prudential Committee,
8
Original and Early Members, 10
Members who went to Hadley, 15
Members separated to the Second Church, 17
Members owning the Covenant, 19
Members admitted to Full Communion, 38
Members at the Completion of the Brick Meeting-House, . 53
Later Members, 59
Appendix A, Births and Baptisms- From the Hartford Town Records,
155
From the First Church Records, 165 .
Appendix B, Marriages-
From the Hartford Town Records,
234
From the First Church Records,
.
239
Appendix C, Deaths-
From the Hartford Town Records,
256 .
From the First Church Records,
. 260
.
.
HISTORICAL NOTES.
This Church was originally gathered in Newtown (now Cam- bridge), Mass. The earliest ascertainable date in its corporate history is that of the induction into office of its first Pastor and Teacher, Rev. Thomas Hooker and Rev. Samuel Stone, Oct. 11, 1633. There is a considerable probability, however, that the gathering of the Church after the Congregational way had occurred several months and perhaps nearly a year previous. The Church was to a large extent composed of persons who had known one another and Mr. Hooker while he was occupying the position of Puritan Lecturer at St. Mary's Church, Chelmsford, England; with others from Braintree and places in the same County of Essex.
Arriving in this country at different periods in 1631 and 1632, they established themselves at Newtown, and requested Mr. Hooker to come over into New England and take charge of them. This he did, accompanied by a number of personal associates; and on arriving at Boston, September 4, 1633, immediately joined his waiting people at Newtown, where, as he met them, he said: "Now I live if ye stand fast in the Lord."
This Church had thus in its gathering, after the Congregational order in America, something more than a moral continuity of being, derived from the previous religious association of its mem- bers under the same pastoral care in England.
Mr. Hooker, the Pastor, was born at Marfield, in Leicester County, it is believed on July 7, 1586. He was a graduate of Emmanual College, Cambridge, and awhile rector of Esher, in Surrey ; but in 1629 was preaching in the Parish Church at Chelms- ford, where he was silenced for non-conformity and obliged to fly to Holland.
X
FIRST CHURCH IN HARTFORD.
Mr. Stone was born at Hertford, in Hertfordshire, in July, 1602. He was educated at Emmanual College, and was occupy- ing a Puritan Lectureship at Towcesterwhen he was invited to join Mr. Hooker in the New England enterprise.
It is believed that Mr. William Goodwin was ordained Ruling Elder of the Church at the time of its organization, and that then, or in immediate proximity of time, Mr. Andrew Warner and others, whose names are uncertain, were chosen Deacons.
On the 31st of May, 1636, the Church, with its Pastor and Teacher, set out on its removal to Hartford, arriving at this place sometime in the second week in June. Here the Church was permanently planted, and here the ordinances of the Gospel have been regularly administered from that time to the present.
This Church was at first the one religious center for the entire district of territory now included in the city and town- ship of Hartford and the townships of East Hartford and West Hartford.
In 1659-60, and as the result of protracted internal dissensions which enlisted from time to time the attention and intervention of almost all the churches of New England, and which mainly concerned the course of conduct of the Teacher, Mr. Stone, in infringing, as it was thought, on the rights of the brotherhood, a considerable secession from the Church took place; the departing members removing to Hadley, Mass., and founding the church in that place.
At a little later period, February 22, 1670 (O. S. February 12, 1669), Mr. Whiting, the then senior minister of the Church, with- drew from it, accompanied by thirty-one members, and organized the Second Church in this city. The dissension which occa- sioned this rupture was concerning the question of Half-way Covenant Baptism and the authority of Synods.
The Church in East Hartford was set off from this Church and received a separate organization in May, 1702; and that in West Hartford in February, 1713.
On the 23d of September, 1824, ninety-seven members received dismission from this Church, and were, with others, organized as the North Church.
On the 10th of January, 1832, eighteen members of this Church,
xi
HISTORICAL NOTES.
having received dismission, were organized, with others, as the Free Church, now the Fourth Church.
On the 14th of October, 1852, thirty-six members of this Church, and shortly afterwards eleven more, were dismissed to unite with others in forming the Pearl Street Church.
On the 5th of March, 1865, forty members of this Church, and subsequently eleven more, were dismissed to unite with others in forming the Asylum Hill Church.
The first church edifice occupied by this Church for more than temporary uses was probably begun in 1638, and may not have been finished till 1641. It stood on the spot known as Meeting- House-Yard, not far from the present United States Court House and Post Office. This first edifice was succeeded by another, dedicated December 30, 1739, in the days of Rev. Daniel Wads- worth. It stood on the site of the present First Church building, though with its side upon the street.
The present edifice was dedicated December 3, 1808, in the pastorate of Rev. Dr. Strong.
This Church was at its institution, and is now, Congregational in its government. It acknowledges the obligations and respon- sibilities of the Communion of Churches, and is in special fellowship with the Congregational Churches of New England, commonly known as " Orthodox."
xii
FIRST CHURCH IN HARTFORD.
NOTES ON THE ARTICLES OF FAITH AND CHURCH COVENANT.
It is more than doubtful whether this Church at its organiza- tion had any formal written Creed. Such Articles of Faith were rare in New England history at that period, though not absolutely unknown. It is probable that in accordance with general usage there was no other Confession of Faith than that involved in some accepted Church Covenant. Nor is there any evidence of the subsequent adoption for its own use of any Articles of Faith in distinction from some brief expressions of belief in the various forms of Covenant employed, till nearly the end of the first quar- ter of this century.
The unfortunate disappearance of all Church records for the first fifty-two years of its history makes it impossible to say pos- itively what was the precise formula of the Covenant which was originally adopted or in use during that period. But there is a very considerable probability that it was the document adopted by the seceders from this Church in 1670, at their organ- ization of the Second Church in Hartford, as a result of the bap- tismal and synodical controversy, in the days of Rev. Messrs. Whiting and Haynes.
Those seceding members declare in their statement of princi- ples on their organization as a new church, their intention of reverting to the Congregational way " formerly settled, professed, and practiced under the guidance of the first leaders of this Church of Hartford." This, in their view, required a restate- ment of Congregational principles. But there is no evidence that they supposed it involved the framing of a new covenant. On the contrary, if the covenant of the founders of that Church to whose first ways they professed their intention to adhere were
xiii
ARTICLES OF FAITH AND CHURCH COVENANT.
still known, as it is impossible to doubt, the most natural thing would be to hold to it. The suggestion therefore seems a more than likely one that the first Covenant of the old Church may be preserved thus to us through the new.
It is therefore here given- under the limits of certitude thus indicated-as the first Covenant formula appertaining to this Church's history :
"Since it hath pleased God, in his infinite mercy, to manifest himself willing to take unworthy sinners near unto himself, even into covenant relation to and interest in him, to become a God to them and avouch them to be his people, and accordingly to command and encourage them to give up themselves and their children also unto him: We do therefore this day, in the pres- ence of God, his holy angels, and this assembly, avouch the Lord Jehovah, the true and living God, even God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, to be our God, and give up our- selves and ours also unto him, to be his subjects and servants, promising through grace and strength in Christ (without whom we can do nothing), to walk in professed subjection to him as our only Lord and Lawgiver, yielding universal obedience to his blessed will, according to what discoveries he hath made or here- after shall make, of the same to us; in special, that we will seek him in all his holy ordinances according to the rules of the gospel, submitting to his government in this particular Church, and walk- ing together therein with all brotherly love and mutual watchful- ness, to the building up of one another in faith and love unto his praise; all which we promise to perform, the Lord helping us through his grace in Jesus Christ."
The next formula of a Covenant nature and one which appears on this Church's records, was designed distinctly for the admission of Half-way Covenant * members, and was drawn by the hand of Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, its sixth minister.
The Half-way Covenant system had been in operation in this Church for many years previously, and had been administered by Mr. Woodbridge from the commencement of his ministry in 1685.
What distinction in Covenant formula he had been accustomed to make between the two classes of members admitted to the Church by him it is impossible to say. But in 1696, eleven years
See for explanation of the Half-way Covenant system and its origin the brief essay on "Covenant and Full-Communion Membership," on page xix of this volume.
2
xiv
FIRST CHURCH IN HARTFORD.
after his ordination, and on the occasion of the admission within a few weeks of one hundred and ninety-four members to the Half-way Covenant membership, Mr. Woodbridge apparently felt called on to write a covenant formula to which he required assent, and inscribed on the record-book kept by him. That Covenant is as follows:
" We do solemnly in ye presence of God and this Congregation avouch God in Jesus Christ to be our God one God in three per- sons ye Father ye Son & ye Holy Ghost & y' we are by nature child" of wrath & yt our hope of Mercy with God is only thro' ye righteousnesse of Jesus Christ apprehended by faith & we do freely give up ourselves to ye Lord to walke in communion with him in ye ordinances appointed in his holy word & to yield obedi- ence to all his comands & submit to his governmt & wheras to ye great dishon' of God, Scandall of Religion & hazard of ye damnation of Souls, ye Sins of drunkenness & fornication are Prevailing amongst us we do Solemly engage before God this day thro his grace faithfully and conscientiously to strive against those Evills and ye temptations that May lead thereto."
What variation from this formula Mr. Woodbridge employed in the reception of full-communion members cannot be affirmed.
On the accession of Mr. Wadsworth to the pastorate in 1732, he wrote in the same volume which Mr. Woodbridge had begun, two slightly different formulas, designating one of them as "the Covenant which I Take the assent of persons unto that are ad- mitted to Communion," and the other for those "Owning the Covenant."
The Half-way Covenant formula is as follows:
" You do solemnly in the presence of God and before this Con- gregation avouch god in Christ, to be your god, one god in 3 persons, father, son and holy ghost and professing that you believe the Holy Scriptures to be ye Word of god you promise thro ye assistance of divine grace to make them the rule of your life, and acknowledging yourself by nature a Child of wrath, your hope of mercy with god is only thro ye righteousness of Christ apprehended by faith, you do also give up yourself (and yours) to the Lord, promising to Submitt unto the rule and gov- ernment of Christ in his Church."
The only variation for this formula in the case of full-commun- ion members was the insertion into it of the promise " carefully to observe and attend upon ye Ordinances and Institutions of the gospel." These formulas continued in use through the pastorate
XV
ARTICLES OF FAITH AND CHURCH COVENANT.
of Rev. Edward Dorr, and probably well on into Dr. Nathan Strong's.
At a late period of Dr. Strong's pastorate, however, and prob- ably after the revival influences in the last part of the eighteenth and the beginning of the present century had diminished, and perhaps in this Church terminated, the Half-way Covenant prac- tice, a formula was employed in the admission of members which reads thus:
"A Confession of Faith and Church Covenant received in the First Church of Christ in Hartford:
" You do now solemnly, in the presence of God and these wit- nesses, receive God in Christ to be your God, one God in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. You believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God, and promise, by Divine grace, to make them the rule of your life and conversation. You own yourself to be by nature the child of wrath, and declare that your only hope of mercy is through the merits and mercy of Jesus Christ, whom you publicly profess to take for your Lord and Saviour, your Prophet, Priest, and King; and you now give yourself up to Him to be ruled, governed, and eternally saved. You promise by Divine grace regularly to attend on all the ordinances of the Gospel (as God may give you light and opportunity), and to submit to the rule and government of Christ in this Church."
Up to this period it seems to be probable that the symbols for covenanting in the Church were not (unless the first one of all be an exception) formally adopted by the Church, but were written and modified by successive pastors according to the necessities of the time or their own judgments. The absence of all tokens of Church action, and the phraseology especially of Mr. Wadsworth in writing his new formula on his accession to the pastorate would seem to make this view of the case about inevitable.
Soon after the induction into office of Rev. Joel Hawes, he stigmatized the above formula in use in Dr. Strong's day as a "Covenant and Confession of Faith contained in just ten Armin- ian lines." And in 1822, under his leadership, the Church voted to adopt a body of Articles of Faith, and a Covenant, which, with some small verbal alterations, have continued in use ever since.
xvi
FIRST CHURCH IN HARTFORD.
ARTICLES OF FAITH.
ARTICLE I.
We, as a Church, believe that Jehovah, the true and eternal God, who made, supports, and governs the world, is perfect in natural and moral excellence, and that he exists in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, who possess the same nature, and are equal in every divine perfection.
ARTICLE II.
We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were written by holy men, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and are the infallible rule of doctrine and duty.
ARTICLE III.
We believe that God has made all things for himself ; that known unto Him are all His works from the beginning, and that He governs all things according to the counsel of His own will.
ARTICLE IV.
We believe that in consequence of the apostasy of Adam, sin and misery have been introduced into the world, and that all men, unless renewed by the Holy Spirit, are destitute of holiness, and under the curse of the divine law.
ARTICLE V.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ assumed the nature of man, and by His mediation and death on the cross, made atone- ment for the sins of the world.
ARTICLE VI.
We believe that men may accept of the offers of salvation freely made to them in the Gospel; but that no one will do this except he be drawn by the Father.
xvii
ARTICLES OF FAITH.
ARTICLE VII.
We believe that those who are finally saved will owe their salvation to the mere sovereign mercy of God in Christ Jesus, through repentance and faith in Him, and not to any works of righteousness which they have done.
ARTICLE VIII.
We believe that a conscientious discharge of the various duties which we owe to God, to our fellow-men, and to ourselves, as enjoined in the Gospel, is not only constantly binding on every Christian, but affords to himself and to the world the only decisive evidence of his interest in the Redeemer.
ARTICLE IX.
We believe that any number of Christians, duly organized, constitute a church of Christ, the special ordinances of which are Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
ARTICLE X.
We believe that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust; that all men must hereafter appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, to receive a just and final retribution, according to the deeds done in the body; and that the wicked will be sent away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous received into life eternal.
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