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History of the First Church in Cromwell 1715-1915
Gc 974.602 C88h
Gc 974.602 C88h 1166925
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01068 5334
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyoffirstch00hild_0
First Congregational Church Cromwell, Connecticut
Organized, January 5, 1715 Incorporated, January 5, 1906
HISTORY
OF THE
FIRST CHURCH IN CROMWELL Conn.
1715 - 1915
EDITED BY THE REV. HOMER WESLEY HILDRETH MINISTER
PRESS OF JAMES D. YOUNG MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 1915
A FOREWORD
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Two centuries of life and labor for the Christ and His Church is the record here chronicled and consumated.
The place of this record is the First Congregational Church of Cromwell, Conn. The date, May 23d and 24th, 1915.
The duty and the privilege of preparing this History of the First Church in Cromwell came to the writer as an heri- tage due to the fact that his was the pastorate during the commemorative year of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the founding of this Church's life.
The documentary records of both Church and Society have been faithfully and fully kept. Their story has been substantiated and amplified from the collateral of Town and Colonial records.
Acknowledgements for kindly and considerate assistance in the editing of this book are due to many, but especially to my colleagues on the Program Committee, Mrs. Harvey Jewell and Dr. Charles A. McKendree; also to Rev. Dr. A. W. Hazen, Pastor of North Church, Middletown, Conn., Rev. Dr. Samuel Hart, President Connecticut Historical Society and the Data Committee for the Bi-Centennial, is the writer indebted for frequent and valuable help.
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Conscious of the venerable past of this Church's life and devoutly thankful for the vaster vision and the larger task that awaits us, "let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and looking unto Jesus the Author and Perfector of our Faith, let us press on toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord." - For
"The Ages come and go, The Centuries pass as years. And Him evermore I behold Walking in Galilee. * * # * *
He toucheth the sightless eyes; Before Him the demons flee; To the dead He sayeth: Arise! To the living: Follow me! And that voice still soundeth on From the Centuries that are gone, To the Centuries that shall be!"
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CONTENTS
INVITATION TO THE BI-CENTENNIAL AND FELLOWSHIP DAY PROGRAM . · · .
PAGE
1
THE ANNIVERSARY SERMON . . . · . 2
REV. HENRY G. MARSHALL
THE DEDICATION OF MEMORIAL PULPIT
3
THE MEMORIAL HYMN
.
.
.
.
8
MRS. E. C. BAILEY
THE HISTORY OF THE BIBLE SCHOOL
9
MR. E. S. COE
THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR SOCIETY 12 MRS. S. V. HUBBARD
ADDRESS :
"THE MISSION OF THE MEETING HOUSE"
REV. DR. ROCKWELL H. POTTER
15
COMMEMORATION DAY PROGRAM
20
SKETCH OF THE CHURCH CHOIR
.
21
.
MRS. E. C. BAILEY
.
Two CENTURIES OF CHURCH LIFE
.
23
REV. H. W. HILDRETH
THE HISTORY OF THE WOMAN'S FOREIGN MISSIONARY
SOCIETY, .
.
·
46
MRS. E. S. COE
·
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE LADIES' AID SOCIETY . . 49 MRS. W. P. COUCH
THE ANNIVERSARY RECEPTION
56
ADDRESS: "THE CHURCH THAT STANDS FOUR SQUARE" 57
REV. DR. CHARLES R. BROWN
PROGRAM OF THE MUSICAL
64
CONCLUSION
65
Dedicated
to the Members of the First Church in Cromwell, Conn. On both those who are now fellow workers together mith us in Vis Hineyard here, and to those who haur gone afar to live and labor in This Name, and alan to the memory of all those who were once of this fold but have now entered into the eternal inherit- ance which is prepared for all who loved the Lord Jesus and haur labored arreptably for Tim- As a Tribute of Lour and Gonor For the Living and the Brad, By This Church's Fifteenth Minister.
HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN CROMWELL, CONN.
1715 1915
THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
OF CROMWELL, CONNECTICUT cordially invites you to be present at the Celebration of
THE TWO HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE FOUNDING OF THE CHURCH
MAY TWENTY-THIRD AND TWENTY-FOURTH Nineteen Hundred and Fifteen
Responding to this invitation, both the Church and the community made these days of Fellowship and Commemora- tion of lasting remembrance. These were days to restore the old ways, to revive the inner life, and to rejoice over the better days to be.
The celebration of the Bi-Centennial extended over two days, commencing Sunday morning, the twenty-third of May. That day was known as Fellowship Day and opened with an organ prelude entitled, Andante Cantabile from Fourth Organ Symphony, by Charles Marie Widor. Invocation by the Pastor. An anthem, "Return, O Wanderer to Thy Throne" was sung by the choir.
Then the pastor and the people dedicated the Memorial Pulpit to the first four pastors of the Church in these words:
To the holy keeping of the Sabbath of the Lord, our God. We Dedicate this Pulpit.
To the many pleadings and warnings; the gracious promises and spirit-illumined truths, uttered by the Prophets of God. We Dedicate this Pulpit.
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CROMWELL, CONN.
To the ever-living; ever-comforting; ever-saving words of the Son of God.
We Dedicate this Pulpit.
To the outbreathing of every prayer bringing mankind unto the Secret Place of the Most High.
We Dedicate this Pulpit.
To all hymns of our most holy faith, arising from the strife and the triumph of the Saints, the Martyrs and the Fathers.
We Dedicate this Pulpit.
To all the messages of Hope, leading the weary to Rest, the sorrowing to Peace, the sinner to Repentance, and the faithful to the Joys of that City whose Builder and Maker is God.
We Dedicate this Pulpit.
To the manifold witness of the Holy Spirit; the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ; and the world-wide coming of the glorious Kingdom of our God.
We Dedicate this Pulpit.
The congregation united in singing "Come Thou Almighty King," and the offertory was a contralto solo by Miss Ruth Austin of Cromwell. The morning lesson and sermon was by the Rev. Henry G. Marshall of Milford, one of the former pastors of this Church. With a fine sense of fitness Mr. Mar- shall selected for his theme, "A Glimpse of a Small Portion of the Kingdom." His text was -
One calleth unto me out of Sier, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night. If ye will inquire, inquire ye: turn ye, Come. - ISAIAH xxi, 11, 12.
This is an entire prophecy, one of the briefest in the Bible, a question repeated, no doubt, for emphasis. Coming from the Sier, the capital of Edom, the ancient and inveterate enemy of Israel, he puts the reiterated question to this watchman who, stationed upon the walls of Zion, is looking out for all the interests of the Holy. City. If we note the time of this question we find it may be when Zionisin captivity, a time of deep distress in the nation, therefore, judging from both the source and the time of the question we see that it is less an inquiry for information than a taunting question, as if this hostile questioner was saying, "your prospects are not brilliant. What of the night? What has it brought? What is it bringing you? Is it deliverance and safety or deeper gloom? As men of the world are now tauntingly say- ing in the midst of the present terrible world-wide war, where is your Christianity? What of the dark night of Paganism into which we seem to be plunging. What have you to say who have been set to watch? The prophet answers, The morning cometh and also the night. It may be but a
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CROMWELL, CONN.
truism that the morning cometh. No night so long that the day does not dawn. The morning cometh, so in like manner as time moves on and the world rolls round, night will follow. Yet first comes the morning after the darkest night.
As one who for nearly one-tenth of the time that watch- men have been set on the walls of this small portion of the kingdom here on the upper meadows I seem to hear this inquiry: Inquire ye, not so much in the way of a taunt, as a vision of the twenty years in which we, as watchmen and host have sought to keep the city in safe and prosperous conditions. When I consider that thirty years have passed since I first stood in this House of God to take the watch care of this part of the kingdom, I little thought I should havea home here so many years and acquire so many delightful memories, and after these years to return to join in this glad celebration and tell a little of the story of it to the succeeding generation.
Of the events and incidents of those nineteen years many before me know little, and they are only a small part of the whole history. They will be to some like ancient history and possibly of little interest. Yet bear with me if I enter into more particulars than the historian of one small period of the two centuries of the Church's life would venture to give.
At the outset, the Church was refurnished with pulpit, chairs, carpets and fresh paint and a roof on the parsonage. Here and there along the village street were a few stone walks, while every house was fenced in from the street as if they would have no intruders. There were three saloons where intoxicating drink was sold, beside one road house of notoriously vile repute half way between here and Middletown. There were four school houses instead of the fine new one you now enjoy. There was no library usable though there had been one in time past, but the books had become old and were well scattered. There had been a reading room in the upper room of the academy building, the lower room only being used for school purposes. There was no quarry open. At the green house only eight or ten small houses, employing some half dozen men. The plate shop, long since burned, was about closing business. The foundry in North Cromwell was in a prosperous condition. Of these material interests it is not my province to speak, except as they may pertain to the religious interests and the younger generation may compare with the present condition of the town and note the answer that the watchman of the present day may give to that taunting question, What of the night?
That first Sunday there were 130 present, not far from
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CROMWELL, CONN.
the average for that year, which was 117. Three years later the average attendance was 132. In the evening there were 76, and there was, preceding it, a young men's meeting, which had been held for several years, taking the place in those days of the Christian Endeavor Society, which was organized a few years later. There was a union neighborhood meeting in the Plain's school-house every Tuesday evening, and in the fall of that year, with the attendance of 40 to 50, and most of those who attended that meeting and carried their lamps with them have passed on where they need no lamp nor light of the sun for the Lord God giveth them light. During that fall a good degree of interest in religious things was manifested and neighborhood meetings were held in the nooks at which 30 to 40 were present, and there were some conversions.
In October the town voted no license by a vote of 87 to 40. Messrs. Burns & Freeman began a canvass of the town in the interests of the Connecticut Bible Society, which proved of great value in awakening an interest in religion. Meetings were held in various parts of the town and there were many conversions. A Law and Order League was organized to enforce the no license we had voted, and by its persistent efforts and prosecutions the saloons were closed and the keeper of the vile road house was obliged to sell out and leave town. For seven years this League had a vigorous existence following up all cases of illegal liquor selling and other viola- tions of law and bringing the offenders to justice.
The result of that Bible canvass showed 388 families, 1,622 persons in them, 223 were Americans, about one-third Catholic and two-thirds Protestants; 109 Congregational families, 428 persons; 59 Methodist families, 241 persons; 45 Baptist; 17 Episcopal; 123 Catholic, 576 persons.
In December, 1886 the Christian Endeavor Society was organized. The young men's Sunday evening meeting having been discontinued. The next summer (1887) the Church was closed for two months for the changes necessitated by putting in the fine organ, the gift of Brother Frederick Wilcox, a most worthy memorial of the brother, who though not himself a singer, loved the praises of Zion and enjoyed the worship of God's House with this tuneful addition, but three years after that he was called home and this is left as our lasting memorial of him.
By the invitation of the Baptist and Methodist Churches we held our services in their houses of worship and added to our spirit of fraternity and fellowship.
In 1890 a church visitation was undertaken with gratify- ing results in discovering some hidden Christians. The
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Swedish people increasing in numbers and using our confer- ence room for their worship under the leadership of Brother Carlson of Portland, developed so much that at our Com- munion in May, fifteen united with our church, Brother Carlson assisting and acting as interpreter. Thirty-six were added that year. After they had increased in numbers and had found it difficult to understand the English, in July, 1892, they began to build their present church building and dedi- cated it on July 17, 1892. I had the privilege of preaching the dedication sermon, the only part of the services which was in English. Twenty from our church and others from the other churches united in the new church.
By the kindness of the church in the summer of 1891, I was permitted to be absent three months on an ever memorable and delightful trip to Europe and the Holy Land. In Decem- ber, two representatives of the state Y. M. C. A., Messrs. Folger and Jackson, held a series of Union meetings, which were continued after they left by cottage meetings which resulted in more than thirty being added to the church.
At the semi-centennial anniversary of the dedication of the present meeting house in January, 1891, we had present thirteen who were present when it was dedicated. The roll call answered to 174 names and there were 400 present. The records of that most interesting occasion have been printed and I need only to allude to it.
Soon after, a very stirring convention of Christian workers was held in Hartford, at which a number of our own workers were moved to come home and start Gospel meetings in the south district. So much interest was aroused that rooms were hired in a partly vacant house and fitted up for the pur- pose of holding Gospel meetings. Though a Union effort, many of the active workers were from our church. The meet- ings were held on Sunday, P. M., and Wednesday evening and other neighborhood meetings were held, and, as a result, thirty-six were added to this church and others to the other churches. A committee of Gospel workers was organized, which continued the work when they moved into a vacant store on the corner just in time to forestall a party who purposed to open a saloon. It had been used for that purpose six years before and in a drunken brawl one man had deliber- ately shot another, though fortunately not fatally. A reading room was opened, a game room for the boys and a nucleus for a library. It was in a measure a Y. M. C. A.
For some years it proved the headquarters of union moral and religious effort, attempting for several years what in our cities is called institutional work at an annual expense of
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CROMWELL, CONN.
about $200. The desire was to bring in out of the street and other lounging places boys and young men and provide for them something elevating and instructive. But as usual they would not be persuaded, at least in any large numbers. It was opened January 17, 1892.
Large and successful meetings were held on Sunday P. M., and Wednesday evenings and children's meetings on Sunday evenings before the other evening meetings. Quite a number came who were unwilling to come to the regular church meetings. From this room much influence went forth for good in the no license campaigns. It continued for seven years, until through the decrease of workers it was thought to be a wiser use of the money than to expend it merely to maintain a prayer meeting room when we already had plenty to use. The committee, however, did not disband, but con- tinued to hold cottage prayer meetings and hold themselves in readiness to unite in any good work for the Master. Our great confidence was in the power of prayer, of which we had so many proofs.
In January, 1893, Mrs. Jackson, an evangelist, came and held a series of union meetings in the Baptist Church, which were largely attended and some thirty-six were reported converted.
In the early summer, Mr. Clifford, at the invitation of the Gospel workers, made a religious canvass of the town more thorough than that of the Bible Society visitors. He found 2,136 people in the town, 1,333 Protestants and 803 Catholics; 138 Congregational families, 75 Baptists, 57 Metho- dists; others not reported.
Many homes were blessed by his coming with the simple Gospel message. In the spring of the same year Mr. Spear, a Temperance speaker of some celebrity, held a four days' meeting, awakening no little enthusiasm and influencing many to sign the pledge.
The following 1894, in order to bring the members of the church into better fellowship and work I issued group cards dividing the entire church into groups of six who should for one year seek a closer fellowship with each other in the Master's service. One in each group was designated the leader. They were to be mutually helpful in whatever way they could. One group held a monthly meeting for prayer throughout the year. At our annual meeting each group was to report what had been done and the groups were changed. This proved a very helpful method where it was faithfully followed, as it was by several of the groups for a number of years.
In 1896 Mr. Raymond began a canvass of the town in
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CROMWELL, CONN. 7
the interests of the Bible Society. He was here a month and his services were very acceptable and spiritually profitable to many. One result of his labors was the adoption by the church of the responsive reading of the Psalms, greatly to the enrichment of the public worship. The Communion Service was changed to the close of the morning service. The fol- lowing year we had brief visits from Mr. Kibbee, Mr. Ham- mond, Mr. Franson and Mr. Pope, who each gave us a brief temporary awakening and the neighborhood cottage meetings were revived.
The year 1898 brought no workers from without. A cradle roll of thirty members was started and the Young Ladies' Mission Circle revived. The next year we were represented on the mission field by one of our number, Mr. Moline, though not under the A. B. C. F. M., but in an industrial mission in Africa; but in another year it broke and he was returned to this country.
This Church took more than ordinary interest in missions, having, no doubt, been greatly awakened thereto by the labors and the departure to Persia of the devoted missionary, Rev. William Stocking. When I came we were giving to benevo- lences, $659. We increased yearly till in ten years we gave for our annual contribution, $3,279.05, and continuing for several years near that amount an annual average of $23.00 per member.
A remarkable coincidence occurred in 1900 when four of our members died sixty-three years from the time they united with the church: Mrs. Sage, Mrs. Haskell, Frederick Wilcox and Mrs. Wright.
In 1901 the graduates of the Cradle Roll were organized in a Junior Mission Circle.
When I began there were 143 members, 33 non-resident ; 61 of these remained, 22 non-resident, leaving but 39 survivors. Few of those in this house that first day I came here are here today. Many are the changes even in this small portion of the Master's world-wide kingdom. In these twenty years, 163 have united with the church (130 on confession), an aver- age of 7 per year. There have been 152 removals by death and dismissal, making only a net gain of 11. There were 110 resident members when I came and when I left, 106. I at- tended 184 funerals, an average of nearly 10 per year; 105 baptisms, 54 of them infants. On Children's Day, 1888, we began giving Bibles to those baptized children who had reached the age of seven, and since that time we have given 55 Bibles to as many children, an average of 3 per year. Membership has fluctuated from 139 to 182. Families have in like manner
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CROMWELL, CONN.
from 126 to 132 and to 75. The Sunday School likewise from 142 to 226, always in the front rank in its yearly offerings for missions, an average of $286 per year and reaching the high water mark in 1891 of $390.82. The aggregate sum seems large, $5,447.75, as in like manner the benevolences of the church aggregated $27,709.00, an average of $1,385 per year. The Parish expenses have aggregated $29,473.00, an average of $1,473.00 per year. During the time two legacies have been received, $1,940 and $150.00, which equal $2,090. As we compare these figures and results with the millions given and used in the world-wide kingdom they seem insignificant. If this small branch of the kingdom in twenty years has made so little advance, has the whole kingdom made no greater? Watchman, what of the night? The morning cometh, and also the night Who will doubt the final result? If the darkness of the night intervenes yet the morning is coming. May we not learn what the Prophet meaneth by the darkness which cometh upon us, when he says: "Then shall they know that I am Jehovah, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment because of all their abominations which they have committed." - (EZEKIEL, xxxiii, 29).
We shall see through the darkness and our disappoint- ments, how He is enlightening us in His way.
"Come Thou Almighty King" was then sung by the congregation. The commemoration of the Lord's Supper followed, the Pastor, the Rev. Homer Wesley Hildreth officia- ting, assisted by the Rev. Frederic M. Hollister, of Mystic, a former pastor. This service came to a fitting close with the congregational singing of the Memorial Hymn composed espe- cially for this occasion by Mrs. Edward C. Bailey of Cromwell.
On this glad day we sing Thy praise, And feel Thy presence ever near; O crown us with Thy richest grace, And fill our lives with love and cheer.
To noble things turn every thought, Inspire the hearts of everyone, And teach us, Lord, as Thou hast taught Thy children in the centuries gone.
With humble reverence we bow, In memory to those of yore; Grant us Thy peace and help us now To worship and Thy name adore.
Thy truth stands firm from age to age, And ever shall Thy love endure; Give unto us a steadfast faith, Thy name be praised forevermore.
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CROMWELL, CONN.
The Benediction was by the Rev. H. G. Marshall. The Postlude was "March" from Widor's Third Organ Symphony.
Sunday noon, the anniversary exercises of the Bible School were held. Most interestingly did Mr. Robert Darling of Simsbury bring us Greetings from the Connecticut Sunday School Association of which he was President. The Kinder- garten exercises and the singing by the girls' choir were much enjoyed.
The Historical Paper by Deacon Edward S. Coe was a virile account of the Bible School's long and fruitful service. Deacon Coe said :
The Sunday School has been called "the child of the Church." It is more than that for it is a valuable addition to the church. How far-reaching are its influences! Many of our young men and women have entered the Christian life through the efforts and with the help of a faithful teacher. The school of this historic church has a record of work which we may look back upon with gratitude and is an incentive to look forward with hopefulness.
Organized in 1817, it has recently passed the ninety- eighth anniversary. In the early years the work of the school consisted of the use of the Westminster shorter catechism and the memorizing of Scripture verses and chapters. Prizes of Bibles were given to those who repeated the greatest number of chapters at the annual examination conducted by Rev. Joshua L. Williams, the pastor from 1809 to 1832. Some of the earliest superintendents are mentioned as follows:
Rev. William Redfield Stocking, who later went to the Nestorians as one of the early missionaries of the American Board. His son, William R. Stocking, followed him in the work there and in 1906 his granddaughter, Miss Annie Wood- man Stocking of Williamstown, Mass., went to the same coun- try to engage in mission work under the Woman's Board of the Presbyterian Church.
As a missionary, Mr. Stocking carried on a great work for the churches. Rev. G. S. F. Savage, D. D., of Chicago, one of the early superintendents, has always been deeply interested in this old church and school where he began his Christian life and service in 1831, and where he was ordained to the ministry as a home missionary, leaving immediately for Illinois, where with God's help he accomplished very much in his work with the churches of that state and later as an officer for many years of the Chicago Theological Seminary of which he was one of the founders. Born in 1817, the year that this school was organized, he is still living in Chicago
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