USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Fairfield > Prime ancient society of Fairfield, Connecticut, 1639-1889; an historical paper > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
1639
THE
PRIME ANCIENT
OCIETY OF
FAIRFIELD, CONN.
1889
Gc 974.602 F161c 1405504
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01148 6906
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/primeancientsoci00chil
Congregational Church, Fairfield, Conn. Church erected 1849. Chapel erected 1857.
Parlors erected 1885. Destroyed by fire May 29, 1890.
1639. 1889.
>THE
rime Ancient Society,"
OF
FAIRFIELD, CONN.
>
AN HISTORICAL PAPER
BY
REV. FRANK S. CHILD, PASTOR.
WITH
CONTRIBUTIONS FROM PRESENT AND FORMER MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH.
BRIDGEPORT : THE STANDARD ASSOCIATION, PRINTERS. 1890.
1405504
A PORTION OF THIS PAPER WAS READ BY THE AUTHOR ON THANKS- GIVING DAY, NOV. 28, 1889, WHEN TIIIS CHURCH AND HER DAUGHTER CHURCHES CELEBRATED THE TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVER- SARY OF PUBLIC WORSHIP IN FAIRFIELD. PARTS OF THIS PAPER WERE ALSO READ BEFORE THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY AT A MEETING HELD IN BRIDGEPORT, FRIDAY EVENING, DEC. 13, 1889.
I
1
0
1
asing me
THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
OF
FAIRFIELD, CONN.
WHEN the pilgrim fathers voyaged to New England they were taking large part in that movement which signified the civil and religious enfranchisement of the race. The various communities that centred the life of these pilgrim workmen became distinctive fields of operation. They each contributed to the common solution of those problems which vexed and disturbed christendom. What has been the contribution of this First Church of Christ in Fairfield to the solution of th se problems? The narrative of church life and church work stretching through two hundred and fifty years will give us answer.
The little company that threaded its way through the wild- erness to Unquowa was pushed into such course by the pre- vailing impulse. Great are the crimes committed in the name of religion. But God compels the very forces of evil to shape themselves into agents of His Providence. So that mistakes, animosities, troubles, warfares, which revert to scruples of conscience, antiphonies and genuflections, garbing of preach- ers, adornment of churches, ecclesiastical polities, religious feelings are all turned to good service in the nurture of a free church and the construction of a free government.
Roger Ludlow was a man that embodied the spirit of his times. He was natural leader of men. Dorchester, in Massa- chusetts, was his first home on our continent. Having served four years as assistant governor of Massachusetts, (1630-1634), he came to Connecticut in 1635 to investigate the necessities of this colony. He, with seven other men, was commissioned by the Massachusetts Court to govern the colony. A war with the Pequot Indians led him through this section of the
6
country. Charmed with the beauty and fertility of the land Ludlow proposed to plant a colony. Having obtained per- mission from the Court he returned to this section in the summer of 1639 and purchased a large tract of land. But he did not follow the letter of his instructions from the Court, for he prolonged his journey so that he failed to reach Hart- ford in time for the session of that body. He was repri- manded for his tardiness and his procedure in settling thie Unquowa land was investigated. When Court adjourned Ludlow returned to Unquowa and continued his work of set- tlement and organization. The little company of men that were associated with him in founding Fairfield were men of sterling character and strong convictions. Like their com- peers in other colonies these men put first emphasis upon religion. Their numbers were small but their faith, courage, devotion, sincerity were large. It was strictly in accordance with their interpretation of the Scriptures that they chose one and another of the company to perform the offices of stated public worship, and this Zion takes its rise as contemporary with the colony itself. The various settlements of early New England had a common model. The laws of Connecticut in- sisted upon the religious basis of the distinct settlements. A colony must support a preacher from its inception. When a community proved itself able to sustain a spiritual teacher it was permitted to proceed in its task of organization. Minis- ters, however, were not always to be obtained. Some colonies did not have an ordained minister during the first year or the first years of their life. Fairfield is illustration. There was stated public worship. Pure Congregationalism was illus- trated in the selection by the people of one from among them to conduct the services. The incipient church was obliged to wait until the year 1644 ere an ordained minister was installed as pastor. During these first years Roger Ludlow was weariless in the discharge of his duties. Home affairs were managed with discretion and judgment. The town was speedily stamped with its characteristic intelligence, dignity, independence. When the first pastor came to Fair- field in October, 1644, he found a community already formed according to the orthodox model-energetic, serious, well-
.
.
7
poised, substantial. The Rev. John Jones was accompanied to Fairfield by some fifteen families from Concord, his former home. These people were dissatisfied with the management of affairs in Concord. Fairfield promised them larger com- fort, lighter taxes, pleasanter country. Such an accession was important. Fresh impulse was given to this colony and affairs both civic and religious took favorable shape. At this period the religious state of the community was notable and exemplary. The rough experiences of pioneer life-the dis- cipline of toil, danger, warfare, necessity, sorrow-developed the noblest type of christian heroism. The Fairfield parish was getting itself into good condition to take its part in the formative work of church and State.
Mr. Jones, a graduate of Jesus College, Oxford, was a man of culture and piety. He responded to the demands of cir- cumstances and entered thoroughly into the labors that con- cerned parish prosperity. We are not to think of the minis- ter as simply church servant. He was community servant. When it came to the administration of affairs the colony did not divide into sacred and secular. The church was co-terminous with the town, and it was the fact that for various purposes the civil and the ecclesiastical organi- zations were synonymous. "It would hardly be too strong to say," writes Johnston, "that the establishment of the town and of the church was co-incident: the universal agreement in religion made town government and church government but two sides of the same medal." It was the town that called the minister. It was the town that was taxed for the minister's support. It was the town that defined the limits of the minister's duties. And just as the magistrate in his office was to work for the peace, profit, progress of the town so the minister in his office was to work toward these same ends. These people feared and condemned the ecclesiastical domination that distinguished the mother country. At the same time they fashioned their colonies in accordance with the spirit of such rule. The form was varied but the essen- tial features were retained. This fact explains the course of New England persecution. Quakers, Baptists, witches were hard pressed by the very men who sought escape from Home-
8
country persecutions. It was characteristic of the age. The larger, nobler interpretation of Christianity was yet to be given.
The division of magisterial and ministerial tasks in the parish strikes the reader as curious. While Mr. Jones was expected to watch affairs that concerned the public weal and preach sermons upon these themes, the magistrate per- formed the marriage ceremony. The dead were buried with- out religious services. This fruitful opportunity for the enforcement of truth and the mitigation of grief was denied the pastor. Such strange form did our forefathers' protest against papacy, prelacy, liturgy take. But the minister's official character, authority, instruction were emphasized. He was esteemed the exemplary embodiment of grace, dignity, wisdom, religion. His leadership in public affairs was un- questioned. The twenty years that Mr. Jones served the peo- ple of Fairfield were formative years for church and state. Associated for a time with that forceful thinker and energetic workman, Roger Ludlow, the mind of Mr. Jones would neces- sarily receive fresh impulse to faithful workmanship. It was when these two men were pondering and discussing the needs of the country that Ludlow "first unfolded the Constitution of Connecticut-the mother of all American Constitutions." We make rightful claim to some large share in this potent product of Fairfield air and soil and landscape. Fairfield thought and spirit are constituents of this model. While Ludlow was factor in the determination of our church charac- ter-the church itself through its ministrations to his spiritual and intellectual nature bears its share of creditable responsi- bility in the political policy of the colony and country.
It was during the pastorate of Mr. Jones that the Cam- bridge platform was adopted by the General Court and by this church as well as the other churches throughout Connec- ticut. This church order and discipline represented the counsel and action of New England's associated ministers.
Mr. Jones conducted worship on Lord's Day, morning and afternoon, with brief recess between the services, and gave a mid-week lecture.
Here is a picture which is outlined for us by contemporary
9
annals. It is Lord's Day. The streets of Fairfield are quiet. Never a vehicle disturbs the peace. Sabbath hush pervades the air. At nine o'clock in the morning the drum summons the people to public worship. The meeting-house is a plain low structure, built of boards and logs, standing upon the green. The seats are rough, uncushioned. The windows are small and infrequent. The pulpit is built, box fashion, at the end of the house. At beat of drum the people assemble. The men carry their guns. Each family walks watchfully, a compact little company of folks. The pastor holds his notes and his psalm book in his hand. As the people enter the building they sep- arate, the men go to one side of the meeting-house, the women go to the other. The children are put under the care of the tithing-man. The pastor takes his place in the pulpit. The deacons, seated on a platform in front of him, face the con- gregation. The leader of psalmody takes his front bench. The meeting-house is filled. There are present the Ludlows, the Burrs, the Morehouses, the Jennings, the Merwins, the Scotts, the Bulkleys, the Bennetts, the Thorps, the Barlows, the Sturgeses, the Perrys, the Golds, the Murreys, the Ogdens, the Middlebrooks. the Osbornes, the Staples, the Bankses, the Sherwoods, the Thompsons, the Pells, the Lockwoods, the Lyons, the Hubbells, the Sanfords, the Hillses, the Palmers, the Hulls, the Wards, the Rowlands, the Bradleys, the Gil- berts, the Cables, the Beachams, the Hides, the Odells, the Greens, the Jacksons, and others.
Mr. Jones begins the service with a long prayer. The leader of psalmody or one of the deacons names the psalm, and lines it out for the people. The pitchi-pipe gives the pitch. The psalm leader performs his task and the people join him in singing. Then follows a sermon at least one hour in length. A short prayer and the benediction-this is the order of the first service. The Bible is not read as a part of wor- ship. It is never read unless the teacher expounds the selected portion of Scripture. There is no musical instrument in the room. Hymns are not used. And the tithing-man keeps the children quiet and the people awake. A brief intermission at noon gave the people opportunity to take some food and drink and change their position, and go to the Sabbath day
10
house. This was a small rough building near the church which contained an immense fireplace and a generous fire. Here the people warmed themselves and replenished their foot-stoves. The afternoon service differed from the morning service in the introduction of a second psalm after the short prayer .. At close of service the people walked home and devoted their hours to the reading of the Bible and religious conversation in the family. The Sabbath, which began on Saturday at sun set, ended at the same hour on Sunday. But the evening was a sort of reflection of the rest day, so that people did not venture to break its repose by the common activities of secular life.
Election sermons were also a part of the minister's func- tions. The investigation of moral delinquencies and spiritual defections was largely his work. The witchcraft delusion was a matter of special concern to the minister. While magis- trates had the enforcement of law the minister was expected to be vigilant, observant, energetic in respect to the innumer- able details of town affairs. He had a sort of censorship in respect to matters of public import. His influences were manifold and far reaching, While he was not clothed with the authority of an English parish clergyman his real power was probably larger and more important.
The town records give us suggestive pictures of the times.
Dec. 27, 1661. The town voted that the schoolmaster have ten pounds towards his wages out of the Town rates, and it is ordered that the fifteen Pounds that remain out of his wages shall be paid by the masters and parents of such child- ren as need teaching from six years old.
Feb. 15, 1664. Town meeting. The Town ordered there shall be two Town meetings in the year. The 15th of Feb- ruary and the 15th of August in each year. And if any of those days fall on the Sabbath, the day following. If the Townsmen see cause in the interest of the town between the the two standing Town meetings, It is ordered that the meet- ing shall be binding to the inhabitants provided it is pub- lished on a Lecture day or by a writing on the meeting-house door.
11
Feb. 16, 1664. It is ordered that any one who kills a wolf in the town, if he expects to be paid for it he shall bring the wolf's head to the treasurer, who is to keep an account thereof.
Aug. 22, 1666. The Townsmen order that who ever kills a bear in the bounds of the Town at any time, between this and the next Town meeting shall be paid out of the Town Treasury 50 shillings a piece for each old and for cubs 20 shillings each.
Mr. Jones departed this life in 1664. The Rev. Samuel Wakeman "by a free vote " of the townsmen (the usual method of procedure,) was chosen pastor in 1665. This was the year when watches were first worn by gentlemen of New England. But it was a century ere they were common among the people. The hour-glass long continued to hold its conspicuous place upon the pulpit. The church was well-conditioned for work. The impress of Roger Ludlow and Mr. Jones was stamped upon the parish. The heroic spirit characteristic of the first quarter of a century made itself manifest. The sturdy, rug- ged christian character of the early settlers reproduced itself in their children. Fairfield made healthful advancement. The church increased in membership. The spiritual state of the people promised good harvest. The young were tenderly nurtured in Christian homes. Both Mr. Jones and Mr. Wake- man had served an apprenticeship as teachers ere they were ordained to the ministry. Their interest in the young and their knowledge of the children proved helpful to them in the discharge of parish duties. So that we are not surprised when we observe that the rising generation reveals rare moral strength and spiritual stamina. The school and the church were closely related. For a period which we cannot measure the same building had been used in worship and teaching. The date of the first meeting-house is unknown. The year 1640 is named as the approximate date. We may be sure, however, that men whose first thought was religion would speedily rear some kind of worthy edifice in which to worship God. The second structure was erected in the year 1675. When Mr. Wakeman entered upon his parish work in 1662, he found himself in a position of commanding importance. The few churches that were founded near this year 1640 ex-
12
erted wide influence. Their counsels were determinative of the religious policy of Connecticut. In 1668 the pastor of Fairfield church was appointed by the Legislature one of five men to meet at Saybrook and advise concerning a com- mon platform of faith and practice. Report of this meeting was made to the General Court in May, 1669. On various occasions the prominence of this parish was recognized by the appointment of its pastor or some of its notable residents to share the guiding of Colonial thought and the conduct of Colonial affairs. When John Robinson and the several com- panies of Puritan settlers sought the quiet and freedom of this New England the motive was religious. The heroism of these people was striking and memorable. Charles I. was a great mischief-maker. Uniformity of worship, anti-Calvinistic theology, insistence upon episcopacy, intolerance of non-con- formity, persecution of dissenters, these things mark his course. The "Book of Sports" which taught the people to make Sunday a day of pastime and frolic, was distributed to the clergy with the command to read it from the pulpit. Con- science was outraged in various ways. Attempt was made to force the English Prayer book upon Scotland. As James I. had said concerning Laud so might it have been said concern- ing Charles and the home-folks of England, "He knows not the stomach of that people." New England was the richer for such course in the mother country. But the time came when the Colonies began to prosper, and good reports of New England possibilities were returned to England. Men visited the new land as an interesting adventure. The demoralized state of England affected the life of the Colonies. Religion itself was influenced by such contact and ferment.
In 1662 the half-way covenant had been introduced. It read that a baptized man of moral life and orthodox belief might hold such membership in the church that he could have his children baptized and share all church privileges with the exception of the Lord's Supper. This gave oppor- tunity for the entrance of worldliness and formality into the church and speedily spread abroad its demoralizing influences. The church which was founded with such purity of faith, heroism of spirit, and piety of life, soon manifested corrupt
13
tendencies. Now Mr. Wakeman was a man of singular direct- ness of speech and fearless, energetic in his course of action. He was chosen to deliver the election sermon in Hartford. The famous discourse was published. Mr. Wakeman was bold to warn the people. For as was quaintly observed at the time, he was "exceeding tremendously suspicious that it will come" to tragical end. "The Reverend and Pious author" writes the editor of the ancient book, "Having the sense of what he spake upon his own heart may will also to affect the heart of others." The sermon gives a somber picture. It is aimed against "Christian defections and rampant Colonial sins." "New England's name hath been much set by " he remarks : "much more than now New England's credit and repute is brought many pegs lower than sometimes." This sermon is entitled "Sound Repentance the Right Way to Escape De- served Ruin, or a Solid and Awakening Discourse." It covers forty-four printed pages, and has fifty-two divisions and sub- divisions. It made memorable impression. Its plain speech, doctrinal meat, scathing rebuke and sound exhortation were received with great favor. And it gives to us a noteworthy forth-setting of Colonial needs, manners, purposes, conditions. The troublous times were already manifest in church dissen- sions. Mr. Wakeman was appointed by the General Court in 1669, to accompany several ministerial brethren to Windsor and advise concerning a serious misunderstanding in that parish. In fact ecclesiastical matters in the Colony were in such a state of unrest and demoralization that two fast days were appointed for this year. The importance of the parish and the eminence of its pastor are well evidenced by the vari- ous public labors assigned to Mr. Wakeman. Now it is civic affairs; now it is ecclesiastical affairs which claim attention. One day it is the spiritual concerns of the Colony; another clay it is the temporal. In 1675 Mr. Wakeman and Mr. Elliott, of New London, report to the council "in respect to their in- vestigation of those evils amongst us which have stirred up the Lord's anger against us, that they being discovered may by repentance and reformation, be thrown out of our camp and heart."
Meanwhile the parish seems to have appreciated the emi-
14
nence of their pastor. They were liberal in their support of Mr. Wakeman. But in the year 1668 some of the people pre- ferred a change in the method of ministerial support. One hundred pounds, with swamps and parsonage lands was the salary. At a town meeting in April, 1670, it was voted to give the swamps and parsonage lands, and to raise the main part of the salary by voluntary contribution. Mr. Wakeman did not think this a wise method. He appealed to the Gen- eral Court. They righted the matter. He received a gift of two hundred acres of land. In 1671 a fresh grant of land was made to the minister. In 1672 it was voted that an annual expenditure of ten pounds be made for stubbing and ditching the parsonage lands. In 1673 Mr. Wakeman received a grant of two hundred acres. This land grant business occasioned some trouble in the parish but a commission consisting of Captain John Allyn, of Hartford; James Bishop, of New Haven; Major Robert Treat, of New Milford, and Major Gold, of Fairfield, adjusted the matter so that all people concerned coincided in the settlement. The parish became strong and aggressive during the pastorate of Mr. Wakeman. The tasks of the minister were numerous and exacting. In 1670 it was proposed that Mr. Wakeman should have an assistant. And the Rev. Eliphalet Jones, the son of Fairfield's first minister was selected as the associate pastor. A salary of forty pounds was offered him. But Mr. Jones declined the call, so that Mr. Wakeman continued his work unaided to the end. Mean- while the parish multiplied its inhabitants, enlarged its bounds, increased its wealth and attained position of importance.
Pequonnock thinking the parish too large for one shepherd and desiring to settle a minister in the east part of the town petitioned the General Court in May, 1690, concerning their needs. The following year they made fresh petition. Fair- field was reluctant to have the parish divided. Conservative when such measures were proposed the town discouraged the the movement toward division. But the people of Pequon- nock persisted. The Court therefore decided that "they might procure and settle an orthodox minister among them if they found themselves able to do so, provided they paid their just proportion of the ecclesiastical tax towards the mainte-
15
nance of the ministry in Fairfield until they could obtain free- dom from the Town of Fairfield in the General Court."
Oct. 3, 1691. "A General Court held in Hartford, upon the petition of the people of Pequonnock, that they may have liberty from this Court, whilst they maintain an orthodox min- istry in Pequonnock, to be released from the payment to the ministry in Fairfield, The Court grants the petition therein, provided that the people of Pequonnock make payment of all just dues for Town Charges to the said Town of Fairfield as formerly, and pay their just dnes to the ministry of Fairfield to this."
Mr. Charles Chauncey was invited to minister to the Pequon- noek people.
Dec. 16, 1692. "The Town grants unto Mr. Charles Chann- cey three acres of land, if there be so much when sufficient highways are left there, and if there be not so much then he shall have what there is: It is to lie on the north side of Mr. Chauncey's home-lot, and if he die in the ministry at Pequon- noek it is to be the property of his heirs, but if otherwise, it is to return to the Town of Fairfield."
April 13, 1713. "The town grants unto the Rev. Charles Chauncey six acres of land, for a pasture, within the limits of the parish."
The first church in Stratfield was organized in 1695. Mr. Wakeman died in 1691, "Which bereavement is for a lamen- tation," says the town record concerning the sad event. A man of culture, piety, wisdom, energy, patriotism, he labored with weariless devotion to the parish and Colony interests through the eventful years of his long pastorate.
That a fit successor might speedily be inducted into the office and continue his profitable labor was the prayer and purpose of the people. The Rev. Joseph Webb was invited to the pastorate in May. He began his ministry on the 13th of October. Baptism and the Half-way Covenant immediately supplied the community with a theme for earnest discussion. Two years later the parish passed through another agitation of the witchcraft question.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.