USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > Saybrook > The First Church of Christ in Saybrook (Congregational) > Part 1
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01967 4172 Gc 974.602 Sa9f
The First Church of Christ in Saybrook
The First Church of Christ in Saybrook (Congregational)
Organized in the Great Hall of the Fort 1646
4-90
This booklet contains the material in The Book of Remembrance in the Church
Price: Fifty cents
THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN SAYBROOK (Congregational)
Organized in the Great Hall of the Fort - 1646
This building dedicated 1840.
Allen County Public Library Ft. Wayne, Indiana
- FROM THE MEMORIAL BOOK ON DISPLAY IN THE CHURCH
THIS BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE WAS PRESENTED OCTOBER 1, 1954 IN LOVING MEMORY OF THE REVEREND EDWARD M. CHAPMAN 1862 - 1952 BY HIS WIFE
LOUISE WADSWORTH CHAPMAN SO THAT IN THE CHURCH WHICH HE LOVED THERE MIGHT BE PRESERVED A RECORD OF THE GIFTS MADE BY OTHERS WHOSE DEEP INTEREST ALSO LIES IN THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN SAYBROOK
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... ...
Sketch of the first Meeting House at Saybrook Point, built in 1646, prepared from descriptive matter in the re- cords of the Church. The turret was for an armed sentinel who kept watch during services against attack by Indians. Worshippers were called to meeting by the beat of a drum.
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Sketch of the second Meeting House prepared from descriptive matter in records of the Church. This building was completed in 1681, was 30x60 feet and "stood near about the place of the old one"
The third House of Worship completed in 1726 except for the steeple which was added in 1793 and the bell hung in 1794. It meas- ured 38x48 feet and stood on the north side of the green across Main Street from the present Church.
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The fourth Meeting House, begun in 1839 and dedicated on the first Sunday of January 1840. This photograph was taken in 1896, shortly after the removal from the Church green, in foreground, of hitching posts for horses and of sheds used for stabling horses during Church meeting or services. To the right of the Church building is the Chapel, or Parish House, built in 1875. To the right of the Chapel is the Parsonage, built in 1853, which served as the residence of Church ministers until 1955, when it was converted to Sunday school rooms and Church offices.
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MINISTERS OF THIS CHURCH
JOHN HIGGINSON (Chaplain in the Fort 1635-1643
THOMAS PETERS (Chaplain in the Fort) 1643-1645
JAMES FITCH (Organization of the First Church of Christ in Saybrook) 1646-1660
JEREMIAH PECK 1660-1665
THOMAS BUCKINGHAM 1665-1709
AZARIAH MATHER 1709-1732
WILLIAM HART
1736-1784
FREDERICK WM. HOTCHKISS
1783-1844
ETHAN BARROWS CRANE 1838-1851
JAMES BEATTIE 1851-1852
SALMON McCALL 1853-1871
FRANCIS N. ZABRISKIE 1871-1876
RICHARD BOWERS THURSTON 1876-1881
WILSON DAVIDSON SEXTON 1881-1884
BERNARD PAINE 1885-1894
EDWARD EVERETT BACON 1894-1908
LUTHER STRAYER 1908-1913
WILLIAM WHITE 1913-1921
NATHANIEL B. HANKEMEYER 1921-1925
HERBERT P. WOODIN (Pastor Emeritus) 1925-1942
GEORGE L. GREENE 1942-1948 E. ROY BURCHELL 1948-1951
WILLIAM W. PATTON (interim) 1950-1951
AUBREY L. MURPHY 1952-1955
PAUL G. PITMAN
1955-1959
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DEACONS OF THIS CHURCH
THOMAS ADGATE
1646-1660
FRANCIS DUDLEY
1648-1681
WILLIAM DUDLEY
1648-1701
WILLIAM PARKER
(about) 1670-1725
NATHANIEL CHAPMAN
(about) 1681-1726
JOSEPH BLAGUE
(about) 1725-1742
ANDREW LORD
(about) 1726-1759
JOSHUA BUSHNELL
1742-1778
HEZEKIAH WHTTLESEY
1761-1785
CALEB CHAPMAN
1775-1785
SAMUEL KIRTLAND
17-82-1805
CHRISTOPHER LORD
1782-1788
TRAVIS AYER
1788-1812
ROBERT ELY
1801-1822
WILLIAM CHAPMAN
1803-1808
WILLIAM LORD
1808-1825
SAMUEL LYNDE
1810-1822
TIMOTHY PRATT
1823-1823
RUFUS CLARK
1823-1833
ELISHA SILL
1824-1850
WILLIAM CHALKER
1826-1848
WILLIAM R. CLARK
1834-1875
WILLIAM REDFIELD
1848-1854
OZIAS H. KIRTLAND
1850-1889
RUFUS C. SHEPHERD
1850-1904
ROBERT CHAPMAN
1875-1923
THOMAS C. ACTON, JR.
1890-1909
GILES A. BUSHNELL
1904-1920
GEORGE W. DENISON
1908-1908
FRANK S. PRATT (Deacon Emeritus) 1909-1935
FREDERICK S. CHAPMAN
1919-1941
WILLIAM REDFIELD BUSHNELL
1921-1939
HAROLD W. WHITE
1935-1941
LEWIS W. PRATT
1929-1943
HOWARD T. CHAPMAN
1941-
MERLE PATRICK
1941-
CHARLES BROOKS
1943-
CHARLES WILLIAMS
1943
THEODORE COFFIN
1948-1949
WILLIAM BELANICH
1949-1950
EVERETT PALM
1950-1951
G. DURWOOD MAYNARD
1951-1955
DEAN HOWELL
1952-1955
JAMES FLORIAN
1955-1958
J. KENNETH DOLPH
1955-1958
JOHN DAVIES
1957-
GEORGE McNEIL
1958-
PAUL GELPKE
1959-1962
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A SHORT HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN SAYBROOK
Saybrook was settled in 1635, the first settlement on the Connecticut shore. In the earliest years, religious services were conducted by the chaplain of the fort, which was situated at Say- brook Point.
The first chaplain was John Higginson. Appointed in 1636, when only 20 years old, he remained for seven years. In 1643 he removed to Guilford, becoming one of the "Seven Pillars" of the church there. Later he became minister of the church at Salem, Massachusetts, founded by his father; where he remained until his death in 1708 at the age of 92.
The second chaplain was the Reverend Thomas Peters. Mr. Peters served from 1643 until 1646, when he left to assist John Winthrop the younger in establishing a settlement at Pequot, later called New London.
In 1646, with the help and advice of the Reverend Thomas Hooker of Hartford, a Church of Christ was formally organized in the Great Hall of the fort; and its first ordained minister was installed, the Reverend James Fitch. In the same year the first Meeeting House was built, probably by William Bushnell, on Church Street, later called Middle Lane. Original Church mem- bers were: Thomas Adgate, Deacon; Thomas Bliss; William Bush- neil; Robert Chapman; Matthew Griswold; Robert Lay; Thomas Leffingwell; William Lord; William Pratt; and Thomas Tracy. The congregation gathered at beat of drum. By act of the General Court, May 20, 1647, the Saybrook Meeting House was required to have, flanking the front door, "a guard of six men every Sab- bath and Lecture Day complete in their arms" to protect the as- sembly in case of Indian assault. It was customary also to station an armed sentinel on a turret or platform on the roof to watch against surprise attack.
Mr. Fitch, aged 24 in 1646, continued his ministry in Say- brook until 1660, when "he removed with the greater part of his church to Norwich and was their pastor there till death in 1702, in the 80th year of his age". As a pastor he was in both localities zealously devoted to his flock and greatly beloved. Following the departure of Mr. Fitch and the loss of much of its congregation to Norwich, the Church at Saybrook briefly engaged the services of the Reverend Jeremiah Peck, son of Deacon William Peck of the church in New Haven. In 1664 Mr. Peck joined a company of inhabitants of the western part of Connecticut who removed to form a settlement at Newark, New Jersey, and afterwards an- other at Elizabethtown.
In the spring of 1665 began the ministry in Saybrook of the Reverend Thomas Buckingham, in his 19th year and "in the full vigor of early manhood". Early in the following year the residents of the land on the eastern side of the river, known as East Say- brook and later as Lyme, proposed to establish a church of their own. By agreement they took "loving parting" of the Saybrook Church, and did so.
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Although the erection of a new and more comfortable House of Worship was in contemplation at the time of Mr. Buckingham's ordination, no positive action was taken until 1676. At length it was voted that the new House should be a frame building 60 feet by 30 feet on the foundation and 16 feet high "to stand near about the place of the old one". The selectmen were empowered to em- ploy William Bushnell, Jr., to do the work and the House was ready for occupancy late in 1681. One of the windows of this House, a casement leaded sash with glass made in England, is still in possession of the Church. It is considered the finest of the only three windows of the type known to exist. Windows of the first House of Worship were unglazed, being covered with oiled paper.
In September, 1701, Mr. Buckingham and other Connecticut pastors held a meeting at which each offered a gift of books "to found a College in this Colony". These pastors petitioned the Gen- eral Assembly for a College Charter, which was granted them. On the 11th of November following, seven of the men, designated Trustees, met at Saybrook and founded the Collegiate School later known as Yale College and then Yale University. Nathaniel Lynde, a member of the Saybrook Church, gave the School the use of a house as long as the School should remain in Saybrook, and in his house or in Mr. Buckingham's parsonage the first Commencement was held September 13, 1702.
In 1708 Mr. Buckingham served as a Moderator of a Synod of Connecticut churches convened in Saybrook on September 13 "to consider and agree upon those methods and rules for the management of ecclesiastical discipline which by them shall be judged agreeable and conformable to the will of God". Of the four lay members of the Synod, two, Robert Chapman and William Parker, were members of this Church. The Saybrook Platform drawn up by the Synod was accepted by most of the churches of Connecticut, harmonizing their methods and bringing them into closer fellowship.
On April 1, 1709, Mr. Buckingham died, in his 63rd year. Until his death he was the presiding genius of the Collegiate School he had helped to found.
His successor in the ministry was the Reverend Azariah Ma- ther, 24, a grandnephew of the Reverend Dr. Increase Mather, President of Harvard College; a cousin of Cotton Mather, and a graduate of the Collegiate School in Saybrook, in the class of 1705.
In 1716, by vote of the Trustees, the Collegiate School removed to New Haven. In 1722, by act of the General Assembly, the Sec- ond Ecclesiastical Society of Saybrook was incorporated and soon thereafter built a meeting house in Centerbrook forming the nu- cleus of the town of Essex. A third society was incorporated in 1724 and on June 29, 1726, organized the Westbrook church with six male and eight female members.
By 1726 the spread of population inland from Saybrook Point had made plain the need for a new Meeting House more centrally
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situated. By the generosity of John and Isaac Pratt, father and son, the triangular piece of land at the junction of College Street and Pennywise Lane was donated to the Ecclesiastical Society. There, in 1726, a new Meeting House was built, 38 feet by 48 feet, at a cost of £450, or about $1,600. It stood on an east-west line with a large door on the south side, the pulpit standing against the north wall.
Mr. Mather continued his ministry until 1732 and thereafter lived in Saybrook until his death in 1737, in his 52nd year. At his separation from the ministry the Church had 48 members, 33 female and 15 male.
After a period of four years in which the Church had no regular pastor, the Reverend William Hart was appointed to the ministry in 1736, aged 23, a graduate of Yale in the class of 1732. A man of distinguished talents, unusually beloved, Mr. Hart continued as minister of the Church until his death in 1784, in the 72nd year of his age and the 48th year of his ministry.
In 1783, Mr. Hart being in failnig health, the Reverend Fred- erick W. Hotchkiss, aged 20, had been ordained as Mr. Hart's colleague. Upon the death of Mr. Hart, Mr. Hotchkiss succeeded to the ministry. A graduate of Yale in the class of 1778, Mr. Hotchkiss in 1779 had taken part in resisting an attack by British troops against New Haven; in this battle his father and two of his uncles were killed. Upon his ordination in Saybrook Mr. Hotch- kiss, "very young and inexperienced" - his own words - had a church of 69 members, 31 male and 38 female.
In 1793 a tower was added, 67 years after the Church was built. The following year a bell was hung. This bell played a large part in the life of the community. It was rung at noon and at nine at night, except on Saturdays when the evening hour was eight. In the event of death in the community a few strokes of the bell were sounded to attract attention followed by tolling, one stroke for each year of the deceased person's age. If friends requested, it was again tolled at the close of the funeral service.
Mr. Hotchkiss remained pastor of this Church for sixty-one years, through times of great change. In 1814 some members of the Church and the Ecclesiastical Society left to join the Episcopal Church of Essex. More left to join Grace Church, organized in Saybrook in 1830. In 1818 a new Constitution became the law of Connecticut, separating Church and State. Prior to that time the Church was an integral part of the town, supported by taxes and with its affairs under control of town meeting. The Ecclesiastical Society was the organized and legally chartered body which did the secular business of the Church when it ceased to be done in town meeting. After 1818 the Church no longer received support from taxes.
In 1838, at the suggestion of Mr. Hotchkiss, a colleague was ordained, the Reverend Ethan B. Crane, aged 27. In November of that year a committee was appointed to solicit subscriptions for a new House of Worship. The committee members were Amos
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Sheffield, William Willard, Elisha Sill, Josiah Dibble and Dr. Asa King. Sixteen persons subscribed amounts from $100 to $300; others subscribed lesser sums; and two gave $500 each. Con- struction of the Church was undertaken under the direction of a committee of three - Amos Sheffield, George Pratt and George Dickenson - at a site across Main Street from the old Church.
On July 4, 1839 the corner stone of this new House of Wor- ship, the fourth Church building, was laid with religious ceremony in the presence of a large assembly. The stone is in the northwest corner of the underpinning. A lead box containing a variety of documents is in the under side of this stone overlaid with Roman cement.
As a preliminary to building, a work shop of substantial size was constructed on the northeast corner of the green. On com- pletion of the Church the shop was sold and moved to a location just east of the Acton Library where it was enlarged with two small shops on the first floor, the meeting hall of Siloam Lodge of Masons above. Later the building was acquired by the Masons and moved 300 ft. west to its present location on the Old Boston Post Road, west of Pennywise Lane.
The Church in 1840 was a rectangular structure with side galleries and without the bay on the east end. A story concerning its erection has been handed down through the generations. The entire east-end frame was assembled on the ground and raised as a unit with the aid of 20 yoke of oxen. As the operation was to begin, the builder mounted the frame and announced that he was going to ride it up and demanded absolute silence from the spectators. Addressing the assembled crowd he said, "I have a broad axe in my hand and shall throw it at the first man who makes a sound". The frame rose slowly toward position. When it was two-thirds of the way up, however, one man, overcome by excitement, gave vent to a cry. The axe was immediately thrown, with what result is not recorded.
On the first Sunday in 1840 the new House of Worship was dedicated. At a special church meeting soon afterward it was voted "that the Old Meeting House be sold and entirely removed".
On October 18, 1841, by a vote of members of the Church, it was ordered "that its use should be confined to religious and ben- evolent objects and no admission fee should be asked at the door".
On Christmas Eve, 1843, Mr. Hotchkiss preached a sermon cel- ebrating the sixtieth anniversary of his ordination. He died on March 31st of the following year in the 82nd year of his age "under the skies of a kind Providence and with the warmest af- fection of all who knew him".
On November 24, 1845, it was voted "that this House be opened for the discussion of American slavery with the approbation of the Society's Committee".
Mr. Crane, succeeding to the ministry, remained pastor of the Church until 1851, when, in ill health, he tendered his resig- nation.
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The upper 16-foot section of the Church tower was removed in 1851 after it was found that a two-day gale of great violence had weakened the structure. This storm is remembered as creat- ing the great seas that destroyed Minot's Ledge Light off the Massachusetts coast.
Until the end of 1852 the Church was under the ministry of the Reverend James Beattie, a native of Scotland who became so much a part of Saybrook that many years later when he died, in 1885, he was brought here for burial.
Mr. Salmon McCall, aged 27, occupied the pulpit during 1853 and in December of that year was ordained. In that year also the Ecclesiastical Society decided to provide a parsonage. The sum of $2,000 was subscribed and the parsonage was built the same year. This building was the residence of Church ministers until 1955. The Reverend Mr. McCall, "a studious and learned man", remained pastor until 1871, later serving in East Haddam where he died in 1889.
In April 1872, Mr. McCall's successor was installed, the Reverend Dr. Francis N. Zabriskie. For two years previously, young people of the Church had been seeking subscriptions to purchase a pipe organ, to replace the cabinet organ then in ser- vice. In 1872 the required sum of $2,000 was reached and the organ was installed in the gallery over the Church entrance. The first musical instrument used in the Church was a bass viol, in 1806; this was followed by a violin, a melodion in 1844, and then the cabinet organ and pipe organ. A pitch pipe which was used in the first and second Meeting Houses is now in the museum of the Acton Library, a gift of William Tully. Also in the Library by gift of William Tully is an hour glass used in the Church for many years, for timing services.
At this time the Church had no building suitable for confer- ences or social activities. When the need arose it had access to the hall on the second floor of a building across the street at the entrance to Pennywise Lane. This had originally been erected as a Methodist meeting house and later converted with store and post office on ground floor and a "Town Hall" finished off above. It stood on the north side of and immediately adjacent to the pre- sent James Pharmacy.
Mr. Zabriskie believing that a building should be provided for church social activities, funds were subscribed and a chapel was built and dedicated in 1875. In the summer of 1876 Mr. Za- briskie resigned, more than 80 persons having been added to the Church membership during his ministry.
The Reverend Richard B. Thurston was called to the pastor- ate and began his ministry December 31, 1876. He remained only four and a half years, but during this time the Church was re- modeled with the addition of the bay on the east end to accommo- date the pulpit alcove and organ loft, the present pulpit re- placing he original one and the organ being brought down from the gallery over the front entrance. At the same time the side
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galleries were removed. Thirty-six members were added to the Church during Mr. Thurston's ministry.
The Reverend William D. Sexton commenced preaching on June 26, 1881, and was ordained and installed as pastor on August 3rd, aged 28. Born in Ohio, Mr. Sexion served three and a half years until in answer to a call from his native state, he resigned.
Mr. Sexton was succeeded by the Reverend Bernard L. Paine, who was called to the pastorate in April 1885. He was a diligent minister of the gospel, earnest and sincere in all his services. but his bodily strength was not great. He died suddenly of a heart attack on June 11, 1894. A memorial in the Church record bears "testimony to the singleness of purpose and the Godly sincerity with which he discharged the duties of his office".
His successor, the Reverend Edward Everett Bacon, was in- stalled in November 1894. In 1893 the General Assembly had passed an act permitting the incorporation of a church. On Jan- uary 4, 1895 the Ecclesiastical Society of the Church, which had conducted Church business for so many years, conveyed all pro- perty to the First Congregational Church as newly incorporated, and on January 18th the Ecclesiastical Society was by vote dis- solved. During his ministry here Mr. Bacon presented the histori- cal plaque now mounted in front of the Church, the design and cutting of the lettering from which the plaque was cast being his own handiwork. In 1904 the Church tower clock was mounted.
Mr. Bacon resigned June 8, 1908, his ministry having received seventy-two members into fellowship.
The following January, the Reverend Luther M. Strayer was called to the pastorate. In 1912 both Church and parish house were lighted with electricity, the gift of a generous family of the parish. Mr. Strayer resigned in 1913.
For some months the pulpit was occupied by the Reverend Gerhart Wilson, whose pastorate was notable for bringing many new members into the Church. Mr. Wilson was called to accept the ministry, but declined; and in January 1915 the Reverend William F. White was installed. Mr. White remained until 1921, when he left to return to the pastorate at Trumbull, Connectcut, which he had held from 1890 until 1900.
In December 1922 the Reverend Nathaniel Hankemeyer, being called, accepted. Mr. Hankemeyer's ministry was interrupted the following year in order that he might perform special service else- where. In this interval this Church temporarily federated with Grace Church for services of worship, an arrangement which was both gracious and beneficial and which led to a lasting sense of closer relationship. Mr. Hankemeyer returned, but his ministry was cut short by recurring ill health culminating in his resigna- tion in 1925 and his sudden death soon afterward. This occurred as a meetng was assembling to act upon his resignation. He was much beloved and the meeting became a brief memorial service.
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In October of that year Dr. Herbert P. Woodin of Brattle- boro, Vermont, having been recommended by a pulpit committee and after preaching as a candidate, accepted a unanimous call to this Church. He took up his duties here the following month.
The need of replacing the pipe organ originally installed in 1872 led to the installation of a Hammond electric organ in December, 1935, with a dedicatory concert prior to the Christmas exercises.
In the spring of 1938, at the urgent request of Dr. Woodin, the Church voted to engage an assistant to work with the young people and assume some of the pulpit duties. George L. Greene, a student having completed two years at Yale Theological Seminary, was engaged and was here during week ends of his final two years at Yale. His work with the young people was highly successful and as time elapsed he took increasing responsibility for the morn- ing preaching services.
In 1940 the Church held exercises commemorating the 100th anniversary of the erection of the present Church building, Deacon Frederick S. Chapman speaking on "The Church Building" and Dr. Woodin on "What the Church Means to Me".
Dr. Woodin's resignation was presented at the annual meet- ing in January, 1942, and as a token of appreciation of his long service and the esteem in which he was held he was designated Pastor Emeritus. During the pastorate of Dr. Woodin, 111 mem- bers were added to the Church membership. He died at his home in Takoma Park, Maryland, June 21, 1948.
It was voted to extend a call to Mr. Greene to become minis- ter of the Church effective July 1st. This was accepted.
A meeting late in January 1942 voted to redecorate the inter- ior of the Church building. The work, started in April, ran into unforeseen difficulties involving replastering the ceiling and side walls down to the balcony floor level and replacement of the car- pet. In conjunction with this work, Frank S. Pratt, Deacon Emeri- tus, paneled the side walls under the window rail and erected an archway over the pulpit together with fluted pilasters on each side as a gift in memory of his wife, Isabelle Booth Pratt. This work was entirely executed by Mr. Pratt, one of the oldest mem- bers of the Church, unaided except for mounting the archway over the pulpit.
In June Mr. Greene was graduated from Yale Theological Seminary, was married in Florida to Miss Marjorie Chindahl and was ordained in his father's church in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He assumed the ministry of our Church on July 1st, and was formally installed by the Middlesex Council of Congregational Christian Churches on September 27, 1942.
On August 1, 1943, a little leaflet, "Saybrook Sez" consisting of six pages, was started for Saybrook men and women in mili- tary service and was continued through December 1945, having expanded by then to 30 pages. It was published monthly, spon- sored by the Church, and produced by the following staff :
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Editors Jean T. Ayer - Dorothy L. Stokes
Business Manager Alice M. Valentine
Chief Staff Worker
Anne W. Sweet
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