USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Oxford > A history of Christ Church, Quaker Farms in Oxford, Connecticut > Part 2
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13
46
10
0
Benj Stiles
26
5
-
John Tibbals
123
2
6
Abraham Tomlinson
-
-
-
Isaac Tomlinson
192
0
0
John Tomlinson
76
10
10
Samll Tomlinson
49
5
6
Wm. Tomlinson
58
10
0
John Towner
48
0
-
John Twitchel
78
0
0
Sam1 Washbon
74
2
0
Wm. Washbon
117
0
0
John Weede
82
2
0
Selvester Wooster
39
-
-
Thos Wooster
175
10
0
Timothy Wooster
117
0
0
5285
7
9
11
CHAPTER II. OXFORD PARISH SEPARATES FROM DERBY, 1741
Sharpe (in "Oxford" Part I) says "The first petition for the setting apart of Oxford as a separate parish (from Derby) was made to the General Assembly in May 1740, and on the 7th day of May 1741 the petition was granted in the following words:
Timothy Worster (sic), John Twitchel and John Towner &c dwelling in the (sic) and northwest part of the town of Derby,- Isaac Trowbridge, John Weed, Jonas Weed, Joseph Weed and Joseph Osborn, dwelling in the south- west part of Waterbury woods, in the old society of Waterbury, and Isaac Knowles, Joseph Towner,Eliphalet Bristol, John Tift and Aaron Bristol, dwelling in the southeast part of the township of Woodberry (sic) woods in the parish of Southberry (sic), moving to the General Assembly holden at Hartford, May Anno Dom - 1740, that they might become one entire ecclesiastical society, and praying for a Committee, &c - - - -
- the Committee reported that according to the direction of said Assembly they have reported to the above said places &c, and find and are of opinion, that it is necessary and best that the said inhabitants be made a distinct, separate ecclesiastical society and that their bounds and limits be as followeth:
Beginning at the mouth of the four mile brook where the brook emptieth itself into the great river, - and to run as said brook runneth by said brook unto the bridge that is between the dwelling houses of Abel Gun and John Holbrook, - and from said bridge by the highway that run- neth between the land commonly called the Camp's Mort- gage and the land called Quakers Farm Purchase, unto the river called the Little River, - and thence as the Little River runneth to Naugatuck River etc., all as by said report on file, dated May the 7th. Anno. Dom 1741.
"It is therefore resolved by this Assembly that the above memorialists, inhabitants of Derby, Waterberry and Woodberry, situate and living within the bounds and limits above described, be and become together one entire, separate and distinct ecclesiastical society or parish,
12
subsisting and known by the name of the parish of Oxford, and endowed with all powers and privileges wherewith other parishes within this government are by law endowed."
The first meeting of the Oxford Society was held June 30, 1741, at the house of "Mr. Samuel Twichels". Mr. Isaac Trowbridge was chosen Clerk. Isaac Knowles was chosen "modderator" (sic) for said meeting.
Mr. Caleb Perry, Mr. Ebenrzer Riggs and Mr. John Lumm were voted a committee to take care of the prudentials of sd society.
Mr. John Towner, Mr. Abiel Fairchild and Mr. Sam- Twitchel were voted a minister committee for the Present year, and to hier (sic) a minister upon probation.
Voted that "thear shall be a rate made of five pence upon the pound upon the list in the year 1740 in order to Defray the charges of hiering Mr. Birdsey, this vote the inhabitants on Rockhouse Hill are exempted from paying and charges thereof".
Mr. Ephraim Washband to be Collector and Treasurer. "Voted and past in said meeting that Mr. John Towner and Mr. Sam1 Woster shall be in with the first committee in order to take care of the prudentials of said society."
THE TWITCHELL FAMILY.
The family name is spelt variously as Twitchell, Twitchel and Twichel.
The Derby (Oxford) branch of the family are all descended from John Twitchell who was born in Medfield, Mass. in 1674. He moved to Derby, Connecticut, where he married Sarah Pierson, daughter of Steven Pierson and Mary Tomlinson. He was a selectman in 1712. His son Samuel, born in Derby in 1711 was the man at whose house the first meeting of the Oxford Congregational Society was held in 1741. At that time he was but thirty years old. He must have been a strongly religious character to exercise the influence he did, as all the first "Sabbath meetings" were held at his house. He married Hannah Hinman of Southbury, and his house is said to have been in Woodbury, but as Southbury was then part of woodbury, his house may have been in the northern part of Oxford.
In 1795 there were six Twitchels, or rather, Twichels listed as belonging to the Episcopal Society in Oxford, - namely,-
Mr. John Twichel Benjamin Twichel Abijah Twichel
13
Mr. Joseph Twichel David Twichel David Twichel, Jr.
It will be noted that John and Joseph are listed with the title "Mr.", which was only accorded persons of prominence in the town; they were both over eighty at the time. John had married Ann Harger and is said to have conveyed certain lands to the Episcopal Church of Oxford, Conn. In a deed from Joseph Davis, of Derby, to the Episcopal Church, in 1766, it is also stated that "a like deed was executed by John Twitchell, June 21, 1770 for near 18 acres of a new piece of land in the parish of Oxford, lying near the church."
Apparently, none of the early Twitchels lived in Quaker Farms, and no Twichel is listed among those persons signing the various documents relating to the founding of Christ Church.
The present Junior Warden of Christ Church, Mr. Stiles B. Twitchell belongs to the same family, as shown on the chart herewith.
14
THE TWITCHELL FAMILY Derby, Conn. Branch, Sons only.
1. Benjamin Twitchel m Mary Riggs (He and his oldest brother, b, 1599 in England. Joseph were the original emigrants to America)
2. Joseph m Lydia Johnson b. 1640 in Dorchester, Mass.
10. John m Sarah Pierson
b, 1674 in Medfield, Mass- moved to Derby where relatives of his grandmother, Mary Riggs had been living for a number of years.
52. Samuel m Hannah Hinman
53. * John m Ann Harger
54. * Joseph m Elizabeth
Tomlinson.
b. 1711
in Derby
b. 1713
in Derby
b. 1717
in Derby
Anne (Only child)
91.
95. 1
97.
98 .* 1
99.
100.
101.
103
105
106
107*
Edward Samuel John Benjamin
Jabez.
Wooster Isaac David Joseph Enoch David
b. 1737 1744
1746 1748
1750
1749
1742
1747
1752
1757
m. Clarinna Hawkins
239*
240. Anson
David, Jr.
237 Isaac m Francis Smith Johnson
b. 1777
in Derby.
482 Bennett m Polly C. Smith b. 1804 in Oxford
1025 Stiles Smith m Cornelia Eliza Marks b. 1838 in Oxford
Clarence B. m Genevieve Isbell
Stilès B. m Elizabeth Smith.
Those marked * were listed in 1795 as Members of the Episcopal Society of Oxford, Conn.
The numbers 1, 2, 10, 52 etc. refer to the Genealogy of the Twitchell Family compiled by Ralph Emerson Twitchell.
THE OXFORD MEETING HOUSE
At a Society Meeting Oct. 6, 1741, it was voted to build a meeting house and to ask the General Assembly to appoint a Commission to decide where the meeting should be built. The following is the order of the Assembly:
"Upon the report of Capt. Isaac Dickerman, Jr. James Talmadge and Mr. John Hitchcock, appointed by this Assembly to affix the place for the inhabitants of the parish of Oxford to build their meeting house upon, the said committee having viewed their circumstances, have set down a stake and laid stones to the same, at the south end of the hill commonly called Jack's Hill, and near the highway that runs on the east side of the Little River,
15
247*
Abijah
on land belonging to Ephraim Washburn, which said place the said committee report to be the most convenient place for the said inhabitants to build their meeting house upon; and the said inhabitants are hereby ordered to build a meeting house at the said place accordingly."
It was also voted that the places to post notices of society meetings should be at the houses of John Lum, Jonathan Griffin, Joseph Lewis, Isaac Knowles, Joseph David and Joseph Wood, and that the meetings on the Sabbath be held at the house of Samuel Twitchell "till ye year be ended."
In 1743 the first meeting house was built, and Jonathan Lyman was the first minister. His daughter, Abigail married Sergeant Nichols, and their son, Russel Nichols became a member of the building committee of Christ Church, Quaker Farms.
It is interesting to note that it was necessary to ask the per- mission of the State Assembly, in order to form a new Ecclese- astical Society and that the actual location of the Meeting House was selected by a committee of the Assembly.
It is also of interest to note the names of those prominent in the founding of the Society, -
Samuel Twitchell, Isaac Trowbridge, Isaac Knowles, Caleb Perry, Ebenezer Riggs, John Lum, John Towner, Abiel Fairchild, Ephraim Washburn and Samuel Woster.
16
Dr. Richard Mansfield
17
CHAPTER III. EARLY HISTORY OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, OXFORD; EPISCOPAL SERVICES IN OXFORD 1760.
With a strong Congregational Society formed in 1741, how did it happen that by 1760, Episcopal services had begun to be held in Oxford Houses, and that, four years later, in 1764, St. Peter's parish was established?
Probably the strongest influence was that of the Rev. Richard Mansfield, who, in 1749 had been made rector of St. James Church in Derby.
THE REV. RICHARD MANSFIELD 1764-1807.
Richard Mansfield, of English stock, was born in New Haven in 1724, son of Jonathan and Sarah (Alling) Mansfield.
He was prepared for Yale College at 13, but was not allowed to enter until he was 14, or in 1738. It was at Yale that young Mansfield affiliated with the Episcopal communion.
Some years previously, in 1722, President Timothy Cutler and Samuel Whittlesey had been converted to Anglicanism.
Young Mansfield therefore studied in an atmosphere favorable to the Church of England. He was graduated from Yale in 1741. In 1748 he determined to enter the ministry, and as there were no Bishops in this country, he went to London and was ordained in that year by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Dr. Beardsley says, in his History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut that "it illustrates the degree of Puritan bitterness which prevailed at that time against the church, that his own sister, upon hearing that he had sailed for England to receive ordination from the Bishops, prayed that he might be lost at sea."
He was appointed a missionary to New England, by the Society for Propogating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and returned to America in 1749 to take up his post at Derby, his parish ex- tending as far as New Haven and Waterbury, and it proved to be his life work, he being rector of St. James, Derby, for 72 years, until his death in 1821 at the age of 97.
18
ST. PETERS CHURCH FOUNDED 1764
St. Peter's Church, Oxford, was founded by Dr. Mansfield in the year 1764. This was the year in which the English Parliament, under Prime Minister Grenville proposed the famous Stamp Act, which was the first attempt of the English Government to impose taxes on the colonists, and even though this particular form of proposed tax was as little obnoxious as any tax could be, never- theless it was the principle of having a tax fastened on them which their own legislatures had not passed, to which the colonists objected. In other, and familiar words, "No taxation without representation". The passage of the act caused a great hullabaloo, in which, no doubt, the citizens of Oxford joined.
Dr. Mansfield was also the first rector of the Union Church, (now Trinity) in Humphreysville, (now Seymour). He is said to have been a man of indomitable zeal and energy, which certainly must have been true, when we consider the great extent of his parish, which had to be covered mostly afoot or on horseback.
He was forty years old at the time of the founding of St. Peter's, and thus in the full vigor of the prime of life, he un- doubtedly stirred the people of Oxford by his personality and preaching.
Episcopal Families in Oxford prior to the Revolution.
Besides the missionary zeal of Dr. Mansfield, working out from Derby, the other influence leading to the start of Episcopal services in Oxford, was undoubtedly the presence in the town of men and women either brought up in the Episcopal communion or who had been converted to it before their coming to Oxford. Who then, were the men prominent in the establishing of St. Peter's church?
The Rev. Mr. Douglas says,-
"In the town records of Derby is found the copy of the deed",-
"I, Joseph Davis, of Derby, in the parish of Oxford, --- for a valuable consideration of current money, --- re- ceived of Abel Gunn and William Bunnell, church wardens of the parish of Oxford --- do give, grant and confirm unto them, and to others of the parishioners of the church of England in said Oxford, one certain tract of land known by name of Meeting House Lot, lying near Oxford meeting house, being by estimate five acres --- to have and to hold to the said Abel Gunn, Benjamin Bunnell, and all the rest of the professors of the Church of England in the said Oxford". Dec. 22, 1766
19
The first record in the old record book of St. Peter's reads,- "April 6, 1769. At a Vestry held in the parish of Oxford, in the town of Derby, in the Mission of the Revd. Mr. Mansfield, Regularly Assembled and Voated in said Vestry that Arthur Wooster and Benjamin Bates of said Parish be Church Wardens for the year ensuing."
Also "the Glebe Lands or otherwise the use of said Lands belonging to Church of England in the parrish of Oxford was at an auction as usual bid off by Mr. Abel Wooster of said parish".
From these early entries therefore, we pick up the names of,- Joseph Davis, Abel Gunn, William Bunnell, Benjamin Bunnell, Arthur Wooster, Abel Wooster and Benjamin Bates.
Joseph Davis, listed in the genealogies as Capt. Davis, was the grandson of John Davis who located in Derby between 1685 and 1690 and became quite prominent as a citizen, taking part in all the business of the town and was a large land owner. John's first wife died and he married second, the widow Mary Gunn May 12, 1691. She died and he married third Abigail John Davis is referred to as "the Welshman" in the records at Derby. Joseph Davis was born in 1708 and he married Mary Wheeler of Stratford. Their home was on Chestnut Tree Hill, Oxford.
Abel Gunn, in 1766 was one of "the professors of the Church of England" in Oxford. According to "Seymour Past and Present" he lived on Moose Hill Road near Four Mile Brook and at the base of Moose Hill, in "an old red house known as the Capt. Nettleton place", but which was built by Capt. Abel Gunn who lived here as early as 1740. His name is mentioned when the new Society at Oxford was being planned, the south boundary of which was to be at "the brook and bridge between the dwelling houses of Abel Gunn and John Holbrook. Other members of the Gunn family seem to have been members of the Episcopal church, - the settlement in the Towantic section which became known as Gunntown, being the place where St. Michaels church (now in Naugatuck) was established, the site being close to the old cemetery which still remains on the Towantic Road.
William and Benjamin Bunnell. Sharpe's "Oxford Sketches" says,- "Aug. 1753, Benjamin Bunnell, Jr. and Ruth, his wife admitted to full communion in the congregational church", and 1783 William Bunnell married Sarah Dorman.
It is possible that the Benjamin Bunnell who in 1753 was admitted to the Congregational Church was also the man who in
20
the old record of Dec 22, 1766, already quoted was a "professor of the Church of England in the said Oxford'.
"GOVERNORS HILL"
The Bunnells were undoubtedly "persons of consequence" and, one of them, it is said, was unwittingly responsible for the name "Governor's Hill". John Warner Barber, in his "Connecticut Historical Collections", published in New Haven in 1838, says "Governor's Hill" is said to have gotten its name from having been principally owned many years since by a Mr. Bunnell who was considered by his neighbors as a lordly kind of personage and had considerable to do with the law, being engaged in many law suits for the support of his real, or imaginary claims. From the important and consequential airs he assumed, among his neighbors, he probably received the designation of "Governor".
"CORRESTER" (CHORISTER) BUNNELL.
Reuben Bunnell, apparently son of Benjamin, Jr., "was made Correster (sic) of St. Peter's 1788; Clerk in 1812; Treasurer in 1817. He was Senior Warden for 35 years.
A good description of a "correster " is given in Borthren's History of Woodbury, Conn., published in 1854,-
"In early days a custom prevailed in the mode of singing, which was done in this manner. A person was appointed to act as chorister, or 'set the psalm', who selected and 'pitched' the tunes; then a line or two was read off, when the whole congrega- tion joined in singing them, and thus proceeded alternately to read and sing the lines in this manner, till the whole psalm had been sung."
No organs were used and the chorister had a little pitch pipe like a whistle which he blew to get the key. In many places there was much controversy when the change to a choir was instituted. In Woodbury in 1734, soon after the formation of their Society, it had been discussed whether the church would adopt the new mode of having the singing conducted by a choir, or carry it on by the congregation as before and the meeting voted "that we will continue to sing the praises of God in the public worship on the Sabbath, in the common way wherein we have hitherto gone on, Leaving to every one their liberty of learning or not learning to sing the Regular way, and that when persons have generally learned to sing by rule, yet that way of singing shall not be intro- duced into the Congregation here, but upon farther agreement and in an orderly way.'
21
Apparently fifty-four years later, in 1788, the Oxford congre- gation were "still singing in the common way wherein we have hitherto gone on".
THE WOOSTERS
Several of the Wooster family were active in Church affairs. They were all descendants of Edward Wooster who came to America about 1649 and before 1652 was a settled planter at Paugaset (now Derby).
1769 - Arthur Wooster was elected a warden of St. Peters for the coming year.
1769 - Abel Wooster "of said parish", at an auction as usual bid off the Glebe Lands or otherwise the use of said lands belonging to the Church of England.
1779 - Ebenezer Wooster was elected parish clerk of St. Peters.
1792 - John Wooster. In the convocation of the clergy of Connecticut, held at East Haddam February 15, 1792, he was proposed as a Lay-Delegate to the "Genl Convention at New York in September next". The delegates were,- Messrs. John Ingersoll, Esqr., Thomas Belden, Esqr., Philip Nichols, Esqr., John Wooster Esqr., Mark Prindle Esqr., and Ebenezer Baldwin.
In the Wooster Genealogy, it says John Wooster had 500 acres in the valley of the Little River, and it speaks of his deer park. John W. Barber says "about one mile and a half south from the centre is the "Park", formerly a place for deer. About eighty or ninety years since (Barber wrote in 1838 so say about 1758) a Mr. Wooster.owned and enclosed about one hundred acres of land for the purpose of keeping deer. It is said that he had the exclusive privilege by law of restraining any person from hunting deer in the limits of the "Park". Upon the outside part of the enclosure, there was a kind of precipice, from which the deer, when pursued would sometimes leap into the enclosure, much to the mortification of unprivileged hunters." That was the origin of "Park Road".
1812 - Nathaniel Wooster, active in building of Christ Church. See later on.
ABRAHAM WOOSTER - "Abraham Wooster, father of General David Wooster, bought land here in Sep 1752, and may have inherited through the right of his father, Edward, the first settler in Derby, a grant of considerable value. At this time he is said to be of Derby, but had been residing in Stratford since
22
about 1706 until a short time previous to this date. That he resided here (Quaker's Farm), is likely, for in 1733 he sold his "mansion house near Munson's Corners in Quaker's Farm", and a farm with a saw mill to Samuel Wooster, Jr., and if the first white child was born here in 1725, as is said, then Abraham Wooster was among the first settlers at this place."
23
CHAPTER IV. DURING THE REVOLUTION
Mr. Douglas says, "There is no record of either parish or vestry meetings between the years 1775 and 1779, only the nota- tion that the Glebe lands were rented out to different individuals for £4." We will recall that this was during the troublous period when even the church services were discontinued in many places."
It is said that the same thing happened in Derby, -
"The scholarly rector (Rev. Richard Mansfield) encountered troubles during the Revolution when he was forced to flee to Long Island for a time because of objection to his devotion to the Eng- lish crown, but he returned shortly to resume his labors and as one historian states 'Dr. Mansfield's sympathy with the cause of the crown was forgotten in the piety and zeal he manifested to- ward his church, his devotion to his people and the meek but dig- nified deportment he exhibited towards all who entertained differ- ent religious views from himself".
Feeling may have run stronger in Oxford, so that the Episco- palians felt it wisest not to hold services, or Mr. Mansfield him- self may have decided it would be better to wait for quieter times before pursuing his missionary activities. It is well known that many of the Church of England people in New England were deep- ly attached to the English government. Some of them were large land owners and persons of property, and they disapproved of be- lievers in independence.
The Diocesan Convocation Records tell of an interesting Con- vention that was held July 23, 1776, at the house of the Rev. Bela Hubbard in New Haven. "The Church of England clergy in the colony were firm loyalists with scarcely an exception. When arms were taken up against the King, their consciences would not allow them at the bidding of the patriots to omit the prayers for the King and Royal family in public worship. Threats and im- prisonment did not frighten them or cause them to decline "muti- lating" the prayer book. They could not break their oath of alle- giance taken at their solemn ordination, but they were reluctant to close their churches provided they could keep them open with comparative safety to themselves and their parishioners."
"After much deliberation, they devised a form of service which dispensed with the use of the Book of Common Prayer, and which the Convention authorized for use.
"It was voted, that the following mode of public worship should be carried out in their respective churches.
24
1st. singing, 2dly A chapter out of the Old Testament, 3rdly Psalms of the Day out of the Old Testament, 4thly some com- mentary, 5thly a Psalm, 6thly a Sermon and lastly, part of the 6th Chap'r of St. Math'w, ending with the Lord's Prayer, all kneeling. The Blessing".
Capt Hawkins' pass
An interesting side light on the lives of people in Quaker Farms during the Revolution showing the Anti-Tory feeling is given in an article by Sharpe in the Seymour Record of March 29, 1894,-
"In Revolutionary days it became necessary to require of strangers traveling in New England some guarantee of their pur- pose and patriotism. Below is a copy of such a document given to Zachariah Hawkins of Quaker Farms, who went to attend to business relating to a farm of 200 acres which he purchased in Castleton in 1773.
Castleton August 5th AD 1780
May it please your Excelency Capt. Zachariah Hawkins is Come to this Town to Take Care of a farm he has here and some people say he is Toryfied which makes him a- fraid to Execute his Business But we have no suspicion of his being upon any Evil Design towards the United State.
This from your Humble Servants Percy Sturtevant ) Reuben Moulton ) Selectmen Brewster Higby ) To Thomas Chittenden
On the back is the following endorsement
By the Governor
the Bearer Capt. Zachariah Hawkins is permitted to Pass from this to Castleton about his Necessary Bizness he be- having him Self friendly to this and the United State. Arlington, 15th August 1780 Thos Chittenden
To Whom it may Concern.
ISAAC TOMLINSON JR. IN LONG ISLAND.
Further division of feeling is shown by the following letter from Isaac Tomlinson Jr. to his brother Russell Tomlinson. This letter was preserved by Samuel Meigs and handed down to his grand daughter, Miss Mary Lorena Meigs, and was presented by her, through the writer of this history, to the New Haven Colony Historical Society.
25
.
Long Island 12 Feby 1777.
Sir
I am at Last safely Landed on Long Island among frens (sic) not so far to the westard as I could wish but the wind being High we dare not venture ourselves in the Sound, night being just on us. when I shall have another oppor- tunity to write to you is uncertain but the first that offer, I shall Embrace. do all you can to Live in peace a few months when I hope you and all our friends will be pro- tected from the Rage of those usurpers who now bear rule. I am in good health and Remain your affectionate brother Isaac Tomlinson, Jr.
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.