USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Guilford > A history of Christ Episcopal Church in Guilford, Connecticut : an address delivered by the Rector, Rev. William G. Andrews, in September, 1894, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the parish > Part 3
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Early History of
had been a collector of rates in the First Society, and in the discharge of his official duty had been required to enforce pay- ment thirteen years before on the separatists from that Society, who established the Fourth.1 I think that none of his posterity now reside here. Among those found in other places is at least one clergyman, also descended from Nathaniel Johnson.2 Thomas Walstone must have removed from Branford to Guil- ford before 1747.3 He interests us as the earliest of the Guil- ford conformists, as far as yet appears from the records. He is now represented among our communicants. David Naughty's name survives in various traditions, and his house seems to have stood nearly where this church now stands. The first baptisms known to have been performed here were those of two of his servants (1739). He had been one of the founders of the Fourth Society, and in his old age he apparently became an attendant at the First Church.4 Of Caleb Wetmore, as of Hez- ekiah Bishop, I have not searched the town records far enough to secure other information. Abijah Watrous (the name appears in several forms, being long a prominent one) was the son-in-law of William Ward. These frequent relation- ships among members of the congregation show how the parish extended itself along family lines.
The fourth of September, old style, was a Tuesday, and Mr. Lyons may have come hither from Wallingford, after hav- ing officiated there on Sunday. If so, and observing that Wil- liam Ward's father, of the same name, was then living in Wallingford, we see why Mr. Lyons, in the memorandum pre- sumably made by him, (accessible to you all in a facsimile,) first wrote, "at the house of William Ward in Wallingford," afterwards erasing the last word and substituting "Gilford." This house, the birthplace of the parish, stood very near the present residence of Miss Annette Fowler, in Whitfield street, facing the Green, near the northwest corner. It was on the home lot of Edward Benton, an early settler who has many de- scendants in our parish. Immediately west was the home lot of
I Smith MS.
2 The Rev. Samuel Johnson French, late rector at Sayre, Penn.
3 Christ Ch. Records.
4 Smith MS .; Record of the Votes, etc.
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Christ Church Parish, Guilford, Conn.
John Hoadly, on which, doubtless, were born, a century before, (1643 and 1650) the brothers, Samuel and John Hoadly, who both died clergymen of the Church of England, and the elder of whom became the father of Benjamin Hoadly, who died Bishop of Winchester, and John Hoadly, who died Archbishop of Armagh.1 Next west was the home lot which passed, in 1648, into the hands of George Hubbard, whose descendants, members of this congregation, still live on it, and on which Bela Hubbard, so long reverenced by Episcopalians here and in New Haven, was. born a few years before the organization (1739). The first owner of this home lot was Jacob Sheaffe, grandson of Williani Wilson, canon of Windsor, who married the niece of Edmund Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury .? One of his sisters, the wife of William Chittenden (another being the wife of Henry Whitfield), lived in the next house to the west. A neighbor- hood having so many associations with the Church of England and episcopacy was a very proper one for the nativity of a con- gregation which not only claimed to be a part of the Church of England, but accepted episcopal government.
In the record of this first parish meeting, the wardens and clerk are said to have been "appointed," as also in 1746, Mr. Lyons being again present as "Minister." Later, the word "chosen" is used. The English canons gave the minister the appointment of one warden and of the clerk, (who then led, or made, the responses, and led the singing). What powers Mr. Lyons exercised in this case may, perhaps, be inferred from the fact that within a year he personally appointed the wardens at. Middletown.3 There were at first no vestrymen, and none are mentioned until 1750. The resolution now adopted to hold ser- vice "by themselves" implied lay reading, since they would not often expect the presence of a clergyman. And by means of lay reading chiefly, or largely, worship and religious instruction were inaintained in this parish for almost a century, or until
I Letter of Charles J. Hoadley, L L. D .; sketch prefixed to Works of Bishop Benja- min Hoadly.
2 Sprague, Annals, etc., i. 12-13; Capt. C. H. Townshend, in New Haven Journal and Courier, June 26 and July 15, 1884.
3 Lett. of S. P. G. (Harwood MS.), vol. B. 13. (136), quoted by Dr. Harwood in his "Historical Address," Sunday, Dec. 30, 1894; compare Conn. Ch. Socs. i. 41. 161, 296. The wardens of 1768 describe the action of 1744 as "the choice of Churchwardens and appointment of a Clerk." Ibid., ii. 127.
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Early History of
your late honored rector, Dr. Bennett, began his earlier minis- try in 1834, and the parish, for the first time, had the exclusive use of its clergyman's services. The traditions of the congre- gation affirm that the church, when built, was never closed on Sunday, and it is known that weekly worship and the observ- ance of Holy Days were maintained from the time of organization with scarcely an interruption, for many years, through the zeal and fidelity of laymen.1
It is convenient to divide the history of the parish, as or- ganized, into five periods. The first period, of about six years, extending from 1744 to 1750, was one in which the administra- tion of the parish was, properly speaking, in the hands of lay- men. Mr. Lyons rendered most important services, and was, not unnaturally, regarded by the people as their "Minister." But it appears that Guilford was not named in his commission from the Venerable Society, and that he had not the rights of a settled minister before the law. Technically the parish was vacant until 1750, as it often was practically long afterwards. Mr. Lyons came to Guilford three or four times before the close of the year 1746, when he probably removed to Long Island, and he made one visit later.2 Dr. Johnson visited the parish at intervals of a few months, apparently, and he was not the only clerical visitor. But apart from this, worship must have been conducted by members of the congregation. Among the first lay-readers, as he is one of the most interesting of the pioneers of episcopacy in Guilford, was, presumably, Mr. Edmund Ward. As he was "appointed" churchwarden along with Mr. Samuel Collins in April, 1746, he may be supposed to have joined the parish as early as 1745, and he was, not improbably, one of its founders. He was the son of Captain Andrew Ward, graduated at Yale College in 1727 (his name standing third in a class of ten, as indicative of his social position), and was or- dained as first pastor of the Fourth Church, September 21, 1733, after having preached to the congregation for two or three years. His pastorate seems to have lasted but little more than a year, and in 1735 he ceased to be a minister. The causes,
I Conn. Ch. Docs., ii. 126.
2 Christ Ch. Rec .; Lett. of S. P. G. (Harwood MS ) vol. B. 13 (136) ; Conn. Ch. Docs. i. :237, ii. 127; Dig. of S. P. G. Rec. 848, 853.
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Christ Church Parish, Guilford, Conn.
though not fully stated, were such as would doubtless have prevented him for applying for orders in the Church of England, had he wished at a later date to do so. They did not destroy his usefulness as a citizen, and in after years he more than once served as a selectman, and represented the town several times in the Legislature.1 Still less could they permanently exclude him from the privileges of the church, though ten years had passed since the events which led to his removal from the inin- istry before he is known to have appeared as conformist. Thenceforth he evidently was, and deserved to be, honored and trusted in this parish.
But while he and others were well qualified to act as lay- readers, it had long been customary in Connecticut to employ young men who were preparing to take orders, or had serious thoughts of doing so.2 And at length, perhaps in 1748, such a reader was found for Guilford in the person of "Mr. Samuel Johnson."3 This I take to have been the elder son of the Rev. Dr. Johnson, William Samuel, who hesitated between divinity and law, and who for several years acted as a lay-reader else- where. His task may be assumed to have included those of catechist and of a kind of lay-pastor, and he spent six months in the service of the parish.4 He became one of the most use- ful, as he was nearly or quite the most accomplished, of early American statesmen, and it interests us to think of such a man as probably fulfilling a lay-ministry in this congregation during the first period of its history. His brother William, who did take orders, but died in England in 1756, also read service here occasionally.5 But the young man who acted longest in this capacity was Peter Beers. He, as the wardens write in 1768, "continued with us better than twelve months, to our great sat- isfaction."" This gentleman was probably a youthful parish- ioner of Dr. Johnson's, resident in what is now the town of Trumbull, though I have not been able to find proof of his hav-
I Smith MS .; Town Records ; Hist. of Guilford, 100, 169.
2 Conn. Ch. Docs., i. 148.
3 Ibid., ii. 127.
4 Beardsley's Life and Times of William Samuel Johnson, 4-6.
5 Conn. Ch. Docs., i. 252.
6 Conn. Ch. Docs., ii. 127.
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Early History of
ing been either a student or a candidate for orders.1 He must have officiated at Guilford not far from 1750.
During this period the parish was making progress. Mr. Lyons wrote to the Society, under date of May 30, 1745: "The Church at Gilford increases. I administer the sac- raments there, and they read Prayers and Sermons."? Early in 1749 Dr. Johnson reports eighteen families of conformists at Guilford,3 and our records contain the names of fourteen new householders, as I suppose, in addition to the eight already. mentioned. But only twelve names appear in a list of rate- payers preserved among our documents, and dated 1750. This is the surest indication of the strength of the congregation at the close of the first period. A new parish was struggling into life in North Guilford, under the leadership of Dr. Johnson's brother-in-law, Deacon George Bartlett, and it is more than probable that Dr. Johnson included its members in his enumer- ation. Some of the names recorded in connection with Guilford certainly belonged to Branford.4 The new family names which may be reasonably claimed for this parish are, in the order of occurrence, those of Kimberly, Fraser, Judge, Norton, Pierson, Dowd, Welch and Chittenden. Some names may be those of parents who sought baptism for their children only because they could not obtain it in their own congregations. The Fourth Church did not formally grant this privilege to non- communicants until 1750, and in 1746 seven children of Thomas Norton, son of one of the founders of that church, and a gradu- ate of Yale, were baptized by Dr. Johnson,5 the eldest being fourteen years old.6 In this case, as in many others, the desire to secure the Christian rights of childhood probably led to full conformity, as Mr. Norton's descendants are still represented in our congregation. Among the other new names I can speak particularly only of those of Ebenezer Chittenden and his son Ebenezer. The former was a brother-in-law of the two John-
I Letters from Profs. H. A. Beers and F. B. Dexter, Rev. N. E. Cornwall, Messrs. D. G., J. B. and LeGrand G. Beers, and Mr. M. D. Mallett.
2 Lett. of S. P. G. (Harwood MS.), vol. B. 13. (136.)
3 Conn. Ch. Docs., i. 251.
4 Those, for example, of Micha Palmer, Ebenezer Linsley and John Factor, entered in the register at Stratford.
5 Registry Book, Christ Ch., Stratford.
'6 Talcott's Guilford Genealogy.
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Christ Church Parish, Guilford, Conn.
sons, and his conformity is probably another illustration of the influence of that family. The son who bore his name removed to New Haven, where he became a warden of Trinity Church, and his inventive genius brought him into association with the famous Eli Whitney.1 Another son, Thomas, was for about twenty years governor of Vermont, and in that capacity he narrowly missed being invited to consecrate a bishop in the person of the Rev. Samuel Peters, author of an astonishing "'History of Connecticut," and inventor of the "Blue Laws."? Another son was Bethuel, a very useful clergyman of Vermont, who strenuously and openly opposed the election of Dr. Peters to the episcopate.3 The family lived in East Guilford (now Madison), but the sons must have been, in their boyhood, mem- bers of this congregation.
The great achievement of the first period was the erection of a church, though it was not quite finished so early, and was not entirely furnished until many years later. The first record- ed action on the part of the parish is the decision to build the church by subscription, and the appointment of a committee, the record being followed by the original subscription-list, which contains but six names. The date as given is January 2, 1746, which, according to the legal usage at that time, corre- sponds to the second (or, more exactly, the thirteenth) of Janu- ary, 1747.4 The next step recorded was not taken by the parish but by the meeting of proprietors, or owners of undivided lands, including the Green. That body voted, April 13,5 1747, "upon petition of Messrs. Samuel Collens, Nathaniel Johnson and Ed- mund Ward," that they might build a church on the Green, "on the knowl before Mr. Naughty's House, nearest to the Middle Path.''6 The petitioners named formed the committee appointed by the parish to "carry on" the work, and this was
I Talcott's Chittenden Family ; New Haven Colony Historical Society Papers, i. 60, 73.
2 Documentary History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Vermont, 43.
3 Ibid. 21, 43.
4 Until after September 2, 1752, the year began on the 25th of March, in the British dominions, while all dates were eleven days earlier (for the eighteenth century) than in most European countries. But it had long been common to use a double date for the year (as 174 5-6), and sometimes new style was followed without notice, a very perplex- ing circumstance to modern readers.
5 Old style, which I generally follow as to the day of the month.
6 Proprietors' Records, vol. D .; p. 131. Since the address was delivered, it has been found necessary to correct the dates at this point.
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Early History of
the first meeting held by the Proprietors since their appoint- ment. There appears to have been no reluctance on the part of the Proprietors to grant such a privilege to Episcopalians, and. there was certainly no strong disposition to crush the move -. ment towards conformity.
The first subscriptions amounted to £270, four of the sub- scribers pledging each £50. The names are those of John Col- lins, Ebenezer Bishop, Samuel Collins, Nathaniel Johnson, Edmund Ward, and William Ward. John Collins, who has not. been named before, was, I suppose, the brother of Samuel, and one of the original members of the Fourth Church. He was at this time residing in North Guilford.1 Ebenezer Bishop was the son of Nathaniel Bishop, and married Meheta- bel, the daughter of Joseph Chittenden. He, also, became a resident of North Guilford.2 Most of these subscribers. paid more than they promised, besides afterwards en- larging their subscriptions. Many others contributed as the work went forward, including some who may not have become. Episcopalians, and more who were non-residents. A generous. Killingworth contributor was Mr. Benjamin Gale, doubtless the son-in-law of the Rev. Jared Eliot, and later well known both as a physician and as a student of prophecy. Nathaniel John -. son rode to Newport on Captain Stone's horse, probably armed with a letter from his Stratford brother to the Rev. Mr. Honey -- man, then near the close of his useful rectorship of almost half a century at Trinity Church, and Newport gave £113 out of about {200 obtained elsewhere than in Guilford. It is said that. nearly a thousand pounds were expended at this period, without: fully completing the church,3 and of this amount between seven: and eight hundred pounds must have been raised at home,. chiefly within, perhaps, a dozen families. It must, however,. be remembered that the sum is reckoned not in pounds sterling, but in the greatly depreciated paper of the colony, which may then have been worth one-fifth of its face value.4 Speaking:
I Rec. of Christ Ch. ; Talcott's Guilford Genealogy; Manual of First Church, p. 19 ; Smith MS.
2 Guilf. Geneal .; Talcott's Chittenden Family; p. 26; Christ Ch. Rec.
3 .6984 18s 6d. Smith MS.
4 Bronson's "Connecticut Currency," pp. 24, 52; 65; 74; in New Haven Colony His -- torical Society Papers, vol. i.
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Christ Church Parish, Guilford, Conn.
loosely, we may say that the parish and its friends in Guilford gave upwards of seven hundred dollars, in the course of three or four years, towards so far building the church that it could be occupied by people who cared less about their comfort than we do. But this sum was in reality a very much larger one thian it seems at first sight. When the price of ordinary labor was less than fifty cents a day, and one poor man gave the equiva- lent of three dollars, or more than the value of a week's work, we can feel that the founders of the parish, some of whom, doubtless, gave much more largely in proportion to their ability,
=
Episcopal Church
FROM A SKETCH MADE IN 1830 BY ANGELINE CLARK BASSETT (NOW MRS. DANIEL M. PRENTICE), THEN TEN YEARS OLD.
were capable of making sacrifices for their religious convictions. The early Episcopalians of Connecticut were sometimes accused of conforming because, by the help of the Society for the Propa- gation of the Gospel, they could get their ministers for nothing. In fact, the law compelled them to pay their ministers' rates ex- actly as before, and if the missionaries, making a shift to live on stipends generally smaller than those of the Congregational pastors, frequently chose, as they did, to apply the rates to the building of churches, the payment of lay-readers and the like, this only shows that ministers and people could both make sac- rifices. And in Guilford, the help received from the Society,
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Early History of
though of real value, was far less than was received elsewhere. It never became a distinct mission, and the chief burden always rested on its own people. Of course, I cannot answer for all the motives of all the early members of this church, but I am certain that, for the most part, they were such as their descend- ants and representatives have no cause to be ashamed of.
The church was of wood, in dimensions thirty-two feet by forty,1 though the accounts vary a little. It stood east of the middle of the Green, facing west, nearly in front of this church, on the rising ground, which was then somewhat higher than now. Its Anglican character was faintly indicated by the arched windows, and by the semi-circular chancel which pro- jected from the east end. There was no pulpit for nearly twenty years after it was occupied, and when it was first used the windows were only partially glazed. The original seats were probably mere benches ; square pews were built against the north and south walls, by individuals, in 1769 and after- wards. A little grove of poplars was planted beside it, and be- neath their scanty shade the fathers of the parish one by one lay down to rest. At the close of our first period, however, in the spring of 1750, the building itself had probably not been used at all, and the congregation must, during the greater part of those six years, have assembled in private houses. More than one house thus doing duty as an Episcopal church may be in existence to-day, among them the fourth dwelling-house north of the foundry in Fair street, built, I suppose, by Nathan- iel Johnson in 1746. Here, during the four or five years follow- ing, we may reasonably believe that Dr. Samuel Johnson often preached and administered the sacraments. Assuming this, no building now remains in Guilford which has a stronger claim upon us for reverent interest.
The second period of our history covers about fourteen years, from 1750 to 1764, and is defined by the rather infrequent ministrations of a clergyman who was, nevertheless, in some sense the minister of the parish until almost the close of the period. This was the Rev. Ebenezer Punderson of North Gro- ton (now Ledyard), who had, for about sixteen years, held an
I Draft of letter dated 1752, in parish archives.
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Christ Church Parish, Guilford, Conn.
appointment from the Venerable Society as an itinerant mission- . ary. Early in 1750 he took Guilford, with other places in this neighborhood, under his care.1 He had, what Mr. Lyons had lacked, a formal commission for Guilford, and this gave him, as he doubtless believed, a title before the law to the rates levied on resident Episcopalians for the support of public worship, al- though the local officials might not agree with him in his inter- pretation of the law. By an act passed in 1727 the collectors of rates were required to pay what was received from avowed con- formists to any "person in orders, according to ye Canons of ye Church of England, settled and abiding among them, and per- forming divine service so near to any person yt hath declared himself of the Church of England that he can conveniently and doth attend the publick worship there." In such cases taxes for building meeting-houses were not to be collected, and an organized society of Episcopalians might levy additional taxes for its own uses, if necessary .? The description of those thus exempted from the obligation of supporting Congregational worship was rather vague, and might be, as it was, interpreted very differently by different collectors and magistrates. In 1728. when the only missionaries in Connecticut were in Fairfield county, namely, Samuel Johnson and his young friend, Henry Caner of the town of Fairfield, the latter tells us that none were regarded as living "near" an Episcopal church unless they lived "within a mile or two." Episcopalians thought them- selves wronged by a rule which, if applied to Congregationalists, would have deprived every Congregational minister of a consid- erable part of his salary, and some of them exposed themselves to imprisonment by refusing to pay the ministers' rates. And when Mr. Caner proposed that he be appointed missionary for the whole territory west of Fairfield, changing his residence from time to time, the Society obtained a legal opinion to the effect that an appointment "to two or three places" would not release conformists from payments to the local ministers.3 But a more liberal interpretation slowly gained ground among Con-
I Christ Ch. Recs .; Abstracts of S. P. G .; Digest of Rec. of S. P. G., 46, 854 ; Beardsley's Hist. of Ch. in Conn., i. 166.
2 Conn. Ch. Docs., i. 282-3; Connecticut Colonial Records, vii. 107.
3 Conn. Ch. Docs., i. 133-5, 235, 253-4, 278-9, etc .; Beardsley, Hist. of Ch. in Conn., 71, 73- 4, 129, etc.
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Early History of
. gregationalists, and in 1736 Mr. Punderson himself had secured from Governor Talcott a recognition of his right to the rates of conformists living in a neighboring town, in terms which implied, what the laws in existence assumed, that citizens of Connecticut had a right to select the Christian ministry and worship which they should support, provided these were made even moderately accessible. Governor Talcott not unnaturally advised conformists not to refuse the payment of rates when demanded in due form, but practically recommended payment under protest, with resort to the county court for redress.1 Mr. Punderson, it would seem, had not always found this course successful,2 but in the majority of cases, and in the case of Guil- ford, it was not necessary for him to adopt it, his claim being promptly acknowledged by the collectors.3 The First Society might well have grown heartily tired, in its long and fruitless struggle with those who formed the Fourth Society, of attempts to control separatists by the help of the civil law. It is quite true that whatever friendly regard for the Church of England had existed among the colonists gave place to strong dislike when that church began to rear its altars in Connecticut and to gather around them bands of worshippers recruited from the families of Congregational ministers and deacons. But as a rule the First Society exercised much forbearance towards the young parish of Christ Church, and probably saved many of its own members thereby. This is more noteworthy because of what was taking place in North Guilford, where the Third Society (as it was then styled) was repeating the experiment of coercion with the usual results. The death of Samuel Russell in 1746 had been followed by a struggle over the succession much like the one which began eighteen years earlier in Guilford, except that the seceding party became Episcopalians. Here Mr. Pun- derson's claim to the rates was vigorously resisted, and the col- lectors, trying to gather them for Mr. Russell's son-in-law, Mr.
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