USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Branford > A history of the First church and society of Branford, Connecticut, 1644-1919 > Part 10
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In June 1868 the committee in charge reported the cost of the alterations to be, approximately, $18,500. From November to July while the altera- tions were being made the church services were held in the basement. In May, of 1868, it was voted, by the church, to sell some of the old Com- munion goblets and to purchase new ones. To these were added new plates, given by Mrs. Butler,
PRESENT EDIFICE Erected 1843, remodelled 1868
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and some new tankards, which Mr. N. P. Minor had provided, so the entire service was new.
When the redecoration of the auditorium was completed it became apparent that the organ was not adequate for the enlarged room. Funds were accordingly solicited for a better one and over $2,000 was raised, about two thirds coming from non-residents who had been born in Branford. The new instrument was made by the Hooks, of Boston, and has served the church faithfully, lo, these many years. The reconstructed building was ยท rededicated on Sunday, July 5th, 1868, Mr. Bald- win preaching the sermon, and Mr. Havens, of East Haven, offering the prayer.
These improvements in the auditorium were accompanied by and followed with other additions to the church equipment. New Sunday School hymnals were purchased and the church itself was furnished with "Songs for the Sanctuary." Pew cushions, a carpet, lamps and new pulpit furniture were provided for the new audience room. Down- stairs a new room was fitted up, for the primary class, as was also a ladies' room, and a furnace was provided for the lecture room. A cabinet organ was added to the equipment of the Sunday School and the Library was considerably enlarged. The Society recognized Mr. Baldwin's contribution to these improvements by adding (in 1869) three hundred dollars to his salary.
In the winter and spring of 1874 there was a considerable revival in the town, the pastor being
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assisted, during the month of May, by an evangelist named Underwood. About sixty persons are said to have been converted. There were also several other occasions, during Mr. Baldwin's stay, when the interest in religious matters was larger than usual but none of these times of quickening added largely to the membership of the church.
In January 1874 the Branford church was repre- sented at the birth of her youngest daughter, "The Church of Christ in Stony Creek." Back in the days of his pastorate "Father" Gillett held services in the little red school house, at the end of the town, once or twice a year. In 1863, or thereabouts, Deacon Giles Baldwin of Bushes' Neck began a mission Sunday School, at Stony Creek, which met for a few weeks of every summer.
The next step was taken by the Rev. Mr. Simons, of the Branford Baptist Church, who held special services there in 1863. The year following Mr. Baldwin began occasional, and then monthly, meetings and, in the fall of that year, a "Religious Society" was organized, having a membership of thirteen persons, who represented four denomina- tions. This society secured the money with which to build a little chapel, which was dedicated in July of 1866, Mr. Baldwin delivering the dedication sermon, Mr. Gillett offering the prayer, and Mr. Simons, of the Baptist church, reading the dedica- tory sentences.
During the eight years which followed quite regular services were held which were usually
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conducted by the ministers of Branford, North Branford and Guilford. In April 1874 Mr. E. E. Hill, of Fair Haven, began to hold regular morn- ing and evening services in the chapel, and con- tinued to do so until he was disabled in a railroad accident four months later. Mr. Louis Berry, then of the Yale Divinity school, was instrumental in organizing the little church. There were thirty- three charter members, eleven uniting on confes- sion of faith and the remainder bringing letters from Branford and elsewhere. The small begin- ning which they made has been prospered and the church has been of much value to the town and Kingdom. The present beautiful chapel was built in 1902.
The passing years had made for Elijah C. Bald- win not a few enemies and had alienated from him some firm friends. His efforts towards reforma- tion, which at first had been warmly seconded and had brought to him popularity, began to arouse criticism and then hostility. Moreover the recon- struction of the Meeting House had not been well financed and had left the Society saddled with a . heavy debt.
All of this was unfortunate but might, by exer- cise of good statesmanship, not have proven seri- ous. But Mr. Baldwin was neither a statesman nor a diplomat. He was just a good man with a great zeal for the Kingdom of God and an undis- criminating hatred of evil in all places. He had a somewhat tactless tongue and used it in a way
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which stung, tho it was intended to cure. Soon his crowded audiences fell away and it became evident that his ministrations were not building up the Church Visible.
On November 10, 1873, the Society appointed Deacons John Plant, Austin Babcock and William Linsley a committee to confer with Mr. Baldwin concerning the matter of finances and other differ- ences. At an adjourned meeting (November 25) this committee reported. Their report is not a matter of record, but it resulted, after much dis- cussion, in instructions to the committee to consult informally with members of the church and the Society, and to endeavor to embody the prevailing sentiment in a recommendation as to further action. The committee obeyed and reported again on December 30th. Another long debate was held and it was then decided to request a committee to report the sense of the meeting to Mr. Baldwin, in the hope that this might lead to such steps, on his part, as would render further action unneces- sary.
But no such steps were taken, and the affair was allowed to drift along until April 10, 1877, when a special meeting of the Society was called, on petition of several members, and Mr. Baldwin was requested to resign, his resignation to take effect by July first. The only result was a prop- osition, made by the pastor to the church, on August 10th, that he relinquish the pastorate at the end of the year 1877, and that the church then
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unite with him in calling a council for his dismis- sion. The church acquiesced in the proposal. On December 31st, after an attempt to have the matter reconsidered, which was defeated by a three-fourths majority, Mr. Baldwin announced that he consid- ered his pastorate terminated and was ready to join in the calling of a council. The Society granted him the use of the parsonage for the first six months of the new year. When the church prepared, however, to summon a dismissing coun- cil, Mr. Baldwin withheld his cooperation, and the council could not be called.
The next step was an appeal, by the church, to the Consociation, at its annual meeting in May, which was met by strong objections, from Mr. Baldwin, against any immediate consideration of the matter. He was persuaded, however, after much urging, to meet the church in a Consociation session to be held at Branford on October 15th, at which meeting the Consociation unanimously declared the pastoral relation dissolved.
Leaving Branford, Elijah C. Baldwin took up his residence in New Haven and remained there until 1882. While there he edited two volumes of "The Home World," a magazine of his own origination. He wrote for this magazine and for the New Haven Colony Historical Society a series of papers, on the early history of Branford and upon the first pastors of the church, which were the fruit of painstaking and careful research and which are absolutely invaluable sources of knowl-
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edge concerning our first century and a half of life. For these studies and their fruit he deserves the eternal gratitude of our church and they far more than offset the difficulties in which he involved the Branford congregation in the last years of his pastorate.
The New Haven residence and literary work were terminated in order that an invitation to become Acting Pastor of the church at Cheshire, Connecticut, might be accepted. This was in 1882, and Mr. Baldwin continued with the Cheshire church until his death, which came on April 27th, 1890. He was buried at Cromwell, Connecticut, on April 29, the Branford church being represented at the funeral and passing resolutions upon his death.
II. C. W. HILL
Because of their recent experiences, the Society was chary of installing another pastor. Accord- ingly, when it was decided to invite Mr. C. W. Hill to fill the vacant pulpit, he was merely requested to supply it for one year, from April Ist, 1878. The salary was the not very generous one of one thou- sand dollars. Mr. Hill was a graduate of Bowdoin College and had been preaching at the Stony Creek church while studying theology at Yale Divinity School. Shortly after coming to Branford he married a Miss Macomber, a young lady from Maine, who was of much assistance to him in his work until she became an invalid, after the birth of their child.
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A young man, of pleasing personality, who preached entirely without notes, the new minister soon became very popular, especially with the young people of the parish. He joined freely in their social gatherings and, being somewhat of an athlete, was a welcome participant in the sports of the young men. He did much towards bringing back the youthful contingent whom the previous ministry had alienated. In 1879 and, again, in 1880 he was invited to continue his services and, in the latter year, the church offered to unite with him in calling an ordaining council.
Mr. Hill entered enthusiastically into the contin- uance of the temperance crusade which had begun under his predecessor, but was more tactful and therefore more efficient. In 1880 a series of Union Temperance meetings were begun which continued monthly and which were productive of awakened and sustained interest. During the previous year it had been decided to revise the membership roll of the church and forty-four names, mostly non- residents, were dropped, leaving a total of 256 active and 17 absent members.
Upon July 9, 1880, Mr. Hill resigned in order that he might take up work among the Mormons in Utah. Reluctantly the resignation was accepted and the church joined with the young man in call- ing a council, which met in Branford on Wednes- day, July 2Ist, and ordained him "for the work of an evangelist." The council ordained Mr. F. F. Jourdon that same day.
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So ended a ministry which had begun auspi- ciously and which has insured Mr. Hill of a warm place in Branford's heart for all time. After serv- ing in Utah for a time he went to California and from thence to the Hawaiian Islands where he was a missionary, for a number of years, at Hilo, T. H. He is still living and is pastor of two churches in La Mesa, California.
III. REV. CYRUS P. OSBORNE
In Mr. Hill the Branford church had known the enthusiasm of youth, which has not yet had time to measure the glory of its vision and aspiration against the stern practicality of the actual everyday ministry. In Rev. Cyrus P. Osborne, her next pastor, she found one who brought to his new charge an unusual wealth and variety of experi- ence.
Cyrus Osborne was a native of the Pine Tree State, born in Waterville in the year 1834. His first training was received in that alma mater of many a successful man of his time, the forecastle of a sailing vessel. His was the stern, soul-trying but unforgetable experience which Dana has immor- talized in his "Two Years Before the Mast." Osborne's three years resulted in the placing of the stamp of the deep sea upon his life and the planting of the seed of a desire which, tho it was to lie dor- mant for awhile, would, in the end, spring up into an unusually fruitful ministry.
Leaving the sea, after three years, young Osborne
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entered Phillips Andover, then Harvard, from which he graduated in 1859, and concluded this academic aspect of his education with three years at Andover Theological Seminary.
After a successful period of service to the church at Bristol, Rhode Island, there followed a year of travel in Europe and the Holy Land, a rare privi- lege in those times. On his return, the young minister was married to Miss Ella Smith, of West- field, Massachusetts. Then came the great conflict between North and South, and Osborne responded to the call to service by joining in the work of the Christian Commission, the Y. M. C. A. of that day, and rendered a good account of himself with the Union Army.
One might think that the years of training would be now completed, but young Osborne did not think so for he followed up his wartime ministry with only one year of active pastoral service, in Baltimore, Maryland, and then returned to Andover Seminary for two years more of graduate study. At the conclusion of this final schooling he accepted a call to Simsbury, Connecticut, where he was ordained and ministered four years.
The call to the church in Branford came to him on October 29th, 1880. It was accepted, with the proviso that the clause in it which provided for the giving of three months' notice by either party as preliminary to severing the pastoral relation be changed so that but three weeks' notice should be required of the pastor. Mr. Osborne remained
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one month more than four years, resigning, November 10, 1884, to go to the Presbyterian church of Fayetteville, New York, where he remained for more than a decade and a half.
But the best work of Mr. Osborne was not done in the regular pastorate nor in the early years of his life. He was sixty-five years old when the call came, in 1899, to affiliate himself with the work of the Boston Seaman's Friend Society, as Corre- sponding Secretary. The memory of his own boy- hood experience of the perils and hardships of a sailor's life must have come to him as he entered upon his new ministry. His service in the new field was conspicuous and he remained active in the work of the Society until his death, which came at Cambridge, Massachusetts, after a brief illness, August 18, 1912. A minister with unusual wealth of training, both from books and schools and in the university of a varied life, his was a mind of remarkable breadth of view, a heart of deep and thoughtful sympathy and a spirit irenic and ever fresh. Not only is he remembered, in Branford, for the good years of his pastorate but also for the happy visits which he made, in the interest of his special work, in later years. We shall ever be grateful that we were honored with his friendship.
It was during this pastorate that the old par- sonage on North Main Street was sold and the minister lived at Branford Point. The North Main Street residence had become objectionable because of the saloon which stood directly oppo-
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site. Efforts were initiated at once to build another house but difficulty was encountered in fixing upon an expedient site and the matter remained in abey- ance until some time after the conclusion of Mr. Osborne's ministry.
The work of the church itself was not eventful in these years. Several minor changes were made but very little is reported in the records. On December 31, 1880, the members of the church committee were made ineligible for reelection until after the expiration of one year from the conclusion of their term of office. Some time during the fol- lowing year, the small box which is fastened to the wall of the auditorium, next the door, was placed there, with a companion one next the other entrance, to receive offerings for public charities. A new church manual was begun, but was not issued until after the coming of Mr. Bake. Upon the last day of 1881 it was decided to henceforth use only unfermented wine for the Communion table. These, and the death of Deacon John Plant, a faithful and efficient servant of the church, in 1881, are the out- standing occurrences of the pastorate. It was a period of prosperity, but of no conspicuous events.
IV. REV. HENRY PEARSON BAKE
After the church and Society had offered the pastorate to Rev. C. S. Beardsley and had been unsuccessful in obtaining his services, a call was extended, November 9, 1885, to Henry Pearson Bake of Ticonderoga, New York, to serve as
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minister for one year from August 30, 1885, when he had come to Branford. The salary was to be $1,300, and the Society provided the Margaret Hopson house, which was situated upon Hopson Avenue, just north of the present home of the Swedish Lutheran Church, as a residence for the minister. Mr. Bake is of English stock, born in Yorkshire, and claims lineage from Abraham Pier- son, Branford's first settled minister.
The pastorate is principally of interest because it contributed two important organizations to the Branford parish. The first of these was the Com- fortable Society, which was formed, about 1886, with the particular mission of reducing the church debt which remained as a heritage from the time of the reconstruction of the building. The society took its name from the fact that, when it sought for a means to earn money, the task which came first to hand was the making of "comfortables." It was made up of the younger ladies of the church, and was highly successful in its purpose and con- tributed several hundred dollars towards the reduc- tion of the heavy load which was being carried by the Society. Nor did it cease with the accomplish- ment of its task, for it has flourished ever since and has ministered, upon unnumbered occasions, to the improvement of the church plant.
The other organization, to be born in this period, was the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor. The society was inspired by Mr. Bake, and is one of the oldest societies of the Christian
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Endeavor movement. It met in the church base- ment and was a source of great strength to the church life. It has continued, with unbroken exist- ence, to our own day, and is still active and influen- tial in the affairs of the parish.
About 1886, the Tabor Lutheran Church was beginning its career and the Congregational church, in the spirit of neighborliness, extended to the young congregation the use of the vestry, upon Sunday afternoons, for the holding of their ser- vices. The kindly feeling of that day has con- tinued as the new church has grown in numbers and in strength.
In 1886, the church building was repainted and in 1887, new lamps were provided for the entrances. About this same time, the Society, cooperating with the owners of adjacent real estate, put thru the road which is now Wilford Avenue, and also that portion of Church Street which lies between Wilford Avenue and South Main Street. The property along the eastern side of Church Street had been acquired by the Society in 1885, and was now divided up into house lots, which were sold, with the exception of the corner lot, Church and South Main Streets, which was reserved for the site of a parsonage.
Upon May 2d, 1887, the Society received a com- munication from Mrs. Sally Gillett, the widow of Timothy Phelps Gillett, offering a gift of two thou- sand dollars, contingent upon the removal of her husband's body from New Haven, by the Society,
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and its reinterment in the Branford Cemetery, the grave to be marked by a suitable monument; it also being provided that Mrs. Gillett should be buried, eventually, beside her husband. The gift was accepted and the body of Mr. Gillett was given a fitting resting place, close to the church he had loved. Mrs. Gillett died soon after and was laid beside him.
As the time drew near for the close of the second century since the reorganization of the church, the Branford people decided to observe the anniver- sary in fitting manner. A committee of twenty, ten each of men and women, was selected and the Bi-Centennial was fittingly commemorated, March 7, 1888. The historical sermon was preached by Mr. Bake, and was an able one. It was not printed, but the original manuscript is now in the possession of Mr. Charles Blackstone.
In many respects the pastorate of Henry Pear- son Bake was an unusually prosperous one for the church. Besides the events above noted there were several times of marked evangelistic effort, and the benevolences of the parish were very largely increased. In 1888 the new church manual was printed. It is unfortunate that the close of the pastorate was accompanied by enmities and dis- agreeable circumstances.
It is neither necessary nor wise to endeavor to detail the events which led up to the estrangement. Suffice it to say that, by early 1887, a marked antagonism had developed between a large group
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and the pastor and that, when on July 28th the vote was taken as to whether Mr. Bake should be con- tinued in the pastorate another year, it was only by the deciding vote of the chair that the invitation to stay on was extended. The next year the vote was decisively against the continuance of the pas- toral relation, and Mr. Bake resigned, July 3d, after having been given notice that his services would not be required after September first. The resignation was unanimously accepted by the Soci- ety, and was accepted by the church also, after the passage of resolutions commending the work of the minister.
Upon the Sunday following the crisis, the retir- ing pastor preached a sermon of such vehemence and fierce invective that it has not yet been for- gotten. The result was that, upon the next subse- quent Sunday, the house was filled to the doors with an expectant congregation, in anticipation of another sensation. They were disappointed, how- ever, for the sermon was a commendable example of restraint and of conquered temptation, being an eloquent presentation of the gospel of the Christ.
Mr. Bake went to New York State, from Bran- ford, and is still living, tho he has long since retired from active work. In later years he returned to Branford, for a visit, and preached again in the old church, being warmly received. His ministry was, on the whole, a very able one, and he deserves a lasting and grateful place in our esteem.
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V. REV. THOMAS BICKFORD
After the removal of Mr. Bake, the church devoted more than a year to hunting for another minister. They found him at Orleans, on Cape Cod,-a student, and a Christian gentleman. He was called to the ministry in Branford on the sixteenth day of September, 1889. The salary was increased three hundred dollars, and he was engaged for an indefinite period, to be ended only after three months' notice.
At the beginning of that same year, the Society had borrowed four thousand dollars that they might build a new parsonage, on the old Frisbie lot, at the corner of Church and South Main streets. Aided by generous contributions from the Comfortable Society, the house was completed the next summer and Thomas Bickford became its first occupant. It was an almost ideal location for a parsonage, and the house itself was an attractive and commodious one.
The congregation rallied about the new pastor and good feeling was more universal than it had been for many years. The Branford people found in him a friend and a quiet, tactful leader. Sym- bolic of this united spirit was the "Collation and Roll Call" which was held on October 29, 1890. The roll call was held in the auditorium and was responded to by about two hundred persons, by word of mouth or by letter. The church then adjourned to the vestry, and three hundred gath-
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ered about the generous supper tables. After the family meal there were toasts and felicitations, and an original hymn, written by the pastor, was sung. Altogether, it was a memorable evening. One item of interest connected with it is that it was in preparation for that occasion that the last of the wooden slips, which formerly filled the vestry, was removed.
A tablet, in memory of the ministry of Philemon Robbins, was offered, by Mr. Robbins Battell, of Norfolk, Connecticut, one of the descendants of the former pastor, to the Society and was gratefully accepted. The tablet was a large bronze one, and was placed on the wall at the right of the chancel. It bears the following inscription :
In Memory of PHILEMON ROBBINS, A.M.
Born in Charlestown Mass., September 19, 1709 Graduated at Harvard College 1729 Ordained over this Church of Christ February 7, 1733 Died in office August 3d, 1781, in his 72d Year
As a Pastor greatly Beloved by His People Esteemed and Respected by His Clerical Brethren Mild Peacable and a Peace Maker Strenuous in Defence of Ministerial Liberty Earnest in Promoting the Great Revival A Sound and Searching Preacher Holding Fast the Doctrines of Grace
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Mr. Bickford's ministry was marked by large additions to the church roll, nearly one hundred being added during his three years of service. He also endeavored to revise the roll, eliminating errors which had crept in. It is said, tho the matter is not certain, that the Woman's Missionary Society was organized at this time.
November 25th, 1892, Mr. Bickford resigned, requesting that the three months clause be waived and that he be permitted to leave December first. The church and Society granted the necessary per- mission, and Mr. Bickford removed to Springfield, Vermont, the reason given being the dangerous ill- ness of his daughter.
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