USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Branford > A history of the First church and society of Branford, Connecticut, 1644-1919 > Part 11
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Branford has had few men, among her ministers, of larger personal worth than Thomas Bick- ford. He was born at Chelsea, Massachusetts, December 30, 1853. Graduating from Colgate, he was ordained to the Baptist ministry, at Taberg, New York, in 1876. His first Congregational pas- torate was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, during 1884-87. He then went to Orleans, in the same state, and, from there, came to Branford. After the death of his daughter, Ruth, in Springfield, Vermont, Mr. Bickford removed to Chicago where, for several years, he engaged in business success- fully. Reentering the ministry, he preached in Hinsdale, Illinois, and then at Stoughton, in his native state. In 1906 he founded the "Sea Pines School of Personality for Girls," at Brewster, Massachusetts, and achieved notable success, build-
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ing up a school that has attained excellent reputa- tion and is likely to be monumental. The vision which led him to its founding was one of educating the soul, as well as the mind and body, and of training young women to know and develop them- selves.
It was with deep sorrow that, July 5, 1917, Bran- ford learned that she had lost this former pastor. He died, suddenly, of heart trouble, at Worcester, Massachusetts. Mrs. Bickford and his two daugh- ters, Faith and Addie, survive him and are perpet- uating his beloved school. A man of gracious and winsome personality, of sterling character, tactful, and warmed with gracious humor, he was a true and lovable Christian gentleman and the wholesome influence of his presence will continue with us for full many a year. His character is the measure of his ministry.
THE NEW CENTURY
The last day of May, 1893, was a momentous day for the Branford church, for it marked the beginning of a pastorate which was to endure for sixteen years, or longer than had any since the days of "Father" Gillett. It was also a day of import for the new minister, Rev. Theophilus S. Devitt, for it not only witnessed his assumption of a new charge but was also his wedding day. Mr. Devitt came here from LeRaysville, Pennsylvania, and he brought with him, as his bride, Mrs. Katherine (Buck) Devitt, of his former parish.
In preparation for the coming of their new pastor, the parsonage was painted and put in order and the church auditorium was painted and fres- coed. The larger part of the funds were provided by the ladies of the Comfortable Society, tho the Ecclesiastical Society furnished some assistance. A little later the church roof was recovered, with slate instead of shingles, and new lamps were purchased for the audience room.
Mr. Devitt had first preached in Branford upon March 26th of that year and had been called to the pastorate upon Easter Sunday. The salary was fixed at $1,200 and parsonage (it was increased to $1,400 the following year) and he was invited to remain for an indefinite period.
The son of Rev. Frederick Devitt, a Methodist minister, and Eleanor (Cassidy) Devitt, Theophilus
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Devitt had been born at Montreal, Canada, March 6, 1867. He was one of a large family, there being eight boys and two girls. Three months or so after his birth the family removed to the States and became residents of New York State. There the young lad received his early training and sup- plemented it with a course at Syracuse. He has also studied at Yale Divinity and at Allegheny and has received the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy and of Divinity. Before serving at LeRaysville, he had been principal of a school at Smithville Flats, New York, for several years.
The early years of the pastorate were uneventful ones, for the historian, and we shall mention only a few facts. The first should be the gift, by Mrs. Lorenzo Blackstone, to the church, of a memorial tablet, in memory of "Father" Gillett, which was accepted and placed upon the left of the chancel. Its inscription reads :
In this Church TIMOTHY PHELPS GILLETT
Served Successive Generations According to the Will of God
The Son of a Godly Minister Born at Wolcott, Conn. June 15, 1780 Graduated at Williams College 1804 Where as Tutor he Aided the Beginnings Of American Foreign Missions
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Ordained Pastor of this Church June 15, 1808 Died at Branford, November 5, 1866
He Sleeps among the People to Whom by Word And Example He Showed the Way of Life And Who Loved Him for His Works Sake And for His own
Grateful to God and to His Servant A Daughter of this Ancient Church Has set up this Memorial
In 1895 it was voted to elect two additional deacons, and Herbert E. Thatcher and John J. V. Cuningham were chosen to that office. In 1896 one of the Jubilee Services of the American Mis- sionary Association was held at Branford, the neighboring churches participating, and in June of '97 came the establishment of the precedent for the elimination of the evening service during July and August.
The beginning of the new century saw a number of improvements in the church building. The choir gallery was enlarged, a new carpet purchased for the auditorium (the old one being transferred to the basement, where it did valiant service for many years), and the church was wired for electricity and new fixtures were installed. In all of these improvements the Comfortable Society had led the way and borne the major portion of the expense.
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On May 20th, 1904, Mr. Edward F. Jones pre- sented the Society with five thousand dollars, in debenture bonds of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, the fund to be known as the "Margaret A. Jones Fund," and the interest to be at the disposal of the pastor and deacons "for the comfort and support and maintenance of those who are attendants upon the services of said church, and who are poor, sick, aged, or infirm." Mr. Jones later supplemented this fund with another five thousand dollars. The gift was gratefully accepted by the Society and the church and resolu- tions were passed, thanking the donor. The fund has been a source of much comfort and blessing to the needy of the parish in the years which have passed since.
The years 1903 and 1905 were marked by the passing of two aged and faithful servants of the church. On March 5th, of the former year, Dea- con William Linsley was called to his reward. He had been deacon for more than forty-five years, and had served the church also, as its first clerk, for more than thirty years. On May 28th, of the latter year, Austin M. Babcock entered the member- ship of the Church Triumphant. He had served at the Communion table for more than thirty-five summers and winters. Sadly did the church miss these two faithful servants.
Beginning in January of 1906 and continuing for several years, Dr. Devitt made much of the Week of Prayer, calling in other ministers to assist, and
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asking for decisions for Christ, as the week drew near its end. These meetings were very successful, the attendance sometimes averaging two hundred and as many as seventy decisions being indicated by the cards.
One of the dramatic incidents of this pastorate came with the June of this same year, when, dur- ing a severe thunderstorm upon the last day of the month, the steeple of the church was struck by lightning. The damage was quite extensive, being reckoned at close to sixteen hundred dollars. The steeple was rather badly wrecked, and the ceiling of the auditorium was damaged, as was also the organ. For some time the tower was surrounded by staging and many people still have vivid recol- lections of having essayed the ascent of the steeple, to the alarm of the authorities.
A new individual Communion service was pre- sented to the church, in the spring of 1905, by the Comfortable Society and was used in the autumn of that year for the first time. The introduction was not made without opposition, certain of the members feeling that the antiquity of the older vessels more than offset their lack of sanitary quali- fications. But the new service soon gained in favor and overcame the scruples which it had first encountered.
The need became evident, at about this time, of a new parish organization which should include the younger women of the community. Accordingly, Dr. Devitt gathered some forty or more of the
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young ladies of the community in the parsonage parlors and they organized as the Social Workers, their purpose being to serve the church and to fur- nish a social life, felt to be wanting. How well they have since served their purpose is too well known to need further recording here.
This same year stands out as the preeminent year of Dr. Devitt's ministry in Branford. For a long time the town had been falling more and more under the dominance of the liquor interests. Dr. Devitt determined to make a stand and to engage in battle for a cleaner town. The result was a struggle to the death, which soon involved the whole community. The people of the church ral- lied, for the most part, to the support of their pastor and proved unselfish in their devotion to the cause. The sister churches and the other Christian forces of the town also bore their part. But it is to Dr. Devitt that the credit is unreservedly due that, on the day after the town election, the liquor interests found themselves beaten at the polls. During the six Sundays before the election was held the church had held Temperance meetings, in place of the evening service, and Dr. Devitt had given of his best, then and in personal labor during the weeks. The victory is one of which to be proud and it is most regretable for Branford that Dr. Devitt was not able to be on hand to carry on the fight the following year.
In December of this year (1908) Mr. Edward F. Jones died leaving to the Society, for use as a par-
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sonage, his house and grounds, on Rogers Street, with the provision that the land should never be sold and that the house be used only for the residence of the minister. He also left one thou- sand dollars towards the elimination of the church debt, and the additional five thousand dollars of the "Margaret A. Jones Fund." The Society accepted these legacies and sold the former par- sonage, devoting a portion of the proceeds to improving the new house. Hard wood floors were laid, electricity supplied, in part, and other changes made. The heating plant was also, later, changed from "hot air" to "hot water."
This fortune was followed by misfortune for, on August 22d, 1909, Dr. Devitt read his resignation, to take effect October Ist. He had received a call to a promising field in Winona, Minnesota. With great reluctance, after urging reconsideration, the church and Society complied with his wish and accepted the resignation, accompanying their accept- ance with a set of resolutions of high commenda- tion and appreciation. So closed his long and fruitful pastorate. Dr. Devitt served the western church nine years, and is now minister of the Cen- tral Congregational Church of Fall River, Massa- chusetts. Branford people remember his ministry as a period of happy, wise and tactful service and honor the man who was their leader.
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THE MANSE Presented to the Society by Hon. Edward F. Jones, 1909
THRU TROUBLED WATERS
Of the stern and troubled times which follow, from 1910 until 1915, we shall give little more than a bare skeleton of fact. Too painful are the scars of those years to be handled yet; too near are we to the conflict to have yet attained that calmness of judgment which will enable us, righteously and fairly, to add up the cost sheet of those days and strike a balance. A future historian may venture to assess the gain and loss which came, in that period, to Branford church, but the only judgment now possible must come from the consciences of those who sincerely followed the right, as they saw it, thru distressful hours.
Upon Sunday, March 13th, 1910, Mr. Seeley K. Tompkins, who had been recommended to the church by Branford people living in the West, preached in Branford. Seven days later he was called to the pastorate. Having been previously a teacher in the Iowa State Teachers' College, Mr. Tompkins was ordained, May 16, 1910, at the First Congregational Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Branford being represented on the council.
Mr. Tompkins was born at Oak Park, Illinois, October 9, 1880. His father was James Tompkins and was, for twenty-six years, Superintendent of the Illinois Home Missionary Society as well as being pastor at Oak Park. The mother, Ella (Kelley) Tompkins, was of a Vermont family.
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Their child was educated at the Oak Park High School; Oberlin College (1901) where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa; Yale University (1913, B.D., Magna Cum Laude, M.A.) ; and has received the degree of Doctor of Divinity (1917) from Miami University, Ohio. After leaving college he taught at Oberlin, Carleton College, and Iowa Teachers' College. He married Sarah Ina Gil- fillan, who is of Scotch descent. They have four children.
Mr. Tompkins began his work in Branford on June 26, 1910. Fresh from the Middle West, he brought to the Eastern church a wealth of new conceptions and new viewpoints. The story of his pastorate is the record of the application of these to the Branford church.
For many years the church had been using the "Songs of the Sanctuary" for a hymnal, and a new one was much needed. In January of 19II, the church adopted "Hymns of the Kingdom of God." The month previously they had adopted the Apportionment Plan for their benevolences. Octo- ber 1910, the weekly printed Calendar came into use. In September of 1910, the church had changed the hour of their evening service from seven to seven-thirty. In January they held union meetings with the Baptists, and, in November of 19II, Mr. Tompkins endeavored to bring about monthly union services of all the Protestant denom- inations, but with only partial success. That same year saw the first of the special meetings during
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Holy Week, which have continued to be held in after years.
Upon the church calendar of Sunday, December 9, 19II, Mr. Tompkins proposed a list of three changes, which he felt should be adopted. The first was the putting of the hour for morning wor- ship ahead to ten-thirty o'clock. The second was the transfer of the midweek meeting from Friday to Thursday, or Tuesday night, in order that Friday be left clear for the use of the high school stu- dents. The third, and most radical, was the elec- tion of an additional deacon and the abolition of the lifelong term of office in favor of a five year period of service.
At the annual meeting of the church, on Decem- ber 29th, these matters came up for vote. The first recommendation, and the second, were adopted ; the hour for morning service being changed from 10.45 to 10.30 A. M., and the midweek service transferred to Tuesday night. But, when the pro- posal concerning the diaconate came to vote, the pastor's proposition was defeated, by a vote of 46 yeas to 54 noes. Mr. Tompkins thereupon offered his resignation, which was refused acceptance, by a margin of six votes.
At the previous annual meeting (1910) a com- mittee had been appointed to revise the church manual. Acting upon the stimulus of that com- mittee and moved thereto by objection to its use, on the part of certain candidates for church mem- bership, the church, by a majority of one-third,
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voted, in June 1912, to change the form for the reception of members to a new one which did not include the "Apostles Creed." Two years later the "Kansas City Creed" was adopted.
At the annual meeting of December 1912, the matter of the change in the deacons' term of office again arose. After hot debate it was voted that such present deacons as were willing to resign should do so, and Deacon Thatcher resigned. Another deacon was dropped, on charges, from office and membership. Mr. Thatcher was reelected, for five years. On February 4th, 1913, Mr. L. M. Barker was chosen to the diaconate, for three years. At the annual meeting of 1913, Deacon Charles Cooke resigned, and Mr. Joseph Lee was chosen for a five year term.
In 1913, the card index system was adopted for the listing of church members and Mr. Tompkins' salary was increased to eighteen hundred dollars. The next year a new set of standing rules became the law of the church. To these years also belongs the organization and continuance of a successful Men's Club.
So ends the bare record of these years and of the innovations made in the church life. That many of them were of great wisdom and much needed, and that they added greatly to the efficiency of the parish work, is beyond question. That they cost a fearful price, not only in a depleted member- ship and in alienated families but also in the agony of human souls is, unfortunately, no less true.
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The true meaning and interpretation of those years must be left to the individual conscience, to the future generations-and to God.
Mr. Tompkins resigned his charge on February 14, 1915, to accept a call to the Walnut Hills Con- gregational Church of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he has remained since. Branford remembers him as one who did his duty as he saw it, without counting the cost.
WAR RECORDS; THERE AND HERE
We come, now, truly, to the present generation and to our own time. The clouds of the great war were enveloping Europe and were fast shutting in over our own land when, April 15, 1915, Rev. Theodore Burger Lathrop was called from the Chaplaincy of Atlanta University, to Branford, Connecticut. The story of his pastorate, up to the present time, is largely a "war record."
Mr. Lathrop was born in Macon, Georgia, November 19, 1881, his father and grandfather having been Congregational ministers. His father is Rev. Stanley E. Lathrop and his mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Littell. She came from the Scotch clan Maclean. It is not surprising that Mr. Lathrop felt he must bear his part in the Great War, for his mother's father and his eight sons fought at Waterloo, while one of his ancestors was a captain in the American Revolution, and Rev. Stanley Lathrop was in the Civil War, and two of Theodore Lathrop's uncles lost their lives in the same conflict.
Mr. Lathrop graduated from Beloit in 1903 and taught, for two years, in Ward Academy, South Dakota. It was here that he met Miss Blanche Mullen, who was teaching music there, after her graduation from Yankton Conservatory, and per- suaded her to become Mrs. Lathrop. From 1905 to 1908 he was at Yale Divinity, where he was
REV. THEODORE BURGER LATHROP
Pastor May 30, 1915 Installed June 21, 1916
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active in university affairs. He served the church at Plymouth, Connecticut for two years, receiving also his M.A. from Yale, and then went to the work at Atlanta.,
Mr. Lathrop's pastorate has been distinguished for the large accessions which it has brought to the church roll. The largest number, at any one time, was at Easter 1916 when he received into the communion of the church forty-two persons; a record not equalled since the days of "Father" Gillett.
The present pastorate will also be long remem- bered by the fact that it witnessed the organization of a troop of Boy Scouts who have distinguished themselves again and again . by their splendid record, especially in war time service for the Government. Several other organizations, among them the Go-To-Church Band, the Get-Together Club and the Everychild Mission Circle, have owed their existence to Mr. Lathrop's planning.
On Tuesday evening, May 21st, 1916, upon recommendation of the Board of Deacons, the church voted to install Mr. Lathrop as pastor. A council was called for June 2Ist and the installa- tion service was held upon the evening of that day, Dean Charles R. Brown delivering the sermon.
A bequest of one thousand dollars came to the church on October 17th, 1916, to be known as the "Eunice Geer and Marion Geer Sheldon Fund." The legacy came from Mr. Edwards D. Sheldon, and the income is to be used for the poor and needy
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of the parish. The fund is administered by the Board of Pastor and Deacons.
Since the entrance of the United States into the war, in April of 1917, Theodore Lathrop had felt increasingly the call to service. Accordingly, when the opportunity came to him to enter the overseas work of the Y. M. C. A., he grasped it gladly and requested from the church, August 26th, a leave of absence. The leave was granted, and Mr. Lathrop was soon across the seas.
The record of his service is one of which Bran- ford is justly proud. From the time of his arrival overseas until January 1918, Mr. Lathrop was in charge of the Y. M. C. A. "Hut" of the British Base Hospital #I, at Etretat. From January until April he served in Paris, with the Library Branch of the Association, sending books and magazines to the men at the front, and in the camps. In April he had his first experience of the "front" having been made a field secretary and assigned to canteen work in the Toul sector. His final assign- ment was to the 3d Battalion of the 104th Infantry, with whom he remained until ordered home, because of illness. He was with this unit at the battle of Château-Thierry and did work of such excellence that he has been recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross.
While her pastor was across the seas the church was doing her best to emulate his example. The Boy Scouts sold Liberty Bonds and Thrift Stamps, served as messengers for the Government and
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assisted in a multiplicity of campaigns which defies enumeration. They also gave their drum corps to escort the contingents of drafted men to the station and for patriotic parades. The Comfortable Soci- ety met weekly, for Red Cross work, while the Social Workers took up the task of making clothing for the refugee children of Belgium and France. Several of the Societies purchased Liberty Bonds and Thrift Stamps. All of this was in addition to the private contributions of time and strength which were made by practically every person of the parish. And beyond and crowning these endeavors and symbolized by the many starred Service Flag in the place of worship, shines the Honor Roll of the fifty young men and women who were with the uniformed servants of their country. Nor will we forget that that flag has now one star of gold.
It was during the interim, following the depart- ure of the pastor, that the compiler of this little book had the honor of standing in the long and glorious succession of the Branford pastorate. He came in October of 1917 and remained until the April of 1919-a wonderful period of sacrificial service in the church by those remaining. The details of his service are too fresh to excuse recall and too few to bear much enumeration. It was a time when men were straining themselves and their resources to support the Government, and when the prevalent conception of the Gospel was one translated into deeds of patriotism. While encour-
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aging and reinforcing this, it was his effort to interpret the passing epochal events and to empha- size their spiritual significance. If he succeeded at all in doing this he counts himself happy.
Probably the two events of the Acting Pastorate which will be longest remembered will be the two presentations of the Christmas Miracle Play and the formation of the Pilgrim Daughters. The Junior Church ought also to remain significant. Along other lines the work was one of reinforce- ment rather than of innovation.
Mr. Lathrop returned to the church in April and has resumed the pastorate. May the peace record, both for minister and church, equal their achieve- ment in the days of strife.
So we come to the close of this survey of our heritage. The traditions of the fathers lie behind us-glorious is the sum of them. But the history of the Old Church and Society in Branford is, we trust, scarce more than begun. May the Great Head of the Church impress upon us more and more the obligations of our heritage, and "seeing that we are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses" may we "cast aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and run with patience the race which is set before us, look- ing unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Our Faith."
APPENDIX
THE MINISTERS OF BRANFORD CHURCH
John Sherman 1644-1646-7
Abraham Pierson 1647-1667
John Bowers
1667-1672
(Eight years of Candidates)
Samuel Mather
1680-1684
Samuel Russell
1687-1731
(Died in Office)
Philemon Robbins
1733-1781
(Died in Office)
Jason Atwater
(Died in Office)
1784-1794
Lynde Huntington
1795-1804
(Died in Office)
Timothy P. Gillett
1808-1866
(Died Pastor Emeritus)
Jacob G. Miller
1859-1864
Elijah C. Baldwin 1865-1878
C. W. Hill 1878-1880
Cyrus P. Osborne 1880-1884
Henry Pearson Bake
1885-1888
Thomas Bickford
1889-1892
Theophilus S. Devitt 1893-1909
Seeley K. Tompkins . 1910-1915
Theodore B. Lathrop
. 1915-
J. Rupert Simonds (Acting Pastor) . 1917-1919
THE DEACONS OF THE CHURCH
Chosen
Retired
Lawrence Ward
Removed
. 1667
John Rose
?
George Baldwin
?
Samuel Harrington
?
Samuel Rose
Died
. 1763
John Russell
. June 7, 1733
Died
. 1759
(Son of Rev. Samuel Russell)
Edward Barker . February 1, 1756
Died
. 1763
Nathaniel Foote
March 3, 1763
?
Elnathan Beach . June 6, 1763
Died
. . 1799
Stephen Smith
. July 4, 1771
.1771
Daniel Maltbie .November 7, 1771
Samuel Rogers .. July 3, 1777
Died
. I795
Zacheus Baldwin . December 3, 1795
Died
. 1831
Samuel Tyler January 1, 1800
Died . 1816
Samuel Frisbie . May 5, 1809
Died
. 1851
Eli Fowler . September 26, 1816
Died
. 1850
Harvey Page September 5, 1851
Removed
Jeremiah Russell January 3, 1852
Died
. . 1885
Resigned ?
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Chosen
Retired
William Linsley . May 1, 1857
Died
1903
John Plant .. 1860
Died
1881
Austin Babcock .. November, 1869
Died
. 1905
John J. V. Cuningham . February 15, 1895
Herbert E. Thatcher February 15, 1895
Reëlected . December 30, 1912
Reëlected
January 7, 1919
Frank T. Bradley .. July 5, 1901
Charles W. Cooke . July 5, 1901
Joseph Lee
..
. December 30, 1913
Albert B. Plant
. December 30, 1912
L. M. Barker . . February 4, 1913
Harry G. Cooke
April 6, 1915
Reëlected .January 6, 1918
William E. Hitchcock .. January, 1916
Abbott Page . January 23, 1917
Raymond Prann
.January 7, 1919
Resigned . 1913
Term Expired . 1918
Resigned
. 1915
Term Expired . 1915
Term Expired
. . 1916
. Resigned
. . 1919
Dropped . 1912
Resigned . 1912
Term Expired
. 1917
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