USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Stratford > A history of the old town of Stratford and the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut > Part 33
USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Bridgeport > A history of the old town of Stratford and the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut > Part 33
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Rev. Ebenezer Kneeland was a graduate of Yale College in 1761 ; went to England for ordination three years later, returned to this country and served for a time as chaplain in a British regiment, and settled in Stratford ac- cording to the above vote.'
Upon the decease of Dr. Johnson, Mr. Kneeland suc- ceeded to the Mission in Stratford, with all the emoluments of his predecessor. The church wardens and others, in re- questing his appointment, gave these reasons for claiming a continuance of the Society's bounty :
" As Stratford is situate upon the great road from Boston to New York, Mr. Kneeland must inevitably be at a greater expense than any Missionary in the interior towns ; so that from the decline of trade, the death and failure of several of our principal members, from the increasing price of the necessaries of life, the scarcity of money, and the extraordi- nary expenses a missionary must be at here, we may truly say we have not needed the assistance of the Venerable Society more for fifteen years past than we do at present. . .. We are now endeavoring to raise money to enlarge the glebe, but, for the reasons before mentioned, fear we shall meet with little success; however, our best endeavors shall not be want- ing to complete the same."8
Mr. Kneeland served the parish until his decease, April 17, 1777.
Rev. Samuel Johnson, D.D.,' was born in Guilford,
7 History of the Church, i. 269.
8 Dr. Beardsley's History of the Church, i. 297.
9 This sketch of Dr. Johnson is taken largely from the Rev. Dr. E. E. Beards- ley's "Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson."
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Dr. Samuel Johnson.
Connecticut, Oct. 14, 1696, and was the son of Dea. Samuel and Mary (Sage) Johnson ; the grandson of Dea. William Johnson,-and his wife Elizabeth Bushnell,-who came to America when twelve years of age, with his father, Robert Johnson, from Kingston upon Hull in Yorkshire, England, and was at New Haven in 1641.
Samuel Johnson passed his preparatory studies largely by private instruction and entered Yale College and was gradu- ated in 1714, the college then being at Saybrook. He soon after commenced teaching in his native town, where he re- ceived, the next year, some of the Yale students and acted as their tutor until the college was settled at New Haven, when he was elected one of the tutors for that institution, and served until the election of the Rev. Timothy Cutler to the rectorship or presidency of that institution in 1719. March 20, 1720, he was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church at West Haven, where he continued to serve two years when he with three others-Mr. Timothy Cutler, Mr. Daniel Brown, and Mr. James Wetmore declared themselves in favor of the Episcopal Church. The same year they went to Eng- land for ordination, and Mr. Johnson, after securing it, and the honorary degree of Master of Arts bestowed by Oxford University, returned to his native land under a commission from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in For- eign Parts as a missionary to Stratford, where he arrived, November 4, 1723.
Here he found a few communicants of his church and a number of others in adjoining towns, looking to him for oc- casional services, and that therefore the work was great and laborious. This would have been true if there had been no opposition to the introduction and success of another denom- ination, but as it was, the difficulties and labor were great and for a time almost insurmountable and disheartening, but Mr. Johnson was just the man for the place ; patient, not particu- larly sensitive, not enthusiastic, but enduring in hope and devoted to his work. He very soon saw evidences of suc- cess, indeed no faithful pastor could labor under like circum- stances without success, and therefore as he had been sent here to establish and build a Church, and had a heart to do
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History of Stratford.
it, at just that time and place, he was successful in a very honorable degree. He had a decided literary and educa- tional taste, and therefore not only found employment as a minister, but also in efforts to lift up the masses in intellectual attainments and enterprises. He continued to exert a helpful influence at Yale College, which fact gave him a much larger influence in the State than he otherwise could have had. He found not only satisfaction in high educational attainments, but a force or popular influence which always reacted for his success as a minister, even though not put forth for that end, but in a spirit of general benevolence.
On the 26th of September, 1725, he married Charity Nicoll, widow of Benjamin Nicoll, of Islip, L. I., and daugh- ter of Col. Richard Floyd, of Brookhaven, L. I. She had by her former husband two sons and one daughter, and he at once began to prepare the sons for Yale College, where they were both graduated in 1734, and he doubtless had other students much if not all of the time he could devote to such work. There are evidences that his higher ambition and tastes in learning won for him and his church much favor even under the adverse circumstances in which he was placed. The record given on page 322 of this book as to the liberty to erect a school-house, indicates a public sentiment to this effect.
Mr. Johnson's labors as a missionary extended to several towns in the State, whenever occasion required. He visited Ripton, Newtown, Reading, Fairfield, Stamford, and as far east as New London, and occasionally Rhode Island. Besides his labors in preaching and administering the sacraments, he had of necessity, as the first and most prominent clergyman in his church, a general oversight of the interests of that body in Connecticut; in correspondence, in commending men who went to England to receive orders, and in con- sulting with companies in various places who desired to organize churches and secure the services of ministers. All these he attended with great fidelity and discretion, and his labors were accompanied by a large degree of success, but nothing very especially satisfactory until about 1740, when the great religious interests and controversies of the New Light movement occurred in the Congregational churches.
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Dr. Samuel Johnson.
At the Rev. George Whitefield's first visit in Connecti- cut, in 1740, there was but little opposition to him from the Congregational people. Very many went to hear him preach, and also many were very much stirred in their religious thoughts on the subject of being saved through Jesus, the only Saviour. And it is very certain there was great need of such awakening to the subject. The Rev. Mr. Gold had pursued a course of pastoral labor and preaching for eighteen years that readily accepted Mr. Whitefield's preaching, and many in his own congregation were awakened to, and greatly interested in the subject.
Some way, how is not clearly revealed, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Gold became involved in a controversial correspondence. To illustrate the character of that controversy, and the excited, deep, sincere feeling on both sides, and as revealing some history of the times, a letter from cach is here pro- duced, with the assurance that it is no fault of the historian that Mr. Johnson's letter is twice as long as Mr. Gold's.
Mr. Johnson's Letter.10 " July 6, 1741.
" Sir, -. .. I thought it my duty to write a few lines to you, in the spirit of Christian meekness, on this subject. And I assure you I am nothing exasperated at these hard censures, much less will I return them upon you. No, Sir ! God forbid I should censure you as you censure me ! I have not so learned Christ ! I will rather use the words of my dear Saviour concerning those that censure so, and say, ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.'
" As to my having no business here, I will only say that to me it appears most evident that I have as much business here at least as you have,-being appointed by a Society in England incorporated by Royal Charter to provide ministers for the Church people in America ; nor does his Majesty allow of any establishment here, exclusive of the Church, much less of anything that should preclude the Society he has incorporated from providing and sending ministers to
10 These letters are taken from the "Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson," by the Rev. E. E. Beardsley, D.D.
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History of Stratford.
the Church people in these countries. And as to my being a robber of churches, I appeal to God and all his people, of both denominations, whether I have ever uncharitably cen- sured you, or said or done anything to disaffect or disunite your people from you, as on many occasions I might have done; on the other hand, whether I have not on all occasions put people upon making the kindest constructions possible upon your proceedings, and whether there has ever been anything in mine or my people's conduct that could be justly interpreted to savor of spite or malice, though we have met with much of it from some of our neighbors.
" If any of your people have left you, I appeal to them whether it has been owing to any insinuations of mine, and whether it has not been many times owing to your own conducting otherwise than in prudence you might have done, that they have been led to inquire, and upon inquiring to conform to this Church. And pray why have not Dis- senters here as much liberty to go to church, if they see good reason for it (as they will soon do if they seriously inquire), as Church people to go to meeting if they see fit, as some have done, without my charging you so highly ? In short, all I have done which could be the occasion of any people leaving you, has been to vindicate our best of churches from injurious misrepresentations she has labored under from you and others; and this it was my bounden duty to do.
" And indeed 1 shall think myself obliged in conscience to take yet more pains with Dissenters as well as Church people than I have ever yet done, if I see them in danger of being misled by doctrines so contrary to the very truth and spirit of the Gospel as have lately been preached among us up and down in this country.
" And as to my Church being open to all wickedness, I appeal to God and all that know me and my proceedings whether I have not as constantly borne witness against all kinds of wickedness as you have, and been as far from pat- ronizing it as you have been, and must think my people are generally as serious and virtuous as yours. And lastly as to your censuring me and my people as being unconverted,
363
Dr. Samuel Johnson.
etc., I will only beg you to consider whether you act the truly Christian part in thus endeavoring to disaffect my people towards my ministrations, and weaken and render abortive my endeavors for the good of their souls, when I know not that I have given you any occasion to judge me unconverted, -ยท much less to set me out in such a formidable light to them. However, I leave these things, Sir, to your serious consideration, and beg you will either take an oppor- tunity to converse with me where and when you please, or rather return me a few lines, wherein (as you have judged me unconverted, etc.) I entreat you will plainly give me your reasons why you think me so; for as bad as I am, I hope I am open to conviction, and earnestly desirous not to be mistaken in an affair of so great importance, and the rather because I have not only my own, but many other souls to answer for, whom I shall doubtless mislead if I am misled myself. In compassion, therefore, to them and me, pray be so kind as to give us your reasons why you think us in such a deplorable condition.
" In hopes of which I remain, Sir, your real well-wisher and humble servant S. J."
The immediate reply to the above letter is not at hand, but another in reply to others is available. It is stated that Mr. Gold denied having made the severe statements alleged in the above letter.
Mr. Gold's Letter.
" Sir,-I don't wonder that a man is not afraid of sinning that believes he has power in himself to repent whenever he pleases, nor is it strange for one who dares to utter falsehoods of others to be ready at any time to confirm them with the solemnity of an oath,-especially since he adheres to a min- ister whom he believes has power to wash him from all his sins by a full and final absolution upon his saying he is sorry for them, etc .; and as for the pleas which you make for Col. Lewis, and others that have broke away disorderly from our Church, I think there's neither weight nor truth in them ; nor do I believe such poor shifts will stand thein nor you in any stead in the awful day of account; and as for your
364
History of Stratford.
saying that as bad as you are yet you lie open to conviction, -for my part I find no reason to think you do, seeing you are so free and full in denying plain matters of fact; and as for your notion about charity from that I Cor. xiii., my opinion is that a man may abound with love to God and man, and yet bear testimony against disorderly walkers, without being in the least guilty of the want of charity towards them. What ! must a man be judged uncharitable because he don't think well nor uphold the willful miscar- riages and evil doings of others? This is surely a perverse interpretation of the Apostle's meaning. I don't think it worth my while to say anything further in the affair, and as you began the controversy against rule or justice, so I hope modesty will induce you to desist ; and do assure you that if you see cause to make any more replies, my purpose is, without reading them, to put them under the pot among my other thorns and there let one flame quench the matter. These, sir, from your sincere friend and servant in all things lawful and laudable. Hez. Gold."
"Stratford, July 21, 1741."
In February, 1743, Mr. Johnson and his people began the proceedings which secured, within two years, a new church edifice ; and shortly after commencing this work he learned that in that same month the University of Oxford, England, had conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity.
The new Church was opened, though unfinished, by a sermon from Doctor Johnson, July 8, 1744, and he enjoyed the privilege of preaching in it regularly ten years, when in 1754 he accepted the presidency of the New York College, al- though he neither resigned his pastorate nor removed his family from Stratford.
His wife Charity died June 1, 1758, and while in the col- lege in 1761, he married Mrs. Sarah, widow of William Beach of Stratford. She was the daughter of Capt. Joseph Hull, of Derby, born in 1701, and was great aunt to Gen. William Hull. She died of the small pox Feb. 9, 1763, in New York. Soon after this Dr. Johnson returned to Stratford where he had a home with his son Wm. Samuel until his decease, Jan. 6,1772.
365
Biographical Sketches.
The interesting details of the ministerial, religious, and literary life and character of Dr. Johnson are well portrayed in his "Life and Correspondence," by the Rev. E. E. Beards- ley, D.D., of New Haven, Conn., in a volume of 380 pages, with a fine steel portrait.
In the history of the Colony and State of Connecticut, he will ever hold a prominent place, and in that of the Episcopal Church in America it would be ingratitude not to accord him the honor of being its founder, and earliest as well as niost successful champion and builder.
Thomas Salmon, born in Chippenham, England, came from London to Stratford, and married Sarah, daughter of William Jeans, about 1719. He was an architect and super- intended the building of the first Episcopal Church at Strat- ford. The tradition in the family says, he brought the ceil- ing, the sounding-board, the pulpit, and other ornamental work in that Church with him from England." If this was so, then it seems that there must have been some move- ment or efforts in Stratford to build a Church in 1718 or 1719, of which there is no record so far as known, or Mr. Salmon was sent to England for them. His gravestone, which, with that of his wife, is in the Episcopal burying- place, says he was "a worthy member of the Church of England here, and the ingenius architect of the Church and departed this life January 20, 1749-50, in the 57th year of his age." From this it may be inferred that he was the architect of the second Church, built in 1743, and if so he was "an ingenius" and superior builder.
John Benjamin came to Stratford about 1726, and in Jan. 1726-7, purchased " a certain messuage tenement and shop . . . . at a place called Pond brook, and one-quarter of an acre of land whereon the house and shop stand, the land being ' bounded all round with highways and common land.'" This property he exchanged in 1736 with Richard Rogers of New London, for a dwelling house near Stratford Ferry, and this he exchanged with Josiah Curtiss for land and a dwelling house and barn, "lying near the said Stratford Old Society's
11 Giddings Family, by Mr. M. S. Giddings, 49.
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History of Stratford.
meeting-house," and six acres of land "lying at a place called Intact."
Mr. Benjamin at once united in the support of the Epis- copal Church and his name is prominent among its officers nearly to his decease, April 13, 1773, in the 73d year of his age. His descendants are still prominent in the town. His grandson Aaron entered the Revolutionary Army when quite young, and served his country as a brave soldier and Colonel through that war, and lived over forty years to enjoy the honor and privileges of the national liberty secured by that great conflict.
Col. John Benjamin, Jr., was a prominent citizen, and served as organist in the Episcopal Church about sixteen years, most of the time, apparently, without compensation. He was prominent in sustaining the Revolutionary War, serving some of the time in the army, and in some of the most important committees and public positions at home dur- ing the contest. He was captain of the train band or militia, made Colonel of the same after the Revolution. It is said he was a goldsmith and made the weather-cock still standing on the Episcopal Church. He was town treasurer in 1777.
William Beach, son of Isaac, the son of John, the first of the name in Stratford, was born in 1694, and died July 26, 1751. He married Sarah, the daughter of Capt. Joseph Hull in 1725. Her father belonged to one of the wealthiest and most influential families in Derby. After the death of Mr. Beach she married Dr. Samuel Johnson and died in New York in 1763.
William Beach was the brother of the Rev. John Beach, a Congregational and afterwards an Episcopal clergyman of prominence, and he became a prominent citizen in this his native town. His father, Isaac Beach, was a tailor by trade and does not appear largely in the offices of the town or as a land holder. He married Hannah, daughter of John Birdsey, Jr., in 1693, and died in 1750, in his 71st year.
William Beach joined the Episcopal Church not long after his brother's ordination in that Church in 1732. In the building of the second Episcopal house of worship he was the largest contributor, and in that relation did a very impor-
367
Biographical Sketches.
tant and benevolent work. Dr. Johnson said he " contributed above three thousand pounds, our currency ;" and although the Connecticut currency was at that time a great way below par, yet the contribution was a very large one for those days ; and represents him as the foremost person in the town at that time, in giving to such an enterprise, including the Congre- gationalists, who built a meeting-house the same year.
Some extracts are here introduced from the "Historical Discourse, delivered in Christ Church, Stratford, Conn., on the fifth Sunday in Lent, March 28th, 1855, by the Rev. John A. Paddock, M.A., Rector."
This discourse was prepared with much care, research and unbiassed fidelity to historic truth, and was a very honor- able production.12
" There is no record of the baptismal, or other offices being performed here from the beginning of the Revolution till after the close of the war.13 But there seems reason for
12 Mr. Paddock's discourse furnishes the following as to the first efforts of the Episcopal people of Stratford to secure a minister.
" A petition from the parish for a clergyman, addressed to the Bishop of Lon- don on the first of April, 1707, bears the signature of the following nineteen men, acting 'in behalf of the rest :' Richard Blacklatch, Isaac Kneli, Daniel Shelton, Wm. Rawlinson, Jonathan Pitman, John Peat. Samuel Gaskill, Samuel Hawley, William Smith, John Skidmore, Timothy Titharton, Archibald Dunlop, Thomas Edwards, Isaac Brint, Daniel Bennett, Richard Blacklatch, Jr., Thomas Brooks, Isaac Stiles, Samuel Henry. (Sermon, page 8).
"Letter from the Wardens and Vestry to the Venerable Society, 1712. The names of the Wardens and Vestry first appear this year. Wardens : Timothy Titharton, William Smith. Vestry : William Rawlinson, William Jeanes, John Johnson, Richard Blacklatch, Daniel Shelton, Archibald Dunlop, James Hum- phreys, James Clarke, Edward Borroughs." (Sermon, page 9.)
" In 1724, the wardens and vestry were chosen from Stratford, Fairfield. New- town, and Ripton, as follows : Wardens for Stratford, Nehemiah Loring, Thomas Salmon ; for Fairfield, Dougal Mackenzie ; for Newtown, John Glover ; for Ripton, Daniel Shelton, Charles Lane. Vestry for Stratford, Wm. Jeanes, Jonathan Pit- man, John Johnson, Richard Blacklatch, William Smith, Samuel French, Samuel Watkins, Samuel Blagg, James Laborie, Jr .; for Fairfield, James Laborie. Sen., Benjamin Sturgis ; for Newtown, Samuel Beers, Robert Seeley ; for Ripton, James Wakelee, Richard Blacklatch, Nathaniel Cogswell."
13 A little before the war there is this record, April 20, 1772 : " Voted that the pew next to the pulpit be given to Capt. Philip Nichols, he building the Christen- ing pew."
"The last record is the baptism of Asa, son of Thomas and Ann Curtiss on the 3d of February, 1776.
368
History of Stratford.
supposing that the churchmen of this town were generally patriots.
" The parish seems to have been destitute of clerical ser- vices for some time after Mr. Kneeland's death. In April, 1778, the use of the glebe was granted to his widow until the appointment of another incumbent to the parish.
"In 1783, the Independence of the United States was acknowledged by Great Britain, and with this ended the aid extended to the parish by the society in England, it being deemed incompatible with their charter to carry on mission- ary operations beyond the dominions of the British crown.
" The parish was now thrown entirely upon its own re- sources, and, notwithstanding the trials of the previous ten years, it soon gave proofs of life and vigor. On the 18th of April, 1784, the Rev. Jeremiah Leaming, D.D., was called to the Rectorship and immediately entered upon his duties, which he continued until Easter, 1790, when, suffering from the infirmities of age, he resigned his position.
" An aged communicant, Mrs. Susan Johnson, of the parish, who received the statement from members of the fam- ily of a former generation, informs me that Bishop Seabury's first confirmation, and hence the first administration of the rite in America, was in this church in which we are now worshiping.
"On the first of April, 1793, the Rev. Ashbel Baldwin, then of Litchfield, was called to the rectorship to officiate here two-thirds of the time. He accepted the call, devoting to the Church at Tashua the remaining Sundays."
Rev. Ashbel Baldwin was born in Litchfield on the 7th of March, 1757, of Congregational parents, and was grad- uated at Yale College in 1776. He held for some time, dur- ing the Revolutionary War, the appointment of a quarter- master in the Continental Army and received a pension from the Government, which was his principal means of support in his latter days.
He became a clergyman of the Episcopal Church and the change of denomination is accounted for as follows :
" After leaving college, he engaged himself, temporarily, as a private tutor in the family of a gentleman on Long Island.
369
Biographical Sketches.
The family belonged to the Church of England, and, at that date, where the Episcopal house of worship was, for any cause, closed on Sunday, it was customary for the stanchest churchmen to turn their parlors into chapels and have the regular morning service. Mr. Baldwin, being the educated member of the household, was required to act as the family lay reader, and, ashamed to confess his ignorance of the Prayer Book, he sought the aid and friendship of the gar- dener, who instructed him in the use of the ' Order for Morn- ing Prayre ;' and soon his love and admiration of the Liturgy and conversion to the Church followed.""
He was one of the first four candidates at the first ordi- nation by Bishop Seabury at Middletown in 1785, and after preaching at Litchfield nearly eight years, was invited to the rectorship of the Church in Stratford, April 1, 1793, which he accepted, the parish then including the Church at Tashua. This position he held until his resignation in 1824. He served the Church in other offices most efficiently many years and departed this life February 27, 1825, and was buried in the Episcopal burying place.
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