USA > Connecticut > Windham County > A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I > Part 52
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Rev. Cornelius Adams of Canterbury, the young divine who succeeded Reverend Coggswell, was ordained December 5, 1805. Through his pleasing and spiritual personality the church was beginning to again "grow in grace" when he was called to the higher life in less than a year from the day of his ordination.
His successor was Rev. Elijah Welles whose pastorate was limited to two years. Rev. Jesse Fisher, a Harvard graduate, then accepted the pastorate and was ordained May 22, 1811. The Devotion homestead, the parsonage for so many years, was now occupied by Reverend Devotion's only son, Judge Ebenezer Devotion and his family, so Reverend Fisher purchased the first house east of the meeting house which he with his family occupied until his death
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in 1836. Under his ministrations during a quarter of a century the wounds of long dissentions were healed and the church became once more harmonious and prosperous.
His successor was Rev. Otis C. Whiton who began his ministry in 1837. In the year of 1842 a new meeting house, the present building, was erected on the site of the second edifice, and still stands where it was located about eighty years ago, with very little noticeable change in its outward appearance. After four years of service, Reverend Whiton upon request severed his connection with the parish and was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Tallman of Middle Haddam whose ordination took place March 20, 1844. Like his predecessors he at once became the owner of a commodious home, including a few acres of land, located at the intersections of Main and Pinch streets.
From the time of the Separatist movement many were spiritually disquieted and were dissatisfied with the religious tenets of the parish church, and so sought affiliations with newer faiths. Thus the Universalist belief had gained many followers, so that in 1843 they erected a meeting house on Pudding Hill and while having no resident pastor, still held regular Sunday services, Rev- erend Slade of Hartford supplying the pulpit. Despite this, Reverend Tallman found his congregation increasing and a growing spiritual interest manifest throughout the town. "Father Underwood," a revivalist, was invited by Mr. Tallman to assist in holding a series of meetings, which resulted in a large number being added to the church membership. During Mr. Tallman's pas- torate Scotland severed the last tie that had for so many years held her political interests one with those of Windham, and became in 1857 a separate town. The first town meeting occupied the morning of July 4th and in the after- noon a pleasing celebration was held in the church. Among the speakers were ex-Governor Cleveland, Rev. Mr. Tallman and several eminent sons of Scot- land who came from various cities to congratulate their native town.
Rev. Luther Barber succeeded Reverend Tallman who resigned in 1861 after a most successful pastorate. Reverend Barber was installed in 1862 and occupied the parsonage that Mr. Henry Cary and Mr. Burnett had purchased of Mr. Tallman. The pressing need of a chapel was met in 1867 when a suit- able building situated in Windham was purchased, removed, and placed on a stone foundation just west of and adjacent to the church and was conveniently furnished for social and religious requirements. Reverend Barber remained until 1869 when for three successive years the church was without a settled pastor.
Rev. Rufus Underwood, son of "Father Underwood," supplied from 1870 to 1872. During these two ministries religious interest was sustained, many new members were received and the church continued to be blessed with pros- perity.
Mr. Henry Cary having purchased Mr. Burnett's interest in the parson- age and now desiring to occupy it, the church society purchased of Mr. Jeptha Geer about three-fourths of an acre of land diagonally opposite the parsonage on the south side of Main Street and erected a capacious parsonage thereon. The first occupant, Rev. Alva A. Hurd, began his ministry in 1873 and resigned in 1881. Three years, with supplies, again intervened and then Rev. Lorenzo D. Place accepted the pastorate but remained only one year.
For several years the pros and cons of the liquor traffic had been argued, discussed, agitated and debated, and in consequence temperance sentiment had
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rapidly increased. The ancient tavern with its open bar where liquors were freely dispensed was falling into disrepute, and the culmination was reached when in 1884 the town's majority voted at the polls no license, and from that date on Scotland has continued to be a prohibition town. A Woman's Chris- tian Temperance Union was organized about this time, and in the annals of the temperance reform movement Scotland Union is credited with valuable work for town, state and nation.
Rev. George A. Bryan in 1886 succeeded Reverend Place and the following year Shetucket Grange was organized with twenty-four charter members. The Universalist Society had, several years since, removed their meeting house from Pudding Hill to a more convenient location on South Street, a few minutes' walk from the center, and as they no longer held services, it was now leased for a period of ninety-nine years to Shetucket Grange. The grange with its edu- cational, fraternal and social opportunities really serves the entire town as a community club, having in 1920 nearly five times its charter members.
Once more a period of three years, with supplies, elapsed between the resig- nation of Reverend Bryan in 1890, until Rev. Henry B. Mead was called to the pastorate in 1893 and remained until his sudden and deeply lamented death from heart failure in 1903.
On October 23, 1894, the church celebrated the one hundred and fifty-ninth anniversary of its organization. All former residents and their descendants were heartily invited to be present and assist in making the day one of happy reunion and glad reminiscence. Of the twelve pastors who had ministered to this people during more than the century and one-half that had elapsed, six had passed "beyond the smiling and weeping," while of the remaining six only two were able to be present, Rev. Rufus S. Underwood of Northampton, Mass., and Rev. George A. Bryan of Norwich, Conn. Most interesting addresses were given during the day by pastors of the six sister churches whose begin- nings were an integral part of the ancient mother church of Windham, while the evening service was wholly given over to the two former pastors who were present. The church was filled to capacity during all the exercises, the roll call showing that many had returned for the day, to the birthplace of their ancestors or their own old home town.
Reverend Mead was keenly interested in educational matters and was at once appointed a member of the town school board. It was largely through his influence and efforts that the town, in 1895, adopted free text books and voted to consolidate the five district schools into one at the center. The one-room schoolhouse at the center was enlarged to a two-story building with two pleas- ant, spacious schoolrooms on the ground floor, each room accommodating four grades so that the entire town's school children, in the grades, attend, by trans- portation or otherwise, this one town school.
His also was the inspiration together with the quick perception of its feas- ability that procured for the community a free public library. The town immediately approved of and adopted his plans and in 1894 voted a sum to be annually appropriated for library requirements. The first officers and directors were Rev. Henry Burnham Mead, chairman; Gerald Waldo, treasurer; Mrs. Mary Austin Gallup, secretary; Mrs. Mary Thomas Waldo, Mrs. Margaret Waldo Thomas, and Mrs. Flora Gager Taber. Mrs. Gallup acted as librarian during the first untried year. Successive librarians were Mrs. Lisa Kent Ful- ler, Mrs. Minnie Austin Babcock, Mrs. Helen Mead Ashmead and Miss Mary
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Alice Smith, the present librarian. After occupying for several months the large northeast room in the house now owned by Miss Annette Watson, the library was removed, upon the completion of the schoolbuilding, to the pleasant and commodious north room on the second floor, designedly and conveniently planned for it and which it still occupies. There are nearly three thousand volumes now on the shelves the greater part being solid and valuable books, including science, literature, history, biography, art and travel, with a zestful mixture of rhyme and romance. There is a fine juvenile department, whose books cover the same subject, with a long list of supplementary reading and reference books, especially selected for school purposes.
Reverend Mead also organized a "village improvement society" for the pur- pose of working, in every possible way, for the good of the village. He also gave each winter for several years a choice course of lectures and concerts, many times securing noted lecturers and talented musicians from the large cities, and often assisting in the musical program with his own fine tenor.
During this decade a large and flourishing Y. P. S. C. E. was organized and held regular Sunday services. The various departments of church work received new impetus and the church nearly doubled in membership. Reverend Mead's sudden call to the higher life was deeply mourned. His large-hearted public spirit, fine enthusiasm and exceptional social endowments as well as his broad culture and inherent spirituality could not fail to leave a deep and last- ing impression on the character and life of the church and community.
Reverend Mead was succeeded by Rev. George F. Wright of South Wal- pole, Mass., who during previous vacancies had often preached as a supply. He served for two years with zeal and efficiency and was dismissed September 24, 1905.
His successor, Rev. Leonard B. Tenney, began his pastorate in February, 1906. Coming from beyond the Mississippi, where his field of work had been he brought to his eastern labors much of the genial fellowship of the great West and was ably sustained in his effective and prosperous ministry by his amiable and devout wife.
On July 4, 1907, a golden jubilee was held commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the separation of the town from that of Windham. Among those who were invited to revisit their native town and participate in the pro- gram of the afternoon were Attorney Tallman of Hartford, Judge Edwin Gager of Derby, Congressman Ernest Waldo of Washington, D. C., Burton Leavitt, the brilliant young composer of Putnam, Judge Warner of Putnam, whose ancestors were "born and bred" here, and many others now eminent and honored. Attorney Wm. A. King, one of the silver-tongued orators of Willimantic, gave the address of the afternoon. A pleasing feature was an interesting poem read by Miss Bertha Gallup, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. I. B. Gallup of Willimantic, and written for the occasion by her mother, who was one of Scotland's own.
During this same year about $2,000 was expended on the church interior. A new furnace was installed, the walls were redecorated, the woodwork was restored and the old windows were replaced by eight stained glass memorial windows. A large stained glass window was placed in the north wall in revered memory of Rev. Ebenezer Devotion, Rev. Thomas Tallman and Rev. Henry B. Mead. Among the other windows are three in affectionate remembrance of Deacon Waldo Bass, Deacon Alfred Palmer and Deacon Samuel Sprague.
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During Reverend Tenney's pastorate the children of Arthur and the late Jane Cary Clarke of New Britain presented to the church an individual com- munion service in loving memory of their mother, whose birthplace and church home were here and whose life had almost in its entirety been passed in close association with this community. The four solid silver beakers, in use to this time, were given by the widow of Rev. Samuel Whiting to this church, nearly two hundred years ago. They were loaned in 1919 to the Connecticut Colonial Dames for their exhibit of Connecticut Colonial Dames Church Silver, and are at present a part of the collection of colonial silver loaned for exhibition to the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.
The gift to the church of two clocks was made while Mr. Tenney was pastor. The clock for the interior was from Mrs. Lucy Barstow Burnham, and the vil- lage clock was presented by Mrs. Charlotte Burnett Cary, and was placed in the southern gable of the church facing the Green. Reverend Tenney resigned March 28, 1913, and was at once succeeded by Albert S. McKern of Sidney, Australia, a student in the Yale Divinity School. He moved here in June, with Mrs. McKern and their two small sons and occupied the parsonage until Octo- ber, when they returned to New Haven. He graduated the following June and after spending a few days here they sailed for England, expecting to return eventually to their native land. His pastorate though brief was an inspiration and the memory of his labors is like a benediction.
Again the church was without a pastor. For nearly a year Rev. W. E. B. Moore, a resident retired clergyman, acted as a supply and several candidates also were heard, until Rev. Martin Lovering of Carlisle, Mass., was in 1914 called to the pastorate. In 1915, September 4th, "Old Church and Home Day" was celebrated and the usual program for such occasions was happily carried to completion. The number of hale and hearty "girls and boys," in the large audience, who had reached the age of three score and twenty or even more, was remarkable. Among the number were Mrs. S. B. Palmer, eighty- six ; Mrs. Sarah Perigo Fisher, Providence, eighty-four; Miss Olive Palmer, Windham, eighty-two; Mrs. Ellen Huntington, Andover, eighty-five; Dwight Tracy, New York, eighty-four; Edgar Bass, Andover, eighty-one; N. W. Leavitt, Putnam, eighty-three; J. M. Palmer, Windham, eighty-five; J. W. Spencer, town, eighty-two. It was regretted that the ages of several other octogenarians were not positively known. An artistic collection of antique china, books, quilts, wearing apparel and innumerable other articles made a splendid exhibition of great interest and value. The following Sunday, Rev- erend Lovering delivered the "Old Church and Home Day" historical sermon, replete with facts relative to Scotland parish and town.
The following is a list of the deacons of the church since its organization : Edward Waldo, Nathaniel Bingham, Josiah Kingsley, John Cary, Samuel Baker, Capt. Samuel Bingham, Lieut. John Kingsley, Capt. Jno. Rudd, Eliph- alet Wood, Gurdon Tracy, Wm. P. Noyes, William B. Sprague, Alfred Palmer, Waldo Bass, Denison E. Allen, Samuel B. Sprague, Archie H. Gallup, Frank E. Allen, David P. Walden, Fred B. Willoughby. The following members of the church became ministers of the Gospel: Jos. Huntington, D. D., Nathaniel Huntington, Enoch Huntington, Jno. Huntington, Daniel Ripley, Hezekiah Ripley, D. D., John Palmer, Daniel Palmer, Daniel Waldo, Ralph Robinson, Asa A. Robinson, Freeman Walden, Freeman Walden, Jr., Eben Jennings, Samuel Manning, Lucien Farnham, E. Byron Bingham, Roydon G. Anthony.
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Reverend Lovering is the present pastor of the church and though, as in the dark days following the Civil war, so now after the World war, religious interest seemingly has declined, yet through the darkest days "He who planted will sustain."
SCHOOLS
By Thomas Hart Fuller
The early settlers of New England gave prompt attention to the education of the young and the establishment of schools for them. In less than twenty years from their first settlement, they founded (1638) Harvard College. Their successors have maintained the same lively interest in education. Par- ents who failed to appreciate their early advantages and who may have played truant are no less anxious than others that their children should have the best school advantages and improve them.
Connecticut has kept abreast of the other New England states in education. The agricultural portion like Windham County was divided into school districts of such size that the children most remote from the nearby central school house of the district, would have but about a mile and a half to walk to school. Here and there were established academies to which the more ambitious pupils who had time and means resorted to pursue advanced studies and perhaps to prepare for college. In the earlier days, boys looking forward, to a college course quite often took the preparatory studies under the private instruction of the minister of the place.
My school education was obtained in a small country district in Scotland, where my parents moved in 1843 when I was three years old. Scotland was then a "society" of the Town of Windham. In 1857 by act of the Legislature that society became a town-one of the smallest of the state. Those were per- haps the best days of the so-called district system that had continued 200 years with little modification.
A committee appointed annually by the voters of the district employed the teacher, subject to the approval of the town Board of Education, and had a general oversight of the needs of the school. A member of the Board of Edu- cation was designated to visit each school twice a term and to report to the town the condition of the schools. In these country towns the school at the village was usually too large for its one teacher from the diversity of studies and classes of its forty to sixty or more pupils from four to sixteen years of age. The outside schools or many of them were so small and the ages and attainments of the pupils so varied that there could be much rivalry or competition to inspire to their best efforts such as were naturally negligent and indifferent. In these, notwithstanding the large number of recitations, the teacher might find time for some individual attention to those specially need- ing it but in the larger schools the teacher, with the best possible classifying, had to adapt the instruction to the average of the class and hurry through each recitation to have time for the next. The indifferent and those of slower com- prehension could not have proper attention.
I was of a family of seven of whom (all except a brother) had some expe- rience in teaching. At home I was urged and encouraged to study and was aided evenings in my lessons. Most children are not so fortunate, and they need much personal attention from the teacher.
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The small districts naturally had to be content with inexperienced or other teachers that could be secured at small compensation. In my youth the Con- necticut law gave to each small district numbering twelve children or a few more from four to sixteen years of age, $35 from the school funds toward the school expenses of the year. A district not having twelve such children was left without help.
About 1840, steel pens came into general use, relieving teachers from the burden of making and mending quill pens of the earlier days (an exercise that gave name to the pen knife). A little earlier, copy books began to be made of ruled paper, saving the teachers the trouble of ruling them, a task usually done after school hours. They still had to set the copies in the "writing books," copy-plate books being of later date.
Normal schools began to be established in the '40s, with the view of remov- ing the disadvantages suffered by the schools that must have inexperienced teachers. These at first met with public indifference and some opposition.
The schools in Scotland compared favorably in merit with those in the rest of New England, omitting the large places, and may be considered char- acteristic of them. The teachers were faithful and conscientious and the chil- dren manifested all traits of industry and idleness, earnestness and indiffer- ence. After the children were of an age to be helpful on the farm and in the home their schooling in the country districts was generally limited to a four months' winter term each year. Some were ambitious to go beyond the com- mon branches and by preserving effort, ofttimes unaided, obtained advanced educations. Often even in small places a teacher of good ability, paid by tui- tion fees, was employed for a fall term to give instruction in higher branches. Advanced pupils within a circuit of three miles or more would be attracted to such school.
The Scotland minister of my boyhood, the Rev. Thomas Tallman, used to speak privately to those youths (or to their parents) who showed proficiency in their studies, encouraging them to persevere in the pursuit of knowledge. In the Yale College catalog of 1862-1863 four boys from little Scotland were enrolled, viz., E. Byron Bingham, a brilliant scholar who became a preacher of high merit, and Thomas H. Fuller, in the class of 1863, Daniel T. Bromley of 1865 and Henry B. Mead of 1866. The next catalog enrolled James H. Tallman of the class of 1867 and four years from that date Luther Fuller of '71 was graduated. Judge Edwin B. Gager of the Connecticut Supreme Court and professor in the Yale Law School was graduated at Yale with high honors in 1877 and is now reflecting credit upon his native Scotland. In the Yale class of 1893 Burton E. Leavitt made a reputation as a dramatic writer. In college he wrote a drama, "The Frogs of Windham," that was successfully staged by him and members of his class in New Haven and elsewhere. Three of the above named, Mead, Tallman and Leavitt were enrolled in the catalog from other places to which they had recently moved from Scotland.
I would like to speak of George Palmer of a little earlier date, a most bril- liant man, of fine appearance and great promise, who began the practice of law in Providence. He came home with the tuberculosis (then called "con- sumption"). His aptness of speech is shown by his remark to my father, who called upon him in his sickness: "I am a prisoner awaiting execution." His father, Zephaniah ("Zept") Palmer was the mathematician of the place. One of my age, A. Frank Fuller (a brother of Jane Gay Fuller, the writer) in Vol. 1-28
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debating societies showed talent suited to the legal profession, which he hoped to follow. In this he was disappointed by failure of health and he died at twenty-seven years of age.
When I was in college the oldest living Yale graduate was the Rev. Daniel Waldo, a Scotland boy. He died in 1864 at the age of 102, a graduate of seventy-six years. I heard him preach in the Scotland pulpit when he was about ninety-five years old, still sprightly and vigorous. His birthplace is still in the Waldo name. A relative of his, George Ernest Waldo, who went from Scotland to Cornell University and was a member from Brooklyn, N. Y., of the Fifty-ninth and Sixtieth Congresses, and is now living in Los Angeles, Cal.
To return to the "common" schools. Their expenses not covered by the so-called school money from the state were assessed upon the parents according to the number of days their children were respectively in attendance. Then the teachers "boarded around," making the stay with a family proportionate in time to the number of children in school.
Later, towns were required to meet the excess expenses by a town tax. This wise change worked a hardship upon parents who had reared large fam- ilies and educated them by tuition fees, but it righted itself in a few years. This law made reasonable a subsequent law compelling parents to give their children a certain amount of schooling each year.
The defects and deficiencies of the district system were receiving attention which led in later years to the consolidation of districts and the systematic grading of today leading to a high school course very generally provided.
The present is a specializing age-an age of experts. For 200 years the schools in America aimed to give to all a general education and training that should fit them for the duties of life, with little reference to the callings they expected to pursue. When through school the boys served apprenticeships for the lifework they selected unless they became farmers or teachers.
Conditions have radically changed in the lifetime of us older people. The application of steam to travel by land is but little older than we and by sea is but few years farther back. Telegraphing is not as old as we and telephon- ing and the application of electricity to machinery are much younger. Like progress has been made in discoveries and inventions in other lines and espe- cially in the sciences has progress been made. Machines have largely super- seded hands. These conditions have necessitated division of labor, the indi- vidual now doing one kind of work where formerly he did several kinds, or making but one part of a machine of which he formerly made several parts or the whole. The strides made by science and invention have led the higher grades of the schools to look more to the probable future work of the pupil and have led colleges to adopt varied courses of study suited to the different tastes and purposes of the students. Also classes in handwork have been formed in advanced schools, and trade and manual-training schools have been established to fit youth for their future callings as well as for general useful- ness. Such schools were also promoted by a regulation of the labor unions restricting the number of apprentices in different trades.
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