A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 56

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 930

USA > Connecticut > Windham County > A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I > Part 56

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

THE MINISTRY OF THE BEARDS

At the request of the editor of this volume, the Rev. William Spencer Beard, son of the late Rev. William Henry Beard, has prepared the following brief sketches of the respective pastorates of his father, and also of his uncle at the Brooklyn church. The lives and devoted service of all these members of the Beard family in Windham County are so thoroughly typical of what is best in the Christian ministry, especially as it was exemplified in the earlier days of "the country church" with such far-reaching results, that the following rec- ord is worthy of special place in the Modern History of Windham County. The life and work of William Spencer Beard, as indicated elsewhere in the record of the Congregational Church at Willimantic, is a worthy succession of an honorable heritage.

THE PASTORATE AT SOUTH KILLINGLY

Rev. William Henry Beard became a pastor of the South Killingly Church in June, 1873. His place in the list of pastors may be discovered by referring to the statement of Rev. Walter B. Williams, concerning the history of his church ..

Mr. Beard was the son of Rev. Spencer Field Beard, a Congregational clergyman, and of Lucy Leonard Beard. His father, Rev. S. F. Beard, had pastorates at Greenville and Montville, Conn., and at Norton and Methuen and Waquoit, Mass. It was at Norton, where Wheaton College is now located, that the subject of this sketch was born, April 1, 1836. His mother having died at an early age, much of Mr. Beard's early life was spent out of the home.

His education, however, was a complete course at Phillips Academy, And- over, Mass., where his father has been resident, and at Union Seminary. His first pastorate was at Freedom, Maine, from which he went to Harwich, Mass., where his oldest son was born. After brief pastorates at each of these points, he came to South Killingly, to labor for twenty-four years and to die among the people whom he had so ably and so devotedly served.

On June 10, 1869, he married Mary Adelaide Parker of Montville, Conn., a member of one of his father's earlier parishes. To them three sons were born, the eldest who has prepared this sketch, the second, Edward C. Beard, sales manager of the New York Store of Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company and Morris L. Beard, assistant manager of the advertising department of Colgate's, New York City.

It is interesting in passing to know that the pastorate of Rev. S. F. Beard in Eastern Connecticut, amounting to eight years, that of the son at South Kill- ingly twenty-four years, that of Rev. Edwin Spencer Beard of Brooklyn seven- teen years, and the two pastorates of Rev. William Spencer Beard, one year at South Killingly, seven and one-half years at Willimantic, total a service of nearly fifty-eight years for the churches of Eastern Connecticut.

Mr. Beard never had enjoyed good health. He came to South Killingly almost as an invalid and it was not knowing whether he should stay more than six months. It was a constant battle most of the years with impaired digestion and uncertain nerves. South Killingly was at that time essentially an Amer- ican community. No man ever had abler support than that which was enjoyed in the person of the two deacons and their families, Joseph C. Ayer and George W. Pike. In the same category belongs the faithful treasurer and scribe, Mr.

459

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

Charles T. Preston, who I suspect has been the financial head of the church for nearly sixty years.

The methods which Mr. Beard employed were not modern. There was a preaching service on Sunday morning, followed by the Sunday school and Service for Prayer and Conference in the evening. There were frequent mid- week services in schoolhouses and in the homes of the parish. Offerings were taken each year for all the missionary objects of the Congregational Church. Occasionally there were meetings due to especial interest, but it was the method of Christian nurture which brought. most of the men and women and boys and girls into the membership of the church. The fact that the membership is almost a negligible quantity today makes the following statement concerning its sons and daughters of more value.

Mr. and Mrs. Beard soon discovered after reaching this field that their main effort ought to be put forth for the boys and girls. Time fails to give in full the story of the way in which this church helped these boys and girls to "arise," but a catalog of some of them indicates not only the clear reaching character of the church work, but also the reason for its numerical weakness today. One of its daughters is the registrar of Mr. Moody's School for Girls at Northfield, Mass. Another one for many years a medical missionary in China, and, though not in active service, retains her connection with this work. A cousin of these young women only recently resigned his pastorate in Windham County. An- other member of the parish entered the Baptist ministry and after a brilliant career was cut short by a fatal attack of the flu. Of three boys of another family, one is a leading man in a large structural steel company in Boston and a most effective worker in one of Boston's suburban churches. Another brother is a graduate at Yale and one of the forceful members of a nearby church. A third, also a graduate of Yale, is a mechanical engineer in Massachusetts. The roster of another family yields a daughter, a graduate of Mount Holyoke, and a son a B. A. and Ph. D. of Yale.

Among the circle of sons is a man now middle aged, who came from an adjoining town, who through the inspiration of the parsonage went first to Phillips Academy and then to Yale, and is now the assistant manager of one of the largest electrical concerns in Chicago. Still another worked his way through Andover and Yale and became a teacher in the Philippines, losing his life by cholera.

Another family of many branches migrated to Florida and there established a Union Church in a community which before had been churchless and were, its backbone for years. Brothers of the lad who entered the Baptist ministry are Christian business men in Providence, another being a veterinary surgeon in Colorado. The three sons of the minister went to college at Andover or Exeter and were all students at Yale. I suspect that, all told, from this parish of never more than three hundred souls, three miles from the railroad, with a mail only every other day in the earlier years, between twenty and thirty young men and women have gone forth to secure for themselves the privileges of the higher education and to be devoted representatives of the church, wherever they are living today.

The effort of Mrs. Beard was not second to that of her husband. Wherever disease was, in the homes of the people, there was she. Wherever young people were hesitating before life and its ideals, there was she with the dynamic of her presence, and the record of the years is not less due to her than to her husband.

460

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

Mr. Beard, after an illness of three months, died October 3, 1896, but he who came upon the existence, which for lack of a better term, we call "death," still lives in the affections of a multitude of those who were his boys and girls. Mrs. Beard passed away August 12, 1920, after a brief illness.

THE PASTORATE AT BROOKLYN

Mr. Beard was born at Methuen, Mass., in 1830. He was a graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover, having studied two years at Amherst College. He later came to Yale and graduated with the class of 1859. He studied theology at Andover Theological Seminary. His earlier pastorates were at Southold, L. I., and at Warren, Me. Less than a year from the time when his brother left Freedom, Me., to come to South Killingly, the subject of this sketch left Warren, Me., to come to Brooklyn.

He was unmarried during the earlier years, but in 1871 he married Miss Mary Emma Bard of Brooklyn. Despite many changes in the parish, Mr. Beard remained faithfully at his post until Christmas time, 1891, when seized with an attack of pneumonia and diphtheria, he died on Christmas eve.

Two or three outstanding features of his ministry deserve special consid- eration. The county jail for Windham County is located in Brooklyn. It is one of the few model institutions of its kind. Instead of idling the days away with inactivity and cards, all inmates of the jail are required to work, and not only is a large farm in connection with the jail utilized to keep its unfortunate inhabitants busy, but much of the general work of the community has also been done by them. Mr. Beard was for many years its chaplain. Faithful and cheering and inspiring in his preaching, he counted the jail folk members of his parish and became the friend of many and had frequent interviews.

I suppose Mr. Beard's most outstanding characteristic was his love of chil- dren. For many years he was a member of the school board of the town and for a number of years its school visitor, going from building to building all over the township with the most faithful regularity.

One of the most delightful memories which his nephews now have is that of visits to the South Killingly home, when, in the early morning hours, the boys used to come to the Uncle's bed and hear in his charming style the narra- tion of Old Testament incidents.

A feature of Mr. Beard's pastorate was his May party. The last Saturday in May, irrespective of church affiliation, every child in the community was invited to a nearby grove for the May party. It was the minister's party. He gave it. Candy and oranges were supplied by him free of charge to all comers. The children marched to the picnic place, headed by John Farragut, a colored man, one of the veterans of the Civil war. He was the fifer or the drummer, I forget which. Toward the end of the afternoon, when the good things had all been eaten, and the games all played, the children elected a May king and a May queen, and these they escorted to their homes as the finale to the after- noon 's proceeding.

I am told that, though my uncle has now been dead twenty-nine years, that is, more than one quarter of a century, the May party still survives, and that, though the participants today are in some instances the grand children of those who were children in his time, their last act before they escort the May king and queen to their places of residence is to go to the cemetery and to lay flowers

461

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

upon the grave of the man, whom most of them never knew, but who established the custom of this May party.

So, the lives of men and women, the world around, have been made sweeter and stronger by the effort of two brothers, who, side by side, for almost a quarter of a century, gave themselves in a wonderfully self-denying way; and, if, by any chance, this word may come to the notice of any young man, who, standing around life's threshold, is wondering as to which way he shall take the line, I would urge him with the word of our Saviour "Go thou and do likewise."

AT WINDHAM CENTER

(Compiled from Church Manual)

The Congregational Church at Windham Center, affectionately referred to unto this day as "The Mother Church" because five other churches have emerged from it to locate in neighboring communities, has had a history of unusual interest, and its records have been remarkably well preserved in printed form. With the very incorporation of the town of Windham in 1692, there came with the founders from Norwich their minister Rev. James or Jabez Fitch; but the first regular pastor was the Rev. Samuel Whiting, who began work January 1, 1693. Nearly eight years later, December 10, 1700, the church was formally organized with twenty-eight members.

The five churches growing out of the Windham Center church have been the following: In 1710, at "the Ponde Place," now Mansfield Center, start- ing with twenty-five members who had been going to Windham; in 1723, more than sixty organized a church at "Canada Parish" now Hampton; in 1735, ninety members were dismissed to form a church at Scotland; in 1780, ten or twelve members organized at South Chaplin, but in 1796, after the death of their minister, Rev. John Storrs, they resumed connection at Windham; and in 1828, thirteen members were dismissed to join with others in forming the church at Willimantic.

Five houses of worship have been successively occupied. The first was erected in 1697, the second in 1716, the third in 1755, the fourth in 1849. The last was burned May 5, 1886, and replaced by the fifth and present edifice, dedicated June 16, 1887.

In October, 1888, a part of the membership was organized as the "South Windham Branch," with separate services and an independent set of officers, but under the same church organization.

All except three of the pastors of this church were called when young men, most of them receiving ordination here, and all were found faithful in the work of the ministry. The average length of pastorate has been about ten years.

The church has been a peaceful one, no serious discord ever having marred its prosperity.

It has been blessed many times by the special influences of the Holy Ghost producing in the community increased attention to religion, and adding many to the professed followers of Christ. Revivals occurred in the years 1741, 1742, 1796, 1798, 1815, 1829, 1847, 1851, 1858, 1870, 1876, 1888, 1909. It will be seen, however, by an examination of its catalogue, that the church has not been dependent for membership upon any large and sudden additions, but rather

462

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

upon the few gathered in year by year under the ordinary ministration of the Word.

Special attention has of late years been paid to missionary education and giving, and the record of the church along these lines is particularly creditable.

Following is a list of the pastors from the beginning with their periods of service : 1700-25, Samuel Whiting; 1726-39, Thomas Clapp; 1740-93, Stephen . White; 1794-1805, Elijah Waterman; 1808-13, William Andrews; 1815-27, Cor- nelius Bradford Everest; 1829-32, Richard Fally Cleveland; 1837-51, John Ellery Tyler; 1852-62, George Ingersoll Stearns; 1864-66, Samuel Hopley ; 1866-69, Hiram Day ; 1870-74, Adelbert Franklin Keith; 1875-80, Frank Thomp- son ; 1885-89, William Sylvester Kelsey; 1890-92, Fred Maynard Wiswall; 1893-1903, Frederick Howard Means; 1903-08, Charles B. McDuffee; 1908-12, Harry Grimes ; 1912-1919, M. Raymond Plumb; 1920, Arthur W. Clifford.

Samuel Whiting was acting minister during the years 1693-1700, and upon the organization of the church became first settled pastor. He was son of Rev. John Whiting of Hartford, and was born in 1669, and served the entire thirty-two years of his ministry in this one parish, or until his death Septem- ber 25, 1725. He married Elizabeth Adams and they had thirteen children.

Thomas Clapp came from Scituate, Mass., was a Howard graduate, and after fourteen years at Windham was chosen president of Yale College, which office he held for twenty-seven years.

The salary of Reverend Whiting at Windham was "100 pounds and wood" and Reverend Clapp received the same; but Yale College paid the Windham church 310 pounds as partial recompense for calling away their pastor.

The Rev. Stephen White, a native of Middletown, and graduated at Yale in 1736, was settled at Windham December 24, 1740, and remained fifty-two years. He received 600 pounds on settlement and 200 pounds salary. It is recorded that he married 272 couples, baptized 1,044 persons, and attended 913 funerals.

The Rev. Elijah Waterman, Yale 1791, was born in Bozrah in 1769, in- stalled October 1, 1794, remaining eleven years, then going to Bridgeport. He married Lucy Abbe, one of his parishioners, one of his two sons was Rev. Thomas T. Waterman, who held pastorates in Providence and Philadelphia and in later life was at West Killingly.

Rev. William Andrews, born in Ellington 1781; graduated at Middlebury College in Vermont; installed August 8, 1808, and dismissed April 20, 1813. He was afterwards settled in Danbury and Cornwall, Conn. He married Sarah Parkhill of Benson, Vt., and his children were William Watson, clergyman at Kent, Conn., and Potsdam, N. Y .; Edward Warren, clergyman at West Hartford, also at Broadway Tabernacle, New York, and at Troy, N. Y., then practiced law at Washington, D. C .; Israel Ward, professor, afterwards presi- dent of Marietta College, O .; Samuel James, who was first a lawyer, then a clergyman, and in 1868 took charge of the "Catholic Apostolic Church" in Hartford, and was also author of "The Life of our Lord;" Timothy Langdon, a physician at Wichita, Kan .; Ebenezer Baldwin, clergyman at Great Barring- ton and New Britain, then professor at Marietta College, and one of the state geologists of Ohio; and one daughter, Sarah Parkhill, who married A. W. Hyde of Castleton, Vt.

Cornelius Bradford Everest was born at Cornwall, Conn., March 14, 1789, graduated at Williams 1811; after leaving Windham was settled at Norwich,

463

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

Bloomfield, Rainbow (Windsor) then removed to Philadelphia, where he died March 29, 1870. He married Abby Gold, and had seven children, viz .: Harriet Gold, died in 1819; Cornelius, died November 17, 1885; Mary Gray, died March 8, 1884; James Ely, died 1828; William Cleveland, served in war, died July 15, 1862, at Carrolton, La .; Henry Gold, who lived in Philadelphia; Martha Sedgwick, who married Amos Morris Hatheway and resided for many years in Willimantic, and she and her husband were active leaders in the Wil- limantic church. Mrs. Hatheway died May 12, 1906. Mr. Hatheway now resides at Willimantic.

Richard Fally Cleveland was born in Norwich, Conn., in 1805, graduated from Yale College in 1824; was ordained and installed here October 15, 1829. After leaving Windham in October, 1832, he was settled in Cornwall, N. J., and in Fayetteville, N. Y., and for a few years previous to his death he was an agent of the American Home Missionary Society. He died October 1, 1853, Mr. Cleveland married Ann Neal of Baltimore, September 1, 1829, and had nine children, viz .: Ann, who married Rev. E. P. Hastings, missionary to Ceylon; William, who became a clergyman; Cecil, Mary; Stephen Grover, governor of New York from 1884-85, President of the United States from 1885- 89 and 1893-97; Louisa, Frederick, Susan and Rose.

Mr. Cleveland came to Windham as a young man, his first pastorate, and soon after he was installed he rode horseback to Philadelphia to claim his fiancee in marriage. Their return as bride and groom to Windham parish was an event long remembered; tradition says that one sturdy horse carried them both !

Rev. Ellery Tyler, the eighth pastor, was ordained October 11, 1837. He was the son of Rev. Bennett Tyler, born at South Britain, Conn., April 10, 1810. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1831, studied one year at An- dover, and graduated at East Windsor Theological Seminary in 1836. He was dismissed on account of failing health, December 2, 1851, and removed to East Windsor Hill. He was a trustee of the Theological Institute of Con- necticut (at East Windsor, afterward Hartford) until his removal to Vine- land, N. J., where he preached as health permitted, until his death August 14, 1873. He published a historical discourse delivered at the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the church. Mr. Tyler married Miss Mary Hooker Williams of Northampton, Mass., October 26, 1837, and had five children : Catherine E., who lived in Northampton, Mass; Sidney W., of Central City, Colo .; John Bennett, a physician in Dover Plains, N. Y .; Eliphalet W., a lawyer in New York City. Mr. Tyler was married August 15, 1855, to Caro- line E. Goodrich of East Windsor Hill, afterwards of Northampton, Mass. They had one child.

Rev. George Ingersoll Stearns was ordained and installed September 22, 1852. He was born in West Killingly, September 7, 1825, graduated at Am- herst College in 1849, and at East Windsor Seminary in 1852. He labored faithfully and devoutly until 1861, when failing health led him to ask dis- mission. His resignation was not accepted, and he retained his pastorate until his death, March 13, 1862. Mr. Stearns married Amelia D. Jones of Hud- son, Mich., in 1852. They had two children, Ella and George W., afterwards reverend, and settled in Acton, Mass., 1887-91, afterward pastor of the First church, Middleboro, Mass.

Rev. Samuel Hopley was settled as tenth pastor of this church, January

464

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

21, 1864, and remained till February 1, 1866. He was born in London, Eng- land, April 17, 1821, graduated at Bangor Theological Seminary in 1855. He was ordained at Prospect, Maine, September 19, 1855, afterwards settled at Wellfleet, Mass., then at Windham. After leaving here he was city missionary at Norwich for six years, again installed at West Stockbridge, Mass., and at Worthington, Mass., and afterwards acting pastor at Otis, Mass., afterward residing in Lee, Mass. Mr. Hopley's first wife was Mary Swindells of Lon- don, and they had three children: James D., Thomas S., and Clara J. His second wife was Mary B. Prentice of Norwich, and they had one child, Frank D. Hopley.

Rev. Hiram Day was installed May 23, 1866, and was dismissed March 30, 1869. He was born in Burlington, N. Y., in 1813, graduated at Oneida Institute in 1839, and at East Windsor Seminary in 1842. He was ordained at South Cornwall in 1844, and afterwards settled at Stafford Springs, 1851, at North Manchester, 1857, and Windham. For seven years from 1870 he was acting pastor at Chatham, Mass., and the same from 1880-1888, at Glencoe, Ill. He married Emily L. Foster of Petersham, Mass., May 7, 1844, and had four children, Harriet Foster, Arthur Hiram, Evarts Dwight, Mary Emily.

Rev. Adelbert Franklin Keith was born at North Bridgewater, Mass., Au- gust 2, 1841, graduated from Hartford Seminary in 1870. He was acting pastor from July 1, 1869 till he was ordained and installed on October 26, 1870. He was dismissed June 20, 1874, settled at West Killingly, October 13, 1874, acting and afterwards settled pastor of North (or Charles Street) Church, Providence, R. I., from May 15, 1877 to July 9, 1888 when he went to Middlebury, Vt., and labored there until 1890. He married Miss Eliza G. Baker of Hartford, Conn., June 22, 1870, and had three children, Fannie Baker, Edward Adelbert, and Esther Frances.

Rev. Frank Thompson was installed June 8, 1875 and dismissed November, 1880. He was born in New York City, December 14, 1835, graduated at Wil- liams College in 1865, took a partial course at the Theological Institute of Connecticut, and graduated from Union Seminary in 1868, and was ordained as an evangelist on November 12 of the same year, and was pastor of the First Foreign Church at Hilo, Sandwich Islands, from 1869-1874. After leaving Windham he was settled in Wilton, Conn., from February 22, 1881, until 1883 In 1885 he went to Valparaiso, Chili, as Seaman's Chaplain, under the Amer- ican Seaman's Friend Society. Mr. Thompson married Miss Esther Dutz, of Cohoes, N. Y., February 19, 1862, and had two children, Carrie and Dorothy. He is now living in Ansonia, Conn.

Rev. Wm. Sylvester Kelsey was born at Evans Mills, N. Y., April 29, 1857. Mr. Kelsey graduated at Amherst College in 1880, and at Hartford Seminary in 1883, where he remained for a fourth year of study. He was acting pastor at Windham from July 1, 1884, was ordained and installed May 27, 1885, and dismissed September 17, 1889. He was settled as associate pastor of the Union Church, Worcester, Mass., from September, 1889, to November, 1890, and was afterward assistant pastor at Berkeley Temple, Boston. Mr. Kelsey married Miss Katherine M. Parsons, of Windham, October 15, 1892. He is now in business and living in Allston, Mass.

Rev. Fred M. Wiswall, fifteenth pastor of this church was born in Marl- boro, N. H., December 27, 1859; studied with Rev. J. L. Merrill, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1886, and at Hartford in 1889. He was acting pastor

465

HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

here from September, 1889, was ordained and installed April 30, 1890, and dismissed April 13, 1892.

Rev. Frederick Howard Means was born in Dorchester, Mass., August 14, 1865; graduated at Harvard College in 1888, and from Yale Divinity School in 1891. He came to Windham as acting pastor in September, 1892, and was ordained and installed here May 2, 1893. On May 25, 1893, he married Miss Helen Chandler Coit of Winchester, Mass., and to them were born three chil- dren, Paul, Gardiner, and Winthrop. In May, 1903, Mr. Means left Windham to reside in Winchester, Mass. For five years he was engaged in other lines of Christian work until, late in 1908, he accepted a call to Madison, Me.

Mr. Means died in Boston September, 1919.

Rev. Charles B. McDuffee was born at Charleston, N. Y., June 30, 1873; graduated from Amherst College in 1900 and from Yale Divinity School in 1903. He was called to Windham in 1903, and was ordained and installed here on November 3 of that year. On June 24, 1903, he married Miss Minnie A. Breckenridge of Ogdensburg, N. Y. Early in 1908 he accepted a call to the Union Evangelical Church of Three Rivers, Mass., where he is now located. He has three children, Frank, Helen, and Ruth, the first two of whom were born at Windham.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 56

Author: Lincoln, Allen B Publication date: 1920 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Lincoln, Allen B
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke publ. co.
Number of Pages: 930