A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 68

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

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It was near the close of his ministry that Brother Robinson suggested to Warren Atwood, the advisability of erecting a suitable house for the preacher, who was then occupying cramped quarters, corner of High and Valley streets. Brother Atwood, with his characteristic haste at once set about building "with- out a dollar in sight," as he himself afterward said. The result was the "Twin-

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HISTORY OF WINDHAM COUNTY

house," on Jackson Street, next to the Roman Catholic Rectory designed for the express use of the preacher-in-charge and presiding elder. This is prob- ably one of the most unique relics in Methodism. It was finished in 1850, and occupied continuously from 1851 to 1861.

Four presiding elders made it their home; Bartholomew Otheman; Leve Dagget, Jr. (who died there in 1857) ; Anthony Palmer and Lorenzo W. Blood. Seven preachers used it as a parsonage; Jonathan Cady; M. P. Alderman ; C. W. Rogers; Charles Morse ; Wm. Turkington; John Livesey; Wm. Kellen.

The agitation for a new church began in this pastorate. A debt of $1,200 on the old property served to dampen enthusiasm for the project. Some wanted the debt paid; others wanted the new enterprise pushed. In the interests of peace both propositions were laid before the people in subscription paper form. The great majority gave a pledge for the new church instead of for payment of the debt.

To Bro. Robinson, then, belongs the credit of inspiring the new church project.

Let us pause now, at the close of this "day of small things" to speak of some of the laymen who have thus far emerged. In doing so, let us not seem to be disparaging the work and influence of the godly women, who composed, as they do today, the vast majority of the membership. Would that we had the names and portraits of the "thirty or forty members mostly females" whom Moulton gathered ! When the Church's Eleventh of Hebrews is written it will contain the names of women as well as men and time will fail us before the enumeration ends. "Verily I say unto you great is their reward in heaven!" Neither let us appear to deprecate the present official brethren; who without doubt are just as loyal to Methodism, and just as agreeable fellow laborers as those who have passed within the shadows. How heroic and flawless these liv- ing members will look-viewed from a distance of fifty years!

The first trustees of the church were four: Appollos Perkins, Luther Jacobs, Jonathan Fuller, Wm. C. Boon.

Perkins and Jacobs drew the timbers for the first house and were them- selves pillars in the spiritual temple. Jonathan Fuller was the first class leader and held the office from his appointment in 1828 up to his death in 1859- thirty-one years. Wm. C. Boon, the lone manipulator of crow bar and shovel, was the first wielder of the baton in the choir. These four are the "grey fathers" of the church. The first three unsophisticated farmers; the fourth a plain villager. In 1831 we find added the names of Ralph Williams, Asa White, Leonard E. Dunham, Sidney Cook and W. C. Boon, Jr. Ralph Williams was an early chorister; as firm and unflinching a friend as the church ever had. Loyal to the core, he loved Methodism and honored it with a blameless life. He died in 1882, living long enough to see the tender plant he had shielded with his hand, flourish like the palm tree. In 1833 we have the same list with the omission of "Father Boon." In 1845 all those already named disappear from the trustee's list and we find: Luther Martin, Warren Atwood, Albert B. Brown, Sydney S. Brewster, John Watrous.

The one conspicuous character here is Warren Atwood. He was a con- tractor and builder. Several buildings now standing are the work of this peculiar genius. Given plenty of cobblestones and cement and, presto ! a house, a block, a church! He had all of Peter's impulsiveness and headlong dash- with a little added. Because he did not sit down first and count the cost, he

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often found himself in financial straits. But while this man persistently planned beyond his purse, let it not be forgotten that he was an ardent Metho- dist, and did much in a material way to further the interests of this church. In 1850 the name of Luther Martin alone remains of those elected in 1845. In their places are the following: Asahel Tarbox, Jefferson Campbell, Thomas Turner, Lyman Jordan, Wm. E. Otis, Seymour Davenport.

Thomas Turner, an Englishman by birth had all the sturdiness and common sense that go with the name. He was a business man and gave the church the benefit of his shrewdness at critical times. He was a pious man and in the positions he filled as chorister and Sunday school superintendent, was of con- stant service to the spiritual work. Everything considered, he was probably as valuable a layman as the church has had.

Lyman Jordan, whose melodious voice was first uplifted in song and prayer and exhortation in the old church, can never be forgotten. Whether as chorister, class leader or exhorter in an evening service, he was a perennial center of attraction, and dynamo of power. He was richly endowed by nature with the qualities which sway multitudes. Dr. Robinson speaks of a meeting in 1848 at the house of Sister Brewster: "Brother Lyman Jordan knelt next to me and prayed and such a prayer I have rarely ever heard from lips of man or woman. He seemed to take hold of the horns of the altar and was pleading for souls, as if for his own life. We all seemed inspired and the fame of the meeting went abroad. Brother Jordan was wonderfully exercised. It was truly a case of "Wrestling Jacob." All the good people declared with one voice: "God is about to visit this place," and He did; for that entire summer there were many precious souls added to all the churches." Such was the power of Lyman Jordan, when the Spirit caught him away. Probably no church ever had a layman more abundantly gifted with unction and language and readiness for every spiritual emergency.

A little later there appears for the first time the name of Elias P. Brown. Joining the church in full connection February 2, 1856, his worth to the church was speedily recognized by his appointment as a steward within seven weeks, March 21, 1856. His election as trustee followed in 1859. For fully thirty- five years he served the church in an official relation and by his stability and quiet wisdom added much to its strength and success.

III

"THE GLORY OF THE LATTER HOUSE"-THE PERIOD OF GRADUAL GROWTH IN NUMBERS AND INFLUENCE

1851-1874

The right man came after the active Robinson-Jonathan Cady (another Jonathan, let their names stand forever associated, Jonathan Fuller and Jona- than Cady). The text of Brother Cady's first sermon was significant: "Then came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for; I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me?" (Acts. 10:29). Brother Cady set at once about his obvious mission of building a new church. Four of the trustees, Luther Martin, Warren Atwood, Asahel Tarbox and Thomas Turner bought a piece of land "on a road to be laid out and named Church Street," and pre- sented it to the church, February 18, 1851. It was legally transferred to the

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Board of Trustees. The value of this gift will be appreciated when it is remem- bered that since 1882 $5,000 worth of this land has been sold for the benefit of the church. It is interesting to figure out the profits on the church's real estate. From the beginning the sum of $975 has been expended for land and $6,600 realized from its sale; making a net profit to the church of $5,625. This is exclusive of the $500 realized for the sale of the old church site. The old church and land were sold to Warren Atwood for $500. A lot of land adjoining the church lot was sold to Sheffield Lew for $1,200, which was sufficient to cancel old indebtedness. Whether or not it was used for that purpose, we do not know. The church was begun in the summer of 1850 and was ready for dedica- tion in March, 1851, Warren Atwood, builder. The building was on rising ground over against a sand bank. The street as then laid out was about on a level with the present door sills. It has since been cut down and the church walls rebuilt. The Rev. Richard Donkersley, agent for Sunday school publica- tions, in his peregrinations, visited Willimantic and, writing of the church in Zion's Herald, said: "The Methodists of Willimantic have built a new church and if they wish to do penance all their lives they have put it in just the right place." Strange enough, in view of this comment, on the wall of the church back of the pulpit was the motto: "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth," etc. And time has vindicated this prophetic inscription, for the church is as centrally located as any in the place.

The dedication occurred March 6, 1851, with a sermon by the majestic Doctor Olin, president of Wesleyan University. Text: John 14:1, "Let not your heart be troubled." One has pictured the sermons of this physical and mental giant as "tornadoes, sweeping all in their path by the energy behind the elements." Centennial of N. E. Methodism, page 370. A chorus of some forty voices furnished music. Lyman Jordan, chorister, Merrill Dunham, who man- aged a bass voice and a bass viol equally well; Thomas Turner, George Han- over, Silas Clark, Harry Wilson, Van B. Jordan, Mrs. Sidney Brewster, Mellie 0. Church (James), Rosa Thompson, Amanda Jordan, Jane Hanover, Anna Cady, Abbie Williams (Jacobs), Joanna Cady, Sarah Spencer Howard, the Hempstead sisters and many others.

The church cost $7,000 and a debt remained of $5,000. After dedication the pew rents were applied to liquidate the debt and the ministry was supplied by subscription. After the camp-meeting was instituted in 1860 the boarding house there was for several years in charge of local brethren, who ran it in the interests of their church. Men of business ability, such as Edwin H. Hall and Egbert Hall, were the managers and so well did they figure that as high as $1,000 was cleared one year from their week's catering. This was before shore resorts and Chatauquas had diverted the attendance from the primitive camp- meeting. In the Centennial year of American Methodism-the last year of George W. Brewster's pastorate, 1866-the property was virtually freed from debt by the payment of $1,550. The year of dedication there were reported 110 members, fifty-four probationers. Thirty members were added by Brother Cady, who was a spiritual as well as material builder. His fine face, preserved in a crayon portrait, will be unveiled next week. The men who followed Brother Cady, up to 1864, were M. P. Alderman, two years; G. W. Rogers, one year; Charles Morse, two years; John Livesey, one year; William Kellen, two years; E. B. Bradford, two years. All these were earnest and godly men.

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Revivals were the ordinary occurrence. Yet up to this point the church had not made permanent numerical gains. At the close of Bradford's pastorate, 1863, there were fewer members than in 1850. It was doubtless a rooting time, prep- aratory to much fruit.

George W. Brewster, 1864-6, was the first pastor under the new decree of general conference allowing a three-year term. Brewster was a solid, sensible man of much executive ability. It was at this time the church began to show evidence of more rapid development. He was followed by the radiant, raptur- ous Edgar F. Clark-a man without a duplicate. "When God made him He must have just sat around for the rest of the day and felt good." To hear him pray was to make one feel that he too would walk and talk with God. To hear him preach was to go away with a tonic in the blood. He captured the town and has held its friendship ever since. The salary leap attests his popularity. While the preacher's salary had been steadily advancing from the paltry $300 of 1845 to the $850 of 1865, Clarke's estimate was $1,000 the first year; he received, however, $300 more than his estimate; $1,200 the second year and $1,300 the third. This, of course, included rent. The church was reshingled, repainted inside, recarpeted, refrescoed; the pulpit was remodeled and a choir window inserted in the front, at an expense of $2,000. The parsonage on Prospect Street was built at a cost (including $650 for land) of $5,000. At the close of this pastorate the church was $7,300 in debt.

Next came George Edward Reed, youthful, inexperienced, but promising. Blessed with a splendid physique, rare mental grasp and exquisite tact he soon proved his power and after two years of prosperity he went higher and then higher, and then higher, until at last he sank below the level of the pastorate to which he was pre-eminently adapted, by accepting the presidency of Dickin- son College. An unusual man! Any church might well be proud to number him among its pastors.

This period closes with three swift pastorates of one year each : 1872, G. S. Macreading; 1873, Shadrach Leader; 1874, G. W. Miller.

And now we must once more call the roll of laymen who have appeared upon the scene, since this epoch began : Samuel H. Paine, Benoni H. Austin, Egbert Hall, Edwin H. Hall, Lewis Burlingham, Silas F. Clark, Josiah H. Randall, Wm. Dodge, Henry Hinde, Orlando W. Little, Gardner Cranston.

Some of these brethren were even men, and some were a trifle angular. Some were quiet, retiring men, who gave stability to the church by their business strength, at the same time living irreproachably; such for example were the Halls, and Lewis Burlingham. Others were leaders in the means of grace, the class and prayer meetings, Cranston and Randall were more than ordinarily emotional and kept fuel on the waning fire. "Father Randall's" voice, when he had warmed to his theme, was a trumpet call to battle Hinde, Little, Ran- dall-what class leaders they were-pure, discerning men of God! As I look at the picture of these and other laymen previously mentioned, taken in a group about Edgar F. Clark, I see all the temperaments-sanguine, melan- cholic, phlegmatic, choleric. Occasionally these brethren differed and stood apart and then the sky grew black, and the wind shrieked and thunders shook the house, and the lightning was blinding; but oftener they stood together, as in that picture, and the fusion was itself one of God's miracles and signs and wonders were sure to follow.

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"ONE GENERATION GOETH, ANOTHER COMETH''-A TRANSITION PERIOD 1875-1901

During this period the church has experienced its most sweeping revival ; undergone its most extensive material improvements; acquired its first pipe- organ; reached the maximum of growth-in membership and Sunday school attendance; made its largest contributions to general benevolences and attained the goal of its aspirations for five decades-complete freedom from debt. This period opens with the pastorate of the evangelistic and winsome S. J. Carroll, 1875-77, who received 117 probationers the first winter. Services were held without intermission 100 nights. In all, there were 136 additions during the three years. It is true it was an opportune time owing to the prevalent religious feeling; but Carroll was an opportune man and knew how to push the battle and gather the spoils. The cause of temperance received a tremendous impulse. Every Sabbath of the fall and winter of 1877 a meeting was held to reach drinking men, 160 of whom took the pledge. The vestry was completely altered and opened in December of the first year, at an expense of $2,000.

The succeeding pastorate of the symmetrical and polished William T. Worth and the silver-tongued and unconventional A. J. Church, D. D., were without noteworthy incident. In 1881-2 the oratoric and magnetic MacBurney was pastor, the eloquent pulpiteer and champion hypnotizer of pocket-books. In August, 1882, the work of enlarging and improving the auditorium was begun and completed in January, 1883. Brother MacBurney managed the entire subscription list, raising $6,800-a financial feat without a parallel in the history of this church. A record book in his own hand containing all receipts and expenditures is a memorial to his painstaking labors, as is this spacious and cheerful auditorium. The auditorium was lengthened thirteen feet, frescoed, lighted, cushioned and carpeted, and new pulpit furniture was added. After MacBurney came the manly and genuine Dudley P. Leavitt, whose discourses by their fullness of preparation and chasteness of style won the admiration of all auditors, and whose discreet administration conserved the well-being of the parish. The whole community was blessed by the three-years' ministry of this unassuming servant of Christ.

The year, 1886, was a most remarkable one. Eben Tirrell was pastor, strong, serious, masterful, in pulpit and parish alike. An extra room for the Sunday school was finished off for $400. A piano was purchased for $150 and a pipe- organ was put in at a cost of $1,250; $3,050 was paid on the debt-the proceeds from a sale of land. A notable revival spirit characterized the year. Special services, with an evangelist, brought a rich harvest. The brevity of this pas- torate caused general disappointment. The gracious and captivating Charles W. Holden gave three years of rare service to the church, 1887-9. A religious interest continued throughout and there was much hand-picked fruit.

In 1888 the Camp-meeting House for the Willimantic church was built for $500. In 1889 the vestry was further enlarged and arranged as we have it now, at an expense of $800. The exterior of the church was painted for $123.72. The Sunday school average leaped from 161 in 1886 to 240 in 1889; the enroll- ment from 278 in 1886 to 391 in 1889. In the latter year it was "the largest Sunday school on the district." (Tirrell's Presiding Elder's report, 1890.)

Brother Holden was succeeded by the clear-headed and warm-hearted A. P.

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Palmer, who did much in his two years to put the current expenses on a secure basis by the introduction of the free-will offering system. By his sweet songs and whole-souled manner he won many for the Kingdom.

The intense and original D. N. Stafford, D. D., was pastor in 1892. His ministry here was too short to yield notable results, yet long enough to demon- strate the genuine ability of the man.

The versatile and zealous O. W. Scott gave the church three years of val- uable service, 1893-5. As an "all-round" man Brother Scott has had few equals. He touched all departments with his magic wand and straight way they awoke. The Sunday school average started again. The membership reached the highest notch, 405. Eighty-one adults were baptized-the largest number of any pastorate.

The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society and the Woman's Home Mission- ary Society (owing to the fact, no doubt, that Brother Scott was supplemented with a superlatively missionary wife) reported the largest collections. And the missionary collection (1893) was the most generous ever contributed ($261) ; at the same time all other causes were well cared for. Five hundred and twenty- five dollars were expended in parsonage repairs during the summer of 1894.

The immediate predecessor of the present pastor was the fervid and virile W. A. Luce, who at the end of his first year was called to a more conspicuous field, so what promised to be a brilliant term, ended with painful abruptness.

CONCLUSION

Instead of descanting upon the delinquencies and idiosyncrasies of the latest pastor, the characterization of whom is reserved until the centennial of this edifice when he will doubtless be beyond the reach of criticism, either kindly or cruel, let us turn to The New Era. It is a new era for this church. We cannot chide these aged brethren and sisters for feeling lonesome today.

In speaking of the death of three prominent laymen in 1882, Thomas Tur- ner, Lyman Jordan and Ralph Williams, Brother MacBurney said: "We are reminded that the church in Willimantic is in a transition period and that the burdens are being shifted, in the order of Divine Providence, from the elder to the younger members." If that were true twenty years ago, what shall we say today ?. With the departure of Henry C. Hall, impetuous, great-hearted Henry C. Hall, and the good Dr. David C. Card, so plain and quaint, almost the last link was broken that bound the church to the past. The new era has surely begun. And it remains to be seen whether the later glory shall exceed the former. Everything depends upon the quality and completeness of our consecration to Jesus Christ and our loyalty to Methodist doctrine and dis- cipline.

Let us make this occasion one of high resolve. Let us pledge anew at our altars "our lives, our futures, and our sacred honor." Methodism has demon- strated its worth in this community. No form of Christianity has done more to purify and exalt this place. It still has a mission here. Let us maintain this noble institution for whose inception and growth the fathers gave their means and expended their energies. Let us gird ourselves for the new tasks of the new time and so doing Methodism in Willimantic shall continue to be a "power in the land," and as the cireling years come and go and your hands become pulseless and still, your children and your children's children shall catch up the standard and bear it to more glorious victory.

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OLD-TIME REVIVALS

The absolute disappearance of the old-time orthodox religion of even forty and fifty years ago from effective influence in the life of today, especially upon young people, is perhaps the most marked difference between these later days and those earlier. In the '60s the language of the creed "I believe in God, the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord," was still a literal faith. Protestant children of those days were taught at home and in the church to believe in heaven and hell as definite localities, to one of which we were destined to go, according or not as we "con- fessed our sins" and "gave our hearts to God." The Catholics had a doctrine of "purgatory" of which we heard as an intermediate state, but that in our lives was only a rumor; the only safety for us lay in "conviction of sin" and "repentance"; otherwise, "eternal damnation" in a "hell" of "fire and brim- stone" was the sure fate after death.

It is hard for anyone in these liberal days, especially for young persons, to realize what it meant for the children of that day to live and grow up under the influence of such positive and fearful orthodoxy. The Protestant churches taught it; the preachers were still sure of heaven and hell as the only altern- atives ; and the "revivalists," who usually arrived during "the week of prayer" (first week of January) gave us no other choice than to "repent" or "be damned."

Just pause for a moment to think how it could be that only fifty years ago these orthodox beliefs were still so literal and effective right here in Windham County. The modern doctrine of evolution was just beginning to be heard of by back-country folk. Darwin (born 1809) did not publish his "Origin of Species" until 1859. Huxley (born 1825) did not arouse the fierce denuncia- tion of theologians until 1870; Horace Bushnell (born 1802) had indeed been preaching in near-by Hartford for a number of years, retiring from the pulpit because of ill health in 1853, but his liberal thought did not begin to make itself felt through his published works until 1860-70, and even then was slow in permeating the country pulpits. Robert Ingersoll-the terrible infidel and blasphemer, "Bob" Ingersoll-while born in 1833, did not make himself felt widely as an anti-religious influence until after the republican national conven- tion of 1876, where he won oratorical fame by naming for the presidency "the plumed knight," James G. Blaine. It was an awful shock to some of the pious folk in the then "Gibraltar" of republicanism, Windham County, to have an infidel made so much of in a convention of the "grand old party"; and to many of these there seemed a sort of justice after all in the fate of the man so nom- inated, that he should be sent down to defeat by the famous alliteration of an orthodox clergyman, Dr. Birchard, characterizing the democratic party as the party of "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion"! And right after that the fearful "Bob" Ingersoll began to lecture on "The Mistakes of Moses" to crowded houses at 50 cents a seat !

But all these anti-orthodox influences had not happened in 1860, or at least the earliest of them had not yet permeated the less populous districts.

A notable group of orthodox Congregationalist clergymen were surround- ing Willimantic in those days, and I well recall them. In Lebanon, a pastor there for thirty years (1856-1886) was the Rev. Orlo D. Hine, father of Sec- retary Charles D. Hine of the Connecticut State Board of Education, and of

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A modern history of Windham county, Connecticut : a Windham county treasure book, Volume I, Part 68

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