USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Bristol > Bristol, Connecticut : "in the olden time New Cambridge", which includes Forestville > Part 17
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The early history of this church is the part in which I have thought you would be chiefly interested, and I shall only very briefly touch upon the` later history. Mr. Newell's successor, Rev. Giles H. Cowles, was a
* "Historical Papers," as cited before.
t Conn. Courant, Jan. 27, 1777.
# For a full account of him, see "Moses Dunbar, Loyalist," above cited.
* Mr. George Dudley Seymour.
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BRISTOL, CONNECTICUT
A PEACEABLE STREET CORNFIELD. Corn from seventeen to nineteen feet high.
"CUSS GUTTER" CULVERT-ICE EFFECT. Photo by F. W. Giddings.
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. .
man of very similar views and character to his own. He says of his own settlement that "there was a considerable opposition, chiefly thro a dislike of Calvinistic doctrines;" his ordination sermon was preached by the great Jonathan Edwards. His ministry seems to have been eminently successful, marked by notable revivals, and he parted from the people bearing their warmest regard.
Rev. Jonathan Cone, the next pastor, was a man of great eloquence, the early part of whose ministry was singularly successful. But the latter part of it was clouded by persistent rumors and attacks affecting his personal character. Mr. Cone vigorously defended himself, and wielded the rod of church discipline unsparingly; but the result was most unhappy for the church. Four brief pastorates followed, those of Messrs. Leavenworth, Parmalee, Seeley and Goodrich; the church had never fully recovered a normal state of Christian harmony, and the Taylor-Tyler theological controversy of the time assisted to keep the breach of factional division open. So far did this contentious spirit go that Rev. Abner J. Leavenworth was at one time shut out from his pulpit by the nailing up of the door. Mr. Leavenworth had just been married, and his bride was present in church for the first time.
The great work which Dr. Leverett Griggs, eighth pastor, did for this church was by his genial and cordial temperament, and the spirit of fellowship and Christian fraternity which so marked him, to bring the church to a harmonious and united spirit again. His ministry of fourteen years, followed by his twelve years of residence here after his retirement from active work, entitled him to be mentioned in that culmination of the beatitudes: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. He is the only pastor of this church except Parson Newell who is buried in Bristol.
The latter pastorates of Rev. Messrs. William W. Belden, Henry T. Staats, Asher Anderson, William H. Belden, whose work ended so tragically, and Thomas M. Miles, are too recent to fall within the scope of history. They are matters of familiar memory and knowledge.
The early Puritan churches had a double pastorate, one minister officiating as pastor, and the other as teacher. In later days, the preach- ing of the sermons and the doing of pastoral work seem to have crowded out the teaching function with which they had been joined. In our century that office of the church has been revived by the Sunday school department of its work. Sunday schools began to be founded in this country about 1815, an adaptation to American needs of what in England had been a charitable work, and had borne the name of "ragged school" work.
In 1818, under the ministry of Mr. Cone, this church formed its first Sunday school. On September 13 of that year, after a general invitation to scholars, and a call for volunteers as teachers, ninety-six scholars and seven teachers were enrolled as a Sunday school. Of course the institution was in its infancy. The course during that year consisted of a "term" of eight Sundays only, and the principal work was the memorizing of verses of the Bible, and of the Catechism. At the end of the term prizes were given to the scholars who had recited from memory the greatest number of verses and answers. Of that first Sunday's enrollment, Henry W. Sage, who died recently in Ithaca, N. Y., was the last known survivor. The enrollment of 1819 included the names of Edwin S. Lewis and of Nancy Hooker (now Mrs. Hill), who are still living, and connected with this church.
Jonathan Cone was the first superintendent. Among those who have done notable service in this office have been Deacon William Day. Henry Beckwith, Esq., and Deacon Harry S. Bartholomew, who served twenty-five years continuously, and for a single year afterward.
The other great department of the modern church, the Society of Christian Endeavor, was organized here in 1886, by Rev. Mr. Anderson. The church now has an enrolled and recognized membership of six hundred and one, the membership of the Sunday school is two hun-
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Rev. Calvin B. Moody
dred and ninety-six, with a home department of ninety, that of the Society of Christian Endeavor one hundred and four, and that of its junior branch thirty-seven. The ladies' societies also carry on the work of contributing their money and labor to the home and foreign mission work of the church.
During the last ten years, the contributions of this church to benev- olent and mission work have been $24,694.75; its expenditures in its own work about $45,000.
So I have tried to bring before your imagination the church of your fathers. As these one hundred and fifty years have passed, how all its surroundings have changed! Instead of the wide-stretching farms and forests is a busy, modern, manufacturing town; instead of the population of grave Puritan Englishmen, men of many languages and faiths fill our streets; instead of the ox-cart and the saddle and pillion, the electric car and the bicycle carry us; instead of a feeble colony of King George, we are citizens of a democratic republic, having twice the population of England herself; but the flame kindled here that August day on God's altar is burning still with steady and unaltered light.
The picture of the past seems strange and quaint, the language of the old records provokes a smile, if we could be sat down in Parson Newe's church, it would seem more foreign to us than anything we can find in foreign travel, and yet I am persuaded that in the altered body there is the same spirit. Just as President Washington and his three million followers, in the difficulties which encompassed the infant nation in 1789, were working under the same constitution, to uphold the same union, and preserve the same principles of democratic liberty which his successor of today, leader of seventy millions American citizens, is sworn to maintain, so our ancestors, strong and sturdy founders of institutions, had the same written guide, the Word of God, the same union, the Church of God, and the same eternal gospel of God's love and man's redemption, which form the foundation, and structure, and inspiration, of the Christian church today.
The present successful pastorate of the Rev. Calvin B. Moody com- menced September 1, 1903, and continues at the present.
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The Founders and their Homes Or a Century Sketch of the Early Bristol Families, 1663 to 1763
Address at the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the First Congregational Church, October 12, 1897.
BY MARY P. ROOT.
I F ANY explanation is needed for the presentation of this subject. today, our explanation is that in the organization of every church the home comes first. In the history of the race, the home in Eden preceded, by many centuries, the building of a church. The church existed in the heart of the individual, and on the hearthstone of the home. With the coming of the first Christian family into this wilderness, came also the Christian church. And, like impartial historians, we wish to present to you today both sides of the story.
THE COMING OF THE WHITE MAN.
We are accustomed to date our town's origin with the first church organization (1747), with the first settler's arrival (1727), or with the earliest layout of the land (1721).
But when did the eyes of an Englishman first behold these hills? Certainly as early as 1663, when "three men strayed away into that portion of Farmington called Poland * and * * selected lands to be laid out to them;" Richard Brownson, Thomas Barnes and another .* *
Thus this section already had a name in 1663, first written poleland a name given it by Farmington coopers who came here for hoop poles. When then did the white man first set foot in Bristol ?*
Six years earlier lead had been discovered in the hills west of Farm- ington. A rush for the lead mines followed. It was the Klondike of 1657. A result of this discovery was the founding of Waterbury, thir- teen years later, by twenty-six Farmington men, who had been going back and forth along the Indian trails through Poland. Previous to the founding of Waterbury, the "long lots" of Poland had been taken up by the future Waterbury settlers: Thomas Newell, Abraham Brown- son, Richard Seymour, Obadiah Richards, Thomas Barnes and others .*
Lastly, in proof that the white man's visit here was seventy years earlier than the settlement, is the record that, in 1686, there were already three roads between Farmington and Waterbury, one of which, believed to be the earliest, came over Fall Mountain .*
Then (1686) an event occurred which settled the destiny of Poland (Bristol). Sir Edmund Andros, that usurper of New England charters, was doing his utmost to get control of Connecticut. "The priceless charter was in danger." The freemen, by order of the court, assembled for public humiliation and prayer, and the assembly was in special session. Behind closed doors, the assembly transacted important business. The Charter, which gave authority to the colony to dispose of its land, was still in their possession. There were valuable lands in the north and west which there was yet time to save, in case Sir Edmund got the charter. The court, therefore, assigned all the unclaimed land in the colony, that portion included in the town of Farmington being assigned to the taxpayers of the town, and it was not deemed necessary
* The Town and City of Waterbury."-Miss Sarah F. Pritchard's Chapters.
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PEACEABLE ST.
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(1) E. A. Mathews 0; (2) G. W. Atwood O; (3) D. Larson O; (4) .J. Dube R, formerly the Lemuel Peck afterwards Geo. Atwood Place; (5) Sylvester Ladd O; (6) I. Giles O; (7) Ed. Thomas O, Mrs. J. A. Clapp R (The Ed Barnes Place); (8) Wm. Thomas O; (9) John A. Anderson O . (the Deacon Chas. Ives Place).
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to make a minute in the public records of this transaction, nor to give reasons for this wholesale transfer of land.t
Years afterwards, it became difficult to settle estates, owing to uncertain titles to lands in this section, and, in 1721, by order of the general court assignments to individuals were made of the land here, in accordance with the act of 1686.
The original assignees were dead. Their heirs to the property here found a tract of land nearly five miles square, divided into five tiers of lots, with four parallel highways running from north to south. The lots were a mile long, the width depending on each man's taxable property in Farmington.
The largest grants to families whose names appear in Bristol history (the order being according to the size of the tract) were to the Brownsons, Harts, Judds, Roots, Steeles, Barnes, Thompsons, Nortons, Gridleys, Lees, Hooker, Lewis, Seymour, Newell, Richards.
All the land was assigned to the forty-nine original proprietors, a. reservation of thirty acres being made for the Indians, Bohemia and Poland.
In connection with this land grant of 1686, there are several inter- esting items. The largest tract was a mile square, lying in central and east Forestville, and was assigned to four men, two of whom bear Bristol names, Captain Lewis and John Norton.
The smallest lots were of peculiar shape, being a mile in length by nine rods wide. Benoni and Samuel Steele of Hartford, sons of John Steele, owned lots here of this size.
The Brownson family (seven) owned nearly two square miles. The Hart family (four) and John Root, Sr., owned each one and one half square miles. The Barneses, Nortons, Gridleys and Lees each about one half square mile. Mr. Hayens and Mr. Wyllys, sons of the early governors, and residents of Hartford, owned lots on West street, Mr. Haynes being especially fortunate in his assignment, which lay in the corner between Divinity and West streets, including the present fair grounds, the Pequabuck flowing through it.
Mr. Samuel Hooker, the minister in Farmington, owned a lot on the present line of Burlington, then the center of the entire tract.
Thomas Barnes owned a half square mile, and the Widow Orvice three small lots, the only woman land owner here, whose descendants appear in the persons of Ebenezer Barnes and his wife, Deborah Orvice .*
THE SETTLEMENT.
Two generations passed away after the original grant before a settlement was made. In the meantime, Farmington youth, led by the Indian trail along the Pequabuck, came hither to inspect their possessions. And events proved that these hills possessed the same attractions for Ebenezer Barnes and Daniel Brownson that they had had for Thomas Barnes and Richard Brownson sixty-four years earlier.
The years 1726-7 witnessed their arrival, and the building of two houses, of which only one remained, Daniel Brownson having soon withdrawn. On the eastern slope of the nearest hills, at the opening of the range where the Pequabuck flows, Ebenezer Barnes built his home, a clearing in the forest, smoke rising from a solitary chimney, the beginning of a town.
Other settlers came, and along the base of the same hills, other homes were built, connected by a footpath, which determined the loca- tion of our earliest residence street, called by the settlers the Queen's Road.
John Brown's house stood on the hill north of Ebenezer Barnes's house, Caleb Abernathy's next, and above it Nathaniel Messenger's, all on the east side. On the west side were the homes of Ebenezer Hamblin and Nehemiah Manross,* houses rude in structure, dwellings
t "Two Hundredth Anniversary Farmington Church."-Noah Porter, also "The Town and City of Waterbury."
* Roswell Atkins' Chart. Page 21.
* Manual Congregational Church, Bristol.
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of logs, perhaps, giving place soon to dwellings of frame. Would that we possessed the simplest sketch of those early homes on the Queen's Road, of which only Ebenezer Barnes's house has survived through a century and three quarters of time.
The Queen's Road! Truly it reminds us that the founders of Bristol were English subjects and that George II. and Queen Caroline were sovereign here as well as in the British Isles.
If we cannot gain access to their court where assemble Alexander Pope, Dean Swift, and Lord Chesterfield, let us get a glimpse of their majesties as they pass along in the procession of history. Prince George was a "choleric little prince" who used to "shake his fist in the faces of his father's courtiers," and called everyone thief and liar with whom he differed.
In the year 1727, on the death of the king, when Walpole came to announce the news to the prince, and to proclaim him King of England, Prince George, having never lost his German accent, and being awakened from his afternoon nap, roared out, "Dat is one big lie;" the first utterance of his majesty, George II.
His wife was Caroline of Anspach, a princess remarkable for her beauty, her cleverness, her learning, her good temper. They ascended the English throne June 14, 1727, the same time that the first settler ' took up his residence here, a coincidence which gives a special appro- priateness to the name of the first residence street.
FALL MOUNTAIN SETTLERS. MOSES LYMAN.
Having visited the houses on the Queen's Road, let us learn the meaning of the smoke rising from the wooded side of the mountain. Is it from an Indian wigwam? Or has the white man set up a home in the heart of the Indian hunting ground?
From the Queen's Road the Indian trail follows the river westward, and creeps on over the mountain to Waterbury. Half way up is the ample home of Moses Lyman, who came from Wallingford in 1736,
THE GIDEON ROBERTS HOUSE, BUILT BY MOSES LYMAN, 1736.
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PEACEABLE ST.
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(10) G. F. Unefeld O; (11) The Baldwin Place (now owned by L. L. Gaylord); (12) Mrs. E. F. Gaylord O (the Luther Tuttle Place); (13) E. F. Gaylord 0; (14) Chas. E. Gaylord O; (16) Henry E. Loveland 0; (16) S. E. Scoville R; (17) Amos Beauty R; (18) S. D. Newell O.
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and built a house which stands today, a monument to the substantial worth of this early householder, the second oldest house in town. Here he lived for years, with no sign by day or night to remind him of his nearest neighbor. The eastern hills hid the smoke from the chimneys on the Queen's Road, and the dense forests hid the lights of those who settled later on Fall Mountain and Chippin's Hill.
THE GAYLORDS.
The nearest neighbors of Moses Lyman were Gaylord families, whose arrival, next in order, is of importance because of their numbers, influence and service. There were five men with their families, four of whom were brothers, Samuel, Edward, Benjamin, and Joseph, and their double cousin David, all of whom came from Wallingford. The cousins Joseph and David were young men of twenty-two and came first. The oldest brothers, Samuel and Edward, were appointed to many positions of responsibility, and later became prominent in military affairs. Speaking in the language of royalty, the Gaylords made strong alliances here, and were connected by marriage with all the reigning families in the settle- ment. Joseph's wife was Elizabeth Rich, whom he married in the year of his arrival here. His eldest sister Mary married John Hickox, the first treasurer of the society. Thankful, another sister, was the wife of . Hezekiah Rew, our first deacon. David's sister Mary married Stephen Barnes, the other deacon of the early church. Lois Gaylord was the wife of Caleb Abernathy. With the Gaylord brothers for society mod- erators, with three deacons and two officers of the militia, it is evident that the Gaylord family had a strong hold on public affairs .*
COLONIAL ROADS.
The origin of the colonial roads in Bistol, and their development into the turnpikes of a century ago and into the roads of today, is a chap- ter by itself, and too long to be given here.
There are several in our town, forgotten passageways of those early days, the most important of which is the colonial road to Farm- ington. It followed an old Indian trail of the Tunxis tribe, from their village there on the river to their hunting grounds here, and into the domain of the Indian Cochipianee on the Hill.
This first colonial road can be traced several miles both east and west from the north cemetery, which originally occupied a portion of it and which is still bounded by it on the north.
In a line due east from Lewis street is a stone wall which lies in the center of the colonial road. When the turnpike was built in 1806, it became necessary often to place obstructions of this sort in the old road, to force the traveler to use the turnpike and to pay toll therefor. Another obstruction on the Lewis property was the flax patch, which long ago obliterated one portion of the old road.
In the lots east of the stone wall, smooth rocks worn by the wheels of a century and a half ago, and depressions in the surface of the ground, guide us in the path of the colonial road into the woods beyond, known as "Poker Hole," and here the roadbed is easily recognized.
Taking another start, west from the cemetery, we see a grass grown path near the bridge at Rock Cut, in a line with the street beyond the bridge, which, like Lewis street, is identical with the old road.
Farther on, it is lost under the curve of the railroad embankment, but is found again in the woods west of the tracks. From here, it passes on through the Hoppers, and leads up the hill, coming out at the South Chippin's Hill schoolhouse, beyond which it is plainly seen in the lots of the place known as the Candee farm.
That portion of it which lies in the Hoppers is a good specimen of the old colonial road, and should be guarded by our historical societies as an interesting relic of the two earliest epochs in our history, the Indian and the Colonial.
*Ms. notes of James Shepard.
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PEACEABLE ST.
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(19) W. F. Duncan O; (20) Mrs. Mary August R; (21) C. B. Brockett O (The Ransley Upson Place); (22) Geo. Manchester O; (23) Robt. Manchester O; (24) E. Manchester O; (25) Chas. Gastafson O (the Chas. Hines Place; (26) R. W. Williams O; (27) Geo. H. Turner R.
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CHIPPIN'S HILL FAMILIES.
For the extension of the Farmington road to Chippin's Hill, we are indebted to two families by the name of Matthews and Brooks, who came between 1742 and 1747, and were soon joined by other families of the same names. They located at the top of the hill once owned by Cochipianee, and which commanded a magnificent view of the whole parish of New Cambridge and the valley of the Tunxis. The Chippin's Hill families took an active part for a few years in church affairs, but were strongly opposed to Mr. Newell's settlement, and in July, 1747, when the majority voted to call Mr. Newell, the minority, headed by Caleb Matthews and the Brookses, withdrew, and publicly declared themselves members of the Church of England.
THE FOUNDERS.
Having established the founders and their families in homes, let us observe the men who laid the foundations of this early church. The leaders in the movement which resulted in the establishment of the Parish of New Cambridge, were Ebenezer Barnes, Nehemiah Manross, Moses Lyman, and Edward Gaylord.
EBENEZER BARNES.
Ebenezer Barnes was born in Farmington and married, in 1699, Deborah Orvice. He was nearly fifty years old when he left Farmington for the hardships of a pioneer life. His family consisted of fifteen children, ten sons and five daughters, twelve of whom were born in Farmington.
For fifteen years, through summer heat and winter snows, he had taken his family to the meeting house nine miles distant, when he headed the memorial which obtained for himself and neighbors the privileges of a winter parish. He was approaching his seventies when he urged, with others, the establishment of a minister. In 1746, one year previous to the settlement of a pastor, his name appears for the last time when Ebenezer Barnes is appointed to lead in divine service.
MOSES LYMAN.
Moses Lyman was the first clerk of this society. On the coarse pages, stained with age, of the old church book, we can read the character of the man in the records he kept; we can judge him by the house he built, and by the part he took in the establishment of the parish. He served as scribe, moderator, on the society's committee, as agent to the town, and to the General Assembly. On November 10, 1745, when an important church meeting was held in his own house, where thirty voters were present, certain measures were adopted which led a minority of six headed by Moses Lyman to protest against the management of the meeting. Two adjourned meetings were held, and it was finally arranged that the differences should be settled by a council. For several years, he had acted as chorister in the church, but, after Mr. Newell came, he took no part in society affairs. Some time later, he moved away. In the cemetery of Goshen, Conn., is a monument bearing this inscription :
Moses Lyman, Esq., Who died Jan. 6, 1768. In the 55th yr. of his age, Lyman, so famed, so meek, so just, so wise, He sleeps in hope. Then cease from tears, When Christ appears his dust shall rise.
NEHEMIAH MANROSS.
Nehemiah Manross arrived soon after Ebenezer Barnes. His house was the second to go up on the Queen's Road. He came from Lebanon, Conn., the home of Jonathan Trumbull, who was perhaps his schoolfellow. At the second society meeting, Nehemiah Manross was chosen moderator, and seems to have been the most acceptable (and perhaps the most able) of any who filled the chair. During a period of twelve years, he was in continual service, adjusting the public accounts,
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(28) Albert Hipler R, Wm. Blum R; (29) Capt. Ernest E. Merrill 0; (30) Joseph Blum O; (31) R. Bachman O; (32) Jacob Molson O; (33) Jacob Gush (34) Pius Schüssler O; (35) Jos. Ehlert O; (36) B. Kather O.
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JOSIAH LEWIS'S HOUSE, ON LEWIS CORNER. Built 1766.
contracting for the erection of a meeting-house; and in 1754, when it was voted "that we take up the two 'pilar pews' and make three seats in their room," Nehemiah Manross was appointed to see that the work was done. With this he disappears from the scene. Tradition has kept alive the following explanation of his mysterious disappearance; one morning he left his home, according to his custom, on horseback for Hartford, and was never again seen. No trace of him could be found. His family believed that he had been attacked by the Indians, robbed and killed.
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