USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > Centennial memorial of the First Baptist Church of Hartford, Connecticut, March 23d and 24th, l890 > Part 13
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Mrs. Sarah Fowler, the last survivor of the sixteen constituent members, died May 13th, 1862, at the good
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age of ninety-eight, after having been a member of the church without interruption for seventy-two years. Dr. Turnbull resigned his pastorate in the spring of 1869, retiring April 4th. The church presented him with a substantial token of their affection in the shape of a purse containing several thousand dollars. Nine hun- dred and fifty-eight new members were brought into the church during his ministry of twenty-four years. When his pastorate closed, the church roll contained seven hundred names.
After his resignation, Dr. Turnbull preached for a while in New Haven, laying the foundation of the Cal- vary Baptist Church there. In 1873 he became Superin- tendent of Missions for the State Convention, and con- tinted in office until his death. He used to quote the familiar passage of Paul: " Beside these things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches." He was so widely useful that his brethren, by common consent, called him the Bishop of Connecticut.
Dr. Turnbull was born in Scotland, September 10th, I 809. He was graduated at Glasgow University, and attended the theological lectures of Chalmers in Edinburgh. He was of Presbyterian parentage, and became a Baptist while studying for the ministry, as a result of his own independent investigation and convic- tions. Among his published works are the following : " The Genius of Scotland," "The Genius of Italy," " Olympia Morata," "Claims of Jesus," "Theophany of God in Christ," a review of Dr. Bushnell's "God in Christ;" "The Pulpit Orators of France and Switzer-
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land," "The Student Preacher," "The World We Live In," "The Christ in History," and " Life Pictures from a Pastor's Note-Book." For two years he was one of the editors of The Christian Review. He died at Hartford November 20th, 1877, and was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery. His funeral occurred in the church. The people who came to pay their respects to his memory filled the great auditorium. As the crowds tenderly passed his body lying in the vestibule the spectacle was truly impressive. Said Dr. Lathrop to a member of the church who still lives, as both stood witnessing the con- course, " What a tribute to character. It isn't his money. He is not the pastor of the church now. But just see the tears they are dropping as they go by." And very impressively he added, "All that a man has is his character." A few years ago a massive granite mont- ment was erected over his grave by those who had sat under his Hartford ministry. Mr. Silas Chapman, Jr., superintended the collection of the funds and the erection of the monument.
PASTORATE OF THE REV. ADONIRAM JUDSON SAGE, D. D.
There was an interim of nearly three years after the resignation of Dr. Turnbull. March 29th, 1871, the church suffered a grave loss in the death of Dea. James G. Bolles. He was baptized by Mr. Eaton, January 24, 1841, and had served the church as deacon for twenty- six years. He was a man of really wide culture, a wise adviser, a devoted Christian and liberal supporter of the good cause. In his will he directed that the church should receive ten thousand dollars from his estate.
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April 7th of the same year the church very cordially invited Mrs. H. H. A. Eaton, the widow of a lamented former pastor, the Rev. J. S. Eaton, to become Pastoral Assistant. Mrs. Eaton accepted the appointment, and retained it until May 19th, 1879. During these eight years of invaluable labor she visited the sick, the poor and the young, bringing to them all the tenderest sym- pathies of a loving woman's heart, and the efficient ministrations of a hand skilled to help. She was brought into contact with the deserving poor, and through her, the church was enabled to dispense its bounty in a way to give needed aid without discouraging self-help. She could bring to the attention of the pastor such special cases as might afford him opportunity for special min- istration. And all, those helped and those who through her bestowed help, the people and the pastor, learned to
love and highly prize her faithful assistance.
Mrs.
Eaton died June 10th, 1885, sincerely mourned by a wide circle of friends, many of whom she first met when as a pastor's bride she came to Hartford forty-six years before, and with whom afterwards as Pastor's Assistant she renewed acquaintance in most sacred relations.
July 19th, 1871, the church extended a pastoral call to the Rev. A. J. Sage, then Professor of Latin in the University of Rochester, N. Y. Early in the interim negotiations were had with the pastorate in view, but at that time Dr. Sage felt drawn otherwise. These negotiations reopening, resulted in the call, which was accepted. This, the tenth pastorate of the church, began January Ist, 1872. Dr. Sage entered upon his labors like Dr. Turnbull before him, in the prime of his powers
MRS. SARAH FOWLER.
MRS. HARRIET H. A. EATON.
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and in the same year of his age. The church was firmly established in the city, and had grown to importance in the denomination as well. Dr. Sage was a man among the best of men. Everything about him was sterling and finished. Dr. Crane, his friend and neighbor as pastor of the South Church, says of him : " His preaching was uniformly of a high order. He had the genius of taking pains. He was a student, and his sermons were always studied. With labor he joined native good taste, a subtle humor, and a good degree of originality. On the whole, I never heard him preach a sermon which I would not call one of marked excellence. There was no slap-dash about him. He never extemporized. His thought and language smelled of the lamp. As he loved choice books, so he loved choice men. On this account, he had no message for shallow or noisy or bumptious people. In an atmosphere of coarseness he folded his petals." Says an intelligent and thoughtful leader in the church : "In all his pastorate I never heard him preach a single hasty or ill-prepared sermon. He always gave us something." And so the people speak not only of his preaching but of individual sermons which left on their hearts an impression that seemed to be graven or rather woven into the fibre of their being. When Dr. Sage came to Hartford, the theological thinking was in some measure broad and free, if nothing more. But he stood forth in the city as an advocate for evangelical truth, who commanded attention from the representatives of all shades of speculation. He had communed with the truth, and was grounded in it. And this church, while maintaining sympathy with whatever was really the
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larger thinking of the times, was safely protected from the shadowy fancies of any new theology. Dr. Sage was a man, the key-note of whose power was far apart from Dr. Turnbull's. Dr. Turnbull rose sometimes on eagle wings. He was first a poet, reverent and evangelical indeed; and afterwards a theologian. Dr. Sage was first a student. His methods were the student's methods. When he spoke he limited his speech by the necessities of truth carefully examined and compared with the things that are written. He had the logical instinct. His building was on rock that stands against storm and tide. Dr. Turnbull spoke truth as it inspired him. Dr. Sage spoke truth as one who had first turned it all over and tested it and therefore could give orderly reason for the things he believed.
Early in Dr. Sage's pastorate commodious rooms for social gatherings, parlor, committee rooms and kitchen, were constructed in the basement of the house of wor- ship, at a cost of about three thousand dollars. In this new feature the new pastor saw substantial opportunity for developing the social relations of the members. A new importance, moreover, was given to the younger members in the work of the church. And long before the great "Christian Endeavor" movement began there was here a full grown and thoroughly efficient Young People's Association, embodying almost every idea in the larger movement which has more recently become national. The new impetus given, and the new place found for the young people, resulted of course in largely increased attendance both in prayer-meetings and the preaching services of the church.
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In 1872 preaching was begun in East Hartford. Neighborhood meetings also were held here, as they had been previously held in other portions of the city on the west side of the river. Quite a colony of valuable recruits grew up in East Hartford, the result of this and other movements under the care of the church.
September 28th, 1871, fifty-two persons were dismissed to organize the Windsor Avenue Church. Among these was Mr. H. H. Barbour, the leader of the movement, whose enthusiam and magnetism had secured a prosper- ous beginning of what was really an important depart- ure. A chapel had been built on Suffield Street, the lot fronting on Windsor Avenue, now North Main Street. The new interest prospered for a time. But losses by death of valuable members, among them Mr. Barbour himself, and other considerations, led to the abandonment of the organization after a seven years' experiment. November 13th, 1879, the First Church voted to purchase the property for five thousand five hundred dollars. December 4th, fifty-seven members, followed later by others, came back with their letters to the mother church. Since that time the field has been a mission of the First Church. A prosperous Sunday- school has been maintained, with prayer-meeting on Friday evenings.
November Ist, 1872, letters were given to fifty-six members of the church to unite with others in organizing the Asylum Avenue Church, a new movement on the " Hill," in the populous and growing west side of the city, a paradise of residences. This colony was more fortunate than the Windsor Avenue interest, and has
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since grown to a prosperous church of importance, with large and flattering promise. For nearly twelve years it has enjoyed the pastoral care of the Rev. George M. Stone, D. D., a man rare in spirit, of careful scholarship, wise leadership, and noble pulpit ministrations.
The chapel of the church was renovated in 1873, under the care, almost at the hands of the ladies of the church.
In 1874 the church adopted "The Service Song" for public worship, and has continued to use it through the sixteen years which have since elapsed.
Although the church suffered heavy losses by emigra- tion to the new interests at home, and removals from the city, the accessions continued in a very gratifying and regular way. Twice there was outside assistance in con -. ducting special meetings. In 1878 Messrs. Moody and Sankey, followed by Messrs. Pentecost and Stebbins, held a three months' evangelistic campaign, in which the several churches of Hartford united. Seventy-three were baptized into the fellowship of our church chiefly as a result of this work. In the winter of 1883-4 the Rev. H. P. Smith assisted the pastor in a series of special meetings, resulting in the baptism of some thirty- two. While the number of additions was less than in 1878, the losses likewise were less from wayside hearers and others in whom the good seed seemed not to take deep root.
The parsonage, a neat, commodious and convenient residence, centrally located at No. 102 Ann Street, was purchased by the church April 30th, 1873, at a cost of sixteen thousand dollars. Ten thousand dollars of this amount were the contribution of two honored members
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of the church, Messrs. James L. Howard and James G. Batterson.
For three successive years during his pastorate here, Dr. Sage was elected chaplain of the lower house of the State Legislature. In 1874 he delivered the annual sermon before the Christian Association of the University of Rochester. The sermon was well
received and published. The topic was "The Mis- guiding Influence of Pure Intellectualism apart from the Moral Sense, as Seen in the Spirit of the Age." He was invited to deliver, at the next commencement, the annual address before the Alumni Association on " Arnold of Brescia and Liberty." This address was also published. So, too, was Dr. Sage's address at Saratoga before the American Baptist Publication Society on the theme, "The Training Needed by the Baptist Denomination." He was invited to address the Social Union at Boston, and also the Manhattan Social Union of New York. Before the former he spoke on "The Causes of the Decline in the Supply of Candidates for the Ministry;" before the latter on "The Future of Religion in the West." He was President of the Connecticut State Convention, and for thirteen years, as "Silex," the regular correspondent of " The Examiner" of New York. Once or twice Dr. Sage listened to the pleadings of the muse. "The Violin," a poem of forty- five stanzas, appeared in "The Continent," was widely copied, and finally received a place in Stedman's " Library of American Literature." At the death of President Garfield he wrote a hymn, which was sung at several memorial services, and was very well received.
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In 1884 he also wrote the following "Easter Hymn" :-
Jesus, each drop of precious blood Reveals thy wondrous grace ; We weep to see thy drooping head, Thy sorrow-stricken face. O Calvary ! O Lamb of God ! What mystery of grief ! Blest fountain of atoning blood, The guilty soul's relief !
In death thou'rt mightier than the tomb, Thou'rt conqueror o'er the grave ; From out the heart of deepest gloom Thou comest with power to save ; And saints and angels clothed in white, Above all cloud and storm, The new creation's holy light Shines in thy glorious form.
O Jesus, risen and glorified, Made captive by thy love, Our hearts with thee are crucified, With thee to reign above ; O, may thy life within us live, Thy light within us shine, The Spirit to our spirits give The life of love divine.
Accepting a call to a Professorship in the Union Baptist Theological Seminary at Morgan Park, Dr. Sage retired from the pastorate of the church September Ist, 1884.
He was born in Massillon, Ohio, March 29th, 1836, and converted at fourteen years of age, under the preaching of President E. G. Robinson, then pastor of the Ninth Street Baptist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Robinson bap- tized him in the spring of 1851. He was graduated from the University of Rochester in 1860, and from the
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Rochester Theological Seminary three years later. He ministered to the churches at Shelburne Falls, Massa- chusetts, where he was ordained September, 1863 ; Strong Place, Brooklyn; the Fourth Church, Philadelphia; and Pierpont Street, Brooklyn. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Rochester in 1872. Five hundred and thirty-three members were brought into the church here during his pastorate. He retired with the respect and the affection and regret of all the church and society.
PASTORATE OF THE REV. LESTER LEWIS POTTER.
With little delay, the pulpit committee united in recommending to the church the young pastor of the First Baptist Church of Springfield, Massachusetts, the Rev. L. L. Potter. February 12th, 1885, the church extended to Mr. Potter a very hearty and unanimous call to the pastorate. The call was accepted, and Mr. Potter began his labors May Ist. He was born at Cole- brook, Connecticut, March 30th, 1858, and received his education at the Connecticut Literary Institution in Suf- field, and at the University of Rochester, New York. He was baptized at the early age of ten, and licensed to preach by the Baptist Church at Willington when he was sixteen years old. His honored father, the Rev. C. W. Potter, has been an active and useful pastor in our de- nomination for years.
Mr. Potter found the church ready to welcome him with no little enthusiasm. There was pronounced ad- vance of interest both in the Sunday congregations and at the social meetings. The young pastor had remark-
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able social qualities and a graceful and happy way of presenting his pulpit ministrations, clothed in pictures of words, that both engaged attention and gave delight.
In less than six weeks after Mr. Potter's settlement the church was called to lose by death the beloved Mrs. Eaton. In the associational letter special mention is made of her death, which occurred June 10th, 1885.
Early in his pastorate, the entrance-way through the tower to the vestibule, which seemed to be especially adapted to the new purpose, was, at Mr. Potter's sugges- tion, re-arranged for a pastor's study and very neatly furnished accordingly.
April, 29th, 1886, was the seventieth anniversary of the baptism of a venerable and respected brother, Joseph W. Dimock. In the evening of the day a reception was tendered Brother Dimock at the church. Many friends paid their respects to him, and informal addresses and reminiscences were offered by Brethren Davis, Howard, Smith, Dr. Stone, Mr. Potter, and by Brother Dimock himself. A pretty feature of the pleasant occasion was the presentation by Brother Dimock, through the pastor, of a purse containing seventy dollars in gold, a dollar for each year of his connection with the church, to be used for the poor of the church.
Mr. Potter resigned December 19th, 1887, and closed his labors December 31st. The same harmony through- out the church which marked his coming continued to the end of his pastorate. Eighty-three persons had been welcomed into the fellowship of the church in his two years and eight months of service.
The interim of one year and eleven months following
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the close of Mr. Potter's pastorate seemed to develop the hearty loyalty to the church which has been a feature of its history from the first. The Sunday evening meetings of the young people were particularly well maintained. The pulpit was supplied by some of the very best preachers in the denomination ; for a long time without any special desire to effect a pastoral settlement. Several were baptized at the hands of a respected fellow-member, the Rev. Albert Guy, who in the evening of his life has retired from a long and useful service in the pulpit, and found a welcome home in the venerable First Church.
THE PRESENT PASTORATE
began November 29th, 1889. Accepting a call extended October 24th, the twelfth pastor found the same loving reception the church has always given to those whom it has called to leadership. Up to July 3d, 1890, fifty-two new members have been welcomed into the church.
Mr. James was born in Philadelphia, July 20th, 1848. He is the son of Professor Charles S. James, Ph. D., who for more than a quarter of a century filled the chair of Mathematics in the University at Lewisburg. He was baptized in his sixteenth year, graduated from the University at Lewisburg, Penna., now Bucknell Univer- sity, in 1868, and from Crozer Theological Seminary in 1871. After a year of post-graduate study in Germany, he was pastor for ten years at Allentown, Pennsylvania, and for seven years of the First Baptist Church, German- town, Philadelphia.
Deacon Luther C. Glazier was the efficient superin- tendent of the Bible-school from 1884 to 1890, when he
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was succeeded by Mr. George T. Utley. Mr. Charles E. Bayliss at the same time was chosen secretary in place of Mr. Utley. The school has August Ist, 1890, a total enrollment of 412. Mr. H. M. Twiss is the active and successful superintendent of the Suffield Street Mission, with a total enrollment of 150. In the library of our school there are 1, 157 volumes. Mr. Silas Chapman, Jr., is the librarian. He is assisted by a faithful corps of young men. Mr. E. B. Boynton is at present the presiding officer of the Young People's Association. The prayer-meeting of the association is held at half- past six each Sunday evening, and is conducted with both zeal and wisdom.
It may be properly recorded here that some of the young people of the church secured ten dollars in sub- scriptions of one dime each, and deposited the amount in the "Society for Savings," to bear compound interest at 4 per cent. The deposit is made in the name of the Deacons of the First Baptist Church, in trust, the pro- ceeds to be available only for the expenses attending the celebration of the second centennial of the church. Mr. Fred A. West and Miss Harriet I. Eaton, a daughter of the eighth pastor, were the committee who secured the ten dollars.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF LICENTIATES
AND OTHER
MINISTERS FROM THIS CHURCH.
LUCIUS BOLLES, D. D.
Lucius Bolles was born in Ashford, Conn., Sept. 25, 1779. He was graduated from Brown University in 1801. He pursued a three years' course of theological study under Dr. Stillman. For twenty-two years from 1805 he was pastor of the First Baptist Church in Salem, Mass. Five hundred and twelve new members were added to the church during his ministry. He was instrumental in securing the organization of the first Foreign Mis- sionary Society, now the Missionary Union. In 1826 he became its first secretary. This position he held for sixteen years. He died January 5, 1844.
DAVID C. BOLLES.
He was born January 14, 1743. In October, 1793, in his fiftieth year, he was ordained. In the early history of the church he frequently supplied its pulpit, and he labored in destitute churches throughout the state. He was the father of three Baptist preachers.
GURDON ROBINS.
He was born February 6, 1786. His father, Ephraim Robins, was a local preacher. Mr. Robins was converted in 1798, and baptized by Mr. Nelson. In 1814 he became
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a deacon in the church, and early began to preach. Mr. Robins resided for seven years from 1816, in North Carolina, and was actively identified with the Baptists there. He assisted in reviving the North Carolina Baptist Mission Convention, and was at one time judge of the county court. He was ordained at East Windsor, June 17, 1829, and was pastor at South Windsor for a time, and often supplied churches in different parts of the state after retiring from this pastorate. For five years he was editor of the Christian Secretary. He was active in connection with the State Mission and educa- tion work, had a wide acquaintance with the churches, was a judicious counselor and a devout Christian. He died January 2, 1864, in his seventy-eighth year.
FORONDA BESTOR
was born May 14, 1807, in Enfield, and still lives in New Hartford. He was baptized June 10th, 1826, by the Rev. C. P. Grosvenor, licensed to preach during the pastorate of Dr. Sears, and ordained at Seekunk, R. I., January 23, 1833. He was pastor there two years, also at North Stonington five years, Westfield, Mass., three years, Middlefield, Mass., five years, Cheshire six years, North Egremont five years, and at Canton, Conn. His health failing, he came back to the mother church during the pastorate of Dr. Sage. He enjoyed gracious revivals in several of his pastorates, and was permitted to baptize all of his children.
JAMES R. BOISE, D. D., LL. D.
He was born in Blanford, Mass., January 27, 1815, and was of French Huguenot extraction. He was bap-
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tized at the age of sixteen, and graduated from Brown University, in the celebrated class of 1840. He became tutor, and afterwards Professor of Ancient Languages at Brown. In 1850 he went to Europe, spending a year in study in Germany and six months in Greece and Italy. In 1852 he became Professor of Greek in the Univer- sity of Michigan. In 1868 he accepted an invitation to fill a similar chair in the Chicago University. In 1877 he became Professor of New Testament Interpretation in the Baptist Union Theological Seminary at Morgan Park. This chair he still occupies. Dr. Boise is the author of several important classical text-books, and of valuable commentaries on Paul's Epistles. He is a man whose scholarship and influence have given a national reputa- tion.
STEPHEN B. PAGE, D. D.
was born in Fayette, Maine, 1808. He united with this church at eighteen years of age, the first person baptized by Dr. Sears. He was graduated from Water- ville University (now Colby) in 1835, and pursued theo- logical studies at Newton until 1839, when he became pastor, for six years, at Massillon, Ohio, where Dr. Sage was born, the future pastor of this church, then being three years old. He also settled four years at Norwalk, Ohio; seven years at the Third Church in Cleveland ; also at the Euclid Avenue Church. He was District Secretary for the American Baptist Home Mission Society for Ohio and West Virginia twelve years. He collected over a hundred thousand dollars for Home Mis- sion work, another hundred thousand dollars toward the
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endowment of Denison University. He died at Cleve- land, Ohio, March 14, 1888.
WILLIAM HODGE.
He was born in Scotland in 1789. He was persecuted for his religious sentiments, and moved to America in 1824, where he united with our church. He frequently exercised his gifts while in this connection, and died in 1832.
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