USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Newington > Early annals of Newington : comprising the first records of the Newington Ecclesiastical Society, and of the Congregational Church connected therewith : with documents and papers relating to the early history of the parish > Part 6
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At said meeting, Robert Wells was chosen clerk for this society and sworn.
At said meeting, Oliver Atwood was chosen collector for the (year) ensuing to collect the rates.
At said meeting, They agreed to give to the Rev. Mr. Simon Backus for his salary for the year past, one hundred and ninety pounds, old tenor.
At said meeting, It was agreed that the school should be divided into four parts for the year ensuing.
At said meeting, it was voted, That the west side people have a reason- able allowance in respect of the school for the time past.
At said meeting, They voted ten pounds for the school.
At said meeting, Lieut. John Paterson and Sergeant Ebbener Smith were chosen a committee to get the country money from Farmington.
At said meeting, it was voted, To Mr. Backus fifty pounds money, old tenor, for his fire-wood this present year; and any man hath liberty to pay his proportional part of said fifty pounds in green oak or walnut wood, corded up at Mr. Backus's door at or before the first day of February next, at 25 (?) shillings per cord.
At said meeting, Josiah Killburn, John Camp and Eliphelet Whittlesey be a school committee for the year ensuing.
At said meeting, voted, Thirty shillings for Sergt. Caleb Androus for sweeping the meeting-house the year past.
At said meeting, voted, That James Francis have seven shillings for a load of wood.
At said meeting, voted, That the meeting should be dissolved.t
During the reign of King George II over Great Britain, extending from 1727 to 1760, a general European war broke out relating to the succession to the throne of Austria, made vacant by the death of the Austrian emperor, Charles VI. The succession of the eldest daughter of Charles, Marie
* All the preceding records are in the hand writing of Josiah Willard, Clerk of the Society, from its beginning to this time. For the next two years, 1742, and 1743, there are no records extant.
t There are no records for the years 1745 and 1746.
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Theresa, had been guaranteed by a general treaty called the " Pragmatic Sanction ;" yet on the death of the emperor, numerous competitors arose for different portions of his do- minions. This involved Europe in the war of the " Austrian Succession," called, in relation to the operations in this country, " King George's War."
England and France were arrayed upon opposite sides, and so far as they were concerned, the war lasted from 1744 to 1748. The most important event of the war in America was the siege and capture, by the colonies, of Louisburg, a French fortress on the south-east side of the island of Cape Breton, separated from Nova Scotia by the narrow channel of Canscau. It was strongly fortified, and was justly regarded by France as the Gibraltar of her American possessions. The expedition against Louisburg was projected in the winter of 1744-5, in Boston, by Gov. William Shirley. He proposed the plan to the colonial legislature of Massachusetts, then in session in Boston, who had previously bound themselves to secrecy. After a good deal of opposition, it was resolved by the assembly, by one majority, to undertake the expedition. Despatches were at once sent to the. neighboring colonies to join and assist the enterprise.
" Massachusetts and New Hampshire sent 3,250 land forces into the service, with what ships of force they had, and needful transports. Connecticut sent 500 land forces, in transports, with Capt. Prentis in the Defense, sloop, with 100 men for the sea service. Rhode Island sent Capt. Fones in the Tartar, with 90 men. Gov. Clinton sent 10 eighteen pounders from New York."*
The Connecticut forces sailed from the Harbor of New London, and arrived at Canseau (or Canso) April 25th, 1745, where they united with the other forces. On April 29th, the fleet sailed for Cape Breton, and arrived the next day at Chapeaurouge Bay .; The enemy discovered the transports
*1 Conn. Hist. Soc. Col., 149-50. See also, Trumbull's Hist. of Conn.
t" April 14, 1745. Sunday, about eleven of the clock, the Connecticut fleet, consisting of seven transports under the convoy of Connecticut and Rhode Island colony sloops, sailed from New London."-Rev. Adonijah Bidwell's Journal. (27 N. E. His. and Gen. Reg., 153. April, 1873.)
It appears that Mr. Bidwell, who went as chaplain to the fleet, heard Rev. Mr. Williams preach at Louisburg, June 21st, 1745, from John 20:31; Aug. 21st, from Ps. 8:4; and Sept. 15th, from Numb. 14: 17.
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from the town, which was the first intimation they had of the design against them. The forces were landed, and after a siege which lasted till June 17th, 1745, the city of Louisburg and the island of Cape Breton were surrendered to the New England forces. After the object of the expedition had thus been attained, the fort had to be garrisoned. Connecticut kept 350 men there till about May 24th, 1746, when they were relieved by government forces. It was held by England till, by the treaty of Aix-la-chapelle, Oct. 18th, 1748, all conquests made by both parties were mutually restored, and Louisburg again went into the possession of the French. Great sickness and mortality prevailed among the troops in garrison during the winter following the capture of Louisburg.
Rev. Simon Backus was the chaplain to the Connecticut forces at that time. Rev. Elisha Williams had been appointed chaplain in March, 1745 .* He had probably resigned in August, 1745, as in that month the General Assembly passed a resolution desiring him to continue in that position. He did not, however, comply with their wishes, for in October, 1745, the Assembly passed the following resolution : " Resolved by this Assembly, that his Honor, the Governor, with the council of war at Milford, be impowered, and they are hereby impowered to supply our forces in garrison at Louisburg with a chaplain if need be."
They appointed Mr. Backus, probably soon after. He went to Louisburg and there, after closing the eyes of many a son of Connecticut in death, he himself fell a victim to the prevailing sickness, and died March 15th, 1745-6.1
The parish of Newington was peculiarly unfortunate. It
had given up its first pastor to serve the public benefit; now it had lost its second pastor while serving in a cause equally for the public good. Mr. Backus left a widow and a family of children, who had been dependent upon him for their sup- port. In their straitened circumstances, they considered that they had a claim on the colony for relief. A claim which is generally recognized by all nations in granting pensions to
* In Feb., 1745, Capt. Martin Kellogg was appointed one of the captains “in the expedition against Cape Breton."-State Archives, War, IV, 164.
11 Conn. Hist. Soc. Col., p. 162.
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the widows and orphans of those who have died in their country's service while "in the line of their duty."
Mrs. Backus presented the following petition to the General Assembly :
To the Honorable, the General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut, now convened and sitting in Hartford, in said Colony, this eighth day of May, Anno Domini. 1746 :
The memorial of Eunice Backus, of the parish of Newing- ton, in the County of Hartford, humbly sheweth, That her late husband, the Rev. Mr. Backus, in compliance with public desire and order, was induced to leave his family and minis- terial charge at Newington, and to repair to Louisburg, there to reside in quality of a chaplain to the troops from this Colony in garrison there : That not long after his arrival there, it pleased God so to dispose that he, in the general mor- tality, was carried to the place of silence : That what he carried and had, and left at Louisburg, to the amount of about £300, in clothing, money, etc., being on his decease shipped for transportation home, is since unquestionably lost, either in the seas or taken by the enemy : That over and above his annual salary, the small estate he left, or the utmost profit thereof, will go but a little way towards a sub- sistence for your poor memorialist and her seven (mostly) small children : That of her and family, chief comfort and, under God, principal dependence and support, in the prime and flower of his day for usefulness, she being so sorely bereaved, and that for the more public and common good : She thereupon humbly prays your Honors' kind and compas- sionate interposal in the premises in manner in any wise tending to her relief, and she, your Honors' poor, distressed memorialist, as in duty bound, shall ever pray, etc. Dated at Newington, this eighth day of May, Anno Domini, 1746.
EUNICE BACKUS.
The General Assembly were not deaf to her prayer. They passed the following resolution :
Upon the memorial of Mrs. Eunice Backus, respecting the decease of her husband, the Rev. Mr. Simon Backus, residing at Louisburg in quality of chaplain, etc., and the distressed state of her family thereupon, etc., and praying relief :
Resolved by this Assembly, That the memorialist have granted to her for her and her family's present subsistence, to be paid out of the public treasury of this Colony, the sum of one hundred pounds, in old tenor bills. And that the further consideration of her said memorial be referred to the
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session of the General Assembly at New Haven, to be holden in October next.
At the October session the Assembly made an additional appropriation for her benefit as follows :
Upon the memorial of Mrs. Eunice Backus, of the parish of Newington, representing the grievous circumstances of herself and family, which hath happened by occasion of the death of her husband, the Rev. Mr. Simon Backus, who lately deceased, while in the service of this government at Louisburg, and particularly the loss of a considerable part of his estate, that happened thereby. And praying for relief, &c.
Resolved by this Assembly-That the memorialist shall receive out of the public treasury of this colony the sum of two hundred pounds, in bills of credit of the old tenor, over and above the hundred pounds granted to her by this Assembly in May last.
The expedition for the capture of Louisburg had been successful beyond all anticipations. Its conquest was rever- ently attributed by some to the special favor of an overruling Providence, while others looked upon its incidents as touched with the hues of romance and adventure. The acquisition was hailed with general joy in New England, saddened, it is true, by the remembrance of the brave and precious ones who came not back with their comrades, but had been " carried to the place of silence." Soldier and chaplain slept together. Mrs. Backus was not alone in her distress at that time. Her experience has often been paralleled before and since. The fathers, and husbands, and sons who march to the cannon's mouth and die nobly for their country are not the only heroes. The bereaved mothers, and wives, and daughters who, for long years after, struggle at home and in obscurity in the unequal battle against unpropitious circumstances, exhibit a heroism more enduring and a courage more severely tested. He who dies upon the battle field may feel in his heart that it is sweet to die for his country, but it is bitterness to his widow, who has his family of children to rear single- handed and alone. The death of the former is heralded abroad, and his memory is cherished by his grateful country- men ; the toils and trials of the other are unknown to fame, and only known to Him who knows all things, and who will at last bring all things into remembrance.
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THIRD PERIOD, 1747-1805.
The death of Rev. Simon Backus, at Cape Breton, on March 15, 1746, as already related, made it necessary for the parish to settle another minister. Rev. Joshua Belden began to preach May 10, 1747, if not earlier, and proved acceptable to the people. On June 15, 1747, the society voted to give him a call to settle as pastor over the parish, with a settle- ment of nine hundred pounds, and a salary of two hundred and fifty pounds, old tenor, a year .* These sums were increased at a meeting held August 18, 1747, when it was agreed to make his settlement one thousand pounds, payable in three annual installments, and to add fifty-seven pounds to his yearly salary, payable in grain or its equivalent.
Mr. Belden accepted these terms, and was ordained November 11, 1747, and continued pastor till January 16, 1805, over fifty-seven years. The society felt that it would be a great burden for them to pay Mr. Belden his settlement, and as it had come upon them on account of the death of Mr. Backus in the public service, whom the society had given up at the call of the General Assembly, it was not doubted that the Assembly would " stretch forth a hand for their relief" upon a proper representation of the facts being made to them.
*These sums, apparently large, were really moderate. Curreney at this time was greatly depreciated, and its value very uncertain and fluctuating. Current coin was worth eight shillings per ounce. It was by this standard that bills of credit were compared. In 1710 bills were at par. In 1721 it took twelve shil- lings in eurreney to buy an ounce of silver ; in 1724 fifteen shillings, in 1732 eighteen shillings, in 1739 twenty-six shillings, in 1742 twenty-cight shillings, in 1744 thirty-two shillings. The bills of eredit issued up to this time were all old tenor, but by " King George's War" the people were put to great expense, and in the depreciated condition of their bills thicy resorted to a new issue of currency, ealled new tenor. Connectieut emitted, in May, 1744, £4,000; in October, 1744, £15,000; in March, 1745, £20,000; in July, 1745, £20,000; in May, 1746, £20,000. These new issues had a disastrous effect. They damaged the old emissions, but did not sink so low as the latter, one shilling new tenor being equal to three shillings and sixpence old tenor. Accounts were, however, kept and payments made in old tenor. After this inflation the depreciation was about as follows : In 1745 it took thirty-five shillings in currency to buy an ounce of silver ; in 1746, 7 and 8, thirty-seven to forty shillings; iu 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, sixty shillings. The British Parliament appropriated in 1747 - about £800,000 to reimburse the eolonics for their expenses in the Louisburg expedi. tion. Of this sum Connecticut received about £28,864. Connecticut used this money in redceming her bills of credit, which was accomplished by 1756. She redeemed them at the market priee, paying one ounee of silver for fifty-eight shillings and eight penee in paper, or at the rate of one shilling for cight shillings and ten penee. (These facts are taken from Bronson's Conn. Currency. )
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Accordingly, at a meeting held September 7, 1747. Mr. Josiah Deming was appointed an agent to exhibit a memorial to the Assembly, " to request some consideration for the loss of our minister, who died in their service at Cape Breton some time past."
Mr. Deming presented the following memorial :
To the Honorable General Assembly of the Colony of Con- necticut, holden at Hartford on the second Thursday of May, A. D. 1748.
The memorial of the inhabitants of the parish of Newing- ton, by their agent, Josiah Deming, humbly sheweth-
That whereas our late reverend pastor, Mr. Simon Backus, was called by public authority to serve, as a chaplain, the forces of this Government employed at Louisburg for the defence thereof, and we, in obedience thereto, did consent to his undertaking so dangerous a service, entirely relying on the justice, honor, and goodness of the General Assembly, at whose call we understood our said pastor was willing to serve their forces, in which service he lost his life and we our minister, whereby a great burden is rolled upon us, that of the settlement of another minister, in which, through the good providence of God, we are happily agreed ; yet, being but a small and poor society, we find ourselves greatly bur- dened in our paying the settlement of our present minister, and believing this honorable assembly is really interested in our case, as we have resigned into their hands at their call so great a good, we cannot suffer ourselves to doubt of their stretching fortlı a hand to our relief, and since we understand the British Parliament has voted a reimbursement of the charges this colony has been at in reducing and keeping Louisburg, we are the more encouraged at this time to lay our case before this honorable assembly, and to beseech their compassion that they would afford us relief and help in the settlement of our present minister, and alleviate our burden in such manner as your honors shall see fit. And your peti- tioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray. Dated at Hartford the 12th day of May, 1748.
JOSIAH DEMING, Agent.
The General Assembly did not disappoint the hopes of the society, but recognised their obligation to Newington by the following resolution :
Upon the memorial of the inhabitants of the parish of Newington, representing that the reverend Mr. Backus, their late minister, having been called by public authority to serve
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as chaplain at Louisburg, after having been there some con- siderable time, died in said service, to their great and unhappy loss, and praying relief, &c.
Resolved by this Assembly. That the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds, in bills of credit of the old tenor, be paid and delivered to the memorialists, out of the public treasury of this colony.
This money the society appropriated to the payment in part of the first installment of Mr. Belden's settlement. This relief from the public treasury was, in a few years, more than counterbalanced by the permanent loss to the society of their Farmington neighbors, who had formerly been annexed to them in compensation for the loss of the Beckleys, as has been detailed.
In October, 1753, the parish of Kensington, being greatly divided in sentiment as to the propriety of continuing as one parish, or of being divided into several parishes, sent a memorial to the General Assembly requesting that a com- mittee might be appointed by that body to hear all parties and determine what was best, and make report to the Assembly. This memorial was signed by John Hooker and Isaac Lee, as society agents.
The Assembly granted the prayer of the memorial, and appointed Jonathan Trumbull, Shubael Conant, and Jonathan Huntington a committee for the service mentioned, and if this committee should think it best that Kensington should be divided into several parishes, they were authorized to give notice to the adjacent parishes to appoint committees to appear and be heard before them, as to the propriety of adding any portion of the adjacent parishes to any of the proposed parishes in Kensington, and they were instructed to make report of their doings to the Assembly at that October session, or the one to be held in May, 1754. The committee attended to the duties of their appointment, and caused a society meeting to be called to meet at Kensington, Nov. 27, 1753, when 96 of the members of that parish were for con- tinuing in one society, and 81 favored a division. For the two following days the committee viewed the society, and then adjourned to the 3d Tuesday of April, 1754, and gave
8
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notice to the people of Newington, and first parish of Farm- ington, and first society in Middletown, and the parish of Meriden, to appear by their committees at said meeting in Kensington, " to show reasons, if they sce cause, why there should not be some part of their adjoining parishes taken off from them to be added to the parish of Kensington, to accommodate the dividing the parish of Kensington into several parishes." All the parties met, except the parish of Meriden, and were fully heard on the day appointed. The committee judged it best and " most for the peace of the said parish of Kensington," that it should be divided into three distinct parishes, with some additions from other societies. They made report May 16, 1754, to the General Assembly, of their doings, and of the conclusion to which they had arrived, giving the boundaries of the three proposed societies. By these boundaries Newington was stripped of the addition formerly made to its territory by the annexation of a part of Farmington. The society, at a meeting held May 3, 1754, appointed Ebenezer Kilborn and Bavil Seymour a committee to appear before the Assembly and remonstrate against the acceptance of this report of their committee, on the ground of the hardship it would be to Newington to lose so many of its inhabitants, " but nevertheless if they must be taken from us we beg the favor of the honorable Assembly that we may have an equivalency made us." The committee did not succeed in preventing the taking away of these inhabitants, and of the annexed territory, but they gained some " equivalency " therefor. A remonstrance was also presented to the Assembly May 9, 1754, by 56 persons in Kensington, and nine from that part of Farmington annexed to Newington, protesting against the acceptance of the com- mittee's report, and professing their desire to continue in their present situation.
The General Assembly accepted the report, with material alterations, confirming to Kensington the Beckley quarter, in consideration of sixty pounds being paid Newington in three annual installments of twenty pounds each, lawful money,*
*Probably pounds sterling, and not bills of credit. This money was called the " Kensington consideration.'
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and establishing the society of New Britain, including that part of Farmington formerly annexed to Newington, as appears by the following act :-
An Act limiting the bounds of the parish of Kensington, and for establishing one other Ecclesiastical Society in Farm- ington, in the County of Hartford.
Be it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the bounds of the parish of Kensington, for the future, shall extend no farther north than to an east and west line drawn across the bridge called Beach Swamp Bridge, from Weathersfield town line to Southington parish line. Easterly by the ancient line of said Kensington, including those two pieces of land taken off from Weathersfield and Middletown, and from the. southwest corner of the said Middletown part of said Kensington to run westerly until it comes into the middle of the highways, where they cross each other, between the houses of Elisha Cole and Stephen Cole, from thence westerly until it comes to the southwest corner of John Cole's home lot ; from thence due west to said Sonthington Society line, thence northerly as that line runs, to the line first mentioned. And that the parish taxes arising, or that shall be levied on, the improved lands in said Kensington, shall be paid to said society only. And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that said parish of Kensington shall have full power, and full power and authority is hereby granted to said parish, at their legal meetings, to tax all such inhabit- ants as live south of said society, and within the ancient bounds of Kensington, equally with themselves for defraying the charge of preaching only, and that their collectors have full power to collect the same, until this Assembly shall order otherwise. And it is further enacted by the authority afore- said, That the said society of Kensington, exclusive of those inhabitants that live in the Weathersfield part, shall pay to the society of Newington the sum of twenty pounds, lawful money, on the first day of May, A. D. 1755, and twenty pounds more on the first day of May, A. D. 1756, and twenty pounds more on the first day of May, A. D. 1757. Each payment to be made with the lawful interest arising on such sum from the first day of June next. And said society of Kensington, exclusive of the said Weathersfield part, shall have full power, at their legal meetings, to tax themselves for the payment of the said sixty pounds and the interest thereof. And that the said society committee make a rate accordingly, and that the collector, chosen in said society,
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shall have full power to collect the same as other society rates by law are collected, and pay the same to the society committee for the use aforesaid. And that the inhabitants living south of said parish of Kensington shall have free liberty to attend the public worship with the said society of Kensington till this Assembly shall order otherwise.
And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be one other ecclesiastical society erected and made, and is hereby erected and made, within the bounds of the town of Farmington, bounded and described as followeth, viz. : South on the north bounds of Kensington parish, easterly on Weathersfield town line, as far north as the north side of Daniel Hart's lot, where his dwelling house now stands, and from thence to run west on the north side of said Hart's lot to the west end of that tier of lots ; from thence to run southerly to the old Fulling mill, so called, on Pond river, and from thence southerly to the east side of a lot of land belonging to the heirs of Timothy Hart, late deceased, near Bare Hollow, and from thence due south until it meet with the north line of Southington parish ; thence by said South- ington line, as that runs, until it comes to Kensington north line, excluding Thomas Stanley, Daniel Hart and John Clark and their farms, on which they now dwell, lying within the bounds above described. And the same is hereby erected and made one distinct ecclesiastical society, and shall be known by the name of New Briton, with all the powers and privileges that other ecclesiastical societies by law have in this colony, and that all the improved lands in said society shall be rated in said society, excepting as before excepted.
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