USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > East Windsor > East Windsor heritage; two hundred years of church and community history, 1752-1952 > Part 3
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The Rev. Shubael Bartlett might well have been the prototype of this century's Rev. George B. Hawkes. Of recent pastors none has exceeded Mr. Hawkes in friendliness, cordiality, and genuine interest in the common- place things of life. His love of his work as shepherd of the Congregation- al flock was equalled by his love of Nature. He counted it a satisfactory achievement if he could leave to his successors, in this and other parishes in which he served, a growing tree or shrub where none had grown before.
Dr. Soule was paying no idle compliment when he said: "I have never known a better man nor one more conscientiously governed." Certainly, during his five years in East Windsor, Mr. Hawkes applied himself with rare diligence and devotion to his pastorate. And few will dispute the
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conclusion that he was probably too little appreciated for the fineness of his character and for his cheerful spirit of helpfulness. To expect, together with these attributes, preaching equal to that of his predecessor would be asking too much of a pastor within the salary range of the Church. Many a congregation is prone to expect of a new pastor all the strong points of the one who preceded him, together with such additional special virtues as he may, or is hoped to, possess.
In its 175th year, Rev. William W. Evans came to this Church, and it was he who was instrumental in securing funds for the Memorial Tablet. Following what Dr. Soule has described as "experience both East and West in varied vocations", Mr. Evans entered the ministry much later in life than is usual. Prior to his installation here, he had been engaged in Statewide work, in raising funds for the Congregational Church at Storrs, in part erected for the benefit of University of Connecticut students. And in this work he had been in close association with Dr. Soule.
It is probable that Dr. Soule knew Mr. Evans better than did any members of this parish. In his commemorative address, he spoke of Mr. Evans as follows: "His remarkable degrees of ability make more evident some distinct limitations. His health must always give him care, and this makes him a man of moods. Let me add that moods are never the product of other than a thoughtful mind. He has a poetical imagination, and this belongs to the religious nature."
If the bright prospects which Dr. Soule foresaw for his friend did not fully mature, the cause was revealed in his words of commendation. A man of moods, delicate health, and a poetical imagination bordering on the impractical, Mr. Evans also suffered from a lack of tact, that element so essential to the successful ministry.
In view of a minor crisis which arose out of the termination of Mr. Evans' pastorate, the Church decided to ask Rev. Dr. George William Brown of the Hartford Seminary Foundation to act as an interim pastor during the winter and early spring. During one of Mr. Evans' illnesses, Dr. Brown had most satisfactorily supplied the pulpit; and he and Mrs. Brown were held by all in high esteem and great affection. Under their healing guidance, a united Church emerged for the calling in June, 1931, of the Rev. Virbrook Nutter.
In June, 1951, the Rev. Nutter closed his pastorate of twenty years. His, the fourth longest pastorate in two centuries, began with the Great Depression and continued through and after World War II. These have been difficult years, full of many acute and distressing personal problems for many members of the Church. In the last few years of his pastorate, Rev. Nutter's work was further complicated and made more onerous by the long and fatal illness of Mrs. Nutter who, health permitting, had always been a cheerful helper in the Church School and community. She sleeps on the western hillside amid those familiar scenes which, through so many years, she and her devoted husband had grown to love.
Mr. Nutter's annual reports, heavily weighted with accomplished good works, recount many visits to shut-ins and the sick at home and in hospital.
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Through his widespread contacts with, and calls on, people neither closely nor actually associated with the Church, he brought it to them and made it a center of interest and concern far beyond the limits of active membership. His was a community work fully as much as a parish effort. And certainly no fair appraisal of Mr. Nutter is possible without special mention of his effective conducting of public services.
Possessor of a pleasing voice and formal, yet easy and simple, pulpit presence and manner, Mr. Nutter will long be remembered for the dignity of his services as well as for the radiant joy he expressed at marriages and baptisms. His heart and spirit were particularly responsive to these begin- nings of new homes and new lives. He matched length of years with faithfulness to his duties as preacher and pastor. When the time comes to add his name to the Memorial Tablet, it may be said of him as Dr. Soule said of Mr. Hawkes: "His name will add much and subtract nothing."
In November, 1951, the Reverend Oliver Barres, M. A., settled accord- ing to time-honored custom by a council of the Hartford East Association, assumed his duties in a parish more radically transformed than at any other period in its history, not excepting those years of the influx from European immigrations which brought to these shores the Irish, Germans, Lithuanians, and Poles. Furthermore, the transplantation of numerous families, most of them young, from various other States, to take up their work in near-by industries, has brought with it a wealth of new blood. The challenge of the past used frequently to be that of holding together the existing order and families. At the present time, it is that of assimilating the new, and attracting those who have recently settled here to the House of God, and enlisting them in the work of His Kingdom.
For the first time in two centuries, the minister's wife is also ordained in the Christian ministry. Rev. Marjorie Barres is therefore particularly fitted for participation in the Church program, even more so than the many loyal and helpful pastors' wives of byegone days.
The inception of this fourteenth pastorate is so recent that it would be rash to indulge in any speculation as to the future. Suffice it to point out the unique challenge of today, and to note that, together with the zeal of youth, the Rev. Barres and his wife have brought to their mission a rare depth of spirituality consistent with the growing demand everywhere for a return to the full and challenging faith of the fathers of the early church.
As to those changes necessitated in the past quarter-century, the concluding words of Dr. Soule's discourse are still appropriate and suffi- cient. Indeed, it is not the list of these ministers, nor the total years of their service, that should thrill our souls, but the fact that these devoted divines have through two centuries "impressed the stamp and seal of Godly example and holy instruction on the lives of successive generations so that they walked in the ways of righteousness, preserving the peace and purity of this Church and community, and causing those who have gone forth to be worthy witnesses of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus."
This living Church, we may fondly hope and trust and pray, will continue to sweep men on "toward God and His Glory."
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CHAPTER IV
CREEDS, COVENANTS AND CONFESSIONS OF FAITH
In the First Congregational Church in East Windsor Manual of 1893, first year of the pastorate of Rev. Dr. William F. English, we read: "The earliest Creed adopted by this Church, which has been preserved, is a short statement adopted March 22, 1804. The Creed printed by the Church in 1827, 1850, and 1871, was adopted between 1810 and 1816, the exact date being unknown; and the present Creed, that of the Creed Com- mission of 1883, was adopted, together with a revision of the standing rules of the Church, March 31, 1893."
Based on this terse summary, a complete history of the subject may be presented by a look backward from 1804 and considering the changes since 1893.
Whether or not the Church under its first pastor adopted a Creed, Covenant, or Confession of Faith of its own, is not known; but it is highly probable, because such was Congregational practice. The Church records, if they were kept, as distinguished from the Ecclesiastical Society records, have been lost. But this much is certain: In 1804, when calling the second pastor, the Church itself set forth the terms of settlement, citing six articles of the 1684 Cambridge Platform adopted by the Congrega- tional Churches of New England. This decision was made, in the language of the resolution approved January 16, 1804, "as being in their opinion Inost agreeable to the Word of God in Directing in Church Discipline."
Most interesting to us is that the six articles of the Cambridge Plat- form sustained by the Church vote of that date, are identical with those voted on April 1, 1754, for adoption by the Ecclesiastical Society "in order To settle Sir Thomas Potwine." Of course, the Cambridge Platform was not actually a covenant in the sense of being a statment of faith, or a con- tract between church members. Yet it did establish the basis of church government and discipline; and in the first century of this Church, the latter was of far more consequence than it has ever been since.
The Appendix includes these excerpts from the Cambridge Platform, and our church's other statements of faith. These statements rest solidly on the Holy Scriptures, and the Confession reprinted in 1871 cites in authority book, chapter and verse. The Church Manual printed in 1893, by including the Apostles' Creed, recognizes the classical and fundamental religious teachings and truths. The Manual of 1871 includes the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments. These, together with the rest of the Bible, constitute the spiritual teachings and beliefs upon which this Church built its ministry.
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Before the advent of the social gospel in the early Twentieth Century, all the emphasis was placed upon salvation through repentance and grace This was the stern and challenging religion of a people generally aware that man had fallen from grace and, only through the intercession of his risen Lord and Savior, could he be redeemed. This conviction was prob- ably never more simply and compellingly phrased than in the dying words of Rev. Thomas Potwine: "Christ is my all and in all."
For slightly more than a century after the founding of this Church, adherence to the Covenant was not a matter to be lightly taken. Any member's prolonged absence from meetings was sufficient cause for inves- tigation. Unseemly conduct, lying, excessive drinking, neglect of family, and other offenses, could and did result in the extreme punishment of excommunication. According to the records, sincere efforts were always made to persuade the offender to confess his guilt, change his ways, and continue in the Church. He or she might be required to read in public meeting a confession of guilt and a pledge to reform. And whenever the offender displayed no sign of penitence, "for the good of the Church" excommunication followed. Such action was based on the conviction that those who failed to meet the obligations of the Covenant to which they had subscribed were, by their un-Christian conduct, weakening the Christian Church, and setting a bad example for others to do likewise.
On reading the Appendix-"Two Centuries of Creeds, Covenants and Confessions of Faith"-the theologian, better than any layman, may readily perceive the transition from the sterner to the milder covenants. This latter-day trend, not alone characteristic of our own Church, may be held in evidence of a more tolerant attitude in keeping with the injunction, "Judge not that ye be not judged". In our time, the discipline of the individual conscience has been substituted for the discipline of the group. And such Christian liberalism may be commendable as long as the indi- vidual is not too easily satisfied with regard to his obligations toward other individuals, toward the Church, and toward the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, although the possibility appears remote that Congregationalism will ever return to the extreme of excommunication, there is considerable evidence, at the outset of our present third century, of a wide return to a fuller, more challenging faith than the easy salvation of the social gospel era, and the nebulous beliefs of liberalism.
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CHAPTER V
THE MEETING HOUSES
The tough oak beams, broad pine panelling, and knotless clapboards of the first crude meeting house may well have been cut hard by the building site. The final vote of October 22, 1735, authorizing its con- struction, must have been soon followed by the "Gee!" and "Haw!" of ox-drivers hauling logs. The sounds of axe and saw, broadaxe, adze, chisel and mallet rang through the wilderness. Near-by, on Scantic River, a saw- mill ripped out the boards and lighter timbers.
If there was any basic part neglected in constructing this meeting house, it must have been the foundation because, in the forty-nine years life of that structure, the North Society several times authorized repairs on it. In the surrounding community, stone was not plentiful. The roof, possibly of cedar from Cedar Swamp over Ellington way, creditably with- stood the rigors of weather; at least thirty odd years passed before it had to be repaired.
This first meeting house had neither steeple nor cupola. In 1801, the Society, presumably hoping or knowing that a donor might show up, voted that, provided no cost should fall to the Society, any person or persons so disposed could erect a steeple or cupola. Unfortunately, fire intervened before this hint, or consent, could be translated into reality. So that the old meeting house never did point Heavenward with a gleam- ing white spire, that landmark so characteristic of colonial Congregational churches. There is, however, no doubt at all that the minds of the faithful who, from far and near, every Sunday assembled for morning and after- noon services, were Heavenward directed by the eloquence and exhortation of the only pastor that meeting house ever knew: the Rev. Thomas Potwine. And it was not until the sunset of his life that it burned down.
There are not many details recorded of this ancient sanctuary. It was nine feet shorter and twelve feet narrower than its present-day successor, which was originally fifty-six by forty-seven feet. But, unlike the present building, it stood north and south, with its pulpit in the north end. There were doors to the west, east and south-a provision that would warm the hearts of today's building inspectors. Tradition has it that there were no windows; but in 1766, "shutting the doors and windows", besides sweeping and providing water for baptisms, was listed among the sexton's duties. In such pioneer conditions, a heated church was unheard- of.
When the Rev. Thomas Potwine stood "at the desk", high above the main floor, his family pew was close by on his left. The main floor was filled by twenty-seven other square pews. In the southeast and southwest corners there were stairways to the balconies across the south end and
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along both sides. This arrangement left a comparatively narrow opening above and in front of "the desk". Thus the minister doubtless had ample opportunity now and then to cast a reproachful glance at latecomers or restless listeners. The pews were carefully diagrammed, and the assign- ments of seats inscribed on them.
In the records are listed 505 names, a presumably accurate list of membership families within eight years of the end of that pastorate. With such a large membership, it is not surprising that in 1796 there was considerable agitation toward enlarging the meeting house, or building a new one. But after the decision of March, 1797, not to do either, the question was not officially revived until April, 1801, when a "legally holden meeting", following keen debate, voted to build an addition and determined the size it was to be. Another reference to the foundation was made when it was voted "to underpin the said meeting house decently with three tier of stone ... including many of the old underpinning stone as can be used". Today, one block of that stone, and a bit of railing, are the only relics of the old meeting house which burned down on April 20, 1802 .*
A violent storm of controversy, rending the parish into two factions, swept over the ashes. Accusations of arson filled the hitherto peaceful air. Committees were appointed to apprehend the culprits and prosecute them to a final judgment. Wounds were opened that did not heal. At this late date, nothing would be gained by belaboring the point.
Indeed, it is fortunate for both factions that the official records men- tion nothing of the presumptive identity of anyone accused. Yankees can be mighty tight-lipped when they want to. Not a word on the subject has been handed down from one generation to another, nor does anyone
NOTE: In his History of the First Ecclesiastical Society in East Windsor, Deacon A. S. Roe gives the date of the fire as October 5, 1801. But in his "Ancient Windsor", Dr. Henry Stiles notes this as erroneous, and supports his own state- ment that the fire was on April 20 of the following year by means of a newspaper clipping from Hudson, New York, which was sent to Mr. J. S. Allen of Broad Brook. Consulting the files of The Connecticut Courant, I have found this item in the issue of April 26, 1802, under the heading: "Melancholy Catastrophe":
"On the night following the 20th instant, the meeting-house in the North Society in East Windsor was entirely consumed by fire; but by the spirited exertions of a number of inhabitants, the store of Messrs. Watson and Killam, and the dwell- ing house of Messrs. Felshaw and Tarbox, and sundry adjacent buildings, were happily saved from the devouring element. This alarming and distressing event is evidently the result of design."
Official records give no account of a meeting on April 20, 1802, on which oc- casion Deacon Roe reported that some persons uttered threatening words with ref- erence to the vote for addition. A meeting on April 29, 1802, passed a motion in which reference was made to "our meeting house lately burned". It seems highly improbable that, had the fire occurred in October of the previous year, the parish- ioners would have been content to postpone action to replace it until six months later.
I am, however, inclined to the view that at a meeting, presumably held on April 20, 1802, some acrimonious words were uttered and the alleged threats voiced. The pages in Vol I of the Ecclesiastical Meetings are at this point in the wrong order, so it seems likely that there were some pages loose when the volume was bound in its present form, and a page may well have been lost.
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living know what individuals, if any, may have been brought before the bar of justice. Prosecution was dropped when it was learned that the crime of arson entailed a sentence to state's prison. What a testimony and tribute to the Christian faith that, after the first bitter reaction to this "melancholy catastrophe", there prevailed such tolerance and willingness to let bygones be bygones !
Early New England life displayed an unshatterable continuity. The embers of the old meeting house had barely cooled before the official wheels began turning to speed up the building of its successor. On May 31, 1802 forty-one days after the fire, plans were approved for a new meeting house; a tax was laid and a committee appointed to carry on the work. This widespread loyalty to their church was indicated by a vote of 91 to 23 favoring the former site as appropriate. Full speed ahead was the order of a people determined to carry on, and there is an eloquent note of urgency in the subsequent rapidity of construction.
That summer the frame of rugged oak was soon in place, its raising probably the result of a combination of labor and social affair. And tradition has it that tragedy, lurking close by, was fortunately avoided. Atop the timbers, one of the stout-hearted builders was swinging his broadaxe to drive home a pin. The head, flying off the handle, spun disc- like to earth, in its wild flight cleaving the stove-pipe hat of one of the onlookers. Fortunate was he that he did not have to earn an early and unusual epitaph !
The annual meeting on October 4 voted the usual sexton's salary and duties, a procedure with which thrifty Yankees would not have been con-
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First Congregational Church of East Windsor and Parsonage.
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cerned if there were as yet no building to sweep. Neither in the records nor in tradition is there any suggestion that the funeral, on November 17, of the Rev. Thomas Potwine was not held in the new meeting house. Shortly after the turn of the year, the Society began looking for a pastor, and in October settled the Rev. Shubael Bartlett. The second half- century had begun.
A meeting house is never destined to enjoy what Justice Brandeis is known to have called the most precious of all human rights, the right to be left alone. A building which at its birth witnessed the transition from saddle-horse and ox-cart to carriage-and-horses and double teams was bound to undergo many changes before it came to be confronted, as it is today, with the advent of the atomic age. The once-unruffled air above its steeple nowadays crackles to the impact of jet-propelled planes outracing the speed of sound. Between the extremes of ox-cart and supersonic transportation lie 150 years of physical progress.
Stoves, lamps and electric power; modern lighting, running water, a kitchen, and an automatically-controlled central-heating plant-all these and more were undreamt-of when Rev. Shubael Bartlett first mounted the pulpit. Furthermore, in the past century-and-a-half there have come about many changes in terminology. Nowadays we seldom speak of "the meeting house". Instead, it is "the Church", and with many specifically "the Scantic Church".
Official records do not reveal why the traditional interior, its pews on the main floor and balconies along both sides and at one end, was radically and uniquely altered in 1842. Presumably, it was then as true as it is today that, where balconies exist, they-and especially their rear seats- might well afford a much-prized refuge for those less attentive to the service. But on this question not even Rev. Shubael Bartlett's quaintly detailed diary sheds any light. During the spring, summer and fall of 1842, he frequently mentions stopping by the meeting house to see how the work was coming on and, devout man of God that he was, hoping that it would be to the glory of God. One entry expresses his prayer that those engaged in the work under "Mr. Coggswell, the master builder, may be aware of the righteous cause of their labor."
Whatever the purpose of such changes, the result is plain. The Committee's Plan 4, approved at a special meeting of the Ecclesiastical Society on December 6, 1841, practically doubled the useable floor-space by the simple device of flooring-over the open space between the galleries and lowering the rear of them to produce an upper room-certainly an appropriate meeting-place for religious services. The fluted columns in today's lower room, or Library Hall, clearly mark the outline of the original balconies. At the same time, the exterior walls were extended "to be flush with the steeple". The scars of this alteration are still visible in the clapboard joints on the sides.
These small additions provided space for the present stairways in the front corner of the building. In the rear of the "audience room", on a raised platform, were the "seats for the singers"; but at first there was no
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organ. Obviously, these seats were not particiularly comfortable because, a few years later, "less uncomfortable seats" were substituted-an all-too- modest, if not attractive, improvement.
More attention was certainly paid to the comfort of singers, schooled weekly at The Academy, than to that of the congregation members, who are still occupying the same "slips" which were installed in 1842. Age has not softened these supports, nor is it of much comfort to note, as recorded by Rev. Mr. Bartlett, that the rails and doors for the slips were put in place by a Mr. Kellogg, "a good and pious man". But probably the pastor found some satisfaction in knowing that such details were in acceptable hands.
Whatever spiritual defects may have prevailed in the other workmen were properly offset by the elaborate and earnest service of dedication on Wednesday morning, November 22, 1842. On this occasion people as- sembled from far and near-for such an event deserved a special day. Or it may have been that Sundays were far too precious to be sacrificed for a re-dedication service. At all events, a century ago the pace of life, espe- cially in late autumn, was so leisurely that farmers and such artisans as there were, could well afford to devote an entire morning to the new House of Worship. What is more, Rev. Mr. Bartlett noted that, following the service, there were many family reunions and dinners -- a feature not likely to be overlooked by the Pastor, a most companionable and folksy man.
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