USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Sharon > General history of the town of Sharon, Litchfield County, Conn. from its first settlement, 2nd ed. > Part 5
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* In a record of Daniel Cushing, the third town clerk of Hingham, Massachusetts, is this entry :- " Mr. Henry Smith and his wife and three sons, and two daughters, and three men servants and two maid servants, and Thomas Mayer, came from H ** er Hall, in Nor- folk, and settled in New Hingham 1638." Henry Smith had a son Ichabod, who was the father of Samuel Smith, and this last named gentleman was the father of Rev. Cotton Ma- ther Smith.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
ing Sharon, at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, with the very cele- brated Jonathan Edwards, engaged in the benevolent duties of instructing the Indians. Mr. Smith preached as a candi- date for more than a year, and in the mean time boarded with John Gay, Esq., at the north part of the town. He was ordained minister of Sharon on the 28th day of August, 1755 .*
* Town Meeting, Dec. 13, 1754. Voted, That Deacon Ebenezer Jackson, Deacon Eb- onezer Frisbie and John Williams, be a committee to see if they can agree with Mr. Smith to preach with us some time longer, and in the meantime to advise with the comm.ttee of the Association respecting giving him a call to settle in the ministry with us, and to make report to the meeting at such time to which it may be adjourned.
Town Meeting, January 8, 1755. Voted that we will give Mr. Cotton Mather Smith a call to settle in the work of the gospel ministry with us.
Voted, That our former committee, viz., the two deacons and John Williams, Esq. be continued to be our committee and that they inform Mr. Smith that the town have voted to give him a call.
Voted, That said Committee confer with Mr. Smith, and know which will be the most acceptable to him to have a larger settlement and a smaller salary, or a larger salary and smaller settlement, and make report to this meeting.
Voted, That we desire, and will make application to the General Assembly in May next, for a Probate District in this northwest part of this county.
Town Meeting, January 15, 1755. Voted, That we will make such proposals to Mr. Cotton Mather Smith, to encourage him to settle with us in the gospel ministry. as shall be equivalent to the terms on which Mr. Searl settled with us, in such form as we shall after- ward conclude upon.
Voted, That we will give to Mr. Smith 420 ounces of silver, or equivalent in old tenor Bills, for a settlement, to be paid in three years after settlement; viz., 140 ounces, or an equivalent in old tenor bills, annually for three years.
Voted, That we will give to said Mr. Smith 220 Spanish dollars, or an equivalent in old tenor bills, for his yearly salary
Voted, That the committee last chose to treat with Mr. Smith, be continued to be a committee to make the aforesaid proposals to him in the name of the town and desire his answer.
Town Meeting, May 23, 1755. Voted, That we persevere in our desire to have Mr, Smith settle with us in the work of the Gospel ministry, and would have this our desire manifested again to him, and also that he be informed that we take a grateful notice of what he has now offered to this meeting, and also that the Reverend Association of this county be informed of this our desire, and therefore chose John Williams, Esq., as our agent or representative to go to said Reverend Association, at their meeting In New Milford, on Tuesday next, to inform them of it, and to ask their farther advice in this matter.
That part of Mr. Cotton Mather Smith's answer to the town's call, given in town meeting, and signed with his hand, May 23d, 1755, respecting our proposals for his settle- ment and salary, was in the words following : viz., "as to the settlement and salary you have voted me, I have nothing to object against 'em, but esteem the offer generous and honorable, and as it will come heavy upon some, perhaps, to pay salary and settlement to- gether, so I have thought of releasing part of the payment of my salary for a time, to be paid to me again when you have finished the payment of the settlement, and this I propose to have done in the following manner : the first year I shall allow you out of the salary you have voted me, 40 dollars, the 2d, 30 dollars, the 3d year 15, the 4th year 20, to be repaid to me again, the 5th year 20 more, the 6th year 20 more, and the 25 dollars that remain I am willing that the town should keep 'em for their own use .- From the original. Entered per John Williams, Register.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
He purchased the place which was owned by his predecessor, Mr. Searl, the same which is now owned by his great-grandson, Dr. Robert W. Smith. He was married, soon after his settle- ment, to Mrs. Temperance Gale, widow of Dr. Moses Gale, of Goshen, N. York, and daughter of Rev. William Worthing- ton, of the parish of Westbrook, in Saybrook. Mr. Smith was the minister of Sharon for more than fifty years, and during the whole of that period occupied a large space in public affairs. Probably no minister ever had, in a greater degree, the confidence and affection of his people. He was never spoken of by those who knew him, but with the most unquali- fied respect and veneration.
A census of the colony was taken in 1756, and the popula- tion of Sharon was found to be 1196, about one-half of the present number of inhabitants.
From the first settlement of the town, there had been sev- eral families of the Communion of the Church of England, as it was called, before the Revolutionary war, but they were never sufficiently numerous to form a separate congregation, or to maintain public worship, until about the year 1755. On the 14th day of April, of that year, leave was given, by the town, to those of that communion, " to erect a church at the corner of the highways that come from the upper end of the town and the Iron Works Hollow." This was at the head of the street, near Captain King's. This building was erected, and stood for nearly forty years. It is mentioned as a singular cir- cumstance in regard to its construction, that its external cover-
Town Meeting, June 12, 1755. Voted, That we comply with the advice of the Rever- end Association, respecting the day of the ordination of Mr. Cotton Mather Smith to be the Pastor of this church and people, and accordingly appoint the 28th day of August next for that purpose.
Voted, That Messrs. John Gay, John Pardee, and John Marvin be a committee to make needful provisions for the ordaining council, and such other gentlemen as shall be thought best to have entertained at the cost of the town:
Voted that the same committee take care to prop and well brace up the galleries be- fore said day of ordination.
Town Meeting, August 20, 1755. Voted that Lieut. Caleb Jewitt, Lieut. Stephen Cal- kin, and Jonathan Gillett be a committee to procure materials for, and to erect a scaffold at the north end of the meeting honse, for the ordaining council to ordain Mr. Smith upon, or if it should be wet weather, to prop and well secure the galleries.
8*
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
ing was a coat of mortar. Public worship was maintained in it for a number of years; the desk being supplied by missiona- ries sent out by the "Honorable Society for Propagating the Gos- pel in Foreign Parts." The first of the missionaries who labored here was the Rev. Ebenezer Dibble, whose permanent residence was at Stamford, but who had the care of many of the churches in the western part of the colony. After Mr. Dibble, the Rev. Solomon Palmer and the Rev. Thomas Davies had the charge of the church, in connection with those at New Milford, Roxbury, New Preston, and New Fairfield .* The leading churchmen in the town were Messrs. Joel Harvey, Job Gould, Elnathan Goodrich, John Pennoyer, Simeon Rowley, Samuel Hitchcock, Solomon Goodrich, and perhaps some others. At one time during his ministry, Mr. Davies reported the number of families belonging to the parish to be twenty- two, and the number of communicants to be nineteen. Dur ing the Revolutionary war, the church building was deserted, turned into a barrack, and never afterwards occupied as a place
* Mr. Davies was born in Herefordshire, England, on the 21st of December 1736. His father removed to this country in 1745, and settled in what is now called Davies Hollow, in the town of Washington, then a part of Litchfield. He graduated at Yale College in Sep- tember, 1758, and in 1761 sailed1 for England for holy orders. He was ordained Deacon by the Archbishop of Canterbury on the 23d of August and on the following day was ordained Priest by the same Prelate. The following is a copy of the records of his appointment as a missionary as taken from the Records of the Society :- " Agreed, the 1Sth of September, 1761, that Mr. Davies be appointed missionary to the churches at New Milford, Roxbury, Sharon, Preston, and New Fairfield in Litchfield county, Conn." Mr. Davies embarked immediately after this, for this country, and entered immediately on his ministry to the above named churches. On the Ist day of April, 1762, he was married to Miss Mary Harvey, danghter of Mr. Joel Harvey. of Sharon, by whom he had two children, one of whom, William Davies, Esq., lived at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. The other was the wife of Jonathan Burrall, Esq., of Canaan, Conn. Mr. Davies died suddenly at New Mil- tord, on the 12th day of May, 1766, in the 3)th year of his age. The following is a copy of his epitaph :-
In memory of the Rev. Thomas Davies, A faithful servant of Jesus Christ, An active, worthy Missionary, From the venerable society in England, Who departed this life May 12, 1766, In the 30th year of his age. He met death with the greatest Christian fortitude. Being supported by the rational hope Of a blessed immortality. The sweet remembrance of the just Does flourish, now he sleeps in dust. " Vita bene acta, jucundissima est recordatio."
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
of worship. Mr. Richard Clark succeeded Mr. Davies in the mission, and resided in New Milford until the close of the war. It would seem that there was perfect harmony and good feeling between the two denominations. At the annual town- meetings, for a great number of years, Charles Gillet was ap- pointed key keeper to the meeting house, and John Pennoyer key keeper to the church, and this practice was continued as long as the church was used for public worship. For many years after the Revolutionary war, the Episcopalians in Sharon had no regular stated worship. There was no clergyman of that faith in the country, except such as had been ordained in Eng- land, and the few of them who had remained here, and cher- ished attachment to the cause of independence, were unable to meet the wants of the many congregations scattered over the country. The operations of the Venerable Society in England, of course, ceased in this country on the establishment of independence, and it was many years before measures could be adopted for the supply of clerical services to the con- gregations of that faith. There is no known record or tradi- tion that Episcopal worship was celebrated in Sharon for twenty years after the Revolution. The nearest places of wor- ship were at Litchfield and New Milford. There were several families in the town who conformed to that church, but they were never organized as a legal ecclesiastical corporation, until the formation of the present society in 1809. The missiona- ries from the society in England seemed to have had and main- tained a very careful ecclesiastical organization in each parish, as their reports to the parent society detailed with great accu- racy the number of families, births, deaths, baptisms, marriages and membership in the different parishes under their care, and in fact, every memorial they have left is a testimony to their great fidelity in their several callings. In 1809 the number of Episcopal families in Sharon had increased to about twenty, and it was deemed expedient that they should be organized into a legal corporation under the laws of the State, so that they could be empowered to hold property, lay tax, and enforce
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
other legal rights. A legal warrant was issued on the 18th day of May, 1809, by General Augustine Taylor, a Justice of the Peace, commanding him to summon sundry persons, named in the warrant, to meet at the Academy in Sharon, on the 27th day of the same month, "to form and regularly organize themselves, as an ecclesiastical society of the order and denom- ination called Episcopal, and to choose the proper officers for the society."
At the meeting thus warned, the society was duly organ- ized according to the ritual of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. The following named persons were the first members of the society :-
David Lambert,
Simon Blackman,
Samuel Jarvis, Jr.
David Parsons,
Asa Hitchcock,
Israel Camp,
Barnabas Tobey,
William Chapman,
Luther Gay,
Daniel Patchen,
Thomas S. Barnum,
Peter W. Smith,
Simon Beebe,
Abel Hall,
Isaac Daw,
John Griswold,
Samuel R. Gager,
Rufus Wright.
The first full board of church officers was elected at an adjourned meeting, held May 5th, 1810. That board was constituted as follows :-
Israel Camp, Clerk.
Thomas S. Barnum, Wardens.
David Lambert,
Thomas S. Barnum, Treasurer.
Dr. John Sears, Collector.
Samuel R. Gager, )
Isaac Daw,
Asa Hitchcock, Vestrymen.
Samuel Jarvis,
David Lambert, Delegate to Conventions.
The Rev. Sturges Gilbert was employed soon after the society was organized to perform clerical services, in connec- tion with a like engagement at Kent, where he resided, he con-
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
ducting public worship at each place on alternate Sundays. The place of worship here for two or three years was at the Academy, which stood on the present site of the Sharon hotel. The upper room of the building was fitted up for the purpose, and was sufficiently large to accommodate the worshipers.
In 1812 the first steps were taken towards the erection of a church building. Ebenezer Dibble, of Pine Plains, N. Y., Col. Reuben Warner, of New Milford, and Moses Seymour, Esq., of Litchfield, were chosen by this society to establish the site, and such progress was made, in raising funds, that at the close of 1813, the present commodious building had been erected, and temporary interior accommodations furnished, so that public worship was celebrated in the church early in 1814. It was not furnished within until 1819, when it was com- pleted in a neat and comfortable state. It has undergone several modifications since, to conform to the conditions of public taste in regard to church architecture. It was dedicated by Bishop Brownell, with solemn ceremonies, on the 24th day of November, A. D. 1819.
Rev. Ebenezer Dibble served here as a missionary from the Venerable Society in England, commencing in 1754.
Rev. Thomas Davies, from 1763. The following clergy- men have served as rectors of the Church in Sharon from the dates indicated below :-
Rev. Sturges Gilbert.
1818 66 George B. Andrews.
1833
66 Lucius M. Purdy.
1837
Chas. W. Bradley.
1839 66 S. T. Carpenter.
1844
Martin Moody.
1849
Alonzo G. Shears.
1852
Ezra Jones.
1856
Louis French.
1857
66 John V. Striker.
1866
66 Henry R. Howard.
66 David N. MacDonald.
187I
Joseph W. Hyde.
1873
66 Edwin J. K. Lassell.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
In 1866, the parish erected a commodious parsonage, and its close contiguity to the church makes it a very convenient residence for the rector.
After the town had been settled between twenty and thirty years, the population had increased to such an extent, that it became necessary to provide a more commodious place of pub- lic worship than the meeting house then in use afforded. As early as the year 1763, the subject was agitated in the town. It was the practice through the colony, at that time, to raise money for all public purposes, and especially for building meet- ing houses, by taxation. But it was found to be impossible to procure a vote of the town to lay such a tax in this instance, on account of the difficulty with the people in the east part of the town, touching the establishment of a new society. After several efforts to lay a tax had failed, it was determined to make the attempt to raise the money by subscription, and such was the success of the undertaking, that it was thought advisa- ble to proceed with the building in the spring of 1767. It was framed, raised and covered, during that season, but it was not finished and fitted for public use until the next year. The master workman of the building was Capt. Stephen Sears, a builder of some celebrity, and who was active in bringing for- ward the project of building a new house of worship. It was a number of years before all the expenses of the building were paid. When it was completed, it was one of the largest and most commodious churches in the county, and for a great many years the congregation which worshiped in it filled it to overflowing. The committee appointed by the County Court to fix the site of the new meeting house were John Hutchin- son and Joshua Porter, of Salisbury, and Joshua Pierce, of Cornwall, who reported to the Court that they " had located the place about 29 rods northerly from the old meeting house, near the middle of the street, and nigh the dwelling house of Jon- athan Gillett, in said Sharon." It stood upon a ledge of rocks, now removed, and was used as a house of worship for nearly
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
sixty years .* In the year 1824 it was taken down, and the present brick church was erected in its place.
On the 18th day of June, 1770, the Rev. George Whitfield, a celebrated itinerant minister of the church of England, passed through the town on a preaching tour. He had pro- ceeded up the North River as far as Albany and Schenectady, preaching in all the towns and villages on the route, and re- turning, preached at Great Barrington, Norfolk, Salisburyt and Sharon. There was considerable opposition to his being permitted to preach in the meeting house, but the influence of
* Town Meeting, Dec. 30, 1763 Voted, that in order to consider of a motion for building a new meeting house, and for some other business not finished, this meeting be adjourned to the third Tu 'sday in January next.
Town Meeting, Sept. 16, 1766. Voted, that we will build a meeting house near the present meeting house, the precise spot to be afterwards determined, only that it be not thirty rods from the present house; said house not to be under the following dimensions, viz., 60 feet in length. 40 in width, and 25 feet post, the whole to be under the direction of a committee hereafter to be chosen ; said committee not to begin to build it till in their judg- Inent they have got enough subscribed to finish it.
Voted, that if any person or persons shall subscribe who may within the space of twenty years next coming be made a distinet ecelesiastieal society, or be added to any other ecclesiastieal society, he or they shall be refunded their proper proportion of what they shall so subscribe, by those who shall remain in the possession of said meeting house, which proportion shall be after a dednetion of a fiftieth part for every year before they are set off, then the remainder to be paid back as aforesaid.
Voted. that Doct. Simeon Smith, Messrs. Ebenezer Gay and Stephen Sears be a com - mittee for the purposes atoresaid.
Town Meeting, Dee. 9. 1767. Voted, that the old meeting house is granted to the committee who are appointed to ereet and finish the new meeting house, to be improved or disposed of towards finishing the new meeting house, so as not to deprive us of meeting in it until the new one is fit to meet in.
December 19, 1768. It being represented to this meeting that stoves are frequently left in this meeting house with fire in them. whereby it is much exposed to be burnt; the town taking this matter into consideration, agree and vote that no stove shall be left in the meeting house, with or without fire in it, and suffered to remain there after the meeting shall be dismissed at night, or through the night, on the penalty of ten shillings for a stove so left, to be recovered of the person or persons that shall leave the same according to law.
Voted, That young people should not sit together, males and females in the same pew or seats in the galleries, and that our informing officers shall be allowed to sit where they choose in the galleries, for their observation of their behavior who sit there.
Voted, That we will now proceed to choose a committee to seat our meeting house, when the seats shall be made in the body of our house, Doet. Simeon Smith, Stephen Sears, Ebenezer Gay, Joseph Landers, Jr., John St. John, Charles Gillett, and Samuel El- mer were chosen a committee for the purpose aforesaid.
t The meeting house in Salisbury, at that time, was small, and to accommodate the immense number of hearers which came together on the occasion. Mr. Whitfield preached in the open air. The meeting was holden on the public square near the meeting house. The late Dr. Hamilton informed Governor Smith that, on his way to this meeting, while descending the hill nearly half a mile from the meeting, he heard the preacher distinctly announce his text, "Turn ye to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope."
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
Parson Smith prevailed, and the doors were opened. An arrangement had been made for him to preach in the orchard of Mr. Jonathan Gillet, directly opposite the meeting house, and now owned by Charles Skinner, in case he should be re- fused admission to the usual place of worship. An immense congregation, from this and the neighboring towns, assembled on the occasion, and that all the hearers might be well accom- modated with seats, extensive scaffolds were erected around the house. His text was the words of our Saviour addressed to Nicodemus,-" Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again." He discoursed upon the doctrine of the new birth with the most astonishing power and eloquence. The concluding words of the sermon were a quotation, with a little variation, from the last verse of the fourth chapter of Solomon's Songs : "Awake O north wind, and come thou south, blow upon this garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my Beloved come into this garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." Many from this town went, the next day, to hear him preach at the Red Meeting House, in Amenia, N. Y., and some fol- lowed him for two or three days in succession, to hear the word of life from this devoted minister of the cross .*
* These were among the last labors of Whitfield. While on this tour he suffered much from the asthma, the disease which very soon after terminated his life. He spent the night previous to his preaching here with Parson Smith, and such was the alarming sever- ity of the disorder then upon him, that it was thought very doubtful by those who watched with him whether he could survive the night. He attributed his restoration to such a com- fortable state of health as that he was able to preach the next day, to the kind nursing of Madam Smith, for which he expressed the most deep-felt gratitude. It was, probably, in allusion to his own precarious situation, that he opened the public exercises on the follow- ing day by reading the following version on the third psalm by Dr. Watts. Its appropriate bearing upon his own feeble condition will be readily seel :-
Oh, Lord, how many are my foes, In this weak state of flesh and blood; My peace they daily discompose, But my defence and hope is God.
Tired with the burdens of the day, To thee I rais'd an evening cry ; Thou heardst when I began to prav, And thine almighty help was niglı.
Supported by thine heavenly aid, I laid me down and slept secure ;
Not death should make my heart afraid, Though I should wake and rise no more.
But God sustained me all the night; Salvation doth to God belong ; He raised my head to see the light,
And makes his praise my morning song.
Mr. Whitfield died in about three months from this time, at Newburyport, Mass.
CHAPTER VIII.
EVENTS OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
WE have now arrived at the period of the commence- ment of the Revolutionary War. The citizens of Sharon, almost without exception, partook largely of the feeling which pervaded the whole country, at the commencement of the struggle. Parson Smith, like the other clergymen of the day, was a most ardent and decided whig; and his personal influ- ence contributed, not a little, to lead the public mind in the right channel. In his public ministrations, too, there was mingled much of the stirring patriotism of the times. In the prayers which were offered, and in the praises which were sung, there were interspersed many allusions to the tyrannical edicts of the British King, and to the degraded and suffering condi- tion of the colonies. Hymns were written, and music was composed, which were used for public worship on the Sabbath, the effect of which would seem to be, to stir up martial, rather than devotional feelings, and to excite in the worshipers the deepest hatred of their oppressors. The following stanza was
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