USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Sharon > General history of the town of Sharon, Litchfield County, Conn. from its first settlement, 3rd ed. > Part 5
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(On the north side.) JOSEPH POWEL, A Minister of the Gospel, in the Church of the United Brethren. Born in 1710, Near White Church, Shropshire, England. Died Sept 23, 1774, At Sichem in the Oblong, Dutchess Co., N. Y.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
(On the south side.) DAVID BRUCE, A Minister of the Gospel, in the Church of the United Brethren, from Edinburgh, in Scotland. Died July 9, 1749, At the Wechquadnock Mission, Dutchess Co., N. Y.
(On the east side.) How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, That bringeth good tidings of good, That publisheth salvation.
Isaiah lii, 7. (On the west side.) Erected by the Moravian Historical Society, October 6, 1859.
Solemn and impressive, as well as instructive services, per- formed by the Moravians from Bethany, were rendered at the dedication of that monument, on the 6th day of October, 1859. As the remains of the missionaries had been committed to the grave without the performance of the cherished rites of that body of Christians, it was deemed appropriate that those portions of the Moravian ritual which relate to death and the resurrection should be employed in the ceremonies. For the same reason the Easter Morning Litany which is prayed annually on Moravian burying grounds, and the choral music of trombonists, a characteristic element of Moravian obsequies, were added to the programme of religious exercises. The services were held in the open field in which the monument stands, and were performed by the Bishop and several Moravian clergymen, with a select band of trombon- ists and choir of singers, in the presence of some seventeen hundred people. The venerable Bishop Wolle had the principal
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
charge, and his white locks, his clerical costume and his solemn and deliberate utterances, with a slight German accent, of the various portions of the Moravian funeral ritual, with the earnest and solemn responses from the people and from the trombonists gave an indescribable interest to the ceremonies. After an his torical discourse by the Rev. Mr. DeSchweinitz, in which a minute history of the Mission and missionaries was given, the following stanzas from the Moravian Hymnal were sung by the congregation :
How sweetly these our brethren sleep, Enjoying endless peace, The grave in which their Saviour lay Is now their resting place. Naught can disturb these heirs of life, All earthly cares are fled, To be with Christ was their desire, And now they're perfected. To Father, Son and Holy Ghost, One God, whom we adore, Be glory as it was, is now, And shall be evermore.
And thus ended the solemn burial services.
* 8
CHAPTER VII.
REV. COTTON MATHER SMITH-CENSUS -- CHURCH OF ENGLAND
MISSIONS-ORGANIZATION OF THE EPISCOPAL PARISH -NEW MEETING HOUSE-REV. GEORGE WHITFIELD.
IN the course of the summer of 1754, the Reverend Cotton Mather Smith, of Suffield, was employed by the town to preach as a candidate for settlement. He came upon the recommenda- tion of Matthew St. John, who had been an inhabitant of Sharon, but who had now removed to Suffield, where he became acquainted with Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith was a descendant of the Rev. Henry Smith, the first minister of Wethersfield, who came from England in 1638 .* The mother of Mr. Smith was a daughter of Atherton Mather, a cousin of the celebrated Cotton Mather, and she died in this town at a very advanced age. Mr. Smith was born at Suffield, October 16th, 1731, and graduated at Yale College in 1751. He spent the year previous to his visiting Sharon at Stock- bridge, Massachusetts, with the very celebrated Jonathan Edwards, engaged in the benevolent duties of instructing the In- dians. Mr. Smith preached as a candidate for more than a year,
* 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 Norfolk, 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 Mather Smith.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
and in the meantime 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 .* He purchased the place which was
* Town Meeting. Dec. 13. 1754. Voted, That Deacon Ebenezer Jackson, Deacon Ebenezer Frisbie and John Williams. be a committee to see if they ean agree with Mr. Smith to preach with us some time longer, and in the meantime to advise with the committee of the Association respeetmg 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 onr committee and that they inform Mr. Smith that the town have voted to give him a eall.
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 a 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 afterward 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 settle- ment : 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 con- tinued 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 in- formed of this onr desire, and therefore chose John Williams, Esq., as our agent or representative to go to said Reverend Association, at their meet- ing 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 settlement 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 together, 80 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.
Town Meeting, June 12, 1755. Voted, That we comply with the advice of the Reverend 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 Marvine 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.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
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 settlement, to Mrs. Temperance Gale, widow of Dr. Moses Gale, of Goshen, N. York, and daughter of Rev. William Worthington, of the parish of Westbrook, in Say- brook. 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 unqualified 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 circumstance in regard to its construction, that its external covering was a coat of mortar. Public worship was maintained in it for a number of years ; the desk being supplied by missionaries sent out by the "Honorable Society for Propagating the Gospel 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
Voted that the same committee take care to prop and well brace up the galleries before said day of ordination.
Town Meeting, August 20, 1755. Voted that Lieut. Caleb Jewitt, Lieut. Stephen Calkin, and Jonathan Gillett be a committee to procure materials for, and to erect a scaffold at the north end of the meeting house, for the ordaining council to ordain Mr. Smith upon, or if it should be wet weather, to prop and well secure the galleries.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
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. During the Revolutionary war, the church building was deserted, turned into a barrack, and never after wards occupied as a place 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 appointed key keeper to the meeting house, and John Pennoyer key keeper to the church, and this practice was con- tinued 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 England, 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
*Mr. Davies was born in Herefordshire, England, on the 21st of Decem- Der 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 September. 1758, and in 1761 sailed 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 18th 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 em- barked 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, daughter 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 Milford, on the 12th day of May, 1766, in the 30th 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.
country. The operations of the Venerable Society in England, of course, ceased in this country on the establishment of in- dependence, and it was many years before measures could be adopted for the supply of clerical services to the congregations of that faith. There is no known record or tradition that Episco- pal worship was celebrated in Sharon for twenty years after the Revolution. The nearest places of worship 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 missionaries from the society in England seemed to have had and maintained a very careful ecclesiastical organization in each parish, as their reports to the parent society detailed with great accuracy 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 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 them- selves, as an ecclesiastical society of the order and denomination called Episcopal, and to choose the proper officers for the society."
At the meeting thus warned, the society was duly organized 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.
HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
The first full board of church officers was elected at an adjourned meeting, held May 5th, 1810. That board was con stituted 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 connection with a like engagement at Kent, where he resided, he conducting 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 builling 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 completed 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 clergymen have served as rectors of the Church in Sharon from the dates indicated below :-
- - Rev. Sturges Gilbert.
1818 George B. Andrews.
1833 " Lucius M. Purdy.
1837 Chas. W. Bradley.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
1839 Rev. S. T. Carpenter.
1844 Martin Moody.
1849 Alonzo G. Shears.
1852 66 Ezra Jones.
1856 66 Louis French.
1857 66 John V. Striker.
1866
66 Henry R. Howard.
66 David N. MacDonald.
1871
66 Joseph W. Hyde.
1873 Edwin J. K. Lassell.
[The following have served as Rectors of the church since the publication of the former edition of the history :
1875-1878-Rev. A. T. Ashton, (minister in charge.)
1878-1881-Rev. Percival H. Whaley.
1881-1884-Rev. Charles Ferris.
1884-1893-Rev. Geo. Rumsey.
1894-(Jan. 1.)-Rev. G. Chapman Griswold.]
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 meeting houses, by taxation. But it was found to be impossible to pro- cure 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 advisable 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 work- man of the building was Capt. Stephen Sears, a builder of some celebrity, and who was active in bringing forward 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
"POCONNOCK" ( Residence of C. Adolphe Low.)
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON
churches in the county, and for a great many years the congre- gation 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 Hutchinson 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 night the dwelling house of Jonathan Gillett, in said Sharon." It stood upon a ledge of rocks, now removed, and was used as a house of worship for nearly 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 proceeded up the North River as far as Albany and Schenectady, preaching in all
* Town Meeting, Dec. 30th. 1763. Voted, that in order to consider a motion for building a new meeting house, and for some other business not finished, this meeting be adjonrned to the third Tuesday 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 deter- mined, only that it be not thirty rods from the present house ; said honse not to be under the following dimensions, viz. : 60 ft. in length. 40 in width, and 25 ft. 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 judgment 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 distinct ecclesiastical society, or be added to any other ecclesiastical society, he or they shall be refunded their proper proportion of what they shall so subseribe, by those who shall remain in the possession of said meeting house, which proportion shall be after a deduction 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 committee for the purposes aforesaid.
Town Meeting, Dec. 9, 1767. Voted, that the old meeting house is grant- ed to the committee who are appointed to erect 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. Doct. Simeon Smith, Stephen Sears, Ebenezer Gay. Joseph Landers, Jr., John St. John, Charles Gillett, and Samuel Elmer were chosen a committee for the purpose aforesaid.
* 9
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF SHARON.
the towns and villages on the route, and returning, preached at Great Barrington, Norfolk, Salisbury * and Sharon. There was considerable opposition to his being permitted to preach in the meeting house, but the influence of 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 refused 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 accommodated 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 followed him for two or three days in succession, to hear the word of life from this devoted minister of the cross. +
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