USA > Connecticut > New London County > Groton > Groton, Conn. 1705-1905 > Part 18
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When a permanent mission was established, Rev. Lorenzo Sears, then a deacon, was placed in charge. By his advice and direction a church was organized under the name of St. Mark's on February 11, 1865. The first officers chosen were Daniel W. Denison and Roswell Brown, wardens; W. W. Kellogg, John Lee, F. T. Mercer, T. J. Griffin, Greg- ory Philpot, C. A. Jones and Amos Watrous, vestrymen.
September 12, 1865, the parish ratified the purchase from Captain Ambrose H. Burrows for five hundred dollars of a lot of land on Pearl street, Mystic River, and the same day Daniel W. Denison, Roswell Brown and W. W. Kellogg were appointed a building committee. On September 28, plans presented by Mr. Charles Tift were approved. They called for a building thirty-five feet wide and seventy-eight feet long, and work on the foundation was commenced at once. Owing to the nature of the ground, progress in pre- paring the foundation was slow and the work was ex- pensive.
On April 8, 1866, Mr. Sears resigned, being followed by Rev. William Ingram Magill, who entered upon his labors July 11, 1866. The immediate pressing duty before the parish was the completion of the church building. The plans presented by Mr. Tift having proved impracticable, new ones prepared by Mr. A. G. Cutler of Norwich were accepted and the cornerstone was laid December 3, 1866.
Through gifts of Hon. Asa Packer of Mauch Chunk, Penn., and the church at Stamford, Conn., the parish was able to complete the building, and on Christmas day, 1867, it was opened for public worship. The entire cost was nearly nine thousand dollars and a mortgage debt remained
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of three thousand dollars. On October 14, 1869, Mr. Magill resigned and on November 2, 1869 was succeeded by Rev. Orlando F. Starkey. He labored faithfully to reduce the existing debt, in which however he was only partially successful.
The most notable event of his rectorship was the pur- chase and installation of the large organ which had pre- viously been the property of the First Congregational Church of New London. Mr. Starkey resigned November 24, 1872.
Rev. J. D. S. Pardee was called January 5, 1873, and entered upon his work soon after. His first work was the raising of the balance due on the mortgage debt, and on April 25, 1873, the church was dedicated by the Bishop of the Diocese, assisted by Rev. Thomas M. Clark, Bishop of Rhode Island, and other clergymen. The growth of the Sunday school required an enlargement of the building, which was made at a cost of four hundred dollars. In Jan- uary 1877 occurred the death of Daniel W. Denison, senior warden, who had been foremost in the work of the parish.
After eight years of service Mr. Pardee resigned April 20, 1881, and on June 20 of the same year Rev. William F. Bielby was called, entering upon his work in July. January 14, 1883, there was purchased from the estate of Gilbert E. Morgan a house on Pearl street opposite the church for use as a rectory. One hundred dollars was paid in cash, the remainder being on mortgage until the legacy of Cap- tain Brereton in 1893 reduced the debt to six hundred dollars.
Mr. Bielby resigned September 18, 1884, and was fol- lowed by Rev. Samuel G. Babcock, who remained until May 1885. Then came the short rectorships of Rev. Joseph A. Ticknor from August 1885 to August 1886, and Rev. Samuel Hall from November 3, 1886, to the summer of 1887. Rev. Joseph Hooper was called on September 20, 1887, to fill the vacancy and remained six years.
He was followed in 1894 by Rev. Herbert L. Mitchell, who resigned in the fall of 1895. On December 1 of that year
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Rev. Eugene Griggs was called and soon afterward entered upon his work. His services were not acceptable to the parish and the tie between them was dissolved and Mr. Mitchell again assumed the rectorship and remained until July 8, 1901.
Rev. Albert C. Jones became rector on February 12, 1902, and remains until this day.
Methodist Episcopal Church in Noank
This society was organized April 9, 1878, and consisted of four brethren and three sisters. A chapel was built and for a time the interest was partially dependent upon the conference for support. In 1903 a permanent church was built, equipped with modern improvements.
In addition to the churches named above, an Episcopol church was built in Noank in 1903 and a Roman Catholic church at about the same time. There are also three chapels in the town-one at the railroad ferry in Groton, one at Center Groton and one at Fishtown.
CHAPTER XI
THE ROGERENES
A MONG the sects which have found a home in Groton should be mentioned the "Rogerene" Quakers. Founded by John Rogers in New London about 1675, their peculiar beliefs and practices soon brought them into con- fict with the standing order church, which dealt with them with no gentle hand. A branch of this society was estab- lished in Groton early in the eighteenth century. Great and varied has been the comment on the customs of the Rogerenes, but the commonly accepted view of the com- munity was tersely stated by a neighbor who when asked what their beliefs were answered: "To rejoice at every- body's downfall and not go to training." Time has softened men's judgment and today we look upon their work in the community as of constructive value. Perhaps no better statement of their case can be made than is presented in the chapter on "Quakertown" in a History of the Rogerenes* which we are permitted to use through the courtesy of Miss Williams.
"In the new century, ecclesiastical persecutions are scarcely more than a tradition, save to the aged men and women still living who took part in their youth in the great counter-move, the sufferings attendant upon which are now, even to them, as a nightmare dream. The laws that nerved to heroic protest a people resolved to obey no dictation of man in regard to the worship of God lie dead upon the statute book-although as yet not buried. The Rogerenes are taking all needful rest on Sunday, the day set apart for their meetings. Many of these on the New London side
* The Rogerenes, Part II, by Anna B. Williams, 1904.
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mingle as interested listeners in the various orthodox con- gregations. They walk where they please on Sunday, and are no longer molested. The merciless intolerance which brought this sect into existence being no longer itself toler- ated, the chief mission of the Rogerenes is well-nigh ac- complished. The children may soon enter into that full Christian liberty in the cause of which their fathers suf- fered and withstood, during the dark era of ecclesiastical despotism in New England.
"After the last veterans in this cause have been gathered to their rest, the past is more and more crowded out by the busy present. Most of the male descendants of the New London Rogerenes removed to other parts. Many of them are among the hardiest and most enterprising of the West- ern pioneers. From homes in New York and Pennsylvania they move farther and farther west, until no State but has a strain from Bolles and Quaker Hill. Descendants who remain in New London, lacking a leader of their own sect in this generation, join in a friendly manner with other denominations, affiliating most readily with the Baptists and being least associated with the still dominant church. In Groton, however, despite some emigration, is still to be found an unbroken band of Rogerenes, and a remnant upon Quaker Hill continues in fellowship with those of Groton.
"As the region occupied by John Rogers, John Bolles and their neighborhood of followers received the name of Quaker Hill, so that district in Groton occupied chiefly by Rogerenes received the name of Quakertown.
"We find no written account or authenticated tradition regarding the beginnings of Quakertown, save that here was the home of the Groton leader, John Waterhouse. Given a man of this stamp as resident for half a century, and we have abundant cause for the founding in this place of a community of Rogerenes as compact as that at Quaker Hill.
"Quakertown occupies a district about two miles square in the southeastern part of the present town of Ledyard. It was formerly a part of Groton. Among the early Roger-
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enes of this vicinity was John Culver. Besides gifts of land from his father, John Culver had received a gift of land from Major John Pynchon of Springfield, Mass., in recog- nition of the "care, pains and service" of his father (John Culver, Sr.) in the division of Mr. Pynchon's lands (Groton records) formerly owned in partnership with James Rogers. John Culver, Jr., did not, however, depend upon farming, being a "panel maker" by trade. John Culver and his family removed to New Jersey about 1735, there to found a Rogerene settlement. His daughter Esther, how- ever, remained in Groton, as the wife of John Waterhouse. "Among other early Groton residents was Samuel Whip- ple from Providence, both of whose grandfathers were nonconformists who had removed to Rhode Island to escape persecution in Massachusetts. About 1712 this enterprising man purchased a large amount of land (said to be 1,000 acres) about eight miles from the present Quakertown locality, in or near the present village of Poquetannoc. Upon a stream belonging to this property, he built iron-works and a saw-mill. It is said that the product of the iron-works was of a superior quality, and that anchors and iron portions of some of the ships built in New London were made at these works .* Samuel Whip- ple's son Zacharia married a daughter (Elizabeth) of John Rogers, 2nd; a grandson ( Noah) of his son Samuel married a granddaughter (Hope Whipple) of the same leader, and a daughter (Anne) of his son Daniel married a grandson (William Rogers) of the same; while a daughter (Content) of his son Zacharia married Timothy Waterhouse, son of John Waterhouse. Yet it was not until early in the nine- teenth century that descendants of Samuel Whipple in the male line became residents of Quakertown .** That the early affiliations of the Whipple family with the Rogerenes had fitted their descendants for close union with the native
In his will, dated 1727, Samuel Whipple left the iron-works and saw-mill to his son Daniel; his lands with buildings to be divided between his sons Samuel, Zacharia and Zephania. The portion of Zacharia sold in 1734 for £1,000.
The first of the name who came to Quakertown was Samuel
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residents of the place is indicated by the prominent posi- tion accorded the Whipples in this community.
"Other families of Groton and its neighborhood affiliated and intermarried with Rogerenes early in the nineteenth century. William Crouch of Groton married a daughter of John Bolles. This couple are ancestors of many of the later-day Rogerenes of Quakertown. Two sons and two grandsons of Timothy Watrous married daughters of Alex- ander Rogers of Quaker Hill (one of the younger sons of John, 2d). Although there was a proportion of Rogers and Bolles lineage in this community at an early date, there was not one of the Rogers or Bolles name. Later, a son of Alexander Rogers, 2d, married in Quakertown and settled there; but this is not a representative name in that locality, while Watrous, Whipple and Crouch are to be dis- tinctly classed as such.
"As for other families who joined the founders of Quakertown or became associated with their descendants, it is safe to say that men and women who, on account of strict adherence to apostolic teachings, relinquished all hope of worldly pleasures and successes to join the devoted people of this isolated district were of a most religious and conscientious character.
"Generally speaking, the New London descendants in the nineteenth century are a not uncompromising leaven, scattered far and wide among other people and congrega- tions whose religious traditions and predelictions are, unlike their own, of an ecclesiastical type. Every radical leaven of a truly Christian character is destined to have beneficial uses, for which reason it cannot so much be re- gretted that the fate of the New London community was to be broken up and widely disseminated.
"While the New London Rogerenes were, through the mollifying influences of a liberal public opinion, as well as by a wide emigration and lack of a leader fitted to the
Whipple (son of the above Noah and Hope) born in 1766, a man of most estimable character and devotedly attached to peace prin- ciples. His brother Silas also settled in Quakertown. Samuel was the ancestor of those of the name now resident in that locality.
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emergency, slowly but surely blending with the world around them, quite a different policy was crystallizing upon the Groton side. That the Rogerene sect should continue and remain a separate people was undoubtedly the inten- tion of John Rogers, John Rogers, 2d, John Bolles and their immediate followers; aye, a separate people until that day, should that day ever arrive, when there should be a general acceptance of the law of love instituted by Christ, in place of the old law of force and retaliation. Yet not only had these early leaders more than enough upon them in their desperate struggle for religious liberty, but they could not sufficiently foresee conditions ahead of their times, in order to establish their sect for a different era.
"It was by the instinct of self-preservation combined with conscious inability to secure any adequate outside footing in the new state of affairs, that the small but compact band at Quakertown, beholding with dismay and disapproval the breaking up of the main body on the New London side, resolved to prevent such a disbanding of their own society, by carefully bringing up their children in the faith and as carefully avoiding contact with other denominations. It was a heroic purpose, the more so because such a policy of isolation was so evidently perilous to the race. Not so evi- dent was the fact that such exclusiveness must eventually destroy the sect which they so earnestly desired to preserve. Such, as has been seen, was not the policy of that founder whose flock were "scattered throughout New England," and some of the most efficient of whose co-workers were drawn from the midst of an antagonistic denomination; neither was it the policy of him who carried his petition not only to the General Court of Connecticut, but to that of Massa- chusetts. Yet it was no ordinary man who carried out the policy above outlined, with a straightforward purpose and vigorous leadership, in the person of Elder Zephania Watrous, a grandson of John Waterhouse.
"John Waterhouse was living in 1773, at which date he was eighty-three years of age. Considerably previous to
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that time he must have been succeeded by some younger man.
"Elder Timothy Watrous, the Groton leader, who next appears to view, was a son of John Waterhouse, born in 1740. He is said to have been an able preacher and a man of the highest probity.
"Supposing John Waterhouse to have been in active serv- ice to his seventy-fifth year, Timothy could have succeeded him at the age of twenty-four, at which age the latter took part in the great counter-move of 1764-66. His experi- ence in this conflict is given in his own words :
"In the fore part of my life, the principal religion of the country was strongly defended by the civil power and many articles of the established worship were in opposition to the religion of Jesus Christ. Therefore I could not conform to them with a clear conscience. So I became a sufferer. I endured many sore imprisonments and cruel whippings. Once I received forty stripes save one with an instru- ment of prim, consisting of rods about three and a half feet long, with snags an inch long to tear the flesh. Once I was taken and my head and face covered with warm pitch, which filled my eyes and put me in great torment, and in that situation was turned out in the night and had two miles to go without the assistance of any person and but little help of my eyes. And many other things I have suffered, as spoiling of goods, mockings, etc., etc. But I do not pretend to relate particularly what I have suffered; for it would take a large book to contain it. But in these afflictions I have seen the hand of God in holding me up; and I have had a particular love to my per- secutors at times, which so convicted them that they confessed that I was assisted with the spirit of Christ. But although I had so tender a feeling toward them that I could freely do them all the good in my power; yet the truth of my cause would not suffer me to conform to their worship, or flinch at their cruelty one jot, though my life was at stake; for many times they threatened to kill me. But, through the mercy of God, I have been kept alive to this day and am seventy years of age; and I am as strong in the defense of the truth as I was when I suffered. But my persecutors are all dead; there is not one of them left.
"This extract is from a book entitled "The Battle Axe," written by the above Timothy, Sr., and his sons Timothy and Zacharia. Timothy, Jr., succeeded his father as leader and preacher in this society. Zacharia was a schoolmaster of considerable note, and at one time taught school at 'the Head of the River.' He invented the coffee mill so gen- erally in use, which important invention, his widow, being ignorant of its worth, sold for forty dollars. Having dis-
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covered some copper ore in the vicinity of his house, he smelted it and made a kettle. After a vain search to find a printer willing to publish 'The Battle Axe,' he made a printing-press, by means of which, after his death, his brother Timothy published the book. Thus 'The Battle Axe,' even aside from its subject-matter, was a book of no ordinary description. At a later date it was reprinted by the ordinary means. Copies of the first edition are now exceedingly rare and held at a high price. There is a copy of this edition in the Smithsonian Institute.
"The first proof discovered that the Rogerenes have con- scientious scruples in regard to paying the military fine* is a printed petition issued by Alexander Rogers, one of the younger sons of John, 2d, of Quaker Hill, a thorough Rogerene, and, as has been seen, closely allied with those of Quakertown. This petition is dated 1810, at which time Alexander Rogers was eighty-two years of age; his chil- dren, however, were comparatively young. The fine was for not allowing his son to enter the train-band. It proves that, even at so late a date as this, the authorities were seizing property in the same way as of old, taking in this instance for a fine of a few shillings the only cow in the possession of the family, and making no return. As of old, no attempt is made to sue for the amount taken over and above the legal fine, but this petition is printed and probably well circulated in protest .**
"Soon after the death of Timothy Watrous, Sr., and that of his son Zacharia, occurred the death of Timothy, Jr., in 1814. The latter was succeeded in leadership of the society by his youngest brother, Zephania, then about thirty years of age.
"By this time, the Quakertown Society had become so large that there was need of better accommodations for their meetings than could be afforded in an ordinary house. In 1815 the Quakertown meeting-house was built, that
* It is very possible that this society refused to pay military fines from the first; but no record of such refusal has been found.
** An original printed copy of this petition is extant in Quakertown.
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picturesque and not inartistic house of many gables the first floor of which was for the occupation of the elder and his family, while the unpartitioned second story was for Rogerene meetings.
"Materials and labor for the building of this meeting- house were furnished by members of the society. The timber is said to have been supplied from a forest felled by the September gale of 1815, and sawed in a saw-mill owned by Rogerenes. The same gale had unroofed the old Watrous (John Waterhouse) dwelling which stood near the site of the meeting-house .*
"The Quakertown people had a schoolhouse of their own as well as a meeting-house, and thus fully controlled the training of their youth and preserved them from outside influence. About the middle of the century a regular meet- ing-house was built. The old meeting-house was turned entirely into a dwelling. The newer meeting-house re- sembles a schoolhouse.
"Zephania Watrous was the last of the prominent leaders in this community. He was not only gifted as a religious teacher, but possessed much mechanical genius. By an ingenious device, water from a large spring was conducted into the cellar of the meeting-house and made to run the spinning-wheels in the living room above, where were made linen thread and fine table linen in handsome patterns. A daughter of this preacher (a sweet old lady, still living in this house in 1900) stated that she used often in her youth to spin sixty knots of thread a day.
"It is alleged in Quakertown that Rogerenes were the first to decry slavery. This claim is not without founda- tion. Some of the Quakers censured this practice as early as 1750, although many of them held slaves for a consider- able time after that date. Slavery was not publicly de- nounced in their society until 1760. It was before 1730 that John Bolles came to the conclusion that slavery was not in accordance with the teachings of the New Testament.
* The old meeting-house is upon land which was part of the farm occupied by John Waterhouse, and afterwards by his son Timothy.
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Copies of the papers by which he freed his slaves, bearing the above date, may be seen among the New London town records. His resolve to keep no more slaves and his reasons for it are among the traditions cherished by his descend- ants. There is no indication that John Rogers, Sr., ever kept a slave, and many indications to the contrary. His son John, however, kept slaves to some extent, some of whom, at least, he freed for 'faithful service' (New Lon- don Records). Two able-bodied 'servants' are found in his inventory. His son James mentions a servant 'Rose' in his will of 1754. His son John, however, never kept a slave and his family were greatly opposed to that practice, by force of early teaching. With the exceptions here noted, no proof appears of the keeping of slaves among the early Rogerenes, although many of them were in circumstances to indulge in that practice, which was prevalent in their neighborhood. The date at which slavery was denounced by the Rogerene Society does not appear.
"It is certain that the Rogerenes of Quakertown were not only among the first to declare against the brutality of war and the sanction it received from ministers and church members, but among the foremost in the denunciation of slavery. Nor were there those lacking on the New London side to join hands with their Groton friends on these grounds. The churches of New London, in common with others, would not listen to any meddling with slavery, par- tisanship on which question would surely have divided those churches. The Rogerenes saw no justifiable evasion, for Christians, of the rule to love God and your fellow-men, to serve God and not Mammon, and to leave the consequences with Him who gave the command.
"At this period of the antislavery agitation, some of the descendants of John Rogers and John Bolles on the New London side (no longer called by the name of Rogerenes) , and other sympathizers with those of Quakertown, attended meetings in the upper chamber of the house of many gables, and joined with them in antislavery and other Rogerene sentiments, declarations and endeavors. Among these vis-
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itors was William Bolles, the enterprising book publisher of New London, who had become an attendant upon the services of the Baptist church of New London; but who withdrew from such attendance after discovery that the minister and leading members of that church expected those opposed to slavery to maintain silence upon that sub- ject. He published a paper in this cause, in 1838, called THE ULTIMATUM, with the following heading:
"ULTIMATUM
"THE PRESS MUZZLED: PULPIT GAGGED: LIB- ERTY OF SPEECH DESTROYED: THE CONSTITU- TION TRAMPLED UNDER FOOT: MOBS TRIUMPH- ANT, AND CITIZENS BUTCHERED: OR, SLAVERY ABOLISHED-THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE-FELLOW CITIZENS, MAKE YOUR ELECTION.
"A few disconnected sentences (by way of brevity) selected from one of the editorial columns of this sheet will give some idea of its style :
" 'It is with pleasure we make our second appearance before our fellow citizens, especially when we remember the avidity with which our first number was read, so that we were obliged to print a second edition. Our sheet is the organ of no association of men or body of men, but it is the friend of the oppressed and the uncompromising enemy of all abuses in Church and State. Our friends S. and J. must not be surprised that their communications are not admitted- the language is too harsh, and partakes a little too much of the denunciatory spirit for us. We care not how severely sin is rebuked but we would remind them that a rebuke is severe in proportion as the spirit is kind and the language courteous-our object is to con- ciliate and reform, not to exasperate.'
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