USA > Connecticut > New London County > Lebanon > Historic Lebanon; highlights of an historic town > Part 2
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The first nine members of the First Congregational Church of Lebanon were Josiah Dewey, William Holton, Jedediah Strong, John Hutchinson, Micah Mudge, Thomas Hunt, John Baldwin, William Clark. and John Calkins. Upon them rested the respon- sibility of establishing the church, calling and settling a minister. Several of these men came from Northampton, Massachusetts. A church, in those days, was not a building; it was a gathered com- pany of those who confessed their faith in and allegiance to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The building became the Meeting House and for many years was used both as a meeting place for the church and for the town.
The minister was the PARSON, or person, of the community. He was looked up to as the leader, the teacher, the authority of the town. He held a high and honored position, but he was always subject to the authority of the church. Though he was called and settled with the expectation that he would remain with the church for life, he could, for cause, be dismissed. However, even at this
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date, two hundred and fifty years ago, the General Assembly ruled that no church could be recognized, no minister settled, without the consent of a council made up of neighboring churches. There was, therefore, more Presbyterianism, in fact, than pure Congre- gationalism in the relationships of the churches and ministers.
The first man called to the ministry of this church was Joseph Parsons of Northampton, probably known by, possibly related to, some of the first members who came from that town. He was called here in 1700 and was ordained and installed as pastor and teacher in November of that year. The church was formally organized on November 27, 1700.
Joseph Parsons was the son of Joseph Parsons and Elizabeth Strong of Northampton. He was born in 1671. He graduated from Harvard College in 1697. For some reason, not indicated in the records, he was dismissed from this church at his own request in 1708. He then settled in Salisbury, Massachusetts, where he served until his death at the age of sixty-eight in 1739. Three of his sons entered the Christian ministry and his daughter married a minister. Thus the first minister of this church gave to the churches of New England a fine heritage. The Parson's family, now so numerous, look to this man's father and mother as their common ancestors.
The first major task of Rev. Mr. Parsons was to gather a church. The first nine members were members in good standing elsewhere. They formed the nucleus. Soon others were added. This young church probably met in the homes of the community pending the erection of a Meeting House. The story of the Meeting House will be told later.
After the dismissal of Mr. Parsons the church was without a minister for three years. Several attempts were made to secure one but the men called declined to accept. Finally in 1710 Mr. Samuel Welles, a native of Glastonbury, accepted the call and was duly or- dained and settled in 1711.
The wife of the Rev. Mr. Welles had some wealth. Her home was in Boston, the center of light and learning. To her Lebanon must have seemed a crude and remote place of habitation. Her husband, seeking to satisfy her tastes, built what was then the most elegant house in town, still standing, later to become the home of Rev. Solomon Williams. But Mrs. Welles spent most of her time in Bos- ton so finally Mr. Welles asked to be dismissed. He gave as his reason
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(Courtesy of Samuel H. Williams)
THE WELLES HOUSE Home of Rev. Samuel Welles and of Dr. Solomon Williams Birthplace of William Williams
The Welles House was built by Rev. Samuel Welles, second pastor of the First Congregational Church. It was later owned by his successor, Dr. Solomon Williams, pastor of the church for fifty-four years. Here William Williams, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born.
ill-health. The desire was granted and he moved to Boston in 1722. Never underestimate the power of a woman even in those days!
One lively anecdote comes out of the records of the past con- cerning Mr. Welles. Captain Joseph Trumbull, father of Governor Trumbull, in the days before he had acquired the wealth his bus- iness ingenuity later accumulated, went occasionally to Boston driving up some cattle to sell. One day he met Mr. Welles on the streets of Boston. Mr. Welles, not too pleased to be greeted by a man in the humble garb of a drover, shied off. Later, when Mr. Welles visited Lebanon, he called on Captain Trumbull who declined to shake hands with him, saying, "If you don't know me in Boston I don't know you in Lebanon."
The same council that dismissed Mr. Welles ordained hus suc- cessor, Mr. Solomon Williams, native of Hatfield, Massachusetts, possibly the wisest choice this church ever made in a minister. He was destined to serve the church for fifty-four years, to see it grow to be one of the most important churches in the Colony of Con- necticut. He was a man of fine mind, of rare abilities, of intense patriotism. He died soon after the American Revolution started but in his will he left a sum of money to be used for the prosecution of the war. He molded the opinions of the people of Lebanon. It is my conviction that he was more responsible than any other one man for the intense patriotism, the magnificent contributions, the splendid leadership that Lebanon gave to the nation in the process of being born.
Solomon Williams deserves far more space than can be given to him and his work. It may well be summed up in some records culled from the sermon which he preached on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination, a printed copy of which is still in existence. The old Meeting House must have been crowded, galleries and all, as the old man, seventy-two years of age, reviewed for the people his ministry of fifty years among them. His own heart must have been stirred and deeply moved.
Towards the close of this sermon he says, "It is this Day fifty years since I was ordained a Minister of the Gospel in this Place. I have great Reason to thank God, that he has continued my Life and Opportunities to serve him in the Gospel of his Son, for so long a Period, through many Infirmities; a Term which is beyond the Lot of most of the Ministers of CHRIST ... You are my Wit- nesses, that in the Course of my Ministry I have chiefly insisted on
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the Subjects (which I believe to be) the most important Doctrines of the Gospel."
He then goes on to enumerate some of the results of his long ministry. He baptized two thousand two hundred and eighty per- sons. He received seven hundred and thirty-seven into full com- munion. Three hundred and twenty-eight renewed the covenant. During this period he officiated at the funerals of one thousand thirty-nine persons. He goes on to say:
"The most of my Hearers, I suppose, are not fifty Years old. The most who belong to this Place, have grown up under my Minis- try; but some there be who are old, yea older than myself. You can compare our present State with that of our Fathers, who are gone from this World. Do the like Fruits of the Spirit appear among us, in Proportion to our Numbers, as did in their Times? Do you see so much Care, and visible Devotion, in attending the Worship of God, in the Sanctification of the Sabbath, and the Ordinances of the Gospel? Such Concern for religious Conferences and Converse on the Subjects of experimental Religion? Such Sobriety, Tem- perance, Purity of Manners? Such apparent Care to deal sincerely with God and justly towards Men?" Sounds rather modern, doesn't it? The eternal harking back to the good old days of the fathers. Then he continues:
"It concerns you all to consider seriously and examine thorough- ly if this be the Case. And if it be so, it is high Time to awake out of Sleep. Such of you as have Families, should resolve first to give your own selves to CHRIST, and to devote your Families to Him, and travel in birth for them 'till Christ be formed in them. Let me beseech, and charge you, by the Help of the divine Grace, to keep up Religion in your Families; to keep your Children under a just and proper Government; see they have the best Education you can give them, that they may be trained up in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord, kept out of the Company of evil Persons, and the Way of the Temptor as much as possible, that from their Youth they may be taught the holy Scripture, and a great Reverence for God and them."
Four years later he joined that great company of those he had laid to rest. The funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. James Cogswell. After the long discourse deemed appropriate in those days for such an occasion, he summed up the character of Dr. Wil- liams. "His genius," he said, "was truly great and excellent. He
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had a quick Discernment, deep Penetration, solid Judgment, a lively Imagination, a capacious and tenacious Memory. These Endow- ments laid a Foundation for excelling in the Knowledge both of Books and Men; and in both of those Kinds of Knowledge he ac- tually excelled in no common Degree . .. But the Art, the Talent of Preaching was all his own. He had not indeed the strong com- manding Voice, nor did he make Use of the laboured Flourishes of artificial Oratory, but his Method of preaching, in the Opinion of the best Judges was far better. His sermons were composed with Great Judgment and Accuracy, in that natural easy Method and un- affected Stile, which would induce one to imagine, while hearing his Discourses, that nothing was easier than to imitate him, but upon trial nothing was harder. His Voice was very agreeable, and his Delivery with such a Mixture of Gravity and Pleasantness, of Dignity and Modesty, of Authority and Meekness, that few, very few could command the Attention better than He."
The speaker went on to say: "He was a warm and consistent Patriot, zealous for the Rights of Humanity, an able Advocate for Liberty, and a bold and avowed Opposer of Despotism and Usurp- ation; at the same Time he was a fast Friend to Government and good Order, and not afraid to testify against that Licentiousness, which some have endeavoured to introduce under the Name of Liberty. In him therefore his Country has lost one of her ablest best Friends; In this gloomy, doubtful and alarming Crisis of pub- lic Affairs, his Counsels, his Steadfastness, his Prayers will be greatly wanted. But we have Reason to hope that though he is gone, those fervent, effectual Prayers, which he has put up for his Flock, his Friends, his Country, have entered into the Ears of the Lord of Sabbath, and will be heard and answered, to the ruin of Tyranny and the Salvation of our Land."
No one can measure the influence of the Rev. Solomon Williams, D. D., not only on the life of Lebanon, but in the counsels of the churches and out across the Colonies. To his study came students to prepare for the ministry. Jonathan Trumbull not only sat under his preaching, but also studied with him. He became the young man's counsellor and guide. There can be no question that much of the wisdom and insight and patriotic fervor of Governor Trum- bull was due to the direct and indirect influence of Dr. Williams, his pastor through youth and manhood.
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It was no easy matter to find a worthy successor to Dr. Williams. For six years the search went on until finally the church united on Rev. Zebulon Ely, a native of Lyme, Connecticut. In November, 1782, he was ordained and settled over this church here to serve for forty-two years. He was a man of sound mind, of evangelical views, an excellent scholar, of deep personal piety. His preaching probably did not touch the issues of the day as much as did that of Dr. Williams. Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely, his son, wrote in his pamphlet, "Memoirs of the Rev. Zebulon Ely, A. M.", "It was his greatest fault as a pastor that he could not be sociable on any other sub- ject (doctrines of the Bible or of experimental religion). This rendered his company forbidding to all but pious people; and he frequently lamented this propensity to silence. A brother clergy- man who knew him well remarked: 'that he had always found Mr. Ely affable and unusually communicative, because he had always proposed to him some important religious questions; but your father,' continued he, 'with most persons, is like a traveller who has large bank bills in his pocket and no small change.'"
That Mr. Ely took religion seriously is evident from the num- ber of church trials and even excommunications recorded in the church records during his ministry. Not only was continued absence from church service and the communion a cause for inquiry, but drunkenness, family disputes, even the sin of raking hay before sun- down on the Sabbath.
Towards the end of his ministry occurred the so-called "Meeting House War" of which more will be told later. Feelings ran high. There is, however, no record of Mr. Ely taking sides in the dispute, but at its close, when the North Society was definitely set off from the South Society, the latter duly called Mr. Ely to continue to be its pastor. Here he served until his death, November 18, 1824.
For half the life-time of this church, four men ministered the Word to the people of Lebanon, two of them covering almost a century of time. They gave character, stability, and standing to the church so that it was at one time rated second only to the old First Church of Hartford. These men led their people with sin- gular devotion and implanted within them caunch character so that out from this church have gone scores of ministers and mis- sionaries, innumerable men of light and leading in the affairs of the State and the Nation.
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T
first Conqi
tinnat Church
Lebanon Connecticut
Irans Thompson
As it will appear when completely restored.
THE LEBANON MEETING HOUSE
Under restoration as John Trumbull designed and built it in 1804-1807
Chapter 3 THE STORY OF THE MEETING HOUSE
The Meeting House, as one drives by on the road, may seem to be only a building of wood or brick or stone, but it is more, much more. To those who know its story it has a personality all its own, a soul. That personality or soul is a composite of many personalities of those who have been baptized, married, buried, within or from its hallowed sanctuary.
The Meeting House is not the church. The church is the gathered group of individuals who have confessed their faith in Christ. As the body is not the soul or the personality of the in- dividual but the vehicle through which the soul or personality ex- presses itself, so the Meeting House, though not the church, is the vehicle through which the churchi expresses itself. Be it ever so humble, the Meeting House reflects the joys and sorrows, the aspira- tions and failures, the faith and the doubts, of those who worship therein. The Meeting House may change with changing times, even as a youth puts on manhood and then venerable old age, but the church, its heart and soul, lives on through all the changes.
The old Meeting House of the First Congregational Church of Lebanon has undergone many changes in its two hundred and fifty years of life. The church was conceived before the Meeting House. In 1699 the Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut granted per- mission "to the town of Lebanon to embody themselves in church estate there, and also to call and settle and orthodoxe minister to dispense the ordinances of God to them, they proceeding therein with the consent of neighbor churches as the lawe in such cases doth direct."
As stated in the preceding sketch, nine men formed the original church membership. Upon them rested the responsibility for the
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religious life of the community. They laid the foundations of the church that now looks back upon two hundred and fifty years of honored history. It seems probable that Dewey and Clark were the first to be elected to the dignity of deacons.
Mr. Joseph Parsons of Northampton, Massachusetts, was the first to be called to the ministry of the newly gathered church. He was ordained and settled over the church in November, 1700. He was a man, apparently, who felt that the dignity of the church was reflected in its Meeting House for he proposed to the church that, pending such time as was needed to enable the church to erect a Meeting House worthy of the town, the people build a barn on his property in which to worship. When ready to go forward with the building of what he termed "a fashionable meeting house", he would give the worth of the barn. This was agreed upon and a barn twenty-four by twenty-eight feet was erected. This structure housed the church for six years.
In 1706 the church was ready to go forward with the building of a Meeting House. It stood a little south of the present structure, was small, twenty-six by thirty-six feet and sixteen feet high. At first it was unplastered, unpainted, but in 1712 it was plastered in- side and whitewashed and a new pulpit installed to take the place of a temporary one. It must have had a bell tower of some kind for in 1718 a bell was purchased. There was a gallery as indicated by an old record which speaks of "a seat over ye Womans Stairs in the Gallery".
The town grew and so did the church. A larger Meeting House was needed so in 1722 steps were started to erect a larger, more commodious edifice. Friction arose over the location of the new Meeting House. Those living in the northern part of the town, in what they termed "the village", wanted the site changed to a more central location. They looked forward, too, to the time when they would be set off as a separate parish and therefore did not relish the idea of having to pay for a Meeting House which they might not long attend. The church met this situation by voting that, if and when the proposed parish were established, all monies paid in by members of the proposed parish would be refunded, a fair enough proposition. This was but the beginning of what was later to be called "the Meeting House War".
These differences delayed the erection of the Meeting House for several years. It was necessary to refer the whole matter to the
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General Assembly of the Colony which appointed a committee to visit Lebanon to adjudicate the differences. This committee came to Lebanon in 1731, decided that the new Meeting House should stand approximately on the same site in accordance with an earlier decree that that site should forever be the location of the Meeting House. It was also agreed that when the citizens of "the village" should have raised a sum of twelve thousand pounds a new society would be set off. It was also agreed that if the new parish were set off within eighteen years the money assessed the members there would be refunded.
At long last the work on the new Meeting House was started, sixty feet by forty, with a height of twenty-six feet. It was far more commodious, of worthy architecture. Through the years many re- pairs were made. Once the steeple had to be removed and a new one erected. An interesting item in the records tells of the appoint- ment of a committee to "state the place where particular persons may set up Horse Stables and small Saboth Day houses in the High- way provided they will sot sd Houses upon the Edge of the High- way adjoining to some Lotte and also agree with the person unto whose Lotte they would adjoyn their House." These Sabbath Day houses were little affairs which could be heated and where the fam- ilies could go between the morning and afternoon services to warm and refresh themselves.
A new bell was purchased. It was to be hung so as to swing up and down the street. The bell weighed a thousand pounds. Later a controversy arose over the way the bell was hung. Some contended that it ought to swing north and south, some east and west. In 1771 the society's committee was directed "to procure and erect an Iron Electrical Rod to be properly erected by ye Steeple of ye meeting House to guard ye House from the effects of Lightning." No doubt Benjamin Franklin was pleased on his visits to Lebanon a few years later to note this Iron Electrical Rod.
For over seventy-five years this second Meeting House served the people of Lebanon. Stirring events took place within its doors. Here for fifty-four years the Rev. Solomon Williams preached the gospel with, not only religious fervor, but with patriotic zeal as well. Here the Trumbull family held the honored pew and Gover- nor Trumbull served in various capacities. Here righteous indig- nation mounted high as meetings were held to protest the Boston Massacre, to rally to the call to arms after Concord and Lexington,
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to start the forced march to Bunker Hill. Here clothing and sup- plies were solicited for the Colonial troops. Here Faith Robinson Trumbull added her beautiful red cloak, gift of the French officers, to the pile of clothing in front of the high pulpit. Here stirring manifestoes were issued, forerunners of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, one of the signers of which was a son of the minister in the high pulpit.
Apparently all was at peace in Zion, if Lebanon could be called Zion, until the year 1802 when trouble really began to brew. The old Meeting House again needed repairs. A meeting of the society was called to consider "whether we will repair the Meeting House and purchase a Herse and Clothes necessary for burying the dead for the benefit and ease of the People and more Especially of those Who live at a Distance from the Burying ground." In view of the heat of the controversy which followed one is led to ponder over the connection of these two items!
Again the residents of the south part of town called upon the General Assembly to send up a committee to decide the matter, and, if found advisable, to order the repairs to be made on the Meeting House. The Assembly evidently heard the report of the committee and rendered a very peculiar decision. It made it pos- sible for the people living south of the proposed boundary line be- tween the South Parish and the proposed North Parish to tax them- selves for the repairing of the Meeting House, lay and collect taxes for future repairs, and transact other business. All members of the proposed North Parish were exempted from the taxes for such re- pairs, but no actual parish was set up. As a result the residents of the northern part of the town had the same voting rights in the society as the residents of the southern part. Naturally enough the people of the proposed new parish did all in their power to secure the removal of the Meeting House to a location more central to their needs.
The members of the South Society raised some six hundred dol- lars to repair the Meeting House. But that did not end the matter. In 1802 a meeting was called to consider the building of a new Meet- ing House. In 1803, after several adjourned meetings, the vote was passed with one lone negative vote recorded. Then came the re- current question of the location. A motion was finally passed to erect a New Meeting House at or near the center of the still united
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parish. The members of the northern part of the town had, appar- ently, at last won their battle.
The actual demolition of the old structure was started, but the sight of the tearing down of the old building of many sacred mem- ories was too much for the members of the south part of town. The whole society was soon in an uproar. Writs against the action were obtained from local justices, and the work was stopped by the ar- rest of several of the workmen. Soon a larger force of workmen was recruited, counter-writs secured from justices in Windham, and ar- rests were made on the other side, among them the venerable Wil- liam Williams, signer of the Declaration of Independence and at the time Chief Justice of the County Court, who was marched off to jail without even the benefit of bail. These men respected the law for there was no open violence that day though feelings ran high. The Meeting House was completely demolished before night- fall by the northern members of the parish.
The whole situation found its way into court. The decision of the court rendered a verdict for the South Parish and damages to the extent of $2,300. No compromise could be made after all this trouble so in 1804 a boundary was finally established between the North and South Parishes. An Independent Congregational Society was established, a Meeting House erected at the far end of the Green, but the society did not last long. Ultimately the building was torn down or removed after the Baptists had erected their own Meeting House close by.
That same year the South Society voted to build a new Meeting House of brick according to designs submitted by John Trumbull, the youngest of the sons of Governor Trumbull. He is better known today for his skill as a painter than as an architect, nevertheless he planned many notable buildings in his day all of which have dis- appeared except the Lebanon Meeting House.
The clay for the bricks was to be dug out of the Common. Per- haps that accounts for some of the low spots in the Common which exist today. Evidently John Trumbull first planned a domed steeple, perhaps because it would be less expensive. This plan was later changed to that of the beautiful spire, designed under the in- fluence of the Christopher Wren spires Trumbull came to know in England, which for so many years was a notable landmark in Leb- anon and which many hope to see replaced without delay.
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