USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Cornwall > Historical records of the town of Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut; > Part 13
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The real nub of trouble was the minister's salary. It became difficult, owing to the war, to raise the stipulated salary. Mr. Gold, in what he regarded the spirit of patriotic sympathy, no doubt, submitted his property to taxation. Even this concession did not satisfy the people. Instances in which pastors had voluntarily resigned an entire year's salary in order to make the burdens of the people lighter, were not uncommon; one had occurred so near, as in the parish of Kent, where Nathaniel Taylor was the minister.
The people felt that one who was so well able to release them from a part of their pecuniary obligations as was their pastor-as he was reputed wealthy-was not evincing sufficient consideration for their distressed situation, in holding them to the strict letter of their engagement. But Mr. Gold felt that as he had submitted to taxation, "and such a reduction from his salary as the exigencies of the times required," it was unreasonable to require yet further reductions.
Before the actual separation, feeling ran high, and unchristian conduct is chargeable to both parties.
Mr. Gold not feeling inclined to withdraw his claims, and the disaffected citizens feeling that the claims were unjust, and yet that, owing to Mr. Gold's wealth and personal influence, an appeal to Council was not likely to result favorably to them, at length withdrew, and began to hold services separately, during the sum- mer of 1780.
* See Records of First Church in Mr. Gold's handwriting : also Records of Consociation for June 5, 1781.
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HISTORY OF CORNWALL.
For some time after the separation, the new church had neither permanent pulpit nor priest. It met, however, for public worship, regularly, in such of the houses of the Separates as were central and suitable.
While John Cornwall was the stated preacher, the services were more commonly held at his own residence, on the site more recently known as " the Carrington Todd residence."
The first minister which the new church had was not Mr. Corn- wall, as is usually stated, but Rev. Samuel Bird, who had been pastor of a New Haven church-now the North Church. This " Bird " was not " in hand " of the infant church but a few months.
After him came the Rev. John Cornwall, a recent " graduate " from a shoe-shop in Branford. In Mr. Cornwall's family Bible is this sentence, written on the fly-leaf: "Lived without God until I was 20 years of age."* He was converted to Christ at that age.
John Cornwall was a strong, eccentric preacher, devoted to his calling; with powerful convictions, and fearless in expressing them; having little of the learning of "the Schools," but with such a fund of general knowledge, and an acknowledged ability, as gave him great respect among his people.
He was twice sent to the legislature.
At one session of legislature, Mr. Cornwall and Mr. Hezekiah Gold were the representatives from Cornwall.
Mr. Cornwall was never installed over the church, but it was while he was preaching to them that the first house of worship was erected, 1785.t
In this connection, I will speak of the locations of the various houses of worship which these two societies have had.
The old First meeting-house in the town was built on the site of Jas. D. Ford's homestead. In 1785, the second meeting-house was begun by the "Separates," on the site of the present school- house at Cornwall Center.
In 1790, the first house was pulled down, enlarged, and rebuilt in the vicinity of the present church at Cornwall.
In 1826, the Second society built this house in which we are at
* See Deacon Pratt's History.
t Respecting the date of the erection of this first house, it may be well to say that Mr. Stone gives it 1785, and an indirect reference is made to such a house in one of the old papers on file, dated February, 1786, which shows it to have been standing then and partially finished. Mr. Stone says it was never com. pleted, so we conclude that it was begun, at least, in 1785. The date in the manual of 1858 is therefore too late (1787) by two years.
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
present assembled at North Cornwall. (See Nathan Hart's sketch of erection of North Cornwall meeting-house.)
Mr. Cornwall removed, in 1792, to Amenia, N. Y., where he ministered to a Congregational church until his death, which occurred May 12, 1812.
Before Mr. Cornwall ceased his labors with the Second church, christian fellowship had been so far revived as that Mr. Gold was invited to preach in its new house of worship.
And after Mr. Cornwall's departure, efforts to re-unite the two churches were begun, which, though never resulting in anything satisfactory, were continued at intervals for thirty years. One would judge from the records that every proper expedient had been employed to bring about this desirable end. It is unneces- sary to go into the history of those fruitless efforts at reunion which fill the pages of our society's records. Besides the latent feeling founded upon the history of the separation, there were geographical objections to the reunion. No site sufficiently central to accommodate all the citizens could be settled upon. It is diffi- cult to avoid the impression that, while men had by their variances caused the separation, a "divinity " shaped their "ends" to prevent a reunion.
Mr. Cornwall was ordained by the " Morris County Presbytery" of New Jersey, which was organized in 1780, "by secession from pure Presbyterianism." It was "based mainly on the principle of the independency of the local church, yet assuming that the power of ordination was vested in the Presbytery."* As it is known that Mr. Cornwall was accustomed to attend the sessions of this Pres- bytery, and that he also took with him one or more members of this church, it is probable that it was, for a year or two, connected with this "Presbyterio-Congregational Presbytery."
The earliest records of the Second society which have been pre- served, date from the year 1793, when Wm. Kellogg was chosen clerk, and since which time the records have been, in the main, well kept. Mr. Kellogg's entries are thorough and business-like. He was clerk eight years, then was succeeded by Noah Rogers, Jr., or "Noah 4th," who served eighteen years, until 1819. It is barely possible that the records of this society, from 1780 to 1793, are yet in existence, but though I have made diligent search, they are not to be found.
* Rev. B. C. Megie, D. D.
17
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IIISTORY OF CORNWALL.
In this connection it should be said that the church records begin with the settlement of the first pastor, Rev. Josiah Hawes,* called December 18, 1804, and ordained March 14, 1805. By a vote passed by the church in 1807, it was decided not to copy into the new book "transactions of a more ancient date than those pertaining to the settlement " of Mr. IIawes.
Whether the fathers thought best not to transmit to their chil- dren the particulars of the early difficulties, or whether they thought they might be sufficiently secure in their place " on file," it is to be deplored that they failed to leave in more enduring form their written testimony upon their actions and motives of action during those "times that tried men's souls."
In the early spring of 1794, the Rev. Israel Holley came to preach to the "North Church," as it was called. Mr. Holley was ordained over the church in Suffield, Conn., June, 1763. He was pastor of the church in Granby nine years, and was, it is said, seventy years of age when he came to Cornwall.
The society voted, June 11, 1794, to hire Mr. Holley "to take charge, in this society, as a Gospel minister, and teacher of piety and morality, for the term of five years." The society had pre- viously offered to join with the church in settling Mr. Holley, but as he did not wish to be settled, he was accordingly hired for a limited term. Mr. Holley's salary was "£60 lawful money, one- third part of which was to be paid in necessaries of living, and fifteen cords of firewood of good quality, delivered at his dwelling."
In the last decade of the last century, and near its close, a revival of religion, beginning in Hartford, and extending over Litchfield County, reached this church in the latter part of Mr. Holley's ministry. How much its advent was due to Mr. Holley's labors, it is not easy to say. It was one of Connecticut's "revival periods," and this church, with many of its sister churches, received a blessing.
Dr. Griffin says: "From 1792, I saw a continued succession of heavenly sprinklings, until I could stand at my door in New Hart- ford, and number fifty or sixty congregations laid down in one field of divine wonders."
This church was one of those " divine wonders" of that "field " which the good Doctor saw, as it received twelve additions in September, 1800, as the result of that revival.
* The initial " B.," which was sometimes inserted in this name, did not belong to it.
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
It was also the first in a long series of revivals with which this church has been blest .* It may be regarded as a happy prophecy of the better days to come, both for the cause of Christ in this town, and for the peace and prosperity of the local churches.
Up to 1804, the Second society had had no legal establishment. It was incorporated at the October session of the legislature, and called a "poll-point," i. e., any person could join the society by lodging his certificate of his intention, within a specified time, with the town clerk. The society thus formed was taxed to support its own form of worship according to the number of polls and the amount of "ratable property." The tax in 1805 was three cents and five mills on the dollar.
The minister's salary was raised in this manner until the settle- ment of Walter Smith, with the single exception of the year 1814, when a subscription was circulated to procure preaching for the summer and fall. The tax of the poor was abated by subscription. I subjoin a list of the members of the society at its incorporation, October, 1804.+
The church now began to cast about for a suitable man to settle with them in the full relation of pastor to the flock. They thought they had found the right man in Rev. Alvin Somers, of Sharon. But notwithstanding their very cordial call, they were not success- ful in retaining Mr. Somers. They succeeded better with Mr.
* The total number of additions to the church through the aid of twelve revivals, is four hundred and seventy-four, or an average of nearly forty to cach revival. This includes the year 1876.
t Noah Rogers, Abraham Hotchkin, Eliakim Mallory, Sam'l Scovel, Solo- mon Hart, Silas Clark, David Clark, Timothy Scovel, Titus Hart, Thadeus Cole, Jesse Hyatt, Nathan Millard, Stephen Scovel, Elias Hart, Bradley Catlin. Oliver Burnham, Joseph Scovel, Joel Harrison, Jason Coles, Daniel Harrison, William Kellogg, Jasper Pratt, Ichabod Howe, Elisha Carrier, Benjamin Carrier, Luther Harrison, Oliver Ford, Henry Baldwin, Lemuel Jennings, Phineas Hart, Saml. Deming, Jacob Scovel, Oliver Hotchkin, Abner Hotchkin, David Jewel, Levi Miles, Richard Wickwire, 2d, William Johnson, Saml. Scovel, Jr., Israel Dibble, Justis Seeley, Asa Emmons, Asaph Emmons, John Jeffers, Joseph North, John Kellogg, Theodore Norton, Seth Wadhams, Jr., Sturges Williams, Minor Pratt, Noah Rogers, Jr., Charles T. Jackson, Timothy Johnson, James Wads- worth, Jr., Joel Millard, Saml. Rexford, Elias White, Andrew Cotter, Eliakim Mallory, Jr., Ezra Mallory, Nathan Hart, Saml. A. Cole, Silas Meashum, John Dean, Theodore Colton, Joseph Ford, Zephaniah Hull, Jonathan Scovel, Edmund Harrison, Henry Baldwin, Jr., Erastus Beirce, Luman Seeley, Fred- erick Tanner, Johu Dobson, Levi Scovel, Stephen Scovel, 2d, Jerijah Dean, Gildmore Hurlburt, Josiah Hawley, Joel Trowbridge, Mathew Morey, Noah Dibble.
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HISTORY OF CORNWALL.
Hawes. Josiah Hawes, the first pastor of this church, was a native of Warren, Conn. He graduated at Williams College in the year 1800; studied theology with Dr. Chas. Backus, of Somers, so celebrated in his day for his "School of the Prophets," in which many of the clergymen of Connecticut were prepared for the ministry. Mr. Hawes was licensed by Litchfield North Associa- tion Sept. 28, 1802. This was his first parish. He was settled by ordination March 14, 1805, the ordaining council being the Litch- field North Consociation, from which this church had withdrawn a quarter of a century before.
The explanation of this condescension on the part of the Con- sociation is found in the fact that the church and society had rescinded the odious vote by which they had styled themselves "Strict Congregationalists." Having worn for twenty two years the name, and having seen the changes wrought in the Consocia- tion which they had desired, and having no desire to maintain a name which did not at that time signify any living issue, the society voted, Sept. 23, 1802, "to reconsider and make null the vote" referred to. The church was received back into Consocia- tion Sept. 27, 1809.
Mr. Hawes' salary at settlement was three hundred and thirty- four dollars and eighteen cords of firewood.
The services of Mr. Hawes' ordination have a peculiar interest from the fact that the First Church was invited to the council, and was represented by its pastor, Rev. Timothy Stone, and the vener- able Gen. Heman Swift. This ordination marks a new era in the history of these churches. The pastor of the parent church gave to the pastor-elect of the seceding church the "right hand of fellowship." During the eight years of Mr. Hawes' ministry here, there was no cessation of the friendly christian intercourse thus delightfully begun between these brethren and participated in to a good degree by their people. On several occasions the pastors with their flocks met together for christian conference and inter- course.
The other parts to Mr. Hawes' ordination were a sermon by Rev. Mr. Starr of Warren; and the charge to the pastor by the venerable John Cornwall. It had not then become the custom to charge the people.
The ministry of Mr. Hawes proved a very prosperous one for the church, and must have done much to satisfy the conscientious "Separates " that their enterprise was approved of God.
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
At his ordination the church numbered twenty-five members, to wit, eleven males and fourteen females. When he was dismissed he had received sixty-two members, of whom forty-six entered at one communion, the fruit of the revival of 1807.
Mr. Stone bears cheerful and hearty testimony to the work and worth of his cotemporary and co-laborer in this vineyard of the Lord. He is also spoken of in our church manual as "an earnest and faithful pastor, a man of prayer and effort."
He seems to have had, to an unusual degree, the confidence and love of his people. They found it difficult, nevertheless, to raise the stipulated salary. In 1809 Mr. Hawes, being persuaded that his salary was not sufficient to meet his expenses, asked for a dismissal.
But as the society raised by subscription the sum of four hun- dred dollars to enable him to purchase in part the place on which he lived, Mr. Hawes was relieved for the time being and remained. It is worthy of note that at this time the society took care to speak of their "great reluctance at being called to part with our beloved teacher in the gospel rules of our Lord." Again, however, in June, 1813, the pastor informs the society of renewed embarrass- ment on account of the insufficient salary, and asks to be dis- missed.
The resignation was received with regret, and the pastor was dismissed by Consociation at Ellsworth, July 6, 1813, with the " full approbation " of his brethren in the ministry "as a prudent, faithful, and holy minister of Christ," and cordially commended to the confidence of the churches. Mr. Hawes was settled eighteen months later over the church in Lyme, where for more than twenty years he resided, "beloved by his flock." From Lyme he removed to Sidney Plains, N. Y., in 1835. From thence, in 1840, he went to Scienceville, N. Y., supplying the Congregational Church until 1847, when he removed to Unadilla, Otsego Co., N. Y., and sup- plied the First Presbyterian Church until his death, June 26, 1851.
Mr. Hawes died at the advanced age of seventy-three, and is buried at Sidney Plains, N. Y.
During the interim between the dismissal of Mr. Hawes and the choice of his successor, the question of union again came up, and never was the effort so nearly successful as at this time.
The North Society proposed to unite under Mr. Stone, then pastor of the First Church. This proposition all of the First Church were ready to accept, save three, viz., Capt. Seth Pierce,
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HISTORY OF CORNWALL.
Col. Benj. Gold, and Samuel Hopkins, Esq. Their opposition is said to have been called out by the fear that the plan would ulti- mately result in the removal of the meeting-house from the valley. Furthermore, it is clear that the plan was discouraged by Mr. Stone, who himself records the anxiety he felt lest "the pastor of the First Church should have been without a society and the society without a minister." This failure of effort occurred in 1815.
We find the names of only two ministers who preached for the church during the first two years after Mr. Hawes' dismissal.
The first, Francis L. Robbins, a young minister licensed by Litchfield North, and afterwards settled at Enfield, where, after a pastorate of thirty-four years, during which he had witnessed four powerful revivals, his death occurred in the progress of a revival. Mr. Robbins was liked, but was not a candidate. The second name mentioned is that of a Mr. Hawley, from Hinsdale, N. Y. But the only man who left his mark upon the church during this interval was Grove L. Brownell.
He was raised up for the ministry in the neighboring church in North Canaan; graduated at Burlington College, Vt .; preached for a time at Woodbury, Conn .; and was for eight years pastor at Sharon.
The labors of Mr. Brownell, under the lead of the Holy Spirit, resulted in a revival which brought from twenty to twenty-five members into the church, and stimulated the entire community to renewed efforts for the permanent success of the gospel in Corn- wall.
This revival was in the winter of 1815-16. For three years thereafter the church depended upon occasional supplies, concern- ing whom nothing has been left on record.
About the beginning of the year 1819 the church seems to have had a fresh infusion of life or effusion of the Holy Spirit. This effusion may have been the result in part of a renewed devotion to prayer; and in part, of a report of the "Committee on Ways and Means "-a special committee,-who reported a plan of volun- tary subscription for the support of preaching, saying that a paper was then in circulation, which was meeting with such good success that they would advise the society to proceed at once to call and settle a minister on a salary of five hundred dollars.
Until the settlement of Mr. Smith, members of the society had been taxed for the support of preaching. There is no evidence previous to this time of money having been raised for this purpose
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ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
by subscription, with the single exception of 1814, unless we con- sider that the gift of four hundred dollars to Mr. Hawes ought also to be excepted.
The tax system was the prevailing system until 1819.
And just here permit me a word as to the custom of the early churches of Connecticut with respect to raising the salary of the minister.
It was raised, as you all know, by a tax, up to 1784; and the taxes thus raised went to support Congregational churches only, and such only as were consociated.
In 1784, four years after this church was established, the law requiring citizens to be taxed for support of churches of the "established order" was repealed in the legislature, as before stated. This left all free to worship with whatever denomination they preferred. This was a step toward religious liberty, and but a step, for still all were taxed for the support of the church of their choice. Every one was at liberty to choose between churches, but no one was allowed to choose "no church." Persons could withdraw from one society by lodging with the clerk a certificate to the effect that they were to join another; but they were not permitted to "sign off to nothing."
In 1818, however, when the new State constitution was adopted, this compulsory law was repealed, and every man was left free to support any church or no church, just as he might choose. This was regarded by many excellent men as a dangerous expedient. It seems strange that men should have been found as late as 1818 who looked with forebodings to the future of the church of Christ, if christians should be left free to not serve God, as well as to serve Him according to the dictates of their own consciences.
Yet Dr. Lyman Beecher has left a sermon against the plan and idea of voluntary support of the gospel. But I am happy to be able to chronicle the superior faith of the fathers of this church, who in 1819 reported that, in their humble opinion, the voluntary plan was the best plan. The committee thus reporting were, Oliver Burnham, Benjamin Sedgwick, George Wheaton, Joseph North, Hezekiah Gold, Joel Catlin, Nathan Hart, Seth Dibble, William Clark. Their report was accepted, and from that time until the year after the erection of this house of worship the minister's salary was raised by " the subscription plan."
In 1827 the custom of renting the pews arose, and this has been continued up to the present time.
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HISTORY OF CORNWALL.
Rev. Walter Smith, the next pastor of this church, was born in Kent, in the year 1793; graduated at Yale in 1816; pursued the study of theology two years with Dr. Matthew Perrine, of New York city. Returning to Kent, he was licensed by Litchfield North Association, Sept. 30, 1818.
Then came an invitation to him to preach at the North Church in Cornwall. He accepted, and was asked in the following March to settle as pastor. He consented, and was ordained June 2, 1819, at the age of twenty-six. The salary was five hundred dollars.
Mr. Stone gave the young pastor the "right hand " at his ordination, as he had done to his predecessor; and as before, so now, this public act was a real index of the private fraternal feel- ing which ever existed between these neighboring pastors.
Mr. Smith's ministry spanned nineteen years. His labors were blessed with frequent conversions. Twenty members were added to the church in 1824, in 1831 twenty-eight, and in 19 years, 113.
Mr. Smith was, in his pulpit ministrations, scholarly and effec- tive, and in private life an amiable and estimable man. Toward the close of his ministry the state of his health precluded his doing much pastoral labor, but the state of feeling between pastor and people never ceased to be that of mutual christian kindness and confidence. Upon the records of Consociation he stands com- mended as follows: "The Consociation feel it their privilege to record the assurance of their unabated confidence in Mr. Smith as an able, faithful, and devoted minister of Jesus Christ."
The church accepted Mr. Smith's resignation April 3, 1838, solely on the ground of failing health and consequent disability to perform the duties of his office. They voted at the same time- although he had not been able to supply the pulpit since January -to continue his salary until June 1st.
He removed in the spring of 1840 to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, where he resided until his death, which occurred at the age of seventy- seven.
We cannot do better than to quote the language of his estimable widow, still living: "His ministry is adjusted on the other side;" adding only, that Mr. Smith is spoken of only with affectionate regard by those that are still on this side.
It will be, I am confident, no digression from the legitimate scope of this history, if I introduce just here a brief testimonial to the worth of the wife of Walter Smith. She is remembered with marked expressions of admiration, by many present, for her pru-
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ECCLESIASTICAL, HISTORY.
dence, piety, and ability to honor the position of pastor's wife. To Mrs. Smith is attributed the leading part in establishing the Sunday-school in Cornwall. Her bible class was always the prom- inent class in the school. She formed the "Ladies' Sewing Cir- cle," an important department of the church work. She has sur- vived her husband, and now, in the evening of her life, reverts to her Cornwall home and friends with affectionate and hallowed memories .*
A sister of Mr. Smith, Mrs. Noah Baldwin, is at present the oldest resident member of this church, a woman of devout piety and true worth.
I shall speak, in this connection, of the revival of 1830-31, which, though not conducted by Mr. Smith, took place during his ministry. He was absent, to regain his health. Among the methods by which it was promoted, the "four-days' meetings " are spoken of as most effective. Delegates from neighboring churches, with now and then a pastor, visited their sister churches, " to provoke unto love and to good works." Messrs. John C. Hart and Augustus Norton, young men fresh from the theological school, labored also with much acceptance during this revival.
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