USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Cornwall > Historical records of the town of Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut; > Part 17
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I have already spoken of Deacon Eliakim Mallory in regard to his method of conducting public worship. It is due to his memory to say further, that as a citizen of the town and a member of the community, he was universally respected and beloved. There was a cordiality in his greetings, and a geniality in his social inter- course which would attract one at once to his person. In all his familiarity with his friends, he never deviated from the line of high christian integrity, and at the last he died in the calmness of christian confidence and in the serenity of christian hope.
Of his colleague, Deacon Titus Hart, I had not much personal knowledge. I never heard him speak except in public prayer, and there was a solemnity, and I may say a propriety, in his language and manner which betokened a devotion and faith deep-seated in the heart of the suppliant. He was much respected as a citizen, but did not mingle as much in the community as did his colleague, Deacon Mallory.
Another gentleman of many peculiarities of character, and of some prominence in the parish, was Daniel Harrison, who lived in the Hollow. The most prominent element in his character was his unyielding adherence to a purpose once formed, and his disposi- tion to assume prominence and authority in all his intercourse with men. He spake as an oracle on matters to which his attention was invited, and arguments tending to persuade him to change his opinion were wasted in the air. He had some difficulty with the School District in the Hollow, claiming that a just debt was due him, which the district declined to pay. He said he would never attend meeting in the house until that debt was paid. At one time his minister, Mr. Hawes, appointed to preach an afternoon lecture there, and the neighbors interested themselves much in the ques- tion whether Uncle Daniel, as we called him, would attend, but he was not there, and I heard him say, speaking of the circumstance, that he would not have attended if Gabriel had appointed to preach there. It is due to his memory to say that the district afterwards acknowledged the justice of his claim, and paid it in full. From that time he attended the meetings in the school- house, and in the absence of a minister, usually conducted them.
Notwithstanding his peculiarities in the respects just mentioned,
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he was a man of expanded and, sometimes, of daring benevo- lence. If a neighbor, through sickness or other untoward provi- dence, fell behind in the gathering of his crops, or in any other discouragement of his affairs, he was among the first and most willing with his personal labor and with his team to bring up the affairs of his unfortunate neighbor to a good condition. When a mortal sickness raged through the town in 1812, and many of our citizens were keeping themselves in seclusion for fear of contagion, he was abroad ministering to the sick, and enshrouding and bury- ing the dead. And when, in 1802, Ebenezer Jackson was attacked with the small-pox, of which he died, in the old house which stood just south of here, and his neighbors fled from him and abandoned him to his fate, Daniel Harrison, ashamed that he should be left to die in solitude, with no other protection than a recent vaccination for the kine-pox, braved the terrors of the pestilence, and ministered to the wants of the dying man. We can pardon many obliquities of character in such a man. He was faithful in christian duties, giving exhortations and offering prayers in conference meetings, and visiting and praying with the sick in his neighborhood, and usually, in the absence of Deacon Hart, assisted Deacon Mallory in conducting the exercises of public worship. The last struggle which he had with an adverse public sentiment was when the place of worship was changed by the building of a new meeting- house. Although it brought the meeting house much nearer to him, yet, as a matter of policy, he was decidedly opposed to the change, and that opinion, thus formed, he never yielded. His argument in society meetings was, that skillful ecclesiastical strategy required that the fort, as he called it, should be kept on the fron- tier, and that the removal of it into the interior would invite invasion from without. He persisted in his opposition, and, I believe, never entered the new meeting-house. I believe that at one time action on the part of the church was contemplated on account of his neglect of public worship and ordinances, but his brethren, pardoning much from his great age and his peculiarities of character, never proceeded against him, and he was suffered to die in peace.
I had intended to speak of others who were active in building up the society and maintaining its permanence and integrity, but I find that to do so will encroach upon the time allotted for the other exercises of this occasion. I can recall the names of many of whom I should like to speak, but they will live in the traditions of
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the parish and in the personal knowledge of many yet surviving, and they will not be forgotten, though I am compelled to pass them by.
I cannot close without tendering to those now composing that ecclesiastical organization my sincere congratulations on its pres- ent condition of stability and prosperity, and during the progress of human affairs towards the final consummation of all things, may this parish continue to meet the obligations of the times as they arise, and fullfil its destiny as one of the instruments of God in building up his kingdom and accomplishing his work.
SKETCH OF CHURCH ERECTION AT NORTH CORNWALL.
BY NATHAN HART.
Mr. President and Friends : My paper shall have one merit-that of brevity. And if in this sketch I misstate facts or give a differ- ent version to tradition than some of you have heard, it will be because the tradition is not remembered by the " elders " all alike, and I have endeavored to give the most probable.
The great question for this struggling church, after the separa- tion-few in numbers, straitened in means, but strong in faith- to consider was, a house wherein to worship God.
The house was built on the ground now occupied by the school- house near the Methodist church at the Center. This was a plain, barn-like structure, in which many present remember to have worshiped.
In February, 1824, a new move was made to build a meeting- house, and a committee appointed to report a plan, but instead of a plan, they reported the movement premature. The report was accepted. But at the same meeting a vote was passed to build a new meeting-house on the public road, near where the old one stands, and a committee appointed to go one step further than any former committee had been directed to go, viz., to fix on a site. This fixing the site of the new house was the rock on which they split, and was the beginning of difficulties that resulted in the with- drawal of twenty-one names from the roll of the society, and a formidable array of names they were, too. This committee stuck the stake about where the house of the late Ithamar Baldwin now stands. This vote was subsequently reconsidered, and a new committee fixed the site a little east of, and nearer the road, where the house of Mr. John R. Harrison stands. An effort was now
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made to unite the two societies, and the matter of building rested a few months, only to be agitated again on the failure of the effort at union, and a new plan for fixing the site (I use the words of the record) was adopted. The standing committee of the society was directed to invite a disinterested committee, consisting of Daniel Bacon, Morris Woodruff, and Moses Lyman, to fix on a site for the new meeting-house, as soon as the sum of $2,500, was sub- scribed. They were directed to provide quarters, and pay their expenses, But right here a new issue must be decided. It was a bold offer of Capt. Noah Rogers, of the ground and a certain sum of money, the amount is not known, "provided the house was built on the corner where it now stands." This offer was rejected at a special meeting held the 22d day of February, 1825. The vote was thirty-five yeas, twenty-eight nays, seven neutral; not being a two-thirds vote, it was declared not a vote. And about this time those favoring building got their grit up, and we find them, on the 14th of March, voting to call on the judge of the county court to fix the site for the new meeting-house, and this
place was selected. It is not recorded when the court examined the matter, but it must have been between this and the 11th day of the following April, for on that day Mr. Julius Hart, Benj. Catlin, Uriah Tanner, Chalker Pratt, Wm. Stoddard, Daniel Wick- wire, and Benjamin Sedgwick were appointed a committee to solicit subscriptions to build a meeting-house on the ground fixed by the county court, and subsequently Darius Miner and John C. Rogers were added to the committee.
This must have been a trying time to this band of heroes, for from April 9th to the 11th fifteen men withdrew from the society, which number was increased to twenty-one in a few weeks. But they went forward in the strength of a firm purpose, and in the face of every difficulty, and subscribed the necessary $2,500. And the record of names and amount subscribed by each is preserved. It would seem as if these earnest men were deserving of a respite from their perplexities, with the money pledged and the stake legally stuck, but not so. But with astonishing forbearance we find them meeting again in deference to the opposition, and con- senting to remove the site to a place opposite Oliver Burnham's house, provided a sum was subscribed, within one week, to exceed the sum subscribed to build on the site fixed by the county court. At the expiration of that time the subscription lacked $800 of the necessary amount.
And now the dove has found a resting-place for her tired wing,
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and as we look over the weary way the little flock has come, we admire the christian patience and forbearance exercised, and we admire and love them more and more as it culminates in the closing lines of the last vote, in these words: "We do deeply regret any circumstance that militates against the union and har- mony of the society, and do most cordially, affectionately, and sincerely invite all persons, heretofore belonging to it, to unite with us in the enjoyment of the privileges on the site estab- lished by the court."
On the 9th of November, 1825, Benjamin Catlin and Chalker Pratt entered into a contract with Hiram Vaill to build. How much was paid besides the old meeting-house is not stated, but it is supposed that the $2,534 subscribed was the amount. But no doubt much material was given outside of the subscription and contract, for they had a mind to work. In fact, I am told the timber for the frame was all given, and the contract included everything else.
Noah Rogers, Benjamin Catlin, and Chalker Pratt were the building committee.
The work once commenced, there was great enthusiasm in prose- cuting it. It is to be regretted that there is no record of dates or facts in relation to the progress of the work. But I am told that many of the society met, and with much trepidation pro- ceeded to break ground for the foundation, and that Anson Rogers removed the first shovelful of dirt. But a time of much greater trepidation attended the taking down of the old meeting-house.
With a full knowledge of the bitter opposition on the part of some, and the inconvenience warm friends and family connec- tions would be subjected to, it was like shutting the door to all prospects for a union with the old society for generations to come, if not for ever. And it is no wonder they hesitated, as it is said they did, and one Asa Emmons did bring a suit which cost the society $100 to compromise. One account has it, that the society met by private understanding early in the morning, fearing an injunction would be served on them, restraining them from taking the house down, and that before night it was down and the largest part removed to this place .*
Living authorities do not agree upon the day of the month whereon the raising of the frame occurred. The best authenticated
* A recent letter from one of the opposers says, "How large those matters seemed then ; how small now !" T. S. G.
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account fixes the date the 27th, 28th, and 29th of June, A. D. 1826. Others have it that it occurred a few days earlier, and ex- tended to nearly or quite a week, with an interval of one day on which some of those engaged on the work went to Goshen, where was a meeting of Masons, St. John's Day occurring on the 24th of June, which was Saturday. Hence it appears that the work of getting the timber together commenced before the 24th, and that the 27th, 28th, and 29th the work of raising the frame was ac- complished. It is to be regretted that there is no account left of the laying of the corner-stone, and that no living person has been found who remembers the ceremonies connected with it, or the articles deposited within or under it .* A lesson to the present gen- eration, and the one just coming on the stage of action, to be more careful and particular in preserving in detail matters of in- terest connected with all public as well as private matters. The dedication is recorded in these words: "The meeting-house in the 2d ecclesiastical society in Cornwall was dedicated to Almighty God on the 11th day of January, A. D. 1827 .- C. PRATT, S. C." -
Rev. Walter Smith preached the sermon, and was assisted in the services by the Rev. Timothy Stone. Mr. Smith had just recovered from his ill health, and the sermon is said to have been exceedingly appropriate, and worthy the occasion, and it was re- marked by people from other parishes, "that if sending ministers to Hartford would enable them to preach like that, it would be a good plan to send more of them."
It was a proud, glad day to the little band when the offering to Almighty God was made, free from debt. It was in architecture and finish far in advance of any of the surrounding houses of worship, and in their eyes it was a thing of beauty, and no doubt will be a joy for ever to many new-born souls that have first learned to offer true worship within its sacred walls.
The slips in the house have been rearranged, and repairs made from time to time since. I don't find when stoves were intro- duced, but remember well how some of the ladies suffered severely
* Two verses only remain of a poem written for the occasion by Mr. Vaill, the builder :
Here stands the great and noble frame,
The Christians Temple be its name, Erected by the christians of this land, And here judiciously let it stand.
Next, to the minister I would say :
" May you go on that heavenly way, And teach the people of this place To seek for true and saving grace."
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with the headache, who were greatly chagrined afterwards on learning that there had been no fire in them.
The bell was purchased in 1844, and gave out its clear, musical call to worship for a Sunday or two, when one morning the bell- ringer, on pulling the rope, could get no sound from its hollow throat, which was accounted for some days after, when the tongue was found in a mowing-field some distance from the church, and it is said "that Wm. Clark remarked that they could not hide it so but what he could find it."
Ambrose S. Rogers had the honor of drawing the first stick of timber. It was white oak, and was cut from the woods near where the tables are set. It forms one of the corner-posts. A pillar that grew upon my father's land was white wood, as straight as a candle, and I have often seen the stump from which it was cut. There is a silver half-dollar on each side the star on the apex of the spire, Noah Rogers and William Clark each giving one for that purpose. The workmen employed were boarded for $1.00 per week, and most of them were good feeders, and were amply supplied .*
If I had ability to garnish the facts with fitting words, and ade- quate to express the self-sacrificing labors of those heroic men, some of you would think I was talking for effect. Those were days that tried men's souls, and the virtues displayed were akin to those of 1776, and to us they speak in thunder tones, "Keep those things which are committed to you, and hand them down to future generations intact and untarnished."
ANNIVERSARY HYMN.
BY MRS. C. E. BALDWIN. Air, "America." On this glad day of days, Father, help us to praise Thy name alone. Nobler than sacrifice Our thankful prayers shall rise Like incense thro' the skies, E'en to Thy throne.
* Every forest was laid under contribution. No choice stick was exempt. I have seen the stump (white oak), still undecayed, in my east woods, which fur- nished the north sill. The original pulpit, very elaborate, and gallery front were of butternut, stained, resembling mahogany, as was much of the rest of the wood work. T. S. G.
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Man formed with patient toil, Thou fill'dst with beaten oil This lamp of grace, Then bright its flame did shine With radiance all divine, A glory caught from Thine, Illumed the place.
By Thy creative power, Thy fostering sun and shower This palm-tree grew. And olive, box, and pine, And richly-fruited vine Feared not destroying rime, Nor woodman knew.
O lamp of life ! still burn, O palm-tree ! heavenward turn, Nor ever cease. O olive-tree ! endure ; Sign of God's presence sure,
Christ's legacy most pure, Emblem of peace.
Father of lights, above, From Thy great heart of love, Our own inspire, May all, Thy goodness sing, Till heaven's wide arch shall ring ;
Let all their tributes bring, And swell the choir.
OTHER RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
METHODISTS .- Although the Congregational order was the one established here in the early settlement of the town, the Methodists were early introduced by the preaching of the Rev. Messrs. Garret- son and Wigdon in 1770. A Mr. Bloodgood preached here in 1788, and about the same date the Rev. Henry Christie. The first Methodist meeting-house was built in May, 1808. It was the building now owned and occupied by Jacob Sandmeyer as a resi- dence (1870), on the old turnpike easterly of William Baldwin's. The land was the gift of Capt. Edward Rogers.
The new Methodist church at the Center was erected in the year 1839; also, a few years later, a church was built at Cornwall Bridge.
Gurdon Rexford, brother of Samuel Rexford, was a Methodist minister, and settled on Cream Hill.
The Rev. Gurdon Rexford Dayton, a Methodist minister, a native of Goshen, preached in Cornwall for two years, about 1821-22. He resided in East street, opposite the Birdsey place. His peculiar amiableness and pleasant manners endeared him to
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all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. He was also inter- esting as a preacher. The funeral sermon of old Mr. James Wadsworth was delivered by him at the house of the deceased on Cream Hill, in which he used the very appropriate quotation:
" The chamber where the good man meets his fate, Is privileged above the common walks of life."
Those who remember the exemplary piety of Mr. James Wads- worth, his fervent prayers and kind, persuasive exhortations, will fully appreciate the applicability of these lines on such an occasion.
The Rev. Gad Smith, a young Methodist minister who used to preach in Cornwall some fifty or sixty years since, is deemed worthy of particular notice. A native of Sharon, he obtained a classical education at the academy of the Rev. Daniel Parker, in Ellsworth. He was a good scholar and a most exemplary christian. As a preacher, he was solemn, earnest, and effective. He was not long permitted to preach the gospel, but he fell an early victim to consumption. His grave is in the burial-ground on the Sharon road, a little distance beyond the late residence of Mr. Silas Gray. His earnest piety and the fragrance of his many virtues embalm his memory and hallow the spot of his sepulture.
Many other pious and worthy ministers of the gospel have preached their one and two years in Cornwall since the first intro- duction of Methodism into the town.
BAPTISTS .- In the summer of 1800 Samuel Wadsworth, son of Mr. Joseph Wadsworth, then living on Cream Hill, and a grandson of Mr. James Douglass, was baptized by a Baptist minister in the Cream Hill lake. This ceremony from its novelty at the time attracted a large attendance of people. There may have been Baptists here at an earlier day, but no accessible records furnish data of their existence in this town previous to the above date. Among the early Baptist preachers in Cornwall were the Rev. Messrs. Bates, Fuller, and Talmadge. Elder Fuller, the father of Mrs. Deacon Nettleton, had not a permanent residence in this town, but often preached at the house of Captain Samuel Wads- worth on Cream Hill. He was peculiarly solemn and earnest in presenting his subject to his hearers, sometimes exciting to tears even the children, who would listen to him in breathless silence. His residence was in Kent, where some of his descendants yet remain.
Lieutenant Nettleton, who perished in New Orleans during the late rebellion, was a grandson of Elder Fuller. He was a worthy
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descendant of his sainted grandsire. Colonel Charles D. Blinn is also a descendant of this noble ancestry.
Elder Talmadge was a very worthy man, and lived on the farm now belonging to Mr. Franklin Reed.
The first Baptist church was erected about sixty years ago, and is now occupied as a dwelling by Mr. Elias Scoville. The Baptist church in Cornwall Hollow was built about thirty years since, and soon after another on Great Hill. 1
ROMAN CATHOLIC .- A small Roman Catholic church was erected at West Cornwall about 1850.
These, with the two Congregational churches, and chapel now building at West Cornwall, in all eight in number, for a population of less than two thousand, afford ample accommodations for re- ligious worship.
CORNWALL HOLLOW.
An Historical Address delivered at the Baptist Church in Cornwall Hollow, Oct. 19, 1865.
BY GEN. CHARLES F. SEDGWICK OF SHARON.
In looking over the inhabitants now dwelling in this locality, which. from the earliest settlement of the town, has been called Cornwall Hollow, I find but few persons who can date their birth back to within the eighteenth century. This fact indicates a great change in the persons resident here within the period of my recol- lection. My memory in regard to some facts runs back to the last year of the last century, and from that time to this, I have en- deavored to keep tolerably well posted in regard to the families and persons of my old neighbors. One fact in regard to the families in this Hollow is noticeable, and that is, the permanence of family names. The Harrisons, Hurlburts, Bradfords, Wilcoxes, Merwins, Fords, and Sedgwicks, descendants of old families, still remain here, or in the near neighborhood, and if the Pendletons could be included in this list, they would still occupy nearly all the territory of the Hollow proper.
I have a very pleasant remembrance of the old inhabitants of this Hollow, and it is not confined to the limits of Cornwall merely, but embraces those portions of Goshen, Norfolk, and Canaan which are adjacent. The old gatherings for social enjoy- ment and religious worship come up fresh to my recollection, and
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although the retrospect calls up some memories of friends and some memories of incidents that "mind me of departed joys, departed never to return," yet it calls up pleasant memories of pleasant scenes enacted, and of pleasant friendships formed and enjoyed here during the early years of my life, and I now attempt to execute a purpose I have long entertained, of gathering up such facts and incidents, embraced in the early history of this portion of Cornwall, as are within my knowledge, and laying them before the present dwellers in this, to me, most interesting locality. These facts and incidents, not important, it is true, in the great history of the times in which they occurred, but perhaps in some degree interesting to those whose parents or grandparents were active in accomplishing them, are fast passing into the hazy obscuri- ties of antiquity, and will soon be beyond the memory of living men. So far as they are matters of record, they may endure; but so far as they depend upon tradition, they are fleeting and fugitive. I love to dwell upon these scenes of early childhood and of ripen- ing manhood. I love to call up the names and persons of the aged men and women upon whose lips I have hung in early life, as they have told the story of their experiences in the early days of the history of this Hollow. This spot, secluded as it is, has not been barren of incidents or of names which have marked it as an important locality in Cornwall, and I deeply regret that I did not take more pains, while the facts were accessible, to preserve and perpetuate the memory of many persons and incidents which are now gone into forgetfulness. Such as are within my knowledge I now proceed to lay before you.
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