USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Danbury > History of Danbury, Conn., 1684-1896 > Part 26
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At a society meeting held December 26th, 1770, "Nathnl Ketcham, Daniel Taylor, Junr. and Daniel Wood were appointed Quoristers with the others appointed to Tune the Psalm in Publick worship in this Society."
" Voted to Give Ebenezr Munson his Last years Rate.
" The Society by Vote appoint the Great or first Pue be the Place for Daniel Taylor Esqr. and his wife to Set for the futer."
" The Society by vote order the Great or Pue Next the Deacons Seat be the Place for the following aged Women to Set, viz .:-- the two aged widdow Hoyts, Eunice Starr, Miss Hannah Hill and Elenor Weed."
"The Society by vote order that Deac. Daniel Benedict Set in the Great or first Pue."
" The Society by Vote order that all those Persons that have Neaver been Seated in the Meeting House Shall bring in an account of their age to the Comtee. within ye space of one weak from this Time in order they may be Seated thereon."
At a meeting of the First Society in Danbury, held on May 21st, 1787, " the Question was put whether the Society will pro- ceed to Glaze the Meeting House, Lay the lower floors, plaister the whole body of the House except under the Gallery floors, make a partition & Door between the House & Steple, erect the pillows under the Gallery girts, case the windows and posts of the House Glaze the Steeple and lay the under floor of the same. Past in the affirmative."
At a society meeting held January 7th, 1796, it was " Voted to seat the meeting house by the following rule (viz.) multiply each persons age by Ten and to that product add the list of each
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person for the year 1795 including one head in each list whether actually in the list or not and no more.
" That men and their wives be seated together and that People have their choice of a seat according to their respective footings.
" Voted that Col. Cooke, Esq. Whittelsey, John McLean, Comfort Hoyt Junr., & Col. Taylor be a Comtee. to receive the Ages and make out the footings.
" Voted that People give in their Ages by the first day of February next.
" Voted that the Pew next the Pulpit stairs be reserved for the Minister's family and the one next the Pulpit the East side and the first and second seat next the East Alley be reserved for widows & strangers."
In February, 1765, Mr. Noadiah Warner was ordained pastor of this church, but his pastorate was brief and much interrupted by efforts made to secure the return of the seceders ; he on two occasions consenting to relinquish his pulpit for several months that candidates might be listened to by both parties, it being understood that if a man was found upon whom all could unite, Mr. Warner would resign in his favor.
Variances about pecuniary matters and a lack of the spirit of concession thwarted these efforts, but they so much disturbed the relations of Mr. Warner to the church, that he sought a dismission at the expiration of the third year of his pastor- ate.
On April 3d, 1769, a call to the pastorate was given by the church and society to "the worthy Mr. Jeremiah Day," who supplied the pulpit for a few weeks, but did not accept the call. The year following he married Miss Lucy Wood, one of the young members of the church.
" Att a meeting of the first Society in Danbury Legally warned held in Danbury September the 4th A.D. 1769, the Question was Put whether the Society will Proceed to Give the worthy Mr. Ebenezer Baldwin a Call to Setel with us in the work of the Gospel ministry. Past in the affairmative by a universal vote."
Our ancestors evidently believed in due deliberation, for at a society meeting held on May 21st, 1770, " the Question was Put whether the Society would Continue their Call to the Worthy Mr. Ebenezer Baldwin to Setel with us in the work of the Gospel ministry. Past in the affairmative by a universal vote."
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The records of the first Church of Christ in Danbury were " begun September 19, 1770, kept by Ebener. Baldwin Pastor of said church."
" Sept. 19, Ebenezer Baldwin from Norwich was ordained pastor of the fst. Chh. in Danbury, by the Consociation of the Eastern District of Fairfield County."
During his ministry of six years there were added to the full communion of the church fifty-four, and ten were admitted to the half-way covenant.
At that day the practice of the churches was to allow baptized persons, who did not profess conversion, to assent to the church covenant, which act brought them into connection with and under the jurisdiction of the church, although they did not join in communion.
Mr. Baldwin married 68 couples, baptized 113 children, and attended 149 funerals. The summer of 1775 was one of great mortality in Danbury, and of the 130 deaths in the town that year, 82 were within the limits of the First Society, and 62 funerals were attended by Mr. Baldwin in the three months of June, July, and August.
The pastorate of Mr. Baldwin covered those exciting years in the national history that preceded and marked the commence- ment of the Revolution. At that day no class of citizens was more conspicuous for patriotism than the Congregational clergy of New England, and among them Mr. Baldwin was noted for his zeal and signal ability. Almost all the writing for the public prints at that time was done by the clergy. In 1774 Mr. Bald- win prepared and published a spirited address to the people of the western part of the colony to arouse them to a sense of the danger in which their liberties were involved. In November, 1775, on the day set apart for Thanksgiving in the Colony of Connecticut, at a period which he regarded as the most calam- itous the British colonies ever beheld, he preached a sermon designed to wake up the spirits of the people in the important struggle in which they were engaged. So excellent, encourag- ing, and appropriate was this sermon, that it was called for and printed at the expense of a leading member of the Episcopal Church. A copy is preserved in the archives of the New York Historical Society. Mr. Baldwin, with other ministers of the Association, arranged a series of circular fasts in the churches of
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Fairfield County in the spring of 1776 on "account of the threatening aspect of public affairs."
Mr. Baldwin's brother Simeon and James Kent, afterward Chancellor Kent, of New York, and author of Kent's Commen- taries, were members of a class of young men who studied under the direction of Mr. Baldwin while pastor of this church. Chan- cellor Kent, in a Phi Beta Kappa oration given at Yale in 1831, paid a beautiful tribute to the memory of Mr. Baldwin. Speak- ing of the tutors in that college, he said :
" Suffer me for a moment to bring to recollection from among this class of men the Rev. Ebenezer Baldwin, of Danbury, for it is to that great and excellent man that the individual who has now the honor to address you stands indebted for the best part of his early classical education. Mr. Baldwin was tutor in this college for the period of four years, and he settled as a minister in the First Congregational church of Danbury in the year 1770. He was a scholar and a gentleman of the fairest and brightest hopes. He was accustomed to read daily a portion of the Hebrew Scriptures, and he was extensively acquainted with Greek and Roman literature. His style of preaching was sim- ple, earnest, and forcible, with the most commanding and grace- ful dignity of manner. His zeal for learning was ardent, and his acquisitions and reputation rapidly increasing, when he was
doomed to fall prematurely in the flower of his age, and while engaged in his country's service. Though his career was pain- fully short, he had lived long enough to attract general notice and the highest respect by his piety, his learning, his judgment, and his patriotism. He took an enlightened and active interest in the rise and early progress of the American Revolution. In the gloomy campaign of 1776 he was incessant in his efforts to cheer and animate his townsmen to join the militia which were called out for the defence of New York. To give weight to his eloquent exhortations, he added that of heroic example. He went voluntarily as a chaplain to one of the militia regiments, composed mostly of his own parishioners. His office was pacific, but he nevertheless arrayed himself in military armor.
" I was present when he firmly but affectionately bade adieu to his devoted parishioners and affectionate pupils. This was about August 1st, 1776, and what a moment in the annals of this country ! There never was a period more awful and portentous.
e
DEACON OLIVER STONE.
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
DEACON JOHN FRY. DEACON ELI T. HOYT. DEACON JOHN F. BEARD.
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It was the very crisis of our destiny. The defence of New York had become desperate. An enemy's army of thirty thousand men, well disciplined and well equipped, was in its vicinity ready to overwhelm it. General Washington had, to oppose them, less than eighteen thousand men, and part of them extremely sickly. Nothing could have afforded better proof of patriotic zeal than Mr. Baldwin's voluntary enlistment at this critical juncture. The militia, much reduced by sickness, after two months' service were discharged. Mr. Baldwin fell a victim to the sickness that prevailed in the army, having only strength sufficient to reach home, where he died October 1st, 'honored by the deepest sympathies of his own people, and with the pub- lic veneration and sorrow.' "'
While in the army Mr. Baldwin made and sent home a will which is dated "September 10th, 1776, at the camp below Turtle Bay, N. Y.," and prefaced with the following words : " Mindful of the uncertainty of life at all times, and of the special danger of life when engaged in war, I think it proper to make this my last will and testament."
As being connected with this church history, the following item from the copy of the will on record is here given : " Whereas I have been in the ministry but a few years, and have received from the First Society in Danbury a considerable settlement, I would willingly refund a part of it ; but as it has been wholly expended in a house and lot, 'tis not in my power, unless the Society will make a purchase of it. I do therefore will and bequeath to the First Society in Danbury my dwelling-house, barn, and home lot (which have cost me between £500 and £600) in case they will pay to my executors the sum of £360."
In case the society did not decide to do this, other disposition of the property was provided for, the avails to go to his heirs. The society fulfilled the condition and received the house, which stood on the site now occupied by the parsonage of the Meth- odist Society.
A memoir of Mr. Baldwin, prepared by his brother Simeon Baldwin, formerly Judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, is published in "Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit." This memoir states that Mr. Baldwin never married. It describes him as "a very handsome, well-built man, with manly health and cheerful spirits." His library was imported by himself, and
B
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was one of the best in the colony at that day. His love for books led him to move in the matter of a public or town library. It is stated in his memoir that " soon after his settlement in Dan- bury he drew up the terms of subscription for a library that should be free to all denominations. A small library was pro- cured, whose benefits were immediately felt, and as the result the inhabitants were long since enabled to exhibit one of the best town libraries in the State."
The inscription upon his tombstone was prepared by President Stiles, of Yale College, and is as follows :
"In memory of Rev. Ebenezer Baldwin, A.M., late pastor of the First church in Danbury, who was born at Norwich, July 13th, 1745 ; received his education at Yale College, where he was graduated in 1763, and officiated several years with singular reputation as a tutor in that university ; ordained a minister of the Gospel, September 19th, 1770, and died October 1st, 1776. He was eminent for literature and piety, an enlightened divine, an instructive preacher. Distinguished for dignity of manners and public usefulness ; a true and faithful patriot, an ornament to the church, to the ministry and to his country. In grateful remembrance of this worthy pastor and generous benefactor, the First Society of Danbury have erected this monument."
Having thus lost their pastor in the early part of the war, this church, absorbed in the events connected with the struggle of the Revolution, failed to settle another pastor until the war was ended. Consociation records tell us that Rev. Ebenezer Brad- ford served the church as stated supply from April 9th, 1777, to November 22d, 1779, and that from April 11th, 1780, to January 2d, 1782, John Rogers, D.D., supplied the pulpit. For his sal- ary Mr. Rogers had the use of the house left the society by Mr. Baldwin, and for the rest relied on the generosity of the people.
October 28th, 1783, the association passed a resolution "that the vacant churches be preached to and stirred up to the work of securing pastors." In connection it is noted on the records at that time that " Stratford had been vacant four years, Dan- bury and Newtown eight years, and New Fairfield nine years." In 1785 the society built its third meeting-house, which with repairs and changes in 1827 and again in 1837 was occupied by the church until 1858. Upon the completion of the church building a call was given to Mr. Timothy Langdon, and he was
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ordained August 31st, 1786. At that time the number of com- municants was sixty-three, and to these were added during the fifteen years' ministry of Mr. Langdon only forty-four.
This first and only pastorate of Mr. Langdon was ended by his death on February 10th, 1801. His tombstone bears the fol- lowing inscription :
" In memory of Rev. Timothy Langdon, A.M., late worthy and esteemed pastor of the First Congregational church in Dan- bury. He was born at Boston, December 4th, 1757. Graduated at Yale College in 1781. Ordained to the work of the Gospel ministry August 31st, 1787, and departed this life February 10th, 1801."
Mr. Israel Ward was the next pastor, and was ordained on May 25th, 1803. In the church record, in the handwriting of Thomas Tucker, then church clerk, is this entry : " August 3d, 1810. It has pleased God in His wise providence this morning, to remove by death our late beloved pastor, the Rev. Israel Ward, in which this church is called to mourn the loss of a faithful, wise, zealous, and godly minister of His Word. As a proof of his love and zeal in the cause of his Saviour, and of his instrumentality in winning souls to Christ, the records in the book of admissions of hopeful converts to full communion may be seen, when in the course of his ministry of only seven years, two months, and nine days, one hundred and forty-six were re- ceived into the bosom of the church."
His tombstone bears the inscription :
" This monument is erected by the First Society in Danbury to the memory of Rev. Israel Ward, their late pastor. He was born at Newark, N. J., November 24th, 1779 ; received his edu- cation at Union College, in the State of New York ; was settled in the ministry on the 25th day of May, 1803, and died on the 3d day of August, 1810. He sustained the relations of life with usefulness and reputation. As a man he was modest and hum- ble : as a minister of Christ he was zealous and faithful.
"'Still in his duty prompt at every call, He watched and wept, he prayed for all ; He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way.'"
During the three years that intervened between the pastorates of Mr. Ward and Mr. Andrews, the records show the bap-
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tisms of children by ten different clergymen, a fact which would seem to imply numerous candidates for the vacant pulpit.
Rev. Mr. Andrews was the first pastor of the church who did not begin his ministry in Danbury. He came from Windham, Conn., and was installed June 30th, 1813. Shortly after the beginning of Mr. Andrews's pastorate, a day of fasting and prayer was observed by the church " on account of the sins of church- members and the coldness of the church." The thirteen years of Mr. Andrews's stay with the church seem to have been marked with strong lines of stern church discipline, in accordance with the ecclesiastical laws of those days. "Narrow and exceeding straight'' were the paths of " professors" during the early years of this century.
The " famous cases of discipline" (so called by Dr. Leonard Bacon) in 1824-25 caused a division in the church, which led to efforts for the dismission of Mr. Andrews. As a whole the church stood by and sustained their pastor, while the majority of the society were opposed to him. At length a compromise was effected, Mr. Andrews resigning his office of pastor, and the society paying him in addition to all salary due the sum of $900, the church for the sake of peace acquiescing in this arrange- ment. (To raise this money, the parsonage meadow was sold.) By a council of the consociation, Mr. Andrews was dismissed May 29th, 1826. After leaving Danbury Mr. Andrews became pastor of the church in Cornwall, Conn., which position he filled until January 1st, 1838, the date of his death.
Mr. Andrews is represented by those who knew him as a man of strong mind, of inflexible will, and unshrinking courage-a man of sincere piety and earnest loyalty to his convictions. He was not a man born to temporize, and no considerations of per- sonal advantage or popularity could swerve him a hair's breadth from the path that in his judgment was in accordance with right and duty.
Mr. Anson Rood was ordained pastor on April 23d, 1829. Not until Mr. Rood's time did the church have a conference- room. In 1830, the first year of his ministry, the second story of the building next south of the old Baptist church on Main Street was rented at $30 a year for that purpose. The social meetings of the church were held in this room until 1837, when
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the meeting-house was raised up and a conference-room made in the basement.
In 1834 the church voted : "That it highly disapproved of traffic in lottery tickets by any of its members," and at the same time the following resolution was passed : "Resolved that we deeply lament and deplore that any of the members of the church should be guilty of selling ardent spirits." A few years later the temperance sentiment must have been somewhat stronger and bolder, as the church did not stop with resolutions of lament, but disciplined and excommunicated a member for sell- ing rum.
After a pastorate of nearly nine years, Mr. Rood resigned his office. For the next ten years he had charge of a church in Philadelphia, which under his care grew from weakness to strength and vigor. He died at his residence in West Philadel- phia in January, 1858.
Before Mr. Rood announced to the church his intention of resigning, he secured the aid of Rev. Rollin S. Stone in some revival meetings that were in progress ; and upon his departure the church, without hearing other candidates, gave Mr. Stone a call to the pastorate which was accepted, his installation taking place two months after the dismission of Mr. Rood.
Early in the pastorate of Mr. Stone four of the church-mem- bers-David Foot, Darios Starr, Russell Hoyt, and Eli T. Hoyt -presented the society with the parsonage house and lot on Main Street, the cost of which was $2000. In 1846 Mr. David Foot presented the church with its first organ, which cost $600.
The baptismal bowl belonging to the church communion ser- vice was hammered from a ball of solid silver, and has been in use over one hundred and forty years. The inscription engraved upon it reads : " The gift of Comfort Starr, Marcht. in Danbury, Connecticut, N. E. To the Church of Christ in said town, Aug. 25, 1753."
At the commencement of Mr. Stone's ministry the member- ship of the church was one hundred and eighty-three. During the twelve years of his pastorate there were added two hundred and eight. Mr. Stone closed his labors with the church on Feb- ruary 12th, 1850. He subsequently had charge of the church at Easthampton, Mass., and for several years held a position as city missionary in Brooklyn, N. Y. From that city he removed to
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Hartford, where, after years of failing health, he died on March 17th, 1895, and was buried in Wooster Cemetery, in Danbury, beside his wife, whose tombstone bears this touching inscription, " Good-bye till morning." For him the morning has dawned.
Ten months after the resignation of Mr. Stone, Rev. Samuel G. Coe became pastor, his installation taking place December 4th, 1850. During the pastorate of Mr. Coe the present church edi- fice was built. As our ancestors had outgrown their early log- houses, so the church had outgrown its old meeting-house. The cost of this building with the land was about $22,000. It was dedicated on Wednesday, April 28th, 1858.
Mr. Coe was pastor during the greater part of the Civil War, and his sermons were helps to the loyal and patriotic. In June, 1864, feeling the need of rest from the care of a parish, Mr. Coe resigned his office as pastor of this church. During the years of his stay the membership increased from 216 to 356.
After leaving Danbury, Mr. Coe supplied the pulpit at Ridge- field for four years, and preached for six months in the Second Presbyterian church of Cleveland, O. He died in New Haven, December 7th, 1869. His memory is fragrant in the hearts of many to whom he ministered.
Rev. A. L. Frisbie, of Ansonia, became pastor in July, 1865. During his ministry improvements were made upon the parson- age, and largely through his efforts a new organ was secured at a cost of $3500. Among the fruits of his ministry are some of the best Christian workers in the church. Mr. Frisbie resigned on September 11th, 1871, and removed to Des Moines, Ia., becoming pastor of the Congregational church in that city. At the time of his departure the membership of the church was 377.
After a vacancy of two years Rev. Joel J. Hough began his labors as pastor, October 12th, 1873. During his pastorate the main audience-room, Sunday-school, and social rooms were im- proved and refurnished at considerable expense, and the church was in a flourishing condition in all departments of its work. Mr. Hough was dismissed on December 19th, 1878.
Rev. James W. Hubbell was installed as pastor on May 20th, 1879. During his stay the church interior was renewed and a chapel built at an expense of $17,000. Some of the largest acces- sions to the membership of the church were made during the pastorates of Mr. Frisbie and Mr. Hubbell.
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The latter resigned in October, 1886, and was succeeded on May 19th, 1887, by the Rev. J. Allen Maxwell, D.D. The first year of his pastorate was marked by the sale of the parsonage on Main Street, the building of a handsome new parsonage ad- joining the church, and by the addition to the membership in March, 1888, of thirty-two new members. Dr. Maxwell died, at the parsonage, on Thanksgiving Day, November, 1890, leaving the church " to mourn the loss of a devoted pastor, a wise coun- sellor, efficient teacher, and loving friend." Gentle and refined, modest and unassuming, he was "a ripe scholar, an eloquent and earnest preacher, and a faithful pastor." "His life was a benediction, his death a glorious translation."
The present pastor of the church is Rev. Albert F. Pierce, who began his pastorate on October 15th, 1891. Since the beginning of his pastorate many changes and repairs have been made, prin- cipally in the chapel and social rooms of the church.
The deacons of this church have been : Samuel Benedict, James Beebe, John Gregory, Richard Barnum, Joseph Gregory, James Beebe, James Benedict, John Benedict, Nathaniel Greg- ory, Joseph Peck, Daniel Benedict, Thomas Benedict, Joseph P. Cooke, Sr., Joshua Knapp, Samuel Wildman, Amos Hoyt, Joseph P. Cooke, Jr., Thomas Tucker, Eliakim Starr, Ezra Boughton, Lewis S. Hoyt, Oliver Stone, Isaac Ives, John F. Beard, John Fry, Eli T. Hoyt, Judah P. Crosby, Harvey Will- iams, George Downs, George McArthur, Edgar A. Benedict, W. A. Gordon, Edward E. Harrison, M. P. Reynolds. Deacons Williams, Downs, McArthur, Gordon, Harrison, and Reynolds still minister in their office, but the others have finished their service here and gone to their reward.
The church has a fine memorial window, presented by the mother of Edgar A. Benedict in memory of her son.
ST. JAMES' EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
The earliest record in the possession of this church is of date 1812. From other sources we have gathered the following regard- ing its earlier years :
In 1727 Rev. Henry Caner, a graduate of Yale, went to Eng- land for holy orders, and on his return in the autumn of that year became a missionary to Fairfield. He sought out the churchmen in the adjacent regions, and in his first report to the
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