USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > East Haven > History of East Haven > Part 6
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While these matters were pending, they were mak- ing preparation, and looking about them for a minister. Jacob, the youngest son of Samuel Hemingway, and born in the village, graduated at the college at Say- brook (now Yale University), under the presidency of the Rev. Abraham Pierson, 1703, and was then about twenty years of age. To him the people turned their attention.
"At a meeting of the Village 20th Nov. 1704, Voted to look out for a minister to carry on the publick worship of God amongst us; and it was voted-
"I. To seek to Sir Heminway that he would give them a taste of his gifts in order to settlement in the worke of the ministry. And-
"2. Voted to desire John Potter, Sen. Caleb Chedsey, and Ebenezer Chedsey, to treat with Sir Heminway, to get him, if they could, to give them a taste of his gifts in preaching the Word."
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At another meeting of the village, the 19th of December following-"They having had some taste of Sir Heminway in preaching the Word, did declare their desire to have him go on in the worke of the Min- istry amongst us, in order to settlement; and towards his encouragement they engage to allow him after the rate of £40 by the year in pay. And, Voted that George Pardee and Caleb Chedsey signify our desires and propositions to Sir Heminway, and take his answer and make returne."
The committee immediately consulted Mr. Heming- way, and reported at the same meeting, "That Sir Heminway does comply with their motion, God's grace assisting, and does accept the' proposition, and desires some consideration with respect to wood."
The next month they voted to give him £50 a year. They continued in this state until the close of the year 1706, when, at a meeting, the village appointed "Wil- liam Luddington and John Potter to treat with Sir Jacob Heminway, to see whether he will goe on in the worke of the Ministry amongst us."
When Mr. Hemingway commenced his labors, the village had no meetinghouse. But at a meeting June 10, 1706, "The Village agreed to build [a house], 20 feet long, 16 feet wide, and 17 feet between joints, and set it across the east end of the School House." William Luddington and John Russell were overseers of the work, and were allowed 3s. 6d. per day, other men 3s. and team 6s. This house served them until the year 1719.
December 2, 1706, Mr. Hemingway reported his answer to their 2d arrangement.
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"Gentlemen, Whereas you have given me notice by two men, that you desire me to carry on the work of the Ministry in order to settlement among you. I do, therefore, hereby give you notice that so far as God shall enable me thereunto, I am heartily ready and willing to gratify these your desires upon these conditions-I. That you give me £50 yearly, and my wood. 2. That you build me a good convenient dwelling house, within 2 years time, or give me money sufficient to do the same, one half this year ensuing, and one half the next. 3. That when it is in your power, you give me a good and sufficient portion of land.
From my study 2d Decr. 1706. Yours to serve. JACOB HEMINWAY."
On the 26th of the same month, the village met and voted, "We do promise Mr. Heminway, if he will carry on the work of the Ministry in said Village, to build him a house, if we can in two years after this date, and give him £50 pay, and his wood. And in the mean time, if he wants a house to hire him one." To accomplish these objects they laid a tax of four- pence farthing.
In the year 1707, the village built a house* for Mr. Hemingway, 40 feet long and 20 feet wide, on a five-acre lot, on the southeast corner of the Green. One half acre was allowed to set the house upon, adjoining to Mr. Hemingway's home lot. The wages
* It has been asserted that Jacob Hemingway's house, which was built for him on the southeast corner of the Green, was the one removed in 1898 to Hemingway avenue now owned by D. W. Tuttle, Esq. This is an error. The Rev. Jacob Hem- ingway house was burned, and Mr. Stephen Thompson built the house removed for his son Moses, on the site of the par- sonage. This corner has formerly been called "ministers corner."
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in working at the house were three shillings a day for a man, and six for a team.
The terms proposed were adjusted and ratified in 1709. They gave to him the house and lot it stood on, also 12 acres on the cove road, 12 acres in the bridge swamp, 30 acres in the half mile, £50 per annum, and sufficient wood, "if he performs the worke of the Ministry so long as he is able; or if it be our fault that he is forced to leave us, it shall be his. But if it be his fault, or he leaves the place, or is hindered in the worke, then the property is to return to the Village. And he is to have the use of the Parsonage land."
The same year, "3d May, 1709, voted to petition the General Assembly that we may embody into a Church state."
"May 12, this Assembly do grant their consent, and full liberty to the inhabitants of the village of East Haven, in this colony, to embody themselves into a Church state, with the approbation of their neighbor- ing churches."
The care and solemnity with which they proceeded in preparing for that transaction is worthy of notice.
April 25th, 1710. "Upon some considerations about setting up the worship and ordinances of Christ in this place, and in order to a suitable attendance upon so great and weighty a worke, the village made choice of, and desired sundry persons, whose names are underwritten, as a Committee, to take advice and search for the right way, as near as may be ascer- tained, to prosecute the aforesaid worke, under hopes of the blessing of God to accompany and succeed such a worke for soul good to us, and ours after us, to
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many generations." The persons chosen for this object were William Luddington, Thomas Goodsell, Lieut. John Russell, George Pardee, Caleb Chidsey, Sergt. John Potter, and Daniel Collins.
With such views the church was gathered and con- stituted a Congregational Church, and became a mem- ber of the consociation of New Haven County; that body having been organized according to Saybrook Platform, in 1709.
The church was gathered on October 8, 1711, and Mr. Hemingway was ordained pastor of the church the same day. Unhappily no church record can be found of the transactions of that day, nor of the affairs of the church until 1755. It, however, appears, that Caleb Chidsey was one of the first deacons; he died in 1713. Joshua Austin was deacon in 1718 and he and Thomas Smith were both deacons at the time of Mr. Street's ordination, but were then very aged.
As early as the year 1714 the village "voted to build a [the second] meeting-house 30 by 40 feet, 20 feet high, and jutted one foot at each end, with a strait roof." The next year they voted a sixpenny rate for the expense. In 1718 they began the house. Capt. John Russell, Nathaniel Hitchcock, Abraham Hemingway and Samuel Hotchkiss were the building committee. The next year they were charged "to hurry the work." The form of the seats and the pul- pit were to be like those of the Branford meeting- house: and a pew was to be built for the ministry. Wages from the 10th of September to the 10th of March, to be 2s. 6d., and the rest of the year 3s .; team 5s. and Indian corn 2s. 6d.
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The house being sufficiently advanced to occupy, the 19th of October 1719, the village met and "voted that the new Meeting-house should be seated *:- that the first short seat should be reckoned equal with the second long seat and so on :- that Mr. Shepard, Mr. Tuttle, and William Luddington, should sit in the first short seat. [This was near the pulpit and among the highest in dignity.] And old Mrs. Heminway, Mrs. Bradley, Mrs. Denison and Mrs. Smith, shall sit in the first seat of the square body. Mr. Pardee, Mr. Morris, Capt. Russell, Sergt. John Thompson, Samuel Russell, and Samuel Clark, shall sit in the fore seat of the square body. These six men are chosen to seat the rest of the meeting-house, or the major part
* An explanation of this term may be a pardonable digres- sion from the continuous history :
SEATING THE MEETING HOUSE.
Dr. Bacon in his "Historical Discourses of New Haven" says, "This affords us a glimpse of the associations and rela- tive social importance of the first settlers of New Haven. One of the earliest matters was the building of the meeting house, followed by the solemn and weighty matter of 'seating' it. It was considered a mark of honor to be chosen one of the seating committee. They were grave men appointed for the purpose, who graded and dignified the seats, according to some rule of nearness to the pulpit by which they were esteemed more or less honorable. The people were then voted into them one by one, in accordance with the following rules. Ist, Dignity of descent. 2nd, Place of Public Trust. 3rd, Pious Disposition. 4th, Estate. 5th, Peculiar service of any kind."
The sexes were seated apart, the men on one side and the women on the other side of the middle alley. Children followed their parents to the door but were not allowed to sit with them in the assembly, and were placed under a
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of them to do it, according to their rates in 1717, and that by Monday next ensuing."
About thirty years afterwards, the meetinghouse wanting repairs, it was motioned to build a new house, but they continued to repair the old one for about fifty years, when they began the erection of the stone house. [The second meetinghouse stood on the "Nole" opposite the northwest corner of the Green, on Main street opposite Hemingway avenue, and the slight elevation was called Meetinghouse hill for many generations.]
In the meantime, the people growing remiss con- cerning the wood with which they had stipulated to supply Mr. Hemingway, they voted to give him £50 in lieu of wood, provided it was not delivered in a specified time, for which they would be allowed 3s. per load.
20th Feb. 1722, "Voted, that Mr. Heminway shall have a piece of land for pasturing, adjoining to the west end of his home lot, as it is set out by Deacon Austin, Thomas Alcock and William Bradley. He to have the use of said land so long as he shall continue in the worke of the Ministry amongst us in this place, he paying to the Village one shilling per year, yearly, as long as he improves said land for pasturing.
"tithing-man." The young unmarried men were in one gallery and girls in the opposite gallery. Soldiers, however, sat on both sides of the alley, nearest the door. The custom of young unmarried people sitting in opposite galleries was a custom followed in New England in much later generations. The people had no choice in their own church, everything being settled by vote, and they might be considered as so many pegs, driven in their proper places, upon which to hang their titles.
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The bounds of the land set out by the aforesaid three men, is about 13 rods on the Southend, on the westerly side 17 rods, and northerly 10 rods."
In January, 1737, they voted to sell the parsonage, and constitute a permanent fund with the avails. This measure, however, was opposed, and John Hemingway, Joseph Granniss, Samuel Russell, Mat- thew Rowe, John Dawson, Moses Thompson, James Dennison, Isaac Penfield, Samuel Smith, and Isaac Howe entered their protest against selling the parson- age land.
In 1752 "Voted that Mr. Heminway shall name the Psalm in public; Nathaniel Barnes shall tune the Psalm, and in his absence Jacob or Isaac Goodsell."
Mr. Hemingway continued in the ministry fifty years, and died October 7, 1754, in the 71st year of his age, having preached seven years before ordina- tion.
In March, 1755, Mr. Nicholas Street was invited to preach for the Society on probation, with the consent of the Rev. Association.
"At a Society meeting, 5th July, 1755, voted unanimously to give Mr. Street a call in the worke of the Gospel ministry with us, and appointed a Committee to treat with him on the subject."
And in August
"Voted that we will give Mr. Street for his settlement amongst us £1500 money, Old Tenor; to pay £500 in one year; £500 in two years and £500 in three years. And if he changes his principles from what he was settled upon, then he shall return the £1500 in money, to the Society."
This was equal to about £126 proclamation money.
"Voted to give Mr. Street for his yearly salary £60, in New- York money, dollars at 8s. or any other money equivalent
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thereunto, for the first year; sixty-five in the same money for the second year, and seventy in the same money for the third year, and so to continue yearly so long as the said Mr. Street shall preach with us."
"Voted, also, that Mr. Street shall have the use of that piece of parsonage land by the two springs, three years after he is ordained."
"Voted, also, that Mr. Street shall have the use of the two biggest pieces of land, so long as he shall continue in the work of the Ministry amongst us."
At the same meeting Mr. Street personally appeared, and accepted the aforesaid proposal, and was ordained by the consociation of New Haven County, October 8, 1755.
In 1768 the society again voted to sell all the parson- age lands and give Mr. Street £80 salary. From the 100 acres that had been set apart to the encourage- ment of the ministry, 50 acres were given to Mr. Hemingway as the first minister, and a part of the remaining fifty was sold to Mr. Hemingway to pay up arrears of his salary, and some of it was sold to defray the expenses for building the first meeting- house. In 1739 the parsonage lands were all resur- veyed and another piece was added south of Samuel Hotchkiss' farm.
The next year, January 30, 1769, it was "Voted to sell all the parsonage lands. The monies arising and accruing to the said Society from the sale of said lands shall be kept as a fund for the support of a regular Calvinistic Ministry, upon Saybrook Platform, especially as to the doctrines thereof, in East-Haven; and that the interest of said fund shall annually be paid to such a ministry and no other, according to the original intention in the sequestration of said lands."
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The sales amounted to £390 9s. 9d. In 1779, it became convenient for some of the purchasers to make payment in the depreciated continental bills, when they were already reduced four to one, i. e., one dollar was worth only twenty-five cents in silver. A vote of the society was obtained to call in the money; and thus all that fund sunk in their hands to about $300. For the sake of this fund, Mr. Street had previously relinquished the parsonage and his wood, and accepted £80 salary.
The same year the society voted to build a new meetinghouse, and in voting where it should stand, 37 votes appeared for the Green, and 27 for the end of Mullen Hill. A large committee was then appointed to fix upon the place; but they could not agree. The next year, they chose Capt. Eliakim Hall, Colonel Chauncey, and James Wadsworth, a committee for that purpose, who met, and their doings were reported to the court. But the people were not yet satisfied. The same result attended another committee in March, 1771.
In December of the same year they tried another vote; when 20 votes appeared for the Green, 2 for Thompson's corner, and 29 for the end of the hill. Being convinced that they could not agree, in Febru- ary, 1772, they voted to apply to the County Court, and request that two of the judges and another man be of the committee. They met and fixed the stake on Thompson's corner. In this decision the society acquiesced, and began to make preparations to build.
The end of the hill was the center of the society, and nearly in the center of the population, north and south. The Green would be more convenient for the
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south and east part of the society. The South End people had to go round by the Cove and come out on the Green. The road was crooked, long, and some part of the way very uncomfortable. The present road from the meetinghouse to South End was laid out after that period.
John Woodward, Amos Morris and Stephen Morris, and afterward Stephen Thompson, Joel Tuttle, and Stephen Smith, were of the building committee. Isaac Chidsey and Dan Bradley were chosen in 1774. "27th April, 1772, Voted to build a stone house 60 feet long, and to lay a six-penny rate for it." The committee were authorized to purchase the land of John Thomp- son, and pay for it out of that rate. The house was begun without a steeple, but a few enterprising men were determined to have one, and finally obtained a society vote for it, and also to add eight feet to the length. The outside of the walls now measured 70 feet by 50, exclusive of the steeple. In 1773 and 4, the walls were raised and covered. The seats were then removed from the old house into the new, and public worship commenced in it in September, 1774.
It was a great and honorable work, and stands as a lasting monument of the enterprise, public spirit, wisdom and perseverance of the undertakers, and especially of the leaders. And not only to these men, to whom all reverence and gratitude are due, but also to the architect and master builder of this strikingly chaste and beautiful house of worship. The history of this widely known and justly admired church would seem incomplete if we allowed further oblivion to cast its shadow over the name and work of George Lancraft, under whose guidance and dictation every
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stone was laid. Mr. Lancraft was born in 1724, was a native of Holland, Province of Flanders, and at the time of this building was in the prime of life, height of activity, energy and good judgment, as his successful work shows. Let us for a moment consider the disadvantages and difficulties under which this lone man labored, and our admiration for the work accomplished will be increased. He was the only skilled workman employed in its erection, and that he was a perfect master of his business, in every particular, a glance at the structure at the pres- ent time is positive evidence. He had no fore- man to whom he could entrust any part of the work. It was his eye to criticise, and his hand to control. True, there might have been some among his helpers who could do a fairly good job, but his workmen were the men and farmers of the town, who donated their services, whenever their own affairs would permit, ever ready to do what they could with- out any social distinction; even to the building com- mittee, all lent a hand. Sometimes his workmen were numerous, which only increased his oversight, and at other times were few. Every stone must be measured by his rule and placed by his level, under his immediate eye. At this early date everything had to be done by hand. There were no dummy engines to do the hoist- ing of materials, and swing the heavy stones into place; all was manual labor.
There is a tradition, and not without good founda- tion, that his first work in East Haven was the building of the stone house on Forbes avenue in 1767 which is now the parish house of the Chapel of the Epiphany. Owing to the recent remodeling of this house for
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church purposes, much of the ancestral work has been displaced, and in no instance has been improved by its modern workmanship. Certain it is that the people had full confidence in Mr. Lancraft's ability, which to-day stands such a lasting monument to his skill. Mr. Havens in his Centennial Sermon says, "It is less surprising that they should have undertaken to build a stone meeting-house, than that they should have wrought it in the manner and form they did. There was not another in all the English Colonies of America, which furnished them a pattern." No, there was not. Can it be conceived that these home-born, and town-staying men, unacquainted with architectural designs and beauty could possibly rear such an impos- ing structure, with such nicety of line and finish, and such exactness of construction without the guiding hand of a master architect and builder? No indeed ! And that designer and constructor was George Lan- craft, of Holland,* Province of Flanders, where mas- sive buildings of architectural beauty and grandeur were everyday sights throughout his former life. Nothing in this line was new to him, and, as he had taken stone masonry for his life's work, doubtless he had made it his study until he stood master of the science. The work was done with such faithfulness and efficiency that, after the lapse of one hundred and thirty-three years since its completion, scarcely a stone has started from its original bed, and that its walls
* A convincing proof of his country was the earmark of his work by the date which he placed over the door. This was a well-known custom in Holland as well as early New York, before the English took possession, so much so it has been noted in history.
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are as plumb and level as when laid was the verdict of experts less than a year since.
It now bears the record of being the "oldest stone meetinghouse" standing in New England, and first "stone meetinghouse in Connecticut." At the time of Rev. Mr. Havens' Centennial Sermon in East Haven he stated "there were but two meeting houses of any kind standing in the State older than the East Haven stone meeting house: the brick meeting house in Wethersfield and the wooden edifice in Farming- ton."
It was a cheaper building than one of wood. They had stone and lime, and teams and laborers enough to do the work. A stone house saved them money. The stone was within easy distance of the house, and quarried from the Russell farm and vicinity. The papers containing the accounts of the building are lost, and the expense of it cannot now be ascertained, but it is supposed that when they began to meet in it, it had cost ten or eleven thousand dollars.
The steeple and inside of the house were not finished for several years on account of the Revolu- tionary War. The society has never seen a more favorable period for this great work than the one preceding the war. They were then united as one people and the society, probably, never contained a company of men of more enterprise or greater resolu- tion and public spirit than that generation contained. When the war was terminated, divisions began to appear and considerably diminished the active ability of the society to perform such a work again, and in a few years a number of those influential and enter- prising men were removed by death. Although there
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is yet a considerable portion of wealth in the society, it is not accompanied with the same resolution and enterprise which the Fathers possessed. But it ought to be considered, that the hand of the Lord was in the work. The time had come when the "Lord's house should be built," and then men and means were pre- pared to execute the work of the Lord, and fulfill the divine purpose. "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." And when the work was done, the people had occasion to say "the Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad."
A serious calamity, however, befell the builders. The workmen were raising the last window cap, on the north side, when the scaffolding gave way, and three men with the stone in their arms fell to the ground. Tony, a negro servant of Capt. Amos Morris, was considerably injured, but in two weeks was so much recovered that he ran away. Mr. Stephen Thompson (one of the building committee) had his skull fractured, was trepanned, and after much suffering, recovered. Mr. Joseph Hotchkiss had one leg crushed by the stone, passed through ten months of suffering, and never fully recovered from the effects of the injury.
The society resumed the work of finishing the house in 1791, for which they laid a tax of one penny half penny. Nothing decisive was effected till March, 1793, when Samuel Davenport, Esq., Amos Morris, Jr., Joseph Russell, John Woodward and Dan Holt were "authorized and empowered to indent and agree with any gentleman or gentle- men, to finish the meeting-house, of said society, in said East Haven, in such a manner as they, or the
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major part of them shall think best; said house to be finished by the first of December 1794." Though objection was made to building a spire at the same time, on the ground of the increased burden it would impose, it was finally concluded to make one business of it. The people gave themselves to the work with characteristic energy and carried it through to a successful end in 1796. Hence the first spire was erected in 1796. Previous to this the style of the steeple was called "Squaw's Cap," which was no spire at all but a kind of roofing.
The society had scarcely become comfortably seated and settled in their finished house when a great calamity befell it. October 8, 1797, a terrible tornado passed over the town. "On Sunday evening last, between six and seven o'clock we experienced a violent gale of wind from the westward, attended with heavy rain and thunder. At East Haven the steeple of the meeting-house was blown down which falling on the roof, broke through the side where it fell leaving only one rafter standing and penetrating the floor, greatly damaged the seats."
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