History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 114

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 114

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succeeded by Joseph Nichols, son of Elijah. Joseph finally sold to Baldwin & Beers, and removed to New York.

This firm continued nearly half a century, when they were succeeded by Henry Sanford, who carried on the business fifteen years, when he associated with him Eli C. Barnum. This partnership continued about six years.

This firm was suceceded by Sanford & Hawley, the present firm. Mr. Henry Sanford is a veteran in the mereantile business in the town, having conducted its business on this site over forty-three years.

Ezra Morgan, father of D. N. Morgan, the present (1880) mayor of Bridgeport, was a merchant in this town for over forty years, and did much to advance the material interests of the town and county.

ADVERTISEMENT OF 1792.

The following advertisement appeared in the Far- mers' Journal, published at Danbury, under date Dee. 22, 1792:

BELL-FOUNDERY,

SMITHERY,

JEWELLERY, &c.

T HE Subfcriber refpectfully informs the public, that he carries on, at his fhop at the head of the ftreet in NEWTOWN, the GOLD- SMITH's bufinefs in all its branches: Cafts Bells for Churches .- Makes and repairs Surveyor's Inftruments, - Church Clocks, and Clocks and Watches of all kinds-where orders will be punctually attended, and all favors gratefully acknowledged, by the public's humble fervant, ZIBA BLAKSLEE.

Newtown, March 27, 1792.

VILLAGES.

The village of Newtown is pleasantly located on an elevated ridge a little north of the centre of the town, and is an important station for the Housatonie Rail- road. The main street, upon which is located the business of the village, is one of the finest in this see- tion. It contains two churches, Episcopal and Con- gregational, and an academy.

Sandy Hook is a manufacturing hamlet located on the Pohtatuek Brook, a fine inill-stream which furnishes an abundance of water-power. Here are located the New York Belting and Packing Works, besides other industries.

Hawleyville is a small hamlet and a station on the Housatonic Railroad, located in the northwestern part of the town. Cold Spring is a post-office in the southern part of the town.

In Barber's "History," published in 1838, he says, "The borough of Newton is situated on the southern termination of a ridge of elevated land. After as- cending the ridge from the south there is a broad and level street about eighty rods in extent. The bor- ough is mostly built on this street ; there are about forty or fifty dwelling-houses, three churches,-one

* Sce chapter on the bar.

+ Still in practice at Sandy Hook.

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

Congregational, one Episcopal, and one Methodist,- and four mercantile stores."

Of Sandy Hook he writes, "The flourishing village of Sandy Hook is situated about one and a half miles northeast of the centre part of Newtown, at the foot of a rocky eminence, a bluff, from the top of which is a fine prospect of the surrounding country. A fine mill-stream (the Pohlatuck) runs in a northerly course through the village at the base of the bluff, which rises almost perpendicularly to the height of one hundred and sixty feet. Near Mr. Sanford's cot- ton-factory, at the northern extremity of the village, some traces of coal have been discovered. The vil- lage contained, in 1834, one cotton, one hat, one comb, and two woolen-factories. There was also one ma- chine-shop and one establishment for making brass. The village contained about fifty families in 1834; it is at the present time rapidly increasing."

CHAPTER XLVII. NEWTOWN (Continued).

CHURCHES *- LODGES-SCHOOLS-CIVIL AND MILI- TARY HISTORY, Erc. .

The Congregational Church-Trinity Church-The Methodist Episco- pal Church, Sandy Hook-Other Churches-Granite Lodge, I. O. G. T. -Alpha Juvenile Temple-Olive Branch Temple-Myrtle Temple- Schools-The Newtown Savings Bank -The Newtown Bee-The Chronicle-Manufactures-Railroads-Civil History-Military-Rep- resentatives-Selectmen.

THE following is an abstract from the address de- livered at the centennial of the Congregational church :

" What has the past to tell us of the history of our world from the beginning up to the year 1700, when the authentic history of this town and church (as preserved in the documents and records) begins ? I say from the beginning, for I propose to begin at the beginning, as every historian should. We need not wait long for an answer to this question. The oldest and the best history of this town, and all towns and all parts of our world-written by inspiration-replies, ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and the carth was without form, and void.' The elements which compose the soil of this conti- nent and of this town, then, were brought into existence by the creative act of God, and for a time -a long time (we know not how long)-were form- less, confused, and unfashioned. But He who created was not idle, and in the successive periods of creation, so vividly and beautifully described in the first chapter of Genesis, He separated earth from water and light from darkness.

" He gathered the waters together into yonder seas and lakes and rivers, and depressed the land into these

valleys or uplifted it into these hills ; and when, finally, the firm world stood forth with its rocky skeleton, He covered it (in the course of ages) with the soft soil, and then clothed this huge body with the verdure of trees and shrubs and grass, each having its seed within itself. Finally, he placed on a selected portion of the earth man, created in His own image, and made him lord and possessor of all. When God saw what He had made He pronounced it very good. I believe this town was included in the survey, for these hills then rose toward heaven as now; the same streams flowed through these valleys, and these places now so familiar to us were then fully prepared for our habi- tation. The dust beneath our feet is as old as the world; the rocks in our glens, the bowlders upon our meadows, yonder lake, hollowed out from the midst of the surrounding hills and filled with the water of heaven, this air, this sky, the stars which will look down upon us to-night, all are as they were in the be- ginning, or rather at the end of the beginning, when God looked upon the rolling earth and pronounced it finished."

PURCHASE AND SETTLEMENT OF NEWTOWN.

" Thus it came to pass that a company of men from the then important settlements of Stratford and Mil- ford bought a tract of land of the Indians living on a stream called the Pootatuck, which soon after was incorporated as a town, and, in distinction from the old town, Stratford, from which it was taken, called Newtown. This town, then, from the time of its crea- tion, waited for its name, and so its nominal existence, six thousand years at least; but during all this time it was an object of care to Him who created it, and with whom a thousand years are but as one day.

"The town was formally settled in 1709, the first nucleus of a village being, as I am told, on the plain near Mr. Philo Clark's residence, but afterwards changed to this hill. (On vol. i., page 90, of the town records is a plan of the original thirty-four home-lots on Main Street, each lot sixteen by forty rods, with the names of the original owners.) On Dec. 19, 1710, William Junos and Mr. Bush sold their share for twenty-two pounds ten shillings (about one hundred dollars) to thirty-seven men named in the deed. Among these thirty-seven names I find the following names of families still residing in the town : Hawley, Prindle, Nichols, Curtiss, Sherman, and Judson. Freegrace Adams is also named, but most of them have no descendants or representatives of their name living among us. In the next year-i.e., in 1711- a grist-mill was erected by vote of the town on Pond Brook, and afterwards another on Pootatuck Brook. In 1717 the first school-house was built; it was twenty-five feet square and stood nearly opposite this church; it was used also as a town-house. Other framed buildings soon followed, and the town of New- town, now fully organized, took its place in history. Homes were established, marriages, births, and deaths

* A large portion of the church history was contributed by Rev. J. P. Hoyt.

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occurred, and the foundation laid for the life and happiness of future generations.

"The first white child born in Newtown was Jere- miah Turner; his grave is near Hawleyville. He was born in 1709 and died in 1778, aged sixty-nine years. The large elm in front of Mr. Russell Wheeler's house, which is over one hundred years old and has sheltered six generations, was planted about the time of his death, and thus is a connecting- link between us and the settlement of this town. May woodman and time alike spare that tree !

"This town, which had its origin in the way related, is one of the largest, if not the largest, in area of the towns in the State. Although once a new town in fact as well as name, it is now one of the oldest of the towns,-older, e.g., than our neighbor, Water- town, by seventy-five years, and older than this nation by seventy years. It has always had an hon- orable history. Newtown was prosperous, populous, and influential before Bridgeport had a name, and it has given to the world men and women who have lived and do live in deeds and words. Governors, cabinet-officers, legislators have lived here, and one-half score of generations of men, women, and children unknown to fame, but known to God. Oh what an influence has been exerted by the many thousands who have had their homes here! What revelations would be made if the past should speak of them and tell us the story of their hardships and trials, their sorrows and joys !

"'Think of all those who erst have been Living where thou art even now, Looking upon life's busy scene

With glance as careless and light as thou.

All these, like thee, have lived and moved, Have seen what now thou lookest upon Have feared, hoped, hated, mourned, or loved, And now from mortal sight have gone.'

"We do think of them to-day, and, thinking, we are made solemn by the thought that we are but a part of the long procession,-that we, too, are passing away ; that we soon shall be numbered with the gen- erations that are gone, and our successors will some- time be asking ' the days that are past' about us.

" If the days that are past be compared with those that are present, what wonderful changes will appear ! Imagine that the Indians who sold this town to its original proprietors, or those original proprietors themselves, should awake from the sleep of the cen- turies and survey this goodly land, what would they see which they did not see in 1700 or 1705? In the place of forests and swamps are meadows and cul- tivated fields ; in place of log huts or wigwams are substantial, and often costly, houses ; in place of a few red men or hardy settlers is a population. of over four thousand. Where the Pootatuck rolled its silent way to the 'Great River' are large manufactories, which supply all parts of the country and the world with articles then unknown, while the railroad and tele-

graph and our printing-presses would call forth ex- clamations of astonishment and many questions.

" But I must not forget that we are assembled to- day not to be questioned by our predecessors or an- cestors, but to question them. 'Ask now,' says our text, 'of the days that are past.' Let us, then, con- tinue to ask questions of the past. This morning we asked what the past could tell us of history up to the time and during the time of the settlement of this town.

"It would be interesting to recount many more facts and traditions which have come down to us from co- lonial times, but it is impossible, in such an outline as this, even to allude to them .- We therefore hasten to ask another question,-viz. :

" What has the past to tell us of the history of the town, and especially its churches, from 1700 (for our ecclesiastical history begins almost with the cen- tury) down to the present time? Here we enter upon a broad and almost boundless field ; we can cull only a few of the more important facts and join them, as links in a chain, binding us to the past."

THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.

"That a church was early founded in this town we cannot doubt, and it is probable that a rude church edifice was built about 1710, succeeded by a better building, fifty by thirty-six feet, erected in 1717 at the intersection of Main Street and a 'lane running east and west,' probably where the liberty-pole now stands. But the first allusion to church matters which I have been able to discover in the abstract of the town records before me is dated Sept. 24, 1711, when, at a meeting of the proprietors of Newtown, it was voted to invite Mr. Phineas Fisk to preach one year 'on trial.'

" Mr. Fisk, it seems, declined the call, and so, on May 21, 1713, or at an adjourned meeting held soon after, a call was extended to Rev. Thomas Tousey, of Wethersfield, to preach for one year at a salary of thirty pounds, afterwards increased to sixty pounds and the proceeds of some land which the society agreed to break up, sow, and harvest."

THE FIRST PASTOR, REV. THOMAS TOUSEY.

"Mr. Tousey graduated at Yale College in 1707. He began his ministry here in or about 1714, and the formal organization of a church occurred soon after. probably on Oct. 17, 1715. An old record states that thirty families were then included in the parish. For a time there seems to have been harmony and good feeling in the church, but in 1723 there appeared signs of restlessness and dissatisfaction ; some declared that they could not 'sit easy under him' (I quote from the town records), and others that they 'were of a different persuasion,' meaning, doubtless, that they favored the Church of England. The result was that Mr. Tousey went to England, received a commission as captain in the king's army, and on his return re-

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

signed the pastoral office; he remained in the place, however, and took an active part in church matters and in town politics until his death, which occurred March 14, 1761. His grave has been identified, but I have not been able to decipher the moss-covered epi- taph. I notice that he was selected to fix the bound- ary between New Milford and Newtown, and also ap- pointed in 1743 to oppose the formation of a new ecclesiastical society in Newbury, now called Brook- field. He lived, I am told, near the present residence of Mr. C. H. Peck, and was the ancestor of Governor Tousey (whose father lived at the head of the street where Mr. Charles Morehouse now resides) and of all bearing that name who have at any time lived in our town, and also of many of our citizens bearing other names. He was an eminent man, and I regret that so few memories and traditions of him are preserved.

"In July, 1724, just one hundred and fifty-six years ago, the society called Rev. John Beach, of Stratford, giving him in settlement one hundred and twenty-three acres of land and a home-lot of four acres, a house forty by twenty feet, and a salary of sixty pounds, afterwards increased to one hundred pounds.

"In 1735, soon after the erection of the first Epis- copal church, the Congregational Society, stimulated, perhaps, to such extravagance by the growth of the other society, added to their church six ' fashionable pews' (fashionable being spelt on the records 'fation- able,' and adjoining 'agining,' showing not the ignor- ance of our ancestors, but the unsettled state of English orthography before the days of Webster). The other seats were merely rough benches, and were probably un-' fationable.' Before this luxurious(?) ad- dition to the church edifice had been made, the society had called auother minister, iu the person of Rev. Elisha Kent."

PASTORATE OF REV. ELISHA KENT (1733-1740).

"The vote was taken Jan. 30, 1732, and is signed by sixty-four males, all apparently active members of the society, showing that, notwithstanding the withdrawal of Mr. Beach and his party, the society was vigorous, large, and strong. This is further shown by the fact that Mr. Kent's salary in 1740 was two hundred pounds, and his successor's, in 1744, three hundred pounds, or about fifteen hundred dollars,- a large sum for those days, even if paid in what were called ' bills of credit.' The society, it appears, also gave Mr. Kent one hundred and four acres in settle- ment, provided (and here I quote from the record) 'that Mr. Elisha Kent shall give good security that if he shall see cause to alter his principles from ye foun- dation on which he shall be settled, he will pay ye above Presbyterian party ye sum of four hundred pounds lawful money,' or about two thousand dollars. You will observe that those shrewd men did not in- tend to lose their minister again without making him pay roundly for the trouble he would cause them.

" But they did not foresee the trouble he would make in another direction. About ten years after his settlement certain charges were alleged against him ; there was a long and tedious investigation on the part of the church and association, and he finally was dis- missed. The documents relating to the trial and to the man are very voluminous, and after a somewhat careful perusal I am in doubt (and it seems to me that his associates were in doubt) as to his innocence or guilt. I cannot but think that he was harshly judged, and so misjudged. He appears to have lived a useful life ever after, and was much esteemed by his church in South East, N. Y., where he died July 17, 1776. He was the grandfather of Chief Justice and Chancellor Kent, one of the most eminent meu of his day, and great-grandfather of Elisha Kent Kane, the renowned Arctic explorer."

PASTORATE OF REV. DAVID JUDSON (1743-1776).

"Mr. Kent's successor was Rev. David Judson, who was ordained in September, 1743. For many years the church and society were united and prosperous under Mr. Judsou. I note a few items of interest : In 1745 the church edifice was repaired at an expense of two hundred and thirty pounds ; glass was inserted in sashes,-something new for those days; a bell of five hundred pounds' weight was procured, and ap- parently was melted and recast and rehung on the 3d day of July, 1768. This bell cost twenty-seveu pounds four shillings. It still hangs in the steeple, and for more than one hundred years has summoned the people to the sanctuary and tolled the knell of the departed. I saw it recently, and read upon it this inscription : 'The gift of Cap. Amos Botsford and Lt. Nath. Briscoe; John Witter, fecit 1768.' Perhaps some one who now reads this will follow their example, and put a new bell in the steeple to record his name and speak his fame with its iron tongue for one hundred years to come.

"Mr. Judson and the majority of the church, it would seem, were not favorable towards the Saybrook Platform, and some items recorded have led me to. think that they sympathized with the Sandemanians, or Glassites; but no definite action was taken, and the church soon returned to the orthodox faith.

"Mr. Judson died, after a long ministry of thirty- three years, Sept. 24, 1776, aged sixty-two, of a disease caught, as it is said, while visiting the American camp in the Revolutionary war. His grave is in our ceme- tery ; a cypress, evidently self-sown, grows out of the. heart, as if to keep his memory green.

"There is among the records of the church a time- stained and faded, but very valuable, record of the births, marriages, and deaths for a quarter of a cen- tury, in Mr. Judsou's handwriting; the last entry is that of Mr. Judson's own death, made by some friendly hand.

"The following summary of Mr. Judson's min- istry may be of interest; it was compiled from the

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ancient record referred to: Ministry from 1743 to 1776, thirty-three years; marriages, 1743 to 1776, two hundred and twenty-six, or yearly seven ; deaths, 1756 to 1776, three hundred and seventy-eight, or yearly nineteen ; baptisms, 1744 to 1776, eight hundred and eighty-seven (including thirteen slave-children owned by seven masters), and eight adults,-only eight,- showing how almost universal infant baptismi was at that time. The average number of children baptized yearly in this church was twenty-seven. Received into the church: (a) On owning the covenant, from 1743 to 1776, ninety ; (b) by letter, 1757 to 1776, five; (c) by profession, 1757 to 1776, one hundred and sixty-nine (or yearly eight). Total additions ir twenty-three years, two hundred and sixty-four.

"There were probably one hundred and fifty fam- ilies connected with this congregation at that time, and over two hundred members. All the eight hun- dred and seventy-nine children whose baptism is re- corded by Mr. Judson are now dead ; the last survivor was Mr. Lampson Bireh, who was baptized Oct. 27, 1771. (His widow reached the advanced age of one hundred and two, and died in 1879.)

" In the year 1758 (the record continues) there were thirty-four deaths, nearly double the usual nuniber. Of these, one was a child of Lieut. Winton, 'which waded into Taunton Pond and was drowned, agcd seven years;' another a son of Alexander Bryon, who died in the Revolutionary army; and another a son of William Northrop, about twenty years old, 'who was lost in the armic by the sword of the ene- mie in September.' This was the year of the capture of Louisburg and of the expedition against Ticonde- roga and Crown Point.

"In the church in that year (1778) 'Watts' Psalms were adopted to be used altogether in public worship, and Deacon Northrop read the Psalms and Ebenezer Ford and James Blackman tuned them.'

" Among the baptisms recorded is this : 'Venus, negro child belonging to Abner Booth, baptized Oct. 26, 1743.'

. " Among the marriages this: 'Peter Negro and Ginny Negro (Negro being used as the family name), servants to Matthew Curtis, were married April 3, 1752.'

"Negro slavery in Newtown! How strange this reads at the present day, when not a slave exists in the United States.

This church is the ecclesiastical homestead of all New- town. Let ine suggest that measures be taken to copy and preserve this old record ; it is becoming more and more illegible every year, and yet more and more val- uable every year. I have deposited it for safe-keeping in the town clerk's office.

"It is supposed that the church edifice of the Con- gregational Society was occupied by troops during the war of the Revolution, and the vane now on the stee- ple bears the marks of bullets then fired. This town was intensely loyal to the 'loving and loved Sov- ereign Lord, King George,' as he was styled, and in 1775 presented an able protest to the State Legisla- ture against the action of Congress. (See town rec- cords, vol. iv., pages 30-34.) The town, however, furnished its quota.

"This society at the close of the Revolutionary war was in a low condition, on account of the loss in men and means occasioned by the war, and the parsonage, which must have stood on or near the site of the present Episcopal church edifice, was sold to pay its debts."

PASTORATE OF REV. Z. H. SMITHI (1783-1798).

" Zephaniah H. Smith was the next minister. He, as well as all his predecessors and most of his sue- cessors, was a graduate of Yale College. His pas- torate began in 1783. A tax of one penny on every pound was assessed in order to provide him a settle- ment. A house on the main street was also built for him in 1786 (the same now owned by Mr. George Stuart), but he made the society a poor return for their generosity. The records show that he tried to break up the church organization and to form a San- demanian Church upon its ruins. He caused those who opposed him to be excommunicated, and finally abandoned his charge without being dismissed, leav- ing the church almost a wreck, floating upon the troubled sea without a pilot and almost without a crew. But a few faithful souls remained in the ship, and, although discouraged, they nobly stood at their post and rescued the Zion they loved from utter de- struetion. Mr. Smith removed to Glastonbury, in this State, beeame a lawyer, and died in 1836, aged seventy-seven. His daughters still reside there, and have become known to fame by their refusal to pay taxes unless allowed to vote. They are also known as accomplished scholars, and have recently pub- lished a translation of the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek, for all of which Newtown can elaim its share of the honor.

"There is also in this reeord a long list of deaths, with the diseases which ended life,-a list enumerat- ing all the ills to which flesh is heir. If I should "The church edifice, which until 1793 had stood in the middle of the street, nearly opposite its present location, was moved back to its present site, the Epis- copal Society (since it was for their accommodation) bearing the expense and doing the work." give the list many, perhaps most, of the present native inhabitants of this town would learn when, where, and of what their ancestors died, for there is scarcely a family name in Newtown but is included in this list. This is one thing that ought to unite all the residents of this town in their interest in and affection for this PASTORATE OF REV. JEHU CLARKE. church ; in this church your ancestors werc baptized, "Jehu Clarke was the next pastor. He resided and by its ministers they were married and buried. just opposite the present parsonage. He was in-

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 114

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1572

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572