History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 149

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 149

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"Whether the following were separate incidents, or are but different versions of one and the same, is un- certain. It is related that a squad of soldiers marched into his church in Newtown and threatened to shoot him if he prayed for the king; but when, regardless of their threats, he went on, without so much as a tremor in his voice, to offer the forbidden supplica- tions; they were so struck with admiration for his courage that they stacked their arms and remained to listen to the sermon.

" A band of soldiers entered his church during ser- viee, seized him, and declared that they would kill him. He entreated that, if his blood must be shed, it might not be in the house of God. Thereupon they took him into the street, where an ax and block were soon prepared. 'Now, you old sinner,' said one, ' say your last prayer.' He knelt down and prayed : 'God bless King George, and forgive all his enemies and mine, for Christ's sake.' One of the mob then pleaded to 'let the old fellow go, and take some younger man instead.'

"The following is familiar to the people of Red- ding Ridge parish. The old church of 1750 had a single door in the centre, and the pulpit and chancel were at the west end, opposite the door. A squad of

* Probably at £50 per annum for six years and a half, or from 1775.

607

REDDING.

soldiers, seven in number (hired, it is said, by 'Squire Betts, with a gallon of French brandy to shoot Mr. Beach), gathered before the open door of the church, and from one of them a bullet was fired which lodged in one of the ribs of the sounding-board, a foot or more above the head of the venerable preacher. As the congregation sprang to their feet in unfeigned consternation to rush from the church, he quieted them by saying, 'Don't be alarmed, brethren. Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell ;' and then proceeded witlı his discourse as if nothing had happened.

"The 'History of the Episcopal Church in Connec- ticut' informs us that 'the Redding Association of Loyalists was a strong body whose seeret influence was felt throughout the mission of the venerable pas- tor;' but how or in what way that influence was ex- erted does not appear. The 'Sons of Liberty' have been already mentioned in Mr. Beach's reports.

" After the death of Mr. Beach, in 1782, the Revs. Richard Samuel Clarke and Andrew Fowler officiated here alternately for a short time. Clarke emigrated to Nova Scotia with others of the missionaries, and many of the members of their floeks, in 1784 or 1785. He returned on a visit in October, 1786. The discon- tinuanee of the stipends of the missionaries by the S. P. G., whose charter restricted its benefactions to the British provinees and plantations, was a severe blow to the Episcopal churches, which had been already greatly weakened by the effects of the war of the Revolution. Mr. Beach's congregations were ex- ceptions to the general rule, in that they increased while others diminished in numbers; but whether few or many of the Redding churchmen formed a part of the thirty thousand loyalists who, Hawkins says, emigrated to the British provinees from New England and New York, it is impossible to ascertain. It is not probable, however, that there were half that number of ehurelimen in all New England at the elose of the war.

"The next name on the list of ministers of this parish is that of Truman Marsh, in 1785, who ' visited the Parish every third Sunday ;' but, as he was not ordained till 1790, he must have been only a licensed lay-reader, though it is not improbable that he preached, as some of that elass did in those days, when there was a dearth of ordained ministers. In 1794 the Rev. David Perry, M.D., minister of the parishes of Redding, Ridgefield, and Danbury, in con- sequence of some reports to his disadvantage as a elergyman and of some errors in regard to baptism, was suspended from the ministry, and the next year, at his own request, deposed. He returned to the practice of medicine in Ridgefield.

" The revenues of the church were gathered after the Revolution much as they were before. 'The Episcopal parishes were taxed to build churches and to sustain religious services, and the Diocesan Conven-

tion assessed the parishes to provide for the bishop's fund. Each parish was required to make an annual return of what was called the 'grand levy,'-that is, its taxable list according to its last enrolhnent,-and upon this return rested the right of a lay delegate to his seat in the Convention. The resolution which fixed this rule was adopted in 1803. The first pub- lished grand levy appeared in the journal of 1806, and from that time onward for fifteen years the roll of the lay delegates was accompanied by the taxable list of the several parishes which they represented. If the list of any parish exceeded ten thousand dollars, such parish was entitled to : . . two delegates.' The grand levy of the Redding parish in 1806 was twelve thousand nine hundred and sixty dollars.

""'It is interesting to note the changes since that period in the relative wealth of the church in Con- nectieut. In those carly days, as reported, Litchfield was stronger than Waterbury or Hartford, Wood- bridge was stronger than Meriden, Huntington than Derby, Redding than Bridgeport, and Newtown than New Haven.'

"The longest pastorate sinee Mr. Beach was that of his great-grandson, the Rev. Lemuel B. Hull, who resigned his charge in 1836, after twelve years' ser- viee. 'In 1815 a fund of a little more than three thousand dollars was raised.'

"On the second Tuesday in October, 1833,-the year in which the present church edifice was built,-the Annual Convention of the diocese at Norwich failed to organize for want of two more lay delegates to form a quorum. 'On the morning of that day, at three o'clock, the steamboat "New England," on her pas- sage from New York to Hartford, having on board seventy-one persons, burst both her boilers near Essex, and eight persons were immediately killed and thirteen seriously injured. Among those who were fatally in- jured were Mr. John M. Heron and Dr. Samuel B. Whiting, lay delegates from Christ Church, Redding ; and they were within a mile of their landing-place at the time of the aeeident.'

"In the spring of that year several members of the parish withdrew by certificate ; among these was John Meeker, clerk.

" At a parish meeting, Oct. 25, 1834, the vestry were instructed 'to take proper [legal] steps to procure the Records of the Parish from the hands of the late Clerk, without delay.' At another meeting in Decem- ber following, the agents of the parish (James Sau- ford, Jr., and Charles Beach) were authorized to ' prosecute to final judgment such suits as they should deem necessary for the recovery of the books, records, funds, or other property of the Society, before any Court proper to try the same.'

" In October, 1835, fifty dollars were appropriated from the parish treasury 'to enable the ageuts to carry on the suit connneneed against the heirs of Jolin Meeker, deceased.' Some money was thus recovered, but the records have never yet been found.

608

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

"In 1847 the old parish debt of eight hundred and seventy dollars (incurred in the building of the church in 1833) was paid by subscription.

"In 1850 the parish fund, about two thousand seven hundre 1 dollars, which before had been held as a loan by members of the parish, was by a consid- erable effort, and against the desire and judgment of the minority, collected and invested in the stock of the Fairfield County Bank. The same year the church cdifice was altered and repaired at an expense of three hundred and eighty dollars and twenty-five cents.

"'On Advent Sunday' of this year, ' the last Sunday of my ministry' (says the Rev. Joseph P. Taylor), ' the sum of six hundred dollars was collected at the offertory for the purpose of building a new par- sonage.'

"'The above-named sum,' says the Rev. Orsamus H. Smith, his successor, 'having been put upon the plate in written pledges, there remains of them un- redeemed in April, 1853, from fifty to one hundred dollars,' which being 'part of the money relied upon for the building, . .. the Vestry were obliged to bor- row it, and it remains a debt upon the parish.' The new house was finished in October, 1851, and imme- diately occupied by the family of Mr. Smith.

"In 1858 says the Rev. W. W. Bronson, 'The glebe lot was very much improved by the purchase of a strip of land [on the west side] and the erec- tion of a suitable fence, mainly through the exer- tions of the ladies of the parish.'

"In 1863 the organ was repaired, and the broken bell replaced by a new one of a similar tone, from Meneeley's, at Troy.

" In 1873 the church-spire was repaircd, and the old [English] weathercock, a relic of colonial times (one of whose legs had been shot off by one of Tryon's soldiers in 1777), having persistently refused to re- main upon his perch, was cxcused from further duty, and a gilded cross erected in his place. The vener- able bird, however, is still to be seen on one of the outbuildings of the great-grandson of the Rev. John Beach, in East Redding. The parsonage was adorned in 1874 with a new and spacious veranda, in 1876 with a set of blinds.

" The noticeable incidents of the present year (1879) arc the destruction of the church-sheds by fire on the evening of the 12th of May, and the acquisition of a baptismal font of Italian marble, purchased with contributions of the Sunday-school and other members of the parish, collected during the rector- ship of the Rev. Mr. Kelley. The number of nomi- nal communicants is sixty-five; of baptized persons, about one hundred and twenty.

" The following is a list of ministers officiating in the parish of Christ Church, Redding : Rev. Henry Caner, 1727 to 1732; Rev. John Bcach, October, 1732, to March 19, 1782; Rev. R. S. Clarke, Rev. Andrew Fowler (alternates), 1782; Rev. Truman

Marsh, 1785; Rev. David Belden, 1786 ;* Rev. Am- brose Hull, 1789 to 1791; Rev. David Perry, M.D., 1791 ;; Rev. David Butler, Jan. 20, 1799, to 1804; Rev. Elijah G. Plumb, Jan. 30, 1806, to 1811; Rev. Reuben Hubbard, 1812 to 1818; Rev. Ambrose S. Todd, D.D., 1820 to 1823; Rev. Lemuel B. Hull, 1824 to Feb. 23, 1836; Rev. Edward J. Darken, M.D., August, 1836, to Dec. 25, 1837; Rev. Charles Jarvis Todd, June, 1838, to Easter, 1842; Rev. Wil- liam Atwill, May 8, 1842, to 1845; Rev. David H. Short, D.D., Easter, 1845, to 1846; Rev. Abcl Nichols, 1846 to 1847; Rev. Joseph P. Taylor, Easter, 1847, to December, 1850; Rev. Orsamus H. Smith, Nov. 29, 1850, to March 31, 1853; Rev. Abel Ogden, July 10, 1853 ;¿ Rev. James Adams, autumn, 1854, to October, 1856; Rev. Wm. White Bronson, 1857 to 1860; Rev. Alfred Londerback, May 25, 1861, to Aug. 5, 1862; Rev. Henry Zell, March 12, 1863 ;¿ Rev. Wm. L. Bostwick, Easter, 1864, to June 15, 1867; Rev. John W. Hoffman, Dec. 6, 1868, to Nov. 30, 1871; Rev. Charles W. Kellcy, Jan. 5, 1873, to April 30, 1876; Rev. Xi- menus Alanson Welton, July 1, 1877.

" The number of communicants belonging to Christ Church, Redding, as reported at different periods, was : 1809, 55; 1810, 63; 1811, 67; 1815, 61; 1817, 61; 1845, 42; 1851, 60; 1854, 56; 1856, 57; 1858, 58; 1859, 56; 1860, 47; 1863, 55; 1866, 45; 1869, 37; 1873, 40; 1874, 55; 1875, 61; 1877, 59; 1878, 64; 1879, 65."

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

" When Jesse Lee left New York on the mission which was to quicken and vitalize the New England churches, his first resting-place was at Norwalk, where he preached on the highway under a spreading elm, no house being opencd to him. From Norwalk he proceeded to Fairfield and New Haven, and from the latter place to Redding. He reached this town on Wednesday, the 24th of June, 1789, and from this period we arc to date the origin of the Methodist Church in Redding, although some six months elapsed before it was formally organized. Mr. Lee thus narrates some of the incidents of this first visit:

"'I traveled a stony road to Redding, and according to directions called on Esquire Benedict, but he was not at home; so I got my horse and rode to Mr. Rogers to consult him about the matter. While I was talking to him Mr. Bartlett, a Congregational minister, rodo by, and, being informed who I was, asked me home with him. After I had been there a while he asked me some questions relative to doctrines, and I en- deavored to inform him what kind of doctrines we preached. Ho said he could not invite mne into the meeting-house, because I held what he thought was contrary to the gospel. 'I told him I did not expect an in- vitation to preach in the meeting-house, but if I was asked I should not refuse. However, Mr. Rogers sent his son down in a little time to let me know that there was a school-house that I could preach in, so I made the appointment for the people at six o'clock. Having met at that hour, I preached on Isa. lv. 6: "Seek ve the Lord while he may be found," etc. I bless God that I had some liberty in preaching.'

* Officiated a short time only, on account of ill health.

+ Suspended November, 1794. # Died May 8, 1854. ¿ Died Nov. 5, 1863.

609

REDDING.

"The school-house where this first sermon was de- livered probably stood on the common, near the old meeting-house. The few and simple doctrines that Mr. Lee preached were the witness of the Spirit, the entire efficacy of the atonement, and the possibility of falling from grace, and they were presented with so much force and earnestness as to produce a deep impression on those who heard them ; yet he had no time to remain and note the effect produced, but rode away the next day, carrying his tidings to other com- munities. Twice again Lee visited Redding-July 8th and September 16th of the same year-without seeing any fruits of his efforts; for, although many were im- pressed with the truth of his doctrines, they hesitated about coming out openly and joining the new sect. At length, on his fourth visit, Dee. 28, 1789, he ' joined two in society for a beginning. A man who has lately received a witness of his being in favor with the Lord led the way, and a woman who I hope was lately con- verted followed.' This was the second Methodist society organized in New England, the first being at Stratford. The two first members mentioned above were Aaron Sanford and his mother-in-law, Mrs. Wil- liam Hawley. Mr. Sanford by this act became the first male member of the Methodist Church in New England. He was at onee appointed leader of the class thus formed, and its meetings were held for years at his house. After its organization the growth of the society was very rapid, chiefly through the class-meeting, and that ageney so effectively used by Methodism, the lay-preachers.

"It is unfortunate that, owing to the loss of the early records of the church, we can give the names of but few of its original members. From the records of the First Society I copy the following certificate, dated Dec. 15, 1789 :

"' I hereby certify that Aaron Sanford, of Reading, has constantly at- tended the Methodist meetings in this town, and pays his part towards my support as a minister of the gospel.

"' JESSE LEE.'

"Similar certificates were given, Feb. 9, 1790, to Hezekiah Sanford, and August 6th of the same year to Isaac Sherwood and S. Samuel Smith.

"From the church book of baptisms, which has been preserved, we learn that prior to 1794 the early preachers had baptized children of Daniel and Anna Bartram, Silas and Huldah Merchant, Jonas and Lucy Platt, Paul and Mary Bartram, Jabez and Saralı Gorham, Elijah and Menoma Elder, Aaron and Mary Odle, John and Sarah Sherman, Uriah and Hannah Mead, Benjamin and Elizabeth Knap, Chester and Elizabeth Meeker, Charles and Lucy Morgan, Ezekiel and Easter Bartram, Jesse and Martha Banks, Isaac and Betty Platt, and Aaron and Eunice Hunt, and we may safely reckon them as members of the church at that time.

"Early in 1790, Lee organized his first circuit in New England; it was called the 'Fairfield Circuit,' and embraced Norwalk, Fairfield, Stratford, Milford,

Redding, Danbury, Canaan, and intermediate places. The first regularly-appointed minister whose name appears on the society records was John Bloodgood, who was here as early as Jan. 21, 1791,-perhaps ear- lier. He was a native of the South, and after serving on the Fairfield Circuit one year was transferred to the Baltimore Conference, to which his ministerial labors were chiefly confined. He died in 1810. Like most of his colleagues, he preached in the school- houses, under trees, sometimes in the barns, but al- ways so fervently, and with such native eloquence, that multitudes flocked to hear him. He was sue- ceeded at the May (1791) session of the Conference by Nathaniel B. Mills and Aaron Hunt.

" Mr. Mills is described by his colleague, Mr. Hunt, as 'a man small in stature, intelligent, sound, an able preacher, and rather inclined to dejection.' He was born in New Castle Co., Del., Feb. 23, 1766. He en- tered the Baltimore Conference in the spring of 1787, and after a laborious ministry of forty-two years, both in New England and the South, was compelled in 1835 to retire to the ranks of the superannuated, where he remained until his death, in 1844. His col- league, Rev. Aaron Hunt, was born in Eastchester, Westchester Co., N. Y., March 28, 1768, and entered the Methodist ministry in 1791, making some of his first essays at preaching on the Redding Circuit.

"In 1793, while preaching in Redding, he married Miss Hannah Sanford, daughter of the Mr. Aaron Sanford before mentioned, and shortly after 'located' in Redding, where he continued to reside for many years, and where most of his large family of children were born. Mr. Hunt was prominent among the carly Methodist preachers, and was well known throughout the State. During his pastorate the church had been encouraged by a visit from the eminent Bishop Asbury, who passed through Redding in June, 1791, during his hasty tour through New Eng- land, and preached here 'with mueh satisfaction,' as he remarks in his journal. The church received an- other and longer visit from him in September, 1796. 'The society in that village,' says Mr. Stevens, the historian of Methodism, 'had been gradually gather- ing strength. They assembled to greet him at Mr. Sanford's, where he gave them an encouraging dis- course from 1 Peter i. 13-15.' From this time until 1811 the record of the church is one of continued growth and prosperity; revivals were frequent and accessions many ; classes were carly formed at Lone- town, Redding Ridge, Sanfordtown, Boston, and at Long Ridge, the latter some years later becoming a separate church organization.

"Still the society was without a house of worship, and the want was beginning to be severely felt. In 1803 they first leased the town-hall for a place of public worship, as appears by the following extract from the town records: 'At a town-meeting held Dec. 12, 1803, it was voted "that the Town House be leased to the Methodist Society for $15 per year,

610

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

to be used as often and as much as they please for public worship, and said Society to repair all damage done to the Town House while they are assembled therein for public worship."' This lease was con- tinued from year to year at varying rates, until the erection of the first church, in 1811. Of the building of this edifice we have no data except such as is con- tained in this extract from the society records :

"' At a Society meeting of the Methodists, duly warned and held at the house of William Sanford in Redding, on Tuesday the 30th day of October, 1810,

"' Voted, That Seth Andrews, William Sanford, and John R. Ifill be a committee to said society for the ensning year, to do and transact all temporal business.

"' Voted, That our said committee carry around a subscription paper immediately to raise money for the purpose of building a Meeting-House in said Redding, for the purpose of Divine Worship.

"'AARON SANFORD, "' Clerk.'

" The church was built the succeeding summer. It stood on the site of the present residence of Deacon Charles Smith, on land purchased of Jonathan R. Sanford, Esq. His deed conveying the land, dated June 6, 1811, was given to Seth Andrews, William Sanford, and John R. Hill, trustees for the Method- ist Church and Society in Redding, the consideration being one hundred and thirty dollars. No actual description of the first church is preserved to us, ex- cept that it was built after the usual fashion of Meth- odist churches in those days. It had no steeple or tower, no ceiling except the roof, and there were no means of warming it except by foot-stoves carried in by the female worshipers. With the above excep- tions, the following description of an early Methodist church would probably apply to this in every partic- ular :

"' The building was as unpolluted by paint within and without as when its timbers were standing in their native forest. A gallery ex- tended around three sides. At the extreme end of the left gallery was a small room partitioned off for class-meetings. The pulpit was elevated about six feet above the floor, and in form resembled a large dry-goods box, the breastworks so high as almost to conceal the preacher, if small of stature, from view. From the pulpit extended a staircase conducting to the class-room in the gallery, to which the preacher and the members repaired at the close of the public services.'*

"None of the incidents in the history of the old church are so vividly remembered and described as the Quarterly Meetings which were held there. The Quarterly Meeting to the early Methodist was the most important of all the institutions of the church, and those held in Redding were especially note- worthy ; it was a sort of home-coming to the mother- church, and at such times all the Methodist homes in town were open to the brethren from abroad. The presiding elder and the two preachers on the 'circuit' were always present on these occasions, and the membership was gathered from Danbury, Ridgefield, Easton, and Newtown, as well as from places more remote. The exercises on these occasions began at nine o'clock on Sabbath morning with the 'love-feast'

and the passing of bread and water, of which all par- took, as a token of their brotherhood in Christ. At half-past ten a sermon was preached by the elder. At twelve M. the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered. At one P.M. another sermon was preached, generally by one of the preachers in charge. At the conclusion of this discourse the genial elder would proceed to designate to the guests their respective places of entertainment. The day was usually concluded by a series of prayer- meetings, held in the different districts and con- ducted with great warmth and fervor.

"The old church seems to have been intended for a temporary structure, and was succeeded in 1837 by the present neat and commodious edifice. A brief account of the erection of the present building will be interesting and probably new to many, though little more than forty years have elapsed since its timbers were standing in the forest.

"We find on the society records the following en- tries :

"' The members of the Methodist Episcopal Society of Redding are hereby notified and warued that a society's meeting for said society will be held on Tuesday, the 26th day of instant January, at one o'clock P.M. at the Methodist Church in said Redding, for the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of building a new church in said society, and locating the same near the intersection of the roads near the town-house, appointing a building committee to superintend and carry said object into effect, make arrangements to dispose of the old house if thought proper, and to do any other business proper to be done at said meeting.

"' SHERLOCK TODD, "' JESSE BANKS, "' AARON MALLETT, "' Trustees.

"' REDDING, Jan. 20, 1836.'

"A society-meeting was held at the appointed time, Rev. H. Humphreys being chairman, and Thomas B. Fanton clerk. It was then voted ‘to approve of the proposed plan in the caption of the subscription paper to raise subscriptions and build a new house. .

" It was also further provided 'that the said House shall be located somewhere near the four corners that intersect at Redding Town House, but the said object not to take effect unless the sum of Two thousand Five hundred Dollars be subscribed, and the said House be built within eightcen months from the date hereof.'

". l'oted, To build a House agreeable to the above caption, provided a place be obtained that is approved by tlic committee appointed for that purpose.

"' Voted, To appoint a Building Committee of three persons to super- intend, and take charge, and contract for the same House, viz .: Thomas B. Fanton, John R. Hill, and Gershom Sherwood.

"' Voted, To add two more to the building Committee,-Jesse Banks and David Duncomb.

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 149

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