History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 185

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 185

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"Notwithstanding this advice of the General Court, all attempts at a reconciliation were unsuccessful. The parties became more fixed in their opposition to each other, and their feelings and conduct more and more unbrotherly. At length Mr. Chauney and the majority excluded Mr. Walker and his hearers from the meeting-house, and they convened and worshiped in a private dwelling. They were expelled in the face of the recommendation of the court in October, 1669, advising them that

"' This Court therefore recommend it to the Church of Stratford that Mr. Walker haue liberty the one parte of the Sabboth, whether parte Mr. Chancy will, and that they would hold communion together in preaching & prayer. But in case Mr. Chansey and the Brethren wth him will not agree to that, it shall not be offensive to this Court if Mr. Walker and his Company doe meet distinctly elsewhere; prouided each of them prouide well for the comfortable supply of their ministers.'; .

"The principal cause of difference was in regard to church membership, baptism, and the discipline of church members. What the preeise nature of the controversy was could not be distinctly understood by the most learned and pious even of that day. It was the same as that which existed at Hartford, Wethers- field, and other places. One would say, at this dis- tance of time, that the question to be decided was, whether the 'Half-way Covenant Practice' should be introduced into the church or not. Upon this ques- tion there was the most grave difference of opinion among the best and most distinguished men iu New England. By this plau a person of good moral ehar- aeter might own or renew the covenant of baptism, confessing the same creed as members of ehurehes in full communion, and affirming his intention of be- coming truly pious in heart and in life, and have the privilege of presenting himself and children for bap- tism. Nor did the privilege stop here: he might also present for baptism his grandchildren, children bound to him as apprentiees, and even his slaves, by giving a pledge for their religious education. Persons thus owning the covenant were considered church members to all intents and purposes, exeept that they miglit not come to the communion table. For conduct un- becoming church members they could be and were dealt with aud punished in the same manner as mem - bers in full communion. In this way a church could never run down in point of numbers, so long as uncon- verted persons enough to keep it up were willing to own the covenant of baptism. Abundant proof of the foregoing statements is found in the first book of

* Trumhull's Hist. of Coun.

į Trumbull's Colonial Records, p. 110.

Į Ibid., p. 121.

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ministerial records of the Second Church of Stratford, now the First Church of Woodbury, happily in a fine state of preservation. Consequent upou this practice baptisms followed close upon births; very many in- stances may be found upon these records where the child was but from one to eight days old at the time of the ceremony. If the child appeared to be in danger of "non-continuance," it was baptized on the day of its birth. The children of ministers, deacons, and other leading men in the church were generally less than a week oldl when presented for baptism. Young persons did not usually own the covenant till they became parents, and wished baptism for their children.

"Previous to 1650 great watehfulness had been ex- ercised to admit only such as gave visible evidence of piety. The choice of pastors, also, had been confined exclusively to the church, and nearly all the honors and offiees of the colony had been distributed to pro- fessors of religion, who in the New Haven colony were the only ones possessed of the right of suffrage in meetings of a political character. In the colony of Connecticut, not only these, but also other orderly in- dividuals, having a certain amount of property, were entitled to the privilege of being admitted freemen. During the lives of the early fathers little trouble had arisen on these points, nearly all the first emigrants being professors of religion. But this generation had passed away and a new one had succeeded, many of whom, on account of their not belonging to the church, were excluded from their proper influence in community. Most of them had been baptized, and, by virtue of this, it was claimed that they might own their own covenant, have their children baptized, and thus perpetuate the church. All New England be- came interested in this controversy, and in 1657 the matter in dispute was referred to a council of the principal ministers, who met at Boston and de- elared,-

"' That it was tho duty of those come to years of discretion, baptized in infancy, to own the covenant; that it is the duty of the church to call them to this ; that if they refuse, or are scandalous in any other way, they may be censured by the church. If they understand the grounds of religion, are not scandalous, and solemnly own tho covenant, giving up themselves and their children to the Lord, baptism may not be denied to their children.'

"In consequence of this decision many owned their covenant, and presented their children for baptism, but did not unite with the church in the celebration of the supper nor in most other duties of members in full communion. Hence it was termed the half-way covenant. In process of time the privilege here men- tioned was enlarged in some of the churches. Many churches in Connecticut never adopted this practice, and towards the end of the eighteenth century it was generally abandoned throughout New England.

" The first church at Stratford would not adopt this practice, although'a large and influential part of its members were in favor of it, together with a majority of the town, who were not church members. Rev.

Mr. Chauncy, who was not in favor of the practice, was settled over the church in Stratford in 1665, though there was strong opposition to him on this and other accounts. The efforts of the dissenting party to settle their difficulties seem to have been sincere. Their communications to their brethren were couched in respectful and brotherly terins, and their arguments were not easily refuted. In fact, little pains scem to have been taken by the church proper during the whole controversy to answer the reasoning of the dissatisfied party, but it seemed rather to throw itself back on its dignity, with an in- tention of allowing the malcontents to take their own course. The latter were in the majority in the town- meetings, and Jolin Minor, one of their leaders, was town clerk during the whole time of the controversy, and for several years after, with the exception of a year.

"The controversy opened with a letter to Mr. Chauncy from eight of the dissatisfied party. It was a respectful and kind letter, offering to forget past grievances and soliciting a union with the rest of the church in a truly fraternal and Christian feeling, but received no attention, either from Mr. Chauncey, or the remainder of the church, who were of his way of thinking. Accordingly on the 9th of the following month, the dissentients addressed them another let- ter in the same spirit, still further making known their wishes, and mildly reproaching them for their want of courtesy and kindness.

"By this letter their desire to be reconciled to the church was so great, that they were willing to be again examined in regard to their 'fayth and knowl- edge,' that the church might be convinced that their peculiar views had not, in any manner, undermined their religious principles, or purity of character. More than two months elapsed before any answer was vouchsafed them.

"Then they received a rather short and crispy re- ply to letters as humble and inoffensive as the two former had been. The 'Church' begins with calling the dissenters 'neighbors,' and ends with character- izing them as 'the men.' They assume a very lofty and somewhat arrogant tone; . sufficiently so, one would think, to have prevented further efforts towards an accommodation of their differences. This was Un- doubtedly written by Mr. Chauncy, the former letters having been addressed to him, and it is probable that the remainder of the papers on the side of the church were written by him.

" Although by this communication they had been flatly refused admittance to the church, even on a satisfactory examination, yet they persevered in their efforts to accomplish the desired end. It is to be recollected that Stratford belonged to the Connecti- cut colony, and consequently had other freemen be- sides the members of the church. The freemen joined with the dissentients in their efforts. It is to be further noted that Mr. Chauncy had been settled by

754

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

a majority of the members of the church alone, the other freemeu of the town having no voice in the matter. As by the laws of the colony they were obliged to pay taxes for his support equally with the church members, they wished a voice in the selection of the minister. The dissenting part of the church, together with the other freemen of the town, as we have seen, constituted a majority in the meetings of the freemen. So that, although the church could choose and settle a minister, it took a majority of the voters of the town to provide for his support. Failing, as individuals and members of his church, to effect an arrangement with Mr. Chauncy, they held a towu- meeting and passed a vote embracing the conditions under which they would contribute to his support.

"It does not appear that Mr. Chauucy made any reply to this proposition, contained in said vote, though, as the matter had now assumed a serious aspect, it was doubtless discussed during the next few months with much frequency by the two parties. Efforts were also made by the minority of the church, together with others of the town, to procure another minister for themselves, probably with the tacit con- sent of the other party ; and it would seem that they applied to Mr. Peter Bulkley to preach to them. It does not appear, however, that they were successful in obtaining him. But later iu the year the two parties were able to agree that each party should have its own minister, and also agreed upon a division of the land sequestered for the use of the ministry between the two ministers.

" At the October session of the General Court in 1667 this action of the parties was approved and es- tablished, on motion of Ens. Joseph Judson.

" Early in the year 1668 the minority engaged Rev. Zachariah Walker, of Jamaica, L. I., to performn pas- toral labors among them. Having obtained a minister, they perceived they had no house of their own to wor- ship in. They had contributed equally with Mr. Chauncy's party towards the construction of the meeting-house occupied by the first church, and the first idea that occurred to them was that they might agree with the other party to allow Mr. Walker to preach one part of each Sabbath in the meeting-house, and Mr. Chauncy the other part, thus joining the two congregations. They accordingly made known their proposition to Mr. Chauncy's party, to which they received two elaborate answers, in better spirit than former communications, and in which the plain word 'neighbors' had beeu exchanged for 'loving neigh- bors.'

"In this letter it was proposed that the meetings be united. But this evidently was not. the best way of obtaining the end desired. Although their differ- ences inight not be 'fundamental,' as admitted in this communication, yet their opinions being so diverse in regard to church membership, they could hardly have been much 'edified' in being obliged to listen to the defense of what they did not believe. It

would be not unlike the mingling of the worship of the various religious denominations of the present day. While the ministers might have confined them- selves to points upon which all agreed, they would be in danger of treading, at times, on forbidden ground.

" It seems that Mr. Walker's party was becoming somewhat iucensed at the disposition shown by the other party. A question of veracity is raised be- tween them, and we begin to see how really good men, as the individuals composing both these parties undoubtedly were, may forget themselves and do things unworthy of their position and character. Some of the men of these two parties were among the leading men in the colony, and none were more fre- quently appointed by the General Court to act on committees for composing similar differences else- where than they. At the close of the communication they gave notice of their intention of occupying their joint property, the meeting-house, on the next Sab- bath. This design was not carried into execution, but the matter was compromised by allowing Mr. Walker two hours in which to hold his services in the meeting-house on the Sabbath, in the middle of the day, between the two services of Mr. Chauncy, till the meeting of the General Court in May, 1669.

"Their principal difficulty continued to be in re- gard to the manner in which they should 'enjoy the meeting-house.' Without reflecting upon the matter, one might say that the simplest way of arranging the difficulty would have been to have built another church. But it is to be borne in mind that the country was new and the inhabitants poor. It was a great undertaking to erect a suitable building, and heavy taxes for years were necessary to be laid to complete it.

"The first church petitioned the General Court to take the case into consideration, and do something.

"The court took the case into consideration, as de- sired, confirmed their choice of Mr. Chauncy, advised both parties to choose 'some indifferent persons of piety and learning to compose their differences,' and gave Mr. Walker liberty to occupy the church three hours each Sabbath, in the middle of the day, between Mr. Chauncy's two services, till the October session. Previous to this session several attempts were made by the parties to carry out the advice of the court to submit their differences to arbitration, and several extended and learned communications passed between them. They, however, resulted in no definite action, as they could uot agree upon the points to be sub- mitted to the arbitrators.

" At the October session the matter was again be- fore the court, which passed a resolution advising the first church to comply with the desire of Mr. Walker's party, to have union services, allowing Mr. Walker to preach one part of each Sabbath. Some communica- tions passed between the parties in relation to this advice, but the first church, instead of granting them this privilege, which they had so long sought, excluded

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them from the house entirely. After suffering this indignity they only addressed a letter to the first church, complaining of the injustice done them, and proposed to divide the town into two parts, that they might go and live by themselves and have no more dissension. They further inform them that they shall ask the same of the General Court.

" They did apply to the General Court at its session in October, making the same proposal, and a commit- tee consisting of Captain Nathan Gold, Mr. James Bishop, Mr. Thomas Fitch, and Mr. John Holly was appointed

"To viewe the said lands desired, and to meet some time in November next to consider of the afoarsayd motion, and to labour to worke a com- plyance between those two parties in Stratford; and if their endeauonres prone unsuccessful then they are desired and ordered to make returne to the Court in May next what they judg expedient to be attended in the case."

" Nothing was effected by this committee, nor did they even report to the General Court, as directed. There is no record of any other action in the matter, on the part of the authorities of the colony, till May, 1672, when, as we have seen, on the advice of Gov. Winthrop, Mr. Walker and his church were allowed to found a new town at Pomperaug.

"For two years after Mr. Walker was called to preach to the dissenting party in Stratford he had done so without ordination. Amid the other diffi- culties under which they labored, they had found no opportunity to accomplish this desirable point. But now, being taunted by the first church on account of their disorganized state, being excluded the meeting- house, and there being no longer any hope of arrange- ment with the other party, they took the necessary steps to 'embody in church estate.'

" At the ordination of Mr. Walker his church con- sisted of twenty male members. This number was as large as that of the other churches at their organiza- tion up to this date, with the exeeption of those in four or five of the larger towns. Seven more were added a few days after, and four males and six females were also added previous to the removal to Woodbury, in 1672. More than one-third of these were members by the half-way covenant system, yet it is seen that they subscribed and publicly owned the same covenant as those in full communion. This practice went on, and this identical covenant was owned, during the minis- try of Mr. Walker and that of the Rev. Mr. Stoddard, the second minister, till the ordination of Rev. Noah Benedict, the third minister, in 1760, ninety years from the first gathering of the ehureh, when it was abolished.

"In 1672, by permission of the General Court, the second church of Stratford made preparations for removing to Pomperaug, and early the next year a majority of its members emigrated thither. Mr. Walker ministered to his church in both places till June 27, 1678, when he took up his abode perma- nently in Woodbury. The settlers had now become so numerous that it was no longer problematical that

the settlement would be permanent. After the troubles in Stratford were settled by colonizing the new town, and the angry feelings that had been aroused had subsided, both Mr. Chauncy, who was an able and learned man, and Mr. Walker became sen- sible that their conduct towards each other during the long controversy had not at all times been brotherly, and after some time made concessions to each other, became perfectly reconciled, and conducted them- selves towards each other with commendable affec- tion. The two churches were also on the most friendly terms, and Mr. Chauncey, in 1702, after the death of Mr. Walker, assisted at the ordination of Mr. Stoddard, his successor in the ministry."

VIEW OF ANCIENT STRATFORD.

"The primitive settlers of Stratford were of respect- able origin, though in humble circumstances as to the luxuries and many of the conveniences of life. The very causes and conditions of the Puritan exodus to New England insured among the first-comers good character and, to a remarkable extent, more than or- dinary respectability of social position. Their plain and even scanty household equipment in their new homes, their want of money, and other usual acces- sories of gentility are readily explained without dis- paragement of their previous standing. In that day of comparative rudeness in the furniture and appli- anees even of aristocratie life, little might be ex- pected in the dwellings or the style of younger or collateral branches of ancient and dignified families. Besides, the stress under which our fathers came out of England subjected them to much sacrifiee and loss. Their chief inen shared with the rest in privations. Deputy Governor Dudley himself, in March, 1631, writes, 'Having yet no table nor other room to write in than by the fireside, upon my knee, in this sharp winter,' ete. Necessity compelled every one to ac- quire suel aptness as he might in all manual labor, for which the help of a skilled mechanic could not readily be obtained or afforded. But however nar- row or humble the lot of the first planters, they be- longed for the most part to the better classes of Eng- lish society. 'Actual examination' (says Hollister, 'Hist. Conn.') 'shows that more than four-fifths of the early landed proprietors of Hartford, Wethers- field, and Windsor belonged to families that had arms granted them in Great Britain.' This fact applies also to the settlers in Stratford, several of whom were of very ancient and honorable lineage in the mother- land.

" The great simplicity of manners and superior re- gard for heavenly above secular distinctions among our ancestors induced much negleet of ancestral titular pretensions, the very tradition of which in many cases had expired, until revived by antiquarian researches or the usually vain attempt to secure prop- erties lying in the family name unelaimed in England.

"A single fact deserves note in judging the re-

in of 5,

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1 of

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

sources of Stratford planters, as compared with those at New Haven, Hartford, and elsewhere. While iu these latter places the people were convened for wor- ship, and on other public occasions, by drum or horn, or the blowing of a shell, Stratford enjoyed from the beginning a church-bell. Whether it werc a special boon, or is indicative of superior means, cannot be determined.

"The earliest houses, besides their smallness and cheap construction, must have been very bare of com- fort and attraction. When Deputy Governor Dudley, of Massachusetts, already named, built a house for himself in 1632, and was censured of some for wain- scoting it in time of such impoverishment and need, he showed that this alleged extravagance consisted merely of 'clapboards nailed to the wall, in form of wainscot.'

"The ordinary dwellings were log huts, which gave place after some years to frame houses, larger indeed, yet, by our present standard, generally very humble and poor.

"Glass and nails were expensive, imported luxu- ries, if indeed the former could be afforded. Hence the windows were small and few. Aged people were living not long ago who remembered when nails were at two shillings per pound. In 1674, 1000 shingle- nails were inventoried at 13 shillings sterling. The price of a house in 1664 is £20; another, in 1674, £22. The inventories of estates from 1650 to 1674, on Stratford records, disclose no glassware, only one carpet, one silver spoon, no chinaware, nor any crock- ery, excepting two shillings' worth of earthenware. The common utensils were of pewter, iron, or wood. For money values barter was substituted, and the General Court regulated for this purpose the commer- cial worth of corn, peas, wheat, beef, pork, cider, etc. Wampum was likewise legalized as money. It was neatly made, the white of the core of the periwinkle and the black of muscle-shell, each strung in parcels, the white at six for a penny and the black at three for a penny. The strings represented respectively, in white wampum, one penny, three pence, twelve pence, and five shillings ; and, in black, two pence, six pence, two shillings and sixpence, and ten shillings.

"In 1660 summer wheat was current at 48. 6d. per bushel; winter wheat, 5s .; peas, 38. 6d .; Indian corn, 3s. In 1678 a mill was sold for £140, payable in pork, wheat, rye, Indian corn, beef, and '£40 in good and well-conditioned winter cider, made in October.'

"In 1707 a house and lot in Main Street, with 24 acres of land (the house-lot being that now Thomas Stratton's), were given by Samuel Hawley, Jr., for a negro man.

"Salaries were paid in produce. The first instance of payment in money to the minister here was in 1714, when Rev. Timothy Cutler, then pastor in Stratford, was allowed for his stipend of £140 (produce pay) £93 6s. 8d. in paper money of the colony, a difference in favor of the paper bills of 33} per cent. Lands

were for a long time extremely cheap. Their value in Stratford was not less than in the other thriving towns, yet in 1665 they are appraised: village lots, 25s. per acre ; unimproved lands, 12d. per acre.

"Contributions for benevolent objects, which were not unknown from the earliest times, were paid in produce. In 1664, at the instance of the Rev. Mr. Shepard, of Cambridge, funds were collected in the colonies for the indigent students. These collections were repeated from time to time. In 1646, Stratford gave £6 14s., for which it is credited on the books of Harvard College. The produce thus donated was shipped to Boston, and the granary building, used as a receptacle for such collections, is said to have given name to the 'Granary Burial-Ground, as it is still termed, in Tremont Street, near Park Street Church, Boston.'"-Swan.

CHAPTER LXXV. STRATFORD (Continued).

THE REVOLUTION, ETC ..

Gen. David Wooster-Stratford in 1781-Olden Time Accounts-Slavery -Old Fishing Place-Incident of 1812-The Stratford Post-Office.

STRATFORD responded promptly to the patriot call, and of her gallant sons who risked their lives in that arduous struggle conspicuously stands the name of the intrepid Wooster, who fell on that fatal day at Ridgefield.

"Dauiel Wooster, the martyr to American liberty, was born in Stratford, Conn., March 2, 1710-11 (old style), and was the youngest of six children. He was educated in the Puritan principles of New England, and after he came to manhood entered Yale College, where he graduated in 1738, in the twenty-eighth year of his age."

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 185

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