History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 192

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 192

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A movement is now (October, 1880) on foot to build a new church edifice on the site of the present one.

* Contributed by Rev. George Paull Torrence.

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RESIDENCE OF JOSEPH H. WILLIAMS, TRUMBULL FAIRFIELD CO. CONN.

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THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL SOCIETY OF NICHOLS' FARMS.#

The Nichols' Farms class, connected with the Metho- dist Episcopal Society, Stratford, had for several years entertained a desire that a meeting-house might be erected in their midst. The first overt act in that direction was made in the latter part of the year 1847. At this time Mr. J. H. Frost, preacher in charge of the Stratford society, appointed a board of trustees for the Nichols' Farms class, as follows,-viz., George Nichols, William Ganderson Nichols, Ira Curtis, David Nichols, E. F. Andrews, James K. Nichols, and Elliott P. Curtis.

The funds for building were raised by subscription. The building committee were Samucl E. Hurd, George Nichols, and William Ganderson Nichols.

In the year 1848, December 12th, the house, being completed, was dedicated to the service of God; C. Pit- man, D.D., of New York, performing the dedicatory services. His text was the sixth verse of the One Hun- dred and Twenty-sixth Psalm. Mr. T. H. Oakley, a local preacher, was appointed to take charge of the society. He was followed by Mr. Monson Sceley, who is declared, in the records, as being "strong in the faith, giving glory to God."

He was succeeded by Mr. O. Sykes and Mr. Lewis Penfield. The latter supplied the pulpit, volunteering to do so half of the time provided the debt was re- moved, twenty dollars of which he would contribute. In 1849, Mr. S. P. Perry, a local preacher, took the place of Mr. Sykes. He was much liked by the people, and the society increased rapidly under his charge, a class being formed at Booth's Hill.

He was followed by Mr. Worth, Mr. G. Water- bury, Mr. P. Chamberlain, and Mr. G. Hubbell. In 1857, Mr. Samuel C. Keeler was appointed by the presiding elders. During his administration the house was struck by lightning and somewhat shattered. In repairing the building it was thoughit best to enlarge, which was done. Mr. David Osborn, Mr. John L. Peck, to whom the society is indebted for the record of its history, Mr. Robert S. Mathison, Mr. Thomas R. Laine, Mr. A. B. Pulling, Mr. D. S. Stevens, Mr. H. Scofield, Mr. William T. Gilbert, and the present preacher, William H. Stebbins, have been appointed as successors in the pulpit.

The society, though still in debt, is in a healthy con- dition, for which much is due to the present class- leader, Mr. William G. Nichols, who was one of the original trustecs, which position he still holds.

He is an earnest and conscientious worker, most faithful to the society and its cause in all his acts. By his munificence and zeal, it is safe to say that he is most devotedly fulfilling his trusteeship, and lay- ing up for himself a good foundation against the time to come.

CHRIST'S CHURCHI, TASHUA.t

There began in 1718 a new era in the history of the Episcopal Church in this country. A large donation of books had been made to Yale College by friends in England. Among these were the works of the most eminent Episcopal divines, many of them treating with the greatest ability of episcopacy, and of other distinctive doctrines of the church. These were eagerly read by the officers and students of the col- lege. The result was that the president of the insti- tion, Dr. Cutler, and two of the tutors, Messrs. John- son and Brown, declared for episcopacy, and soon after departed for England to take orders. Mr. Johnson returned and settled as pastor of the Episcopal Church in Stratford in 1723.

Within the limits of that town there were then in- cluded the present towns of Stratford, Huntington, Monroe, Trumbull, and Bridgeport. A second parish, in the ancient limits of the town, was founded at Ripton, now Huntington, where St. Paul's parish wa- organized in 1746.

From that time till 1748 the Rev. Mr. Johnson officiated in St. Paul's four Sundays in the year, while his son, a lawyer, read service for them at other times. Their neighbors, however, of the old standing order, ridiculed them for having, as they phrased it, "a lawyer for their priest," so that St. Paul's parish was led in 1748 to petition the English "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts" to send them a clergyman. This was done in the course of a few years. In the mean time they built a church, and a clergyman of the Province of New York, in a letter to the society in England, speaks of having spent a Sunday there in 1749; that he preached and administered the sacrament in their new church ; that the congregation numbered about three hundred, and that the number of communicants was about sixty. This shows a large degree of prosperity for the time the parish had been in existence, and is a good index of the faithfulness of the venerable Jolinson, who was laboring alone in this section of the country, in the face of the most bitter and hostile opposition.

The exact date is not known when a missionary was appointed to take charge of Ripton, but the Rev. Christopher Newton must have been sent there by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel soon after 1750. His stipend was twenty pounds, in addition to the support the people could give him.

A letter from him to the Venerable Society, dated at Ripton, June 25, 1760, contains the earliest records extant of his work. It is an account of the founding of the parish at Tashua. In it he says he had bap- tized twenty-five children, had preached and baptized not only on the Sabbath but during the week, and says, "I have reason to think it has had a good effect on a number of families about eight or ten miles from Ripton, to whom I have often preached, and of late

* By R. C. Ambler.

+ Contributed by Rev. Wmn. HI. Bulkley.

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they have been more ready to hear than formerly, and seem to be religiously disposed and sensible of the importance of attending public worship. They have accordingly built a church 36 feet long and 26 feet wide, and in about six weeks so far finished it that we meet in it for public worship. A large congregation attended, it was supposed upwards of three hun- dred people." This was the first beginning of what , is now known as Christ's Church, Tashua.

Tradition tells us that this house of worship was seated with rough slab benehes, such as were com- mon in country school-houses fifty years ago. It was probably never plastered, for twenty-seven years later a committee was appointed to consider upon the matter ; but as measures were taken for the erec- tion of a new church in a year or two after their ap- pointment, the original church probably remained, so long as it stood, in the same unplastered condition in which it was when the first service was held in it.

The church stood within the present church-yard, near the north gate. The first grave was dug in the ehureh-yard in 1766, six years after the erection of the cluirch. The gravestone, of black slate, to the memory of Mrs. Eleanor Marrow, is still to be seen. It probably stood directly in the rear of the church.

Mr. Newton, in the same letter, in giving the reasons which led him to labor in Tashua, and which led to the erection of the first parish church, says, "These people live at a great distance from any public wor- ship, and many of them are so poor that they have not horses to carry their families to worship if they would, and others, it seems by their conduct, choose to spend the Sabbath in hunting and unnecessary visits, aud are not only dilatory in religious matters, but in secular affairs. Many live but little above the In- dian, and are destitute of the comforts of life. This terrible condition of the people influenced some per- sons of ample means to build a church at Tashua. One gentleman, for years au Episcopaliau, declared that he felt it to be his duty to expend a part of his estate in providing what, with the Divine blessing, would preveut the people from becoming heathens. These people," he adds, "have since attended wor- ship, and seem very highly to prize the worship of the church, and have desired me to take the care of them, and I have preached to them every fourth Sull- day."

The missionary asked of the society in England an additional allowance for the labor and expense of coming hither from Ripton every fourth Sunday. They granted him ten pounds per annum. This was probably continued to the close of the year 1782, or twenty-two years, making the sum of two hundred and twenty pounds, or about eleven hundred dollars, which was bestowed upon the parish in its infancy by its Christian brethren on the other side of the Atlantic. Of the Rev. Mr. Newton, Dr. Johnson, then rector of Stratford, writes in the highest terms as laborious and worthy.

Any one who has read the "Connecticut History" of Dr. Trumbull, who was a distinguished member of the Congregational Church, or the "standing order," as it was called, could but see that Mr. Newton did not overstate the case when he gave sueh a melan- choly view of the condition of Tashua before the building of the church. There were other places where it was even worse.

The first Episcopal clergy were men of ardent zeal, who labored in season and out of season to gather the neglected and scattered sheep. They preached in school-houses and private houses, visiting from house to house, going wherever they could get a hearing. They catechized the children, distributed tracts, prayer-books, Bibles, and other religious books, all of which were supplied in considerable quantities by the society in England, very few being printed in this country at that time.

Their earnest work for the good of their fellow-men was rewarded with immediate and abundant success. As carly as 1760 there were thirty Episcopal churches and fourteen elergymen, three of these churches and two of the clergy being within the ancient limits of the town of Stratford.

In 1762 the Rev. Mr. Newton writes to the Vener- able Society in England that " he has reason to bless God that seriousness, peace, and charity appear to prevail in his parishes; that he has at North Strat- ford and Stratfield about thirty communicants and about one hundred at Ripton ; that he had baptized in the last half-year twenty-one children."

The little missionary station at Stratfield, which is here spoken of as containing, together with Tashua, then called North Stratford, thirty communicants, has now grown into the present parish of St. John's, Bridgeport, and its daughter churches; while the North Stratford parisli embraced the ground now covered by the Tashua and Long Hill parishes, and by part of that at Monroe, no parish having been formed there till 1800. There are now on the same ground at the very least two hundred and twenty-five or two hundred and fifty communicants, while the thirty communicants of Stratfield and North Stratford have grown to, in 1880, not far from fourteen hundred. Such a growth may well cause us to thank God and take courage.

July, 1762, the members of Tashua parish sent to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel a letter of thanks for their gift of a folio Bible and prayer-book for the use of the church, and also for small Bibles and prayer-books and catechisms, and for the fre- quent and very aeeeptable ministrations of Mr. New- ton, who, notwithstanding the distance of eight miles on a bad road, and the excessive eold in winter and heat in summer, has been very constant for several years in administering the Lord's Supper to them once in two months, and performing divine service onee in four Sundays, and in catechising and instructing their ehildren.

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The large Bible and prayer-book, the former of which was printed in London in 1750, and the latter in 1760, are still kept in the church, though they have given place to more modern editions.

In 1766 the Rev. Mr. Newton writes as follows to the Venerable Society in England : " My parishes in- crease gradually notwithstanding the perils of the times, and many young persons have come to our com- munion. I have baptized during the past year forty- one." "Perilous times," to which he refers, were the result of the "Stamp Act" and other measures of the British government. The country was even then con- vulsed with the preliminary throcs of the American struggle for liberty. As the attachment of the Epis- copal clergy and people to the old country was gen- crally strong before the war broke out, from the fact that they were under God mainly indebted to Christian friends there for their support of the gospel here, they felt more than mnost others the stress of those times which tried men's souls.

Although there are no reports extant of Mr. New- ton of a later date than 1766, yet he survived the Revolution, and continued to serve this parish and Ripton till 1785, for in the parish accounts there is a record of a committee appointed to settle with the heirs of the Rev. Mr. Newton for services rendered up to that year. That committee was appointed in 1787, so that Mr. Newton must have died in or before that year.

The Rev. Abraham L. Clarke, who was ordained by Bishop Seabury in 1786, became the minister of the parish at Tashua soon after Mr. Newton's decease.

In October, 1787, a committee was appointed by the parish to secure his services one-third part of the time, and the next year it was voted to settle Mr. Clark one-third part of the time for life. In 1788, December 1st, it was also voted to build a new church by subscription, and on Christinas day, in the same year, Capt. Abel Hall, Nathan Summers, and David Mallett were appointed to oversee and carry on the building of the new church; and that Amos Van Nostrand proportion the house, not to exceed fifty feet in length, and thirty-four in breadth, and twenty- four in height. Also to be twenty-four windows in said church, of six-by-eight glass, thirty panes in each window, exclusive of the arch.

The next spring the parish appointed a committee to exchange with the selectmen of Stratford a piece of land belonging to the proprietors of the church for a certain piece on the north side of the highway for the purpose of erecting the church thereon. This was probably the ground upon which the church was built, and there the church remained until the present cdifice was crected. The same year it was voted to call the parish Trinity Church, and by that name it was known in the records for many years.

In June, 1790, the church was so far advanced that by vote of the parish the pew spots were sold at pub- lic vendue, the buyers being obligated to pay the

priees bid, and to build the pews in one year from the time of purchase. The pews were to be in uni- form style, as they were in the North Fairfield meet- ing-house. The purchase money was applied towards thic expense of building the church. The pew spots were all sold except two for three hundred and ten dollars and sixty-six cents.

These square pews were sixteen in number, being the wall pews all round the building, except the portions occupied by the doors, gallery, stairs, and chancel. The chancel was on the north side, and there was a door in the opposite side and one also at both the east and west ends. In the body of the church there were long, open seats free to all. A tower and spire were built at the west entrance in 1823. The names of the original purchasers of pew spots were Henry Beardsley, Josiah Sanford, Isaac Wakeley, Zechariah Mallett, Nathan Summers, An- drew Lyon, William Prince, George Chambers, Zech- ariah Beach, Joseph Mallett, John Edwards, Capt. Abel Hall, William Osborne, and Agur Edwards. A number of the pews soon changed hands,-some before the church was completed, which was prob- ably in 1790, for there is a record of the appointment of a key-keeper in February of that year.

The church was consecrated by Bishop Scabury, June 5, 1795.

The Rev. Mr. Clarke continued to supply this church in connection with Ripton till 1792, when he accepted a call to St. John's Church, Providence, R. I. From the position he occupied, lie would seem to have been a man of mark in his day.

In 1792 there was held the first convention of this diocese of which we have any printed records, and Tashua parish was represented by Capt. Abel Hall.

On the 1st of April, 1793, Tashua joined with Christ's Church, Stratford, in settling Rev. Ashiel Baldwin, who officiated in Tashua every third Sun- day for many years. He was ordained by Bishop Scabury, in 1785, at the first Episcopal ordination ever held in America. He was a man of small sta- ture, but of quick action, both of mind and body, fine talents, and powerful voicc. In his prime he was very popular as a preacher and orator, often being called upon to preach and speak before public bodies on important occasions. He was prominent both in diocesan and general conventions. No man was perhaps more instrumental than he since the Revolution in laying the foundations of the church in this diocese. He continued to officiate in Tashua in connection with Stratford till 1815, and at intervals when the parish became vacant by thic removal of other clergymen till 1828, though his connection with Stratford ceased in 1824. He afterwards served other parishes in this diocese till 1832, when he became un- able to performn active duties. He died at Rochester, N. Y., in 1846, aged eighty-nine years, full of years and of honors.

In 1817, Rev. Joseph D. Welton was called to

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supply this parish one-half the time in connection with the old church in Weston. He continued to officiate till 1819. Mr. Welton removed to Water- bury, and his health giving way, he was not again a settled parish minister, but officiated occasionally and taught school as his strength permitted. He died at Waterbury in 1825, aged forty-two years. He was said by those who knew him to have combined the virtue and grace which adorn the Christian chiar- acter, and was ardently devoted to the duties of his sacred office.

From 1819 to 1823, Tashua was again supplied a part of the time by Mr. Baldwin. In the latter year it was supplied a portion of the time in connection with St. John's, Bridgeport, by Rev. Henry R. Judah; in 1824, by Rev. Beardsley Northrop; in 1825, for six months, by Rev. E. J. Ives.

After another period supplied in part by Mr. Bald- win, Rev. Rodney Rossiter, in 1829, was settled in Tashua in connection with St. Peter's Church, Mon- roe, supplying each one-half the time till 1834. Mr. Rossiter was a man of great amiability of character and uprightness and purity in his walk and conversa- tion. He continued to supply the parish of Monroe till his death, in November, 1846.

In 1837, Rev. D. G. Tomlinson was called to Tashua, and officiated three-fourths of the time for two years, giving the other fourth to the church in Weston. From that time till he resigned Tashua he devoted to it his entire services. He resigned in 1843. The chancel-window is a memorial of his earnest zeal and devoted labors for the good of the parish.

The Rev. William W. Bronson served the cure from July, 1843, to November, 1847, when he ac- cepted a call to St. James' Church, Danbury. His removal was universally regretted. In the following spring Rev. Henry V. Gardner succeeded him, serv- ing Tashua and Grace Church, Long Hill, for one year.

During the rectorship of Mr. Tomlinson the erection of the church at Long Hill was accomplished. It was commenced in 1836, and completed in 1839. It was built as a chapel of Christ's church, Tashua, and the whole continued to be one parish till the rector- ship of Rev. Mr. Bronson.

In June, 1846, there was held a meeting of the parish of Christ's Church, at which it was resolved to divide the parish. The Long Hill portion immedi- ately organized under the name of Grace Church, and was admitted into union with the Convention the same month.

During the rectorship of the Rev. Mr. Bronson the erection of the present church building, the third which has stood here, was accomplished. It was be- gun in 1846, and consecrated on the 28th day of May the year following. The first church, erected in 1760, stood thirty years, or till 1790; the second stood fifty- six years ; the present one has stood thirty-four years.

The rough, unplastered church of 1760, with its slab

seats, erected by the generosity of two or three for tlie benefit of a destitute neighborhood, has given place to a beautiful temple completely furnished, erected by the free-will offerings of a whole congregation whom God has prospered. At the first service in the church of 1760 a single struggling missionary carried on his services unaided and uncheered by a single brother in the ministry, with no chief pastor on the continent to consecrate the edifice to the Most High, or to ordain to the holy ministry, or to bless with the laying on of hands those who would confirm their Christian vows. When the present building was con- secrated, in 1847, sixteen clergymen were present; a bishop, one of a goodly number whom God has raised up in this Western land, set it apart to the worship of Almighty God. He set apart at the same time one to the holy order of the priesthood, and a goodly number kneeling before the altar were confirmed by him in their Christian profession. Truly the Lord has kept good to this humble branch of His planting the promise, "Lo, I am with you alway."

In 1849, Rev. John W. Hoffman was called to Tashua for the whole time. On his resignation he was succeeded in the following year by the Rev. J. G. Downing, who served the whole time till the be- ginning of the year 1852. After a vacancy of nine months Rev. De Witt C. Loop served the parish, in connection with Long Hill, the greater portion of 1853. After another vacancy of several months the Rev. W. L. Bostwick served the united cure nearly two years, resigning February, 1856. On the 1st of the ensuing January, Rev. William T. Early took charge till July, 1858. After an interregnum of seven months the Rev. D. P. Sanford took charge, March 20, 1859. He was absent from the parish from Sept. 20, 1862, to April 1, 1863, as chaplain of Twentieth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers in United States service, his place in Tashua being supplied by the Rev. William H. Williams. Mr. Sanford's connec- tion was terminated by his resignation on Easter Monday, 1864, after a rectorship of little more than five years.

He was succeeded by the Rev. William Warland in 1865, who served the parishes at Tashua and Long Hill till late in the fall of 1867, when he resigned.

The Rev. C. C. Adams became rector of the parish in February, 1869, giving it his whole time. The present rectory had been purchased by the parish, so that the rector now has a home within the limits of the parish after it had existed a little more than one hundred years.

On his resignation the Rev. Wm. J. Pigott became rector, Oct. 15, 1870. He resigned in 1872, and was followed in 1874 by the Rev. A. P. Brush, who served the united cures of Tashua and Long Hill till late in the fall of 1878. The church, after being thoroughly repaired and beautified, was reopened by the bishop on May 18, 1874.

The present rector, William H. Bulkley, took

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charge of the parish June 13, 1880, serving it in eon- nection with Christ's church, Easton.

Capt. Abel Mallett, for many years a very influen- tial member of the parish, at his death, in the fall of 1877, left a small fund, the ineome of which was to make good his place in meeting the ordinary expenses of the parish.

Present offieers : Reetor, William Howard Bulkley ; Wardens, Charles Osborne, Aaron B. Mallett ; Ves- trymen, Stephen G. Niehols, Morse D. Mallett, Wil- liam A. Mallett, Dr. Seth Hill, Benjamin H. French, S. Mallett Sanford, Joseph A. Tredwell ; Clerk, Joseph A. Tredwell ; Chorister, William A. Mallett; Libra- rian, George D. Mallett; Superintendent Sunday- sehool, the rector.

Present number of communieants, ninety.

NICHOLS' FARMS.#

The village of Nichols' Farms, or Old Farms, as it is often ealled, is situated in the town of Trumbull, on the eastern of the three or four ridges which trans- verse the town from the north to the south, dividing it into as many tracts or distriets. Its early history is so eonneeted with that of Stratford, of which Trum- bull previous to the year 1798 formed a part, that it will be necessary to a eertain degree to give some de- tail of the history eoneerning the property of the first settlers of Stratford, from whom most of the people of Old Farms are descendants. There were men among the first settlers of Stratford who while they lived in the settlement, still were extensive landowners. Their land or farms comprised large tracts into which their town had been divided.

Upon their death this land was divided among their children as shares of the parent's estate, which, being settled upon, of course soon seattered a sparse population over the town. During these early times, in order to increase the facility of reaching these farms, roads were laid out extending all through the town. The road running from Stratford north through Nichols' Farms was laid out at the generous width of eight rods. It was on this road that most of the settlers built their new homes,- not, as a general thing, of logs, but, being sons of " well-to-do" men, were started in life with a substantial frame house, with its back roof sloping almost to the ground in true colonial style.

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 192

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