History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 43

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 43

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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BROOKFIELD.

CHAPTER XV. BROOKFIELD .*

Early History-First Town-Meeting-Parish and Church Organizations -Schools-Burial-Places-Military Record-Representatives-Select- men.

IN respect to most of the rural towns and smaller- communities of New England, back of all recorded history there was a period of formation and ineipient growth, interesting, doubtless, in its incidents, but not subject-matter of accurate knowledge to the present generation. No chronicler having certified the facts transpiring or preserved even the names of the great majority of those who bore part in the life that was lived, and traditions handed down being very unre- liable evidence of what actually took place, little ean be spoken of which is not conjectural, and the most satisfaction we can have in the study of the period is that a field is thus opened for the "pleasures of im- agination."

Brookfield is no exception to this general rule. There were beginnings of days and dawnings of his- tory concerning which we must eonsent to remain much in ignorance. Could we successfully interrogate the years of dimness and uncertainty reaching baek- ward from the time when the first settlers of the town (settlers of the English stock) built here their homes and here began their endeavors for thrift and comfort, we should find much, it is easy to believe, which, by its novelty and other elements of interest, would well reward our investigation.

The aboriginal inhabitant doubtless had here his rude cabin, his ties of love and hope, and his rudely- constructed civilization. Doubtless, by the side of Still River and the Housatonie he dextrously cast tlie spear and threw the hook for fish, trapped by Beaver Brook, and pursued on plain and hillside fur-elad or savory game, the evidence of this being a few Indian names not yet obliterated-as "Whiseonier" and " Pokono"-here and there an arrow-head or other stone "relie" picked out of the furrow with a few faded legends, as of the maiden of "Lover's Leap."

Precisely who these aboriginal dwellers were in respect to their tribal connection, how numerous they were, and whither they went are all matters which lie much in the haze of the unehronieled period to which allusion has already been made. The probability is that they were an outlying portion of an Indian set- tlement, two hundred warriors strong, at New Milford, where a somewhat distinguished chief or saehem, Werauhamaug by name, held his seat of government, and where there are still pointed ont Indian burial- places and a neighborhood on the western bank of the river known as "Indian Field." But this is scarcely within the limits of veritable history.

When first brought into a separate organization for local purposes, as the support of schools and churches,

the place took to itself the name of the "Society or Parish of Newbury,"-the name derived, presumably, from Newtown and Danbury, adjoining towns, from which, as will be subsequently seen, the society was largely taken,-and under this appellation it con- tinued from its first organization, in 1754, to the time of its incorporation with town privileges, in 1788,-a period of thirty-four years.

Newbury (now Brookfield) was constituted of por- tions of three adjacent towns,-viz., New Milford, Newtown, and Danbury, these portions meeting at a common centre near the present residenee of Mr. Abel Sherman. A rock, now blasted away, lying within limits now inelosed in Mr. Sherman's door- yard, was recognized at the "bound-stone" between these different towns, and of course the different sec- tions of the newly-constructed society.

With reference to the first settlers who planted here their homes, opened the school-house, and set up the altars of religion, it is not now possible to designate them so elearly as perhaps their enterprise and worth deserve. Tradition affirms that they came here from the town of Milford. They were probably induced to settle here from the fact that some of their kindred and townspeople had previously located in Danbury and New Milford. They who came to these neigh- boring communities not unlikely reported to their former neighbors and friends, as the children of Reu- ben and Gad did concerning the land of Gilead, "Even the country is a land for cattle," and, allured by the prospect of peeuniary advantage, as well as being in the immediate vicinity of former friends and acquaintances, they eame hither into what was comparatively a new country and kindled their home fires.

Exactly when this first settlement took place it is difficult now to determine, there being no authentic record, although, in an old historical sermon preached in Danbury at the beginning of the present century by "Thomas Robbins, Candidate for the Gospel Ministry," it is asserted that "the first settlement of Danbury was begun in the summer of 1684," and elsewhere the statement is made: "The western part of the town, called 'Miry Brook,' and the eastern part (which now comprises a part of the town of Brookfield), were settled within a few years after the Centre," the centre of Danbury being evi- dently referred to.

New Milford was settled in 1707, and Newtown still earlier; so the inference is warranted that a pio- neer population was here not long subsequent to 1700, perhaps still earlier than that, in the Danbury portion of the society.

It is cqnally difficult to determine accurately who the first settlers were; but from the earliest dates found upon tombstones in the various cemeteries, and from some other sources of information, it is evident that among the earliest dwellers in the place were Tibbals and Jared Baldwin, whose homes were

* By Rev. A. C. Pierce.

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on Long Meadow Hill, near the school-house; Sam- uel Merwin, whose residence was where Noah Taylor, deceased, lived ; Deaeon Matthew Baldwin, who lived a little south of Mr. Edwin Smith's; Samuel Sher- man, who lived near where Mr. Abel Sherman now resides; and Deacon Amiel Peck, who lived at the corner just east of the Merwin Brook erossing.

Among the earlier, if not the earliest, inhabitants were also Mr. John Dunning and Deacon Michael Dunning, the last of whom eame to his death under peculiarly sad circumstanees. On his return from a religious mecting one night to his home, now known as the "Benlianı" place, by some mishap he fell into his own well, and was either drowned or killed by the fall.

Mr. Henry Peck, the Dibbles, of Bound Swamp, and the Smiths and Hurds, of Whiseonier, were also early in the field.

The Society of Newbury was, by an aet of General Assembly, incorporated as a town in 1788, Mr. Amos Wheeler acting as the society's agent in earrying its memorial to the Assembly and obtaining the aet of incorporation. It would seem, from the repeated efforts of the society in this direction before the final sueeess was achieved, that either the people were unduly ambitious for manliood before they had got- ten their growth, or else that the then lawmakers of Conneetieut, wise and conservative men as they doubt- less were, were ehary of allowing upstart soeieties to " put on airs" and have their ambitious notions grati- fied too hastily. Applieation was made for town privileges as early as 1772, and the purpose prose- euted through sueeessive years before many sessions of the Legislature until the final vietory over opposi- tion, as already stated, in 1788. Hope deferred and endeavors made through sixteen years would eer- tainly indieate a good measure of will on the part of the mncn then aetive. It is just a little more than possible that Danbury, Newtown, and New Milford knew something of the reasons why the sueeess was so long in eoming.

THE FIRST TOWN-MEETING.

The first town-meeting was held on June 9, 1788, and was moderated by Col. Samuel Canfield, who was appointed by General Assembly to "warn" the meet- ing and preside over its doings. It was evidently regarded as quite an event in the history of the place, and interest was felt in it even in the surrounding towns, as shown by the following vote passed at the meeting :

"Voted, Thanks to the gentlemen spectators from the neighboring towns for the respect shown to the town of Brookfield in attending their first town-meeting, and in particular return thanks to Col. Samuel Can- field, Esq., appointed first moderator for said town of Brookfield by the General Assembly, for his care and service in said office."

The following-named persons ehosen at this meet- ing had the honor of serving the town as the first seleetmen : Lieut. Martain Warner, Capt. Joseph

Smith, Capt. Ezra Dibble, Mr. Amos Wheeler, and Capt. Richard Smith. Elijah S. Starr was cleeted as the first town "elark."

The name of the town seems to have been adopted as a tribute of respeet to the first pastor of the place (for the entire town was under his ministrations and ·pastoral eare). Brook's field easily was converted into " Brookfield" as the permanent designation of the płaee.

Being thus incorporated as a separate town, the people soon appreciated the need of a town-house, their meetings for business for the first few years being generally "warned" to meet at the "Sign Post," and being thence adjourned either to the "meeting-house," a sehool-house, or to some private residenee.

At an adjourned meeting held on Dee. 22, 1794, it was voted "That this town build a house the ensuing year for the purpose of transaeting all business in," "that said house be built thirty-four feet long and twenty-four feet wide, two stories high," and "that said house be built convenient for hanging a bell upon." The committee appointed to superintend the building were instrueted by vote of the same meeting "to procure the most convenient place near the meet- ing-house for setting the town-house upon," and the selectmen were authorized to "draw orders upon the town treasurer to the amount of the expenses of said building."

The lower portion of this house was finished and "seated" two years afterwards, so as to become avail- able for town purposes, the upper part remaining un- finished until a later period. A bell was placed upon this house in 1795, and was replaced by another-the one now in use-in 1829.

The house, thus built and appointed, served the annual gatherings of the freemen of the town until the summer of 1875, when, after a somewhat pro- tracted and heated controversy, mainly in respeet to the location of the proposed new building, it was torn down, and the present more eomely and commo- dious structure was built upon its foundations.

PARISH AND CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS.

In New England, in "the days of old," there was a mingling, as there is not now, of church and town history, of ecclesiastieal and eivil affairs. In the meeting of the freemen tax-levies were raised for the "support of the gospel" and ministers were ehosen. Especially the Congregational Church-the church of the "Standing Order," as it was ealled-was eared for, every legal voter being responsible for pecuniary support and having a voiee in its affairs.

Parish and church organizations, therefore, must be taken into aceount in any complete town history, as should be the case also on the ground that the Church and the sanctuary are such important factors of influenee and destiny in any community.

There is no reeord now available by which ean be

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ascertained when religious services began to be held in Newbury, or the exact date when the ecclesiastical society was organized.

We may naturally suppose that in the first years of their settlement the people worshiped in the towns to which they respectively belonged,-some at New- town, where a church was organized in 1715; some at New Milford, where a church was gathered in 1716; and some iu Danbury, where the first church began its existence in 1696. It is to be presumned that for some time after separation from these churches the people gathered in private houses for their Sabbath-day devotions,-the people, for these were times in which all held it their duty and their privilege to be worshipers on the Lord's day.

A book of society records, supposed to have been lost, but recently recovered, makes it certain that the society was in working order so early as 1755, and two years later-viz., in 1757-the church was organized, the only account of the event being the following eu- try in the records of Consociation: "A number of this society that came well recommended from neigh- boring churches appeared before this council, gave their consent to the Saybrook Confession of Faith and Platform of Church Discipline, unitedly con- sented to a church covenant, and as members of a church gave a unanimous 'call' to Mr. Brooks to be their minister, to which he gave his consent." In this somewhat informal way the living temple began here to be builded. All the facts of its carly history have passed beyond preseut knowledge by reason of the fact, much to be regretted, that no church records were kept prior to the settlement of Rev. Richard Williams, in 1807.

As already indicated, the earliest Sabbath-day ser- vices were probably held in private houses, perhaps at the residence of Joshua Northrop, Amos North- rop, or Peter Hubbell, where it is a matter of record that society meetings were frequently convened for business purposes.

While a sanctuary was being prepared the ark of the Lord rested in the " house of Obed-edom';" and we shall not hazard much if we believe "the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edon and all that per- tained unto him because of the ark of the Lord."

But a change was at hand: the long-felt need for a church edifice was to be met. " At a lawful meeting, Jan. 21, 1755, of the inhabitants of the established religious society of Newbury, more than two-thirds of the inhabitants of said society then present and qualified by law to vote declared it necessary to build a meeting-house," and cither because of differences of opinion concerning the site upon which to build, or through desire to avoid future divisions such as are very likely to grow out of locating public buildings, they made application to the court of Fairfield County "to appoint and fix the place whercon the meeting-house should be erected and built," and thic court thereupon appointed a commission "to fix the

place." For reasons not stated, the recommendations of this commission were negatived by the court.

In the following April the court took still further action in the case, and a new commission was ap- pointed, consisting of Increase Mosely, Benjamin Stiles (?), and Gideon Walker, all of Woodbury, in Litchfield County, who were empowered "to fix a place whereon to set a meeting-house." The doings of this commission were accepted by the society and approved by the court, and so the place of the sanc- tuary was "fixed," and with it doubtless the place of the village itself; and if so, the wisdom of the com- missioners must have been more clear to themselves than in the judgment of succeeding generations.

In December the society made appointment of a building committee, and took action with reference to the finances of the undertaking. It was also voted that the structure should be " forty-six feet in length and thirty-six feet in width, and that the posts should be twenty foots long." The committee were further instructed "to get cedar shingles, if they can be at- tained to, to cover the fore-side of the ruff, and chestnut for the back-side, and to cover the upright with oak 'clapboards.'" This building seems to have been simply " covered in" at the first, and to have been used for a period without seats other than benches carried in for temporary convenience, and even without a floor, except of loose boards, on which these benches were placed. Seats and pews were in- troduced into the building in 1759, four years after its erection. In 1769 it was voted that "the society will oyl and culler the winders and doors and corner-bords," and a committee was appointed with power "to git and precuer oyl and stuef to fulfill the said vote." Four years later galleries were added to the accom- modations already existing. The house was inter- nally improved with "plaster" in 1790, and was ex- ternally shingled upon "both sides and each cnd." The structure was at first without a stceple, and this was added in 1824, after the house had been occupied nearly seventy years, though a bell was never mounted upon its deck, the town-house bell, after its purchase, being used for calling the people together for religious services.

Evidently the spirit of improvement was not of very rapid development. The house of the Lord thus builded pieceucal, as we might say,-a kind of ac- cretion of the prayers and endeavors of two entire generations,-gathered the worshipers bencath its roof until 1854, an entire century, lacking a single year, from the time when its foundations were laid, when it was taken down and the edifice now occupied by the Congregational Church and Society was erected upon its sitc.

This first mnecting-house built in the town was a structure in what may be called the barn style of arch- itecture, having a door upon the south side aud each end, east and west, with a pulpit on the north side. opposite the main entrance, over which was the old-

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HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

fashioned "sounding-board" with the "deacons' seat" beneath.

It was creditable to the good taste of the people, and reflected somewhat their good habits at home, that a tax of thirty shillings was assessed annually for the purpose of defraying the expense of sweeping the meeting-house, the sweeping to be done by some com- petent person "once in three weeks nine months in the year, and once a month for the three winter months." Evidently the people in those times were believers in the sentiment, "Cleanliness is next to godliness."

The house now occupying the same site was dedi- cated April 12, 1854, the sermon being preached by Rev. Mr. Churchill, of Woodbury, and the dedicatory prayer being offered by the pastor, Rev. Mr. Curtiss. The bell now (1880) in use was purchased the same year.

Quite relevant to what has thus been recorded of the houses of worship occupied by this parish will be some account of its ministry.

In September of 1755 the society voted "to have the gospel preached amongst us," and likewise "to invite Mr. Josiah Sherman, a candidate, to preach the gospel on the Sabbath in this society, to join with New Preston for the term of time as may be agreed upon." It would thus appear that at first there was preaching but part of the time, probably on alternate Sabbaths, and for this service the society paid "fifteen shillings prock or old tenor," or its equivalent in provisions, per Sabbath.

The arrangement of filling the pulpit by supplies as they could be secured continued for about two years, when the society, at their meeting, " manifested their unanimous desire to have a gospel minister settled among them," and a committee was appointed "to crave the advice and direction of the reverend members of the association in so important an affair."

As a result of such advice, or without regard to it, as the case may have been, at a meeting of the so- ciety held in June, 1757, it was proposed to vote "whether we will choose ye worthy Mr. Thomas Brooks, who preached with us on probation, to be settled as our minister and pastor," and it was voted in the affirmative, the church, organized three months later, as we have seen, uniting in the "call." The provision made for his pecuniary support was a "set- tlement" of one hundred pounds, to be paid in three yearly installments, and for yearly salary forty-five pounds for three years, with addition afterwards of forty shillings each year until the amount should be fifty pounds, this sum to be a permanent allow- ance. This financial basis being mutually satisfac- tory, on Sept. 28, 1757, the young candidate was duly ordained and installed as pastor of the church and society, Rev. Ebenezer White, of Danbury, preaching the sermon, and Rev. Jedediah Mills, of Huntington, offering the ordaining prayer.

It is creditable to the memory of Pastor Brooks

that his ministry continued through a period of forty- two years, and that the people, as already seen, per- manently associated his name with the place as the name of the town. He is remembered by a few per- sons still living as a man small in stature,-a Zac- chæus whom Jesus called,-of fair abilities, and of somewhat marked eccentricities, especially absent- mindedness, and a somewhat quick and uncontrollable temper. As evidence of the first of these character- istics, the well-authenticated anecdote is told of him that on one occasion, when he had worn for his com- fort two pairs of stockings to a meeting of Consocia- tion, in the morning, when dressing, he was unable to find but a single stocking. His delegate, however, Mr. Henry Peck, coming to his assistance, shortly ascertained that the four stockings were all upon one foot. And, as an illustration of the last peculiarity mentioned, it is told of him that, meeting with prov- ocation from a parishioner, overinastered by his im- petuous spirit, he seized hold of the offender and caused him to shake in a manner somewhat different from that in which the Philippian jailer did in the presence of Paul.

This first pastor, on account of impaired health and growing infirmities, was relieved from the active duties of his office (whether formally dismissed or not is uncertain) in 1796, and reached the end of his pilgrimage three years afterwards.

On an unpretentious gravestone in the "Hawley- ville" Cemetery there is the modest record :

"In memory of Rev. Thos. Brook, who departed this life Sept. 13, 1799, aged 80 years.

Mors nihi vita est. (Death to me is life.)

O mortal, wander where you will, Your destiny is cast; The rising stone and verdant hill Proclaim your destiny at last."

The subsequent pastors of the church, with their periods of service, have been as follows : Rev. Erastus Ripley, November, 1800, to November, 1801; Rev. Richard Williams, June, 1807, to April, 1811; Rev. Bela Kellogg, January, 1813, to October, 1816 ; Rev. A. B. Hull,* October, 1819, to October, 1820; Rev. Abner Brundage, May, 1821, to October, 1839; Rev. Dan C. Curtiss, October, 1843, to October, 1855; Rev. Thomas N. Benedict,* April, 1859, to September, 1862; Rev. P. Hollister, December, 1862, to Decem- ber, 1864; Rev. F. Munson,* April, 1865, to 1868; Rev. A. C. Pierce, October, 1870.

It is in evidence that the "service of song in the house of the Lord" was duly regarded by the early worshipers of the town that frequently in the records there is statement of special arrangements made for instruction in singing, the town making appropri- ations of money to defray the expense, and under date of Dec. 24, 1792, there is the entry :

* Those thus marked stated supplies, but not pastors.

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"Voted, That Mrs. Ebenezer Blackman, Isaac Northrop, Capt. Joseph Ruggles, Sergt. Hezekiah Stevens, Junr., Nehemiah Barlow, and Amial Peck be a Committee to mention a number of old Psahn tunes, and to see that said tunes are taught in the singing-school now taught in this town by Capt. Tlait."

It has seemed proper that this somewhat extended account should be given of the church first organized in the town,-which was the religious home of all the people for more than a generation, and which was the mother church as related to others subsequently or- ganized,-and proper also that Pastor Brooks, as the first minister and the one whose memory is perpetu -. ated in the name of the town itself, should have more extended mention than those who were subsequent laborers in the same field.

PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

But other churches and other ministers have had their place in the history of the town, and are well entitled to a page in the make-up of its historic record.

Almost from the first formation of the society or parish, of which an account has just been given, there were persons residing within its limits whose senti- ments affiliated with other forms of worship, as evi- denced in the fact that so early as 1757 a vote was passed to memorialize the General Assembly for a "land-tax of twopence on the acre of all ye unin- closed land in Newbury, exclusive of lands of Church- of-England men residing among us." It is said that occasional worship was held within the parish boun- daries after the Church-of-England type while yet in its civil state the country was in colonial relations, the ministrations probably furnished from Newtown, where an Episcopal parish was organized in 1734.

On Jan. 21, 1785, thirty-five persons, all of whom were males, lodged a certificate with the clerk of the Congregational parish, declaring themselves "to be- long to the Episcopal Church," and it is presumable that at about this time separate worship as a regular weekly appointment began, though the first parish meeting, the records of which have been preserved, was not held until 1789.

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 43

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