History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 87

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 87

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).

"The Society having thought fit to admit into their body several emi- nent Divines and other persons of Holland, Germany, Sweden, Switzer- land, and other countries, being of the Protestant religion; it has been resolved, for the dignity of the Society, and to show them the greater respect, that the notice of their admission should be sent them, under the seal of the said Society." Page 37.

# His medical diploma, dated London, 1697, written in Latin, and de- scribing him as the son of a celebrated physician of France, was recorded by the clerk of the Fairfield County Court in 1703. And in 1713 leave was granted him by the town of Stratford "to build a pew" in the Con- gregational meeting-honse, where Mr. Blacklatch, one of the struggling and waiting churchmen of Stratford, then had "a pew."

¿ In a "registry book" kept by Mr. Pigot and Mr. Johnson, at Strat- ford, there is a record of the appointment, in 1724, of two wardens and nine vestrymen "for Stratford," one warden and two vestrymen "for Fairfield," one warden and two vestrymen " for Newtown," and two wardens and three vestrymen "for Ripton ;" the warden for Fairfield being Dongal Mackenzie, and the vestrymen, James Laborie, Sr., and Benjamin Sturges. At the same time James Laborie, Jr., was one of the vestrymen for Stratford.

* Compiled principally from an address delivered by Rev. N. E. Corn- well, Ang. 10, 1851.

The following extract from the proceedings of the Society for 1710-11 is worthy of notice hore :

: 2.

st in

el 1. d

1, Te

5. 0

b b

352

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

country seat of the late Jonathan Sturges now stands," Mr. Johnson preached a part of the time for some two years, dividing his labors for the most part be- tween Stratford and Fairfield. At the same time Mr. Henry Caner, a graduate of Yale College, but as yet too young to be ordained, read service in Fairfield whenever Mr. Johnson preached at Stratford aud other places. He was "son of the Mr. Caner who built the first college and rector's house" at New Haven. His parents are generally supposed to have been Congregationalists.+ But Dr. Trumbull calls England " the land of his nativity."}

Mr. Caner was ordained in England, and appointed missionary to Fairfield in 1727, having been very highly recommended to the society and to the Bishop of London by Mr. Johnson, under whose supervision he had pursued his theological studies for some three years. And from the time of his settlement here until the Revolution this parish seems to have been estab- lished on a permanent foundation, and to have been generally in a very prosperous condition, exhibiting, in the leading facts of its history, a very interesting view of the gradual, steady progress of Episcopacy in Connecticut during those fifty years of its struggles against various adverse influences, British as well as American.

It is to be much regretted, therefore, that by the burning of the church and parsonage in the conflagra- tion of the town in 1779, the ancient records of the parish previous to that time were destroyed .? And it is hardly less to be regretted that there is also in the records of this town a singular omission, extend- ing from the year 1722, when the Rev. Mr. Pigot began to preach in Stratford and Fairfield, to the year 1728, when Mr. Caner had taken full charge of this parish, and including the whole period of its organi- zation and incipient stages. This singular circum- stance is especially unfortunate on account of the importance of the period in question. It was evidently a time of much excitement and change in the public affairs of this town. And the omission of all the acts and projects of that period from the copy of records, which contains an account of annual meetings and

votes of the town during all the rest of the time from 1661 to 1728, in the same book which has the original record of annual meetings and votes from 1729 to 1800, leaves us almost entirely to the testimony of one of the parties interested in certain important changes.

It appears, then, from the reports of Mr. Johnson to the society, that in the year 1724 the prospects of Episcopacy in this town were very favorable in some respects. Speaking of the sufferings of "sundry peo- ple of both sexes" who had been persecuted and imprisoned on account of their attachment to the Episcopal system, and expressing his fear that if not soon relieved people would be quite discouraged, he at the same time expressed his belief that "the whole town would embrace the church if they had a good minister at Fairfield," and added, "I have a vast assembly every time I visit them." Within a few months afterwards he had "in Stratford and the neigh- boring towns more than a hundred communicants;" of whom about forty had been admitted to communion by him. And in 1727, just before Mr. Caner took charge of this parish, Mr. Johnson informed the so- ciety that there were about forty families of Episco- palians in Fairfield. These were, according to his account, "mostly of the poorer sort ;" as Mr. Caner also testified in his first report of the state of his mis- sion. It is evident, however, from various eircum- stances noted in the records of this town, and upon tombstones in its old burial-places, that the parish at that time embraced some persons who had been, for many years previous, men of much consequence and influence in the town, and the most of them, if not all, Congregationalists. The same fact is manifest from the success which attended an application made the Colonial government at that time by the wardens and vestrymen of Trinity Church, Fairfield, for an alteration of the laws concerning the support of re- ligion. A petition was presented to the Assembly, signed by " Moses Ward and Samuel Lyon, church wardens, and Dougal Mackenzie, John Lockwood, Nathan Adams, Benjamin Sturges, and others, in the name and behalf of all the rest of their brethren," dated May 15, 1727, stating that ten of them had been lately imprisoned for taxes, contrary to the Hon. Governor's advice, and notwithstanding solemn prom- ises before given to sit down and be concluded in the affair ; praying that the sums of money so taken from them might be restored; and declaring that if their grievances might be redressed, they should "aim at nothing but to live peaceably and as becometh Chris- tians among their dissenting brethren." And, in re- sponse to this petition, an act was passed, providing that the taxes collected from Episcopalians for the support of religion miglit, under certain circum- stances, be paid to the Episcopal missionaries instead of the Congregational ministers. This movement of the early churchmen of Fairfield, about a hundred years after the settlement of this colony, was the first effectual step ever taken towards the establishment of

* The tangible evidences of the locality of the church were a few tombstones, which have been recently removed and are awaiting reset- ting in some place where they may remain undisturbed. They are at present in possession of Mr. Frederic Sturges. One of them was erected to " Abraham Adams, a worthy founder and liberal benefactor of Trinity Church," who was probably buried, according to the times, near the church.

¡ President Stiles' Diary, and MS. Letter of Prof. Kingsley to the au- thor.

# The name of " Henry Caner" was enrolled in the "registry-book" of Mr. Pigot, upon the list of communicants at Stratford, "Sept. 2, 1722," and that of " llenry Caner, Jr.," by Mr. Johnson, " March 28, 1725." It may be well to observe here that while the original orthography of Mr. Caner's name was that which is here employed, the received pronuncia- tion of it was doubtless indicated more precisely by Dr. Trumbull, who wrote it Canner, and by the early churchmen of Fairfield, who sometimes wrote it Conner.

¿ With the exception of those which are included in the registry-book of Mr. Pigot and Mr. Johnson.

353

FAIRFIELD.

religions liberty in Connecticut; an object which it required about another century to accomplish. And that those zcalons churchmen, so worthy of hon- orable remembrance, were persons of good character, against whom their adversaries could find no oc- casion; may be safely inferred from the previous existence of a custom disclosed by the early records of this town : the practice of expelling from its limits, by a public vote, those who from time to time be- came obnoxious on any account to the majority of the community ; which may be supposed to have been thus kept very pure and select, from the highest to the most humble citizen.

In view of these and other similar indications that the period of the organization of this parish was one of much excitement and change in the social aspect as well as the public acts of this town, it is to be re- gretted on all hands that the record of its acts during that most interesting period of five or six years is wanting in the copy which was made from an "old book," and preserved evidently safe and sound,* hav- ing never lost a leaf of what was transcribed. Somc cluc, however, to the posture of public affairs in this town at that interesting crisis may be obtained from a record of colonial acts, which is preserved among old manuscripts in the office of the Secretary of State at Hartford. It is in these words : " May 14, 1725. On advice of the infirmities of Rev. Mr. Webb, and the present circumstances of that society of which he is pastor, we"-the General Association of Congre- gational ministers convened at Hartford-" could not but think that their case called for a speedy visitation, and that nothing less would attain the end designed and so earnestly to be desired for that people, than an act of this Hon. General Assembly, requiring that one or more of the ministry from the several counties or associations of this colony be sent to convenc at Fairfield for the consideration of their state and the application of proper expedients for their united con- tinuance in the faith and established order of the church of Christ in the colony." Whereupon a reso- lution was "passed by the Hon. Assembly, that Fairfield should call some other orthodox minister to help Mr. Webb, that their sorrowful and sinking cir- cumstances might be relieved."t

This interesting record also serves to illustrate a remark made not long afterwards by Mr. Caner, in

one of his reports to the society, that Fairfield was "the chief seat of opposition" to Episcopacy, a remark in which he also had reference to the fact that the seat of the County Court and its prison were in this town.

Some idea of the state and materials of the mission at Fairfield, when Mr. Caner took charge of it after his ordination, may be gathered from a comparison of the small number of the communicants whom he found here as a lay reader under Dr. Johnson in 1725, namely twelve, with the number of families belonging to the parish in 1727, namely, forty. It is manifest from such a comparison that few of the carly members of this parish were originally- churchmen. Most of them were doubtless converts from the Congregational Society. This appears, indeed, from a remark of Mr. Pigot, in one of his reports, that "the people of Fair- field, Ripton, and Newtown, were very desirons of a minister, many of them having conformed to the Church of England." And the changes of this kind, by which a very promising parish had been gathered here before 1727, in part by Mr. Caner himself as lay- reader, seem to have increased very rapidly after his appointment to the mission of Fairfield.

The first church cdifice, as mentioned above, was completed in 1725, and was located on Mill Plain, near the residence of the late Jonathan Sturges. In 1738 liberty was given to " the members of the Church of England, upon certain conditions, to erect a house for public worship on the highway near the Old Fields-Gate." It was fifty-five by thirty-five feet in size, twenty feet in height, "with a handsome stecple and spire of one hundred feet and a good bell of five hundredweight." This church was burned by the British in 1779, and for about twelve years the parish was destitute of a convenient place of worship.

The third church edifice was erected in about the year 1790, and was located on the parade-ground at Mill Plain. This was occupied until the completion of the fourth church building, in 1835.

Mr. Caner remained until 1747, when he removed to Boston, and was succeeded by Rev. Joseph Lamson, who officiated as rector until his death. He was in- terred in the old colonial burying-ground. He was followed in the ministry by Rev. John Sayre, who was rector when the town was burned by the British, in 1779.

The first rector of the parish after the Revolution was Rev. Philo Shelton, of honored memory, a gradu- ate of Yale College, who was ordained at the first or- dination held by Bishop Scabury, Aug. 3, 1785. Mr. Shelton commenced lay reading here about six weeks after the burning of the town, which he continued until his ordination, in 1785.

Rev. Mr. Shelton served this parish faithfully for nearly forty years. He died Feb. 27, 1825. He was born in Ripton (now Huntington), May 5, 1754. He was succeeded by his son, the Rev. William Shelton, who remained until 1829. He was succeeded by Rev.

* The remark of Dr. Trumbull (c. xix ) that " the first records of Fair- field were burnt," seems, by long repetition, to have established an in- pression very widely that the archives of this ancient town are not worthy of examination. But even the writer of a recent " History of the In- dians of Conncetient" (Do Forest) might have found here somo interest- ing particulars of purchases of land from the natives if he had not trusted too far the strange report that " the records of Fairficht have been de- stroycd." Page 167.

" The first meeting of the Primo Ancient (Congregational) Society of Fairfick," distinct from "town-meeting," was held, according to its own record, on " the 9th of December, 1727."

t In the old manuscript here cited the last clanso of this resolution has been partially erased. But withont that clanso the resolution of the Assembly is a very tame response to the memerial of the Association.

d of

3 1

354

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

Charles Smith. Mr. Smith resigned in 1834, and Rev. N. E. Cornwall, M.A., became rector, and offici- ated until 1854. The succession since that time has been as follows: J. S. Purdy, 1855-57; Rufus Emery, 1858-70; E. L. Wells, 1870-76; T. F. Caskey, 1877- 79; C. S. Adams, 1879, present rector.

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH.#

Early in the year 1707 the"" Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts" sent out from England the Rev. Mr. Muirson, t who visited Fairfield at irreg- ular intervals, officiating at the homes of families by invitation.

After the death of Rev. Mr. Muirson, which oc- curred in the latter part of 1708, occasional services were held by Revs. Talbot, Sharpe, and Bridge, of New York and New Jersey ; but until 1722, when Rev. Mr. Pigot was sent out, no regular services were observed. It was at Stratford that Rev. Mr. Pigot was located, which town seems to share with Fairfield the honor of establishing the oldest Episcopal parish in our State, services being alternated between these places, and held at appointed occasions. The form was that of the Church of England and the house of Mr. Thomas Hanford the place of service when Rev. Mr. Pigot was present, although the Episcopalian families met formally every Sunday.

In 1723, Dr. James Laborie, an eminent French physician, came here from Stratford, and purchased the dwelling of Mr. Isaac Jennings, known as "the stone house upon the rocks,"-probably the same which he afterwards devoted entirely to the church, -in which he held services on the Sundays when Rev. Mr. Pigot was absent.

The first reliable record of the establishment of a separate and distinct organization of an Episcopal parish in Fairfield is that of Rev. Samuel Johnson, who succeeded Rev. Mr. Pigot in 1724, who regularly administered the rites of the Church of England, and who at this time reports : " The church in Fairfield is going on apace." Nov. 10, 1725, the day of annual thanksgiving appointed by the civil authorities, Rev. Mr. Johnson opened with an appropriate service and discourse the original Trinity church, which was lo- cated a few rods northeast of the present residence of Mr. Jonathan Sturges, in Mill Plain. A few tomb- stones, until quite recently, marked the spot, one of which bore the inscription : Abraham Adams, worthy founder and benefactor of Trinity Church.

Rev. Mr. Johnson divided his time between Strat- ford and Fairfield for about two years, being succeeded by Rev. Henry Caner, who was graduated at Yale College, ordained in England in 1727, and appointed missionary to Fairfield. From this period until the Revolution permanence and prosperity are indicated from the facts that the parish included one hundred

and seventy families, and that in 1732 the church was enlarged, a gallery sufficient to seat two hundred per- sons being added.

It appears that even these extensive additions soon became inadequate, and in 1738 a more complete edi- fice was built on the highway, near Old Field' Gate, where, a few years since, stood the Marine Hotel, de- stroyed by fire in 1860. This second church was a fine, conspicuous edifice. Its dimensions were fifty- five feet in length, twenty feet in height, and thirty- five feet in width, with a steeplet of the unusual height, at that period, of one hundred feet. Rev. Mr. Caner continued his work here until failing health in 1747 compelled him to seek a smaller par- ish, greatly to the general regret, as he was singularly beloved, and had been very successful in building up the church, which at his departure numbered among its congregation two hundred communicants. His successor was Rev. Joseph Lamson, a native of the vi- cinity, whose ministry of twenty-six years terminated only at his death, and whose resting-place is marked by a stone in the old burial-ground of the village.

Rev. John Sayre? succeeded in 1774. He was a talented and successful clergyman, but, being a native of Great Britain, refused to sign articles prescribed by the Continental Congress, and seems to have been subjected to a temporary banishment to New Britain. This suspension, however, was of brief duration, as his parishioners soon effected his return, and he con- tinued his offices until Trinity church was destroyed by the burning of Fairfield by the British troops, July 8, 1779. It is an act of historic justice to Rev. Mr. Sayre to state that he used every endeavor to avert the disaster by both protest and entreaty ; that his private effects, including a valuable library, shared the general fate; and that, though he took refuge on a British man-of-war after the conflagration, the purity of his motives and acts was above suspicion.

One month after this terrible calamity meetings were held at the house of Mr. John Sherwood (the great-grandfather of Mrs. C. A. Short, to whom we are indebted for much valuable material in this church history), at which it was determined to erect yet another edifice, Mill Plain being again selected for the site. This edifice was the scene of the first ordination by Bishop Seabury, the first bishop of Connecticut, an event of the profoundest interest to all churchmen. The recipient of this peculiar honor was Rev. Philo Shelton, who served at the altar thus signalized upwards of forty years. He died in Feb- ruary, 1825. | A memorial tablet built in the chancel

* Contributed by William A. Beers.

Heathcote Muirson (probably liis son) lies among the colonials.

Į From which Samuel Rowland saw the British land in Fairfield in July, 1779.

¿ Rev. John Sayre and several of his family lie in the old "colonial" burying-ground.

|| His body was placed, by his wish, under the church, which, when torn down. was conveyed to Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, Coun. The bell from this church was used in the Universalist church, Westport, for a time, when it was bought by the Methodist organization, and is now used in their church in Westport.

355

FAIRFIELD.

wall was a conspicuous ornament, and he is still ten- derly remembered by many now living as " the devout and dear old man who taught us the catechism."

Rev. William Shelton, the honored son of this revered father, succeeded, remaining until 1829, when he was called to St. Paul's Church in Buffalo, where, at the age of eighty-two, he still officiates (the writer of this has a letter, under date of July 30, 1880, in which this venerable divine and excellent gentleman tenderly alludes to his own and his father's connection with the church in Fairfield).

Rev. Charles Smith took charge in 1830, continu- ing four years, until a new chapel was built in South- port, and Rev. N. E. Cornwall assumed the duties of the two churches.

Regular services at Mill Plain now began to be un- frequent, and were finally discontinued; the reason for which was that a majority of the attendants, who resided nearer Southport, were of opinion that the Mill Plain church was, in view of the size of the parish, a superfluity. A warm discussion arose, the inatter was submitted to arbitration, a decision adverse to the minority was rendered, and to the great sorrow of Episcopalians in the vicinity, the Mill Plain church was torn down and portions of it utilized in the con- struction of a rectory at Southport. As a reminis- cence recalling the prejudices of those times, it is well to record that the arbitrators whose votes turned the scale were Presbyterians, and a tradition has been handed down that the decision was not wholly dis- connected with a Puritanic desire to put the " Church of England" as far away as possible.

It was nearly twenty years after that practical efforts were made to revive the parish and build another church. The families with Episcopalian preferences living here at that time might have been counted on one's fingers, but among them were men and women who were full of the spirit that builds up the kingdom of Christ. Of these, the names of Knapp, Glover, and Ogden deserve honorable place in history. To the late Henry A. Knapp, however, whose indomi- table work, both of soul and hands, was, through many trying years, pre-eminently conspicuous, must be accorded chiefest honor for the permanent establish- ment of the present parish and church of St. Paul's in Fairfield.

The site of St. Paul's church is identical with that of the old county jail, where among eriminals were incarcerated men who could not pay money owed their fellow-men, and from whence certain offenders were led to the whipping-post on the adjacent green to receive lashes " well laid on" that the stern justice of the period inflicted. It was here that a new jail was being built, when, luckily for the rural as well as spiritual beauty of the village, the county offices were appropriated by Bridgeport, and the ground, together with partially-built side-walls for the new prison, offered for sale. They were purchased by the parish for the nominal sum of one thousand dollars.

Again might it have been said, "The work of the church in Fairfield goes on apace," for presently these prison-walls were converted into a sanctuary of Hin who came not to bind, but to unloose,-a change, too, that had the remarkable precedent recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Acts, where the prison at Phil- ippi, in Macedonia, was suddenly transformed into God's temple, and trembling men fell down before St. Paul, crying, "What shall we do to be saved ?" It was this scriptural scene that by its coincidence gave the present edifice its name.

It was a day of rare beauty-Tuesday, May 20, 1856-that the Right Rev. Bishop Williams conse- crated the building to the beauty of holiness; when, instead of iron-clamped doors giving emphasis to the "rarity of human charity," portals were thrown wide in honor of One who never put forth His hand to scourge, save in the one instance of the money- changers, and whose precept, "Owe no man any- thing," was supplemented with the prayer, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."

The consecration sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. Hallam, from the appropriate text, "He loveth our nation and buildeth us a synagogue." Seventeen clergymen, in their surplices, were present, besides the bishop, the church was crowded to overflowing, and a liberal offering was made to the funds of the new parish. The clergy dined at the house of Mr. John Glover; other hospitable homes were opened to friends who had come from far and near to share the glories of the day. Rev. C. S. Leffingwell was installed as rector, and the parish increased and pros- pered under his kindly supervision. He was called to a larger field, and his place filled in 1860 by Rev. Levi B. Stimson, who remained for eleven years. Rev. Frederick S. Hyde was the next successor, and on his resignation, at Easter, 1871, Rev. Andrew Mackie, Jr., entered upon the duties, and on June 1, 1873, was called to a Western parish. July 13, 1873, the charge of the parish was accorded to the present rector, Rev. James K. Lombard.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 87

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