History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 130

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1532

USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > History of Litchfield county, Connecticut > Part 130

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* The present (February, ISSI) officers in the Templars' lodge are John Cleveland, W. C. T .; Miss Lillian Bundy, W. V. T .; George Bundy, S .; Ella Wood, F. S .; F. Wheeler, T .; Henry Wilson, C .; Henry Beers, M .; Mrs. James Miller, G .; Will White, S.

541

SALISBURY.

the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he still remains.

"Jonathan T. Norton, son of Henry S. Norton, studied law with D. J. Warner, Esq., was admitted to the bar in this county, practiced a short time in Corn- wall, and then removed to Brooklyn, N. Y., where he now resides.

" William Norton, brother of the above, is now prac- ticing law with Judge Treat, of Bridgeport.

" J. Newton Dexter read law in Salisbury with D. J. Warner, Esq., entered the army during the late Rebel- lion, subsequently resumed the study of the law, was admitted to the bar in this county, and is now prac- ticing in Waverly, N. Y.

" Milton J. Warner, son of Noadiah Warner, grad- uated at Williams College, read law with D. J. Warner, and now practices in Waverly, N. Y.

"James L. Orr was born in Hudson, N. Y., came into town quite young, and was educated by the late Albert Bushnell. He read law with the late Hon. John H. Hubbard, was admitted to the bar in this county, and practiced a few years in Sharon, from whence he removed to Michigan City. After a few years' practice there, returned to, and died in, Salis- bury.

" John G. Reid, son of Rev. Adam Reid, read law with D. J. Warner, admitted to the bar in this county, practiced a short time in Kent, in this county. He entered the army during the Rebellion, where he dis- tinguished himself as a brave soldier. He is now in practice in Chicago.

" George L. Hubbell read law with D. J. Warner, Esq., practiced in New Haven, removed to Davenport, Iowa, where he is now in practice.

" Henry and Daniel Smith, sons of Samucl Smith, were both born in Salisbury. Both were able preachers in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Henry, the clder, still lives in Canaan, Columbia Co., N. Y. Daniel filled several important stations in some of our prin- cipal cities, and was quite an author. He died some ycars since.

" Alanson Reed, son of the late Merwin Recd, was also a preacher of considerable ability in the Metho- dist Episcopal Church.

" Dr. Gordon C. Spencer, born in town in 1789, practiced in Jefferson Co., N. Y., and died in Water- town, in that county, in 1859.

" Natives of our own soil, or gentlemen trained among us from early life, have occupied many premi- nent positions in our own and other States, who have done honor to themselves and to their country. Among the positions thus occupied I recall those of one secretary of war, three United States senators and seven representatives in Congress, three eminent chief justices of three different States, four Governors of States at home and abroad, two Lieutenant-Gov- ernors, many senators in our own General Assembly, two presidents and several professors in colleges, one bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, military 85

and naval officers, and several lawyers and clergymen of high repute .*

" In contemplating this array of worthy names, a pertinent inquiry suggests itself to my mind in this connection. Shall we continue to send forth men from our town who will dignify the positions they may occupy, and do equal honor to the town with those who have preceded them ? Shall we prove to the world that in education and refinement, in social culture, political integrity and sagacity, far-reaching and wise plans for the future of our country, we may be able to controvert the oft-repeated assertion that we are degenerating; that our ancestors were wiser and better than the later generations of men ? Have we no reason to apprehend that the corruption and extravagance of the age, the bitterness of party spirit, the want of charity towards each other, the malig- nity with which candidates for and incumbents of exalted political and social positions are pursued and traduced, will compel the future historian to verify and emphasize the charge of degeneracy ?

"In connection with this subject, I cannot refrain from giving a short extract from Judge Church's ' Centennial Address,' He says,-

"'This is not the time nor the proper occasion to indulge in political reflections, hut I cannot discharge a duty which I owe to the young men of my nutive place-the persons with whom, In part, the destinies of the country are soon to be Intrusted-without entreating them to divest themselves of party and political prejudices, What le prejudice but an opinion formed without impartial examination ? This is a crime, and in- excusable in this age and country. My young friends, never be afraid of bringing preconceived opinione to tho test of a patient and disluter- ested inquiry.'

"' Ile being dead, yet speaketh,' and speaketh wisely."

CHAPTER LIV.

SALISBURY (Continued).

Congregational Churcht-St. John's Church-Trinity Church, Lime Rock -Methodist Episcopal, Lakeville-Methodist Episcopal, Lime Rock- Catholic, Lakeville.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

" As one of the most prominent purposes to be ac- complished by corporate privileges was the support of the gospel ministry here, so the earliest efforts of the town were directed to that object. As carly as January, 1742, n committee was appointed 'to seck out for a minister to preach to us three months.' As yet there was no established place of public worship in the town, and no building which could accommodato even the then few inhabitants, and therefore the town

* Secretary of War, l'oter B. Porter; United States Senators, Nathaniel Chipman, J. S. Johnston ; Representatives In Congress, l'eter HI, l'orter, M. Chittenden, G. IT. Chapin, T. It. Strong, J. M. Holley, J. 11. Hubbard, W. 11. Barnum ; Governorn, Chittenden, Gulnsha, Skinner, Holley ; Lleu- lenant-Governors, Holley and Averill ; l'residents of Colleges, llolley and Bartlett ; Bishop, Junes.

t From Judge Church's address.

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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

designated places of worship in its different sections, that all might be alternately accommodated. The house of Henry Van Dusen, at Weatogue, of Corne- lius Knickerbacor, at Lakeville, and of Nathaniel Buell, at Lime Rock, were established as places of meeting; and this system was pursued until after the call of Mr. Lee.

" In June, 1742, a gentleman whose name was Hes- terbrook was employed to preach three months. In April, 1743, an unsuccessful attempt was made to call a minister. In the succeeding month the effort was re- newed, and Mr. Thomas Lewis was invited to preach on probation. He preached seventeen Sabbaths, but not proving acceptable to the people, no call for set- tlement was given. On the 3d day of January, 1744, Mr. Jonathan Lee, of Lebanon, received a call for settlement, which was accepted. The letter of accept- ance was as follows :

"*SALISBURY, Ang. 19, 1744.

"" To the inhabitants of the town aforesaid :

"'GENTLEMEN AND BRETHREN,-1 have again carefully considered your call to me to labor with yon in the sacred work of the gospel min- istry. I have endeavored to hear and discern the call of God, which is my only rule to act by. I have considered your proposals for my main- tenance and support, among which, as I understand them, are as follows : You have voted annually to give me £40, lawful money, which, in Old Tenor money, amounts to £160; aod for the fourth year of my ministry you have vuted to add 508., lawfully money ; and for the fifth year, you have voted to add 50s. more of the same tenor, and so to continue, which amounts to £180 of Old Tenor bills, being £45 of lawful money. And having received encouragements of other needed assistances and helps, and, as far as I can discover, I being called not only of you, but of God, I therefore do hereby testify mine acceptance of the call and your pro- posals, and hereby profess my willingness to labor for your good in the work of the gospel ministry, according as I may be assisted by the grace of Almighty God; and hoping and trusting in his goodness, and depend- ing upon n continnal remembrance in the fervent prayers of the faithful, I give and devote myself to Christ, and my services to you for his sake, who am your friend and servant.

"' JONATHAN LEE.'

" He had preached on probation for a short time before. Previons to Mr. Lee's call the town had voted to erect for the minister a log house thirty feet long and twenty-four feet wide. This house, too, was intended, and used temporarily, as the meeting-house. The terms of Mr. Lee's settlement, aside from the right of land appropriated to the first minister, were forty pounds, lawful money, with an annual increase until it should amount to forty-five pounds, or one hundred and eighty pounds in old tenor bills, as appears by his letter of acceptance.

"The log house erected for the minister was not finished when Mr. Lee came here with his family, and his first dwelling-place was an apartment temporarily fitted up in the end of a blacksmith's shop, with stools for chairs and slabs for tables ; and the poor minister was often compelled to carry his bushel of wheat upon his back to Lamb's mill for grinding.

"Mr. Lee, having accepted the call to settle here, he and Thomas Chipman, Esq., were requested by the town to fix upon the time of ordination, and ' agree upon the men to do the work.' On the 23d day of November, 1744, Mr. Lee was ordained by a select ordaining council,-the men agreed upon to do the work

at the log house which had been erected for his use. Why a select council was called to perform this ser- vice, instead of the Consociation to which the town be- longed, we are not informed. The proceeding was afterwards condemned as irregular, and as a depart- ure from the Saybrook canons; and several of the council were censured for participating in the ordina- tion without the advice of the Association. No evil, however, resulted to the town from this procedure, nor was Mr. Lee at all implicated in its irregularity. The connection of Mr. Lee with this people was long and successful, and attended, perhaps, with as much harmony as was usual in those days of acquiescence iu ecclesiastical measures.

" Mr. Lee continued to be the sole settled minister here forty-four years. He died Oct. 8, 1788, and was interred in the old Centre burying-yard. He was a graduate of Yale College, of the class of 1742. The family of Mr. Lee was numerous, and some members of it in after-life distinguished.

"It was not until the 23d day of April, 1746," says Judge Church, " that the town voted to build a meeting-house, and the place first designated for this purpose was the elevated ground north of John C. Coffing's dwelling-house. This location was op- posed by the people at the north part of the town, and in May, 1747, a committee, consisting of Ebenezer Marsh, Joseph Bird, and Joseph Sanford, was ap- pointed by the General Court to designate the place for the meeting-house. The committee designated two places : one where the town had by its vote fixed it, and another a little north of Joseph Lee's dwell- ing-house. Joseph Lee dwelt where William Bush- nell now (1841) lives, nearly opposite this house. The General Court directed the honse to be built near Mr. Lee's, and that the sills of it should inclose the stake placed by the committee exactly in the centre. Measures were immediately taken to build the house ; the time of the raising was fixed, and the town voted that Ensign Samuel Bellows should procure sixteen gallons of rum, and Sergt. Samuel Moore eight bushels of wheat, to be made into cake, for the raising. The meeting-honse was raised on the 24th and 25th days of March, 1749, on the spot where the hotel now stands, opposite this house. The town had no title to the land on which they erected their meeting- house; but Mr. Robert Walker, of Stratford, one of the original proprietors of the town, by deed dated 29th May, 1750, gave to the town a small triangular piece of land, on the west side of the highway, in- cluding the meeting-honse, for a burying-yard. This piece of land extended from the south line of the old burying-yard northerly along the highway, forming an acute angle on the highway, nearly opposite the present school-house.

"At the same time Mr. Walker conveyed to the town, for a parade, a piece of land on the east side of the highway, on which the Congregational meet- ing-house now stands. It was bounded south by the

543.

SALISBURY.

highway, then open and running easterly, through Stiles and College grants, to Lamb's iron-works; it was six rods in width, and extended north from the aforesaid road twenty rods. The old meeting-house continued to be used as such fifty years only, and until the present Congregational meeting-house was finished, in the year 1800. It was used for town and society meetings until the year 1813, when, by lease dated the 19th day of January, 1813, the town conveyed it to the late Simeon Granger, on condition that he and his assigns should at all times furnish the town with a convenient room for town and society purposes, public libraries, etc. The lease included, also, the vacant lands derived from Mr. Walker, on the west side of the highway, which had not been before dis- posed of nor ineluded within the burying-yard. A considerable portion of this was then used as a publie highway, extending westerly up the hill, and has never been discontinned as such, but still remains open and used as the only practicable way to the burying-yard.

" In 1789 the parsonage committee was directed to apply to Mr. Chauncey Lee, son of the deceased min- ister, to preach here on probation.

" In November, 1790, a call was given to Rev. Wil- liam F. Miller, and in 1791 a call was given to Rev. John Elliott to settle here in the ministry ; but both invitations were declined. On the 2d of October, 1792, a eall was unanimously given to Rev. James Glassbrook to become the minister of this people, under restrictions and conditions such as I suppose the ecclesiastical authorities could not have approved. The call was accepted. It was a mere hiring for an unlimited time, with liberty to either town or minis- ter to dissolve the connection upon a previous six months' notice. The assent of the Association was neither asked nor given. Mr. Glassbrook was a Scotch gentleman of popular talents, but for some cause, not now very well defined, his popularity wancd fast, and before the expiration of his first year's ser- vice the town gave him notice to quit. Mr. Glass- brook did not long survive this event, but died at his residence, where Mr. Revilo Fuller now lives, on the 8th day of October, 1793.

"The Rev. Timothy Cooley was invited to settle here on the 30th day October, 1795, but refused. On the 27th day of March, 1797, Rev. Joseph Warren Crossman, of Taunton, Mass., accepted a call here, and was soon after ordained, and continued a success- ful ministry until his death, on the 13th day of Decem- ber, 1812. Mr. Crossman was a graduate of Brown University, Rhode Island. Of this good man we have not yet ceased to speak. He was a man of great ex- cellence of character. As a preacher, many execlled him; as a pastor, he exhibited a model worthy of all imitation. Prudence was prominently displayed in all his intercourse with this people. The religion he preached was exemplified in himself. He loved his fellow-men, not because they bore the same sec- | tled in Auburn, N. Y."

tarian name with himself, but because they were his fellow-men. He was the minister of a denomination, but he was the friend of all. His piety was not spoiled by prejudice, and he could joyfully recognize a disciple of his Master, as well among the ministers as the people of other denominations.

" The ecclesiastieal concerns of the Congregational parish, in conformity with the general usage of this colony and State, had been managed by the town previous to the year 1804, in which year a Congrega- tional society, distinct from the town, was organized, and succeeded in all the property and interests which the town had managed in its eeclesiastical capacity.

" After the death of Mr. Crossman no minister was settled here until the year 1818.

"On the 5th day of April, 1813, the society, by a divided vote, called Mr. John B. Whittlesey to become its minister. This was an occasion of much subse- quent excitement. The friends of Mr. Whittlescy were numerous and respectable, and his opponents influential and determined. For a time the perma- nent union of the society seemed to be in danger. Mr. Whittlesey at first accepted the call; the opposi- tion to him continued and increased ; he doubted, then declined. His friends persisted, and again he accepted the call, but finally declined altogether. During this strife much exasperated feeling was manifested. But new candidates begat new prefer- ences, so that harmony was again restored, and the so- ciety, by a united vote, on the 26th day of July, 1815, invited the settlement of Mr. Chauncey A. Goodrich, later professor in Yale College, but without sueeess. Again another unsuccessful call was given, and on the 29th day of November, 1816, Mr. Federal Burt, of Southampton, Mass., was solicited to become the minister.

" But in November, 1817, a call was given, under some opposition, to Mr. Lavius Hyde, of Franklin, which was accepted, and Mr. Hyde was ordained on the 18th day of March, 1818. Soon, however, in- creased opposition appeared, and the harmony of the society was once more broken up. Councils were called for consultation and advice, and at length, after a faithful but unhappy service of about four years, Mr. Ilyde was dismissed from his charge.

" The society remained destitute of a settled minis- try until Rev. Leonard E. Lathrop was installed on the 20 day of February, 1825. Mr. Lathrop was a distinguished graduate of Middlebury College, Ver- mont, and had been ordained as a Presbyterian min- ister, and had been settled as the pastor of a Presby- terian parish in Wilmington, N. C. Few clergymen possess to such an extent the confidence of the entire community, as did Mr. Lathrop the respeet of all classes and denominations in the town. The regret at parting was deep and mutual. Mr. Lathrop, at his own solicitation, was dismissed from his society here on the 25th of October, 1836, and was soon after set-

544

HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

He was succeeded by Rev. Dr. Adam Reid, who died Nov. 2, 1878. He was one of the most eloquent and effective clergymen that ever preached in Litch- field County, if not in the State. He came from Scotland, his native country, in 1835; preached one year in Amenia, Dutchess Co., N. Y .; was then in- vited to supply the pulpit of the Congregational Church in Salisbury for one year, which invitation he accepted. At the close of that year, in 1836, he was settled as pastor. His pastorate continued for forty years, when, on the 23d of September, 1877, his res- ignation was reluctantly accepted by a saddened con- gregation. Strenuous efforts were made during the first twenty years of his settlement to induce him to accept calls from churches at Boston, Hartford, and Brooklyn, N. Y. But he had become attached to the people of his charge, and he chose to spend his life in Salisbury. Members of his society furnished him with the means of visiting his native country on three different occasions. The society also continued his salary and supplied his pulpit in his absence. His successor, Rev. Cornelius Ladd Kitchel, was installed on the 20th of December, 1877, and is the present in- cumbent, April, 1881. The church edifiee was erected in the year 1800, and in its exterior presents the same general appearance that it did when first completed. Several interior alterations have been made.

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH.#

Of the early introduction of the Church of Eng- land into Salisbury we have but traditional informa- tion. Settled principally from the neighboring prov . ince of New York by persons of Dutch descent, there is reason to infer that, in common with many of their co-religionists in other localities, the deprivation of the services of the National Church of Holland led them to look kindly upon those of the Established Church of England. At least traces of this leaning towards Episcopacy are found at an early period ; and, doubtless, but for the loss of records and docu- ments, the introduction of the Church of England in this town might be antedated by a number of years. Of this we are certain, that in 1764 the number of church families in Salisbury was sufficient to attract the notice and enlist the pastoral care of the Rev. Thomas Davies, A.M., the faithful and successful missionary of the venerable Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts in Litchfield County. In a letter addressed by this excellent missionary to the secretary of the society under date of this year, after mentioning "Litchfield, Cornwall, and Sharon" as the places "where a missionary will officiate on Sundays," Mr. Davies proceeds, --

" There are a number of towns more in this county which will natu- rally be included in that part of the mission, viz., Goshen, Torrington, Harwiatoa, New Hartford, Norfolk, Salisbury, and Canaan, in which places are a few church people who desire to come under the society's protection."

* Contributed by Rev. William Allea Johnson.

Nor was Mr. Davies content with merely represent- ing this desire on the part of the "few church people" in Salisbury. His "Notitia Parochiales," a fragment of which has been preserved, has the fol- lowing entries, noting the dates of his visitations of the town, the names of those he baptized, and even the texts of the sermons he preached to the little gatherings of Episcopalians who assembled at his coming :

"1764, July 15, Salisbury, 2 Tim., ii. 19; 2 Pster, i. 10. August 19th, Salisbury, Ezek., xviii. 31; Phil., iv. 13. September 23d, Salisbury, Titus, ii. 11, 12; Hebrews, x1. 6. Baptized Sarah Jeffreys, daughter of Ebenezer Jeffreys. October 23d, Salisbury, Hebrews, x1. 6, 7. Baptized Sarah Charity and Hyman, children of Hyman Bozrough; Samuel and Eliza- beth, of Lawrence, and Molley and Jane, of Abraham Knickerbocker; Elisha, Josiah, and Bartholomew, of Elisha Hurlbut; Solomon, uf Wil- liam Whitaey ; Ilanaah and Charity, of Ruluff Dutcher."t

No further entries or sermons or baptisms at Salis- bury are found in these interesting memoranda, and their sudden cessation would appear to strengthen the statement of Judge Church in his "Centennial Address" that

" Before the war of the Revolution there were so many families be- longing to the Church of England in this towa that some efforts were made at organization, but nothing effective."

At the same time the fact that Mr. Davies made four visits, and baptized fourteen individuals within a space of three months, and the allusion to this por- tion of his mission in his correspondence with this ven- erable society, together with Chief Justice Church's later statement in his Litchfield centennial address, that a congregation "worshiping with the Liturgy of the English Church" was "soon found" in Salisbury "in common with other towns where organized par- ishes are known to have existed from time to time," lead us to infer that the Salisbury congregation, if not a parish organization, was undoubtedly of older origin than even Mr. Davies' earliest visit, and that it either grew out of the love of the original settlers for the church, or sprang from the same causes that induced the change of ecclesiastical relation by the Rev. Sol- omon Palmer, of Cornwall, from the "Standing Order" to Episcopacy, full ten years prior to the date of these "Notitia." Besides, the application of the churchmen in Salisbury to the venerable society through Mr. Davis, already referred to, was of itself a sufficient " organization." By this act the Episcopalians in Salisbury became legal parishioners of the Church of England in Litchfield County, and would be recognized as such by him. This applica- tion and recognition freed them from the taxes laid by town-vote for the support of the Congregationalist establishment, and turned their assessments into an- other channel. The examination of the town-records of Salisbury would doubtless afford evidence of the number and wealth of the Episcopal community at this time, and might, if done, add much to our knowl- edge of the strength of Episcopacy in the town. In

+ Mr. Dutcher was buried at New Milford, where his tombstone may be seen.

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SALISBURY.

any event this little band of churchmen did not die out. Though there are no records extant of any min- istrations in Salisbury by the Rev. Mr. Palmer, who was again appointed to the Litehfield mission after the death of Mr. Davies, tradition recalls the occa- sional services of the Rev. James Nichols, both be- fore and subsequent to the war of the Revolution, and the following extract from the register of the Rev. Gideon Bostwick, of Great Barrington, Mass., communicated to the writer by the Rev. A. H. Bailey, D.D., of Sheldon, Vt., are evidences of the life of this little band of churchmen, and gave good promise of a better day to come:

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History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 130

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1532

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1532