History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 50

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 50

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"Voted, Eleanor Kellogg, £9 68. Od. for the youse of his house.

"Voted, Enoch Palmer for boarding ministers aud bouse room for hold- ing meetings sabbath-days, £1 9s.

"Tofed, Elisha Mallory for hoarding Mr. Beach I week, 4 days, 128. "Voted, Capt. Josiah Smith, for boarding Mr. Hitchcock and other ministers 312 weeks and keeping their horses, £1 Gs. 3d.

" l'oted, Ensign Doolittle for going to Torringford to get Mr. Edmund Mills to preach hear, 3s.

"Voted, Samuel Hayden for holding meetings in his house for 28 Sab- baths, #2 2s.

"Voted, That those that board ministers in the summer season, and keep their horses, for the future be ullowed 78. 6d. a week."

The pitching of stakes for a meeting-house having been played out in 1786, it was thought best to defer the building of a meeting-house and to settle a min- ister ; and accordingly, at the annual meeting of the year, it was " voted, by more than two-thirds, that we give Mr. Parsons a call in order to a settlement." It was also voted to give him a salary of forty pounds a year, and the use of two hundred pounds as a settle- ment. A committee was also appointed to purchase a place or settlement for the use of the minister of the value of about two hundred pounds, to be holden as the property of the society.

The church having united with the society in a call to Rev. Stephen Parsons to settle with them in the gospel ministry, his reply was laid before the society on the 12th of March, 1787; whereupon it was voted to settle Mr. Parsons agreeable to his "Ritten Answer," which is as follows, viz .:

" March ye 11th, 1787.

" To the Church and Society of Winsted, wishing grace, mercy, and peace to be multiplied unto you.

" Having taken into consideration the call you gave me to settle with you in the work of the Gospel ministry, as it appears to me a matter of great importance that I am lead by the Spirit of God in the right way to promote the general cause of God in the world, I thought it my duty to give you some idea of my present profession and principles respecting Christian fellowship and connection with churches.

" As to my profession, it is what is called in this State a strict Congre- gationslist, and my connections are with the ministers and churches of that denomination, which appears to me the nearest to the rule given in God's Word of any within the compass of my acquaintance, on which account I can by no means reuounce my connection with them. Yet I could heartily wish the wall of partition between the different denomi- nations was broken down, that all the true friends of Christ were united ia one army, under the glorious captain of our salvation, against the kingdom of Satan, the prince of darkness. Wherefore, I think it my duty to maintain and cultivate liberal sentiments and hold fellowship with all those who appear to practice and love the truth ; and if I was to receive an ordination, I should choose to apply to s number of ministers of different denominations, not exceeding that of my own.

" If the church and society in this place can receive me on these prin- ciples, and there is a prospect of their being united, so that I may be useful in this part of the vineyard of Christ, and at the same time pro- mote the general good of mankind, it appears to be my duty to comply with your call. Otherwise, I have no desire to be received by giving up my principles or renouncing my connections. I close with subscribing myself yours to serve in the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. "STEPHEN PANSONS."

Why this acceptance of the call did not result in the settlement of Mr. Parsons does not appear. It may have been frustrated by a conflict of views be-

tween the candidate and the consociation in regard to church order and fellowship. It only appears on record that the church and society, on the 18th of April, 1787, voted "to continue the call to Mr. Par- sons to settle with us in the Gospel ministry."

The parsonage lot, which, a few years after, became a subject of fatal contention, was purchased at this time, and a tax was laid to provide the first payment therefor, and a parsonage-house was soon after erected thereon, and so far finished as to serve as a place of worship until a meeting-house should be located and erected. It stood east of Barkhamsted line, at the intersection of road from the clock-factory with the old country road, was occupied successively by Rev. Mr. Woodworth, Moses Haydon, Isaac Brown, and others, and was torn down many years ago.

The location of a meeting-house site was again at- tempted this year (1787). A stake was pitched, and the society voted that they "be agreed to build," etc .; but no building was built, and no further steps were taken in that direction until 1791.

The records during this interval show the progress of events and the nature of the business transacted. A better knowledge of the law of stake-pitching and other ecclesiastical matters was provided for by the purchase of a society law-book and a quire of paper, "to keep accompts on." The law-book was ordered to be kept two months at David Anstus', two months at Nathan Wheeler's, two months at Othnicl Brai- nard's, two months at Sergt. Jonas Weed's, two months at Enoch Palmer's, and two months at Zebina Smith's; and other regulations were adopted for a general dif- fusiou of legal knowledge. An application to the Assembly was voted for a land tax, " to better enable us to pay for the parsonage lot, and to build a meet- ing-house;" and then a vote was passed "that we will build a meeting-house if we can be agreed on a place."

In August, 1791, Rev. Ezra Woodworth preached in the society as a candidate, and a sharp negotiation soon followed with reference to his settlement. No little diplomatic skill was found requisite to adjust the terms. Mr. Woodworth wanted an absolute con- veyance to himself of the parsonage lot as a part of the bargain. A large portion of the society, on the other hand, were strenuously opposed to alienating the property to a minister, whose long stay with them would be very precarious. The minister carried his point, and on the 7th of November the society decided to make the conveyance, in accordance with his de- mand, and the compact was completed. On the 15th of December a committee was chosen to proceed with the ordination, and the 18th of January, 1792, was assigned for the ill-omened ceremony.

In the mean time, deep trouble in regard to the hard bargain of Mr. Woodworth with the society was daily becoming more manifest. Six days before the ordina- tion a meeting was called, and a committee appointed " to go and see if Mr. Woodworth will make any alter-

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WINCHESTER.

ations as to bis settlement or not," and another com- mittee was appointed " to appear before the ordaining council, and oppose the opposition, if any there be, against his ordination." Four days after, another meeting was called "to see if the society will make any alterations as to giving our society farm as a set- tlement to Mr. Woodworth," and a committee of six was appointed to converse with him, and agree on some different plan of settlement.

The interview resulted in the following change of terms, committed to writing :

" Whereas, there is a dissatisfaction in some persons' minds in the pre- pesals made to Mr. Woodworth in respect to his settlement, and in erder to form a better union, propose to exchange the terms of the same, as followe, viz. : to except of the ynse of said farm as a parsonage with the bouse and barn, said farm to be appraised by indifferent men when he receives the same, and also when he resigns the same, and the better- mente, if any there be, to be allowed to him er his heirs, and the property to be kept goed, to be as n settlement in the room of receiving the property of seid farm as in the former plan ; the vallew of said former proposals of settlement being made equnl therete, to be determined by the judgment of indifferent mien, te be paid in neat cattle in the spring, or fat cattle in the fall, as agreed on, and the salary to remain as in the former proposele.

" EZRA WOODWOONTH, " NATH. CROWE,

" ELKENA PHELPS.

" WILLIAM MOORE.

" Dated Winsted, January 16, 1792."

This agreement removed all hindrance to the ordi- nation, which took place on the day appointed. Had the agreement been adhered to in good faith, it is more than probable that harmony would have been restored, and that the faithful ministrations of a pastor valuing the souls of his flock more than their fleeces would have strengthened the walls and enlarged the borders of this feeble Zion.

Mr. Woodworth, now invested with the pastoral office, had a field for eminent usefulness. An invio- late adherence to the terms of adjustment effected two days before his ordination was a dictate alike of policy and duty ; but he and his adherents seem to have thought otherwise. A meeting of the society was called, April 6, 1792, which voted to reconsider the prior vote of January 16th, by which the tenure of the society parsonage lot was changed, and that Mr. Woodworth should be put into possession of the same, according to the terms first agreed on.

The society, though hitherto divided as to the loca- tion of their meeting-house, seems to have acted har- moniously in other matters ; and nearly all were of the standing order; but this breach of faith on the part of the minister and his adherents produced irreme- diable discord. Certificates of withdrawal began to be handed in by seceding members, most of whom connected themselves with the infant Methodist and Baptist churches in the vicinity. Endeavors were made to recall members already withdrawn, and to prevent others from withdrawing, by an offer of the minister to relinquish a portion of his salary for the five coming years, but without avail. Secession went on until many of the best and ablest members of the church and society had identified themselves with other denominations.

Notwithstanding this debilitated and distracted condition of the society, the adhering members re- sumed the project of locating and building a meeting- house, as the only means of sustaining their position. They voted, Sept. 14, 1792, not to build at the stake established by law, wherever that might have been, and "to see if the sosiaty will Be willing to Bild a meeting-house at the senter of the land of the sosiaty, allowing those things that ought to be considered to draw from the same its due and proper weight ;" then followed a vote to build on "a certain nole of land at the west end of Mr. Woodworth's land, as near the town line as the ground will admit of;" and then a committee of nine men was appointed to pitch a stake and apply to the Assembly to establish the same. The committee thus appointed reported to an adjourned meeting, October 2d, as follows :

" To the Inhabitants of the Society of Winsted, convened at the usual place by us the 2d duy of October, 1792:

" Il'hereas, we, the subscribers, being appointed n Com. nt the last special meting te fix a Stake en a Sertain Spot of Ground near the town-line, 80-called, on the Rev. Mr. Woodworth's lot, at the most convenient spet to erect a meating-hense for the inhabitants of said eociety near the town- line, in consequence of our appointment, we, ou the above said 211 day of October, repaired to said place, and after taking into the moste mature and Deliberate consideration all those matters and circumstances that ought to be considered according to the best information gained and our ability. we are of opinion that the Sartain spot of ground is situated nenr the helglith of said nole upen said lot, or near the south end to Beach Stake and Stones cast up, to be the most convenient nud commodious place for the same, and linve fix the above said stake and stones, and markod the same en tho particular sput of ground which we have established for sall purpose, the day and date above certifyed by us, the dny nud date above."

This lucid report was, by vote, "excepted," and measures were taken to get the place established by the Assembly. Measures were also taken to ascertain the size and length of timber required, and to see how cheap they conkl get some man to build the house, and a tax of a shilling on the pound was laid.

The beech stake, now planted, marked, reported, and accepted, was destined to stand. A day was fixed for the people to meet for the purpose of finding stone and laying the under-pinning. It was also voted that the people will find cake and cheese by free donation for refreshment at raising the meeting-house.

At this stage of the proceedings another attempt was made to conciliate "those of the society that think themselves agreaved as to giving away the society's farm," ete., by submitting the matters of grievance to arbitration ; but no conclusion was reached. The meeting-house was raised, covered in, and floored in season for the annual meeting, Nov. 25, 1793. It stood on the south border of a grove near the east-and-west road, between the late resi- dence of Harris Brown, deceased, and the old country road. It was fifty feet long, forty feet broad, and two stories high, without tower or steeple, a very unpre- tending and short-lived sanctuary. No traces of it now remain except a large stone horse-block. It was sold and taken down when the present house of worship was first erected. Some of its timbers were

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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

worked into the original building of the East Village Hotel.

The doings of the society have now been brought down to 1793, a period of fifteen years. It took twelve years of controversy to locate a meeting-house, and it might have required a dozen years more had not the intervening contest about the settlement of a minister led to the withdrawal of some twenty mem- bers. The unfinished church opened its doors to a congregation small in numbers, disheartened by long dissensions, and unable to sustain the burdens they had assumed. The records of the following seven years indicate the quiet of exhaustion rather than the prevalence of Christian graces. Taxes were more easily laid than collected. New names from time to time appear on the records, but the accessions brought no element of strength to the society as then consti- tuted and located, for the new-comers were mainly from the Still River valley, now filling up with set- tlers interested in a transfer of the meeting-house to their vicinity.

Patient endurance of the burden of supporting a grasping minister had its limit. At the annual meet- ing in 1797 it was voted "to choose a committee of five to treat with Rev. Mr. Woodworth, to see what measures can be come into on account of the burthen the society is under as to paying his salary, and whether he is willing for a dismission or not." This vote was followed by another in December following, "to choose a committee, with power to agree with Rev. Mr. Woodworth on his dismission, and that said committee allow no more than the society's former contracts." This committee arranged with the pastor that the existing connection should be dissolved at the expiration of the year, and that the society should pay and confirm all contracts with Mr. Woodworth, and what should be found due him to be paid or secured by notes of hand on demand. It was also voted to call a dismissing council on the 9th of Janu- ary, 1798. The result of this council is not recorded, but the dismission took place at or near the date specified. Mr. Woodworth was afterwards settled at Whitestown, near Utica, N. Y., for several years. His subsequent history is unknown.

In January, 1799, Rev. Salmon King, after preach- ing as a candidate for settlement, received a call, which he declined, and in October following a call was voted to Rev. Noah Simons, but was not ac- cepted.

About this time Rev. Aaron Kinney was employed, and continued to supply the pulpit for four or five years.

Hitherto the old North road had been the great thoroughfare of travel for the adjoining region, and a large portion of our inhabitants had settled along its borders, on Wallen's Hill, and northwestward to Colebrook line, and the location of the meeting-house best suited their convenience. But near the close of the century the water-power of the Still River and

Mad River valleys began to attract manufacturers to those secluded and comparatively inaccessible reg- ions. The Green Woods turnpike, a shorter and far more level line of travel than the old road over the hills, was opened in 1799. It at onee diverted all the long travel from the hill road, and opened a direct access to the valleys. Hamlets grew up around the Doolittle and Austin mills. The Wallen's Hill meet- ing-house ceased to be central, and it became apparent that the young and energetic new-comers of the val- leys were soon to assume the lead, and take the direc- tion of society affairs out of the hands of the dispirited and exhausted champions on the old country road.

In July, 1799, a vote was carried for building a new meeting-house by subscription, in one year from the 1st of October then next, where Capt. Charles Wright and others had that day pitched a stake, and on the 7th of October following, Col. Hezekiah Hopkins, of Harwinton, Esq. Elisha Smith, of Torrington, and Maj. Jeremiah Phelps, of Norfolk, were appointed to advise as to the location, and at the annual meeting following it was deeided to build the house where this committee had put a stake and stones, if the County Court should establish the same.

These brief votes embrace all the preparatory meas- ures recorded in reference to building the present house of worship in the East village of Winsted, and the evirtual extinction of the ancient régime on Wal- len's Hill. New men, not identified with old eontro- versies, took the lead, and effected an entire renovation of the society.

The new meeting-house was raised, covered in, and floored in 1800, and in this condition was used for worship until its final completion in 1805. The funds originally subseribed and contributed not being ade- quate for its completion, application was made to the Legislature for a lottery in aid of the enterprise. There were at the same time two other like appli- cations from the societies of Preston, in New London County, and Canterbury, in Windham County, and a joint lottery was granted to the three societies. They were jointly represented in the management of this gambling scheme, and the details were so arranged that the two drawings were allowed by the Winsted society to be made in Preston and Canterbury, in con- sideration of some equivalent advantages conceded to Winsted. As a result of these arrangements, the two eastern societies failed to realize any profit, while Winsted secured about six hundred dollars. With this sum, and additional subscriptions, the interior of the house was finished and the building painted in 1805.

The pulpit of the new meeting-house was first sup- plied by Rev. Aaron Kinney, who had been for a few years previous the minister in charge at the first meeting-house on Wallen's Hill. He continued his labors two or three years, and then removed to Alford, Berkshire Co., Mass. Several candidates were then successively employed for brief periods, the last of

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whom was Rev. James Beach, who received a pastoral call, and was ordained on the 1st day of January, 1806, with a salary of three hundred and fifty dollars a year, and an advance of funds to purchase a dwell- ing, repayable in installments from year to year. His pastorate continued until bis dismission, in 1842.

Mr. Beach was succeeded by Rev. Timothy M. Dwight, who, after supplying the pulpit until Feb- ruary, 1844, received a call for settlement, which he declined; soon after which Rev. Augustus Pomeroy, after supplying the pulpit for two or three months, received a nearly unanimous call to the pastorate, and was presented to the consociation for approval and installation in June following. After a long and searching examination on the question of approval, it was found that there was a majority of one in the united body sustaining his examination ; but on ana- lyzing the vote it appeared that there was a majority of two of the lay delegates sustaining, and a majority of one of the clerical members of the body non-sus- taining, the examination. By one of the rules of the body, in case of non-concurrence of either the clerical or lay delegates,-although there should be a majority of the whole,-in case of a call for the application of this rule, the candidate should be rejected. The call was made by a lay member, and the synodal body re- fused to install the candidate.

Mr. Pomeroy continued to supply the pulpit for about a year after this result, near the end of which the church dissolved its connection with the conso- ciation, and the call for his settlement was renewed on the 19th of November, 1844, but the majority in his favor being essentially reduced, he declined ac- ceptance, and withdrew to another field of labor. We state the facts of this case in the briefest possible form, without note or commentary, save that the grounds of objection to Mr. Pomeroy were doctrinal rather than personal, and that his Christian char- acter was unquestioned.

After Mr. Pomeroy several other candidates filled the pulpit, the most prominent of whom, and the longest incumbent, was Rev. John D. Baldwin, after- wards member of Congress from the Worcester dis- trict, Massachusetts. After his departure, Rev. Ira Pettibone, from York Mills, N. Y., was employed, called, and settled early in 1846. He continued his pastorate until measures were taken for the formation of a second Congregational church in the West vil- lage, when he resigned, and engaged in teaching at Cornwall. His resignation was not occasioned by discontent or dissension in the congregation.

In 1853 fifty-one members of the church, residing in the West village, were regularly dismissed in order to form themselves into a new church. They were immediately thereafter organized ax "The Second Congregational Church of Winsted."

In February, 1854, Rev. Henry A. Russell, a gradu- ate of Yale Theological Seminary, was called and ordained to the pastorate of the First Church, and

continued his ministrations until his resignation and dismissal, Aug. 25, 1858.

On the 30th December, 1859, Rev. James B. Pierson was called; and the call was unanimously renewed in May, 1860, and he was ordained November 14th following. His ministrations continued until his dismission in March, 1862.

Rev. M. McG. Dana, now pastor of the First Con- gregational Church, Norwich, supplied the pulpit from May 11, 1862, until Dec. 25, 1864; and during the intermediate time a call for settlement was tend- ered him, which he declined.

In January, 1867, a call to the pastorate was tend- ered Rev. - Walker, and accepted by him, but was not consummated by installation. He supplied the pulpit until April, 1869. Rev. H. E. Cooley after- wards supplied the pulpit for one year, ending Sept. 1,1870.

On the 15th of October, 1870, Rev. Thomas M. Miles was called, and on the 10th of November following was installed as pastor. He was dismissed in 1879, and was succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. Timothy J. Lee. The present deacons are David Strong and Hubert P. Wetmore.

SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCII.

This church was organized Jan. 18, 1854, with the following members: James R. Alvord, Elliot and Delia (Rockwell) Beardsley, Lyman and Rebecca C. (Mather) Baldwin, John and Jerusha (Rockwell) Boyd, Ellen W. Boyd, Susan M. (Ashley) Birdsall, Desire (Knapp) Camp, Miranda N. (Goodwin) Camp, James and Eliza A. ( Wright) Cone, John and Ilarriet A. (Watson) Cone, Willard and Miranda (Frisbie) Holmes, Betsey (Shepard) Hinsdale, Mary P. Hins- dale, Julia ( Whittlesey ) Holly, Timothy and Ruth L. (Kelly) Hulbert, John and Amanda M. (Alvord) Hinsdale, William F. and Emeline ( Baldwin) Ilatch, Sally (P'ahner) Jaqua, Silas C. and Maria Johnson, Miranda (Hoskins) Loomis, Sarah A. Loomis, Phelps HI. Parsons, Elizur B. and Mary A. (Catlin) Parsons, William S. and Ellen A. (Griswold) Phillips, Lucy S. (Jaqua) Roberts, James and Lavina M. (Hub- bard) Welch, Joel J. and Laura E. ( Walter) Wilcox, Sophia (Goodwin) Westlake, Reuben and Nancy (Wheeler) Baldwin, Mary M. Holmes, Martha E. Beardsley, Clarissa (Treat) Rockwell, Harriet A. (Burt) Rockwell, Elizabeth II. Rockwell, Mary (Beach) Camp, Climena (Foskett) Gaston, Lucy A. (Jennings) Wilkins, Jernsha T. (Bonfoey) Jaqua, Jennison J. and Sarah J. (Spaulding) Whiting, Jud- son Wadsworth.

Until the completion of the church edifice servico was hell in Camp's Hall, a period of three years and eight months. On the 10th of March, 1856, the so- ciety's committee were authorized to purchase a site, and Thomas Watson, John Boyd, and Moses Camp were appointed building committee. The house was dediented Sept. 16, 1857, free from debt.

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HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

In July, 1859, Elliot Beardsley, Thomas Watson, John T. Rockwell, and Samuel L. Andrus were chosen a committee, and instructed to proceed, as soon as possible, to crect a building suitable for a lecture- room. It was raised and covered during the autumn and completed the following year (being furnished by the ladies), at a cost of two thousand dollars.

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History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 50

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