USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > History of New London, Connecticut, From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1852 > Part 46
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The above is from Shaw's manuscript letter-book.1 From the same source we gather a few hints respecting the trade with the Spanish ports.
To Peter Vandervoort, New York, Jan. 29th, 1773.
"Get six hundred pounds insurance on the Schooner Thames from this port to the Mediterranean to take mules and go to the West Indies and return to New London, on account of Gabriel Sistera & Co., at 6 per cent."
To Messrs. Wharton, Philadelphia, Aug 20th, 1773.
" What premium must I pay on a vessel that sails next week for Gibraltar (with flour) and so to try the markets in the West Indies, and return to New London ?"
To Vandervoort, New York, Nov. 9th, 1774.
" What premium must I pay on the Ship America, from this to Gibraltar, or (through) the Streights to continue until they find a suitable market ?"
To Messrs. Lane, Son & Frazier, London, Dec. 29th, 1774.
" I sent out Capt. Deshon to the Mediterranean with cargo, who was to purchase mules and proceed to the West Indies, there sell for Bills and remit
1 In the possession of N. S. Perkins, M. D.
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you, but he was detained so long at Gibraltar that when he arrived in the West Indies, mules would not sell for cash"1 &c.
" John Lamb sailed last week in the Ship America for Gibraltar."
Soon after these dates, the onward sweep of the revolution put an end to all traffic with European ports. -
1 About this period Shaw writes to Vandervoort in New York; "Take no more casks from the distillers for unless the times alter we had better do nothing than im- port molasses." Can the distressing state of the times be more forcibly illustrated --- Mules would not sell in the West Indies, nor molasses in New England !
41*
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Death of Rev. Eliphalet Adams .- His family and church record. - First Society organized .- Meeting-house struck by lightning .- Settlement of Rev. Mather Byles .- The Rogerene visitation .- Mr. Byles becomes an Episcopalian .- Ministry of Rev. Ephraim Woodbridge.
The ministry of Rev. Eliphalet Adams continued forty-three years and eight months. His last Sabbath service was held Sept. 9th, 1753. Immediately after this he was seized with an epidemic disor- der which then prevailed in the town, and expired Oct. 4th. He was interred the next day; the pall-bearers being the two Lyme ministers, (Messrs. Griswold and Johnson,) Rev. Matthew Graves of the Episcopal church, Col. Saltonstall, deacon Timothy Green and Mr. Joshua Hempstead.
" Eliphalet, son of Rev. William Adams of Dedham, Mass. was born March 26th, 1677 ; graduated at Harvard, 1694; ordained in New London Feb. 9th, 1708-9 ; married Dec. 15th, 1709, Lydia daughter of Alexander Pygan.
Children of Rev. Eliphalet and Lydia Adams.
1. William, born Oct. 7th, 1710. 4. Thomas, bap. Jan. 4th, 1715-16.
2. Pygan, " Mar. 27th, 1712. 5. Samuel, born Aug. 11th, 1717.
3. Mary, Mar. 5th, 1713-14. 6. Lydia,
" Feb. 20th, 1720.
" Mrs. Lydia Adams died Sept. 6th, 1749. Rev. Eliphalet Adams married Elizabeth Wass, of Boston, Sept. 21st, 1751. This second wife survived him. The two youngest children of Mr. Adams died in infancy. William, became a minister ; Pygan, a merchant in New London ; Mary, married first, Jonathan Gardiner ; second, John Bulkley of Colchester; Thomas, became a physician, and settled in East Haddam, but died about a month before his father. The descndants of Rev. Eliphalet Adams in the male line are extinct."
Between March 17th, 1708-9 and Sept. 9th, 1753, Mr. Adams recorded the baptism of 1,817 children, and 199 adults. Marriages in the same term, 526. .
Admissions to the church about 430, of whom not more than a dozen were by letter from other churches. William, the oldest son
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of Rev. Eliphalet Adams, graduated at Yale College in 1730, and was two years Tutor in that Institution. He was then licensed to preach and exercised the ministerial office in various parishes for more than sixty years, but was never ordained, and never married. His longest pastoral term, was on Shelter Island. His old age was spent in New London where he died Sept. 25th, 1798, in the eighty- eighth year of his age. It is said that he often congratulated him- self on never having been incumbered with wife or parish.
Mr. Adams was the last minister settled by the town. Until the year 1704 one great ecclesiastical Parish extended from Nahantick Bay to Pawkatuck River. People came from Poquetannock on the north-east and from the borders of Colchester on the north-west, to the meeting at New London.
Groton was made a distinct town in 1704. A second ecclesiasti- cal society was formed in the North Parish in 1722, and Baptist and Episcopal Societies about the year 1726. It was then no longer practicable to transact ecclesiastical business town-wise, and a society was organized which took the denomination of the First Ecclesiasti- cal Society of New London, as belonging to the oldest church. It met Jan. 23d, 1726-7 and chose the following officers :
Christopher Christophers, Moderator.
Christopher Christophers, Jonathan Prentis and John Hempstead, Commit- tee. John Richards, Clerk.
The first acts of this society advert to the different persuasions that had arisen in the town, which made it inconvenient to collect the parish rates, and express a determination to pay the salary of Mr. Adams by free contributions if possible.
In 1738 the subject of a new meeting-house was brought up; and kept under discussion and in suspense for thirteen years. The old edifice, which we have called the Saltonstall meeting-house, was shat- tered and almost riven asunder by a terrific thunder-bolt which de- scended upon it August 31st, 1735. Of this awful event particular accounts may be gathered from tradition, from MSS. and from the New England Weekly Journal.
It was Sunday. The morning was fair, and Mr. Adams had his usual service in the meeting-house. In the afternoon, just as the congregation had collected for the second service, a thunder cloud began to gather and soon spread over the heaven. Suddenly it grew dark and as the minister commenced his first prayer, the house was struck with a bolt that shook its foundations, split up several timbers, rafters and posts, scattering them in fragments on every side, and
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
threw about forty persons senseless on the floor. The terror of the scene cannot be portrayed. The house was filled with the shrieks and cries of those who escaped injury or were but slightly hurt. Many were confused and wounded, and quite a number bereft of sense, but by proper medical aid and great care, all recovered except one. "It pleased God," says Hempstead, " to spare all our lives but Edward Burch a young man, newly for himself, who was struck fatally and died." Among those taken up apparently lifeless were John Prentis, John Plumb, Samuel Green and Jeremiah Chapman, who were in different pews, on the four sides of the house.
The sermon preached by Rev. Eliphalet Adams in reference to this event, the next Lord's Day, Sept. 7th, was printed by Timothy Green.
The meeting-house was left by the thunder-bolt almost a wreck. It was repaired for temporary use, but the society determined to build a new edifice, of larger dimensions and greater elegance, and this might have been soon accomplished had no difficulty arisen in regard to the site. A struggle, or disagreement in regard to position is the usual preliminary to the erection of a church. Was ever a new site chosen without giving rise to controversy and ill feeling ? The society not being able to determine the place where a new house of worship should stand, referred the matter to the legislature ; who appointed Messrs. Samuel Lynde, John Griswold and Christopher Avery, a committee to repair to New London, hear all parties, and determine the point. These persons met accordingly, and July 4th, 1739, set up a stake on the spot selected by them, viz, " at the south- east corner of the meeting-house green, within thirty rods of the old meeting-house." This appears to have been satisfactory; but the Spanish and French war soon broke forth, and the exposed situation of the town rendered it inexpedient to begin at that time a new and costly edifice. The old house was therefore thoroughly repaired, and ten feet added to each end. The vote was "to cover the whole with cedar clap-boards and cedar shingles ; take down the dormends, re- pair the belfry ; make new window frames and glass the house." A new bell was also procured and hung in 1746. The Saltonstall meeting-house which had been built about forty-five years, with this Adams addition, and its new trimmings, lasted for another term of forty-five years.
Several years elapsed before a successor to Mr. Adams was chosen. The pulpit was occasionally supplied by neighboring ministers and by Mr. William Adams, the son of the last incumbent, but oftener
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vacant. We have notices in the Hempstead diary that " Deacon Green carried on"-" many went to the North Parish meeting." " Some went to Lyme"-" No minister provided"-" no minister." "I went to hear the church minister."
Feb. 18th: (1756.) " A society fast on account of our unhappy circum- stances : our want of a settled minister."
Feb. 23d. " A society meeting. Mr. (William) Adams negatived, forty-five against forty-two."
May 16th, " Mr. Burr, 1 Rector of the College in the East Jerseys preached all day."
April 10th, (1757.) "Mr. Mather Boiles from Boston preached. A great assembly, three or four times as big as it hath been of late. He stays at Mr. Shaw's."
Rev. Mather Byles, Jr., the person introduced in the last extract, was a son of Rev. Mather Byles, D. D., of Boston, whose mother was a daughter of Increase Mather. His puritan descent, the repu- tation of his father, and his own brilliant promise secured him popu- larity in New London before he had earned it. His pulpit services proved to be showy and attractive. He was animated, pertinent, fluent, and interesting. He preached as a candidate for three months, and the people were charmed almost to fascination with his eloquence. July 28th, at a very full meeting, a vote entirely unanimous, invited him to settle : salary £100 per annum, and a gratuity of £240 to be paid in four years. He accepted the call without hesitancy or reser- vation, and was ordained Nov. 18th, 1757, being then about twenty- three years of age. The sermon on the occasion was preached by Dr. Byles of Boston, father of the candidate, from II. Timothy iii, 17. The charge was given by the same.
Previous to the ordination of Mr. Byles, the following action took place.
" The brethren of the Church met at the Meeting-House Oct. 17th, 1757 and the question being put whether this church would henceforth admit of the Saybrook Platform as a rule of discipline, it was voted in the negative : nemine contradicente." (Ch. Record.)
May 5th, 1758, Captain Pygan Adams, second son of the former minister, was chosen deacon of the church as successor to Timothy Green, who deceased that day; twenty-eight votes were given, of which he received twenty-five. Hempstead writes, Oct. 22d, "Mr.
1 Father of the celebrated Aaron Burr.
.
1
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Byles preached in a new pulpit and Capt. Adams officiated as deacon for the first time."
A great source of annoyance during the ministry of the Rev. Mather Byles, was the frequent interruption of the Sabbath service by the Quakers. By this term is understood the followers of John Rogers,1 of whom for about thirty years after the death of their founder, very little is known. "We were not molested as at first,' observes one of their writers, and the reason of this is evident they had refrained from molesting the worship of others. In the year 1764 their former spirit revived, and they began to issue forth, as of old on the Sundays to testify against what they called idolatry. And here commenced a series of provocations on one side and of retalia- tory punishment on the other, over which mercy weeps and would fain blot the whole from history, This out-break lasted in its vehe- mence only a year and a half. John Rogers third, grandson of the founder of the sect, has left a minute account of it in the form of a diary, which was printed with the following title.
" A Looking Glass for the Presbyterians of New London ; to see their wor- ship and worshippers weighed in the balance and found wanting. With a true account of what the people called Rogerenes have suffered in that town, from the 10th of June, 1764, to the 13th of December, 1766.
" Who suffered for testifying-
" That it was contrary to Scripture for ministers to preach the Gospel for hire.
" That the first day of the week was no Sabbath by God's appointment-
" That sprinkling infants is no baptism and nothing short of blasphemy, be- ing contrary to the example set us by Christ and his holy apostles-
" That long public prayers in synagogues is forbidden by Christ.
" Also for reproving their Church and minister for their great pride, vain- glory, and friendship of the world which they lived in.
"With a brief discourse in favor of Women's prophecying or teaching in the Church.
" Written by John Rogers of New London.
" Providence, N. E. Printed for the Author. 1767."
From this work extracts will be made and the substance of the narrative given. From no other source can we obtain a statement so full and apparently so accurate, of this remarkable outbreak of enthusiasm and the resistance it encountered.
1 Benedict gives them the designation of "Rogerene Baptists," as coinciding in their mode of baptism with the Baptist denomination. He calls Rogers "the fantas- tic leader of a deluded community." Hist. of Bap. Vol. 2, p. 422.
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
" June 10, 1764. We went to the meeting-house and some of our people went in and sat down ; others tarried without and sat upon the ground some distance from the house. And when Mather Byles their priest began to say over his formal synagogue prayer, forbidden by Christ, Mat. 6-5, some of our women began to knit, others to sew, that it might be made manifest they had no fellowship with such unfruitful works of darkness. But Justice Coit and the congregation were much offended at this testimony and fell upon them in the very time of their prayer and pretended divine worship ; also they fell upon the rest of our people that were sitting quietly in the house, making no differ- ence between them that transgressed this law and them that transgressed it not ; for they drove us all out of the house in a most furious manner ; pushing, strik- ing, kicking, &c., so that the meeting was broken up for some time, and the house in great confusion. Moreover they fell upon our friends that were sitting abroad, striking and kicking both men and women, old and young, driving us all to prison in a furious and tumultuous. manner, stopping our mouths when we went to speak, choaking us," &c.
Very nearly the same scene was acted over every successive Sun_ day during that summer. The Quakers were committed to prison, sometimes twenty, sometimes thirty in a day ; and if after being re- leased the same person was again committed, his term of imprison- ment was doubled. The authorities vainly hoped to weary them out. " But this method," observes John Rogers, " added no peace to them, for some of our friends were always coming out as well as going in, and so always ready to oppose their false worship every first day of the week."
On the 12th of August, the term of commitment by this doubling process had become four months ; when those within determined to prevent if they could, any farther commitments. Finding that a fresh party of their friends were approaching in charge of the offi cers, they barred the doors inside and kept the constables at bay.
" Also, we blew a shell in the prison, in defiance of their idol Sabbath, and to mock their false worship, as Elijah mocked the worshippers of Baal. The authority gave orders to break open the prison door, so they went to work and labored exceeding hard on their Sabbath cutting with axes and heaving at the door with iron bars for a considerable time till they were wearied, but could not break open the door "
An entrance into the prison was finally effected from above, and the fresh prisoners let down into the room. Those who had fasten- ed the doors were kept immured till the next November, when they were taken before the county court and fined 40s. and the cost.
These disturbances continued, with some intervals during the se- verity of winter, until October, 1765, when the magistrates having
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
proved the inefficacy of detentions and imprisonments, came to the unfortunate determination of having recourse to whippings.
Oct. 15, five were publicly whipped ten stripes each, " at beat of drum." Oct. 23, nine were whipped "at beat of drum." Nov. 4, nine more. Nov. 14, Thanksgiving day, a Rogerene was driven from the meeting house by some young men, ducked in muddy wa- ter and then imprisoned.
Nov. 17. " Some of our friends went to town, and an old man aged 73 years cried Repentance ! through the streets and as he went, he stopt at the author- ities houses and warned them of the danger they were in, if they did not repent of their persecuting God's people."
This party was taken up and confined in the school house till evening, when they were taken out by the populace-and now, for the first time in the history of the town, we find mention made of tar as a mode of punishment. This company were tarred, men and women, but not feathered-warm tar was poured upon their heads and suffered to run down on their clothes and their hats were glued on in this condition. They were otherwise treated with great cruel- ty by an infuriated mob.
All these sufferings had no influence whatever in putting an end to their testimony, which the next Sunday was renewed with as much spirit as ever, and so continued from week to week. Feb. 2d, 1766, the disturbance was attended by this aggravating circum- stance-a woman being turned out of meeting for keeping at her needle work during the prayer, struck several blows against the house, to testify in that way against the mode of worship. Feb 16th. Another heart-rending scene of whipping, tarring, and throwing into the river of men and women, took place. The next Sunday they came again and a great uproar was the consequence, the service being for a considerable time interrupted. They were nineteen in number; ten women and nine men. The women were committed to prison, but the men after being kept in the loft of the court-house till evening, were delivered up to an excited populace, cruelly scourged, and treated with every species of indignity and abuse that the victims of a street mob generally undergo. The wo- men were kept in prison, till the next June "leaving near twenty small children motherless at their homes."
We have now reached the climax of offence and punishment. Both sides from this period relented. The testifiers were less boisterous and aggressive, and they were less severely handled. At times they
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would come to the house of worship and commit no other offense than wearing their hats, and this the community at large were disposed to endure, rather than create a disturbance by removing them. But Mr. Byles would never suffer the offensive covering to remain. See- ing the justices at one time unwilling to meddle with the hats and in- clined to let them alone as long as the wearers were quiet, he ex- claimed with great vehemence.
" I solemnly declare before God and this assembly that as long as I officiate in the priest's office in this house, no man shall sit here with his head covered."
" Now our hats," says the Rogerene, " is such an offense to this proud priest that he will neither preach nor pray when they are in sight."
" The hat he cannot endure, pretending it is contrary to 1 Cor. 11, 4. ' Every man praying or prophecying having his head covered, dishonoreth his head.' Now if this priest would but read the next words, he might see it to be as con- trary to scripture for women to pray or prophecy uncovered, yet his meeting is full of young women, with their heads naked, but that gives him no offense at all, it is the fashion so to dress."
Mr. Byles was peculiarly sensitive on the subject of the weekly Rogerene visitation. Other ministers in the neighboring towns took it more quietly, and were therefore less frequently invaded by them. But he would never argue nor hold any conversation with them, or even answer when they addressed him, either in street or pulpit. If they appeared on the steps of the meeting-house, he would pause in the services till they were removed, nor would he come out of his house to go to meeting if any of them were in sight. The conse- quence was that these persevering, cunning people contrived to be ever before him when the hour for worship arrived. Duly as the Sabbath morn returned, they entered the town, and when the bell struck they might be seen, often silent as death, with perchance a quiet smile lurking upon the countenance, two or three sitting by his threshold, a group farther on by the side of the road, waiting to escort him on the way, and others on the door-stone of the meeting- house, or on the horse-block near by, to greet his arrival. Often during his ministry, the people assembled and the bell was kept toll- ing nearly an hour waiting for the preacher, who was himself wait- ing for a justice or constable to come and drive away the Quakers, and allow him to go undisturbed to the service. There is no doubt but that his imperial mode of treating the subject aggravated the evil. It was meat and drink to the Quakers to observe how an eye turned upon him, or simply a hat looming up from a church pew, would an-
42
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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
noy him. They visited the lion on purpose to see him chafe at their presence.
It may not be amiss here expressly to deny the truth of a state- ment made by Rev. S. Peters, in his pretended History of Connect- icut-a statement, which though manifestly absurd, is occasionally quoted and obtains a limited currency. In his description of New London, he remarks :
" The people of this town have the credit of inventing tar and feathers as a proper punishment for heresy. They first inflicted it on Quakers and Ana- baptists."
The invention here ascribed to New London is older than America. It was an ancient English punishment for stealing and other petty felonies, used in the time of the crusades, and probably much earlier. During the Revolution it was in vogue in various parts of New Eng- land as a punishment for tories that were particularly obnoxious to the multitude. The two instances mentioned in this chapter, in which it was inflicted upon the Rogerenes, are the only cases that have been found of its use in New London previous to the Revolu- tion. In neither of these instances were feathers used. It was cer- tainly never inflicted here upon the Baptists. The use of tar seems rather to have been suggested as a mode of forcing the offenders to keep on their hats, since they so obstinately persisted in wearing them. It is much to be regretted that a penalty so revolting was ever copied from the code of the mother country.
The visits of the Rogerenes to the churches gradually became less frequent, and less notice was taken of them when they occurred. If they interrupted the worship, or attempted to work in the house, they were usually removed and kept under ward till the service was over, and then dismissed, without fine or punishment. There was nothing stimulating in this course, and they soon relinquished the itinerant mode of testifying. But as a sect they retain their individ- uality to the present day. They are now to be found in the south- eastern part of Ledyard,1 and though reduced to a few families, vary but little in observances or doctrine, from those inculcated by their founder. In one point of practice, however, there is a remarkable
1 In 1734 a colony from the Rogerenes of New London, consisting of John Culver and his wife, and ten children with their families, making twenty-one in all, removed to New Jersey, and settled on the west side of Schooley's Mountain in Morris county. It is supposed that the Rogerene principles have become extinct among the descendants of this party. See Benedict, vol. 2, p. 425.
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difference : they never interfere with the worship of their neighbors, and are themselves never molested.
In April, 1768, the ministry of the Rev. Mather Byles came to an abrupt termination. Without any previous warning, he assembled a church meeting, declared himself a convert to the ritual of the Church of England, and requested an immediate dismission from them, that he might accept an invitation he had received to become the pastor of an Episcopal church in Boston. This information was received with unqualified amazement, as no rumor or suspicion of any change of sentiment in their minister respecting forms or doc- trines, had crept abroad. Mr. Byles laid before them, what he said comprehended the whole statement of the case. First, a letter from the wardens and vestry of the North Church in Boston, dated March 8th, 1768, stating that they had been informed he was inclined to think favorably of their communion, and if such were the case, they wished to engage him for their minister. Second, the reply of Mr. Byles, in which he says,
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