History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 107

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1317


USA > Connecticut > New London County > History of New London county, Connecticut : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 107


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We find in the town records one or two items of more general interest. In 1707, John Davie, a farmer, and the first town clerk of Groton, who graduated at Harvard in 1781, came into possession of a vast Eng- lish estate and a baronetey. Upon his departure for England he left a recorded gift of six pounds to pur- chase plate for Mr. Woodbridge's church. This gift has come down to us in the form of a handsome silver communion-cup, which is still regularly used in our worship, bearing the following account of itself: "The Gift of Sir John Davie to the Church of Christ at Groton." Three other cups used by the church bear cach the following record: "The Gift of Mr. Elihu Avery to the First Church in Groton, 1748."


It appears from the following item that the fathers of this town loved not only the Sabbath, public wor- ship, and good order, but also their own children. April 15, 1708, " Voted, that Edward Spisar take charge of the youth on the Lord's day, that they may not play."


The second meeting-house, located about three- fourths of a mile east of the present house of worship, was erected in about 1765. This church was occupied until 1833, when the third building was erected and dedicated. This was subsequently remodeled, en- larged, and beautified, and is the house of worship of to-day.


The following is a list of the pastors of the church from its organization : Ephraim Woodbridge, 1704-24; John Owen, 1727-53; Daniel Kirkland, 1754-57;


1 Compiled from historical discourse delivered by Rev. J. A. Woodhull.


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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.


Jonathan Barber, 1757-68; Aaron Kinne, 1769-98; Timothy Tuttle, 1810-34; Jared R. Avery, 1839-51; George H. Woodward, 1851-56 ; Silvester Hine, 1856, remained five years as a supply ; Samuel W. Brown, 1864-66; Joseph E. Swallow, 1867-70; James B. Tyler, 1871-72 (died) ; J. A. Woodhull, 1872-81; A. J. McLeod, 1881, present incumbent.


Seabury Memorial Church.1-The Rev. R. M. Duff, of St. James' Church, New London, held the first services which led to the establishment of the mission in Groton on Wednesday evenings in Lent in the spring of 1874. In the following June a regular Sunday-afternoon service was begun, and continued without interruption until the appointment of the Rev. Millidge Walker as missionary. Mr. Walker took charge on the first Sunday in October of the same year. By his energy and perseverance sufficient funds were soon obtained to justify the board of di- rectors of the missionary society of the diocese in appointing a committee to superintend the building of a suitable church. Plans, therefore, were drawn by Mr. Walker and adopted by the committee, and ground was broken on the 20th day of July, 1875. On Christmas-day of that year the first service was held in the church, although in an unfinished state, where the congregation continued to worship till the following Whit-Sunday, June 4, 1876. They then re- turned for a brief period to Mechanics' Hall (which they had previously used for divine service), in order that the church might be finished. It was soon com- pleted, and on Sunday, Aug. 13, 1876, was again occupied by the congregation, the Rev. J. Ferdinand Taunt officiating. On Sunday, Sept. 3, 1876, Mr. Taunt assumed charge of the mission, having been appointed missionary by the bishop of the diocese, and remained till March 5, 1878.


During his administration the church was painted, the lot graded, and other improvements effected at considerable cost. He was succeeded by the present rector, Rev. II. T. Gregory.


The church is a memorial to Bishop Scabury, the first bishop of the American church and of this diocesc.


First Baptist Church.2-In what year the first Baptist believers were found in Groton is not easy to determine, but the first Baptist Church had its origin in 1705, a few months before the incorporation and organization of the town, and less than two years after the Legislature gave permission to the inhabitants of New London residing on the cast side of the Thames to form themselves into church estate of the standing order.


The few scattered Baptists in the vicinity in 1704, especially in the eastern part of the town, asked per- mission from the secular power to hold meetings, but receiving no response, they sent a respectful and fra- ternal request to a young Baptist minister of reputa-


tion in Rhode Island, Valentine Wightman by name, to come and be their leader. 'He accepted, and at once came. The young pastor was presented with a house and twenty acres of land, which became for several generations following the home of the Wight- mans. It was the gift of William Stark, the leading Baptist layman, who was made the first deacon of the church at the time when the First Baptist Church was constituted and Elder Wightman was ordained, or soon after. This parsonage, located on Stark's Hill, as it was formerly called, was about half a mile west of the church edifice that was afterwards built. As the original petition to the General Court for a settlement as a dissenting congregation in 1704 was signed by "six brethren and six sisters," it is not without reason that we conjecture that the First Bap- tist Church of Groton consisted of not less than twelve communicants, possibly a few more, at the time it was founded. The carly records have been lost, and our data at this period are fragmentary.


This little church was indeed the first organized Baptist Church in Connecticut. It preceded also the advent of the denomination in the colony of New York, for Mr. Wightman himself was the founder of the first church in New York of the same faith.


The biography of Mr. Wightman discloses a very symmetrical, consistent Christian character, and shows him to have been a man of more than ordinary talent, of sound learning, great zeal and piety, well balanced by discretion, a good debater, and all calculated to make him a suitable leader and pioneer in the main- tenance and propagation of the faith and principles lie represented. He was, morcover, a descendant of the Rev. Edward Wighitman, the last Protestant min- ister that was burnt for his faith in Christ under the "Bloody Mary," a circumstance in the history and tra- ditions of the family which perhaps made all the de- scendants of the martyr of a similar type of piety, heroism, and independence. Mr. Wightman, how- ever, was not a factions controversialist, but rather a defender of his faith, and a firm and discreet leader when assailed. He had no controversy with the standing order and the ministers of his own or ad- joining towns, for they loved and respected him for his efforts to improve and ameliorate society, his picty and abilities, and he ever labored side by side in ac- cord with Woodbridge and Owen, the first two minis- ters of the standing order in Groton.


Indeed, such was Owen's liberality towards his Baptist neighbors that he incurred considerable criticism, and he was publicly condemned for his sympathy with the great preacher Whitefield, but he was as greatly honored by those who knew him best.


The Rev. Valentine Wightman's public debate with the Rev. John Buckley, of Colchester, on the subject of baptism is a matter of record, each side publishing his account of it; and whatever may have been the merits of the question, all agree that Mr. Wightman showed a learning and ability and an ad-


1 By Rev II. T. Gregory.


2 By W. II. Potter.


439


GROTON.


mirable temper that did him credit as a public teacher. The first meeting-house of the Baptists was built in 1718, and was located on Stark's land in the valley, half a mile east of Stark's Hill and the par- sonage. It was a plain square structure, of small dimensions, without paint or embellishments of any kind, and never had fireplace or stoves to warm it. But it had a history and memories of gospel sermons and worship which greatly endeared it to the two or three generations who successively occupied it. The Rev. Valentine Wightman, the first pastor, died peacefully, June 9, 1747, at the age of sixty-six.


The Rev. Daniel Fisk, of Rhode Island, was called to succeed their first pastor. He seemed to have had factions in the church, which he was ill adapted to meet.


The awakening from Whitefield and Davenport's preaching not only divided the Standing Order but the Baptists themselves into strict-communion and mixed-communion Baptists.


Mr. Fisk resisted the tide in favor of the Separatists, which carried with it the majority of his church, and which allowed them to partake of the elements to- gether. To reconcile them council after council was called to no effect. At length a separation took place, and the church was reorganized about 1754. Mr. Fisk clung to the remnant of the old organization, and went out of sight with those that adhered to him. The records up to the date of this reorganization are found only in fragments, and the historian is puzzled to authenticate his facts. Elder David Sprague, of Exeter, Elder Stephen Gorton, of New London, and Elder James Brown were prominent in this painful schism. During the debate the independency of each particular church of any convention, synod, or association was clearly brought out and agreed to by all parties as fundamental to all churches composed of baptized believers.


From this time Timothy Wightman, son of the first pastor, became the leader of the church, first as a layman, being first selected as a deacon, and then as a minister and pastor.


He submitted to the unanimous judgment of his brethren, without asserting his own choice, in being called into the ministry and receiving ordinations, modestly claiming that he did not feel competent to be their leader. With him were associated eleven brethren and seventeen sisters, their covenant dating June 28, 1754. Elder David Sprague, of Exeter, R. I., was their chief counselor. Their persecuted brethren of the Separate Congregational order had their hearty sympathies at this period of their his- tory, and were allowed all the privileges of Baptist members, so far as the records appear, which from this time to the present have been fully preserved ; and it was not until the unhappy season of persecu- tion had passed and the new light of evangelical truth, as preached by Whitefield and his co-laborers, had been recognized by the standing order and had be-


gun to give new spiritual life to the Congregational Church that the First Baptist Church of Groton and the leading church of that faith in the State, as well as the first-born, permitted the door to be closed against their New Light brethren, usually called Separates.


They again restricted the communion-table to baptized believers about A.D. 1765, and, as they had under Valentine Wightman, so ever after they have built on the faith that none but baptized believers composed the visible church, and that immersion only was baptism, holding the Christian faith in common with the great body of evangelical churches of various denominations. But in consequence of their return to strict Baptist faith and practice, the Second Baptist Church, sometimes called the Fort Hill Baptist Church, arose, whose history will form a separate sketch.


Rev. Timothy Wightman was ordained as a minister and pastor of the church May 20, A.D. 1756. Rev. Messrs. Joshua Morse, Abel Palmer, Davis, Wells, Bab- cock, Whipple, and Hammond took part in the ordain- ing council. Deacon Peter Avery, of the church, made the closing prayer. The historian and biographer Sprague says of Elder Timothy, "He was a man of medium stature, light and erect frame, black hair and eyes, affable manners, serious deportment, and manly bearing. He was wellnigh a model man, easy, serious, kind, ingenuous, earnest. Being once called before the County Court as a witness, and the opposing lawyer attempting to criticise him by cross-question- ing, the judge remarked, reprovingly, "It is not ne- cessary to criticise that man, his veracity and candor are evident in his appearance." As a preacher, Timothy was much like his father, plain, fearless, faithful. The period of his ministry reached through the two great upheavals in the history of our country, viz. : the separation, induced by the great awakening, that culminated in the establishment of evangelical doctrines, and the Revolution that inaugurated our national independence.


His church furnished its quota of patriotic blood in defense of liberty, and Timothy Wightman tanght his people to honor the right. (See Rev. F. Deni- son's sketch of the Wightmans in Sprague's An- nals.)


The Rogerine Quakers arose during Timothy Wight- man's pastorate, and gave annoyance to orderly Christian worshipers by not only denouncing the Sabbath but interrupting public worship; but the good pastor was a man for the times. With the flash of the martyr's eye whose blood he inherited he united the patience and perseverance of the saints in which he devoutly believed. His firm but discreet course not only compelled these erratics to abandon their unlawful and unchristian proceedings, but taught them a wholesome lesson of good order and Christian forbearance. None are at this day more peaceful and quiet in their deportment than modern Rogerines. The notable revivals of 1764, 1765, 1786, and 1787


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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.


illustrated the spirituality of his pastoral and pulpit teachings. Pastor Wightman died Nov. 14, A.D. 1796, aged seventy-seven, and in the forty-third year of his ministry.


Then followed an interval of four years in which the church was without a pastor, but on the 13th of August, A.D. 1800, Rev. John Gano Wightman was ordained to take the place of his father. Mr. Wight- man was baptized at the age of thirty-one, but he had received a classical education at Plainfield Academy, and after his conversion his mind gradu- ally yielded to his impressions of duty and the call of the church to fill the pulpit of his fathers. He was a logical, fluent speaker, a thorough scripturalist, and a successful minister of Christ. Not less than ten seasons of revival were experienced during his pastorate, greatly strengthening the church and re- pairing the annual loss of membership occasioned by death and removals to the cities and villages of adjoining towns and the far West, which became al- most a panic in our country churches.


He died in 1841, aged nearly seventy-five years, after a ministry of forty-one years. During Elder J. G. Wightman's pastorate, in 1831, the Third Baptist Church of Groton was organized as a branch of this church.


After the death of Mr. Wightman the church was served occasionally by Rev. L. W. Wheeler, Rev. Earl P. Salisbury (temporary pastor), and Revs. Erastus Denison, of Mystic River, and Mr. B. F. Hedden, of Mystic Bridge. The latter, a licentiate of the Fort, Ilill Church, was called to preach to this church, and was ordained April 21, A.D. 1842.


During his short pastorate a revival was enjoyed, Elder John Green aiding as an evangelist. On the 22d of February, 1843, the church voted " to remove their location to the Head of Mystie whenever a suit- able house of worship shall have been erected at that place." In February following a branch at Ledyard was constituted an independent church. He resigned April 1, 1843, and was succeeded by the Rev. Charles C. Lewis, who remained with the church until April 1, 1844. The new meeting-house in the village of Mystic was dedicated Feb. 22, 1844. Rev. Cyrus Miner ac- cepted their call, and entered upon his labors soon after; but in April, 1845, Mr. William C. Walker, at the call of the church, entered upon his pastorate, and was ordained at a session of the Association with the church, June 18, 1845. His pastorate of five years was marked with a good degree of harmony and pros- perity. Rev. James Squier succeeded as pastor for a single year, when he was in turn succeeded by the Rev. Erastus Miner, and in him they were not united. Their differences grew to be so great that by advice of a council the church was for a time divided into two bands. They were happily reunited under Rev. J. E. Wood, who did a good work and resigned Nov. 1, 1860.


They then called Rev. Edgar A. Hewitt as his suc-


cessor. Upon the resignation of Mr. Hewitt, the Rev. Palmer G. Wightman, grandson of the Rev. J. G. Wightman, accepted a call to the pastorate, and en- tered upon his labors June 4, 1864, and for twelve years remained in the field where his ancestors had sown and reaped. He was educated at the Connecti- ent Literary Institution, and his ministry was accept- able, as his labors were indefatigable. Rev. Eli Dew- hurst, his successor, entered upon his duties as pastor May 28, 1876, and closed his pastorate Aug. 1, 1881. Since that time the church has settled Rev. - Rich- ardson. They have lost many valuable members by death and removal, and especially successive deacons of the church. The church, too, has been fruitful in the number of young men whom it has cherished and sent forth into the ministry. Since the death of that beloved brother, Deacon Allan Stevenson, in October, 1881, the officers stand as follows : Deacons, James C. Lamb and Nehemiah M. Gallup; Standing Com- mittee, Simeon Gallup, Nehemiah M. Gallup, and Collins Chipman ; Clerk, Samuel S. Lamb. Present number of communicants, two hundred and fifty.


Union Baptist Church of Mystic River.1-This church being composed of two co-ordinate living and flourishing Baptist Churches, and united by common consent and a unanimous vote, August, A.D. 1861, it is necessary to briefly sketch the origin and progress of each of these constituent independent organiza- tions before proceeding further with this sketch.


1. " The Second Baptist Church" of Groton, com- monly known as the "Fort Hill Church." This body arose A.D. 1765, under the leadership of the Rev. Silas Burrows, who was accounted its founder. It had its origin about the time or at the close of a great revival among the Baptists and Separatists from the Congregational order, called New Lights, and was occasioned by the sympathy and fraternity which the Baptists extended to a New Light Church, then under the pastoral care of the Rev. Park Avery, located at Poquonoe. That fraternity and fellowship continued until near the close of the century, when this New Light Congregational body became mostly absorbed in the communion of the Fort Hill Baptist Church, the pastor of the New Lights having passed away in a good old age. This Fort Hill Church, under Elder Silas Burrows, before the year 1797 returned to the strict-communion sentiments from which they had dissented when they separated from the Wightman Church ; but though now of one faith, they found the field wide enough for both organizations, and both churches worked harmoniously together, heartily co- operating in the consolidation of the two Baptist Associations to which they severally belonged. The Stonington Association and the Groton Union Con- ference became one, and held their first meeting after the consolidation at Fort Hill, on the anniversary of the Conference, in June, 1818. The history of the church


1 By W. II. Potter.


441


GROTON.


during the ministry of its first pastor is not without interest. Unfortunately the records for the first forty years, except from fragments, are missing. Its lead- ing members, such as Deacons Simeon Smith, Rufus Smith, and Jabez Smith, and Elisha Packer, Youngs Avery, Caleb Avery, Nathan Daboll, Sr., and others, were well known, not only in the church, but as offi- cers of the town, holding many of its places of honor and trust. The pastor himself was the fifth in descent from Robert Burrows, one of the three earliest settlers of the town.


The meetings of the Fort Hill Church were held mostly for many years in the dwelling-house of the pastor. "Here the power of the Lord came down," says a well-known chronicler, the Rev. F. Denison, A.M., "souls were converted, and saints strength- ened. The hill on which Sassacus maintained his royal fort became a strong fortress in defense of the truth. Coming up as a New Light Baptist Church, it believed in revivals, and enjoyed frequent times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord."


Pastor Burrows took a deep interest in the struggle for national independence. Two of his brothers, Elisha and Nathan, and a large number of his rela- tives were in Fort Griswold on the memorable day of the massacre. He was early on the ground the next morning, with his anxious mother, to look out for the brothers and succor the wounded. His house was thrown open as a hospital to these wounded, and every attention given, while he also visited and com- forted the numerous families of the mourners, for the Angel of Death had come nigh to nearly all the house- holds in his vicinity. His two brothers had been carried into captivity by the enemy, and had at length returned from the prison-ship broken in health, only to communicate the smallpox to the family ; where- upon he again opened his house for all to come and be inoculated, and but one of the scores there treated died.


The church at length, after the war, built a plain one-story meeting-house on the summit of Fort Hill, which was afterwards, early in the present century, raised to two stories and a gallery added. It con- tinued to be their place of worship until a separate house of worship was constructed at Noank, and a church there established. This left the centre of the membership at Mystic River. Afterwards the Fort Hill edifice was sold to the town of Groton for a town-house, for which purpose it is still used (1881). Elder Silas took a deep interest in "soul liberty," as they called freedom to worship God without the in- terference of the State in those days, and he, with the Wightmans, was one of the actors in framing, circu- lating, and urging the Baptist Petition, so called, for the complete equality of all men before the law in respect to religious liberty and privileges. He lived to see the principle triumph and incorporated into the State constitution.


The manner in which he dealt with Jemima Wil-


kinson, self-styled "The Friend," who claimed in- spiration and infallibility, was characteristic of the man. Her followers, mostly from another State, claimed that Elder Burrows had denounced her with- out a hearing. He then publicly requested her to come to his house and hold a meeting and to set forth her claims, which had been so plausibly put as to deceive some of the best men in the town. He listened patiently to her extravagant pretensions till she had finished, and then calmly but effectually refuted her blasphemies and showed up the absurdity and fanati- cism of herself and followers, until she would hear it no longer, but angrily interrupted him and left. This broke up her haunts in Groton.


The great revival of 1809 brought in large acces- sions to the Fort Hill Church. It continued eighteen months, and during its continuance he was greatly assisted by his son, Rev. Roswell Burrows. The father and the son during the year and a half of its prevalence baptized one hundred and thirty persons. The work continued and spread into the town of Preston, where as a result of it the First Baptist Church in that town was established, which began as a branch of the Fort Hill Church.


The strong point of Elder Silas Burrows' power was in prayer, though he was a good scripturalist and a persuasive preacher. In person he was tall and com- manding, with a mild blue eye and stentorian voice that was heard more than a mile when he was speak- ing in the open air. He fell asleep on his birthday, A.D. 1818, aged seventy-seven years.


His son, the Rev. Roswell Burrows, was born at Fort Hill, Groton, Sept. 2, 1786. He was an apt scholar, and received a good English education. He became a merchant's clerk at Guilford, but coming home on a visit, during a season of awakening, he was converted and entered upon a religious life. He became, however, a prosperous merchant at Hopkin- ton, R. I., but the conviction grew upon him that he should become a preacher of righteousness. It was not until he was thirty-three years of age that he yielded to the call and commenced the public improvement of his gift. He was ordained in 1806.


His associate pastorate with his father, and his pas- torship alone after 1818, was during all these years eminently prosperous. The church continued to grow. In a letter which he wrote to the editor of the Chris- tian Secretary, some time before his decease, he says, "Since December, 1809, the Lord has visited this church with seven special revivals, in which time I have had the unspeakable pleasure of formally intro- ducing into the church 635 members." About 90 were added during the year in which this letter was written, and the pastor lived to enjoy another season of refreshing in 1835. He died May 28, 1837, aged sixty-nine years.


Before the close of Mr. Burrows' pastorate, and at his request, the Rev. Erastus Denison supplied the church one year (1830), during the pastor's absence


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HISTORY OF NEW LONDON COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.




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