USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Norfolk > History of Norfolk, Litchfield County, Connecticut, 1744-1900 > Part 15
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Your obedient friend and Pastor,
Norfolk, Jany. 11, 1867."
JOSEPH ELDRIDGE.
At a special meeting of the Society Sept. 9, 1874, the sub- ject for the consideration of the meeting was to take action upon the resignation of his pastoral charge by Rev. Dr. Joseph Eldridge.
"Voted to appoint a Committee of five to confer with Rev. Dr. Joseph Eldridge, to express the regret of the Society for the action he had taken in resigning his pastoral charge and that he be requested to withdraw the same. Committee consisted of F. E. Porter, Hiram P. Lawrence, James Humphrey, S. D. Northway, John A. Shepard.
MRS. Z. P. G. BANISTER.
REV. RALPH EMERSON, D.D.
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Special meeting Sept. 20, 1874. Committee appointed to confer with Rev. Dr. Joseph Eldridge reported that he refused to withdraw his resignation as pastor of this church and people. The following preamble and resolu- tion were presented and unanimously adopted:
Whereas our pastor, Rev. Dr. Joseph Eldridge, has ten- dered the resignation of his pastoral charge and does not consent to withdraw it and continue to occupy the posi- tion he has so long and so usefully filled-Therefore, Re- solved that we the Congregational Church and Society of Norfolk, remembering the many years of arduous and faithful labor so cheerfully done and so abundantly blessed of God to the welfare of this people, and by which he has become very dear to us all, as pastor, teacher and friend, regretfully accept his resignation and consent to the sev- erance of the ties which have so long and so happily bound us together as pastor and people; feeling and knowing that the formal dissolution of the bond will not abate the love we have toward him as a faithful Guide and Counsellor, nor lessen his interest in us as a church and people." (Some record of Dr. Eldridge's dismission, his farewell sermon, etc., will be found elsewhere.)
XII.
SKETCH OF REV. RALPH EMERSON, D. D.
(FROM A DISCOURSE DELIVERED AT HIS FUNERAL MAY 22, 1863, AT ROCKFORD, ILL.)
BY PROF. JOSEPH HAVEN, D.D.
"Ralph Emerson was born in Hollis, New Hampshire, August 18, 1787. His ancestry for several generations was of note for piety and worth. His grandfather was the first minister of the place. His father was deacon of the church, a magistrate and leading citizen in Hollis, a man of ac- tivity, energy and decision of character, of commanding
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influence and forward in every good work. He was an officer in the Revolutionary army. His mother died while he was yet young, and in some reminiscences of his early life, he speaks of her as a woman of much refinement and delicacy of taste. The characteristic traits of either parent may readily be traced in the son. As the lad grew up, his activity and energy rendered him of efficient service to his father, and as two older brothers had already re- ceived a liberal education, and it was the intention of the father to educate also the younger brother, it was felt that Ralph could not be spared from the farm. To the simple duties and activities of the farm life accordingly, he devoted himself with earnestness and delight, and thus continued until the age of nineteen, acquiring in those years a fondness for agricultural pursuits which never forsook him, and a strength of constitution and manliness of character invaluable in after life.
The desire for a college education, however, increased with his advancing years. The restless thirst for knowl- edge burned within him, and when at the age of nineteen he received his parents' permission to prepare for college, he entered upon the studies of the preparatory course with an earnestness and ardor which overcame all obstacles, and the next year, 1807, at the age of twenty, he entered Yale College, then under the presidency of Dr. Dwight. During his freshman year in College, while at home in the winter vacation he made a profession of religion, connect- ing himself with the church in his native place, February, 1808.
In the class Emerson took foremost rank as a scholar and as a man of influence. He graduated in 1811 with the highest honors of his class. He notices this event in the record of college life as follows: 'May 8. Our appoint- ments came out this morning. I find my name at the head of them. This is what I little expected, though I confess it is what I have pretty strongly desired, but it is nothing that can give me lasting enjoyment.' On leaving college Mr. Emerson entered the Theological Seminary at Andover,
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where after the three years' course he graduated in 1814. After preaching for a little time in Portsmouth, N. H., he went as tutor to New Haven, where he remained for two years, and then settled in the ministry in Norfolk, Ct., in June, 1816."
Rev. Mr. Robbins, the first minister here, died in Octo- ber, 1813, and several candidates for the vacant place oc- cupied the pulpit for different periods until June, 1815, when the church unanimously called Mr. Emerson, and waited for a year for him, to carry out an engagement as Tutor in Yale College, before he was ordained and installed.
FROM THE CHURCH RECORD.
June 23, 1815. Voted unanimously to give Mr. Ralph Emerson a call to settle with us in the work of the gospel ministry, and to take the pastoral charge of the church. "Voted that Eleazer Holt, Esq., Dea. David Frisbie and Mr. Joseph Jones be a committee to communicate the pre- ceding vote to Mr. Emerson, and to take such measures as may be thought necessary to carry the same into effect.
March 5, 1816. At a meeting of the church warned for the special purpose of giving Mr. Ralph Emerson a call, Dea. David Frisbie was chosen moderator, the vote above, taken June 23, 1815, was again passed unanimously.
Mr. Emerson afterward recorded the following: "(Note. It may not be improper for me to explain the reason of the repetition of the above vote. At the time of receiving my call I was acting as a tutor in Yale College and could not be released from my engagement the previous year. I was here only in two or three vacations, and as much time had elapsed and the other ministers had in the mean- time been employed, it was thought advisable to see if the church still desired me to accept their former call. R. E.)"
From Church Record:
June 12, 1816. "I was ordained as pastor of this church by the North Consociation of Litchfield County. The ser- mon on the occasion was preached by Rev. Lyman Beecher of Litchfield; consecrating prayer by Rev. Alexander Gil-
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lett of Torrington; right hand of fellowship by Rev. Chaun- cey Lee of Colebrook; charge by Rev. Peter Starr of War- ren; address to the people by Rev. James Beach of Winsted. It was a most solemn day to me, and may God give me grace to fulfill my vows and to meet the reasonable expec- tations of this church and people and to glorify his holy name."
RALPH EMERSON.
Although more than three score and ten years have passed since Mr. Emerson's ministry in this town closed, his name, his memory, and his work still live, and a few remain who remember him distinctly, and love to recall his ministry here.
We cannot do better than to quote again from Dr. Haven's address: "Few ministers probably have ever been more successful in it. No one perhaps ever had more fully the confidence, esteem and affection of his people. Scat- tered through the land were very many who in early life enjoyed his ministry and grew up under it, and who bore testimony to the high regard in which Mr. Emerson was held, not only by his own people, but widely through the churches of Connecticut. As a pastor he greatly excelled. To none of his flock was he a stranger. At the bedside of the sick he was ever a welcome visitor, and if anyone was in sorrow or trouble, he was sure to find in him the counsel and wisdom that were needed. It was his custom to visit much among his people, devoting certain days to given neighborhoods, and in connection with these pastoral visits neighborhood meetings were held in remote parts of the town. As a preacher his pulpit discourses were plain, earnest, forcible presentations of the great essential truths of the Gospel; practical rather than imaginative, yet by no means lacking in rhetorical power. . . . No subject connected with morality or religion escaped his earnest attention. He was one of the first to embark in the tem- perance cause, and to advocate the principle of total ab- stinence, both in public and private. The Sabbath move- ment received his early attention, and by his individual in-
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fluence and efforts, at the cost of personal popularity, he succeeded in so far enforcing the laws as to prevent the running of the stage on the Sabbath on the great route from Hartford to Albany."
In a letter written to one of his former parishioners, he thus speaks of his ministry in Norfolk: "The years I spent in Norfolk I regard in the retrospect as among the most eventful, laborious, joyful, and yet trying of my whole life. I still think of them frequently, but not so often as before the departure of so large a proportion of my respected and endeared friends there and in the neighboring towns. .. No doubt the forests, the orchards, the gardens, the mead- ows smile as gaily in their vernal attire, and the scenery is just as diversified and romantic as when I first beheld it in those stern winter days of my earliest visit, when the rocks and hills, and hemlock woods, and narrow passes, and that strange, conical mountain were all so new to me."
There could be no stronger evidence of Mr. Emerson's efficiency and success as a pastor and preacher here, and of the hold which he had upon the hearts and minds of the people, than the fact that during the 13 years of his min- istry 257 were added to the church, and at the close of his labors in this town the church had 350 members.
In the early summer of 1828 he was invited to the Presi- dency of Western Reserve College at Hudson, Ohio, but the church and the entire community most earnestly and vigorously opposed his leaving, and even after an officer of the College was sent here to urge the people to consent to his acceptance of the call, it was to no purpose.
Mr. Emerson continued for another year most faithfully and cheerfully in his work.
In the fall of 1829 he received an appointment to the Professorship of Ecclesiastical History and Pastoral The- ology in Andover Theological Seminary, which he felt it his duty to accept. It was with the greatest difficulty that this people could be persuaded to consent to his removal.
The following resignation of Dr. Emerson is copied from the original, in his own hand writing, found among Dr. Eldridge's manuscripts :
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"To the beloved church and people of my charge :-
"You are all acquainted with the fact that I have received an in- vitation to become one of the teachers in the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass. After prayerful deliberation, and seeking the advice of candid and judicious men, I have thought it my duty to accept the appointment, providing my present relation to you shall be dissolved. And while my personal attachments remain as ex- pressed on a similar occasion a year ago, I now feel it incumbent on me to request your consent and co-operation in calling a council for the purpose of judging on the question, and of dissolving this relation if they shall think such a measure conducive to the general interests of Christ's kingdom."
RALPH EMERSON.
"Norfolk, October 18, 1829."
So strongly were they attached to him, and so earnest and decided their opposition to his dismissal, that the Conso- ciation to whom the matter was at first referred did not feel at liberty to act in opposition to the remonstrances of the people; and it was not till the trustees at Andover had renewed their call and sent one of their number, Hon. W. B. Banister, to urge its acceptance, and after a calm and careful but decided statement of his own wish, and of the reasons which made the step imperative to his own mind had been presented from the pulpit to the people, that they consented to the measures necessary to his dis- missal." Roys, Norfolk's Historian, a contemporary of Dr. Emerson, devotes one tenth of his entire history to giving a detailed account of the efforts made to retain him in this pastorate, and some of his old warm friends never felt quite reconciled to his removal, and would sometimes say, "Mr. Emerson ought to have staid here."
During his pastorate in Norfolk he married Miss Rock- well, of Colebrook.
"Having filled with honor and usefulness the Professor- ship in the Seminary at Andover for twenty-five years, he resigned it in 1854, and for five years resided in Newbury- port, Mass, passing his time most pleasantly in the retire- ment of the family, busied with literary pursuits, inter- spersed with frequent labors in the pulpit, and not unfre-
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quently writing upon the current themes of the day. . . . In 1859 Dr. Emerson removed with his family to Rock- ford, Ill., where he continued to live and where he closed his days May 20, 1863.
Several of his children had already preceded him to the Western States, and he came that he might be near and with them. Here in the peaceful retirement of a home rendered happy by the society of loved ones, amid books and friends, honored by all, loving and loved by all, he passed the quiet evening of his days, maintaining that 'otium cum dignitate,' to which the ancient Roman aspired; and above all, sustained and soothed by that Christian faith which, better than all philosophy and all learning, can throw a mellow radiance over the pathway of declin- ing age.
"With what interest he entered into all measures looking to the public good, and especially to the progress of the Redeemer's kingdom, and with what intensity of feeling he watched the rise and progress of the great struggle that is now (1863) convulsing our land. You remember his prayers for his country and her defenders on the Sabbath and on all public occasions. With what earnestness and burning eloquence he addressed the first company of vol- unteers in this place on the eve of their departure. Allud- ing afterward to this address in a letter to a friend he de- clares that he longed then and there to say that he would go with them as their chaplain, but was restrained by the fear that, for one of his age and infirmities thus to offer himself, might seem almost like a farce. 'I do enter into this war,' he says, 'and have from the first entered into it with all my heart and soul; and body, too, I should be able to add, were it not that a man of three score and fifteen would be only a burden in the camp. The rebellion as I still believe is the wickedest ever raised against any power since Satan rebelled in heaven, and against the best gov- ernment except that of God himself.' It was his most ardent desire to live to witness the close of the war, and, as he doubted not, the ultimate triumph of freedom and right.
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In a letter written a few months before his death he says, 'I must confess that I never so intensely enjoyed the scenes of thickly coming and checkered events unutterably deplorable as have been many of them. I always see the silver lining to even the darkest cloud, and often the golden splendors of universal freedom beyond. . . . How in- tensely I desire to live to see the end of this Luciferian rebellion, and with it the deadly blow to slavery.' . I mention these things the more readily from the circum- stance that Dr. Emerson looked with much distrust upon the earlier movements of the Abolitionists, technically so called, in this country as calculated to retard the progress of emancipation and sow the seeds of civil strife, an opinion in which many of the wisest and best men of the country fully concurred. At the same time no one was ever more thoroughly opposed in principle to slavery, or more ear- nestly desired its overthrow by all wise and practicable means. . . . His health which had been gradually failing, became about the last of April much more seriously impaired. Medical aid and skill were ineffectual to stay the progress of disease. He retained, however, clear possession of all his faculties, and maintained habitual cheerfulness and composure, frequently speaking of his approaching end and calmly trusting and reposing his weary soul on the arm of his Redeemer. The cheerfulness and kindness which had distinguished his whole life filled his chamber of languish- ing and pain. Every hour bore quiet but glowing witness to the truth that in his case the promise, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee" was "re- markably fulfilled."
On Wednesday, May 20, 1863, about seven o'clock P. M., he fell asleep. Not more calmly and peacefully did the sun, which was then setting, go down in the glowing west than faded the light from that eye as the spirit took its departure for the land where there is no more night."
" So fades a summer cloud away ; So sinks the gale when storms are o'er ; So gently shuts the eye of day ; So dies a wave along the shore."
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After the funeral the remains were taken to Beloit, Wis- consin, for interment, he having chosen this as the place of his burial.
XIII.
SKETCH OF MRS. Z. P. GRANT BANISTER.
Norfolk has been honored by a large number of her sons and daughters who have done noble work, have become dis- tinguished and eminent in a great variety of callings and professions. Some of these, her distinguished children, have found their life work here, on their native soil, while others have found their places in different parts, some in distant parts of the country, and in their adopted homes have attained distinction and thus honored their native town. Of the many noble women who were born and spent their early lives here, some of whom have become distin- guished, the one who, in the opinion of the writer, takes the first place, considering what were her early environ- ments, her advantages and hindrances, the obstacles against which she had to contend, poverty, Jong continued sickness in early life, poor health for a large part of her life,-then considering what she accomplished in the line of higher education for women, the distinction she attained, and the very high regard in which she was held by some of the most eminent persons of her day and time,-that place the writer would accord to Zilpah Polly Grant, later Mrs. Banister.
Let me recommend to the young people of my native town,-those who are young today, and those who will be young people when I am forgotten,-to read "The Use of a Life" (by L. T. Guilford, Cleveland, 1885), found in our library. (It is the life of Mrs. Banister.) From that book largely the following sketch is gleaned:
Zilpah Polly (unromantic name surely), youngest child of Joel and Zilpah Cowles-Grant, was born May 30, 1794, near
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Grantville in this town, upon what has been known as the Beckley farm for more than half a century. Her father was instantly killed before she was two years old, as is recorded upon his tomb-stone in the old South End Ceme- tery, "by the fall of the well-sweep in his own yard in the memorable storm of March 16, 1796." Her mother was thus left on a farm, the sole support and protector of four children, the oldest not fourteen years of age; and from this terrible shock she never recovered. Her mind was at length somewhat affected, and years afterward she took her own life. Joel Grant is mentioned as a thrifty farmer, a power- ful man, of strong muscle and brain, remembered with warm affection and reverence as long as any lived who knew him. His wife is said to have been naturally a rare woman, reserved of speech, her mind full from the pages of Holy Writ; 'her lips brimming with sacred hymns and lov- ing kindness.' It was said by her children that "she could repeat the whole of Dwight's Collection of Hymns. When spinning she had always an open book at the head of her wheel, and at other work she would have a book near, where she could be reading or committing to memory something of value while her hands were at work."
This home was a low, square, one-story building, with a kitchen, two bedrooms, a parlor and an entry. It stood a few rods west of the present Beckley barns. The school- house where Zilpah attended school and acquired her early education was only "a stone's throw" from her home. Like most school-houses of that time it was a low, rough, un- painted building, long desks at the sides of the room, the higher benches placed behind and the lower ones in front; a fireplace, a table, and a chair with a teacher in it was all the preparation and outfit. Blackboard, globe or wall- maps were things unheard of. Reading and spelling, gram- mar and geography were taught in classes. Daboll's and Pike's were the arithmetics used. Many (the bright ones) finished their arithmetic without recitation or assistance; the lame mathematicians had help. Spelling was the fa- vorite exercise, and frequently the scholars gathered from
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the whole district in the evening at the school-house to spell, a spelling match being an interesting and exciting event.
Mentally quick, strong of apprehension, and equally ready and retentive of memory, Zilpah Grant made rapid progress. Her mind eagerly absorbed all the knowledge within its reach, and the love of teaching awoke. Before she was fifteen years old, in 1809, in the district then and since called 'Paug,' not very far from her home, she began her life mission. The log cabin where she first taught had one door, four small, half-sash windows, and an unhewn stone chimney. With an equal love of learning and teach- ing her first experiment fixed her career. She could not bear that a pupil of hers should not advance. In the sum- mer of 1810 she taught again in the school cabin at Paug, and the next two summers in Winchester, where the Rev. Frederick Marsh was pastor. The winters of these years were spent in the home with her mother, sharing with her the toil for their support, and reading such books as they could obtain, while spinning the warp and filling for many a piece of flannel,-the daughter at intervals going abroad to spin.
She had at this time developed into young womanhood. Her figure was tall, erect and well proportioned; her fore- head high, and the pronounced features comely, with an expression of kindness, dignity and power; piercing black eyes, luminous with life, a stately carriage and tasteful, lady-like dress, made her a marked person at that age, as ever after.
Her religious experience when she was eighteen years old was very deep and powerful. As she wrote years later, "I was on the borders of despair, expecting to sink by the weight of my own sin to perdition, feeling that my guilt in not acknowledging God, in rejecting Christ, and in quench- ing the Spirit, was too great to be forgiven." Under the kindly ministry of Rev. Mr. Marsh of Winchester, whom she sought in her distress, she was led into the light, be- came very happy, and continued through life a most earnest
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Christian worker. On the last Sabbath in February, 1813, she with her mother, in the church in Norfolk, took the vows of a Christian profession. The pastor, Mr. Robbins, was too feeble to have anything added to the services of the regular communion. It was almost the last of his pub- lic ministrations. Miss Grant taught the next three years either in Norfolk or Winchester. In the summer of 1815 she taught school in North Goshen.
In the winter of 1816 she taught the school in Winches- ter. In April of that year "she was seized with pain in her right side, but did not leave her post till July, when a more violent attack forced her to go home, where she lay for some time dangerously ill with pleurisy. The pain did not leave her for three years, and she became diseased all through. She underwent the severe medical treatment of the time; great blisters were kept for weeks on the aching side, and doses of mercury produced 'salivation,' then sup- posed to be beneficial. She wasted away to a shadow and was told that she must die. She afterwards wrote: "For two years I looked into eternity; I had no desire to live; I could not pray for life." For many long months she was waiting for the summons to the spirit land, feeling neither regret nor fear.
Slowly the vital energy gathered itself. She at length rose from her bed and looked out again upon the world, but in the fifty-eight years that remained to her of life she never knew another day of real health. Again and again she was brought into the shadow of death, and in the full success of her career she was forced to give up the work for which she was eminently fitted."
In the first summer of her illness Rev. Ralph Emerson was settled as pastor over the church in Norfolk. His brother, Rev. Joseph Emerson, was present at his ordina- tion, remained in town several weeks, being an invalid, and assembled every day a class of young ladies for profitable reading, and would have had sympathy with the sick one had he known how she had thirsted for truth, but at this time there was no communication between them.
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