USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut: from its possession by the Indians, to the year 1866 > Part 59
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The 23d anniversary of the A. B. C. F. M. was held at Norwich in September, 1842.
At this meeting, 355 corporate and honorary members were present, with eight returned missionaries, and Mar Yohannan, the Nestorian Bishop, who was then on a visit to this country. The committee of arrangements consisted of Rev. Alvan Bond, D. D., Rev. H. P. Arms, Charles W. Rockwell, William C. Gilman, and F. A. Perkins. It was estimated that 600 persons from abroad attended the meeting, a large pro- portion of them clergymen.
The number of persons, natives or established residents of the old town of Norwich, who have enlisted, first and last, as missionaries of the cross, either to the Indians of our own country, or to the heathen of foreign lands, is comparatively large.
The family of Charles Lathrop, Esq., is honorably distinguished in this line .* Four of his daughters were united to missionaries of the Ameri- can Board, and three of them died in the East Indies. The eldest, Mrs. Miron Winslow, (Harriet W. Lathrop,) left this country June 8, 1819, and lived to accomplish thirteen years of useful and interesting service in Ceylon. Mrs. Henry Cherry, (Charlotte H. Lathrop,) of the Madura mission, died in less than a year after her arrival in Hindostan. Rev. John M. S. Perry and his amiable partner, (Harriet J. Lathrop,) in less
Major Joseph Williams liberally contributed the sum of ten dollars." Norwich Con- rier, May 7, 1798. The special notice taken of this donation shows that giving for the support of missions was but just beginning to be considered a duty. The contribution of the Ladies' Society of the Town-plot in May, 1801, was $37.37 ; of that of Chel- sea, $22.56.
* Mr. Lathrop died Jan. 17, 1831, aged 61. He had been Clerk of the Courts in New London County twenty-one years, and was a highly esteemed church officer.
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than two years after they reached the field of their labor in Ceylon, fell a sacrifice to the cholera within three days of each other. Rev. Samuel Hutchings and wife, (Elizabeth C. Lathrop,) after ten years of missionary labor in Ceylon, warned by the declining health of Mr. Hutchings to seek a colder climate, returned to this country in 1844.
Rev. Samuel Nott and his wife, (Roxana Peck,) natives of Franklin, were members of the pioneer band of missionaries sent by the American Board to India in 1812. Meeting with insuperable obstacles to the suc- cess of their mission, arising from the opposition made to it by the British Government, both duty and expediency required them to relinquish the work, and they returned in 1815.
Rev. James T. Dickinson resigned the ministry of the Second Congre- gational Church for the purpose of devoting himself to missionary service. He sailed for India, Aug. 20, 1835, and was stationed at Singapore, but that mission being relinquished by the American Board, he returned to this country after an absence of three or four years.
Mrs. Eli Smith, (Sarah L. Huntington,) an interesting daughter of Norwich, died in Syria, Sept. 30, 1836, before the close of the third year of her missionary life.
Rev. William Aitcheson, a youthful member of the Greeneville Con- gregational Church, was ordained as a missionary, Jan. 4, 1854, and sailed the next year for China. He entered with bright promise upon his work in that vast realm of heathenism, but died suddenly at Shanghai, August 16, 1859, aged 33.
Rev. Erastus Wentworth, D. D., another messenger of the Good Tidings to the Chinese, is a native of Norwich, where the first eighteen years of his life were spent. He left the Professorship of Natural Sci- ence in Dickinson College, Carlisle, Penn., and went out in 1854, in con- nection with the mission of the Methodist Episcopal Society. His station was at Foo-chow, a city of half a million inhabitants, capital of the Fokien province. His wife, who was a grand-daughter of Charles Miner, (orig- inally of Norwich, but late of Wilkesbarre,) died soon after his arrival in China. He returned to this country in 1862.
Rev. Wm. F. Arms, son of Rev. Dr. Arms of the First Church, went out on a mission to the Armenians of Asiatic Turkey, but returned after a short period, the mission having been relinquished by the Board.
Mrs. Sarah J. Haskell, wife of Dr. Henri B. Haskell, a missionary physician connected with the mission to the Turkish dominions, is a daughter of Patrick Brewster of Norwich Town. The failing health of Dr. Haskell obliged them to leave the mission and return home. He died at Norwich, Feb. 27, 1864, aged 33.
But the veteran of the Norwich missionary band is Rev. WILLIAM TRACY, who embarked for the Madura mission Nov. 28, 1836, and is still
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a laborer in that wide and rugged field, rooting out Hindoo tares, and sowing the good seed of the Better Land. Mr. Tracy was born at Nor- wich, June 2, 1807.
The General Association of Congregational Ministers of Connecticut celebrated its 150th anniversary at Norwich, in June, 1859. The meet- ings were held in the Second Church, Chelsea. The historical anniver- sary sermon was by Rev. Leonard Bacon, D. D. It comprised a history of Congregationalism in Connecticut, from the settlement of the State to the present time .*
Post Office.
There was no post-office in Norwich before the Revolution. The New London office was the station for letter-delivery for all the eastern border of Connecticut, to Woodstock and Pomfret north, and from Guilford to Westerly inclusive, on the Sound. Papers and bundles were usually dis- tributed from house to house by post-riders, but letters requiring payment of postage often lay long before being claimed.t
The Norwich post-office under the Federal Government was established in 1782. Dudley Woodbridge was the postmaster for the first eight years, and the office was "next door to the meeting-house." After him came William and Christopher Leffingwell, who kept the office at Leffingwell's corner. The mails were at this time twice a week by three stage-routes : Hartford by way of Windham, New Haven by way of New London, and Boston by way of Providence.
The ancient rates of postage appear arbitrary and oppressive, when contrasted with the cheap postage of the present day. Letters advertised as lying in the post office, about the year 1800, having the mail-charge appended, show that letters from various parts of the United States paid at that time according to distance, and that a single letter was often charged forty or fifty cents.
Gardner Carpenter, appointed postmaster in January, 1799, held the office fifteen years. He died in 1818, aged 66.
John Hyde succeeded, and was in office from 1815 to 1836, and at a
* A full account of this anniversary, and a collection of materials to which it gave rise, have been embodied in a memorial volume entitled "Contributions to the Ecele- siastical History of Connecticut."
A list of letters lying in the New London office, March 19, 1756, published in the Gazette at New Haven, comprises 88,-about half for New London, the others for Groton, Stonington, Norwich, Lebanon, Windham, Ashford, Colchester, East Had. dam, Hebron, Westerly, Lyme, Saybrook, Killingworth, Guilford, Branford, and Long Island.
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subsequent period three years, making his whole term of service twenty- four years .*
In 1836, the title of the office was changed to Norwich Town, and the original name transferred to the City office. Since that time the post- master has been often changed,-Henry B. Tracy, who held the appoint- ment twelve years, being the longest in office. The present incumbent is George D. Fuller.
The post-office at the Landing was established in 1803, and was then entitled Chelsea Landing ; this style was changed in 1827 to Norwich City, and in 1836 to Norwich, the old designation of the town post-office.
The first incumbents of this office were Jacob De Witt and his son John. The latter was postmaster from 1809 to 1823. Since that period the changes have been frequent, the office being one of those most liable to be swayed by partizan partiality. William L'Hommedieu, first appointed in 1829, held the office at two periods, in all nearly seventeen years. This is the longest term of office. H. H. Starkweather is the present incumbent.t
Town Clerks.
1. John Birchard, 1661 ; no record of appointment; in office eighteen years.
2. Christopher Huntington, appointed Dec. 30, 1678, and in office till his death, 1691 : thirteen years.
3. Richard Bushnell, Dec. 21, 1691; in office seven years.
4. Christopher Huntington, son of the former clerk of this name, 1698; in office four years.
Richard Bushnell, second appointment, Dec. 15, 1702 ; in office twenty- four years.
5. Isaac Huntington, (son of No. 4,) appointed Dec. 6, 1726, and in office till his death, Feb., 1764.
6. Benjamin Huntington, March 5, 1764; in office nearly two years.
7. Benjamin Huntington, Jr., (son of No. 5,) Dec. 6, 1765; in office thirteen years.
8. Samuel Tracy, Dec. 21, 1778 ; in office one year.
Benjamin Huntington, Jr., Dec. 13, 1779 ; nearly twenty-two years, till his death, Sept., 1801.
* Mr. Hyde was a son of Col. Ezekiel Hyde of Franklin. Besides being postmas- ter, he was Judge of the County Court and Court of Probate. He is remembered also as a school-teacher,-a friend of the young, and an cnemy to all oppression. He died March 16, 1848, aged 74.
t For an official statement of postal affairs in Norwich, see Norwich Jubilee, page 294.
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9. Philip Huntington, son of Benjamin, Dec. 14, 1801; twenty-one to his death, Feb. 4, 1825.
10. Benjamin Huntington, son of Philip, Feb. 14, 1825; in office nearly four years.
11. William L'Hommedieu, Oct. 6, 1828; one year.
Benjamin Huntington, former clerk, Oct. 5, 1829 ; one year.
12. Alexander Lathrop, Oct. 4, 1830 ; five years.
13. John H. Grace, Oct. 3, 1836; one year.
14. Simeon Thomas, Oct. 2, 1837 ; two years.
15. Othniel Gager, Oct. 1, 1839, and still in office.
City Clerks since 1826, when the Town-plot was separated from the City :
1827. John A. Rockwell, four years.
1831. Alexander Lathrop, who died in July, 1836.
1836. George Perkins, eight years.
1844. David Young, seven years.
1851. Levi Hart Goddard, four years.
1855. John L. Devotion.
1856. Charles Bard.
1857. Othniel Gager.
1861. John L. Devotion.
Ship-Building and Shipping Intelligence.
Norwich at a very early period was considered a favorable site for ship- building, and many small vessels,-sloops, packets, and boats,-were built in the river and sent abroad for sale, the banks of the Thames affording an abundance of timber. At a later period large vessels have occasionally been constructed in the river.
The Truxton was launched from Willett's ship-yard, June 6, 1799. This was built on private account, pierced for eighteen guns, and designed both for war and merchandise. She cleared from New London, August 20, and proceeded to New York, where she took in a cargo for Spain.
The brig Suwarrow was built by Willett the same year.
The Trumbull was a war-vessel constructed by Willett for the Ameri- can Government, which was then anticipating a conflict with France, and desirous of raising a navy in the shortest time possible. Joseph Howland was the agent. The keel was laid in September, and the work plied in such haste that labor was not suspended during the Sabbath, and scarcely through the dead hours of the night.
Willett, in the year 1777, had constructed the continental ship Trum-
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bull, and now another Trumbull was to be honored with a namesake, and the launch, which took place Nov. 28th, was graced with the Governor's presence. The figure-head displayed his image, with his left foot on a cannon, the American flag furled by his side, and a drawn sword in his right hand. She grounded in going down the river, half a league below the town, and it was two days before she again floated.
The Trumbull was armed and equipped at New London. She carried eighteen guns, and sailed on her first cruise March 7, 1800, under Capt. David Jewett of Montville .*
The Oliver Ellsworth, a merchant-ship of nearly 400 tons burden, con- structed by Willett, was owned principally in New London, and was sent the next spring to St. Petersburg, Joseph Skinner master, returning from thence in October, 1801, with a cargo of hemp, duck, and iron.
The brig Resolution, 325 tons, built for Daniel Dunham, was launched Dec. 20, 1800.
The Patty, another large merchant-vessel, built for Hezekiah Kelley, was launched the same year, and sent on her first voyage to Ireland. She was so good a sailer that the distance from Newry to Liverpool, 130 miles, was made in ten hours.
The brig Neptune was built by Willett in 1801; the keel laid in April, and the vessel launched the 8th of October.
The brig Ceres was built in 1804, for Roswell Roath, and named after the ship Ceres, taken by the French in 1796.
In 1805, Willett and Gavitt each launched a vessel of 300 tons, and Story one of lighter burden.
July, 1806. "Dropped down to New London the new ship Stabroeck, Cooley, for Barbadoes."
The year 1810 was remarkable for activity in the Norwich ship-yards.
July 9. A brig of 250 tons, called the Dart, and owned by Augustus Perkins, James Gordon, and others, was launched from the lower ship- yard of Thomas Gavitt.
Sept. 1. A vessel launched, of 200 tons, built by Septimus Clark for J. and Felix A. Huntington.
Sept. 14. A ship of 400 tons launched by Luther Edgerton.
In October, a vessel of 350 tons, sent from the ways of Thos. Gavitt.
Of a fifth vessel built this year, the Norwich Courier of Nov. 25 gives the following notice :
"Launched by permission on Sunday morning from the yard of Jedidiah Willett, a ship of 400 tons, owned by Peter Lanman and others."
This was at a time when the country was looking forward apprehen- sively to a war with England. The ship in question was probably the
* The Trumbull was sold by the Government in May, 1801, for $26,500.
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Rapid, which cleared early in January for Cayenne, and made two or three voyages before the declaration of war. During the war, the O. H. Perry, 267 tons, the Marmion, and other privateer schooners, were built at West Chelsea.
After 1820, several whale-ships were built at Norwich: among them were the Connecticut in 1821, and the Chelsea in 1827, ships of 396 tons burden, owned by T. W. Williams of New London.
From 1832 to 1835, two whale-ships and a sealing-schooner were fitted out from Norwich. The ships were the Boston, 291, and the Atlas, 261 tons. After one or two voyages they were transferred, the former to New London, and the latter to Mystic.
In 1832, Capt. Walter Lester made a voyage to Bremen in the brig Ospray. The next year he chartered the ship Boston for the same port, and went himself in her as passenger, taking a part of his family with him. He sailed from New London March 30th. His return is thus noticed in the marine lists of the day :
23 Aug. 1833. "Arrived ship Boston, Levi Case, 50 days from Bremen, with iron to Lester & Co., Norwich : passengers, Capt. Walter Lester, lady and daughter ; Mr. Louis Mangler of Germany, and 112 in the steerage."
The Boston ascended the river without difficulty, and with the tide in her favor, came with her lading to the wharf. It was the first instance of direct intercourse with Europe after the war of 1812. No other mer- chant ship appeared in the port for the next twenty-six years.
In June, 1859, the barque Samuel Moxley, from Mobile, Capt. Joseph H. Holm master, having discharged a portion of her cargo in New York, came into the Thames, and drawing but five and a half feet of water, ascended easily to the wharfage. Capt. Holm was the son-in-law of Capt. Lester, and it is an interesting incident in this narrative that he was in the Boston in 1833, an emigrant then just arriving in this country, and in the Samuel Moxley in 1859, as its commander and principal owner.
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CHAPTER XLVIII.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS.
Baptists.
THE Separatists gathered a small church in that part of the town which was formerly called Norwich Plains, or familiarly Leffingwell-town, now the southi-eastern part of Bozrah. This Separate Meeting, as it was called, had but a brief existence, but out of the society thus collected, a small Baptist church was formed, chiefly through the instrumentality of Elder Zadok Darrow of Waterford. It was recognized by the New London Baptist Association in 1789, and the next year Peter Rogers was ordained its elder.
This was the first Baptist church regularly organized, and Elder Rogers the first Baptist minister ordained within the bounds of the Nine-miles- square. The elder had been a revolutionary soldier, and was a man of marked character; without culture or refinement, but overflowing with religious zeal.
This little society held together about twelve years under tlie ministra- tions of Elder Rogers and his successor Samnel West. After this period, having no stated ministry, it languished and then expired. Its house of worship, of which only the outside had been finished, was left without pews or pulpit for nearly forty years.
In August, 1831, the present Baptist church of Bozrah was organized at this center, and the old meeting-house retrieved from its ghost-like ruin.
The distinction of being the first regular Baptists within the present limits of Norwich, is awarded to Ephraim Story and Elijah Herrick of West Chelsea. They had been members of neighboring churches of Separatists, and soon after 1790 began to hold night meetings* at their own houses for mutual edification. Whenever they were visited by the neighboring Baptist elders, and the congregation was too large for a pri- vate room, they assembled in the school-house, or, if the weather was
* The term night meetings was at first used by way of reproach, as meetings after sundown in the evening were at that time unusual in the regular religious societies ..
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sufficiently mild, in a grove upon the hill-side, or in a neighboring rope- walk .* At first they were recognized as a branch of the church at Kings- ton, R. I., but were organized as a church July 12, 1800.
The origin of the church is thus related in a document emanating from the church itself :;
"In the year 1800 it pleased the Lord to collect and unite, from a broken and scat- tered condition, a few brethren and sisters, to the number of about 20, who were con- stituted into a church in fellowship with the Groton Union Conference. On the 25th Dec. following, our beloved Elder was ordained and took the pastoral charge of the Church."
This beloved Elder was John Sterry, who had been for some time pre- vious an acceptable leader in their meetings. Christopher Palmer of Montville had also labored among them, and assisted in their organiza- tion.
The ordination services were performed in the Congregational church. Elder Silas Burrows of Groton preached the sermon. Dewey Bromley was at the same time ordained as first deacon of the church.
The frame of a house of worship was raised by the society in 1801, and the building so far completed that services were held in it before the end of the year, but it remained long in an unfinished state.
This church gathered in most of the inhabitants of the west side :- Bromley, Gavitt, Herrick, Willett,-these are names identified with West Chelsea and with the Baptist church.
In 1811, Eleazar Hatch left a bequest in his will of three or four thou- sand dollars, the interest of which was to be applied to the support of the Baptist ministry in West Chelsea.
Elder Sterry died Nov. 5, 1823, in the 23d year of his ministry, and 57th of his age. He was a native of Preston, but had resided from his youth in the First Society in Norwich, where he served his apprentice- ship as a printer and book-binder, and subsequently set up the business for himself. In partnership with his brother, Consider Sterry, he pub- lished the newspaper called The True Republican. He was also engaged with Epaphras Porter in the manufacture of marble-paper ; a work which hc undertook and successfully prosecuted from resources out of his own inventive mind, without any previous instruction in the art. He also kept a book-store, and compiled school-books; } and being a fluent and forcible speaker, large demands were made upon him in the way of preaching and
* Denison's Notes on the Baptists of Norwich.
t Letter to the New London Baptist Association in 1817, from "The Baptized Church in Norwich, under the Pastoral care of John Sterry, Elder." Denison's Notes, p. 59.
" The American Youth, a new and complete course of Arithmetic and Mathemat- ics : by John Sterry." Norwich, 1812. Of this work he was compiler, printer, and publisher.
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exhortation. The meritorious self-denial of his pastoral service can not be overrated, as his pecuniary recompense was but a mere pittance.
His successor as pastor of the church was Elder William Palmer, who commenced his labors April 1, 1824, and continued in charge about ten years. He was a grandson of Elder Christopher Palmer, who has been mentioned as one of the forefathers of the church. In the meantime the congregation outgrew the meeting-house. It was removed in 1832, and a new house of worship reared on the same spot, which was dedicated in July, 1833.
After the departure of Elder Palmer, the pastoral duties were dis- charged by Messrs. Samuel S. Mallory, Josiah M. Graves, and Russell Jennings, in succession, neither of them exceeding two years of service. These frequent changes, and other unfavorable circumstances, operating against the prosperity of the church, led the way to a new Baptist enter- prise, which issued at length in the establishment of the present Central Church. At this period the church at West Chelsea almost died out. The meeting-house was closed, and finally sold to cancel a debt of $1500 that had been incurred.
In 1841, Elder Palmer, the former pastor, was prevailed on to resume the office, and the meeting-house, hired for the purpose, was again opened for religious services. He resigned in 1845, but continued to reside in Norwich till his death, which took place Dec. 25, 1853.
Elder Palmer was one of the eleven ministers who organized the New London Baptist Association in 1817; had served from year to year as its sole clerk, and was the last of the eleven originators to leave the earth.
Mr. Palmer's successor in the pulpit was Miner H. Rising. The church- members at this time were but few in number, as the Bromley family and others who had united with the new church did not return. But in 1845 and '46, through the influence of a revival which commenced with a pro- tracted meeting conducted by Rev. J. S. Swan, great accessions were made to the church, and the total membership reported 276.
The church-edifice was at this time redeemed, and Mr. Rising ordained. The health of the pastor, however, soon failed, and he was laid aside from ministerial duty. Since 1849, the ministry has been several times changed.
The Second or Central Baptist Church was gathered Sept. 15, 1840, at the house of Avery Bromley in Union street. It consisted of thirty- seven members, and was recognized by a council of the neighboring churches on the 22d of the same montli. Nearly sixty members, from the West-side church, soon afterward united with them. For the first fifteen months they held their services in the town-hall, but during that time erected a house of worship on Union street, which was dedicated
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Dec. 14, 1841. At that time this edifice was probably the best built, the most convenient and substantial, of all the churches in the city, the pres- ent elegant structures of other denominations being of more recent origin. The cost of the site and building was $11,000. Elder R. H. Neale of Boston preached the dedication sermon.
Rev. Miner G. Clarke was the first minister of this church. His zeal and energy were conspicuous in originating the enterprise, in planting and sustaining the church, and in raising the house of worship. At the close of 1843, a little more than three years from its organization, the church numbered 433 members. In the spring of 1845, sixty were dis- missed to unite in forming a church at Greeneville.
Mr. Clarke resigned his situation in March, 1846, after a pastorate of nearly six years. The succession of pastors, since, is as follows :
Rev. Edward T. Hiscox, from April, 1847, to September, 1852.
Rev. Joseph A. Goodhue, two years.
Rev. Frederick Denison,* from November, 1854, to April, 1859.
Rev. Samuel Graves, the present pastor, entered upon the duties of his office in November, 1859.
In 1863, the church edifice was enlarged, repaired, and in various par- ticulars remodeled, at an expense of $7000. The organ of the church was purchased in 1849, and cost $800.
The Central Church commemorated its 25th anniversary Sept. 24th, 1865. The number of members reported was 365. An interesting fact was stated by the pastor, that all the officers of the church during this quarter of a century,-its five pastors, nine deacons, two clerks, two treas- urers, and five superintendents of the Sunday School,-were still living.t
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