USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > History of Norwich, Connecticut, from its settlement in 1660, to January 1845 > Part 19
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Rev. Samuel Nott, third minister at West Farms, was ordained March 13, 1782. This venerable minis- ter has preached his sixty-second anniversary sermon, and still performs all the duties of his office, though more than ninety years of age.
When the two Societies of West Farms and Porti-
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paug were united to form a town, the proposition to give it the name of Franklin, is believed to have ori- ginated with Jacob Kingsbury Esq. This gentleman was Inspector General in the army of the United States, and served his country faithfully both in the army and navy for a period of forty years. He was a descendant of Deacon Joseph Kingsbury, one of the first pillars of the West Farms church. At the com- mencement of the revolution, he repaired to Roxbury, and entered the army as a volunteer, being then only eighteen years of age. He continued in the service until the close of the second war with the British, in 1815. He was a member of the old society of the Cin- cinnati. His death took place at Franklin, in 1837. He was then eighty-one years of age. One of his de- scendants, Lieut. Charles E. Kingsbury, a youth of eighteen, died at Fort Mellon, in East Florida, eleven days before him. So near together fall the green tree and the dry.
EIGHTH SOCIETY, OR PORTIPAUG.
This is the society already mentioned, which broke away from the Second and established an independent church. It was not incorporated for many years. Mr. Ives was the first and only minister of the Congrega- tional order.
A free church has since been erected here by the voluntary contributions of a few individuals. By the word free, is meant that it is open for all denomina- tions of christians to occupy. It is however most gen- erally in the service of the Methodists.
The Congregational church in Portipang was con- stituted before that of Hanover, but the latter was first incorporated as an ecclesiastical society. Hanover is therefore numbered as the Seventh, and Portipang as
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
the Eighth society. These ecclesiastical sccieties were the original divisions or districts in use all over New England in its carlier days. The great increase of other denominations has rendered them obsolete.
Portipang, spelt also Pottapauge and Pettipang, was the Indian designation of the place. The name seems to have been descriptive of a valley with a small stream winding through it.
Franklin, which comprises these two societies is a farming town, that in 1840 contained about 1000 inhabitants. The population has continued for a number of years uncommonly stationary. In 1810 it was 1161. In 1830, 1194. The extent of the town is about five miles by four. It contains no considera- ble village ; and the only manufacturing establishment of any importance is a woolen factory, on Beaver Brook, near the Shetucket.
NEWENT, OR THIRD SOCIETY.
The large tract of land lying between the crotch of the rivers Shetucket and Quinebaug, was acknowledg- ed by the English to be a part of the Mohegan terri- tory. At an early period, it was inhabited by a band of Indians tributary to Uncas, called by the first settlers Showtuckets. A great part of this tract, given or sold by Uncas to Capt. James Fitch, was commonly called "the 1800 acre grant."
About the year 1694, Capt. Fitch sold out his right to 1200 acres of this land to Joseph Safford, Richard Smith, Meshach Farly and Matthew Perkins, all of the town of Ipswich.
In 1695, Joseph and Jabez Perkins, of Ipswich, made an additional purchase of S00 acres for £70, and in 1700, Matthew Perkins sold out his previous purchase to his brothers, the said Joseph and Jabez,
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and about the same time, John Safford and Samuel Bishop, both of Ipswich, became planters. The whole tract between the rivers, except what was expressly guarantied by the town to the Indians then residing npon it, was soon divided into farms, and leased ont by indentures to various settlers. Jabez and Joseph Per- kins were accepted as inhabitants in 1701. These two brothers continued to improve their land in common, until the year 1720, when they divided it equally be- tween themselves, and after obtaining an acknowledg- ment of their title from the town, it was still further divided by decd among their respective sons, the daughters being each provided for by a portion of £50 in money.
This land was at first considered a very choice part of the nine miles square in respect to soil, but the fans have since very much diminished in value. In 1725, the proprietors of the common and undivided land put an end to all controversy, by giving a quit-claim deed to Capt. Jabez Perkins, Lt. Samuel. Bishop, Mr. Jo- seph Perkins and Mr. John Safford, of all the Indian land in the crotch of the rivers, and of all contained in Major Fitch's 1800 acre grant, for the sum of £75, money in hand, paid to said proprietors, provided that they shall allow the Indians to enjoy the said Indian land according to the town grant.
The ecclesiastical society in this place was organized in 1723, the town having previously appropriated sixty acres of land for the use of the first minister that should settle there. The affairs of the society were entirely under the control of the Perkins family, as appears from the following entry :
" Jan. 17, 1720. In town meeting ordered, that if the Perkinses at their return from Boston, do not bring with them a minister to preach in the crotch of the river, or satisfy the
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selectmen they shall have one speedily, the rate-makers shall put them into the minister's rates."
The Rev. Daniel Kirtland was the first minister. At his ordination, Dec. 10, 1723, the following ministers assisted :
Dr. Lord and Mr. Wills, of Norwich.
Mr. Mather, of Saybrook.
Mr. Estabrooks, of Canterbury.
The church agreed to profess discipline according to the Cambridge Platform. They professed to believe " that all organized church acts proceeded after the manner of a mixed administration, and could not be consummated without the consent of both elders and brotherhood."
Mr. Kirtland, after preaching nearly thirty years. became deranged, and his connexion with the church was dissolved on account of this calamity. He lived to the age of 72, died very poor, in 1773, and not hav- ing had any monumental stone, the spot which his remains occupy in the burying yard is forgotten and unknown. He had married, soon after his ordination, Miss Marcy Perkins, by whom he had two sons, Daniel and Samuel. Samuel, born in 1735, is well known as the faithful missionary of the Oneida Indians, and the father of President Kirtland of Harvard College. He was a pupil of the Indian school founded by Dr. Whee- lock in Lebanon, and left Norwich in 1766, to go on the mission to which the remainder of his life was devoted. For forty years, his labors among the Aborigines were arduous and unremitted.
The Rev. Peter Powers, successor to Mr. Kirtland, was ordained Dec. 2, 1756, but relinquished his charge in 1766, on account of the insufficiency of his salary to give him a support, and for some years, they were
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without a minister, in a weak and scattered state. Something like a re-organization of the church took place in 1770 ; several of the Separates returned, and Dr. Joel Benedict, a man of fine classical attainments, was installed pastor. He remained with them thirteen years, and then obtained a dismission, on account of the niggardliness of his salary. He afterward settled in Plainfield, and acquired a distinguished reputation as a Hebrew scholar.
In 1780, Mr. David Hale of Coventry, was ordained at Newent. He was the brother of the accomplished and chivalrous Capt. Nathan Hale, who was executed as a spy on Long Island, by order of Sir William Howe. Mr. Hale was a man of very gentle and winning man- ners, of exalted piety and a fine scholar. He carried his idea of disinterested benevolence to such an extent, that if acted upon, it would overturn all social institu- tions. He thought it to be a man's duty to love his neighbor, not only as himself, with the same kind of love, but also to the same degree, so that he should not prefer, even in thought, that a contingent calamity, such as the burning of a house, or the loss of a child, should fall on his neighbor, rather than on himself. Mr. Hale supplied the deficiencies of his salary by keeping a boarding school. As an instructor, he was popular ; his house was filled with pupils from all parts of the county, but ill health and a constitutional de- pression of spirits, obliged him to resign this employ- ment, and eventually his pastoral office. His mind and nerves were of that delicate and sensitive temper- ament, which cannot long endure the rude shock of earthly scenes. He returned to Coventry, and died young. Thus of four persons, successively ordained or installed over this church, not one died their minis- ter. The Rev. Levi Nelson, the present pastor, was
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ordained in 1804, a man of whom it has been said that he never had an enemy ; a rare character to be given of any minister in these days of division, doctrinal dis- putes, favoritismi and change.
The new society took the name of Newent, in fond remembrance of a town of that name in Gloucester- shire, England, from which the ancestors of Joseph and Jabez Perkins originally emigrated. The first of this family mentioned in the Norwich records is Dan- iel Perkins, who in 1682, married Deliver* the daugh- ter of Thomas Bliss, of the Town-plot. This connec- tion may have led to the emigration of the family from Ipswich, though whether Daniel was the brother of Matthew, Jabez and Joseph, is not ascertained. The death of a Mr. Joseph Perkins is recorded in 169S. This was perhaps the father of the Newent family, who may have come in his old age to reside with his sons. Jabez married Hannah Lathrop in 169S. Their sons were
Jabez,
born,
Jacob,
1699 1705 Luke, born, 1709
It is from this line of the family, that the venerable Capt. Erastus Perkins, of Chelsea, is descended. He was born February 17, 1752, and is still living. His father Capt. Jabez Perkins resided in the Town-plot, and about the year 1750, brought home one day from the woods, two young elms, which he set out in such positions as would throw their shade over the shop that he then occupied. These are now those lofty and wide spreading elms that nearly front the dwelling of Mrs. Daniel Coit.
* QUERY :- a mistake for Dolinda ? See daughters of Thomas Bliss, page 99.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Joseph Perkins born in 1674, married Martha Mor- gan in 1700. His sons were
Joseph, born, 1704 Matthew born, 1713
John,
1709 William, " 1722
Deacon Joseph died in 1726. His son Joseph, was a physician of large practice, and the father of two physicians each more noted than himself. The sec- ond, Dr. Joseph, devoted a long life to the duties of his profession in his native town. In the latter part of his life, he had some seasons of slight mental distur- bance, and those who knew him well, always abstain- ed from asking his professional advice, when he appeared without his knee-buckles ; - such neglect being a sure indication that his mind was absent and unsettled. He died in 1794, having reached his nine- tieth year.
Dr. Elisha Perkins, of Plainfield, was the celebrated inventor of the metallic 'Tractors. This was a method of curing diseases, by rubbing the patient in a certain manner with small pointed pieces of metal, steel or brass, which were thought to extract the pain by a kind of magnetism. The inventor not meeting with much success among his countrymen-the medical association of his native county discarding him from their fellowship as a quack-transferred the sphere of his operations to England. Here the invention exci- ted considerable notice, societies were established in London and other places for the use of the Tractors in disorders of the poor, and reports were printed exhibi- ting numerous cases of cure. One of these societies established at Durham under the patronage of the Bishop, announced in 1805, the relief or cure of 200 diseased persons by the use of Tractors. Dr. Perkins
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
soon afterwards died, and his Tractors have long di-ap- peared from medical use.
Lieut. Samuel Bishop, and his brother John, were also cmigrants fiom Ipswich. Samuel, the son of Samuel, was married in 1706 to Sarah Forbes. John, the son of John in 1718 to Mary Bingham. The de- scendants of these brothers are numerous.
SEVENTH SOCIETY, OR HANOVER.
This society includes the south- west corner of Can- terbury, and the south-east of Windham, but the main position of it, united with Newent, forms the town of Lisbon. It was incorporated as an ecclesiastical soci- cty in 1761, and a fund of £1600 raised by subscrip- tion for the support of the ministry. The meetings were held in private houses, near the centre of the society for several years. The church was gathered May 13, 1776, and a house for worship erected near that period. The Rev. Andrew Lee was ordained the first pastor, October 26, 1768. He exercised the duties of this office for sixty-two years alone, and though not a shining preacher, was highly esteemed as a sound divine and a useful pastor. His published sermons give evidence of talent and research. In 1830, the Rev. Barnabas Phinney was installed as colleague with Dr. Lee, who was then feeble and infirm, though able to preach occasionally. This venerable man died August 25, 1832, aged eighty-seven. Mr. Phin- ney was dismissed in 1S33.
The Rev. Philo Judson, was installed his successor the same year, but in December 1834, was dismissed to Willimantic.
The present pastor is the Rev. James Ayres, form- erly of North Stonington.
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
Lisbon is an irregular township, its boundary lines being mostly rivers. The inhabitants are principally farmers.
Population in 1800,
1158
66
1810,
1128
1830,
1161
1840,
1052
FOURTH SOCIETY : NEW CONCORD OR BOZRAII.
The Fourth Ecclesiastical society was formed in 1733. The Watermans and Houghs were some of the first settlers in this part of the town. Samuel and John Hongh removed from New London, where the family had been residents since 1650. This was first known as West Society; that part before known as West Farms being then designated North Society. Permis- sion had been given the planters in 1715, to form a parish by themselves, but being unable to support a minister, they were not regularly organized until eighteen years afterwards, when they took the name of New Concord, and were released from all obligation to support the ministry of the First Society, on condition of maintaining a gospel minister at least six months in the year.
The bounds between the two societies, were to be, the river, the brook that runs out of it, the Cranberry Pond, the Cranberry Pond brook, the great swamp, the dark swamp, and the miry swamp. It might be a diffi- cult task, at the present day, to run the line from these data. The Rev. Benjamin Throop, the first regular minister, was settled January 3, 173S, and died 17S5.
This Society afterwards became familiarly known as Bozrah, which name it retained upon being incorpora. ted into a town in 1786.
Bozrah is four and a half miles long, and about four in breadth. Like other parts of the nine miles square,
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
it consists of a succession of hills and vallies, some of them rocky and barren, others fair and fertile. "The Woody Vales of Bozrah !"> has been a familiar phrase in the vicinity, from its having been the chorus of a poem written by one of Bozrah's sentimental daugh- ters. The chorus is perhaps the only relic of the pro- duction that survives.
This town has three houses of public worship, Con- gregational, Baptist and Methodist ; and two cotton factories with villages adjoining, viz : Bozrahville and Fitchville, both on Yantic river. The latter was built by Nehemiah H. Fitch Esq., and his brothers in 1832. It is five miles from Norwich city. Bozrahville is eight miles from the city, on and near the dividing line between Bozrah and Lebanon.
In 1786, the Rev. Jonathan Murdock was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in Bozrah. He died in 1812. The Rev. David Austin was installed his successor in 1815. This gentleman was a native of New Haven, born in 1760, and fitted by an accom- plished education and foreign travel, to become an ornament to society, as well as by ardent piety, and a lively and florid eloquence to be useful in the ministry. He married Lydia, daughter of Dr. Joshua Lathrop, of Norwich, and settled as pastor of the church in Eliza- bethtown, in 17SS. The kindness of his heart and the suavity of his manner endeared him to all who knew him, while his zeal in the performance of his duties, and his popular pulpit talents, made him successful in his office, and extensively known as a preacher. It is to him that Gov. Livingston alludes in the following lines of his poem on Philosophic Solitude.
" Dear A ***** too should grace my rural seat, Forever welcome to the green retreat ; Heaven for the cause of righteousness designed,
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
His florid genius and capacious mind. Oft have I seen him 'mid the adoring throng, Celestial truths devolving from his tongue : Oft o'er the listening audience seen him stand, Divinely speak, and graceful wave his hand."
Mr. Austin was naturally eccentric, and had always something erratic and extravagant in his manner of thinking, speaking and acting. Unhappily his mind was led to investigate, too deeply for its strength, the prophecies ; his ardent imagination became inflamed, his benevolent heart dilated to overflowing, and his mental powers became partially deranged. He now appeared as a champion of the Second Advent doc- trine, and held that the coming of Christ to commence his personal reign on earth, would be on the fourth Sabbath of May, 1796. On the morning of that day, he was in a state of great agitation, and one or two re- ports of distant thunder excited him almost to frenzy. But the day passed over as usual ; yet the disappoint- ment did not cure the delusion of Mr. Austin's mind.
He now went round the country announcing the near approach of Christ's coming, and calling upon the Jews to assemble and make preparations to return to their own land. He declared himself to be commissioned as Christ's forerunner, a second John the Baptist, appointed to establish the new millenial church upon earth. His vagaries every day increasing. in 1797, he was removed by the Presbytery from his pastoral relation to the church at Elizabethtown. He then went to New Haven, where he erected several large houses and a wharf, for the use of the Jews, whom he invited to assemble there, and embark for the Holy Land. Having at last, in this and other plans, expended an ample fortune, he was for a while imprisoned for debt, and after being released from con-
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
finement, gradually became calm and sane upon all points except the prophecies. He had no children, and his wife had long before taken refuge in her father's house, in Norwich. Here, too, Mr. Austin returned after his wanderings, like the dove to the ark, and after awhile the balance of his mind seemed to be restored, and he began again to preach with acceptance in various churches in Connecticut.
In 1815, he accepted a call to settle in Bozrab, and from that time till his death quietly and regularly preached the gospel of salvation. But though he per- formed all the duties of a pastor, and was much es- teemed and beloved by his people, he continued still to reside in Norwich, where he died, in 1831.
For elegance of manners, for brilliancy of conversa- tion, for fervor of worship, for a large heart and a lib- eral hand, few men could surpass Mr. Austin. The darkness that obscured his intellect on many points, and which was never wholly removed, appeared not to impair in the least those prominent traits, that lay deep and shone through, to illustrate his character, and to win for him the love and admiration of all who came within his sphere.
LONG SOCIETY.
The fifth ecclesiastical society was formed in that part of the town which lay east of the rivers Shetucket and Thames, then, as now, known by the name of Long Society. The farmers of this side of the river, in 1698, petitioned to be released from paying minis- ter's rates in Norwich, which was granted, on condi- tion of their paying in Preston. About twenty years afterwards, permission was given them to form a dis- tinct church, and sixty acres of land set apart for the first minister who should settle there. The society
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
was not regularly organized till after 1740; but the Rev. Jabez Wight, who was the first and only minister ever ordained among them, commenced his ministra- tions some ten years earlier. Mr. Wight was born in 1701, married Ruth Swan, in 1726, and died in 1783. His pastoral charge extended over a period of fifty-two years, but the date of his ordination is not ascertained.
This society afterwards greatly declined. For many years they were not only without a pastor and any ad- ministration of the sacred ordinances, but without any regular religious instruction whatever. The meeting- house remained, and at long intervals a preacher's voice was heard in it, but the members of the church were dispersed or dead, and the communion plate had not been used for many years, when the Rev. Mr. Glea- son, the Missionary of Mohegan, administered the sac- rament, in August, 1837.
Several persons in Norwich city have recently taken great interest in the situation of this society ; have es- tablished Sabbath and Singing schools there, obtained preachers, and cheerfully given their own services to advance the cause of religion.
Long Society, since 1786, has formed a part of the town of Preston.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Chelsea Society.
THE sixth ecclesiastical society was organized, at Chelsea, November 29, 1751.
Capt. Dean, Moderator. Daniel Kingsbury, Society Clerk. Prosper Wetmore, Collector. Eleazer Waterman, Committee. Nathaniel Backus, 5
Capt. Jabez Dean was very active in promoting this measure, and in procuring ministers to preach to the new congregation. They began with hiring a minis- ter only four months in the year, and taxing them- selves 16d., old tenor, on the pound to pay for it. They presented a memorial to the General Assembly to allow them to tax also the land of non-resident proprie- tors and ship- owners, which was granted. This mode of paying for ecclesiastical services soon became very unpopular, and in 1755 they declared that they would pay their minister by subscriptions and contributions. This also was found by experience to be a very uncer- tain and perplexing mode, and as soon as they had a regular minister they agreed to raise his salary in the usual way, that is, by society rates. They first secured the services of Mr. Elijah Lathrop, of Windham, and afterwards of Mr. John Curtis, who preached for them three or four years, from four to six months each year ; they only hiring a minister a sufficient part of the year
....
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
to prevent their being taxed towards supporting the ministry in the first society. Mr. Curtis boarded at Mr. Elderkin's tavern, where all the society meetings were then held: public worship was at private houses, in rotation with all those who had a room sufficiently large ; and it is said that at first, people were called together by the tap of the drum.
In 1755, Mr. Cleveland was hired, and paid whatever sum could be raised by weekly contributions. The same year a funeral pall, and bier, and burying ground were obtained. The burying ground was purchased of Mr. Jonathan Bushnell ; it was a well-wooded lot, and the wood cut from it paid the whole expense.
In 1759, a vote was passed to call the Rev. Nathaniel Whitaker, of New Jersey, "provided he be regularly dismissed from his present charge." A salary of £100, lawful money, was offered him, with a settlement of £100, to be paid when the general list of the society should amount to £6000, exclusive of those church- men's estates, who were excused from paying minis- ter's rates. This invitation was accepted, and it is · recorded, that in April, 1760, Mr. Whitaker, with his family and goods, arrived from the Jerseys, by water ; the society paying £12 for the passage and freight.
On the 24th of July following, a church was organ- ized, with the assistance of two neighboring ministers, Messrs. Wight and Throop, consisting of only six members, viz:
Nathaniel Whitaker, Nathaniel Shipman,
Nathaniel Backus, Seth Alden,
John Porter, Isaiah Tiffany.
This last had been a member of the church in Leba- non. Seth Alden was a few years afterwards tried by a council of ministers, and excommunicated for drink-
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HISTORY OF NORWICH.
ing to excess. A very strict personal inspection was exercised by the church, over its members at this pe- riod. At one time a charge was exhibited against one of the members of the church " for going to see the river break up on the Sabbath." The offence, however, was passed over with only a reprimand. A young woman, in a similar case, did not escape so easily. She had spent the night at a neighboring house, and returning home on Sunday morning, lingered by the side of the She- tucket, to see the ice move down with the loosened current, for which she was fined 5s.
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