USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Wethersfield > History of Saint Mark's Church, New Britain, Conn., and of its predecessor Christ Church, Wethersfield and Berlin : from the first Church of England service in America to nineteen hundred and seven > Part 11
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Berlin > History of Saint Mark's Church, New Britain, Conn., and of its predecessor Christ Church, Wethersfield and Berlin : from the first Church of England service in America to nineteen hundred and seven > Part 11
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > New Britain > History of Saint Mark's Church, New Britain, Conn., and of its predecessor Christ Church, Wethersfield and Berlin : from the first Church of England service in America to nineteen hundred and seven > Part 11
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
1792. In October, 1792, contributions were ordered in the several religious Societies and Congregations in this State, on the first Sabbath of May annually, for three years, for the support of such Missionaries as the General Association of this State shall employ in the Northern and Western States where " the ordinances of the Gospel are not established."
1795. In May, 1795, the General Assembly were given power, on a proper petition, to authorize any school society to appropriate the State school fund for the support of the Chris- tian ministry, or the public worship of God; the same to be used for the benefit of all religious societies, churches or con- gregations of all denominations of Christians within its limits, and to be proportioned according to the list of persons and estates, including all individuals who may compose a part only of such society, church, or congregation. This was in force until the revision of 1821, after which school money' appro- priated for any other purpose was to be forfeited.
1796. Another revision of the laws was made in 1796, with no important change in ecclesiastical matters.
.
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IN CONNECTICUT.
1808. The same is true with reference to the revision of 1808.
1816. In May, 1816, the penalty for blasphemy was changed from whipping to imprisonment not exceeding two years, with power to bind over for good behavior.
1817. In May, 1817, the exemption certificate law of 1791 for Dissenters was repealed and a new law enacted, whereby any person could withdraw from any religious society to which he belonged and join any other society of a different denomina- tion, by leaving a certificate thereof with the town clerk, and thereupon would not be liable for any future expense of the society from which he withdraws. Under this law all religious societies were for the first time placed on precisely the same footing, excepting that every one who had not withdrawn was supposed to belong to the parish of the Standing Order within which he resided. The revision of 1784 placed all denom- inations on substantially the same footing, but there was still a lack of equality in that Dissenters were required to file a certificate and the Standing Order were not, and further, it made no difference with the taxes of one belonging to the Standing Order whether he regularly attended public worship or not, while this fact did make a difference with the taxes of Dissenters, provided they helped to support a dissenting society.
1818. After the adoption of the new constitution in 1818, a new revision was necessary and was printed in 1821.
The new constitution declared that, " The exercise and enjoy- ment of religious profession and worship, without discrimina- tion, shall forever be free to all persons in this state." That " No preference shall be given by law to any christian sect or mode of worship", and that "no person shall, by law, be compelled to join or support, nor be classed with, or associated to any congregation, church or religious association." Our forefathers came here to enjoy religious freedom, which no doubt they did, but it was two centuries after their coming when that freedom was fully extended to all.
III. THE CHURCH IN WETHERSFIELD AND BERLIN
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THE CHURCH
East Windsor
Simsbury
+ 1740L
Windsor
Canton-
Bloomfield
South Windsor
avon
West Hartford
-1762+
East Hartford
Burlington
Hartford
18 miles
O
Wethersfield
+
5
Bristol
Plainville
New Britain
HARIST
ST. MARK'S
+1797 CHURCH'?
Rocky Hill
-
-
War
Ken
Cromwell
Southington
Berlin-
+
O
+1791.
Portland
+/1788
middle + 1794
Haddam
Meriden
middletown
+1789
middlefield
Cheshire
+1760
Haddam
Hallingfora
Durham
+ 1741
+ancient Episcopal
ancient Congregational. 1 Modern Episcopal.
MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OF CHRIST CHURCH
Manchester
Farmington
Herrington
Glastonbury
1749 +
THE CHURCH IN WETHERSFIELD AND BERLIN
CHRIST CHURCH. HISTORY
Christ Church, Worthington, 1797, was located in the south- west corner of the town of Wethersfield, and in that part of ancient Wethersfield which is now the southwestern part of the town of Newington. The parish, or society as it was then generally called, had no specific boundaries, and had no occa- sion for any, as they taxed only those who voluntarily joined them. On the other hand, the Congregationalists or " Standing Order " had the whole state marked out into ecclesiastical societies, and every male person over eighteen years of age was by law considered a member of the particular society or parish within the bounds of which he resided. Every man was forced to pay taxes for the support of the Congregational minister in the parish where he resided, unless he filed a certificate showing that he attended Gospel service regularly elsewhere, and paid his full share for its support. By this system of resident mem- bership in the various societies, the Congregational Societies alone were definitely defined. For sake of convenience, socie- ties of other denominations made use of the names of these well defined Congregational parishes in designating their own loca- tion, and hence the Episcopal Church in Wethersfield was designated as "Christ Church, Worthington," because it was located within the bounds of a Congregational parish named Worthington. This parish was known as of the town of Berlin, because the greater part of the parish was in that town, although the northern part, where Christ Church was located, was in the town of Wethersfield. The church stood near the town lines between Wethersfield and Berlin, and near the junc- tion of four Congregational parishes, the southeast corner of the parish and present town of New Britain, the northeast corner of the parish of Kensington, the northwest corner of the
-
I34
THE CHURCH
-
parish of Worthington, and the southwest corner of the parish of Newington, all being within less than half a mile from Christ Church. The parish of Wethersfield to the northeast was not so far away but that some of its residents came here to church. Others came from Stepney parish, (now Rocky Hill,) on the east, in the town of Wethersfield, and perhaps a few came from Cromwell in the town of Middletown. But nearly all the people of Christ Church lived in the four adjacent parishes. One collector was appointed for Newington and New Britain, and another for Worthington and Kensington, and nothing is said in the records about a collector for those outside of these four parishes. This peculiar location has given rise to much confusion in designating the Society. It has been variously called as of Wethersfield and Berlin, of Wethersfield and Worthington, of Newington, of Wethersfield, of Berlin, and of Worthington. The proper designation is Worthington, or to be more definite, the parish of Worthington in the town of Wethersfield, of 1797, or town of Newington of 1906. The old Newington parish did not extend so far to the south as does the present town. The church stood about two and one-quarter miles east by south from the present St. Mark's Church. Its site may be found by going southerly from the Town Home to where the road ends at South street, often called the Rocky Hill road, or down South Main street to South street, then easterly. on South street over the Kelsey crossing, (the first crossing north of Berlin Depot,) across the low lands, up the hill by the house of the late John Webster to the first road that runs northerly. This road is in Newington and is called Church street because the church was located on it. At the left, on the northwest corner of Church and South streets, is the old cemetery, directly opposite which, towards the north end, on the highest ground, the old church stood for about twenty-eight years. A beautiful view of New Britain may be had from this place, and on the other hand, the old cemetery plainly marks the site of the old church as viewed from Walnut Hill in New Britain.
Every person living within the present town of New Britain, nearly all within the bounds of Worthington and Newington, and many within the bounds of Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, Crom-
NEW BRITAIN, FROM SITE OF CHRIST CHURCH.
I35
IN WETHERSFIELD AND BERLIN.
well and Kensington, were nearer to Christ Church than they were to any other Episcopal church, or to that of any denomina- tion except Congregational. The nearest Episcopal churches were, Hartford, Portland, Middletown, Meriden, and Southing- ton, all of them about eight or nine miles away. The accom- panying map shows the location with especial reference to New Britain and surrounding towns. A reach of seven and a half miles in every direction, making a circle fifteen miles in diam- eter, would include none but Congregational churches. A circle of eight miles radius is drawn on this map around the old site, with seven inner circles one mile apart. Every modern Episcopal church now within this eight-mile circle is designated by a Latin cross, and every Episcopal church that was stand- ing in 1797, within the territory of the map, is designated by a Greek cross. The Congregational meeting-houses that stood within the eight-mile circle in 1797 are designated by a small circle. It will readily be seen from this map that Christ Church more than any other was the Church Home for the people in the two towns of Wethersfield and Berlin, and that the most remote corner of present New Britain, (which then belonged to Berlin,) is not five miles distant from the site of the old church. A broken line circle of a four-mile radius from St. Mark's Church is also shown on this map.
Having given the geography of Christ Church, let us go back a little and consider more specifically than in the pre- ceding chapters, the conditions which led to its formation. In 1722, there was not an Episcopal house of worship in Connecti- cut, but about that time missionary Pigott, of Stratford, had held service at North Haven, about twenty-three miles from Berlin. In 1724, the Churchmen were chiefly in six or seven towns and Rev. Samuel Johnson was the only clergyman in the Colony. The Church at West Haven was organized 1723, which was then the nearest to Berlin of any Episcopal Church. In 1729, missionary Johnson held service in this vicinity, the first within the present Hartford County, and says that he finds on the Connecticut River "a considerable number who are subscribing towards a Church at a town called Wethersfield ;" and in October, 1730, he says, "upon the Connecticut River they are contriving to build a church." The next service in
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THE CHURCH
this section was probably held at Middletown, by the Rev. James Wetmore, a native of that town, who records that he had held service there several times but does not give the date. The supposed date is about 1730. It was prior to 1739, when the Rev. Ebenezer Punderson, of Groton, " preached to a sober body of people near one hundred, two of which have since joined our communion." Although the Church at Middletown was not formally organized until about 1749, that town appears to have been the first in this part of the State to hold services that ripened into a Church. St. Peter's, at Plymouth, was organized 1739, and St. Andrew's, Simsbury, (now Bloomfield,) was organized in 1740, mainly by Episcopalians who came there from Boston to work the Simsbury copper mines. The money for building the church and purchasing the glebe was largely contributed by gentlemen of Boston and Newport. This was the first Church within the present Hartford County. The Church at Wallingford, about thirteen miles from Christ Church, Worthington, was organized in 1741. There were a few Churchmen in Cheshire about this time. Next came the Church in New Cambridge, (Bristol,) about 1746, the leading men in which came mostly from Wallingford and Cheshire. Their church building was erected in 1754 and was the second church building in Hartford County. It is not shown on the accompanying map of 1797, because they consolidated with, and removed to St. Matthew's, East Plymouth, before that date. The church building at Middletown was finished in 1755, and from that date to 1797 it was the Home Church for the people in the vicinity of New Britain.
Missionary Punderson went to Hartford in 1750, to present a memorial to the General Assembly in favor of the Church, but went to Middletown, sixteen miles away, before he found any one to preach to. But in 1762, the church was begun at Hartford, and in May, 1763, missionary Johnson writes that " Hartford does not get forward as was expected." ยท Mis- sionary Winslow of Stratford says, in July, 1763: "It cannot but much engage all our wishes to see a Church established in a place of so much consequence as Hartford. They are obliged for your mentioning to Dr. Johnson the Society's intention to recommend it to Mr. Viets, if placed at Symsbury,
137
IN WETHERSFIELD AND BERLIN.
to take some care of them; but would, with submission, rather wish that instead of this they might be annexed to Middletown, when that mission is again supplied." The Society however did not adopt this suggestion. About this time there was a Church called St. Ann's, at Salmon Brook, (Granby,) with a building partially finished, but after a few years it seems to have disap- peared.
The first resident Churchman of Wethersfield or Berlin, whose name is known, was Dr. Nathaniel Winchell, of Berlin. In the Kensington Church records we find the following entry : " At the same meeting, (Dec. 10, 1766,) Doctor Nathaniel Win- chel appeared before ye Church and offered his reasons for absenting himself from our Communion and Worship for a long time, and declared yt. he had now joined the Church of England." It was then put to vote, " Whether since the Doctor has in an irregular manner withdrawn from our Communion and worship and now declares that he will not Continue with us, we shall withdraw our Pastoral and Church watch. Voted in the affirmative."
On May 20, 1770, a Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard of Kensington had a daughter baptized at Christ Church, Middletown, the parents and Widow Abigail Shailer being sponsors. On July 5, 1772, their daughter Mercy was baptized in the same place, when the parents and widow Cahill were sponsors. Andrew's History of the First Church in New Britain says that Dr. Smalley, the pastor of that Church, considered the whole parish as his people, for in 1772 there were only three Churchmen in New Britain and not more than that number of Baptists. The people of Newington began to have their children baptized at Christ Church, Middletown, in 1773, and those from Wethers- field in 1774. Jonathan Gilbert, one of the first wardens of Christ Church, Worthington, a descendant of the Jonathan Gilbert of Hartford who called himself a member of the Church of England in 1666, had his son David baptized at Middle- town, Aug. 16, 1776, the parents and Dr. Steele being sponsors. Doctor David and Daniel Steele were both founders of the Church in Worthington and were both married by the Rev. Mr. Jarvis of Middletown. They were the sons of Dr. Samuel Steele and were known as the twin doctors. After the Worth-
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THE CHURCH
ington Congregational meeting-house was built in Berlin, (the building is now used as the town hall,) the customary writ of attachment against every taxable person in the parish was issued, and placed in the hands of the collector.
It was directed to Isaac North, Jr., of Wethersfield, and in His Majestie's Name commanded him to forthwith levy and collect "of ye persons named in ye annexed list as therein set down it being a tax or assessment agreed upon and granted by ye inhabitants of sd. Society at their special Meeting for that purpose legally warned and assembled on ye 23d. day of Decr. A.D. 1772, for ye defraying of ye necessary Charges of building a meeting house in sd. Society ", and to deliver the sums collected " unto Capt. Samuel Heart, Society Treasurer."
" And if any person or persons shall neglect or refuse to make payment, . . to distrain ye Goods or Chattels of such person or persons "-
" And for want of Goods & Chattels wherein to make dis- tress, you are commanded to take ye body, or bodies of ye per- son or persons so neglecting or refusing, & him or them com- mit unto the keeper of ye Goal in ye sd. County."
Dated at Wethersfield, this 8th. day of March, A.D. 1773, and signed
"Thomas Belding Juste paeis."
The names of " ye persons in ye annexed list " do not appear, but from the endorsement on the back of the writ it must have included Dr. Samuel Steele, who either neglected or refused to pay the said tax. The endorsement is dated Worthington in Wethersfield, June ye 20th., 1776, and certifies that the said North did "Levy and take one certain yoke of oxen or stags with Poken belonging to Dr. Samuel Steele of Worthington." The next day, June 21, 1776, Thomas Seymour Esqr. of Hart- ford, Attorney for the King, and the last King's Attorney for Hartford County, addressed a letter to Mr. Norton and the Gentlemen of the Committee of the Society at Worthington, saying-" I am informed by Doctor Steele that he is a sincere Professor as well as Worshiper in the Church of England and has for some time past paid to the incumbent when he attended
I39
IN WETHERSFIELD AND BERLIN.
and has his Receipts accordingly. This being the Case, hope you will not, at least, in this Day of public Calamity put him or his Estate to any loss or Trouble especially for the building of meeting houses & in a Time when we are strugling for Civil & Religious Liberty ; 'tis, prehaps a pity, to Compel Men to pay where they do not worship." As the law then was, Dr. Steele was clearly liable, and it is a noticeable fact that his attorney does not claim any legal defence. The "incumbent" herein referred to, where Dr. Steele attended Church, was the Rev. Abraham Jarvis, of Middletown. At a meeting of the Worth- ington Society, (Congregational,) held Feb. 19, 1776, about four months before Dr. Steele's oxen were attached, "David Webster was chosen a committee in behalf of the Society, to make application unto the Rev. Mr. Jarvis of Middletown and get what information he can from him respecting several men in this society who call themselves of the Established Church of England." This vote and the baptismal records of Christ Church, Middletown, show that as early as 1776, there were several Episcopal families in this section, whose Church home was at Middletown. On Dec. 31, 1776, the Worthington Society voted to refer " a matter of dispute between this Society and Doct. Samuel Steele and Jonathan Gilbert, Jr." on rates and taxes to arbitration.
The first Episcopal minister that ever resided in the town of Berlin was the Rev. John Sayre, of Fairfield. He was under confinement at the house of Col. Isaac Lee for seven months during the Revolutionary war. He says, "I was at length banished, (upon the false and malicious pretense of my being an enemy to the good of my country,) to a place called New Britain, in Farmington, about 60 or 70 miles from Fairfield, where I was entirely unknown, except to one poor man, the inhabitants differing from me both in religion and political prin- ciples. However, the family in which I lived showed me such marks of kindness as they could, and I was treated with civility by the neighbors". It is not probable that he held services here under these circumstances, but he appears to have made a good impression, for we have the singular coincidence that about sixty years thereafter the land for the first Episcopal Church within the present town of New Britain was donated by a grandson of Col. Isaac Lee.
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THE CHURCH
Extracts from the records of Christ Church, Middletown, printed upon another page, disclose the names of some of the early Episcopalians of this section, and the records of the Kensington Society, (Congregational,) give us a few more. At a meeting of that Society, Jan. 7, 1782, Solomon Winchell's rates, payable in the year 1780, were abated, he having shown by a certificate from Mr. Andrews of Wallingford that he had there paid a sum which "included " said rates. The society appear to have made this abatement from a sense of justice, as there was no law, prior to 1784, by which a certificate from a Wallingford minister could be used to release one from taxes in Kensington. From Kensington to Wallingford seems like a long road for one to go for Church services.
On Oct. 9, 1782, a committee of the Kensington Society, appointed to consider the question of taxing certain dissenters from the Standing Order, reported that they had "heard their reasons which are that they attend Worship at a meeting of another Constitution and do not take any benefit here, and further, that the civil Authority of the State have no authority to interpose in Religious Matters and that it is an infringement on their Conscience to be obliged to pay their money to support a Worship which they cannot attend." The committee were of the opinion " that all the rates now made & that are not now Collected against Calvin Hulbert, Barnabas Dunham, Nathll. Cole, Selah Cole, Asaph Cole, Josiah Norton, Hezekiah Heart, Gideon Williams, John Cole Jr., Ebenezer Heart, Nathll. Win- chell ought to be abated." Selah Cole and Gideon Williams were Baptists and Nathaniel Winchell was an Episcopalian.
We find no record of any certificates being filed under the law of 1784 or 1791, in the Congregational Societies of Wethersfield, Newington, Rocky Hill or Worthington. In New Britain such certificates were lodged with the clerk, as is shown by the following vote, dated Oct. 28, 1816: "That the prudential committee enquire whether those persons who have lodged certificates comply with the law, and if not their taxes are not to be abated," but we find no copy of any certificate. On Nov. 7, 1785, the New Britain Society instructed their Prudential Committee to " make such abatements to those gen- tlemen that dissent from us in public worship . as they
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IN WETHERSFIELD AND BERLIN.
shall judge just and reasonable, viz : those that do pay other and duly attend other meetings." A similar vote was passed on Nov. 6, 1786. We find several abatements to parties that were known to be Episcopalians, but we have not been able to learn the name of any Episcopalian from the records of the first Ecclesiastical Society of New Britain.
The only certificate filed by an Episcopalian under the law of 1784 and recorded in the records of the Kensington Society, is as follows :
"Cheshire, August 20, 1790.
This may certify whom it may concern that Mr. Jonathan Barnes of Berlin hath this day professed himself a member of the Episcopal Congregation in Cheshire, & hath subscribed for its future maintainance.
Reuben Ives, Clerk."
The law of 1784 required the certificate to be signed by the minister. In fact, Mr. Ives was the minister at Cheshire, although he signed as clerk. Mr. Ives also had charge of the Church at Meriden, organized 1789, and at Southington, about 1791. He was a diligent missionary for all of this section and may have been the first minister to administer to the few Churchmen of this vicinity. We know that he came here about 1800, but the first record of any service in the town of Berlin is an endorsement on one of the Rev. Seth Hart's sermons, as delivered at Worthington, January, 1795. Mr. Hart was a native of Kensington, in the town of Berlin, and very naturally would preach there when he came home. We give in full this first known sermon to these people.
Titus 2. 10.
That they may adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
St. John V. 23.
That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which sent him.
9
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THE CHURCH
That mankind are capable of increasing the intrinsic worth or beauty of the Gospel Dispensations is not to be supposed. But that its end and design may be fully answered, 'tis neces- sary that the Faith and morals of men be regulated by the important truths and divine precepts therein revealed. For this purpose hath God our Saviour published his Doctrine to the world of mankind. The only or the most effectual way therefore to honor the Son, must necessarily be, to allow His gospel to have its proper and genuine effect upon our minds and manners. To comply with the Doctrines of the Gospel, and endeavor to promote the end and design of it, is conferring upon it and its author all the honor which we have power to do. For when religion produces the happy consequences for which it was instituted, its beauty and excellence are displayed in the lives of its professors. It then visibly appears most charming in the eyes of beholders. And as becoming ornaments give a lustre to the external form, so also an exact obedience and practice, becomes ornamental to a good institution. The design of Christianity is to reconcile us to God, to make us amiable in his sight, and qualify us for the enjoyment of happi- ness, by enlightening our minds with the knowledge of the truth, and turning us from the dangerous paths of Sin and Ignorance to the practice of virtue. Hence the Gospel is called the word of reconciliation, and God is said in Christ to be reconciling the world unto himself. But how can God be reconciled to mankind, while they persist in the indulgence of their depraved appetites or vicious inclinations? While they are destroying their own usefulness and greatest worldly com- fort, instead of wisely seeking, for themselves and others, that happiness which Revelation is calculated to promote, both in this life and that which is to come? Since he is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity, notwithstanding all the merits of our Saviour and Redeemer, impenitent sin- ners must appear vile and pitiful in the sight of God. And for this reason it is so frequently declared to be the design of Christianity to bring sinners to repentance and a holy life. As in the words of St. Paul to Titus, the grace of God, which bringeth Salvation, hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
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