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 4
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 4
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 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
1
48
THE CHURCH
Ripton, if not Fairfield, he adds, intend to petition the Society for ministers. On Nov. 6, 1722, Mr. Pigott writes, " The sub- scribers at Ripton have been of long standing inclined to the Church, yet among them there are some lately brought over. But those of Newtown to a man have been induced by my means to embrace our profession. I believe two missionaries might serve all four towns, that is one might attend on Stratford and Fairfield and the other on Newtown and Ripton, alternately." During the year ending June, 1723, sixty-seven new communi- cants were added to the Church at Stratford, and when Mr. Johnson arrived there to take charge on Nov. I, 1723, he found seventy-nine communicants and a house of worship in progress of construction. The Churchmen of Stratford gave what they could for building the church, to which was added liberal con- tributions of several pious and generous gentlemen of the neighboring provinces, and something from travellers who passed through the town. Mr. Pigott's labors in addition to Stratford, Fairfield, Ripton and Newtown, had been extended to Norwalk, North Haven and perhaps other places, and this so disturbed Deputy Gov. Nathan Gold of Norwalk, that he proposed to the General Court a law to prohibit Mr. Pigott practicing the function of a minister in any place in the Colony other than Stratford. But no such law could be passed. Dr. Johnson under date of Jan. 18, 1723-4 writes that the Church- men are chiefly in six or seven towns and "yet there is not one Clergyman of the Church of England besides myself in this whole Colony." He was obliged to ride about to other towns, (some ten, some twenty miles off,) "where there is as much need of a minister as at Stratford. . A considerable number of young men, five or six, I am sure of would be ordained, but for want of Episcopal ordination decline the ministry and go into secular business." About a year later Dr. Johnson refers to a young man of Fairfield, (Mr. Henry Caner, grad. Yale 1724,) whom the Doctor was preparing for the service of the Church. This is the first person studying for the ministry of the Church in Connecticut of whom we have any account. He was probably brought up in the Church, as he was born in England, about 1703. In 1725, Dr. Johnson writes " Sundry of the young candidates for the ministry repair
49
IN CONNECTICUT.
to me frequently for books and conversations upon religious subjects. People are poor, (many of them,) and thirst after Prayer Books, Catechisms, &c. but these books are not to be had in this country even if they had money to purchase them."
The church at Stratford, the first Episcopal church in Con- necticut, was so far finished as to be opened for Services on Christmas day, 1724; the second church was opened at Fair- field, in the fall of 1725, and the third church was opened at New London on Dec. 9, 1730.
Gov. Talcott wrote to the Bishop of London under date Dec. I, 1725, that " there is but one Church of England minister in this Colony and the Church with him have the same protection as the rest of our Churches and are under no constraint to the support of any other minister." He refers to "some few persons " in other towns " who have declared themselves to be of the Church of England; and some of them that live 30 or 40 miles from where the Church of England's minister lives " have made some objection to compulsory minister's support. It may be true that the Churchmen of Stratford were not under " constraint to contribute to the support of any other minister," but if so, it was through the leniency of those in authority, as before May, 1727, the law, if enforced, would have compelled them to do so.
Mr. Johnson writes to the Bishop of London, Sept. 26, 1726, as follows: "I cannot but think it very hard, that that Church of which our most gracious King is the nursing father, should not, in any part of his Majesty's domains, be at least upon a level with the Dissenters and free from any oppression from them."
"As soon as any stranger, though an Englishman, comes into any town, he is according to their laws, immediately warned to go out, which they always do if he is a Churchman, and it is in the breast of the selectmen of the town whether they will accept of any bondsman for him. Neither can he purchase any lands without their leave, and unless they see cause to allow him to stay, they can, by their laws, whip him out of town, if he otherwise refuse to depart. By this means several professors of our Church, for no other crime but their profession, have been prevented from settling here."
50
THE CHURCH
In January, 1726-7 Mr. Johnson writes that he has been to Fairfield " to visit a considerable number of my people in prison for their rates to the dissenting minister. . I wish your Lordship, or some of your sacred character, could have been by to behold the contempt and indignity which our holy religion here suffers among an ungrateful people." "Unless we can have relief and be delivered from this unreasonable treatment, I fear I must give up the cause, and our Church must sink and come to nothing." And yet these people were legally put. in prison and could not reasonably have expected any other treat- ment as long as the law remained as it then was. Referring to Church and State in Old England and in New England, one writer says "The real difference was, that in Old England the Church was subordinate to the State; but in New England the State was subordinate to the Church."
" This mode of government answered a tolerable purpose so long as the community continued Christian, and so long as the people were united in sentiment," and we may add, in religion. Such unity had been the case for nearly one hundred years, but it no longer existed. The Baptists came to Groton in 1704 and organized a Church in 1705, although it was about twenty-five years before a second Church was organized. The Quakers of New York state had also crossed our borders, and the Con- gregationalists had split up into two factions, those adopting the Saybrook Platform of 1708, and the dissenters therefrom, known as Separatists. These with the Presbyterians and Churchmen made six different religious denominations then in the Colony, besides the Rogerenes of New London. These new conditions made the old law for the minister's support both unreasonable and unjust. The toleration acts of 1665, 1669, and 1708, in terms complied with the law of England by extend- ing freedom of worship to persons of all denominations, but the laws in general were so framed that those who elected to worship in any other than the Congregational way were sub- jected to various annoyances and made to pay for it so dearly as to discourage all other worship, as far as it could be dis- couraged without actual prohibition. Mr. Johnson considered the law of the Colony for the minister's support to be contrary to the indulgence granted the Colony "by their charter, which
5I
IN CONNECTICUT.
forbade them to do anything contrary to the laws of England." The toleration act of 1708 expressly provided that dissenting worshippers should not be "excused from paying minister's rates", for the " way " established by law.
The Church wardens and vestry of Fairfield petitioned the General Court which assembled May 15, 1727, for some act to " excuse us from paying any dissenting minister, or to the building of any dissenting meeting house." Also requesting that the money formerly taken from them by distraint, (as they say " contrary to His Honor, the Governor's advice,") be restored to them again. A law purporting to give Church- men relief from taxes was passed, and it is difficult to conceive how any law for such purpose could have possibly been so framed as to give as little relief. It was the first law to name the Church of England, and the first law granting any relief from taxes to those who were not of the Standing Order. It has been stated that this law was passed at the request of Churchmen, but they never requested this law. It was like asking for bread and receiving a stone. The rights of Epis- copalians under the laws of the Colony have generally been misunderstood, and the importance of this act of 1727 in the history of the Church is so great as to warrant an extended discussion.
The preamble to the act shows that it was granted "Upon the Prayer of Moses Ward of Fairfield, Church Warden, and the rest of the Church Wardens, Vestry Men and Brethren, representing themselves under Obligations by the Honorable Society, and Bishop of London, to pay to the Support of the established Church," and that "said Ward appeared, and by his attorney declared to this Assembly, that he should not insist on the return of the money prayed for."
The law enacted " That all persons who are of the Church of England, and those who are of the Churches established by the laws of this Government, that live in the bounds of any Parish allowed by this Assembly, shall be taxed by the parishioners of the said Parish, by the same rule, and in the same proportion, for the support of the Ministry in such Parish." The condi- tions here imposed are the controlling features of the act. It is imperative that Churchmen shall be taxed to support the
52
THE CHURCH
ministers of the Standing Order, " by the same rule, and in the same proportion " as all others, and further, the conditions of this act are applicable only to those "that live in the bounds " of the particular Congregational parish where the tax was laid. The omission to notice this condition has been one of the chief causes of misunderstanding the law.
The law gives no conditions for relief to the tax payer as to taxes for supporting ministers of the Standing Order. The only relief is directly for the Episcopal Minister and is as follows :
" But if it so happens that there be a Society of the Church of England, where there is a person in Orders according to the Canons of the Church of England, settled and abiding among them, and performing divine service, so near to any person that hath declared himself of the Church of England, that he can conveniently, and doth attend the public Worship there, then the Collectors, having first indifferently levied the Tax, as above- said, shall deliver the Taxes collected of such persons declaring themselves, and attending as aforesaid, unto the Minister of the Church of England, living near unto such persons; which Minister shall have full power to receive and recover the same, in order to his support in the place assigned to him."
But before the Episcopal minister could recover the taxes paid by the members of his flock to the Collector of the Stand- ing Order, he must prove that he " is a person in orders accord- ing to the canons of the Church "; that he resides in the same Congregational parish with those Churchmen whose taxes he demands; that he has regularly performed Divine Service in that vicinity; that the persons whose taxes he demands have " declared " themselves to be Churchmen, and that they have regularly attended services at the public worship conducted by this minister.
The remainder of the act is as follows :
" But if such proportions of Taxes be not sufficient in any Society of the Church of England to support the incumbent there, then such society may levy and collect of them who profess and attend, as aforesaid, greater Taxes, at their own discretion, for the support of their Minister.
" And that the parishioners of the Church of England, attend- ing as aforesaid, are hereby excused from paying any Taxes
53
IN CONNECTICUT.
for building Meeting Houses for the present established Churches of this Government."
The provision for further taxing Churchmen for their own support requires no explanation, but the relief from paying meeting-house taxes applies, by reason of the words "attending as aforesaid " only to such Churchmen as have fulfilled the conditions named in the previous portion of the act, and there- fore only those Churchmen who resided in the same Congrega- tional parish that the Episcopal Minister resided in, could properly claim exemption from meeting-house taxes.
In the spring of 1727 when this act was passed, there were only two Episcopal houses of worship in use within the Colony, one at Stratford and an unfinished one at Fairfield. There was another in the process of building at New London. These three towns had each organized a parish or society; so also West Haven, Ripton, Ridgefield, Newtown, Norwalk, North Haven, Poquonnuck, (North Groton,) Green's Farms, Green- field, Chestnut Ridge, (Redding,) and Danbury, either had parishes or had laid the foundations for a parish, and yet, to take care of all these fourteen places, there was only one Minis- ter " in Orders according to the Canons of the Church of Eng- land settled and abiding among them ", and Stratford, where the Rev. Samuel Johnson resided, was the only place in the Colony where Churchmen could get any relief under this law.
Fairfield, however, was soon added to the list by the appoint- ment as missionary of Rev. Henry Caner, who had been study- ing for the ministry for three years last past and had also per- formed good service as catechist and lay reader. He returned in the fall of 1727 from England, where he had been for ordina- tion. His first report to the Society is dated March 15, 1727-8. He says the heavy taxes levied for the support of dissenting ministers renders his people " almost inacapable of carrying on the Church." Under the same date he writes to the Bishop of London that "the Dissenters in this government have lately passed an act to exempt all professors of the Church from pay- ing taxes to support their ministers, yet they take the liberty to determine themselves who may be called Churchmen, and interpret that act to comprehend none that live a mile from the Church minister, but of its revenues likewise, we are entirely
54
THE CHURCH
deprived of the benefit of; and the favor which they would seem to do us proves, in reality, but a shadow."
Under date of April 2, 1728, Mr. Johnson of Stratford writes to the Bishop of London, that "The Government have pre- tended to make a law in favor of the Church, whereby all that live near our parish churches are exempted from paying taxes to dissenting ministers, and it is of some service to such, but those that live scattering in the country are yet persecuted as bad as ever, and in this law they still call themselves the Established Churches, and treat us as Dissenters."
Mr. Caner mentions nearness to the Church minister as the controlling condition for exemption from taxes, but in fact, the bounds of the established parish where the Church minister resided was the real limit of exemption, while the words " near to" in the law relate to the place of worship and not to the abode of the minister. The law itself defines what " near to " means, so that if a person could and did attend worship in any place he was " near to " that place within the meaning of the law. We are at a loss to see on what ground the taxes of the Churchmen of Fairfield who attended Mr. Caner's services there should not have been paid over to Mr. Caner, unless they were assessed before Mr. Caner's return from England. It was certainly the rule to give Episcopalians the benefit of this law in all places where the Episcopal ministers resided, and in most other places Episcopalians legally suffered. The authorities might however have claimed that a general missionary for two or more different places was not a minister "settled and abid- ing " in any particular place according to the intent of the law. That a minister should have several parishes to serve alternately, was foreign to the conceptions of the Standing Order. They might well have raised the question as to who were " declared " Churchmen. The only law bearing on the declarations of dis- senters was the toleration act of 1708, which required those who desired to worship God in a way different from that of the Standing Order, to qualify themselves at the County Court " according to an act made in the first year of the late King William and Queen Mary." We find no record of any such qualification in Hartford County and do not know that any one ever qualified under it except a few Straight Congregational-
55
IN CONNECTICUT.
ists in New Haven County. The words " hath declared himself of the Church of England " as used in the act of 1727 could be fairly construed as so declaring under the toleration law of 1708. We do not know that the law ever was so construed. On May 9, 1728, the Church wardens and vestrymen of Fair- field presented a memorial to the General Assembly saying that the act of 1727 " is not fully understood " and particularly they did not understand " what part of the professors of the Church of England are exempted, all being within the district of the Rev. Mr. Johnson and Mr. Caner's ministry, within the county of Fairfield." They ask for an explanation, and also for a law that taxes be granted " by the book of canons and not by your collectors." No action was taken on this petition.
A little before April 1, 1728, Mr. Johnson preached at New Haven. He says, " Great pains were taken to hinder people from coming to Church and many well wishers to it were over- persuaded not to come; however, I had near a hundred hearers." After sermon, "some ten of the members of the Church there subscribed one hundred pounds towards the build- ing of a church in that town."
The act of 1727 encouraged the Quakers to apply for relief from taxes, which was granted at the May session in 1729 and the same favor was extended to the Baptists in October, 1729. We presume the law makers preferred Quakers and Baptists to Episcopalians, for the most objectionable features of the law of 1727 were omitted from these acts of 1729, whereby all Quakers and Baptists that attended their respective meetings were wholly exempted from taxes on behalf of the Standing Order. The Straight Congregationalists had no relief whatever from the oppressions of the Standing Order until 1777.
The Rev. Samuel Seabury, father of Bishop Seabury and the Congregationalist minister at North Groton, (now Ledyard,) declared for Episcopacy, went to England for ordination, and returned as missionary to New London, Dec. 9, 1730. The Rev. John Beach, Presbyterian minister at Newtown, soon followed, and was returned here as missionary for Redding and Newtown in 1734.
The people of North Groton consoled themselves over the loss of the Rev. Samuel Seabury by securing the services of the
56
THE CHURCH
Rev. Ebenezer Punderson, and they were so well pleased with him as to say "we looked upon ourselves as favorites of Heaven," but in about two and a half years he "publicly declared himself to be a conformist to the Established Church of England," and they say some "ten or twelve of the people of our Parish and heads of families have signed his paper and contributed money to him to have his expenses " to England paid for him "to be ordained by a bishop." [Ecclesiastical Mss., Vol. 4, Doc. 51.] Mr. Punderson was recommended by the clergy of Connecticut, who said there was " a good prospect that many of his former parish will go with him." He came back in 1734 as missionary for North Groton and parts adjacent. In December, 1733, Mr. Johnson wrote to the Bishop of London that he believed two or three worthy young ministers of this Colony "will in a little time declare for us," and that " two of them especially have hopes that the most of their con- gregation will conform with them." One of these two was Mr. Punderson and the other was Jonathan Arnold, who had suc- ceeded Mr. Johnson at West Haven. In 1734 Mr. Arnold returned from England with the appointment of itinerant mis- sionary of the Colony, and the Standing Order at West Haven, like the people of North Groton, were grieved at the loss of two successive pastors and part of their congregation.
The honorable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Plantations of the Realm of England breathed into the Church in Connecticut the breath of life, and by its foster- ing care sustained the Church until it was strong enough to stand the shock of the American Revolution. Each missionary was requested to " keep a constant and regular correspondence " with the Secretary of the Society, besides making semi-annual reports. It is by this correspondence that we have such a com- plete history of the Church. The missionaries were paid from twenty to seventy pounds sterling per annum, and each mis- sionary was allowed a library valued at ten pounds sterling with five pounds worth of tracts. Of the 83 missionaries on the Society's list in New England more than one-fourth were brought up Dissenters. In Connecticut there was a much larger percentage of those who had come over to the Church. Of the first nine missionaries appointed to stations in Connecti- cut, six of them had been dissenting ministers.
57
IN CONNECTICUT.
The missionaries were instructed "that they take special care to give no offence to the Civil Government, by inter-med- dling in affairs not relating to their own calling and function."
"That they particularly preach against those vices, which they shall observe to be most predominating in the places of their residence."
No missionary was appointed to any place without first being petitioned for, and without being recommended by some mis- sionary or other person known to the Society. Even then no missionary was sent until the Society knew "whether those places are able and willing to contribute towards the mainten- ance of a missionary," and those places which were most willing to contribute were always supplied first. Ripton and Newtown in 1722 both asked for a missionary and referred to certain lands for Church support, but did not state specifically how much they could do. Two years later they were informed that the " Society are inclined to send them a Missionary, but write first to know what the value of the land is and what they will contribute further annually ? "
The people soon learned that it was necessary to offer the Society something substantial towards supporting a missionary before they could have one, and even then only a few mission- aries were to be had.
There was at Hebron in 1736 "a numerous congregation who attended the services of the Common Prayers with great seriousness " when Missionary Seabury of New London, thirty miles away, came to visit them. They could not get a mis- sionary and so desired Mr. Seabury to "administer to them four times a year until one could be sent."
In 1740 the "Church newly planted " at Wallingford was served only once a quarter by a minister and every Lord's day besides they were served by a lay reader. They knew that Mr. Morris could not come to them oftener, but, say they. "we hope God in his providence, will so order it that we may at last be oftener attended." Mr. Morris writes that upon Mr. Arnold leaving, the people " seemed to despair of having another to succeed him." . " Should I give an account of the geography of my mission you would find it large enough for a Diocese."
58
THE CHURCH
In 1741, Mr. Morris visited Simsbury, (Bloomfield,) where " they are in hopes of having a minister at last, and have accord- , ingly prepared some timber to build a church." He arranged with the other missionaries to assist him so that Simsbury might be served "eight times a year." He agreed to attend Walling- ford three times a year, " which they seem satisfied with, for they know it is as much as I can do."
In October, 1743, Mr. Beach speaks of attending about twenty families at New Milford and New Fairfield, where he goes several times a year "but seldom on the Lord's day." They frequently go fifteen miles to attend church at Newtown.
In April, 1744, the Church wardens of Simsbury write to the Society that they have " nothing so much to object against as the want of a settled minister." Mr. Punderson of North Groton writes, "I am at present the only missionary in this half of the government and part of Rhode Island," and urges the Society to fill the vacancy at New London occasioned by the transfer of Mr. Seabury to Long Island. Other removals occurred, so that in 1747 Dr. Johnson says, "I am now alone here on the sea coast, without one person in orders besides myself for more than a hundred miles." The Church wardens of Litchfield asked for a missionary in 1747, and say they are remote from all the missionaries, except the Rev. Mr. Gibbs, twenty-seven miles away, and Rev. Mr. Beach, between thirty- five and forty miles away.
In 1756, the people of Norwich were desirous of having a missionary, and before they had one the Mohegan Indians petitioned the Society to have this missionary give them a share of his time, "that we may be taught to go to that good place when we die, as well as the white man." They would pay some- thing but they could not pay much save a few oysters, fish, etc. In 1764 the Rev. Mr. Viets, missionary at Bloomfield, was thirty-five miles from any other Episcopal minister.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.