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 7
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 7
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 7
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
I2
243I
2443
Plainfield,
1479
I479
Voluntown,
6
1470
I476
Union,
512
512
Canterbury,
No report.
2392
Ashford,
2228
Windham,
66
3437
Woodstock,
.
1974
1 to 115. Total,
150
17313
27494
.
.
·
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
-
66
.
.
FAIRFIELD COUNTY.
.
·
.
82
THE CHURCH
LITCHFIELD COUNTY.
Town.
Epis.
Non-Epis.
Total.
Litchfield,
19I
1318
I509
Canaan,
91
1482
I573
Cornwall,
53
904
957
Hartland,
49
45I
500
New Hartford,
25
960
985
Norfolk,
38
928
966
Salisbury,
9I
I845
1936
Sharon,
83
1903
1986
Torrington, .
3I
912
843
Barkhampstead,
No report.
250
Colebrook,
·
66
1098
Harwinton,
66
66
1015
Kent, .
.
66
66
2742
Westmoreland,
66
66
1922
Winchester,
327
Woodbury, .
5224
I to 16. Total,
655
IO600
25944
SUMMARY.
County.
Epis.
Non-Epis.
Total.
Hartford Co.,
I47I
32806
50675
New Haven Co.,
275I
19647
25896
New London Co., .
596
I4708
31542
Fairfield Co.,
4343
14848
28936
Windham Co.,
150
17313
27494
Litchfield Co.,
655
10542
25944
Total,
9966
I19922
190487
.
.
1922
New Milford,
.
.
66
.
I Epis. to 12 Non Epis. nearly ; the Episcopalians about one to thirteen of the whole number of inhabitants, and probably there would be no great difference from this proportion were the account of all the towns come in, which I hope soon to gain.
ELIZUR GOODRICH.
Durham, Sep. 5, A. D. 1774.
-
150
Goshen,
83
IN CONNECTICUT.
There are a few errors in footing that do not affect the proportion of Episcopalians to the Non-Episcopalians. The figures here given are the same as in the printed Goodrich report.
Of the towns not reported, Hebron and Middletown in Hart- ford County ; Waterbury in New Haven County ; New London and Norwich in New London County ; Fairfield and Stratford in Fairfield County; and New Milford and Woodbury in Litchfield County, are among the towns where the Episcopa- lians were the most numerous, so that a full report would no doubt have shown a much larger percentage of Episcopalians.' Only eight towns are reported as containing no Episcopalians. Newtown is the only one reported in which the number of Epis- copalians equals that of all others, besides having the largest number, 1084, of any reported town. New Haven is second with 942, and Simsbury third with 914.
The Revolutionary War terminated these conventions and suspended all efforts towards establishing an American Episco- pate.
The history of what others did against the Church people dur- ing the war would alone make a large volume, while the history of what the Church people did for the advancement of the Church may be told in few words-they did nothing but exist. That was all they could do. Naturally and properly, the mis- sionaries and their people were slow to commit any overt act against the king, and hence were censured and abused. For a time all of the churches were closed and public services suspended, save at Newtown and Redding, where the Rev. John Beach presided. The few churches that were after- wards opened omitted the Prayers for the king, and some otherwise modified their service. Nearly all of the clergy, excepting Messrs. Jarvis, Hubbard and Tyler, were subjected to imprisonment, mob violence, banishment, or other persecu- tion, and even these had narrow escapes. Acts of violence that would never have been thought of except in war time, were perpetrated, of which we will give only one case by each party.
The Rev. Dr. Mather of Stamford, who figured in the Anti- Episcopal Convention, was, with his four sons, taken from the parsonage at night by eight loyalists and carried to New York.
The Rev. Jeremiah Leaming, D.D., of Norwalk, one of the ablest and most respected missionaries of the S. P. G., had his
84
THE CHURCH
estate confiscated. His picture was defaced by a mob and then nailed to a sign post bottom side up, and finally, Dr. Leam- ing was confined in the Fairfield County jail for so long a time that he contracted a hip disease that made him a cripple for life. In New London, however, the Congregationalists and Episco- palians dwelt together in harmony, (although some indignities against the Rev. Mr. Graves were indulged in by the crowd.) In January, 1780, the Episcopalians voted to allow the Congre- gationalists the use of the church during the winter. For a fuller account of revolutionary history and acts, we refer to Beardsley's "History ", Chapter XXIV; Sabine's " American Loyalists " ; and Hawk's and Perry's "Documentary History of the Church in Connecticut." For other facts before the Revolution see " Sketches of Church Life in Colonial Connecti- cut ", by Lucy Cushing Jarvis, 1902.
The Rev. John Beach of Newtown writes to the Secretary of the S. P. G., Oct. 31, 1781, that Newtown and Redding he believes are " the only parts of New England that have refused to comply with the doings of the Congress, and for that reason have been the butt of general hatred. Am now in the 82d year of my age, " have been " 60 years a public preacher, and after conviction in the Church of England 50 years." But in 1783 Messrs. Beach, Gibbs and Kneeland were dead, and others had removed, so that, including Bostwick of Great Barrington, there were only fourteen clergy left in the Colony. Messrs. Andrews, Scovill, Clark and Viets soon after removed to Nova Scotia, leaving only nine clergymen of the Church within the bounds of the State.
In March, 1783, ten of the clergy met quietly at Woodbury and elected the Rev. Samuel Seabury for their Bishop. He had been before introduced to England by a letter of Dr. Samuel Johnson dated Sept. 29, 1748, saying that young Seabury's father has " a promising son, and as he designs him for the Society's service, he desires me to mention what I know of him, and as he has lived for four years much under my eye, I can truly testify of him that he is a solid sensible, virtuous youth, and I doubt not may in due time do good service." Dr. Samuel Seabury arrived in London, July 7, 1783, but it was over a year before he could return as the first Bishop in
85
IN CONNECTICUT.
America, and " do good service " in Connecticut, as he finally did. The work of the S. P. G. had now ceased in the United States but was continued in the British Provinces of America. Dr. Seabury was made very uneasy when in London, by hear- ing reports that several of the Connecticut missionaries were expected in Nova Scotia with a large portion of their congrega- tions. In May, 1784, he says if these gentlemen "do not choose to stay in Connecticut why should a Bishop go there, I answer one reason of their going is the hope of enjoying their religion fully, which they cannot do . . without a .
Bishop." He was also desirous of having a law passed to per- mit a Bishop to reside in Connecticut, fearing that the absence of such a law might be urged against his consecration. He was informed that the new laws of the State, 1784, (which had not then been published,) gave all that was desired. The law relating to denominations other than the Standing Order was the first to use the word " Episcopal ", and gave that Church the same powers and privileges as the ecclesiastical societies estab- lished by law, and " all the legal rights and powers intended by our constitution to be given to any denomination." The Rev. Dr. Leaming and Rev. Abraham Jarvis were instrumental in having this law enacted. Taxes were still laid on every adult male, for ministers' support and "meeting-houses" of the Standing Order, but all persons of every other denomination could be exempted from such taxes, by filing a proper certi- ficate showing that they attended Divine Service elsewhere and paid their full share for its support. From this time on the much abused Separatists or Strict Congregationalists and the doubly- taxed Episcopalians, had no substantial grievance under the law. In fact by this time the distinction between the Straight Congre- gationalists and those of the Standing Order had vanished, for now the rock upon which they split, the half-way covenant, had been largely discontinued. It was discontinued at New Britain in 1767; at Southington before 1780; at Hartford between 1771 and 1804; at Newington between 1775 and 1805, and about the beginning of the 19th century it was universally abandoned. The early laws of the Colony were not hard on the people during the conditions for which they were made. They did well enough for the first seventy-five years. In. 1708
86
THE CHURCH
the followers of Hooker were overthrown, and for about seventy-five years more the Saybrook Platformists were the new Standing Order; they ruled with an iron hand and refused to modify their laws to adapt them to the new condi- tions of the Colony. It was under the rule of the new Standing Order that Episcopalians had to suffer; but even the Episco- palians fared better under the law than did the Straight Con- gregationalists. The latter were practically told by the Gen- eral Court of 1743 that they need not expect any favor of the Assembly. But in 1784, when the new Standing Order were returning to the ways of Hooker, who was a Straight Congrega- tionalist, they began to look upon others with more favor, and then, for the first time they placed all who differed from them in religion upon substantially an equal footing. And now that Standing Order of Connecticut, who for seventy-five years treated Episcopalians and Straight Congregationalists with great injustice, is a thing of the past; the Episcopalians still survive, and there are none other than Straight Congregation- alists now in Connecticut.
A united people once more at peace, a repeal of all Colony laws, and an entirely new revision of State laws, were the new conditions in Connecticut that greeted the first Bishop of America upon his return from Scotland in 1785, where he had been consecrated Nov. 14, 1784. He had been thirty-one years a missionary of the S. P. G., was absent for consecration full two years, had more than expended all he had, and now there was no provision whatever for his support. The London "Seabury Commemoration", 1884, says "Providence had per- mitted his native land to be a state without a King; it was his cherished task to see that his native land should have a Church, and not without a Bishop."
Two days after arriving at his home in New London, he wrote to the Rev. Mr. Jarvis concerning the first Convention, which met at Middletown, Aug. 2, 1785, with the Rev. Dr. Leaming as Chairman and the Rev. Mr. Jarvis Secretary, and ten others in attendance.
On the next day, the Bishop was formally received, greeted and accepted by the clergy, as their Bishop. Four persons were ordained deacons, the first in the American Church. At the
87
IN CONNECTICUT.
conclusion of the service the Bishop dissolved the Convention and directed the clergy to meet at five o'clock in " Convocation." There had been voluntary conventions of the clergy from 1739, but this is the first time that the word "Convocation" was applied to a meeting of the clergy in Connecticut. It was so called because they were convoked by Episcopal authority. After the organization of the Convention of clergy and lay delegates in 1792, the Convocation ceased to act upon affairs concerning the temporal interests of the Diocese, while it still, if requested, advised upon them. [Printed " Records of Convocation ", pp. 12 and 13.] The four last recorded meetings of the Convoca- tion were held in 1830, 1837, 1847 and 1848, respectively.
The subject of changes in the Prayer Book was discussed at Middletown, and on Aug. 12, 1785, the Bishop issued a pastoral letter enjoining the clergy to make certain changes in con- nection with the State Prayers and mention of the British government.
The Convocation at Derby, Sept. 22, 1786, adopted further changes in the Prayer Book, including "The Communion Office " based upon the Liturgy of the Church in Scot- land. The day after Bishop Seabury's consecration he made a " Concordate" with the Scottish Bishops. Without " prescribing to their Brethren in this matter " of the Com- munion Office, they recommended "the most primitive Doc- trine and practice in that respect, which is the pattern the Church of Scotland has copied after in her Communion Office." And on the other part "Bishop Seabury agrees to take a seri- ous View of the Communion Office recommended by them and if found agreeable to the genuine Standards of Antiquity, to give his sanction to it, and by gentle Methods of Argument and Persuasion, to endeavor as they have done to introduce it by degrees into practice without the Compulsion of Authority on the one side or the prejudice of former Custom on the other. "
The " Communion Office " with "Private Devotions Recom- mended to the Episcopal Congregations in Connecticut By the Right Reverend Bishop Seabury " was printed at New London by T. Green in 1786. At this time there were many, especially in the South, that thought Bishop Seabury's conse-
88
THE CHURCH
cration illegal and for that reason an effort was made to have New England, under Bishop Seabury, remain only a branch of the American Church. But in strict accordance with the Con- cordate " by gentle methods of argument and persuasion . without the compulsion of authority " and with a sacrifice of all personal rights and interests, Bishop Seabury and his friends succeeded in uniting all conflicting elements in one American Church, bringing together the Bishops of the English and Scottish succession and adopting, in 1789, the revised Prayer Book with that ancient " Communion Office " which was after the pattern of the Church of Scotland, but which is now in regular use only in the American Church.
The first occasion on which Bishop Seabury wore his Epis- copal attire and mitre is said to have been at the consecration of St. James's church at New London, Sept. 20, 1787. The Psalms were beautifully chanted and most of the clergy present were vested in their robes.
In 1787, an unusual incident occurred at Barkhamsted, when the Rev. Jonathan Marsh, A.M., Congregational minister at New Hartford, preached a Christmas Sermon to the Episco- palians, which he did at their request. It was printed at Hart- ford that year and a copy of it is now in the library of the Connecticut Historical Society.
On June 2, 1790, the Bishop and fifteen clergymen met in the Presbyterian Meeting-house at Litchfield and appointed a committee on the Constitution and Canons of the Church, and Oct. 1, 1790, at Newtown, the enactments of the " General Con- vention at Philadelphia on the 2ª day of Octobr 1789" were approved and adopted by a vote of 13 to I.
In 1790, Rhode Island was added to Bishop Seabury's charge.
The dying grip of the Standing Order on the purses of other denominations rallied a little in May, 1791, when an act was passed in addition to, and in alteration of, the certificate exemption law of 1784, whereby no certificate was legal unless the party claiming exemption was examined by two justices, (or one in case the town did not have two,) who should give the desired certificate if "they shall judge the same well founded." The Convocation of Oct. 5, 1791, voted to ask for the repeal of this law and in that month both certificate laws
1
89
IN CONNECTICUT.
were repealed and a new one passed, granting exemption on the same conditions as before, upon filing of a certificate merely signed by the applicant.
On Oct. 5, 1791, the Convocation at Watertown appointed the first Standing Committee, consisting of five clergymen, as laymen at that date had no part in the management of Diocesan matters. This has never been changed, and the Standing Com- mittee of to-day is composed of five clergymen. Of the ninety- four Dioceses of the Church in America, only four, Connecticut, Maryland, Easton of Maryland and Michigan City of Indiana, have no lay members on the Standing Committee.
On Oct. 7, 1791, the same Convocation voted-" That each Clergyman recommended it to the people of his Cure to choose one or more persons to represent them at a Convocation to be holden at the Church in New Haven on the 30th of May next. which representatives are to be considered as a Committee of conference, to confer with the Convocation, at that time & place, on all matters that respect the temporal interest of the Church." In conformity therewith the clergy met separately in Convocation at Trinity Church, New Haven, June 6, 1792, and on the same day in that church the "Bishop, Clergy and Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Con- necticut " held their first Annual Convention. There were twenty of the clergy and twenty-four of the laity present. The lay delegates are arranged in the Journal by counties, and Hart- ford County is the only one not represented. The first busi- ness of the Convention was the adoption of "The constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Connecticut." They then appointed four clerical and four lay deputies to the next Gen- eral Convention and appointed a committee to report to the next Diocesan Convention a plan for a religious and charitable society. After the several parishes in the State approved the Constitution adopted in this Convention, the Diocese of Con- necticut was duly established and thereafter met annually in convention. The first society or parish formed within the Diocese was that of Exeter in the town of Lebanon, which was voted to be " a separate ecclesiastical society " by the Convo- cation at Huntington, Oct. 10, 1792. The same Convocation also took steps towards establishing a "Fund for the Bishop's
90
THE CHURCH
support "; but it did not mature in Bishop Seabury's time. After numerous delays, an act of incorporation was passed in May, 1799, but the trustees do not appear to have been active until about 1803. In that year the Convention voted that no delegate be admitted to the Convention unless he delivered, with his certificate, the grand levy of the Church he wished to represent. This levy was to be used as a basis of assessments for the Bishop's fund.
When the annual Convention met at Middletown, June 5, 1793, it appeared from the reports of the lay delegates and certificates exhibited that the "Constitution of the Church in Connecticut had been fully approved and adopted by a great majority of the Churches in the State. "
The practicability of instituting an Episcopal Academy in this State was considered as early as the Spring of 1789, and in the Convocation of Feb. 15, 1792, the several clergy were requested to see what could be done towards erecting an Episco- pal Academy. The matter was considered in the annual Con- vention of 1794. The committee reported to the Convention of 1795 and it was voted that the Academy be established. The constitution of the Academy was adopted in the Convention of 1796. In 1802 the State authorized a lottery to raise $15,000 for the Episcopal Academy. The Bishop's address to the Con- vention of 1892 refers to this Academy as " our oldest Diocesan Institution." Also in 1894, one hundred years after the Academy was instituted, when the Bishop says that from 1796 the "Trustees have been elected by the Convention of the Diocese. "
The Convention of 1795 voted that the Journals of the Con- vention from the first be printed, and that in future they be published annually. Bishop Seabury's Psalter "was also printed in 1795, by Thomas C. Green, New London." It is mentioned at length in Beardsley's "Life of Bishop Seabury," and is described also in Dr. Wright's "Early Prayer Books of America." It was a book for family use and was never known to have been used in the churches. Only three copies of it are now known to be in existence. They belong respectively to Mr. James Terry of Hartford, Mr. Henry White of New Haven, and Mr. George Hoadley of Hartford.
9I
IN CONNECTICUT.
A national Thanksgiving was appointed by George Wash- ington, the President, for Feb. 19, 1795. The proclamation was not read at New London because the date appointed fell in Lent, which was not considered an appropriate time for Thanks- giving. It was also considered objectionable to observe Fast day during Easter week, although not objectionable during Lent. These matters were discussed in the Connecticut " Gazette " and Bishop Seabury gave his views of the matter, although his name did not appear as the author. Governor Huntington of Norwich was a friend of the Bishop. The Con- gregationalists of Norwich were then worshipping in the Epis- copal Church by the courtesy of the Episcopalians. The annual State Fast for 1795 was appointed for Good Friday by Gover- nor Huntington, and this was the first time that the State Fast in Connecticut had ever been appointed on Good Friday. It was again so appointed for 1797, and since then that has been the continuous practice. [Fast and Thanksgiving days in New England, by Rev. W. DeLoss Love, Jr., Ph.D.]
At the General or Triennial Convention in 1792, Bishop Sea- bury waived his right to preside, and agreed to exercise the Presidency in rotation with the other Bishops. This made Bishop Provoost the Presiding Officer, and the consecrator, with the other Bishops, of the Rev. Thomas Claggett, D.D.
Bishop Seabury's first ordinations were at Middletown, Aug. 3, 1785, when Messrs. Furgeson, Van Dyke, Baldwin and Shelton were made deacons. His last ordination was at St. Matthew's, East Plymouth, Oct. 21, 1795, the day of conse- crating the church, when Alexander Viets Griswold, after- wards Bishop of the Eastern Diocese, was ordained priest. The first confirmation in America was by Bishop Seabury at Stratford. His first consecration of a church was at Norwalk, in July, 1786, and his last known official act was the consecra- tion of St. Mark's Church, Harwinton, Oct. 22, 1795. He died suddenly on Feb. 25, 1796.
Bishop Seabury's first charge to the clergy, at New Haven, Aug. 4, 1785, is printed in the reprint of the Journals 1792 to 1820, p. 147, and a list of the ordinations by Bishops Seabury, Jarvis, and Brownell, appear in the same reprint, and again with additions up to date in the Journal for 1865, pp. 151-165;
ʻ
92
THE CHURCH
again in the Journal for 1866, pp. 166-180, and in the Journal for 1886. The latter also contains a list of ordinations from Connecticut by English Bishops and a list of clergymen deceased up to July 1, 1886.
In the Journal of 1882, pp. 152, etc., appears not merely a list but the full record of Bishop Seabury's Ordinations. The " Calendar " of Hartford for 1854 contains short biographical notices, by Rev. A. B. Chapin, of all the clergymen ordained by Bishops Seabury and Jarvis. They begin with the issue of July I, and are concluded with the issue of Nov. 25.
At a special Convention held in Trinity church, New Haven, May 5, 1796, the clerical and lay delegates formed two separate houses for the purpose of deliberating separately on the subject of electing a Bishop. The clergy made choice of the Rev. Abraham Jarvis, but he declined the office.
The Rev. John Bowden was elected for Bishop, Oct. 19, 1796, and on June 7, 1797, he signified to the Convention, in writing, his non-acceptance of the Episcopate.
On June 7, 1797, at Derby, the Rev. Mr. Jarvis was unani- mously reëlected by the clergy. The laity were notified of his election and they unanimously concurred. At the Commence- ment at Yale in September, 1797, the degree of Doctor of Divin- ity was conferred on the Rev. Abraham Jarvis, Bishop-elect of the Church in Connecticut. In the church where he was first elected he was consecrated on Oct. 18, 1797, by the Right Rev. Dr. White of Pennsylvania, the Right Rev. Dr. Provoost of New York, and the Right Rev. Dr. Bass of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
The Convention of June 6 and 7, 1798, appointed a com- mittee "to draft an address to the President of the United States." This address appears in the "Conn. Journal & Weekley Advertiser " of New Haven, issue of Jan. 31, 1799, together with a letter of acknowledgment and thanks from the President, John Adams. The occasion for sending the address was the war among the nations of Europe. The closing lines of the address are as follows :- We " assure the Rulers of our Country that we will use our best endeavors to promote unity of opinion, respect for the laws, and reverence for all that are in authority over us. And to do our best endeavors we add our
93
IN CONNECTICUT.
prayers to Almighty God Beseeching Him to direct and dispose the hearts of all Christian Rulers, that they may truly, and impartially administer justice to the punishment of wickedness and vice, and to the maintenance of true religion and virtue. " Signed
" Abraham Bp. of Connecticut. "
The Records of Convocation, p. 53, show that the Rev. Mr. Baldwin was appointed Aug. 22, 1798, to draft an address to the President in behalf of the Convocation. The first men- tioned address was in behalf of the Convention.
The English custom of omitting the surname in the official signature was followed both by Bishop Seabury and Bishop Jarvis, the latter being the last Bishop of Connecticut that thus signed. A facsimile of one of Bishop Seabury's certificates is shown at the beginning of this chapter.
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.