USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Stamford > History of Stamford, Connecticut : from its settlement in 1641, to the present time, including Darien, which was one of its parishes until 1820 > Part 24
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a previous meeting, the persons named, in the northern part of the town, had been excused from paying their rates, in part, if they would pay them at Poundridge. The society vote Mr. Welles' rate, two pence a pound, " deducting therefrom only what is above ordered to be abated to Thomas Potts and John McCollum, and the other inhabitants of this society who live above them, and also such rates of poor persons in this society as the society committee may think proper to abate."
Once, only, during Mr. Welles' occupancy of the parish was the church called upon to record its vote upon the mere ques- tion of purity of doctrine. The erratic course of the Rev. James Davenport, a native of the town, had engaged the no- tice of the church, and about a year after Mr. Welles' settle- ment they had become divided on the question of inviting him to preach, on occasions of his visits to his friends. Without taking the responsibility upon themselves, they voted that the reverend association of the western district of Fairfield county be desired to convene and settle for them their duty in this matter. The reverend gentlemen met according to request, April 6, 1748, at the house of Mr. Bostwick. The church were represented on the occasion by Col. Jonathan Hoyt, Capt. Jon- athan Maltbie, Abraham Davenport, and Stephen Ambler. After hearing the ease stated, the clergy, finding that the ob- jections to Mr. Davenport's officiating in the pulpit of his na- tive town not so formidable as to threaten serious disturbance and divisions if he should be suffered to do so, gave, probably, the only advice they could safely give : "that the said Mr. Davenport be sometimes invited, as per record of association may appear."
One ease brought before the church may show how anxious they were to maintain the sacredness of the Sabbath. Eben- ezer Weed, on his own confession, had traveled several miles on the Sabbath, and taken off the skin of a dead horse. His defense was that it was a work of necessity. The church de- liberated, and finally "concluded to take further time to con- sider whether the action was a breach of the fourth command-
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ment or a work of necessity." At a later meeting, Mr. Weed offered a satisfactory confession of the offense above alluded to, and also of having been guilty of " drunkenness," and was con- tinued, by the approval of the church, in Christian fellowship.
A serious cause of offense during the administration of Mr. Welles was evil and censorious speaking; and the offense was sharply rebuked, or, it even led to the suspension of offending members. But the offense which oftenest disturbed the peace of the church, and called for most constant watchfulness, was that of intemperance. Drunkenness was a crime not to be over- looked, and there was no offense to which it did not lead. We find, therefore, the church occasionally scandalized by the pres- enee of this evil, but mainly, efficient in checking it. In all, during the thirty years of Dr. Welles' administration, there were but eleven cases of discipline reported on the records. These are probably all that occurred worthy the notice or ac- tion of the church. When we take into account the entire number of church members represented by these delinquents, 422, and also the almost universal use of intoxicating drinks, even to excess, we must acknowledge the rare fidelity and pu- rity of the church.
Dr. Welles died in 1776, after the struggle of our revolution had fairly begun; and the church was left without a pastor un- til its close. A blank occurs in the church records for this en- tire period, and the society and town affairs had now become so distinct that the town records give us no light upon the condition of the church. There was, doubtless, preaching here during those years of trial and strife, and a maintenance of all the ordinances of religion; but the presumption is, that other and more stirring themes engaged and ruled the thoughts and feelings of the people
The last record in the fair handwriting of Dr. Welles bears date December 8, 1775, and simply preserves the appointment of Stephen Bishop as deacon in the church.
The regard of the society for their deceased pastor is shown
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in their vote to continue his salary to his widow so long as the "Rev. Elders " in the western district shall see the pulpit sup- plied. And in 1779 they still further vote to raise, by sub- scription, enough to make up the depreciation of the currency occasioned by the progress of the war, or the committee were to draw upon the society fund.
Several candidates, it would seem, officiated here after Dr. Welles' decease. The church has no record to show that they invited either of them to settle. The society, in 1780, make application to Rev. Mr. Kettletas to supply the pulpit, if pos- sible; and from baptisms performed during this interval, he probably preached some months.
The peculiar language employed in the records of the society of date March 24, 1777, would suggest that they were not pre- pared to settle any one as pastor. By 1781 they had evident- ly become tired of being without a settled minister, and form- ally voted to endeavor to settle one. They vote, also, to apply to Rev. Mr. Searl to accept the pastorate.
But in August of this year they are more successful in their attempt. They unanimously vote to settle Rev. John Avery. They vote him a hundred pounds annually, for three years, in silver or gold, and to give him three hundred pounds also, in three equal payments, and after the third year to give him one hundred and twenty-five pounds annually.
The society's records supply an omission in those of the church. They copy the doings of the church for November 28, 1781, which show us that " Mr. John Avery being present, and after discoursing at large on church government, said church, by an unanimous voice, voted to give said Mr. Avery a call to a settlement in the gospel ministry, and to take the pastoral charge of said church, expecting to be led and governed by the rules laid down in the Saybrook Platform and practice of the consociated churches in this State."
The Rev. John Avery was ordained January 16, 1782, and the record is again resumed.
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A period of severe trial for the church had just been passed. Without the care of a faithful pastor, and that in a time of war, the church had greatly suffered. Every interest of re- ligion had been exposed, and the exposure had left its marks.
Not that none were left faithful and true. The church of Christ remained. There were still not a few whom years of comparative spiritual abandonment and the evil passions which war engenders could not seduce from the precious faith.
But it cannot be disguised that these years had seriously lowered the standard of piety in the majority of the church, and left too many of the less established Christians a prey to their spiritual enemy. The sad proof of this degeneraey is abundant in the records which Mr. Avery, a faithful and effect- ive pastor, is obliged to make during his short pastorate. The most favorable result, which a careful examination of all the evidences in our reach has forced upon us, is, that at the end of our revolutionary period this ancient church exhibited about five-fold the irregularity and looseness in morals which marked her previous career. Under the searching preaching of Mr. Avery, and the earnest and effective discipline which the church now maintained, these evils were gradually corrected.
For the four years after Mr. Avery's ordination only fifteen new names were added to the church. But the seed which he so faithfully and industriously sowed during those years of pa- tient waiting and working, began now to spring np. The sow- er began at last to reap. The next year, 1786, added forty- seven new members to the church. It may also indicate the increasing success of Mr. Avery's labors, and the growing fideli- ty of the church, that the same year also records the baptism of sixty-one of the children of the church,
Mr. Avery continued to preach here until September, 1791, in which month his death occurred. The last records made by his hand are of September 4th, in this year, the one enrolling Abraham Smith as member of the church, and the other wit- nessing the marriage of John Larkin and Elizabeth Hoyt.
Nearly two years passed before his place was permanently
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supplied. And here, too, we must learn of the movements in the church during the interval between Mr. Avery and his suc- cessor, from the society records alone. It seems the church and society had agreed, in hearing Mr. Jonas Coe, as yet only a li- centiate preacher, and, liking him, had called in the advice of the Association of the Western District of Fairfield County. The committee appointed by the association, Revs. Moses Mather, Isaac Lewis, Robert Morris, and John Shepperd, heard Mr. Coe preach, and examined him "on the most important points of divinity," and expressed their "entire approbation of the so- ciety's improving Mr. Coe, for the purposes " of a settlement. This approval is dated April 4, 1792. On the 11th of the same month the society unanimously vote Mr. Coe a call to settle, on a salary of one hundred and fifty pounds ; and the committee were to write to Mr. Coe and to the Presbytery of New York, to inform them of the proceedings. The church, on the 13th of the same month, after listening to Mr. Coe, vote, also, unani- mously to approve the call. The answer of Mr. Coe does not appear in the records of either the church or society.
In the following spring, March 21, 1793, the church, after " conversing at large upon church government, with Mr. Dan- iel Smith," who had probably been supplying the pulpit for some time past, unanimously voted to give him a call to settle. To this course the committee of the association also gave their advice. On the 25th of the same month the society unani- mously approved the vote of the church, and voted also the salary of one hundred and fifty pounds.
In answer to this call, Mr. Smith was ordained pastor of the church, June 13, 1793. He had come to the field well com- mended, to commend himself still more fully, in a long and suc. cessful ministry.
There were no violent changes in the church and society du- ring the ministry of Mr. Smith. His own urbanity would ex- empt him personally from violent opposition, and his easy courtesy disarmed what opposition might arise, of its most effective motive. During the earlier part of his ministry his
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salary had been raised by taxation. That the people became restive under that mode of ministerial support the following transaction attests.
For five years, ending with 1806, quite a list of unpaid taxes had accumulated, and the next year Augustus Lockwood is appointed a special collector, with instructions forthwith to levy upon the estates of such as failed to meet the arrearages. In the prosecution of his duty he seized a horse of William Waterbury, 4th, and sold it under the ordinary warrant. The defendant turns plaintiff, and institutes a suit against the eol- lector for the recovery of his horse. The society stand by their agent, as appears from the following vote, of December 6, 1809 : "Voted, unanimously, th it this society will indemnify Augus- tus Lockwood, in the suit that William Waterbury, 4th, has commenced against him, which is now pending in the Superior Court, on account of horse which said Augustus Lockwood took from said Waterbury, by virtue of warrants for society taxes, of which said Augustus was collector." In 1811 we find a heavier tax than usual levied-five cents on a dollar-and the excess over the usual rate, which had been about two and a half cents only, seems to have been charged to the above suit. The vote states that it " is granted for the purpose of defraying the necessary expenses of the society, and for discharging the demand Augustus Lockwood has against said society." The last tax voted by the society seems to have been in 1835, the expenses of the following year having been met by a subserip- tion.
Another event of this period indicates a change which has taken place in the mode of warming our churches. In 1817, the society vote to purchase " an iron stove, sufficiently large to keep the house comfortable, and set up the same in the meeting-house; and that the committee sell the brick compo- sing the present stove to the best advantage." The record states that the "brick of the stove " sold to Sturges B. Thorp, for five dollars. To make this record intelligible to those who are accustomed only to the modern furnace, we will attempt to
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exhibit the interior of the meeting-house as it was, no longer than fifty years ago. The house stood, as the most of my read- ers will remember it, where our cosy, little, ornamental park now lies, in the center of our village. You enter the sacred precincts through the tower, which was built in front of the main building, and which, at the time to which we are refer- ring, was surmounted by a spire.
Opening the double doors, connecting with the audience room, you enter an arena of little square pews. An aisle leads you up to the deacon's seat, directly beneath the stiff and solemn pulpit, which fronts the entrance, and which stands up as a stately sentinel, commissioned to take note of all which trans- pires in tho remotest corners of the room. The front of the room, over the entrance, and both sides, are darkened by wide galleries, around which stretch two tiers of seats, and still fur- ther back, beyond a narrow aisle, a row of square pews, lining the entire wall of the house, save the two openings near the front corners for the stairways. On the lower floor you have the four walls of the room lined with pews, excepting the en- trances on the front and on the middle of both sides, and the center of the rear, or north end, where the pulpit stood. With- in this row of pews was a generous aisle, sufficiently wide in these ante-days of crinoline for two persons to walk abreast ; and this aisle enclosed the two center parallelograms of pews flanking the center aisle.
But when, in the progress of improvements, it became neces- sary to introduce some apparatus for warming the room, no place was found for the innovation. No chimney had been built in the house, since such a thing as fire for the church had never been contemplated. Not yet had stoves been cast which could promise to furnish the warmth for so large a space. But thanks to the meddlesome spirit of invention, a "Russian stove " was devised, and forthwith a place is prepared for it. Taking out the outer sides of two pews from the south-west corner of the west parallelogram of pews, and the seat and par- tition which separated them, a space of about six by twelve feet
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was made for the new experiment, and the construction begins. Cart-loads of new brick, as if for some modern edifice, are duly deposited at the side door. Masons are seen, busy as never be- fore in the sanctuary. The floor is removed from a portion of the cleared space, and solid stone work, the foundation for the huge, oven-like structure, is laid even with the floor. Then the inner walls of the vast central oven, six feet in length and three or four in width, arise, arching over at the hight of three feet, with flues coursing their skillfully arranged circuits among the mass of solid brick-work, fully two feet in thickness, enclosing them, until the huge pile stands ready for use, Friday morn- ing-the first Friday in December after the work is done-has come. Winter has fairly set in. The Sabbath is drawing on, and the sanctuary must be made ready for the comfort, now, as well as the worship of God's people. The fire is kindled in the new " stove," with solid logs of solid wood, and is to be re- newed and kept aglow, day and night, until the time for Sab- bath service.
All day it takes to warm up that mass of brick, and at night the added fuel serves to prolong the heat, and soften slightly the chill in the great room, never before modified save by the summer air or by the glow of warm breathing and beat- ing hearts. All day Saturday, all the night which brings in the Sabbath, and all the morning of the holy day, the faithful committee-and no names are more faithful than those honor- ables, Davenport, and Knapp, and Lockwood-ply the huge oven with selectest fuel, and lo! when the sharp Sabbath air cuts all about that meeting-house, you might have felt, on en- tering it, only the pleasant and bracing chillness of an early autumn air. A great triumph had been won. The "Russian stove " became, thenceforth, until the more recent iron stove and furnace took its place, a necessity in God's house.
One other incident, occurring in the time of the edifice in which this Russian stove was built, gives us a lunatic's idea of the peculiar pulpit which was built in it. The old "barrel " pulpit, with a single pair of stairs, had been removed, and a
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larger one, with stairs on both sides, took its place. Peter lloyt, known for many years as "Crazy Pete," entered the church, as usual, on the Sunday morning following this ex- change. He had scarcely caught sight of the two-fold ascen- sion to the pulpit, when a singular faney seized him. Grasp- ing, with indignant vehemence, his hat, he started for home. As he pressed on, his indignation grew. A neighbor, who met him, rallied him on getting through service so soon. Peter, with no room in his soul for any other feeling than that of his outraged orthodoxy, exclaimed : "Never go to that old Pres- byterian meeting-house again, as long as I live ! Only think of it ! Who ever heard such doctrine before ? Two ways up to Ileaven ! I'll never stand that pulpit doctrine, anyhow."
Before closing our record of the first society of Stamford, two illustrations of the legal authority of that venerable society, in the time now gone, to return no more, should be given. 'They illustrate not the power of the society more than the spirit and sharpness of the men whom it had to manage.
Captain William Waterbury, the only son of the General David Waterbury, who had been eminent for his loyalty both to the civil and ecclesiastical authorities over him, signalized the opening of the present century, in this usually quiet place, by a persistent refusal to pay the annual society's tax. He claimed that as he did not receive anything from the society,- no tangible commodity, temporal or spiritual, there was no reason why he should be set upon for his purse. Patiently, the good-natured collector, Augustus Lockwood, Esq., reasoned the matter with him, showed his authority to collect, and in the name of the great State itself threatened his suit. The re- fractory subject still refused, and ealmly awaited the execution. True to what was then thought to be the right, as well as the law of the case, the execution was issued. A mare was at- tached, an old mare, which the owner told the officer would yet kick to the full satisfaction of the society, if they dared to take her. Before the process was served the mare had been spirited
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away, and could not be found. The officer, however, not to be foiled thus, scized upon a similar one and sold her, and thus the tax seemed to be paid.
Now was the time for the Captain's offensive. He sued out a writ of replevin, and the society vote to back their faithful collector in the legal contest. The lawyers enjoyed the game, and both the contestants were quite willing to foot the bills. Nor did the plucky parties cease the play before each had in- flicted on the other a bill of expense of about a thousand dollars apiece.
Nor did the resolute captain forget or forgive, even then, the presumptuous claim of the society. A half score years roll on, and a meeting is notified, for the sale, at auction, of a certain lot of land, which " parson " Smith greatly desired to buy. The neighbors who were interested in the transaction gathered at the appointed honr, the good parson among the first. The cool, imperturbable Captain Waterbury was also on hand, walking about, as if to pass away an unemployed hour, and get the news of the day.
The auctioneer begins. The lot is offered, and a long sus- pense awaits a bid. The neighbors, supposing the parson would like the lot, were evidently not disposed to anticipate him. At length the parson bids, and another long pause ensues. No volubility of the man at the hammer could tempt a higher bid. "Going, going,-gentlemen, I can't dwell, I shall strike it off for the mere song named, unless you speak quick,-going --- going-go-
" Five dollars an acre more," slowly, but very coolly, said the captain, just in time to save the fall of the hammer.
Another pause, and then another call for bids, until the anx- ious parson took from the captain his chance. Now the utmost ingenuity of the auctioncer could not induce for a long time a higher bid, and the "going, going, going," and the significant flourish of the hammer at the very last moment of grace, roused once more the consciousness of the still cooler captain, as he
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, CORNER OF ATLANTIC AND BANK STREETS.
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still more deliberately interposed again : "Five dollars an acre more, if you please, auctioneer."
Thus gaining, the hammer rises again, and a still louder call for bids. Not to lose a good chance thus, the parson raises upon the last bid, and again it hangs. Just in season to anti- cipate the final "gone," the captain, consciously pleased, and not without a chuekle, which the discerning might have noticed, adds, "five dollars an acre more."
Once more the excited parson advances, and now the auction- eer has no art by which to tempt another bid. His utmost elo- quence is in vain. With a twinkle in his eye, not altogether unused to humor, the rognish captain quietly relieves himself: " I have to say, auctioneer, I don't want that lot. It's not in my line. It's only that old mare that wasn't mine, that's kick- ing yet."
One Obed Scofield, also, a blacksmith, who din't use the meeting-house or the minister, thought he should not be taxed. He, too, defied an execution, which finally came. He pointed out his "Scott's Bible" as the first article which the sheriff must sell. At the appointed time for the sale the books were struck off to the good Mrs. Scofield, who valued the good book at a higher rate than her industrious husband. But how was the good woman to pay for the books ? Evidently by drawing upon her husband, and to him the sheriff was accordingly sent. Anticipating just such a result, the sharp blacksmith had pre- pared for it. He coolly hands over to the sheriff a copy of the legal posting of his wife, and the officer finds himself tricked, at once, out of both the tax and the books.
Since Mr. Smith's day no marked change has taken place in the condition of this church. The old church edifice becoming antiquated in appearance, and uncomfortable, from its exposed position in the very center of the rapidly increasing village, was sold in 1857, and used as a place of worship the last time, September 19, 1858. A new house, built on the corner of Atlantic and Bank streets, was dedicated September 23, 1858.
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HISTORY OF STAMIFORD.
The following is the list of ministers who have served this church from its organization :
RICHARD DENTON, 1641-4. (See page 272.)
JOHN BISHOP, 1644-94. (See page 269.)
JOHN DAVENPORT, 1604-1731. (See page 270.)
EBENEZER WRIGHT, ordained tn 1732, and died here in May, 1716.
NOAH WELLES, D. D., ordained Dec. 31, 1746, and died here, Doc. 31, 1776. (See later biography.)
ABRAHAM KETTLETAS, preacher in 1783. He was licensed by Fairfield East Association, in 1756.
JOHN AVERY, ordained Jan. 16, 1782, and died here, in September, 1791.
DANIEL SMITH, ordained June 13, 1793, and died here, 1846. (See later biography. )
JonN W. ALVORD, installed colleague with Mr. Smith, March 15, 1812, and dismissed Oct. 14, 1846.
ISAAC JENNINGS, installed Sept. 1, 1817, and dismissed April 28, 1953.
JAMES HOYT, preacher from June, 1853, to January, 1855.
HENRY B. ELLIOT, installed Dec. 4, 1855, and dismissed July 6, 185s.
JOSEPH ANDERSON, was called Dec. 9, 1858, installed March 27, 1860, and dismissed Feb. 26, 1861.
LEONARD W. BACON, pastor elect, from Nov. 17, 1861, until January, 1865. RICHARD B. THURSTON, the present pastor, installed Oet. 3, 1865.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHI, OF DARIEN.
This church was duly organized at a meeting of the conso- ciation of Fairfield West, June 5, 1744, when the following persons were enrolled as its members: Rev. Moses Mather, David and Martha Tuttle, Thomas and Mary Reed, Edmund and Elizabeth Waring, John and Hannah Reed, John Ray- mond, Daniel and Elizabeth Reed, John and Mary Smith, John and Katherine Waring, Samuel and Mehitabel Brinsmayd, Eli- akim and Anne Waring, Nathan and Mary Reed, Isaac Bishop, Joseph Waterbury, Nathan and Sarah Sellick, Joshua and Anne Morehouse, Samuel Bishop, Charles and Susannah Weed, Theophilus and Sarah Bishop, Nathaniel and Sarah Bates, James and Elizabeth Scofield, John Reed, Jr., and wife, Desire; Elias and Mary Reed, Elijah Jones, Sarah, wife of Samuel Reed ; Sarah, wife of Thomas Reed; Elizabeth, wife of Samuel Rich- ards; widow Rachel Raymond, Rebecca Raymond, widow
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