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 25
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311
SEPARATE CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS.
Martha Reed, Elizabeth Reed, Joanna, wife of Jonathan Bates; Abigail, wife of David Bates ; Mary, wife of Eliaseph Whitney ; Mercy, wife of Ebenezer Brown; Mercy, wife of John Pettit; Rebecca, wife of Jonathan Crissy ; Elizabeth, wife of James Slason ; Hannah, wife of Deliverance Slason ; Mary, wife of David Weed; Abigail Andrus, widow sarah Crissy, and Jona. Bell.
Under Mr. Mather the church was greatly prospered. The records kept by him, and still preserved, show, that down to October, 1803, he had baptized 921 persons; down to October, 1804, he had solemnized 361 marriages, and admitted to the church 258 members. In addition to those admitted to full communion with the church, 161 persons publicly "owned the covenant."
Dr. Mather recorded, during fifty-six years of his ministry, 766 deaths in his parish.
The organization of this church was a very simple process. After the council had examined and approved Mr. Mather as the pastor elect of the church to be constituted, and twenty-one of the brethren, whose names are on the preceding list, had ex- hibited their credentials of church membership in the several churches to which they then belonged, and had, before the council, " entered into a solemn covenant relation with each other, according to the constitution of the churches in this gov- ernment ; the council acknowledged them as a particular church, and as a member of this consociation." After thus constituted "a partienlar church," they formally chose Mr. Mather to be their minister, and the ordination service was im- mediately performed.
The first meeting-house of this parish stood until 1838, when it was taken down, and the present substantial brick church was built.
The ministers of this church have been :
MOSES MATHER, D. D., ordained and installod Jano 6, 1744, un 1 died Sept. 21, 180G.
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HISTORY OF STAMFORD,
WILLIAM FISHER, ordained and installed July 16, 1807, and dismissed March 31, 1819.
EBENEZER PLATT, ordained and installed in September, 1825, dismissed in August, 1833, and died bere April 7, 1863, aged 68 years and 5 months
B. Y. MESSENGER supplied the pulpit one year.
ULRIC MAYNARD, installed June 24, 1835, and dismissed April 24, 1838. EZRA D. KINNEY, installed Ang. 8, 1838, and dismissed May 3, 1859.
JONATHAN E. BARNES, ordained and installed Ang. 21, 1860, and died here, May 31, 1866.
F. ALVORD Was installed Dec. 26, 1866.
NORTHI STAMFORD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
This church was organized June 4, 1782, and consisted of twenty-two members, as follows :
Benjamin Weed, Ebenezer Weed, Zebulon Ilusted, Amos Weed, Israel Weed, Joseph Ambler, John McCullum, Ebenezer Dean, Miles Weed, Reuben Scofield, Mercy Hoyt, Elizabeth Ambler, Abigail Weed, Kezia Dean, Mary McCullum, Mercy Hoyt, Jr., Prudence Weed, Sarah Seeley, Elizabeth Scofield, Rebecca Ayres, Rebecca Curtis, and Rebecca Beedle.
Previously to this date, the celebrated Dr. Samuel Hopkins, of Newport, R. I., who had left his parish when the British took possession of the town, in 1776, and who had come to Stamford in 1778, to supply the pulpit of his deceased class- mate, Dr. Welles, had been also supplying this pulpit for about a year and a half. He left in 1780, and the church was sup- plied with temporary preachers until March 23, 1784, when SOLOMON WOLCOT was ordained its first pastor. He continued to labor here until his dismission, June 21, 1785.
The other ministers of this parish have been :
JOHN SHEPPERD, ordained June 27, 1787, and dismissed June 11, 1791. AMZI LEWIS, installed June 17, 1795, and died hero April 5, 1819. HENRY FULLER, installed June 6, 1821, and dismissed Jun. 23, 1844 NATHANIEL PIERSON, preached here from April, 1844, to Jannary, 1846. WM. H. MAGIE, from January, 1846, to January, 1849.
WM. E. CATLIN, from Mareb, 1849, to March, 1850.
F. E. M. BACHELOR, for several months in 1850 and 1851.
LIVINGSTON WILLARD, installed March, 1852, and dismissed in June, 1856. JOHN WHITE supplied the pulpit from May, 1857, to October, 1858.
313
SEPARATE CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS.
W. S. CLARK, installed in April, 1859, and dismissed in 1861. H. T. FORD, in 1862.
ROSWELL SMITH, in 1863 and 1864.
H. L. TELLER, ordained May 15, 1866, and dismissed in 1868.
JOSIAH PEABODY, began preaching in the spring of 1868.
LONG RIDGE CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY.
About the year 1840, a union church was built on Long Ridge, which the Congregational portion of the community secured in 1842, when they organized a church and society. The names of the members of the church were Isaac Ayres, Ja- red Holly, Charles E. Smith, William L. Holly, Alfred Ayres, Ransford A. Ferris, Polly Holly, Harriet M. Holly, Sally Sco- field, Harriet E. Ayres, Hannah R. Raymond, Mary W. Smith, Ann M. Holly, Lydia Ferris, Clarissa Smith, and Phebe Sco- field.
Rev. FREDERICK H. AYRES was engaged to supply the pul- pit, commencing his ministry Nov. 6, 1842, and preaching un- til 1853.
From that time meetings have been kept up for the most of the time, the church having enjoyed the labors of the following ministers, none of whom have been installed: Mr. Perry, Au- gustus B. Collins, John Smith, Ezra D. Kinney, Dennis Platt, - Timloe, and - Gilbert.
EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
ST. JOHN's .- The first allusion which I have found to the presence of Episcopalians in Stamford, is in a letter from the Rev. Henry Caner, of Fairfield, dated March 15, 1727-8, and addressed to the Secretary of the " Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts." I am indebted for this letter, as for many of the following quotations, to that thoroughly exhaust- ive " Documentary History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America," edited by Francis L. Hawks, D. D., LL. D., and Wm. S. Perry, A. M.
In this letter, which is a report of his mission, Mr. Caner in- forms ns that among his other labors he had preached several times, during the preceding winter, in Stamford. The same
40
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HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
letter shows us that the field in which Mr. Caner was then la- boring embraced, besides Fairfield, the following towns and villages : Poquonnuck, Greensfarms, Greenfield, Norwalk, Stamford, Greenwich, Chesnut Ridge, Newtown, Ridgefield, and Danbury. At Newtown, only, did Mr. Caner have any assistance, sharing the labors of that parish with Rev. Mr. Johnson, of Stratford. He also tells us that in "most of the above-mentioned places there are seven, ten, or fifteen families professing the Church of England; " and that "the taxes strained from members of the church for the support of dis- senting teachers amount to £100, which is £40 sterling, of which Fairfield pays about half. * *
* Notwithstanding this discouragement, the church grows and increases very much."
In another letter, found in the same work, in 1728, Mr Caner intercedes with the society to appoint him their missionary, to serve "from Fairfield to Byram river," with permission to "re- side sometimes at one of these places and sometimes at anoth- er." This proposal was made to meet the provision which had been made by the State government, allowing all Episcopalians who lived near enough an Episcopalian minister to attend con- stantly his preaching, the privilege of paying their ecclesiastical tax to him rather than to the Congregational clergy.
In 1738, a very earnest and lengthy plea was sent to the General Assembly of Connecticut, asking that the members of the Church of England in the State might be excused from paying for the support of the Congregational mode of worship. This plea has attached to it the signatures of 636 Episcopalians in nine towns. Fifty of these names are from Stamford and Greenwich. They are, Gershom Lockwood, Samuel Mills, Ca- leb Knapp, John Lockwood, Wm. King, Henry Jones, Benj. Knapp, James Knapp, Jos. Knapp, Jeremy Peck, Hez. Lock- wood, Jonathan Lockwood, Jonathan Austen, Thos. Johnson, Thos. Ballis, David Reynolds, John Avery, John John-on, John -, Jas. Wilson, Benj. Young, Rob. Arnold, John Burley,
315
SEPARATE CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS.
Nath'l Hubbard, Peter Demill, John Finch, Benj. Day, John Hicks, Mills Riggs, Israel Knapp, Chas. Southerland, Richard Charlton, Sam'l Morine, Isaac Quintard, Jos. Barton, Nath'l Lockwood, John Kirkham, Nath'l Worden, Thos. Roberts, and Abraham Rundal, Jr. The above list is preceded by this mem - orandum :
"Under the care of Rev. Mr. Wet : ore. The subscribers belonging to Greenwich and Stamford to be annexed to the general address of the mem- bers and professors of the Church ot England, in the colony of Connectient, To the Honorable General Court, in May, 1738 ; which address having been communicated to us, the subscribers, we hereunto sign our names."
In addition to the above-named address, these Stamford pe- titioners drew up a plea of their own, of more than three closely written foolseap pages, urgently demanding at least a partial ex- emption from the tax imposed upon them, to support a ministry which they could not approve. They asked that, at least, they might be allowed to join with those of their own church, in a neighboring colony (Greenwich), and that they might use their tax for the support of the ministers of their own choice in that colony, "provided, always, that the said minister's settled abode and residence be within five miles of this colony, and that by officiating alternately in each colony he performs di- vine service at least twelve times in the year in this colony." In addition to the preceding names, this special petition has the following,-Abraham Nichols, John Matthews, and Nath'l Worden, Jr.
The petition was negatived in both houses of the legislature. In 1740, the Rev. James Wetmore was preaching in Stamford once in four weeks, and this seems to have been the only Epis- copal service held at that time in the town.
The following votes of the town give us our only knowledge of the progress made by the Episcopalians at this time. The first was under date of Dec. 2, 1742, and is in answer to an ap- peal made by the Episcopalians for a grant of land, on which to build :
" The town agree to put in a committee to view the place by Mr. Elipha- let Holly's, where the professors of the Church of England bave petitioned
316
HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
for setting a church house, whether it may be granted without damage to the town, and to make return to the adjourned town meeting ; and Ensign Jonathan Bell, Sergeant Nathaniel Weed, and Joseph Bishop, to be the court, for the purpose aforesaid."
The result of the examination made by the committee appears under date of Dec. 10, 1742 :
"The town agree to give the professors of the Church of England a piece of land, to set a church house upon, on the hill between the widow Holly's house and Nathan Stevens' house-the piece of land to be 45 feet long, east and west, and to be 35 feet wide, when the committee shall lay it out ; the committee to be Ensign Jona. Bell, Sergeant Nathaniel Weed, and Jo- seph Bishop."
The lot granted, as above, to the Episcopalians, was the south-east corner of the present lot held by St. John's parish, in front of their parsonage. It was at that time a rude ledge of loose rock, and bounded east and north by an almost impassa- ble swamp, so that, in all probability, its alienation to the new proprietors did not materially " damage " the town. On this lot the first church was built. Of the date of its corner-stone, or completion, we find no record. It was so far finished in March, 1747, that it could be used.
Mr. Wetmore seems to have been succeeded by the Rev. Henry Caner, of Fairfield, who, with his brother Richard, of Norwalk, and a Mr. Miner, supplied the Episcopalians with what preaching or service they had down to the commencement of Mr. Ebenezer Dibble's long and successful ministry.
In a letter from Mr. Caner, in 1744, alluding to a petition from the people of Stamford, Greenwich, and Horseneck, for a minister to reside among them, we find this charge, for which, in view of the age to which it belongs, we can believe there was too much necessity : "These people have been much perse- cuted by the dissenting government, for when they would have rewarded the Rev. Mr. Wetmore for his monthly attendance in officiating among them, by paying their proportion of the rates, according to an express law of the colony, they were prevented by a very oppressive judgment of the court."
In 1746 we find Mr. Caner, of Fairfield, bitterly lamenting the want of ministers for both Norwalk and Stamford. He
317
SEPARATE CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS.
reports both places as losing ground, for want of "a more constant service " than he can supply.
The following letter deserves a place in our local history ; partly as illustrating the religious movement of the age, and still more as our introduction to Mr. Dibble, who bore so con- spicuous a part in the progress of the Episcopal church of the town :
COLONY OF CONNECTICUT, STAMFORD, March 25th, 1747. 5
Reverend Sir :- We, the subscribers, churchwardens and vestrymen of St. John's Church, in Stamford, with the unanimous concurrence, and in be- half of all the professors of the Church of England, in the towns of Stam- ford, and Greenwich, in Connecticut, heg leave to represent to the venera- ble society the state of our church, and with humble submission request their patronage, and that the effects of their extensive charity, which hath brought the means of salvation to many thousand souls, may preserve us and our posterity from wandering in error and darkness, and guide our feet in the ways of peace, by assisting us to procure a settlement of the wor- ship of God among us, according to the pure doctrines, and wholesome rites and usages of the Church of England, which we highly reverence and esteem. We have struggled with many and great difficulties in advancing to the state in which we now are, to have a church erected, and so far fin- ished as to be fit for our assembling in it, and with accessions to our nun- ber of professors sufficient to be enabled to purchase a glebe, and to pay twenty pounds sterling per annum to a minister, which we have obliged ourselves to do, by subscription, under our hands, and hope to make some additions, so the whole may be worth thirty pounds sterling per annum, which is the most that we are able to perform at present, aud too little for a decent support for a minister. We have been much oppressed by the Dissenters among whom we live, who, under protection of the laws of the colony, have obliged us to pay taxes to their minister, and to build them meeting-houses, even when we had obliged ourselves to contribute, accord- ing to our abilities, to reward ministers of the Church of England for com- ing to preach among us, and administer to us the Holy Sacraments ; and several have been imprisoned, and others threatened with imprisonment, to compel them to pay such taxes ; and we could get no relief from the courts of justice here. This has made us very desirous to obtain a minister in orders among us, which is the only means to obtain exemption from such taxes, according to the express words of the colony act. We, there- fore, exerted ourselves to the utmost of our abilities to assist Mr. Miner to go for orders, who was taken by the French, on his passage, with the Rev. Mr. Lamson, and afterwards died in England, which proved a very melan- choly disappointment to us ; and before, we had contributed considerably to assist Mr. Isaac Brown, when he went home for orders, with hopes that he might have been sent to us, but were disappointed by his coming back tor Brook Haven. Since Mr. Miner's death we have applied ourselves to Mr. Ebenezer Dibble, by the advice of Reverend Mr. Caner and others. This gentleman has read prayer and sermons among us, to our very great satistaction, for near a year and a half, and being willing to go home for holy orders, and to return to us, to be our minister, we have again exerted
318
HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
our utmost power to obtain a glebe, subscribed for his support annually twenty pounds sterling, and do assist him further to defray the expense of his voyage. We have applied to the Reverend Clergy to represent our state, who all of them approve well of Mr. Dibble, and having given him testimonials to the Lord Bishop of London, we earnestly hope he may ob- tain holy orders, and humbly entreat the venerable Society to compassion- ate our circumstances, and admit Mr. Dibble to be their missionary to us, with such salary as they may think fit to allow, which we hope will con- tribute to the glory of God, and to the salvation of many poor souls, and we, your poor petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray for the en- largement of Christ's kingdom by the extensive charity of your venerable Society. We are, Reverend Sir, your most obedient, &c.
- And others.
JOHN LLOYD,
THOMAS YOUNGS,
Church Wardens.
The Rev. Mr. Miner referred to in the above letter was prob - ably the Rev. Richardson Miner, a Congregational elergyman, settled in 1730, in Unity, late North Stratford, and now Trum- bull, who, in 1742, declared in favor of Episcopaey ; was dis- missed March 21, 1743-4, and went to England for orders, and died there.
The result of the above appeal was the admission of Mr. Dih- ble to priest's orders some time in the year 1748, and his return to Stamford. Here he, at once, entered with all his heart, upon the work of his ministry, as rector of St. John's parish, where he spent the rest of his honored and useful life.
It was in this year, also, that Mr. Caner, who had labored with marked success in Fairfield, Norwalk and Stamford, was appointed to the King's Chapel, Boston, and on leaving he gives this estimate of the progress of Episcopaey in this vicini- ty. He had come to this mission in 1727, when he found in Fairfield 12 communicants, and left 68; at Norwalk, none when he came, and 115 when he left; and 20 at Stamford. The next year Mr. Dibble reports 16 communicants in Stam- ford.
In 1757, Mr. Dibble reports his parish, united and prosperous. IIe says : "We have sundry accessions to the church since my last of the 29th of September." It will illustrate the times to add from this letter the statements,-"I preached, last Christ- mas, to a numerous assembly. Multitudes of the dissenters
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SEPARATE CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS.
came to church, and behaved with great decency. Seven heads of families have declared conformity since my last account, in Stamford, and some at Horse Neck and Stanwich."
The following plea to the Connecticut Assembly explains the disabilities under which the Episcopalians were laboring, and proved one of the steps which at length led to their recognition as a distinct denomination, entitled, in their own way, to sup- port their own worship :
" Your memorialists, being desirous to enjoy the worship of God accord- ing to the liturgy and discipline of the Church of England, to which we conscientiously thought it our duty to conform, did, several years ago, un- dertake to build a church for divine worship, and engaged our present wor- thy incumbent, then not iu orders, to read prayers to us, and afterwards sent him home to England, for orders, who accordingly weut, and soon re- turned in orders to us, we having laid ourselves under obligations to pay him a considerable sum annually, towards his support, and for his expenses in going home, all which undertaking laid us under a considerable burden, which, however, we cheerfully endorsed, but soon finding we were unable to advance monies requisite to carrying on these designs, we ventured to borrow a considerable sum of money, in New York, for the purposes afore- said, which, together with some benefactions procured for that end, we laid out in building our church, hoping we should be able, in a few years, to repay the same. * * * But, soon after these transactions, the nation
became involved in a dangerous and expensive war,
*
and not
being by law empowered to tax ourselves, our church must still remain un- finished, and we are scarcely able to support our incumbent, who has a numerons family : Wherefore, we humbly take the liberty to request the favor of your Honors to graut us liberty to set up and draw a small lottery, of about £2,000, lawful money, subject to a deduction of fifteen per cent. ; * * * we are strongly encouraged and almost assured, if we obtain this favor of your Honors, that we shall be able to sell the most of the tickets in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, and consequently bring money into the colony, rather than carry any ont ; and we conceive there is no danger of its being a prejudice to the public, or to any particular person."
May 9, 1759.
EBENEZER DIBBLE, Clerk. JOHN LLOYD, PETER DEMILL, EBENEZER HOLLY, JOHN BATES,
Vestry.
EPHRAIM SMITH, Church Wardens.
SAMUEL JARVIS,
How this petition was treated by the Assembly the following complaint of the Rev. Mr. Dibble sufficiently attests :
" Bat, alas, no such favor could be obtained, not even to draw a lottery in the government, if we should not offer a ticket for sale in it. And why? Not because it is repugnant to their principles, for they have given connte- nance to public lotteries, even to repair broken fortunes of private persons, and to help build up and establish an Independent College in the Jerseys,
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HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
when they could obtain no such favor in their own province. But, alas, this was too great an act of favor to the Established Church."
In September, of this year, Mr. Dibble reports to the secre tary of the society the peaceful and united state of his people in all parts of his extensive mission. The French war, however, was seriously interfering with accessions to the church, in Stamford the enlistments into the public service even diminish- ing the church ; and what was still more trying, was the death of "twelve heads of families-seven males-some of them the best ornaments of religion." lle reports this year thirty-nine communicants.
The next fact of interest occurring in connection with this church in Stamford, I find recorded under date of April 16, 1765. John Lloyd, the same, doubtless, whose name appears as one of the vestry of the church, in 1759, in consideration of £343 6s. 11d., received from St. George Talbot, Esq., of Barn Island, N. Y., makes over " to the venerable Society for the propaga- tion of the gospel in foreign parts " two tracts of land-one of eighteen acres one rood and twenty-three rods, in Northfield, on the west side of Mill river; and the other of four acres, twenty-nine at' North street, bounded south by North street, west by Church of England parsonage, and east by highway. These lands, by the terms of the surrender, were "to be and inure to the use of the missionary, for the time being, the rector or incumbent of St. John's Church, and his successors, as the glebe lands of the Church of England in said Stamford."
The following record shows how far the " ruling order" of that day was disposed to recognize and aid the Episcopalians.
At the meeting of the Congregational Society, held Dec. 15, 1772, it was voted that two collectors shall be appointed, the one to collect the rates belonging to the "Presbyterians " (Congregationalists), and the other those belonging to the "Church of England within this society." Jonathan Waring is appointed for the Congregationalists, and Abijah Bishop for " that part of the ministerial rate that belongs to the Rev. Eb- enezer Dibble." The records of the Darien Congregational
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SEPARATE CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS.
Society still preserve the receipts which the Rev. Mr. Dibble, of Stamford, and Rev. Mr. Leaming, of Norwalk, gave to the society's collector for their part of the rates.
The following is a specimen of one of these receipts :
"STAMFORD, Jan. 5, 1779.
Mr. John Bell, and Mr. Summuel Richards, and Mr. Gershom Richards, Soliciting Committee in Middlesex parish, 1778 :- Please to discharge your collector, Mr. Jonathan Bell, Jr., on account of the rates he was to collect of the professors of the church. It shall be accepted in full of ail demands upon your society in the year 1778, said rate made up on list, 1777. Test., EBENEZER DIBBLE. The foregoing is a true copy of the original.
Test., GERSHOM SCOFIELD, Society Clerk."
And in 1786, we find the following witness to the temper of the town regarding the claims of the Episcopalians. The vote shows that the citizens were not yet ready to make extrava- gant concessions to the new order :
"Per vote : Whereas, Capt Nathaniel Webb and Alexander Bishop, in behalf of themselves and the rest of the Episcopal Church in Stamford, made application to this town to grant them liberty to erect a decent fence around their church. at the distance of one rod from said building, the Se- lectmen are hereby directed to view the circumstances thereof, and order and direct therein as they shall think proper therein."
Under the administration of Mr. Dibble and his successors, the parish was greatly prospered. Their first house of worship answered for the use of the congregation until 1843, when the present church was built, where it now stands. This, in its turn, was soon found too small, and was enlarged, in 1855, to its present dimensions. But even this enlargement was not found to answer the needs of the parish long ; and May 14, 1860, they were called to lay the corner-stone of their new mis- sion chapel, St. Andrew's, between Washington avenue and Northfield street. The only rectors of this period were Revs. Jonathan Judd and Ambrose S. Todd. From the summer of 1858, the labors of Dr. Todd having become too great for his failing strength, the parish employed an assistant, Rev. Walter Mitchell, then in deacon's orders, and who was ordained priest April 27, 1859.
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