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 27
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HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
belonged. This Mr. King was father of the late lamented lec- turer and preacher, T. Starr King, of San Francisco. From the removal of Mr. King, in 1825, to 1832, there was no stated preaching here. Rev. Shaler J. Hillyer was settled here at this date, preaching a part of the time, also, at North Salem, N. Y., in which place he finally settled, and where he still remains.
The formal organization of the society bears date April 27, 1833. Fourteen persons gave in their names to constitute the society.
Of them the late Ebenezer Dean, Esq., was chosen Moder a- tor, and Smith R. Sibley Clerk. The first committee were Geo. Lounsbury, William Todd, and Aaron Dean.
In October, 1834, the present house of worship having been completed, it was formally " dedicated to the worship of Al- mighty God," with appropriate solemnities, the Rev. Dr. Saw- yer, of New York, preaching on the occasion. For years this was the only house for public worship in that part of the town.
SECOND UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY .- For the following facts I am indebted to the Rev. Eben Francis, who was pastor of this church about three years:
For a number of years there had been irregular preaching here by ministers of the Universalist denomination, when in the spring of 1835 the Rev. F. Hitchcock accepted a call to settle here. Ile was succeeded by Rev. S. J. Hillyer, who also re- mained but a short time, and was succeeded by Rev. B. B. Hal- lock. The society was not organized until 1841, at which time thirteen persons subscribed the constitution. Its committee were,-Wm. II. Potts, Wm. E. Young, and James B. Scofield. In 1844 the society took steps towards building, having thus far mainly depended upon the Town House for a place to wor- ship. They purchased the corner lot, on which their church now stands. The church was dedicated Feb. 5, 1846, during the ministry of Mr. Hallock. The following ministers have suc- ceeded Mr. Hallock :
J. J. TwIss, J. H. MOORE, two years ; C. H. FAY, two years ;
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ASA COUNTRYMAN, one year; EBEN FRANCIS, about three years, and J. SMITH DODGE, Jr., who is still the occupant.
CATHOLIC CHURCHI.
The first Catholic services in Stamford, of which we have any account, were held by Rev. John Smith, in September, 1842, in the house of P. II. Drew, in West Stamford. At that date there were but three Catholic families in the town. Services were held there, monthly, until 1846. Mr. Drew removing to the old " Webb Place" on South-St., services were there held, first, by the Right Rev. Bishop Tyler. Here the meetings of this denomination were continued, by several ministers, until the church on Meadow-St. was built in 1851. Since then, the Catholic population' has increased very rapidly. The church has been once enlarged, and the present necessities of the con- gregation call for still greater enlargement, for which provision is being made.
The following priests have been stationed here :
JAMES BRADY, 1850-1854.
EDWARD CLONEY, 1854-1857.
JAMES REYNOLDS, 1857, and died bere Oct. 20, 1858.
JAMES O'NEIL, from Sept. 1853 to the present time. He has been assisted by the following curates, Edward O'Neil, who died while in this office, Christopher Dugget, and his present assistant, curate Eugene Gaffney.
FRIENDS MEETING.
How early the movement was started which led to the Friends' meeting in Darien, I have been unable to learn. From a work published in 1844, embracing the biographies of Cath. erine Secly and Deborah S. Roberts, who were themselves Friends, we learn that their grandmother, Catherine Selleck, was the first member of the sect in Stamford. The opening of a Friends' meeting at a private residence is thus described by Miss Roberts. " After seriously weighing the subject, on the 21st of 6th month, 1828, and on the 1st day of the week, we convened at the house of Uncle Wyx Seely, and quietly sat down together in the capacity of a religious meeting for wor- ship. It was held in the sick room of my dear consin C. Seely,
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HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
and was the same one in which our worthy grandmother Cath- erine Selleck, the first member in this place, sat down in the same way, herself alone. At length others joined her and finally a meeting was allowed." The first "minister" they had, was probably a woman by the name of Griffin; and the only preacher who was located there was probably one of the resi- dent members, Mr. Samuel Bishop, who died in 1852, a lineal descendant of Rev. John Bishop, the second pastor of the first Congregational church of Stamford. The Friends built a small, square meeting house in 1811, and for a few years held in it their simple service. But the meetings were long since aban- doned, nothing being left as a witness to the fact of such an attempt, save the old square frame in which the meetings were held.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF STAMFORD.
The first records of any movement towards organizing a Presbyterian church in Stamford, are found among the records of the Congregational church. After the communion service of Jan. 2, 1853, in a church meeting, the following members of the Congregational church called for letters of dismission from the church, to constitute a Presbyterian church about to be formed.
Angustus R. Moen, Alexander Milne, George Elder, James D. Haff, Luke Baker, Hiram Warner, James Robinson, John Holmes, Mrs. Sophia A. Moen, Miss Cornelia A. Moen, Hannah E. Elder, Mrs. Mary E. IIaff, Mrs. Almira Baker, Mrs. Sophia Warner, Miss Elizabeth M. Warner, Mrs. Georgette A. Robinson, Mrs. Catherine Helmes.
Letters of dismission were voted to these members of the church according to the rules of the church, Jan. 16, 1853. During the next few weeks similar letters were given to the fol- lowing members of the Congregational church :
Wells R. Ritch, Mary Ann Sturges, Elizabeth Sturges, Mrs. Amzi Ayres, Miss Matilda Moen, Mrs. Sarah A. Ritch, Miss Sarah L. Ritch.
This church was organized Feb. 25, 1853 with twenty-six
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SEPARATE CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS.
members. It has since then added about 250 to its membership, and is one of the wealthiest of our churches. Its ministers have been :
J. L. CORNING, i istalled Apr. 19, 1853 and resigned Oct. 15, 1856. He is now settled in Poughkeepsie.
R. R. BOOTH, D. D., installed Mar. 4, 1857, and resigned in Feb. 1861, to accept the pastorate of the Mercer St. Presbyterian church in New York.
JAMES P. LEEDS, preached very acceptably one year.
DWIGHT R, BARTLETT, installed Apr. 14, 1862, resigned, in Feb. 1864. SAMUEL P. HALSEY. installed, Mar. 8, 1865 and resigned Feb. 7, 1867. A. S. TWOMBLY, installed, Apr. 30, 1868.
MISSION CHAPEL .- This chapel of the First Presbyterian church grew out of a movement, organized in 1859, to supply a local want in the Wescott neighborhood. It is situated on the "Cove " road, and was built in 1868.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHI OF DARIEN.
This new organization was made Nov. 4, 1863. The follow- ing list of members were from the First Congregational church in Stamford :
Isaac Weed, Benjamin Weed, Rufus Weed, Mrs. Sally Weed, Mrs. Mary Weed, Mrs. Phebe Weed, Mrs. Hannah Weed, Miss Mary Weed, Miss Rebecca Weed, Mrs. Sarah W. Crissey, Mrs. Abigail W. Bishop.
The following were from the First Presbyterian church in Stamford :
William A. Cummings, and his wife Louisa Cummings.
Mrs. Anna E. Ballard and Mrs. Martha Harris, from First Presbyterian church, New York City.
Lewis E. Clock and his wife Eliza, Miss Eliza Clock, and Mrs. Hannah Waterbury, from the Congregational church of Darien; and Miss Fanny Kennedy, from the Methodist Episco- pal church of Stamford.
This church commenced worshiping in the chapel which had been built here, a quarter of a century ago, as a Union chapel, for all evangelical denominations. This church is under the care of the fourth presbytery of New York city. Their
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HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
new church, a beautiful structure of light colored brick, was dedicated May 31, 1866.
Their only pastor has been the Rev. JAMES WM. COLEMAN, who was or dained and installed here Mar. 6, 1864.
UNION CHAPEL, NEW HOPE
This house was built in 1858 for the use of a Sunday school, and for evening services for that part of the town, and was dedicated Thursday, Jan. 27, 1859. Services have been held here, somewhat irregularly, conducted by clergymen of the five evangelical denominations in town. There is no church organi- zation connected with the chapel. A Sabbath School has been kept up here for the most of the time since the house was built, as there had been in the district school house for years before.
UNION CHAPEL, TURN OF THE RIVER.
This house was built for the use of this neighborhood as a convenient place for holding the meetings of the Sunday school which had been previously held in the school house. It was dedicated in 1860, and has since had in it Sunday evening servi- ces conducted by the brethren of the vicinity, or by some one of the ministers of the town.
CHAPTER XXI.
EDUCATION.
Among the founders of Stamford were a few men of literary culture. But neither the age, nor the country in which they had grown up, nor their family means, nor the tempestuous times which had otherwise engrossed their earliest attention, had allowed the majority of them the advantages of scholastic training. Gifted they were in intellect, men of strong, sound sense, thoughtful, accustomed to self-reliance, and fertile in devices for their personal improvement and prosperity, and they could not overlook the claims of their children. Indeed, the New England fathers, and our pioneers were among them, saw that the only way to establish here, and perpetuate a society which could satisfy either their tastes or their hopes, would be through a more careful and thorough, and general educa- tion of their children than might have been necessary in the mother land. A necessity seemed to be laid upon them to look after all the resources at their command; and to none of them did they turn with a wiser forecast than to those which their very intuitions told them were awaiting development in the hearts and minds of their children.
How soon our Stamford fathers reared their first school house, where it stood, what its size, and how furnished, are interesting facts now beyond our reach. The record of that incipient school enterprise here is lost. Its influence upon the genera- tions which have succeeded has been incalculable.
Of one thing we may be certain. The first school house here had no needless room in it, no uselessly expensive adorning, and no special provision in its furnishments to minister to the ease
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HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
and promote the effeminate languor of the children to be edu- cated in it. It was set up by the hard and self-denying labors of the parents for the place of the hard and protracted work of their children-not for five hours a day, four or five days in the week, but for eight and ten hours, for each of the six working days of the week.
The fundamental laws of the New Haven jurisdiction re- quired under severe penalties every town to provide means for the early instruction of their children. The parent who should allow himself to neglect his child's education, was to be duly warned by the civil magistrate. If he did not at once atone for his neglect, he was to be fined ten shillings for the first offense. If the neglect should be continued, in three months the fine should be doubled ; and if then the guilty parent should refuse to do his duty to his children, the law would take from him their care and find a guardian who should better educate and govern them, " both for public conveniency and for the particular good of the children."
It seems that some towns did not provide for the education of their children. Accordingly, in 1657, the New Haven court ordered, "that in every plantation where a school is not already set up and maintained, forthwith endeavors shall be used that a schoolmaster be procured that may attend that work, one- third part shall be paid by the town in general as other rates, the good education of children being of public concernment."
In 1660 it was added to the fundamental law of the colony under the same penalty before noticed, " that the sonnes of all the inhabitants within this jurisdiction shall be learned to write a leegible hand, so soone as they are capable of it."
Nor was the theory of the Connecticut jurisdiction any less exacting in its demands for the general education. When Stamford was brought under this jurisdiction, the fundamental law of education still read much as that in New Haven had done. There could be no mistaking its terms. "The select- men of every town in the several quarters and precincts where
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EDUCATION.
they dwell, shall have a vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbors, to see, first, that none of them shall suffer so much barbarism in any of their families, as not to endeavor to teach, by themselves or others, their children and apprentices so much learning, as may enable them perfectly to read the English tongue, and knowledge of the capital laws, upon penalty of twenty shillings for each neglect therein."
It was stilll further provided, that every town having fifty householders in it, should "forthwith appoint one within their town, to teach all such children, as shall resort to him, to write and read, whose wages shall be paid, either by the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in general."
Under such laws, Stamford could do no less than make full legal provision for the education of the young. The one eentral school house was carly built, and to it, all the first generation of the town children were sent. And it came to be a settled principle that all elasses, alike, must sustain, and receive their education from the town school. They made no provision for a superior education for a favored portion of the community ; but seem, as occasional records show, to have made the needed provision for educating the children of the most "worshipful " part of the settlers, and then by penal motives, held the poorer elass to the necessity of using them. Our very first record which refers at all to the school, indicates the existence in that early day of a better philosophy than has since then prevailed in our State.
It bears date, December 24, 1670, and is as follows: "ye towne hath agreede to hyr mr bellemy for a scoole Master for this yeare;" and as if to show that they were in earnest, and meant to discharge their full responsibility in that impor- tant trust they add : " ye towne doth graunt and agree to putt doun all peety seools yt are or may be kept in ye toune, which may be preiudicial to ye general scoole." "The toune hath graunted Mr. Mathew Bellemy a home lot of about one aeere & halfe & he is hereby Ingaged to bouild a habitable house
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HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
upon it within two years, before he alienate it to any one, or els to throw it up to ye toune again."
Whether Mr. Bellamy found the post too difficult to fill, or the pay too small for his support does not appear. We find the next spring, arrangements made for a new teacher, and the lot which had been assigned to Mr. Bellamy, transferred to a Rev. Wm. Clements. The votes passed respecting the new teacher, will indicate somewhat the literature of the day, and the propriety of a prompt and thorough trial of the master's vocation.
On the 31st of the 11th month, (January) 1670, it was voted in town meeting "that Mr. Rider be admited in to the town for a time of triall to keep school as a comite apointed for that end shall agree with him, and if after triall the town aprove him and he like to stay they may after acomidate him accord- ing to their capacity as they se good. Mr. Seleck, Fra. Brown and Jonathan Bell are chose to treat, and, if they can, so agree with Mr. Rider to teach school in the towne."
On the 2nd of 2ud mouth, (April) 1671, the town grant to Mr. Rider " so much timber of the ould meeting house as may build him up a room to the school house of about ten or twelve foot square, and in case he doth remove it shall return to the town."
Mr. Rider evidently did not suit the town, as the next year we find this record : "voted, the towne is not minded to hier Mr. Rider any more." At the same time the following vote shows how careful the town authorities were to see that the school master was paid for his services. "By vote, the town inioyne all the children that went to anny other scoole this last yeare, except only such that went only to larn to knitt or sowe, shall paye their proper fiiers, (fares) to the scoole master."
The above records, a literal transcript of the original, are themselves a very good exponent of the rnde provisions made for the town school of that day. There seems to have been, as yet, only a single public school; and from the preceding record,
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EDUCATION.
the town was apparently accommodated by a room of ten or twelve feet square. This pioneer school room, for it could hardly be called a house, stood probably not far from where the old square school house of the first district in Stamford has so long stood, on the corner of Bank and Atlantic streets, a little to the east of the last one built there, now used as a dwelling house. Here were laid the foundations of whatever education the first two generations of the Stamford children received.
At this day we can have no adequate conception of the ex- treme difficulty attending those early educational measures. So completely were the energies and resources of the settlers taxed to supply their physical wants, that we could hardly blame them for neglecting altogether those of their intellectual and social natures. And yet there was among them so clear a dis- cernment of the need and worth of education, that no pains were spared to secure it for their children. Every one of those to whom would soon be entrusted the entire control of the new community here formed, must at least be so far taught as to learn " to read perfectly the English tongue," and write a legi- ble hand. The civil magistrate was to make it his first concern to see that this result was reached.
Once, at least, each year, should he personally visit every family suspected of neglecting this duty, to call him to account. If no application should be made for the teacher's post, he was authorized to appoint some one, in whose competency he had confidence, and forthwith summon him to this work. And why should not some officer be required to " attend this duty of the town ?" Was not every citizen liable to be called upon to serve the town in other departments of the public service, and was not the refusal to respond a finable offense? Why, then, should this, the most important of all the public interests be neglected, when citizens could be found competent to attend to them ? Accordingly we find our highest civil dignitary making annual arrangements for the education of the young-teaching them himself at his own house, requiring some competent citi-
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HISTORY OF STAMFORD.
zen, to arrange for the same needed service at his home; next engaging some applicant to perform this duty in the " scoole" house, built for the " better entertainment" of " scollers" on the corner of the town plat ; and finally, as was his duty, when it came to be a necessity, choosing some one from some other pur- suit, and requiring him, for a season, to serve the town as its official teacher. Such a summons, I think, must have been issued in 1680 to Stephen Bishop, probably a son of the pastor ; and at the end of the year, the town, unwilling to impose exces. sive labors upon its officials, grant him a release from the ser- vice.
Thus the education of the young was managed by the town for about a century from its settlement. The first and second school rooms of course had to give way to larger, as the town increased, and by 1690, in September, we find on record a vote to build a new house. The old school house, which had been built of the remains of the old meeting house, and must there- fore have been a much nobler structure and of nicer finish than the old rude germ of riven logs, and plank covering, which it had succeeded, was " by outery" sold to the same Steven Bish- op who had once, at least, been its acknowledged master. It may show us the times, at least thus much, to report the value of the sale, "twenty shillings and sixpence," but we must also report that the town reserved for their own use "ye dore hings and flores." It ought, perhaps, also to be added that the school house, now sold, had been quite recently improved by the addition of a stone chimney, a luxury which had doubtless been denied the home-warmed children in their home-made clothes, down to 1685.
The progress of the town had now become such that the one school house was thought to be too small for their accommoda- tion ; and the people at a distance from the center were begin- ning to feel the need of schools nearer to their own homes. Little schools were held for a few weeks at a time in two or three localities distant from the center. Temporary schools, also, sprung up to minister to some local want for some pecu-
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EDUCATION.
liar class of pupils ; and it became a question what school or schools should receive the sanction or support of the public, at the public expense.
So, in 1702, the town were called in midsummer to settle this question. They vote as follows : "ye town doth say that they doth accept ye present scoole kept by ye person, (Samuel Holly then town clerk,) to teach to reade English and to write and arrithmitick-is a scoole according to lawe"-the simple mean- ing of which probably is, that reading, writing and arithmetic were the branches for which the law enabled them to make provision ; and so they could sustain Mr. Holly's private school. The town meeting arrange also for the following schools, in addition to the town school at the center.
"Ye towne doth give liberty to ye people of ye east side of norwonton River, and ye people on ye west side side of ye mill riuer, to hire a woman scoole on boath sids ye sd riuer; and that ye mony collected in ye enntry Rate shall be distributed to each scoole; yt is to say, to ye three scooles; on in ye middle of ye towne and ye other two above sd, according to ye heads in said scoole; and ye Rate to be paid by ye heads yt Goes to sd scools."
We now have provision for these three schools, but the re- cords show that even this number was deemed too great, and that the muliplication of schools was strenuously opposed.
As early as 1702, we have seen a private school was estab- lished, probably to teach higher branches than the town school admitted. By the colony law a grammar school had been established in Fairfield for this part of the colony, to which the advanced pupils of the town had access ; and it was probably to fit pupils for this county school or to aid those who could not attend it, that the private school had been opened. From time to time the town testified their approbation of the new school, and their confidence in "master Holly," by appropria- tions from the " county fund."
But it would seem the native teachers were not specially in favor with the town. In 1708, the committee, who were the select men of the town, were definitely instructed to hire " a
44
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IIISTORY OF STAMFORD.
stranger who is not a inhabitant to keep schoole upon Tryall." The support of the schools at this period was raised by a tax of 40 shillings on the 1000 pounds in the town list, and this was to be collected by the school committee when such were ap- pointed and at other times by the selectmen ; and if this were not sufficient, as in Stamford, it was increased by an assessment on scholars. In 1705 this additional assessment the town de- clare by vote " shall be paid by the scollars that goes to scoole."
But a permanent division of the town for school purposes took place in 1716; when it was voted in town meeting, that " all east of Benj. Hickox and all east of Noroton river, and all west of Mill river, shall have the privilege of their own county money for the encouragement of schools among them- selves."
In 1722 the town granted to the inhabitants " north of Thos. June's and Stephen Bishop's jun." the same privilege as was allowed those east of the Noroton and west of the Mill river in 1716. The next year, however, we find the money divided into three parts, to be "E Qaull according to the lists;" but any family might send their children to either of the schools by paying there his proportion of the money.
In 1727 the Newfield people, as far north as Nathaniel Brown's, and as far south as Nathaniel Holly's, were allowed their school money ; and the people on the west of Mill river were empowered to divide their money and build a school house " between Clement Buxton's and Benj. Green's where they can do it with the least damage to the public."
In 1734, the "Simsbury" people down to the Sequest, and over the river to " Tanton," are allowed their proportion of the school money.
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