USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut : from the first Indian dead in 1659 to 1854 > Part 14
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intend to present something to the same purpose to the Generall court : now approaching, no more at present but to remayn.
" Stratford September 29: 1670. Your loving neibours Joseph Judson, John Minor, In the name of the rest."
According to the notice here given they did apply to the General Court at its session in October, making the same proposal, and a com- mittee consisting of Captain Nathan Gold, Mr. James Bishop, Mr. Thomas Fitch, and Mr. John Holly, was appointed
" To viewe the said lands desired, and to meet some time in November next to consider of the afoarsayd motion, and to labour to worke a complyance be- tween those two parties in Stratford ; and if their endeavoures prone unsuc- cessful then they are desired and ordered to make returne to the Court in May next what they judg expedient to be attended in the case."
Nothing was effected by this committee, nor did they even report to the General Court, as directed. There is no record of any other action in the matter, on the part of the authorities of the colony, till May, 1672, when, as we have seen, on the advice of Gov. Winthrop, Mr. Walker and his church were allowed to found a new town at Pomperang.
For two years after Mr. Walker was called to preachi to the dissent- ing party in Stratford, he had done so without ordination. Amid the other difficulties under which they labored, they had found no oppor- tunity to accomplish this desirable point. But now, being taunted by the first church on account of their disorganized state, being excluded the meeting-house, and there being no longer any hope of arrange- ment with the other party, they took the necessary steps to " embody in church estate." But the following account of the event, by Mr. Walker himself, in his quaint and beautiful style, more eloquently tells the story than any language the author can frame.
" May, 1670.
" A record of ye proceedings, & affaires of ye 2d chh at Stratford, from its first beginning. By me
Zachariah Walker
" After great indeavours for an union wth ye former chh, & much patience therein, w" long experience had too plainly evidenced yr irremoveable resolu- tion, to oppose 'an union With us, though nothing had appeared of any such great distance in or apprehensions, as might be inconsistent y'with : All hopes of success in such indeavours being at length taken away, we thought ourselves bound to seek after ye injoynt of ye ordinances of God in a distinct society, find- ing ye door shut agst of attaining it any other way : we did y'fore first more
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privately, (by reason of ye great opposition wrwth we were attended) set apart a day of solemn humiliation, w'in to seek unto God for guidanee, & assistance, & (a considerable part y'of being spent in prayer, & preaching) in ye close of ye day we did publiekly read over ye confession of faith extracted out of ye scriptures by ye assembly of divines at Westminster, Wch being publickly owned, & professedly assented unto by us, we did enter into a solemn eove- nant y'by giving up ofselves, & ours unto ye lord, & ingaging o'selves one to another to walk together in ehh society in attending ye ordinances, & institu- tions of cht. . Afterwards or way being more cleared we made of application unto neighbouring churches for yr approbation of or chh standing (ye consent of ye court being sufficiently implied in yr confirmation of ye ancient agreement betwixt party, & party in Stratford, & by other acts of y's relating to us. ) And having attained ye approbation of ye chlies of Fairfield, Killingworth, & ye new- chih at Windsor, we did solemnly renew of said covenant the first of May, 1670. The covenant thus entered into by us, & renewed as is abovesd was as followeth.
" The Covenant.
" We whose names are hereunto subscribed, being (by ye all-disposing prov- idence of God, who determines ye bounds of mens habitations) cast into cohab- itation on with another, and being sensible of of duty unto God, & one to anoth- er, & of or liableness to be forgetfull, & negleetive of ye one, & ye other, do hereby (for ye further incitent of orselves unto duty in either respect) solemnly give up orselves, & ours unto ye lord, engaging orselves by his assisting grace to walk before him, in ye religious observance of his revealed will, as far as it is or shall bee made known unto us. We do also in ye presence of God solemnly ingage o'selves each to other, to walk together in church-society according to ye rules of ye gospell, jointly attending all ye holy ordinances of God, as far as it shall please him to make way thereunto, and give opportunity yrof: and walking on wth another in brotherly love, & chtian watchifullness for of mutual edification, & furtherance in ye way to salvation. And jointly submitting orselves, & ours to ye goverment of eht in his church, in ye hand of such church governours, or officers as shall be set over us aeeording to gospell institution. The good lord make us faithfull in covenant with him & one wth another, to walk as becomes a people near unto himself, accept of or offering up of orselves, & ours unto him, & establish both us and yun to be a people unto himself in his abundant mercy through cht jesus, who is or only mediator in whom alone we expect acceptance, justification and salvation : to him be glory & praise through all ages, Amen.
" The names of ye persons yt subscribed this eovenant, & again publiekly owned it, May 5th, viz : ye day of my ordination, were as followeth.
Zechariah Walker,
Hope Washborn,
Samuel Sherman, sent,
Hugh Griffin,
Joseph Judson, sen",
Ephraim Stiles,
Jolm Ilurd, sent,
John Thompson, jun",
Nicholas Knell,
Theophilus Shermă,
Matthew Sherman,
Robert Clark, John Minor,
John Judson,
Samuel Sherman, jun', Jolın Whecler, Samuel Stiles,
Samuel Mils,
Benjamin Stiles,
Edmond Shermond.
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" Persons since added.
John Skeeles, Israel Curtiss, Thomas ffairechilde,
Richard Butler, Robert Lane,
Moses Jolinson.
Richard Harvy,
" On ye 5th of May, 1670, I was ordained pastor of ye 24 chh: at Stratford. The ministers present were m' Wakeman, m' Haines, mr John Woodbridge, mr Benjamin Woodbridge. m' John Woodbridge was. ye leading person, mr Benjamin Woodbridge was assistant in ye work of ordination."
Thus it is seen, that at the ordination of Mr. Walker, his church consisted of twenty male members. This number was as large as that of the other churches, at their organization, up to this date, with the exception of those in four or five of the larger towns. Seven more were added a few days after, and four males and six females were also added previous to the removal to Woodbury, in 1672. More than one-third of these were members by the half-way cove- nant system, yet it is seen, that they subscribed and publicly owned the same covenant, as those in full communion. This practice went on, and this identical covenant was owned, during the ministry of Mr. Walker, and that of the Rev. Mr. Stoddard, the second minister, till the ordination of Rev. Noah Benedict, the third minister, in 1760, ninety years from the first gathering of the church, when it was abolished.
In 1672, by permission of the General Court, the second church of Stratford made preparations for removing to Pomperaug, and early the next year a majority of its members emigrated thither. Mr. Walker ministered to his church in both places till June 27th, 1678, when he took up his abode permanently in Woodbury.1 The settlers had now become so numerous that it was no longer problem-
1 A story has been related respecting the occasion of Mr. Walker's removing with his party to Woodbury, in substance as follows:
" At the period of the first settlement of Woodbury, there were two licentiates preaching at Stratford, Mr. Walker and Mr. Reed. As there was some controversy who should leave and go with the Woodbury settlers, the two licentiates were re- quested to deliver a discourse on the day when it was to be decided, Mr. Walker in the forenoon, and Mr. Reed in the afternoon. Mr. Walker took for his text, " What went ye out into the wilderness for to see, a reed shaken with the wind?" Hle enlarged upon the circumstanee and propriety of a reed being found in the wilderness, &c. Mr. Reed, in the afternoon, took for his text, "Your adversary, the devil, walketh about," Ke. In the course of his observations, he stated that the great adversary of men was a great walker, and instead of remaining with the brethren, ought to be kept walking at a distance from them."
This certainly is an amusing story, but it lacks one ingredient to make it entirely satisfactory, and that is truth. It is not historically correct. Mr. Israel Chauncy was
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
atical that the settlement would be permanent. After the troubles in Stratford were settled by colonizing the new town, and the angry feelings that had been aroused had subsided, both Mr. Chauncy, who was an able and learned man, and Mr. Walker, became sensible that their conduct toward each other, during the long controversy, had not, at all times, been brotherly, and, after some time, made conces- sions to each other, became perfectly reconciled, and conducted them- selves toward each other with commendable affection. The two churches were also on the most friendly terms, and Mr. Chauncy, in 1702, after the death of Mr. Walker, assisted at the ordination of Mr. Stoddard, his successor in the ministry.
The personal history of Mr. Walker, which has reached us, is very brief. He was the son of Robert Walker, of Boston, where he was born in 1637. Hle was educated at Harvard College, but did not graduate. He preached as licentiate at Jamaica, Long Island, from 1663 to 1668, when he removed to Stratford, and preached in the same capacity to the members of the second church in Stratford, till its regular organization, and his own installation over it as pastor, May 5, 1670. After the troubles growing out of King Philip's war were ended, he removed with his family to Woodbury, and there spent the remainder of his days, which terminated on the 20th day of January, 1699-1700,' in the sixty-third year of his age.
Ile was a man of solid attainments, as indeed he must be, to pass the rigid examination given him and other candidates for the minis- try in those days. They were examined not only in the "three learned languages," Latin, Greek and IIebrew, but in respect to doc- trinal points of theology, cases of conscience, and their ability to de- fend the tenets of Christianity against infidels and gainsayers, as well as their own experimental knowledge of religion. He was a pungent and powerful preacher, greatly beloved by the people of his charge. Ile conducted the affairs of his church with commendable discretion, and both it and the infant town flourished during his administration.
settled over the first church in Stratford, in 1665, and remained there till his death in 1703, more than thirty-seven years after the settlement of Mr. Walker over the second church. No person of the na'ne of Reed ever preached, or offered to preach, at Strat- ford, before the sett'ement of Woodbury. Rev. Peter Bulkley was solicited to preach by the dissenting party before Mr. Walker was engaged, but did not do so. The set- tlement of Woodbury became necessary in consequence of the disagreement of the parties of Messrs. Chauncy and Walker. The first mention of this tradition is made in Barber's Hist. Coll. of Conn., and it is suspected that a certain facetious friend of the author, residing in Woodbury, should have the honor of its paternity.
1 This da e, according to new style, is Jan. 31, 1700.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
The number of persons admitted to membership in his church during his ministry was one hundred and eight, a part of whom had been re- ceived on the half-way covenant plan in the first instance, but nearly all the living members at his death were such in full communion. Three hundred and seventy-six persons, infant and adult, were by him baptized. Dea. John Minor and Dea. Samuel Miles were ap- pointed deacons at the organization of the church, and two others were subsequently chosen, on the death or resignation of the former, viz., Matthew Sherman, in 1682, and JJohn Sherman, in 1685. Thus the infant elirch had secured a firm foundation, notwithstanding all the trials and hardships that beset its earlier years.
After a life of usefulness, the revered Walker, " ye faithfull, wor- thy, beloved Minister of the Gospell, and much lamented Pastor of ye Chh of Christ," "was gathered to his fathers," and his remains repose in the southern part of the ancient burying-ground. He lies amid the faithful flock to whom he ministered in life. A rude head- stone of native rock, containing only his name, and the date of his death, so worn and obliterated by the storms of more than a century and a half, that the name can scarcely be deciphered, is all that re- mains to mark the place of sepulture of this " early father." It might seem strange to the casual visitor within our limits, that the town he so much improved and benefited by his labors, and honored by his public and private virtues, had not long since erected a fitting inonu- ment to the memory of its earliest and most faithful servant. It is to be hoped, that the time is not far distant, when this debt of gratitude shall have been paid.
After Mr. Walker's death, the church was for a time without a pastor ; but the Rev. Anthony Stoddard, having become a licentiate in 1700, was engaged to supply the pulpit in this place. Being pleased with his labors, the church and town soon took the necessary steps toward his settlement in the ministry over them. Accordingly we find the following action on record :
- " Al a lawfull Towns-meeting ye 13th of August 1700 in ord' to y' settling of ye Reverend m' Anthony Stoddard amongst us, in ye work of ye ministry. And for his encouragemt so to do ;
" It was Voted and agreed to allow him, as Mayntenance in ye Work of ye Ministry, seventy pounds per Annu, in provision pay, or to his Satisfaction, in Case of faylure of provision pay. By provision pay, is intended, wheat, pease, Indian Corn & pork, proportionally : as also fire wood :
" (Wee do also promise, to build him an house here in Woodberry of known Demensions ; yt is to say, the Carpenters work & Masons work ; hee providing
·
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
nayles and glass ; by building ye sd house is intended, doors, floures, filling up and playstering and partitions, finishing it as also a well.
" (We do also promise to accommodate wth a five and twenty Acre Accom- modations Round yt is to say five & twenty Acres of home lott & homelott division, five & twenty acres of Meadow or lowland ; five & twenty Acres of good hill Division, five and twenty of Woods Division. Twelve Acres and an halfe of pasture Division ; Foure Acres and an lialfe of white-oak-plaine divis- ion so Called : And all as Conveniently as may bee : Vppon such Conditions as shall be hereafter Contracted for and agreed to between him and us, and all other future divisions, successively wth other five and twenty Acre Accommo- dations.
" The Conditions of this engagement are; That in Case hee ye sd mr Stod- dard, accepts of these or proposalls and engages to live and Continue with us in ye Work of ye Ministry six years after ye Date hereof; Then wt is promised as to house and Lands to bee a firm grant to him his Heires and Assigns forever to all intents & purposes wtsoever, in Case of a Removall from us ye building and lands to return to us againe, to ye Town againe. we say a Removall wthin ye sd Tearmn. Death is noways intended by ye sd Removall, neither ye Towns enforcing him to a removall : In wch Covenant it is agreed on, y' in Case of a Removall : w'ever ye sd house or Accommodations, shall bee really bettered by ye gd m" Stoddards own expence or improvem' ye Town shall pay him for that :
" Since wch time at a Lawfull Towns-meeting ye 25th of November 1700 It was Voated and agreed yt ye abovesd specices for m' Stoddard's yearly mayn- tenance bee levyed at ye prices following : wheat at 48 6d pr Bush ; pork at 3e pr Ib : Indian Corn 28 64 pr Bush : pease three shillings pr Bush": And these prices for this yeare ye Town will not vary from for ye future Exterordi- nary providences interposing being Exceapted ;
" Recorded from ye originalls p' Jo" Minor Recorder, March 1700-1701."1
By this it will be perceived that the town not only voted him a salary, but also a settlement in land. They granted him the largest quantity of land allowed to any person, thus making him at once as rich as the most opulent farmer. His salary was to be paid entirely in provisions, a fact which again brings to our notice the almost entire want of a currency at this time. The contract of the town was carried into effect with all possible dispatch, and the house, still in existence, the oldest in the county, a cut of which appears on the opposite page, was the result. It is built in the old lean-to style. In front is the portico, on the second floor of which was the parson's study, where he prepared his sermons for the long period of fifty- eight years. On the first floor of this projection, the probate courts for the district of Woodbury were held for more than forty years. It is located in the midst of this beautiful valley, with the hoary
1 W. T. R., vol. 2, p. 24.
PARSONAGE HOUSE or REV. ANTHONY STODDARD, Woodbury. This house was built in 1702 and was for many years surrounded with palisadoes as a defence against the Indians
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
Castle Rock for a background. It is a venerable relic of the early days of the town-one of the few links connecting us with a former generation. It is a thing of history in a historical locality. Long may it remain to remind us of the virtues of the departed, and all that is valuable in the past !
Mr. Stoddard did not preach in Woodbury all the time during the two years succeeding Mr. Walker's death. The pulpit was supplied a part of the time by others, among whom was Rev. Mr. Shove, of Danbury. No entries of any kind for these two years appear on the church records, except the following in Mr. Stoddard's hand- writing :
" 99, 1700, 1, 2: In ye Vacancy of a Pastor."
In May, 1702, he was admitted to full communion with the church, a measure then considered necessary, and ordained pastor soon after, as he informs us by the following entry on the records :
" On May 27, 1702, I was ordained Pastor of ye Chh of Woodbury. The ministers acting in yt affair were Mr. Chauncey, of Stratford, Mr. Webb, Mr. Janes, Mr. Charles Chauncey."
The church was thus again supplied with an ordained minister, and one, who, fortunately, was to remain long with his people. Un- der the contract with him, which was a very liberal one for those days, rates were each year laid upon all the property in the territory, that the laborer might receive his "wages," the town taking receipts for the same, as appears by the following :
" These may certifie wm it may concern yt I ye subscriber have received to satisfaction all former Rates granted as annual saleryes to this day & have nothing to demand of ye town as a town on those accounts. Witness my hand ye 14th day of December, 1719.
Senthony Stoddard
The ministry of Mr. Stoddard was remarkable for its duration and the peace and prosperity which attended it. From the date of his first sermon as a candidate, to that of his last, immediately prece- ding the brief illness that terminated his useful labors, he numbered sixty years in his holy calling. During all this time, the church was in a highly prosperous condition, notwithstanding the low state of the other churches in New England. There were but two years during the whole length of his ministry, in which there were not more or less
10
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
admissions to the church. Great peace and harmony ever prevailed under his administrations, amid the intense excitement which occa- sionally existed, in relation to various matters, among the ministers and people of other churches in the colony. The number of commu- nicants was always large, notwithstanding four important societies were taken from his limits during his ministry. These were South- bury, in 1730, Bethlehem,1 in 1739, Judea, in 1741, and Roxbury, in 1743, and they have since become towns.
The good work seemed constantly to glow under his hands, with a steadiness rarely equaled. But there were several seasons of revi- val, when a special interest in religious matters engaged the attention and affections of his people. During the years 1726 and 1727, being the year preceding, and the year of the " Great Sickness," there was a special awakening. Forty-one were received to full communion in the former year, and thirty-four in the latter. For seven years pre- eeding 1740, the beginning of the "Great Awakening" in all New England, a good deal of religious interest prevailed, and ninety-seven were added to the church. With the rest of the colony it also parti cipated in the " great revival," and nineteen were received in full communion in 1740, forty-five in 1741, and forty in 1742, making two hundred and one additions to the church in ten years. The whole number admitted to full communion during his ministry was four hundred and seventy-four, and one hundred and forty-two were admitted by the half-way covenant system. The most of these, dur- ing or after his ministry, were admitted to full communion. The number of persons baptized by him was fifteen hundred and forty. Five deacons were appointed during this period,-Zechariah Walker, son of the first minister, date not noted, Samuel Sherman in 1736, Samuel Minor in 1741, Jehu Minor in 1751, and Daniel Sherman in 1756. The latter remained in this office thirty-seven years. Truly the labors of this " father in Israel" were highly blessed in in- ducing numbers to walk in the "paths of peace and the ways of pleasantness."
On the 24th of April, 1744, the ancient society, now called the first society, four others having been formed ont of its original limits, voted to build a church, and in May following, petitioned the General Assembly to appoint a " wise and faithful committee," to determine
1 The name of the ecclesiastical society is Bethlehem. It was intended to have the town of the same name, but by an error of the transcriber of the charter, the name of the town was spelled Bethlem.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
its location. On the 26th of September, 1744, the committee exam- ined the various locations, and reported at the October session of the Assembly, that they had located the house
" On Broad street, 40 rods North of the old house, on the hill, at the head of a street running Westward."
The report was approved, the location established, and the building went forward. In May, 1745, the society's elerk reports that two rates had been laid to build the same, and the timber was procured ; in May, 1746, that it was ready to raise, and the materials for finish- ing it obtained ; and in October, 1747, that it was covered. The latter report, by the elerk, Col. Joseph Minor, is brief, to the point, and slightly grandiloquent, as will be seen :
" To the Honble Assembly at New Haven, Octobr, 1717.
" These may Inform your Honrs that the Prime Society in Woodbury Have set up a Meeting Ilouse in the place where the Court's Comtee set the stake, Have Covered & Inclosed it, & for its Bigness, Strength & Architecture it Does appear TRANSCENDANTLY MAGNIFICENT !
Jojoph minor Society's Clerk. Woodbury, October, 17.17."1
This house was located in the street, a little south of the hotel of Mr. John P. Marshall. This was the second church edifice in the first society, was dedicated immediately after the date above, and con- tinued the place for publie worship till the dedication of the present church, January 13th, 1819, a period of seventy-two years. The first church had been used as such for more than seventy-five years before the dedication of the second, and afterward as a town hall, till after the close of the Revolutionary War, and was pulled down, after it had attained the age of more than one hundred years.
A word respecting the chronology of this work may as well be in- troduced here as elsewhere. It is well known that in September, 1752, a change in dates occurs, occasioned by a correction of the style. In Hempstead's Diary, we find the following remark, next after September 2d :
" Sept. 11, 1752 .- Fair :- and such a day as we never had before ! By act of Parliament to bring Old Style into New Style, cleven days is taken out of this month at this place, and then the time to go on as heretofore."
In this work, all dates of the month previous to the 14th of Sep- tember, 1752, are old style, and all after are new style. The year,
1 Ecclesiastical, vol. 7, index 28.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WOODBURY.
however, between the 1st of January and the 25th of March, (before the adoption of new style,) is uniformly treated, where a double date is not given, as new style. As a brief explanation of the cause of the difference of style, we give the following. When the computa- tion by the Christian era was introduced, the commencement of the year was fixed on the day of the annunciation, or incarnation of Christ, which event (the nativity being fixed December 25th) was placed on the 25th of March. This continued the commencement of the year in England and her dominions, till the alteration of style in 1752, when by the act of Parliament, above referred to, it was enacted that eleven days should be struck out of the month of September, that the 3d should be dated the 14th, that one day should be added to the month of February every fourth year, to conform their chro- nology to that of the other nations of Europe, (which had introduced a similar alteration previously in order to correct the error arising from the precession of the equinoxes ;) and that the year should commence with the 1st of January instead of the 25th of March. Before that time, to preserve a correspondeney of dates with those of other nations, it had been usual to give a double date from the 1st of January to the 25th of March ; thus February 12th, 1721, was written " ffebruary ye 12th, 173º." The omission of the lower number would cause an error of a year.1
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