USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut : from the first Indian dead in 1659 to 1872, Vol. II > Part 48
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" To this address, Mr. Williams responded nearly as follows, closing with a touching and appropriate prayer :-
"I accept this at your hand, and the hand of these kind friends
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here this evening. And while we are to say farewell, let it be only as pastor and people. The place you have had in my heart will be an aching void, if I may not still know you as friends. When I came among you, I gave you my heart, my whole heart, and the kindness I have experienced from you, has produced no desire to recall the gift. Your kindness endures to the last. I can pledge you that to the last of life I shall retain a deep impres- sion of it, and a sense of gratitude which I know not how to ex- press.
" You may remember I have often preached upon the suscepti- bility of the heart. It is because I know somewhat of its power to suffer and enjoy. I have enjoyed in my heart your kindness, and have felt more gratified than my uttered thanks have inti- mated. For all the many acts and instances of kindness, I wish again to thank you, and especially for this interview, spontaneous on your part, and for this valuable memento, not "a slight token of your enduring regard."
"I am also commissioned to bear to you a message of affection and gratitude from my companion, who cannot be present to-night, but who is here in the thoughts of her warm and loving heart. She loves you very much, and yesterday morning repeated once and again her charge to me to tell you how much she loved you, and thanked you for all your kindness to her and to us as a family.
"I might, not inappropriately perhaps, speak of more general matters, relating to the Church with which you are still united,- an unbroken church .- But there is no need. You have wisdom to see your wants as well as I. You have a place of resort. Let me urge you again to apply to Him, who is able and willing to give all needed wisdom and aid. I commend you to His guidance. And let me beg at the Throne of Grace you will all remember me, as I have every one of you. There let us feel our union, through the head of the church, unto one another.
" And if I have at any time in any manner given any occasion of displeasure or offence, most humbly do I crave your Christian forgiveness, even as I do most cordially forgive all who may now or at any time feel that they have injured me.
"I have often borne you by name to the Throne of Grace. I would like again to commend you to the love and mercy of God, through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ."
" In the prayer which followed, Mr. Williams remembered most
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especially and tenderly, 'the lambs of the flock,' in whom he al- ways felt the deepest interest.
" The assemblage was then summoned to partake of a most ex- cellent collation, prepared with exquisite taste by the ladies. The tables were loaded with viands and decorated with garlands and rare bouquets. We have never seen a better or more tasteful dis- play, on any similar occasion. Having discussed these to the heart's content, and passed a longer period in agreeable inter- course, the company separated, well pleased with the evening's en- tertainment."
As has been seen in the preceding pages of this work, Mr. Wil- liams served for a time as Captain of Company G., Ist Conn. Heavy Artillery. He was afterwards principal of a Female Academy at Saugerties, N. Y. Still later, he was for several years principal of the Young Ladies' Seminary in Waterbury ; and is now at the head of the Board of Education of the State of Vermont.
The church remained without a settled pastor till the summer of 1862. Rev. Charles E. Robinson began to supply the pulpit in the early part of 1861. He received a call to settle as pastor, April 25, 1862-accepted it May 5th, and was installed June 10th. There were seventeen admissions to the church during his minis- try. On the 27th of January, 1864, he tendered his resignation, on the ground of ill-health.
On the 4th of February, 1864, the church passed the vote which immediately follows, and he soon after left, though he was not formally relieved of his charge till the 3d day of November fol- lowing, by a Council of churches, as he had accepted a call to settle over a church in Troy, N. Y., where he has since remain- ed, in the full performance of the duties of his ministry. The de- gree of Doctor of Divinity was bestowed upon him at the late Commencement (1871) of Williams College.
" WOODBURY, Feb. 4th, 1864.
" We, the First Congregational Church, having received the re- signation of our Pastor, Rev. C. E. Robinson, feel ourselves com- pelled, owing to the circumstances under which we are providen- tially placed, to accept the same. We had cherished the pleasing hope and anticipation that the connection, so promising in its commencement , would be as lasting as life, and that we should be permitted to labor together for our dear Lord, many years. Sel-
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dom has any pastor so entirely possessed the confidence and love of an entire church and society as has our present Pastor, and it is with deep regret that we now come to the painful conclusion that we must give him up and dissolve the interesting relation of Pastor and People. Such, however, seems to be the orderings of our Heavenly Father, and we would cheerfully submit. We shall follow our Pastor with great interest and solicitude, and our ear- nest prayers, wherever his lot may be cast, and shall feel that, that church which shall secure his stated labors among them will be peculiarly favored of Heaven."
Rev. Charles Little, upon invitation, begun to supply the pulpit in the summer of 1865. He remained with the church without installation, but with the approval of the Consociation, about two years, and did a good, an earnest, and a faithful work. Thirty persons were added to the church, and two deacons were ordained during his ministrations ; Philo M. Trowbridge, Nov. 3, 1865, and James H. Linsley, Aug. 31, 1866.
Mr. Little had spent most of his professional life in the mission- ary field. After serving the church faithfully, till the fall of 1867, he removed to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he is still engaged in his holy calling. On parting with him, the church passed the follow- ing unanimous vote, Sept. 22, 1867 :-
" Whereas, Rev. Charles Little has faithfully labored with us for the past two years, and his labors have been greatly blessed by a good Providence, therefore
" Resolved, That we take pleasure in testifying to our high ap- preciation of, and full confidence in the character of Mr. Little, both as a man and a minister of the Gospel, and that our best wishes and heartfelt sympathies will follow him wherever he may go to labor, in the wide harvest-field of the Lord."
Oct. 13, 1867, both the First and North Congregational church- es being without a settled pastor, the church
" Voted, That we will unite with the North church and also the Methodist church, in extending an invitation to Rev. Mr. Potter, to labor with us during the first week in December."
Mr. Potter came at the time stated. He is a " Revivalist " preacher, who does not settle over any church, but goes wherever
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he deems the " Lord calls him," to evangelize the people. Great good followed his labors here. As a result of it, about twenty numbers were added to this church, and various members to all the other churches, making the total not less than seventy-five.
The church gave a call, January 16, 1868, to Rev. Horace Winslow, then of Newington, Conn., to settle in the work of the ministry. There were various negotiations in regard to the matter, which resulted in engaging his services for a year. He did a very acceptable work, and twenty-four members were added to the church. So great was the desire of the people to retain him, at the end of the year, that almost the entire congregation (every one found at home by the canvassers) signed an earnest re- quest that he would remain among them. But believing a wider field of usefulness opened to him at Willimantic, Conn., he re- luctantly concluded to settle there, where he still remains. He has, however, spent his vacations here, so that the people have not en- tirely lost the benefit of his counsel and his services.
Mr. Winslow was born, May 18, 1814, at Enfield, Mass., to John H. Winslow and wife, Elizabeth (Mills), graduated at Ham- ilton College, N. Y .; studied theology at Union Seminary, New York city ; settled first at Lansingburg, N. Y. ; second, at Rock ville, Conn., Oct, 1845, and dismissed, Nov., 1852; third, at New Britain, Conn., Dec, 1852, dismissed Dec., 1857; fourth, installed at Great Barrington, Mass., in 1858; and in 1862, he accepted an appointment as chaplain to the 5th Conn. Vols., under the con- , mand of Gen. Banks, at Virginia. After serving several months as Chaplain, he resigned, and was installed, Dec. 1, 1863, at Bing- hampton, N. Y .; preached next at Newington, Conn., then at Woodbury, as before stated; and then settled in Willimantic, Conn., where he at present resides.
He married Charlotte H., daughter of Capt. Jonathan Petti- bone, of Simsbury, born, July 23d, 1824, and married 8th May, 1850. They have children, as follows :- Fanny Hamilton, b. Oct. 25, 1851 ; Lillian, b. 25th July, 1854, and Mary, b. 1861. 1
Rev. Gurdon W. Noyes, of Fair Haven, was called by the church, Oct., 1869, to settle,and was installed over the church, Dec. 8, 1869, and still continues his ministrations, to the accept- ance and profit of the people. Fifteen members have been ad- ded to the church under his administration.
1 Andrews' Hiet, of New Britain, Conn.
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Mr. Noyes was born in Stonington, Conn., Aug. 13, 1818, being the 12th son of his father, and one of 17 children. He is a great grandson of Rev. James Noyes, of Stonington, who was Mode- rator of Synod at the formation of the Saybrook Platform, and one of the first donors to the foundation of Yale College. The latter was son of Rev. James Noyes, who came from England in 1634, and is the ancestor of the Noyes family in Connecticut. He was born in 1608, in Choulderton, Wiltshire, England. His father was a very learned man. He came to this country because he could not comply with the ceremonies of the Church of England. He was married to Miss Sarah Brown, not long before he came to this country. He preached in Mystic, Conn., and Newbury Mass.
The family of Noyes ,is one of Norman descent, and originated in England with William de Noyes, one of the followers of the Duke of Normandy in his conquest of England, in 1006. The family settled in Cornwall, Eng., in the reign of Charles I. Wil- liam de Noyes, of St. Barian, was Attorney General, and his son, Humphrey, was a Colonel in the Royal army, and married the heiress of Lord Sandys.
Gurdon W. Noyes was graduated at Amherst College, Mass, in 1846, and at the Union Theological Seminary, N. Y, in 1849. He was settled over the Presbyterian church in Porthmouth, Va., Dec. 19th 1849 ; over the Cong. church, at Cornwall, Vermont, in 1852; over the South Cong. Church, in New Haven, Conn., in . 1853; over the Second Cong. Church in Fair Haven, Aug. 1861 ; and over the First Church of Woodbury, in 1869, as seen in the preceding pages.
This old pioneer church has received into its membership since its origin, 1,535. Within its folds, 3,010 have been baptized, and twenty-three deacons have been ordained, only three of whom survive, viz: Eli Summers, who has held the office forty-two years, Philo M. Trowbridge and James H. Linsley. Its present membership is 186, 58 males, and 130 females. The oldest living members, by date of admission, are Mrs. Julia Blackman, admit- ted in 1813, Mrs. Truman Orton and Mrs. James Preston, 1814. The oldest male members are Stoddard Strong, 1821, and Deacon Summers, 1822. Edmund Trawbridge, aged 85, is the oldest in years. Forty seven persons were admitted in 1850, of whom only seven have died-a small per centage for twenty-one years.
At the date of the writing of the former edition of this work, Rev. Samuel R. Andrew, one of the four most revered and suc-
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cessful ministers of this church, was still living, and it was scarce- ly time to pronounce fully upon his life and character. Since then, May 26, 1858, he has passed hence to a bright re-union with "his Father and his God," to whom he had rendered a life-long and filial service. Few men have lived whose memory is so embalmed in the hearts of surviving parishioners and friends. The follow- ing notice of him, which appeared in the "New York Observer," after his death, will give an idea of his life and character :---
" Died, at New Haven, Conn., May 26th, Rev. Samuel R. An- drew, aged 71 years. Mr. Andrew was long the honored pastor of the First Congregational church in Woodbury, Conn. For the last twelve years he has resided in New Haven, and for some eleven years he has been the Secretary to the corporation of Yale College. His intellect was strong, clear, comprehensive and dis- criminating. His judgment was pre-eminently sound and wise. His taste was pure and classical. His style in writing and in con- versation, was lucid, chaste, and often elegant. His sensibilities were exquisitely susceptible to beanty in nature, in literature, and in character. His thoughts were always just, and often rich and original. They were never tame and commonplace; and yet the movements of his intellect were so harmonious, and its structure so symmetrical, that superficial observers failed to do justice to its strength and superiority.
"This was conspicuous in the circle of clergymen of which he was one of the brightest ornaments, when he was in his prime; in ecclesiastical conncils, where his opinions never failed to be weighty and wise; in brief conversations on important themes, in respect to which he would sum up all that needed to be said in a few brief but pithy sentences ; in his written reviews and essays, of which many were given to the public, and all, whether printed or not, were carefully elaborated and chastely expressed; and in the thoughtful and elevated sermons, by which he moulded his people by a constantly refining influence, and impressed them with a well- founded respect for his intellect, and an unchanging confidence in his wisdom.
ยท
" He was a labor ons student, and a close and comprehensive thinker. He pondered the Scriptures well and interpreted them with an enlightened but believing spirit. He was an independent thinker in theology. The opinions which he held, he boldly but quietly declared and defended. Every man who knew him felt
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that he believed what he spoke. For partizans and bigots he had little sympathy and less respect. His respect for truth was lite- rally awful, to hot-headed and self-confident sciolists, however holy were their pretensions. He was long a member of the South Association of Litchfield County, in which Beecher and Tyler and Luther Hart were so conspicuous, and in which his own influence was eminently useful and important. Few men were more re- vered through the whole State of Connecticut than he.
" His sensibilities were as tender as his intellect was strong. He sympathized with all that is excellent and noble. His heart was warm to the sufferer and the sorrowing. He was true to his friends and loved them warmly and well. His eye would fill and his lips would quiver with unfeigned and irrepressible emotion at the recital of the afflictions of those whom he loved, but his sen- sitive decorum would never yield to an outbreak of grief. It was rare, in the last years of his life. that he listened to a sermon or even a brief conversation on any Christian theme, and was not strongly and deeply moved.
" His piety was the very beauty of holiness, it was so unaffected, so symmetrical, so honest, and so tender. 'He was strong in faith, giving glory to God.' When dreadful waves of sorrow broke over him, he east himself upon the promise of his covenant God with the simplicity and confidence of a child. When op- pressed by sad forebodings, he pensively bowed his head in prayer. . In the experience and conduct of ordinary life, he trusted in God as his Father and Guide. He was humble, true-hearted, ever trusting, ever thankful, in the varied experiences of a life not ex- empt from the cares and fears that were especially fitted to annoy and depress a spirit so gentle and sensitive.
" He died as few men die. He had arranged to make a half- friendly, half-pastoral visit to his old friends and charge at Wood- bury, and had despatched a letter written in a more than usually cheerful tone to an intimate and beloved parishioner and friend. That letter was received after he had been some hours dead. On the morning of Wednesday he woke at his usual hour, and appa- rently in his usual health. He spoke of being slightly chilled, ad- justed the covering of his bed, breathed twice audibly, and in an instant was gone. Such a death had been pronounced by him to be beautiful and desirable, and his thought was fulfilled. 'Mor- tality was swallowed up of life.' 'He was not so much unclothed as clothed upon.' 'He walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.'"
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Never perhaps were two persons, pastor and deacon, more close- ly associated in all their inner religions life and experiences, than wer Mr. Andrew and his deacon, Matthew Minor. It was the latter who was able to turn the scale in the perplexed young preacher's mind, as to the question whether he should accept the call to settle over this church, or not. Mr. Andrew wrote an article for the Christian Parlor Magazine, in 1845, which relates this fact, in the chaste, beautiful and eloquent style so peculiarly his own. It is thought well to give this article entire, it is so strongly characteristic, and is withal so fine a specimen of his style of thought and diction :-
" There is, oftentimes, a real and most delightful poetry in many of the incidents of one's life. specially so, when these incidents are looked back upon, over the space of intervening years that have since flown away. Here and there at least, in one's life, se- lect passages will be met with, of surpassing beauty and interest, as one thus turns back and reads over again the variously colored pages of that curious and wonderful book. Even in the case of those persons whose days are spent in the most retired, and quiet, and rural walks of life, many of these charming incidents are to be found. Ought such incidents to be lost and forgotten ?- Those-what shall we call them ? little episodes of God's peculiar love and mercy to us, which seem to shed so many a bright and joyous a gleam over the path, shall they be suffered to fade away . from our minds and be forgotten ? They seem too valuable, too precious, to be thus suffered to pass away into oblivion, without some pains being taken to arrest and fix the fugitive impressions which they produce on the mind, before these impressions and scenes which produced them shall thus be forever lost together.
" The writer's lot has been cast in one of the loveliest and most picturesque and pleasant of New England's many charming val- leys. On either side of this pleasant valley, stretching from north to south, on two opposite ranges of hills, of considerable height, approaching somewhat near to each other towards the south, and thr's forming, in the interval between them, is a kind of basin, cov- ered in the summer season with a carpet of the richest, deepest verdure. Through this valley, and about midway from either side of it, a small stream of water is seen, like a thread of silver, wind- ing along, in graceful meanders, and every now and then covered from view by the fringes of trees, and wild shrubbery which grow on its banks. The valley seems like a place formed for med-
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itation and repose ; for thoughts of God, and thoughts of Heaven. This peaceful retreat, away from the great, and noisy, and jarring world, has also some historical associations connected with it, in what may be called, in our young country, the olden times, which seem to add to it a still higher and more romantic interest. This valley was once the favorite abode of a tribe, or the fragment of a tribe, of the red sons of the forest ; a race of men deeply wrong- ed and injured, and now almost extinct on the soil, and by the streams where they formerly exercised their own unquestioned rights of sovereignty. And a particular spot is shown to the eu- rions in such matters, where (as tradition says) the remains of one of their chiefs is now reposing, under a rude heap of stones. The name of that chief has been rendered more imperishable than his decaying race, by its having been given to some portion of the natural scenery of the place where he and his tribe once enjoyed their own wild freedom. The river and a neighboring mountain will be his monument to the end of time. Associations also of yet deeper, stranger interest, more hallowed, more touching, and scarcely less romantie, press around the good man's heart as he enters the smiling valley, and becomes acquainted with the history of its early settlement. Its first white settlers were men of faith and men of prayer. They were eminently men of this character. In the eastern range of hills, skirting the village, as you approach it from the south, and a short distance baek from the summit of those hills, there is a very singular and almost saered locality. It is a place of prayer- secluded, wild, and awe-inspiring, to which the early fathers of the village were accustomed to resort, to hold seasons of retired communion with God, and sometimes to spend together there, entire days of fasting and prayer. And thus this spot, at that time especially, must have been well chosen for such a purpose ; so far at least as the stillness and solitude, the seclu- sion and wildness of the place, are fitted to awaken devotional feeling, and to prepare the soul to commune with God. And to this day, that 'pillar of stones' in the mountain is occasionally visited, as a sort of sacred spot, both by the eurions stranger from abroad, and by those of the villagers themselves, who love to hold retired communion with God among His works.
"It would not be strange if, under any ordinary circum- stances the writer should feel some pleasant interest in such a spot as this, and in the character of the people who occupy the valley. that spreads along just beneath this interesting spot. A serious,
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devout mind, always loves to dwell upon incidents, and objects which bring God into view, and which tend to impart a fresh impulse to its better, its holier aspirations and purposes. But in the case before us, there is more than the pleasantness of the natural scenery of the place, to awaken interest in the writer's mind. There is more than the first historical associations of the place; more than the wild Mountain Bethel, to which the patriarchal fathers of the place (of blessed memory) were once in the' habit of resorting for prayer. There are, also, incidents and reminiscences connected with this place, of a more personal kind. to touch the writer's heart, and to call forth some of its sweetest and most delightful emotions. May he venture to allude to one or two of these 'Pleasant Remembrances' of the past? They seem obviously to bring into view, and to exhibit in a pleasing light the guiding, gracious hand of God, in an hour of some per- plexity and doubt.
" It was in the spring of the year 18- that the writer first enter- ed this valley, without any view of spending much time there. He came by invitation ; but in much weakness and fear, and not without some painful doubt and misgivings, as to the point wheth- er, in coming thither, he was in the path of duty which God would have him pursue. Does the reader ask why ? He came thither as a professional messenger of the Gospel of Peace. And he was afraid, lest in a place where contentions and divisions, heart-burnings and jealousies had for a time past existed, he might, possibly, through inexperience or inadvertency, injure a cause which he would gladly serve. On some accounts, therefore, he would have chosen to get away, as soon as possible, from a field of so much difficulty and so much responsibility. After pre- senting the messages of God's mercy to that people for a few Sab- baths, he became almost decided, in his own mind, to retire from the place, and to await the call of God's Providence to go to some other and more congenial field of labor. And yet it was true that, in many respects, his feelings were drawn towards that people. The determination which he had formed on his first going there, not to remain over a few weeks, he felt, after a while, to be giving way within him. And now the question which oppressed him, and which became the simple naked question before his mind, was the question of duty ; not what he would like to do, or would not like to do; but what, before God, and all things considered, he ought to do. And when the matter came to this issue, the
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