USA > Connecticut > New London County > Stonington > History of the First Congregational church, Stonington, Conn., 1674-1874. With the report of bi-centennial proceedings, June 3, 1874. With appendix containing statistics of the church > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
165
BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
Amos Fish, farms a little, and sings much. The Miners took pos- session of Quiambog from the start, and by frequent marriages with the Denisons and Wilcoxes have held their own. The Den- isons and Miners were good material to build new churches with. The number of deacons and ministers bearing these names in your records and ours would certainly astonish you, if they could all be brought out. With such a parentage, it should not sur- prise you that we have outgrown our older sisters, and even eclipsed the sheen of that beautiful rod, of which you are so justly proud. It is too late, honored mother, to wish that we were a thousand. In nine sections, fifteen hundred strong, di- vided only a little for convenience in housekeeping, your little one has set up for herself. We are not yet a nation ; but give us time, and the space to grow, and we will make a nation any- where.
The following are the statistics of the Church I have the honor to represent : -
SKETCH OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MYSTIC BRIDGE.
The Church was organized January 20, 1852, with forty-two constituent members, of whom all but five were members of the First Congregational Church, Stonington. The Church was con- stituted by a committee of the Consociation of New London Coun- ty. Dr. McEwen of New London, Timothy Tuttle of Ledyard, J. R. Avery of Groton, Myron N. Morris of North Stonington, W. Clift of Stonington, constituted this committee. Dr. McEwen and Rev. Mr. Tuttle have since died in pastorates of over fifty years' duration, and the others have all been dismissed from the churches they then represented. The first pastor of the Church was Rev. W. R. Long, who was installed September 15, 1583, and dismissed March 29, 1863, making a pastorate of ten years.
Rev. Charles H. Boyd succeeded Mr. Long, May 4, 1864, and was dismissed January 3, 1866. Mr. Boyd's health failed soon after his settlement, and he died January 6, 1866. He was suc- ceeded by Rev. A. M. Goodenough, January 3, 1866, who was dismissed February 26, 1867.
The present pastor succeeded as stated supply, March, 1867, and was settled as pastor March 9, 1869.
The Church has been much blessed with revivals from its organization to the present time. There were four seasons of
166
BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
revival interest during the pastorate of Mr. Long. The first occurred soon after the organization of the Church, the second in the winter and spring of 1853. Thirty-two were added to the Church as the result of this work. The third occurred in the early part of 1855; the fourth during the winter and spring of 1858. Though limited in the number, it was signally marked in the character of the hopeful conversions. There were added to the Church during the service of Mr. Long in ten years, seventy- eight. In the next five years, including the pastorates of Messrs. Boyd and Goodenough, thirty-seven. In the last seven years there have been added seventy-seven ; and the Church now num- bers one hundred and fifty-five, - a larger number than have ever been in its communion at any former period. This last pe- riod of seven years has been marked by three seasons of special religious interest. In the winter and spring of 1868, a union meeting was held with the Baptist and Methodist churches, and the evangelist Rev. J. D. Potter preached for eight days. A pow- erful revival followed, and there were important accessions to all the churches, of which this Church received thirty. In the win- ter and spring of 1872, there were also union meetings of the same churches, and the evangelist Rev. A. B. Earle labored with us for three days. Ten were added to the Church as the result of this effort. The past winter and spring union meetings were held with the Methodist Church, and Rev. Charles Nichols and Deacon John Vassar of the American Tract Society were employed as special laborers, the one for eleven days, and the other for fifteen. Continuous meetings were held almost daily for four months. During the same period a revival was enjoyed by the Baptist Church under the preaching of Rev. Edwin Burn- ham and other laborers. The work has been general in the vil- lage. Large accessions were made to the Baptist and Methodist churches, and this Church has received nineteen members.
Of the two hundred and forty-six persons connected with the Church, thirty-five are known to be dead, thirty-seven have re- moved their relation to other churches, and three have been excommunicated.
But no statistics can do justice to the work of a rural church in New England. These churches are merely seed-beds and experimental plots where the husbandman raises plants for trans- planting. We can see that you have done a good work here in
167
BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
maintaining Gospel institutions and in training souls for heaven during the two centuries that have gone. We can see that you have sent out strong colonies into the adjacent fields around you ; but this is not a tithe of your work. The promise of God made to Abraham is still good to all believing souls. Their seed is as the stars for multitude, and as the sands upon the sea-shore. I go up among the Berkshire hills and the Green Mountains, and there are the children of this ancient Church, in the third and fourth generations, holding fast to the doctrines taught here from the beginning. I go out into Central New York, and I find Stonington names more numerous than here in the old hive whence they swarmed. I visit Ohio, and there is a new Con- necticut so thoroughly homogeneous that we hardly seem to have left home. Illinois has its Stonington in Christian County, and it was settled largely from the men and women who once tilled your rugged acres. I push out upon the plains of Kansas, and there among the ranchmen and herders I find your image and superscription, men and women of fine culture leading the lives of pioneers, with Bibles in their knapsacks and fixed ammunition in their wallets. They are telling the old story they loved here so well, planting colonies, building school-houses, establishing churches, making the world better by their teachings and ex- ample. I thread the shadowy cañons of Colorado, and there in the miners' cabins I find your sons and daughters clinging to the cross. As I climb the snow-clad peaks of the Rocky Mountains, I find the dear old names carved upon the bark of the pines, and scored upon the rocks. As I descend from the region of snows into the summer land of perpetual fruits and song on the shores of the Pacific, I find Stonington names as familiar as household- words, for they have been there a score of years. In almost every State and Territory of the Union, and in the isles of the sea, the influence of this ancient Church is seen and felt to-day. The lessons here taught, the culture here bestowed by the noble men whose names I read upon these walls, are helping to make the world better and happier. God's Word does not return unto Him void. It is still accomplishing his purpose in the salvation of men. With filial hearts and gladsome voice we hail thee, Mother dear, on this festal day. Two hundred years have gone, and yet thou art young. Others may see wrinkles upon thy brow and dimness of vision in thine eyes, but we can see only
168
BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
the chastened beauty of the mother that bore us. Speaking for the whole family, which your youngest daughter imperfectly represents, I respond to your kind wishes with the sentiment - " The Road Church; the Jerusalem which is the mother of us all ; God bless her."
14. SINGING. Anthem by the choir (Easter Anthem).
The remainder of the time was occupied with five-minute speeches and other exercises.
15. SENTIMENT : -
" The Road Church, the Jerusalem which is the mother of us all, God bless her."
RESPONSE, by Rev. Frederic Denison : -
" The Road Church ; the Jerusalem which is the mother of us all ; God bless her." True and beautiful sentiment, tenderly touching the cords of love in all our hearts. Allow, then, a few words of responsive Christian affection from the Baptist churches in the valley of the Mystic.
A great joy it must be to our good mother to-day to " wel- come " to her " century "-adorned door three thousand of her loving children and grandchildren, and to know that these are but a small detachment of the great host of her descendants, all present with her in spirit and whispering to her their words of sacred cheer. Never was the dear mother happier in heart, fairer in features, sweeter in voice, more graceful in form, more taste- ful in dress, more abounding in love, more honored in character, and more radiant with hope than on this her grandest festive day. Yes, reverently we sit as children at her feet to listen to her deep experiences of two hundred years. In filial devotion, coming from hills and valleys, from far and near, here in the old home of our ancestors, we feel deeply the holiness and blessed- ness of the commandment, Honor thy father and thy mother.
We are all happy in understanding that it is ordered of Provi- dence that, in every large and favored family, there will be illus- trated the wise law of diversity in unity : the children will vary in stature, in color of eyes and hair, in tones of voice, and in taste for costumes and dwellings ; but the fond mother none the less delights to own them all; and they all joyfully, proudly respond to her heart, and vie with each other in doing her true
169
BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
reverence ; the great bond of unity, the common life-tie, over- laps all diversities.
Hence, while some of us, dwelling in the romantic valley and on the fair banks of the sweet-flowing Mystic, have accepted in our households forms of ablution impractical in the old homestead on the hills, we know we shall not be censured for it, or thought to be more negligent than our mother in our general manner of living ; moreover, our loved mother will tenderly remember how she formerly granted " certificates " suffering these ampler ablu- tions.
Therefore to-day heart beats to heart as face meets face, and hand clasps hand, on our Christian " Agreement Hill," - our Zion, our Jerusalem, the mother of us all. One in ultimate de- sign were James Noyes and Valentine Wightman, one in spirit were Ira Hart, John Gano Wightman, and Roswell Burrows. One in heart have been their successors, one in soul may their children be forever.
Honest Christian consciences make the purest, warmest heart- friends. The love of Christ is the root of true liberality. No Jordan's waves prevent the flow of the tide of Christian fellow- ship. Christian unity is the Sea of Galilee, into which and out of which flows the Jordan.
Up, then, gladly from the Valley to-day the Baptists come, both in the spirit and the flesh, with hearts of love, with feel- ings of reverence, with words of cheer, with songs of thanks- giving, to honor the aged mother - the First Church of Ston- ington, - and in response to the hearty benedictions she pro- nounces upon all her children, out of the fullness of our hearts to answer, " God bless her."
16. RESPONSE, by Rev. James A. Gallup : -
This grand historic festival unto which the Tribes of Israel are gathered so auspiciously to-day, reminds me of the Feast of Tabernacles, kept yearly by ancient Israel in the promised land, - a feast commemorative of the time when they dwelt in tents in the wilderness, and of thanksgiving for ingathered fruits and harvests. This festival, like the ancient Jewish feast, serves an important social, patriotic, and religious purpose. It com- memorates an important era, not only in the history of this Church and town, but of the country and of the world. For the
170
BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
beginnings, which have been recounted here with such rare mi- nuteness and fidelity, were beginnings of large results, which are felt to-day throughout the world. The living honor themselves, in thus honoring a noble and pious ancestry, and in recounting the way in which God hath led them for two hundred years. I am glad to be with you, in this your Feast of Tabernacles, and to hear the story of the Fathers, whose tents were pitched in this wilderness. It is pleasant to feel the glow of patriotism kindled by this review of the past ; pleasant to feel the magnet- ism of this union of friends whose faces beam with the gladness of many happy recognitions, as from diverse parts of the land they gather to this Jerusalem of their childhood, to renew the associations of those unforgotten, earlier years ; pleasant to feel anew the constraining power of that mighty love which gave the cross to the world, and through it, all our blessings. 'The day to me has been one of rare enjoyment. The words spoken by those who have been charged with the duty of telling us the story of the olden time, in plain prose, as well as in flowing rhyme, have been eminently worthy of the occasion. The de- lightful songs that have lifted up our souls, in strains both ancient and modern, have been of the highest order, and have added great interest to the day. The perfect and elaborate ar- rangements which have set this feast in such order, beauty, and effectiveness before us, show a diligence, generosity, and taste, worthy to stand in this place, between the eventful past and the future still more eventful, it may be. Those having charge of these preparations have evidently caught in advance the spirit of the occasion, and infused their own enthusiasm into no unwilling hearts and helping hands. I most heartily con- gratulate the friends here on the success in every respect of this long-to-be-remembered occasion. This house, with its "feast of reason ;" yonder ample tent, with its loaded tables ; and the space between with its " flow of soul," all share in this honorable suc- cess. These fields, characterized by the poet of the day as fields of " bog, morass, and stone," however barren of other prod- ucts, are manifestly not barren of hearts and brains. It must be a good soil in which to grow men and women, which I suppose are your chief articles of export. I have heard with pleasure of the prosperity of this mother Church -in her own vigorous motherhood life, and in her four daughters, comfortably settled
171
BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
on her borders, and housekeeping in the good old orthodox fash- ion, and of those other daughters, in the Mystic Valley, which have been so appropriately mentioned here, but who have be- come a little wayward, in their " housekeeping," having imbibed the notion that the old blue light of Presbyterianism would burn better if the candle were dipped, or if the wick were made a little more inflammable with good Methodist unction, or if a man in robes should use the snuffers upon it. I am glad to see the Mother Church so vigorous and hearty in her old age. Instead of the decrepitude and wrinkles of age, she is full of the dew and dimples of youth. Comely and gay, she sits amid her fragrant blossoms, to receive with open arms of welcome her children and friends. Her form is still erect, her face fair, her dress neat and fashionable, her housekeeping a pattern for her daughters. Her work, like the work of all faith, is still onward and upward. Thus endowed, and girded anew, with zeal unabated, and faith un- dimmed, with the Anchor and Harp upon her pulpit, symbols of the Sure Hope, and good cheer of the glad tidings which it brings, and which were first given to the earth through the voice of song, and with blossoming pyramid fronting her pews, symbol of the gladness and expectant fruitfulness which pervade her members, she steps forth into the new century that greets her to-day. May she live and prosper a thousand years. And when the Feasts of the Centuries are all over, may she sit down with her children to the feast of love and victory which Jesus the Master shall spread for his glorious family in the immortal king- dom of God, in heaven.
17. RESPONSE, by the Rev. Joseph Hurlburt of New London, Conn. : -
It has been said by another, that God sifted three kingdoms to find pure seed to plant New England. Though this may be somewhat in the spirit of adulation, yet it cannot be said that New England was founded by colonies of needy adventurers, unprincipled men. Many connected with the best families in the Old World, in comfortable and even wealthy circumstances, left the land of their birth and the friends of their bosom, en- countered persecution and obstacles thrown in their way, and with their wives and children braved the perils of the ocean in frail diminutive vessels, encountered the hardships of a savage
172
BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
climate and still more savage foes, to found a government where they might worship God after the dictates of their own con- sciences guided by his holy Word, with none to molest or make afraid. It is hardly possible to exaggerate their sufferings by cold and hunger through long winters, in miserable dwellings, exposed 'to sickness and death, and all this intensified by the treachery and hostility of the cruel aborigines of the country.
The town of Stonington, or as it was first called, Souther- town, being a border town, and for some time held in controversy between Massachusetts and Connecticut, and having a powerful and cruel race of Indians within its boundaries, suffered more than many others, and several of its first settlers obtained great renown as Indian warriors. Among these may be mentioned, without disparagement to others, Captain George Denison, of whom says Miss Caulkins, " the very accurate annalist of this section of country : " -
" Our early history presents no character of bolder and more chivalrous spirit and enterprise. He reminds us of the border chieftains of Scotland ; and when the plantation of Mystic and Pawcatuc was severed from Connecticut and placed under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, he with others were intrusted with the management of affairs.
" He had previously visited his native country and fought val- iantly in the wars of England, when he was wounded and taken to the home of John Borodel, whose daughter he married and brought to this country."
The elder Winthrop calls him at this time [in his Journal] a gallant young soldier lately come out of the wars in England, whom the young men of Roxbury wished to choose for their captain, but older heads thought him better fitted for the more exposed and dangerous position of Southertown. His eldest brother, Major-general Daniel Denison, was then military com- mander of the colony of Massachusetts ; and in the life of Anne Bradstreet, the first poetess of New England, who was the daugh- ter of Governor Dudley and wife of Governor Bradstreet, it is stated that she was married by her uncle, Major-general Daniel Denison, in 1667, as ministers were not then allowed to perform the marriage service.
Among her descendants, says the historian, may be counted the celebrated divine Dr. William E. Channing, Rev. James
173
BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
Buckminster, Hon. R. H. Dana, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Mr. Wendell Phillips the orator. And in this connection, in proof of my opening remarks, I would add that in 1824 a young English gentleman by the name of John Evelyn Denison, called on my grandfather Elisha Denison, then residing in New Lon- don, with two young British noblemen with whom he was trav- eling. He gave my grandfather his coat of arms and the hered- itary evidence of the family connection. This gentleman, who was the friend and correspondent of Hon. Daniel Webster through life, rose to the honorable position of Speaker of the House of Commons in England, and after twenty years' contin- uous service retired with the title of Lord Ossington.
The " London Times " contained the following biographical notice : " Lord Ossington, whose death has just been announced, was not only conspicuous for his own eminent qualities, but was further remarkable as the eldest of as talented a family as Eng- land has produced in the present century. Of these, the second became Bishop of Salisbury ; the third, Sir William Denison, was some time Governor-general of Australia, and subsequently Governor of Madras ; another, Mr. Stephen Denison, was Deputy Judge Advocate General ; and a fifth, Mr. Henry Denison, was famous in the annals of Oxford for his scholarship and acquire- ments.
" These gentlemen were the sons of Mr. Denison, a country gentleman and member of Parliament, whose father, having amassed an enormous fortune as a banker, purchased Ossington Hall with large estates in Nottinghamshire.
" Lord Ossington married a sister of the Duke of Portland, but leaves no issue. It is the custom to reward each Speaker of twenty years' service with a peerage and a pension, but it is to Lord Ossington's credit that, notwithstanding his long and valuable services, he refused a pension."
And here gallantry will not permit me to pass over the young Irish wife of Colonel George Denison, whose euphonious name of Ann Borodel is still borne in so many Stonington families. She lived to the age of ninety-seven, surviving her husband many years, -who died at Hartford during the session of the General Court. By his will he appears to have been a man of earnest faith, whose foundation was laid on the Rock of Ages. He left a large estate to three sons and six daughters, Ann
174
BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
Palmer, Margaret Brown, Hannah (Chesebrough) Saxton, Sarah Stanton, and Borodel Stanton. His third son, William, inher- ited the family homestead at Pe-quot-sé-pos in Stonington, and married Sarah (Prentiss) Stanton, daughter of Thomas Stanton, the famous Interpreter-general.
And now, my friends, on such an eventful occasion as this, allow me to pass over that interesting period in the history of the Stonington churches which has been sketched so faithfully by your able annalist to-day, and speak of what has occurred under my own observation in a period of over fifty years.
In 1822 it was my privilege to preach for several months in the old Separatists' Church at North Stonington, also at the Road, Point, Mystic, and Westerly. I had just finished my course of studies at New Haven, and been permitted to enjoy and participate in a most powerful revival of religion there con- ducted by that eminent and godly evangelist, the Rev. Asahel Nettleton. Such was the power of that revival on laymen as well as ministers, that bands of men left their business and went to labor for Christ whenever they were invited. I was invited with a band to visit Stonington ; and they accompanied me into all these neighborhoods and parishes, and we held services at the Point at sunrise, morning after morning. God in infinite mercy blessed those humble efforts, and many were hopefully converted; and now, more than fifty years having passed, I desire to pay my humble tribute to that praying band of godly mothers who held up my feeble arms by prayers, and guided and counseled my in- experienced youth. May I not mention two of them who have . gone long since to their reward ? - the godly wife of Cyrus Williams of North Stonington, and the faithful mother of Rev. * Gurdon W. Noyes ; and among the converts David and Alexan- der Smith, the former of whom was long a deacon in the Church at the Point.
And now, what cause have we for gratitude to-day, when we call to mind the fact that from this Mother Church have sprung four more within the limits of this town and North Stonington, each of them having its tasty and convenient church edifice, whose aggregate church membership is more than five times as large as that of the parent Church at the death of the Rev. Mr. Hart. It is also cause for profound thankfulness to our covenant- keeping God that these churches have been blessed with devoted
175
BI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION.
and faithful pastors, precious revivals of religion, and owe much of their strength to the vigor of the old stock from which they descended.
In closing, allow me to state the important fact, that upon the character of each individual member of these churches depends, under God, their influence and usefulness throughout their entire history.
What encouragement does it afford us to call to mind its first able and godly ministers, who not only labored faithfully for fifty-five years, but presided at the Saybrook Synod when the platform of doctrine and discipline was laid for the churches of Connecticut, and the foundations of Yale College were laid in faith and prayer as the school of the prophets.
I bless God that I have in my veins the blood of James Noyes and George Denison as an inheritance of piety and patriotism, and that after fifty-two years of humble service in the ministry I am here to-day with my youngest son, also a minister of Christ, at present supplying one of these churches ; an older son, also a minister, having gone to his reward, and two daughters, the wives of devoted ministers whose faith is broad enough and strong enough to grasp and sketch the scenes that shall be spread out before our children and children's children as the promises of God are fulfilled.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.