USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > Cromwell > History of the First church in Cromwell, 1715-1915; > Part 4
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The raising of the ponderous timbers for a meeting house in those early days, was a formidable undertaking. A com- mittee on raising was appointed. (Sergt. Shepherd, Hugh White and John Warner.) The parish was divided into three parts, and each section directed to furnish dinner on the day the committee should order. The people were to furnish drinks for the dinners, but the society agreed that what drinks were expended in the raising should be borne by the society.
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So the bottles and jugs passed up and down alternating with the braces and pins which fastened the timbers. The one loosening the human as the other fastened the timber-joints.
This second Meeting House stood on Main Street, just south of the present Baptist Church. At first it was close to the roadway, so that the people dismounted immediately upon the steps. In 1813, it was moved back four or five rods by permission of the County Court.
The house was very simple in its construction, though massive in frame. There were three entrances, one each on the north, east and south sides, opening directly into the audience room without a vestibule. It had two rows of win- dows. Inside, there was a gallery on three sides, stairways leading to it, not inclosed; square pews and a lofty pulpit with sounding board over it.
It was the Meeting House. The place where on the Sab- bath Day from north and south, east and west, the tribes came up - the whole population - to worship God and meet each other. It was the day of greetings, the social exchange, the news-day.
All waited for the parson to emerge from the parsonage in gown and bands and powdered wig, three-cornered hat, knee breeches, silk stockings and silver shoe buckles. The congregation couldn't begin their worship till he passed through the massive double door with iron handled latch and into the high pulpit with its carved work of grapes and pomegranates under the great sounding board.
There is no stove. The frosty air of this new meeting house was only mitigated by the women's foot stoves and the cracking together of frozen boot heels. Even in inclement weather, the "bread was frozen at the Lord's Table." Slum- bering and levity were severely rebuked. The tith.ng man with his stick having a rabbit's foot at one end and a rabbit's or fox's tail at the other, was ready to tap the mischievous boy or the slumbering matron or man. The former with the heavier end and the latter with the fleeced end. The congre- gation were seated according to age and social standing. Slaves were relegated to the rear gallery; the deacons and their families occupied front pews; single men were disposed on one side of the edifice and spinsters and maidens on the other.
During the year 1825, the inside of this building was remodeled by closing the north and south entrance, making a vestibule from the east side of the audience room beneath
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the front gallery and replacing the squares with narrow pews in the center of the house.
This Meeting House was the sacred, hallowed meeting place for God and His people for over a century. Not until 1840 was the present edifice erected. That God owned and blessed both people and pastor during these early years is evident even from the meager records we possess.
It is recorded that 75 persons became members of the church during this period, of whom 53 made public profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus.
Two years after the death of Mr. Smith, the Rev. Edward Eells was ordained and installed as pastor, September 6, 1738, and died in the pastorate, October 12, 1776, after thirty-eight years of service. He was the son of Rev. Nathaniel Eells of Scituate, Mass., and during his pastorate in the Upper Houses acquired considerable renown by a pamphlet on the Wallingford Case.
For several years he was trustee of Yale College, where three of his sons were educated. They were later ministers living worthily of the honorable and distinguished ancestry that was their's. For was it not soon (July 24, 1740) after the Rev. Edward Eells came to Upper Middletown that he married into one of the most prominent families of the Con- necticut Colony?
His first wife and the mother of his children was Martha, daughter of Hon. Ozias Pitkin of East Hartford, a member of the Governor's Council for nineteen years. He was a son of William Pitkin the progenitor of the Pitkin family, who was born near London in 1635 and came to Hartford in 1659. He filled many public offices with ability and was conspicuous and influential in the affairs of the colony.
In those days, there was no family in the colony of higher rank and social standing according to the current English ideas.
Mr. Eells appears to have been gracious and courtly and as much interested in state affairs as he was in pastoral work. That his patriotism and religion were worthy of the confidence of mankind and the service of the Eternal may be judged by his repeated appointment in the Colonial army as Chaplain.
He first served as chaplain in the Second Regiment of the Colonial army in 1758 in the campaign of General Israel Putnam against the Indians of New England. And again in 1759, he was appointed chaplain in the army by the General Association of Connecticut, and served under General Wolf at the seige and capture of Quebec.
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One of the early tasks of his ministry was the restoring and the tabulating of the records of his predecessor. He made a canvass of the parish, recording the baptized children - of which he found no record - by families. He baptized fifty- one adults and children who are described as servants or Negro slaves, all during the first thirty years of his pastorate.
The first baptism recorded is that of "Admah, Joseph Smith's Negro man." And in a will executed by Mr. Joseph Smith, son of Rev. Joseph Smith, the first pastor of the church, dated September 20, 1768, there is the following bequest:
After naming his five sons and giving them his real and personal estate, he says: "I give them equally my negro-man Cloip or Peter. But they or either of them shall not sell him out of the family unless by his own choice, and if he should live to want support more than he can earn by his own labors, he shall be comfortably provided for by my sons at equal expense, if they don't otherwise agree."
"July 31, 1768," is the last known baptismal record of this Church pertaining to slaves and reads: "Gift-child of Bristow and Poll was baptized." "January 13, 1744, Samuel Eells (afterward, the Rev. Samuel) son of Edward and Martha Eells;" "Peter son of Mr. Frary's Negro woman Peg," were baptized. Apparently there was no race prejudice in these early days.
Under date of November 7, 1770, Mr. Eells records the marriage of two of his sons as follows:
"The Rev. James Eells and Mrs. Mary Johnson were married."
"The Rev. Samuel Eells and Mrs. Hannah Butler were married."
On March 3, 1773, he records his son John's marriage as follows:
"John Eells and Elizabeth Lord were married."
This was his usual form. His sense of propriety evidently led him to dignify Mary Johnson and Hannah Butler as "Mistress" because they were elevated to the position of wife to a minister of the Gospel - again the New England nobility was to the forefront of his thought.
During Mr. Eells' pastorate, a committee, somewhat like the present standing committee, was appointed. The first notice pertaining to this committee is under date of November 28, 1754, when Francis Wilcox, Hugh White, Deacon Isaac White and John Gibson were named as com- mittee and "it was voted that the special business of this committee is to admonish in a brotherly way those who don't walk orderly or as becomes the Gospel, and those who are
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supposed to have committed any offence." This committee has been continued with changes as to its duties from time to time, until the present. The only exception was during the pastorate of Mr. Williams. But its use was revived by Mr. Crocker.
During the thirty-eight years of the Rev. Mr. Eells' pastorate, he received into the fellowship of this Church, 360 persons of whom 116 came on profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus.
Although Mr. Eells evinced so much of New England aristocracy in his career and character, the Rev. Gershom Bulkeley showed even more.
Ordained and installed pastor of this Church, June 17, 1778, he resigned the pastorate July 7, 1808, having served the church and community, twenty-eight years.
The Rev. Dr. G. S. F. Savage, the beloved son of this Church and pioneer of Chicago Congregationalism, still retains vivid recollections of this early pastor. He tells us: "I was then a small boy and often saw him in his home which was a very large house opposite my father's. He was a gen- tleman of the old school, venerable in his appearance; had the reputation of being an able preacher, but aristocratic and domineering." He dressed handsomely and carried a tall cane ornamented with a silk tassel.
This aristocratic strain may not surprise us when we recall that Mr. Bulkeley's ancestors can be traced back to eleven generations of English Barons and five generations of rectors and pastors.
Beginning with Baron Robert de Bulkeley, A. D. 1199, there were eleven successive generations of barons. Then, the son of Baron Thomas and Elizabeth G. Bulkeley became the Rev. Edward Bulkeley, Rector of Odell, England. His descendant, Rev. Peter Bulkeley, was one of the Bulkeley's who emigrated to America. He became pastor at Concord, Mass., and his son Gershom, became the Rev. Dr. Gershom Bulkeley, pastor first at New London and then at Wethers- field. He was a graduate of Harvard College, 1655, and mar- ried 1659, Sarah, the daughter of President Charles Chauncey of Harvard. Their fifth child was Edward Bulkeley who became a prominent citizen of Rocky Hill. His grave is marked with a table monument on which he is styled "Cap- tain" and "Esquire". The Bulkeley Arms are also sculptured on this monument. His son, Gershom, married Thankful Belden of Wethersfield, and they became the parents of the Rev. Gershom Bulkeley, born December 3, 1747; graduated
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from Yale College 1770 and settled at the North Parish of Middletown - now Cromwell -in June, 1778.
In the year 1800, Gershom Bulkeley of Wethersfield, "For divers good causes and considerations and more especially for the Natural Love, Good Will and Affection, which I have and bare unto my son Gershom," deeded a piece of land "including the house lot where he now dwells." This is the present home of Mr. Merrill Brooks.
In 1802, Rev. Gershom B. disposed of this property and acquired the Jonathan Stow "Mansion House," where he resided until his death. This stood where Mr. Wallace Pier- son now lives.
During the twenty-eight years of the Rev. Mr. Bulkeley's pastorate, he received into the fellowship of this Church, 256 persons, of whom 69 came on profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus.
Mr. Bulkeley's pastorate, it is said, terminated under the stress of strong feelings; regretted by him later on.
"The close of his pastorate marks the first period in the history of this Church. It was the period of organization. Great stress had been laid upon some sort of connection with the church. Everybody must be baptized. One hardly was fit for civil position unless a church member. Some cases were even declared ineligible. Great emphasis was laid upon outward conformity to the principles of the Gospel and little emphasis upon character-creation or spiritual life."
The Door of Entrance into this second period of the Church's life was the annulling of the "Half-way" Covenant.
The Baptismal or "Half-way" Covenant did not entitle those who took it to the Communion. It gave them the privilege of having their children baptized. This privilege was forfeited if at any time the "Half-way" covenanters were guilty of unchristian conduct and could only be restored by confession and promise of amendment. The "Half-way" covenanter could be received into full Communion by making confession of unchristian conduct and accepting the Full Communion Covenant. This act of confession was known as "rendering Christian satisfaction for sin." In popular parlance it was called, "walking the broad aisle," because those who made confession walked into the broad aisle of the church while the minister read their confessions.
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The Rev. Joshua L. Williams made the discontinuance of this Covenant a condition of his settlement as pastor of this Church.
On the 7th of March, 1810, the following vote was adopted: "Voted, That the former practise of requiring a
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public confession known as, 'Satisfaction for Sin' be abolished."
For the lights and shadows of the Rev. Mr. Williams' pastorate, may we again revert to the recollections of Dr. Savage? He writes:
"I have vivid recollections of him as my pastor. He was a graduate of Yale College in 1805; was settled over what is now the Cromwell Church in 1809, and died in 1832. His ministry was very popular and blessed with several revivals; notably those of 1814; 1817-18 - aided by Rev. Dr. Nettle- ton - and again in 1831. He established the first Sunday School in the parish, and before that drilled the children in the Westminster Catechism. The first Bible I ever owned, I received from him as a prize for repeating all the questions and answers of the catechism in the church without a mistake. He was a scholarly man, much interested in the schools - was a chief organizer of the Friendly Association. He was associated also with Dr. Calvin Chapin and Dr. Lyman Beecher, as pioneers in the Temperance reformation. I remember well his reading on six successive Sunday evenings, Dr. Beecher's six famous lectures on Temperance and the excitement which followed. He had two sons, John and Joshua who were schoolmates of mine. John entered Yale College, but died before graduating and was buried in the same grave with his father, who died in 1832."
During the twenty-three years of the Rev. Mr. Williams' pastorate, he received into fellowship of this Church, 231 persons, of whom 210 came on profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus. These were surely Pentecostal Days.
Two marked Colonial traits dominated these early days: The New England aristocracy that asserted itself in the church government when it was voted as early as July 4, 1740, "To seat according to Age, Honor and Interest in the Meeting House!" And the New England love of culture, illustrated by the formation of the "Friendly Association" and the establishment of the Academy.
The Rev. Zebulon Crocker followed Mr. Williams in the pastorate. He was a native of Willington, Conn., a graduate of Yale College in 1827, and was the fifth young man to be ordained by this Church to the work of the Gospel ministry. For fourteen years he so served this Church and community as to be remembered as "an able and instructive
preacher and a faithful, loving and devoted Pastor."
That
his sermons were sound and thoughtful rather than brilliant, may be judged from the fact that he told Dr. Israel P. Warren "that he hardly allowed himself so much liberty of embellish- ment as to say 'the silver moon.' " And yet, was it not dur-
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ing his pastorate that a new era was introduced and a decided improvement in the outward condition of the Church's life consummated ?
Three important enterprises were successfully carried out under his auspices: (1) The purchase of a Parsonage lot and the erection of a residence for the pastor; (2) The organi- zation and establishment of a village academy of a high grade, with an edifice suitable for both school and chapel purposes; (3) and the erection of a church edifice according to the best style of that day.
The building of this last named structure was in 1840. The site selected was owned by Mr. W. C. Redfield, of New York. (Grandfather of the Hon. Wm. C. Redfield, Secretary of Commerce in President Wilson's Cabinet.) Mr. Redfield had reserved for years this site as a possible homestead. But learning that the majority had united upon this location, he generously surrendered it at a low price. Rarely ever within so small a parish have three enterprises, contributing so largely to the welfare of the community, been accomplished in so short a time. The whole community was put to the test, but it was bravely and successfully born. No parish quarrel resulted. Even the drawing of the stone for the new church building, was made a holiday occasion. The stone was drawn across the river from Portland quarry by voluntary labor in the winter of 1840, and Captain Stow and his family provided hot coffee and huge fires for the teamsmen.
But the event never to be forgotten was the last sermon in the old white meeting house on the green. The hymns were sung, the prayers were offered, and then the venerable Pastor Crocker announced his text: "If Thy presence go not with us, take us not up hence." It was a profound historical discourse. The last prayer was said, the benediction spoken in tears, and the history of the old white meeting house was at an end. The old name, so beloved by many, had been outgrown in the advance of civilization. It was now "the church."
The exercises of the dedication evening were long remem- bered. Mr. Crocker was again preacher and, with profound solemnity, repeated his text from the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the Temple to Jehovah:
"Now, therefore, arise, O Lord God, into Thy resting place, Thou and the ark of Thy strength."
The choir sang the dedication hymn:
"Arise, O King of Grace, arise, And enter to Thy rest."
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A large and deeply solemn audience were present. All rejoiced at the completion of a task which had enlisted all the zeal and ability, the hopes and the prayers, of both pastor and people.
During Mr. Crocker's pastorate, this Church gave to the Gospel ministry and to the work of the Kingdom of God, two of her sons, George S. F. Savage and William R. Stocking.
To have come West from Connecticut as a young man of thirty with a home missionary's commission to choose any destitute field between the Ohio River and Rocky Mountains, to have found the open door in a little Illinois church, to have the missionary parish the center of movements that led to the founding of Beloit College and Chicago Theological Semi- nary, to have been in touch with Pilgrim Churches of the Middle West in secretarial service for the Boston Tract Society and the Sunday School and Building Society, to have been the man behind the financial problem of the Chicago Seminary for fifteen years, to have lived in close friendship with Dwight L. Moody and been the confidant and adviser of a group of Chicago's captains of industry when foundations were being laid in church and allied institutions, to have kept in old age - his ninety-eighth year - the faith of an uncon- querable optimist - these things are a part of the life experi- ence of Dr. George Slocum Folger Savage, the grand old man of the Chicago fellowship, who was ordained and married in this Church on September 28, 1847.
Born the same year in which the American Board began its world-wide mission for the coming of the Kingdom of God among men, William R. Stocking used to playfully remark that he was its twin brother.
While a student in the Academy at Munson, Mass., he received an earnest appeal from the American Board for well qualified teachers for the Sandwich Islands. So deeply was the soul of the young student stirred that he offered himself as a teacher for that field and was accepted. But before he was ready to depart, another appeal from the Nestorian Mission for a superintendent of educational work, led him to accept that as his life-work.
On the 7th of January, he sailed from Boston for his field of labor. At once he devoted himself with characteristic energy to the mastery of the language and his work as a teacher. He continued in his work with untiring devotion and energy till the failure of his health in 1853 compelled him to return to his native land. He died the 30th of April, 1854. But his memory burns more and more brightly on the heart- altars of this community with the passing years, for he lit
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the fires of missionary zeal and devotion in the Bible School of this Church. For was it not as superintendent of the school that he enlisted every child, every member in giving a "cent a month for the cause of missions?"
Dr. Justin Perkins wrote of him from Persia: "Mr. Stocking had accomplished a great work before he left us. Through his faithful labors and his fervent prayers, under the Divine blessing, much people was added unto the Lord."
During the fourteen years of the Rev. Mr. Crocker's pastorate, he received into the fellowship of this Church, 144 persons of whom 95 came on confession of their faith in the Lord Jesus.
A little over eight years after the dedication of this present house for worship, the church again ordained another young man to the ministry. The Rev. George A. Bryan began his pastorate here, June 13, 1849 and continued to so serve the church and community a little over eight years. He closed his work October 20, 1857. He was the sixth young man set apart by this Church for the work of the Gospel ministry.
During these years the church building remained about as it was left by the builders. Previous to Mr. Bryan's com- ing, the young people held a fair, expecting to realize from it enough to finish off the basement. Their expectations did not mature. The social meetings were continued in the upper room of the academy until about 1874. Then, the present church parlors were provided for.
Partly due to the missionary zeal inspired by the pastor's wife-the granddaughter of the Rev. Dr. Calvin Chapin of Rocky Hill - and partly to the ready and earnest response of such young people as Misses Mary and Hattie Savage, the latter Mrs. Wheelock,-the Ladies' Foreign Missionary Association was reorganized. The zeal and earnestness of this society has continued unabated until this day. It has been said: Few women, if any, did more than Mrs. George A. Bryan to emancipate the abilities and enlarge the vision of the women of this community.
During the eight years of the Rev. Mr. Bryan's pastorate, he received into the fellowship of this Church, 67 persons of whom 33 came on confession of their faith in the Lord Jesus. The closing of this pastorate marks the end of the second period of this Church's history. It was the period of revival.
These years correspond to the period of the greatest revival activity known in our country. It was the time of Nettleton, Finney and their co-workers. And the brief period of forty-five years, including the pastorates of Messrs. Williams, Crocker and Bryan, found this Church receiving
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into its fellowship 442 persons, of whom 338 had confessed the Lord Jesus as their Saviour.
The Rev. Erastus Colton supplied the pulpit of this Church a short time after Mr. Bryan's resignation. January 1, 1858, he was called here from revival work in West Haven through the advice of Dr. Hutchinson. He continued his helpful ministry until after the commemoration of the Lord's Supper in May of the same year.
The Rev. James A. Clark was the next pastor. He began his work June 16, 1858, and was dismissed December 2, 1863. He came recommended as a successful missionary in Wiscon- sin. He proved to be a good pastor to this people. During his pastorate of five years, he received into the fellowship of this Church 62 persons, of whom 47 came on confession of their faith in the Lord Jesus.
For a brief year, from March, 1864, to April 1, 1865, the Rev. William K. Hall served this Church as its pastor. But in that brief time, he won the affection of many of the young people, an affection that has endured the test of many years.
Mr. Hall was a classmate of the Rev. Dr. Joseph H. Twitchell, Hartford. And, like Dr. Twitchell, he was a chaplain in the Civil War, serving with the Seventeenth C. V. for about a year. Later on he was chaplain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston and president of the board of trustees of Washington's Head- quarters at Newburgh, where for thirty-four years he was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. During his pas- torate here the Rev. Mr. Hall received into the fellowship of this Church 5 persons, all of whom came on confession of their faith in the Lord Jesus.
In the closing year of our Great Civil War, on November 23, this Church ordained another young man, Horatio O. Ladd. He was the seventh and the last to date, to be so set apart for the work of the Gospel ministry .
Mr. Ladd's ministry here was a little over two years in duration. His most lasting work for this Church and com- munity was along educational lines. For some time he was in charge of the academy and is remembered in his pulpit- ministry as one having a prepossessing personality.
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