USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > History of the Second church of Christ in Hartford > Part 12
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In pursuance of Letters Missive from the Senior Pastor of the Second Church, a council convened at Hartford, Oct. 6, 1772, to hear and judge of the aforesaid complaint. The following ministers were present :- Solomon Williams of East Hartford, Edward Eels of Cromwell, Hezekiah Bissell of Bloomfield, Nathan Strong of North Coventry, Joseph Huntington of Coventry, and Enoch Huntington of Middle- town. The following delegates or messengers were present :- Dea. Samuel Huntington, Nath'l Chauncy, Esq., Dea. Wm.
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Manly, Capt. Eliphalet Carpenter, Ephraim Root, Esq., Dea. Joseph Clark.
The Council was continued from time to time, by sev- eral adjournments, till the 29th of January, 1773, and the whole case seems to have been thoroughly investigated, to- gether with Mr. Patten's defense. The opinion of the Coun- cil was that,
"in most of the Instances particularly charged, the Proof is not sufficient to support the charge, but Charity obliges us to impute the actions which are charged as criminal effects of Intemperance, to the natural Disorder Mr. Patten is subject to. But in some of the Instances we judge it is proved that Mr. Patten had used strong liquors in so un- seasonable and intemperate a manner as did either cause those actions which the witnesses judged the Signs of Drunkenness, or did bring on or increase Mr. Patten's natural Disorder."
Mr. Patten was admonished to "make suitable Christian Reflexions" upon his conduct, and, upon his doing so, the Brethren were advised "to forgive him and bury all that is past in oblivion." But in case no pacification could be at- tained, Mr. Patten was advised to ask dismission, and the Church to grant it. And the Council decided that in case Mr. Patten should comply with their advice, they would dis- miss him with commendation to the churches.
This Council was composed of eminently able and judicious men, and their Result was a charitable, and, we cannot doubt, a wise one. But the Church and Society in- sisted upon Mr. Patten's withdrawal, as a vote of the Soci- ety, Feb. 15, 1773, indicates.
On the 6th of April, 1773, another Council convened in Hartford, “to consider and determine whether it is expedi- ent that ye Pastoral Relation be dissolved between the Revd William Patten and the Church and People under his care and Pastoral charge." It was substantially the same Coun- cil as before. After a full hearing of the case and mature deliberation thereon the Council judged and determined that "it is expedient that the said Rev. Wm. Patten be now Dis- missed and Discharged from his Pastoral Relation
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and we do now declare that the said Pastoral Relation be- tween Mr. Patten and this People is Dissolved."
The Council further judged that Mr. Patten had com- plied with the advice of the former Council, and that he was therefore entitled to Recommendation. "And this Council do now Recommend the said Rev. William Patten to the great work of the Gospel ministry in the churches of Christ, wheresoever Divine Providence shall call him." It is worthy of remark that Congregational councils in Connecti- cut, at that period, exercised something more than advisory powers. They declared the dissolution of Pastoral Relations, even as they invested candidates-elect with Pastoral func- tions.
The whole case was sad enough, and there was evi- dently some prejudice against Mr. Patten, and some degree of misunderstanding concerning him, in the Parish. And while he was doubtless somewhat at fault, as were many in that day, yet the deliberate action of the Council concerning him entitles him to respectful and sympathetic remem- brance. He was physically delicate, and lived but two years after his dismissal from the pastorate here. He died, June 16, 1775, at his father's house in Roxbury, Mass., aged thirty- five years. He was a descendant of William, who lived at Cambridge, 1645-1668, the son of Nathaniel, and was born at Billerica, near Boston, in 1738. He was graduated at Harvard in 1754, settled at Halifax, Mass., in 1758, where he preached until his call to Hartford in 1767. He married Ruth, daughter of Rev. Eleazar Wheelock of Lebanon, and she, with six children, survived him. She was, in all re- spects, a most remarkable woman, and died in Hartford in 1831, at the age of ninety-one years. His son, Rev. William Patten, D.D., preached in Newport, R. I., for nearly half a century, and died in Hartford in 1839, aged seventy-six. Another son, George Jeffrey, taught a school in this city for nearly thirty years, and died in 1830. His daughters, Ruth and Mary, also taught in Hartford, and died here-one in
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1850, aged eighty-six, and the other the same year, aged eighty-one. The mother and daughters became members of the First Church shortly after Mr. Patten's dismissal, and died in that communion.
In the old North Burying-Ground, near its southern boundary, is a plain but neat monument, in excellent preser- vation, on the four faces of which are tender inscriptions to the memory of Mr. and Mrs. Patten, and of their seven chil- dren.
The late Professor Thacher of Yale College, when a lad, attended the school kept by the Misses Patten, and some very pleasant reminiscences of that school-time may be found in the first volume of the Memorial History of Hart- ford County, volume I, page 635. A few sentences may be quoted :
" During the forty years which preceded my exceptional admission to it, it had gained great celebrity. Mrs. Patten did not engage in teach- ing at the time of which I speak (about 1820). Even her daughters were well advanced in years. But I well remember their gentleness and gen- tility, and a certain combination of cheerfulness and sobriety which char- acterized them. They lived and taught in a plain mansion in Church Street, just west of the present site of Christ Church. The exterior of the house was not very inviting ; but there is scarcely a more charming picture brought down in my memory from my childhood than the bright, cheerful apartment occupied as a sitting-room by the aged and still cheer- ful mother of this unique family. Her presence in it would have been enough to make it attractive to a child.
" The brother's school was kept in a large room 'in a building on the west side of Main Street, just above Asylum Street.'"
[It may be added that several sermons preached by Rev. Mr. Pat- ten were printed, and may be found in the Historical Society's Library. They indicate that he was a pleasing but not a profound preacher.]
Mr. Whitman was thus left, in his old age, to bear alone the burdens of the ministry in this Church. His early asso- ciate and dear friend, Rev. Mr. Wadsworth of the First Church, died Nov. 12, 1747. He had assisted at the installa- tion of Rev. Edward Dorr over the First Church, April 27, 1748, preaching the sermon and giving the right hand of
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fellowship on that occasion, and had preached the funeral sermon at Mr. Dorr's death, in October, 1772. On January 5, 1774, he gave the charge on the occasion of the ordination and settlement of the Rev. Nathan Strong, Jr., late Tutor of Yale College.1
The venerable pastor seems to have had sufficient strength to preach in his own pulpit most of the time until just before his death, for his "service" is owned in the Society record, from year to year, nor is any mention made of assistance procured him until Feb., 1777, when the Stand- ing Committee were authorized "to supply the pulpit with a Preacher during the Rev. Mr. Whitman's illness, or until the Society shall order otherwise."
The disturbing question of singing in worship engaged the attention of the Society about this time. In 1773 the following action was taken :
" Whereas Messrs. Ebenezer Watson and Epaphras Bull, two mem- bers of this Society, with others have been at much pains and trouble in teaching the art of Psalmody to the people and youth of said Society, and have, by their application and assiduity therein, brought the same to very considerable perfection with a view to practice the same &c .; It is there- fore Voted and agreed by this Society, that the same shall be introduced for the future (or until this Society shall otherwise order) and they, the said Ebenezer and Epaphras, are desired to attend and lead therein upon the Sabbath or every Lord's Day, according to the mode and form which they have lately practised and instructed, as aforesaid." At the same time the Society voted to omit the reading of the Psalm, " as heretofore practised."
What was "the mode and form" of Psalmody thus adopted ? From the time, 1721, when Rev. Thomas Walter of Roxbury put forth his new singing-book containing " In- structions for singing by note," as well as three-part psalm-
1 The Connecticut Courant, Jan. 11, 1774, gives an account of Mr. Strong's ordina- tion. The Reverend Council walked in procession from Capt. Ledlie's house (where the Allyn House Hotel now stands) to the Meeting House, preceded by members of the First Church and the Society Committee. The religious services began and ended with an Anthem. The procession then formed again and returned to Capt. Ledlie's, where a generous entertainment was enjoyed.
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tunes, all borrowed from English publications, there had been a slow but gradual improvement throughout New Eng- land in psalmody. Walter's book and other subsequent compilations contributed greatly to stimulate a popular inter- est in music. Singing schools soon began to spring up, and the young people were taught to sing by note. Teachers went from place to place, instructing schools, organizing societies, and creating an enthusiasm which could not be suppressed. Thomas Bailey, of Newburyport, published several collections (1755-1769) consisting of psalm-tunes from Tansur, Playford, and Williams, and also some rather florid anthems. Choirs were formed and instruments were used. Resistance was stout but unavailing, and, little by little, the choirs found favor with Committees and were installed in the meeting-houses. Gradually the "new-singing " became ambitious, and displayed itself in tunes and anthems which were fearfully and wonderfully constructed. In 1770, the " New England Psalm Singer " was published in Boston, the work of William Billings, the first American composer, con- taining a goodly number and variety of new and sprightly psalm-tunes, anthems, and canons. He had no knowledge of harmony, but a rude musical "gift " and an original enthu- siasm were expressed in his writings. Moreover, in his later and better publications a fervent patriotism appeared which made him and his style universally popular. The appear- ance of this irrepressible Yankee psalmodist marks an epoch in the development of music in this country. Among the many teachers and composers of the new period may be mentioned Andrew Law of Cheshire and Daniel Read of Hartford. If the church music of 1721 was dolefully dull, that of 1776 was lively enough to make the staid old ministers and deacons wonder what the end thereof would be. Into this new style of singing, crude enough, but full of life and energy and promise, which deeply engaged the ministers' sons and the deacons' daughters, " the aforesaid Ebenezer and Epaphras " did somehow beguile the Second Church of Hart-
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ford, in the year of our Lord, 1773, and the meeting-house resounded with Watts' psalms sung to very lively music by a trained choir, and with florid anthems of the "fuguing " sort, and not many years passed before Holden's "Coronation" and Swan's "China" were heard in the choir, and the old- fashioned psalmody was utterly forsaken. In the columns of the Courant, from 1770 onward, one may read advertisements of musical collections, instruments, and societies in abund- ance. A revival of music had set in which no "Old Light" conservatism could check or even control.
These singing schools, first established about the year 1720, spread rapidly, and have been described as " the founda- tion of secular social gatherings in New England, and a very · important element in social progress." This description is extravagant, but contains much truth. These schools fur- nished enjoyable and profitable evening entertainments, and undoubtedly led on other means of culture.
The following, clipped from the New York Tribune, shows how the radicalism of one generation becomes the conservatism of the next, and illustrates the progress that was made in church music more than a century ago :
" To the Editor of the ' Tribune':
"SIR,-The Rev. Dr. William Smith, born in Scotland in 1754, came to this country in 1785, and may be properly callel the ' Father of Chant- ing' in the Episcopal Church. About the year 1813 he secured its intro- duction in St. George's Chapel, in Beekman Street, New York. The innovation created the greatest surprise and indignation among the old people, and glances were exchanged, as much in anger as in horror, be- tween the occupants of pews, until old Mr. Garrett Van Wagenen, a warden of the church, unable to suppress any longer his overflowing anger, arose and exclaimed:
"'Away! Away with your Jew gibberish! We want no such nonsense in the house of God ! Give us the psalms and hymns as of old !' and walked out of the church.
" Old Mr. Walton, of the famous Walton house, arose, saying:
" 'I go, too,' and directly the main body of the congregation followed his example. One old gentleman advanced toward the chancel, saying:
" ' Well, is God or the devil to be in command ?"
IO
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" By persistent effort Dr. Smith almost forced the prejudice to wear off in time, and at length the new service began not only to be endured, but to be popular as well. Dr. Smith wore the black gown, and preferred the complete range of the chancel to the pulpit, which he called 'an abominable box.' He died in 1821, and lies buried in Trinity Church- yard, near the monument of Alexander Hamilton. HISTORICUS."
However the venerable pastor may have regarded these developments, his long term of service in the ministry here was drawing to a close amid such innovations and excitements as he had never before witnessed. The long struggle of the colonies in resistance to oppression and for the redress of grievances was rapidly developing into an armed conflict for independence. The salient features of that struggle, with which every schoolboy is familiar, from the Boston massacre. to the Continental Congress of 1774, the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill, and the Declaration of Independence, serve to mark the rapid progress of the revolution. The minutes of Associations and the records of individual ministers show with what zeal the clergy of Connecticut, for the most part, supported the patriotic endeavors of those who guided the course of this colony. Out of the churches came such men as Roger Sherman, William Williams, Samuel Huntington, Oliver Wolcott, Jonathan Trumbull, Israel Putnam, and Oliver Ellsworth. Whether, amid the scenes of war, the aged Pastor of this church was like one overwhelmed with the burden of anxiety for his country, or, like Simeon of old, prophetically discerned the beacon-fire of deliverance and softly sang his Nunc Dimittis, cannot be known. But his de- parture was at hand. Two beloved and trusted officers of his church preceded him. Capt. Daniel Bull, " for some years deacon of the South Church," a man of "great simplicity, generosity, and affability, and indefatigable in the discharge of his religious duties," died Nov. 6, 1776, aged 67 years. In January, 1777, died Thomas Hosmer, Esq., also a deacon of the church, in the 77th year of his age.1 The inscription on
1 Hartford Courant, 1776-1777.
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Mr. Whitman's tombstone in the old Hartford cemetery has recently suffered serious damage, and, notwithstanding its inaccuracy, is given here : -
IN MEMORY OF THE REV. ELNATHAN WHITMAN,
Pastor of the Second Church of Christ in Hartford, and one of the fellows of the Corporation of Yale College, who departed this life the 2d day of March, A. D. 1776, in the 69th year of his age and 44th of his ministry.
Endowed with superior natural abilities and good literary acquire- ments, he was still more distinguished for his unaffected piety, primitive simplicity of manners, and true Christian benevolence. He closed a life spent in the service of his Creator in humble confidence of eternal happi- nest through the merits of the Saviour.
" Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."
That this inscription is inaccurate as to the date of Mr. Whitman's death, appears from the following sentences out of the records of the Society : -
" At a meeting of the inhabitants of the South Society in Hartford, legally warned and held at the South Meeting House in said Hartford, on Monday the 3rd day of February, A. D. 1777.
" Voted, That the Rev. Elnathan Whitman shall receive of this So- ciety the sum of ninety pounds for his service, etc., etc.
" Voted, That the Standing Committee be impowered to supply the pulpit with a Preacher during Rev. Mr. Whitman's illness, etc.
In June, 1777, the Society took action which clearly indicates that Mr. Whitman was not living at that time.
The Connecticut Courant of Monday, March 10, 1777, con- tains an obituary notice, the first sentence of which reads as follows : -
"On Tuesday Last, departed this life the Rev. Elnathan Whitman, pastor of the South Church in this town, in the 69th year of his age, and 44th of his ministry."
This agrees with the Society Records, and yet is not free from error in stating that he died in the "44th of his ministry."
Mr. Whitman died on Tuesday, March 4, 1777, in the 69th year of his age, and in the 45th of his ministry. The
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obituary notice in the Courant speaks of him as "a sincere friend, an eminent Christian, and a judicious, instructive, exemplary minister of Christ."
" He was chosen an instructor of college soon after his own educa- tion was completed, and many gratefully remember the engaging man- ner in which he led their minds through the various branches of natural and divine knowledge. His ministerial accomplishments soon attracted the love of a respectable church in this place, with whom he was settled in the greatest harmony. . He vindicated the necessity of faith and good works with equal zeal, and taught those who hoped for salva- tion in the merits of a Saviour, to imitate his example and glorify his name by universal holiness.
The doctrines which he preached were amiably displayed in his life, united with a remarkable degree of ministerial prudence.
Greatly delighted with the pleasures of social virtue, his manners were engaging and his company agreeable - was devout without affecta- tion, and possessed the singular art of uniting the dignity of a sacred character with cheerfulness and sociability. Through a long illness which was heightened by a most tender concern for his country, he shewed all the excellence and comforts of a Christian. The funeral was attended by a respectable auditory, and a sermon well adapted to the melancholy occasion was preached by the Rev. Joseph Perry of East Windsor, from John ix, 4."
At a meeting of the South Society, November, 1777, it was voted to grant Mrs. Whitman the sum of ninety pounds, money, as a "token of respect to the memory of our de- ceased Pastor and his surviving family," and, also in consid- eration of the fact that since Mr. Whitman's death the pulpit had "been supplied by the neighboring ministers with a view to the benefit of his family."
It was the beautiful custom of that time for the minis- ters thus to assist the family of a brother, upon his decease.
Note. The Parsonage House in which Mr. Whitman lived stood on Main Street, just where Capitol Avenue connects with it. Portraits of Mr. Whitman and of his wife, in a good state of preservation, may be seen on the walls of the Hartford His- torical Society's rooms. The pictures of them given in this work are taken from the aforesaid portraits.
CHAPTER VI
REVas BENJAMIN BOARDMAN AND ABEL FLINT, 1784-1825
THE PERIOD extending from 1750 to 1790 was one of religious declension and considerable demoralization. The burdens · imposed upon the people by the French War, 1755-1763. were heavy, and the distress occasioned by the Revolution- ary War was great and manifold. The political agitation that preceded the establishment of the United States Gov- ernment divided society. The inflation of the currency worked corruption. A spirit of free-thinking came in through French associations and sympathies, and the great struggle for political independence was attended by much that, in the name and guise of independence, was disorderly and evil. When Rev. Mr. Strong was ordained over the First Church, 1774, there were but fifteen male members of that church in full communion.
In many respects, however, Hartford had made pro- gress. Its isolation may be inferred from the fact that up to the time of the Revolution, at least, a stage could be taken for either Boston or New York but once a week. One might journey to either city and return within six days.
The schools were still exceedingly restricted in their courses of study. In the common schools little was taught but reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic. Few school books existed. No slates were in use. The rod was vigor- ously plied.
During this period a considerable interest in books and reading was developed. Book clubs were formed and social libraries established in many towns, which proved to be the means of no little light and culture. Books were for sale in most towns, in considerable variety and abundance.
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History, law, medicine, theology, poetry, and fiction are rep- resented in the lists advertised by Hartford shopkeepers. The people generally had become better informed and more intelligent. The influence of Yale College had been most beneficially felt in almost all the towns and parishes. The vigorous political literature of the day was both instructive and stimulating, discussing, as it did, with great ability and lucidity, the profoundest questions of constitutional govern- ment. At the same time progress had been made in both vocal and instrumental music. Trade had largely increased, and finer houses, containing greater conveniences and com- forts, had been erected by the wealthier and aristocratic families. The customs and manners of the English style of the period prevailed among these families. And yet the people generally were poor, and lived in a simple and straitened way. The housewife still spun her own flax and made her coarse linen and coarser cloth. If English furni- ture and Wedgewood ware were found in a few houses, most dwellings were furnished in rudeness and simplicity. Stoves of any kind were rare, and nothing better than candles for illumination was known. Best suits of broadcloth were handed down from father to son, and the ordinary male attire was of homespun, linsey-woolsey, or leather. The minister was paid for his services in labor, wheat, rye, flax, beef, pork, wool, etc. The Connecticut Courant came out once a week, in a dingy form, more like a handbill than a gazette, and contained little local news nor anything like an editorial article. As for anything deserving the name of literature, if religious writings are excepted, little had been produced in New England, save a pamphlet by Paine, some observations by Franklin, and the poems of Timothy Dwight, John Trumbull, and Joel Barlow. Barlow, at the request of the General Association of Congregational Minis- ters, prepared a revised edition of Watts' version of the Psalms, which was published in Hartford, 1785. In the Con- necticut Courant, from 1770 to 1776, may be found occasional
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poems of more than ordinary merit, and prose contributions characterized by genuine wit and homely vigor. A distinct literary quality is manifested in many of those anonymous effusions.
The Second Church and Society were without a settled minister from the time of Mr. Whitman's death until the year 1784, although through no lack of endeavor to procure a "re-settlement of the Gospel " among them. The records make mention of "the darkness of the present day." In January, 1778, Mr. Abraham Baldwin was invited to preach on probation, but he declined. He was then a tutor in Yale College, afterwards studied law, went to Savannah, was a member of the Constitutional Convention, a member of Con- gress from Georgia, and afterwards Senator. In February, 1778, Mr. Joseph Buckminster, also tutor at Yale College, came to preach here. In April he was invited to become the pastor of the Second Church, and a committee consisting of Thomas Seymour, Joseph Church, Joseph Barrett, Isaac Sheldon, Aaron Bull, Daniel Hinsdale, Jonathan Wells, Dan- iel Steel, Jonathan Huntington, and Medad Webster was appointed to negotiate with Mr. Buckminster. Four hun- dred pounds, as a settlement, and one hundred and ten pounds, as a salary, were offered him, "the whole to be paid in labor, wheat, rye, corn, beef, pork, wool, wood, flax, and cheese, according to rates legally established, "or in cur- rent money equivalent thereto." The call was not accepted, and Mr. Buckminster shortly after settled in Portsmouth, N. H., where he remained for thirty-three years. His son, Joseph Stevens Buckminster, was the still more famous and eloquent minister who, in 1805, accepted a call to the Brattle Street Church at Boston.'
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