USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > History of the Second church of Christ in Hartford > Part 14
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 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34
That the reverend and godly brethren who convened for this solemnity did not suffer for good cheer appears from the following bill : -
"South Society to Thos. Seymour, Dr., for the expenses attending the ordination of Mr. Flint, April 19 and 20, 1791.
" To 50 lemons at 10s., - £0 : 10 : 0
" 3 gallons of wine of D. Bull 0 :16 : 10 -
" 1 gallon of ditto, of G. Burnham - 0 : 6 : 6
" I ditto of cherry rum -
0 :10 : 0
" I gallon of best spirits - -
2 quarts of brandy - - 0: 3: 0
I large loaf of sugar, 16 lbs at Is. 6d. I : 4 : 0
I brown sugar, half quarter, IOS. - 0 :10 : 0
0 : 6 : 0
" 60 wt. of best flour - -
24 lbs of butter -
-
" Io doz eggs at 6d. -
0 : 18 : 0 5 : 3 : I
I bushel of apples spices -
0 : 6 : 0
" raisins -
-
0 : 3 : 0
" 3 1bs coffee - -
" I lb tea
18 1bs best beef,
-
" 2 qrs. veal &c.,
0 :15 : 10
0 : 6 : 8 " I turkey, -
I doz. fowls,
-
0 :12 : 0
" 3 hams, at 6d
0 : 18 : 6
vegetables, -
-
0 : 8 : 6
" pickles, 2s, 6d
-
-
- 0 : I : 6
tobacco, 45, 3d -
- 0 : 4 : 3
- 0 : 3 : 0
-
- 1 : 16 : 0
" hire of house cleaned
- 0 : 4: 0 " walnut wood
- 0 : 8 : 0
" extra trouble -
-
3 : 0 : 0
£16 :15 :7"
-
0 : 2 : 4 0 : 8 : 0 0 : 6 : 0
0 : 2: 6 " pipes, Is, 6d
" 2 bushel oats
" hire of attendance - -
-
0 : 6: 0
" half barrel of best cyder
0 :12 : 0
156
Revs. Benjamin Boardman and Abel Flint
This account is interesting, not only as showing the habits of that time, but the relative prices of various articles of food and drink.
In a letter dated "Hartford, April 23d, 1791," and written by Mason F. Cogswell, M.D., to his father, the Rev. Dr. James Cogswell of Windham, the writer gives an inter- esting account of Mr. Flint's ordination, and speaks of a hymn that was sung, "which, at the particular and friendly request of Mr. Flint, I was induced to write for the occa- sion." From the same letter it appears that Dr. Cogswell was somewhat addicted to verse-making, for he refers to " the New Year's verses " as owning their composition, and then proceeds to quiet his father's apprehensions by adding, "these two are the only pieces which I have written since I came to Hartford. I mention this that you need not condemn me for spending too much time in a species of writ- ing which might take up too much of my time should I in- dulge in it frequently."
Rev. Abel Flint, son of James and Jemima (Jennings) Flint, was born in Windham, Conn., Nov., 1765, graduated at Yale College in 1785, and was a tutor in Brown University from 1786 to 1790, studying for the ministry meanwhile. He preached for some months in Worcester before coming to Hartford. He married Amelia, daughter of Col. Hezekiah Bissell of East Windsor. She died in 1810. They had four children, two of whom died in infancy.
Mr. Flint is described by the Rev. Daniel Waldo of Suf- field, who knew him intimately, as a scholarly man, pro- ficient in French and mathematics, of dignified presence and polished manners, and yet affable and gracious. His dis- courses and letters, several of which remain, are written in a chaste and flowing style, and his appearance in the pulpit was impressive and commanding. He possessed a remarka- bly musical voice, and was famous for his excellency as a reader. In his refinement and sensibility he was quite un- like his more vigorous brother, Dr. Strong of the First Church, of whose rough ways and sledge-hammer jokes he
166
History of the Church
is said to have been in some disrelish and terror. Mr. Flint received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Union College in 1818, and sundry mathematical works of his preparation were widely known and used for many years.
The catalogue of members of the Church, and also the records of the Church, are complete from the date of Mr. Flint's ordination.
When he began his ministry there were but twenty- nine members of the Church, thirteen of whom were men. Ebenezer Crosby and Jonathan Wells were deacons. The first died in 1795, and the second in 1794. Thomas Seymour, then in the sixtieth year of his age, was chosen deacon in .1794, and held the office till his resignation in 1809. John Babcock was chosen deacon in 1794, and died two years later. Joshua Hempstead was elected deacon in 1795, and served till 1818. Thomas Tileston was chosen to that office in 1809, and continued in it till his death in 1837. Russell Bunce succeeded Deacon Hempstead in 1818, and resigned in 1821.
Of the twenty-nine members of the Church in 1791, eleven died before the year 1800. There were no young peo- ple in the Church, and most of the members were aged peo- ple. Twenty-eight persons were admitted to membership during the years prior to 1799. But the long period of relig- ious declension was at an end. As early as 1794, revivals of religion began to occur in many towns, unaccompanied by the extravagances of a former time. A kind of preaching had come in under the lead of Bellamy, Backus, Smalley, and other new theologians, which proved exceedingly effective. Conferences and evening meetings prevailed, and evangelical work was done by many new methods which, with some variations, were in vogue for many years. In 1798-99 a powerful revival occurred, in which both the Hartford ministers took an active part, and the churches were greatly blessed, and the whole community was religiously quickened. Twenty-six members united with the South Church in the year 1799.
167
Revs. Benjamin Boardman and Abel Flint
The following action of the Second Church in 1794, de- serves notice :
" L'oted, as the unanimous opinion of this Church, that it is unneces- sary for those who have once made a public profession of religion by owning the covenant of this Church for the purpose of having their chil- dren baptized, to own the covenant again previous to coming to the com- munion, and that whenever any such persons shall be desirous of becom- ing members in full communion, all that is required of them is that they signify their desire to the Pastor, to be communicated to the Church."
The bad "old way" was in practice down to the year 1820, when, as will be shown, it was abandoned, but not with- out the opposition of the elders.
From sundry receipts preserved, and from the Society records, it appears that annual appropriations for the encour- agement of music in public worship were made, beginning as early as the year 1795, when Mr. Amos Bull was instruct- ing in that art and leading the choir. The sums appropri- ated vary from sixty to a hundred dollars a year. The names of David Isham, Horace Meacham, Eli Roberts, John Robbins, Lory Brace, and Alfred Goodrich appear as occa- sional instructors in singing, but for nearly a quarter of a century, beginning with 1795, Mr. Amos Bull was the chief man in music here. Singing schools were vigorously main- tained, and the choir was composed of a goodly number of the better singers. In 1795, Mr. Bull edited and caused to be published a "Collection of Sacred Musick," called The Re- sponsary, a copy of which was presented to the writer in 1870 by Mr. Bull's daughter, Mrs. Deming of Litchfield. She is authority for the fact that The Responsary was prepared and published expressly for the choir of the Second Church. It contains many new tunes and twelve new anthems, and in the copy at hand are many manuscript tunes and anthems, and also a few original hymns. The Responsary was doubt- less used by the choir of this Church for many years. It was quite as good as any book of that period, but its tunes and anthems were composed in utter ignorance of the rudiments
168
History of the Church
of musical science, and the performance of them by any modern choir would prove excruciating to the congregation.
In 1797 The Hartford Selection of Hymns was published, compiled by the Rev. Messrs. Strong and Flint, assisted by Mr. Joseph Steward. It contained several original hymns, and was received with many marks of public favor. About the same time a new missionary spirit began to manifest itself in the churches of this State. As early as 1774, the General Association had recommended subscriptions among the people for supporting missionaries " to the scattered back settlements to the northwestward," in what is now Vermont and Northern New York, where Connecticut men had set- tled, but the Revolutionary War interrupted the movement. In 1788, the subject came up again with new earnestness, for, immediately after the war, there was almost a rush of emigration into Western Vermont and beyond, and the set- tlers were eager for religious privileges. Several mission- aries were sent out, whose reports awakened increased atten- tion in the work. In 1798, the General Association organized itself as The Missionary Society of Connecticut, for the purpose of christianizing the heathen in North America, and to pro- mote christian knowledge in the new settlements of the United States. Its missionaries were employed along the frontier, and the good work done by them in gathering, or- ganizing, and fostering churches in the newly-settled com- munities was of incalculable value.
This chapter in the history of the Connecticut churches, brighter than any that had preceded it, has never, so far as the writer knows, been adequately written. In all that ar- dent, self-sacrificing missionary campaign from 1795 to 1830, our State succeeded in making its ineffaceable mark for good upon the development of the whole country westward. No braver, hardier, more indefatigable, or successful mission- aries ever went forth under the banner of the cross than those who labored in Vermont, New York, and Ohio, under the commissions and by the support of the Missionary Soci- ety of Connecticut. Of this Society Dr. Flint was Secretary
169
Revs. Benjamin Boardman and Abel Flint
from its organization until the year 1822. The correspond- ence with missionaries was conducted by him, and the Narra- tive of Missions, now rarely to be found, but written with ex- ceeding skill, was prepared by him. He was instrumental in forming the Connecticut Bible Society in 1809, and was bus- ily engaged with Dr. Strong in editing the Connecticut Evan- gelical Magasine, which was widely read in religious circles, and contributed largely to stimulate interest in missionary operations, and to give them financial support.
It will be obvious that Mr. Flint was far from anything like indolent, and that he had his hands full of hard work. And yet a dingy letter lies before me, dated Aug. 6, 1798, in which an elderly and influential deacon takes him to task for certain things "exceptionable" in his demeanor and per- formance as a minister of the Gospel. He was "too much abroad," "remiss in his studies and public performances." His sermons were not "labored," and were "often re- peated." He associated with certain persons to the injury of his ministerial dignity !
The reply of Mr. Flint, dated Aug. 9, 1798, is a thor- oughly characteristic composition. It is written in his usual elegant and polite style. He acknowledges his faults, puts in gentle excuses, promises amendment, appeals to favor, deals out delicate compliments, and casts himself with dig- nity and yet with suggestions of dependence upon the generosity and kindness of his critic and his parish. Its acknowledgments, excuses, assurances, appeals, and bland- ishments are so gracefully woven together as to be almost irresistible. He had that Christian grace which is not easily provoked. He had that gentlemanly grace of com- pliance and self-adjustment which enabled him to receive rebukes, to confess faults, and to promise what was required of him in a most engaging manner of chastened humility. Doubtless he was somewhat at fault in the things alleged. He liked to choose his lines of labor. He was a charming conversationalist, his companionship was eagerly sought, and he found society pleasanter than the routine of parish work, but he was a hard-working minister for all that.
170
History of the Church
Two years later, as other recently discovered letters show, his critics were at him again, but his position as Pas- tor of the South Church was not shaken. It is not unlikely that in his inimitably gracious way he suffered considerable " nagging " from several elderly and exacting brethren who could not confine him to mere parish work, nor control his movements.
The Parish increased his salary by one hundred dollars " on account of the increased price of the necessaries of life," and repaired the meeting-house and the parsonage.
As showing somewhat the gracefulness of Dr. Flint's common forms of expression, the following note written in reply to a request for the loan of a sermon, may be of interest :
Mr. Lawrence,
Sir, I am extremely sorry I was not at home to wait on you last evening. I hope you will not be discouraged from calling again, as it will always give me pleasure to see you. Agreeable to your request I send you the sermon I delivered yesterday. A great part of its supposed merit arose from the occasion. The audience came together upon a charitable intention, and extended their charity to the preacher. I must request you to feel the same degree of benevolence when you come to peruse the sermon, which you felt when you heard it ; else I fear it will appear very different to you.
Yours with esteem,
Monday Morning.
A. FLINT.
On the back of the original of the aforesaid note is the following sentence, or sentiment, which might well have been written of him: "The charm of her conversation, the purity of her heart, and the softness of her temper made her beloved." It is a woman's hand-writing, and possibly some discerning woman in Mr. Lawrence's family wrote this senti- ment on the back of Mr. Flint's letter with the design of characterizing the author of it.
The money requisite for ecclesiastical support was raised by a summary process, as the following quotation from a little, dingy Rate-Book of 1791-2 will show. The
171
Revs. Benjamin Boardman and Abel Flint
book bears the inscription : "Rate Bill on List of 1791 - Hartford South Society." Henry Seymour was then Collec- tor, and Jonathan Bull, Barzillai Hudson, and Thomas Y. Seymour were Rate-Makers :
To Mr. HENRY SEYMOUR, Collector of Rates for the Second Society in Hartford, - GREETING :
By the authority of the State of Connecticut you are hereby com- manded forthwith to levy and collect of the Persons returned in the annexed List herewith committed unto you, each one his several proportion as therein set down of the sum total of such List, being a Tax or assessment granted by the Inhabitants of said Society regularly assembled on the fourth day of July, 1792, for the payment of the Rev. Abel Flint's salary, and to deliver and pay the sum or sums which you shall so collect, unto the Treasurer of said Society at or before the third day of March next; and if any Person or Persons shall negleet or refuse to make payment of the sum or sums whereat he or they are respectively assessed and set in said List, to distrain the goods or chattels of such person or persons, and the same dispose of as the Law directs, returning the overplus, if any be, unto the owner thereof ; and for want of Goods and chattels whereon to levy and make distress, you are to take the Body or Bodies of the Person or Persons so refusing, and him or them commit unto the keeper of the Gaol in Hartford in the County of Hartford within the said Prison, who is hereby commanded to receive and safely to keep him or them until he or they pay and satisfy the sum or sums assessed as aforesaid, together with your fees- unless the said assessments or any part thereof, upon application to the County Court be abated.
Dated at Hartford the 14th day of Septr.
Anno Dom : 1792
JONTH. BULL., Just. Peace.
Among the largest rate-payers on this list were Thomas Seymour, Noah Webster, William Andrus, Barzillai Hudson, Levi Robbins, Joseph Sheldon, and Jonathan Wells. On the same list are the names of Oliver Ellsworth, Theodore Dwight, and James Ensign.
In 1794 the second State House, now the City Hall, was begun, and two years later was completed, at a cost of $52,000, but the cupola, with its crowning figure of Justice, was added in 1812.
172
History of the Church
The First Baptist Church in this city was organized, with sixteen members, March 23, 1790, and Mr. John Bolles was chosen Deacon. Its first Pastor was Rev. Stephen S. Nelson, ordained about 1797. Its first meeting-house was built about 1794, at the corner of Temple and Market streets.
Attempts had been made, as early as 1762, to plant an Episcopal Church in Hartford, and the foundations of a Sanctuary were then laid, but the work was abandoned. The oldest recorded acts of Christ Church Parish are those of a meeting held Nov. 13, 1786, at which a new organization was effected. A church was built and consecrated by Bishop Jarvis, Nov. 11, 1801.
In 1799 a committee was appointed to procure some con- venient place for a new burying-ground, and in 1800 the "Old South Yard," on Maple Avenue, was opened, and the first burial there was that of Walter Robbins, in 1801.1
Dramatic exhibitions found their way into Hartford as early as 1778, and flourished in the latter years of the century. In 1795 a theater was built on what is now Tem- ple Street, and was patronized by the best citizens, but in May, 1800, the General Assembly passed an act to prevent all theatrical exhibitions, imposing a fine of fifty dollars on all offenders, and for a while the theater was in abeyance here. But amusements flourished. There were dancing schools in abundance, and weekly balls and " assemblies " of the most innocent and brilliant sort. Dancing was de-
1 A manuscript record of burials from January, 1800, to December, 1803, has recently come into my possession. It is carefully written, the deaths being successively noted and numbered, and is evidently the work of an official who had the care of the Burying Grounds. Some of its memoranda are curious: "Feb. 22, 1800, died Uriah Burkit, aged 71 years. Mr. Burkit has had the care of the Publick Burying ground in this city 50 years and ten months, in which time he has buried 2245 persons." Again, "April 17, Buried Doct. Lemuel Hopkins, the cele- brated Physician, Philosopher, and Poet, aged 50 years."
This curious old book also contains a weather diary for 1801, February and March, and for the same months of 1802. It notes, day by day, the great rains and the rising flood of March, 1801, and its record for 1802 shows that the win- ter of that season was much like that of 1890.
173
Revs. Benjamin Boardman and Abel Flint
scribed by Miss Mary Anne Wolcott in a letter to her brother, at Yale, as "an amusement that profits the mind," and Dr. Bennett's "Letters to a Young Lady," advertised in the Courant, and abounding in "religious and polite knowl- edge," names dancing as one of the numerous "accomplish- ments." There were camels, lions, bisons, trained dogs, monkeys, and an elephant on exhibition, and something called a " circus " was to be seen on the South Green in 1799. Election day with its parade and music, with its soldiers in gay uniform, and its ministers in black, and with no end of hilarity as well as solemnity, was still the great holiday, when the town was full of visitors, and election cake, ginger beer, and other good things to eat and drink abounded. Washington's birth-day was celebrated with festivities, and Independence Day with noise and tumult, of course. There were games of bowls and cricket, turkey shooting, and athletic sports.
In 1786 the good women of the town made an organized effort to encourage plainness in dress, and to avoid unneces- sary expense, " especially in foreign articles," as will appear from the following quotation from the Courant of November 6th, that year :
" Our submission to the manners and fashions of other countries ren- ders us dependent upon the interests and caprices of foreigners, prevents native ingenuity, makes us slaves of Parisian or London milliners and mantua-makers, and is a cause of distress to our country through ex- travagance. Moreover, many prevailing fashions are inconsistent with our conditions and circumstances, and are devoid of taste. For these and similar reasons, we will not hereafter wear superfluous articles or ornaments of dress, but will eschew frippery and unnecessary decora- tions - laces, ribbons, flowers, feathers, gauze, and expensive materials, and we will not attend private or public assemblies oftener than once in three weeks."
But it may be doubted if the effort was prolonged or suc- cessful. The advertisements of broadcloths show that coats of many colors were in fashion. Long, broad-tailed coats with huge pockets, knee-breeches, and low-crowned hats
174
History of the Church
were common. The minister wore silk stockings in summer and worsted ones in winter. Gentlemen powdered their hair. The waistcoat was long and had an immense collar. Umbrellas were for sale, brought hither from India. A few houses were decorated with wall-paper, and furnished with carpets. The women wore "close-fitting, short-waisted gowns of silk, muslin or gingham, with a kerchief over the shoulders and breast. Girls wore a large vandyke, the younger ones low neck and short sleeves." High-heeled shoes were in vogue, and black satin cloaks with white linings. "Female aprons, for ladies from eighteen to fifty," were advertised. Many other curious details are given by Henry Baldwin in his exceedingly interesting paper in the first volume of the Memorial History of Hartford County, on "Social Life after the Revolution."
A visitor to Hartford not long before the year 1800, was enthusiastic in his praise of the "industry and opulence " of the town. In the last decade of the century a marked im- provement is noticeable in the books advertised for sale. Sharp discussions of political and ecclesiastical questions were printed in the Courant, and a racy, wholesome series of articles, under the title of "The Prompter," was written for the same paper in 1791. In perusing the files of that journal for the years of the last decade of the eighteenth century, one plainly perceives that a new life and spirit had been awakened in the community. He feels, while reading, the breath of progress, and notwithstanding the lamenta- tions over a " decayed religious condition," he is convinced that the community of whose thought and life such a paper is the reflection, must have been pretty sound at heart and sane of mind. Indeed, it may fairly be questioned whether the so-called "rationalismn' of the closing years of the century was not, in part, a healthy reaction of awakened thought against the rigid theology of the age. For the "New Light " theology which had come in upon the churches was, in many respects, stricter and severer than that which it supplanted. Its intensity was gained by its narrower limita- tions and definitions.
175
Revs. Benjamin Boardman and Abel Flint
The prohibition of the slave trade in Connecticut, as early as 1775, and the complete abolition of slavery in the State, in 1788, deserves mention here, because these results were largely due to the faithful and bold testimony borne against the whole system of slavery by the Christian minis- ters of Connecticut.
In 1784 the legal establishment of the Saybrook plat- form was abrogated, although against stout protest and resistance. By that abrogation all people in the State were left at liberty to worship according to their preferences, but they were still subject to taxation for the support of the Societies in which they chose to be enrolled. This step towards the disunion of Church and State and the establish- ment of complete religious liberty, was the result of a grow- ing revolt against the system of taxation which prevailed for the support of a "standing order " with which many had no sympathy, and against the petty tyranny which that "order " had often exercised in the name of discipline. It was the ecclesiastical first-fruits of the Revolution. The Congrega- tionalists had only themselves to blame that thousands, somc of whom were indifferent to religion, but many of whom were good and godly persons, "signed off " from the old churches, and enrolled themselves in other denominations. It is a matter for congratulation that the only people and the only churches harshly dealt with by the ecclesiastical and civil authorities under the legal establishment of the Saybrook system, were those calling themselves Congre- gational. Sober dissenters of other "persuasions" or denominations were allowed liberty to worship in their own way, and the toleration given them, barring the mat- ter of taxation for the support of the "standing order," was liberal and cordial. It was only the dissenting Congre- gationalists that were worried and harried and often per- secuted.
The history of the Church and Society from 1800 until the retirement of Dr. Flint is one of considerable growth both in numbers and grace, and the period was one of many
176
History of the Church
spiritual revivals and of great religious activity in new directions and by new measures. It may be best to outline first the activities of the Church and Society, and then to sketch the larger movements in which they were, to some degree, involved.
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.