USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Hartford > History of the Second church of Christ in Hartford > Part 5
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William Whiting, distinguished physician and devout
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Pastorate of Rev. John Whiting
patriot, resided in Hartford, and afterwards at Great Bar- rington, Mass. ; died in 1792.
Fohn Whiting, great-great-grandson of Rev. John, was an eminent lawyer, and a Major-General in Berkshire county, Mass. ; died in 1846.
In the year 1675, the Reverend John Whiting was "nom- inated and desired to go forth with our army, to be a min- ister to them, to assist them in preaching, prayer, counsel, exhortation, etc." The General Court had already granted him " 200 acres of land for a farm." On May 13, 1686, he preached the Election Sermon in Hartford, a copy of which is preserved in the Connecticut Historical Society. It was entitled " The Way of Israel's Welfare," or, "an exhortation to be with God, that he may be with us." In the course of the sermon he laments a degeneracy from the former times :
" It was better everywhere, in family, church, town, and colony, and better everyway ; we had better peace and plenty, better health and harvests, in former than in later years. It was better in spirituals, less sin ; better in temporals, less sorrow. The recovery of first love and first works would be our glory."
He addresses the magistrates in plain words concern- ing the suppression " of that woeful trade of Indian drunk- enness," and concludes by saying that "a rain of right- ousness and soaking showers of converting, sanctifying grace sent from heaven will do the business for us, and indeed, nothing else."
It is probable that Mr. Whiting fell a victim to the epidemic sickness that prevailed throughout the colony in August and September of 1689, and on account of which the General Court was unable to assemble. "It is a very sickly time in most of our plantations," wrote Secretary Allen to Governor Bradstreet, Aug. 9, 1689, "in some, two- thirds of our people are confined to their beds or houses
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History of the Church
and the great drought begins to be very af- flictive." Also, September 4th, "The sickness is, indeed, very sore in most of our towns." (Col. Rec., vol. 4 : 1, Note.)
The first name on the list of "sisters in full commun- ion " is that of Frances Stebbings. It is a pleasant tradition that she was a venerable woman of such dignity and godli- ness, such an esteemed mother in Israel, that as a tribute to her worth, her name was given the place of honor on the roll, above that of Mrs. Whiting. She was the aged widow of Deacon Edward Stebbins, whose home-lot extended from Meeting-House Square to Front Street.
Fames Richards, son of Thomas of Plymouth, magistrate 1664-80, commissioner of united colonies, gave £50 to the Latin School in Hartford.1
Captain Thomas Bull came to Hartford with Mr. Hooker; home-lot on south side of Buckingham Street; served in Pequot war, 1637, master of vessel at Curaçoa, 1647-8, com- manded fort at Saybrook in 1675; called, by Winthrop, "a godly and discreet man." Susanna Bull was his wife.
Jonathan Bull, son of Thomas, married Sarah Whiting; a brave soldier in French and Indian wars, and Captain of troop of Hartford County. His son, Dr. Jonathan Bull, was one of Hartford's first educated physicians, and his grandson, Judge Jonathan, was a distinguished lawyer.
Joseph Bull, son of Thomas, from whom many promi- nent citizens of the same name descended.
Captain Thomas Watts, son of Richard, surveyor of high- ways; led his company in the Narragansett fight, and com- manded forces that went up the river in 1677. Elizabeth Watts was his wife.
Joseph Nash, sergeant and constable.
Jonathan Gilbert, deputy and marshal of colony.
1 The will of James Richards, dated June 9, 1680, contains the following sen- tence : "I give unto the church on the south side the rivuret in Hartford, to which 1 now belong, ten pounds in plate for the use of the Sacrament. I give unto the Lattin School, in Hartford, fifty pounds. I give unto the Reverend Mr. John Whit- ing, my pastor, as a token of my love, fifteen pounds."
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Pastorate of Rev. Fohn Whiting
George Grave, weaver, an original proprietor; home-lot near Little River, on the highway now called Elm Street; a deputy in 1657 and 1658, and then opposed to the with- drawers; deacon in 1673. Sarah Grave was his wife.
George Stocking, original proprietor ; home-lot not far east from Washington Street, on the south side of Bucking- ham ; surveyor of highways ; died, at great age, 1683. His wife was Anna, or "Agnis."
Fames Ensing (Ensign), original proprietor in 1639; home- lot on the south side of Elm Street; chosen constable 1649, 1662. Sarah Ensing was his wife. In his will, dated Nov. 23, 1670, he bequeathed five pounds "as a token of respect to my dear pastor, Mr. Whiting," and "six pounds towards the building of the new meeting-house."
Thomas Bunce, proprietor by courtesy of the town, 1639, lived near site of the present Capitol ; served in the Pequot war, and was granted 110 acres of land for good service. He filled many offices of trust. Sarah Bunce was his wife. The late Deacon Russell Bunce, and his sons, John L. and James M. Bunce, were descended from John Bunce, son of Thomas.
Robert Webster, fourth son of Deputy-Governor John Webster who lived on the east side of Governor Street, and was one of the original withdrawers, but removed to Hadley. John, the eldest son of this Robert Webster, was the great- grandfather of Noah Webster, the lexicographer.
Fames Steele, son of George Steele who was an original proprietor, and whose lot extended on the west side of Washington Street, from Capitol Avenue to Park Street. James distinguished himself in arms, as his father did before him ; was commissary in King Philip's war, 1675, and was allowed fifty pounds a year for his services. Bethia Steele was his wife.
John Biddall (Bidwell), proprietor by courtesy, in 1640, and owned a tan-yard on an island in Little River, near the pond in the present park. Sarah Biddall was his wife.
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History of the Church
Nathaniel Standly, third son of Thomas who came to Hartford in 1636, and lived on a lot extending north of Little River to the First Church. He was constable, ensign of the trainband, deputy, Judge of County Court and Court of Probate, one of the committee of war for Hartford county, - a man of great influence and much wealth. His son, Na- thaniel, was a man of distinction and property, whose son, William, who died in 1786, left the greater part of his prop- erty to the Second Church.
Fohn Marsh, one of the original proprietors, lived on Front Street, then the road from Little River to the north meadow ; married Anne, daughter of Governor Webster.
Stephen Hosmer, son of Thomas who came to Hartford in 1636, and lived on the south meadow, near the south end of Governor Street. Stephen was deacon of Second Church, 1686, and the late James B. Hosmer was his great-great- grandson.
John Seamer (Seymour), son of Richard, was in Hart- ford as early as 1664, and was an active and influential man. Governor Horatio Seymour of New York, Hon. Origen S. Seymour of Litchfield, and Governor Thomas S. Seymour of Hartford, were descended from him, and he is the ances- tor of nearly all of the name in this vicinity.
Arthur Smith, son of an original proprietor who lived on Elm Street, and was severely wounded at Mystic Fort.
Fohn Church, son of Richard, and progenitor of those of that name in Hartford.
Sergeant Joseph Nash, son of Thomas of New Haven, married Margaret, widow of Arthur Smith, Sen., who was a Pequot soldier.
Fohn Eston, son of Deacon Joseph.
Fohn Day, son of Robert.
John Wilson, son of Robert, of Farmington.
Benjamin Harbert, whose wife, Christian, left property to kinsfolk near Banbury in Old England.
The last name on the original list of "sisters in full
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Pastorate of Rer. John Whiting
communion," is that of Anne Cole. This woman had a sad distinction in her carlier days, as a letter by Mr. Whiting, dated December, 1682, and addressed to Rev. Increase Mather, shows. (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. 37.) The story brings up before us the old spectre of witchcraft. In the year 1662, Anne Cole, then living in her father's house, and being in affliction and fear about her spiritual estate, was taken with strange fits, wherein she, or the devil making use of her lips, held considerable discourse. Her nearest neighbors were a man and his wife who afterward suffered for witchcraft. After a while her discourse passed "into a Dutch tone " (a Dutch family then lived in the town), to the consternation of Mr. Stone. Often her discourse was "awful and amazing " to the hearers, among whom were several min- isters besides Mr. Whiting. She disturbed prayer meetings by her outcries and violent motions. Her hysterical utter- ances compromised her neighbors, who were believed to have bewitched her. They were arraigned in court, where Mr. Haines earnestly inveighed against the exceeding sinfulness and peril of such sin. This unhappy, ignorant, old woman, together with her husband, were finally hung, as having "entertained familiarity with Satan."1 After the execution of some, and the escape of others, poor Anne Cole "had abatement of her sorrows." She married Andrew Benton in good time ; and, in the language of Mr. Whiting, "is joined to this church, and therein been a humble walker for many years."
Here, also, may be mentioned the honorable name of Folin White, who came from England with Elder Goodwin, in the ship " Lion," in 1632, and accompanied Mr. Hooker to Hartford. His home-lot was on the east side of Governor Street, not far from Little River. He was one of the orig- inal withdrawers, and went to Hadley with Governor Web- ster and others, but he returned to Hartford in 1671, and joined with his old friends in the Second Church. He was
1 Nathanicl Greensmith and his wife Rebecca, were executed Jan. 25, 1662-3.
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History of the Church
afterward honored by receiving appointment to be a Ruling Elder in the church, as appears from a fragmentary docu- ment entitled, "Some acts done by the Second Church in Hartford, after their settlement in a distinct state." It is as follows :
" March 28, 1677, the church having before chosen Mr. John White to the office of Ruling Elder, and he accepted it, he was accordingly, this day, ordained to be in that office, in the presence and with the approba- tion of the elders and messengers of some neighbor churches. This holy man, having faithfully served the Lord in his place, and that also with good success through grace (he was a good man, and God was with him), fell asleep in Christ, and went to receive his reward, January, 1683."
There is one other brief and unimportant entry, dated March 24, 1685-6. No other acts of the church during Mr. Whiting's ministry have been preserved. The one just quoted has somehow floated down to us through the genera- tions, all fragrant with its tender tribute to a saintly fore- father.
Many of those who, at the founding of the church, owned the covenant, though not in full communion, be- came communicants soon after, among whom were Nathan- iel Standly and his wife, John Marsh and his wife, John Seamer and his wife, Thos. Bunce, Jun., and his wife, Joseph Bull and his wife, Stephen Hosmer, John Church, and John Eston. The names of nearly seventy persons, who united with the church during Mr. Whiting's service, are now on the church records. The list of baptisms during that period contains about three hundred names. Some of these should have been entered in the list of church-membership. Some of them are names of adult persons who merely owned the covenant, and had their children baptized. But it is a doc- ument of great historical or genealogical value.
In a charming article on "Domestic and Social Life in Colonial Times," Mr. Charles Dudley Warner writes as follows :
" We err if we think there was no fun in these stalwart young fel- lows, and sly, pretty lasses of the Seventeenth century . because
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Pastorate of Rev. Fohn Whiting
they were burdened with such names as Shadrach, Jepthah, Abinadab, Zorobabel, Consider, Friend, Preserved, Retrieved, Yet-Once, Thankful, Mindful, Patience, Experience, Temperance, Deliverance, Desire, Faith, Hope, Love, Charity, Silence, Mercy. It were pretty to see Yet-Once lead Desire down a contra-dance."
In this old list, containing, in all, the names of more than three hundred and fifty persons (men, women, and children), and covering a period from 1670 to 1731, but in- cluding persons born and baptized thirty years earlier, there are four Thankfuls, two Deliverances, one Mercy, two Pa- tiences, one Charity, and one Temperance. The other names in Mr. Warner's enumeration are not found at all. There are a good many Scriptural names, most of which are still heard in this land of the living; there are Roman, Greek, Patristic, and Indian names ; there is an occasional Violet, Sybil, Millicent, and even a Magdalene, but the list is very much such as one would surely find in most of the churches of New England, belonging only to the present century. The Hartford youth of the Seventeenth century had not much to complain of in their baptismal names. There was no lad by the name of Yet-Once, and no lass by the name of Desire among them, and had there been, and had Yet-Once led Desire "down the contra-dance " they would probably have been taken in hand by the church, if not by the officers of the court. The list shows that there were goodly fami- lies in those days. Rev. Mr. Whiting was the father of fourteen children. His son, Lieut. Charles Whiting, was twice blessed with twins, to say nothing of other minor blessings. Thomas Dickinson had at least ten children, and Mr. Nathaniel Standly had eleven. John Cole brought his seventh daughter to be baptized, and several children afterward. Richard Lord had nine children, John Marsh had ten, and John Turner had twelve.
George Grave was probably the first deacon. Stephen Hosmer filled that office in 1687, and John Wilson in 1688.
Mention has been made of the epidemic sickness which prevailed in 1689, the year of Mr. Whiting's death. In a
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History of the Church
letter written by Mr. Whiting to Increase Mather, in 1682, he mentions the fact of a prevalent sickness "grown to a great hight," and speaks of the " surprising and awful stroke to us," in the death of Mr. Foster. Rev. Isaac Foster, suc- cessor to Rev. Mr. Haynes in the First Church, was settled there in 1680, and cut off in the second year of his ministry. Among the items in the inventory of his estate, is " a negro called Catoe," apprized at twenty-two pounds. Mr. Foster's successor in the First Church was Rev. Timothy Wood- bridge, ordained there Nov. 18, 1685, and therefore a co- laborer with Mr. Whiting for four years.
Another letter by Mr. Whiting (October, 1683), gives a pathetic account of the sad death of Rev. Samuel Stone, Jr., a man of gifts and culture, and who preached for some while in Wethersfield. He fell into habits of intemperance, and on the 9th of October, 1683, early in the morning, was found dead " in the little river that runs through the town of Hartford."
Just when the first meeting-house of the Second Church was erected is not known, but a letter recently received from C. S. Ensign of Newton, Mass., sheds a ray of light on that point. Mr. Ensign is a descendant of James Ensing (or Ensign), who was one of the original members of the Sec- ond Church, and is in possession of his ancestor's will, dated Nov. 23, 1670. In that will two bequests appear, one of five pounds to "my dear pastor, Mr. Whiting ; and another that reads, "I give towards the building of the new meeting- house six pounds." This indicates that the new Society, in the very year of its organization, was engaged in prepar- ing for a meeting-house.
The location of the sanctuary has been ascertained with some degree of accuracy. In January, 1706 (N. S.), Sarah, the widow of Major Jonathan Bull, and a daughter of Mr. Whiting, conveyed to Nathaniel Standly, Richard Lord, Thomas Bunce, and others, a small parcel of land "for the accommodation of making some enlargement to the South
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Pastorate of Rev. John Whiting
Meeting-House." The original document, most legibly writ- ten by the hand of John Haynes, Justice of the Peace, has recently been discovered, and is in the writer's posses- sion. It bears not only Sarah Bull's signature and seal, but the signatures of John Haynes, Major Wm. Whiting, Heze- kiah Willis, and Jonathan Colefox.
The boundaries of Major Bull's home-lot are known, and the position of the meeting-house can be determined with some close approach to accuracy. It probably stood in the highway, now Main Street, on the east side, and near the present residence of Hon. Henry C. Robinson.
The Hon. Henry Barnard speaks of a schoolhouse which stood in Main Street, directly in front of the "Linden " Block, and just "south of Linden Place," and adds : " Di- rectly south of the schoolhouse were horse-sheds which had been erected by permission of the town, to shelter the horses, whose owners came from beyond Rocky Hill to at- tend divine service of the Second Church in the meeting- house, which stood nearly opposite the sheds, on the east side of Main Street. This meeting-house was probably a square wooden structure with a truncated pyramidal roof, similar to the "square meeting-houses " which abounded in New England during the latter part of the Seventeenth century.
" Old house of Puritanic wood,
Through whose unpainted windows streamed, On seats as primitive and rude As Jacob's pillow when he dreamed,- The white and undiluted day."
Prominent among those who united with the church during Mr. Whiting's ministry, were Eliezer Way, Nathaniel Sanford, Bartholomew Barnard, Mr. John Crow (one of the first settlers on the east side of Connecticut River), Greg- ory Woolterton, and Mr. Thomas Hosmer and his wife.1
1 The records of the Second Church show that Mr. Thomas Hosmer and his wife were received into said church, Feb. 17, 1683, "dismissd, the one from Farmington, the other from Northampton." Mr. Hosmer's will gave slight bequests to Rev.
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History of the Church
The First Church, as was natural, continued to embrace in its communion or congregation the major part of the inhabitants, and also the major part of those who were re- garded as persons of distinction and wealth in the town, but the Second Church was no Cave of Adullam whither the shiftless and discontented resorted. Many of the best fam- ilies in the town were represented in it, and what John Davenport truly said of the withdrawers, "they are, for their number and qualities, a party not to be despised," would be a mild and modest description of its members during the first twenty years of their distinct ecclesiastical estate.
Deprived of its beloved and distinguished minister, Mr. Whiting, who fell asleep in 1689, the church was without a settled minister for a term of five years, and there is no record of admissions or baptisms during that interregnum. In an interleaved almanac of 1692, kindly shown to me by the late George Brinley, Esq., of Hartford, the Rev. James Pierpont, fourth minister of New Haven, writes under date of March 11th, as follows : "I went to Hartford to transact with the new church about my brother Benjamin's settle- ment, and returned the 19th."
It would seem from this item that the Rev. Benjamin Pierpont was a candidate for the vacant pastorate in 1692, but nothing more is known of the matter.
John Whiting (his pastor here), and to Rev. Samuel Hooker (pastor in Farmington). The will was witnessed by John Wilson, Nathaniel Cole, and Ichabod Wells, all Second Church men.
The same records show that Stephen Hosmer, son of Mr. Thomas, was admitted to full communion June 18, 1671. His wife, Hannah (daughter of Deacon Francis Bushnell of Saybrook), was received June 23, 1678. Their children were baptized in the Second Church, as follows : Hannah, 1670 ; Mary, 1671; Dorothy, 1674; Stephen and Hester (twins), 1679; Sarah, 1681 ; Deborah, 1687, at which time the father is registered "Deacon Stephen (H) Osmer."
The statement in the "Genealogy of the Hosmer Family," repeated elsewhere, that Stephen Hosmer was Deacon of the First Church in 1686, is therefore incredi- ble. He was in the Second Church from its beginning till his death in 1693. His wife was there, and his children were baptized there, and his son, Thomas, was re- ceived into full communion in 1725, the wife of the latter having been received in 1703.
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Pastorate of Rev. Fohn Whiting
A letter of the Rev. Timothy Woodbridge to Mr. Cotton Mather, dated Hartford, April 14, 1684, contains the follow- ing paragraph :
" Mr. Whiting and his relations here have lately entered suit for a very considerable parcel of land, formerly belonging to his father, sold by his mother after his father's decease, and possessed near 30 year without any molestation, and has recovered the first judgment of court, but the defendants (according to the custome here) have entered a Re- view, so execution is stopt. It has jogged all the attoms of the whole ant-heap, and almost everybody seems some wayes to be concerned in it."
In the " Mather Letters" (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll.), are several letters from Mr. Whiting. In one, he inquires con- cerning Rev. Isaac Foster of Charlestown, whether he is a suitable minister for the Windsor Church, and especially whether he is of the "declaredly Congregational " church order, "that being of considerable weight to the settlement and welfare of that people, as well as the comfort of their neighbors." In another, he relates the wretched career and end of Samuel Stone, son of Rev. Samuel ; and in another, tells the strange story of Anne Cole, to which reference has been made. But none of these letters, except the latter, are of much interest or importance.
5
CHAPTER III
HARTFORD PEOPLE TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO
BEFORE considering the history of the Church under the administration of its second minister, it may be permitted to consider, somewhat generally, the conditions and occu- pations, the domestic, social, and religious life of the com- munity during the period of Mr. Whiting's ministry in Hartford. His ministry began in the First Church in the year 1660, the year of the accession of Charles II to the throne of England. With the restoration of the Monarchy came great "reactions and revenges," harsh suppressions of all visible forms of dissent, scorn of all that savored of Pu- ritanism, corruption of manners, and lewdness in literature, but also a remarkable awakening of scientific thought and enquiry. In 1662, the Act of Uniformity was put in force, under which a great number of able and godly ministers in England were expelled from their livings. The Con- venticle Act of 1664 marked a great increase of rigor against non-conformists, and the Five-mile Act of 1665 crowned the cup of their calamities. John Milton was living in seclu- sion, if not in peril, painfully preparing for its appearance, in 1667, the Paradise Lost. John Bunyan was in Bedford gaol writing the Pilgrim's Progress, which was published in 1670. Ten editions of it were published before Whiting's death in 1689, and some copies of it may have reached Hart- ford in that time.
But however the people in Connecticut may have been affected by these and kindred events in the mother-country, one act of his Majesty's Government conferred upon them a great and lasting blessing. In 1662, through the agency of Winthrop, the Royal Charter was obtained, uniting New
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Hartford People Two Hundred Years Ago
Haven with Connecticut in one colony, whose limits ex- tended from the Narragansett River to the westward bound of the continent. It constituted the colony a self-govern- ing corporation, a commonwealth, and so liberal were the terms of the charter that no changes of it were requisite when Connecticut ceased to be a colony of England, and became one of the United States of America.1
In 1685, James II came to the throne of England, and in the two years ensuing strenuous efforts were made to take away the colonial charters. Sir Edmund Andros, com- missioned as Governor of all New England, arrived at Hart- ford in 1687. The story of the Charter Oak is the popular version of the futile effort to deprive Connecticut of her charter. Andros's time was short, for the King was de- throned in 1689, and Connecticut resumed her self-govern- ment without disturbance.
Mr. Whiting's ministry in Hartford, beginning in 1660 and ending in 1689, extended from the accession of Charles II to the dethronement of James II.
During this period occurred the terrible strife with the Indians, known as King Philip's war, succeeded by conflicts westward and northward with the French and Indians. The bloody strife with the Narragansetts began in June, 1675, and though Philip was killed in the summer of 1676, the war was prolonged, here and there, for two years or more. It was a time of extreme distress and trial for Connecticut, and Hartford contributed generously of men and money for the struggle. By these severe and costly conflicts with the savages, and by demoralizing communications with them in time of peace, the colonists were seriously affected in many ways. Barbarism was the great danger that com- passed them about with manifold menaces and temptations, and that they were not overcome by it, but overcame it, is due to their hardihood, courage, discipline, and stern re- ligious faith and character. It is this peculiarity of their environment in raw and perilous conditions, necessitating a
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