USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Goshen > History of the town of Goshen, Connecticut, with genealogies and biographies based upon the records of Deacon Lewis Mills Norton, 1897 > Part 16
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October 10, 1821, Miss Faith Huntington; married a second time, Miss of Newburyport, and third, Novem- ber 19, 1850, Mrs. Elizabeth H. Lyman, of Troy, N. Y. He had five children, all by his first wife. His two sons entered the ministry, and his daughter Faith married the Rev. Enos J. Montague of Wisconsin. He was graduated from Middle- bury College, in 1814; ordained August, 1821; pastor at Green Farms, Conn., 1821-29; agent of American Temper- ance Society and editor 1829 and 1830; pastor at Bennington, Vt., 1832-44; Professor of Rhetoric and Ecclesiastical His- tory, Theological Institute, East Windsor Hill, Conn., 1844- 48; pastor South Windsor, 1849-56; supplied pulpit of the Eliot Church, Roxbury, during the absence of the pastor on a deputation to India, 1854-55; pastor Fair Haven, Vt., 1856 -- 62; occasional preacher while residing at Newburyport, until 1870; at Stockbridge, Mass., 1870 -- 73; at Fort Atkinson, Wis., 1873, till he died, March 31, 1875.
Among his publications were the following :- Memoirs of Mrs. Sarah A. Smith, late of the American Mission, in Syria; Am. Tract Soc., 1845; Elihu Lewis, or the Fatal Christmas Day, Mass. S. S. Soc., 1848. The little book of 36 pages was founded on the following incident: A party of boys, from 10 to 18 years of age, went to skate on Dog Pond, Goshen, Christmas Day, 1807. Hooker, Oliver Thomp- son, Horatio Norton, and Elihu Lewis were of the company. Young Lewis was drowned in a " breathing hole." The lads ran to the nearest houses and to the village to give the alarm. The effort cost Oliver Thompson an asthmatic difficulty of breathing, from which he never recovered. The funeral of Elihu Lewis was attended the next Lord's Day, when the Rev. Asahel Hooker, father of the professor, preached on the occa- sion. He edited a re-publication of " Dorney's Letters; " and several occasional sermons, among them " A Discourse," de- livered at the Funeral of Deacon Augustus Thompson, a mem-
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ber of the First Congregational Church in South Windsor, Conn.
Dr. William Thompson says of him :- " He was the great- grandson of Pres. Edwards and a son of the Rev. Asahel Hooker of Goshen, with whom Dr. Tyler and other useful min- isters had studied theology near the beginning of the present century. The families of Doctors Tyler and Hooker formed a group exceptionally amiable and refined. Dr. Hooker enjoyed the respect and affectionate sympathy of his brethren and pupils in his labors and repeated afflictions. He served with conscientious fidelity in his appointed sphere, but his partiality for the pastoral office led to his resignation at the end of four years."
Theron Baldwin, D.D., a younger brother of Abraham, was born July 21, 1801, was graduated at Yale in 1827. While fitting for college he studied at home, and walked four miles twice a week to recite to his pastor, the Rev. Joseph Harvey. He graduated in a class which embraced such men as William Adams, D.D., Horace Bushnell, Cortland Van Renssalaer, and Nathaniel P. Willis. Judged by the methods then in use, his standing was 2 in literature, and 3 in science. In 1828 he entered the Theological Seminary, and in the fall of the same year read before the "Society for Religious Enquiry " an essay on "Individual Effort in the Cause of Christ." This so stirred the hearts of his hearers that one of his classmates, Mason Grosvenor, at once proposed the formation of a band of young men who should pledge themselves to one another for mutual encouragement and support, and should go to some new state or territory, preach the gospel, and promote learning and religion. Mr. Baldwin was then in correspondence with a society in Montreal, where he had been urged to go as a mis- sionary, but the failure of a letter to reach him in time left him free to join this association of his class. Illinois had been selected as their field of labor. It was then a frontier state, with a population less than the number afterwards sent into
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the Union Army. Mr. Sturtevant, subsequently president of Illinois College, and Mr. Baldwin were chosen to go forward and start the enterprise. In vain the latter urged that his the- ological studies were unfinished. He was told that when their work in the West was well begun he might return to the Theo- logical Seminary.
In 1829, the two pioneers, with commissions from the American Home Missionary Society, arrived in Jacksonville, Ill. Mr. Sturtevant at once began teaching. Mr. Baldwin accepted an invitation to supply a little church at Vandalia, then the seat of government, but kept up his connection with the rising college at Jacksonville. He was interested in Sun- day-schools, and was the first secretary of the Illinois State Sabbath School Association. In 1831 he did return East, but not to the Theological Seminary. He took a wife instead, and returned to his work. The years 1831 and 1832 were mainly given to the interests of Illinois College, but in 1833 he again took up the work of Home Missions in the three states covered by his commission, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. These he called his " bishopric." Every part was explored and its condition, moral, spiritual, and temporal noted. About this time an association of gentlemen was formed in Connecti- cut for the purpose of " promoting Protestant Evangelical Ed- ucation in the West," and Mr. Baldwin was invited to leave the work he had in hand and take this up. He, however, left nothing, but carried the new work along with the old. In 1834, while on a missionary tour, he was invited by Captain Benjamin Godfrey, a man of wealth, residing near Alton, Ill., to come and consult with him in regard to the erection of a Ladies' Seminary. This gentleman offered to expend $10,000 on a building, but would not lay one stone until Mr. Baldwin promised to devote at least a few years to it. In October, 1837, he gave himself wholly to it; the building was erected, and the school in operation when Mr. Baldwin, going East to raise an endowment fund for it, the discovery was made that all
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the colleges in the West were embarrassed, and none of them could get a hearing among benevolent people and churches at the East. Mr. Baldwin suggested to Dr. Lyman Beecher an organization that should embrace the interests of all, and thus enable them to make one appeal instead of many. Dr. Beecher sprang to his feet exclaiming, "Here is light!" In May, 1843, " The Society for the Promotion of Collegiate and The- ological Education at the West " was organized in New York, and Mr. Baldwin was chosen its secretary. In its service he continued until his death, at Orange, N. J., April 10, 1870.
Orlo Bartholomew, son of Thomas, born October 4, 1802. United with the Congregational Church November 3, 1822; was dismissed to the church in Auburn, N. Y., November 18, 1832. He entered Union College in 1829, and was graduated in 1832. He then entered Auburn Theological Seminary, where he took the full course and graduated in 1836. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Cayuga, probably in 1835, as during that year he was employed for a few weeks as a supply in one of the churches in Rochester, N. Y. The same year he began a six months supply in Henrietta, N. Y. He arrived at Augusta, N. Y., May 10, 1836, and the 15th preached his first sermon there. He was called to the pastorate of the church on June 17th, ordained and installed pastor, by the Oneida Presbytery, August 24, 1836. On November 15, 1836, he was married to Julia Ann Peck. He died May 7, 1864, and was buried May 10th, just 28 years from the day of his arrival in the town to begin his ministry.
Mr. Bartholomew was a man greatly useful and greatly beloved. As a preacher he was acceptable, not alone because of the careful preparation of his sermons and the fidelity with which he made application of the truths of the gospel; but also because of " the transparent simplicity of his motives, the earnestness and vivacity of his manner, and the evangelical substance of his discourse. He seemed always to his congre- gation like a man who had but one desire, and that not to dis-
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play his talents, but to magnify Christ, and serve those who heard him." He had great influence and power as a pastor. " He was a thoroughly good man, and all the people knew him to be so. His people first, himself last, was his motto. He devoted himself to them without reserve, and wore himself out in their service." He possessed a generous heart, and not only gave himself but his means for every good object. He had the true humility which comes to one who makes Christ his ideal and finds the standard of excellence in the teachings of Christ. " If he ever had an enemy - the very rarest, of all his possessions - certain it is no man ever had an enemy in him."
" Yet he was far from being a man of equivocal views and negative policy. He had his opinions on every subject of interest belonging to the religious, moral, social, and political events of the day, nor did he hesitate on all fitting occasions to give them utterance. He was heartily in every reform effort. The cause of Temperance and Freedom had no warmer friend or advocate. He had a tender regard for the Sabbath, and gave directions that should his death so occur as to sug- gest his burial on the Lord's Day, by all means to avoid it."
He died as he had lived, sustained by Him in whom he had trusted. A painful disease kept him in torture for weeks and months, but it did not wear out his patience or impair his resignation. The more he suffered the more he enjoyed. In- spired truth, fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, closeness to the Saviour, glorifying God by en- during His will, were more precious and delightful than ever before. He spent much time in searching the Scriptures and in prayer, pleading for the unconverted in his congregation with great earnestness. The biography of the missionary Stoddard greatly interested him towards the last and especially the record of his death-bed experience. "Read that book," he said, " and you will understand how I feel."
" He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings
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shalt thou trust; his truth shall be thy shield and buckler; " (Psalm 91:4) was the text of the last sermon he wrote. When the 17th chapter of John's Gospel was read to him, he noted the words: "That they may behold my glory," and ex- claimed, " Oh! that glory ! how I long to see it."
" A large concourse of people gathered at his funeral, and a large company of ministers, all of them mourning friends."
"William Thompson. William (Prof., D.D), son of Augus- tus, resident Goshen, Conn., who married Kezia Hopkins of Great Barrington, Mass., a niece of the celebrated theologian, Dr. Samuel Hopkins; son James resident of Goshen, Conn .; a man of wealth and great public spirit and benevolence; owned slaves in his earlier life, whom he set free, and gave them farms on his property in what was then known as Con- necticut Farms, Ohio; built houses for them and annually vis- ited them to see after their welfare; son Gideon, who removed from New Haven about 1738, to Goshen, Conn., where he held many town offices and represented the town five times in General Assembly; died Hartford, May, 1759, and is buried in Centre Church burial yard; born at Goshen, February 17, 1806; fitted for college with Dr. Joseph Harvey, the minister of the parish; entered Union College, September, 1824, aged 18; graduated 1826, with honor; passed, 1828-9, as principal of Amherst Academy; entered Andover Theol. Sem., 1830, remaining after the regular course, for an additional year of study, making a specialty of German, and preparing some translations from that language which were noticed with spe- cial commendation; September, 1833, he was ordained pastor Cong. Church, North Bridgewater (now Brockton), Mass., and so won the esteem and affection of his large parish, that when (1834) he was invited to the recently founded Theol. Institute of Conn., at East Windsor, the people were a unit against his leaving them; but, yielding to a strong sense of duty, he ac- cepted the Chair of Biblical Literature; married, and his parents having also preceded him to East Windsor, was soon
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engaged in what proved to be his life work of 55 years - the longest term of service in an institution of this kind on record in this country. Until the removal of the Institute to Hart- ford (1865), his life was one of peculiar sacrifice and diffi- culty. The seminary lacked funds, students, and friends, so that his position not only implied scanty pecuniary support, but, what was more to a man of his sensibility, he was espe- cially cut off from a natural and hearty sympathy with his for- mer associates in study; and, most of all, the excessive and multifarious work thrown upon him ruined his scholarly ambi- tions and blighted the promise in that direction which, in his college and seminary days, his friends had considered quite unusual; and his native chivalry, as well as his high religious devotion, made him decline the urgent proposals which came to him to accept other more promising and congenial fields of labor.
" During the last years of his life he had the satisfaction of seeing the seminary firmly established, well endowed, filled with students, with fine buildings, numerous friends, and good prospects. Before his death he was unanimously recognized as the father of the institution, who, by his extraordinary sagacity, self-sacrifice, and weight of personal character, had carried it through a long and perilous struggle and placed it at last on a secure basis. He died February 27, 1889, at the age of 83, in full mental vigor and unimpaired bodily facul- ties, universally loved and revered by his fellow-citizens and by the numerous generations of students who had come under the influence of his rare character and experienced his singular sympathy and generous kindness. In person he was of medium height, with heavy, dark hair tinged (very early) with gray; deep-set, hazel eyes, with heavy brows; a high forehead; delicate mouth; and he was considered a man of decided beauty of feature and coloring. His manners were courtly and gracious. He had a keen sense of humor; was a very graceful and entertaining conversationalist; had quick
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perception and facile adaptation combined with transparent sincerity and the most perfect integrity. His disposition was ardent, impulsive, and impetuous; he was nervously and very highly strung; his imagination vivid, and his nature affection- ate and tender. So unbounded was his generosity that it was a saying among his friends that his only regret, when he gave. away his coat, was that he could not give his cloak also. The somewhat severe Puritan training of his youth, and his long habit of self-discipline resulted, during his later years, in a saintly calmness and an even, cheerful manner, which con- cealed the depth of his nature from all but the very few who really understood him, and the great victory of his life. He habitually concealed his own trials and sorrows, and was ready to advise and sympathize with every one who came to him. He married, September 25, 1834, Elizabeth W. (daughter Daniel) Butler of Northampton, Mass., born October 4, 1809, who was of direct descent from Stephen Butler of England, a non- conformist clergyman of the Church of England. She died January 29, 1879, aged 69."
Augustus C. Thompson, D.D., was ordained and installed pastor of the Eliot Congregational Church, Roxbury, Boston, May, 1842.
It fell to the lot of Doctor Thompson to exercise his min- istry at a momentous period in the history of New England Christianity, and the re-establishment of evangelical religion in a foremost position in Boston. A very marked change in the enlarged and acknowledged power and influence of the Evangelical faith was clearly discernible, as the years of his pastorate went by. And among the potent factors producing this change, were the deeply spiritual character, the scholarly attainments, the courtly and dignified bearing, and the earn- est and powerful preaching of the pastor of the Eliot Church, Roxbury.
In many respects Dr. Thompson always seemed to his
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brethren in the ministry and in the churches to present a high ideal type of the true Christian minister.
He always showed a profound reverence for the Bible as God's Word. He never ventured to alter the terms of the message committed to his charge. His efforts were never directed to inventing a gospel, but always to preaching the gospel. This he did with authority, as the final word from God to man, " the faith once delivered to the saints."
He believed in a learned ministry. His studious habits were a constant inspiration to young ministers. His library was large, and his contributions at ministerial gatherings and his sermons showed a wide familiarity with the lives and labors of the scholarly and devout fathers.
He honored preaching as God's appointed means for the salvation of men. His sermons were carefully prepared, and dealt with the profoundest themes of redemption and with the great duty of the church to secure the salvation of the world.
His preaching was a persuasive presentation of the gospel. It brought men of thought and culture into the kingdom, and held them there in effective labors for Christ.
He believed in revivals of religion, and his ministry was blessed by repeated seasons of special outpouring of the Spirit, when large numbers were added to the church.
He was a wise administrator of the affairs of the church. He knew how to draw around him able and discreet men. There was a considerable period when it would have been hard to match, in any other church in all the region, the company of intelligent and influential men, eminent for their high position and acknowledged worth, who were the officers and leading members of the Eliot Church.
He had a high appreciation of the worth of individual character. Each youthful member received into his flock he greeted with a warmth of cordiality which carried the hearts of the church, in a loving fellowship, most valued and
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useful. The members removed by death received affectionate tribute to their worth, and especially as the aged ones passed away, their memory was cherished by loving testimonials, often most appreciative and affecting.
His ministry was an instructive one. Those who went out from under his influence have often been found acting as leaders of Christian thought, exerting a large influence in shaping the affairs of other churches, and Christian life in general.
His unequalled knowledge of the history and progress of Christian missions, having made repeated visits to missions among Indian tribes in this country, and to missions in Asia, and also attended, by appointment, missionary conferences in London, his long labors in missionary management, his large personal acquaintance with missionaries and officers of mis- sionary boards, and his great familiarity with the principles of missionary policy - enabled him to keep his church in a condition of awakened and intelligent interest and co-opera- tion in the progress of Christ's kingdom throughout the world. For forty-four years he was a member of the Prudential Com- mittee of the American Board, and no other member ever de- voted anything like as much time, or brought such rich stores of knowledge to this high service.
Although, after many years of successful labors as a pas- tor, his health compelled him to relinquish the active duties of his office, he still continued to abide with the people of his love, engaged in manifold labors of authorship and missionary administration, revered and venerated as few men ever are, and his occasional discourses being always valued as the rare and precious utterance of ripe and saintly wisdom.
His devotional books and his volumes on missions have been highly esteemed and furnish a valuable contribution to the permanent literature of the Christian Church.
Dr. Thompson, from his early youth to his erect and vigor- ous age, has had a peculiarly agreeable and even fascinating
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personality. His personal appearance awakened high expecta- tions in those who met him, but seemed always singularly be- fitting a man whose literary qualities were marked by exqui- site taste, and the high range of whose thought, and the purity of whose life threw around his presence, always, a never end- ing charm.
We have obtained a list of Dr. Thompson's published books, sermons, tracts, and magazine and newspaper contribu- tions, and, without this catalogue the extent of his work and his far-reaching influence can hardly be realized.
Volumes. Last Hours of the Dying, 1851; The Better Land, 1854, republished in England; Morning Hours in Patmos, 1860; The Mercy Seat, 1863, republished in Scotland; Seeds and Sheaves, 1868, republished in England; Moravian Missions, 1882, republished in England; Happy New Year, 1883; Lectures on Foreign Missions, 1889, republished in England; Our Birthdays, 1892.
Small Books and Leaflets. Young Martyrs, 1854; Lambs Fed, 1854, translated into Mahrathi; The Yoke in Youth, 1856; Gathered Lilies, 1858; Memorial of Mrs. C. L. N. Stone, 1883; My Shepherd, Our Prayer Meeting, In the Shepherd's Arms, The Sister as Guardian, 1891, pub. by Am. Tract Society; The Ministry and Missions.
Volumes Compiled. Songs in the Night, 1845; Lyra Coelestis, 1863; Christus Consolator, 1867; Our Little Ones, 1867.
In Mixed Volumes, etc. My little Hymn Book, 3d Ed., by Mrs. R. Anderson, 1845 (pp. 129-131); The Christian Observatory, 1848, Vol. II (pp. 370-78); The same, 1849, Vol. III (pp. 25-29), 167-74, 205-11, 225-28, 252-56, 515-19); The Bombay Times, Jan. 4, 1854; Meeting of Bombay Bible Soc., reception at Batticotta Seminary, 1854 (pp. 28-31); Eliot Sabbath School Memorial, 1859 (pp. 7-37, 39-43, 50-55); Memorial Volume of Essex Street Church, 1860 (pp. 76, 77); Memorial of Rev. G. B. Little, 1861 (pp. 159-171); 50th Anniversary of Rev. R. S. Storrs, D.D., 1861 (pp. 85, 86); Pastor's Memorial, Dr. G. W. Blagden, 1862 (pp. 159-170); 50th Anniversary of Rev. Jacob Ide, D.D., 1865 (pp. 70, 71); 150 Anniversary of 1st Church, Pomfret, Conn., 1866 (pp. 71-75); Memorial of Deacon James Clap, 1866 (pp. 31, 32); Memor- ial of Mary T. L. Swift, 1866 (pp. 87-89); Memorial of 25th Anni- versary of Rev. A. C. Thompson, 1868 (pp. 13-17, 21-33, 37-74, 89-90, 126-30); Wm. N. Davenport, 1870 (pp. 46-49); Good Things, from the Congregationalist, 1870 (pp. 172-175); Congregational Quarterly, 1873 (pp. 579-91); Missionary Herald, 1855 (pp. 162); Letters from Iindia, 1866 (p. 230); Rev. David Greene, 1873 (pp. 307, 308); Levi Spaulding,
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D.D., 1874 (pp. 381-385); Joseph Neesima, 1880 (pp. 11, 12); Missionary Exploration (pp. 92, 93); Missions and Commerce, 1881 (pp. 432, 433); Vishnupunt (pp. 511-513); Address at St. Louis, 1885 (pp, 355, 356); Dr. Wm. Goodell (pp. 16, 17); Letter to a Centenarian (pp. 146, 147); Rev. Anson Gleason, 1886 (p. 413); Worldwide Prayer, 1887 (p. 299); Presidents of the Board, Missionary Paper, Central Africa (pp. 7-9); 25th Anniversary of Rev. J. O. Means, D.D., 1873 (pp. 45-48); Biblio- theca Sacra, July, 1875; Misquotation of Scripture, Memorials of Charles Stoddard, 1875 (pp. 204-208); In Memoriam, M. H. Simpson, 1876 (pp. 134, 135); At Eventide, by Dr. N. Adams, 1877 (pp. xiii-xvii); General Missionary Conference, London, 1878 (pp. 101-107, 227, 228); Record of Class, 1835, Yale College, 1881 (pp. 217-21); 95th Anni- versary of Society of United Brethren, 1882 (pp. 1-26); 75th Anni- versary of 2d Church, Dorchester, 1883 (pp. 31-34); Semi-Centenary of Hartford Theol. Seminary, 1884 (pp. 74-81); Report of A. B. C. F. M., 1887 (pp. XXV-XXX); Councils; History of Norfolk County, Mass., 1884 (pp. 95-99); Sketch of Dr. E. Burgess; Centenary Conference on Missions, London, 1888, Vol. I (pp.7, 8); Vol. II (pp. 438-448); 50th An- niversary of Rev. A. C. Thompson, 1892 (pp. 5-32, 74-77, 97-99); The Eliot Messenger, Jan., 1894; Funeral of Mrs. Mary J. Basford.
Commemorative Addresses, Sermons, ete. Memorial of Mrs. Anna F. Waters, 1854, translated into Tamil; Address, Funeral of Miss Ann Bell, 1858; Commemorative Sermon: Death of Hon. John Jen- kins. 1859; Address: Funeral of Robert M. Carson, 1862; Address: Funeral M. George Domett, 1866; Sermon: Death of Mrs. Sarah R. Baker, 1867; Address: Funeral of Mrs. Lucy G. Marsh, 1868; Address: Semi-Centenary of Ordination of Missionaries, 1869; Address: Fun- eral of Ida F. Hatch, 1875; Sermon: Death of Dea. A. Kittredge, 1876; Address and Discourse: Death of Rev. R. Anderson, D.D., 1880; Obituary: Rev. R. Anderson, D.D., 1880 (a reprint from N. Y. Ob- server, Jan. 3); Address: Funeral of Mr. Abner Kingman, 1880; Mem- orial of Rev. H. B. Hooker, D.D., 1881; Remarks: Funeral of Mrs. A. F. Wardwell, 1883; Sermon: Death of Mrs. M. G. Kittredge, 1883; Address: Funeral Rev. J. O. Means, D.D., 1883; In Memoriam: Mrs. Judith Nutting, 1883; Address: Funeral of Rev. C. B. Kittredge, 1884; Sermon: Death of J. R. Bradford, 1885; 80th Birthday of Prof. Wm. Thompson, 1886; 100th Anniversary of 1st Church, Dedham, 1888; Address and Discourse: Death of Mrs. Eliza H. Anderson, 1888; 100th Birthday of Mrs. Lucy Waterman, 1890; Sermon: Death of Mrs. C. T. Jenkins, 1891; Address: Funeral of Mrs. Lucy Waterman, 1891; Sermon: Death of Mrs. M. V. Hooker, 1893; Address: Ministerial Plagiarisms, 1894, delivered before the students at the Hartford Theological Seminary, reprinted from the Hartford Seminary Record; Address and Sermon: The Triumphant Challenge, Commemorative of Langdon S. Ward, Treas. of the A. B. C. F. M., 1895: Address:
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