USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Wolcott > History of the town of Wolcott (Connecticut) from 1731 to 1874, with an account of the centenary meeting, September 10th and 11th, 1873 and with the genealogies of the families of the town > Part 23
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After leaving Wolcott, as pastor, he preached a short time in Marlborough, Conn., receiving a call to become settled pastor, but did not accept it. Soon after this he was installed pastor in Millington parish, East Haddam, Conn., where he is still diligently laboring for the good of men.
REV. JOHN WICKLIFFE BEACH.
Rev. John Wickliffe Beach was born in Wolcott, Conn., January 5th, 1843, and was the second son of Rev. Aaron C. and Lucy Walkley Beach, of Wolcott. A severe ill- ness (scarlet fever) in early childhood left him in deli- cate health, from which he did not recover for many years, and from this fact his attention was directed to study more than it might otherwise have been under the circumstances of life in which he was placed. His fath- er's limited salary as pastor in Wolcott would have driven him into other pursuits of life but for the habit of early culture and a natural love of learning, and as it :was, there was much doubt for years of accomplishing his great desire of collegiate education. But by encourage- ment and some assistance from kind and considerate friends, and by persevering efforts on his part, he was graduated at Yale College in 1864. His religious life, in definite form, began while in Wolcott, at eleven years of age, when, under his father's ministry, he united with the church. When, therefore, he was graduated, his early and careful Christian life gave a balancing influence in the choice he made as to his future life, to make the preaching of the gospel his life-work. In preparing for this work he spent five years, some of the time teaching, and the balance of the time in Yale Divinity School, in New Haven. None but those who have the trial of such a protracted effort of preparation to commence the work of life, can understand the severe tax of courage and en- durance, mental and moral as well as physical, of such a
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preparation, and especially when the end of such prepar- ation promises, as to this world, small remuneration and limited comforts. Nine years of mercantile life in the place of nine years of college and seminary studies, would have brought this young man, with ordinary suc- cess, to a comfortable establishment in a successful, inde- pendent business, whereas, as it was, he was only pre- pared to begin his profession.
His is not an isolated case, but that of many of the successful ministers of the gospel in this country. When, therefore, a young man has run such a race at the begin- ning of life, and enters upon his life-work, he is worthy of much confidence and encouragement from his parish and friends.
In 1869, John Wickliffe Beach received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity from Yale Divinity School, and the same year began his pastoral labors for the Congre- gational church at Windsor Locks, Conn., and after preaching there one year was ordained pastor, Septem- ber 28th, 1870, in which place he is still successfully prosecuting his pastoral labors, and the prospect is that he will honor the name of Wickliffe.
DEACON ISAAC BRONSON.
Deacon Isaac Bronson was born July 19th, 1761. His father, John Bronson, was a native of Southington, and was descended from the Waterbury Bronson family, through John, the son of John Bronson, one of the origi- nal thirty subscribers in 1674, in the settlement of Wa- terbury. Deacon Isaac inherited the characteristics of the Waterbury Bronson families,-strength and decision of intellectual and moral qualities,- and upon these his whole life career was built. Being the son of a plain farmer, in a new country, his early years were passed under disadvantages as to his intellectual aspirations. His life was introduced almost at first to calamity. He says in his journal : " At the age of sixteen months I lost my left eye, and schools not being kept much in those days in the out parts of society, I had not the benefit of one until half way in my sixth year, when I attended one for about three months. When I began in this school I did not know my letters, but soon learned them, and went from class to class until I arrived to the first, during that term ; and before I was eight years old, I had read the Bible through in course, and every other book I could lay my hands on, and so unbounded was my desire after reading, that if I could get hold of a book that I had not read, it was not in the power of my brothers and other mates, either by frowns or flatteries, to persuade me to leave it for the sake of play."
This taste for literature and knowledge so entirely oc- cupied his mind as he grew up to manhood, that when he
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saw no way to attain a collegiate education, he became greatly discouraged as to life, and fell into a state of in- difference and bashfulness that nearly proved his ruin. He says that "it proved my ruin as to this world ;" meaning, probably, that he, but for this, could have de- voted himself to ordinary work with satisfaction and success. He says also of this thirst for improvement of intellect : "My days were spent in fruitless wishes, and my nights in dreams of books, and of college, and of learning, for years together, until I lost all hopes ; although I believe that my living in such an obscure place, and being kept so exceedingly under, and always at home, served to crush me more entirely, and increase my bashfulness until I dare not speak to a person, or I should have attempted, by some means or other, to ob- tain, and should have persevered in the attempt until I should have forced my way to the attainment of, such a degree of literature as would have enabled me to have spent my life in its delightful researches."
This was written soon after his conversion, and before he was twenty-five years old, and illustrates the manner of training children in those days by good Christian pa- rents ; the "keeping them under," and making them bashful as a sign of humility.
Of his religious exercises in early years, he says : "The first workings of conscience which I recollect was when about eight years old, on the occasion of my mother's reading the sufferings of Christ, which made me weep bitterly. When I was about twelve years old, the dis- ease called 'canker' made great ravages in the neighbor- hood where I lived, -- great numbers died. This gave me a violent shock, so that for several months I was in the case of the wicked man mentioned in Job ; a dread- ful sound was in my ears, for death appeared to be at hand ; but it soon wore off. Again, when about half way in my fifteenth year, I set up a new resolution, and partly from awakenings of conscience, and partly from my being
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debarred from learning, I fell into a kind of melancholy, so that I scarcely smiled for a long time. I sometimes thought of enlisting in the service (revolutionary war), on purpose to get where my life was in constant danger, in hope that it would make me in continual fear of death, and thereby induce me to prepare for it. At last I en- listed, particularly with this view. Alas ! how different did it prove !" His description of the reaction of his mind from religion during his soldier life is startling, though to a philosophical mind nothing otherwise would be expected. After returning from the war he continued in this reactionary state of mind several years.
When about half way in his twenty-second year he married Thankful Clark, probably the daughter of Israel Clark, who resided a little north or north-west of Capt. Heman Hall's, and a few months after, was attracted to church by the "extraordinary eloquence," as he says, of the preaching of Rev. Edmond Mills, who was filling Mr. Gillet's pulpit, Mr. Gillet being unable to preach. During the revival which occurred in the summer of 1783, under the preaching of Mr. Mills and Mr. Miller, he entered into the Christian life with great exercises of mind, and also with great decision and earnestness. This new life revived a thirst for knowledge, but brought with it encouragement instead of despondency, and being in his own family, with a noble-spirited wife to cheer him in every good work, his mind was relieved from its many years of morbid reflections and distrust, and his rejoicing was very great. He dates the commencement of his Christian life on the ninth day of August, 1783, and on the 27th of the same month he entered into a "covenant of self-dedication to God," as directed by Dr. Doddridge, of which act he says : "Then, if I know my own heart, on full consideration and serious reflection, I came to this happy resolution,- that whatever others might do, I would serve the Lord, and as I humbly hope, sincerely 20
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' entered into the following covenant."* This he copied " on paper, and signed. On the 21st day of August, 1786, he renewed this covenant, with great confessions of unfaithfulness, and renewing of consecrations to the "Lord. At the end of his name on this paper he made a circle, nearly one inch in diameter, and within the circle he made the form of a heart. Inside of the heart he wrote, "May all my heart be thine, my God," and out- side the heart, but within the circle, he wrote, "Sealed for eternity, I hope. Amen, and amen." In the year 1788 he united with the church, having hesitated to do it pre- viously because of a feeling of unfitness. His religious life, as indicated in his journal, was characteristic of the age in which he lived; more self-condemnatory than hopeful, yet it was the life of hope to him.
His health was, much of the time, for a number of years, quite poor. He wrote : "May, 1790. Having sus- tained great loss of blood by bleeding at the nose, which brought on great weakness, and having continual pain at my stomach and in my head for about two months, being troubled with influenza, and continuing to bleed several times a day. I began to conclude my stay here would be but short." As to this prospect of the great change, he expressed resignation to the Divine will, and writes: "But I wished to bring up my children, if it might be, though the greatest attachment I have to this world, by far, is one of the most prudent, kind, and af- · fectionate wives the world ever produced, who spared no "pains to render my life comfortable and agreeable, and " who was very anxious to have me recover, and would be · up and taking care of me when she ought to have been in bed, and to have had a nurse herself." And the result · was, that soon after this care for him, his wife was very ill, so that her life seemed about to end here, which weighed heavily on his mind ; but she recovered. :
* See Dr. Philip Doddridge's " Rise and Progress," published by Ameri- can Tract Society, page 242.
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DEACON ISAAC BRONSON.
The following is taken from his journal :
WOLCOTT, October 13th, 1802.
After twelve years interregnum I again sit down to write, in the bitterness of my soul, a few words respecting the hand of God at this time lying heavy upon my poor broken, desponding heart. Alas ! alas ! I have just now closed the eyes of my first-born,- my Isaac, the son in whom I greatly delighted ; always faithful, dutiful, and obedient ; apt to learn, delighted with reading, of a retentive memory, reflecting mind, and penetrating judgment, and acute discernment for one of his age in the characters and dispo- sitions of all whom he beheld. He was scrupulously fond of truth at all times ; sober and' temperate in his deportment at all seasons, particularly upon the Sabbath; modest and diffident of himself, he was to me, I had well nigh said, every way agreeable ; but O, my God, how hast thou, in a sudden and distressing man- ner, torn him from me at the age of eighteen years. Assist me, O blessed Jesus, thou who when on earth didst weep at the grave of a friend thyself; thou who knowest all the tender emotions, all the heart-rending sorrows which harrow up the soul of a fond father in my distressed situation. O, may that almighty power of thine that supports the falling universe sustain me in this trying moment."
The following stanzas were composed by himself, soon after the burial of the body of his son, as he says, "On visiting the grave of my dear son on the morning after a violent storm."
Heart-rending sight ! how cruel was that storm,
That did not spare this loved, this hallowed mound ;
With wanton rage could Isaac's grave deform,
Tear it in twain and wash the earth around.
But why this grief ? these unavailing tears ? Isaac is safe from storm and tempests' rage ;
Terrestrial scenes no more excite his fears,
And worldly cares no more his mind engage.
When solemn darkness veils the midnight skies,
And the huge tempest bellows o'er the plain,
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Here in the dust, my once loved Isaac lies,
Nor heeds the howling winds, nor drenching rain.
When driving snows and rattling hail storms sweep In fierce tornadoes o'er this hallowed ground, Lashing his grave till my fond passions weep, He sleeps secure, nor hears the ungrateful sound.
Harsh thunders roar, red lightning's shafts are hurled, Volcanoes bellow, fiery comets blaze, And rumbling earthquakes shake the solid world,- Silent he sleeps and no attention pays.
Yet fond affection draws me to this place ; Pensive I leave my family and fire, And, under covert of the evening shades, To Isaac's grave I secretly retire.
I find him not, but sit and weep alone ; His name I call -his silence mocks my cries ;
The most obedient, dutiful of sons, Regardless of a father's call now lies.
Oh, my fond heart, resign parental joys, Nor hope to see him till the final hour, Since naught can move him but Jehovah's voice, Wait the sure efforts of Almighty power.
Soon will the moment come when Gabriel's voice Shall rouse the sleeping dust, bid Isaac rise ; Then may I have the bright, the ecstatic joy Of rising with him far above the skies.
May I so live that death may be no dread ; And when I'm called to bid my last farewell To earthly things, and make the grave my bed, May I ascend with God and saints to dwell.
There may I meet my son in realms of bliss, And hail him happy in those worlds of light, No more to suffer such sad pangs as this From parting, but endless joys unite.
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In trying to draw instruction from this afflicting Provi- dence, he remarks :
I feel that for a long time I have been too much involved in the world and its cares. I have a large and chargable family to provide for, and no means to do it with scarcely, and ever since the incorporation of this town I have been crowded with a large weight of public business ; some years eighteen or twenty different offices, and no years less than ten or twelve in the town, the so- ciety, the school society, and the like, which have engrossed a large proportion of my time and thoughts ; and in the spring of eighteen hundred, and for four succeeding sessions, I was chosen to represent the town in the General Assembly. All these various avocations, but perhaps more than all the rest, my corrupt incli- nations, have served to keep my heart at too great a distance from my God. Perhaps, though I have never allowed myself to be elated by any of these trifling considerations, yet I have un- doubtedly been inclined to place my heart on, and to expect my happiness too much from the world, and the good opinion of my poor fellow worms. Perhaps I have set my heart too much upon my children, and especially upon the dear object I now lament.
His public labors were, probably, more than those of any other man in the town up to the present day. After the labors he speaks of as having been done previously to 1802, he was justice of the peace eight years, representa- tive five years in succession, from 1811 to 1815. He was surveyor of lands so many years that it is said that he knew at once where to go to commence tracing any line in the town. He was deacon of the church from 1805 until his death, in 1845, and from 1822 to 1827 supplied the place of pastor in the church; attending many funerals, as well as reading sermons on the Sabbath, and making himself distinguished far and near in attendance on conferences of the churches and public meetings.
The few scraps of his writings that are preserved indi- cate extensive reading and much study, especially of the then authorities of the church. He mentions as particu- larly helpful to himself, "Watts' Logic," "Doddridge on
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Education." Quoting the list of books of classic au- thors recommended by him, "Shuckford's Connections," D'Prideau's works, and J. Taylor's writings.
Near the close of his life he seemed to be determined to destroy his writings, and unfortunately succeeded, ex- cepting his journal, and eight or ten other fragments, which his daughter, Mrs. Bartholomew, succeeded in literally pulling out of the fire while they were burning in the dooryard, where he had made a bonfire of them. The following are some of them :
The store keeper's wish, made and put up in Bani Bishop's store when I attended for him [before 1800] to prevent people having such noisy scrapes as they had done before, staying late Saturday nights, etc.
May customers plenty now enter these doors, With a mind for to trade and their pockets well stored ; May they chink down the cash, and the goods take away, Thus keep me employed throughout the whole day. And others, likewise, though they do not pay down, As many good people that can't may be found ; If their credit is good and their residence steady, May they step in and trade and pay when they're ready. May those who are idle or knavish ne'er call, Nor ask to be trusted here any at all.
May innocent mirth be a guest at the store, But the tongue of profaneness ne'er enter the door. May none ask for liquor to make them the worse, Or, if they should do it, may they meet a repulse. May each one retire before it is late, And the store never once be defiled with a scrape. May none be insulted while here they do business, Neither old men or boys, or maidens, or widows. May trading go brisk all the week at the store, And Saturday sunset fasten the door.
Hymn made out on the death of General Washington, Feb-
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ruary, 1700, on going into the Meeting house to commemorate his death :
[Tune of Friendship ] With solemn awe and humble dread May we this sacred mansion tread, While every heart is filled with gloom. For mighty God thine awful frown Hath cast our glory to the ground, And veiled our honors in the tomb.
Our Father and our faithful guide, Our Friend, our Trust, our Strength, our Pride, Whose presence gladdened every heart, Lies cold and mouldering in the dust ; Great God we own the sentence just That bid him from this world depart.
For, while the blessing we enjoyed, Our hearts and tongues were not employed, As such rich favors did demand, In praising God whose goodness shone In giving us great Washington To be the bulwark of our land.
Was not the man too highly prized. And made an idol in our eyes ? Did not our hopes on flesh rely, Forgetting, while we him applaud, He's but the instrument of God, And, like all other men, must die ?
Yet gratitude to our great chief Forbids us to conceal our grief, While rising sobs our bosoms swell ; In such amazing scenes of woe Stern virtue bids our tears to flow, And bids us all our sorrows tell.
Permit us, Lord, to enter here, In mourning clad, with grief sincere,
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While waves of sorrow o'er us roll ; With due submission, mild and meek, Our loss to mourn, thy blessing seek With humble fervency of soul.
Let us his deeds of fame relate, And bless the God that made him great ; Trace the bright road his feet have trod; And while we grieve and mourn for him, Get near the font that fed the stream, And rest our souls alone on God.
When treason's black infernal shades, Or diplomatic skill invades,
With all the cursed arts of hell ; When faction's hateful front appears, Or war's fell trumpet grates our ears With cannon's roar and savage yell,
Though Washington in silence lie, We have a greater Friend on high, Who governs with resistless might ; A sure support in all distress, Superior to an arm of flesh,- Who dwells in uncreated light.
To Him we'll seek, to Him we'll go, In all the scenes of death and woe; When tumults rise and nations roar, We'll at his footstool prostrate fall, And make our God our all in all, When this vain world shall be no more.
The deacon's real character was nearly the complete opposite of his usual manner and deportment. A warmer heart, probably, did not beat in Wolcott ; yet this made him sensitive and reserved, and being naturally diffident, and made much more so by the early training he received, and failing to accomplish that degree of study he so much desired,-these, all combined, caused him to appear
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cold and unfriendly, except on extra occasions, when his true character shone out in grandeur and power. Hence in his addresses and prayers at funerals, he was captivat- ing and moving in a remarkable degree. All now liv- ing, who have heard him, say they "never heard his equal at funerals." It is said that his address on the death of Washington, at the time he composed the pre- ceding verses, was the most masterly production of the kind ever heard in Wolcott, and was talked of as such for years. The same is said of an address he gave at a conference of churches at Cheshire. It is not surprising, therefore, that he is spoken of as "The great man of Wolcott."
He died April 28th, 1845, aged eighty-four years. His wife, Thankful, died June 23d, 1847, aged ninety-three years. His children bear the impress of his character in modesty and decision to the present day.
TIMOTHY BRADLEY.
Timothy Bradley came from North Haven to Wolcott, and settled on a farm on the west side of Cedar Swamp, in the north part of the town. Nearly all of his descend- ants are now gone from the town. He was a good citi- zen, honest and industrious, and had, so far as known, but one exceptional quality of character, and that was the telling of such improbable stories that no one thought of believing them; though nothing disappointed him more than to have it suggested that any one doubted his narrations. It is said that his sons grew up with the same exceptionable habit,- one of them, at the age of twelve years, declaring that for a little extra birth-day dinner, at that age, he ate twelve dozen eggs, without the least injury.
SOME OF MR. BRADLEY'S STORIES.
A carpenter was at work on the steeple of the North Haven Meeting house with a heavy broad-axe. The axe came off the helve; he called to those below to get out of the way of the fall- ing axe; a man below seeing it coming, and not having time to move out of the way, opened his mouth and caught the edge between his teeth, without injury.
He owned a broad-axe that was made of razors, which had a peculiar ring while being used. At the close of a day's work on the shore of Long Island Sound, he left his axe where he had been at work. The next morning it was gone. He went to work, and after some little time he thought he heard the axe ring, and, after giving attention to the direction whence the sound came, he discovered that the axe was being used on the shore of Long
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Island, across the Sound, a distance of about twenty miles. He jumped on his faithful mare, a trusty beast, and she swam across the Sound, carrying him. He obtained his axe, and returned in the manner in which he went.
While at work in July, harvesting grain near the Sound, there came a change of weather, to freezing cold, and the change was so sudden that the frogs had not time to go under the water, but were frozen in the ice.
On a certain occasion, speaking of a superior cat which he had, he said he had no doubt but that the cat had caught a cart body full of "chipmunks " that summer.
In a certain year he had very wonderful potatoes ; the tops grew twelve feet long, and the largest potatoes in the ground were not bigger than the head of a pin.
He said he once cut down four chestnut trees which stood near together, and a shower of rain coming on just then he went to the house, and when the rain was over he went back, and a flash of lightning, striking at the stumps, had split each of the four trees into quarters, from end to end.
His son Moses went to Ohio to visit an old neighbor who had removed there for the purpose of hunting. At the time of the visit, he said this neighbor had on hand three thousand pounds of deer tallow, which he was to use in greasing the patches he put around his rifle balls, and that this amount of tallow would last only two or three weeks.
REV. JAMES D. CHAPMAN.
Rev. James Dyer Chapman was born in Columbia, Conn., in November, 1799. He graduated at Yale Col- lege in 1826, and studied theology at Yale Divinity School from 1830 to 1833. He preached as supply at Prospect, Conn., one year,-from September, 1832, to September, 1833. He preached for the Wolcott church first in July, 1837, probably, and on August 4th, 1837, the Society instructed the Prudential Committee to hire him six weeks, "as a candidate for settlement," and at the end of that time the Society invited him to become their settled pastor, which invitation he accepted, and was ordained to that office October 25th, 1837. His salary was three hundred dollars paid by the Society, and what- ever additional that might be obtained from the Con- necticut Home Missionary Society, which amounted to fifty dollars a year during his three years' service. Under such circumstances it is not surprising that he purchased a farm, whereby to add a little to the comfort of his family. His labors in Wolcott were in peculiarly trying times, and through the whole he conducted himself in such a manner as to receive the unqualified expression of the confidence of the members of the church, in meeting assembled near the close of his labors, and without the slightest intimation, by the Consociation which dismissed him, of any want of discretion in regard to his ministerial life or preaching. That he was an honest man in his re- ligious principles and in his practice, and was true to his convictions, is evident from the many things he suffered
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