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 5
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5 thly. Lastly, we are not satisfied with ye 14th article ; for tho' we allow it to be expedient, yet destitute and bereaved chhs, in ordinary cases, consult ye association, and take their advice con- cerning those persons who are fit to be called and settled in the gospel ministry among them; yet notwithstanding, as we believe yt chhs have a right of choosing their own officers, so we do not look upon it they are absolutely bound to adhere to such advice at all times; but there may be cases in which they have a right to judge for themselves, and act without it.
Concerning ye rest of ye articles in Saybrook Platform, we are
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OBTAINING A PASTOR.
so far satisfied with them as to agree in taking them as a good help to understand ye mind of God in ye administration of chh discipline, and we agree to act in conformity to them till God please to give us further light.
At a chh meeting, Farmingbury, April 15th, 1779, the chh voted to adopt ye above plan of chh discipline.
Test. ALEXANDER GILLET, Pastor.
Thus was the first gospel minister settled in Farming- bury, afterwards Wolcott, to feed the flock of God and publish glad tidings to lost sinners. The scattered sheep had waited long for a fold, for they began to peti- tion the General Assembly for such privileges, in 1760, and had continued their toils and oft-repeated petitions until the desired object was obtained and they had a Zion in the midst of them. One thing remained yet to be done to make complete the outward working of a church,-the election of deacons, and the consequent orderly adminis- tration of the sacraments.
The sacrament of baptism was administered the first time, in January, 1774, to a child : Eunice, the daughter of Stephen and Zilpha Pratt.
On the 29th of January, 1774, the church met for the purpose of electing deacons, and elected Captain Aaron Harrison for their first deacon, and Lieutenant Josiah Rog- ers for their second. They also "voted that the Sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper be observed once in two months ; the first to be on the first Saturday of February ensuing." It was probably observed on the 6th of that month, when Levi Gaylord and Lois his wife united with the church.
CHAPTER IV.
DURING MR. GILLET'S MINISTRY : FROM 1773 TO 1791.
The ministry of Mr. Gillet, as a settled pastor, began on the first Sabbath of January, 1774, with a church mem- bership of forty-five persons, and a parish numbering scarcely seventy-five families, the greater part of whom had come into the territory within the twenty years preceding the organization of the church; so that the whole parish was only a new settlement.
The settlement was began, in Waterbury part, in 1731, by Mr. John Alcock. Mr. Thomas Upson removed into the south-east corner of the parish territory in 1732 or 1733, but most of the other families living in the eastern part of the parish in 1773 had removed thither after 1755, as nearly as can be ascertained. The comforts of these families, when Mr. Gillet's work began, were of the most restricted kind. Many of them resided in log houses, with no out- houses of any kind ; a haystack with a fence around it was the only barn some of them possessed. Many years after, Mr. John Bronson, father of the Bronson families in this parish, quoted the text : "Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste ?" and said he was not guilty of living in a ceiled house while the Meeting house was unceiled. In 1795, the Meeting house was ceiled ; but Mr. Bronson's dwelling was not, until some time afterward. The west- ern, or Waterbury part of the parish, was more advanced in settlement, but was mostly a wilderness of heavy timber. Mr. Judah Frisbie, one of the first settlers in Woodtick, if not the very first, purchased land there in the fall of 1773 ; the deed of the same being still preserved.
39
DURING MR. GILLET'S MINISTRY.
Mr. John Alcock had been in the parish territory thirty- two years when the church was organized ; and some of his sons and daughters were settled on their farms before 1773. Mr. Isaac Hopkins and Benjamin Harrison (father of Deacon Aaron Harrison), and a few other families, had been in the parish about thirty years.
This was Mr. Gillet's parish. The remark is attributed to the oldest inhabitants, that when the Meeting house was raised, all the inhabitants in the parish could sit on its "sills." If those sills were of the length fixed upon by the Society in its first vote on the subject, they were 42 by 58 feet, and would not have seated over 140 per- sons,-men, women, and children.
Mr. Gillet graduated at Yale College, September, 1770. In 1771 he united with the church in Granby. After graduating, he taught school in Farmington a year or more, and may have studied theology during that time, under the direction of Rev. Timothy Pitkin, then pastor of the Farmington church. He was licensed to preach by the Hartford Association, on the 2d day of June, 1773, and on the 2d day of next August, the Society in Farming- bury "voted to continue Mr. Gillet ten Sabbaths more, and on probation." He had probably preached two Sab- baths, and these with the ten made three months, at the end of which he was installed. When he settled here he was unmarried, was twenty-four years of age, naturally of a quiet spirit, but devotedly, and what is often called deeply religious. The good order with which all church matters were arranged, indicates a qualification, both in maturity of thought and in devotedness to the work, equal to the position he had accepted. Many churches, directed by older men, have not been as well directed ; and it is seldom that church records are as fully kept and as carefully preserved as these ; and to this preservation of these first records is due, in a large degree, this book of history.
Mr. Gillet's father, Capt. Zaccheus Gillet, removed into
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HISTORY OF WOLCOTT.
the parish soon after the installation of his son, and therefore it became home, indeed, to the young pastor.
Under Mr. Gillet's labors, the church, from the first, experienced a gradual growth, receiving members on profession of their faith from month to month, and some of the time from Sabbath to Sabbath. In June follow- ing the organization, there were sixty-two members. Ten years later, one hundred and three persons had united with the church. During his whole ministry, which lasted eighteen years, one hundred and forty persons were re- corded as members of the church,-ninety-nine besides those who organized the church, and most of them by profession.
Through Mr. Gillet's efforts a library was formed for the parish. The only account of it which I have been able to procure is contained in an inscription in one of the books which has come into my hands : "This book be- longs to the library in Farmingbury. Founded Novem- ber 5, 1779. No. 50." This library was, after some years, scattered among the original contributors, and between 1820 and 1830, another was formed, which suffered a like fate.
In 1784, a larger number united with the church than in any other year during his stay in the parish. This was the result of some special efforts made in the previous year. From some writings left by Deacon Isaac Bronson, we learn that in 1783, "Mr. Gillet was unable to preach, and Rev. Edmond Mills preached here, and there was quite an awakening among the people, so that they had preaching three times on the Sabbath, and con- ferences three or four times a week ; " and "Mr. Gillet visited from house to house, and brought many good preachers here," so that the "awakening soon became general," and this continued, somewhat, during the sum- mer, and on "August the 9th, on Saturday, while alone at work," Isaac Bronson became greatly awakened in his own behalf. This interest in the church "greatly ani-
41
DURING MR. GILLET'S MINISTRY.
mated Mr. Gillet," and his health began to improve, and after a few months he resumed his preaching.
By a vote of the Society, in June, 1783, Mr. Mills was hired to preach. No length of time is specified, but the probability is that he preached three or four months. At the next annual meeting of the Society Mr. Gillet's salary was made "the same as other years ;" and while they paid two ministers, the Society received more than double benefit, for more members were added than during the five years preceding, and the church was greatly quickened, and the minister much encouraged in his work.
Previous to this revival there had been some things to discourage the minister and the church, and the commu- nity felt these influences more, even, than the church and minister. Deacon Isaac Bronson, speaking of the effort which Mr. Gillet made, in connection with the preaching of Mr. Mills, says : " A serious attention began to take place, which Mr. Gillet perceiving, was greatly animated himself, and brought many good preachers here, and went round to every house to visit his people, and alarm them from that stupidity which for a long time had grossly overspread the Society."
During the ten years since the organization of the church, there had been several cases of church discipline which caused much trouble, and as is usual, much dead- ness in church interests. The first case arose in June, 1774, peculiar in itself, because it related somewhat to the civil courts. It caused considerable difference of opinion, and some personal feeling, and in regard to it the church voted twice to call a council ; but they finally settled it among themselves by making "null and void all the votes that had been passed in regard to it," and likewise voted " to banish all differences which had been entertained, one towards another, and conduct them- selves as forgiving Christian brethren."
In 1779, another difficulty arose, and continued till the autumn of 1781, when a council rendered its decision, and
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HISTORY OF WOLCOTT.
the church "voted to consent to the doings and advice of the Ecclesiastical Council," and "that all matters of past altercation, complain't, and uneasiness shall be laid aside ; and that the pastor and the church shall not re- ceive any manner of complaint whatsoever from any per- son for anything that has been matter of complaint before the Council." But a further difficulty grew out of this same case, about one year after the above settlement, and caused some further feeling and dissatisfaction to- wards the minister and among the members of the church.
These troubles, doubtless, affected the sensitive mind of the pastor, and may have had much weight in dis- couraging him, and bringing him to that state of health in which he was not able to preach. Hence, when the signs of revival appeared among the people in 1783, it was the morning of a new life to pastor and people, and was, in effect, like the passing away of a very cold win- ter, and the coming of April showers ; all things began to spring into life and activity. The church had been overcome and trodden down by the spirit of the world. The revival was like the return of the captives from Babylon after seventy years. Jerusalem was all astir, and the walls of the city and of the temple began to rise from the dust and ruins with marvelous rapidity, and promise of final completion.
RESULTS.
Several things resulted from this revival worthy of no- tice. They proceeded to " improve the Meeting house." Hitherto the Meeting house had no stationary seats or pews. Their place was supplied with seats from various sources,-among others, some provided chairs for themselves. There is now in the possession of Mrs. Henry Carter a chair that was used by some of her ances- tors for this purpose.
The gallery had no floor or seats in it, and there had been no plastering or ceiling done in the house. In Decem-
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DURING MR. GILLET'S MINISTRY.
ber, 1783, the Society appointed " Lieut. Joseph Beecher, Deacon Josiah Rogers, Capt. Daniel Alcox, Capt. Samuel Upson, Esquire Stephen Barnes, Mr. Amos Seward, and Daniel Byington, a committee to settle the Meeting house accounts." These accounts had never been fully settled since the building of the Meeting house. There does not appear to have been debts of any great amount, but there was some trouble in adjusting these accounts among the different parties interested. This committee did not succeed in this matter, and in the spring (May 4, 1784), they appointed another committee, " with power to settle them according to their best judgment." This committee was the same as the former, except Mr. Simeon Hopkins in place of Deacon Rogers. At this meeting in May they " voted that we should do something to the Meeting house." "Voted that the joiner work to the low- er part of the house should be done, and the front seats in the gallery, if there should be stuff enough." At the same meeting, Mr. David Norton, Capt. Nathaniel Lewis, and Lieut. Charles Upson were chosen a Meeting house com- mittee. "Voted that the lower part of said Meeting house be ceiled up to the windows, and be made into pews, and the work to be done decent and plain. Voted to lay a rate of four pence (which was afterwards made to five pence) on the pound, to be laid on the list of 1783, to be paid by the first of October next, in wheat, rye, or Indian corn." At the same meeting Heman Hall and Nathan Stevens were chosen to collect said rate. This tax, with a one-penny addition laid on the list of 1784, to be paid the first of October, 1785, was, doubtless, for these expenses on the Meeting house.
Since writing the above a paper has been presented me by Mr. Silas B. Terry, of Waterbury, which was the order of the court for the collection of the tax for repairing the Meeting house. The list of assessments is not to be found, but reference to a town tax list in the history of the town, elsewhere in this volume, will give some idea of the
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HISTORY OF WOLCOTT.
tax to repair the Meeting house, only the Meeting house tax is double that of the town tax referred to.
THE ORDER OF THE COURT.
To Isaac Barnes, Collector of Society rate for the purpose of doing something to the Meeting house of the Parish of Farming- bury, in Waterbury, in New Haven County, greeting :
By virtue of the authority of the State of Connecticut, you are hereby commanded forthwith to levy and collect of the persons named 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 the said Society of Farmingbury, regularly assembled on the 24th day of September, 1784, to defray the charge that shall arise in prose- cuting the above said purpose, and pay or deliver such sum or sums which you shall so levy and collect unto the Society's treas- urer for the time being of the said Society of Farmingbury, at or before the first day of October next ensuing the date hereof.
And if any person or persons shall neglect or refuse to make payment of the sum or sums whereof he or they are 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 surplus, if any be, unto the owner or owners ; and for want of such goods and chattels whereon to make distress, you are to take the body or bodies of such person or persons refusing, and him or them commit unto the keeper of the gaol of said county, within the said prison, who is hereby commanded to receive and safely keep him or them until he or they pay and satisfy the said sum assessed upon him or them as aforesaid, together with your fees ; unless the said assessment, or any part thereof, upon application made to the county court shall be abated, or otherwise as the law directs.
Dated at Waterbury, this 24th day of September, A. D., 1784.
JONATHAN BALDWIN, Justice of the Peace.
When the Meeting house was thus improved by pews, it became quite a serious matter how and where the peo- ple should sit. On September 24th, 1784, "voted to have the front seats done in the gallery." "Voted that Capt.
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DURING MR. GILLET'S MINISTRY.
Samuel Upson, Capt. Nathaniel Lewis, Judah Frisbie, Simeon Hopkins, and Daniel Peck, be a committee to Dignify the Meeting house." "Voted to seat the Meet- ing house by age." "Voted to have men and women sit together." At the same meeting Daniel Norton, Mark Harrison, Daniel Byington, Jacob Carter, Capt. Daniel Alcox were chosen a committee to seat the Meeting house. One month after this meeting they met again and made further efforts to seat the Meeting house. "Voted to give the pew by the pulpit. stairs to Mr. Gil- let during the pleasure of the Society." " Voted to recon- sider the vote that was taken to seat the Meeting house by age ; and voted to seat the Meeting house by age and by list, allowing eight pounds to a year." "Voted that each man have one head, and only one, to be seated on." "Voted to have the aged widows seated in the first pew east of the pulpit." "Voted that Capt. Daniel Alcox, Daniel Byington, Jacob Carter, David Norton, and Ensign Streat Richards, and Simeon Hopkins, and Mr. Joseph Parker be a committee to seat the Meeting house as above." Two weeks after they met again, and voted that the seating of the Meeting house in regard to the money list, should be on the list of 1772. That is, if on that list a man paid taxes on forty pounds, he should have double honor in the church, compared with a man forty years old without any list. Also, at this adjourned meeting, they " voted to have a pew built over the stairs for the niggers." The seats made at this time in the gallery, were a row of "front seats," and some years after this, there were box pews made in the rear of these seats. The pews below were old-fashioned box or square pews. The pulpit stood on the north side of the church, opposite the front door, with a double window in the rear above it ; and there was a door in each end of the church, east and west. The pulpit was very high, as was the cus- tom in those days, and beneath it, and perhaps extending a little in front, were the seats for the deacons, and those
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HISTORY OF WOLCOTT.
important officers who noted the absentees from church, and especially those absent from the preparatory lecture and the Lord's Supper. The house thus arranged and well filled, as it probably was at this time, was well calcu- lated to animate the speaker and secure the sympathy and attention of the audience. The pulpit was high, but so were the galleries on the three sides. The pulpit stood on the side of the house,-a great advantage over its being at the end, according to a more recent style.
This was as far as the Society could go at this time, and though the house was far from being furnished, it was a great improvement on the first ten years of its exist- ence and use. The Society had some difficulty in paying for these improvements and settling the old accounts, for in November, 1785, they appointed another commit- tee " to settle the old accounts in building the Meeting house."
Another interest arose from the improvements in the Meeting house. It was respecting the singing, and the singers. Soon after the house improvements were made, -that is, in November, 1784, at the annual meeting, they appointed three choristers, as they had been accustomed for several years, and voted that "the singers should have the front seats, if they chose to sit there." That is, probably, the front seats in the gallery.
The next April, at a Society meeting, they voted, that "it is our mind to have more help respecting setting the psalm," for by vote the church had decided to use Watts' Psalms in public worship. They also voted that the "singers should have liberty to choose their own leaders ;" and then, frightened at this innovation, immedi- ately reconsidered the vote and adjourned the meeting two weeks.
When they came together at the appointed time, they were over their fright, and more venturesome than before, and voted that " we will leave it with the singers to carry on singing as they think best, during the pleasure of the
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DURING MR. GILLET'S MINISTRY.
Society." The Society had from the first taken special interest in singing, from the fact that they had, for a new farming community, a marvelous number of singers. Almost everybody could sing ; and this heavenly talent is well continued unto the present day. The following list of choristers, chosen previous to 1785, will show somewhat the musical talent of the community; and several of them were not only singers, but musicians and poets :
I770.
Jacob Carter, Levi Bronson, Jared Harrison, Stephen Barnes, and David Alcox.
I771.
Samuel Upson, Levi Bronson, Jared Harrison, Jacob Carter, Samuel Harrison, Cyrus Norton.
1772.
Samuel Harrison, Jacob Carter, Cyrus Norton. And for bass singers, Mark Harrison, Samuel Atkins, Daniel Finch, and Jared Harrison.
1776.
Stephen Barnes, Samuel Harrison, Cyrus Norton, Mark Harri- son, David Harrison, Ziba Norton.
1778.
Zaccheus Gillet.
1781.
Samuel Harrison, Cyrus Norton, Nathan Gillet.
1784.
Cyrus Norton, Isaac Carter, Nathan Gillet.
1785.
Samuel Harrison, Cyrus Norton, Isaac Carter, Mark Harrison, Dr. Potter, Jacob Carter, David Harrison, Ozias Norton, Joseph M. Parker, Joseph Miner, Jonathan Carter, Noah Norton, Elijah Horton. Thirteen.
This last array of choristers would frighten modern choirs, though many churches would be very glad to see the fright. Some persons now living in Wolcott remem- ber having seen the front seats in the gallery of the old
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HISTORY OF WOLCOTT.
church on three sides nearly filled with singers, and with them the congregation joined in the singing. This was during Mr. Keys' ministry.
In 1787, the Society appointed " a committee to draw up a subscription for the encouraging of singing," consist- ing of Streat Richards, Mark Harrison, Cyrus .Norton, Charles Upson, and Isaac Carter ; and some years after they "laid a tax" for the same purpose. Such were some of the substantial and joyous results of one revival.
There came into the church at this time men who for many years were its leading members : among the more prominent of whom were Justus Peck, afterwards deacon, whose wife was one of the first members of the church ; Charles Upson, afterwards justice of the peace in the town, and for quite a number of years an active man in the church and Society, Jacob Carter, Samuel Byington, Samuel Atkins, and Mark Harrison, afterwards justice of the peace, all active and reliable men for years, and some of them, many years. Isaac Bronson, though converted at the same time, did not unite with the church till 1788, and was afterwards made deacon and served the church and Society many years, in many offices. He also served the town in various offices, being elected Town Clerk and Treasurer, when the town was organized, and afterwards was Representative in the Assembly for many years.
There were also gathered into the church at this time a number of noble women who strengthened the church and did their part in the Redeemer's kingdom. Judah Frisbie was one of the formers and first members of the church ; his wife was now also led into the fold, and the household was one in the church. 3
Wealthy, wife of Charles Upson ; Phebe, wife of Samuel Harrison ; Mary Carter, wife of Jacob; Jerusha Norton, wife of Cyrus ; Es- ther Atkins, wife of Samuel ; and a number of others equally noted for their honorable lives, as Christian women.
It should be borne in mind that this revival occurred in
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DURING MR. GILLET'S MINISTRY.
the year, and soon after the Declaration of Peace, and the acknowledgment of the Independence of the United Colonies in America. Mr. Gillet had not been settled three years when the war " broke out." He and his little band had held on their way courageously, considering the " trouble" of those years of sore conflict, privations, and fears. A number of his fellow citizens and parishioners " went to the war ;" some had returned, some never would return to the homes they had left. When the war began, Southington Mountain, lying just within the eastern boundary of Farmingbury, was the most flourishing dis- trict in the parish. The line of the mountain runs north and south ; and a road was constructed on the ridge or highest part of it, nearly the whole length, some two miles or more. Along this road were settled some of the most thrifty farmers in the parish, on some of the most beautifully located land, and most easy of cultivation, in the township.
It is said that the war made such desolation in these families, that those who were left began to move into other parts ; and the emigration continued untill a few years since, when the last inhabitant had fled. This whole district is now grown up into woods and bushes, except a few fields near the only remaining skeleton of a house, where stands, as a lonely sentinel, the "sweep" over the well; the "old oaken bucket" having gone to the depths of the well many years ago.
The Revolution began this work of desolation with a strong hand, and now the end is fully come. Legends of the Revolution are still told, but they are thrown far into the shade by the sorrows of war in our own day. There is a family now in the parish whose grandfather was captain under Washington in Boston and on Long Island, and was in the battle which secured the surrender of General Burgoyne and his army, in 1777; but the re- membrance of their only son and brother, who died in 5
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