USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > New Haven, a book recording the varied activities of the author in his efforts over many years to promote the welfare of the city of his adoption since 1883, together with some researches into its storied past and many illustrations > Part 30
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The permanent building will, of course, be fireproof in its character, and contain a special room devoted to memorials of Mr. Mitchell and his literary contemporaries, so as to form in a sense a picture of his literary period and record of its activities.
I do not know that they are in existence, but if so, it would be interesting to have Mr. Mitchell's plans for East Rock Park placed in the memorial room at Westville, whenever a perma- nent building is erected there. It is not generally known that we are largely indebted to Mr. Mitchell for the present beauti- ful and satisfactory plan for the development of East Rock Park, his services having been secured for that work by Mr. William W. Farnam, then a member, and now the President of the New Haven Park Commission.
GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUR.
XXXIII.
A PLEA FOR PRINTING THE RECORDS OF CENTER CHURCH.
(Reprinted from the New Haven Journal-Courier of June 24, 1913.)
The following communication regarding the dispute over the use of the Center Church records speaks for itself :
To The Journal-Courier :
' An antiquarian all my life, I have been greatly interested in the recent communications to The Journal-Courier, of Mr. Donald Lines Jacobus, the genealogical expert, and of Dr. Oscar E. Maurer, the minister of the First Church, on the sub- ject of the ancient records of the church, constituting a body of historical and genealogical material of the highest interest and of incalculable value.
The old church records of Connecticut are an integral part of the vital statistics of Connecticut, and are all the more valuable, since from about 1750 to 1850 the vital statistics kept by the town authorities of the state, are so incomplete and inadequate that recourse must often be had to church records to supply omissions and deficiencies.
What is true of the church records and of the town records of the state at large, is true of the records of the First Church and of the town records of New Haven. I therefore quite agree with Mr. Jacobus in viewing the Center Church records as to all intents and purposes public records. I also agree with Dr. Maurer in the view that the records should be carefully safeguarded, and that, under the present circumstances, it is proper to charge a fee for their examination, proportioned to the amount of time the attendant must spend.
Some persons may think it unnecessary to have any one present every moment during an examination of old records. It does not speak well for human nature, but town and church
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records have been so frequently altered, mutilated, and even stolen, that the precaution of an attendant is necessary. I would even take a precautionary step beyond anything recom- mended by Dr. Maurer, and refuse permission for the exam- ination of the old records of the First Church, to anyone not properly vouched for or known to be skillful in reading early handwriting, and deft and scrupulously careful in handling old books and documents. Anyone not accustomed to work of this sort, does not realize that the earliest of our colonial records are written in seventeenth century script, which it requires training and almost special aptitude to read; that they contain many abbreviations which are meaningless except to an expert, and that they are written on paper that has now become so brittle that it has to be handled with the utmost care.
The fact is that the interest in family history growing out of the formation, since the Centennial Exposition in 1876 in Philadelphia, of many patriotic societies, has placed a great tax upon our early records, and that they are in danger of being actually worn out from over use, especially from being handled by persons who are clumsy, careless, or do not fully realize their value. It is clear, also, that as time goes on and the interest in these subjects increases, as it is bound to do, the records of the Center Church and of all other New England churches are bound to attract more and more attention. If "All roads lead to Rome," as the old saying is, it is true as to the United States, that most roads in our parallel of latitude lead back to New England. If we could have all of the lines leading from New Haven and Center Church visualized, we should have such a network as would astonish us.
Now the answer to all this is, and I am surprised that neither Dr. Maurer nor Mr. Jacobus has suggested it, that the records of the First Church from 1638 down, let us say to 1850, should be printed. I understand that the late Mr. Henry White copied them down to 1800, and that this copy is available for exam- ination in the offices of White Brothers on Center Street; but,
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of course, few people can consult that copy. What should be done, as I venture to suggest, is to have the copy made by Mr. White continued to 1850, and this extended copy set up in type and then compared with the original records by a compe- tent expert, and the entire record printed on linen paper made especially for such purposes and bound to outlast the pulp papers on which most of our current books are printed. The original documents should then be placed in a special safe or vault, and their examination made subject to the approval of a committee of the church, and permitted, never to gratify curiosity, but only to settle questions of dispute, which would rarely arise, provided the work of transcribing, comparing, proofreading and printing be thoroughly done. Considering the great traditions of Center Church and the number of noted American families that have been connected with it, such a work would be an historic monument of the greatest value, libraries all over the country from Maine to California would be obliged to have it upon their shelves, and the hearts of the "town born" would swell with pride and rejoicing.
Here is an opportunity for some member of Center Church, or interested citizen, to perform a distinct service for New Haven, and to make a valuable historical and genealogical con- tribution to our literature by underwriting this undertaking.
Many of the town and church records of Connecticut have already been printed and other work of the same character is projected or in progress. I venture to suggest that the celebra- tion which the First Church is to hold this fall, commemora- tive of the 275th anniversary of its foundation, could not be signalized in a better or more enduring form than by the com- pletion of arrangements for the publication of these invaluable records. I might add that probably there is no one in the state more competent to conduct the genealogical side of the work than Mr. Jacobus, who has a wide familiarity with generations of the old New Haven families, is an expert in reading seven- teenth century handwriting, and has a proper appreciation of the value of the records themselves. I would make the same
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recommendation as to the town records of New Haven. Any- one who has seen and examined them, realizes how frail and perishable they are, and how imperative it is for their preser- vation that they should be transcribed by an expert and printed.
To show how far New Haven is behind in these matters, I call attention to the following list of Connecticut records that have been separately printed and published :
Bolton and Vernon Town Records to 1854.
East Hampton Church Records to 1900.
Extracts from Colchester Records.
Coventry Town and Church Vital Records to 1844.
Derby Town Records 1655-1710, and Church Records 1736- 1784.
Durham Town and Church Vital Records 1710-1840.
East Granby Society Records 1737-1791; Church Records 1776-1858; School Records 1796-1855.
Enfield Records of all kinds to 1850-a magnificent work in three volumes which has never been equalled in this country.
Fairfield Church Records 1694-1806.
Haddam Church Records to 1899.
Hartford First Church, Second Church and Christ Church Records from the beginning to 1885; Town Votes 1635-1716, Distribution of Land in 1639.
New London First Church Baptisms 1670-1821.
Preston Church Records 1698-1897.
Oxford Church Records 1754-1814.
Sharon Vital Records 1721-1879.
Simsbury Town Vital Records 1670-1830; First Church Records 1697-1710; St. Andrews Church Records 1763-1800.
Stonington Church Records 1674-1874.
Suffield Town Votes, 1671-1749.
Waterbury Proprietors Records 1677-1761.
In addition to the above, seven small volumes of marriages previous to 1800, taken from the records of various churches, have been published, and a number of early church records
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have been printed in various historical magazines. The list might be extended and made complete, if that were necessary, but a complete list forms no part of our present purpose. I am indebted for the above list of publications, to Mr. Albert C. Bates of the Connecticut Historical Society. Mr. Bates, who is one of the best known antiquarians in New England, and has had much experience in these matters, expresses the belief that the sales of the Center Church Records, if carefully tran- scribed and printed, would defray the cost.
In closing, I repeat my suggestion that the Center Church Records from 1638 to 1850 (at least) be transcribed, edited and printed to commemorate the 275th anniversary, occurring this year, of the founding of New Haven and the "gathering" of the First Church.
GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUR.
New Haven, June 14, 1913.
NOTE: In the year following the publication of the above article, an "Historical Catalogue of the Members of the First Church of Christ in New Haven, Connecticut, A. D. 1639-1914" was published. In 1917 "New Haven Town Records 1649-1662," (Vol. I.) was published, followed in 1919 by "New Haven Town Records 1662-1684" (Vol. II). These three books were compiled and edited by the late Franklin B. Dexter. Center Church records, barring the catalogue of the members of the church, remain unprinted, though they have been transcribed and type written, and are accessible to the public in that form.
G. D. S., 1921.
NOTE 2: It is understood that Mr. Jacobus's "New Haven Genealogical Magazine" will eventually include the births, marriages and deaths recorded in the Center Church Register, complete to 1800.
G. D. S., July, 1922.
XXXIV.
A PLEA FOR SCALE DRAWINGS OF OLD CON- NECTICUT CHURCH AND DWELLING HOUSES: EXCERPTS FROM AN ADDRESS BEFORE THE CONNECTICUT SOCIETY OF COLONIAL DAMES, DELIVERED AT NEW HAVEN, DEC. 1, 1915, AT HOME OF MRS. ELFORD PARRY TROWBRIDGE.
(Reprinted from New Haven Evening Register of December 7, 1915.)
My interest in the work of the Old House Committee of the Connecticut Society of Colonial Dames of America is so great as in some degree to disqualify me as a witness, but all the same I am going to say that, in my opinion, the work of this committee is likely in the long run to constitute a most valuable contribution of the society to our knowledge of the social, artistic and economic history of our Colonial forbears, whose lives are inseparably connected with the old houses scattered throughout the state, but diminishing in number every year. It has long been the impression that the records secured by photography were ample. Such is not the case, since photog- raphy distorts rather than measures. Even the best of photo- graphs of an old house does not furnish a record from which accurately measured drawings can be obtained. Photographs have, indeed, their proper place, and cannot be dispensed with, but the scientific student of architecture must have measured drawings. Hence the distinct contribution made to the archi- tectural history of the Colonial period by the large body of scale drawings which have been made during the past summer and fall by Mr. Kelly, whose interest and experience admirably qualify him for the work. Sometime I hope that all of the papers may be restudied with respect to their attributions of dates of the old houses. There it is not safe to rely upon
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tradition. Old deeds and probate records, and particularly old tax lists will often supply data not otherwise determinable with accuracy.
It would be a pity for your committee to stop here; there are so many houses yet to be studied. Mrs. Trowbridge, your energetic chairman, has asked for some further suggestions. I would like to see a completer set of measured drawings made of representative houses, say, one in each county, since on account of the great number of studies made, no one book contains more than drawings of details of the house recorded. I would also like to have your committee take up some of the more important churches, particularly the rural churches, such as the church of Farmington with its incomparable spire, the most beautiful rural spire in New England, according to Professor Hamlin; and such as the very beautiful Congrega- tional churches in Norfolk and Moodus, the former for its tower, and the latter for its interior, and the superb early wrought iron strap-hinges and the massive latch-plates on its front doors.
To round out the record and present a completer picture of Colonial life, I hope you will sometime decide to enrich the collection with scale drawings of representative pieces of furniture. There again, photographs, while attractive, are of little use to the student, particularly if he is a cabinet maker. All of the truly scientific books on furniture give measure- ments. Photographs of old woven fabrics of strictly domestic manufacture are also important. The late Mr. George M. Curtiss, of Meriden, catalogued the Connecticut silversmiths.
Your society may wish some time to take up the study of the Connecticut potteries of West Hartford and Norwich, whose products, never as fine as those of Bennington, are now attracting attention. The Metropolitan Museum is beginning to collect American pottery. The Connecticut Historical soci- ety also has a fine collection, but no special study has been made, that I am familiar with, of Connecticut potteries. Then there is the first of old glass which was produced in Willing-
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ton, in Manchester, in South Coventry and I dare say in other localities. Here is also opportunity for investigation.
I cannot close without inviting your particular attention to the Glebe House in Woodbury in which Bishop Seabury, the first bishop of Connecticut, and the first American bishop, was elected to go abroad for consecration. This building though long the property of the diocese of Connecticut has been neglected and is in a state of discreditable repair. Repeated efforts have been made to interest the public in it, but so far without success. If your committee should take the matter up, I am sure that a blot on the escutcheon of the state would speedily be removed.
NOTE: The compiler has, for many years, bombarded the "Seats of the Mighty" (Diocesan), in an effort to have the Glebe House redeemed from its neglect and disrepair, and a responsible care-taker put in charge of it. A gambrel roof house of the central-chimney type, built about 1750, it became, a few years later, the rectory of the Rev'd John Rutgers Marshall, the virtual founder of St. Paul's Church in Woodbury. In a secret closet in this house he escaped the vengeance of his near neighbors, who dragged him from his pulpit and beat him for his Toryism. In one of its panelled chambers, the leading Church of England clergy of Connecticut secretly met late in March, 1783, and chose Dr. Jeremiah Leaming (Yale 1745), with Dr. Samuel Seabury (Yale 1748) as an alternate, to go to England for Episcopal consecration. Dr. Leaming declined on account of age and infirmi- ties, and Seabury, a native of Groton, Connecticut, a man of high character and great ability, sailed in June for England, where for political reasons the English bishops refused to consecrate him. Bishop Kilgore, of Aberdeen (Primus Scotius Episcopus), had more courage, however, and on November 14, 1784, Seabury was consecrated Bishop by him, assisted by the Bishop of Ross and Moray and the Bishop Coadjutor of Aberdeen. The following June Seabury, now a Bishop, returned to Connecticut, and attended the Yale Commencement Exercises of that year, but no place was found for the Primate by President Stiles in the seats reserved for distinguished guests. Nearly a hundred and twenty-five years later, however, he entered the Yale Dining Hall with his mitre over his head.
To students of early American architecture, the Glebe House is an invalu- able document which should be preserved. By all churchmen in this country, it may well be viewed as a shrine. "America has none too many historic places, and if this cradle of the American Church, as an independent organi- zation, is lost through the neglect of those who should take pride in its preservation, it will be a needless and lasting disgrace." (The Living Church, November 23, 1912.)
XXXV.
A CHURCH BELL BROUGHT HOME FROM THE PHILIPPINES HUNG IN THE BELFRY OF ST. PAUL'S CHURCH.
(I insert the following, in order to preserve some record of the old bell, forming, as it does, an interesting souvenir of our "far-flung" Island possessions. )
One pleasant evening in August, 1908, the Rev. James Dewolf Perry, then minister of St. Paul's Church, New Haven,-now the Bishop of Rhode Island,-showed me plans by Mr. Goodhue, of the firm of Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson, for the proposed re-building of the chapel of St. Paul's Church. The blue-prints spread out before us showed a small belfry, upon which I commented. Mr. Perry then said, "St. Paul's Church has never had a bell, and I am determined that it shall have one now, even though it be a bell small enough for such a little belfry." I replied, "St. Paul's already has a bell." "What do you mean by that?" he said. "I mean that I have just presented you with a bell for St. Paul's Church." I then went on to explain that during a trip around the world in the fall and winter of 1901-1902, with Mr. Gifford Pinchot, I made an excursion with him to a military post in the northern end of the Island of Luzon. Our troops were quartered in an old monastery, through which I was shown by one of the soldiers. Among the military stores, I espied a small bell on the floor, which he said he had "swiped," if I may use that expression, in the capture and burning of a native village in the neighborhood, some time before our visit. I have for- gotten the name of the village now, but recalled reading about the incident at the time. The bell soon changed hands for a few pesos, and thereafter it traveled with me all over the Philippine Archipelago and to Borneo, Formosa, Japan, and home via Honolulu. Arrived home, the bell was hung up for
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a time in the apartment I then occupied on Humphrey Street with Professor Graves, then and now again Dean of the Yale School of Forestry. When I removed, a little later to the Via Salci, the bell was relegated to the garret, where it was when I gave it to Mr. Perry, who came for it in a cab the next day after our talk, as I well remember.
The cross above the crown cast into the bell has its own significance. The bell, which bears the marks of long service, is so beautiful in the quality of its tone that I have always thought that considerable silver must have been thrown into the melting-pot when it was cast by some Malay founder, for the Malays, as well as the Chinese, are, as Sir Purdon Clarke once told me, great experts in the art of casting. As long as the relic was in my possession, I never sounded it without a picture rising before my eyes of that far-away Philippine vil- lage where I found it, and another picture-purely imaginary, of course-of a burning nipa-thatched church and a distracted padre consigning the Americanos to hotter fires than those that reduced his church to ashes.
NOTE : A Connecticut "horn-blower" (the writer has been so called) is proud to claim as a native of Connecticut, Mr. Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue (Fellow A.I.A .; A.N.A.), born at Pomfret, Connecticut, April 28, 1869, and connected with the ancient and honorable family of Grosvenors of that locality. New Haven may also claim Mr. Goodhue as one of her sons, since he began his education here in General Russell's Collegiate and Com- mercial Institute, a famous school in its day, located on the east side of the lower Green. Mr. Goodhue has built many notable designs which place him in the front rank of living architects. "Connecticut may well be proud of him," as Cotton Mather would say.
CONNECTICUT .*
"And still her gray rocks tower above the sea That crouches at their feet, a conquered wave; 'T is a rough land of earth, and stone, and tree, Where breathes no castled lord or cabined slave; Where thoughts, and tongues, and hands, are bold and free, And friends will find a welcome, foes a grave;
'And where none kneel, save when to HEAVEN they pray,
Nor even then, unless in their own way."
Fitz-Green Halleck; 1790-1867.
* Halleck wrote this characteristic poem in Guilford "in an ancient house built in 1786 on ground formerly belonging to the Shelleys, ancestors of Percy Bysshe Shelley." See Appleton's Cyclopedia of Am. Biog., Vol. 3, P. 47.
XXXVI.
FORT HALE PARK, 1921.
FOREWORD: The Congress having authorized the Secretary of War to dispose of Federal reservations no longer useful for defensive purposes, it was reported to me that certain interests were in correspondence with the War Department regarding the purchase of the Fort Hale reservation on the East shore of New Haven harbor, with the intention of buying it and converting it into an amusement park. Fear- ful that while we were resting in fancied security, such a sale might take place, I acted on my personal responsibility and in June 1921 asked our Congressman, the Hon. John Q. Tilson, to introduce a bill into Congress, authorizing the Sec- retary of War to transfer the title to the reservation to the State of Connecticut or the City of New Haven, agreeing at this time, to provide speakers when the bill came to a hear- ing before the Committee on Military Affairs of the House. Mr. Tilson promptly introduced House Bill 8749, and later, also at my request H. R. 9778, which latter provided for the transfer of the small Federal reservation known as "Light- house Point" to the City, this reservation having been a feature of the City Improvement Plan of Messrs. Cass Gilbert and Frederick Law Olmstead, begun in 1907, the subject of the first paper in this volume. These two bills came on for hearing January 19, 1922. At the time H. R. 8749 was introduced, I interested Former President Taft and Colonel Isaac M. Ullman in my project, bespeaking their presence at the hearing. Before the hearing came on, Mr. Taft having been appointed Chief Justice, it was doubted if he would break a precedent and appear before a Congressional committee. His affection for New Haven and his interest in Nathan Hale were so great, however, that he appeared and spoke on behalf of the bills. Colonel Ullman, on account of a serious illness in his family, was not present. The other speakers were :
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Edward S. Nettleton, City Engineer ;
Gustav H. Amrhyn, General Superintendent of Public Parks ;
Mrs. George Maynard Miner, President General of the
National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution ; Mrs. Franklin K. Knous, representing the Eve Lear Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution;
Hon. Albert McClelland Mathewson, representing the Sons of the American Revolution;
Albert Widmann, the leasee of "Lighthouse Point"; and the writer.
An excerpt is made from Mr. Taft's brief remarks. The writer's address is believed to contain considerable historical data not to be found in print elsewhere.
STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. .
There is something connected with the larger park, the name of Nathan Hale, which makes it peculiarly appropriate that that park should be continued under that name. Nathan Hale was a Yale man and is a symbol of youthful patriotism and martyrdom. His name is very dear to New Haven and to Connecticut, as indeed it is to the entire country. Congress has not done much to honor his memory, and without in any degree reflecting upon some of the heroes to whom we have erected monuments, there is not one of them who is more deserving of honor than Nathan Hale, because he gave his life for his country, and gave it willingly, and at a time when life seemed most dear to him.
Therefore, I think it would be too bad to sell this park in order to get a few dollars into the National Treasury, and either take away the memorial to Hale or attach his name to a dancing show.
The CHAIRMAN. (Hon Julius Kahn of San Francisco, Chairman of the House Committee on Military Affairs.) Mr. Chief Justice, in San Fran- cisco where I live I advised the school board about three years ago that they ought to place on the blackboard of every room in every school in that city the words of Nathan Hale "I regret that I have only one life to lose for my country." [Applause.] That is how much the chairman of this com- mittee thinks of Nathan Hale.
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