USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Fairfield > Prime ancient society of Fairfield, Connecticut, 1639-1889; an historical paper > Part 2
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It is not strange that the feeling was strong in respect to the wiles of so-called witches. The Home-country shows a
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tragical record. It is asserted on good authority that pre- vious to the year 1692 thirty thousand people were executed on the charge of witchcraft in England, seventy-five thousand in France, and one hundred thousand in Germany. New Eng- land experiences the same delusion. But the better sentiment of this parish prevailed in 1692, so that the trials here at this time did not end in death. In the third year of Mr. Webb's pastorate, (1695), liberty to perform the marriage ceremony is granted the clergy. Although the clergy did not conduct any religious service on the burial of the dead it was permitted them to hold memorial services on the Sabbath. For the descendants of Major Gold have the small, compact, cursive manuscript of two discourses that "were occasioned by the death of Major Nathan Gold." We quote from the title of the discourses, "One of the Pious and Worthy Magistrates of Connecticut Colony, who deceased at his own house in Fairfield the 4th of March, 1693-4." The text is 2nd Kings iii., 14. The first sermon, preached in the morning, elaborates what is termed the first doctrine, namely, "That pious men of public use and place must die as well as others." The second sermon, preached after the noon intermission, elaborates what is termed the second doctrine, namely, "That pious and holy men especially those in public capacity are the fathers, the glory, the strength of a people among whom they live." In 1699 liberties were granted to the village of Fairfield, by the General Court, "to make choice annually of two or three persons, who shall have power to order meetings of the Society; to order their min- ister's rates and what concerns may be needful about their meeting-house " This seems to have been the germ of what is now termed the Society's committee.
The Seventeenth century closes as Mr. Webb joins with nine other ministers of Connecticut in founding Yale College. Fragments of a journal kept by Mr. Webb at this time give significant views of Fairfield life. Three slight shocks of earthquake are recorded, and such attention is paid to the narration of natural phenomena that we suppose Mr. Webb to have been a keen observer and a careful reader in science.
The churches of the Colony had been organized on a basis of independency. The clergy and the laity that emigrated
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from England to this place were many of them members of the Church of England. But when it came to the question of ecclesiastical organization independency was the unanimous choice. Bald independency, however, did not suit them. The Presbyterianism of the Home-country and the Puritanism of the established church contributed to the new organization. The government finally appoved "a form of Congregational- ism mid-way between the Cambridge platform and Presbyte- rianism." "Consociations, or permanent councils composed of ministers and delegates were created within each of the dis- tricts into which the Colony was divided." This was the work assigned to Fairfield and the sister churches when the Eigh- teenth century dawned. It is difficult for us to realize the intensity of feeling that was manifested during the discussion of these ecclesiastical questions. Our forefathers made re- ligion the chief order of the day. The current problems had religious or ecclesiastical significance. Church and state were intimately related. Various meetings, or convocations were held for the free consideration of these matters. Fairfield clergy and laity took active part in the shaping of the ecclesi- astical law. In 1709, the year following the forth-putting of the Saybrook Platform, five Consociations were formed in Connecticut. The Rev. Joseph Webb, Deacon John Thomp- son, and Samuel Cobbet, Esq., were the delegates from Fair- field church to the Stratfield meeting of March 9, 1709, when the Fairfield Consociation was organized. Township and church or parish were co-terminous at the first. Congrega- tionalism was the state church. As parishes prospered they were divided. Taxes for the support of the parish church were levied after the method common to civil taxation. From the first code of Connecticut, in 1650, to the adoption of the new Constitution in 1818, the state supported the church. Consociation was a compromise. It was a movement in the direction of separation between church and state. Whereas, formerly, churches were continually making appeal to Court or Legislature for the settlement of difficult questions, it was now ordered that such matters should come before Consocia- tion. Fairfield was strenuous in its advocacy and support of the new system. As we shall see a generation later, the then
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pastor of this church contributed various papers to the eccle- siastical discussion.
Meanwhile certain changes were hastening to a conclusion in the Fairfield parish. In 1708 Bankside petitioned the Court that a new parish be made on the west of Fairfield. The mother parish did not favor the petition. Neither did the ministers of the Colony. In 1710 a second petition was pre- sented to the Court. The case was argued before the Assem- bly. In May, 1711, the petition was granted. There were two hundred and seventy persons in the new parish. They gave their first pastor the generous salary of seventy pounds sterling.
In 1713 the town granted "unto the first gospel minister that shall settle in Maximus or the West Parish in Fairfield, six acres of land in some convenient place within the parish of the town's common for a home-lot."
March 25, 1714. "The town Grants unto the first orthodox minister that shall settle in the West Parish of Fairfield, ten acres of land, which was lately purchased of the natives, on Clapboard Hill."
Such a secession lessened the pastoral labors of Mr. Webb, for he was obliged to drive eight miles to call upon some of his Bankside parishioners. Nevertheless the old pastor and the mother church were loth to part with these brethren. But scarcely had they adjusted themselves to this diminution of numbers when Greenfield presented a petition of like char- acter to the "Honorable General Assembly." Some seventy- five families join in this prayer for a new parish. "Not only ourselves are frequently obliged to be absent from divine wor- ship," says the petitioners, "but our poor children are under a kind of necessity of perishing for lack of vision." "The distance of the way, especially in bad weather, utterly incapac- itates many persons, old and young, to go to the house of God." This first appeal did not receive affirmative reply. A second appeal was successful. The new parish was formed in 1725. Again, the mother church graciously submitted to the inevitable and gave a share of its life and substance to the daughter church. This same year the Rev. Henry Canor, the first Episcopal missionary in the town began his ministry in Fairfield.
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Mr. Webb had been called to another church during the early part of his pastorate. But he was true to his charge and elected to remain with this people. Their generos- ity toward him was a noble tribute of their affection and loyalty. Grants of land and various gifts contributed to his comfortable maintenance. Although three daughter churches had taken with them large and important constituency the mother church continued prosperous and liberal.
We are told the method of conducting psalmody, while Mr. Webb was pastor, by a motion that was passed at church meet- ing, May 29, 1729: "Voted that the worshipful Mr. John Gold should set and read the psalm, and in case he be absent or indisposed, that his brother, Mr. Samuel Gold, should do it."
In 1732 Fairfield voted to sell the church and school lands and divide the proceeds of such sale among the three parishes, the mother parish to have one-half the proceeds, the other half to be divided between Green's Farms and Greenfield Hill. This same year the church invited the Rev. Noah Hobart to assist Mr. Webb in the performance of parish tasks. On the 19th of September Mr. Webb "fell on sleep." A strong per- sonality, devout, conservative, studious-he served his people and his Colony with unswerving and large minded fidelity. Some of his sermons preserved by our people witness to his marked intellectual force and spiritual character.
Mr. Hobart, a graduate of Harvard College, was called the ' month after Mr. Webb's decease, and installed by the Conso- ciation-the first pastor installed in Fairfield by Consociation -- on February 7, 1733. The parish had been well shepherded, and the formative work of the church was done. Nearly a century had elapsed since the settlement of the town. The community had a certain enviable aspect of antiquity as com- pared with other settlements. And Fairfield society was dis- tinguished for its intelligence, culture, wealth, merit. The work which came to this new pastor was compacted into smaller territory, but there was a healthy growth of popula- tion and the leading position of Fairfield among sister com- munities added to the responsibilities and eminence of the pastoral office. This was the period of controversy. The
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principles of Puritanism had lost their grip upon many of the people. The complicated relations of church and state needed disentanglement and explanation. It was soon after Mr. Hobart began his ministry in Fairfield that Jonathan Edwards preached those powerful sermons in Northampton which issued in the Great Awakening. Theological and ecclesiastical controversy was in the atmosphere. Edwards' discourses were masterful presentations of the theological questions which agitated the people. Mr. Hobart was an acute, vig- orous, logical controversialist. It was strong doctrine which he preached to his people. And he was not less forcible when he used the pen. The libraries contain several books and pamphlets which he gave to the literature of the day. In 1748 Mr. Hobart published a book entitled "A Serious Ad- dress to the Members of the Episcopal Separation in New England, Occasioned by Mr. Wetmore's Vindication." The author discusses the question: (1) Whether New Englanders ought to conform to the prelatic church. (2) Whether it be prudent for Congregationalists to go over to that communion. (3) Whether it be lawful. It is vigorous and satisfactory argument which Mr. Hobart publishes. And yet it did not altogether accomplish its purpose for Mr. Hobart writes an- other small book in continuation of the subject in the year 1751. It is entitled, "A Second Address." The Episcopal Separation in New England was gaining adherents. These peo- ยท ple had in mind the mistakes of their arbitrary and intolerant ancestors. These separatists recalled the fact that Congrega- tionalism was originally a protest against certain objection- able features of English church method and spirit. Liturgical worship did not have any necessary connection with Episcopal government. The Reformed and Calvanistic churches of Europe used liturgies. Knox himself prepared a liturgy for Scotland and Presbyterianism. Neither did Episcopacy have any necessary connection with Monarchy, although James I. had it as a favorite saying, "No bishop, no king." The Epis- copal Separation of Connecticut sought to persuade their breth- ren of the state Congregational church that a return to the Episcopal church was the happy cure for the evil tendencies of the day. The literature of the discussion is voluminous.
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Mr. Hobart combats the proposition. Meanwhile the princi- ples of Congregationalism were submitted to fresh assault and examination. And Mr. Hobart writes as a champion of Conso- ciated Congregationalism -a modified form of Presbyterianism. In 1759 he publishes a pamphlet relating to the constitution and authority of Ecclesiastical Councils. The book evokes erit- ieism and opposition, so that in 1761 he publishes a second address upon the subject, which is called a "Vindication" of the Principles. After the Great Awakening, Congregational- ism gradually waned in popularity. Governor Thomas Fitch printed anonymously, in 1765, an "Explanation" which vir- tually demolished the primitive Consociationism. But Mr. Hobart distrusted and disapproved such method. He there- fore publishes in 1765 a small book called "An Attempt to Illustrate and Confirm the Ecclesiastical Constitution of the Consociated churches in the Colony of Connecticut." Great evils prevailed through the land. But Mr. Hobart contends that the way to meet such evils "is not that of destroying our Constitution by explaining it in a sense contrary to the very design, and the most strong and determined expression of it ; but that of defending it by Scripture and Reason, and of act- ing in conformity to it with steadiness and yet with Prudence, Gentleness and Meekness." So the theological and ecclesias- tical conflict waged. The church in Fairfield was thoroughly indoctrinated in the faith and polity of the fathers. It ba- came the stronghold of orthodoxy. And as Fairfield was the county seat and the village was attractive to neighbor people, a large constituency was leavened by the ministry of Mr. Hobart and the spirit of the church. The meeting-house was too small to accommodate the people. It had not been kept in thorough repair. The community felt that it was inadequate to their needs. Some attempts were made to improve the old structure. But the impulse to build gathered strength so that in 1745 the third church edifice was reared. This was sixty feet long, forty-four feet broad, twenty-six feet high, with spire of one hundred and twenty feet. When Mr. Hobart was called into the better country he had served a pastorate of forty years in Fairfield. He had officiated at one thousand and ninety-three funerals; and nine hundred and thirteen bap-
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tisms are recorded during his ministry. Robust, energetic, industrious, efficient to the last week of his life he preached to his people twice on the Sabbath that preceded his death. The impression which he made upon this church and upon the whole Colony was strong, abiding, fruitful. His force- ful Christian manhood was wrought into the very form and substance of community life.
"He possessed high intellectual and moral distinction," says President Dwight, his contemporary. "He had a mind of great acuteness and discernment : was a laborious student : was ex- tensively learned, especially in History and Theology-adorned the doctrine which he professed by an exemplary life; and was holden in high veneration for his wisdom and virtue. Among the American writers of the last century, not one has, I believe, handled the subject of Presbyterian ordination with more ability or success."
When the Rev. Andrew Eliot came to Fairfield in the early summer of 1774, he entered cordially into the work as it had been shaped by his predecessors. But the times were change- ful and it became apparent to Mr. Eliot that life was taking another phase. The heroic age of the church was that first period of sixty years when our forefathers were passing through the discipline of privation, persecution, massacre. The controversial age in our church-life is noted through the pastorates of Mr. Webb and Mr. Hobart. The years of tested patriotism stretch through the pastorate of Mr. Eliot.
The signs of storm were already detected in the east. Mi. Eliot was a Boston man, and a graduate of Harvard College. The Bosten tea party communicated its impulse to the Fair- field pastor. He flamed with loyalty to the Colonies. And as Mr. Eliot was a man of force, magnetism, ability, the peo- ple responded heartily to his patriotic messages. Religion itself was deeply involved in the struggle that impended. For did the mother-country succeed in the chastisement of the daughter-country, it was probable that various changes would result in the civil and ecclesiastical administration of affairs. When the Declaration of Independence was made, July 4, 1776, the church and congregation were thoroughly alive to the importance of the occasion. The religious sentiment
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seemed to make natural expression of itself through devotion to country. With characteristic zeal and thoroughness the parish contributed supplies and soldiers, to the cause of lib- erty. At this time Fairfield stood seventh in taxable wealth. While in respect to dignity, intelligence, social worth, and community prestige, Fairfield was reckoned among the first. It was doubtless in view of these facts that the British razed the village to the ground in 1779.
The town records suggest the ferment and activity of the times. A coast guard was voted October 31, 1776: "Voted that there be a guard of twenty-six men to guard the town nightly and every night to be set in manner following, viz :
Four to patrol from Saugatuck River to Cable's Mill, and four to patrol from said Mill to Sasco River, and four from Sasco River to Mill River, and four from the Mill River to the Pine Creek, and six to patrol from Pine Creek to the Ash House Creek, so called, and in the Town Streets, and four at Stratfield.
Voted, That each of the guard have three shillings a night for their service.
Voted, The guard be taken out of the Prime Society, Green's Farms, Greenfield, and Stratfield.
Feb. 2, 1778. Town Meeting. Voted, That there be a guard of forty-two men enlisted to guard on the sea coasts at Stratfield, Mckenzie's point, Frost's point, and Compo: That six men mount guard at each of the above mentioned places every night at sunset and continue there until sunrise next morning. That each man have six shillings a night when in service. The Selectmen to enlist men for said guard and give them directions respecting their service.
Voted, That the Town desire that the alarm-post for the Militia to repair to in case of alarm be the places of parade in the first Society, and in Stratfield, and at Joseph Wake- man's in Green's Farms.
May 17, 1779. Town Meeting. Voted, That the Select- men prefer a memorial to the General Assembly requesting that the Guards at Green's Farms, under Lieut. Joseph Ben- nett, may be established on the same footing as those under Capt. Eliphalet Thorp.
Voted, That the Selectmen enlist such a number of men as
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they shall think fit to serve as Guard for the safety of the Town. That twenty mount guard every night as long as the selectmen shall judge it necessary. That each man who serves on said guard shall receive out of Town Treasury, for each night he serves, as a reward for his services, five Continental dollars.
July 1, 1779. Town Meeting. Voted, That the Selectmen of this Town be requested to order ten men in addition to the former guards, to mount guard each night at such place as they shall direct, and each man shall receive five dollars for his service.
Voted, That Thaddeus Burr, Jonathan Sturges, Samuel Squire, be appointed a committee to represent the state of this Town to the Governor and Council of Safety, and request his Excellency, and said Council, to order some vessel or vessels of force to Guard our sea coast against the designs of the enemy during the summer season."
The burning of the town is a familiar narrative. From the spire of the Episcopal church one of Fairfield's boys saw the approaching enemy. Destruction was the fell purpose of the ruthless invaders. Two days were given to the work of ruin. The church was burned on July 8th. Among the two hundred and eighteen buildings consumed was the parsonage located where stands the present residence of Mr. Harral. There Mrs. Hobart, the widow of the former pastor resided, and there Mr. Eliot spent stormy Sabbaths and dark nights, his own resi- dence being on Holland Hill, the house formerly owned by Ebenezer Silliman, brother of Gen. Gold Selleck Silliman. One valuable book was rescued from the minister's house. We have it with us to-day,-the Church records dating back to the year 1694. In this book is written Mr. Eliot's brief, graphic, memorable account of this event.
July 7th. A part of the British army, consisting of Britons, Germans, and American refugees, under the command of Major-General Tryon, and Brigadier-General Garth, landed in this town from a fleet commanded by Sir George Collier.
In the evening and night of the same day, a great part of the buildings in the town plot were consumed by said troops.
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July 8th. In the morning, the meeting-house, together with the Church of England building, the Court house, prison, and almost all the principal buildings in the Society were laid in ashes.
Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burnt up with fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste.
The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
Alleluia !
The Lord God Omnipotent, reigneth. Amen.
It is difficult for us to paint the grief, the indignation, the courage of the Fairfield people. The times were so troublous, feverish, eventful that the sufferers could not brood upon their disasters. There was work for them to do. Deacon Silliman, who had been appointed General for the local troops, was captured by the British and suffered a year's imprisonment, yet the people did not diminish their zeal and intrepidity. The spirit of our ancestors was quenchless, irrepressible. On July 20th, of this year, a town meeting was held, when it was voted that George Burr, Thaddeus Burr, Abraham Andrews, and Samuel Odell, be a committee to wait upon Colonel Jonathan Dimon and desire him to appoint fifty men to keep guard in the Prime Society, and twenty-five men at Green's Farms, and fifteen men at Stratfield. Also, to request him to appoint such men as are friendly to the United States of America.
A committee of nine persons was appointed " to put about a subscription to raise a sum to capture Gen: William Tryon, who commanded the troops when they burnt this Town on the 7th and 8th of July of this instant July."
Voted, "A committee of Andrew Rowland, Thad: Burr and Jonathan Sturges, Esqrs., to draw up a narrative of the pro- ceedings of Gen : William Tryon in the destruction of this
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Town, and, also, point out his treatment of the inhabitants that tarried in the Town, and the instances in which he vio- lated his own Proclamation, and cause the same to be entered on the Town Records."
Scarcely was Fairfield desolated by fire ere the people re- turned to their tasks-shared their substance and strength after the same liberal fashion with the struggling Colonies- and gladly sent private soldiers, captains, generals, into the field of action.
Three days after the burning of the meeting-house the "church and society met, and with the pastor carried on re- ligious services as usual at the house of Deacon Bulkley."
On the following Lord's Day the church met at the house of Deodate Silliman and held public worship.
Worship was conducted next Lord's Day at the house of Peter Perry.
On August the first the Lord's Supper was celebrated at the house of Justin Hobart.
On September twelfth, worship was conducted at the house of Elizabeth Morehouse.
After this time the public exercises of religion were held in the house of Justin Hobart, except that once a month they were carried on in Jennings' Woods.
One year later public religious services were continued in the new Court House.
On Aug. 31, 1779, a Town meeting was held when it was "Voted, That the Town will build a Town House; the Town House to be forty feet long, and thirty feet wide; to be ten feet between joints.
Voted, That the Town House be erected on the same spot of ground where the new school-house lately stood near the late Court House.
Voted, To raise a tax of one shilling on the pound on all the Polls and Ratable estate of the inhabitants of this Town, to pay the expenses of building the Town House, and other necessary charges."
The state of feeling that continued in the parish during several years is indicated by the proceedings of a Town meet- ing held April 10, 1783.
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"The inhabitants, principally called for the purpose of con- sidering what measure should be taken with respect to those persons who, during the war between Great Britain and America, have gone to and joined the enemy and put them- selves under their protection. The question was put whether this meeting was willing that any of those persons who have gone over and joined the enemy shall be permitted to return and reside in this town. Passed in the negative. Voted, That a committee be appointed to remove all such persons from the town, who have joined the enemy, and put themselves under their protection during the war between Great Britain and America."
It was six years ere the new meeting-house was builded. On March 26, 1786, the congregation met for the first time in the unfinished edifice. "The solemnities of the morning," says the record, "were opened with a short prayer and read- ing 2d Timothy vi. Those of the afternoon, with a short prayer and reading Revelation xxi. The sermon preached by the pastor on this joyful occasion was from Genesis xxviii. 17, last clause: "This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of Heaven."
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