USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > New Canaan > Readings in New Canaan history > Part 5
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JESSE BETTS - coloured died June, 1852
In the northeast corner of the old Richards' cemetery just north of the old Rock School House, now removed, near the southern end of Smith Ridge you can find today the graves of old Grace and Benjamin Richards, slaves in the family of Miss Diana Richards, all of whom
50 Born in old Abbott Homestead, upper Smith Ridge in 1817; died in 1911. Daughter of Jonathan Abbott, Jr., and Polly (Olmstead) Abbott.
51 She was a girl 16 years of age when the first church, that of May, 1764, was torn down.
52 Mrs. DeForest's recollections are the only personal testimony we have that Indians still lingered hereabouts at the time of her girlhood.
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were attendants with their Betts and Richards mistresses in the old church. Mrs. DeForest told me that the colored people came to the church not only for spiritual purposes but also to serve the congrega- tion at the noontime church yard meal. She thought, too, that the Indians came as much for the food they were given at dinner time as from any spiritual motive. An incident vivid in her recollection was the stirring up of a hornet's nest one Sunday which made eating for a time uncomfortable. The present large stepping stone just outside the door of this church was the old horse block upon which, in front of the old church, the ladies alighted from their horses, ox carts and springless box wagons.
CAPTAIN STEPHEN BETTS, FIRST WARDEN OF THE EPISCOPAL SOCIETY
Here we pause in our narrative to do honor to Capt. Stephen Betts first warden of the Society, later St. Mark's parish, and a truly remarkable character. Mrs. DeForest told me that he was easily the outstanding figure and person of the Canaan parish of his day. Dr. Selleck of Norwalk refers to Capt. Betts as the Nehemiah of his day.53 Capt. Betts was born in 1756 and at the age of eighteen he enlisted in Col. Charles Webb's regiment made up for the most part of Stamford men.54 He it was who resisted Tyron's 2,000 men when they landed at Compo and helped Gen'l Sam'l Parsons of Lyme, Connecticut drive the British to their boats after the firing of Nor- walk 55 and battle of Ridgefield. Hardly out of his teens Capt. Betts was at Bunker Hill helping to expend the 27 half barrels of powder, the stock of munition in that line. He was in the army operations about Boston until Gen'l Howe evacuated the city and sailed to New York. Thence he went to New Jersey and was at the surrender of the British at Trenton. In 1777 he was at the battle of Princeton when he was commissioned captain. In July 1778 he fought at Monmouth but in July 1779 he was at home in Norwalk and resisted the landing of the British July 11, 1779. Capt Betts was at Yorktown in 1781 and,
53 Selleck "Centenary of St. Paul's Church," p. 26.
54 Capt. Betts lived on Stamford side of Canaan parish (his home previously described in this paper.)
55 July 11, 1779.
.
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one of the first to enter the British redoubts, he received a bayonet wound in his side.56
Captain Betts was a soldier of the Cross as well as the sword. He was a knightly soul, a devoted patriot and Christian gentleman, first warden of St. Mark's Church; the man to whom, under God, the Episcopal Church of Canaan parish is indebted for more than it has remembered or will ever know.
Mrs. DeForest whose recollections of the old Church I have just quoted also gave me a vivid picture of Capt. Betts. She told me that Capt. Betts was the godfather of many children of St. Mark's parish- ioners in the first years of the last century. She herself was one of the number of his spiritual children and with him the title godparent was not a mere meaningless term or one that denoted an empty office. This godchild of his said it was Capt. Betts' custom to visit system- atically his godchildren, once at least every six months, and calling them up in line before him hear them say the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments and instruct them according to the baptismal charge "in all things which a christian ought to know and believe to his soul's health." Single minded Christian gentleman that he was, into whose Christian character the soldierly element entered to no small degree, he considered his vow of sponsorship a real thing, a most sacred obligation to be discharged to the limit.
CAPTAIN BETTS, THE LINK BETWEEN THE OLD CHURCH AND THE PRESENT ONE
Capt. Betts is a vital link between the old parish of St. Paul's, Nor- walk,57 the first church of "the professors in Canaan parish," and the present St. Mark's. This present property was secured from Mr. Richard Fayerweather 58 who, while not a churchman, was a par- ticular friend of Miss Harriet Betts, a daughter of our patriot founder, Capt. Stephen Betts. The Society's committee was finding it difficult
56 Huntington's "Stamford," p. 232.
57 Capt. Bett's pew was number 14 in the list of pews of St. Paul's Church of 1786. He gave 200 pounds toward the building of this church, which took the place of the one the British burned. For several years he was a vestryman of St. Paul's, elected for the last time on April 25, 1791.
58 Selleck's - "Norwalk," p. 257.
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to secure a new site until Miss Harriet Betts pleaded with and finally prevailed upon Mr. Fayerweather to sell a portion of his property for the new church. This site cost $200 of which amount Capt. Betts and Edward Nash gave $100 each. On April 25, 1832 Capt. Betts was chosen to serve on the building committee with Edward Nash, Sam'l Raymond, Stephen Betts and D. S. Knight.59
Capt. Betts is therefore associated with the old Church, with the organization of the Episcopal Society of Canaan parish in 1791, with many years of wardenship in the old Church, with the purchase of the present site and with the building committee of the new church. He did not live to see it completed for this stalwart soldier of the State and Church passed away on Nov. 28, 1832, aged 76 years. He is buried in the old Church yard and his simple head stone reads. "In memory of Stephen Betts who died Nov. 28, 1832, aged 76 years." His wife Ruth Church survived him several years and is buried beside him while a few graves away lies Jesse Betts whose stone records the fact that he was "coloured."
On the large knoll in the center of Lakeview Cemetery there is a monument60 erected to the memory of Capt. Stephen Betts.61 There are many New Canaan people who think it marks his grave. It is a fitting monument to his memory but his mortal body sleeps as it should in the old church among fellow Churchmen for the protection of whose homes he fought and of whose children he was godfather and their instructor in the tenets of the Christian faith.
THE PRESENT CHURCH BUILDING
Our narrative now comes to a description of this present church, consecrated May 6, 1834. I have already named its building commit- tee but in addition to it a committee composed of Jonathan Abbott, Alfred Raymond, Daniel Bostwick and Daniel R. Warren had been appointed Jan. 22, 1833 to secure subscriptions for the erection of the church. An immediate response seems to have resulted and the church
59 The Parish Records, quoted by Dr. Abbott.
60 Erected in 1898 by Hannah Benedict Carter chapter of D. A. R.
61 Capt. Betts apparently had four daughters and one son. Only two of the daughters lived to maturity. Neither of them left any children. They are all buried in the Old Church Burying Ground.
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was built in 1833 for on Dec. 30th of that year Bradley Keeler was elected a standing agent, directed to ascertain defects about the church and cause of leaking and if possible to stop them.
On March 19, 1834 the pews in the new Church were rented to raise money to supply the pulpit and a "collector appointed to solicit subscriptions to pay what remains due for building said house." 62 No where can I find any reference to the building cost of the Church.
Let me now give a description of this present building as it was first built. It comes from the pen of the Rev. Charles R. Abbott, 63 one of the three men to have entered the ministry from this parish.64 One of my choice possessions is Dr. Abbott's white stole given me (by his widow) upon my ordination in 1913. Dr. Abbott thus describes the building which he knew as a young man and of which he writes in his historical paper.
"The Church as first built had a hall across the front. At the west end of the hall a stairway led to a gallery over the hall. In the east end of the hall was the S. S. library. There were short seats against the east and west walls and two rows of pews in the square body or middle part of the room. There was at that time no recess for the chancel and altar as now. There was an enclosed reading desk within the chancel where the whole services were said, and back of this and above it was the enclosed high pulpit to be entered by a door at the back of it which led to a very small vestry or robing room, a lean-to against the rear of the building. On the top of the front end of the building was a square cupola with the points extending up from each of the four corners. The windows were square cornered with comparatively small plain glass panes."
This was the building which Bishop Brownell consecrated May 6, 1834. His letter of consecration is of genuine interest since this church is now the oldest consecrated building in the town. Moreover it is in this letter of consecration that the name of "St. Mark's" first appears.
62 Abbott's - "Centennial Record."
63 Dr. Abbott, who was my great, great uncle, I remember very well. He never had a parish but was for many years superintendent of school number 1 in Brooklyn, N. Y. He was the grandson of Jonathan Abbott, a founder of the parish. Dr. Abbott built for his summer home the brick house on Oenoke Avenue at present owned by Dr. A. Benson Cannon.
64 The others are the Rev. Lyman Bleecker and myself.
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BISHOP BROWNELL'S LETTER OF CONSECRATION
"Whereas, sundry good people of the town of New Canaan have erected a building for the worship of Almighty God according to the Liturgy and offices of the Protestant Episcopal Church and have requested that the same may be consecrated agreeably to the usages of said church,
Now therefore, be it known that I, Thomas Church Brownell, by divine permission Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut did this day duly consecrate the said building to the service of Almighty God for the reading of his holy word, for celebrating His holy sacraments, for offering to His gracious Majesty the sacrifices of prayer and thanksgiving, for blessing the people in His name, and for the per- formance of all other holy offices agreeable to the doctrines, liturgy and worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, and that the same did dedicate as aforesaid by the name of St. Mark's Church for the sole use of a congregation in communion with the Protestant Episcopal Church in the diocese of Connecticut.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Episcopal seal of the Diocese this sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord 1824 and of my consecration the fifteenth."
POSSIBLE ORIGIN OF THE NAME OF ST. MARK'S FOR THE PARISH
Before this time so far as I can discover in the records the parish was known as the "Episcopal Society in Canaan Parish." It was an old church custom, since early days, to name a church for the saint nearest whose festival some action of local interest, such as an organi- zation or a consecration date, should occur. The organization of this parish was effected Nov. 15, 1791 but at that time it kept its old title of "the Episcopal Society in Canaan Parish." It is a fact, however, that the building committee for the new Church was appointed April 25, 1832 and April 25th is St. Mark's Day. On the same day it was voted to build a stone fence on the east of the lot and across the front. Whether this action of appointing a building committee on St. Mark's day and fencing off the property on St. Mark's day gave
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the parish its name, I cannot be certain; it may be conjectured to be a probability until evidence in records proves it otherwise.65
THE FIRST RESIDENT MINISTER
The first minister who really lived within the parish was the Rev. Chas. J. Todd 66 who was also in charge of the Ridgefield parish. He was to live one-half the time in New Canaan parish and one-half the time in Ridgefield. He made his New Canaan home in the homestead of Jonathan and Polly Abbott which once stood at the upper end of Smith Ridge on the present property of Mr. Harold B. Clark. I remember the old house well. It stood just back of the large maple trees on the east side of the road and a few feet southwest of the children's playhouse on Mr. Clark's estate.67 Dr. Abbott remembers this residence of Mr. Todd with his father and says he was much impressed by Mr. Todd's big dictionary, his commentaries and church histories and his good sorrel horse named Hector. Dr. Abbott became a noted educator of Brooklyn, N. Y. On his tombstone in Lakeview Cemetery is inscribed "a teacher for fifty years." The famous dictionary, commentaries and church histories may well have been the inspiration that fired the boy's ambition. At any rate I am confident the good sorrel horse, Hector, knew every turn of the road from the Abbott homestead to St. Mark's, a distance of three miles, and from the homestead north to St. Stephen's, Ridgefield, seven miles.
L
SOME PARISH ANECDOTES
Let me now give some anecdotes of parish life gleaned from the records of the years and not to weary you with details or figures let us pick out some of the more interesting and humorous details.
Sept. 5, 1844. The Rev. David Short of Ridgefield was invited to supply the pulpit of St. Mark's Church one-half of the time till next
65 The original grant of land to "Church of England professors" in Norwalk came on Feb. 11, 1733, and the name St. Paul seems to have been early adopted. St. Paul's Day is Jan. 25th so the Norwalk founders would be following ancient tradition.
66 He served from 1830-1834.
67 Mr. Clark has removed the old chimney and Abbott hearthstone bearing the date of 1809 to the hall fireplace of his own home.
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Easter for $5 a Sunday "or more if he cannot be secured for less" - Yankee thrift that.
The Rev. David Ogden was an early Rector and serving twice, his two dates were 1837-1842 and 1843-1844. He may be said to have been the first full time Rector and he was the first to have been insti- tuted. His salary was $500 a year. He was a man of deep spiritual character, real learning and a sense of humor. His daughters kept a school in the village. He made a deep impression on his people which is evidenced in the chancel window, placed in his memory. He it was who ordered the removal from the top of the church of the rooster which served as a weather vane. His reasons were specific for he is said to have remarked "that so promiscuous a bird was no fit inspi- ration or guide for his congregation." I am told that this weather vane is in the possession of Dr. Ogden's descendants in Wilton.
May 20, 1853. "Resolved that D. S. Rockwell be requested to call on Jonathan Ostrander and offer him $25 (50 cents a Sunday) for his services as musician and leader of the choir for the ensuing year and also to pay him for the use of his old melodeon." Noteworthy as a record of service is that of Mr. W. Samuel Raymond who was organist for thirty-six years from 1881-1917.
April 7, 1856. "Resolved that Alfred Raymond, S. P. Tuttle, Stephen E. Keeler, S. E. Ogden and others be and hereby are allowed to erect sheds for the better protection of their horses and carriages from the weather while attending church; said sheds to be placed on the rear of the church lot and to be used for no other purpose than their ordinary and legitimate use - the said Raymond, Tuttle, Keeler, Ogden and their associates, their heirs and assigns to have the privilege of renting, selling and otherwise disposing of said sheds subject to the above mentioned conditions and said Raymond, Tuttle, Keeler, Ogden, and their associates are to pay to the treasurer of this society an annual rent for the above privilege of one cent per annum. The above lease to be in force as long as the property is owned by this society and the foregoing conditions are complied with."
These sheds still stand, protecting automobiles rather than horses and it is a grave question whether this is legal in view of "the specific use" referred to above. In any event I would suggest that if the parish is in financial difficulties that the rent of "one cent per annum" be
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collected from the heirs and assignees of the first owners of the horse sheds.
April 3, 1865. "Voted that a lock and key be put upon the organ and none allowed to use it but the organist and those preparing them- selves to be such." I mention this not alone because of the lock and key, although that has its humour, but because this is the first recorded notice of the organ. Apparently the first musical instrument suc- ceeding the old tuning fork was Mr. Ostrander's "melodeon" which he supplied with his services as musician for fifty cents a Sunday.
This arrangement did not last long for the first old reed organ was purchased during the rectorship of the Rev. William Long,68 1852- 1855 while the present organ 69 was given in 1889 by Mr. Frederick W. Lockwood70 in memory of his son Harry Lockwood.
To come back a bit to the present church. It would be difficult to recognize this present structure in the words descriptive of the origi- nal building of 1834. At a meeting held Aug. 8, 1857 it was decided to remodel the church according to certain plans submitted. "The prin- cipal changes were taking out the gallery, throwing the hall across the front into the main room, making a porch, tower, steeple, chang- ing all the windows from square to circular tops and with small panes, making a basement room under the rear of the church, taking away chancel rail, desk and pulpit and making a place for chancel and altar by extending the robing room in the rear of the church."71 During these repairs the congregation worshipped in the old Town House west of the church afterward the Congregational Parsonage now the home of Mr. More. These changes in the building cost nearly $3,500 and a deficit of $1,200 was reported by the committee. The society ordered the vestry to surrender the "ecclesiastical stock" belonging to the society to the bank and apply the proceeds on the deficit. In January 1859 the money was borrowed of the Norwalk Savings Bank and the treasurer was authorized to give a mortgage on the church. The remodeled church was reopened 72 by Bishop Williams on May 12, 1858 during the rectorship of the Rev. William H. Williams.
68 DesBrisay's "Historical Notes" in parish record.
69 List of gifts compiled by Altar Society in 1907.
70 A generous benefactor. He was lost at sea on a journey to Europe. He built the large house now owned by Mr. Fischer on Fischer's Hill.
71 Dr. Abbott's "Centennial Address."
72 DesBrisay's "Historical Notes."
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THE RECTORY
As long ago as April 5, 1847, the society thinking about a Parson- age, the vestry was authorized to secure a convenient location. While the records frequently mention discussion of the matter nothing was actually done until 188 1 when the committee appointed by the parish secured for the site a lot of Dr. Sam'l St. John for $750. At that meet- ing of April 5, 188 1 a committee was appointed to proceed with plans for the erection of a house not to exceed $1,500. At the next meeting the limit was $2,000 and on June 29, 1881 it was extended to $2,250. On April 1, 1882 it was ascertained that the expenditure had been $3,359.32 and that the rectory had a $650 mortgage
This old Rectory was first used in 1882 and continued to be the Rectory until 1923 when it was sold upon the purchase of the present Rectory, then known as the Grosvenor property.
GUILD HOUSE
A meeting was called March 5, 1893 to consider the plan of erect- ing a guild house. Mrs. Neide, wife of the Rector, was very active in raising subscriptions for this project and on March 5, 1893 reported $252 on hand. Miss Katherine Bright promised to raise $1,400 on condition that the parish house should be erected and completed free from all debt and mortgages and that its erection should not involve directly or indirectly the parish in any debt whatsoever.73 This was accomplished thanks to Miss Bright and Mrs. Neide and the indefati- gable effort of the Ladies Sewing Society. Experiences with mortgage debts on the remodeled Church in 1857 and the old Rectory in 188 1 had made the ladies very leery of mortgages and debts. Apparently the ladies had their way for the present Guild House was erected in 1893 nor can I find any reference to any indebtedness on it.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
The Betts family must be given credit for the origin of St. Mark's Sunday School. I have already referred to Capt. Stephen Betts' care 73 Parish Records.
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as a godfather of his many godchildren. This must have been an inspi- ration to his daughter, Miss Esther Betts, for she it was who founded the school in 183374. She embodied the offices of superintendent, organist, librarian and teacher in her energetic person,75 for in her day there was no elaborate Sunday School organization.
True to her inheritance of Betts thoroughness and devotion to duty - Miss Esther went to Trinity Church, New York, in the early 1830's and spent several Sundays studying the Sunday School admin- istration inaugurated and carried on in that venerable parish.
The school had its quarters in the church building from its organi- zation in 1833 until the improvements of 1857 provided a basement in the rear of the church under the chancel. This became the Sunday School room with the S. S. library in the little gallery under the steeple. Here the school was housed until 1893 when the present parish house was built.
SOME OUTSTANDING PARISH LEADERS
St. Mark's has had a long list of devoted adherents. Time forbids the mention of many of these but personality in action makes history and I must speak of a few.
After Miss Betts and her illustrious father had passed out of the life of St. Mark's the name that attached to itself great prominence is that of Captain Sereno E. Ogden,76 who owned the present Town Hall Cottage. From 1843 to 1865 he was a member of the vestry and continuously clerk for that period of time. To him we owe the splendid records of those 22 years. He was devoted to every interest of the parish and especially the Sunday School. St. Mark's owes much to his memory who, for a quarter of a century amid all the storms of parish vicissitude, kept a firm hand on the wheel and undaunted by dangers or trial steered a straight course to the haven where he would be. He was succeeded in his work in the Sunday School by Mr. Wm. E. Street who later moved to Darien and became prominent there in
74 DesBrisay's "Historical Notes."
75 Miss Esther Betts became Mrs. Lewis Raymond and lived the latter part of her life in Norwalk. She died June 19, 1881 'and is buried beside her father, Capt. Betts, in the old church yard.
76 He was a brother of the Rev. David Ogden - Rector from 1837-1844.
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affairs of St. Luke's parish. Then for years Mr. F. E. Weed, father of Wm. F. Weed served, to be succeeded by Mr. G. F. Lockwood, who in turn was succeeded by Mr. Henry F. Curtis who was the superintendent in my boyhood days.
Of outstanding ability and leadership in the life of the town and parish was Prof. Samuel St. John.77 Born in New Canaan March 29, 1813 he graduated from Yale College in the class of 1834. For a num- ber of years he was Professor of Chemistry in Western Reserve Col- lege, Hudson, Ohio. In 1856 he was appointed Professor of Chemistry and Medical Jurisprudence in the College of Physicians and Surgeons of N. Y. City which position he held until his death in 1876. On July 4, 1876 the year of his death he gave an Historical Address78 com- memorating the organization and history of the town. Dr. Willard Parker paid Dr. St. John the following tribute, "I don't say that I have never seen a greater man in the profession, but taking him all and all I have never known a greater and better man than Samuel St. John."
THE PARISH RECEIVES AND GIVES MISSIONARY AID
It is a fact of missionary importance and interest in parish history that there are frequent references to sums of money granted to St. Mark's by the Archdeaconry of Fairfield County. From 1837 until 1880 there occur references of such missionary grants. We were what you call an aided parish - a recipient of domestic missionary grants. Under date of Dec. 13, 1880 I find this entry; Resolved "that C. T. Raymond be a committee in behalf of this parish to make a formal offer to the Rev. George S. Pine of Bridgeport of the Rector- ship of this parish at the salary of $600 per yr. exclusive of the aid received from the Archdeaconry of Fairfield."79 In no one of these frequent notices is there any statement of the amount of this aid. Let no one in this parish ever declare himself an unbeliever in Domestic Missions since apparently from 1837 until 1880 we were recipients of domestic missionary grants.
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