USA > Connecticut > Some old time meeting houses of the Connecticut Valley > Part 4
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As early as 1826 a company of missionaries were ordained in this church for service in foreign lands, and some of the best known foreign missionaries in the last century went out from this church. It is evident that the missionary spirit was strong among its members. Rev. S. H. Calhoun, a member of the First Church, who went to Smyrna in 1837 as a missionary, wrote just before his death, "Deeper and deeper has become my conviction that the work of foreign missons is the great mission of Christ's church, and that it can be neglected by no organization or individual without personal loss."
Mrs. R. N. Hume, who was married to Mr. Hume in the old White Church in West Springfield and went with him to Bombay, returned to Springfield with her six children after her husband's death. She united with the First Church, and became a teacher in the Sunday school. Her children, among whom were the now distinguished Robert A. Hume, D. D., and his brother Edward, were members of the Sunday school.
During the pastorate of Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D., 1809 to 1854, twelve hundred and fifty seven members were added to the church. Dr. Osgood was a conductor of the Springfield branch of the famous
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under ground railroad, by means of which a large number of slaves, fleeing from their Southern masters, escaped to Canada and freedom. As many as fifty were entertained in one year in Dr. Osgood's home.
Rev. Edward A. Reed, D. D., now the beloved pastor of the Second Congregational church of Holyoke, Massachusetts, was pastor of the First Church from 1871 to 1878, a period of notable spiritual progress in the history of the church.
The Sunday school of the church was organized in 1818, and mid-week services were begun a little later. In 1834, Dr. Osgood was earnestly advocating total abstinence.
The present organ was built and installed in 1881, a projection having been built for it at the west end of the church. The organ contained fifty stops, twenty three hundred and eleven pipes and nine pedal movements. It was first exhibited to the public December 5, 1881.
The high pulpit of the church was first lowered in 1854. It is of interest to note that the standard of the telescope in use at the summit house on Mount Holyoke was made of wood taken from the old pulpit.
Some of the oldest members of the church have been heard to say that in their younger days, when interest in the sermon flagged, they were accustomed to direct their attention to the upper part of the church, and occupy the time in counting the "cookies" that extended in an almost endless number around the cir- cumference of the concave ceiling.
The Rev. Neil McPherson, D. D., was installed as pastor of the First Church, January 2, 1911.
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THE GINGER COOKIES
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The Old Square Pew of the Ludlow Church
C NE of the first steps taken by the town of Ludlow, Massachusetts, was the ap- pointment in town meeting of a committee to set "a stake upon a meeting house lot." The first houses in the town were erected about 1750, but it was not until after the close of the war of the Revolution that the resources of the people warranted the building of a meeting house. Then again a "stake" was set upon a site for a house of worship and measures adopted for building the house. In the records of the town we read : "October 23, 1783. Town meeting at the stake. Voted that the building committee procure a sufficient quantity of rum for raising the meeting house frame."
The raising of the great frame of the meeting house in that day was an exciting event, the entire community, men and women, old and young, joining in the work. Strong armed men came from towns around to lend their assistance. From a perusal of the records of the time one receives the impression that the raising of the meeting house in the various settlements of the Connecticut valley was an event attended with much cheerfulness and jollity. For the women and girls there was work to be done in the preparation of food and spreading of tables, much food, as well as considerable drink, being required for the occasion.
The meeting house which was raised in 1783, owing to the poverty of the people, was not finished until 1795. A carpenter's bench sufficed for a pulpit and rough planks placed upon blocks did service as
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pews. A high pulpit, "perched like an eagle's nest far up some dizzy height," was built later and square pews took the place of the rude seats of the first years.
At the organization of the church in 1789 a heavy communion service was presented by the mother town, upon which was inscribed, "Springfield 1st Church, 1742.":
In reply to a letter of inquiry regarding the square pew, which is still preserved in the original house of worship, the present minister of the church, Rev. John S. Curtis, says: "The pew no doubt dates back nearly to the year of the raising of the meeting house. The original house still stands. It is owned by the town and used as a hall."
The second meeting house of the First Church was erected in 1840 and has been described by a former resident of Ludlow, Rev. J. W. Tuck, as "a comely building." It had a tall spire. This house shared the fate of many of the old frame meeting houses, having been destroyed by fire January 15, 1859. Only the foundation stones and the topmost ball of the spire escaped consumption by the raging flames.
The house of worship, now standing on the common, loved by the people of Ludlow and admired by visitors, is the successor of the house burnt in 1859, and was promptly erected in that year.
There are some quaint epitaphs in the cemeteries in the town of Ludlow. One in the East yard reads:
"Return my friends without a tear Devote your life unto God's fear : That you with him may always live This is the last advice I give."
One infers from epitaphs found in the old ceme- teries of the land that once men and women thought it their duty, when dying, to give the best advice they
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OLD SQUARE PEW, LUDLOW, MASS.
knew of to the friends left behind. An epitaph in the old Center yard reads :
"In memory of Doc. Philip Lyon, who died July 26, 1802, aged 40 years. Who after having experienced the sweets of connubial bliss died leaving no family. His amiable consort died at Randolph, Oct. 1801."
An epitaph in the Center yard reads:
"Praises on tombs are titles vainly spent, A man's good name is his best monument."
Another in the North yards reads:
"The longest life must have an end Therefore beware how time you spend."
Dr. O. W. Stoughton, of Ludlow, kindly took the photograph from which the accompanying illustration of the old pew was made.
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The First Church of Christ in Hartford, Connecticut
T HE Dutch, who ascended the Connecticut river and in 1633 purchased a tract of land of the Pequots, where the city of Hartford is now situated, thus endeavoring to gain a foothold in the territory, were actuated by political and commerical motives, and made no effort to establish the institutions of religion or build a house of worship in the region.
Not so in the case of Rev. Thomas Hooker, Rev. Samuel Stone, Mr. William Goodwin, and their com- panions, who came from Newtown in the summer of 1636 to establish a plantation below Agawam in the Connecticut valley.
"Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice," is a passage that has most appropriate application to Mr. Hooker and his companions. Their first thought was of the church and its institutions and their arrival may be said to mark the beginning of organized Christianity in Hartford. They built their church edifice on "Meeting House Yard," land now known as State House Square. The edifice was, of course, a temporary structure; while the exact date of its erection is uncertain, the house was in use from 1635 to 1641. By vote of the town a guard of men was provided "to attend with their arms fixed, and 2 shote of powder and shott, at least upon every publique meeting for religious use."
In 1640 or 1641 the first meeting house was given by the town to Mr. Hooker for a barn and a new house was erected upon the eastern side of Meeting House Yard.
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A perusal of the records of the period leads to the conclusion that work on the second meeting house was begun in 1638 and the edifice completed in 1641. The new house was used for about a century.
In notes about meeting houses of the First Eccle- siastical Society of Hartford, Mr. C. J. Hoadly gives the following description of the second meeting house : "The pulpit was on the west side. The building was nearly square, with a high roof, in the center of which was a turret where hung the bell, brought by the settlers, doubtless from Newtown, now Cambridge, and placed in the turret when the edifice was first erected. There was a door on the north side, perhaps also other doors, and near by a horse block for the accommodation of those who lived so far off that they must ride. The chamber over the porch perhaps served as the arsenal for town and colony, as a room in the south church did in later times. The windows were small and the glass set in lead. Stairs from the interior led up to galleries on the south and east sides."
By the time of the ordination of the Rev. Daniel Wadsworth as pastor of the church in 1732 the old house of worship had become inadequate and was constantly in need of repairs. A movement was begun for building a new meeting house. However, eleven years were required to determine the site of the new edifice, and work on the structure did not begin until June 20, 1737. The General Assembly fixed the situa- tion of the house on "the south east part of the burying lot in Hartford, with part of Capt. Nathaniel Hooker's lot adjoining thereto." The plan of the house was made by Cotton Palmer, of Warwick, Rhode Island. About a week was required for the raising of the frame of the new house. Considerable quantities of cider and rum were consumed by those employed in the raising. The house, including the steeple, was
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FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, HARTFORD
practically finished by the end of 1739. It stood sidewise to the street. The steeple, which was sur- mounted by a gilded cock and ball, stood on the north end. The pulpit, which was on the west side, "arose to an altitude easily commanding every foot of the surrounding galleries, and was furnished with an imposing canopy or sounding board and the handsome window hangings behind."
The house was dedicated December 30, 1739, Rev. Daniel Wadsworth preaching the sermon from Haggai 2 : 9 ;-- "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts." Rev. George Whitefield visited Hartford in 1740 and preached to a vast throng of people in the new house of worship.
Near the close of 1804 a committee was appointed by the society to consider the matter of building a new edifice, the house dedicated in 1739 having become "scanty and dilapidated." March 22, 1805, this com- mittee made a favorable report and steps were at once taken to secure funds for the new building. The old house was sold December 2, 1805, and work on the foundation of the new edifice was begun March 6, 1806. The site of the new house was substantially the same as that of the old. George Leon Walker, in his "History of the First Church in Hartford," referring to the building of the fourth meeting house of the society, says : "The work progressed with vigor, and with some alcoholic aid after the fashion of the times, and the month of December, 1807, saw the congregation ready to remove from the theatre in Theatre street (now Temple), where they had worshipped in the interim between the two meeting houses."
The house was dedicated December 3, 1807, the occasion and the fame of the pastor, Dr. Nathan Strong, who preached the dedicatory sermon, attracting
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a great concourse of people from Hartford and neighboring towns. There were square pews in parts of this fourth house. The high pulpit was supported by fluted columns and ascended by spiral stairs. Stoves were not used in this house until 1815.
President Timothy Dwight who visited Hartford in September, 1820, in his "Travels" thus described the new house of worship: "The Church belonging to the first Congregation is one of the handsomest buildings in the state. It is sixty four feet in front, forty feet high, and one hundred in length, exclusive of the portico. All of the columns which decorate the building are Ionic, and of wood. The ceiling within rests upon eight columns, which are fluted. The pulpit is of varnished wood, resembling light colored mahoga- ny, standing on fluted columns. The ascent to it is by a circular flight of stairs on each side. On the outside of the building six steps of dark brown free-stone ex- tend throughout the whole front, including the portico, which projects sixteen feet and is forty long, and con- sists of eight columns; four in front; and the four corresponding ones against the wall support the inner entablature. Behind the portico rises the brick tower to the height of seventy feet. The remaining part of the tower is of wood, of three distinct stories; each surmounted by a balustrade. The first of these stories, contains the bell; is square, and finished with twelve columns ; three at each angle. The second is an octa- gon, with sixteen columns, clustering so closely around it as to admit of no other ornament. The third is also an octagon, with a column at each angle; but the spaces between them are yet unoccupied by appropriate decorations. Upon the pedestals, corresponding to all the columns, are urns or acorn shaped balls ; except over the group of sixteen, where two pedestals are with urns, and two without, alternately. The ap-
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INTERIOR OF FIRST CHURCH
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FIRST CHURCH PARISH HOUSE
pearance of the whole is incomplete, from it not being finished with a lofty spire, but terminating in a low octagon, like the upright part of a drum light, crowned with urns surrounding the shaft, bells, and rod common to most churches. The whole height to the vane is one hundred and sixty five feet."
A glance at the picture of the exterior of the church, accompanying this sketch, will show that the edifice now standing is the one President Dwight described in his "Travels." He was surely an observing traveler and a rather exacting critic of what he saw. He plainly stated, however, that he regarded the meeting house in Hartford as a beautiful structure, if not perfect in all its parts.
Rev. Nathan Strong, who was ordained pastor of the church January 5, 1774, and who preached the sermon at the dedication of the new house of worship, December, 1807, continued as pastor until his death, December 24, 1816, in the forty third year of his ministry over the church. The high pulpit, whose elevation had been determined by Dr. Strong, was lowered once in 1816. In 1835 both galleries and pulpit were lowered, the galleries nearly five feet and the pulpit an uncertain distance. In 1839 carpets were put into the aisles for the first time and in 1845 furnaces were substituted for stoves. The present bell, which is "supposed to contain in it material of its predecessors, inclusive of the old Newtown bell of 1632," was purchas- ed by virtue of a vote passed in January, 1850. In 1852 the old pulpit was taken out and a new one placed in a recess built for it; the square pews were removed and slips placed in every part of the building; changes were made in the windows at the sides of the house and those in the west end closed up; gas fixtures were procured and "a new arch thrown over the center of the audience room between the supporting columns,"
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the building being "brought to substantially its present interior aspect."
The evidence seems to show that Daniel Wadsworth, "the Maecenas of Hartford," made the original plan for the present house of worship. Prior to the erection of this edifice the meeting house in Wethersfield, built in 1761, was the finest meeting house in the colony.
Returning to the founders of the First Church of Hartford, Rev. Thomas Hooker and his companions, it can truly be said of these men that they were not merely the founders of a church but also the builders of a free commonwealth. American democracy was born when Hooker in his memorable sermon said, "The foundation of authority is laid firstly, in the free consent of the people."
It is interesting to note that the building of the present meeting house of the First Church antedates the organization of the American Board of Foreign Missions. Not until more than ten years after this house was built was a Sunday school organized in Hartford.
The beautiful and costly parish house of the First Church was opened November 19, 1909. It is a replica of the interior of the church. The story of its origin and construction is set forth in the following inscription:
"In Memory of Francis Buell Cooley this site was secured and this house was erected by The First Church of Christ in Hartford from the gift of his family, Mrs. Francis Buell Cooley, Francis Rexford Cooley, Sarah Cooley Hall, Charles Parsons Cooley, Clara Cooley Jacobus."
Rev. Rockwell Harmon Potter, D. D., is the devoted and beloved pastor of this historic church, having been installed in 1900.
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The Second Church of Christ in Hartford, Connecticut
N reply to a letter addressed by the writer to Rev. Edwin Pond Parker, D. D., pastor of the Second Church of Christ in Hartford, December 7, 1910, the following communication was received from Dr. Parker :
Hartford, December 14, 1910. Rev. C. A. Wight, Dear Sir :
In reply to yours of December 7, I would say :
The "Second Church of Christ in Hartford," of which I have been pastor now for 51 consecutive years, was organized in the year 1670.
It has had three meeting houses. The first one was erected sometime after 1670, probably about 1674. The second one, in 1753-4.
The third one, (our present house) was dedicated in 1827.
The interior of this house was considerably modified in 1845, and a two storied transept was built on to the rear of the church to furnish Sunday school and chapel accommodations.
In the autumn of 1909, and in view of the pastor's approaching fiftieth anniversary, the entire building, without and within, was renovated and beautifully restored to its original Colonial simplicity, at an expense of about ten thousand dollars. The mahogany pulpit, sofa, and communion table, which were in the sanctuary at its dedication, were restored to their old places and uses. In the vestibule are tablets, one inscribed with the names of the original members of
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the church, the other with the names of the successive pastors. Many pieces of very old silver are still in use.
This meeting house, as it now stands, is universally admired as a singularly beautiful example of the Colonial style, and yet the name of the architect is unknown.
In the course of 240 years this church has had 10 ministers, and the average term of the pastorate is therefore 24 years.
Yours sincerely, Edwin P. Parker.
The house of worship, which Dr. Parker refers to in his letter as the first edifice of the Second Church, probably stood in the highway, now Main street, on the east side. In his history of the Second Church of Hartford, Dr. Parker states that this meeting house was probably a square wooden structure with a truncated pyramidal roof, similar to the "square meeting houses" common in New England in the latter part of the seventeenth century.
"Old house of Puritanic wood, Through whose unpainted windows streamed, On seats as primitive and rude As Jacob's pillow when he dreamed, --- The white and undiluted day."
The second meeting house, the edifice which Dr. Parker states was erected in 1753-4, stood "in the high- way, a little north of the house of Mr. Joseph Buckingham." The site was fixed by a committee of the General Assembly, the congregation having failed to agree upon a situation for the house. The highway referred to is now known as Buckingham street. Thomas Seymour, in his "Memorandum Book," made the following entry regarding this house of worship: "And the Rev. and Pious George Whitefield (provi-
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SECOND CHURCH OF CHRIST, HARTFORD
dentially here) preached the first sermon that was ever preached in it, and this was on Monday, the second day of December, Anno Dom., 1754,-a good omen for a new meeting house."
This second house of worship was constructed of wood and had three entrances, one on the east side and one at either end. There was a steeple at the north end. Like other meeting houses of the time, it was furnished within with square pews, galleries, and a high pulpit with a sounding board.
In 1825 the structure of 1753-4, standing "in the highway," had become an obstruction to the city's travel and traffic. It was also weakened by age, and for some time its removal had been earnestly advocated in meetings of the society. January, 1825, the society voted "to build a new meeting house and to establish a place where it shall be erected." The site of the present house of worship was chosen.
Certificates of stock were issued to the amount of $12,000 for the purpose of building the new house. In 1828 a further issue of stocks amounting to $11,000 was made, a total of $23,000. This sum included the cost of an organ and certain alterations in the structure not anticipated in the original plan.
This third house of worship was dedicated April 11, 1827. The Courant of April 16, 1827, referring to the dedicatory services, says: "The building itself is finished in elegant style, and the society deserves credit, for the laudable spirit and enterprise manifested in its erection."
The edifice barely escaped destruction by fire July 7, 1884, only the efficient work of the firemen saving it. Alterations and repairs were made in 1873. At this time the windows were entirely renewed, a new plat- form and pulpit provided, the large window behind the pulpit sealed up, and the Lord's Prayer, the Creed,
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and texts of Scripture inscribed upon it. The house was painted outside and within.
An ecclesiastical council was convened in the Second Church, January 11, 1860, and at its conclusion voted to approve of Rev. Edwin Pond Parker and proceed to ordain and install him pastor of the church. The vote was not quite unanimous, Mr. Parker, in the course of the rigid and prolonged examination to which he was subjected, had let fall "a most unfortunate expression," that "God would give every man a fair chance." This expression was drawn from the candi- date by certain questions relating to a possible pro- bation after death. The proceedings of the council, the questions discussed in the course of the examina- tion of the candidate, and the diversity of views held by the members of the council, gave rise to a somewhat prolonged and heated theological controversy in southern New England and New York. Dr. Parker's historic pastorate of more then half a century over the Second Church is ample proof of the wisdom of the council of 1860 in approving and installing him as pastor of the church.
The Rev. Rockwell Harmon Potter, D. D., minister of the First Church of Christ of Hartford, in an informal communication addressed to the writer, January 25, 1911, referring to the edifice of the Second Church, generously says : "Our meeting house, built in 1807, is not so fine as the meeting house of the Second Church built in 1820, but with this one exception I consider it the finest house of its type in New England." It is probably just to state that the two finest houses of worship built in New England between 1800 and 1850 are the meeting houses of the First and Second Churches of Christ in Hartford. These structures with their noble towers are indeed worthy of their builders, testifying as they do to the
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你再事版 社,
love of the beautiful, the excellent taste, a proper sense of the dignity belonging to things devoted to the worship of God, and the heavenly aspirations, possessed by the men and women who composed the congre- gations of these historic churches when the present houses of worship were erected.
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The Church in Hadley, Massachusetts
S UMMER time in New England knows no more bewitching spot than the broad street of Hadley, where stand the old church and town hall clothed in their handsome Colonial garb. The very weathercock, perched on the steeple of the church, seems to swell with pride, as he looks down upon the beautiful scene below and meditates upon the rich historical associations of the more than two hundred and fifty years that have passed since the men from Hartford and Wethersfield built their homes at Norwottuck, afterwards by order of the General Court denominated Hadley.
Mrs. F. H. Smith of Hadley, Massachusetts, in an article written at the time of the one hundredth anniversary of the building and dedication of the present meeting house in Hadley, says : "In the latter part of the year 1661 the town voted to erect a 'meeting house to be a place of publick worship, whose figure is 45 foote in length and 24 foote in Bredth, with Leantos on both sides which shall Inlarge the whole to 36 in Bredth. This shall be scituated and sett upon the common street.' Not until 1670, when the inhabitants on the west side of the river were set apart as the town of Hatfield, was this building completed." Work on the building was begun some- time before the division of the town was made and it was placed north of the center of the common for the accommodation of the people living on the west side of the river.
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