USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield > St. Michael's Parish, Litchfield, Connecticut, 1745-1954; a biography of a parish and of many who have served it > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15
1 Mrs. Dickinson was the granddaughter of Captain Landon.
37
THE REVOLUTION
Though there is some evidence of a connection with St. Mi- chael's as early as 1775,2 it was not until May, 1780, that Mr. Nich- ols actually became rector of the church and settled here. Preju- dice against Episcopalians persisted after the war, but miraculously he did much to remove it here. It would be interesting to know more about this remarkable man. We are told that he was re- spected for his pleasing manners and eloquent preaching, and that, raising the church from the low state into which it had fallen, he soon collected a respectable congregation.
Mr. Nichols resigned from St. Michael's in 1784, and re- moved to Vermont, where at different times he had charge of St. James' Church in Arlington and of the church in Manchester. His home was in Sandgate, Vermont, but his later years were spent with a son in western New York and he died in Stafford, Genesee County, on June 17, 1829, in his eighty-first year.
In some accounts of St. Michael's early history, Mr. Nichols is said to have come to Litchfield from Salem, Massachusetts, where he had been assistant to the Rev. Mr. McGilchrist, but that proves to be incorrect. The Rev. Robert B. Nichols was engaged in 177 1 to be assistant to the aging Mr. McGilchrist in Salem. He left Salem in 1774 and departed for Halifax, from which it is presumed that he, too, was a staunch Tory. This Mr. Nichols was born in the Barbadoes.3
2 In P. K. Kilbourne's Sketches and Chronicles of the Town of Litchfield, Connecticut, on p. 180, is found this statement: "The Rev. James Nichols .. . became rector of the parish April 20, 1775." The source of this information is not given.
3 This information was received from the rector of St. Peter's Church, Salem, in a letter dated February 12, 1954.
VI 1784-1799 ASHBEL BALDWIN DAVID BUTLER
THE REVOLUTION was now over. The Episcopal Church in the new United States of America was no longer an object of care by the English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. All connection with the Society was ended. As we turn this page of the Church's history in Connecticut, we should remember with deep gratitude the Society's much-needed contribution to the establishment and development of the early Church, which owing to its help came through difficult times.
The records of the First Episcopal Society of Litchfield, a title which for some time afterwards is used to mean St. Michael's Parish, start in 1784 with the words "Episcopal Society Book con- taining a Record of the Proceedings of the Episcopal Society in Litchfield which was organized according to law the 26th of October Anno Domini 1784." There follows the record of the proceedings of the first meeting of the Society, held on that date.
Great effort has been spent from time to time to trace the ar- ticles of incorporation of this Society implied by the phrase "or- ganized according to law." But all effort has been in vain. The law under which the Society organized is one entitled "An Act for securing the Rights of Conscience in Matters of Religion to Chris- tians of every Denomination in this State," and is found in Acts
39
1784-1799
and Laws of the State of Connecticut in America, 1784. The text of this act is found in Appendix III.
The ecclesiastical societies of the Episcopal Church, which were numerous after the Revolution, were organized in accordance with this general law, which does not relate to Episcopal societies only, and which provides for a government according to the prac- tice of the Congregational churches. In the colonial period some of the Episcopal parishes had been incorporated by special laws, but this practice was found to be inconvenient; therefore, after the Revolution a general act was passed by the Legislature to give religious bodies the privilege of becoming organized corporations because, being ecclesiastically constituted, they were recognized as parishes.
Action taken at that organization meeting of the Episcopal So- ciety was partly routine, as, for example, the election of a clerk and a committee (as the vestry was then called), following which a committee was appointed to apply to Mr. Ashbel Baldwin as a candidate to "settle" in the Society. After a brief lapse of time we read that at a meeting on December 3 it was voted to "give Mr. Baldwin £50 per annum upon condition that he officiates here one half of the time, reserving to the Society the use of the Glebe," and it was further voted "to grant a tax of a penny-halfpenny on the pound on the List of 1783 to be paid the first of January 1785." This tax was for the support of the minister, and similar levies were laid each year for many years to come.
It was not until the late summer of 1785 that the "covenant," as it was called, with Mr. Baldwin was entered into. This covenant is written into the records and was as follows:
ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT
Between Ashbel Baldwin, A. M., Candidate for holy orders on the one part and Messrs. Ebenezer Marsh, Noah Bishop and Seth Landon, Committee for the Episcopal Society in Litchfield for and in behalf of said Society on the other.
Article ist. Mr. Baldwin on receiving Episcopal ordination from
40
1784-1799
the Right Revd Father Samuel by Divine Providence Bishop of Con- necticut will Truly and Faithfully Administer to the Above men- tioned Society-One half of the Time Annually-In all things where- unto his Parochial Office hath relation with humble submission to divine Providence under his Superior Clergy.
Article 2d. As a reward for Mr. Baldwin's spiritual Labors the above mentioned Committee in behalf of sd. Society do Engage to pay him said Baldwin Fifty Pounds Lawful Money Annually the Society reserving to their use and immollument all Interest arising from a certain Glebe Lot given to said Society by Mr. John Davies and Others.
The Above Articles Signª this 9th Day of September 1785 In Presence of Ashbel Baldwin
Heber Stone Ebenezer Marsh
Samuel McNeille Noah Bishop Seth Landon
Voted that the Above Articles as Above Signed be accepted as a compleat & full settlement between the Above said Society and Mr. Baldwin.
Test Seth Landon Society& Clerk
Thus Ashbel Baldwin became the first minister following the incorporation of the Episcopal Society. Because of his place in the list of our rectors and in the councils of the Diocese and of the national Church, it may be interesting to learn something about this young man.
He was born in Litchfield on March 7, 1757, the third child and second son of Isaac Baldwin, who held public office in the county and town over a long period. The Baldwins were a Con- gregational family, Isaac Baldwin's mother having been a daughter of the Rev. Timothy Collins, the first Congregational minister in Litchfield. Ashbel in his boyhood had contracted a lameness which had shortened one of his legs, so that he always thereafter had a limping gait.
In 1777 and 1778 there was a depot of military stores at Litch- field, which was one of the spots in the colony safest from British attack, guarded by a military force. Having returned home after
41
1784-1799
graduating from Yale College in 1776, Mr. Baldwin was appointed quartermaster of this force, a post he held for two or three years. We are told that the pension which he drew for this service be- came his principal means of support in the closing years of his life.
This service over, he became a private tutor in the family of a gentleman living on Long Island who belonged to the Episcopal Church. Although at that time the Episcopal churches were still closed for political reasons, services in private homes were com- mon among loyal churchmen. Since young Mr. Baldwin was the educated member of the household, he was supposed to act as the family lay reader. In his ignorance of the Prayer Book, which he was ashamed to confess, he turned to a friendly and intelligent gardener on the place who instructed him in its use, with the result that he came to love the Church, his conversion followed, and he decided to study for the ministry. While still engaged in his studies he was one of those present at the meeting in Woodbury, Connecticut, in March, 1783, at which Dr. Seabury was elected bishop and in consequence of this election went to Great Britain for consecration. In 1785 Bishop Seabury returned to Connec- ticut. His first ordination, the first according to the Episcopal form on this continent, took place on August 3, 1785. Ashbel Baldwin was one of those ordered deacon at that service; indeed he is said on good authority 1 to have been the first candidate on whom the Bishop laid his hands. He was ordained priest on September 18 in New Haven.
Mr. Baldwin was the rector of St. Michael's until 1793; on Oc- tober 28 of that year he was dismissed at his own request, having received in April an invitation to the rectorship of Christ Church, Stratford, which was a considerable advance.
It is of some interest to members of St. Michael's to note that this parish has had as rector the last man to go from the colony of Con- necticut to England for orders, and the first man ordained in the United States. The record of Mr. Baldwin's rectorate at St. Mi-
1 Isaac Jones. See his Mandate of God, p. 26.
42
1784-1799
chael's is more extensive than records of his predecessors, but even it lacks the details we should like to have. We read of meetings to elect the standing committees and to set the rate for the minister's salary. We read that in 1786 it was voted to repair the windows of the church as soon as possible, and we naturally question whether the damage to be repaired was that done during the late war. In 1786 also we read of the appointment of four men as "mu- sicians," and again a question arises as to their exact function.
In 1787 a brief notice in the Weekly Monitor for October 15 tells of what must have been an event of unusual interest to Episco- palians, and others as well:
On Friday last arrived in town, from his seat at New London, the Rt. Rev. Bishop Seabury and yesterday he attended divine service at St. Paul's Church 2 where he preached a most excellent and ani- mated discourse, on the atonement and vicarious sufferings of our Savior, to a very crowded and decent audience, not less than 800 persons being present. The subject was discussed with great propriety and candour; and his observations were distinct, pertinent and perspic- uous; which, added to the Bishop's graceful deportment, commanded the serious and close attention of the whole assembly. Upwards of 100 persons received confirmation.
This is undoubtedly the first episcopal visitation ever made to Litchfield. The 100 persons who received confirmation must have comprised the entire church membership, men and women who had long and ardently desired to receive the rite. From what is known of the church in which our little band of worshippers met it is difficult to picture the congregation of 800 people. But that it was a red-letter day for St. Michael's there can be no doubt. Strangely enough the visitation is not recorded in the Society's records.
On June 2d to 4th, 1790, the Diocesan Convention was held in Litchfield. The Records of that Convention were not printed, but
2 Quite evidently St. Michael's Church is meant.
43
1784-1799
again from the Weekly Monitor of June 7 of that year we read of one service held at that time which has a special significance to us.
ORDINATION
Tuesday evening last arrived in town, from his seat at New London, Samuel, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Connecticut; and on Wednesday he performed divine service in the Presbyterian [Congregational] meeting house (which the society's committee very liberally tendered him for that purpose). The auditory was numerous and respectable, and conducted with that pleasing demeanor which ought to characterize all professors of Christianity and lovers of concord. Sixteen Episcopal clergy were present, the senior of whom presented Mr. Truman Marsh, of the town, for Ordination, who was admitted into the holy order of Priesthood by the Bishop. The solemnity and deportment of the young candidate commanded at- tention. The Bishop's discourse betrayed extensive erudition and native genius, and was delivered with that energy which could not fail to engage and influence his hearers, all seeming to unite in com- mending the ingenuity and gift of the preacher. It was not noisy eloquence without sentiment; but solid reasoning, drawn from sources of the Holy Scriptures, and pronounced as became a work- man not to be ashamed, with great ease and perspicuity.
From another source we learn that the Bishop ordained the Rev. David Perry deacon on June 6, 1790, in St. Michael's, from which it appears that the episcopal visitation was of fairly long duration.
On July 11, 1790, Captain Daniel Landon died suddenly, hav- ing attended church in the morning where he had read morning prayers and a sermon. Captain Landon is buried in the West Cemetery, where his grave is marked by a large stone with an in- scription and a poem composed by himself. His name is one that should be held in everlasting remembrance at St. Michael's.
On December 19, 1791, it was voted that Mr. Baldwin officiate at Blue Swamp (the name originally given to Milton) five Sundays in the ensuing year. This is the first mention of separate services at Milton, from which part of St. Michael's congregation previously had come. At the same meeting it was voted
4.4
1784-1799
that this Society will build a new Church for the purpose of at- tending the public Worship of God, to be set near the center of the Town so soon as a sufficient sum for that purpose shall be raised by voluntary subscription and said society will give the Church they now meet in for the purpose of assisting to build. And this vote shall not be considered as binding the members of this Society till the sum of six hundred pounds shall be raised as above.
From this statement, and from action taken at later meetings, it is apparent that the original church was outworn, and quite prob- ably outgrown. The necessary {600 could not have been raised, for nothing more is heard of the action of December, 1791.
At a meeting held on February 11, 1793, the first mention is made in the Society's record of St. Michael's connection with the state organization of the Church, in the following:
The members of said Society taking into consideration the constitu- tion of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of Connecticut agreed upon by clerical and lay-deputies in convention assembled, approved and adopted the same. Except the 6th Article which they adopted with this amendment, viz. that the sentence of the Bishop in convocation with the approbation of the Clergy and Lay-Deputies shall be decisive.
The next meeting of the Society was one held on October 28, 1793, when
on motion made by the Rev. Ashbel Baldwin for a dismission as Clergyman from Said Society, Voted to Dismiss said Baldwin from Said Society accordingly.
Immediately a committee of four was appointed
to make application to some Clergyman or Candidate to Officiate or Settle in Said Society, in the room of Mr. Baldwin dismissed, and to treat or Covenant with him for that purpose, and make report to Said Society accordingly.
Although the Rev. Mr. Baldwin's connection with this parish was of such short duration, inasmuch as he was a great figure in the Church in Connecticut for many years, and of prominence also
45
1784-1799
in the national Church, it may not be amiss here to describe him more fully and give a further account of his ministry. His recog- nized position in the Diocese was early one of influence and re- sponsibility. His energy in the despatch of business made him very useful in all assemblies of the Church. Chosen Secretary of the Diocesan Convention of 1796, he was repeatedly elected to the same position until 1822, when he declined re-election. He was on the Standing Committee of the Diocese for several years after the Diocese was formed, and was on many other important com- mittees. He was a trustee of the Episcopal Academy at Cheshire from its organization until 1837, when because of his health he resigned his post. In his letter of resignation he says that for many years he never failed to attend its meetings. A deputy to the Gen- eral Convention, he was Secretary of the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies for six triennial sessions, after which he declined re-election. His rectorate at Stratford was a successful and happy one which he resigned of his own accord in 1824 when he felt that his advancing years were becoming a disadvantage. He still con- tinued his ministerial labors, however, serving in a number of smaller parishes throughout the Diocese, until failure of eyesight and other infirmities forced him to give up entirely. At almost ninety years of age he died in Rochester, New York, on February 8, 1846, where he had gone in his very last years to live with a friend.
Ashbel Baldwin was universally liked for his lively and cheerful disposition. He enjoyed a good joke, and was famous for his anec- dotes. Although little is known about him as rector of St. Michael's we do have a description of him from a later rector who succeeded Mr. Baldwin by only a few years. Mr. Jones says of him: "Mr. Baldwin was a gentleman of strong mental powers, animated and eloquent in the pulpit, with a sonorous and distinct elocution; be- nevolent and humane, blending in his character many excellencies, in unison with lively and sarcastic sallies of gay good humor and wit." At the time of his death, a still later rector of St. Michael's
46
1784-1799
added that "he is still remembered with respect and affection." 3
When he died, Mr. Baldwin was the oldest ordained clergyman of the Episcopal Church in the United States, and had been for a year the oldest living graduate of Yale College. It is said of him:
From his register it appears that he has performed service and preached about ten thousand times, that he has admitted to member- ship, by baptism, three thousand and ten, and that he has united in marriage six hundred couple, and has buried about three thousand persons.
But returning now to St. Michael's, we read that in April, 1794, an arrangement was made with Mr. Smith Miles to officiate in the Society for about four months. In September it was decided to call the Rev. David Butler for three quarters of the time at an annual salary of £75. On November 28, 1794 a contract was entered into with Mr. Butler, who began his duties immediately.
The Rev. David Butler was born in Harwinton in 1763. He had at an early age been apprenticed to a mechanical trade, but had left that to serve in the Revolution, after which he had settled in business for himself and had seemed established for life. However, he was a great reader, and though he had been brought up in the Congregational Church, as he read and thought about his reading he seems to have become deeply interested in the Episcopal Church. He was an intimate friend of Ashbel Baldwin, who may have helped the interest to grow and develop. This interest led Mr. Butler to decide to enter the Episcopal ministry. He studied with his friend, Mr. Baldwin, for some time, and was ordered dea- con by Bishop Seabury on June 10, 1792, and ordained priest a year later. He officiated, first as deacon, at Guilford and Killing- worth, and came to St. Michael's from there.
Before and after Mr. Butler came to the parish, the question of a new church versus repairs on the old church was frequently dis- cussed at Society meetings. A committee which had examined the
3 Dr. Payne in the Calendar of February 21, 1846.
47
1784-1799
condition of the old church had reported that it was so decayed that it would not be prudent to repair it. But apparently the con- gregation was not in a position to build. Again and again the matter came up, and from the closeness of the vote the question must have been ardently debated. In the end, the final decision during Mr. Butler's rectorate was to repair the old church by subscription.
During this time, also, the sale or lease of the Glebe property came up for consideration. A committee was directed to look into this question, and as a result part of the property was disposed of in 1795, and the proceeds presumably invested for future needs.
One distressing event took place during Mr. Butler's incum- bency. In 1797 a group of fifty-five persons petitioned the Society as follows:
We the subscribers having at our own expense erected a new church in the western part of Litchfield and now being desirous of forming ourselves into an Episcopal Society hereby lay before, request and petition the meeting of the first Episcopal Society in said Litchfield, to give their consent to this request and in future exempt us from paying taxes to the first Episcopal Society upon condition of our organizing and taxing ourselves. All of which we submit to said meeting in brotherly love.
The request was granted.
As far as the wording of the petition goes, this looks like a nat- ural request of a goodly number of people in what is now Bantam to establish their own place of worship where it would be more convenient to them and their families. But Mr. Truman Marsh, who succeeded Mr. Butler as rector of St. Michael's, says the regrettable division was caused by a feeling of dissatisfaction with Mr. Butler. The fact that the seceding group reunited with the Society after his departure gives support to this statement. From now on we read of the West Church as distinct from St. Michael's. The new church was described as standing
48
1784-1799
on the hill north of the road nearly opposite the West Burying Ground; 4 it was designed and built by Giles Kilborn who was the projector and a liberal contributor. He died soon after and his was the first funeral service performed within the walls.
At a meeting held on February 21, 1799, it was voted to dismiss Mr. Butler from his charge at his request. Once more a committee was appointed to secure his successor.
Upon leaving St. Michael's Mr. Butler went to Reading (now Redding), but in 1804 he accepted a call to St. Paul's Church, in Troy, New York, where he remained until 1834 when he resigned because of age. He continued to live in Troy, where he was greatly liked by people of all faiths, and where he occasionally assisted his successor. He died July 11, 1842, in his eighty-first year. His funeral sermon was preached by Bishop George W. Doane of New Jersey, and was published. He had a large family of children, one of whom followed his father's example and became a clergy- man.
4 This newly mentioned burying ground is in Bantam, and is not to be con- fused with the West Burying Ground spoken of earlier which is in Litchfield.
I
First- Episcopal Church in Litchfield, situated on Baldwin Hill Bantam Brad Drawn by de. J. Payne from description furnished by D. G. Hillown 1900.
THE FIRST ST. MICHAEL'S, 1749-1814 From the Original in the Litchfield Historical Society
THE SECOND ST. MICHAEL'S, 1812-1851 DRAWING MADE IN 1842 BY DR. CRANE OF WATERBURY From the Original in St. Michael's Parish House
In Memory of JOHN DAVIES, Efors.
Born in the parish of Kington Herefordshire, England, in 1680. Dici at Litchfield. Connecticut, November 22.1758. Coming to this country with. his wife Catherine Spenser. in 1735. The purchased 9 seltled upon a tract of land. which came to be known as Davies Hollow. in the western part of Litchfield County ... devoted son of the Church of England. he became the principal; founder of this church and named it in honour of St. Michael. ~Upon this partsh he bestowed a glebe of fifty two acres for a term of nine hundred and ninety eight years at the annual rental of one peppercorn to be paid on the feast of ,faint Michael the Archangel.
Also in memory of his only son. JOHN DAVIES. EfQ5. Juni:
Born at Kington . Herefordshire. in tu!" Educated at. the University of Oxford He,came to America with, his wife. Mary Powell.in 1747. and lived at Davies Hollow untit his death on May 19.1797. There he founded the Parish of Saint John. Washington: in 1794. giving the land and the greater part of the fund with which the church, was built ..
Also in memory of his grandson The Rev. THOMAS DAVIES. ACT. Born in Herefordshire on Saint Thomas's Day, i736. o.S. Diect at New Milford, Connecticut .on May 12.1766. Graduated from Yale College in 1758. · Ordained Deacon by the Most Reverend Dr. Thomas Secker. Archbishop of Canterbury: in his chapel at Lambeth ou August 23.1761,and Priest; on the following day."Appointed a Missionary of the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. he. served as a faithful priest ofthe Church in this County, at. Litchfield. Washington New Preston Kent New Milord Roxbury Woodbury; Now Fairfield. Cornwall Sharon and Salisbury. He also organized the Parish of Saint James in Great Barrington; Massachusetts. in, 1762, At's a faithful shepherd he gave his life for his sheep.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.