USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > East Hampton > The One hundred and fiftieth anniversary, 1748-1898, of the Congregational Church of East Hampton (Chatham), Conn. : November 30, 1898 > Part 2
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In connection with this passionate and poetical burst of affection must be recorded the cold fact that the disconsolate widower married before the Christmas season of the same year, viz., December 12th, 1780, Faith, the daughter of the Rev. Ephraim and Elizabeth (Woodbridge) Little, of Colchester, who survived him and married John Partridge, of Dalton, Mass., April 18, 1796. The first wife was the daughter of John and Ann Coe, of Durham. Mr. Parsons was fifth in descent from Cornet Joseph and Mary (Bliss) Parsons, of Springfield, Mass .*
It should be remembered to the credit of the parish and of the ministerial brethren of the neighborhood, that just one month from Mr. Parsons' death the following vote was passed: " That the widow of the Rev. Mr. Parsons shall have the lib- erty to supply the pulpit six months from the first of January last, and will pay her according to our covenant with the Rev- erend Mr. Parsons during his life, for such proportion of the time as she does supply the pulpit." At the same meeting Deacon Isaac Smith, Deacon John Clark, Captain James Bill, Bryan Parmelee, Esq., and Ensign Gideon Arnold were chosen a committee "to use their discretion in hiring a candidate." But their labors were not immediately successful. The church was pastorless for a year and eight months. During this time the Rev. David Porter, D. D., a native of Hebron and a grad- uate of Dartmouth College, and who died at Catskill, N. Y., at the age of eighty-nine, after a long and successful ministry, preached for several weeks near the end of 1791.
April 30, 1792, the society voted that the committee "apply to Mr. West to preach with us upon probation for four Sabbathıs;" and May 21st they were directed to "apply to Mr. West to preach with us till the first of September next." August 8th, a committee of nine men from different parts of the parish were chosen to bring in proposals as to Mr. West's
* Rev. Samuel Parsons, son of Lieut. Samuel and Elizabeth (Chipman) Parsons, was born in Durham, Conn., May 2, 1753. He married first, January 28, 1779, Catha- rine, daughter of John Coe, of Durham, who died April 9, 17So; he married second, December 12, 1780, Faith, daughter of the Rev. Ephraim and Elizabeth (Woodbridge) Little, of Colchester, who survived him and married, April 18, 1796, John Partridge, of Dalton, Mass.
Children by first wife: John, born March, 1780, married Abigail Faxon, Attica, N. Y.
Children by second wife: Samuel, born November, 17SI; Catharine, born 1784, mnar- ried Dr. Charles Stewart; Nancy Woodbridge, born 1786, married Quartus Knight.
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settlement. They were George Cummings, Moses Cook, Lem- uel West, Timothy Rogers, Isaac Smith, Jr., Nehemiah Gates, Bryan Parmelee, Samuel Sexton, and Selah Jackson. On the 20th of the same month the proposal of the eastern committee (Rogers, Smith, and Gates) was accepted, and at an adjourned meeting, September 3, 1792, it was voted to offer two hundred pounds for a settlement, with salary of seventy pounds for four years, and eighty pounds after the settlement was paid. Pos- sibly Mr. Parsons' health had put the parish to some expense, for a proviso is added that if it became needful to hire assist- ance the salary should be cut down one-half.
The Rev. Joel West was the oldest child of Captain Samuel and Sarah (Hunt) West, and was born March 12, 1766, in that part of Lebanon then known as "The Crank," and which was in 1800 incorporated as the town of Columbia. He grad- uated from Dartmouth College in 1789, and studied divinity under Rev. David McClure, of South Windsor, where he united with the church on confession of faith in 1790. He was licensed to preach November 18, 1790, and was ordained the third pas- tor of this church October 17, 1792. His emigrant ancestor was Francis West, born in 1606, in Salisbury, Eng., and was in the line of John and Priscilla Alden of the "Mayflower" company. March 11, 1794, he married Elizabeth, the daughter of the Rev. Thomas and Eunice ( Lathrop) Brockway, who was born November 28, 1774, and died September 28, 1853. It is related that he brought his bride home in a carriage, the first that had been seen in the place, and this with the fact that she had the first carpet, awakened both curiosity and envy. Eleven children were born to them; descendants of whom are still members of this church, and proofs of the vitality of the " Mayflower" blood, than which no one can boast a nobler heraldry.
Mr. West was a man of sunny and hopeful disposition, and was greatly beloved by this people. Especially during the first part of the pastorate religion was at a low ebb. For years there was not a member of the church upon whom he could call for a public prayer. There were a few faithful women. Many withdrew from the society by certificate. The half- way covenant was working out its inevitable results. But the faithful pastor labored on and better days came. "The Great
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Revival " as it was called of 1818 and 1819 followed, and it was indeed a "New Way" throughout New England. Taxation for the support of the church was gradually done away with. The flood of infidelity which had swept over the country was stayed. The standard of church membership was raised. Fifty-two were admitted to the church, among them strong men, pillars in the church, of mighty influence in the whole community. I may mention in this list Sparrow Smith, Elea- zur Veazey, David Buell, Lazarus Watrous, Nathaniel C. Smith, Willard Sears, Horace Clark, and Diodate D. West.
As indicative of the feeling of church union then prevalent the following vote of March, 1819, is interesting: "That the several brethren might be at liberty to invite to our communion a friend belonging to another denomination of Christians, if he had a desire for it."
After a pastorate of thirty-four years, the Rev. Joel West died suddenly, October 26, 1826, in the sixtieth year of his age. He was buried in Lakeview Cemetery, only a short dis- tance from his residence, the house in which his son, Diodate B. West, always lived, and now occupied by his granddaugh- ters, the Misses Mary A. and Julia A. West.
CHILDREN OF REV. JOEL WEST.
Nancy Brockway, born Oct. 28, 1795; died Nov. 15, 1795. Brackett, born Feb. 21, 1797; died March 4, 1797.
Diodate Brockway, born July 20, 1798.
Eveline Orvilla, born May 19, 1800.
Delia Elliott, born April 21, 1804; married J. W. B. Smith.
Betsey Emeline, born Sept. 11, 1806; married Justin Dickinson.
Brackett Mortimer, born Sept. 4, 1808.
Alice Amanda, born April 13, ISIO; died October 29, 1841.
Maranda Matilda, born Oct. 31, 1812; married Erastus Day, of Colchester. Chittenden Griswold, born 1814; died Nov. 5, 1814.
Samuel Wales, born Dec. 3, 1815; died Jan. 22, 1846. Stiles Davenport, born Oct., 1818; died Dec. 4, 1818.
Deacon D. B. West united with the church July 4, 1819, and was elected deacon December 11, 1823. He died June 14, 1881, being eighty-three years old, having been a member of the church sixty-two years and an officer fifty-eight years-a very remarkable record.
The first deacons of the church were Ebenezer Clark, John Clark, and Isaac Smith. (See appendix.)
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The members of the association supplied the pulpit for some time in aid of Mrs. West. But church affairs were evidently less prosperous, for help was received during the next year from the Missionary Society of Connecticut, and Rev. William Case, of Chester, writing to Dr. Leonard Bacon, at that time the secretary, says: "Aid from your society will probably be the means of saving them from an entire deprivation of the privilege of the gospel." The grand list of the community was then $6,48r, viz., Baptists $546, Methodists $570, Con- gregationalists $2,468, with no society $2,895. The population was about 1,000.
March 14, 1828, it was voted that "the members of this meeting feel a willingness to settle the Reverend Timothy Stone in the work of the ministry if they can obtain the sum of ninety-six dollars from the domestick Missionary Society, and raise a sufficient sumi by subscription to pay him his salary." Deacon Warren A. Skinner was appointed a committee to secure this aid, and his letter to Dr. Bacon says: "By the utmiost exertions we shall raise two hundred and ten or twenty dollars. With this and the aid of $96 a year for five years we shall be able to settle the Rev. Timothy Stone." Mr. Stone's salary was fixed at three hundred dollars.
The Rev. Timothy Stone was born in Goshen, in the town of Lebanon, May 29, 1774, where his father, of the same name, was pastor from 1766 till his death in 1797. His mother was Eunice, daughter of the Rev. Solomon Williams. At the age of thirteen, while preparing for college, he suffered a stroke of paralysis from which his organs of speech never fully recov- ered. For this reason he studied for some time the art of painting with the celebrated John Trumbull, also a native of Lebanon. Afterward, becoming a subject of Divine Grace, he resolved to enter the ministry, and placed himself under the instruction of President Dwight and lived in his family. No- vember 20, 1803, he was ordained pastor of the church in South Cornwall. In 1804 Yale conferred upon him the degree of M. A. After a pastorate of nearly twenty-five years he was dismissed, and installed pastor here June 4, 1828.
Mr. Stone's letters to the Missionary Society give various facts of interest. It would appear that the first Sabbath School was begun during 1828, and that in the same year a
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temperance society was formed. During a revival in 1829, "more than sixty, including all classes and denominations, are now indulging a hope of regeneration." In 1830 he writes it is "becoming more and more manifest" that the "church could not prosper on union principles." In 1831, that "fif- teen years ago the Baptists threatened to swallow up the Con- gregational Church." In the same letter: "my good members and my deacons have been too fond of mingling with the Methodists in their meetings, allured by the cheering sound of Christian union." Also he saw that he "damped their devotion " by discountenancing women taking part in prayer meetings and by insisting upon the direction of the meetings. The "ardent brethren " evidently made it somewhat uncom- fortable for the pastor, and he was dismissed February 7, 1832, being "cordially recommended as a faithful and worthy min- ister of Christ to confidence and employment."
Mr. Stone was a man of great simplicity of character and singleness of purpose. Owing to the ill-health of his wife she did not remove from South Cornwall, and after his dismission he returned there, where he died April 14, 1852, being held in high respect by all. The Rev. Timothy Dwight Porter Stone, late of Springfield, was his son.
It is very interesting to remember that we have two living representatives of Mr. Stone's pastorate-Mr. John William Burke Smith and Mrs. Alice S. (Bevin) Child, who united with the church in 1833-sixty-five years ago! Mr. David Watson Watrous and Mrs. Laura A. (Markham) Skinner are next in age, having united with the church in 1842 during the pastorate of Mr. Smith. Mrs. Amanda M. Clarke, Mrs. Belinda Bevin Veazey, and Mrs. Amelia A. Watrous have also been members for more than fifty years, having united with the church in 1846, while the Rev. William Russell was pastor.
Questions of Old School and New School-East Windsor or New Haven-began about this time to agitate the theologians. Samuel Ives Curtis was employed to supply the vacant church. Middlesex Consociation was Old School and Mr. Curtis had graduated from New Haven. Mr. Parsons, of East Haddam, and Dr. Harvey, of Westchester, were champions of the "faith once delivered to the saints" on East Windsor Hill, but not to
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REV. SAMUEL I. CURTIS, Pastor, 1832-1837.
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Dr. Taylor at New Haven! Middlesex Consociation was true to its convictions and refused ordination; the church was true to its purpose and called a council, which ordained Mr. Curtis, the fifth pastor.
Samuel Ives Curtis, the son of Ivah and Hannah (Ives) Curtis, was born in Meriden, March 5, 1803; Vale Seminary, 1829-32; approbated to preach by New Haven East Association, 1831, and ordained here November 1, 1832. He was dismissed November 21, 1837. Served the church at North Woodstock about two years, when he was called to the church in Union in April, 1839, and was installed there April 12, 1843, remain- ing as pastor till his death, March 26, 1880.
October 2, 1832, he married Rebecca T. Hough, of Walling- ford, who with her daughter Ann was killed by lightning in her home in Union, Fast Day, March 25, 1842. Her son, Rev. George Curtis, is pastor at Mayville, North Dakota. His second wife was Eliza, the daughter of the Rev. Jesse Ives, one of the first pastors of the Congregational Church in Mon- son, Mass. Their only child was Samuel Ives Curtis, Jr., born February 5, 1844; Amherst, 1867; and now Professor of Biblical Literature in Chicago Theological Seminary. His third wife was the granddaughter of the Rev. Daniel Grosvenor.
It was during this pastorate that the square pews were re- moved from the church. There was a marked revival during 1833-
After an interim of six months the Rev. Rufus Smith began to supply, June 10, 1838, and " an ecclesiastical council was convened at the house of Mr. Harvey Arnold, September IS, 1838," and after "a thorough examination" it was voted to proceed with the ordination exercises on the following day. He was the son of Matthew and Anna (Strickland) Smith, of Chaplin, Conn., and was born April 26, 1795. He was for a time a physician in Griswold, afterward studied theology at Yale, and was approbated to preach by the New London Asso- ciation, May 30, 1836.
He was a strict disciplinarian and had high views of the powers of a pastor. His formula for the prayer meeting was: "Brother West, will you pray? Brother Skinner, will you remark?" Deacon West told me that upon returning from a meeting at Wethersfield he kneeled down to pray in a prayer
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meeting without being called upon by Mr. Smith, but was at once stopped with the decided remark, "I must have order in my meetings." I have been also told that Mr. Smith asked the brethren to meet him at the Arnold house where he lived, a certain Sunday noontime, with the remark, "I want to con- sult with you, but I shall do as I choose in the matter!" He was greatly troubled by Abby Kelly and "her followers." And no doubt he had just cause. In closing his report to the Missionary Society he says, " This will be a good society: when, the Lord only knows!" Two years later he writes, " In degree, the susceptibilities of this people to novelty and ultraism are certainly unusual. The wisdom of Solomon and the strength of Samson would not hold them with bit and bridle." Poor man, how little he understood human nature! In 1842 he reports that they had almost succeeded in raising funds to build a new church. In 1844 he is more hopeful, and believes the society will be able to get along without aid and also build a church. Ill health and the evident friction between himself and certain members of the church induced him to ask for a dismission, which was granted June 24, 1845. He had no other pastorate, and died in East Hartford, June 1, 1854.
Although there are these recollections and records which cause us to smile, his seven years' pastorate was evidently pro- ductive of blessing and helpfulness. There was need doubtless of a strong hand and a firm loyalty to Congregational principles and methods. And it should be remembered that the church has never after this needed aid from the Missionary Society. The whole amount granted between 1827 and 1844 was $1,339. The offerings to Home Missions from this church have been more than twice the amount of aid rendered, while the total charities are more than nine times that amount.
Early in October, 1845, the Rev. William Russell, son of Alden and Sarah (Andrews) Russell, and great-great-grandson of the Rev. John Norton,* the first pastor, began his work
* Rev. John Norton married Ennice Hitchcock. Son, John Norton, Jr., married Ede Clark.
Daughter, Sarah Norton, married Elizur Andrews.
Daughter, Sarah Andrews, married Alden Russell.
Son, William Russell, married, May 10, 1842, Sarah Elizabeth Brown, of New Haven. Children: Hattie Hamlin, born March 1, 1844; Sarah Norton, born July 6, 1847; Minnie Williams, born November 22, 1851.
REV. LEUMAS H. PEASE, Acting Pastor, 1856-1858.
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here and was installed the seventh pastor, October 14, 1846. He was born in Stratford, Conn., February 15, 1815; Yale, 1837; Vale Divinity School, 1841; and was ordained pastor at Wakeman, Ohio, December 1, 1842. Difficulties arose regard- ing the location of the new church, and at his request he was dismissed October 11, 1855. He was pastor at New Ipswich, N. H., for three years, and preached at Sherman, Conn., from 1860 to 1862. Because of a severe asthmatic trouble, he relin- quished further ministerial service and obtained a clerkship in the Treasury Department at Washington, where he remained till 1886, and died in Washington, March 17, 1889.
The Rev. Leumas Hoyt Pease, born in Colebrook, Conn., January 20, ISII, supplied about a year and a third between 1856 and 1858. During the war ( 1861-1865) he was chaplain of Ellsworth's Avengers (a New York regiment ), and was also in the Christian Commission. From 1865 till his death, May 20, 1887, he was seamen's chaplain at New Orleans, and made frequent visits liere, at which time it was often the custom of the Sunday School to present him with a National flag for his Bethel. His strong individuality and kindly disposition will make him long remembered.
Many candidates were heard and several calls were extended before November 24, 1859, when a unanimous call was ex- tended to the Rev. Henry Alanson Russell, who was installed the eighth pastor, December 14, 1859. He was born in Pros- pect, Conn., August 14, 1826; Yale Divinity School, 1853; ordained pastor of the First Church, Winsted, April 19, 1854, and was dismissed from that church August 25, 1858. After a pastorate of four and one-half years he was dismissed June 28, 1865, and served the churches in Centerbrook and Cole- brook, Conn .; Moers, N. Y .; and Cabot, Vt., and is now resid- ing in Winsted in honored old age.
Another marked figure in the pulpit of this church was the Rev. Gustavus Dorman Pike, who was here about two years, but made many visits to the place during his employment by the American Missionary Association. He was born in Tops- field, Mass., August 6, 1831; Dartmouth, 1858; Andover, 1861; ordained pastor of the Olivet Street Church, Nashua, N. H., April 23, 1862. He traveled extensively with the Fisk Jubilee Singers in their campaigns which secured over $70,000. He
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died in Hartford, January 29, 1885. His quaint and racy words will not soon be forgotten.
The ninth pastor was the Rev. George Whitefield Andrews, born in Wayne, Ohio, February 4, 1833; Oberlin, 1858; Ando- ver, 1867; ordained pastor of this church, November 13, 1867. At his request he was released from pastoral duties, November 14, 1870, that he might go south for his health. He was after- ward formally dismissed by the Consociation, and remained in the employ of the American Missionary Association. He is now Professor of Theology in Talladega College, greatly hon- ored and beloved. It was during this pastorate, in 1866, that the parsonage was built (at a cost of $3,000).
Rev. Burritt Augustus Smith, born in Oxford, Conn., August 4, 1820; Yale, 1843; preached for three years and a half till April, 1874. After teaching in Middletown from 1875 to 1883, he removed to Worcester, Mass., and died there June 16, 1899.
The tenth pastor, Rev. Joel Stone Ives, began May 17, 1874, and was ordained September 29, 1874. He was born in Cole- brook, Conn., December 5, 1847, the son of Rev. Alfred E. and Harriet (Stone) Ives; Amherst, 1870; Yale Divinity School, 1874. After being dismissed October 31, 1883, he was in- stalled at Stratford, Conn., November 20, 1883, and was dis- missed October 31, 1899, to accept the office of Secretary of the Missionary Society of Connecticut.
Rev. Edward Payson Root, born in Montague, Mass., August 4, 1844; Amherst, 1871; Yale Divinity School, 1875; ordained pastor at Hampden, Mass., June 1, 1876; dismissed December 28, 1883; was installed the eleventh pastor, February 7, 1884. Being dismissed in 1891 because of ill health, he has since supplied churches in Colorado. October 19, 1887, the Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor was formed with Mr. Root as president.
From June, 1891, to May, 1893, Rev. Henry Holmes, born in St. Paul, Minn., June 30, 1861, studied at Carlton College three years, and graduated at Hartford Seminary, 1892, served the church and was ordained June 7, 1892. He has been pastor at Wauwatosa, Wis., since 1893.
Rev. Christopher W. Collier, born at Westbury, Wiltshire, England, February 23, 1866; Williams, 1892; Harvard, 1893; Yale Divinity School, 1896, was ordained at North Adams,
REV. BURRITT A. SMITH, Acting Pastor, 1870-1874.
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Mass., January 3, 1894. Acting pastor of this church from November, 1893, to October, 1897, when he was dismissed for the purpose of further study in Germany, and we are glad to have him with us to-day.
The church is now acceptably supplied by the Rev. William Slade, who was born in Thetford, Vt., December 13, 1856; Dartmouth, 1884; Andover, 1887; ordained pastor at West Newbury, Mass., September 18, 1888; pastor at Williamstown1, Mass., six years; beginning service here in October, 1897.
It would be impossible to give a complete record of the church membership. In 1792, there were 45 males and 59 females, total 104; in 1818, the number had fallen to 55; but 52 were added in 1819; in 1833, the number was 74; in 1856, there were 68 members. During the last 64 years there have been 419 additions-just 100 were received to the church in 1874-83; the number last January is 262, and during the 150 years the grand total is probably above 700.
A few Baptist families moved here in 1775, a church was organized September 10, 1784, and a building was erected on the corner southwest of this church, but it has long since been removed.
Rev. Joel McKee began to hold Methodist services about the year 1817. In 1830 a meeting house was built on Miller's Hill; in 1850 the building now standing near the railroad was erected, and the edifice now in use was built in 1875.
The Catholics have held services for more than thirty years, and have recently built a commodious place of worship on Bevin Hill.
The Swedes within a few months have come into possession of the building formerly owned by the Union Congregational Church, where the Lutheran forms of service will be observed.
The location of the present church building was the result of much discussion, and even after its completion there was not satisfaction with the result, so that, together with other causes which obtained in the community, the Union Church was organized in 1856, twenty-five members being dismissed from this church September 5th, and for more than twenty years maintained a vigorous life, and not a few of the useful workers in this and the Methodist churches were once members of the Union Church.
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It is an interesting record that up to the close of the last century the ecclesiastical society had charge of the schools. Il1 1754, it was voted to lay a tax and "Sargeant" Cook, Joseph Parke, and William Bevin were appointed a committee. In 1758, the school was kept in the house of Joseph Parke on Bevin Hill. In 1796, a separate school organization seems to liave been formed.
December 20, 1750, Captain Ebenezer Clark being modera- tor, the society voted "to build a meeting house for divine worship, two-thirds of the qualified voters being present," of the following dimensions, "46 feet long, 36 feet in width, and 22 feet between joints." The question of location was not easily solved. Petitions to "affix a place for a meeting house for divine worship" were sent up in 1751 and in 1752. The location agreed upon was near the present site, but it is uncer- tain when the building was first occupied. The last vote on record, for payment for the use of a private house "to meet in on the Sabbath," is December 15, 1755; when it was also voted to make a rate of twelve hundred pounds to pay the charges already laid out on the meeting house and to provide pulpit, doors, sashes, and glass, "and set said glass." The first vote to seat the meeting house is July 8, 1762. And any men who would assume such a delicate duty should have their names on record. They were Isaac Smith, Deacon John Clark, Lieu- tenant Stephen Olmstead, Captain Abijah Hall, and Ensign Silas Dunham.
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