USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Plymouth > The Tories of Chippeny hill, Connecticut; a brief account of the Loyalists of Bristol, Plymouth and Harwinton, who founded St. Matthew's church in East Plymouth in 1791 > Part 5
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"I, Joseph Robarts Now make a Prefesion of the Chruch of Englon". The complete church record, aside from the baptisms, from the time of the last vestry meeting which was held at the Church, May 9, 1774, until his entry in 1781, was as follows:
1776, Feb. 6. Jered Peck profest himself a member of the Church of England.
1777, April 1. Jude Leaming declared his conform- ity to the Church of England.
. 1778, April 6. Ethan Curtis profest himself a mem- ber of the Church of England.
1781, Jan. 19. I, Joseph Robarts Now make a Prefesion of the Chruch of Englon.
Later in 1781, there was recorded a vestry meeting held at Jesse Bunnell's.
With the success of the American arms, signs of
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THE TORIES OF CHIPPENY HILL
toleration became evident. "There is reason to believe from general reports," says the Society for the Prop- agation of the Gospel in the report for 1781, "that the condition of the missionaries in New England is much better than it has been, and they live more quietly, though their churches are still shut up."
It was not, however, until November 17, 1784, that the members of the Episcopal church at New Cam- bridge formed themselves into a legal church society, and voted to repair the church house. Voting to repair the church house, however, was easier than repairing it. In fact it could not be repaired. It "had lain desolate on account of the persecution of the times," and although meetings were held in the old building, a new church was a necessity. Where it should be located was the question. Few if any churchmen were now living at New Cambridge. The church center had moved westward, into Northbury, and the churchmen of that place and Harwinton were clamoring for recognition. There were fifteen Episcopal families in northeastern Northbury near the Hill, and five miles of rough and uneven road lay between them and St. Peter's Church at Northbury. At least ten Harwinton families must travel four and a half miles over a most intolerably rough mountainous road to go to church at Harwinton center. A union was the logical solution of the situation. It was voted by the New Cambridge people, in 1790, "that we was desirous of having the east part of Northbury and the south part of Har- winton to join us in making up a society." The petition for the establishment of the new society was prepared by the clerk, signed by the inhabitants of
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EAST CHURCH
Northbury and Harwinton, and was granted by the General Assembly.
Thus was formed the parish of St. Matthew, or, as it was originally called, the Second Episcopal So- ciety in Northbury. The first vestry meeting was held, with Captain Nathaniel Jones in the chair as modera- tor, at Ensign Ozias Tyler's new house in Northbury, April 4, 1791. The church edifice, East Church, was built in pursuance of a vote taken December 1, 1791, was ready for use in 1794, and was consecrated by Bishop Seabury, October 21, 1795, the same year that the town of Plymouth was born. The people were indeed happy when their well beloved bishop, who had been consecrated at Aberdeen, Scotland, preached to them. The ordination of their priest and the consecra- tion of their church were the last official acts recorded in his register before death claimed him. How fond their descendants have been of the church all these years is evidenced by the fact that no other sect has been known to hold a service within its walls. The changes that have been made have been made reverently and little has been done to break the lines as they were originally laid out.
I can almost see them now, filing into their stiff backed pews, with all the pride which only the farmers of their faith could have. There were Capt. Nathaniel Jones, the sea captain, and Capt. Zebulon Frisbie. They were members of the committee that called Nichols to New Cambridge, and, with Capt. Abel Matthews, they were the ones who took steps to form the legal society after the war. The Matthews family was there, you could depend upon it; Caleb Matthews the clerk,
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THE TORIES OF CHIPPENY HILL
Nathaniel Matthews and the rest of them. The Gay- lord family was there, and the Carringtons. There also sat Ira Dodge of Northbury who deeded to the society the land upon which the church was built, and Ensign Ozias Tyler of Northbury whose new house was the pride of the community that was growing up about the church, and who was the first delegate to the State Convention in 1792. And then there were Robert Jearum, the chorister, also of Northbury, Stephen Graves and Calvin Woodin, Jabez Gilbert who fought the French at Ticonderoga in 1759, all of Harwinton, Uncle Asa, too, that good old soul Uncle Asa Smith who "felt it no disgrace, to vote for federal Brace, fall down and skin his face," with Capt. Thomas Hunger- ford the Whig who saved Joel Tuttle's neck on Federal Hill Green, and Joseph Smith whose father betrayed Dunbar, and Obadiah Munson, Samuel Hawley, Jesse Bunnell, and many others; some living close by the church but many driving thither from the Hill or else- where.
The list of pew holders would not be complete without mention of the leader who was the "flower of them a' ", and it is worth while taking a good look at him. Isaac Welles Shelton used to sit in the front pew at the right until he was buried in the churchyard nearby. · A short man he was, dressed in knee breeches and pumps, with a round face and dimpled chin and grey prominent eyes,-"bullet eyes" they called them. He was the wealthiest landowner on Chippeny Hill, with four or five slaves at his call, was a gentleman and the son of a gentleman, the great grandson of Governor Welles, and a member of the wealthy Shelton family
الص لاحية
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EAST CHURCH
of Stratford, who were extensive land owners. He drove about in a gig, at a time when gigs were a rarity, and his son Harry rode a high-spirited horse. When Isaac Shelton was ill for seven years with soften- ing of the brain he hired a man to stay with him, as he was afraid to be alone. Gossip said that in his younger days he lived in New Haven, his land surrounded by a high board fence, and that he never went out in the evening without an attendant. Some hinted that his money was not procured in an honorable way. But when he died, all paid homage to the man who had come to spend his best days on the Hill; and they laid away his body with loving pride, for he was a gentleman.
But go back a little and consider the records of his native town of Stratford, July 29, 1779:
"Resolved that Isaac Welles Shelton shall not reside in this town. Resolved that no inimical person now with the enemy shall return and reside in this town, unless they have the approbation of the town in their meet- ing."
And then read in Sabine's "Loyalists of the Ameri- can Revolution": "He joined the British on Long Island, and conducted the party that burned Danbury. Guilty of other treasonable conduct, he was arrested and . convicted and ordered to confine himself to the county of Hartford."
And finally this letter from one of his descendants:
"When the war cloud arose, he joined the home country, expecting to fight the British, but could not suffer the humiliating treatment of his superior, an
الإيجار محل
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THE TORIES OF CHIPPENY HILL
inferior officer of the company, resisted punishment, struck the officer, and fled. For safety's sake he spent some time with the British."
HE CONDUCTED THE PARTY THAT BURNED DANBURY! Chippeny Hill did not know that, and does not know it to this day. That was in his younger days before he came to the Hill, and when he did he came to visit his cousin, the wife of Capt. Jones, he fell in love with her niece, married her in 1780, and became a resident. He had a brother David, who lived in Northbury parish.
When Mr. Nichols left in 1784, it was Shelton who was appointed to collect the tax for the purpose of hiring preachers, and when the petition for the forma- tion of the new society was drawn, he was chosen to act as the society's agent and, as their most influential representative, to appear before the General Assembly. With Capt. Hungerford and Lemuel Carrington he was authorised to sell the old church edifice at New Cam- bridge; with Ensign Tyler, Samuel Hawley, and Ste- phen Graves, he set the stake where the church was to stand and built it. He was the recognised man of " prominence in the new society, and yet he had con- ducted the party that burned Danbury; and Moses Dunbar died the Traitor!
The days of Isaac Shelton were the days of the prosperity of East Plymouth and of the building of the homesteads which still stand, faithful to the memories of the old families that are gone. They were the days of well kept farms and an industrious people. Ensign Ozias Tyler's new house led to the erection by Stephen
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EAST CHURCH
Graves of a better one, and Graves' new dwelling led Calvin Woodin to build still better across the valley. Each vied with the other, no longer in fleetness of foot, in craft, and in courage of the Ledges, but in more fruitful and harmonious rivalries. And as James Nichols, priest in the wilderness, led them in war, so Alexander Viets Griswold, first rector of the sanctuary, led them in peace.
He was a gentleman, was Mr. Griswold, yet one of the best day laborers in town. His family lived in Cyrus Gaylord's house and Gaylord boarded with him and knew him well, for they worked together in harvest time. His manner of living was so plain that the boarder at times wearied of it, and he was so polite that when a negro came asking for charity, he sat down and ate with him lest he feel slighted. He was so strong that when word was brought to him that a boy was being borne away by a freshet into the mill pond near the church, he ran at top speed, plunged into the swollen torrent and rescued the child from the flood. He saw a group of men about a rock tugging at it without success, so he sprang from his horse, leaped the fence, and although in his best dress, he seized the stone, and with the exercise of almost herculean strength, helped them heave it out from its bed. Mr. Griswold's home was in St. Matthew's parish and it was well for him that he was not afraid of the elements, for Har- winton and Northfield were also parishes of his, and each was six or eight miles distant from the others, the country between was hilly and the roads bad, and it was his duty to visit the members of his flock, attend funerals, and hold services weekdays and Sundays.
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THE TORIES OF CHIPPENY HILL'
Much of his time was spent on horseback, for carriages in that region were then scarce thought of. Cold and stormy, one Sunday, it was his duty to preach at Harwinton. He arose before his family and saddled his horse without breakfast in order to arrive at the service in time. The snow came and drifted and he baffled with the tempest until he reached Harwinton at noon. As the parishioners had already held a morning service, he held an afternoon service and then turned his horse toward home. It was midnight before his horse was put out and he crawled into bed without supper. One time he returned to a farmhouse, wet to the waist, from fishing. He was urged to change his clothes. "Oh, no," he said, "it may as well dry on me," and so he passed on.
This man was a Tory, a nephew of Rev. Mr. Viets of Simsbury, who was in prison with Moses Dunbar and ministered to the doomed man. When his uncle left this country after the war to go to Digby, Nova Scotia, he, too, was prepared to go, but he did not. He had a wife who was but seventeen and her people wished to keep her; so he became a farmer and worked his farm for ten years. Then he became a clergyman; and when three calls were extended to him at the same time, he passed by the parishes at Redding and at . Waterbury and took up the post of labor among the Litchfield county hills. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Seabury, October 21, 1795, when the church of St. Matthew was consecrated, and was the builder of that parish. His parishes gradually increased; and, when he left, there were 220 communicants, most of whom had come to the Lord's table under his ministry.
REV. ALEXANDER VIETS GRISWOLD, D. D .. BISHOP OF THE EASTERN DIOCESE
This young Tory farmer from Simsbury, after the War, was ordained a priest at the consecration of St. Matthew's Church, which was the first church under his charge.
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EAST CHURCH
He "found the people mostly religious and compar- atively free from vice. No years of his life were more happy than those spent here in his first parish." He died honored among men, ecclesiastical ruler of all of New England, save Connecticut, Right Reverend Alex- ander Viets Griswold, Bishop of the Eastern Diocese.
Bishop Griswold had occasion once to depose a man from the church. This man had left his first parish in Connecticut an absconded debtor, and later for in- temperance was excluded from the churches in Vermont, in 1799. His name was James Nichols. Thus lived two men who loved the Past and taught it to their people, and both were devoted to the cause which had been lost. One drowned his sorrow in the cups; and the other labored on a New England farm. The one who worked became a man of the Future. They call such men Americans.
APPENDIX
The signers of the Petition for the Establishment of a Church at East Plymouth, Connecticut, Oct. 1, 1790, were:
Caleb Matthews, Clerk of the Episcopal Society in
New Cambridge.
Jabez Gilbert (bard)
Stephen Graves
Jonathan Tyler
Curtis Hale
Asa Smith
Calim Woodin
Noah Welton inhabitants of Herington
Ozias Tyler
Ezra Dodge
Moses Cowles
Thomas Curtis
Ira Dodge
Ebenezer Cowles
Isaac Miller
Eliphalet Barns
Samuel Hawley
Aner Woodin
Daniel Bowen
Jacob Mallory
Oliver Loomis
Amos Wright
Robert Jerome
inhabitants of Northbury
CHURCH ENROLLMENT, Nov. 17, 1784 Capt. Caleb Matthews Joel Tuttle
Capt. Nathaniel Jones Capt. Zebulon Frisbe Abel Frisbe Nehemiah Roys Ensn Joseph Gaylord John Lowry
Charles Sanford
William Gaylord
Nathaniel Matthews Noah Andrews
Dr. Abijah Schovel
Charles Ledyard
Asabel Matthews
Levi Munger
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APPENDIX
Abram Brooks
Cyrus Gaylord
Capt. Abel Matthews
Riverus Carington
Caleb Matthews, Jr. John Matthews
Robert Jearum
Chancy Jerome
Samuel Allen
Eli Woods
Lemuel Carrington
Ebenezer Meriam
Isaac W. Shelton
The above enrollment is a true copy of the original, examined by Caleb Matthews, 2nd, Clerk. The follow- ing names were enrolled since our being embodied as a society :
Daniel Johnson, Fenner Arnold, Timothy Sperry.
Oct. 13, 1785. Benjamin Cornwell Jun. enrolled his name & Joseph Spencer.
June 13, 1785. George Beckwith & Benjamin Beck- with.
Sept 4, 1785. Ebenezer Edson, Abel Manross, Abel Bunnel & Jesse Bunnel.
Nov. 4, 1785. Stephen Graves, Samuel Bracket & Amos Bracket enrolled their names.
Dec. 4th, Israel Johnson.
5th, Joseph Smith Jr.
" 12, 1786. Wait Munson enrolled his name.
Sept 1st, 1789. Seth Thomas enrolled his name.
March 20, 1790. Samuel Hall
Samuel Hally " " " Aug. 30, " (Hawley)
Sept. 10, 1790. Ens. Ozias Tyler, Ira Dodge, Ezra Dodge, Isaac Morris, Jesse Schovel, Noah Upson, Thomas Curtis & Jacob Mallory enrolled thr names.
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sincegehim
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THE TORIES OF CHIPPENY HILL
Sept. 28, 1790. Lent Ives enrolled his name.
Nov. 29, " Capt. Thomas Hungerford enrolled
his name. Dec. 20, 1790.
Dr. Timothy Hosmer enrolled his
name.
Dec. 30, 1790. Ebenezer Cowles enrolled his name.
" 8 " Elisha French enrolled his name.
"
3 " Dr. Hart of Farmington enrolled his name.
Jan. 19, 1791. Wm. Samuel Judd enrolled his name.
" " " Capt. Levi Clark "
„ "
„
„ " Luke Wadsworth "
„ "
Feb. 7,
"
Maj. Ezekiel Scott
" "
CHIPPIN'S HILL
James Shepard, in the Bristol Press.
"There is no other place in the State of Connecticut where such a fine and extended view can be had without leaving the public highway. At the west the tops of a 'thousand hills' are seen which hide many villages be- tween them, leaving Terryville partially exposed to view. The time was when the spire of the church in Northfield could be seen from this hill. Turning north and east we see the blue mountains supposed to be in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. We over-look parts of Canton, Simsbury and Avon, and plainly see Farmington, Bristol, Plainville, Forestville, parts of Southington, New Britain and Berlin ; a pine tree in the west part of Meriden, which appears about as large as a stove-pipe hat, the Westfield church in Middle-
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CHIPPIN'S HILL
town, and houses east of the Connecticut river. Often times when we villagers are laboring for breath under a dense fog, it is all sunshine there: the fog looks like a vast sea of water overflowing the towns above men- tioned, and sometimes the Farmington mountain pro- jects its top a little above the fog and looks like the back of a huge whale sailing in the ocean."
LINES DESCRIPTIVE OF CHIPPIN'S HILL
By Lucy Atwater. (Born 1794.)
Ah, verdant hill, where once I loved to roam O'er the green fields which then enclosed my home, Thy beauteous landscape I no longer see, Thy orchards drop their fruits no more for me; But I can call to mind that blissful scene Where thy rich meadows, dressed in lively green, Sloping descend to meet the vale below Where forest trees in rich luxuriance grow. O'er thy fair top which overlooks the grove In contemplation's walk I often rove; From there I see rich fields of waving grain Extended all along the fertile plain. Low in the glen, the cottage of the poor Half hid by trees, is seen with open door.
Thence Farmington, rich village, too is seen, And many a peaceful dwelling hid between ; Far on the distant hill is seen to rise Wadsworth's proud castle, verging to the skies ; And smoking columns rise to mark the way Where smooth Connecticut's limpid waters stray ; Beyond, a vast extent of green-clad fields
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THE TORIES OF CHIPPENY HILL
To the enamored eye their varied beauty yields. Now farther to the south I cast my eye Where the blue ridge of hanging hills I spy ; Description fails thy beauteous scenes to trace And show them, as presented from this place. I know thy rugged roads and miry springs, Thy howling winds, and few unpleasant things ; Yet I see beauties on my favorite hill, And own "with all thy faults, I love thee still."
THE TORY
By Mrs. Sarah E. Royce, 1832.
'A bugle note both loud and shrill,- Its echo bounds from hill to hill. Wildly it rings through mountain air Warriors or huntsmen are not there. 2
The eagle hears, whose airy ring Circles the heights with unchecked wing, The cautious fox doth show no fear For oft this music greets his ear. 3
The man that hears-not undismayed- To earth doth drop his ax or spade, Or plow is left in half-turned sod, With oxen free to graze abroad. 4
That signal-ah! he knoweth well A note of warning doth it tell- "To mountain fastness haste! away :. With utmost speed! "Twere death to stay !"
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THE TORY
5
Doth murder's thrice-accursed stain Defile his hand? Doth lawless gain? Have solemn stars-the eyes of night- Seen him invading others' right? 6 No victim's ghost disturbs his rest, No helpless poor hath he opprest, No vengeance threatens from the sky ; He hideth not from justice's eye. 7
Kinsmen and neighbors seek his blood. They hunt his steps in solitude. Rebellious war-cry stirs the land, And he will never join their band. 8
He will not heed their battle word, For them he will not draw his sword, In armed revolt he will not rise ; "Honor the King," his conscience cries. 9 Behold he prays in lonely wood,- Pause ye and listen, men of blood ! Let pity check your flaming zeal While he to heaven doth appeal :- 10 "Lord they have thrown thine altars down, Denied their king his rightful throne, Rebellion, treason, stain their hand! Forbid me Lord, to join their band !" 11 On couch of leaves he lays him down, Pillowed his head on moss-brown stone,
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THE TORIES OF CHIPPENY HILL
Though sad yet firm, his loyal heart From church and king will not depart. 12
He sighs to think how reckless power Has driven him from rustic bower, And longs for her now left alone As swells the note her lips have blown. 13
Hears he the rustling footsteps nigh ?- Through darkness bends his straining eye :- 'Tis she, the loved one, come to bless And cheer him in his loneliness. 14
Faith kindles hope, whose heavenward eye Fearless, on God bids him reply ;-
"These troublous times will pass away ; For loyal souls a brighter day." 15
O 'twas a dark and fearful time When loyalty was deemed a crime! Was theirs indeed unknowing zeal? Can we for hunted Tories feel?
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Welton, X. A. Package of Records concerning the pre-Revolutionary Episcopal Church of Bristol, Conn. In Bristol Public Library. (Especially the Record of Meetings 1754-1800, copied from the original by X. A. Welton, in 1868.)
Welton, X. A. History of the Episcopal Church at New Cambridge and East Plymouth, to which is appended a copy of the petition to the General Assembly for the establishment of the church at East Plymouth. M. S. in Bristol Public Library. Welton, X. A. The Tory Den and its Denizens. M. S. in possession of Mrs. Carlos Welton, Thomas- ton.
Letters from and interviews with descendants of Isaac W. Shelton and descendants of other Tory families. (Especially letters from X. A. Welton.)
Papers of Jonathan Pond. In possession of Edgar L. Pond, Terryville.
Town Records of Harwinton. Town Building, Har- winton.
Bristol, Conn. Congregational Society Records, Vol. ' 1. Bristol Public Library.
Records of State of Connecticut, Vol I.
Connecticut Courant, 1777. Conn. Hist. Library. Sermon on Execution of Moses Dunbar, Dr. Nathan Strong. Conn. Hist. Library.
Annual Reports of the Society for the Propagation of the, Gospel in Foreign Parts. Trinity College Library.
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THE TORIES OF CHIPPENY HILL
History of New York during Revolutionary War. A Tory account written between 1783 and 1788 by Thomas Jones, ex-justice of the Supreme Court of New York. Conn. Hist. Library.
Life of Rt. Rev. A. V. Griswold, D. D. John Stone, 1844. Trinity College Library.
Town and City of Waterbury, Vol. 1.
History of Bristol, Conn. (1907) including especially, Centennial Address, Peck and Atkins; History of First Congregational Church, Epaphroditus Peck ; Moses Dunbar, Loyalist, Epaphroditus Peck ; The Founders and Their Homes, Mary P. Root, and School District No. 10, Mrs. David Birge.
Tories of Connecticut, James Shepard. Conn. Mag. IV, 262.
History of Connecticut, Hollister.
Loyalists of the American Revolution, Sabine.
Diary of the Revolution, Frank Moore. Bristol Public Library. (A source book of newspaper items.) Romance of the Revolution, Oliver E. Bunce.
For a good picture of pre-Revolution life in the Shelton family at Derby, see The Salt Box House, Jane DeForest Shelton.
Private Library of D. C. Kilbourn, East Litchfield, Conn.
Bishop Perry's History of the Am. Episcopal Church. Thompson's History of Vermont.
Documentary History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Vermont. C. R. Batchelder.
Vermont Historical Gazetteer. Hemenway.
Papers relating to History of the Church in Massachu- setts. Wm. Stevens Perry, D. D.
Dexter's Yale Biographies.
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