USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield > The bi-centennial celebration of the settlement of Litchfield, Connecticut, August 1-4, 1920 > Part 4
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the coming twelve months. Incidental expenses-including lights and fuel for the church, repairs and house rent. Then came moving expenses, table expenses, support of minister, his wife and each child separately! Itinerants with large families were not sought after! A trace of this procedure is found on the early records of Litchfield Society.
Until recently-perhaps even now-collection announce- ments are quite differently worded in the two churches, the Congregationalists asking for money for "the maintenance of public worship"-the Methodists "to support the gospel in our midst".
The first public meetingplace of the Methodists of Litch- field township was the union church on Milton Green, "Old Yaller", as it was affectionately called by the very aged peo- ple of that village, because it had received an outside coat of violent yellow paint, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Metho- dists taking turns Sunday by Sunday. This building was later drawn across the river-repainted, remodeled, and became the Congregational Church of today.
About 1802 the Episcopalians built a chapel which is still in use; and later, or perhaps about this time-the Metho- dists erected a meeting-house in Milton on the east side of the Bantam road. At what date the "Circuit Riders" began to hold services in "Old Yaller" or when they built their church, I have not been able to learn. During the union occu- pation the Methodists drew the largest congregations, often numbering 200 at their service. When the church was abandoned, sometime between 1855 and 1865, it was sold to the nickle mine company for $50.00 and pulled down and drawn up towards Mt. Prospect to be made into a boarding house. It was necessary to obtain the signatures for the deed of four male members. There were but two families left in the society-those of Isaac Baldwin 2nd and Abraham Wadhams, and the papers had to be sent to California for Clark Bald- win's name!
The Milton Meeting house, never painted, was built in accordance with early Methodist style - no spire or other architectural embellishments, only a cupola at west gable end over the two front doors. The high pulpit was between the two doors with altar rail and kneeling stool beneath. There were no pews, only benches of split logs with four sticks driven
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into augur holes in the corners for legs. A row of such seats was arranged around the entire outside of the room where "weaklings" who were unable to sit bolt upright in the center of the room during an entire service could rest their backs against the unplastered outside walls. This primitive furnish. ing was not unlike that of many other early churches. Even "Old Yaller" was little better equipped. The Gooseborough or Bradleyville meeting house, built at about this time, date now unknown, a little west of the "lone pine tree" Hallock house on Mt. Tom road was still more plain -- an unpainted building, with no cupola, standing gable to the street. But its foundation is said to have been a solid rock! After this was abandoned it was sold to Nelson Barnes and drawn on to the west side of Lake street, in our village, and is now the dwelling house of Michael Moraghan.
As Isaac Baldwin 1st and Abraham Wadhams were largely instrumental in the building of Milton Methodist church so Unele Tom Moore was the father of Gooseborough Society. The homes of these families had long been prayermeeting stations, and their houses so truly free to Itinerants and other traveling Methodists that, like other such stopping places through the country, they were called "Methodist Taverns".
Before and after the "Great Revival" under Rev. Charles Chittenden, Lewis Gunn and Ira Abbott in 1835 and 1836- which led to the founding of Litchfield Methodist Episcopal Society -- there were frequent prayermeetings at the homes of Jacob Morse, Sr., and Mrs. Humphreyville in Northfield, the stone school house in Footville, and notably South Plain school house, Uncle John Stone's and Ben Moore's on Litchfield Hill and at Unele Ebb Clark's, Uncle Ross Scoville's and a Bassett family at East Litchfield. The Agard house, on the east slope of Plumb Hill was a specially attractive meeting place, pos- sibly because of the unusual musical gifts of the family. So lusty was their singing that often they were distinctly heard on Town ITill a mile away!
The present generation would find themselves in a strange community could they step back to the prayermeeting of a hundred years ago. Heaven and Hell were materially real, and God and the Devil were personally physically present! For, as Brother French said, "The Devil must have a real body for we read in the Bible that he shall be chained a
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thousand years, and how can you chain what hasn't got a body?" A devout old Methodist of those days used frequently to pray, "Oh Lord, wilt thou hamstring the Devil!"
We are told that Aunt Ross Scoville was a saint, while Uncle Ross was an "off and on" Methodist-subject to frequent "backslidings" and "refreshings". He might have sung per- petually,
"Lord revive us, Oh revive us, Lord revive thy work in me;
Good Lord revive us, Oh revive us, All our help must come from Thee".
Often, if there was special interest in religion felt in the community he would rise in meeting and say :- "Wall, I guess I must be mendin' up of my old harness. It's all wore out and to pieces, and I guess I'd better fix it up a leetle".
In those days there were "Exhorters" among the laymen who traveled from place to place and helped in meetings as they were needed. We are told that one of the first to come to the eastern part of this town was Styles Preston from Har- winton. He was a power for good. Parson Coe from Win- sted was an Itinerant of great strength of character and devo- tion who often conducted meetings in this town.
Tom and Ben Moore, Garwood Sanford, Milo Beach, Sr., and John Stone were able and willing leaders of school house and neighborhood prayermeetings all over town. All were good singers, and each talented in his own way.
"Brother Hoyt", as he was called, was a crippled peddler, and happy, glowing Methodist. His lower limbs were para- lyzed, and he rode in a chair strapped onto a wagon. When he reached a place where he wished to stop over night (and he welcomed himself among all the Methodists for miles around) he would sometimes drive in front of the house and call the family to come and carry him in-chair and all-or he would tie on a leather apron, roll and hitch himself out onto the thills and to the ground and into the house almost as fast as one could walk-which would seem to have been a pre- ferable mode of entrance, for his host at least, as he was a large, fleshy man, would weigh two hundred or more!
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The families where he "put up" felt as blessed with his presence as the house of Obededom with the ark of the covenant! Wherever he stopped over Sunday he wanted a prayermeeting appointed for the evening, and these meetings he always led himself.
The chorus of a favorite hymn was:
It's good enough, it's good enough, I long to sing Hosannah; It's good enough, it's good enough, I long to sing Hosannah".
Through this he would lustily roar, measuring the time with one palm on the other, and a cracking slap on the words "Hosannah" while the entire hymn would be ended with a rousing "Amen!" Another of "Brother Hoyt's" favorite hymns which was touchingly appropriate to his crippled state was "The Paralytic".
"Review the palsied sinner's case Who sought for help in Jesus; His friends conveyed him to the place Where he might meet with Jesus. *
Thus fainting souls by sin diseased, There's none can save but Jesus; With more than plague or palsy seized Oh! help them on to Jesus".
It was not till after the "great revival" that the Methodists secured an abiding place in Litchfield village. Even then Elder Laban Clark, who was here at the dedication of the church and never approved of the enterprise, said oracularly : "A Methodist Church will never thrive on Litchfield Hill" -- a prediction which in times of discouragement was remembered depressingly by the older members.
Litchfield Society was formed August 23rd, 1836 and five trustees appointed-Benjamin Moore, William Scoville, Abiel Barber, George Bolles, and William R. Buell. August 25th they bought of Samuel Bolles the Meadow Street church build- ing lot, 3 by 5 rods, for $150.00 and the church was built the next year; William Scoville, William R. Buell and Abiel Bar- ber, building committee. William Stoddard and C. C. Buell
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were the carpenters. It was dedicated July 27th, 1837; Prof. Holdrich of Middletown preached and Elder Washburn delivered an address. The Society could have had a lot on South Street near the present St. Michael's. After long delib- eration, and with more humility than business sagacity, they decided that a side street was more suitable for their denomi- nation, so chose the Meadow Street lot! At that time there was not a house on the west side of the street to break the wind straight from "Big Pond" and Mount Tom, and the church lot was too small for horse sheds, so summer and win- ter, through sunshine and rain and snow, the farmers tied their horses to the fences opposite, where there was not a tree to shelter them. These animals could not have favored Metho- dism!
Jacob Morse, Sr., gave the sills-huge timbers running the full length of the building. He cut them himself in win- ter and drew them in front of his house on sleds, and the next spring when needed he carted them over to town on two pairs of wheels. Charles C. Buell gave timber from woods on the Milton road. Four men, one or two from other churches, con- tributed work with men and teams to draw great split stones for underpinning from Gen. Buell's farm-stones so large that one made a full load. Uncle Ben Moore made and gave the great brass latch and lock which is still on the Masonic Hall.
The church was planned with a basement classroom, but that was found to be inexpedient on such wet soil so the front gallery was partitioned off for social gatherings. There was no means of heating this long narrow room and as there were then no windows in the front end of the church all the light and ventilation was through sashes in the two doors at the ends. The seats were rough slab benches. There the little band would gather on sultry summer noons or for week night meetings, glad in their poverty and zeal to own even this uncom- fortable shelter in which to shout their joys, tell their trials or strengthen themselves with prayer for open warfare with the devil. Hear them in this dungeon lustily singing:
"The day has come, the joyful day, At last the day has come That saints and angels joy display O'er sinners coming home.
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Chorus: They're coming home, they're coming home, Behold them coming home! They're coming home, They have come home Praise God, they're coming home".
The church was heated by two great stoves at the west end with pipes that traversed the full length of the church just under the front of the gallery. With usually green wood for fuel and smoke carried such a distance by pipes on prac- tically one level a great amount of moisture collected and dripped through the joints. Slanting tin pails were hung here and there to catch the literal "drippings of the sanctu- ary"-not an unheard of arrangement in other churches. In my earliest recollection these were old, and discolored, and occasionally would rust through or overflow. When the church was repaired in 1866 an additional precaution was taken. A tin trough was hung under the whole length of pipe and emptied into little porcelain lined kettles on each side!
The floor was of wide, coarse boards and until 1866 no carpet excepting in the aisles and around the chancel. The pulpit, reached by a flight of stairs, was an uncouth, boxlike construction, painted a dingy drab like the rest of the inside woodwork, and furnished with a pillowy drab morine cushion with frill around the edge on which rested the Bible and Hymn Book-and sometime, also, it softened the thud of the gesticu- lating preacher's fist! The plaster walls were at first undeco- rated. As time went on at the end of each wall seat was a round, brown head mark, and the high ceiling became cracked, sagged and a large piece fell. The pews or "slips" had high, straight backs and wooden doors that loudly clapped approval at the close of every service. The seat cushions were of vari- ous colors and quality according to the taste or ability of each separate holder-or there were none. There were no blinds at the windows. Green paper curtains, often tattered, tem- pered the light from the south windows. For years after the building of the church there was no regular communion set-a pitcher and glasses were all-then one of pewter was purchased which was used for many years.
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When the church was opened in the evening the galleries were left in obscure darkness, and the church below lighted with swinging brass lamps -- one on each side of the room. These lamps were flat and set into a brass frame with three curved, outstretching arms to which were hooked brass chains connected with a small ornamental disk and ring above by which the whole arrangement was hung. On the pulpit were two standard brass lamps with heavy marble bases, tall stems surmounted by flat lamps with ground glass globes. These four lights were usually considered sufficient to illuminate the church, though there were here and there on the wall a few tin candle sockets or sconces, but these were seldom used. Occasionally the fifth, or class room lamp, was called into requisition and hung under the end gallery. This was a round brass lamp set into a harpshaped, brass frame a foot high. One candle in a tin candle sconce lighted (or darkened) the entry.
There were high side galleries with two rows of seats, an arrangement calculated to attract the desired, careless world- lings who would not enter the main audience room.
In front of the pulpit was a plain table for the com- munion set, and two chairs, and there was a kneeling stool around the altar rail. A seat extended all around the front of the pews -- the "anxious seat" the "brethren" called it-a place where the "awakened" could sit in time of "revivals"- the "amen seat", the irreverent designated it-because so often occupied by the responding brothers and sisters in prayer- meeting!
The furnishings of this church, meagre as they now seem, were far in advance of its two predecessors, or the old Baptist or union church on the Northfield road which this seet often occupied.
The church was originally built with two chimneys, one at each back corner into which the stovepipes directly entered. When the class room was added later, these were replaced by one in the center and the pipes on each side passing through the partition into the new room made their way by an extra turn into the chimney. These formed a telephone connection between the rooms. During the Sunday noon class meeting the "Hallelujahs" and "Glories" brought to the waiting people
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in church and the Sunday School (after one was organized) a hint of the heat of the battle being waged by the elder broth- ers and sisters!
The first addition-not more than half of its later dimen- sions of 1866-was furnished with rough slab benches with no backs, which creaked and groaned every time one arose to speak or knelt in prayer, or even braced himself for a lusty response. There was a small pine table and one chair for the leader, and one window and the door on the south side fur- nished all the ventilation. It was heated by a box stove, and lighted by tallow candles and one hanging brass lamp. The candle sconces on the walls were only strips of tin perhaps a foot long by two or three inches in width. A hole near the upper end was slipped over a nail or hook and the lower part, two or three inches from the end, was bent forward at right angles and the edge again turned up and crimped forming a little dishlike shelf on top of which was soldered a ring of tin just the size to hold a candle. The candles were supplied by members occasionally carrying one from home. I remember my father often going to the candlebox just before leaving for an evening service and wrapping a candle in paper would tuck it into his pocket.
September 10th, 1849, an "Official Meeting" was held which pitifully betrays the poverty of the Society. It was of such grave importance that there was a prayer at both ends -- while all other such meetings record only the opening prayer. We read: "Voted, that we make an effort to raise funds suf- ficient to paint the church and put a window in the class room.
"Committee appointed to solicit funds: Mathew Morse, E. O. Barber, G. W. Thompson".
The entire bill was $45.66 !!
January 20th, 1851, another entry reads: "Voted to accept subscription and build an addition to the church. Voted that said addition be 16 by 20 ft. Voted that Committee be empow- ered to remove the partition in gallery".
The expense was $155.27.
This was done to make a choir loft for James Trowbridge's famous Singing School Choir which made the church ring with Varina, Creation, Lyons and Majesty, or the quaint fugue
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tunes Turner and Green Street as sung from the old Devo- tional Harmonist.
In 1866 the church and class room were thoroughly made over; painted, carpeted, blinds added, a larger, more suitable window put in the front end, a new, lower pulpit, and the slips with doors made way for open, cushioned seats. Total cost $2781.00.
In 1843 the church was nearly rent asunder by the Millerite excitement. Many of its strongest, most valuable leaders, in- cluding Rev. Lewis Gunn of Washington, were carried away by the new doctrines. It has been said that had it not been for the discretion and strength of will of Rev. David Marks, then the minister in charge, who ably stemmed the tide, the church would probably have been wiped out.
Mr. Gunn visited Miss Julia Hayden, housekeeper for Miss Sarah Pierce-a bright woman and ardent Methodist- and urged her to be immersed and join the Millerites. "No" she said, "I read in my Bible about one Lord, one faith and one baptism. I am afraid if I receive another baptism I should soon want another faith-and then-another Lord!"
Methodism in Litchfield was unpopular, especially with the higher classes. When the church was raised the sills were placed the first day. Timber was then abundant, and the frame was so heavy, the Society so small and opposition to the cause so decided that there could not be found enough willing men to lift into place the weighty timbers of the tower and upper floor. There the men stood and waited well into the second day! Then Capt. Ambrose Norton, a Congrega- tionalist, hearing the cause of the delay, and pitying the poor deluded fanatics, told the men of his carriage shop to quit work and go down and help raise the church! Without this concession the church could not have been raised that day.
When word came to "Parson Hickok" of the Congrega- tional church that a Methodist prayer meeting was to be held somewhere in the village he would don his cocked hat, and taking his gold headed cane go from house to house warning his parishioners to keep away from such irregular services.
The rougher element of young people, feeling protected by the known opposition of their elders, often made distur- bance in meetings. A package of gunpowder was thrown into
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the stove, one day. Garwood Sanford saw it in time to snatch it out before it exploded and wrecked the church.
Early one Sunday morning some boys hid a litter of young pigs in the high pulpit of the Milton Methodist church. When the Circuit Rider climbed the stairs and opened the pulpit door there was a stampede of pigs like that of Bible times- to the astonishment and disconcertion of the assembled con- gregation !
While the Methodists were using the town room for meet- ings when their church was building there was much opposi- tion to the excitement of the revival services, and many said that the Methodists should not be allowed to use the town's property. One Sunday Parson Chittenden arrived to find its door locked against him. He exclaimed: "Though you shut me out of the building yet I will preach my sermon to these people. I will mount these steps and take for my text 'The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.'" After that ser- mon the door was open to him!
At times much skill was required to manage the turbu- lent elements of such crowded, excited meetings. Four Tith- ingmen were appointed as late as April 24th, 1847 and I think I have seen a list of a much later date. They surely were needed.
Persecution advertised the sect and drew the members to- gether. There was then a kinship of belief and a deep signfi- cance in the terms "Brother" and "Sister" which is now lack- ing. True there was an undue glorying in tribulation which came down to our early days-a compensation for loss of social standing when uniting with the Methodists. An oft repeated and dearly loved text with these people was :-- "Blessed are ye, when men shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." Can we wonder that sometimes too little emphasis was placed on the word falsely?
Their hymns were full of this spirit:
"When I set out for glory I left the world behind, Determined for a city That's out of sight to find, I left my worldly honor,
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I left my worldly fame, I left my young companions, And with them my good name.
Chorus: And to glory I will go, And to glory I will go, I'll go, I'll go, And to glory I will go".
As Methodism was unpopular some of the members be- came sensitive regarding public opinion of sermons and ser- vices. One old member used to find comfort in the words of a Methodist writer :- "It was not by foolish preaching that the world was to be converted. Were that the case it would have been saved long ago. But it was by the foolishness of preaching."
Sometime in 1849 or 1850 Rev. Joseph Henson advertised to preach a temperance sermon in the Methodist church. A crowd gathered, and some of the older members were "tried" when he announced for his text a mutilated part of the eighth verse of the third chapter of first John. The verse reads, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil." He used only the last clause changed into the imperative mood, "Destroy the works of the devil." He described Sampson's victory, (Judges XV, 15-) David's exploit (I Sam: xvii) and Shamgars conquest (Judges iii, 31) then concluded his sermon by exhorting his hearers to take Sampson's jawbone of the ass, David's sling and Shamgars ox goad and go at the rumsellers! Not bad advice after all.
Dr. Lyman Beecher used to say that sermons should have horns that the people could grasp and hold on by. There were plenty of such horny protuberances on sermons, prayers and hymns of the early Methodistic days. Phrasings that were literal and direct and are still remembered. No mistaking the desired destination of one prayer. Zadok Dayton, a shiftless young carpenter of South Mill Road, had quarreled with his wife's father so he prayed at Burlington Campmeet- ing for "His ungodly father-in-law Bill Gibbs, who lives down below the Sucker Brook."
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An earnest convert who long ago did business in Litch- field while exhorting his old companions of a neighboring town to repent said :- "I guess when you have been in Hell two or three months you will begin to think of your future state!"
Giving and education were the battle cries of the learned leaders of this sect which had been sifted from the ranks of the poor and ignorant of England and America. All converts were urged to buy one or two books besides their Bibles. The Hymn Book was their first choice and the few other books owned by the members of classes were lent far and near.
About the time of the founding of the Methodist Society of Litchfield a young carpenter apprentice was earning $40.00 a year, of which $5.00 was set apart for the church. Later, when he could earn a trifle more he bought a set of Clark's Commentaries-six volumes-and a Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. These books were packed in a little hair cov- ered trunk and with his kit of tools were carried from place to place where he was called to work. Through them he learned to know and revere the doctrines of his church as explained by Dr. Adam Clark and "woe be" to any Methodist layman or preacher who interpreted a Bible text in antagon- ism to the tenets of Dr. James Armineus!
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