USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Washington > The church on the green; the first two centuries of the First Congregational church at Washington, Connecticut, 1741-1941 > Part 8
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The following April Gideon arrived at Galena, bringing
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his entire savings of three hundred dollars. With a scant amount of clothing, this represented the material resources of the two volunteers. Their plan was to go among the rov- ing tribes of Indians, without any fixed abode, and live as the Indians themselves lived. Both men were well fitted for the extreme privations they were to undergo. They had their health and their faith. When they embarked on the river steamer, in May, 1834, a friend remarked, "You are just throwing yourselves away."
It would be out of place in this history of the church to attempt to relate in detail the story of what Samuel and Gideon were able to accomplish on behalf of the Indians in the north prairie region. Readers may find the detailed nar- rative in the book "Two Volunteer Missionaries" by S. W. Pond, Jr. We will confine ourselves in this brief chapter to a few of the highlights.
The first contact the brothers had with the Dakota Indi- ans was at Fort Snelling, located on the high point of land between the Mississippi and the Minnesota rivers. This was the headquarters of the Indian agent, Major Taliaferro. Immediately Samuel and Gideon started to learn the Da- kota language and become acquainted with their habits of life.
Since the brothers were in the Indian country without any authority, Samuel Pond had an interview with Major Bliss, commandant of the fort, to whom he gave a testi- monial letter from General Brinsmade of Washington, Conn. When the major mentioned that a nearby group of Indians possessed oxen and a plow but no one able to do the plowing, Samuel volunteered to do it. In a letter dated May 25th, Mr. Pond tells of this episode: "I stayed last week with a band about nine miles south of this place where I
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went to help them break up planting ground and as I had no other shelter, I slept in the house of the chief and ate with him. He had two wives and a houseful of children. He appeared to be much pleased with the plowing. They have never had any done before." The chief referred to was the famous Big Thunder, the father of Little Crow who was involved in the massacre of 1862.
In spite of many hardships and the necessity of adjusting themselves to extremely primitive conditions of life, the two brothers were filled with faith and buoyant hope. As Gideon wrote home to his friends: "God has prepared the way and here is a large field, ripe already to the harvest. I ask you and all my Christian friends in Washington, yes, that dear church to which I belong, to pray the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest who will not faint."
Seven miles northwest of Fort Snelling and four miles west of St. Anthony's Falls, now in the suburbs of Minne- apolis, lies Lake Calhoun, named for John C. Calhoun. By the side of this lake the brothers built a log cabin of two rooms. The dimensions were twelve feet by sixteen and eight feet high. The roof was made of the bark of trees fastened with strings. Major Taliaferro contributed the single win- dow, and the cash cost of the building was one shilling for the nails used about the door. The timbers were large green oak logs, the cracks being filled in with clay. The formal opening consisted of a scripture reading and prayer, the banquet consisting of flour and water.
The chief interest of the brothers was to acquire a mas- tery of the Dakota language as soon as possible and to re- duce it to a written form. With a good deal of ingenuity they constructed an alphabet which has since been called the
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Pond alphabet and which became the basis of the written language. The winter of 1834-35 was a severe one and much wood had to be cut. Food was simple, being mainly pork and flour with occasional venison steak. But nothing was allowed to interfere with their language study. Through their ef- forts, an Indian grammar, a lexicon and a translation of various books of the Bible were later published in the Indian language.
Life was anything but dull for Samuel and Gideon. Sam- uel Pond, for example, joined a party of Indians on their early winter hunt for deer. The group was rather large, consisting of fifty men, with their wives and children. Speak- ing of the journey, he said many years later : "To me it was no pleasure excursion. I carried no book except the Bible. The society of the Indians and dogs was not always agree- able and they were not the only inhabitants of the tents. More than once in winter weather, I have gone to a distance from the tents, and kindling a fire, stripped off my garments and held them in the blaze until I thought the inhabitants were singed out of them. But these annoyances were en- durable and this seemed to be the quickest way to become acquainted with the language, habits and character of the Indians."
In the spring of 1836 the two brothers went to live at the mission station at Lac Qui Parle where they continued their study of the Dakota language and their translations of por- tions of the New Testament. On November 1st, 1837, Gideon was married by Rev. Stephen R. Riggs to Miss Sarah Poage, in the presence of several missionaries and a number of Indians. Mrs. Pond was a woman of unassuming character who lived an exemplary Christian life.
In the meantime Samuel received a flattering offer of a
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partnership in the fur trade from Mr. H. H. Sibley, the head of the trade in that area. There was nothing to pre- vent his accepting the offer and one might have thought that he would have accepted an opening to make himself finan- cially independent. His heart was in Christian work, how- ever, and he turned it down.
That same year Samuel returned to Washington, Con- necticut, to study for the ministry. He went by the lake route to Buffalo and thence by canal, a journey of six weeks from Fort Snelling to Washington. He studied theology under the pastor of the church, Rev. Gordon Hayes, and was given instruction in Greek by a cousin, Hiram Hollis- ter, who became a distinguished lawyer and was sent as minister to Haiti by President Lincoln.
On March 4th, 1837, Samuel Pond was ordained by the Litchfield South Association as a missionary to the Sioux Indians, the service being held in the Washington church, a little over five years after his public profession of faith. The church was crowded with relatives and friends. They would gladly have assumed the burden of his support but since he expected to work in connection with missionaries of the American Board, he declined their offer. He imme- diately set out for the West and his chosen work on the shores of Lake Harriet. He continued translation of parts of the Bible into the Sioux language. And on Nov. 22nd, 1838, there occurred the first marriage of white people in the present area of Minneapolis.
The bride was Miss Cordelia Eggleston, a teacher at the mission station. The bridegroom was Rev. Samuel W. Pond of the Dakota Mission. Among the guests were officers from Fort Snelling and their wives. Dr. Emerson, the surgeon of the fort, was present with his wife. They were the owners
-
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of Dred Scott, the subject of Judge Taney's famous deci- sion. At that time, Dred Scott was a slave at Fort Snelling. After the wedding the young couple set up housekeeping in a small room over the schoolroom. Their belongings were simple, their first teapot being an old oilcan.
During these years there was a continuing feud between the Dakotas and the Ojibway Indians, in spite of the efforts of the missionaries and the fort garrison to bring about a reconciliation. The brothers had friendly contacts with both groups. On July 3rd, 1839, there was a massacre of Ojibways by the Sioux on the Rum River and simultane- ously on the St. Croix. The Sioux killed about ninety-five of their enemies, losing seventeen warriors. Many of these victims were known personally to the brothers.
In the years that followed, the brothers were busy with a multitude of duties. New mission stations were opened and schools started. Quarrels were settled and hardships en- dured. Often the brothers were in danger as when a drunken Indian assaulted Samuel with a knife. It was life in the raw and the Indians were primitive in the extreme. The follow- ing entry in Gideon's diary well illustrates this point: "Some of the Indians had a frolic last night and one bit off the nose of another. The son of the one who lost his nose shot the one who bit it off but probably did not hurt him very much. I am acquainted with some who have had their fingers and thumbs bitten off on such occasions-fine sport but it sometimes causes unpleasant feelings among them."
In October, 1852, while driving down hill in a sleigh, the horses became unmanageable and Samuel's right ankle was broken by being crushed against a stump. Since no surgeon was available, Samuel set the broken bones himself and made a splint. This accident was soon followed by an attack of
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lung fever. It was a long time before the broken ankle be- came strong again.
In that same year a treaty was signed between the Indi- ans of that area and Governor Ramsey. Many chiefs of the Dakotas were present and Gideon was the interpreter. By the treaty all the Indian lands belonging to the Sioux were ceded to the United States except a reservation located near the Yellow Medicine River. The Indians were to receive $220,000, and annuities of $30,000 per year for a period of thirty years. The Dakotas were moved by the Government to their reservation, leaving their hereditary hunting grounds with heavy hearts. The Indians realized that they were powerless to resist the encroachments of the white race.
The problem facing the Pond brothers was whether they should also go to the reservation to continue their work of nearly a score of years. They finally decided in the negative, disbelieving in the benefits of the treaty. It was a decision that they never regretted. They decided to remain in the area and work among the white settlers who were coming there rapidly. Around Oak Grove there was a rural popu- lation and near the St. Anthony's Falls a small city sprang up. Religious services were held in the new town by Gideon and on May 22, 1853, he organized the first Christian church in Minneapolis. It became a Presbyterian church and to it Gideon ministered as pastor for twenty years, leaving this life on Jan. 20, 1878.
Samuel, in the meanwhile, became the pastor of a small church at Shakopee, Minnesota, consisting of ten members. His first wife had died while on a visit to Washington in 1852. He had married again, a schoolmate of his early years, Miss Rebecca Smith. For thirteen years Samuel served as pastor of the Shakopee church. In 1856 a building had been
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erected, largely at the pastor's expense. During the thirteen years of his pastorate the church never reached a self-sup- porting status. It was hard work but Samuel gloried in it and rendered a faithful stewardship. He continued to read his Bible in the original Hebrew and Greek. It is said that when he was sixty years of age he began the study of Ger- man. In his later years he did considerable literary work. A volume of his poems has been published, entitled, "Legends of the Dakotas." He lived to the ripe old age of eighty-three, his mind clear and his judgment sound until the end. He could look back to a life of creative usefulness. In the words of S. W. Pond, Jr .: "The unpaid labors of volunteer mis- sionaries of the American Board have done more to solve the Indian question, so far as the Dakotas are concerned, than has been accomplished by the costly experiments of the Government."
On May 6th, 1934, about five hundred persons gathered at a chapel in Fort Snelling to celebrate the centennial of the arrival of the Pond brothers. A few weeks later the Min- nesota Historical Society presented a pageant depicting the lives of the young pioneers among the Sioux. The prin- cipal speaker at the centennial was E. Frazier, a grandson of one of the four hundred prisoners, captured after a mas- sacre, and later pardoned by President Lincoln. These pris- oners had been ministered to and baptized by the Pond brothers who had labored for their freedom. Mr. Frazier said that most of the Sioux Indians now in North Dakota were church members. At the centennial they sang hymns written in the Sioux language by the Pond brothers. Thus their work goes on. The members of the Washington church and the relatives and descendants of Samuel and Gideon
GEORGE S. THRALL MINISTER 1877-1881
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have every reason to be proud of their achievements. Harold S. Pond of Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Mrs. Ruth Pond Hollister of Washington, Connecticut, are lineal de- scendants of Noah and Rebecca Pond who were the brother and the sister of Samuel and Gideon.
CHAPTER TEN
The Slavery Issue
D URING the pastorate of Rev. Gordon Hayes the great question before the nation was that dealing with slav- ery. It was an issue that reached into every village and ham- let of the country, both north and south. Feelings ran high. Friendships were broken. Political decisions were made in accordance with either a slavery or an anti-slavery bias. New England became a center for an Abolition Movement which attained great power but which was also fought with tremendous bitterness. William Lloyd Garrison was the edi- tor of "The Liberator" and he had many followers, some of whom lived in Washington, Connecticut. Under such cir- cumstances it was impossible for this church to escape being involved in the slavery issue. The members had to take sides in one way or another.
In the church record, for example, dated February 7th, 1843, there is the following note: "The discussion on the subject of slavery was continued through the day. Where- upon it was voted: That while we regard, as we have ever done, the system of American slavery as a great national and moral evil, which ought to be abolished, we have no de-
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sire to change the Confession of Faith or the Covenant of this church by the introduction of any new tests of piety not in use in the churches with which we are consociated ; and that we feel solemnly bound to recognize those who adhere to this Confession and Covenant as believers in Christ and to exercise toward them the kindest affection and regard."
One of the leaders of the Abolition Movement in Wash- ington was Daniel Platt, the father of Senator Orville H. Platt. His home was a station on the underground railway. Many a trembling negro refugee would come to his home under cover of darkness to be fed and cared for and sent on his way to Canada. The usual route was by way of New Mil- ford to Washington and then on to General Tuttle's home in Torrington or Dr. Vaill's house on the Wolcottville road. While in Washington it was customary for the slaves to remain at the Platt farm but a short time although now and then an escaped slave would remain there for several weeks.
Another leader of the abolitionists in Washington was John Gunn, the eldest brother of Frederick William Gunn who founded the Gunnery school. It is said that John was a gentle, simple and friendly soul. By nature he was modest and shrank from the public gaze. But concerning the issue of slavery he felt deeply and became an uncompromising foe. He surprised even his friends with his bold and aggressive championship of the lowly slave. With a small group of others, he planned and worked and fought the anti-slavery battle through to a successful conclusion in the town of Washington. But in the doing of it, he came into conflict with the pastor of the church, Mr. Hayes, and with many other members of the church.
Mr. Hayes evidently regarded the abolitionists as a spe-
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cies of heretics. With complete sincerity he set out to oppose the spread of the heresy in every way in his power. Sunday after Sunday he preached against Abolition and all its works, attacking it on political and patriotic and religious grounds. In "The Master of the Gunnery," George A. Hickox tells in some detail of this struggle between Mr. Hayes and the abolitionists. Reference is also made to it in the excellent biography of Orville H. Platt by Louis A. Cool- idge. There is no question concerning Mr. Hayes' honest belief that the abolitionists were trouble-makers and that they should be opposed. He quoted scripture to prove that slavery had biblical sanction. He went out of his way to attack the abolitionists and in this he had the support of the majority of his congregation. This opposition even went as far as excommunication.
In the church records, dated Nov. 3, 1843, there is an apparently harmless item as follows: "Voted that Deacon Sherman P. Hollister, Daniel Calhoun and Herman Bald- win be a committee to visit Brother John Gunn in reference to errors of faith and practice."
A further entry in the record of the church reads, dated January 6, 1844: "The church met. The committee ap- pointed to visit Brother John Gunn reported that they had called upon Brother Gunn and that he refused to receive them as a committee of the church. Whereupon voted that Brother John Gunn be cited to appear before the church to answer for his errors in faith and practice on Friday March 1st."
The final curtain falls on John Gunn's active participa- tion in the affairs of the church, as revealed in the following item of March 4th : "The church met. The charges with their specifications were sustained. Whereupon voted that in view
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of his errors in faith and practice, John Gunn is no longer a member of this church. Voted that his excommunication be made public."
It must have taken a great deal of courage for men like John Gunn and Daniel Platt to stand out against the com- munity and advocate what at first was a most unpopular cause. Very few people could remain neutral when feelings ran so high. Frederick Gunn had taken little interest in the early stages of the struggle. Occasionally he argued with his brother John about the rights and wrongs of slavery but was not a strong partisan. Soon, however, he began to read abolition books and papers and it was not long before he came to the conclusion that the crusade against slavery was sound. With his natural honesty and courage, he too be- came a leader of the anti-slavery side. Since Frederick Gunn was not a church member, there was no question of his being excommunicated. But the issue between Mr. Frederick Gunn and Mr. Hayes was clear-cut and under no concealment. The minister considered Mr. Gunn a heretic and the latter regarded the minister as a bigot. Most of the church mem- bers stood by Mr. Hayes in his position, with the exception of the abolitionists.
The deep feelings aroused by Mr. Hayes' active participa- tion in matters of a social and political nature, may be seen in a letter sent to him by a member of the church, dated October 3, 1835. It reads as follows : "Having viewed our past elections, I wish to be permitted to ask one question, and for fear I should not see you while it was on my mind, I thought to commit it to writing. The question is this : 'How many political and anti-Masonic ministers will it take to make one minister of the Gospel?' "
One of the incidents that greatly increased the bitterness
.
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of the anti-slavery conflict occurred in August, 1839. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel G. Platt and Mr. and Mrs. Lewis A. Can- field drove to Gaylord's Bridge and brought back Miss Ab- bey Kelly who was a prominent speaker on the slavery issue. She remained in the village of Washington for about two weeks, speaking before abolition gatherings. For many con- servative people of that time such a procedure was little less than scandalous. The members of the church could not ig- nore it. At a meeting on August 8th, 1839, convened in consequence of a notice of a meeting of the Washington Anti-slavery Society at which it was said a female would lecture, the following resolution was passed : "Resolved that we are opposed to the introduction of female public lec- turers into this society by members of this church and to females giving such lectures in it."
The incident aroused tremendous indignation in the pas- tor, Mr. Hayes. He preached a sermon from the following text : "Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds."
In this astonishing sermon, Mr. Hayes made many un- pleasant insinuations, referring to female lecturers travel- ing alone night and day, intimating that Miss Kelly's character was not all that it should be. As soon as the bene- diction was pronounced, John Gunn arose in the gallery and called out that the charges of Mr. Hayes were false. To make matters worse, Miss Kelly was present and heard the
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sermon. As the preacher was leaving the church, she walked up to him and said, "Gordon Hayes, you have said things most injurious to my character. I hope God will forgive you."
After such an episode it is not surprising that the two factions found it difficult to worship together. It was not long before the abolitionists withdrew and organized a church of their own. Their secession was followed by ex- communication. They met here and there in various towns throughout the county. Frequently no building was open to them, not even a private home. They met in barns or out in the open. Often they were threatened with violence and were looked upon by the majority in the community as fanatics and cranks.
It was during this period of intense agitation that Fred- erick W. Gunn began his career as a teacher in Washington. His active championship of the cause of Abolition naturally had an adverse effect upon the course of his school. Parents who were members of the church and who sided with the minister withdrew their children from Mr. Gunn's school. Possibly some did so because of community pressure. To a considerable degree Mr. Gunn was ostracized. Yet, be it said to his credit, the loss of patronage did not swerve him from his course. It may well be that he became a little defiant of public sentiment. But he did not become embittered. He continued to work for the cause in which he believed.
In 1843-44, the number of pupils under Mr. Gunn's care was reduced to eleven, presumably the children of abolition- ists. The trustees of the "Academy" had prohibited his use of the building and therefore he fitted up a room in his sister's house as a school-room. In the year 1844-45 there were only nine pupils in the school. Mr. Gunn had already
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spent the two years of 1837-39 teaching in the Academy in New Preston. He was now invited by his New Preston friends to return there and teach. They sympathized with him in his persecution. As stated in the "Master of the Gun- nery," "they proposed to show Judea that Mr. Gunn could teach school in New Preston even if he was an abolitionist."
When the news spread of the proposed step, his oppo- nents in Judea did everything they could to prevent it. His opinions were quoted as showing that it was dangerous to entrust youth to his care. Many of his statements concern- ing religion or the church were deliberately exaggerated. References were made to his heresy or infidelity. Some of those who had planned to send him pupils were dissuaded from doing so. But his friends stood by him. The children of abolitionists living in surrounding towns came to his school and it was a success, continuing through the years 1845 to 1847.
The bitterness aroused was so intense that it even had an unhappy influence upon Mr. Gunn's courtship. During the period of teaching in New Preston, his summers were passed in Judea. From his college days he had felt an attachment for Miss Abigail I. Brinsmade, the daughter of General Daniel B. Brinsmade. General Brinsmade was too liberal a man to close the door of his home to the visits of Frederick Gunn, as did some of the other homes in Judea. While he believed that slavery was wrong, he also felt that it was not right for the abolitionists to attack the church. It was with a sense of loyalty, therefore, that General Brinsmade stood by Mr. Hayes as the leader of the church even though he felt that Mr. Hayes was too severe in his views of the aboli- tionists. Nor could General Brinsmade be unmindful of the rather heretical opinions of Mr. Gunn concerning religious
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matters. Hence while Mr. Gunn was not excluded from the family circle, he was not encouraged as a suitor. Although meetings were difficult, Mr. Gunn and Miss Brinsmade car- ried on a correspondence for several years. They became engaged but the engagement was kept secret until the con- sent of General and Mrs. Brinsmade was secured, when it was made public.
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