USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The churches of Mattatuck : a record of bi-centennial celebration at Waterbury, Connecticut, Novermber 4th and 5th, 1891 > Part 9
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From the settlement of the second pastor, the Rev. Andrew Storrs, the course of the society was
* The record is as follows: "At a meeting of the Association of New Haven county, regularly convened at Westbury, September 24th, 1745, the Rev. Mr. Todd of Northbury, appearing, made acknowledgment to the acceptance of the Association for assisting at the ordination of the Rev. Mr. Lee at Salisbury. "
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THE CHURCH IN OXFORD.
"plain sailing." Mr. Storrs' pastorate continued until his death in 1785, that is, for twenty years. He was succeeded by the Rev. Simon Waterman, who was settled in 1787 and dismissed in 1809. Mr. Waterman's successor, the Rev. Luther Hart, was settled in 1810 and was pastor at Northbury until his death, in 1834. The first four pastorates cov- ered a period of ninety years. The Rev. Ephraim Lyman was pastor from 1835 to 1851. The only other pastorate of like length was that of the Rev. E. B. Hillard, who was settled in 1869 and dis- missed in 1889.
The town of Plymouth was incorporated in 1795- Northbury society having first, with Westbury society, become incorporated in the town of Water- town, in 1780. The ecclesiastical societies in each instance took the initial steps, so that the town was in each case an evolution from the society.
THE CHURCH IN OXFORD.
BY J. A.
The Rev. Joseph Moss, third pastor of the church in Derby, died on the 2nd of January, 1732, and his successor, Mr. Daniel Humphrey, was ordained in March, 1734. During the interval between these dates, that is, in March, 1733, certain inhabitants of Quaker Farm, in the northern part of Derby, peti- tioned the town "for abate in the town's charge." The petition was not accompanied with any writ- ten statement of the grounds on which it was based, but there is little doubt that the object of
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the petitioners was to secure exemption from taxa- tion for the support of the minister-an exemption which, under the circumstances, they might with special propriety ask for. The town consented to "abate these our neighbors four pence upon the pound on the grand list for two years from this date," and this was the rate which had been allowed to the Rev. Mr. Moss for some time before his death.
In April, 1740, the "north farmers" of the town of Derby prepared a memorial for presentation to the General Assembly, asking that they might be set apart as an ecclesiastical society. The Assem- bly did not see fit to grant their petition imme- diately, but appointed a committee, as usual, to consider the matter. In December of the same year, while the matter was under consideration, the town appointed three agents to confer with the " north farmers" with reference to establishing " a dividing line between the north and south parts of Derby township, in order to make an ecclesiastical society in the north part of said township," and offered to excuse all the north farmers from paying any ministerial charge to the present minister of Derby from the year 1740, "provided they hire preaching among themselves for the whole year." At the next May session, the legislative committee reporting in their favor, permission was granted by the General Assembly, to the north farmers of the town of Derby, together with certain inhabi- tants of the town of Woodbury and of the south- western part of Waterbury, to organize a separate ecclesiastical society,-to be called Oxford. The Waterbury men who were embraced in the new
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THE CHURCH IN OXFORD.
organization were Isaac Trowbridge, John Weed, Jonas Weed, Joseph Weed, Thomas Osborn and Joseph Osborn.
Officers were elected, and the organization of the new society thus completed, on the 30th of June, 1741. On the 6th of October the society by a two- thirds vote decided to build a meeting house, and asked the General Assembly, as was customary, to send a committee to "fix the place whereon their meeting house shall be erected and built." The site selected was at the south end of the hill com- monly called "Jack's Hill," and "near the high- way that runs on the east side of Little River, on land belonging to Ephraim Washborn." Meetings of the society were held at private houses until March, 1743. The meeting of June 21st, 1743, was held at the new meeting house. This first place of worship was occupied for more than fifty years. On the 3d of January, 1793, the society voted to build a new one. It was not finished until 1795 or later, and is the edifice now in use.
In May, 1743, those residing within the bounds of the Oxford society were authorized to "embody themselves in church estate, by and with the con- sent and approbation of the neighboring churches, and to settle a minister according to the establish- ment of the churches in this government." The early records having disappeared, the names of those who came together to organize the church are unknown; nor can any one say how many of the members belonged to each or either of the towns represented in the society. Probably a larger number belonged to Derby than to either Woodbury or Waterbury; but there is no reason to
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THE MOTHER AND THE DAUGHTERS.
doubt that some of the inhabitants of Waterbury, and members of the Waterbury church, found a place in the new organization. The eight men already mentioned as belonging to Waterbury may possibly, judging from their surnames, have repre- sented only three or four families; but these must have been enrolled in the old First society, and some of the members of the new church probably came from their several households. The church in Oxford is not a daughter of Waterbury in the same sense as are the other churches of the vicinage; but Waterbury undoubtedly has a claim upon it.
The church was organized on the 9th of January, 1745. The first pastor, Mr. Jonathan Lyman, was ordained on the 4th of October in the same year. He was a brother of General Phineas Lyman, and graduated from Yale College in 1742. His salary was fixed at 125 pounds a year, and his "settle- ment " was 500 pounds, to be paid in four yearly instalments .* He served the church until his death, which was the result of an accident. He was thrown from his horse and instantly killed, in October, 1763. His successor, Mr. David Brownson, graduated at Yale College in 1762. He was ordained in April, 1764,-the ordination sermon being preached by the Rev. Nathaniel Taylor, of New Milford. Mr. Brownson's pastorate covered a period of forty years. From the time of his death November, 1806, the church was without a settled pastor until May, 1811, when Mr. Nathaniel Free- man was called. He served them for three years ,
* The " legal tender " of Connecticut at this time was valued at the rate of four dollars to one dollar in silver.
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THE CHURCH IN OXFORD.
and was succeeded by a series of " stated supplies," one of whom, the Rev. Ephraim G. Swift, remained with the parish from December, 1818, to June, 1822, and another, the Rev. Sayres Gazley, from July, 1827, to January, 1829. The Rev. Abraham Brown was settled in June, 1830, and was dismissed in August, 1838; the Rev. Stephen Topliff was settled in September, 1841, and remained until July Ist, 1869. The Rev. John Churchill, whose pastorate of the North church in Woodbury was terminated in June, 1869, began soon after to preach in Oxford, and served as pastor without settlement until 1876. He was succeeded, after an interval, by the Rev. Frederic E. Snow, one of the "ministers raised up" in the First church in Waterbury. He became a member of that church, on profession of his faith, May 3d, 1868, was licensed to preach by the New Haven Centre Association of ministers, May Ist, 1877, and was ordained and installed pastor of the church in Oxford, April 21st, 1880. Mr. Snow was dismissed, to become pastor of another church, July 24, 1883. The Rev. James B. Cleaveland served the church during 1886 and 1887, and was followed by the Rev. Henry M. Hazeltine, whose pastorate began July Ist, 1888, and still continues.
The population of Oxford has never been large, and throughout a considerable part of its history there have been four places of worship in the town; so that the membership of the church has of neces- sity been small. Although revivals have repeatedly taken place, so that thirty were added to the church in one year (1842) and thirty-three in another (1853), nevertheless the church has not held its own in respect to numbers, and during a large part of
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THE MOTHER AND THE DAUGHTERS.
its later history has been partly dependent on aid received from the Missionary society of the state. In 1858 there were only eighty-seven resident mem- bers, and the number has since been reduced by deaths and removals to less than sixty.
But the church, although feeble, has not lived in vain. Its contributions to benevolent and mis- sionary objects, since these have been regularly reported, amount to a considerable sum; it has sent out into other churches, including the First church in Waterbury, men who are prominent in the business world and active in Christian work, and it has raised up several ministers. One of these, the Rev. Andrew L. Stone, D. D., filled important places and acquired a wide reputation. He was born in Oxford, November 25th, 1815, and graduated at Yale College in the class of 1837. He was pastor at Middletown, Conn., and afterward at Boston, Mass., in the famous Park street church, where he remained for sixteen years. In the civil war he was chaplain of the Massachusetts Forty- fifth regiment, and in 1866 became pastor of the First Congregational Church in San Francisco. He was made "pastor emeritus " in 1881, and died Jan- uary 17th, 1892.
THE CHURCH IN WOLCOTT.
BY THE REV. ISAIAH P. SMITH.
It is with pleasure that I bring to you congratu- lations as a representative of the church in Wol- cott, one of your daughters. We are near you as regards distance, and our life has always been in
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THE CHURCH IN WOLCOTT.
various ways connected with yours. You are much older as well as larger than we are, our church existence having begun in 1773, when you had reached the quite mature age of eighty-two years. We had our origin in a somewhat different way from most daughters, being one-half the daughter of one mother and the other half the daughter of another mother, one of our mothers being also the daughter of our other mother. But as this was all in the same family, it did not disturb either one of us in the incipient stages of our existence.
To be more explicit-the town of Wolcott was not incorporated until several years after the church was organized. The tract of country em- braced in it was situated between Farmington and Waterbury, and previous to the organization of our church one-half of the people were included in the one town and one-half in the other. The original members of the church came, some from Farming- ton and some from Waterbury; and the society received a name-Farmingbury-made up (as was frequently the case) from the names of the two mother towns.
In its early history Farmingbury was a thriving agricultural region, and the church for the first fifty years of its existence was not inferior to many of its neighbors in numbers and strength. Indeed it paid, for a considerable number of years, a larger salary to its pastors than this ancient and honorable church, whose bi-centenary we now cel- ebrate, paid at the same time. But as business began to develop in the valleys, and the west began to open up, the people in this, as in other hill towns, emigrated in large numbers, preferring
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THE MOTHER AND THE DAUGHTERS.
in some instances to go where the climate was less healthy and the air less pure than that of the heights they had occupied, because of the better prospect of financial success.
But we have had the satisfaction of helping in this way to build up other places, not only finan- cially but morally and religiously. Our town has shown itself successful in raising men, if not in the highest degree flourishing in some other respects. Of late, however, it has received emigrants from the cities, some preferring the independent life of the farmer to the confined and monotonous experi- ences of manufacturing and mercantile establish- ments, and some, who are employed in your thriv- ing city, choosing to have homes in our quiet town and to enjoy our rural associations. Is it not possi- ble that the tide may turn with such towns as ours, and that for awhile we may receive from other places more people who will come to make their home with us, than we send out from our borders ? At any rate we are hopeful. There are abandoned farms in Wolcott, but we are not disposed to raise a doleful lamentation over the fact. In the open- ing opportunities of the west and the increase of business along the lines of railways, it is not strange that some of the best places should be deserted. Enterprising young men have gone away, and after the death of aged parents the old homestead has been neglected, and has run down and been finally deserted; not because the land is poor, but because the people have been attracted elsewhere, often to their own great disadvantage. It is a fact that some of the poorest land in Wol- cott is cultivated and in a thriving condition, while
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J. ILJU VILURVIL LA AVLUVIL.
some of the best has been allowed to grow u forests. The best farms eighty years ago wer a district where now there is not a single hous
The church had its period of highest prospe from one hundred to sixty years ago, when population was about twice as large as it i present. At the time it was organized, it requ much self-denial to sustain religious instituti but the church had leading men who were ear and determined in this respect, and they laid f dations on which others successfully built. were fortunate in their first pastor, the Rev. A ander Gillet, who, coming to them from College just before the Revolutionary war, lab for them with great energy during that tr period. His labors resulted in repeated reviva religion and in large additions to the church. successor, the Rev. Israel B. Woodward, was instrumental in largely increasing the mem ship, and was highly esteemed by the people o charge. Good men in succession followed him I will not dwell upon their history. The ch has been blessed with men of piety and fait ness in the pastoral office. Besides, it has deacons and other leading men, who have n their lives greatly effective for good; among w I would especially mention Deacon Isaac Bro: as a man of good ability and very devoted p Between two pastorates he conducted the relig services most of the time for five years. He in 1845, at the age of eighty-four. During the y of its history, the church has had many reviva religion, which have resulted in large addition its membership.
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THE MOTHER AND THE DAUGHTERS.
In 1834 an Episcopal church was organized, and it did a good work for many years; but because of · changed circumstances, resulting from a decreased population, religious services were discontinued more than twenty-five years ago. The church edi- fice still remains.
Our town has had its political excitements in days gone by. We have possessed the Yankee traits of independent thinking and earnest acting. So much was this the case that in the days of the anti-slavery discussion the stove in the meet- ing house was blown up with powder, and the house destroyed by fire. The meeting, which was to have been held in it, was held by its ashes. At the present time, I am glad to say, we are at peace; and we hope it may not again be necessary that our moral and religious atmosphere should be cleared by storms like those of other days.
We bring our good wishes to you to-day; and we hope that as in the past you have not only become great and have conveyed blessings to those directly under your influence, but have sent out many from among yourselves to do good elsewhere, in these churches which have sprung from you and in places far remote, so it may be in the future. And in this grand and glorious work, the humblest as well as the highest will at last receive a rich reward.
The following anecdote, which has more than once ap- peared in print, illustrates so well the relations of Wolcott to Waterbury in recent days, and at the same time the relations of the country churches to the cities throughout New England, that it may very properly be reproduced as an addendum to Mr. Smith's paper :
"Nearly twenty years ago, at one of the Connecticut Sun- day school conventions, a quaint old minister from Wolcott
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THE CHURCH IN NAUGATUCK.
spoke of the doubts and discouragements he met with in his field of work. 'Mine is not an encouraging field,' he said. ' There are few young people in it at the best, and they are liable to leave at any time. Once in a while a bright young man is brought into the church, but just as soon as he gets to taking part in the prayer meeting and teaching in the Sunday school, and I begin to have comfort in him, he is off for a busier centre, and I seem all alone again. I have sometimes wondered why the Lord wanted that Wolcott church kept up, but I think I have found out. I was down at Waterbury a few weeks ago, and there I found that a deacon of the First church -a good and substantial man in the community-was a Wol- cott boy. And then I found that a deacon of the Second church was another Wolcott boy. And they told me that there had been other deacons from Wolcott in those churches before now. That news was a great encouragement to me. As I rode up the hill that night to my home I said to myself: I see now why the Lord wants the Wolcott church kept up; it is to supply Waterbury with deacons.'" *
THE CHURCH IN NAUGATUCK.
BY MR. FRANKLIN WARREN.
The church in Naugatuck, the fifth daughter of this venerable mother, is doubly unfortunate to-day; first and chiefly, in that she comes to this home-gathering wearing as it were the garb of widowhood, mourning the withdrawal of her earthly beloved, the Rev. William F. Blackman,
* The centenary of the church in Wolcott was celebrated on the roth and 11th of September, 1873, during the pastorate of the Rev. Samuel Orcutt. The services on that occasion are reported, and a detailed history of the church and society pub- lished, in a handsome volume of 608 pages, bearing the following title :
"History of the Town of Wolcott (Connecticut) from 1731 to 1874, with an Account of the Centenary Meeting, September 10th and 11th, 1873, and with the Genealogies of the Families of the Town. By Rev. Samuel Orcutt. Waterbury, Conn .: 1874."-EDITOR.
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who, notwithstanding his professions of affection for her, listened to the voice of another and a fairer charmer, and a few weeks ago left her dis- consolate in her grief. Disconsolate,-and yet truth compels me to say that, in accordance with human nature, she has, notwithstanding his so recent departure and her more than one hundred years, already begun to look around among eligible men for his successor. Secondly, she is unfor- tunate in the fact that with a lamentable disregard of the eternal fitness of things, the one to whom has been given the duty and privilege of represent- ing her to-day is one whose sojourn with her has been brief, and whose personal knowledge of facts connected with her history is very limited. And yet, I claim by relationship a connecting link between this old mother church and her middle- aged daughter in Naugatuck; for my heart holds sweet memories of a dear sister who when a child, more than threescore years ago, was a member of the Sunday school of this First church-the first Sunday school ever established in Waterbury-and who one year ago fell asleep in Jesus, a member of the church in Naugatuck. And so through many years there have come to me from time to time glimpses of the life and membership of the Nauga- tuck church; and these, with a few facts furnished by others, will be all that I shall attempt to bring you to-day.
I find that according to the earliest records the people of that part of Waterbury called Judd's Meadows, and those parts of Milford and Derby adjoining (and, according to some authorities, what is now called Prospect, then Columbia) obtained
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THE CHURCH IN NAUGATUCK.
from the "governor and company " convened at Hartford in May, 1773, what were in those days termed "society privileges "-privileges pertain- ing not only to strictly religious matters, but also to providing schools and teachers, laying of taxes, etc. A society was formed the same year, which by virtue of these "privileges " maintained public worship in schools and dwelling houses for nearly twelve years, during which time eight different ministers officiated as supplies, or as candidates.
On the 22d of February, 1781, a church was organized under the name of the Congregational Church of Salem. It consisted of ten male and six female members, most of whom were from the church in Waterbury. The first church edifice was built in 1782, and stood on the east side of the Naugatuck river. The first pastor was the Rev. Abraham Fowler, who was settled in 1785. During the next seventy years his successors were Jabez Chadwick, Stephen Dodd, Amos Pettingill, Seth Sackett, Chauncey G. Lee and Albert K. Teele. In those early years the pecuniary compensation of the minister was of necessity small, three or four hundred dollars per annum being all that the few brave souls could afford to give, who, with little ready money, but with strong hands and willing hearts, were striving to maintain the preaching of the gospel among them. But as we read the record it is interesting to note that as the figures repre- senting the number of church members increased, those representing the pastor's salary increased also, and in a proportion highly creditable to the people and doubtless very gratifying to the pastor and his family.
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THE MOTHER AND THE DAUGHTERS.
In 1831 the church building was removed across the river to its present site. In 1854 it was again removed, and the present edifice erected. This is a building similar in style and interior arrange- ment to that of the Second Congregational church of this city, excepting that the rooms for prayer and social meetings were, until recently, in the base- ment, which was often cold and damp, and gener- ally depressing in its effect.
Of the ministers who have served the church within the last forty years, the Rev. Messrs. Charles C. Painter, Frederick T. Perkins and Stephen C. Leonard were not installed pastors, but did good and fruitful service nevertheless for the Master while with us. Of those who were installed as pastors, the Rev. Charles S. Sherman is perhaps the most prominent .* He is conspicuous, not only for the length of his pastorate, which was nearly twenty years, and for his peculiarly gentle and Christ-like character, through which he won and still retains the love and esteem of the people of Naugatuck to a remarkable degree, but also as one who had been for several years a missionary in foreign lands, and who after his return to this country gave illustrated lectures on Palestine. In those days, when pastoral trips to the Holy Land were like "angels' visits," a man whose feet had trodden that sacred soil was looked upon with a degree of reverence akin to awe; and when in our youthful days we beheld the reverend gentleman,
* To Mr. Sherman's centennial sermon I am indebted for most of the facts in the early history of the church and society. It is entitled: " A Memorial Dis- course in commemoration of the National Centennial, delivered in the Congrega- tional Church, Naugatuck, Conn., July 9, 1876, by the Rev. Charles S. Sherman, a former pastor. Waterbury, Conn .: 1876."-F. W.
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THE CHURCH IN NAUGATUCK.
then a stranger to us, with his tall, dignified form arrayed in oriental robes, and heard him speak of those far away places with mysterious Bible names, in so familiar a manner, he was to our minds "not a whit behind the very chiefest apostle." During his ministry in Naugatuck, the Lord added to the church 246 souls.
The next settled pastor was the Rev. D A. Easton, who was also a very acceptable and suc- cessful minister. During his pastorate of three years, 108 persons were added to the church. But we regret to add that, after enjoying the affec- tion and esteem of the community, and maintaining a high standard of Christian character throughout his stay with us, he at last went down-to New York, and became a broker !
Last but by no means least among these worthy names is that of William F. Blackman, whose removal from Naugatuck has left an aching void in all hearts. He is too well known in this vicinity to need any eulogy from me. For nearly seven years he gave to this church the utmost of his love and effort, and succeeded in gaining the affection and confidence of the people (not only of the members of his own and other churches, but of those outside of any church) as few men are privileged to do. We deeply regret his loss, but rejoice in the fact that he has been advanced to what may be deemed a higher place and a more extended influence.
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