USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > The early history of the First church of Christ, New London, Conn. > Part 17
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Joseph Eckley over the Church in Marlborough street. Deacons Jedediah Huntington and Guy Richards were appointed delegates from this Church for the purpose above mentioned." Dr. Eckley died about 1811, and Mr. Huntington became sole pastor of that his- toric Church. He died in Groton, Mass., while re- turning home from a journey for his health, on Sat- urday, September 11, 1819. In so great esteem was he held that the whole religious community of Boston was deeply moved at his death. He was instru- mental in the formation of the American Education Society.
6. DANIEL HUNTINGTON, third son of Deacon Jedediah Huntington, was born at Norwich, October 17, 1788, but removed to New London with his father while yet a child. He graduated from Yale College in the class of 1807, and became a member of this Church February 28, 1809. He was licensed to preach by the New London Association in 1811. He was a resident licentiate at Andover Theological Seminary in 1812-the first student of that kind on the list. He was ordained pastor of the Church in North Bridgewater, now the city of Brockton, Mass., October 28, 1812, where he remained till his health compelled him to relinquish his charge in 1832, when he returned to New London. His ministry "was. attended from time to time with the demonstration of
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the spirit and with power, so that great numbers were added to the Lord." After a temporary respite from pastoral labors he so far regained his health that he was able "to gratify his fine literary taste in the instruction of successive classes of young ladies in the higher branches of an educational course, while residing in New London." But his heart yearned for the pastorate. After seven years he received a call from a portion of his original Church, which he ac- cepted. This was about 1839. The new Church, a colony from the old, had been organized in 1837, in that portion of Brockton known as Campello. In this southern section of his former field he spent thirteen years, "winning souls to Christ." In 1852 he re- turned to New London, where he lived till he died. His separation from his people at Campello occasioned many tears and much anguish of spirit, and showed how strongly he had intrenched himself in the hearts of his people. After his return to New London he continued to preach the gospel. His last sermon was delivered in the chapel at Mohegan, just four weeks before his death. He was an original member of the Second Church. But on his return to New London from Campello he brought his letter to the First Church, in 1854.
In a historical sketch of the Second Church is the following notice of him : "The Rev. Daniel Hunting-
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ton, though never an acting pastor like Mr. Hurlbut, was for a number of months acting preacher in the third Sunday service. He led the service of song. He baptized five out of forty-eight children of the Church. His long ministries at Bridgewater, Mass., before and after this date are written on earth. May we not believe that his brief and unofficial work done here where he died is written in heaven? Al- most his last words before his death, May 21, 1858, were, 'let me go, for the morning breaketh.' "' It is to be remembered that the organization of the Second Church took place during the period of his first respite from pastoral labors, in 1835. A sketch of him in the Congregational Year Book for 1859 says that "but for his unfeigned humility and the extreme modesty that imposed a constant re- straint on the forth-putting of his native genius * he had shone with far superior brilliancy in the starry firmament of earth's ambition, though less splendidly in that nobler firmament where stars never set, and the sun no more goes down." He had a fine literary taste. But best of all, he had a passion for souls, and the constant additions to the Church during his ministry prove that he was a preacher of rare spiritual power.
7. NATHANIEL HEWIT, D. D., was born in New London, August 28, 1788. He graduated from Yale
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College in the class of 1808. He studied a year at Andover with the class of 1816. He was licensed to preach by the New London Association in 1811. He was ordained July 5, 1815, as pastor of the Pres- byterian Church at Plattsburg, N. Y., where he remained till 1817. January, 1818, he became pas- tor of the ancient Congregational Church in Fair- field. December, 1827, he was dismissed to become agent of the American Temperance Society, with Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut as his field. He remained in this work till December, 1830, when he became pastor of the Second Congre- gational Church in Bridgeport. This same year Amherst College conferred on him the honorary degree of D. D. After a pastorate of nearly twenty- three years he was, at his own request, dismissed September, 1853. In October of that year, and ap- parently to follow Dr. Hewit, seventy-eight members of the Second Church "were dismissed by their own request to form a Presbyterian Church, of which Dr. Hewit became pastor." He remained in this office till he died in Bridgeport, February 10, 1867, aged nearly seventy-nine years.
He had distinguished himself before 1826 "by maintaining, not only at home but in his exchanges with other pastors, the duty of entire abstinence from the use of spirituous liquors, except as a medicine,
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and as prescribed by a temperate physician." He addressed the General Association of this State upon this subject, at their meeting in Stratford in 1827, with so great eloquence and power that a resolution was called forth from that conservative body, endors- . ing the principles of the society which he represent- ed, and pledging the members to use their influence "as pastors to prevent entirely the use and all abuses of strong drink." He was preacher before the Gen- eral Association in 1840, and its moderator in 1853. Two of his sons became priests of the Roman Catho- lic Church.
8. NATHAN DOUGLASS was born in New London January 31, 1787. He was a son of Capt. Ebenezer Douglas, a member of this Church, of " decided Christian character," who died Sunday night, Sep- tember 3, 1798. Nathan was a lineal descendant, of the fifth generation from the first Deacon William Douglas. He early became a professed disciple of Christ, and joined this Church April 5, 1807, when twenty years of age. He said of himself at that period, in the words of the psalmist, " I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." With a deep conviction of sin, he turned from all the human devices, which brought him no relief, to find peace in the blood and righteousness of Christ. Mr. McEwen, who was at that time the pastor of the
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Church, evidently saw traits in the young man which promised usefulness in the ministry, and so started him on a course of education for that work. He graduated from Middlebury College, Vermont, in the class of 1813. He studied theology at Andover two years, in the class of 1816, and then one year with the famous Rev. Edward Payson, D. D. He went to Al- fred, Maine, in July, 1816, where he was ordained pastor of the Church in that town, November 6 of that year. His ministry continued till July 1827, and was signally blessed by seasons of religious interest. He was greatly respected and beloved by his people, as ap- pears from resolutions passed by the Church, which expressed " the most cordial friendships and love for their late pastor and teacher." January 13, 1829, Mr. Douglas removed to East Saint Albans, Maine. A Church was organized there June 24, 1830, which he served as acting pastor till June 12, 1833, when he was installed. Here, too, his ministry was blessed with seasons of spiritual refreshing. He continued at East Saint Albans till September 14, 1846, when he was duly dismissed by council. This was his last pastorate. On leaving it he served for twenty years " as a domestic missionary" in Maine, till he died at Bangor, December 16, 1866, at the age of eighty years, and a month over fifty years after his ordina- tion. The Bangor Whig and Courier said of him, " he
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took a deep interest in all that pertained to the welfare of the Church and of the State, and was the founder of the State and County Conferences in Maine. Though he lived to the advanced age of nearly eighty years, he retained to a remarkable degree his mental powers, and was an earnest advocate of vital religious and civil liberty." Prof. George Shepard, of Bangor Theological Seminary, said of him, " he instructed by his preaching. He was a good pastor, and so edified the Church ; watchful of its order and discipline. He brought souls into the kingdom by his doctrine, and then built them in, by his vigilant care."
9. JOHN ROSS was born in Dublin, Ireland, July 23, 1783. He joined this Church, August 21, 1808. He graduated from Middlebury College in the same class with Nathan Douglas, 1813. He studied over two years at Princeton ; was licensed to preach by the New London Association in 1815; was ordained by Presbytery in 1817 at Redstone, Pa .; was pastor at Somerset, Pa., Ripley, O., and Richmond, Ind., from 1817 to 1829; was home missionary in Ohio and Indiana from 1829 to 1843 ; was colporter from 1843 to 1849 ; served at Burlington, Ind., from 1849 to to 1850, and died at Tipton, Ind., March 11, 1876, aged eighty-three.
10. JOSEPH HURLBUT was born in New London,
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August 22, 1799. He graduated from Yale College in 1818. He studied at Andover one year in the class of 1822, but graduated from Princeton. He was acting pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1822 to 1823. October 25, . 1823, he was ordained pastor of the Third Presby- terian Church, Albany, N. Y., where he remained till 1826. He was without charge in New York from 1826 to 1832 and in New London from 1832 to 1835. He was acting pastor of the Second Church till March 6, 1837 ; then a missionary to the Mohegan Indians till 1862; chaplain at Fort Trumbull from 1862 to 1867 ; after that he resided in New London till his death. A notice of him in an historical sketch of the Second Church says, " the Rev. Joseph Hurl- but preached and administered the ordinances till a stated pastor could be obtained. This was about two years, till March 6, 1837. His labors were gratui- tous. They were marked by the ingathering of one hundred and thirteen members. Mr. Hurlbut had also borne one-quarter of the expense of building the first house of worship. He prayed at the last sacra- ment in the new house before his death, which oc- curred suddenly, June 5, 1875."
11. JOHN FERGUSON is among those whose names Mr. Bacon gives as having gone into the ministry from this Church. He is referred to in a New Lon-
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don Telegram for 1882, in a notice of the death of Mr. Thomas Updike Robertson. After leaving school he " served an apprenticeship with a tobacconist, a Scotchman named Ferguson, who resided on John street." "Mr. Ferguson afterwards removed to Providence and became a Congregationalist minister." Mr. Ferguson never was a member of this Church, but he was identified with it during his residence in town. He preached for a time in the town of Attle- boro, Mass., and also in another parish in the western part of the same State. Nothing further could be learned about him.
12. THOMAS HUNTINGTON was born in Norwich, December 4, 1793. He joined this Church in 1814. He went to Brooklyn, Conn., about 1820, became a Baptist, and was ordained as an evangelist and pas- tor September 3, 1834. He served in this capacity several years, and then became a physician. He died in Brooklyn, December 1, 1867, aged seventy-four years.
13. WILLIAM HARRIS was a son of this Church, and his early life was spent in it. He joined the Baptists and became a licensed preacher in that de- nomination. He was never settled, but he had charge of a Baptist Church in Hadlyme for about four years. He became blind. The last of his life he was a member of Saint James' Episcopal Church. He died in New London.
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14. CHARLES THOMPSON was born in Stratford. In early life he was in the drug store of his uncle, Dr. Isaac Thompson, in New London. About 1816 he left the store to pursue his studies with reference to preparation for the ministry. In 1823 he married Hannah Miner, who had joined this Church in 1814, and at once went as a home missionary to Danduff, Pa. He came to Seymour, Conn., June 28, 1830, where he remained till June, 1833. He came to Salem in October of that year, and remained till he died, March, 1855 ; nearly twenty-two years.
15. JOHN CAULKINS COIT was born in New Lon- don in 1797. He graduated from Yale College in 1818. He was a lawyer, and settled at Cheraw, S. C. He afterwards entered the Presbyterian min- istry, and became pastor of an Old School Presby- terian Church in the same town. He was a son of David and Betsy Caulkins Coit, both of whom joined this Church in 1831. He died in 1863.
16. THOMAS WINTHROP COIT. D. D., LL. D., was born in New London, June 28, 1803. He was a son of Thomas Coit, M. D., who joined this Church June 29, 1800, and Mary W. Saltonstall Coit, who joined this Church September 20, 1795. He was baptized by Rev. Henry Channing, August 28, 1803. He united with the Church in 1821; the year in which he graduated from Yale College. He studied part of
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a year at Andover, in the class of 1826; was at Prince- ton Theological Seminary from 1824 to 1825 ; took dea- con's orders in the Episcopal Church June 7, 1826; was ordained as a priest November 14, 1827. He was rector of St. Peter's Church, Salem, Mass., from 1827 to 1829; of Christ Church, Cambridge, Mass., from 1829 to 1834; was president of Transylvania Univer- sity, Kentucky, from 1834 to 1837; was rector of Trinity Church, New Rochelle, N. Y., from 1839 to 1849; was professor of Ecclesiastical History at Trin- ity College, Hartford, Conn., from 1849 to 1854; was rector of St. Paul's Church, Troy, N. Y., from 1854 to 1872 ; was professor of Church History at Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Conn., from 1873 till he died in 1885, aged eighty-two. He received the degree of D. D. from Columbia College in 1834, and of LL. D. from Trinity College in 1853. He was an author of some repute. Among the works produced by his pen are the following: A Theolog- ical Commonplace Book, Remarks on Norton's State- ment of Reasons, The Bible and Apocrypha in Paragraphs and Parallelisms, Townsend's Chronolog- ical Bible, Puritanism; a Churchman's Defence Against Its Aspersions, &c. As will be gathered from this brief outline, he was a prominent and in- fluential man in the Episcopal Church. The blood which flowed in his veins from Puritan John Coite told.
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17. GURDON SALTONSTALL COIT, D. D., was a younger brother of the preceding. He was born in New London, October 28, 1808. He was baptized by Dr. McEwen, February 10, 1809. He graduated from Yale College in 1828, at the age of nearly · twenty. He was a year at Andover Theological Sem- inary, in the class of 1831, which was one of the most remarkable classes which ever graduated from that institution. He was ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church August 8, 1830, and a priest De- cember 16, 1832. He served with Trinity Church, Milton, Conn., in 1830-31; with St. Peter's Church, Plymouth, Conn., in 1832-3; with St. John's Church, Bridgeport, Conn., from 1833 to 1862; was chaplain of U. S. Volunteers, in 1863; served with Christ Church, West Haven, Conn., in 1864-65; with St. Michael's Church, Naugatuck, Conn., from 1866 to 1868. He died at Southport, Conn., November 10, 1869, aged sixty-one. He received the degree of D. D. from Trinity College in 1853.
18. ROBERT MCEWEN, D. D., son of Rev. Abel McEwen, D. D., was born in New London, June 22, 1808. He was baptized September 11, 1808. He joined this Church in 1826, at the age of eighteen. He graduated from Yale College in 1827; taught in the New Haven Grammar School two years; was tutor in the college from 1829 to 1832. In 1833 he was grad-
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uated from the Yale Divinity School, was licensed by the New Haven West Association, and was ordained as an evangelist. He served as a home missionary in Michigan till 1835, when he was called to the South Church in Middletown, Conn., where he was installed in May of that year. He remained till August, 1838. From 1842 to 1861 he was pastor of the Church in Enfield, Mass., where his ministry was abundantly blessed. Under his influence a num- ber of young people were raised up to enter the min- istry of the gospel, either as preachers, or as mission- aries, or as the efficient wives of clergymen. In 1861 he returned to New London, where he remained until his death, August 29, 1883, at the age of seven- ty-four years and two months. He received the honorary degree of D. D. from Amherst College in 1858, while yet in his Enfield pastorate. Mr. Bacon, in a notice of his death in his annual survey of 1883, pays the following tribute to his memory : " Since 1861 his home and his work have been in New Lon- don, where in unofficial and unpaid ministry, he led a life as useful as it was modest, and as blessed as it was generous. Never was there such a parishioner as this retired minister became." His wife, who joined the Church in the same year, 1826, outlived him fourteen years, and reached the ripe age of eighty-seven years and four months, after having
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walked in the fellowship of the Church for over sev- enty-one years.
19. ELISHA C. JONES was a native of Hartland, where he was born in 1808. But he joined this Church by letter in 1831, and seems to have gone from it into the ministry. He graduated from Yale College in 1831; taught in New London from 1831 to 1833; was tutor at Yale in 1834-5; was licensed by the New London Association in 1834; married his. wife, Julia Chappell, from this Church; and was or- dained pastor at Southington, June 28, 1837, where he remained till he died March 9, 1872, aged sixty- four years. He was a Fellow of Yale College from July 1862, until his death.
20. ROBERT COIT LEARNED was born in New Lon- don, August 31, 1817. His baptism is recorded by Dr. McEwen. He joined this Church in 1831. He was doubtless a fruit of the religious interest of that year. He graduated from Yale College in 1837; studied two years at Yale Theological Seminary, and graduated from Andover Seminary in 1841. He was ordained September 23, 1843, pastor at Twinsburg, Ohio, where he remained till 1846. He was pastor at Canterbury, Conn., from 1847 to 1858; at Berlin, Conn., from 1858 to 1861; at Plymouth, Conn., from 1861 to 1865, where he died April 19, 1867.
21. GEORGE RICHARDS was born in New Lon-
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don, November 2, 1816. He was a grandson of Dea- -con Jedediah Huntington. He graduated from Yale College in 1840. He studied one year at Andover, but graduated from Yale Theological Seminary in 1845. He was tutor at Yale in 1844-5. He was or- dained pastor of the Central Congregational Church, Boston, October 8, 1845, where he remained till 1859. He was acting pastor at Litchfield, from 1861 to 1865, and pastor of the First Church, Bridgeport, from 1866 till he died there October 20, 1870. He was Fellow of Yale University from July, 1868, till his death.
22. JOHN EUCLID ELLIOTT was born in New London, October 22, 1829. He was a son of Euclid, and Lucy Smith (Coit) Elliott. He joined this Church in 1849. He was in Marietta College, Ohio, in 1853 -4, but graduated from Amherst College in 1857, and from Hartford Theological Seminary in 1860. He was acting pastor at Barkhampstead, Conn., from 1860 to 1863, was ordained at Ridgebury, Conn., May 6, 1863 ; was dismissed May 16, 1865; was act- ing pastor at Higganum, Conn., from 1865 to 1867 ; at Hadley, Mass., from 1867 to 1868; at Lucas Grove, Muscatine, Iowa, from 1868 to 1870 ; at Co- lumbus, Neb., from 1870 to 1874; at South Glaston- bury, Conn, from 1874 to 1879; at Newington, Conn., from 1880 to 1884; at Bridgewater, Conn.,
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from 1884 to 1837 ; without charge at North Yakima, Washington, from 1887, till his death, January 19, 1888, at the age of fifty-eight.
23. WILLIAM H. STARR, a son of Deacon Will- iam H. Starr, was born in Groton, October 20, 1834. He joined this Church in 1857; graduated from the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., in 1859 ; entered the ministry of the Methodist Church in 1862 ; joined the Providence Conference in 1863, and was ordained in 1865. He returned to the Congre- gational fellowship, and was settled over the Church in Thornton, R. I., in 1891, where he is still. Another writes of him, " in all the relations of life he is every- thing that is lovely and of good report."
24. FREDRICK L. CHAPELL was born in Water- ford, Conn., November 9, 1836. He graduated from Yale College in 1860, and from Rochester Theologi- cal Seminary in 1864. He entered the ministry of the Baptist Church, and was ordained at Middletown, Ohio, in 1864, where he remained till July 1, 1871; then he was at Evanston, Ill., till July 1, 1878. Then he was at Janesville, Wis., till May 1, 1881, when he went to Flemington, N. J., where he remained till July 1, 1889. He then accepted a position in what is now called The Gordon Missionary Training School, in Boston, Mass., where he now is. He never joined this Church, but was a constant attend-
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ant upon its services, until he joined the Huntington Street Baptist Church, at the advice of Dr. McEwen, on account of his views upon the question of baptism. 25. THOMAS ALLENDER was born in Birming- ham, England, November 10, 1836. He joined this Church in 1860; graduated from Andover Theologi- cal Seminary in 1864; was acting pastor at Assabet, Mass., in 1865-66, where he was ordained January 4, 1866 ; was pastor at West Hampton, Mass., from 1866, till he died in New London, September 17, 1869.
26. JOHN ALLENDER was born in New London, October 11, 1840. He united with this Church iu 1865. He graduated from Chicago Theological Sem- inary in 1868. After a summer spent at St. Cathe- rine and Laclede, Mo., he was engaged, November 10, 1868, for one year. February 23, the next year, he was ordained at Laclede. He had charge of the two Churches for two years, and then remained six months longer with the Church in Laclede, till May, 1871. September 15, 1871, he began at Prairie City, Ia., and closed his labors there December 22, 1872, but continued to supply the Church till the spring of 1873. May 11 of that year he began work at Glenwood, where he remained three years. In May, 1876, he was called to Red Oak, Ia., where he remained till September, 1884. He then returned
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east and took a post graduate course at Yale Theo- legical Seminary, from 1884 to 1886. Meanwhile he was with the Taylor Church, New Haven, from 1885 to 1887. He was afterwards with the Church in Champaign, Ill., from April, 1888, till August, 1892. He was without charge in New Haven till December 10, 1893, when he began at Middlefield, Conn., where he is still laboring.
27. C. PERLEY TINKER was born in New London, July 26, 1864. He joined this Church in 1883. He fitted for college at the Bulkeley High School, and entered the Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Conn., from which he graduated in 1889. He stud- ied theology at the theological school of Boston Uni- versity, and graduated in 1892. He entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was ordained to deacon's orders April 3, 1892, and to the full ministry April 5, 1896. His charges have been as follows: Ozone Park, L. I., 1892 and 1893; Flo- ral Park, L. I., from 1894 to 1896; Bay Shore, L. I., 1897, where he is stationed at this writing. In all his charges he has proved himself to be a good soldier of the Lord. He is the son of Hon. George F. Tinker, who, for more than a decade has been the efficient superintendent of the Sunday school of this Church. Although Mr. Tinker has chosen to be an under shep- herd in another fold, he is a child of the First Church
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of Christ. Of his relation to it he writes: "Iowe no small debt of gratitude to the dear old First Church of Christ. Owing to its precious services, together with the good example of godly parents, I am able to say with truth, I believe, that from eight years of age till twenty-one, when I left for college, I scarcely missed a single service in the sanctuary, Sunday school room, or lecture room. Earlier still my religious des- tiny was bent, in part, in the infant class room of the Sabbath school. Particularly was a deep impression made by a wall motto, 'Thou God Seest Me,' which has hung from the wall of my memory almost every week since. My first strong and definite personal revolution was occasioned, when I was about twelve, by a sermon from the lips of Rev. E. W. Bacon, upon ' I will make you fishers of men.' That clear and logical discourse so impressed itself upon my mind that on the way home from Church I exclaimed to a companion, Charles E. Reeves, now a gifted minister of the gospel, 'Well, Charlie, if we cannot be fishers of men, we can be fishers of boys.' Where- upon our ministerial career actually and immediately began by the organizing of a Saturday religious serv- ice for boys. I owe much to the extraordinary de- votion of my Sabbath school teacher, Mrs. Samuel Dennis. * I owe my interest in world-wide missions largely to the First Church, also the Puritan
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