USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > The early history of the First church of Christ, New London, Conn. > Part 4
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Harbor, a competent piece of upland and meadow for a farm for a minister ; and one other competent portion of land near unto said lot, for the minister ; either for Nehemiah Smyth, or some other, as the in- habitants of Green's Harbor shall place in." [Pun- chard's Hist. Conglsm., vol. iv, p. 263.]
It is not likely that Mr. Blinman was ever formally settled over the Marshfield Church, nor did he re- main long in charge of its pulpit, for we find him in Gloucester, May 2, 1642. Lechford's Plaine Deal- ing, contemporary with Mr. Blinman, says: "Mr. Wilson [of Boston] did lately ride to Green Harbor in Plymouth Patent, to appease a broil between one Master Thomas, as I take it his name is, and Master Blinman when Master Blinman went by the worst." [Mass. Hist. Coll., 3 series, vol. iii, p. 106.] The difficulties referred to seem to have related chiefly to the importance of an educated ministry, and to the question how far lay brethren should be allowed to exercise their gifts. Edward Winslow had been ar- raigned before Archbishop Laud to answer to the charge of preaching while he was a layman. The spirit of the founder of Marshfield seems to have been abroad there. In the collections of the Massachu- setts Historical Society [vol. ix, p. 39, first series] occurs the following, which seems to refer to this con- troversy : " About the same time several ministers
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came over to America, some with high raised expecta- tions that the country was better cultivated than they found it, and that they could live here in as easy circumstances as among European settlements. They found themselves deceived. * Mr. Blinman, a gentleman from Wales, and a preacher of the gos- pel, was one who expected to find a welcome recep- tion. Being invited to Green's Harbor, near Ply- mouth, he and his friends meant there to settle, but the influence of a few gifted brethren made learning or prudence of little avail. They compared him to 'a piece of new cloth in an old garment,' and thought that they could do better without patching. The old and new planters, to speak a more modern style, could not agree and parted." This controversy leaves no room to doubt that Mr. Blinman was an educated man, probably trained to the ministry in one of the English schools. It is clear, too, that he left the pulpit in Marshfield, because the pews wanted to get into it. The year of his assuming the pulpit in Marshfield, 1642, was the year of his relinquishing it, and of his departure for Gloucester. For Governor Winthrop, of Boston, says in his diary, "One Mr. Blinman, a minister in Wales, a godly and able man, came over with some friends of his, and being invited to Green's Harbor, near Plymouth, they went, but ere the year was expired there fell out some differ-
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ence among them which could by no means be recon- ciled, so they agreed to part, and he came with his company and sat down at Cape Ann, which at this court [May, 1642, ] was established to be a plantation, and called Gloucester." A note in the Mather papers says that the town was called Gloucester after the city and shire in England where some of Mr. Blin- man's companions (and it may be Mr. Blinman him- self) were born. The ability and godliness of Mr. Blinman's character are thus witnessed to by Gov- ernor Winthrop ; and that he was a man of peace is proved by his leaving Marshfield rather than abide in a controversy. Before we are through with his life, we shall find other instances in which he exhibited the same irenic qualities. It is also to be remembered, as testifying to his worth and excellence, that those who had followed him from England, who had been with him in the persecutions which drove him from it, and who had witnessed his bearing through all that he endured for the sake of the gospel, followed him from Marshfield to Gloucester.
Then in 1642 Mr. Blinman, with his Welsh friends settled in Gloucester, Mass. They, with a few fish- ermen already on the ground, were gathered into a Church, with Mr. Blinman as their pastor, as we have found. An item in Johnson's Wonder-working Prov- idence, speaking of the formation of the Church, says
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that "they called to office this godly reverend man, whose gifts and ability to handle the Word is not inferior to many others, laboring much against the errors of the times, of a sweet, humble, heavenly carriage." [Mass. Hist. Coll., 2d series, vol. vii, p .. 32.] This is contemporary testimony to the worth, ability and godliness of character of the first pastor of this Church.
Several of Mr. Blinman's friends were elected, May 2, 1642, to manage affairs in the new planta- tion of Gloucester. Among them were Mr. Obadiah Bruen, who was chosen town recorder, and held the office till he removed to New London; Mr. William Addes, who came to Pequot about 1659, "when he was allowed to brew beer and distil for the benefit of the town;"' Walter Tybbot, who had followed Mr. Blinman from England, and five others. These men were appointed magistrates by the commissioners of the General Court, who were Mr. Endicott, the deputy governor, Mr. Emmanuel Downing, uncle of John Winthrop, Jr., and Mr. Hathorne, from Salem.
This Mr. Downing had been a lawyer of the Inner Temple in London, and had come to New England in 1638. He had married Lucy, the sister of Governor Winthrop, of Boston. February 23, 1650, Lucy Downing wrote to John Winthrop, Jr., her nephew, who was then at Pequot, sending her "service" to
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Mr. Blinman. December 24, 1650, Mr. Downing wrote to the same John Winthrop, Jr., speaking in a similar way of Mr. Blinman. Early in November, 1650, Mr. Blinman's name is mentioned in the rec- ords of a town meeting in Pequot. Miss Caulkins speaks of this as the first notice of his arrival in New London. But October 19, 1650, there was voted a grant of land to him and several others who were of the Cape Ann Colony. It seems then that early in 1650. Mr. Blinman was in New London, probably to consider a proposition to remove from Glouces- ter. Mr. Obadiah Bruen seems to have accom- panied him on his first visit. In view of his final decision to accept the invitation, the town, in Octo- ber, voted to him, and several others who were to come with him, grants of land, mostly on what is now Gran- ite street where was Mr. Blinman's house lot, and on what was then known as "New street, but to which afterwards they gave the name Cape Ann lane- an historic appellation which has significance as con- nected with the history of New London.
As to the reasons for his leaving Gloucester, the history of that town says "unhappy dissensions drove Mr. Blinman from the scene of his first ministry in New England [Marshfield], and the ill treatment he received from some of his people here [Gloucester] may have hastened, if it did not induce, his departure
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from the town. His Church was defamed; his pub- lic meetings were disturbed; and he himself was. scoffingly spoken of for what he had formerly deliv- ered in the way of the ministry." One of these dis- turbers was arrested and fined fifty shillings at court, August 27, 1644. He probably received this treat- ment in return for "laboring much against the errors of the times." Too plain preaching was not any more acceptable to those who needed it then than it is now. Lechford's Plaine Dealing, which gives the contemporary "newes of New England," speaking of Mr. Blinman's coming to this Colony, asks, "Was not Master K. sent away, or compounded with, to seek a new place at Long Island and Master Bleindman to Connecticot ?"
The original contract with Mr. Blinman, if it ever had an existence, is lost. But from subsequent ref- erences it appears that a committee was sent to Gloucester, by the town, to confer with him, and that they pledged him liberal donations of land, with a salary of £60 a year, which was to be increased " as the ability of the town increased." The donations of land were liberally made. He owned a farm at the Harbor's Mouth, which he sold, on removing from town, to John Tinker; he had grants of land on "the General Neck, and at Upper Mamacock," which he sold to James Rogers; he had farms at Pine
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Neck and Fort Hill, which were unsold when he left the country; he also had a large grant of land in Mystic; there were also other grants made, so that this part of the town's agreement was executed in a most liberal manner.
It will be interesting to note here that, quite fre- quently, the colonial parson was a farmer as well as a preacher, and thus added to his income which was often somewhat limited. Some of those early divines were model agriculturists. In old England the clergyman rented his lands, but the New Eng- land parson derived income from his by cultivat- ing them. Sometimes the revenue was quite con- siderable, and added materially to his means of sup- port. Mr. Child says, "one faithful parson was severely handled by his people because he made some eight hundred dollars by selling produce from his land." The liberal allotments of land voted to Mr. Blinman were in keeping with the customs of those early times. How extensively Mr. Blinman culti- vated his numerous acres we do not know.
December 20, 1650, a house lot of six acres was confirmed to him on Meeting House Hill, " three acres whereof," says the record, " were given by the town's agents, as appears in the articles, and the other three by a public town meeting." This lot was bounded by the town's Antientest Buriall Place on
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the east, by Williams street on the west, and by Granite street on the south. The northern boundary ran so as to include six acres. In addition to these grants of land, and the £60 annnal stipend, the town, as appears from various records, built a house for him on the lot just described. On what part of this lot the house stood is not known, but a reasonable supposition would seem to be that it was not far from the dwelling of the late William H. Barns. The conjecture of Miss Caulkins that it stood opposite the lot of Richard Post, on Post Hill does not seem cor- rect, for that would place it north of the north line of the six acres granted to Mr. Blinman on Meeting House Hill. "He had another lot in the lower part of the town near the cove, where Blinman street per- petuates his name." In 1653 he removed to this Jot. His house stood where the old bridge crossed the cove. [Miss Caulkins. ] It is supposed that he lived here during the remainder of his residence in New London.
We may pause a moment to note that when Mr. Blinman came here, he was not only followed by his friends, but was in a measure surrounded by them. On the east was the lot of Obadiah Bruen, lying be- tween the town square, or Meeting House Green, as it was then called, and Broad street, east of Hemp- stead street. On the corner of Hempstead and Gran-
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ite streets was the residence of Robert Park, whose son Thomas married the sister of Mrs. Blinman. Not far away, across Truman brook, were settled several other families who had shared the fortunes of their pastor since he had been driven from his parish in Chepstowe. He was settled among his friends, and lived near to the spot whereon was to stand the meet- ing house.
The History of Gloucester gives the names of some of the chief people who came with Mr. Blin- man. "The emigrants to New London were Chris- topher Avery, James Avery, William Addes, William Kenie, Andrew Lister, William Meades, Ralph Par- ker, William Wellman, Obadiah Bruen, Hugh Caulk- in, John Coit, Sen., and William Hough." [p. 52.] These men, who had been. prominent in town and in Church in Gloucester, took leading places in the Pequot Colony. They were farmers and mechanics. To quote Miss Caulkins, " On that billowy mass of rocks, that promontory so singularly bold in position and outline (Cape Ann), and so picturesque in appear- ance, they fixed their second encampment in this new world." They hoped here, in the Pequot Colony, to find a less sterile soil. "It was certainly an object for the faithful pastor and his tried friends to keep together, and as Pequot was without a minister, and casting about to obtain one, the arrangement was an
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agreeable one on both sides." Not only the twenty families which came with, or soon after Mr. Blinman, but also those which followed still later, helped to swell the population of the Colony to over forty families. [Trumbull. ] Early in 1651, as we have seen, a street was opened for them "in the rear of the town," which came to be known as Cape Ann lane. It was designated as " beyond the brook, and the ministry lot." The brook still runs into the sea. Meeting House Hill is where it was when the First Church, and its minister's house stood on it. The street which once bore the historic name Cape Ann lane, still winds its way at the foot of the rolling ground beyond. The Church remains of which Rich- ard Blinman was the first pastor. The ancient ceme- tery is where it was when he committed the sainted dead to their last rest, " earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
Not much is known about the ministry of Mr. Blin- man in New London. It continued here about seven years, and ended because he ended it. He seems to have been a man of kind disposition, as is shown by the correspondence which he kept up with the friends, whom he left behind. February 25, 1653, this minute was entered on the town records : "For- asmuch as the town was ingaged to Mr. Blynman for a set stypend and soe to increase it yeerly Mr.
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Blynman is freely willing to free the towne hence- forward from that ingadgement." This is among the proofs that he was actuated by no mercenary spirit.
At a meeting of the town, September 20, 1651, two or three items of business were "to propound the bying of Mr. Park's barn," which, as will be seen, was used for a meeting house; "a rate for Mr. Blynman's half yeer;" "speak about new drum," to call people together for divine service. In October of that year, the question of a new meeting house was before the town, for one of the items of business was " a rate for the new meeting house," which had been decided upon already.
When Mr. Blinman came, in 1650, there was a Meeting House Hill, but there was no meeting house on it. During the first years of his ministry he preached in the barn meeting house, which stood on the spot now occupied by the residence of the late Mr. George E. Whittlesey. It belonged to Robert Park. August 29, 1651, the following vote of the town is recorded : "For Mr. Parke's barne the Towne doe agree for the use of it until mid-summer next, to give him a day's work a peace for a meeting house, to be redy by the Saboth come amoneth." " Mem. Mr. Parke is willing to accept of 3 1." From this vote it appears that worship began in the barn
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meeting house October 1, 1651. It is probable that previous to this, divine service was held in some private dwelling, as was often done in those early days.
In 1652 Mr. Park sold his house lot to Mr. Wil- liam Rogers, from Boston. June 30 of that year is a record of an agreement on the part of the town with Mr. Rogers for the use of the barn for purposes of worship, for two years from date, at the same rate ; that is, " for the summe of 3 1. per annum." If the town " build a leantoo, he is to allow for it in the rent, and if it come to more he is to allow it, and for floor- ing and what charges the town is at, he is willing to allow when the time is expired." The town contin- ued to worship in the barn meeting house till 1655. The sequel to the story of this unique house of worship was that, in 1672-3, the town was called upon to pay rent in arrears, which the heirs of William Rogers declared had never been paid. February 27, 1672-3, the town voted "upon demand made by Hugh Caulkin," who had meanwhile removed to Norwich, who had been the town's surety for payment of the rent seven- teen years before, and upon whom the heirs had served a writ for £3 10s. " for money due to Mr. Leake, of Boston, for improvement of a barn of Goodman Rogers, which said Caulkins stood engaged for to pay, this town doth promise to pay one barrel
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of pork some time next winter." Whether the prom- ise was kept we are not told. It is to be presumed, however, that it was, and that the rent of the first place of worship, occupied by this Church, was dis- charged by a commodity which a Jew would have declined to receive.
The first public action looking toward the erection of a meeting house for public worship seems to have been taken August 29, 1651, when the following entry was made on the town records: " Goodman Elderkin doth undertake to build a meeting house about the same demention of Mr. Parke's his barne, and clapboard it for the sume of eight pounds, pro- vided the towne cary the tymber to the place and find nales. And for his pay he requires a cow and 50s. in peage," or toll. A further vote is recorded De- cember 16, 1652. levying a rate of £14 to build a new meeting house, and fixing upon the site. Mr. Bruen made the following entry upon the town's rec- ords: "The place for the new meeting house was concluded on by the meeting to be in the highwaie, taking a corner of my lot to supply the highwaie." This was the area now known as Bulkeley Place. Captain Denison and Lieutenant Smith were the building committee. As they were discharged in February, 1655, it seems probable that the new meeting house was completed about that time. It
AVERY HOUSE-FRONT VIEW. The left portion is the Blimman Meeting House, the first built in New London.
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must have stood contiguous to the old burial ground, on the south side of it. Its tower was doubtless the lookout for the town watchman. "From the gallery windows the eye commanded a fine expanse of coun- try, and could mark every sail that went up or down the Sound." The ground was high, and the church tower commanded a wide outlook.
No Sabbath bell announced the hour of divine service in those early days. People were summoned to public worship by the beat of a drum. March 22, 1651-2, this vote is recorded: "The towne have agreed with Peter Blatchford to beat the drum all Saboth dayes, training dayes, and town publique meetings for the sum of 3 lb., to be paid him in a towne rate." He continued to exercise these func- tions for several years, and the hosts of the Lord were rallied by drumbeat on the Lord's day, till about 1675, when mention of such service ceases. The religion of those days-as, indeed, it is of all days- was more or less a conflict. I do not think that it was ever true of the founders of New London, if it was of any of the early Puritans, that "they first fell on their knees, and then upon the aborigines."' But it often happened, in those primitive days, that men were obliged to go to church armed, for fear of sur- prise by the aborigines. Near by the barn meeting house, on still higher ground, probably on the spot
.:
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now occupied by the residence of Captain James F. Smith, in the days before the meeting house, was stationed the watch, to give alarm if enemies should appear. The beat of the drum, therefore, was not an inapt method of calling the people together to attend . public worship, as their life was a conflict with foes without as well as with foes within.
The lot north of the meeting house was first used for burial in 1652, but was set apart for such pur- poses June 6, 1653, by vote of the town. This vote bas never been rescinded. It is one of the oldest ceme- teries in New England, and is rich in historic associa- tions, and rich in the men and women whose dust reposes in it, who had to do with the founding of the town, who were great in their day and generation, and whose hands helped to lay the foundations, build the superstructure, and defend it; colonial and rey- olutionary heroes, who shed their blood for their country.
March 26, 1655, soon after the probable completion of the new meeting house, "Goodman Chapman" was "chosen to be grave-maker for the town," and it was agreed that he should "have 4s. for men and women's graves, and for all children's graves 3s. for every grave he makes." "February 25, 1661-2," the records read, " old Goodman Cumstock is chosen sexton, whose work is to order youth in the meeting
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house " (that is, act as tithingman), "sweep the meet- ing house, and beat out dogs, for which he is to receive 40s. a year; he is also to make all graves; for a man or a woman he is to have 4s., for children 2s. a grave, to be paid by survivors." "From which enumeration of his powers," says Hon. Augus- tus Brandegee, "it may fairly be inferred that in the early days men and women were upon the same level, youth were as mischievous, and dogs as much a nui- sance as in these modern times." And it may also be added that it was thoughtful on the part of the town to lay the expense of burial upon the survivors rather than upon the dead.
Mr. Blinman preached about three years and a half in the barn meeting house, and then about three years in the first house built expressly for public wor- ship in New London. This house was occupied as a place of worship till about 1682. [Caulkins, p. 192.] This first, or Blinman, meeting house was purchased by James Avery in 1684, and was moved to Poquon- nock Plain, where he added it to the house which he had built in 1656. It stood till July 20, 1894; when it was destroyed by fire. It was occupied by the descendants of James Avery till the day it was burned, and the occupant at that time was James D. Avery.
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Rev. John Avery, recently pastor of the Church in Ledyard, a descendant of James Avery, says "the old Avery mansion at Poquonnock was built by Cap- tain James Avery in 1656. The old Blinman church edifice in New London was sold in June, 1684, to Captain James Avery, with the condition that he should remove it in one month's time. This he did, and added it to his house at Poquonnock. A hundred years later the house was occupied by Elder Park Avery, a Separate minister, a great-grandson of Cap- tain James Avery. Elder Park Avery had a large room fitted up in the house for public worship, and there he and the Church which he gathered held public service for a great many years." This probably was the last use of the old Blinman meeting house for public worship.
Mr. Blinman's pastorate in New London seems to have been acceptable and harmonious, save the mis- understanding with Thomas Miner and Captain Den- ison, of which particulars will be given. Dr. Field says "it is not known for what reason he was dis- missed from his charge in this place. There is no evidence that there was any dissatisfaction with his ministration. On the contrary he seems to have been highly esteemed, and very successful in his work." [Bi-Centennial Address, p. 10.] He was clearly a man of great force of character. That he was a fear-
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less preacher is proved by the opposition which his preaching provoked, and by the fact, testified to by a contemporary, that he labored "much against the errors of the times." He was held in high esteem by the eminent men of his day-men like John Win- throp, Emmanuel Downing, and Increase Mather.
During his ministry here he was sent by the Gen- eral Court, with others, to represent the Colony in the discussion of certain grave questions, at a con- vention held in Boston. The vote of the General Court, passed February 26, 1657, was as follows: " This Court doth order that Mr. Warham [of Wind- sor ], Mr. Stone [of Hartford], Mr. Blinman [of New London], and Mr. Russell [of Weathersfield] bee desired to meet the first fifth day of June next at Boston, to confer and debate the questions formerly sent to the Bay Court, or any other of the like nature that shall be propounded to them by that Court or our own, with such divines as shall be sent to said meeting from the other Colonies." The questions to be debated, and concerning which Connecticut had asked the advice of the other Colonies, were the- ological, and related chiefly to the practice of baptism under the Half-way Covenant, as it was known, which had begun to be practiced at Hartford, after the death of Mr. Hooker. A strong party had grown up in the Colony, who were disposed to grant certain
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Church privileges to persons of exemplary deport- ment, without requiring them to give evidence of a change of heart. This came to be known as the "Parish Way," which was old in the old country, but new in the new. Differences of opinion upon these questions grew so marked and decided, that the peace of the Churches was threatened. Their spir- itual life declined. Grievances were presented to the General Court. This body sought the advice of the other Colonies. Massachusetts joined in the request. Seventeen questions were proposed; Dr. Bacon says twenty-one, and Dr. Dunning twenty- four. June 4, 1657, the Council met in Boston. How Mr. Blinman stood upon these questions we have no positive means of knowing. One of his associates, Mr. Stone, of Hartford, favored and practiced the Half-way Covenant. Mr. Russell and Mr. Warham did not. There are reasons for believing that Mr. Blinman did not. But the point which I desire to emphasize is, that his choice by the legislature to represent the Churches of the Colony upon matters so vitally touching their life, testifies to his ability, and to the prominent place which he held among the ministers of Connecticut and of New England.
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