USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > East Haven > The evolution of an old New England Church, being the history of the Old stone church in East Haven, Connecticut > Part 7
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The location having been determined, a sixpenny tax was assessed upon a total valuation under £5,000, the income of which was about £300. Then arose the question of what kind of building should be erected, and after considerable debate it was voted "to build a stone meeting-house, sixty-five feet
22 Colonel Alling, of New Haven, was invited to serve but declined.
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THE EVOLUTION OF AN OLD NEW ENGLAND CHURCH.
long and fifty feet wide." Captain Amos Morris was made chairman of the building committee, his colleagues being John Woodward, Joel Tuttle, Stephen Morris, Isaac Chidsey, Stephen Thompson, Dan Bradley, and Stephen Smith. After work had started on the building it was decided to increase the length by eight feet, making a total of seventy-three feet, and to "build a steeple to be carried up with the stone." The stone was plentiful in the hills near-by, and the villagers placed their teams and wagons as well as themselves at the disposal of the committee. Every one pitched in and worked: they quarried, transported, dressed, and laid the stone themselves. The Old South Church, Boston, recently built and representing the most modern style of architecture, furnished a model ; and there is a tradition that some of the members of the church visited Boston to examine the building so they could report to their own committee. Reverend Stephen Dodd reports that "A serious calamity, however, befel the builders. The work- men were raising the last window cap, on the back side, when the scaffold gave way, and three men with the stone in their arms fell to the ground. Toney was considerably injured, but in two weeks was so much recovered that he ran away. Mr. Stephen Thompson had his skull fractured, was trepanned, and after much suffering, recovered. Mr. Joseph Hotchkiss had one leg crushed by the stone, passed through ten months of suffering, but was finally raised to comfortable health."
After two years of faithful effort the walls and roof were completed,23 and the seats were removed from the old meeting- house to the new. In spite of the fact that the building was not completed, it was dedicated and opened for public worship in September, 1774.24 The Ecclesiastical Society had done its best, but its finances were completely exhausted and it could go no further.25 The Revolution was about to begin, and the
23 S. Dodd, p. 69.
24 D. W. Havens, pp. 28-9. The day of the month is unknown.
25 Ibid., p. 27.
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THE PASTORATE OF NICHOLAS STREET.
exciting times, with the constant appeals for men and money, made any attempt to complete the meeting-house very imprac- ticable.
In 1791 the subject was introduced in a meeting of the Ecclesiastical Society, but nothing was done. Two years later, however, it was again presented and a vote taken, the result of which was that Esquire Samuel Davenport, Amos Morris, Jr., Joseph Russell, John Woodward, and Dan Holt, "they, or the major part of them, be authorized and empowered to indent and agree with any gentleman or gentlemen, to finish the meeting-house of said Society, in said East Haven, in such manner as they, or the major part of them, shall think best; said house to be finished by the first of December, A. D. 1794." Some opposition was offered to the proposition that a steeple be built, but it was finally decided to complete the building in every detail, steeple and all. Four years later the Old Stone Church stood complete. But hardly had the task been finished when, in October, 1797, a tornado swept through the town, tearing down the steeple and unroofing the building.26 The work of repairing the damage began immediately, and a new and better steeple was built to take the place of the old one. The cost of finishing the building was $2,500, and repairing the damages caused by the tornado was $1,000.
In accordance with the early custom the call to worship was announced by beating the drum. Deacon Joshua Austin was the first drummer, and by order of the Society he "beat the drum from Chidsey's Hill to Goodsell's Hill" every Sabbath morning. The custom probably did not continue long into the eighteenth century, although there is no record of its dis- continuance or of a method substituted. In 1798 the Society voted "to procure a bell, to place in the new steeple." The
26 Timothy Dwight, Travels in New England and New York, Vol. II, p. 510. "The Presbyterian Church is a valuable structure, built of free stone. The steeple was blown down October 10, 1797, by the tornado; but it was soon rebuilt." The first steeple was of the type known as "Squaw's Cap."
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THE EVOLUTION OF AN OLD NEW ENGLAND CHURCH.
money was raised and a committee appointed to see that the work was done. 27 Dr. Bela Farnham,28 one of the most active members of the church, attended the melting of the metal and threw in nineteen Spanish dollars to give the bell a silvery tone.29
In July of the same year the Society "voted that Abram Chidsey, Edmund Bradley, and others have liberty, and liberty is hereby granted to them, for to affix a clock in the steeple in such a manner as to strike the bell that is about to be fixed in said steeple."30
The Ecclesiastical Society had ordered that the "stone meeting-house shall front the south, and on the main road," with four doors for entrance; one in the east end, one in the west end, one in the south side of the tower, and one in the center of the south side of the building. The pulpit was
27 Ecclesiastical Society Records, Vol. II, p. 52. Ibid., p. 114. "Voted that the Bellman shall not be allowed to turn over the bell when he is ringing it."
"s Dr. Bela Farnham was born in Killingworth, March 15, 1770, and died in East Haven, January 15, 1857. He studied medicine under the instruc- tion of Dr. Jonathan Todd, of East Guilford (now Madison). In January, 1793, he moved to East Haven, where he engaged in the practice of his profession. Yale College conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1829. He was married to Anna Morris in November, 1797. He was a member of the State Convention which drew up the Constitution of 1818, and was several times elected to a seat in the State Legislature. For forty years he was town clerk in East Haven. During a revival in the pastorate of Reverend Saul Clark he united with the church. In January 1832, he was elected Deacon. See Obituary Discourse, delivered at the funeral of Dr. Bela Farnham, in the First Church in East Haven, January 18, 1857, by Reverend D. W. Havens.
The name of Dr. Bela Farnham appears with striking frequency in the church and ecclesiastical society records from 1810 till his death in 1857. Practically all the church offices, except that of Pastor, were held by him at one time or another.
29 D. W. Havens, p. 37. The only inscription on the bell is "Fenton and Cochran, New Haven, 1798." A year after it was hung it announced with mournful toll the death of the great Washington. In April, 1865, it was tolled at the death of President Lincoln, and in 1923 it was tolled at the death of President Harding.
30 Ecclesiastical Society Records, Vol. II, p. 54.
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elevated against the north wall, and directly in front of it was a wide aisle leading to the main entrance on the south side. Parallel with the wide aisle in the center were two smaller aisles, one on either side; and running the length of the audi- torium were two intersecting aisles. There was a long gal- lery31 across the south, east and west sides, the stairways being in the southeast and northeast corners. The pulpit in the center of the north side was practically on a level with the galleries. Above the pulpit, like a canopy, was a sounding board, hung from the ceiling by an iron rod. The pews closely resembled boxes. Each family would enter its own pew and close the door, the parents and older children sitting so as to face the minister, while the smaller children sat in front facing their elders. The walls were so high that the little children could not see out, and only the heads of the grown-ups could be seen from other pews. The only means of heating the building in winter time were small footstoves containing hot coals, which were brought in by each family and used primarily for the women and children.
The parishioners came from all directions, and many from quite a distance. Sabbath Day houses were erected about the church to accommodate both horses and people. They con- sisted of but one room, in which there was a large fire place. The people came early in the morning and built the fire, stabled their horses, and arranged the lunches which they had brought
31 D. W. Havens, p. 33. "The galleries of the meeting-house were not furnished with seats, except such as had been extemporized of the roughest materials by the singers themselves. After submitting for several months to this inconvenience, they petitioned for better accommodations. In response, the society coolly 'Voted, that the singers should have liberty to make seats around the gallery, upon their own cost.' But, with characteristic sensitive- ness, this action was greatly disliked by the singers. The society receded, and 'voted to build two seats round the gallery for the singers; and that the singers that carry the tenor should sit at the east end of the first, or front gallery, and the base at the south end of the west gallery, the treble at the north end of the east gallery.' This arrangement appears to have been satisfactory to all parties."
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along. At the conclusion of the morning service32 they would repair to their warm room and partake of refreshments, so that by two o'clock, when the afternoon service commenced, they were ready to re-enter their cold pews. In the summer time the people living far away would journey bare-footed, carrying their shoes and stockings over their shoulders, until within a short distance of the meeting-house, when they would stop and clothe their pedal extremities.
In less than a year after the stone meeting-house had been dedicated the colonists were in open revolt against the mother country. Connecticut, not to be outdone by her neighbors, entered immediately into the conflict and during the entire seven years rendered invaluable assistance to the patriot cause. Numerous expeditions, both military and naval, were dis- patched to harass the enemy and bring succor to those who were in the fighting areas, while munitions of war were manu- factured in copious quantities for all the Continental soldiers. Massachusetts was the only colony that furnished more troops to the armies of Washington.
The battle of Lexington on April 19, 1775, the day follow- ing Paul Revere's famous midnight ride, was the beginning
32 D. W. Havens, p. 38. "If the congregation that worshiped in the 'Old Stone Meeting-house,' at the close of the last century, did not enjoy good singing, it was not for want of a large choir, or of choristers qualified to lead it. In 1799, no less than four choristers were appointed, and the fol- lowing year six. They were all men, and therefore, could not, as might have been surmised, officiate as leader of the several parts of the harmony. It is not stated whether they all officiated at the same time, or by rotation. Such an arrangement appears strange at the present day, when a paid quartet is considered sufficient to perform this important part of the services of public worship. Unless the disposition and habits of choir singers have undergone an entire change since that time, such an arrangement could not be of long continuance. That it was not, is evident from the fact that the next year but a single chorister was appointed, and it is significant that he was altogether a different person from any of the six who had been chosen to fill the office the previous year. In connection with his appointment, the society authorized the committee 'to purchase a Pitch-pipe, for the use of the chorister.' For many years this was the only instrument allowed in the Congregational Churches of New England."
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of the Revolutionary War. The news of the battle spread rapidly throughout the colonies, causing tense excitement everywhere. The reports reached New Haven at noon on the twentieth, throwing the city into a great uproar. Benedict Arnold, a Captain in the Governor's Foot Guard, immediately ordered his company to assemble on the Green, where he addressed the men with a fervid and vehement patriotism, offering to lead them to Boston to assist their brethren in driving out the foe. A majority readily volunteered for active service, and their numbers were speedily augmented by the more adventurous students of Yale College. The next morning Captain Arnold called upon the officials of New Haven for ammunition, but his demands were refused because they thought it best to wait for orders to come through the regular channels. Marching his men to the place where the selectmen were holding their meeting, he demanded in no uncertain terms that the keys to the powder house be sur- rendered at once or he would break open the doors of the magazine. The keys were surrendered, and after securing sufficient ammunition the first body of troops from Connecticut to enlist in the Revolution was on its way to Cambridge.
The sympathies of the inhabitants of Connecticut were largely with the patriots, only about one quarter being Tories. All through the Revolution the colony gave its support, both in men and money, to the cause of independence, although during the early years of the war the scenes of actual fighting were elsewhere. In 1779 Sir Henry Clinton, Commander of the British troops, with headquarters in New York, organized a campaign into Connecticut by way of Long Island Sound. Major General William Tryon, in command of 3,000 well equipped troops, and a fleet, manned by 2,000 sailors and marines, under the command of Sir George Collier, arrived off Huntington, Long Island, on July 3. The people in New Haven watched for the coming of the fleet, not knowing that their town was its destination until it had passed Stratford.
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About ten o'clock on the night of July 4, a signal gun was fired announcing that the fleet was entering the harbor.
On the following morning at five o'clock the First Division, commanded by Brigadier General Garth, landed at Savin Rock and marched to the West Haven Green; and at eight o'clock the Second Division, under the command of General Tryon,33 started for the East Haven shore. A company of about fifty villagers, led by Captains Josiah Bradley and Amos Morris,34 were assembled at Morris Point, where they had concealed a field piece ; and as soon as the boats from the ships were within range they opened fire, causing the invaders to divide, one part of the division finally making a landing not far from Black Rock, and the other at a point to the eastward. The main body of East Haven patriots was assembled on Beacon Hill, where Fort Wooster Park is now located, and to them the advance guard retreated. There a pitched battle took place. After offering a stubborn resistance the East Haveners were driven back, fighting as they retired, and making the enemy pay dearly for every inch of ground.
As soon as Beacon Hill was taken and occupied, General Tryon made it his headquarters, and the patriots slowly retreated to the high ground to the east of the Foxon and Saltonstall hills, where they prepared to make a final stand. General Tryon35 immediately dispatched a detachment to take
The Second Division consisted of about 1,500 men-the Twenty-third Regiment, the Hessian Landgrave, King's American Regiment. See C. H. Townshend, British Invasion of New Haven, pp. 6-8; also Rev. Chauncey Goodrich, Invasion of New Haven by British Troops, July 5, 1779, in New Haven Colony Historical Society Papers, Vol. II, pp. 30-92.
34 Chairman of the building committee of the Old Stone Church.
D. W. Havens, p. 32. A few months before General Tryon made his appearance in the New Haven harbor, General LaFayette, who had been assisting General John Sullivan in the defense of Rhode Island, marched with his regiment through East Haven, encamping for a few days on the Green. He had been ordered to report to Washington in New Jersey, there to assist in the operations against General Howe. In 1824 he revisited East Haven to see the place where he and his army had encamped.
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possession of East Haven. Meeting with obstinate resistance all the way, the invaders finally reached the Old Stone Church, which had been the rallying place of the patriots, and were only too glad to find a moment's protection within its massive hall. They confiscated the communion silverware and did such other damage as they could before retreating to the main body of troops on Beacon Hill. On the next day the British occupation came to an end, General Tryon having found too many difficulties and too pertinacious opposition to continue the invasion. Before leaving, however, several homes and fields of grain were burned, the total loss of which was about $25,000.36 On his return to New York he stopped and devas- tated Fairfield and Norwalk, leaving smoking ruins in place of comfortable homes and well-tilled fields. The invasion of Connecticut did not aid the British cause in any way, while it did increase the sufferings of war.
With ardor and conviction the Congregational clergy sup- ported the patriot cause during the struggle for independence ; and the pastor of the East Haven Church was no exception.37
36 Commissioners estimated each person's loss as follows :
£
S
d
Amos Morris
1,235
15
4
John Woodward
838
17
3
John Woodward, Jr.
740
19
II
Elam Luddington
408
6
7
Joseph Tuttle
79
9
5
Jacob & Abijah Pardee
402
8
2
Jehiel Forbes
I73
13
I
Mary Pardee
134
14
0
Mary & Lydia Pardee
40
S
4
Noah Tucker
99
17
4
Total
4,154
9
5
Gordon Bradley lost £66, his sloop having been burned.
-C. H. Townshend, The British Invasion of New Haven, p. 20.
37 See The Connecticut Journal and New Haven Post-Boy, New Haven, April 12, 1775. "We are informed from the parish of East Haven, that last week, the women of the parish, in imitation of the generous and laudable
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THE EVOLUTION OF AN OLD NEW ENGLAND CHURCH.
In his thanksgiving sermon, in 1762, he declared, "The first that I would remark upon is the happy accession and establish- ment of our most gracious sovereign, King George the Third, upon the British throne, who so largely possesses the virtues of his royal grandfather; and it is a matter for our joy and rejoicing, at this day, that we have one who has so much of the amiable character of young Josiah upon the throne; who has manifested so much regard for the Protestant interest and religion, and has discovered so much zeal for the suppression of vice, immorality, and profaneness, by his royal proclamation, which forebodes his reign to be auspicious for our nation and land."38
But it was not long before he began to preach in strenuous opposition to King George the Third, calling him "a prince whose character was marked by every act that may define a tyrant.''39 When the British evacuated Boston he exclaimed from his pulpit, "A year of jubilee! Angels announced the joyous tidings. Prisoners leaped to loose their chains. Joy sparkled in every eye, pleasure sat on every countenance, and the tender gushing tear bedewed many a cheek. Such emo- tions, such raptures, were never known before! O, Boston, how great thy salvation! Let not extortion mark thy char- acter! Henceforth live grateful in the rare but glorious exercise of righteousness and love."40
During those chaotic years of that critical period which
example of the societies in the town of New Haven, presented the Reverend Mr. Street, of said parish, with upwards of one hundred and thirty run of well spun linen yarn, which was greatly received by the family; and the generous guests, after some refreshment and taking a few dishes of coffee, agreeable to the plan of the Continental Congress, to which that society unanimously and fixedly adheres, dispersed with a cheerfulness that bespoke that they could be well pleased without a sip from that baneful and exotic herb (tea), which ought not so much as once more be named among the friends of American Liberty."
38 Reverend Owen Street, address on Nicholas Street, in East Haven, 1874. Found in pamphlet by D. W. Havens, Centennial Discourse.
39 Ibid.
40 Ibid.
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followed the war of independence Mr. Street gave his unstinted energies toward the maintenance of law and order. When Daniel Shays agitated and led a rebellion in Massachusetts, the Congregational ministers upheld the government with striking unanimity. They favored the adoption of the Federal Con- stitution to supplant the inadequate Articles of Confederation, and rendered invaluable service in moulding public opinion in favor of the Union. With the development of the party sys- tem in 1792 they were the first to align themselves with the Federalists, and by 1795 they constituted the leading influence in the party of Hamilton and Washington.41 Until the Whigs had taken the place of the Federalists the Congregational Church maintained a most intimate connection with politics in Connecticut and, in fact, throughout all New England. Ministers delivered sermons on political subjects and made no attempt to hide their intense partisanship. In practically. every church the sermon on Thanksgiving Days was a political dis- sertation, and during Jefferson's administration abuses were heaped upon him personally for his heretical religious opin- ions.42 Connecticut was probably the foremost state in which such practices occurred. The clergy were most violent in their denunciation of the President and all connected with him; to them Jeffersonianism was anathema. A minister in Branford, quite in conformity with the views of his brethren, called Mr. Jefferson "a debauchee, an infidel, and a liar." The feeling was quite general that those who were not Federalists were infidels, and the defeat of John Adams in 1800 was a "punish- ment for the sins of the people."43
All during the years of theological wrangling, devastating war, and political instability, East Haven endeavored to become a town. In those days the church was so intricately bound up with the civil government that the affairs of one were, in
41. W. A. Robinson, Jeffersonian Democracy in New England, p. 130; also R. J. Purcell, Connecticut in Transition, pp. 231-330.
42 Ibid.
" American Mercury, June 14, 1804.
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fact, the affairs of the other. The leaders in the church were also the leaders in the village administration; and the pastor was preëminently the salient figure in both, although rarely an office holder. Church and village persisted in their efforts to win town government for more than three quarters of a century before their petitions were finally granted and victory was won.
The first town meeting was held in July, 1785, according to the grant of the General Assembly. The Reverend Mr. Street asked the invocation and preached a sermon on Psalm CXXII, 3, 7, 8, 9. Henceforth New Haven and East Haven have gone their respective ways independent of each other, save only as territorial propinquity has welded their interests.44
Within just a few years another denomination made its initial appearance in New England. Jesse Lee, the apostle of the Methodists, began to preach in Connecticut in 1789.45 Spending the months of June, July and August in the state, he preached in Norwalk, Fairfield, New Haven, Reading, Hartford, Canaan, and in numerous of the smaller towns. His labors were quite prolific, not only in Connecticut, but elsewhere, for in a very few years his denomination appeared in all sections of New England. In September of the year in which he preached in Connecticut the first Methodist society was organized at Stratford, and others were not long in fol-
44 While the East Haveners were making strenuous efforts to become a town an interesting incident occurred, which was later recorded by the Rev. S. Dodd in his Register. "The people of the Village kept large flocks of geese ; many of which found their way to the Furnace pond, and frequently passed over to the Governor's farm. (Governor Saltonstall.) The Governor being vexed with an invasion of his rights, proclaimed a defensive war, attacked and routed the feathered army, making a great slaughter among them. The owners of the geese thought that this was a 'cruel and unneces- sary war,' and were, in turn, greatly offended. And such was the effect upon the minds of the inhabitants generally, that at the next election for Governor, not a single vote from East Haven appeared for Saltonstall." S. Dodd, p. 43.
45 J. M. Buckley, The Methodists, pp. 260-64.
EAST HAVEN AT THE CLOSE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
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