The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 34

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company
Number of Pages: 1038

USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I > Part 34

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" Voted, to raise (200 for the Gospel ministry, and to pay Mr. Marsh's heirs the bal. ance of his salary."

The society, in April, 1748, voted, in consideration of the " late de- pression of our currency, and the charge of the decent Interment of the Rev. Mr. Jonathan Marsh, our late worthy Pastor, it is now voted to grant to his heirs £175 money, old Tenor, in addition to what has hitherto been granted." 1

During Mr. Marsh's ministry the church and parish had suffered further diminution by the separation of Pognonock, and the establish- ment there of an independent church and society in 1724, and by a simi- lar happening at Wintonhury (now Bloomfield ) in 1789.

Shortly after his death, and before his successor had been decided npon, the society began to agitate the subject of a new meeting-honse, and straightway became involved in one of those quarrels which - alas. -for poor human nature !-- are so frequent in New England churches, the matter in dispute being, as usual, the location of the new edifice. From the first settlement of the town, the meeting-house had stood on the Pali- sado Green, north of the rivulet. A rule, very generally recognized in locating churches, was to take the sum of the distances from cach dwell- ing in the parish and to find the common center. "Thus in this case, the distance was measured from every house on the north side of the river

' In 1715. the society voted to give Rev. Mr. Marsh 570 this year; in 1218, 985 this year; in 1719, 990 this year; in 1720, 995 to be paid in money or grain; in 1721. $100 to be paid in money or grain; in 1722, $100 in money this year; in 1224, 9110 in money this year; in 1727. 9125 in money this year; in 1330, $130 in money this year; in 1235, $160 in money this year; in 1736, 2165 in money this year; in 1737, 0180 in money this year; in 1739, $190 in money this year; in 1740, 9200 in money this year; in 1711. 2200, and €30 for wood; in 1741, 5240, he furnish wood; in 1745, $250, he furnish wood; in 1746, · £260. old tenor.

The town of Windsor, by votes bearing date December 1713 and 1716, did give to the Rev. Jonathan Marsh sixty acres of land within the township of Windsor, which land was surveyed ont to him in 1722.

In January, 1726, Mr. Marsh bonght, for 936, of Daniel and Thomas White, six acres of land north of the rivulet. In April, 1736, Thomas Shepard, in consideration of a certain sum of money paid to him by Jonathan Stiles of Windsor, quitclaimed unto the Rev. Jonathan Marsh all his right and title to a certain piece of land in Windsor, containing seventy-tive acres.

In May, 1740. Rev. Jonathan Marsh purchased a lot of seven acres on the west side of the Great River; thus showing him to have in possession at least 140 acres of land.

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ECCLESIASTICAL, 1711-1776.

to the Meeting-house, and the sum of these distances added together ; then the number of the houses multiplied by the distance from the meet- ing-house, ria the ferry road, the ferry, thence to the David Rowland house. then south, thence west to the north end of Broad street, and the sum of these distances added to the former. Then the distances from all the houses on the south side to the north end of Broad street, and thence. via the ferry to the meeting-house, were measured, and it was found that the people on the north side could reach Broad street with less travel than those on the south side must travel to reach Palizado Green."- . J. 1. Hunden. Tradition ( Rer. Frederic Chapman, b. 1760) says that a conter thus obtained, measured by the usual path of those who resided in what is now the Fourth School District (the vicinity of the Old Mill) who usually came down a road through the Hollow Fall and crossed the Rivulet in their own boats, thirty or forty rods above the present rail- road bridge, would have located the new meeting-house on the site of theold one : but those who lived south and west of the Rivulet claimed that those who lived in the old mill district should have their distances measured via the publie highway and ferry, and by this strategetie move those south of the Rivulet finally carried the day, and the society in 1754 agreed to ereet the new meeting-house on Broad street.'

In 1755, the society appointed a building committee to build - where the County Court had set the stake" : in 1756, they voted that the house should be 60 feet by 45, and 24 feet in height. It was erected, as we learn from the date on its corner stone (since inserted in the foundation of the present edifice ) in 1757.ª

! There is now in the town clerk's office a map which was drawn up at this time. and with special reference to this question of locating the meeting house. From some notes on its margin we gather the following items ;

The travel of the inhabitants on the south side of the Rivulet to Dr. Wolcott's (the house now occupied by the widow of Sidney Bowers), is 112 miles.

The travel from Dr. Wolcott's to the meeting house, is

56 miles.

168 miles.

The travel of the inhabitants on the north side of the Rivalet to the meeting house, is 71 miles, 253 rods.

The travel from the meeting house to Dr. Wolcott's, is, 39 mike's.

110 miles, 253 rods.

Making the travel of the south side people 58 miles, 253 rods more than that of those on the north side.

" Illustrative of the custom of the day to raise all needed funds, however insignifi- cant. by taxation, we copy a vote of the first society to procure step stones for the meeting-house (south side of the river), seven years after the house was first occupied :

1765. " Voted to raise two farthings on the pound on the poll and ratable estate of said society, as set in the list of 1764, for the payment of the step-stones, which the meet ing house committee had not money to pay up."

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

In January, 1758, the new meeting-honse seems to have been nearly completed, for the society instructed the committee " to pull down the Old House, sometime in March or April next, and that it be applied for finishing the new "; and the new edifice, which stood where the academy since stood, in front of Widow Bowers's, was never quite finished.

April 28, 1758, the society voted, " to meet for worship in the future in the new meeting-house," and in July of the same year, it was voted " to give the Rev. Mr. Russell that timber that was pieked out for a barn, out of the old meeting-house timber." There is little doubt that the tradition which points out Mr. Horace Ellsworth's barn as the veritable one built out of the timber of the old meeting-house, erected one hundred and six years ago, on Palisado Green, may be accepted as true.

The dissatisfaction, however, of those who lived north of the Rivu- let, resulted, in 1759, in the seenring of a legislative enaetment, author- izing the formation of a distinct ecclesiastical society. This was done, and the Seventh Society, or the Society in North Windsor, as it was termed, erected an edifice on the west side of the road, about one and a quarter miles north of the Old Church, and nearly opposite the present residence of Mr. Hiram Buckland; and, in September, 1761, were by act of the Consociation of the North District of Hartford County, solemnly set apart as a distinet church of Christ. In October, 1765, a unanimous call was extended to the Rev. Theodore Hinsdale to be- come their pastor ; and he entered upon his duties on the 30th of April following. He was a graduate of Yale College, in 1762. and a man of deep piety and excellent attainments.

But each of these societies were weak, and each lamented the other's perversity in refusing to cross the Rivulet. The First Society, from their house on the south side of that stream, in 1767, only five years after the organization of the (Seventh ) society, sent out a pathetic appeal " to the 7th, or our brethren on the north side." Reviewing the successive steps of the disagreement which had alienated them, they allude to the event as one " which we then took to be a great misfortune to both, which ex- perience proves to be true," and they continue. " if the north side will annex themselves to us. we will finish the meeting-house where it now stands at our own cost, within five years, and exempt the brethren on the north side from taxes to support the ministry for four years." This proposition shows that, after nine years occupation, their building was so far from being finished, that it would require five years more to complete it, and there is a tradition that it never was completed as originally pro- posed.

The only condition imposed upon the " 7th Society " people by this offer, was that they should " freely and cordially " annex themselves and their publie stock to the First Society ; and that, in case of future divi-

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ECCLESIASTICAL, 1711-1776.

sion, cach were to have their own back again ; and such property as should have been acquired after the reunion should be divided by the amount of their respective lists at the time of division. This proposition, however, was not accepted by the North Society, and the division contin- ned for twenty-five years longer.

Meanwhile, the First Society remained without a pastor for four years after the death of the venerable Marsh. An invitation to a Mr. Graham, in 1710, and one to Mr. Joseph Fowler of Lebanon in 1750, were both declined. At length, in February, 1751, the society voted to call the Rev. WILLIAM RUSSELL, Jr., of Middletown. The call was ae- repted by him in person, in April following, and he was ordained July 24, 1754. The terms of his settlement, as per society vote, were, " To raise $1,600 to give to Mr. William Russell encouragement to settle with us in the work of the Gospel ministry ; 8800 to be raised on the list of 1750, the other $800 on the list of 1751. In addition to this an annual Salary of 867, Coined Silver money, at eight shillings per ounce, and a suitable supply of Fire-Wood."'

The new pastor was the son of the Rev. William Russell of Middle- town, Conn., and had gradnated in 1745, at Yale College, in which insti- tution he afterwards held the office of tutor. He came to the charge of the Windsor church at a peenliarly trying time, when the minds of the people had become unsettled by the want of a regular ministry, and by the contentions and divisions which were then agitating the parish in re- gard to the building of the meeting-house. Yet, so far as we can learn, he ruled his charge with mingled prudence and fidelity, and his in- tercourse with the Rev. Mr. Hinsdale and the new congregation was such as to secure their respect and affection.

April 19, 1775, the society were bereaved by the death of Mr. Rus- sell. In the twenty-four years of his ministry, he had baptized 319, and admitted thirty-nine persons to the communion of the church. " Dur-

1 In 1760, it was voted " to give Rev. William Russell, 913 as a pledge to be paid out of money now in Committee's hands ": in December, 1962, voted " To give Rev. William Russell Ten Pounds more than the original Covenant was, for the ensuing year." In December, 1763. a similar for 812: October, 1768, salary for ensuing year. 967 8% fid. "Voted to get Mr. Russell's Wood by a spell of sledding." In 1974, voted " Mr. Russell's salary 957 8%. 7d., and 912 for wood, if he will get it himself." In 1753. Dea. Samuel sold him two pieces of land, one of about 1} acres in the Palisado | Mrs. Anson Loomis place 1891] on the westerly side of the old meeting-house; the other of 51 acres, near Kettle Brook. In 1971, his second wife, Abigail Newberry, bought an acre in the Great Meadow. In May, 1765, the society voted, " That the Society Commit ter let out the Church land and Town Lot, reserving so much of said land as to keep one Cow for Mr. Russell's children if they should keep house here this Summer, or hire it to be kept, if that should be thought best." Mr. Russell had died during the preceding month.

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

ing his pastorate, there was a shower of divine grace by which twenty of the above number were added ( Ms. Church Rec. ). His loss was felt not only by the people of his own charge, but by the town : and the at- tendance upon his funeral gave evidence of a sorrow as wide-spread as it was heartfelt. fle was buried on the same day on which the news of the battle of Lexington was received at Windsor.

Note on Military Affairs. - The office of sergeant-major, created in 1672, and the highest military office in each county, was held in Hart- ford County by Roger Wolcott of Windsor, in 1724. In 1702, Windsor had three companies of infantry, or " train-bands," one of which was located east of the Connectient River.

In 1737, Maj. Roger Wolcott's command was called a regiment, but strictly was not so. It contained forty seven companies of Infantry. mmabering 3,150 men and two of horse, 106 men. Windsor contributed seren companies, under Captains Henry Allyn, Poletiah Allyn, Joseph Phelps, John Ellsworth, Thomas Griswold, and Lients. Daniel Ellsworth and Peletiah Mills.

In 1739, regimental organizations were first regularly established, and thirteen regiments, each commanded by a colonel, were formed. Windsor, which was included in the First Regiment of Hartford County, has been commanded by the following Windsor mon :

1724-41. Maj. and Col. ROGER WOLCOTT; 1777-85, Col. ROGER NEW- BERRY ; 1792-95, Lt .- Col. OLIVER MATHER ; 1815-18, Col. JAMES LOOMIS : 1829-33, Col. WILLIAM HAYDEN ( native of East Windsor, though a resident of Hartford ).

In 1741, a troop of horse was authorized for each regiment ; in 1776, five troop of light horse were formed out of the then twenty-four regi- ments of militia. The militia system was radically changed in Decem- ber, 1776, divisions and brigades being then first organized, and the First Regiment came into the First Brigade. In 1872, there were twenty-seven militia regiments in the State, Windsor being in the Ist, and East Wind- sor in the 19th Regiment, in which they have since remained.

CHAPTER XV.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY-WINDSOR THIRD, OR POQUONOCK SOCIETY.

1724-1841.

THAT portion of Windsor known as Poquonock ' was settled about 1649, at which time Edward Griswold and his sons, Francis and George (both grown to manhood ), Thomas Holcomb, and John Bartlett (the " rivulet " ferryman of 1648) were living here. See p. 50. These first settlers of Poquonock, in view of their exposed condition, "and nearness to the Indians," had one man on training day excused by the General Court from the military duty exacted from other settlers of Windsor. Gradually the little community increased in numbers, and its inhabitants still worshiped with the old church at Windsor, of which some became members. Benajah Holcomb, George Griswold," and wife Mary, Joseph Griswold, Hester, wife of Josiah Phelps, and Nathan Gillett, Seur, united with the Windsor Church between 1685 and 1700. Of the original Windsor families, fourteen became subsequently well represented in Poquonock, viz .: Barber, Clark, Cook, Denslow, Gillet, Griswold, Hillyer, Holcomb, Loomis, Marshall, Moore, Palmer, Pinney, Phelps. Oliver Ells- worth, Jr.'s, MISS., 1802, says : " One part of Powanok [Poquonock ] was settled by the Welch, for, within the memory of those living, this Powanok was called . Wales,'3 and a certain fishing place on the Little River was named Breakneck, after ( probably ) Breakneck in Wales."

As early as 1717 the inhabitants were allowed by the Old Society,

! The Indian name Poquonock, variously spelled, denotes " cleared land," that is, a tract of land from which trees and bushes have been cleared, to fit it for cultivation .- Trumbull's Indian Names in Conn. In 1882, Mr. C. B. Fourtelle, postmaster of Poquon. ock, made a list of forty different ways of spelling the name, on letters received at that oflice within twelve months.

" One line of George Griswold's descendants owned the place now occupied by Mr. Samuel L. Smith. The old brick house west of Mr. Smith's was built probably by a grandson of George, Lt. John Griswold, born in 1712. A part of the brick of its walls were brought from England. It was considered an old house a hundred years ago.

8 .. Wales" lies at the foot of the falls on the east side of the river, and was so named because John Owen, a Welchman, was the first settler there. He was in Wind- sor. 1650, or earlier; lived about twenty years on the road leading west from the Pali- sado, and the family removed to his land below Strawberry Meadow. His house stood where the late Nathaniel Owen lived, and where Nathaniel's daughter, "Aunt Esther." the last of the Owens of Wales, died, about 1855. Breakneck is not in that locality. H. Von. I .- 36

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

to which they still belonged, the sum of £4 for schooling their own child- ren ; but, though the distance to Windsor Church was felt to be an in- creasing hardship, several years elapsed before they attempted to secure for themselves the benefits of an independent church organization.

In January, 1723-4, however, at a meeting of Windsor West, or Old Society, it was " coted. that the inhabitants of Poquonnoc, with the peo- ple adjacent, viz., as far as Peter Brown, Jr.'s, inclusive, and Thomas Thralls exclusive. shall be freed from paying to the ministry here in pro- portion to such time as they shall hire an orthodox minister among them that shall preach." By the same vote, the Old Society released the fol- lowing inhabitants of Poquonock, on the south side of the Rivulet, from paying ministerial taxes :

John Brown.

David Griswold,

John Brown, Jr., Jonathan Brown.

Lt. Daniel Griswold.

Peter Brown,

Edward Griswold. Joseph Griswokl.

Hester Barber,

Sgt. Benajah Holcomb,

Benjamin Barber,

Wid. Martha Holcomb.

Wid. Martha Barber,

Joseph Holcomb.

Nathaniel Griswohl,

Benjamin Moore.

Peletiah Griswold,

Sgt. Joseph Barnard.

Ens. Thomas Griswold,

Wid. Hannah Phelps,

Thomas Griswold. Jr.,

William Phelps, Jr ..

Sgt. John Griswold.

Josiah Phelps,

Daniel Griswokl, Jr.,

Lt. Nathaniel Pinney,

Matthew Griswold,

Nathaniel Pinney. Jr.,

Ens. George Griswold. Francis Griswold,

David Marshall.

Their list of estates for 1723 amounted to £1.570 10%.

On the north side of the Rivulet,

Sgt. Benjamin Griswold. Benjamin Griswold, Jr ..

Thomas Phelps.

Nathan Gillet, Sr ..

David Phelps,

Isaac Gillet,

Samuel Phelps,

Obadiah Owen,

Sgt. John Phelps.

Nathaniel Owen,

Stephen Winchell.

Ephraim Phelps,

Enoch Phelps,

Their list of estates for 1723 amounted to £590 11x.

In May, 1724, the Poquonock people made a formal application to the Assembly for incorporation as a distinet society. This petition states that they number forty families, most of whom are four miles distant from the Old Society meeting-house ; and that they have a " difficult river to pass " in going there. The assembly granted their request, and they, in October. 1724, were duly incorporated as the Third Society in Windsor.

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WINDSOR THIRD (POQUONOCK) SOCIETY.

At the same time their hounds were extended, which much " grieved " the Old Society, who petitioned in vain for a reconsideration.

The new society, by vote of April, 1725, ealled Mr. Daniel Fuller of Wethersfield,' and after a trial accepted him as their pastor, and ap- pointed a day for settling him. From some unexplained canse, however. they suddenly dropped him. Whereupon (Oct., 1726), the discomfited minister, then a resident of Wethersfield, petitioned the assembly for redress, claiming that he was put to much inconvenience and expense, as he had been at Poquonock for a year, and had moved his family there. The Society denied that they had wronged him ; but a committee, appointed by the assembly, decided that they had not treated him well. and must pay him £50 damages. This verdict the Society petitioned against, but found no relief.

Of the real causes of dissatisfaction between pastor and people we are ignorant, with the exception of the little light that is shed upon the ease by the following amusing affidavit :

" May, 1727. Cornelius Brown {a deacon in the Poquonock church] testifieth that when Mr. Daniel Fuller was at Poquonnoc, I was one of them that sought for his settle- ment in ye work of ye ministry there, but preceiving great uneasiness amongst ye peo- ple in that affair, and particularly at ye shortness of his sermons, I prayed Mr. Fuller to apply himself to his work, and lengthen out his sermons, that if possible he might gain disaffected persons. Mr. Fuller replied that he did not concern himself about it, if they were but orthodox they were long enough for Poquonnoc.

"('ornelius Brown."

In 1727. the Poquonock Church erected their church edifice, south of the present " old meeting-house," on the west side of the road, and south of Mrs. Niles' present garden. Stones from the old foundation have been plowed up within a few years past. It stood for seventy years, serving the congregation during and beyond the ministry of all its pastors.

Their first pastor ( 1727) was Rev. JOHN WOODBRIDGE, son of Rev. John of West Springfield, Mass., and fifth of a line of Johns of that name.2 He graduated at Yale College, 1726 : was probably ordained here 1727 or 1728 ; was dismissed from here in 1786 (Dexter's Annals of Vale College says, " probably 1737 ") and removed to Sullicht, his wife's home. In 1742, he was installed at South Hadley, Mass., where he labored until his death, 10th Sept., 1783, his last years being full of in-

) Rev. DANIEL (S. Thos.) FULLER, b. Dedham, Mass., 20 April, 1699, grad. Y. C. 1721; studied theol .. and in 1728 was ord. pastor of the ch., org., 1727. in the new town. ship of Willington, Conn., where he gained a precarious living until his death, of small- pox, 6 Dec., 1754 He was, theologically, a " New Light." He m. ? Aug., 1723, Lucy (d. Jonathan and Abigail ('raftx) Goodwin of Wethersfield, Conn .: had four sons, four daus .: inventory, £251, inchided abt. 25 vols, of books, -Derter's Annals of Yale College.

" And his grandson, Rev. John Woodbridge, D.D., formerly of Hadley, Mass .. d. about 1870, aged 85.

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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.

firmities. He bore the character of - a prudent and blameless pastor, and a sound and evangelical preacher." In April, 1730, he purchased at Poquonock a homestead of thirty acres and a house ; this residence was on the site of John E. Griswold's present dwelling : his neighbor on the the south, near Mr. William Barnes' present residence, was Benjamin Barber ; on the west, Lieut. Nathaniel Piney ; east, land of Barber and of Daniel Griswold, Jr., of whom Mr. Woodbridge bought.

Of the organization and membership of his church, but little can be gathered.' George Griswold, and Mary, his wife, had died before its organization : but Bonajah Holcomb, who had united with the Windsor Church forty years before, may have been dismissed to the new church. Nathan Gillett was probably a member, and Cornelius Brown, who died 1747, aged 75 years, was a deacon.

Old papers evidence that the pulpit was supplied during the summer of 1738 by a Mr. Rockwell, probably ". Dr. and Rey." Matthew Rockwell of East Windsor.

In January, 1740, the Rev. SAMUEL TUDOR of East Windsor was Vawill Sudar settled as the second pastor. He was born in Windsor 1705, graduated at Yale College 1728, and for twelve years preached in various localities. At one time he supplied the Fourth Church in Guilford. Conn : in 1734 he was in the Highlands near the Hudson River, and was mentioned in the New York papers as having been pursued by robbers near Fishkill. August 12th. About the same time, also, he preached at Goshen, N. Y., and the congregation there applied to the Presbyterian Synod to send a committee to ordain him. The committee which was sent, assigned Mr. Tudor a Latin exegesis and a popular sermon on Rom. xi. 6. But he was not ordained there, and his character and scholarship were such as to suggest that the difficulty must have been in some doctrinal difference between the candidate and his examiners. The text assigned renders this not improbable .?

Mr. Tudor was a gentleman of very high classical attainments, a faithful and beloved pastor, and a sincere follower of his Master. He died Sept. 21. 1757, aged 52, and was interred in the Old Burial Ground of East (now South) Windsor, where not long before he had removed his family to a farm. His death was caused by " camp-distemper." or dysentery, communicated from his son Theophilus, who contracted it in Canada during a French war campaign, and who died of it after his re-

1 No paper, or record of Mr. Woodbridge's ministry has been found, except his autograph on two documents, one of which is a receipt, dated April 13, 1736, for £118 9x. on account of his salary for that year.

" Dexter's Innals of Yale College.

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WINDSOR THIRD ( POQUONOCK ) SOCIETY.

turn home. Sept. 10. 1757. as also did a sister, who died two days before. The Rev. Mr. Tudor was father of the celebrated surgeon, Dr. Elihn Tudor of East Windsor. His residence in Poquonock was just north of the present dwelling of Mr. Cyrus Phelps, where he purchased in 1741. from Stephen Palmer, his next neighbor north being Nathaniel Griswold.

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The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut, Vol. I, Part 34

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company Number of Pages: 1038

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Hartford, Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard company
Number of Pages: 1038