USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut : including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891 > Part 27
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > East Windsor > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut : including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891 > Part 27
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > South Windsor > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut : including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891 > Part 27
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Bloomfield > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut : including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891 > Part 27
USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor Locks > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut : including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891 > Part 27
USA > Connecticut > Tolland County > Ellington > The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut : including East Windsor, South Windsor, Bloomfield, Windsor Locks, and Ellington, 1635-1891 > Part 27
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
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ECCLESIASTICAL. 163-1654.
quently presented to the governor and assistants a paper, dated July 5. pisD), containing sundry high charges, and the marshal was sent to bring them before the governor and assistants. They acknowledged the paper, and! " did openly recognize the said scandalons and offensive writing, declaring themselves to be of the same mind." The court therefore found them over in bonds of £10, to appear before the court in October, "and answer for the defamation of authority in the said writing so wowed and justified as before, and contempt of authority . . . . to the orderly and peaceable settlement of ministry in Windsor, according to lawful appointment." The court also did - farther enjoin and require the said persons, and all concerned with them, to carry peaceably towards their neighbors of the Church of Windsor, and not interrupt or discour- age the committee appointed by lawful authority to provide an able min- istry for the said Church of Windsor." See State Archives, Ecclesiasti- eat Papers, i. 74, 77. 78. Also, Col. Rec .. ili. 72.
In May following a council was convened which gave the same advice as that of 1677.
In July the assembly again interfered and ordered the Second Society to suspend their meetings on the Sabbath and public days, and to nuite with the First. "All actings contrary will be esteemed contempt of authority." They also advise the good people of Windsor to assist Mr. Woodbridge in the transportation of his effects to the Bay. Still the Second Church continued refractory. Meanwhile Mr. Chances had left Windsor, and a Mr. Stow' was preaching in his place to the First Church. Mr. Woodbridge still remained.
The assembly, finally, was obliged to issue another peremptory order, October 14, 1680:
"This Court, having considered the petition of some of Windsor," and the sorrow- ful condition of the good people there, and finding that, notwithstanding all means of healing afforded them, they do remain in a bleeding state and condition, do find it neces- wiry for this court to exert their authority towards the issuing or putting a stop to the Inosent troubles there, and this Court do hereby declare, that they find all the good people of Windsor obliged to stand to, and rest satisfied with the advice and issue of Tim council they chose to hear and issue their matter-, which advice being given and now presented to the Court, dated January, 1677,3 this Court doth confirm the same, and order that there be a seasonable uniting of the Second Society in Windsor with the fir-(, according to order of the council, by an orderly preparation for their admission; and if there be objection against the life or knowledge of any, then it be, according to the watweil's advice, beard and issued by Mr. Hooker and the other moderator's successor; stil that both the former ministers be released. And that the committee appointed to wik out for a minister, with the advice of the church and the town collectively by their
: Probably Mr. Samuel Stow of Middletown, who afterwards (1681) preached at simsbury for 4 years. Although never settled, he formed the First Church in that tuan.
" State Archives, Towns and Lands, i. 77. See also same volume, Nos. 63-68, 71-79. 'Ibid., i. 63.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
major vote, do vigorously pursue the procuring of an able, orthodox minister qualifie according to the advice of the Governor, and Council, and ministers. May last, and for the grod peopl . of Windsor are hereby required to be adding and assisting and tner .. the least to oppose therein or binder the same, as they will answer the contrary at thea peril :
Soon after a communication without date is sent to the assembly, by the Speond Society, complaining that the First Church would not reeris .. them, and would not abide by the advice of council.'
"Our communicants," say they, "are not entertained or objected against [if they had been objected against they could have obtained certificates of orthodoxy from Mir Rowlandson and Mr. Hooker] neither we or our minister could enjoy commention in sacraments, nay the sacrament was professedly put by, that we might not Indeed we did enjoy the preaching by our minister, and maintainance by the whol. [town] a little while, and then were jostled out of that too."
They furthermore profess their willingness that the First Church should call Mr. Chauncey back again, or get another minister, but even if this is granted, " we are yet suffering that we had it not above two years and a half ago."
Tradition says. and it seems quite probable, that the people of Windsor had, by this time, become so disgusted with their own wranglings, and st. dlisatisfied with those who had preached to them, that they unwittingh found themselves waited in one point, viz .: to seek a new minister. And at a town meeting held on March 11, 1680-81. " It was voted umami- mously, that Mr. Mather of Branford should be sought unto and endeav- ors speedily [ made] to secure him, if God shall succeed, in the work of the ministry, and to tender to him a salary of £100 per year."
In May following ( 1681), Mr. Woodbridge's connection with the Second Church was severed. That there was some difficulty in the mat- ter, and possibly some hard feeling, is evident from the fact that he com- plained to the assembly of injustice done to him by the Second Church. To this the assembly replied ( May 19, 1681) as follows :
" This court having heard Mr. Woodbridge, his petitic 1, do find that it may be ditli. cult to come to a just issue of the case, and that it may be hazardous to the peace to enter particularly into the bowels of the case, as matters are circumstanced; therefore as a final issue of all matters of strife about demands by Mr. Woodbridge upon the people of Windsor for his labors there. This Court do grant unto Mr. Woodbridge the sum of 200 acres of land for a farm, provided he take it up where it may not prejudici any former grant to any particular person or plantation. And this court do recom mend it to those of Windsor who have been engaged to Mr. Woodbridge, that how a! his parting. they would consider their engagements to him, and act towards him as they are in duty bound ; and we recommend to Mr. Woodbridge as a friend to peaer. that he would rest satisfied therewith.ª
I Probably the First Church still insisted on terms which the Second considered a- unjustly rigorous.
2 John Ward Dean of Boston, thus writes to the author: " My ancestor, Rev. Bou jamin Woodbridge, appears to have had opponents (and adherents too) wherever hr
.
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ECCLESIASTICAL, 1663-1684.
Meanwhile the people of Windsor, with an unanimity which must have surprised themselves, were negotiating with Mr. Mather,' and a call was extended to him, 11 March, 1680-81 .- W. Records. July 27, His1, the town voted to have the Town House (previously occupied by the Second Church) "finished and made suitable for the entertain- ment of Mr. Samtal Mather, if God in his providence sends him amongst Is." Also voted, to give him €100 upon his settlement, " and the use of the house and lands belonging to it." 2
There was still some impediment in the way of the union of the two societies, viz .: some plan of union upon which both could reasonably and mutually agree. But the heartfelt desire for peace and quiet, which now possessed all minds, led them to make the following judicious and Christian resolution :
"August 25th. the Congregation being met, do jointly agree to present an invita- tion to Mr. Mather, and it it may be to obtain him, and leave the pursuance of the nuion of the two societies, till such time as he is present among us; and we are unitedly agreed in this, that so far as Mr. Mather can be helpful to us. from the word of God, to effect our quion together, we shall readily attend. And wherein any person cannot coneur with his apprehensions, we are willing to wait till God shall help us to see reason to coneur with him, and in the meantime not to make any disturbance, or occa- siou any trouble."
But it was not until the following spring ( May, 1682) that the way was inlly prepared for the meh desired union. Then the Assembly,
. E'pon application made by the Church in Windsor, respecting the difficulties they nwet with in the settlement of Mr. Mather, all former orders and endeavors not being effectual to remove the impediment that lies still in the way, that the matter of the union may be plainly stated, which is now maiuly impedimenting unto them, this Court see cause lo declare their ready owning of the said Church in the quiet practice of their professed principles in point of order; and so that the forementioned nion be carried oa in manner following, viz. : That Mr. Mother being in due time called and settled in office by the church of Windsor, thereupou such of the Second Society as desire fellow -mup with them in all ordinances (excepting those that were formerly in full communion with that Church, that are returned, or to return to the same standing in it), address themselves to Mr. Mather; and having satisfied him about their experimental knowl- edge, and the grounds of that satisfaction by him declared to the Church unto their reptance, with encouraging testimony given in reference to their conversation, they be thereupon admitted."
W.1. After he left Windsor, he preached at Bristol (now in Rhode Island) and after that in Medford. A curious circumstance concerning him has been communicated to me by Rev. Mr. Page of Cambridge. There was trouble between him and a portion of ini- flock at Medford, and the matter was carried before the General Court, or Legisla- tutte, who ordered that the town should pay Mr. W. the (considerable) amount due to bu, and that the church should then proceed to choose a pions and learned minister for their pastor. The money was paid and the church called together to choose a pastor, and the choice fell upon the Rec. Benjamin Woodbridge, the old pastor. There was some win- ing, but his opponents conld not deny that he was a pious and learned minister, i: i the General Court had not ordered the church to choose another man."
' Various correspondence between Increase and Samuel Mather and other parties about this matter may be found in Muxx. Hist. Soc. Coll., 4th Series, xxxVIII. p. 98.
: Thi- provision, for some cause, seems not to have been satisfactory. as in the snc-
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
The plan thus proposed by the court, and which gave the Fit -: Church all they ever demanded. seems to have reconciled the previous difficulties; and a new spirit of harmonious enterprise at once infused itself throughout the town. Yet the task of softening the prejudices ated! fusing the discordant elements of the two churches, was a work which required time and patience, as well as the exercise of sound judgment and consummate fact. All these qualities were in a high degree por- sessed by Mr. Mather: and, probably in the fall of 1654 he was fully ordained and settled in the charge of the united congregations Windsor.
We are aware that Trumbull and other authorities assert that Mr. Mather was settled at Windsor in 1682, but the following vote of the town, Dee. 28, 1684, " to give Mr. Samuel Mather 100 acres of land at Salisbury plains. in case he settles in office amongst us ; " and also the record of admissions to the church during his ministry (as copied by Mr. Rowland from the original manuscripts of Mr. Mather - see ('h. Records), beginning thus : " The following were admitted to the church the 1st year, 1685," lead us to the conclusion that 1684 was the true date of his settlement and ordination.
At a town meeting in December of that year,
" It was voted, that the town allow ten pounds per winter to be payed out of the town rate towards proenring wood for Mr. Mather; the money to be laid out yearly by the townwen, then in being, so as best [to] attain the end aforesaid.
Also that any man may have liberty to bring one load of wood yearly to Mr. Mather.
ceeding October we find on record the following deed : " Know ye, &e., that I, Tiban Grant, of Windsor, in the County of Hartford, and Colony of Connecticut, Blacksmith. for and in consideration of the sum of One Hundred and Eighty pounds to me in hand. paid by the Town of Wind-or and of the inhabitants of the same upon the account and for the use of Mr. Samuel Mather of Windsor, &c., do grant, bargain and sell unte him the said Mather one dwelling-house and barn with four acres of land adjoining. which I purchased of Lieut. Whiting." etc.
In December, 1684. " Mr. Samuel Mather hath granted from the Town of Windsor One Hundred acres of land at a place commonly called ard known by the name of su- bury Plain." He also had two hundred deres granted hin by the General Court, east of the Great River.
In January, 1684, "In consideration of One Hundred pounds to me secured to he paid by Capt. Benjamin Newberry and others as agents in behalf of Mr. Samuel Mather. Taban Grant deeds to Mr. Samuel Mother one piece of land being partly pasture ani part arable land, containing eight acres ; also one lot in the Great Meadow. five acres. also, one other parcel in the Great Meadow, three and a half acres." Mr. Mather bought various other pieces of land, some by himself and some in company with hi- brother, Atherton Mather.
The records do not give his annual salary until 1712, at which time Rev. Jonathan Marsh was his colleague. In 1712, Mr. Mather's salary was $50; Mr. Marsh's, 9114. 1 :. 1713, Mather's salary was 460: Marsh's $124 15%, 64. In 1714, Mr. Mather was voted £15, annually, during his life In 1741, by a division of the common lands, a lot con taining eighty acres was laid out to Rev. Samuel Mather's heirs. Deacon J. B. T.+ ford's Address, Quarter- Millenial, Windsor Church.
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ECCLESIASTICAL. 1663-16-4.
.. I to be paid for the same ont of their town rate, provided they bring it before the best day of February yearly, until the ten pounds be expended. Should there not be so " ah wood brought to Mr. Mather before the first of February a- shall amount to the ...! stam, then any man may bring wood until the same he fmade] up, and be paid as 1. Fore said. the price to be three shilling, and four pence the load."
" It is voted by the town that a new meeting holtsc be built for the more comforta- ble carrying ra the worship of God - and the form of the house to be according to the meeting honse at Springfield, unless the committee chosen du sce canse to make altera- im in height or breadth. The Committer chosen to carry on this matter and to pro- me and agree with an alle workman to do the work, are Benjamin New berry, Mr. Hour. W.deott, Nath! Bissell, John Porter, and Timothy Thrall
. The Springfield house had been built seven years before, by an- thority of a vote which specified that it should be . 50 feet long and 40 fot wide, to be built so high, as it may in accommodated for galleries when the town shall see need.' This model was smaller than our esti- mate (see Appendix B.) of the first meeting-house of Windsor. But the Windsor Committee may have built higher and broader : the house had dormer windows, and it is not unlikely that tradition is true that this second meeting-house, on Palisado Green. . had two tiers of galleries."" A part of the timbers of the old house were used for building a barn. still standing, the property of Horace H. Ellsworth.
Mr. SAMUEL MATHER, the second pastor of Windsor, was in every respret a fit sneeessor to the venerable Warham. Descended from a Light: respectable awul gifted ancestry, he was one, and by no means the least, of a circle of noble men whose varied talents and pions lives have rendered the name of MATHER distinguished among the families of New England. even to the present day. He was born Sept. 5. 1651 ; 2 his father, Timothy Mather of Dorchester, being a son of the Rev. Richard, third minister of that town,' and his mother, a daughter of the excellent Major-General Humphrey Atherton. Thus highly comected, his earlier years were spent in the enjoyment of all the advantages which the best society of that day could afford. Graduating at Harvard College in 1671; ho preached at Deerfield, Mass., in 1675: thenee he went to Hatfield, Mass,, and later to Milford, and to Branford, Con. From thenee he was called in the Providence of God, to Windsor, where the powers of his mind, the amiability of his character, and his piety. speedily won the esteem and love of his people, and composed the difficulties which existedamong the m.
Drat. Hoyden's Address at Quarter- Millenial of Windsor Church.
" Upon his own statement, according to Samuel Sewall's Diary (Mexs. Hist. Soc. ( .. /. vi. 196): though it is given in the Mather Genealogy, as July 5, 1650.
HIr succeeded Mr. Warham, and had the charge of the new church which was formed at Dorchester, Mass., after the emigration of the old church to Connecticut, 1635. It - a curious coincidence that hi : grandson should succeed Mr. Warham in the charge of the same old church in Connecticut.
VOL. I. - 28
218
HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
" Ilis ministry here proved to be a very fruitful one. It began with a revival which brought into the Chinch 28 during the first year and 3: the second ; more than doubling its members; for there were Imit 54 members when he came. The records of this time, in his own hand- writing, have such remarks as these at the close of the yearly entries : after the first year, . The Lord make the next year also a good year' Am! at the end of the fourth, ' Not so much as one were added to the Church, but as many died out of it as was added the year before. The Good Lord awake and humble ns.'"1
He was then in the prime of his life, grave and dignified in person. faithful and consistent in his daily life, and benignant and winning in manner. He died 18th March, 1727-8, aged 77. His connection by mar- riage with the daughter of the Hon. Robert Treat of Wethersfield, after- wards governor of the colony, was in itself happy, and served to increase the influence which his gifts of mind and heart had already seenred for him in the public estimation. Thus happy in his domestic and personal relations, his life was quietly passed in the faithful discharge of his pas- toral duties to this now happy flock. And it is pleasant to record that during the whole period of his ministry, not one shadow of complaint seems to have darkened his or their pathway. On the contrary, there is abundant evidence that he was the constant recipient of many marks of public and private respect and care.
lle was not nnknown as an author. At Boston, in 1697. he puis- lished "A Dead Faith Anatomatized"-a discourse ( probably preached at Windsor, ) from James 2: 20, " on the Nature and the Danger, with the deadly symptoms of a Dead Faith . In those who profess the faith of Christ." This was prepared with an introduction by his cousin, the celebrated Cotton Mather, in which he says:
" This discourse is what was delivered to a popular audience. And sneh was the savour which it left in the minds of its hearers where it was declared, as that the notes thereof have here come abroad," and thus concludes: "The author is known throughout the churches of the famous and happy colony [Connecticut], to none of the least whereot he hath for many years been a faithful Pastor: known for his Piety, Gravity and Usefulness more than any recommendations of mine can render him: and my relation to him will readily excuse me, as well as his modesty forbid me, for saying any more."
He also published a book entitled " Self-Justiciary Convicted and Condemned." The " Epistle Dedicatory," of 25 pages, is dated March 17. 1706. It was published, as a postscript informs us, at the cost and expense of "our good friend Nathanael Porter. Men who are at such Expence to Serve in this Way the Kingdom of our Glorious Lord, ought
| Rev. G. C. Wilson.
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ECCLESIASTICAL, 1663-1651.
to have their Names gratefully Redeemed." The volume is of 92 ( and more > pages, 12mo. Text, Romans x. 3. In Appendix to " Self-Justi- viacy," pages 83-92, written by Dr. Increase Mather (on page 91 ) he alludes to another of his works in a note, thus: "See my Epistie before Mr. Willard's Sermons; on 2 Time. 3.5." This was written, he says, " with a design of being published in the Year 1698." " It is a time of much Degeneracy: our Transgressions are many, and our Backslidings are increased, as Jer. 5. 6. In great measure we in this Wilderness have lost our first love, as it is said of them, Rev. 2, 4. Yet they had slivers commendable things : meng them. We do not walk with God as our Fathers did, and hence we are continually from year to year under his Rebukes. one way or other: and yet, alas, we turn not unto him that xmites us : these considerations call for the utmost of our endeavours, for the reformation of what is amongst us, and for the upholding and strengthening of what get Remains, and is perhaps ready to dy. Consider then these few words, &e."
This year : 16881 Notso vouch asono were added we ARE church . but many Tand out of it, osNOS odder the year fafort the good condonation, as,
were. Dertig mills: wash Cook, Mary: Filly miclass Wath: Loomis. Jahn Parker Mary Porky. Deacon john Loomis. Socpf: Togion. 2. Ai all.
Facsimilie OF AN ENTRY ON THE CHURCH RECORDS OF WINDSOR, MADE BY REV. MR. MATHER -Sce opposite page.
CHAPTER X. KING PHILIP'S WAR.
1675-6.
F FOR nearly forty years the New England settlements had enjoyed a season of almost uninterrupted quiet and prosperity. Providence had smiled upon their labors, the wilderness had begun -to Ionl and blossom as the rose," and there was scarce a cloud upon the horizont of their condition. But stidenly the warwhoop of the Indian rang thionzit the length and breadth of the land, and they awoke from this "sweet dream of peace" to find themselves involved in all the horrors and uncer- tainties of savage warfare. King Philip and his warriors had appeared on the eastern borders, and their course was marked by mangled einpers and burning villages. In the general consternation which followed, apprehensions were felt of a general rising of all the New England tribes.
We, of the present day, can scarcely realize the terror which filled the hearts of our ancestors as they found themselves again on the eve of an Indian war. The crisis. however, was boldly and promptly last. A momentary blanching of the cheek there might have been, but there was no flinching of the heart among those brave men of Connecticut. The safety of their families, the preservation of their property, the hopes of religious freedom depended on them, and they bravely prepared to defend the trust committed to them.
Fortunately and unexpectedly to them. the war did not reach the lower towns on the Connecticut. Siosbory being the nearest approach that the enemy made. Yet from the suddenness of the war, as well as the exposed condition of Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, those
1 In the better light which time and historie investigation throw upon this subject. we find that this apprehension was unfounded. King Philip himself inherited a strons friendship for the whites from his father Massasoit, the first to welcome the Pilgrims of the Mayflower -and was faithful to that trust. He was hurried into the war by the rash and unaethorized acts of some of his young men, and being thus compromised and proscribed by the English, was obliged in self-defence to take up the hatchet. Few characters in Indian history are more worthy of study and admiration than that of the t:dented and brave but nufortunate King Philip.
The action of the different tribes in this war was by no means concerted or similar and we cannet consider it as a general emeute.
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KING PHILIP'S WAR, 1976.
town, were in a continual state of dread and alarm. The inhabitants literally slept on their arms. in constant experration of an attack. Windsor, particularly, from its widely extended limits, was more exposed than its neighbors; and from its situation on the great thoroughfare between Hartford and Springfield, was constantly alive with the hurry- ing " to and fro" of troops and munitions of war on their way to the aid of the less fortunate towns above the falls. To all of the numerous lov- ies drafted during the war Windsor contributed a large proportion of troops; having in the service at different times not far from 125. mostly dragoons. These dragoons, from their greater facility of movement and better adaptedness to the nature of the service, were constantly employed in rapid marches, bearing despatches and scouting parties. In an old book of rates we find the following names of Windsor troopers who were in actual service, and received 6x, 84. each, "on war account."
Capt. John Bissell. John Hosford, Capt. Sam. Marshall. John Bissell. Jr., Anth'y Hoskins, John Muses. Nath'1 Bissell, Dan'l Hayden, Thos Moore, Capt. Daniel Clark. Joseph Loomis, , Mr. John Porter, Edward Chapman, Thos, Strong. John Terry. .
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