USA > Connecticut > The history of Connecticut, from the first settlement of the colony to the adoption of the present constitution, vol. II > Part 48
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The pioneer preachers of Methodism in the new world, were Philip Embury, Richard Boardman, Joseph Pilmoor, and Capt. Thomas Webb, a devout officer of the British army. In 1768, the first chapel of that denomination on this side of the ocean, was consecrated in the city of New York. The first conference was held on the 4th of July, 1773, at which date, the number of members reported was eleven hundred and sixty, scattered over five states of the Union. It was not, however, until 1789,* that the seeds of the new sect were sown in Connecticut. In June, of that year, the Rev. Jesse Lee, preached at Norwalk, Fairfield, New Haven, Reading, Stratford, Canaan, and other places, spending about three months in the state, passing from town to town, wherever circumstances of the voice of providence seemed to call him. The first Methodist society which was formed in Con- necticut, was at Stratford on the 26th of September, of the year last named, and consisted of only three females. The next was in Reading, and embraced but two persons, one of
* This is the date given by the Rev. Dr. Bangs, in his History, (i. 290.) It is proper to remark, however, that according to the testimony of the Rev. Abel Stevens, in his " Memorials of Methodism," the Rev. Messrs. Cook and Black, had preached in Connecticut a year or two previous.
# 41
Fugrav-d & P. Mackenzie-
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LEE'S CHAPEL.
whom* subsequently became a local preacher. The first church edifice of the denomination ever built in New Eng- land, was in the town of Weston, in Fairfield county, and was called " Lee's Chapel," in honor of its founder. It stood until the year 1813, when it was torn down, and a new one built in its place.
In 1790, the circuits of New Haven, Hartford, and Litch- field, were established. The only methodist ministers in New England at that date were Jesse Lee, Jacob Brush, George Roberts, and Daniel Smith.t There were more preachers than classes, and scarcely more than two members to each preacher.
During the year 1790, Mr. Lee made an itinerating tour through New England, spending much time in Connecticut. His journal presents an interesting narrative of his trials, dis- couragements, adventures, and successes. Though not a learned man, he possessed much shrewdness and talent, in- domitable energy, and a pervading sense of the infinite im- portance of the great work in which he was engaged.
One district, six circuits-four in Connecticut, and two in Massachusetts-with eleven circuit preachers and one pre- siding elder, constituted the field and ministerial corps in New England, for the year 1791.
In 1793-'4, Mr. Roberts had charge of the Connecticut
* Rev. Aaron Sanford.
+ Jesse Lee was appointed Elder, by the New England Conference ; Fairfield, John Bloodgood ; New Haven, John Lee; Hartford, Nathaniel B. Mills ; Bos- ton, Jesse Lee, and Daniel Smith. Besides these circuits, under the nominal supervision of Mr. Lee, there was the Litchfield circuit, traveled by Samuel Wigton and Henry Christie, which lay mostly within the state of New York, and was under the presiding eldership of the devoted Freeborn Garretson.
# He entered the north-western angle of Connecticut, at Sharon, on the 20th of June, and preached under the trees to about one thousand people, " O my dove, thou art in the cleft of the rock," &c. 22d, " Rode about fifteen miles and preached in a Presbyterian meeting-house to some hundreds." 23d, "Rode about twenty miles to Litchfield, and was surprised to find the doors of the Episcopal church open, and a large congregation waiting for me."
In some places, however, he was treated very uncivilly both by pastors and people.
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APPENDIX.
district. In 1794-'5, his district comprised nearly the whole of Connecticut, and extended into Rhode Island on the east, and to Vermont on the north. During the two following years, his district lay principally in New York, but extended into Connecticut, and included the Reading circuit.
Under the faithful preaching and labors of such men as Bishop Asbury, Aaron Hunt, James Covel, Matthias Swaim, Jeremiah Cosden, James Coleman, and other earnest pioneers of Methodism in Connecticut, (in addition to those previously named,) the doctrines and discipline inculcated by Wesley gradually extended over the state. The seed sown almost at random by the way-side, took deep root in many hearts and bore abundant fruits. At the close of the ecclesiastical year 1802, the number of members of the several methodist churches in the state was reported at sixteen hundred and fifty-eight ; and from that time to the present, the denomina- tion has been steadily progressing, not only in Connecticut, but throughout New England, and indeed in almost every part of the Christian world .* In the number, intelligence, and piety of its members, as well as in its churches, schools, and colleges, it will compare favorably with any other reli- gious sect.
As early as 1798, a methodist chapel had been erected in New London. In 1819, the church there numbered three hundred and twenty-one members; in 1838, the number had increased to three hundred and seventy-seven. In 1840, however, the society became divided, one party, including the trustees, withdrew from the conference, disclaimed its authority, and called themselves "Independent Methodists." This party kept possession of the chapel, while the others, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Ralph W. Allen, erected a church in Washington-street, which was dedicated Decem- ber 8, 1842. A decision of the civil court in 1849, gave the old chapel to the latter branch of the society. The number
* In 1838, the total number of communicants in the methodist episcopal church in the United States was 749,216.
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DANIEL OSTRANDER.
[1796.]
of members reported in 1851, was two hundred and nineteen .*
In Middletown, the society was formed in December, 1791; the Middletown circuit was instituted, and continued until 1816, when the city and township became a station or sepa- rate charge. It has been attached to several districts, as New York, New London, Rhinebeck, New Haven, and Hart- ford, and in consequence, the change of presiding elders has been greater in proportion to the time allowed for services, than the circuit and stationed preachers. In 1816, the num- ber of communicants was one hundred and twelve; in 1846, after the Wesleyan University had for several years been in successful operation at that place, the number was five hun- dred and fifteen. Since 1840, about sixty of the students have, on an average, been among the communicants.of that church.
In New Haven, the first class was formed by the Rev. D. Ostrander, in 1795. In 1800, a building that had previously been occupied by the Sandemanians was purchased by a mem- ber of the society, and was used as a place of worship until 1807, when a chapel was erected in Temple-street, though it was not actually finished until seven years afterwards. In 1822, a brick church was built on the north-west corner of the green, which was removed three or four years since, and a new and beautiful edifice was about the same time erected near by, on the opposite side of Elm-street. Other metho- dist churches have recently gone up in different parts of the city. In 1850, the denomination numbered in New Haven, five hundred and thirty-three.
In Norwich, Mr. Lee preached as early as 1796, and not long after, classes were formed both at Chelsea and Bean Hill. The society at Chelsea flourished for awhile under the foster- ing care of Mr. Beatty, of that place, but after his removal to Ohio, with several of his friends, in 1804, it became nearly extinct-only two or three members remaining. The first house of worship erected by the methodists within the limits
* Miss Caulkins' Hist. of New London, p. 597.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
of Norwich, was in the year 1811, which was located on the wharf-bridge in Chelsea. It was swept off by a flood in the spring of 1823. There are now four flourishing churches in the town.
Thus, one after another, churches were organized in all the principal towns in the state. The denomination numbers among its preachers some of the most eloquent, learned and excellent men to be found in the commonwealth .*
Among those most worthy of particular mention, it is pro- per to name the learned and much lamented Wilbur Fisk, D.D., the first president of the Wesleyan University at Middle- town, and at the time of his death bishop elect of the metho- dist episcopal church. He was born in Brattleboro, Ver- mont, August 31, 1792, and at an early age entered the col- lege at Burlington, in that state ; but as that institution was closed for a season during the war with Great Britain, he was sent to Brown University, in Rhode Island, where he gradu- ated with high honors. Commencing the study of the law with an eminent attorney, he promised to excel in that pro- fession ; but, while vigorously prosecuting his studies in Baltimore, he was prostrated by a violent attack of a pulmo- nary disease. When he had sufficiently recovered to under- take so long a journey, he returned to Burlington, Vermont, where he soon had a relapse of his former disease, which for a while threatened his life. At this time, the religious im- pressions of an earlier day were revived, which, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, ultimately led to a radical change in his views and purposes of life. Uniting himself with the methodist church, he commenced the study of theology, and in 1818, he was admitted on trial in the New England conference. He began his itinerant labors among his native hills, inhaling the invigorating atmosphere, and enjoying that mental and bodily exercise so conducive to health. His first ministerial station was at Charlestown, Massachusetts, where the nature of his duties was so con-
* Bishops Janes and Hamline, of the methodist church, were Connecticut men.
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REV. DR. FISK.
fining that he was seized with his former disease, and in 1820, he was compelled to seek retirement and rest. In 1823, however, he had so far recovered that he was able to resume his itinerant career as presiding elder of the Vermont district.
On the establishment of the Wilbraham Academy, in Massachusetts, Mr. Fisk was elected its principal. Under his supervision, it became one of the most successful and popular institutions of its class in New England. While engaged in this congenial employment, he attended the gen- eral conference, as a delegate, in 1824 and 1828. In 1831, he was appointed to and accepted the Presidency of the Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Connecticut. In 1835 and 1836, he made the tour of Europe, an account of which he afterwards published in a large octavo volume. While in Europe he was appointed by the general conference of 1836, its delegate to the Wesleyan methodist conference in England, and at the same conference, he was also elected bishop of the methodist episcopal church of the United States .*
Soon after his return to this country, Dr. Fisk suffered a relapse of his pulmonary complaint, and in the winter of 1838, he was compelled to relinquish the active duties of his office. From this attack he never recovered.
Dr. Fisk possessed a clear, vigorous, and well-balanced mind, regular and handsome features, an expressive coun- tenance, a stately figure, and a pleasing address. " His man- ner in the pulpit," says Dr. Bangs, "was solemn, graceful, and dignified ; his enunciation clear and impressive ; and all his gesticulations corresponded with the purity and importance of the cause in which he was engaged. Perhaps, when un- embarrassed, he came as near to the perfection of a christian pulpit orator, as any that can be found among the ministers of the sanctuary." " Though never boisterous in his man- ner," adds the same writer, " but calm and collected, he was energetic, plain, and pointed, and evinced that he spoke from
* Bangs' Hist., iv. - 313-317.
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
the fulness of his heart-a heart thoroughly imbued with the spirit of his Divine Master."*
The commencement of the Baptist denomination of chris- tians in this state, was made by a small colony from Rhode Island, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, in the county of New London. The first church was organized in the town of Groton, in 1705, by Rev. Valentine Wightman, who had removed to that town from North Kingston, Rhode Island. This remained the only baptist church in the colony of Connecticut for about twenty years. In 1726, another church was organized in fellowship in the town of New Lon- don, and in 1743, the first church in North Stonington was organized. Rev. Valentine Wightman was born 1681. He remained pastor of the church in Groton forty-two years, and died at the age of sixty-six. He was a descend- ant of the Rev. Edward Wightman, the christian martyr who was burned at the stake in England, in 1612, being the last man who suffered death for conscience sake, by direct course of law, in the mother country. The Rev. Valen- tine Wightman was followed in the pastoral office of the church in Groton, by his son, Timothy Wightman, who filled the office forty years, till his death in 1796, and was succeeded by his son, John G. Wightman, from 1800 to 1841, when he died. Thus it appears that the three Wightmans, father, son, and grandson, sustained the pastoral office in this church one hundred and twenty-three years. Of the descendants of the Rev. Valentine Wightman, nineteen have filled the pastoral office in the baptist church with usefulness and honor. Thus the blood of their martyred ancestor has been the seed of the church. From these early beginnings, small at the first, and slow in progress, have arisen amid much opposition and very many discouragements, the eight associations of baptist churches in this state, numbering now sixteen thousand six hundred and seventeen communicants, one hundred and thirteen churches, and one hundred and twenty-one ministers, beside the Free-will, and Seventh-day Baptist churches, who
* Hist. of the M. E. Church, iv. 321, 322.
561
REV. ASAHEL MORSE.
are respectable bodies of sober minded christians, but their statistics are not at hand.
The doctrinal views of the associated baptist churches are like those of the early puritans of New England, and their church organization is strictly congregational, holding that none are proper subjects of christian ordinances, but pro- fessed believers, and thus of course excluding unconscious babes from the ordinance of baptism. Their church govern- ment is essentially democratic. As a denomination, it is believed they have ever in all countries, and at all times, been opposed to the interference of the civil authority in matters of conscience, believing as Roger Williams expresses, that great cardinal principle in the full enjoyment of-" Soul Liberty." All they desire of the civil government is, that it should protect every man in the state equally, in the free exer- cise of his religious privileges and belief and action, provided he does not interfere with the equal rights of his neighbor.
It is worthy of special note, that the Rev. Asahel Morse, then pastor of the first baptist church in Suffield, was one of the delegates to the constitutional convention in 1818, and that the article in the constitution, on religious liberty, is from his pen.
The Christian Secretary, a religious newpaper, was estab- lished at Hartford, in 1824, by the Connecticut Baptist Con- vention. The Rev. Gurdon Robins was its first editor.
The names of some of the most prominent ministers of the baptist denomination in this state, from the date of its intro- duction among us, are Wightman, Brown, Rathburn, Morse, Palmer, Darrow, Burrows, Miner, Wildman, Rogers, West, Higbee, Robins, Cushman, Davis,* and Hastings.
* One of the most eminent baptist preachers in this state, was the late Rev. Gustavus F. Davis, D.D., pastor of the first baptist church in Hartford. He was born in Boston, March 17, 1797; commenced preaching at the early age of seventeen years ; and was ordained and settled as pastor of a church in Preston, Connecticut, when but nineteen years of age. He received the honorary degree of Master of Arts at Waterville College, and subsequently at Yale College, and the Wesleyan University conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He was a Trustee of Brown University, and of Washington College, and was elected chap-
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
During or soon after the "great awakening," under the preaching of Jonathan Edwards, James Davenport, Gilbert Tennant, George Whitefield, Nathan Howard, and John Owen, considerable parties seceded from some of the regu- lar churches of the colony, and formed themselves into dis- tinct ecclesiastical organizations. They were generally known as "new lights," or "separatists." In some places, they continued to flourish for many years-though it is be- lieved that the societies have now nearly all ceased to exist, at least with their distinctive characteristics. Their extrava- gances formed a striking feature of the age in which they took their rise. From the dead formality that had previously reign- ed in the church, they rushed to the opposite extreme. Their zeal knew no bounds, so long as their physical and mental energies could be kept in play. The most extravagant ges- tures, and boisterous language, fastings of extraordinary length, the destruction of what they called their idols, and their denunciations of the church members and clergy who stood aloof from the new measures, all evinced an over- heated brain, and a "zeal not according to knowledge."*
lain to both houses of the Connecticut legislature. Dr. Davis, was a man of earnest and consistent piety, a faithful pastor, an eloquent preacher, and a public- spirited citizen. He died September 11, 1836.
* It is stated on good authority that a company of " new lights" fasted and prayed for three days in succession. At Groton, Mr. Davenport kept up his meetings for four or five successive days, in a tent or in the open air, sometimes not breaking up until two o'clock in the morning, some of his hearers remaining all night under the tree where he had preached.
In New London, on more than one occasion, fires were kindled in the streets, into which, in obedience to the declamations of Davenport, the infatuated people threw whatever they had regarded with idolatrous veneration. Certain religious books which the preacher declared to be " heretical," were among the first articles sacrificed. Says Miss Caulkins-" Women came with their ornamental attire, their hoops, calashes, and satin cardinals ; men with their silk stockings, embroidered vests, and buckles. Whatever they had esteemed and cherished as valuable, must now be sacrificed. Most of the articles were of a nature to be quickly consumed, but the heavy books lay long upon the smoldering heap, and some of them were even adroitly rescued by lookers on, though in a charred condition. A copy of Russell's Seven Sermons, which was extracted from the embers with one corner burnt off, was long preserved as a memorial of this erratic proceeding."
563
CLERGYMEN OF OTHER SECTS.
[1850.]
In 1850, the number of clergymen in the state of other denominations, was as follows: Wesleyan, Protestant and. Reformed Methodists, eight; Roman Catholics, seven ; Uni- tarians, three ; Christians, five; Presbyterians, three ; Uni- versalists, thirteen ; Second Adventists, three; Free-will Baptists, one ; Seven Day Baptists, one ; Shakers, one ; Jews, one ; Africans, four.
CHAPTER XXVI.
SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, SCIENCE, ART, AND LITERATURE.
ARRIVING, as we now do, near the goal whither we have been tending, and by ways necessarily so devious that we seemed some times hardly to advance, let us stop a moment, and, as the tired huntsman, standing upon some breezy hill- side, winds his horn at sun-set to call together the stragglers of his party, let us, before descending into the valley, gather in a few neglected companions who have fallen behind in the hurry of the chase.
Among the earliest of our fellow-travelers was the school- master of the colony. Hardly had the log cabin of the emi- grants in the valley of the Connecticut, begun to send upward from the mouth of its stone chimney, the wreaths of smoke that rose to the heavens, like the morning and evening oblation breathed by the fathers and mothers of Hartford; scarcely had the voice of Hooker thrilled the green leaves that canopied the first worshiping assembly of the town; when the inhabitants began to turn their attention toward the school, where their children were to be taught the rudiments of knowledge. The earliest records of our old towns are either partially lost, or were originally kept in such a careless manner, that we are unable to trace the beginnings of that peculiar system of universal culture, so cheap, so wholesome, so democratic, and at the same time so conservative, which has so long dis- tinguished the New England states from the rest of the world, and which shows in the best possible light, the wisdom, the social and political sagacity, which characterized the founders of our old commonwealth. As early as 1642, we find the voters of Hartford appropriating "thirty pounds a year to the town school." This record takes for granted the fact that
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SCHOOL HOUSES AND SCHOOL-BOYS.
a school was already existing and well established there. Similar records also exist in most of the other old towns.
The school was one main pillar of the civil fabric. The school-house stood next to the church. It was a humble edifice with few modern conveniences ; its forms were hard, with long legs, and without supporters for the spine ; but the sons and daughters of the emigrants had no leisure to contract curvatures of that delicate part of the human frame. Ven- tilation, that important element, entering so largely into phy- sical economy, and so loudly called for, yet so seldom found in ourday, their school-houses certainly did not lack, for the chinks in the chimney that stood up against the outer wall, and the crevices between the ill-fitting joints of the logs, from which the urchins had in summer picked out the clay with their mischievous fingers, would in the winter days let in many a lusty current of the north-west blast that howled at the door.
The school-boy's situation at that day, was no sinecure. He was compelled to make many a deep indentation in his brain with the sharp points of sums in arithmetic not easy to do, and with sentences not readily subjected to the rules of grammar, and long words difficult to spell. Tough points in theology, seasoned with texts of scripture, and coupled with knotty questions of election, of faith, of works, and saving grace, formed a wholesome sauce to the more secular learn- ing. Bits of practical philosophy, maxims that had been tested and found to be solid old English proverbs, scraps of experience pickled down in good attic salt; something of civil polity and political economy, reverence of gray hairs, and respectful treatment to woman, were among the things that he was obliged to learn. Rough he might be and often was, but stupid he could not be, for knowledge, and that of a kind not easily digested, was beaten into his skull as if by blows upon an anvil. Gentle or simple, he must submit to the same dry rules of application.
The estimation in which schools were held may be better understood by finding out by what class of men they were
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HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT.
taught, and how the community regarded them. The school- master was indeed no vulgar man. He was a scholar well skilled in all the rudiments of knowledge; his mind was stored with classical lore ; often a graduate of some one of the English universities, he could speak Latin and write Greek and read Hebrew. He was also, in most instances, a gentleman. Next to the minister, teacher, ruling elder, magis- trates, and more genteel planters, he was regarded with the pro- foundest respect ; and when he walked through the village, or rambled in the fields, with his head bowed down in medi- tation upon some grave moral question, or solving some ponderous sum, the boys dared never pass him without pull- ing off their hats.
Nor was the education of the young long left to the volun- tary action of the towns. As early as 1644, the General Court took the matter in hand and enacted the following law :
"It being one chief project of that old deluder Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times keeping them in an unknown tongue, so in these latter times by persuading them from the use of tongues, so that at least the true sense and meaning of the original might be clouded with false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers; and that learning may not be buried in the grave of our fore- fathers, in church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors-It is therefore ordered by this court and the authority thereof, that every township within this jurisdic- tion, after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty householders, shall then forthwith appoint one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him, to write and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in general by way of supply, as the major part of those who order the prudentials of the town shall appoint; Provided, that those who send their children be not oppressed by more than they can have them taught for in other towns. And it is further ordered, that where any town shall increase to the
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