USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Fairfield > The history of Fairfield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, from the settlement of the town in 1639 to 1818, Vol. II > Part 13
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The General Assembly met at New Haven, October 8th, when Judge John Burr, Mr. Ebenezer Silliman and Mr. Samuel Burr were present.
The vexed and long unsettled boundary line between Connecticut and the Province of New York, in which many of the leading men of Fairfield, from time to time, had taken an official and active part, was happily settled and confirmed by the Assembly .*
Mr. Samuel Barlow was commissioned to be lieutenant and Mr. Samuel Rowland ensign of the second Fairfield train-band
The Fairfield estates were estimated to be worth or valued at £30,552 12S.
A question was raised, " whether any such persons as profess them- selves of the Congregational or Presbyterian persuasion (so called). since they are allowed and under the protection of our laws, ought to qualify themselves. as mentioned in the Act for the case of such as soberly dissent from the way of worship and ministry established by the laws of this government ? Resolved in the negative."
There is no doubt but that great advantage was taken of the law passed for the benefit of those who differed from the faith of the estab- lished church of the colony; and that many sought refuge under this law in order to escape ecclesiastical taxes. The sin of receiving and giving that which costs us nothing was then as now, too often the refuge of dis- honest people. There was also some disquietude on account of the pro- gress the Church of England and other religious bodies were making in the colony.
On the 30th of September, 1730, the Rev. Mr. Caner reported to the Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel that the churchmen of Fairfield were only able to raise fifteen pounds towards his salary, but that they had devised a plan to raise a church fund through bequests. It was proposed : " that every professor of the Church of Eng- land should, by his will, devote a certain sum to the support of this par-
* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 1725-1735, p. 294
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ticular Church, to be used by the Church Wardens for purposes desig- nated by the Church."
At the same time Mr. Caner reported to the Honorable Society that since this design had been set on foot two members of his church had died, each leaving fioo to the church fund; and that two others had willed legacies, one f100 and the other £50, to the same end. He reported the number of communicants in the parishes under his charge to be sixty- five, and that there were about five hundred professors of the Church of England in all the parishes.
1731. The General Assembly met at Hartford on the 13th of May, when Judge John Burr was elected an Assistant, and Mr. Samuel Burr and Mr. Robert Silliman representatives from Fairfield. Major John Burr was also appointed Judge of the Fairfield County Court and one of the colony auditors.
Mr. John Crane was commissioned lieutenant of the Green's Farms train-band.
Many quarrels having arisen in parishes " respecting the places proper for erecting meeting-houses," the Assembly saw fit to pass an act, that when any parish wished to build a meeting-house they should not only apply to the Assembly for permission to do so, but to fix the place upon which it should be erected; "those only tolerated by the laws of this colony & dissenting from us excepted." The clerk of each society was ordered to make a report to the Assembly of the progress made in its erection. Any transgression of this order was subject to a fine of one hundred pounds, to be paid into the public treasury. If any parish, hav- ing obtained consent to build a church, without in due time finishing it. "the Assembly was to assess & levy sufficient money to further its erection."*
The Rev. Cotton Mather states that there was scarcely a meeting- house or school-house in all New England about the location of which there had not been a quarrel.
The first Monday in January and June were fixed as days for the Justices of the Peace, grand jurors, constables and tithing-men to hold town meetings, " to advise & consider how they should best suppress vice & immorality & the due execution of the laws of the colony."
All attorneys were exempted from bearing arms and attending on the musters and military exercises in the colony.
* Col. Rec. Conn., Vol. 7. p. 334.
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The Assembly met in New Haven, October 14th, when Mr. Daniel Hubbell of Fairfield was commissioned captain, Mr. John Burr lieutenant and Mr. Ephraim Hubbell ensign of the train-band of the parish of Stratfield.
Mr. Andrew Burr was commissioned lieutenant of the Fairfield second train-band.
Captain Gershom Bulkley was made one of a committee to fix a place for erecting a meeting-house in the parish of Canaan, in Fairfield County.
A law was enacted that the listers of every town should be sworn to a faithful discharge of their duty, and return a certificate to the Assembly signed by the Assistant, Justice of the Peace, or Town Clerk. Any town neglecting to make a faithful return of its taxable list, " such town should be doomed by the Assembly."
During this year Fairfield sustained a great loss in the death of Dr. James Laborie. He was an accomplished French gentleman, who won the respect and confidence of all who became acquainted with him. He was a skilful physician, a brave soldier, and a sincere Christian. He de- voted a large part of his time in instructing the Indians in the Christian religion and in actively furthering the interests of the Church of Eng land in Fairfield and throughout the colony. In granting a petition to his son in 1731, the General Assembly mentioned him " as a gentleman of great skill & practice." Ile was probably buried at Stratford. as no tombstone to his memory is found at Fairfield .*
1732. A serious question now arose among the townsmen of Fair- field in regard to the parsonage lands, which in previous years had been granted for the use of the Prime Ancient Society. The Congrega- tional societies of Green's Farms, Pequonnock and Greenfield claimed each a share in these lands. This was something to be considered aside from building meeting-houses, and trouble seemed to be at hand. At a town meeting held May 7. 1732, John Burr. Samuel Burr, Samuel Couch and Samuel Wakeman were appointed " a committee to inquire what parsonage land there was in Fairfield, what circumstances it was under, & make a report thereof to the next town-meeting."
About this time the inhabitants of Reading and Newtown petitioned the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts for a clergyman of the Church of England to be settled among them. The
* The author of this work some years since presented two handsome brass vases to St. Paul's Church, Fairfield, in memory of Dr. James Laborie.
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services of Mr. John Beach of Stratford, who was at that time on his way to England for holy orders, were requested for Reading and the sur- rounding towns.
It appears that Mr. Beach had been settled over the Congregational Church at Newtown eight years before, but had been led to change his religious views through the influence of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson, who had been his tutor at Yale College. He took with him letters to the Bishop of London of the highest recommendations. The petition from Reading and Newtown was signed by Lemuel Morehouse and others of the Church of England in those places. During his absence some malicious persons had stirred up a tribe of Indians living about three miles from Newtown to believe that upon his return he would rob them of their lands, and oblige them to support him. Upon his arrival home, however, he was soon able to quell the mischief done by his manly course and kindness to them. For want of a church to hold services in, he opened his own house, and " pressed on with a resolute and cheerful spirit, conciliating many of the Indians, & gathering around him a large congregation of his own countrymen."
Some months after his arrival he reported to the Society: "I have now forty-four communicants, & their number increases every time I administer the Communion. The people here have a high esteem for the Church, & are now greatly rejoiced that they have an opportunity of worshipping God in that way, & have begun to build two small churches, the one at Newtown & the other at Reading."*
Altogether, the Church of England at this time seemed to be in a prosperous condition. The little church at Fairfield proved no longer of sufficient size to seat the congregation, and measures were taken to enlarge its capacity by building galleries which would accommodate about two hundred people.
At the meeting of the General Assembly at Hartford, May 11th, Major John Burr was elected an Assistant, and Mr. Andrew Burr and Mr. Ebenezer Silliman representatives from Fairfield. Major John Burr was appointed Judge of the Fairfield County Court.
Notwithstanding all the provisions made against entertaining strangers in the towns, it was discovered that many such were employed, and sometimes cared for at the expense of the colony. To prevent this, a law was passed, save in cases of sickness or accident, that no person * Bishops Perry and Hawkes' Hist. Prot. Epis. Church, p. 150.
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after the toth of July should entertain any stranger over forty eight hours, and then at his own expense. Thomas Nash, Moses Dimon and Thomas Hill presented the case of one William Williams, who had had one of his legs amputated at Fairfield. The Assembly humanely granted £100 75. 9d. out of the colony treasury to be used by the selectmen of the town for the maintenance of the afflicted man, " in which case mercy was coupled with justice."
The fees of the Judges of the Superior Court were fixed at 15s. per diem, while on the circuit, and those of the Chief Judges Ezo more yearly Twenty shillings out of every trial was to go towards the salary of the judges, and if this fell short the remainder of their fees were to be col- lected out of the public treasury. The fees of jurors were increased to 24s.
Once again a cloud of sorrow and lamentation fell over the congre- gation of the Prime Ancient Society of Fairfiekl. In the month of Sep- tember the Rev. Mr. Webb had gone to a place called Unity, where he was taken ill and died. His body was brought to Fairfield on the fol- lowing day.
Mr. Webb was ordained at Fairfield on the 15th of August. 1604. He had served as a faithful pastor for thirty-eight years. His long life of usefulness in the town, and for the interests of Yale College, as well as the changes which from time to time occurred in the separation of no less than four parishes from his congregation, have already been related. Reverently and tenderly his sorrowing parishioners laid his venerable remains in the Burial Hill graveyard. He left a widow and large family to mourn his loss .*
In October the Rev. Noah Hobart, who. as a colleague, had been a staff and support to Mr. Webb, was called to be his successor in the pas- toral office by a vote of the Society.
The following interesting record of the events which took place at this time is recorded in the first extant parish records of Christ Church. by the Rev. Noah Hobart :
1733. " At a meeting of ye Brethren, & of ye Communicants of ye Church in ye Prime Society in Fairfield on Wednesday ye 17. Day of Janti'ry A D 1733
Deacon William Hill chosen moderator. Fbenezer Silliman chosen Scribe
Put to vote at sd. meeting. whether ye Church make choice of ye Rev Mr Nual Hobart for ye head & pastor ; & past in ye affirmative-Nom. Com'tee.
* Webb, Genealogy, Ilist. of Fairfield, Vol. 1, p. 420.
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" Put to vote at said meeting, whether ye ordination of ye said Mr. Hobart be attended on Wednesday ye 7. day of February next ; & passed in the affirmative. Nom. Com'tee.
" At sd. meeting also Andrew Burr Esqr., Deacon Lothrop Lewis, & Mr. Eben'zer Silliman were chosen a Committee to call a Council to ordain ye sd. Rev. Mr. Hobart on sd. day.
" The Consociation of the County of Fairfield set at Fairfield February the 6. & 7. 1733, at the desire of the Church of the Prime Society in said Place, & ordain a Pastor over them.
Present from Danbury the Rev. Mr. Seth Shove, & Mr. Francis Bernham messenger. -Woodbury, the Rev. Mr. Antony Stoddard & Capt. Joseph Winn, messenger .- Stratfield, the Rev. Mr. Samuel Cooke & Major John Burr, messenger .- Ridgefield, the Rev. Thomas Hawly & James Benedick Esqr., messenger .- Southbury, the Rev. Mr. John Graham & Lieut. Andrew Heman messenger .- Norwalk, the Rev. Mr. Moses Dick- inson & Capt. Joseph Platt messenger .- Stratford, the Rev. Mr. Hezekiah Gold & Deacon Robert Walker messenger .- Stamford, the Rev. Mr. Ebenezer Wright & Capt. Jonathan Hoit, messenger .- Greenfield, the Rev. Mr. John Goodsell & Deacon Daniel Burr mes- senger .- Unity, the Rev. Mr. Richardson Minor & Lieut Joseph Nichols messenger. -Horseneck, the Rev. Mr. Abraham Todd & Lieut. Ebenezer Mead messenger .- New- town, the Rev. Mr. Elisha Kent & Mr. Joseph Peet, messenger .- Green's Farms, Capt. Samuel Couch, messenger.
" The Rev. Mr. Cooke was chosen moderator, & the Rev. Mr. Dickinson, scribe. The Rev. Mr. Stoddard desired to Preach on the Present occasion-The committee of the society produced in council the Doings of said society, by which it appears that Mr. Noah Hobart, a candidate for the ministry, who for some time had been laboring among theni, has a unanimous call of ye said society, to the work of the ministry in s'd place.
A copy of the Doings of the Church of sd. society was likewise offered in Council, by which they likewise agree in the sd. society in their call to ye sd. Mr. Hobart to be their Pastor. Mr. Hobart produced a Certificate under the hand of sundry ministers; who, from their personal acquaintance with the sd. Mr. Hobart, do signify his being one of a virtuous conversation in full communion with their churches, & of desirable ministerial accomplishments .- The Council, after a serious & impartial examination are well satis- fied with Mr. Hobart, both in respect of his orthodoxy & ministerial qualifications, & do hereby concur with the sd. society & Church in respect to their motion .- Voted by the Council that the Rev. Mr. Stoddard perform ye prayer, by which the sd. Mr. Hobart may be set apart to the work of the ministry. That the Charge be given by the Rev. Mr. Cooke, the moderator; that the Rev. Mr. Hawly perform the first prayer, & the Rev. Mr. Graham the last; & that the Right Hand of Fellowship be given by the Rev. Mr. Shove,- and the ordination was attended accordingly.
From the minutes of the Council.
NOAH HOBART." *
It was the custom in the early days of the settlement of Connecticut on the evening after a minister had been elected over a church for the young people to give an election ball. This ball was honored with the presence of the minister of the church and all the dignitaries of the town. But as time passed these balls were looked upon with discredit, as frivo-
* Fairfield Christ's Church Parish. Records.
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lous and unbecoming professing Christians; and for this reason they were discontinued about 1733. Our grave ancestors, no doubt, looked upon this expression of joyfulness on the part of the members of the church very much in the same light that Michel, the wife of King David. looked upon her husband when, clothed in his white linen ephod. he danced before the Lord and all the hosts of Israel with all his might. after he had returned from bringing the Ark of God from the house of Obed Edom into the city of David.
Again, a little later, in the month of June, is another entry of interest :
" At a meeting of the Brethren, the Communicants, June 1. 1733. upon Deacon Lewis declining to serve any longer at the Lord's Table, the Church chose Capt Mose Diren to succeed him. At the same time, Andrew Burr Esqr. was chosen to set & read the Palm NOAH HOBART. Pastor "
In the earliest days of the colony the seat of the ruling elder was immediately under the pulpit. A little further down sat the deacons. facing the congregation. The men sat on one side of the meeting house and the women on the other, while the boys had a place separate from them, with a tithing-man, appointed by law, to sit with them and keep them in order. As girls are not mentioned in the rules of seating, the natural conclusion to be drawn is that our grand-dames were modest and well-behaved from their childhood, and, therefore, were allowed to sit with their mothers.
The service consisted of extemporaneous prayers, reading from and explaining the Bible and singing from a metrical version of the Psalms. A sermon one hour in length, by an hour-glass, which stood on the pul- pit, was usually preached. The first versions of the Psalms used by the colonists were by Henry Ainsworth of Amsterdam, and by Stenhold and Hopkins. In 1640 The Bay Psalm Book, which was compiled by some of the leading ministers in New England. was introduced, and generally used in all the churches. The leading ministers in this publication were " Welde & Eliot, of Roxbury, & Mather of Dorchester."* It was issued from the press at Cambridge, and was the second book printed in British America. It also became of extensive use in Great Britain, especially in Scotland. The following lines are taken from this version :
" The heavens do declare The majesty of God :
* Palfrey's Ilistory of New England.
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Also the firmament shows forth His handiwork abroad. Day speaks to day ; knowledge Night hath to night declared ; There neither speech nor language is Where their voice is not heard."
Dr. Isaac Watt's version of the Psalms was not used until about the middle of the eighteenth century. For nearly a century " not more than ten different tunes, if so many, were used in public worship. Few con- gregations could sing more than five tunes, now known by the names of York, Hackney, Windsor, St. Mary's & Martyn.' *
All musical instruments were forbidden. Only the human voice was heard, pitched to the tuning-fork. The names of the tunes were called out by the precentor who led the singing, who sat in front of the pulpit facing the congregation, reading and singing the lines alternately.t Judge Nathan Gold occupied this place for some years in Fairfield. The introduction of a violin at last broke upon the grave questioning ears of the Puritan elders and deacons. Then came the flute, and finally the organ was restored to church worship.
The beautiful songs of David, with which he delighted to chant the praises of the God of Israel, found no room among the Puritan's songs of worship. His version in the Bible had been used by the Romanists and the Church of England, and with the desire to evade every appear- ance of forms connected with either of these churches the metrical ver- sion was introduced. Some of the latter psalms are very beautiful, but no poet has ever attained to the sweetness, the pathos and the sublimity of the inspired Psalmist of Israel.
It is a strange thought, and one worthy of reflection, that we Chris- tians of to-day do not aim in our songs of worship to look over the middle centuries to the church founded by the Almighty amid the thun- ders of Sinai, and to the beautiful ritual of David and Solomon. Are we, or were our Puritan ancestors, any wiser than the children of Light? But great improvements have taken place within a few years, and now we hear in the Congregational churches the Psalms of David chanted
* Palfrey's History of New England.
+ An amusing story is related of a Miss Ogden of Mill Plain, who, in the absence of the choir leader one Sunday, called out the tune Peterborough, giving the sound of Burr to the second syllable. A sleeping elder by the name of Peter Burr was suddenly awakened, and springing to his feet faced around to the choir in blank amazement, much to the surprise and amusement of many in the church.
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with a Christian fervor which carries us back to the white-robed choir of the Temple and the antiphonal responses of the Sons of Asaph.
The solemnity depicted upon the faces of our forefathers on the Sab- bath, not only out of regard to the day, but that the youth might be led to worship in the spirit of true holiness, was but the mute concentration of all known litanies into those few simple words, " Lord have mercy upon us miserable sinners! "
About this time the Rev. George Berkeley, Dean of Derby in Ire land, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, sent over one thousand volumes to Yale College, amounting in value to about five hundred pounds. The members of the Church of England were cheered at this time with the prospect of a Bishop, only to be bitterly discouraged in the end.
At the Treaty of Utrecht. in 1713, the French ceded certam lands in St. Kitts to the British crown. The good Queen Anne designed that £80,000 from the sale of these lands should be appropriated as a fund for the support of four bishops in America: but before her project could be carried out she died, and the matter was allowed to slumber for some years.
Dean Berkeley, however, called the attention of Sir George Walpole, first lord of the treasury and prime minister in the reign of George the Second, to the design of Queen Anne. After many importunities, Wal- pole reluctantly proposed to the House of Commons that £20.000 should be applied towards erecting a college at Bermuda. The grant was al- lowed, and with other encouragements, in the way of large subscriptions from personal friends, Dean Berkeley set out for America, with every confidence in the success of his enterprise.
He arrived at New Port, in Rhode Island, in the year 1720, with a charter from the Crown to found a college at Bermuda, the design of which was to educate scholars in theology and literature throughout British America, and to instruct the Indians in the Christian faith. He was so much better pleased with the advantages which Rhode Island offered than were to be found at Bermuda that, for a time, he seriously contemplated making it the seat of the college. Fearing, however, that this plan might interfere with the instructions of the Royal charter and the promised grant of money. he sailed for Bermuda, where with great patience he awaited the promised pledge of money from the prime min- ister. His faith, from the long delay of any reply to his appeals for this money, at last became somewhat shaken, which led him to make an ap-
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plication to the Bishop of London for some explanation, and relief from his mortifying situation. After several fruitless efforts by letter to gain any satisfaction from Walpole, the Bishop requested an interview, which was granted. For the sake of Dean Berkeley the Bishop pressed the Prime Minister for a definite answer as to whether the pledged sum of money would be paid. He received from the treacherous Walpole the following reply :
"If you put this question to me as a minister, I must & can assure you, that the money shall most undoubtedly be paid as soon as suits with public convenience ; but if you ask me as a friend, whether Dean Berkeley should continue in America, expecting the pay- ment of £20,000, I advise him by all means to return home to Europe, & to give up his present expectations."
This answer was a sad blow to the cherished project of Dean Berkeley, "This," says the Rev. Dr. E. E. Beardsley, "was the treacherous blow which felled to the dust what Sir James Mackintosh termed, 'a work of heroic, or rather godlike benevolence.' It was given by the same prime minister to whom belongs the deep disgrace of having de- feated the two noblest projects that ever were formed for the benefit of the American Church-the one for the erection of four Bishoprics in 1713, & the other for the establishment of a Missionary College in Bermuda in 1729. The whole amount of eighty thousands pounds, arising from the sale of the crown lands in St. Kitts, the obligation which rested upon a part of it having been thus unjustly released, was bestowed as a mar- riage portion upon the Princess Royal; & so the Government, for rea- sons of state, consented to the robbery of the Church."
Finding himself unable to carry out his noble scheme, Dean Berkeley returned with his family to- England; not, however, without leaving be- hind him such testimonials of the sincerity of his undertaking, and how near to his heart the design of enhancing the cause of Christianity in America had lain, as were in his power to bestow. While here a most happy and intimate friendship had existed between him and the Rev. Dr. Samuel Johnson of Stratford. They were men of kindred minds, of scholarly tastes and of benevolent undertakings; and both were de- voted soldiers of Christ. They were, therefore, particularly fitted to enjoy the companionship of each other, which existed for a space of two years and a half.
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