USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Harwinton > The history of Harwinton, Connecticut > Part 6
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28 Aug., 1738. Att. A. Meeting &c at the Hous of Mr Jsreal Mer- remons August the : 28 : 1738 :-
Uoted that M' Benjamin Catlin Daniel Messinger and daniel Ph[e]lps Be a Commeete to Send to the Neighbouring Minsters forthere Assist- tance Jn Ordaining of the rend M' Andrew Bartholomew and also to make what Prouison is Nessesary for the Ordainnation*
In the Town Records, Book I., Mr Bartholomew's acknowl- edgments of salary received show that his official year began and ended on 4 October. His first acknowledgment is of, as he expressed it, "the Money Part on the account of My Ministry at & untill October the fourth one thousand Seuen Hundred & thirty Nine." The other 'Part' thus implied was labor on his land which, as several votes of the Town show, was stipulated to be given him annually by the male members of his flock.
2 Ap., 1739. Att a meeting of the Proprietors of the East Part of Harwinton Holden by Adjournment att the house of M' Daniel Messen- ger Jn Harwinton on the 1st Monday of Aprill Anno Domini 1739. Voted y+ Capt™ George Wyllys, Mr Benjamin Catlin, & M' Dan" Mes- senger Be a Committee Jn the Behalf of the Proprietors of the East Part of Harwinton To Give a Good & Lawfull Deed to the Revd Mr Andrew Bartholomew & to His Heirs & Assigns for Ever of the Homelott that Was Laid Out for the First Ordaind Minister that Should Settle in the Work of the Ministry Jn Harwinton
6 Dec., 1744. Whereas the Proprietors of East harwinton at their Seuerall Meetings [voted] to giue one hundred Acres of land to the first Ordained Minister in sd town upon Condittion of his Continuing Regularly in the Ministry as at the Beginning with respect to Princi- ples for the term of five years after his ordination & Chose A : Commit- tee to lay out sª Land according to his Choice as may be seen in ye uotes in the Proprietors Book at their Particular Meetings Dated September 21 : 1731 [?] : and february : 21 : 17378 : march 22: 1738-which term of time was Compleated in october ye 4th 1743 Pursuant therefore to sd Uotes we the Subscribers Capt Daniell Messenger Ensign Jonathan
*Harwinton Records, B. I.
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Hopkins deacor jacob Benten: & : m' Cyprian webster Being of the Num- ber of the Comtee-appointed to lay out Said Land [,etc .- Said Com- mittee find that said quantity of land belongs to] the Reund M' Andrew Bartholmew who was the first Ordaind minister [: and they proceeded] 18th of february Ad 1745-6 [to survey and lay out said quantity] and also 12 acres 1-2 [addition] we have allowed for Roughness of land*
Town Records and Proprietors' Records, in the extracts above given, impart the date of the first pastor's induction, 4 Oct., 1738. Compared with other Churches in Litchfield county, the Congregational Church in Harwinton has a priority the same, as to its settling its first pastor, with that before specified (, p. 56), as to its formation. Precedence or subsequence of this kind helps no one greatly, harms no one much, is related distantly to one's responsibleness; but there is something through which, as duly regarded or not, persons within this Church and persons outside of all Churches are sure to find chief benefit or direst injury ; it is a matter which takes and keeps a direct hold of the conscience, presenting there the sort of precedence that all men are to seek for as vitally momentous to them ; for to all men is the favor granted, on all is the obligation imposed, of rising daily to some higher position on that scale which exhibits the need of, as well as measures and announces, moral worth.
Mr. Bartholomew's pastorate in Harwinton was by years long- er than any which succeeded it there. It left scanty historic ma- terials. There is in the Church's possession no account of the Church's condition and proceedings in his time. The Town Records have supplied most that is known of him. As these furnish no ground for a different conclusion, the inference seems to be warranted that, until his ministry drew toward its end, the course of things relative to him and the Church and the Town, moved on with a general uniformity and smoothness. Proba- bly, no peculiar sorrows saddened his mind and no extra-labo- rious exertions prematurely broke the springs of his energy. But these at length give way. His relation as pastor ceases. A year or two subsequently, all his relationships on earth termi- nate.
26 Nov., 1772. Voted to Give M' David Ely a call to preach three or four Sabbaths on probation
*East Harwinton Records.
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1 Dec., 1772. The Committee Report that M' David Ely Would Not tarry to preach on the above [not mentioned] proposals. Voted to send for M' David Ely* to come and preach With us-Voted that Ste. phen Butler Should apply To M' Ely
23 Feb., 1773. Voted that Committee Should Apply to M' Robert Hubbard Further Voted that If sd Committee Could Not Obtain Mr Hubbert that they should Apply to some one Else .... to Supply the pulpit -- -
25 May, 1773. Voted to Give M' Robert Hubbard* a call to come And Settle In the work of the Ministry
Voted to Discharge the Rev' M' Andrew Barthol" From Giving in a List During his life-Provided Sd Revd M' Bartholomew Discharges The Town from paying him his Saleryt
1 June, 1773. The proposal, made in the last vote above quoted, was accepted by Mr. Bartholomew ; as appears by the agreement which in full is recorded.t
7 Sept., 1773. Voted the Committee Shall apply To M' David Per- ry to preach with them The Winter Comeingt
21 Sept., 1773. The action, specified in the vote last quoted, was renewed.
11 Oct., 1773. Voted the Society Committee Shall apply to M' Da- vid Perry to Settle In the work of the Ministry In the Town of har- winton
10 Jan., 1774. Voted to Discharge The Revª Mr Andrew Barthol™ From paying any taxes or Rates whatsoever During Life on Conditions He Continues in Harwintont
2 Feb., 1774. A vote was passed providing that Mrs Bar- tholomew, if she should survive her husband, should in like manner be exempted.t
" ... Dismissed from his relations to the Society, by an ecclesias- tical council convened for that purpose, Jan. 26th, 1774,"+ the remnant of the first pastor's life was here spent where, 6 March, 1776, he died.±
Mr Bartholomew was born, at Wallingford, in 1714. He graduated at Yale College in 1731. No account appears of the theological studies he may have pursued, neither any of the place or occupation he may have been in, between his leaving
*See, in Appendix, Note DD.
+Ecclesiastical Society Records, Book I.
#See, in Appendix, Note EE.
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college and his ordination. Of two anecdotes related respect- ing him, the one* imports that he was, in personal appear- ance, not prepossessing; the other,-referring to his having without opportunity for premeditation preached a sermon, on an occasion when other ministers present had declined to preach, on the ground that they were then without preparations for such a service, -- implies, perhaps, that he had a ready mind. He seldom preached otherwise than extempore. In the discussions that, during the middle part of the last century, were prevalent in New England, in respect of what is with more familiarity than exactness called 'the half-way covenant system,' Mr. Bartholomew was known to be decidedly and practically averse to the views ably presented in this vicinity by the Rev. Dr. Bellamy. Against Dr. Bellamy's positions on that subject, Mr. Bartholomew pub- . lished a pamphlet in 1769. What can be recollected of this production is that it exhibits a considerable degree of mental acuteness, without acerbity of temper; and that it indicates the author to have been more inured to thinking than exercised in literary composition. He was the author of another published treatise, the title of which is: Some Remarks upon the claims and doings of the Consociation [, etc]. It was one of the mul- titude of 'Narratives,' with dissertations, called forth by the cir- cumstances attending the ordination of the Rev. Dr. Dana, at Wallingford, in 1758. If from perusal of the first mentioned pamphlet, and from conversations respecting Mr Bartholomew, had with the aged here who remembered him, were received cor- rect impressions as to his theology, the tone of it was by no means too rigid. His character may be indicated by saying : While he "saw that wisdom excelleth folly," and said of pru- dence, "My soul followeth hard after thee," yet he loved also
*He is said, on his return from a journey, made in the early part of his connec- tion with Harwinton, to have related the incident, and the compliment referred to, with an appropriate satisfaction :
While one day, in a place at some distance from Harwinton, riding on horseback, as was the style then, a lady, journeying by the like mode of conveyance, having overtaken him, and entered freely into conversation with him, and found, though she knew not whom she was talking with, that he belonged to Harwinton, imme- diately rejoined, "Well, the Harwinton minister, they say, is an exTRAORDinary ordinary man."
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what he regarded as truth; and, aiming to be right in all things, on points of Christian doctrine which are vital he was deemed to be sound.
Previously to the last year or two of Mr. Bartholomew's min- istry, the temporal business connected with the support of relig- ious institutions here was, though not in the best sense, a 'public concern.' At first it was attended to by the inhabitants casually gathered or 'met in convention.' After the incorporation of the Town it was transacted, with the municipal concerns generally, by 'the voters in Town Meeting assembled ;' and so the record of it, if made anywhere, was made in 'the Town Book.' Such a custom, as viewed now, is unseemly. "The things that are God's" mixed up with " the things that are Cesar's," we look on as a jumble. Incongruous, almost in every respect undesirable, still such was the usage which formerly was general in New England. In Harwinton after the Ecclesiastical Society* had been formed some ten or twelve years and meantime had, for aught that appears to the contrary, done its proper work reason- ably well, the old method seemed to many persons to be the better one. These had so long been habituated to it, that they would have it, if possible, again. A Town Meeting to act on the matter was called, when it appeared that the earnestness of their efforts was greater than their success.+
THE SECOND PASTOR.
There was appointed, 2 Feb., 1774, a "Committee to Call in an Ordaining Counsel to Settle M' David Perry In the work of the Ministry In this Town on the 15th Day of Instant February 1774."# On that day the Council met and he was ordained.§ The call he had received to become a pastor here, was given to him more than three month's before Mr. Bartholomew's dismis- sion. His ordination occurred in less than three weeks after Mr.
*The name has been changed .- Harwinton First Society Book of Records Nour 26th, 1772, is inscribed in its First Book.
+Harwinton Records, Book III.
#Ecclesiastical Society Records, Book I. §Church Records, Book I.
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Bartholomew's dismission. A like call made within a year pre- viously to two other gentlemen, both had declined to accept. Why these declined is not apparent. That Mr. Perry was un- willing to be a colleague with Mr. Bartholomew seems manifest. The unwillingness was not without its reason. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed ?" The 'half-way covenant' practice was here. It was known to be at variance with that which the earliest Churches of New England had followed .* Let persons not scandalous in their lives but profess, in a way ready to hand, a speculative or historical assent to Christianity ; then solely on the ground of that profession, the rite of baptism should be administered to their children. Mr. Bartholomew had strenuously defended this practice. " And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest." The result was, there pertained to the Church individuals not a few that might have been termed 'lobby members,' persons attached about it rather than admitted into it, excrescences adhering to it, not ingredients, not "comely parts." Among these, unless their peculiar 'profession ' should be excepted, a form submitted to avowedly "for the sake of advantage," there was not, generally, found even so much as 'pretension to piety.' Such was the condition of things which the new pastor had to meet. The cause of it he discerned, and sought at the outset to remove. If, when Mr. Perry was induc- ted into office, there was between him and his people, an 'im- plied understanding' that he would not forbid to be brought to baptism children whose parents sustained towards the Church relations of the equivocal sort that has been described ; so there was an 'express agreement' to the effect that he might by his preaching and in other persuasory methods show to such parents, and to whom else he would, that those relations were wrong.+ ' The articles of stipulation,' designed to be " an end of all strife," proved to be only a 'plan of union ;' for the sequel showed that the people's attachment to their preferences was not less strong than the pastor's suasory power, and that his views were capable of modification in a way that tended little to unite him and them
*See, in Appendix, Note FF.
+Ecclesiastical Society Records, Book I.
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in 'bands of harmony.' When the time came that, acting con- scientiously, he could no longer apply the baptismal ordinance to the infant offspring of non-communicants, he told them so. By what he said, he stood. Then was trouble both to him and to them. 'The covenant-owners' considered him to have be- come a 'covenant-breaker.' The matter was by them stated and acted upon thus :
28 Sept., 1778 .... there is a difficulty Arose in the Society by Reason of the Revd M' David Perry Refusing to Baptise Children of those par- ents who were in Covenant when sd Revd Mr Perry Ordained in the work of the Ministry
Voted it is the Minds of the Society that the Revd Mr David Perry is holden by a Covenant he has made with his People to Baptise the Chil- dren of those person who was in Covenant when the Revd Mr Perry was Ordained and Look upon it the Duty of the Revd Mr Perry to do the Same*
Then "the fire burned;" for in the records of the Church, as well as in those above cited from, is shown that there were here very inflammable and combustible things. Details need not be given. The gist of the matter is that error and truth were in conflict, and by such persons as, mistaking the former for the latter, did battle for error as if it had been truth, 'the irrepressible conflict' was made the more severe. Councils and Consociations, Refer- ences, Associations, trials, examinations, censures, excommuni- cations, were, in a long series, the order or disorder of the day. The general state of things was a sad one, though, throughout the whole of this great moral storm, a certain preparation was making-not only for the return of bright hours, but-for the coming of even better seasons than had as yet been experienced here. These, as a thing of course, the pastor was not to tarry to behold. The first considerable lull in the strife may have ap- peared at his dismission which occurred, in concurrence with advice of other churches, 23 Dec., 1783.+
*Ecclesiastical Society Records, Book I.
+Preceding pastoral changes here in subsequent times, there have been conflicts of interest and of feeling from which a 'large amount of heat' was evolved, and in which measures were employed such as, on review, could not be pronounced right. Of those controversies, as well as of that in Mr. Perry's day, the particulars would have been furnished, had there been a reasonable prospect afforded that the presen-
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After the termination of his labors in this Church, the Rev. Mr. Perry was settled, the second pastor there, in Richmond, Ms., 25 Aug., 1784. From that relation, in which he was both happy and successful, he was dismissed, 1 Jan., 1816. He died there, 7 June, 1816, "at the age of seventy-one years."
Mr. Perry was born at Stratford (, Huntington), in 1745, and graduated at Yale College in 1772. Where or with whom he pursued the study of theology, does not appear. In manners pleasant, his mien, the aged (in 1837) said, was prepossessing. His person was portly. Those who knew him here, represent him as having been familiar in the style of his preaching, but earnest and pungent, and strenuous in insisting on those cardi- nal scriptural truths which are more or less accurately embodied in what has for some centuries past been denominated Calvinism. He seems, like Paul, to have said, in reference to every thing righteously permissible, "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some;" and, equally like Paul, to have said, in reference to any thing not righteously permissible, "We gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you." Though, for a season, the proper warmth of kind affections towards him was diminished, and the improper warmth of unkind affections to- wards him was increased; though the prescriptions of courtesy and the requisitions of Christianity were alike disregarded when, in respect to him, bitter words instead of sweet ones were spo- ken, and the promised means of living were withheld; yet it at last appeared, that he had secured from many of the people their permanent esteem, so that, on his removal to the sphere of an easier work that invited him, he took from them "a letter of Re- commendation to other Churches."* This, certainly, did not, at one time, appear a thing likely to be done. And yet, why
tation of such items would be likely to have, for readers in general, a sufficient pre- ponderance of good. The fact that means for exhibiting such details are furnisha- ble will, with thoughtful minds, serve to hold in check those tendencies from which come wrong contests and wrong methods of carrying on right contests. Indeed all men should at all times remember that there is appointed for them, in a future life, an impartial investigation which "shall try every man's work, of what sort it is."
*Church Records, Book I .; under date of 27 April, 1784.
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should one wonder that it was done? It had become to his hearers beyond questioning, that his leading motto was, "I seek not yours, but you ;" that when he called out to them as a " son of thunder," it was to awaken only salutary terror; and that when he did "rebuke with all authority," the severest lacerations of mind which he made showed that "faithful are the wounds of a friend." As we look back to Mr. Perry's ministry in Har- winton, through the light that its consequences after unfolding for more than two generations throw back upon it, we see that, notwithstanding the turbulence that attended it, the, for those days, premature close to which it came, and even the division that followed it, his ministry here was, in its main character and abiding results, eminently a successful one; since by him, under God's supervision, was laid a foundation for that peculiar degree of prosperity "in spiritual things " which has, in later times, been experienced here. Such a benignant issue may ever be expected to pastoral labors respecting which, while they perform them, other ministers, like the apostle with his fellow-workers, can say truly, "Commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."*
Before Mr. Perry's pastorate in Harwinton had closed, there sprang up in the Town a 'Separate' Congregational Society or Church. Exclusive of children, and a very few other per- sons, it may be; that Church and that Society were, probably, the same individuals viewed as in different relations. A little later, the preachings, or at least the meetings, of Baptists were attended here. What is known of these operations, is the fol- lowing :
Harwinton Octobr AD 1783
I John Brooker profess myself to be A Strict Congregationel- John Brookert
*Long after the remarks above presented were Written, their writer first saw the notice following :
"The religious character of Mr. Perry was such as to furnish a bright example to every gospel minister. He was eminent for his expressions and daily exhibitions of piety, and eminently devoted and faithful as a minister of Christ."-History of the County of Berkshire, Massachusetts.
+He was born at Saybrook, about 1750. "John Brooker, sone of John & Sarah Brooker, was born ye 21st of July, Anno Domini, 1718."-Records of Saybrook Ct., in N. E. His. Gen. Reg.
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These may Certify that the above Signer hath attended the Strict Congregation* Meeting the Year past- James Bacon Elder
Recd the above for Record Octobr 1783 Test Nath1 Bull, then Society Clerk
Harwinton April 23ª 1785
Jacob Catling for Various Reasons him moving thereto hath Conformed himself to the Society Called Separtes* in this town & made Declara- tion that he is of that perswasion
Dan1 Catlin Jun' Clerk
Harwinton September 5th 1785-
This may Certify that Timothy Catlin has Constantly attended on the Seperate* Baptist Meeting in Harwinton & Communicated of his Sub- stance to the Support of those that preach the Gospel for near two years Last past
Certifyed by Sam1 Meacham \ Members Dan11 Sherman S of sª Meeting
The above is a true Copy of the original
Test Dan1 Catlin Clerkt
The blending of the two denominational names, in the last quoted Certificate, is an indication that, in this place as in seve- ral other places some, who at first became Separatists, afterwards became Baptists. These may have coalesced with the Baptists who once were at Burlington, or with those whose organization longer remained in New Hartford. Most or all of those sece- ders who stopped short of the second variation, are believed to have returned to their original connection.
As nearly related to the pastorate of Mr. Perry in Harwinton, there is to be noticed another movement in which a larger num- ber of persons engaged. That 'sore,' in our body ecclesiastical which Mr. Perry had found, and which by his clerical 'surgery,' necessary and kind though severe, had indeed been very thor- oughly 'probed,' was not of the sort that are said to 'heal by the first intention.' Hurts in such bodies often exhibit, before the remedy prevails, such phenomena as, in bodies human, are presented by 'gunshot wounds.' While he remained here, there was 'much swelling inwardly' with palpable 'throbs.' After he withdrew hence, there was 'external discharge' with 'fracture' extensively visible. His next successor in the pastoral office
*See, in Appendix, Note GG.
+Ecclesiastical Society Records, Book I.
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here when he, thirty years after the occurrence, referred to this same thing, spoke of it as " a formidable schism." "More than one fourth of the inhabitants,"* then in Harwinton, left their connection with its original religious Society. In that number were males, part or all of whom had been members of the Con- gregational Church, forty-six persons who, by Certificates, were set forth as being, 26 May, 1784,+ Episcopalians. For their worship according to the method of that denomination, there was, sometime afterward, erected an edifice which stood a few rods due south of the Congregational one. As prominent indi- viduals in that Society have been mentioned Alexander Alford, Luman Bishop, Lt. Levi Munson, Mark Prindle, Capt. Ezekiel Scoville. There ministered to that Society, ministering at the same time to other Societies in the vicinity, Rev. Ashbel Bald- win, Rev. Alexander Viets Griswold, D.D. (, afterwards bishop of the 'eastern diocese' formerly existing), Rev. Frederick Hol- comb, D.D., Rev. [James?] Nichols, Rev Roger Searle. Dr. Holcomb ceased to officiate in Harwinton, for the first time, in 1820. About the same period, the Church building which that Society had used was subjected to demolition, and a portion of the materials were employed in the construction of a small house of worship, occupied by Baptists and Methodists which, in 1838, underwent a reconstruction at Bakerville (, New Hartford). Since worship after the Episcopal method was commenced in the structure erected (above the Town Hall) in 1840, the min- isters here of that denomination have been, successively, Rev. Messrs. Frederick Holcomb, D.D., Henry Zell, William H. Fris- bie, H. V. Gardner, Timothy Wilcoxson, Orrin Holcomb, James Morton. The latter gentleman, though resident still in Harwin- ton, has for the last few years preached in Plymouth (East Church), and the Episcopal church edifice here has been closed.
THE THIRD PASTOR.
Between the removal of the second Congregationalist pastor and the induction of his next official successor here, several years intervened.
*Religious Intelligencer, 11 April, 1818.
+Ecclesiastical Society Records, Book I.
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6 Dec., 1784. A committee of the Society were directed to "apply to Mr. Alexander to Supply the Pulput the insuing Win- ter.">X It is probable, that he had been doing that service dur- ing the preceding summer and autumn, and that he continued doing it through the greater part of the subsequent year. One cannot, except by that supposition, account either for the third pastor's statement,t that Mr. Alexander preached here " a few years afterwards," i. e. after the second pastor's exit hence, or for the impression which others have had, that Mr. Alexander preached here "nearly three years." The true account may be, that his ministerial labors in Harwinton extended through a large portion of the year 1784, through either the whole or the largest part of the year 1785, and into the beginning, perhaps, of the year 1786. The Rev. Caleb Alexander, after being at New Marlborough, Ms., its second pastor sixteen months precise- ly, a not long pastorate now, short to a prodigy then, had been dismissed thence in consequence of much the same thing as oc- casioned the dismission of Harwinton's second pastor,-leading the Church, as before his induction there he did, to abandon their 'half-way covenant' practices.} Having left New Marl- borough in June, 1782, and having been installed at Mendon, Ms., in March, 1786, he may have ministered here as has above been indicated. Whatever was the time of his stay in Harwin- ton, his ministrations here were such as were then needed, such as his character and his previous experience had fitted him to give, and such in their influence as God deigned to bless; the appropriate "work of an evangelist." The third pastor in Har- winton, writing in 1790, says of him: "It appears, that by the Assistance of the Rev'd Caleb Alexander§ the Church became more harmonious and united by the different parties making a degree of mutual Concessions to each other-especially [was con- cession made] on the side of the Excommunicated. And a wri- ting was formed-upon the subscribing of which all the excom- municated who were not then present might again be admitted
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