USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > Redding > The history of Redding, Connecticut : from its first settlement to the present time > Part 12
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"I do most heartily thank the venerable Society for their liberal sup- port, and beg that they will accept of this, which is, I believe, my last bill, viz: £325, which, according to former custom, is due. [Probably at £50 per annum for six years and a half, or from 1775.] At this age I cannot well hope for it, but I pray God I may have an opportunity to explain myself with safety; but must conclude now with Job's expres- sion : 'Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends !'"
Tradition has preserved a few incidents in his experience during the War of Independence :
"In the autumn of 1775, several officers of the militia, having collect- ed a number of soldiers and volunteers from the different towns in West- ern Connecticut, undertook to subdue the tories. They went first to Newtown, where they put Mr. Beach, the Selectmen, and other prin- cipal inhabitants, under strict guard, and urged them to sign the Articles of Association, prescribed by the Congress at Philadelphia. When they could prevail upon them neither by persuasion nor by threats, they ac- cepted a bond from them, with a large pecuniary penalty, not to take up arms against the Colonies, and not to discourage enlistments into the American forces."
IO2
HISTORY OF REDDING.
Shortly after the declaration of Independence (i. e. July 23d, 1776) the Episcopal clergy of the colony fearing to continue the use of the Liturgy as it then stood-praying for the king and royal family-and conscientiously scrupulous about violating their oaths and subscriptions, resolved to suspend the public exercise of their ministry. "All the churches were thus for a time closed, except those under the care of Mr. Beach. He continued to officiate as usual" (as himself testi- fies) during the war. "Though gentle as a lamb in the intercourse of private life, he was bold as a lion in the discharge of public duty; and, when warned of personal violence if he persisted, he declared that he would do his duty, preach, and pray for the King till the rebels cut out his tongue."
Whether the following were separate incidents, or are but different versions of one and the same, is uncertain: It is related that a squad of soldiers marched into his church in Newtown, and threatened to shoot him if he prayed for the king; but when, regardless of their threats, he went on, without so much as a tremor in his voice, to offer the forbidden supplications, they were so struck with admiration for his courage, that they stacked their arms and remained to listen to the sermon.
A band of soldiers entered his church during service, seized him, and declared that they would kill him. He entreated that, if his blood must be shed, it might not be in the house of God. Thereupon they took him into the street, where an axe and block were soon prepared. "Now, you old sinner (said one), say your last prayer." He knelt down and pray- ed: "God bless King George, and forgive all his enemies and mine, for Christ's sake." One of the mob then pleaded to "let the old fellow go, and take some younger man instead."
The following is familiar to the people of Redding Ridge parish. The old church of 1750 had a single door in the centre, and the pulpit and chancel were at the west end, opposite the door. A squad of sol- diers, seven in number (hired, it is said, by 'Squire Betts with a gallon of French brandy to shoot Mr. Beach), gathered before the open door of the church, and from one of them a bullet was fired which lodged in one of the ribs of the sounding-board, a foot or more above the head of the venerable preacher. As the congregation sprang to their feet in un- feigned consternation to rush from the church, he quieted them by say- ing: "Don't be alarmed, brethren. Fear not them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell;" and then proceeded with his dis- course as if nothing had happened.
The "History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut" informs us. that "the Redding Association of Loyalists was a strong body, whose secret influence was felt throughout the mission of the venerable pastor ;"
103
HISTORY OF REDDING.
but how or in what way that influence was exerted, does not appear. The "Sons of Liberty" have been already mentioned in Mr. Beach's re- ports.
After the death of Mr. Beach in 1782, the Revs. Richard Samuel Clarke and Andrew Fowler officiated here alternately for a short time. Clarke emigrated to Nova Scotia with others of the missionaries, and many of the members of their flocks, in 1784 or 1785. He returned on a visit in October, 1786. The discontinuance of the stipends of the mis- sionaries by the S. P. G., whose charter restricted its benefactions to the British provinces and plantations, was a severe blow to the Episcopal churches, which had been already greatly weakened by the effects of the War of the Revolution. Mr. Beach's congregation were exceptions to the general rule, in that they increased while others diminished in num- bers; but whether few or many of the Redding Churchmen formed a part of the thirty thousand Loyalists who, Hawkins says, emigrated to the British provinces from New England and New York, it is impossible to ascertain. It is not probable, however, that there were half that number of Churchmen in all New England at the close of the war.
The next name on the list of ministers of this parish is that of Tru- man Marsh in 1785, who "visited the Parish every third Sunday"; but, as he was not ordained till 1790, he must have been only a licensed lay- reader, though it is not improbable that he preached-as some of that class did, in those days when there was a dearth of ordained ministers. In 1794, the Rev. David Perry, M. D., minister of the parishes of Red- ding, Ridgefield, and Danbury, in consequence of some reports to his disadvantage as a cleryman, and of some errors in regard to baptism, was suspended from the ministry, and the next year, at his own request, deposed. He returned to the practice of medicine in Ridgefield.
The revenues of the Church were gathered after the Revolution much as they were before. "The Episcopal parishes were taxed to build churches and to sustain religious services, and the Diocesan Con- vention assessed the parishes to provide for the Bishop's Fund. Each parish was required to make an annual return of what was called the 'Grand Levy'-that is, its taxable list according to its last enrolment -. and upon this return rested the right of a lay delegate to his seat in the convention. The resolution which fixed this rule was adopted in 1803. The first published Grand Levy appeared in the Journal of 1806; and from that time onward for fifteen years the roll of the lay delegates was accompanied by the taxable list of the several parishes which they repre- sented. If the list of any parish exceeded ten thousand dollars, such parish was entitled to . two delegates." The Grand Levy of the Redding Parish in 1806 was $12,960.
"It is interesting to note the changes since that period in the relative
104
HISTORY OF REDDING.
wealth of the Church in Connecticut. In those early days, as reported, Litchfield was stronger than Waterbury or Hartford, Woodbridge was stronger than Meriden, Huntington than Derby, Redding than Bridge- port, and Newtown than New Haven."
The longest pastorate since Mr. Beach was that of his great-grand- son, the Rev. Lemuel B. Hull, who resigned his charge in 1836, after twelve years' service. "In 1815, a fund of a little more than $3,000 was raised."
On the second Tuesday in October, 1833-the year in which the present church edifice was built-the Annual Convention of the Diocese at Norwich failed to organize for want of two more lay delegates to form a quorum. "On the morning of that day, at three o'clock, the steam- boat New England, on her passage from New York to Hartford, having on board seventy-one persons, burst both her boilers near Essex, and eight persons were immediately killed and thirteen seriously injured. Among those who were fatally injured were Mr. John M. Heron and Dr. Samuel M. Whiting, lay delegates from Christ Church, Redding; and they were within a mile of their landing-place at the time of the accident."
In the spring of that year several members of the parish withdrew by certificate ; among these was John Meeker, clerk.
At a parish meeting, October 25th, 1834, the vestry were instructed "to take proper [legal] steps to procure the Records of the Parish from the hands of the late Clerk, without delay." At another meeting in De- cember following, the agents of the parish (James Sanford, Jr., and Charles Beach) were authorized to "prosecute to final judgment such suits as they should deem necessary for the recovery of the books, records, funds or other property of the Society, before any Court proper to try the same."
In October, 1835, fifty dollars were appropriated from the parish treasury "to enable the agents to carry on the suit commenced against the heirs of John Meeker, deceased." Some money was thus recovered, but the records have never yet been found.
In 1847 the old parish debt of $870 (incurred in the building of the church in 1833) was paid by subscription.
In 1850 the parish fund, about $2,700, which before had been held as a loan by members of the parish, was by a considerable effort, and against the desire and judgment of the minority, collected and invested in the stock of the Fairfield County Bank. The same year the church edifice was altered and repaired, at an expense of $380.25. "On Advent Sunday" of this year, "the last Sunday of my ministry" (says the Rev. Joseph P. Taylor), "the sum of $600 was collected at the Offertory for the purpose of building a new parsonage."
IO5
HISTORY OF REDDING.
"The above-named sum," says the Rev. Orsamus H. Smith, his suc- cessor, "having been put upon the plate in written pledges, there re- mains of them unredeemed in April, 1853, from fifty to one hundred dollars," which being "part of the money relied upon for the building, the Vestry were obliged to borrow it, and it remains a debt upon the parish. The new house was finished in October, 1851, and im- mediately occupied by the family of Mr. Smith.
In 1858, says the Rev. W. W. Bronson: "The Glebe lot was very much improved by the purchase of a strip of land [on the west side] and the erection of a suitable fence, mainly through the exertions of the ladies of the parish."
In 1863 the organ was repaired, and the broken bell replaced by a new one of similar tone, from Meneeley's, at Troy.
In 1873 the church spire was repaired, and the old [English] weath- ercock, a relic of Colonial times (one of whose legs had been shot off by one of Tryon's soldiers in 1777), having persistently refused to remain upon his perch, was excused from further duty, and a gilded cross erect- ed in his place. The venerable bird, however, is still to be seen on one of the outbuildings of the great-grandson of the Rev. John Beach, in East Redding. The parsonage was adorned in 1874 with a new and spacious veranda, in 1876 with a set of blinds.
The noticeable incidents of the year 1879, were the destruction of the church sheds by fire on the evening of the 12th of May, and the acquisi- tion of a baptismal font of Italian marble, purchased with contributions of the Sunday-school and other members of the parish, collected during the rectorship of the Rev. Mr. Kelley.
On July 6, 1888, the church having been enlarged and wholly reno- vated, was reopened by Bishop Williams, many of the clergy and a great congregation being in attendance. About 1891 a vocalion organ with two manuals and pedals was added.
LIST OF MINISTERS OFFICIATING IN THE PARISH OF CHRIST CHURCH, REDDING.
FROM TO
Rev. Henry Caner 1727. .. · I732.
John Beach.
Oct., 1732. Mar. 19, 1782.
" Andrew Fowler
" R. S. Clarke ... alt'nates 1782.
Truman Marsh 1795.
Officiated a short
. David Belden. 1786. time only, on ac- count of ill-health.
Ambrose Hull.
1789 . 1791.
46 David Perry, M. D
I79I. Susp'd Nov. 1794
David Butler. .
Jan. 20, 1799. 1804.
Elijah G. Plumb Jan. 1806. I&II ..
" Reuben Hubbard. 1812. I818.
Ambrose S. Todd, D. D 1820.
1823.
106
HISTORY OF REDDING.
FROM
TO
Rev. Lemuel B. Hull.
1824.
Feb. 23, 1836.
« Edward J. Darken, M. D
Aug. 1836.
Dec. 25, 1837.
" Charles Jarvis Todd.
June, 1838.
.Easter, 1842.
" William Atwill ...
May 8, 1842. :845.
« David H. Short, D. D.
Easter, 1845.
1846.
Abel Nichols ..
1846
.1847.
Joseph P. Taylor.
Easter, 1847
Dec., 1850.
Orsamus H. Smith.
Nov. 29, 1850 Mar. 31, 1853. ...
Abel Ogden. .
July 10, 1853. Died May 8, 1854
James Adams.
Autumn, 1854. Oct., 1856.
Wm. White Bronson.
1857.
1860.
Alfred Londerback.
May 25, 1861. Aug. 5, 1862.,
Henry Zell ..
March 12, 1863 Died Nov. 5, 1863,
¥ Wm. L. Bostwick.
Easter, 1864.
June 15, 1867.
John W. Hoffman.
Dec. 6, 1868.
Nov. 30, 1871.
Charles W. Kelley.
Jan. 5, 1873
April 30, 1876.
" Ximenus Alanson Welton July 1, 1877.
G. Morris Wilkins & others
Supply. .
Aug. 17, 1884.
Nov: 26, 1888.
Alexander Hamilton 1890.
" William A. Swan ..
Apr. 10, 1892.
September, 1899.
" Charles Thompson Caerr
Oct. 15, 1901.
June I, 1903.
William H. Jepson.
Oct. 15, 1903.
Now Rector
The number of communicants belonging to Christ Church, Redding, as reported at different periods, were :
In 1809
.55
. In 1860 59+
"
1810.
.63
¥
1863.
.55
18II.
67
1866.
.45
1815
61
1869.
.37
1817
.61
.
I873.
.40
1845.
42
1874.
.55
=
1851.
60
1875.
.61
«
1854.
.56
1877.
.59
1856.
.57
I878.
.64
1858.
58
1879. .65
1859
.56
CHAPTER XI.
Methodist Episcopal Church --- 1789-1906.
WHEN Jesse Lee left New York on the mission which was to quicken and vitalize the New England churches, his first resting-place was at Norwalk, where he preached on the highway under a spreading elm, no house being opened to him. From Norwalk he proceeded to Fairfield and New Haven, and from the latter place to Redding. He reached this town on Wednesday, the 24th of June, 1789, and from this period we are to date the origin of the Methodist Church in Redding, although some six months elapsed before it was formally organized. In his journal un- der the above date, Mr. Lee thus narrates some of the incidents of this first visit :
July 8, 1883.
Martin B. Dunlap
-
Y
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, REDDING CENTRE.
107
HISTORY OF REDDING.
"I travelled a stony road to Redding and according to directions call- ed on Esquire Benedict but he was not at home; so got my horse and rode to Mr. Rogers to consult him about the matter. While I was talk- ing to him Mr. Bartlett a Congregational minister came by, and being informed who I was asked me home with him. After I had been there a while he asked me some questions relative to doctrines, and I endeavor- ed to inform him what kind of doctrines we preached. He said he could not invite me into the meeting house, because I held what he thought was contrary to the gospel. I told him I did not expect an invitation to preach in the meeting house, but if I was asked I should not refuse. However Mr. Rogers sent his son down in a little time to let me know that there was a school house that I could preach in, so I made the ap- pointment for the people at six o'clock. Having met at that hour I preached on Isa. 55: 6: 'Seek ye the Lord while he may be found,' &c. I bless God that I had some liberty in preaching."
The school-house where this first sermon was delivered probably stood on the common near the old meeting-house. The few and simple doctrines that Mr. Lee preached were the witness of the Spirit, the entire efficacy of the Atonement, and the possibility of falling from grace, and they were presented with so much force and earnestness as to produce a deep impression on those who heard them; yet he had no time to remain and note the effect produced, but rode away the next day, carrying his. tidings to other communities. Twice again Lee visited Redding-July 8th, and September 16th of the same year-without seeing any fruits of his efforts; for, although many were impressed with the truth of his doctrines, they hesitated about coming out openly and joining the new sect. At length on his fourth visit, December 28th, 1789, he "joined two in society for a beginning. A man who has lately received a witness of his being in favor with the Lord led the way, and a woman who I hope was lately converted, followed." This was the second Methodist society organized in New England, the first being at Stratford. The first two members mentioned above were Aaron Sanford and his mother- in-law, Mrs. William Hawley. Mr. Sanford by this act became the first male member of the Methodist Church in New England; he was at once appointed leader of the class thus formed, and its meetings were held for years at his house. After its organization the growth of the So- ciety was very rapid, chiefly through the class-meeting, and that agency so effectively used by Methodism, the lay preachers.
It is unfortunate that, owing to the loss of the early records of the church, we can give the names of but few of its original members. From the records of the first society I copy the following certificate, dated December 15th, 1789:
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HISTORY OF REDDING.
"I hereby certify that Aaron Sanford of Reading, has constantly at- tended the Methodist meetings in this town, and pays his part toward my support as a minister of the gospel.
"JESSE LEE."
Similar certificates were given, February 9th, 1790, to Hezekiah San- ford, and August 6th of the same year to Isaac Sherwood and S. Samuel Smith.
From the church book of baptisms which has been preserved, we learn that prior to 1794 the early preachers had baptized children of Daniel and Anna Bartram, Silas and Huldah Merchant, Jonas and Lucy Platt, Paul and Mary Bartram, Jabez and Sarah Gorham, Elijah and Menoma Elder, Aaron and Mary Odle, John and Sarah Sherman, Uriah and Hannah Mead, Benjamin and Elizabeth Knap, Chester and Elizabeth Meeker, Charles and Lucy Morgan, Ezekiel and Easter Bertram, Jesse and Martha Banks, Isaac and Betty Platt, and Aaron and Eunice Hunt, and we may safely reckon them as members of the church at that time.
Early in 1790 Lee organized his first circuit in New England; it was called the "Fairfield Circuit," and embraced Norwalk, Fairfield, Strat- ford, Milford, Redding, Danbury, Canaan, and intermediate places. The first regularly appointed minister whose name appears on the Society records was John Bloodgood, who was here as early as January 21st, 1791, perhaps earlier. He was a native of the South, and after serving on the Fairfield Circuit one year, was transferred to the Baltimore Con- ference, to which his ministerial labors were chiefly confined. He died in 1810. Like most of his colleagues, he preached in the school-houses, under trees, sometimes in the barns, but always so fervently, and with such native eloquence, that multitudes flocked to hear him. He was suc- ceeded at the May (1791) session of the Conference by Nathaniel B. Mills and Aaron Hunt.
Mr. Mills is described by his colleague, Mr. Hunt, as "a man small in stature, intelligent, sound, an able preacher, and rather inclined to dejection." He was born in New Castle County, Delaware, February 23d, 1766. He entered the Baltimore Conference in the spring of 1787, and after a laborious ministry of forty-two years, both in New England and the South, was compelled in 1835 to retire to the ranks of the super- annuated, where he remained until his death in 1844. His colleague, Rev. Aaron Hunt, was born in Eastchester, Westchester County, N. Y., March 28th, 1768, and entered the Methodist ministry in 1791, making some of his first essays at preaching on the Redding Circuit.
In 1793, while preaching in Redding, he married Miss Hannah San- ford, daughter of the Mr. Aaron Sanford before mentioned, and shortly after "located" in Redding, where he continued to reside for many years,
109
HISTORY OF REDDING.
and where most of his large family of children were born. Mr. Hunt was prominent among the early Methodist preachers, and was well known throughout the State. During his pastorate the church had been encouraged by a visit from the eminent Bishop Asbury, who passed through Redding in June, 1791, during his hasty tour through New Eng- land, and preached here "with much satisfaction," as he remarks in his journal. The church received another and longer visit from him in Sep- tember, 1796. "The society in that village," says Mr. Stevens, the his- torian of Methodism, "had been gradually gathering strength. They as- sembled to greet him at Mr. Sandford's, where he gave them an encour- aging discourse from I Peter I: 13-15." From this time until 1811, the record of the church is one of continued growth and prosperity ; re- vivals were frequent and accessions many ; classes were early formed at Lonetown, Redding Ridge, Sanfordtown, Boston, and at Long Ridge, the latter some years later becoming a separate church organization.
Still the society was without a house of worship, and the want was beginning to be severely felt. In 1803 they first leased the town-hall for a place of public worship, as appears by the following extract from the town records: "At a town meeting held December 12, 1803, it was voted, 'That the Town House be leased to the Methodist Society for $15 per year to be used as often, and as much as they please for public wor- ship, and said Society to repair all damage done to the Town House while they are assembled therein for public worship.'" This lease was continued from year to year at varying rates, until the erection of the first church in 1811. Of the building of this edifice we have no data except such as is contained in this extract from the society records :
"At a Society meeting of the Methodists, duly warned and held at the house of William Sanford in Redding, on Tuesday the 30th day of October, 1810. Voted, that Seth Andrews, William Sanford, and John R. Hill be a committee to said society for the ensuing year, to do and transact all temporal business. Voted, that our said committee carry round a subscription paper immediately to raise money for the purpose of building a Meeting-House in said Redding, for the purpose of Divine Worship.
"AARON SANFORD, Clerk."
The church was built the succeeding summer. It stood on the site of the present residence of Mrs. Wolsey Randle, on land purchased of Jonathan R. Sanford, Esq. His deed conveying the land, dated June 6th, 1811, was given to Seth Andrews, William Sanford, and John R. Hill, trustees for the Methodist church and society in Redding, the con- sideration being $130. No actual description of the first church is pre - served to us, except that it was built after the usual fashion of Methodist churches in those days. It had no steeple nor tower, no ceiling except
IIO
HISTORY OF REDDING.
the roof, and there were no means of warming it, except by foot-stoves carried in by the female worshippers. With the above exceptions, the following description of an early Methodist church would probably ap- ply to this in every particular :
"The building was as unpolluted by paint within and without as when its timbers were standing in their native forest. A gallery extended around three sides. At the extreme end of the left gallery was a small room partitioned off for class meetings. The pulpit was elevated about six feet above the floor, and in form resembled a large dry goods box, the breastworks so high as almost to conceal the preacher if small of stature from view. From the pulpit extended a staircase conducting to the class-room in the gallery, to which the preacher and the members repaired at the close of the public service." *
None of the incidents in the history of the old church are so vividly remembered and described as the quarterly meetings which were held there. The quarterly meeting to the early Methodist was the most im- portant of all the institutions of the church, and those held in Redding were especially noteworthy ; it was a sort of home-coming to the mother- church, and at such times all the Methodist homes in town were open to the brethren from abroad. The presiding elder and the two preachers on the "Circuit" were always present on these occasions, and the mem- bership was gathered from Danbury, Ridgefield, Easton, and Newtown, as well as from places more remote. The exercises on these occasions began at 9 o'clock on Sabbath morning with the "love-feast" and the passing of bread and water, of which all partook, as a token of their brotherhood in Christ. At 10.30 a sermon was preached by the elder. At 12 M. the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered. At I P. M. another sermon was preached, generally by one of the preachers in charge. At the conclusion of this discourse the genial elder would pro- ceed to designate to the guests their respective places of entertainment. The day was usually concluded by a series of prayer-meetings held in the different districts, and conducted with great warmth and fervor.
The old church seems to have been intended for a temporary struc- ture, and was succeeded in 1837 by the present neat and commodious edifice. A brief account of the erection of the present building will be interesting and probably new to many, though barely seventy years have elapsed since its timbers were standing in the forest.
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