USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor > The history of ancient Windsor, Connecticut > Part 27
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From the best information which can be obtained, they were a church-going people, for we learn that they were in the habit of attending regularly those places of worship nearest to their different locations. Those who lived in the north visited the old church in Enfield, and those who settled in the middle and southern portions of the parish, attended the church of Dr. Ed- wards, situated near the old burying ground at East Windsor. Sabbath after sabbath they traversed the foot-paths through the woods to that place of worship, and in death they were car- ried through the same paths for many miles on the shoulders of
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neighbors and acquaintances to the depository of the dead near the house of God."1
In December, 1749, however, the inevitable necessity of a division was so apparent, that the Second Society petitioned the assembly therefor.
Several committees were appointed, the last of whom re- ported, Sept. 1751, favorably to a division of the society by a line running due east from the mouth of the Scantic River ; with the proviso, that as the list of the south side exceeded that of the north side,? a part of the former should pay rates to the latter for six years. This report was finally adopted, not with- out some remonstranee from the south-siders ; and, by an act of the assembly, in May, 1752, that part of the Second Society north of the Scantic, became the Second or North Society of Windsor, east of the Connecticut River. 3
The first meeting of the new society, of which we have any record, was held on the 25th of June, 1752. From this point we follow Mr. Roe's book. "A meeting legally warned con- vened on that day at the house of Mr. John Prior. Captain John Ellsworth was chosen moderator, and the following votes were passed :
" Voted, That Captain John Ellsworth, David Skinner and Joseph Harper, be society's committee.
Voted, By more than two thirds of the inhabitants of the North Society, entitled by law to vote, to build a meeting- house in and for said society.
Voted, That they would apply themselves to the county court to see where the meeting-house should be.
Voted, That Samuel Watson, an inhabitant of said society, be the agent for said society to apply to the county court for a committee to affix a place where the meeting-house shall be."
Oct. 30th, 1752, at an adjourned meeting of the society, the following resolution passed :
1 One of our oldest inhabitants remembers that at the death of a young lady, whose relatives had been buried in the old cemetery on East Windsor Hill, the corpse was carried from the house he now occupies in Ireland Street, upon the shoulders of the bearers to the place of interment, a distance of seven miles ; several sets of bearers relieving each other.
2 South side list, £0. 716s. North side list, £5. 165s.
3 State Archives, Ecclesiastical.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
" Voted that they would raise five hundred pounds, old tenor currency, for the building of a meeting-house, to be put into the hands of the committee for that purpose."
The county court, according to request, appointed a commit- tee, and said committee made report, but it appears not to have. been satisfactory, for on the 10th of Dec., 1752, at a meeting then held, in which Captain John Ellsworth was moderator, and Ammi Trumbull clerk, we find the following resolution passed by a vote of ten majority :
" Voted, That they would apply to the county court to laying objections against the report of second committee of said court ordered by said court to affix a place for a meeting-house, and to apply to said court for another committee ; and that Erastus Wolcott be employed to find the center of society, and to make a new place if necessary.
Voted, That Benjamin Osborn be an agent for said society in laying their objections before the county court."
During the delay necessary to fix upon a suitable spot for the erection of their place of worship, the inhabitants of the parish 4 were not willing to be without the preaching of the gospel within the bounds allotted to them, and we find the following resolution on record.
" At a meeting of the North Society of Windsor, legally warned,
Voted, To raise one hundred pounds, old tenor money, to hire preaching at Mr. John Prior's.
Voted, That one-quarter of said hundred pounds, should be spent in preaching at Mr. Nathaniel Ellsworth's.
Voted, That Benjamin Osborn should go to hire a minister to preach to said society."
At the expiration of a year from the time of their first meet- ing for the purpose of erecting a house of worship, the difficul -. ties attending the setting a stake at the place where it should be located, were surmounted, and on the 22d of June, 1753, we find the following vote :
"Voted, That a person be appointed to go to the county court, now siting at Hartford, to get the place where the last, committee set the last stake, as a place for a meeting house to be recorded.1 And that Joseph Harper be their agent for that purpose."
1 The following record was made at the June term of the county court, 1753 :
" We, the subscribers, being appointed in November last, a committee to repair to the north society in Windsor, view their circumstances, hear all per-
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NORTH OR SCANTIC PARISH.
At the same meeting it was also
" Voted, That Mr. Caleb Booth should go for Mr. Potwine to preach."
In August we find the following important resolutions:
"Aug. 20th, 1753. At a meeting of the north society in Wind- sor, legally assembled, Captain John Ellsworth being moderator,
Voted, To give Mr. Thomas Potwine, of Coventry, a call to preach with us on probation, in order to settle with us, with the advice of the association.
Voted, To build a meeting house, the same length and breadth as the meeting-house in the second society, and twenty-one feet high between joints.
Voted, Jonathan Bartlett, Samuel Allyn, and Ammi Trum- bull, be a committee to employ men to get timber for said build- ing."
After a trial of two months it was decided that Mr. Potwine should be called as their pastor. The meeting for that purpose was held on the 22d October, 1783.
" Voted, To give Sir Thomas Potwine a call to settle with us in the work of the ministry.
Voted, To give Sir Thomas Potwine, of Coventry, two thou- sand pounds in money, old tenor, as it now passes, as a settle- ment.
Voted, To give Sir Thomas Potwine five hundred pounds for his yearly salary. Equal to grain, wheat at forty shillings per bushel, rye at thirty shillings per bushel, and Indian corn at twenty shillings per bushel, old tenor, and to add to it as our lists rise until it amounts to six hundred pounds old tenor money.
Voted, That Joseph Harper and Mr. David Skinner be a com- mittee to treat with Sir Thomas Potwine about settling with us.
sons concerned, and affix and ascertain a place, in our opinion, most suitable and commendable whereon to build a meeting-house for divine worship in said society, having reported to said court in January last, the said society having applied to us to review and further consider their case, did on the 6th day of May, inst., repair to said society and review their circumstances and hear all persons concerned, and having advantage of a new plan of said soci- ety which gave a different representation from that which we before used, in reconsideration, have, in the presence of a large number of the inhabitants of said society, set down a stake in the lot of Lieutenant Samuel Watson, about 36 rods near south from the new dwelling-house of Mr. Daniel Clark in said society, and are now of opinion that the place where we have now set the stake is the most suitable place whereon to build a new house for divine wor- ship for said society, and will accommodate the inhabitants thereof.
NATHANIEL OLCOTT, ZEBULON WEST, STEPHEN CONE,
June term, 1753.
Committee.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
Voted, To alter the shape of the meeting-house, that it should be forty-seven feet in length, thirty-five in breadth, and twenty- one in height between joints.
Voted, That Ebenezer Bliss go to Lieutenant Watson and Daniel Clark, in the name of the society, to purchase of them and take a deed for the same, of one and a half acres of land."
This was designed for the spot on which the church should be erected and where the stake had been placed.
Our forefathers had doubtless more correct ideas of the true relation in which a pastor and his people stand to each other than many societies of the present day, and the record which now follows ought to be engraven on the hearts of all ecclesi- astical societies, and should be a ruling principle in all their agreements for the support of the ministry. The reason which called for the resolution is not given, but the fact of its having been placed upon their records goes far to illustrate their char- acter as men and Christians.
" At a meeting of the north society legally assembled on the first day of February, 1754,
Voted, That if what we have already voted for Sir Thomas Potwine's salary should be insufficient for his support, that we will add to his salary as his circumstances call for and our abilities will admit of."
In 1758 a new agreement was entered into between the Rev. Mr. Potwine and his people, in which, at his request, the sum to be paid to him annually was to be sixty ponnds so long as he should continue their minister. He had also the use of the glebe . land, or minister's lot, and a yearly provision of wood. As this seems to have been an arrangement satisfactory to both parties, we may conclude that the sum, small as it appears to us, was sufficient in that primitive period of country, for its purpose.
We find, however, much to the credit of the society, when, at a subsequent period, in consequence of the high price of the necessaries of life during the terrible years when our young nation was in the deadly struggle for her independence - and upon an application by Mr. Potwine for assistance, we find the following record :
"27th Dec., 1799. Voted, To raise fourteen hundred and forty pounds money to be paid to the Rev. Thomas Potwine, in addition to his stated salary the current year, on account of the high price of the necessaries of life."
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SCANTIC, OR NORTH PARISH.
What was the actual value of the amount designated as four- teen hundred and forty pounds is not now easily determined, but as they also raised one hundred and eighty-eight pounds for the purchase of his wood for that year, which had usually cost five pounds, we can suppose it to have amounted to forty pounds - an addition to his regular salary of two-thirds.
There is also an excellent testimony borne for the society by its records in the promptness with which the salary to their minister was paid. Regularly as the year came round his receipt is attested as in full for the amount agreed upon.
The following rules of church discipline were defined for set- tlement of Mr. Potwine, at a meeting of the society on the first April, 1754:
" Voted, To settle Sir Thomas Potwine in the following man- ner, viz .:
Ist. The Word of God is the only infallible rule of church discipline.
2d. That the church will have a manual vote in this house.
3d. That whenever we shall have occasion to send a messen- ger, that we will choose him by proxy.
4th. That whenever we shall have occasion for a council, that the church shall choose them.
5th. We do agree to leave the examination of those who de- sire to join in full communion with the minister.
6th. We do agree that those who have a desire to join in full communion have liberty to make relation of their experience in the church and congregation, upon their admission to the church."
Mr. Potwine, having accepted the terms offered him as a set- tlement, it was concluded that on the 1st day of May, 1754, he should be solemnly ordained as their pastor.
And the following votes were passed at the meeting held on the 1st April preceding:
" Voted, To ordain Sir Thomas Potwine at Lieutenant Samuel Watson's.
Voted, That Captain John Ellsworth proceed for the ministers that shall ordain Sir Thomas Potwine, and the rest of the minis- ters that shall come to ordination, and the messengers.
Voted, That Caleb Booth, Ezekiel Osborn, Jonathan Bartlett, Samuel Watson, David Skinner, Jolin Gaylord, Ebenezer Bliss, Benjamin Osborn, and Ammi Trumbull, provide for people that come to ordination."
No building had as yet been erected for public worship, but
38
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
the people, anxious to have the ministration of the ordinances and a servant of God as their leader and teacher, procured the use of a private house for that purpose, and the one most appro- priate then on account of its size and capacity for accommodat- ing a number of people was that which is now in possession of Mr. Joel Prior, situated in Main street. The ordination of Mr. Potwine was celebrated under the roof of a barn then newly erected and never as yet used. Of course none are now living who witnessed that scene, but the account of it the writer has received from an old lady, who very distinctly remembers, what her mother told her about it, who was present and with her babe in her arms. The ceremony was performed upon the barn floor. A table answered for a desk, and benches made of rough boards, with a few chairs for the more distinguished ministers, were their seats. Boards were laid across the bays as standing places for the women and older people, while upon the beams above perched the younger and most elastic. This barn is still stand- ing.
It would be gratifying to be able to give some particulars of the ministry of Mr. Potwine, but unfortunately no records have been preserved that can throw light upon it; nothing pertaining to church matters can be known except from tradition. How many were added through his long ministry can only be known now when the last great account shall be made up.
In about one year after his ordination, the house for worship was completed,1 and the congregation joyfully assembled
1 The house of worship was not probably in a finished state when first occupied, for we find on record the following resolutions in reference to it :
" Dec. 18th, 1759, Voted, That Joseph Allyn, Jonathan Bartlett, and Ammi Trumbull, be a committee for finishing the lower part of the meeting-house. " Voted, That the lower part of the meeting-house be finished with pews." Again, at a meeting held 21st Dec., 1767 :
" Voted, To raise twelve pounds to glaze the meeting-house, to be paid in grain, viz : wheat at four shillings, rye at three shillings, and Indian corn at two shillings per bushel ; and the Society's committee to take charge of the glazing."
Again, at a meeting held 11th Dec., 1769 :
" Voted, to raise eighty pounds to be expended in finishing the meeting- house, to be paid in grain, wheat at four shillings, rye at three shillings, and Indian corn at two shillings per bushel ; and Lemuel Stoughton, Jonathan Bartlett, and Simeon Wolcott, to be a committee to lay out the money and see to the work."
76.
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SCANTIC, OR NORTH PARISH.
together for the purpose of consecrating it as a holy place where they could meet to sing the praises of Jehovah, to bow together in prayer before him, and to sit beneath the droppings of the sanctuary, and listen to the teachings of his servant from the holy scriptures.
It was erected as nearly at the centre of the parish as could be agreed upon, although in the opinion of many, who lived on what was called the river road, " too far in the woods." The site chosen was the one occupied by the present place of wor- ship. The building was after the fashion of many of that day, where the society was not large or wealthy. It was a plain, oblong building, of small size, as the dimensions already given testify, and without any steeple or ornament. A door opened from the east and south, and with its galleries could probably accommodate from two to three hundred persons. Not long after the erection of the church a small building was put up near the present site of the dwelling-house of Samuel W. Bart- lett, Esq., for the accommodation of those who lived too far from the place of worship to be able to return to their homes during the interruption of public worship at noon, where they could take refreshment such as they had brought with them, or, if the winter season, have the benefit of a fire, and replenish their foot-stoves for the afternoon service, a warm meeting-house being in those days an interdicted luxury. This building also answered a very useful purpose for those females who might have no convienience for riding to church, and were of necessity often compelled to encounter sand and dust if the season was dry, or snow and mud at other times-a change of the nether garments was necessary, and here it could be effected.
Going to church was in those days a matter of course. None staid at home but the very aged and the sick; and they went in that way which happened to be most convienent, for the most part on horseback.1 The husband and the wife, the brother
1 Some of the roads were inconvenient even for that mode of conveyance. At the top and bottom of the long hill which ascends from Mr. Osborn's mill to what is now called Prospect street, horse-blocks were erected at which the riders could dismount and mount-the hill was so steep and rugged they were obliged to lead their horses going up or down ; and some persons now living remember well seeing these blocks.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
and sister, the lover and his lass, cach pair on the samc horse, and often a little one in the arms of the mother or father. One hundred horses have been counted thus passing in line along one of the most frequentcd roads, of those who had been attend- ing the house of God.
Wcather did not then determine the numbers who should be in their scats in the Lord's house. The soaking rain and the driving storm of snow were matters of little account with the. hardy ancestors of this settlement, the men who with their own sturdy arms had made a clearing for their families amid the forest, and the women who with their own hands wove the garments in which their husbands and themselves were clad, were not the persons to look either to the heavens above or the earth beneath to ascertain wlicther it would do to " venture out to-day." Moreover, going to church was considered an indis- pensable duty, none turned their backs upon the house of God, and it was no uncommon thing for neighbors to question each other if for one or two sabbaths any were absent from their place. Alas! that the good habit should ever have been laid aside.
With this practice continued, as the parish increased in num- bers, we can readily understand how at the end of fifty years the house which had accommodated the fathers became too small for their descendants. The seats could not contain the congregation, and the stairs which led into the galleries, as well. as the outer steps at the doors, were often filled with those who could find no other resting placc.
Whether the spiritual condition of the people may be judged by this crowding to the house of God, can not now be so clearly ascertained as we could wish. That there was a good degree of vital religion we may hope. Prayer-meeting's were regularly kept up in different parts of the parish, and in these cxercises the bands of the pastor were greatly strengthened by the energy and devotion of his venerable father who had removed to this town.1 He went from house to house and held meetings that
1 John Potwine, a goldsmith, removed from Boston to Hartford, and thence to (North) Coventry, Ct., where he was admitted a freeman in 1754. . From Coventry he came to Scantic. See Genealogy.
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SCANTIC, OR NORTH PARISH.
were well attended, and was constant in his labors both in regular attendance through all weathers and in direct conversa- tion with individuals. And so much was he esteemed for these 'abors of love, that the people of their own accord erected for him a small house in the center street of the parish, that he might have a permanent home among them.
The first notice we have of any necessity for a new meeting- house is from the record of a meeting held on the 19th day of Dec., 1796. The society was called together "for the purpose that the inhabitants of said society may show their minds respecting the necessity of building a new meeting-house, and to do any business lawful and proper to be done relating to the building of said house.
But two votes were passed at this meeting; one appointing James Chamberlin moderator, and the other to adjourn the meet- ing to the first Monday of March following, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon.
At the meeting held in March, the question was put by the moderator:
"Will you do anything respecting the building a new meet- ing-house in this society?
The society answered in the negative."
Five years elapsed before any move was again made in refer- ence to erecting a new house or repairing and enlarging the old one. On the 21st day of April, 1801, a meeting was held of the Second Society in East Windsor, "legally holden at the meeting-house in said society."
"Voted, To build an addition to the meeting-house in said society of about 21 feet in length, and the same height and breadth with the body of said house, on the north part of said house; to build a new roof facing the opposite way from what the old one now stands; to move the pulpit to a proper place; to fill the new part with pews, excepting proper alleys; to move any pews that it shall be necessary to move; to plaster all parts of said house that shall be necessary; to new cover the outside of said house and paint it; to underpin the said house decently with three tier of stone, including many of the old underpinning stone as can be used; and to procure suitable step stones; all to be done within twenty months from this date.
Voted, That Messrs. John Morton, Thomas Potwine, Jr., and Stoddard Ellsworth, be a committee to carry the above vote into execution.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
Voted, To raise four cents on the dollar on the list of 1800, to enable said committee to carry into execution the above de- seribed. building."
Nothing had been done towards the aeeomplishment of the resolutions passed at the meeting in April, when the society again met in October of the same year, excepting eolleeting materials for the work; nor is there a record of any motion having been made to reseind or alter the votes which had been passed; nor is any mention made in reference to the matter, except the following vote:
"Voted, That the inhabitants of this society or any indi- viduals be permitted to build a cupola or steeple to the meeting house in this society, provided it be done entirely by subscrip- tion, and provided no tax be laid to defray the expense of the same."
A differenee of opinion is, however, known to have arisen, and . perhaps a little too much pertinaeity was manifested on each side; the breach beeame seriously wider and wider, and the members on either side of the question were determined to stand by their expressed opinion. At the elose of one of their meet- ings in which many hard words had been sent back and forth, and in which it had been deeided by a majority of voters that an addition should be made to their present house of worship, it was very evident that the minority felt sorely grieved, and one of them was heard to express the opinion " that the addition would never be made." Whether it was spoken under pro- phetie inspiration or otherwise is of little consequenee now.
In the edge of evening of that same day, 5th October, 1801, the families living in the vicinity of the meeting-house were aroused by the ery of fire! and to their dismay soon found that the saered building which had been the subject of so much contention, and the innocent eause of much asperity of feeling, was involved in flames. The fire had originated upon the west end of the house, and when first discovered it is said might soon have been extinguished; but the efficient help at the right time was wanting, and the dry material soon fed the flame beyond the power of any means within reach to extinguish it, and in a few hours a heap of ashes and eharred timbers alone remained of the place where for half a century the inhabitants of the
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SCANTIC, OR NORTH PARISH.
second parish of East Windsor had worshiped. To some, doubtless, it was rather an agreeable sight than otherwise; there could be no patching or adding to be done; a new house must be had to worship in, or none at all; but to very many it brought dismay and sorrow of heart. The old building had been their "first love." It was associated with the memory of departed ones. It was their holy house. Sabbath after sab- bath they had gathered there from their earliest days; there they had sung the praises of Jehovah, had bowed in solemn prayer, had listened to words of exhortation, and there perhaps had received the first breath of spiritual life. No other place could be to them what that had been, and as the unsparing flames wrapped in their furious embrace the sacred building, and sent their lurid glare far up on the overhanging clouds and on the distant hill-tops, the tears of heartfelt sorrow broke forth, and lamentations were heard in many a household. It seemed to them like the triumphing of the wicked; like the tread of the demon of evil upon their sacred Zion,
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