USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Windsor > The history of ancient Windsor, Connecticut > Part 29
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In 1854 the society were bereaved by the death of the ven- erable second pastor. The following sketch of his life and character we have condensed from the faithful and touching memoir, by the same graceful pen to which we have been so much indebted in the preparation of this chapter.
The Rev. SHUBAEL BARTLETT was born at Lebanon, in the state of Connecticut, 2d of April, 1778.
His father, Mr. John Bartlett, was a deacon in the Congrega- tional church at Lebanon, under the pastoral charge of Rev. Dr. Ely. In a direct line he could trace his ancestry to John Alden, who landed at Plymouth in December, 1620, and the whole line of pedigree runs through those who were professedly pious persons.
Mr. John Bartlett was a man in plain circumstances, working with his own hands at the shoemaker's trade; but training his family in the fear of God, and had the pleasure of beholding his children walking in the ways of righteousness and profess- ing faith in Jesus Christ. In his declining years, having lost his wife, and his children being scattered abroad, he left Lebanon and closed his life at the house of his son, Rev. Shu- bael Bartlett, at East Windsor.
I find in the diary of Mr. Bartlett this record:
" If ever I was born again, I have reason to hope that it was some time in the springing of the year, A. D. 1794."
He united with the church in June of the same year, so, that he must have made a profession of religion when he was sixteen years of age.
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SCANTIC, OR NORTH PARISH.
His mind was soon after this turned towards the ministry, and he commenced studies preparatory to entering college under the Rev. Zebulon Ely, and in September, 1796, cntcred the freshman class at Yale Collegc.
His means for a collegiate coursc were mainly provided by himself, in part by teaching, together with some perquisites received by him for service in the college. His father could spare but little from his income for such purposes, and in those days there were no benevolent societies to offer assistance to young men in the arduous undertaking of a collegiate course. The rock had to be broken then by resolute and sturdy blows.
Having finished his collegiate course in the year 1800, he commenced studying for the ministry under Dr. Dwight, and in the course of the year 1802, was licensed to prcach the gospel.
In January 7th, 1803, Mr. Bartlett received an invitation from the Second Society in East Windsor, to preach as a candi- date, the church being then left destitute by the death of their former pastor, Rev. Thomas Potwine.
Soon after this invitation he came and supplied the pulpit for several months. Towards the close of the year a call was voted by the church and society, and handed to him for acceptance.
Having accepted it, on the 15th February, 1804, he was sol- emnly ordained in the new meeting-house as pastor of the church and people.
The character which Mr. Bartlett was enabled through so many years to sustain as a man was that of a consistent Christ- ian. He was remarkable for an evenness of deportment as well through his youth as in his maturer ycars, and to the very close of his life. Hc seemcd always to realize his accountability to God for all his conduct towards his fellow-men, and for all the motives of that conduct. Hc not only believed it to be wrong to indulge in harsh censure of his fellows, he felt that it was bencath the Christian's character to indulge cven in harsh thoughts.
In all his most private concerns he felt that it was his privi- lege as a child of God, to have the care and counsel of his heavenly Father, and thus connecting the care and the will of God with his daily interests and his daily duties, he may be said
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
truly to have traveled the path allotted to him with the sensible presence of his Almighty Friend, hallowing every scene and making even its darkest passes radiant with the light that streameth from heaven. * *
The government of his family was far from being rigid; he treated his children with the greatest familiarity, entering into all their plans, examining with them all the reasons for or against a certain course, and encouraging them under every circumstance to make perfect confidents of both their parents. He was in the habit of conversing freely with them, especially as they drew near to adult years, on the peculiar temptations to which they would be exposed, and thus guarding them against concealed dangers. * * *
He kept a strong hold of his children by prayer, bearing them continually on his heart before God and more especially so if any peculiar circumstance in the life of either of them excited his interest. * * *
Mr. Bartlett's style of preaching was not calculated to please a fastidious taste; he had never studied to adorn his discourses with the graces of elocution even from the first, and perhaps regarded with too much indifference the manner in which the truths which he wished to enforce were presented. It doubtless seemed to him all sufficient if he could say to his hearers, thus saith the Lord - and from a desire to make every proposition as plain as possible, he enlarged upon each particular more perhaps than was necessary for the best effect and yet who can say that more finished compositions, a style more in unison with the refined taste of later years, would, upon the whole, have accomplished a greater amount of good?
His preaching was rather practical than doctrinal. He did not, indeed, keep back the prominent articles of our faith, but they were never brought out in their startling boldness, so as to lead the minds of his hearers to revolt at them or to create a disputatious spirit. He was fully conscious that " we now see only in part," that many things " were hard to be believed," and could never be made quite clear in our imperfect state- but " to love the Lord with all our heart and our neighbor as ourself," to repent heartily of sin, to lay hold on Jesus as the
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great Saviour of the soul, to do works meet for repentance, and to walk by faith on the Son of God. These were within the grasp of the mind and upon these he dwelt.
In his ministrations as a pastor, he appeared among his people in the same character as when standing in the sacred desk, the same gentleness of manner, the same Christian courtesy, the same serious, devout instructor. He never put off the ambassador of Christ when mingling with the family circle, at the firesides of his people. He had a word of en- couragement for the desponding, a word of exhortation to the thoughtless, and to those who openly transgressed, his reproof and admonition were administered in the spirit of humility and love. Nor had he any partiality. All received from him the same tokens of his kindly feelings. He looked upon his flock as a father upon his children; all might not equally meet his approbation, but all shared in his heart's interest. *
His attention to the children of his flock was also a peculiarity in his ministrations that has done much in accomplishing his work, and implanted an interest for him in the hearts of very many which will never die away. He never passed a child without especial notice, and for many years could call any child among his people by name.
He walked before his people a living example of true religion. His path was a plain, steady path of unaffected piety. The tongue of scandal was never heard against him, it could find no stain upon his pure character, to feed its malignity. He never wandered into a dubious path, nor did an act of question- able character. He loved his people - he did his best for their temporal and eternal welfare, and his record is in many hearts on earth, and we doubt not, well registered in heaven.
Fifty years is a long period in the relations of life, and seldom is it exceeded - and the providence of God had determined that the pastoral connection of his servant to the people he had so long watched over, should be brought to a close, and its results sealed up.
The last public services which Mr. Bartlett performed were in the month of December, 1854. An appointment had been made for the consecration of a house of worship, at Broad Brook.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
It was a stormy day, one of the worst of the season, and he being the only minister present on the oeeasion, all the service devolved upon him. On the following sabbath he was invited to preach there, and although then suffering from his previous ex- posure, he went through the duties of the day. A severe attack of influenza succeeded, from which he appeared partially to reeover, and from which his physician hoped he would be finally relieved in the opening spring.
But when the returning spring brought no vigor to his sys- tem, and his wasting frame began to assure him that his food did not impart its aceustomed nourishment, he readily yielded to the sign that his master had no more work for him here, and that it was his will that he should depart hence.
His worldly matters were easily arranged, and he had but little to do in putting his house in order - for he had lived wisely.
He had no special preparation to make on his own aeeount - he had been doing that for sixty years, and had no new arrange- ments to trouble himself with. He eonversed freely about the event that was approaching, with the same ealmness as was usual with him in reference to any eoneern in life.
By degrees he gave up his duties as the head of a family, as he had done those of a pastor of his floek, having placed in the hands of his colleague, the Rev. Mr. Andrews, the book of records belonging to the church, which for fifty years he had faithfully kept. The morning and evening service at the family altar was the last duty he resigned.
And on Jesus, this servant of God kept a firm and steady hold to the very last. No fear, no doubt, no eloud, dimmed bis elear vision, or troubled his passing spirit. He watched with a firm look the steady approach of death, marking his own pulse, and following the life current as it dropped and retrograded to the heart. And thus he sunk to rest, on the 6th of June, 1854.
Scantic, or North Parish.
The present pastor of this church is the Rev. FREDERICK MUNSON.
The following list of deacons and earliest church members, is from the church manual:
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Deacons.
LAMSON WELLS, DAVID SKINNER, A. D. 1754.
JOSEPH EGGLESTON, died May 9, A. D. 1797, aged 82.
JOHN BANCRAFT, died March 20, A. D. 1800, aged 66.
JAMES HARPER, died March 19, A. D. 1808, aged 85.
OLIVER BARBER, died October 8, A. D. 1820, aged 84.
NOAH ALLEN, ordained A. D. 1809; died May 7, A. D. 1824, aged 67.
DANIEL RICHARDSON, ordained A. D. 1818; removed A. D. 1829; died A. D. 1847.
IRA WELLS, ordained A. D. 1823.
ANSON BISSELL, ordained A. D. 1825; removed to Wapping A. D. 1832.
ERASTUS BUCKLAND, ordained A. D. 1830; died Jan. 23, A. D. 1848.
AZEL STEVENS ROE, ordained A. D. 1833.
' When the second pastor of this church first removed to this place, A. D. 1803, a few weeks previous to his ordination, the clerk of the church furnished a list of the male members of the church, and said that there were no records of the church to be found, from its first formation, May 1, A. D. 1754, to the death of the first pastor, November 15, A. D. 1802.
Of the members of this church, as far as they could be found, February 15, A. D. 1804. Figures denote the age at death.
Mrs. Lydia Potwine, widow of Rev. Thomas, 82.
Benoni Stiles, 64.
Seth Stowell.
Dea. James Harper, 85
Elijah Sadd, 77.
Wife of Dea. H., 74.
Alexander Vining, 76.
Dea. Oliver Barber, 84.
Gideon Wolcott, 71.
Wife of Dea. B. 81.
Widow Sarah Bancraft, 81.
Noah Allen, 67.
Wife of Nathan Pelton, 63.
Benjamin Allen, 44.
Wife of Hezekiah Allen, 84.
Nathaniel Allen, 36.
Wife of Nathan Cohioon, 70.
Aslıbel Barber, 73.
Wife of Samuel Bartlett, 84.
Simeon Barber, 67.
Wife of Solomon Ellsworth, 85.
Jerijah Bissell, 92.
Wife of Aaron Frost, 87.
Isaac Bancraft, 87.
Wife of Alexander Morton.
Samuel Bartlett, 81.
Wife of Daniel Bissell, 79.
Isaac Bancraft, Jr., 79
Wife of Daniel Chapin, 73.
Josiah Blodget, 73. Wife of David Crane, 88.
Elisha Crane, 91.
Wife of Rufus Crane, 88.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
Hezekiah Crane, 84.
Wife of Warcham Crane.
David Crane, 91.
Wife of Elijah Sadd, 84.
Rufus Crane, 64.
Wife of Oliver Clark, 70.
Wareham Crane, 65.
Miss Mary Eaton, 61.
Jonathan Clark.
Mrs. Hannah Eggleston, wife of Dea. E., 88.
Daniel Chapin, 54.
Aaron Crane.
Mrs. Rachel Potwine, 86.
Aaron Frost, 70.
Wife of Hezekiah Crane, 83.
Aaron Frost, Jr.
Wife of Josiah Blodget.
Alexander Morton, 63.
Wife of Aaron Crane.
Daniel Osborn, 82.
Wife of Elisha Crane, 94.
Nathan Pelton, 75.
Thomas Potwine, 67.
Solomon Payne.
Mrs. Hannah Bartlett, widow of Jonathan B., 94. Wife of Seth Stowell, 59.
Names of the Society.
This society, when it was organized, in 1754, was the Sixth Society in Windsor. It remained so until 1768, when, by the division of the ancient town, it became the Third Society in East Windsor, the church in Ellington being the second. In 1786, Ellington was set off as an incorporated town ; after which period this society was known as the Second Society of East Windsor ; and in 1846, by the incorporation of South Windsor, as a distinct town, it became the First Society in East Windsor.
Society Fund.
The first mention of any fund for the support of the gospel ministry in this parish, appears to be a sum left by Capt. Samuel Stiles.
At a meeting of the society on the 4th day of October, 1813, the following resolution was passed :
" Voted, That the society committee be directed to receive the sum of one thousand dollars given to this society by the last will of Capt. Samuel Stiles, deceased, and dispose of the same according to the tenor of said instrument."
And, year by year, after this, we find the interest of this fund used in part for the payment of the minister's salary -at first as an addition to the regular salary on account of the high price to which the necessaries of life had risen, and thus it was continued until 1820.
The next addition to the fund appears to have been received from the state, and is called the State Fund - the record con-
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SCANTIC, OR NORTH PARISH.
cerning it was made at a society's meeting held the 6th day of October, 1818, as follows :
" Voted, That the State Fund received at Hartford in Decem- ber last, by the society committee, and interest amounting to one hundred and seventy-seven dollars, be put at interest and remain as a fund for the support of the Gospel ministry in this society during the pleasure of this society."
At an adjourned meeting held on the 2d day of January, 1827, we find the first notice of the Bartlett Fund :
" Voted, To accept of the donation given by Mr. Samuel Bart- lett, of one thousand dollars, to the second society in East Windsor, under its restrictions."
The following extract from the will of Mr. Bartlett, will show the nature of the donation and the restrictions above referred to :
And wishing to perpetuate a regular Gospel ministry, I will that my executor pay as a donation which I now make to the second ecclesiastical society in East Windsor to which I belong, the sum of one thousand dollars, under the following restrictions, viz : That this donation shall be kept at annual interest until principal and interest shall amount to four thousand dollars, and when the whole sumn shall amount to the aforesaid sum of four thousand dollars, the interest arising thereon shall be applied annually towards paying the minister's salary in the society, leaving the principal of four thousand dollars entire with the following conditions being complied with :
Ist. That said society keep and maintain a decent meeting- house in which to perform public worship.
2nd. The said meeting-house to be the sole and entire pro- perty of said society.
3rd. That said society shall not at any time be destitute of an ordained minister more than two years, which minister shall be a learned man of true orthodox principles according to the sense in which our forefathers maintained the same.
4th. They shall not pay any of the interest arising on this donation to hire a minister of different principles,-but if at any future period of time shall neglect or refuse to comply with the above conditions and restrictions, then and in that case said donation shall be forfeited by said society to my executor or his heirs, to sue for and recover the said donation to his or their use."
This fund reached the amount specified in the will of Mr. Bartlett (four thousand dollars), in 1849, and the income from it has been since that period appropriated for the purpose to which it was consecrated by the devisor.
41
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
At an adjourned meeting of the society held 13th of October, 1845, a committee previously appointed for the purpose of making a permanent lease of the parsonage lot, reported as follows :
That they had leased to Mr. Daniel Chapin the " ministry lot of land" for the term of nine hundred and ninety-nine years from April, 1845, for the sum of fourteen hundred and seventy dollars ninety-three cents.
And the society's committee was instructed to pay the inte- rest on said amount of fourteen hundred and seventy dollars and ninety-three cents to Rev. Shubael Bartlett, annually, on the first day of December in each year, subject to the regula- tions of settlement of Mr. Bartlett.
At a meeting of the society held in October, 1854, this fund was appropriated as follows :
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" Voted, That the fund belonging to the first ecclesiastical society in East Windsor, arising from the sale of the ministry lot (so called) and amounting to fourteen hundred and seventy dollars and ninety-three cents, be applied to liquidate the in- debtedness of this society in building their parsonage-house and purchasing land of the same, and that said fund shall not be appropriated for any other purpose whatever.
Graveyards.
The inhabitants of Ireland district, for many years buried their dead in Ellington. The deed for the present burying ground, near Mr. Gowdy's, was given in 1794, and the first per- son buried there was John Prior.
A deed was given for the graveyard at Scantic, near the meet- house, in 1751, and for another in the street by Caleb Pot- wine's, in 1780.
The Warehouse Point graveyard was deeded in 1801.
Since then another graveyard has been opened near Ketch Mills.
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CHAPTER XVI.
WINDSOR, EAST OF THE CONNECTICUT RIVER-CONTINUED.
Wapping Parish. 1
That section of Windsor, known as Wapping,2 was probably first settled by one Thomas Bissell, as early as 1700-5.3 This house stood a little south of the road from the Hill, and west of Podunk River, until about 1840, when it was taken down.4 Tra- dition records that, shortly after coming here, Bissell had a very severe fight with a large and powerful Indian, who in a mood of drunken bravado, boasted of having killed ninety-nine white men, and insisted on making up the hundred, by killing him. Bissell's courage and strength, however, completely over- came him, and defeated his sanguinary intentions.
The Bissells, Rockwells, Skinners, Sadds, Stoughtons, Smiths and Grants, were among the first to locate in Wapping, where their descendants remain to this day.
1 We are mainly indebted, for our information concerning this parish, to a MS. account written by the Rev. Marvin Root in 1840, and deposited in the archives of the Conn. Hist. Soc'y.
2 Wapping is the name of a street in London, on the Thames.
3 In an old account book of Samuel Rockwell, "a mighty hunter," in those days, we find that he sold venison to Thos. Bissell, who then lived in the N. W. corner of Wapping, as early as 1705.
4 MS. of Dr. Ebenezer F. Reed. We find in the society records frequent allusions to a place below Podunk River, called Bissell's Farms, it may perhaps refer to Wapping.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR.
The first settlers were of course included within the limits of the Second Society (or Windsor, east of the Connecticut River) ; and attended worship in Mr. Edwards's congregation. But the roads to the street, were exceedingly bad; and they seem to have petitioned, at a very early day, for winter privileges, i. e., for liberty to hire a minister during six months of the year. This reasonable request was, for many years refused. In 1761, however, the assembly made them a winter parish ;1 and the society voted to allow them their proposition of rates, which amounted to £6:12s. 2
Their first meeting-house was built, under the title of a school, about 1765. It stood on land now owned by Capt. Samuel Hall. His west barn occupies a part of the old church site.3 Its windows above were boarded up, and only those below were glazed; and the whole edifice finally became so dilapidated that the six months winter privileges were extended to eight months, and, by leave of the assembly, the warm season was substi- tuted for winter; the people worshiping in the latter season with the society, who invited them to do so, tax free. Their own old edifice was therefore used only in spring, summer and fall, and finally having acquired the appellation of Wapping Barn, was pulled down one night in the year 1799, by a party of young men, " out on a frolic."
The first minister we can ascertain to have preached in Wapping, was one Matthew Rockwell, who graduated at Yale
1 At this time, as we learn from their petition, dated March, 1761, on file among the State Archives, they numbered 200 souls, and had 32 houses, while their proportion of the (East) Windsor list was £2000. They com- plain that on settling the meeting-house on the Street, no regard was had to them, that they are obliged to go to it four miles and a half, " through the wilderness."
A number of documents relative to Wapping are preserved among the State Archives.
2 East Windsor (Soc'y) meeting-house and Wapping meeting-house were three miles apart. The Street always claimed that their society extended within half a mile of the Wapping meeting-house, i. c., three miles from the river, or to the end of the " three mile lots."
S Rev. M. Root's MSS., 1849.
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WAPPING PARISH.
College in 1728. He was a physician, and added a gift of preaching to his other accomplishments. He was a licentiate, and occasionally preached for the Rev. Mr. Edwards, during the last year of the latter's life.
"Windsor, Nov. 4, 1763.
Received, of Samnel Grant, the sum of £1 1s 3d for preach- ing at Wapping, in the year 1762. By me,
MATTHEW ROCKWELL."
Tradition affirms that he preached in Mr. Grant's old house, before the building of the meeting-house in 1765.
Mr. Moses Tuthill, also preached here for three years. He was a Congregationalist, and a man of eccentric character, although of considerable talent. He graduated, at Yale Col- lege, in 1745; became the pastor of a church at Granville, Mass., at its organization in 1747; resigned his charge in 1753. He then came to (East) Windsor for a season. His wife was Martha, the daughter of the Rev. Timothy Edwards, to whom he was married in 1746, and who is represented as a woman of remarkable fine powers of mind, although, perhaps with some peculiarities of character.
Mr. Tuthill is described as " an orthodox and faithful minister, and his short ministry, in Granville, was blessed with prosperity and peace."1
He died at Southold, L. I., October, 1785, in his 78th year. His widow, died in Wapping, February, 1794, aged nearly 77 years.
Another meeting-house was built in 1801, about 20 rods southeast of the site ofthe old one. Its dimensions were 60 by 44 feet, and 24 feet posts. Its frame stood uncovered until the spring of 1802; when a subscription was raised for " covering, glazing and roofing it." Its pulpit and seats were rough and unfinished; and a pillow with a clean case, was carried to meeting every sabbath, and placed on the desk as a cushion. This edifice was erected by the different denominations then existing in Wapping on a union plan. The Congregationalists,
1 Rev. Dr. Timothy M. Cooley, the present pastor of said church.
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HISTORY OF ANCIENT WINDSOR
were to become the sole proprietors, at such time as they should see fit, paying the other denominations what they had contributed towards its erection, "deducting decay." This church is the same now in use, but has never been consecrated' except by usuage. In the fall of 1829, a subscription was raised " for lathing and plastering its walls, erecting a breast- work around the gallery, and building a pulpit."
Although the people of Wapping had enjoyed preaching almost all the time from 1761, no formal attempt seems to have been made to organize a church. "In the years 1826 and 1827, however, the question was seriously discussed by a few indi- viduals," says the Church Manual, "Must our children be brought up under a religious belief different from the one which we and our fathers embraced?" These people resolved on making an effort to sustain Gospel ordinances among them- selves, few though they were in number, at the first. In this state of things, Rev. Mr. Brinsmade came from Hartford, where he was teaching in the Mute's Asylum, to preach to this people. 1 He continued his labors for about six months, during which time there was a revival of religion here, and eighteen or twenty adults indulged hope. It was then judged expedient by those who were the first in acting in this society, that a church should be formed.
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