USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Vol. II > Part 2
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The Rev. Bela Kellogg, just mentioned, was the son of Martin Kellogg, of Amherst, Mass., and was born in 1781. He was a graduate in 1800 in the sixth class of Williams College, studied theology with the Rev. N. Emmons, D.D., and was ordained in 1813 over the Congre- gational Church in Brookfield, Conn. He removed to the church in
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
East Avon in 1819, and was dismissed on account of ill health in 1830. He died April 30, 1831. He married, June 6, 1805, Lydia, daughter of Samuel Candee, of New Haven, and had six children.
John Brocklesby, born in England in 1811, came with his father's family to Avon in 1820, was graduated at Yale College in 1835, and received the degree of John Brocklestr LL. D. from Hobart Col- lege in 1868. He was professor of mathematics, etc., in Trinity College, Hartford, from 1842 to 1881, and has written several scientific treatises of high merit and reputation, among them the following: " Elements of Meteorology," "Views of the Microscopic World," " Elements of Astronomy," " Com- mon-School Astronomy." He resides in Hartford.
General Stewart L. Woodford, the distinguished statesman and orator, is of the family of that name which has been so prominent in the annals of Avon. He was born in New York City, but his father and grandfather were natives and residents of Avon while it existed as Northington Parish.
David W. and Edward Kilbourn removed to the West from Avon. They became the most prominent and wealthy men of Keokuk, Iowa, David being at one time mayor of the city and president of one of its railroads ; both filled with ability various offices of responsibility and honor.
" Deercliff," the summer residence of Mr. Richard S. Ely, of New York, occupies one of the most picturesque sites in the State, on the crest of the mountain, some distance south of the tower. Mr. Ely, a native of Hartford, son of the late William Ely, was formerly a mer- chant in England and in France, and has since retired from active business. At his farm at " Deereliff" he was one of the earliest breeders of Jersey cattle in the United States, and was influential in introducing them into this country.
M. t. Sunbelt
II.
BERLIN.
BY THE REV. W. W. WOODWORTH.
B ERLIN is bounded on the north by New Britain and Newing- ton ; on the east by Rocky Hill, Cromwell, and Middletown ; on the south by Middletown and Meriden; and on the west by Southington. Its average length is not far from six miles, and its average breadth about five miles and a half. It is divided into the two parishes of Kensington on the west and Worthington on the cast. In the southeast part of the parish of Worthington is the small but flourishing village of East Berlin. The scenery is remarkable for varied beauties. The geological formation is the red sandstone, the graceful slope of its hills interspersed here and there with bold, pre- cipitous ridges of trap. On the south, partly in Berlin and partly in Meriden, rises Mount Lamentation. The Mattabesett River, the head- waters of which are in Berlin and New Britain, flows through the town, and unites with the Connecticut at Middletown.
In January, 1686, the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut granted to the towns of " Middletown, Wethersfield, and Farmington all the vacant lands between their bounds and the bounds of Wallingford " (which then included what is now the township of Meriden), for the purpose of establishing a new plantation. The grant covered the tract of land now belonging to Berlin and New Britain.
The first settler was Richard Beckley. He appears to have been one of the early planters of New Haven, and to have removed to Wethers- field in 1668. The records of the colony of Connecticut show that in that year the General Court granted to Sergeant Richard Beckley three hundred acres of land lying by Mat- tabesitt River. The records of Richard Buckley lands for Wethersfield inform us also that he purchased his grounds of "Terramoogus [Indian], with the consent of the Court and the town of Wethersfield." This tract of land, thus granted to Richard Beckley, on which he probably settled in 1668 or soon after, is in the northeast part of the town of Berlin, in what from time immemorial has been called " Beckley Quarter." The Indian of whom he purchased the land belonged to the Mattabesitt tribe, and this was a part of their hunting-ground. Other settlers soon gathered about Beckley, and so the settlement of the Wethersfield part of this town began.
About the year 1686, seventeen or eighteen years after Richard Beckley settled on the Mattabesitt River, Richard Seymour and others
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
began a settlement in what has for many years been known as Chris- tian Lane, in the northwest part of Worthington Parish, then in " the southeastern bounds of Farmington." For protection against the In- dians these settlers built a fort or enclosure of palisades, within which they erected their cabins, and to which they resorted at nightfall for safety. The well which they dug, and from which they drank, is still in use, furnishing a supply of good water. Richard Seymour was the first white person buried within the limits of Berlin, in a lot of ground which tradition tells us he had himself given for a burial-place. He was killed by the fall of a tree. The first settlers in Christian Lane attended church for several years in Farmington village ; and tradition says that families walked the whole distance. - not less than eight miles, -over hills and through forests, carrying their children in their arms, the men going before and behind with loaded guns.
This rich basin to which the settlers had come received from them the name of Great Swamp, on account of its low situation. An Eccle- siastical Society was organized in Great Swamp in 1705. The new society, including in its territorial limits the greater part of the present towns of New Britain and Berlin, was called the Second Society of Farmington. It received the name Kensington by act of the General Assembly, on the petition of its inhabitants, in May, 1722. Beckley Quarter, which in 1712 was assigned to the new West Society in Weth- ersfield, since called Newington, was in 1715 annexed to the Great Swamp Society ; and so Beckley Quarter became a part of the Second Society of Farmington.
In May, 1718, a petition was presented to the General Assembly, signed by Samuel Peck, Samuel Hubbard, Samuel Galpin, John Gil- bord, Joseph Harris, and George Hubbard, in which they "request that the several inhabitants now dwelling, or that hereafter shall dwell, towards the northwest corner of said township of Middletown with- in one mile and a half square of said corner, and also all the ratable estate within the said compass, be released from ministerial or parish charge in Middletown, and be an- nexed to the Great Swamp Socie- tv." The petition was granted. Other families - Wilcoxes, Savages, Sages, Johnsons, and others - came in, and so the Middletown portion of the parish of Kensington was settled.
Samved Deal Samuell hubbard Samuel guerin (John gil box) No sop har mis Goorge hubbard
The Second Society of Farming- ton was organized, as stated above, in 1705. The church - then the Sec- ond Church in Farmington - was formed December 10, 1712, with ten members, seven males and three females. Their names were William Burnham, Stephen Lee, Thomas Hart, Anthony Judd, Samnel Seymour, Thomas North, Caleb Cowles : these were the seven pillars. With the wives of Stephen Lee, Samuel Seymour, and Thomas Hart, they
15
BERLIN.
constituted the church, to which others were soon added. There were then but fourteen families within the limits of the society, which, however, did not as yet include the settlement in Beckley Quarter. Mr. William Burnham, a native of Wethersfield, and a graduate of Harvard College, who had already preached to them for five years, was ordained the day the church was organized, and acted as their pastor till his death, in 1750.
The society, " by way of settlement," built him a house, he " finding glass and nails ; " and on condition that he continued their pastor for nine years, secured to him, and to his heirs and assigns forever, " three parcels of land," one of which, however, consisting of fifty acres, was given by the town of Farmington. The house is still standing and occupied, though removed from its original site. ITis salary was fixed at £50 a year, supplemented by £5 worth of labor for four years ; then to be raised to £65. Hle was, besides, to have " a sufficient supply of firewood for family use brought home and made ready for the fire." The salary was increased from time to time, until in 1728 it was made £100. Mr. Burnham had a large family, and is said to have " accumulated a large estate." He is described as a sound preacher, accustomed to refer much to Scripture in support of his doctrine.
The meeting-house in which he first preached was on a knoll a few rods southwest of where the Middletown railroad crosses Christian Lane. As the population increased, the house was found to be too small and the location inconvenient; and it was voted, in January, 1730 (42 in the affirmative and 36 in the negative), to build a new meeting-house " on Sergeant John Norton's lot, on the north side of Mill River," more than a mile southwest of the old house. The seeds of forty years of strife were in that vote. Serious difficulties arose respecting the location. Recourse was had in the most solemn manner to the lot, to decide the question. An advisory council was called to decide what the lot did not settle. The council advised that the site indicated by the lot was "the place pointed out by Providence to build the meeting-house upon ; " but the people would not build it there. The General Assembly of the colony was next appealed to.1 In May, 1732, that body appointed a committee to repair to the parish, view the circumstances, and fix the place for building the meeting- house. The committee fulfilled their trust, and " pitched down a stake in Deacon Thomas Hart's home-lot," about forty rods south- west of the spot pointed out by the lot. The society would take no measures for building there ; and in October, 1732, the General Court " ordered, directed, and empowered the constable of the town of Farm- ington to assess and gather of the inhabitants of Kensington ninepence on the pound of the polls and ratable estate of said society, and deliver it to the treasurer of the colony ; who was ordered, on the receipt thereof, to pay out the same to Captain John Marsh, Captain Thomas Sey- mour, and Mr. James Church, all of Hartford, who were appointed and empowered to be a committee, or any two of them, to erect and finish a meeting-house, at the place aforesaid, for the society aforesaid." This Hartford committee " speedily and effectually " did their work. They erected a house " 60 feet in length and 45 in breadth, containing in the
1 For a fac-simile of the indorsement on this petition see page 16.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
whole about 1500 persons."1 This house was not far from the first corner east of Berlin depot, on the road leading to Worthington village.
But the bitterness of feeling was not allayed ; it rather increased. Petitions to the General Assembly of the colony, praying for relief, came from distant parts of the parish. But no means of relief were at hand, and the confusion and dissension contin- ned till 1745, when the first division of Ken- sington Parish was made by the organi- zation of the Society of New Britain. The church in New Britain - the Second Church in Kensington - was formed April 19, 1758, with sixty-eight mem- bers. On the same day Jolm Smalley - a name destined to be famous in the history of New England theology - was ordained. His character and work be- long rather to the his- 6 tory of New Britain than to that of Berlin. The church in New Inhabitants of y Socialy 19:1431 Britain received fifty of its original members from the
All a meeting of y in kensington october y
that is about writer memorial Should The faid fociaty declared by a maior note
now Convenu at Newhaven R prefere to y Honouroble General assembly
Test Thomas Hart Sociaty Cleark
mother church ; but there were one hundred and ser- enty-four members left in a church which forty- two years before had been organized with ten members in a settle- ment of but fourteen families. This shows a rapid growth of popu- lation.
After Mr. Burnham's death, six years elapsed before the Kensington church secured another pastor. At length, on the 14th of July, 1756,
1 So says the record. Thoughtful men of this generation cannot easily see how fifteen hundred persons could be accommodated in a house of that size.
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BERLIN.
Mr. Samuel Clark, a graduate in 1751 of the College of New Jersey, was ordained, and remained pastor of the church till his death, in 1775. His tombstone records that " in the gifts of preaching he was excellent, laborious, and pathetic." The division of the parish did not end the strife between the remaining sections. The controversy waxed fiercer and hotter, until, in June, 1771, one hundred and thirty-seven men signed a paper, which sets forth in its preamble that " the society has long been in a very unhappy, broken, and divided state, and that various means have been unsuccessfully used to reconcile the subsisting difficulties ; " and then goes on to propose that the whole matter be submitted to the arbitration of Colonel John Worthington, of Spring- field, Colonel Oliver Partridge, of Hatfield, and Mr. Eldad Taylor, of
Samuel Clarke, Roky
Westfield, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. In conclusion, the subscribers solemnly pledge themselves, "laying aside all former preju- dices and prepossessions, and all party and selfish views and designs, to abide by the decision of the arbitrators, and not directly or indirectly to oppose it." The pledge was made, and kept in good faith. The arbi- trators did their part wisely. They decided that it was best to divide the society again, drew the boundary hne, and fixed the sites of the two new meeting-houses. A memorial was presented to the General Assem- bly in October, 1772, asking for this division, which was granted. The West Society retained the name of Kensington, and the East Society took the name of Worthington, as a memorial of the judicious efforts of Colonel Worthington in settling these long-standing difficulties.
Thus ended this bitter controversy. The two societies at once began preparations for building meeting-houses on the sites indicated by the arbitrators. That in Kensington was dedicated Dec. 1, 1774. It has undergone repairs, alterations, and improvements, and is still the attractive and comfortable house of worship of the First Church Bemmillion and Society of Berlin. In March, 1779, Mr. Benoni Upson (born in Waterbury, 1750, graduated at Yale College, 1776) was settled as the third pastor of the church in Kensington, the first after the division of the parish. Mr. Upson was in every sense a Christian gentleman, a lover of peace, and a peace- maker. He was highly esteemed among the ministers of his day. He was a fellow of Yale College, which conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1817. He died Nov. 13, 1826, aged seventy-six years, after a pastorate of forty-seven years, for the last ten of which he had a colleague.
Mr. Royal Robbins (born in Wethersfield, Oct. 21, 1787, graduated at Yale in 1806) was ordained as Dr. Upson's colleague June 26, 1816, and resigned his charge June 26, 1859. He studied theology with Dr. Porter, of Catskill, New York, and Dr. Yates, of East Hartford.
VOL. II .- 2.
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MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
To eke out an insufficient salary, he wrote much for the press ; and some of his numerous publications were of a high order of literary worth. His Royal Robbins Yoube best-known work is his "Outlines of Ancient and Modern History," which has passed through many editions, and been extensively used as a text-book in schools and colleges. After Dr. Upson's death Mr. Robbins was the pastor of the Kensington church for thirty-three years. He was a judicious and faithful minister, a wise counsellor ; as a preacher, less a "son of thunder" than a "son of consolation," speaking the truth which he lived, in winning forms and in winning tones. His ministry was eminently successful. He died March 26, 1861, aged seventy-three years. Among his children are Royal E. Robbins and Henry A. Robbins, of the firm of Robbins & Appleton, New York, and Edward W. Robbins, of Kensington.
The Rev. Elias B. Hillard, a native of Preston and a graduate of Yale, was installed over this church May 16, 1860, and dismissed Feb. 27, 1867. He had previously been settled in Hadlyme. He re- moved from Kensington to Glastonbury, and thenee to Plymouth, where he now labors as pastor of the Congregational Church.
He was succeeded by the Rev. Alfred T. Waterman, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, and a graduate of Yale, installed June 23, 1869, dismissed June 15, 1874. He is now a minister in Michigan. The Rev. A. C. Baldwin, now resident in Yonkers, New York, the Rev. J. B. Cleaveland, and Mr. C. W. Morrow have since acted each for a time as pastor. The Rev. A. J. Benedict was installed May 3, 1883.
The Worthington society held its first meeting Nov. 23, 1772. Its first meeting-house was opened for worship on Thursday, Oct. 13, 1774. It stood for sixteen years without steeple or bell. A vote, passed by the society Nov. 1, 1791, is worth transcribing : -
" Voted, That the thanks of this society be given to our friend, Mr. Jedidiah Norton, for so distinguished a mark of his good-will in giving us an elegant organ, and erecting it in the meeting-house at his expense."
Was not this the first instance in which an organ was used as an aid to the worship of God in song in the Congregational churches in New England ? This was a sweet-toned organ, and was played with very various skill, till it was destroyed when the meeting-house was fired by some incendiary in 1848. The house was not burned down, but afterwards repaired, and is now used for a school-house and town- hall. A new church was dedicated in 1851. The church Nathan Som Eran Johno in Worthington was organized Feb. 9, 1775, with ninety- five members. Its first pastor, the Rev. Nathan Fenn, was ordained May 3, 1780. Mr. Fenn was born in Mil- ford in 1750, graduated at Yale in 1775, and studied theology with
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BERLIN.
Dr. Smalley in New Britain. He died, after a ministry of nineteen years, April 21, 1799. His tombstone records that " in his pastoral office he was faithful ; in the duties of piety constant ; in every relation kind and affectionate ; and to all men hospitable and benevolent."
In December, 1801, the society voted to call the Rev. Evan Johns, a native of Wales, and for some time minister in Bury St. Edmunds, England, and to pay him an annual salary of $500 and fifteen cords of wood. Mr. Johns was installed June 9, 1802. He was a very different man from Mr. Fenn. With much the stronger intellect, and much the greater eloquence and power in the pulpit, he had also a more irascible temper and quicker impulses. and lacked that mildness of demeanor and that judiciousness of counsel and of conduct which had given his predecessor so strong a hold on his people. After a ministry of nine years, he was dismissed Feb. 13, 1811. Mr. Johns subsequently preached in various places, and at length retired to Canan- daigna, New York, where he died in 1849, at the age of eighty-six.
He was succeeded, May 29, 1811, by the Rev. Samuel Goodrich, a son of Dr. Elizur Goodrich, of Durham, and father of Mr. Samuel G. Goodrich - known as Peter Parley - and the Rev. Charles A. Goodrich. He graduated at Yale in 1783, and was pastor of the church in Ridge- field from 1786 to 1811. He found the piety of the Worthington church in a very low state, from which the revivals enjoyed under his ministry did much to restore it. He was its sole pastor until 1831, when the Rev. Am- Jamuel Goodrichy brose Edson was installed as colleague pastor. About three years and a half la- ter both pastors were dis- missed on account of failing health. Mr. Goodrich died Sabbath evening, April 19, 1835, in the seventy-third year of his age. He was a man of sound judgment, solid understanding, and extensive knowledge. His preaching was plain and practical, cordial and affectionate, and delivered with " a pecu- liarly full and solemn utterance."
Mr. Edson was born at Brimfield, Mass., in 1797. His first pastor- ate was at Brooklyn. He was a man of great zeal, and when on his- favorite themes of God's government and man's responsibility, of great power as a preacher. After his dismission in 1834 he removed with his family to Somers. While there he published a book of some merit entitled "Letters to the Conscience," which reached a second edition. He died at Somers, Aug. 17, 1835.
James M. Macdonald, a native of Limerick, Maine, was the next pastor. He was ordained, when not yet twenty-three years of age, April 1, 1835. He was dismissed, against the remonstrance and greatly to the grief of his people, Nov. 27, 1837, and soon after was installed over the Second Congregational Church in New London. From there he was called to Jamaica, Long Island ; thence to the city of New York ; and thence, in 1853, to the First Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey, where he continued for twenty-three years, until his death, April 20, 1876. He had many rare qualities as a preacher. A form and face of manly beauty, a voice combining
20
MEMORIAL HISTORY OF HARTFORD COUNTY.
melody and power, an intellect of robust vigor, a habit of study and research, a heart full of sympathy, an unyielding loyalty to truth and to God, -these gave him much attractiveness and power. While at Jamaica he was invited to become Professor of Moral Philosophy in Hamilton College, but declined. He published several works of much merit, the last and most important of which was his "Life of the Apostle Jolm."
The Rev. Joseph Whittlesey was installed May 8, 1838, and dismissed, on account of failing health, Ang. 9, 1841. He still lives in Berlin.
W. W. Woodworth was ordained July 6, 1842, and dismissed May, 1852. He was succeeded by the Rev. William DeLoss Love, installed Oct. 5, 1853, and dismissed Nov. 23, 1857, now of South Hadley, Mass. During the first year of his ministry here one hundred and fifty-five were added to the church by profession.
The next pastor was the Rev. Robert C. Learned, installed here Dec. 1, 1858, dismissed April 1, 1861. He went from here to Plymouth, where he died in April, 1867, at the age of forty-nine. He was a good man, lovable and loving, with a well-balanced and well-rounded char- acter ; a man, too, of no small intellectual power, Incid in his thinking and in the expression of his thoughts. His son, the Rev. Dwight W. Learned, is now a missionary of the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions in Japan.
The next pastor was the Rev. Wilder Smith, afterwards of Rock- ford, Illinois, now residing in Hartford; the next, the Rev. Leavitt H. Hallock, afterward of West Winsted, now a pastor in Portland, Maine ; the next, the Rev. Jesse Brush, now rector of an Episcopal church in Saybrook. After an absence of nearly twenty-four years the Rev. W. W. Woodworth returned to the pastorate of this church in December, 1875.
The history of a country town in New England must, to a very large extent, be the history of its churches and ecclesiastical societies. They are its most important and most lasting and influential institu- tions. In Berlin, as in other Connecticut towns, the Congregational churches and societies were at first, and for a long time, the only ones. But about the year 1815 the Rev. William R. Jewett, a Methodist preacher, began to hold services here. A class composed of twelve or more members was soon formed, and class-meetings and regular preaching services were held. Oliver Welden was the first class-leader. Among the early preachers were Rev's Smith Dayton, David Miller, and John R. Jewett; and of those that followed these there were several ministers quite noted in their day. At the first ordinance of baptism seventeen were baptized by immersion. The first Methodist house of worship in Berlin was erected in the south part of Worthing- ton village in 1830. In 1871 the society bought the house formerly used by the Universalists, remodelled it, and now worships in it.
The corner-stone of the Methodist church in Kensington was laid in 1865. The house was built and the parsonage procured by means of the gifts of Mr. Moses Peek and Miss Louisa Loveland.
In March, 1864, religions services began to be held regularly in a hall in East Berlin, and in the following May a Methodist class was formed there. A neat chapel was dedicated in the spring of 1876.
In 1829 " The First Society of United Brethren in the town of
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