USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Mount Carmel > The old Mount Carmel parish, origins & outgrowths > Part 10
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These United States, by the blessings of heaven, established their independence and secured their liberties on that basis to which their wishes and exertions were directed, and as the great national ques- tion on which those persons differed from us in sentiment is termi- nated authoritatively in favor of the United States, it is our opinion that in point of law and constitution it will be proper to admit as inhabitants of this town such persons as are specified ; but that no persons who committed unauthorized and lawless plundering and murder, or have waged war against these United States contrary to the laws and usages of civilized nations, ought on any account to be admitted.
With respect to the expediency of such a measure, we beg leave to report that in our opinion no nation, however distinguished for prowess in arms and success in war, can be considered truly great unless it is also distinguished for justice and magnanimity; and no people can with the least propriety lay claim to the character of be-
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Revolutionary Times.
ing just who violate their most solemn treaties, or of being mag- nanimous who prosecute a conquered and submitting enemy, that therefore the present and future national glory of the United States is deeply concerned in their conduct relative to persons described in said vote; for although at the present moment, while the distress and calamities of the late war are fresh in our recollection, we may con- sider a persecuting spirit as justifiable, we must, when reason assumes her empire, reproach such a line of conduct, and be convinced that future generations, not being influenced by our passions, will form their ideas of our character from those acts which a faithful his- torian shall have recorded, and not from our passions of which they can have no history.
As this town is most advantageously situated for commerce, hav- ing spacious and safe harbors surrounded by a very extensive and fertile country which is inhabited by an industrious and enterprising people fully sensible of the advantage of trade, and as the relative and essential importance and consequence of this state depend on the prosperity and extent of its agriculture and commerce, neither of which can alone render it important and happy, we are of the opin- ion that in point of real honor and permanent utility the measure proposed will be highly expedient.
In accepting the report of the committee, the town voted to admit as inhabitants the persons referred to and directed the selectmen to act accordingly.
XII. The Change from a State-Church to Free Churches.
U NDER the old order a single church for each par- ticular community was established and maintained by the government. Such an arrangement was pro- motive of stability and had the effect of securing long pas- torates. Thus, James Pierpont was pastor of the First Church in New Haven for thirty years and his successor, Joseph Noyes, for forty-five years. At Wallingford, Samuel Street was in office forty-two years and was followed by Samuel Whittlesey, who was there forty-three years. At East Ha- ven, Jacob Hemingway was minister for fifty years and, after him, Nicholas Street served for fifty-one years. Isaac Stiles was at North Haven thirty-six years; Noah Williston at West Haven fifty-one; and Samuel Hall at Cheshire fifty-two years. All these men died in office. Now and then it was different; there were several short pastorates at West Haven before Mr. Williston's; one at North Haven before Mr. Stiles's; and one in East Haven after Mr. Street's. But life pastorates were usual. The tax levied by legislature paid the bills, and the minister stayed on as a matter of course.
This was the situation in 1727 when the land grant was made for a ministry to be established "near the Blue Hills." But thirty years later, when the Mount Carmel Parish was instituted, things had changed in many respects. The old First Church had been split in two; sharp contentions had risen over the innovations of the Saybrook Platform, and the common people were growing restless under the impositions of their ecclesiastical managers. That was the secret of the lack of unanimity at Mount Carmel. The meddling of the Ministers' Association exasperated the Mount Carmel peo- ple and the episode with Mr. Sherman did not help matters. So it came to pass that of the first forty years of this parish
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only nine years were under a settled ministry. Naturally there was not much cohesion to hold people together. At the end of the period there was hardly more unity than at the outset, if there was as much.
The new law that went into effect in Mr. Perry's time, which opened the way for property holders to evade taxation for the maintenance of the recognized church, gave a chance to everyone who was in any way dissatisfied to quit the church. Mr. Perry's ministry was brought to an end by this means. But other effects followed. In different parts of the parish people drew together in several congenial groups, apart from the old society, and in course of time there were three or four churches instead of one.
Among the records at Mount Carmel is a little bundle of papers with signatures of property holders asking to be re- leased from their taxes because of attendance at some other place of worship. The earliest has the date of 1788, and the latest of 1826. One, of 1788, reads: "Jason Bradley attends church at Woodbridge pretty steady the year 1787." An- other of the same year states that Ephraim Johnson has "signed to the Strict Congregational Society of Wallingford commonly called Separates and hath contributed to the sup- port of the gospel there." Still another, of September 24, 1788, has a statement that "Joel Bradley, Elisha Perkins and Ezra Kimberly have signed to and paid ministerial tax to the Episcopal Society of North Haven"; and others in the following November tell of Stephen Pardee, Abel Stock- well, Levi Bradley, John Gilbert, and Samuel Martin as having joined the same society.
So it appears that, in 1788, a considerable group of people were going over to the Episcopal Church in North Haven. In the following year the group was enlarged by the addi- tion of Titus Munson and Jesse Goodyear, Jr., who prob- ably began their attendance in 1788, with Joel Pardee, Eli Bradley, Jared Goodyear, Asa Goodyear, Jr., Thomas Pardee, Timothy Bassett, Joseph Bassett, Benjamin Warner, Samuel Warner, and Jesse Warner. Finally, on February 6, 1790, Jonah Warner, Amos Warner, and Ebenezer Warner,
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The Old Mount Carmel Parish.
Jr., were also added. All these went for worship to the Epis- copal society in North Haven under the care of the Rever- end Edward Blakeslee. It was not long before steps were taken to form an Episcopal Society in Hamden and on March 1, 1790, a warrant for this purpose was given to Ezra Kimberly which reads as follows:
By authority of the State of Connecticut you are hereby com- manded to warn all the inhabitants that live within the parish of Mount Carmel in said Hamden, who belong to the Episcopal Church (so called) and ordinarily attend public worship according to the forms, rites and ceremonies of said church, to appear and meet at the house of Stephen Pardee in said Hamden, on the six- teenth day of March, inst. at three o'clock in the afternoon, then and there to form an Episcopal Society, consisting of the inhabi- tants aforesaid and of all such living within said limits who shall join and adhere to said Church, and to choose all the officers neces- sary to such Society and to do other business requisite to said Society.
Dated at Hamden the first day of March 1790.
SIMEON BRISTOL, Justice of the Peace.
Alvin Bradley, Abraham Gilbert, Joel Bradley, Joseph Gilbert, Abijah Brooks; Principal inhabitants of the Episcopal Society.
Of the five named as principal inhabitants only Joel Brad- ley appears in the North Haven list made up from the cer- tificates; from which it may be inferred that the others at- tended Episcopal service elsewhere, doubtless at Trinity in New Haven or at Cheshire, where the zealous rector, Reuben Ives, showed particular interest in Mount Carmel people.
Another interesting group of independents were those who believed in a "Strict Congregational Church" as dis- tinguished from the consociated churches which it was cus- tomary to speak of as "Presbyterian." Ephraim Johnson has been named as going to Wallingford for this reason in 1788. A year later, in 1789, Ebenezer Hough was certified as at- tending the "Strict Congregational Church of Cheshire" and contributing to its support. Those holding these views, how- ever, were found for the most part in the southwest part of
State-Church and Free Churches.
the old parish. A certificate of 1789 specifies that "Ebenezer Warner hath subscribed to the Congregational Society in this town," and there are other similar ones for Timothy and Elisha Leek. One of 1788, for Eldad Woolcut, reads: "This may certify that the subscriber differs in sentiment from the worship and ministry of the Ecclesiastical Society in said town and has chosen and joined himself with the First Strict Congregational Society in said Hamden." A certificate to Noah Woolcut is of like import.
The neighborhood in which these people lived was quite distant from the Mount Carmel meeting-house and also from those on the Green in New Haven. This made them more ready to sustain a worship of their own. A leading spirit in the movement was Captain Caleb Alling, who lived within the jurisdiction of the White Haven Church and was once arrested and put in prison for not paying his tax to sup- port that institution. As early as 1789, the Reverend Benja- min Beach, who was in charge of a Separatist church in Pros- pect and of another in Derby, conducted services in this neighborhood, "about one quarter of the time," according to a statement in a letter that was written from there.
President Stiles in his Diary has some interesting allusions that have a bearing on this movement:
Feb. 28, 1784: Rode out 4 miles to the Plains where I find there are about 60 families who have a mind to set up winter preaching. They began this winter for the first time and hold their meetings at Gov. Matthew Gilbert's.
Jan. 26, 1790: There are about 100 families belonging to the Congregations in this town of Hamden. Being dissatisfied with the city Congregations they have begun a Congregation of divine wor- ship and upheld it for two years or more about 4 miles off at the plains. They this day applied to me again to assist them in gathering a Congl. Church there.
Mch. 27, 1790: I preached all day at the Plains, where a new Congrega. chh. was lately gathered by Rev. Mr. Beach, Pastor of a separate chh. at Derby. . . . The chh. at Plains at its embodying consisted of 34 members, brothers and sisters, of which about a dozen brothers, regular members of other chh. except two admitted now and baptized.
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II2 The Old Mount Carmel Parish.
The meetings for worship were held at one house and an- other in different parts of the neighborhood; but eventually it was decided to meet regularly at the house of Captain Jonathan Mix, which occupied quite a central position. A number living at a distance from there, however, objected to this decision; whereupon Captain Caleb Alling arose and gave notice that his house would be open thereafter on the Sabbath for worship and invited all who agreed with him to meet there. So, from this time on, there were two separate companies meeting regularly for worship. As the places of meeting were some distance apart, they probably interfered with one another less than might be supposed. Captain Caleb's meeting was kept up till near the end of his life, and his gravestone bore this inscription: "Rev. Caleb Alling; died November 25, 1823, in the 78 year of his age and the 26 of his ministry." The other company held their meetings at Captain Mix's house for a while and then decided to build a meeting-house. They bought the lot on which the Metho- dist Church now stands and completed their building in 1795. A nephew of Captain Caleb Alling, whose name was Abra- ham, came to be looked upon as the leader of this Society and, some two years after the meeting-house was built, he was regularly ordained to be their pastor. The Reverend Abraham Alling continued in office for twenty-five years, till 1822, when he was dismissed at his own request. After this, he lived fifteen years and died July 22, 1837, at the age of eighty-three. The church of which he was pastor has had a fruitful and honorable history and is still flourishing as the Whitneyville Congregational Church, the organization hav- ing passed to another meeting place in a different locality .*
One of the certificates, which has a peculiar significance, testifies to a very early influence in the direction of the church of the Wesleys. It is dated, Hamden, November 29, 1791, and reads: "This may certify that Mr. Hezekiah War- ner of said town has attended meeting and contributed for the support of the gospel in the First Society of Methodists in said town. Test, Eliada Hitchcock, Clerk." The History
* Alling Genealogy, pp. 229-233.
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State-Church and Free Churches.
of Hamden gives the date of the beginning of Methodism in the town as "about 1810," but here is documentary proof of such an organization nearly twenty years before. The name of Hezekiah Warner in itself may well arrest atten- tion, for he was a man of distinction in the community, in- timately connected with some of the more influential fami- lies. His wife was Abiah Hitchcock. He was sixty years of age, with four sons and a daughter, and had brothers and sisters living near him with their families. He had been twice chosen as selectman. He and his wife had long been mem- bers of the Mount Carmel Church and he had repeatedly held responsible office in the Society. We can easily imagine that his neighbors and friends gathered about him as their leading citizen, very much as the people of the adjoining district did about Captain Alling, and that they constituted a group congenial in their attitude of mind and hungry for a warmer religious communion than they had found in the old meeting-house. In 1789, Jesse Lee, a pioneer of the Metho- dists in America, had visited New Haven and attracted to him a number of people. He might have had this Hezekiah Warner, and perhaps a few of his neighbors, among his lis- teners. Possibly he came out to Warner's house and held a service there, as President Stiles did on the Plains. No more definite particulars have come down to us of how this Methodist society was planted or of what became of it after- ward.
A number of certificates of later date have reference to a society of Baptists in the northwest part of the town. The language used is very similar to that of the older papers. One, of 1809, states that Job Blakslee of Hamden had been a member of the Second Baptist Society of Wallingford for fifteen years. Another, of 1815, certifies that Ambrose and Levi Perkins have joined the Baptist Church and Society of Meriden. Then comes one of February 16, 1822, which reads: "I certify that in August 1817, I joined the Baptist Society in Hamden, and ever since and still do consider my- self a member of that Society. Allen Gaylord." Prominent in this fellowship was Deacon Jesse Dickerman, who died in
II4 The Old Mount Carmel Parish.
1821, leaving a small legacy, the interest of which was to be applied to the support of a minister. The Reverend David Bradley had the oversight of this flock for more than thirty years. After Mr. Bradley's death, in 1854, the meetings of the circle were no longer continued.
The defection to the Episcopalian Church was much the most formidable. It was not a gathering of personal friends in a particular neighborhood. It belonged rather to a compre- hensive design and was animated by a distinct purpose. There were vigorous and aggressive Episcopal societies in adjacent towns, in New Haven, North Haven, Wallingford, Cheshire, Waterbury, Derby, West Haven, and Branford. For over sixty years, the movement to discredit the eccle- siastical usages prevalent in the New England churches, which began in 1722, had been going on under zealous and able leadership. Originating in the diligent studies of a few eminent scholars of the New Haven Colony, it had gained the countenance of the established Church of England and eventually the financial assistance of the London Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts; so that it had been in a position to take advantage of any discontent in the churches of the colony and to raise the standard of his- toric Episcopacy at the most opportune times. As a result, it was estimated, in 1774, that about one in thirteen of the in- habitants of Connecticut belonged to this constituency. In the Revolution, the Episcopal churches were usually on the side of the king and the invading army, which brought them into bitter popular disfavor. But with the close of the War and the establishment of an American Episcopate, which quickly followed, there came a reaction and their prosperity returned. Not only did the old royalists keep up their alle- giance to the Episcopal Churches, but others of conservative leanings joined them, and new recruits, for various reasons, were added to their ranks.
Not unnaturally, therefore, a considerable number of the Mount Carmel people became Episcopalians. For years be- fore, influences had been set in motion, especially from North Haven and Cheshire, to bring about this result. The
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State-Church and Free Churches.
good people living in Mount Carmel were in associations too close and intimate with those of these adjoining communities not to share in the waves of thought and feeling which they experienced. When John Wetmore, the first pastor of the North Haven Church of the old order, suddenly surprised his congregation by turning Episcopalian, the sensation that followed had its effect in every one of those scattered home- steads that were starting into life over to the west of the Ridge and Mill River. When Samuel Andrews of Walling- ford, a classmate of Benjamin Trumbull, went over to Eng- land in the spring of 1761, to obtain Episcopal ordination,* we can be sure that there were men and women in the new parish of Mount Carmel who were not so entirely absorbed in their new meeting-house and in plans for settling a min- ister that they were not a bit interested in the extraordinary course of that young man. And when Andrews returned from England as "an Ordained Priest," and entered on his service as a missionary in their immediate vicinity, it would have been strange indeed if none had had the curiosity to in- quire about him or to see him in the performance of the canonical ritual. Then, to these intangible influences, were added the open activities of Reuben Ives, the rector at Cheshire, who held his charge there with the definite under- standing that he was to employ a third of his time in draw- ing about him any people in the surrounding country who might be susceptible to his persuasions. }
After the Mount Carmel Episcopalians were organized at the house of Stephen Pardee in the spring of 1790, they held their worship in private houses, very much as the other groups met at the house of Caleb Alling, or at those of Cap- tain Mix, Hezekiah Warner, and Jesse Dickerman. There was much to make such gatherings attractive, especially while they were the fashion and wore the charm of novelty. They had an atmosphere of sociability, besides being more comfortable in cold weather than were the gatherings in a
* Beardsley, History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, Vol. I, p. 204.
t Ibid., pp. 386, 397.
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The Old Mount Carmel Parish.
bare-walled, unheated building with hard benches for seats, such as the old meeting-house. So these Episcopalians, fond as they were of beautiful architecture and ritual, made the best of such accommodations as Pardee could provide, and a little later occupied a room in the house of Abraham Gilbert.
As soon, however, as things were favorable, they began to talk about building a church. In January, 1795, a site was decided upon and it was voted to build a church forty-four feet in length and thirty-four feet in width. The spot chosen was near the old meeting-house, on the opposite side of the street, a few rods to the north, fronting the ground on which the railroad station now stands. Work on the building pro- ceeded rather slowly; it was two years before measures were taken to put in pews, and the pulpit was not added till 1812 .*
The slow progress is easily accounted for. North Haven, with its St. John's Church, was not far away for most of the membership; and others above the Steps could go to the Cheshire church without much trouble. Besides, there was a scarcity of Episcopal ministers. Neither North Haven nor Cheshire could have one for the whole time but had to take turns with other communities. The Reverend Edward Blakeslee of North Haven officiated at Northford and Hamden as well as at St. John's, and Mr. Ives of Cheshire had to divide his ministrations in a similar way. If the Ham- den society could have had their own minister on the ground to give his undivided attention to building the church, things would probably have moved faster. The problem of raising money, however, must have been serious. A group of men who had withdrawn from the old church to escape payment of taxes was hardly likely to be very free with voluntary offerings for the building up and maintaining of this new enterprise. In the circumstances, it is a wonder that the un- dertaking went through at all.
An event of some significance was the founding at Mount Carmel, in 1794, of a Masonic Lodge .; This took place at
* Coley, History of Grace Church.
+ History of Hamden, pp. 224-226.
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State-Church and Free Churches.
the house of Samuel Bellamy, the proprietor of the tavern, Mr. Bellamy himself being appointed Master of the Lodge and a number of prominent citizens being admitted to mem- bership. Here was evidence of a fondness for liturgy and ornate ceremonials. May it not have been taken by Mr. Ives and his friends as a sign that people were tiring of the plain- ness in the old manner of worship and craving the more elaborate ceremonials of Episcopacy? Two of the citizens who became Masons were Amasa Bradley and Ezra Kim- berly, who had already gone into the company that met at Stephen Pardee's; why might not all the others follow their lead into the new church? The Lodge was instituted on May 15, and on the fourth of December following, the Episco- pal society voted that their committee should "procure the most convenient spot for building a church between the Steps and the road below Hezekiah Dickerman's," which pointed straight to the locality that was soon fixed upon, near the old meeting-house and right across the street from the tavern.
Another incident of the times was the founding of an Episcopal Academy for Connecticut. This had been pro- posed at a Convention in New Haven, and in furtherance of the project a committee had been appointed "to meet at Maj. Bellamy's tavern, Hamden, and establish the Academy in the town they should consider most eligible." The committee met on July 1, 1794, in the room, we may suppose, where the Masonic Lodge had been organized about six weeks be- fore. The committee decided that the academy should be placed at Cheshire, and two years later the corner-stone was laid with Masonic honors .*
It may be well for us to glance at the political events that were taking place in those times. The great figure that at- tracted all eyes and quickened the throb of every loyal heart was George Washington. Elected by a unanimous vote to be the first President, he had been inaugurated in 1789. Four years later, in 1793, he was inaugurated a second time, hav- ing been reëlected with the same unanimity; and then, in
* Beach, History of Cheshire, p. 248.
II8 The Old Mount Carmel Parish.
1796, before the election of that year, he delivered his Fare- well Address, memorable in all the years that have fol- lowed. We can hardly overestimate the play of influences that radiated abroad through the land from this man, who stood the impressive embodiment of American principles and purpose. He was the center of admiration everywhere. His example was more than a royal sanction for conduct. Any- thing in which he was interested was for that reason to be accepted without question and to be followed without hesi- tation.
Hence, because Washington happened to be a Freemason, a new popularity was given to the Masonic Lodge. It is easy to believe that this had much to do with the starting of that Lodge in Bellamy's tavern. Again, if we recall that Wash- ington belonged to an Episcopal church, and was a vestry- man, at Alexandria, Virginia, we can see that his example in this may have had weight in inclining not a few to the Epis- copal communion. Doubtless a rising tide of popular favor on this account gave high hopes to these Hamden Episco- palians and encouraged them to go on with their under- taking.
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