USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Salisbury > The one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Congregational Church in Salisbury, Conn., Friday, November 23, 1894 > Part 5
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Another phase of Dr. Reid's character showed itself in a certain prayer-meeting I wot of, when the brethren had assembled in the upper room of the Academy building for their regular midweek afternoon meeting. The Doctor had a disconcerting way of calling upon the brethren to partici- pate in the meeting, not only without previous notice, but with a nervous, threatening gesture of his long, lean arm and finger, which was somewhat embarrassing, to say the least. Rev. Jonathan Lee, a grandson of the first pastor of the church, had been thus requested, not to say admonished, to lead in prayer. Mr. Lee prayed long and fervently for the downfall of the unholy rebellion, and due punishment upon those who were conspiring against the Union. As his peti- tions grew in length, they increased in fervency, until his language assumed the character of one of the imprecatory psalms. Now one of the brothers present, by reason of education and previous political action, viewed matters in quite a different light from Mr. Lee. He became extremely uneasy, and twisted about on his seat to such an extent that he attracted Dr. Reid's attention. When Mr. Lee finally reached his Amen, the Doctor pointed to this uneasy brother and said, " Brother Brown, will you pray?" Then it was Mr. Lee's turn to shuffle and twist, while Brother
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Brown prayed that the unseemly passions of men might be subdued, the white-winged dove of peace brood again over our unhappy country, and religious meetings be undis- turbed by political utterances. Then all the people smiled at each other, and went home duly edified.
I remember a large meeting held in this church just one week after the first battle of Bull Run. The family of Henry J. Raymond of the New York Times were spending the summer here, and Mr. Raymond, who had seen service as a war correspondent in the Austro-Italian war of 1859, went out from Washington that summer afternoon to see the rebel army annihilated. He returned without the sight, and kindly consented to tell us how it seemed. Mr. Alex- ander L. Holley, already prominent in his profession of civil engineer, prepared a map of the battlefield, which that evening obscured the glory of that famous old red drop- curtain back of the pulpit. Mr. Raymond gave us a graphic picture of the great fight, and under his masterly description we experienced alternations of victory and defeat, hope and despair, as if we, too, had been eye-witnesses.
Another large assembly gathered here one August after- noon in '61, soon after Lincoln's call for three hundred thousand men, in the midst of haying, mind you, when the average farmer would scarcely leave his work to help put out a fire. Senator Trumbull of Illinois, and a congressman from Brooklyn, named Humphrey, I think, were the princi- pal speakers. The audience were aroused to a high pitch of enthusiasm, and when, in closing, the great assembly arose and sang, " My Country, 'tis of Thee," one boy, at least, among those present, then and there resolved to do some- thing more than to sing for his country.
Let us at this time recall the names of those closely identified with our church through membership, or regular attendance, who volunteered for their country's service in those stormy days. Admatha Bates, Oren H. Knight," and James Deane went in the Second Conn. Heavy Artillery. Knight laid down his life at Petersburg; Bates returned to live respected and esteemed by all who knew him until his death a few months since ; while Deane,t going from and returning to a pulpit, still bears an honorable scar to attest the good marksmanship of a rebel rifleman at Cold Harbor.
* The G. A. R. Post at Lakeville is named after this brave comrade. + See further about the Rev. James Deane on page 63.
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James Sherwood enlisted with his father John, in the Fifth Connecticut, a regiment that saw more marching and a wider range of service than any other Connecticut regi- ment. Edwin J. Barden, Albert E. Barnes, H. Pitt Bos- worth, J. Newton Dexter, Virgil F. McNeil, E. Lewis Moore, Thomas L. Norton, William D. Reid, John H. Sweet, and George Lee Wells (good old Parson Lee blood there), went in the Seventh Connecticut. Barnes was one of those quiet, un- complaining men who are quite too apt to fail of their just deserts, simply because they make no sign when injured. He was promised a furlough after arduous service in the trenches at Morris Island, but for some reason the furlough never came, and, with an unspeakable longing for the lofty hills and fertile valleys of his native town, he pined away and died,- died for the flag, as truly as if the enemy's bul- let had laid him low. Bosworth, cheerful, heroic Bosworth, fell at Olustee; Reid left an arm at Drewry's Bluff ; Wells was taken prisoner on the Bermuda Hundred line, in May, 1864, and suffered in the Andersonville hell until Sherman's guns began to thunder in the vicinity, when he was shipped for a safer prison. On the way he watched his chances, slipped out of the car, and gained the swamps of South Car- olina. Night after night for two long weeks, piloted by faithful, black-skinned comrades, resting in the tangled everglades by day, he reached at last a river running to the sea, down which he glided, until the old flag waving over one of Uncle Sam's gunboats assured him of life and freedom. Moore began his school as usual that September, but the rising flood of patriotism swept him, too, into the ranks as private with us, from whence he rose to the rank of captain and adjutant-general. Joseph Bostwick, a son of that mother in Israel of whom we have heard this after- noon, George Bushnell, another lineal descendant of the first Jonathan Lee, and Thomas B. Orton, a manly fellow who served afterwards in an Ohio regiment, and died an untimely death soon after the war, went in the 28th Con- necticut, in the full company from Salisbury, known as the Iron Guard, which was recruited chiefly through the efforts of large-hearted, noble-minded George Coffing. Ere the boys marched away to the war, they stood in line in front of this building, while one of the fair daughters of the
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church presented them a beautiful silk flag, now a treasured possession of the Grand Army Post at Lakeville.
Mention must surely be made of the noble work done by the Ladies' Aid Societies during the war. It is not true that these societies were composed entirely of the ladies of this congregation, but it is true that all our ladies were in the Salisbury and Lakeville organizations. From the dear old lady in the north part of the town, who, with a broken hip, lay propped up in her bed, knitting day after day for her soldier boys, to the girls not yet in their teens, all were constantly at work. Sewing societies in these days take a vacation, but those, never! No sufficient data exist to give an accurate statement of the money value of their gifts to the soldiers, but it is safe to say it exceeded $5,000. Hospi- tal stores and clothing were sent sometimes to the Sanitary Commission, and sometimes directly to the boys in the field. I will not say that we wept as we stood showing the coats and garments made by these northern Tabithas, but we sometimes came suspiciously near it.
I have come to think that, after all, the sorest struggles of the war, its sharpest pangs, were endured in these churches and homes of the North, and not at the front. There were tumult, excitement, movements on a grand scale ; there was hot young blood, tingling in the veins with each day's de- velopments, and all the fierce, wild, strange fascination of war. Here was nothing to divert these anxious hearts from ceaseless broodings over the past, or dread forebodings for the future. Oh, what weary waiting for the leaden-footed southern mails, while black care stalked up and down these streets, and sat down by each fireside ! What grievous bur- dens were brought to this house of God by anxious citizens, desolate fathers, grief-stricken wives and mothers, who came hither and sought relief in prayer! And here was the real strength of that armed host at the front; not in its num- bers, not in its leadership, not in its munitions of war, but in these praying hearts which filled the solid North be- hind them ! And if, in that dim unknown future towards which we rush, perils as great confront our beloved Nation, God grant that in all our churches there may be tongues of fire in the pulpit, and hearts of prayer in the pews, as were in this church in the dark, dark days of the war!
ADDRESS OF ROBERT A. REID, M.D., OF NEWTON, MASS.
W HEN I received the invitation from your pastor to be present on this occasion, I had not the remotest idea of being able to accept. You know some people insinuate that physicians dislike to be away, fearing that all their patients will get well during their absence. This, I assure you, is a base slander; but at the same time I frankly admit that I shall hurry right back by the next train. Leaving, as I did, last evening, hurriedly and unexpectedly, I am wholly unprepared to address you ; but I am glad indeed to be num- bered among the children coming home to-day to celebrate this, the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary - seven score years and ten - of this dear old church, the mother of us all.
Chauncey Depew of New York, who is considered one of the readiest after-dinner speakers, is reported to have re- cently said, that when he was taken unawares, when he was called upon for an impromptu speech, he invariably began by telling a story. This, he said, generally put his audience into good humor, thus disarming criticism of what he might later say; more than this, it gave him time to collect his thoughts, and, what was still more important, it gave time for his heart to stop beating so rapidly, as mine is doing now; in other words, it gave him time to get over his fright, and as this is pretty much my present condition, I am going to tell you a story.
They have in Boston what is called Faneuil Hall Market. It gets its name from Faneuil Hall, which is immediately over it. Faneuil Hall, as you know, has been called "The Cradle of Liberty." It was there that the famous " Boston Tea Party " was organized, and it was the scene of many of the important and stirring events which marked the early history of the New England Colonies. Faneuil Hall Market is immediately under Faneuil Hall; is one of the landmarks of the city; was built in 1740, and, in the opinion of the Bostonians, partakes of the high character of the old historic
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hall itself. A short time ago an old negro was passing through Faneuil Hall Market, when his attention was drawn toward several piles of sea trout as they lay on the nice mar- ble table of a fish-monger. Walking up to the counter, the darkey placed his nose within an inch of the "speckled beauties," as though testing their soundness through the medium of his olfactories.
The keeper of the stand eyed him with considerable in- terest and contempt for his impertinence for half a minute, and then in a tone of anger said :
" Here, you black rascal, what are you a smellin' o' them fish for?"
" I ain smellin' o' de fess-sh, boss; I was jes' er axin' um a question."
" What did you ask 'em, sir?"
" I jes' ax um what's de news fum down to de sea."
" What did they say?"
" Dey say dey doan' know, suh; its more'n foh weeks sence dey cum fom dah, suh!"
I do not know what point this story illustrates, or that it illustrates any at all, but it accomplishes my purpose in the telling.
It is twenty-nine years and more since I left Salisbury ; but often my thoughts have turned backward to the days when, as a careless, barefoot boy, I walked this familiar vil- lage street, sat in yonder front pew each Sabbath, attended Sunday-school in Academy Hall, and school during the week in the district school, with its noble overhanging trees and its shady walk leading up through the glen, past the spring, toward the mill. As I came in the train to-day I recalled, as though it were but yesterday, the day I first succeeded in throwing a stone up into the belfry of this church and strik- ing the bell, and if time or the painter have not effaced them, I warrant you can still find the traces of my many previous unsuccessful attempts. I recalled also another oc- casion, when the brook that flows across the street near by had been dammed up in order to irrigate the adjoining mea- dows, and I was chosen captain of the raft which navigated the turbulent waters of the miniature lake thus formed, and when, in the faithful discharge of my duties, I fell in and
59
got a thorough ducking. I then went home and got a thorough something else.
But I have other and sadder memories of these days. Often in the waking hours of the night, or when returning through the darkness from some scene of suffering or per- haps death, in memory I have gone up and down this quiet village street and recalled the names and faces of those whom I will see no more. As I recall the faces of this congrega- tion, I miss in this center aisle noble, white-haired Governor Holley, large-hearted and open-handed George Coffing, Dea- con Graham, Mr. Scoville, William Parks, Robert Ball, Henry Hubbard, Daniel Pratt; and in the south aisle, Col- onel Harrison, Lot Norton, Robert Bostwick, George Dodge, Doctor Knight; and in the north aisle, Deacon Hutchinson, Deacon Jewell, Silas Wells, and many others.
These men stood high in the true nobility of good citi- zenship. Ever attentive to the call of duty, whether in quiet paths or in loftier heights, they let their light so shine as to kindle and strengthen the devotion of their fellow citi- zens to God, to the State, and to the principles of liberty and right living. All honor to these men. To them Salis- bury owes in large measure what she was and what she is. They were all sons of a Puritan Commonwealth, all good men and true, and all are at rest.
How well I recall the patriotic discourses which rever- berated through this sanctuary on Fast Day and on Thanks- giving, and I often tell my children of the speeches, burning with love of country, which were delivered almost within the shadow of this old church during the dark days of the war. I tell them of the empty sleeve which their Uncle William Reid wore after the battle of Drewry's Bluff, and of the deeds of daring and hair-breadth escapes of another uncle - John G. Reid, whose bravery was noted and re- corded even by the Confederates. And here I wish to read you a part of the report of the battle of Port Republic, made by Colonel H. D. Kelley of the Confederate army, as seen from the Confederate side, in which he refers to my brother John. He says: "A conspicuous figure in the battle-scene at this stage was a field officer on a gray charger, directing and leading the advance of the Federal line. Referring to an earlier stage of the battle, on the right, near the river,
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the commanding officer of the 5th Virginia, in his report, makes mention of the Federal officer upon a gray steed, who there rode in front of his men, waving his hat and cheering them on; but this officer, he says, was soon picked off by the Confederate sharpshooters. As to this he must have been mistaken, for it was doubtless the same intrepid officer who led the last charge of the Federal forces on that field, with a gallantry so conspicuous as to win the admiration of both armies. Whoever he was, there is not a Confederate survivor of that fierce fight who would not be proud to salute him."
I first heard this read over the open coffin of my brother. He personally took part in fifty-seven different engagements, and I often repeat to my boys the story of his experiences as he related them to me.
I tell them of Pitt Bosworth, who fell in the front rank at Olustee; of poor Albert Barnes, of Lee Wells, and of the other Salisbury boys who died that the Union might live.
In the city of my home every schoolhouse bears aloft a flag staff, and on pleasant days "Old Glory" floats on the breeze, while on certain occasions the boys and girls are marched out and taught to salute the flag. This is true, I believe, throughout the State. They are taught the mean- ing of the clause that concludes all State documents, "God save the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." These are ob- ject lessons in patriotism which will bear good fruit, and if ever again treason shall raise its hideous head, if an enemy threaten from without, from within, the Old Bay State will furnish her full quota of loyal sons, to march shoulder to shoulder with those from Connecticut, to battle for the right.
We reverently recall to-day the names of our illustrious dead; still, the hope of this nation is in the children, the boys and the girls. While we teach them to love God, let us teach them also to love the flag. Let us teach them that the flag is not merely a textile fabric with alternate stripes and stars in a field of blue, but that it is the emblem of patriotism, valor, and sacrifice, that it stands for liberty, unity, and equality. Let us adopt ourselves, and give to them, a motto which is cut in the marble of an institution of learning which I daily pass, "God, Our Country, and Edu- cation."
ADDENDA.
HISTORICAL NOTES.
THE MINISTRY.
T' HE REV. CORNELIUS LADD KITCHEL, sixth pastor of the church, was born at Plymouth Hollow, now Thomaston, Litchfield county, Conn., his parents being the Rev. Harvey Dennison Kitchel, D.D., president of Middlebury College, and Mrs. Ann Sheldon Kitchel. He graduated from Yale College in the class of 1862, and from Yale Theological Seminary in 1867. August 1, 1867, he married Miss Alice Lloyd of Altoona, Pa. His only son, Wm. Lloyd, graduated with high honors in the class of 1892 at Yale. Mr. Kitchel was settled at Guilford, Conn., from 1870 to 1873. Since leaving Salisbury church, Mr. Kitchel has preached but three times, all in our own pulpit. His New Haven address is No. 331 Temple street, or simply Yale University.
In addition to the fourteen ministers mentioned by Dr. Reid in the centennial discourse of 1844, as having been raised up in this parish, the following should be named :
ELISHA WHITTLESEY, Williams College, '46, Yale Semin- ary, '50 ; served at St. Thomas, W. I., Kent, Le Roy, N. Y., Waterbury, 2d; became an Episcopalian in '71, and is now residing in Canaan.
HENRY PRATT, Williams College, '50; installed at Dudley, Mass., and served there until '69.
JAMES DEANE, Williams College, '57; served through the war; ordained in '66; pastor of Congregational Church at Crown Point, N. Y., since '83 ; also registrar of the New York General Association of Congregational Churches.
ALBERT BUSHNELL, studied at Union Seminary; ordained in '73; served Leavitt St. church, Chicago, Geneseo, Ill., and since '89, St. Joseph, Mo., where he is doing a grand work.
Among other noteworthy facts in this century and a half are these :
The long pastorates of Jonathan Lee and Adam Reid, forty-four and forty-one years respectively.
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The gracious revivals from time to time, that of 1815 the greatest, but also those of 1827, '31, '39, '58, '76, '78, '84, and '87.
The long intervals between the first and second, and the second and third pastorates, being nine and six years respectively. In the second interval was the great revival of 1815, a revival of a flock without a shepherd.
The eminent stability and loyalty of the church, as shown in having but seven pastors in one hundred and fifty years ; in the exceptionally cordial relation between pastor and people, save in one case; and in retaining three of them until death.
It is noteworthy that the church has in all the seven instances settled a young man, one of whom (Mr. Crossman) was but twenty-one.
THE MEMBERSHIP.
The records of Mr. Lee's ministry are so scanty that it is difficult to decide upon the facts. Dr. Reid's calculation (following Dr. Lathrop's) gave the whole number as 252. By going carefully over every entry, and so restoring some names that were carelessly left out in the Alphabetical Register, it would appear that the number was 24 larger, or 276. The records since Mr. Lee's day are in more perfect condition.
PASTOR.
Term.
Years.
Letters.
Profession.
Total.
Lee,
1744-1788
44
I72
I04
276
Interval,
1788-1797
9
I3
7
20
Crossman,
1797-1812
I5
2I
67
88
Interval,
1812-1818
6
0
I88
188
Hyde,
1818-1822
4
20
20
40
Interval,
I822-1825
3
3
O
3
Lathrop,
1825-1837
12
19
158
177
Reid,
1837-1877
40
I37
216
353
Kitchel,
1877-1883
6
34
34
68
Interval,
1883-1884
I
2
24
26
Goddard,
1884-1894
IO
23
79
I02
Totals,
1744-1894
150
444
897
I341
65
The additions to the church in the revival years were as follows :
1815
I88
1839
37
1878
17
1827
69
1858
30
1884
24
1831
35
1876
22
1887
38
The membership on November 23, 1894, was 207; 64 males and 143 females.
The following census report of the town is of interest :
1756
II00
1810
232I
1850
3103
1774
1936
1820
2695
1860
3100
1790
2070
. 1830
2580
1870
3305
1800
2266
1840
2562
I880
3716
1890
3420
The benevolences of the church have been reported since 1859. From that time until the Ist January, 1895, the aggre- gate was for the thirty-six years, $48,264.63. Add for legacies reported from 1872 to date, $2,544.53, and we have a total of $50,809.16. The average per year appears to be $1,340, but that figure is exceeded in the later years, the benevolences for 1894, for example, being $1,904.
The following are the dates of church edifices :
1749- The Congregational Church, now The Town Hall.
1800- The Congregational Church at Salisbury.
1816- The Methodist Episcopal Church at Lakeville.
1822-The St. John's Episcopal Church at Salisbury.
1832 - The Chapinville Chapel, originally Methodist.
1845 - The Methodist Chapel at Lime Rock.
1873 -The Trinity Episcopal Church at Lime Rock.
1874 - The St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church at Lakeville.
This church is associated with the eleven other churches of the Litchfield Northwest Conference, which was formed September 28, 1868, superseding the old Litchfield North Consociation of 1751. The churches of the conference in order of age are as follows:
5
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Cornwall,
1740
Salisbury,
1744
North Cornwall, 1782
Sharon,
1740
Warren,
1756
Ellsworth, 1802
Kent,
1741
Norfolk,
1760
Falls Village, 1858
South Canaan,
1741
East Canaan,
1769
Canaan, Pilgrim, 1887
THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL.
The school was organized in 1819. On March 30th "a communication from the monthly meeting of ministers in this vicinity was read to the church on the subject of Sabbath schools," which resulted in the formation of a school " to be- come a branch of the Sunday-school Union in this vicinity," under a "board of managers" consisting of five. The session was held in the meeting-house, during the intermis- sion, lasted "about thirty minutes," and began the second Sabbath in May. The school was regularly reorganized on the second Sabbath in May for many years, Fast Day being the customary date for appointing officers, even late in Dr. Reid's pastorate.
The first board of managers were Deacon Gideon Smith, Eliphalet Whittlesey, Lot Norton, Jared S. Harrison, and the pastor, Rev. Lavius Hyde. This five-man power (later four) continued until 1870, when the church reduced the authority to one head, with an assistant superintendent. Since 1870 the school has been officered as follows :
1870-'74. DR. HENRY M. KNIGHT. 1875-'76. DEACON OLIVER JEWELL.
1877-'79. DR. HENRY M. KNIGHT. 1880. JOHN S. GRIGGS.
1881-'93. GEORGE B. BURRALL.
1894. THOMAS L. NORTON.
The catechism was a part of the instruction in early days. The International system was not employed until 1872. The church has always been forward in Sunday-school interests ; has organized several other schools from time to time, main- tains a Home Department, assists in a Temperance school, and has a due share in the Litchfield Northwest Sunday-school Union. The Ticknor school, the Town Hill school, and the
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Harrison school, were carried on by the church for a number of years, until the changes in population rendered their main- tenance impracticable.
At the present day the church is interested wholly or in part in the following different schools -the Main school, the Home department, the Institute school, the Chapinville school, the Mt. Riga school, and the Temperance school.
The Main school has enrolled 245 in 1894, with an aver- age attendance of 136. Many of the congregation habitually remain to the school session. Teachers' meetings are held fortnightly. The superintendent (with a helper) edits a monthly paper in the interest of the church and school, called The Chronicle. A fine lantern has been employed by him and Mr. Thomas Martin of late for the benefit of the school. The benevolences of the school have been well promoted, the aggregate for the past year was $192. The present officers are supt., Thomas L. Norton ; ass't supt., Henry S. Wilson; sec'y, Theo. F. Dexter; asst. sec'y, Mrs. T. F. Dexter; librarians, Albert Roberts, Malcolm D. Rudd, Charles Perkins; teachers, Mrs. Jennie R. Hubbard, Mrs. Mary Jewell, Mrs. LaPlace, Mrs. Mary Burrall, Mrs. Sarah H. Clark, Mrs. Lyman Warner, Mrs. Goddard, Miss Jennie Dexter, Miss Susie Norton, Miss Allie Sharpe, Henry S. Wilson, Thomas Martin, Ellsworth H. Strong, Marcus E. Sherwood, and the pastor.
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