USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, Volume I > Part 66
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From a single stray leaf of the society records, recently recovered, we glean that in 1793 a committee was appointed to inspect the meet- ing house and estimate the cost of necessary repairs. The report must have been unsatisfactory, for it was decided to build a new house of worship. About one-third of the voters were averse to leaving the old meeting house, and it can readily be seen that their hearts clung to it with strength and with all the power of its grand associations. It had been the meeting house of the township-the place where the last of the founders worshipped-the church home of Southmayd, of Leavenworth for more than half a century. White- field's voice had been heard within it, Hopkins and Bellamy had stood there; from out of it four congregations had gone,-with unutterable sorrow to the one that remained; with pastoral bless- ing and unwritten benedictions had passed from its doors men and boys on their way to serve England in her many wars, and, at last, to serve themselves with liberty against England's behest.
For our knowledge of the building of the third house of worship we are indebted to Dr. Bronson. He tells us that on January 2, 1795, the society voted to build a meeting house, and appointed a committee to fix on a plan and place to build. The site chosen was near the old spot-east of it-the size sixty by forty-two feet. It was decided that the church should have a steeple, should be covered the ensuing summer and finished by November 1, 1796. To defray the cost of it a tax was laid of three shillings on the pound. A contract was made with William Leavenworth to build
* He was born September 16, 1772, and was the son of Fortune, a slave of Dr. Preserved Porter.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
it. The price agreed upon was £850. For the above reason, Mr. Leavenworth's bill of items does not appear in the society accounts. But the contract did not include the stone steps, which were quite noteworthy, if we may judge of their size and importance by the cost of obtaining them. They were brought from Cheshire, and many were the journeys made from Waterbury to fetch them. They were laid in De- cember, 1796. John Adams and Noah U. Norton "helped to lay them." The only "liquor for the workmen " mentioned in the account book was used on this occasion. The corner stone of the building was, it is said, inscribed with the initials of Mr. Leavenworth's name. Many of the stones used in the foundation walls
TPT
THIRD HOUSE OF WORSHIP OF THE FIRST CHURCH (1796 TO 1840), AS DESCRIBED FROM MEMORY. (AFTERWARD GOTHIC HALL.)
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THE FIRST CHURCH TO 1825.
of the Second Congregational church were from this church build- ing of 1795, and it was hoped that in the changes made in 1894 by the Odd Fellows the corner stone of a century ago might be found, but it was not seen.
Dr. Bronson says that the new meeting house was dedicated in 1796. Probably he fixed the date from the time mentioned in the contract for its building. The precise date of its dedication seems to be determined by an extant letter, written by the Rev. Edward Porter to Dr. Trumbull, asking that gentleman to preach the "dedi- cation sermon in the meeting house on the 3d of May, 1797." Mr. Leavenworth lived but three months and seventeen days after its dedication.
Reference has been made to the extant records of the church as containing no earlier date than 1795. There is no doubt that records of the church were kept, perhaps from the beginning, but they were probably included in Mr. Leavenworth's manuscripts, and met the same fate as these, whatever that may have been. To these manuscripts there is an interesting reference in the first volume of records, in the report of a meeting held on March 5, 1800. A petition was presented by certain persons who desired baptism for their children without being themselves communicants in the church, and this statement follows in the minutes:
In deliberating upon this petition, the question was brought into view, "How shall we consider the standing of those persons who owned the covenant twenty or twenty-five years ago? the practice being abolished by Mr. Leavenworth about that time." Being unable to determine with precision who such covenanters were, Deacon Joseph Hopkins and Deacon Stephen Bronson were appointed to ask Madam Leavenworth for the liberty of looking over the manuscripts of her deceased hus- band, Parson Leavenworth, that the names of the covenanters might be ascer- tained.
The first volume of records itself opens with a quotation from these manuscripts, as follows:
On the eighteenth of November, 1795, Mr. Edward Porter was installed col- league pastor of the First church of Christ in Waterbury, with Mr. Mark Leaven- worth, who has served in said church fifty-six years. He was preceded by Mr. John Southmayd, who served the church about forty years; and he was preceded by Mr. Jeremy Peck, who was the first settled minister in this town, but who served not many years, as he was in advanced age when he was introduced.
This memorandum-apparently in the Rev. Edward Porter's hand- writing-is described as "an extract from MSS. of the Rev. Mark Leavenworth."
It will be proper to introduce here what follows immediately, on page 3 of the records-namely the "confession of faith and cove-
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
nant." These are probably the work of Mr. Leavenworth, although of what date within the long period of his pastorate it is impossi- ble to say. The confession, while more of the "old school" type than that which superseded it in 1832 (see Volume II, page 586), is remarkable for its simplicity and brevity, and also for its omissions. It is as follows:
We believe there is one only living and true GOD, in three personal characters, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, in whom are all natural and moral perfec- tions; the Maker, Preserver and Governor of all things.
We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the word of God, containing a perfect rule of faith and practice.
We believe that God made man originally in his own image, in knowledge, righteousness and holiness, and that by the violation of the covenant made with the first man, Adam, he and all his posterity fell into a state of sin and misery.
We believe that it pleased God from the beginning to choose some of this fallen race to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, and that in the fulness of time he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to redeem and save sinful and lost men by perfect obedience and most bitter sufferings, even unto death, by way of atonement and satisfaction for sin; and that he is the only Saviour, Prophet, Priest, and King of his people.
We believe that he arose from the dead on the third day and ascended on high.
We believe that repentance of sin, faith in Jesus Christ and new obedience are conditions and qualifications of eternal life.
We believe that baptism and the Lord's supper are of divine institution, to be attended and observed by his people in all ages, to his second coming.
We believe the doctrine of the general resurrection both of the righteous and the wicked; the general judgment and the life everlasting. And
We believe that Christ hath, and to the end will have, a church and kingdom in the world; hath appointed ordinances and set officers in his church, for the edify- ing of his saints, and perfecting his body, the church.
The "covenant" that follows the creed is also brief and eminently reasonable-a covenant which no sincere member of a Christian church to-day could hesitate to adopt as his own. Its opening sen- tence contains a reference to "the sins and follies of our lives," and this note, historically significant, follows at the end: "This clause has, by vote of the church, been lately prefixed to the covenant, in order to supersede the necessity of public and particular confes- sions of immorality of which those who are candidates for church privileges may formerly have been guilty."
In the record book the covenant is immediately followed by an interesting "Catalogue of Church Members," showing the actual constituency of the First church at the close of 1795. The list con- tains ninety-three names, thirty-seven of which are names of men. The first is "Mark Leavenworth, Seignior Pastor," the second, "Edward Porter, Junior Pastor," then "Andrew Bronson and Joseph Hopkins, Deacons"; and the rest follow in alphabetical order,
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THE FIRST CHURCH TO 1825.
including the wives of the senior pastor and the two deacons. A large proportion of the prominent men of the community are, of course, included, and the last name (not in alphabetical order) is " Mingo."*
In the account book which has been referred to as containing the only records of the parish between 1740 and 1795, there is almost nothing in relation to the period covered by the Revolu- tionary war. One would be led to question whether the usual ser- vices were conducted. The following item is interesting, being “A copy of the Rev'd Mr. Leavenworth's Discharge to the year 1782":
WATERBURY, Nov. 29, A. D. 1782.
This may Certify that the Society in Waterbury are discharged from all Obliga- tions to me by way of Salary to the year 1778, Inclusive, by me.
MARK LEAVENWORTH.
When Mr. Leavenworth became an invalid, certainly as early as February, 1794, he entered into an agreement with his people to receive a certain amount of money " in lieu of his salary." Mention is made of two payments of £40 each. At this time also we find the following persons apparently "supplying the pulpit": Josiah Edwards, Heman Ball, S. Williston and Edward Porter.
The effect of the Revolution on the church and religion must, upon the whole, have been good; but its immediate consequences might almost be characterized as disastrous. That the Episcopal parish should have suffered was a matter of course. But in the First society, where one would suppose the success of the colonial cause ought to have involved an increase of prosperity, the actual result was a long and serious decline in religion. In the Christian Spectator for June, 1833, there is an elaborate article, written by the Rev. Luther Hart, formerly pastor of the church in Plymouth, entitled, "The Religious Declension in New England during the Latter Half of the Last Century." As Mr. Hart clearly shows, the declension was very real and very widespread, and Waterbury was involved in it. It came partly as a reaction from the violent meas- sures and extreme views of the revival period, and partly as a result
* Dr. Bronson in his History (p. 321) says: " The first slave in Waterbury of which I have certain knowl- edge was Mingo, who was the property of Deacon Thomas Clark, about 1730. He was then a boy. His mas- ter used to let him for hire by the day, first to drive plow, then to walk with the team. At Deacon Clark's death in 1764 Mingo was allowed to choose which of the sons he would live with. He preferred to remain at the old homestead with Thomas; but after the latter commenced keeping tavern, he did not like his occupa- tion and went to reside with Timothy on Town Plot. He had a family, owned considerable property, and died in 1800."
It appears from this list that Mrs. Susanna Munson, who was one of those that were excommunicated for " going off to the Methodists," was "the wife of Samuel Munson," and that Mrs. Sarah Hoadley of the same little company, referred to in Vol. II, p. 696, was "the wife of Andrew Hoadley." The five converts to Methodism are marked in the catalogue, " Rejected, Sept. 16, 1800."
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
of political conditions-the influence of the times upon religion and the church. Details cannot be given, for the records are wanting; but we are justified in thinking of the days which followed the Revolutionary war as days of decadence and gloom. This, however, was not to last. The era of renewed prosperity may be regarded as dating from the building of the third house of worship. When the sound of the bell-placed in the steeple not long after the dedi- cation-first rung out over the hills, and it was voted that the Epis- copal society should have the use of it "on all proper occasions," it was evident that religion was again uttering her voice, and that religion meant charity and brotherly love. The discords of the Revolutionary time were dying out, to be revived no more, and the work of the Lord was to be accomplished by new hands and upon a broader basis. It was at this epoch (1793) that the Congregational churches of Connecticut began their noble frontier mission work- a work which ere long extended from Vermont to Louisiana, and which through varying phases has continued until now.
Mr. Edward Porter preached for three months as a candidate, and in October (1794) was hired for a year, his salary being £90 and fro in wood. The year following, he received an invitation to settle as colleague pastor, with the offer of £100 salary and his wood and the use of the parsonage land after Mr. Leavenworth's death. As already mentioned, he was installed November 18, 1795. He was a son of Deacon Noah Porter of Farmington, and a gradu- ate of Yale college in 1786. He married Dorothea, daughter of Isaac Gleason, also of Farmington, November 26, 1789, and probably brought his wife with him to Waterbury when he began his term of service as a "supply." Of their four children whose names appear in the Family Records (Ap. p. 105), the eldest, a daughter, was born (probably in Waterbury) March 4, 1795. Of the three sons the second attained to eminence as a physician (see Vol. II, p. 862).
Mr. Leavenworth's death took place after Mr. Porter had served as colleague pastor for a year and three-quarters. His term of ser- vice as sole pastor was very brief, for at a meeting of the church on December 20, 1797, he requested "that the church would grant him a dismission from his engagements to them as their pastor," adding :
The reason of my making this request arises wholly from my bodily infirmities, -it having pleased the great Head of the church by long and painful afflictions to incapacitate me for the great work I have undertaken among you. That I have made the same request to the society, . that I have made pro- posals relative to temporalities, and that they have freely complied with them, I need not inform you; nor that the day I have chosen for the painful execution of my request is the tenth of January, 1798.
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THE FIRST CHURCH TO 1825.
The church, "having duly considered this afflictive dispensation of divine providence " found themselves "constrained to consent " to their pastor's request and voted to call a council of churches with reference to the matter on the day by him proposed. The formality and elaborateness of the record (it fills four pages) is an undesigned testimony to the seriousness of such an event as this in the life of a church in which, although more than a hundred years old, no dis- mission of a pastor had ever occurred.
Mr. Porter was dismissed on the day specified by him, January 10, 1798. He remained in Waterbury for some years, and in active connection with the church. The minutes preceding 1798 are signed by him as "scribe "; in that year no meetings of the church seem to have been held, and the minutes for January 17, 1799, are signed by him as "clerk." They record a call to " Mr. David Smith," a gradu- ate of Yale college in 1795, to the pastorate, and mention that Mr. Porter was one of the committee appointed "to confer with Mr. Smith on his mode of church discipline, and to present him with a copy of the foregoing votes." Mr. Porter, during his stay in Water- bury, devoted himself to business, and became, like a good many others, interested in the manufacture of clocks. At a meeting of the church in 1812 a complaint was introduced by one of the dea- cons, reflecting upon Mr. Porter's integrity as a business man. A "mutual council" of neighboring churches was called-of which, by the way, the Rev. Lyman Beecher of Litchfield was a member- to consider the matter. Judging from a clause in the finding of this council, the question at issue was a technical one, a question of cas- uistry, and the decision upon the whole seems to have been in Mr. Porter's favor. The church did not accept it, however, and Mr. Porter was excommunicated, August 16, 1812. On September 28 a committee was appointed "to act in behalf of the church in procur- ing such counsel as they shall judge necessary for the defence of the church before the consociation to be convened in this place the next week." This would indicate that the case was brought before the consociation; but the result is not referred to in the church minutes, according to which no other business meeting was held until the following February. Mr. Porter subsequently re- turned to Farmington to reside, and died in New Haven in 1828.
The call extended to David Smith in January, 1799, was not accepted, but he continued to serve the church until April. He was followed by Jehu Clark (Yale, 1794), who stayed a month and came again. The next candidate was Holland Weeks, who preached for three Sundays. He was followed by David Smith (again) and Salmon King and William B. Ripley, both recent graduates of Yale
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
college, who filled up the time until October. From the payments recorded in the account book it would seem that during one-half of the year 1798, or thereabout, the church was without a pulpit supply. At a meeting on October 18, 1799, " the question was put whether this church approve of the Christian character and ministerial qualifications of Mr. Holland Weeks." It was " voted unanimously in the affirmative," and Mr. Weeks was invited " to take the pastoral care and charge of this church." Ten days later his answer " was read by the clerk [Mr. Porter] in the following words," and it is remarkable, as compared with most of the documents of the period, for its directness and brevity:
Brethren of the First church of Christ in Waterbury:
I have taken your call into consideration. I view it as a call of Providence, and therefore accept. That the Lord may bless the latter end of the near and inter- esting relation into which we are now entering even more than the beginning, is the prayer of your affectionate pastor elect.
HOLLAND WEEKS.
In anticipation of the ordination which was about to take place, a day was set apart for fasting and prayer, "agreeably to apostolic example," and Mr. Weeks was ordained pastor on November 20, 1799.
The young man thus introduced into Waterbury life was born in Pomfret in 1768, and there passed his early years. He graduated at Dartmouth college in 1795, and received from Yale the honorary degree of M. A. in 1800. "I began," he says, "in 1784, at the age of sixteen, to turn my attention with peculiar interest and conscious delight to the study of Christian and experimental theology."* It was natural, with such tastes, that he should study for the ministry, and Waterbury was his first parish. In a communication to the American on February 24, 1874, E. B. Cooke spoke of him as a man of commanding personal appearance and more than ordinary ability. This estimate is borne out by the published sermons of Mr. Weeks which have been preserved (see Volume II, page 954) and by his subsequent career. Another old resident-Mrs. Hannah Morris, the first person baptized in the third meeting-house-described him to the writer as a tall and portly man, with full face, black hair, dark eyes and a fine tenor voice. He was so fond of singing that if a brother minister-a home missionary, for instance-was "occupying the pulpit," he would take his place in the singers' gallery. He was a school visitor, and tried to teach singing in the schools. He was fond of children and familiar with them, and in his pastoral visits was very apt to have the little ones in his lap. On Decem-
* See Vol. II of The New Churchman (1843-'44), p. 726.
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THE FIRST CHURCH TO 1825.
ber 10, 1799-three weeks after his ordination-he married Harriet Byron, a daughter of Moses Hopkins, Esq., of Great Barrington, and a granddaughter of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hopkins, who was thus brought back to the home of her ancestors. They had five children (for four of whom see Ap. p. 148). Their dwelling-a gambrel- roofed house-stood a little south of where the Apothecaries' Hall building now stands, but was afterward removed to Union street.
Not only does Mr. Weeks as a Waterbury minister belong to the nineteenth century, but we may look at his ordination as marking the commencement of a second era in the history of Waterbury pastors; and no contrast could be greater than that between the second era and the first. From the organization of the church to the death of Mr. Leavenworth, it was scarcely a day without a min- ister, yet the number of pastors was only three, or, including Mr. Porter, four. But between 1800 and 1865 there were nine pastors and two "acting pastors," besides nine or ten years during which the pulpit was vacant or filled only by candidates. Mr. Weeks, however, stayed with the church a little over seven years. The causes of his leaving are indicated in his farewell discourse, which was published and has been preserved. He said in that discourse (pages 16, 17):
I do not claim to have been without my foibles and imperfections ;* but whether I have in any measure been faithful will be made to appear at a future day. There may be some who are gratified by the event of our separation. But there are others whose feelings of friendship exceed the powers of utterance. I most cordially reciprocate every such sentiment which here exists. It may possibly seem to those who are not fully acquainted with every circumstance that this sepa- ration might have been prevented. It is true it might. But I trust that I under- stand what has been done by the society. Methods of support have seemed in a great measure to fail, and I have felt myself unable, without such support, to devote myself to the work of the ministry. Of course my usefulness in this place has seemed to be at an end. It is true I have had friends who have made me kind and generous presents for my support. And I now thank them sincerely for all those expressions of their love. But it has been judged by better men than myself that it would not be expedient for me to tarry, under these circumstances. Our connec- tion has therefore been dissolved. Yet my heart's desire and prayer to God for this Israel is, that they might be saved. I also need and earnestly desire your prayers for me and my family, in our present dark and uncomfortable prospects.
It is probably upon these frank statements that the assertion is based, in Kingsley's "Ecclesiastical Contributions " (page 497), that
* Horace Hotchkiss in his (unpublished) Reminiscences says that Mr. Weeks " did not succeed in retain- ing the esteem of his people, and remained only a few years," and seems to attribute this, in part at least, to an exhibition of passion and cruelty by Mr. Weeks in "beating an unmanageable horse to death on the pub- lic square. The affair," he continues, "created a good deal of indignation, and early the following morning the stuffed skin of the horse was seen standing near the church door, accompanied by an effigy of a man holding a large knife. It remained during the day, in sight of Mr. Weeks's house." One cannot but wish for a fuller and perhaps more nearly colorless statement in regard to this strange incident.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Mr. Weeks "was dismissed for want of support." The prospect for him, as well as for the parish, seem's to have been gloomy enough, but Mr. Weeks survived these early trials and many others, and lived to do his Master's work in various vineyards. The discourse just referred to was preached December 21, 1806. He had made known his desire for a dismission in November; the society had voted to unite with him in this object, but " not to submit pecuniary matters," and his dismission had taken place on December 10. It was a year later (December 30, 1807) that he was installed as pastor of the church in Pittsford, Vt., organized in 1784. On August 9, 1815, he was installed pastor of the First church in Abington, Mass., and while he held this position his theological beliefs underwent a great and serious transformation. It appears that his first contact with the opinions of Swedenborg took place during his Waterbury pastorate. He found in the possession of the Rev. Israel B. Wood- ward of Wolcott one of Swedenborg's books, and spent two hours in its perusal. It appeared to him to be "a most wonderful produc- tion"; how to account for its existence he could not determine to his own satisfaction; and he found afterward that "a curiosity remained with him to know more about it." Some years after this, apparently while settled at Pittsford, he met with another Sweden- borgian work, the " Halcyon Luminary," and his curiosity was still more excited. But it was in 1818, after he had been at Abington for three years, that he " was led to the sight of an old minister's library" at Sandwich on Cape Cod, which contained a number of Swedenborg's works, and "commenced reading on October 10." The result was a prolonged mental conflict and, at length, on May 21, 1820, the preaching of a sermon to his congregation (see Vol. II, page 954) which led to a trial for heresy before a council of churches and to his excommunication. " All the evils which I anticipated," he afterward said, " came upon me, and some that I did not expect. But never for a moment do I regret that I became a receiver of the heavenly doctrines." By a remarkable concurrence of events, however, a home for himself and his family had been prepared in advance in the new town of Henderson, in western New York, near Lake Ontario, and to that place he removed soon after the termination of his pastorate. He became a farmer, but at the same time made use of his opportunities to preach the new doc- trines he had received to his neighbors, and was instrumental in establishing there a congregation of the New Jerusalem church .*
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