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 68
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
interest in questions of the day, whether pertaining to church or state. He was an uncompromising abolitionist, and in 1844 he and three other citizens cast the first anti-slavery votes ever polled in Cornwall. " He was," says an old friend, "a man of sterling char- acter, whose sincerity and earnestness never failed to impress men, whether in the pulpit or in society." He died at his home in Corn- wall in 1861.
The further history of the First church is given in Chapters XXXII and XXXIII of the second volume.
SAMUEL HOPKINS, D. D.
Samuel Hopkins, the eldest son of Timothy and Mary (Judd) Hopkins, was born in Waterbury, Sunday, September 17, 1721. He says, in his autobiography: "As soon as I was capable of under- standing and attending to it, I was told that my father, when he was informed that he had a son born to him, said, if the child should live he would give him a public education, that he might be a minister or a Sabbath day man, alluding to my being born on the Sabbath." This design was abandoned for a time, as the boy seemed to have no inclination to study, preferring to labor on the farm at home. When about fourteen years of age, however, a change came over him in this respect. His father was quick to perceive it, and placed him with the Rev. John Graham of Wood- bury, under whose tuition he prepared for college and successfully passed the Yale examinations in September, 1737. The subjects to which attention was at that time chiefly directed were logic, math- ematics and such other studies as tended to develope the students into profound philosophers, but not graceful and accomplished scholars, to foster individuality of thought, but not felicity of expression. During the early part of his connection with the col- lege, he made a public profession of religion in Waterbury, includ- ing, of course, acceptance of the Calvinistic doctrines. Afterward, however, he doubted the genuineness of his conversion and was much moved and depressed by sermons which he heard from Whitefield, Tennant and Jonathan Edwards, on the occasion of visits made by these men to the college. Indeed he was so deeply affected by Mr. Edwards's celebrated sermon on "The Trial of the Spirits" that he resolved to go to him, and beg to be allowed to become an inmate of his home when his college days should end. Immediately after taking his degree, in September, 1741, he returned to Waterbury, and spent three months in retirement .* At the end of that time he set out for Mr. Edwards's home, in
* See Miss Prichard's vivid portraiture, on pp. 366, 367.
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THE FIRST CHURCH TO 1825.
Northampton, where he was very kindly received by the celebrated divine and his wife. After he had spent some months under their roof, his religious views became clearer and more satisfactory, and on April 29, 1742, he returned again to Waterbury, and was here duly licensed to preach the gospel. In the autumn of the same year he supplied the pulpit of Mr. Bellamy, in Bethlehem, for some weeks, while the latter made a short preaching tour. In December he accepted an invitation to preach in Simsbury and remained in that place until the following May. He then returned to North- ampton, where he opened a school, and continued at the same time his theological studies. But after a few weeks he was compelled to seek a change of residence on account of severe rheumatic trou- bles. He was evidently regarded as a man of promise, for he had an unusual number of invitations to preach with a view to settle- ment, and it was considered a proof of great disinterestedness when he accepted an invitation to preach at Housatonick (now Great Barrington). He settled there in 1743.
Soon after his ordination the French and Indian war broke out, and he took a deep interest in it, even shouldering his musket and joining scouting parties on occasions. During the next seven years he lost by death his mother, his infant brother, his father and two sisters. He took upon himself the care and education of his three remaining brothers, one of whom-James, a young man of great promise, died before he had completed his course at college. Mr. Hopkins seems to have been unfortunate in his matrimonial enter- prises, for we read of two instances in which at the critical moment a more fortunate suitor was preferred before him, and he was forced to relinquish the object of his hopes. At length, however, he succeeded in capturing the affections of Joanna, daughter of Moses Ingersoll of Great Barrington, who became his wife January 13, 1748, and was the mother of his eight children, all of them born in that place.
He continued his ministry at Housatonick in spite of war, famine. meagre supplies and the opposition of enemies for twenty-five years. At the end of that time his strong sympathy with the Whig party aroused so much feeling among his Tory parishioners that he felt his usefulness to be at an end, and called upon his people to unite with him in summoning a council to dissolve their con- nection. After his dismission he preached for a time in Canaan. During the April and May of 1769 he officiated at the Old South church in Boston, then spent several weeks preaching in Topsham, Me., where he was invited to settle. He thought it better, however, to accept instead an invitation to Newport, R. I. The congregation
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
were so pleased with his ministrations that they called him to be their pastor. While he was giving this matter his thoughtful con- sideration, the minds of the people were inflamed against him by a sarcastic pamphlet which was circulated among them, so that when
SamuelHopkm.
he was ready to give a favorable answer to the church committee, he was met with a request to withhold his communication until the opposition had subsided. Shortly afterward a vote was passed, by thirty-six against thirty-three, that they did not want his services. When this fact was communicated to him he quietly inquired
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THE FIRST CHURCH TO 1825.
whether, if there was no supply engaged, he might fill the pulpit on the following Sunday. This request being granted he preached a discourse which so affected the congregation that at a church meeting on March 26, 1770, his call was renewed almost unani- mously. The period which followed in Newport, which Mr. Hop- kins calls "the sunniest period of his ministerial life," lasted until December, 1776. General Clinton and Lord Percy at that time took possession of the town, and Mr. Hopkins and the other Whig inhab- itants were forced to fly. During the next four years he labored in Connecticut and Massachusetts, awaiting the day when it would be possible to return to the then desolate Newport. His meeting- house was used as barracks by the invaders; the pulpit, the pews and the windows had been demolished, and the bell carried off; but in spite of a flattering call to Middleborough, Mass., with the prom- ise of a generous salary, he preferred to labor in penury with the church and congregation which he loved, and he remained with them until the day of his death.
Mr. Hopkins found in Newport his second wife, Elizabeth West, a woman of great intellectual gifts, who had been the principal of a famous boarding-school for girls in that town. He married her September 16, 1794. In 1790 Brown university conferred upon him the degree of D. D. Nine years later he had a paralytic attack which affected his speech, but did not disturb his mental faculties. He so far recovered as to resume his parochial duties, and preached until October 16, 1803, when he delivered his last sermon during a revival in his church. A few hours after this he was seized with an apopletic fit, and although he regained consciousness he never rallied, but failed gradually until December 20, following, when he died quietly at his own home.
Dr. Hopkins occupied a peculiar position among the New Eng- land theologians of the eighteenth century. He represented a great theological transition. He stood midway between his friend and teacher, Jonathan Edwards, and the more modern and fast advanc- ing school of " humanists" who served to menace the whole struc- ture of old established New England beliefs. At first he attempted, in the spirit of Edwards's teaching, to answer the inquiries of those who were brooding with dissatisfaction over questions raised, but not settled in the works of that eminent divine. But he had under- taken an impossible task,-" to make Calvinism a consistent intel- lectual system, impregnable to assault from the reason." He came gradually to differ from Edwards on many important points.
He rejected, for example, the dualism in the divine nature between justice and love. From the time of Calvin onward it had been held that love redeems the elect, while justice punishes the reprobates. No greater step could have been taken than
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
to maintain, as Hopkins did, that the essence of Deity was love which extended to universal being. But when it was attempted to incorporate this truth with the tenets of Calvinism, when it appeared that the divine love to universal being was sending to eternal perdition the great majority of those then living, the situation was even worse than before. One could possibly endure that justice should bear the brunt of so awful a necessity, but that the essence of divine love should require it, seemed like a caricature and mockery. It was impossible to combine the new statement with the inhumanity of the old system without leading to a result incon- gruous beyond description. It is evident, however, that Hopkins felt from a dis- tance the coming humanitarianism which was to change the face of human thought .*
In trying to reconcile the dogmas of uncompromising Calvinism with the teachings of his own kindly heart, he was continually led into these contradictions and inconsistencies. He preached and published a series of sermons with the title, "Sin through Divine Interposition an Advantage to the Universe, yet this no Excuse for Sin or Encouragement to it." Again, he maintained simultaneously the doctrine of the supremacy of the divine will, and the theory of voluntary freedom in the human being. And we must not omit to mention what is known as the chief characteristic of the Hop- kinsian theology, the doctrine of disinterested submission, as it is called, or "a willingness to be damned," as the last and highest test of spiritual excellence.
But with his ruggedness and inconsistencies, with his eccentric- . ities and lack of polish, there was combined so much manly integ- rity, so profound and conscientious a seeking after truth, so earnest love for his Maker and his fellow man as to make the whole char- acter both grand and admirable, and give us cause to be proud to point to Samuel Hopkins as one of the sons of Waterbury.t
OTHER EARLY MINISTERS RAISED UP IN THE FIRST CHURCH.
JONATHAN JUDD, son of Captain William and Mary (Root) Judd, and grandson of Deacon (and Captain) Thomas Judd, was born in Waterbury, October 4, 1719. He was first-cousin of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hopkins, and in college was his classmate and his bosom friend. He graduated from Yale in 1741, and became the first min- ister of the second parish of Northampton, Mass., now the town of Southampton. A church was gathered there in 1743 and he was
* Professor A. V. G. Allen in " The Transition in New England Theology," Atlantic Monthly, Vol. LXVIII, p. 771 (December, 1891). The article is a luminous statement of Hopkins's place in the great theo- logical transition which has been going on for a century past in New England and elsewhere. See also Dr. William E. Channing's reminiscences and estimate of him, in Vol. IV, of his " Works." pp. 344, 347-354; also a sketch in the Congregational Quarterly, Vol. VI, pp. 1-8, by the Rev. Lyman Whiting.
+ For Dr. Hopkins's place in literature see Vol. 1I, p. 953. The most important biography of him-that by Professor Park-is there referred to.
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THE FIRST CHURCH TO 1825.
ordained June 8 of that year, and filled the office of pastor for sixty years. He and his cousin, Dr. Hopkins, were correspondents for a long time, but an alienation of feeling, followed by non-inter- course, took place in consequence of a difference in theological views. By direction of his will his sermons, to the number of nearly 3000, were burned; but two or three had been published. He died July 28, 1803.
On November 28, 1743, Mr. Judd married Silence, daughter of Captain Jonathan Sheldon of Sheffield. His youngest son was the father of the Rev. Sylvester Judd of Augusta, Me., who was the author of the once-famous novel " Margaret," and of other works of merit.
DANIEL HOPKINS, D. D., a younger brother of the Rev. Dr. Sam- uel Hopkins, was born October 16, 1734. He pursued his prepara- tory studies with his brother, and graduated from Yale college in 1758, with the highest honors. His theological studies were pur- sued under his brother's direction, and his brother's distinctive views were adopted by him and earnestly advocated. He was licensed to preach by the New Haven association of ministers, and soon afterward took charge of a parish in Halifax, Nova Scotia. On account of failing health he gave up preaching for a period of eight years, during which he was occupied in travelling and in manual labor. In 1766 he was invited to preach in the Third Con- gregational society of Salem, Mass., and after eight years became the settled pastor of the church.
Mr. Hopkins was deeply interested in the early struggles of the colonies for independence, and was chosen in 1775 a member of the Provincial Congress. In 1778 "he was elected a member of the Conventional Government, and served faithfully and honorably." In the meantime a disruption took place in the Third church in Salem. The majority became Presbyterians, while the Congrega- tional minority, recognized by an ecclesiastical council as the origi- nal Third church, adhered to Mr. Hopkins. He was ordained over this church on November 18, 1778, and continued its sole pastor until 1804, when a colleague was provided. He received the degree of D. D. from Dartmouth college in 1809.
Dr. Hopkins has been described as " a discriminating and inter- esting preacher." In his social intercourse he was distinguished by affability and courtesy. "His tall and manly figure, surmounted by a high, triangular hat, gave such dignity and grace to his move- ments that no man who walked the streets was looked at with more respect and veneration. The remark was often made that in his appearance and bearing he strikingly resembled Washington." In
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
the latter part of his life he became much interested in benevolent enterprises. He took an active part in the founding of the Massa- chusetts Missionary society, and for the last two years of his life was its president. He published two sermons, one on the death of Washington in 1800, and the other at the dedication of the New South meeting-house in Salem in 1805.
He married, in 1771, Susanna, daughter of John Saunders of Salem, by whom he had six children. He died, after a distressing illness, December 14, 1814.
BENONI UPSON, D. D., was born in the "Farmington part" of what is now Wolcott, February 14, 1750. His father was Thomas, the grandson of Stephen Upson, and his mother was Hannah Hop- kins of Waterbury, sister of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Hopkins. He graduated at Yale college in 1776, and was ordained pastor of the church in Kensington, April 21, 1779. He remained here until the close of his life, having been furnished during his later years with a colleague in the pastorate. In August, 1778, he married Livia Hopkins, daughter of Joseph Hopkins, Esq., of Waterbury, by whom he had eight children. In September, 1809, he was made a member of the corporation of Yale college, and in 1817 received from his Alma Mater the degree of D. D. In an obituary notice published in the Religious Intelligencer, Vol. XI, p. 415 (November 25, 1826), he is described as "a pious, affectionate and discreet pastor, tender and highly beloved in the conjugal and parental relations, endeared to a numerous circle of acquaintance, and distinguished for urbanity of manners, hospitality and benevolence." He died November 13, 1826. (See, further, Orcutt's History of Wolcott, p. 354.)
BENJAMIN WOOSTER, son of Wait and Phebe (Warner) Wooster, was born in Waterbury, October 29, 1762. He was a soldier in the war of the Revolution. He graduated from Yale college in 1790, and studied theology with the Rev. Dr. Edwards of New Haven. After being licensed to preach, he occupied himself for a time in missionary labor; but in 1797 was ordained pastor of the church in Cornwall, Vt. He gave up his charge in 1802, and spent three years in the service of the Berkshire Missionary society. On July 24, 1805, he was installed in Fairfield, Vt., and labored assiduously not only in his own parish but in the surrounding country, until bodily infirmity compelled him, in 1833, to discontinue his work. During this time he was once a representative to the General Assembly of the state, and twice a member of the "Septennial Convention con- vened by the Board of Censors." He was opposed to the war of 1812-14, but in 1814, when the British came up Lake Champlain, he headed a company of volunteers, although he was over fifty years
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THE FIRST CHURCH TO 1825.
old, and " on the very day he was to preach a preparatory lecture " marched for Plattsburg. "For this patriotism Governor Tompkins, of New York, sent him a magnificent Bible, with a letter written on the fly leaf." Mr. Wooster was a man of gigantic stature, as well as of great wit and readiness of repartee.
He married Sarah, daughter of Israel Harris. She died in 1824, leaving three daughters and a son. Mr. Wooster died at St. Albans, Vt., February 18, 1840 .*
AARON DUTTON, the youngest of the nine children of Thomas and Anne (Rice) Dutton, was born in that part of Waterbury which is now Watertown, May 21, 1780. He pursued his classical studies under the direction of the Rev. Azel Backus of Bethlehem, gradu- ated at Yale college in 1803, was instructed in theology by Presi- dent Dwight, and was ordained December 10, 1805, as pastor of the First church and society in Guilford. He resigned his charge June 8, 1842, mainly on account of a difference of opinion between himself and his people on the subject of slavery. He was a member of the corporation of Yale college from 1825 until his decease.
A few months after his separation from his people, he went, in the service of the Home Missionary society, to Iowa (then a terri- tory), and was invited to settle over the the church and society of Burlington. When about to return to New England, to make arrangements for a permanent removal to the west, he was taken sick. He reached New Haven with difficulty, and had a long and dangerous illness, from which he never completely recovered. He died in June, 1849, and was buried in the midst of his former people in Guilford.
Mr. Dutton was an earnest, faithful and fearless man, respected among the churches, and true in all the relations of life. He was an early and consistent friend of temperance and emancipation, and was ready to suffer, if need be, in the discharge of what he esteemed his duty. He published a few sermons, and was a contributor to the Christian Spectator.
His wife, Dorcas (daughter of Samuel Southmayd of Water- town), whom he married in April, 1806, died in September, 1841. Their son, the Rev. Samuel William Southmayd Dutton, D. D., a graduate of Yale college in 1833, was pastor of the United society (the North church) of New Haven, from 1838 to 1866. He died in
* See Sprague's " Annals of the American Pulpit," Vol. I, p. 642, note; also "Butleriana," by James Davie Butler, Albany, 1888. Sprague makes the year of Mr. Wooster's death 1843 ; the date above is Mr. Butler's. The letter above referred to was published in Niles's Register, Vol. VIII, p. 309. A biographical sermon concerning him, by the Rev. A. W. Wild, has been published.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
1866, aged fifty-one years. Another son, Aaron Rice Dutton, a graduate of Yale in 1837 and a lawyer in Washington, D. C., died May 4, 1885, aged sixty-nine. Their daughter, Mary Dutton, so long a teacher of a widely known school for girls in New Haven, died in 1888.
THE CHURCH IN SALEM SOCIETY.
Naugatuck was the last child to leave Waterbury, having remained at home until 1844. But it is 130 years since "Stephen Hopkins and others, inhabitants of the first society in Waterbury," asked the General Assembly to grant them "a winter parish for four months in the year, namely the months of December, January, February and March." The original grant, with the autograph of George Wyllys, secretary, which was sent to Judds Meadow, has been preserved. It is for the term of three years from the rising of that Assembly (October term, 1765). The bounds of the parish were in brief as follows:
They began at Long Land on the north, and continued east across the Walling- ford line far enough to " comprehend " the first tier of lots in that township, then ran south to New Haven bounds; from thence west to the three trees called the Three Brothers; thence south in the line between Milford and New Haven to Leba- non brook; from thence west to Naugatuck river to where Spruce brook empties into the river on the west side; from thence to the highway where it turns south by Thomas Osborn's lot to Derby; from thence to Meshadock brook where Moss's road crosses to Westbury; from thence east to the Long Land.
The land within the above bounds belonging to Oxford society was excluded, also "Samuel Porter and his lands."
At the expiration of the three years Gideon Hickcox and other inhabitants asked for an extension of the privileges formerly granted. The General Assembly renewed the grant with a few changes in the bounds, the chief one being that the eastern bound did not include the first tier of lots in Wallingford. This grant was to continue according to the pleasure of the Assembly, and per- mitted the inhabitants to hold service at Judds Meadow five months in the year.
Of the period of the winter parish, from 1765 to 1768, it is not known that any records remain. Stephen Hopkins probably made provision for the services, obtained the ministers and kept their receipts. The following is the earliest evidence extant of the services of a minister:
NEW HAVEN, Agusts 25, 1769.
Then Received of the Committee of Judds Meddow Winter parish the sum of sixteen pounds, on the account of my Son's public labours among them.
SAMUEL MUNSON.
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THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY IN SALEM.
There is also an autograph letter written from Springfield in 1770, and signed by Nathan Hale, in which the writer says:
I went from the Commencement to my Father's in Springfield. I am in such a state as to my Health that there is no probability that I shall be able to serve you this winter. I have not been able to preach but one half day since the Commence- ment and that was half the next Sabbath after I saw you.
The letter is addressed: " To Mr. Hotchkiss, at Judds Meadow in Waterbury."
In 1767 " the list of the Estate of the Inhabitants of the First Society, exclusive of the Church of England, was £9854-11-3." This amount, divided as it then was for winter preaching, was as follows:
£ s. d.
Southern Winter Parish (Judds Meadow), 2724 4 O
Western Winter Parish (Middlebury), 1757 18 6
Eastern Memorial (Farmingbury), . 1526 15 0 Leaving for the First Society, 3855 13 9
Testimony of EZRA BRONSON.
At the October term of the Assembly in 1772, the members of the "Southern Winter Parish " petitioned for society privileges. " Bushnel Bostwick, Thomas Darling and James Wadsworth, jun", Esqrs," were commissioned to hear the petitioners and the First society, and two of them, having conferred with the third, sent the following letter, the autograph of which has been preserved:
GENTN.
NEW HAVEN, Oct. 23d, 1772.
On conferring with Mr. Darling touching your Memorial, we can see no Prospect of viewing your Circumstances so as to be able to make a Report to the Assembly before it riseth, if we should attempt it on Monday next-wherefore we think it more adviseable to postpone the Time to the 23d Day of Novem" next at which time we purpose to meet (if you have no Objections) when all Parties will have full Opportunity to be heard which may probably be much more agreeable to them as well as to us as we are very desireous to attend the Assembly which will undoubtedly rise the next week.
We are Gentln your Humbl sevts
Capt. JOHN LEWIS, &
BUSHNELL BOSTWICK, JAMES WADSWORTH, JUR.
Capt. GIDEON HOTCHKISS.
The above gentlemen, when the time came, reported that it was convenient and necessary that a new society should be made. Accordingly the Assembly resolved that the inhabitants living within the following limits should be made and constituted a dis- tinct ecclesiastical society, to be known and called by the name of Salem:
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