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 70
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105
* Early marriages were more common then than now, and there may have been other extenuating circum- stances. I do not know what they were. Perhaps she was very pretty.
+ In 1744 thirty-nine members of the church, having first obtained in public meeting the town's consent, applied to the legislature for " parish privileges " -- one of which was the right to lay a tax, but the petition was rejected.
652
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
This was an era of prosperity for the parish. It received several valuable gifts of land from members and a rectory was built by subscription. This was on land given by Oliver Welton and must have been not far from where F. L. Curtiss's house now stands. It was the third lot from Willow street. Oliver inherited it from his grandfather John. He gave it, while yet a minor, with consent of his guardian, the Rev. John Southmayd, and confirmed the deed after he attained his majority.
In 1759 Mr. Mansfield gave up the northward end of his large mission field and was succeeded by the Rev. James Scovil, who took charge of Waterbury, Northbury, New Cambridge (now Bris- tol), and later of Westbury. He fixed his residence at Water- bury, thus becoming the first resident rector. He was son of Lieutenant William Scovil and grandson of Sergeant John Scovil, who was one of the original settlers of the town. He was born January 27, 1732-3, and probably in the house on Willow street long known as the "old Johnson House," which was taken down, after being partially destroyed by fire, in 1889, being at that time by far the oldest house in town. This house was built by Sergeant John Scovil for his son William, and left to him by will in 1725. About the time of James's birth, William Scovil exchanged places with Abram Utter and removed to that part of Westbury known as Nova Scotia hill. The dates on the record indicate that this removal took place subsequent to the date of James's birth, but there was a tradition in the family that he was born at Nova Scotia hill. When James Scovil was about ten years old, his mother having died, his father married Elizabeth, daughter of James Brown, before mentioned as the first Episcopalian in Waterbury. Whether she brought Episco- pacy into the family I cannot say, but it came about that time, as William Scovil's name appears as a member of the Congrega- tional society not long before. When young Scovil was about twenty years of age, an injury which rendered him lame for a time and placed him under the care of Dr. Porter made him turn his attention to study. He was placed under the care of the Rev. Mr. Southmayd, who found him so apt a scholar that he urged his parents to give him a college education. This being approved, he at once began his classical studies. He re- mained with Mr. Southmayd until cured of his lameness, and completed his preparation for college at home, probably under the care of the Rev. Mr. Trumbull. He graduated at Yale in 1757. A year afterward the vestry of St. James's parish voted to contribute to the expenses of his journey to England for
653
THIE EPISCOPAL PARISH TO 1830.
ordination,* to give him £20, sterling, a year, provided he got nothing at hum, and half of whatever he might get at hum, and the use of the glebe. Hum then meant England, although few of those vestrymen, perhaps none, had ever seen it. On April I, 1759, he was ordained in Westminster abbey by the bishop of Rochester, and returned as a recognized missionary under the auspices of the "Ven. S. P. G." He was presented by the society, at his ordination, with a folio Bible and Prayer-book, bound in one volume, for use in the church. t
Mr. Scovil continued in his mission, ministering with success to his several charges, until the disturbances of the Revolution cut off the assistance of the society in England. Then followed a period of great hardship for Episcopal congregations. They naturally sympathized with the mother country and thus drew upon them- selves, and especially upon the clergy, much suspicion and fre- quently open hostility. Mr. Scovil, though much respected by his neighbors, did not escape his share. On one occasion, when return- ing with his cows from a pasture on the west side of the river, just at night-fall, he discovered a man loading a musket in the borders of a wood, whose conduct awakened his suspicion. He immediately hastened to him and asked him pleasantly if he saw any game. The man replied, rather angrily, " I should have shot you if you had not spoken to me, for I knew you were a tory." He then advised him to leave his cows and take the shortest course home, or he might fall a victim to others who were greatly incensed at
* The following document has recently been found among the papers of St. Peter's, Plymouth, by the Rev. Dr. Gammack :
" Northbury in Waterbury, July ye 27, A. D. 1758. We the Subscribers due promise to pay each one the sume that we subscribe in this paper unto Lieut. Jacob Blakslee and David Blakslee by the first day of October next ensuing the date hereof : and we the subscribers do by these presents acknowledge ourselves to be firmly bound to the said Blakeslees to pay to them the sums that we subscribe by the Ist of October afore- said, and the money is to be delivered by the said Blakslees to Mr. Scovil in order to help him to go home to England for Ordination for Waterbury, Northbury and Cambridge for to be our minister.
£ s. d.qr.
£ , d.qr.
Caleb Thompson, . II 0.0 May Way,
0 16 II.2
David Way,
O
6 7.3
Asahel Castel, 0
5.3
8 David Blakeslee,
2 I 8.2 Stephen Blakeslee, 7 6.3 Jacob Blakslee,
6 I I.2 O bediah Scott, o
5 3.I Mary Ford, .
O
9 5.0
Ebenezer Ford, I
5 5.1 Enos Ford,
Moses Blakslee,
0 10 I.O
Ruben Blakslee, ·
8 8.2">
Ebenezer Allin,
15 9.3
6 5.0 Isaac Castel,
O II.O
There is also a memorandum of payments showing that Abel Curtis, whose name does not appear as a sub- scriber, paid I shilling ; also the following : "Over paid by me, Jacob Blakeslee, to Mr. Scovill, 4.18.5."
+ After doing duty here for many years, it was by a vote of the society presented to the Episcopal inhab- itants of the towns of Columbia and Waterbury in Ohio. Some years since, Isaac Bronson of Medina, O., a son of Dr. Tillotson Bronson, finding that the book was no longer used, made arrangements to have it brought back to this place, where it now remains in good condition, in possession of a descendant of Mr. Scovil. It has the seal of the " Ven. S. P. G." and bears the imprint of 1737.
654
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
him and might not be appeased by being spoken to. Mr. Scovil thought it best to take this advice, and leaving his cows crossed the fields, waded the river and hastened to his home. Party spirit seems, however, to have run very high just then. He did not feel safe in his own house, and leaving it at night he secreted himself in a barn which belonged to him on Long hill, where he remained hidden for some time, various members of the family supplying him with food. One of his sons, returning on one occasion from this place of concealment, was met by two soldiers, who took his horse from him and compelled him to walk as a prisoner to Strat- ford (about thirty miles), where he was detained some time in con- finement. He had been guilty of no overt act, and naturally resented this treatment. *
At the close of the war the English society and the British gov- ernment offered liberal inducements to loyalists who should remove to the British colonies. It seemed impossible, in the disturbed condition of things, for the parishes here to give Mr. Scovil an adequate support, although they offered to do all that they could. In 1788, after having visited New Brunswick and officiated there for several summers (returning to spend the winters with his people here), he removed there with his family, five years after the close of the war-thus terminating a connection of almost thirty years with the parish. He became rector of Kingston in New Brunswick, where he died December 19, 1808, in the fiftieth year of his ministry. He was succeeded by a son and by a grandson in the same parish. His wife, who was a daughter of Captain George Nichols, a promi- nent citizen of this town, died in 1835, aged ninety-three. All his family went with him except his eldest son James, who had mar- ried and settled here, and who continued to occupy his father's residence, near the corner of North and East Main streets. front- ing the public green. The barn where the Rev. Mr. Scovil was hidden, which stood on almost the highest point of Long hill, was accidentally destroyed by fire only a few years since. Dr. Bronson, in his History (page 302), quoting in part some other authority, says of him:
Mr. Scovil was known for punctuality and faithfulness in the discharge of his duties. He taught his people from house to house, comforted the aged, instructed the young and made himself agreeable to children. He had a grave and becoming deportment and was sound in doctrine.
* The Rev. Dr. Clark, in a memorandum in regard to Mr. Scovil, says : " I met this son in New Brunswick in 1844. He was then near eighty years of age, having resided there about sixty years, and every wound seemed as fresh and sensitive as when first inflicted, upon what he termed 'the rebel soil of the States.' He averred that no temptation that earth could present would ever induce him to set his foot on soil where he had received such unprovoked and cruel wrongs."
655
THE EPISCOPAL PARISHI TO 1830.
The withdrawal of the "Venerable Society's" support, and the disturbed state of the country, left the Episcopal church here, as elsewhere, in an impoverished condition, and for some years it had a hard struggle to maintain its services .* During this time the Rev. Solomon Blakeslee, the Rev. Chauncey Prindle and the Rev. David Foot each officiated for a short time. They gave a portion of their services to this parish and the remainder to Salem, Bristol, North- bury and Woodbury. Plans were also discussed for uniting several of these parishes in one, but they were not carried out.
Mr. Blakeslee was a graduate of Yale college, in the class of 1785, was ordained deacon at St. Paul's church, Norwalk, June 3, 1789, and priest at Middletown by Bishop Seabury in 1793. As his service here was in 1789 it must have been immediately after his ordination as deacon. He afterward succeeded Bishop Seabury in St. James's parish, New London, and served at several places in the eastern part of the state. He died in 1835. The Rev. Chauncey Prindle was a nephew of the Rev. James Scovil and a native of Westbury. He was for some years rector of that parish and after- ward rector at Plymouth, Salem and Oxford. He was buried in the old cemetery at Gunntown. He was born July 13, 1753, gradu- ated at Yale in 1776, and died August 25, 1833, after a ministry of fifty years. He was a man of considerable ability, of excellent character, and an indefatigable worker in his profession. It is related of him that he swam his horse through a high and danger- ous flood in the Naugatuck river rather than fail in an appointment for a service. David Foot was born in Marlborough, October 5, 1760, graduated at Dartmouth college in 1778, was ordained deacon at New London by Bishop Seabury, June 11, 1788, and was then appointed to serve in Hebron and Chatham. In October of the same year he was ordained priest at North Haven. After leaving here, he became rector at Rye, N. Y., where he died August 1, 1793.
On November 13, 1784, Dr. Samuel Seabury, having been selected for the office by the clergy of this diocese in March of the previous year at a meeting held in Woodbury, was consecrated Bishop of Connecticut at Aberdeen, Scotland, becoming thus the first bishop of the American church. He reached this country in 1785, and in May, 1786, a committee from the parish waited on him at Stratford and desired him to visit Waterbury. He could not do so at that time, but on October 1, following, it is recorded that he confirmed here 256 persons. That must have been equal to about one-tenth of the population, and the occasion was one of profound rejoicing
* During the forty years in which it was under the care of the English society, it had received over $6000 in money, besides liberal gifts of books.
656
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
among "churchmen." This, too, was in the darkest days of the church here, before Mr. Scovil had finally left, but when he was preparing to go, and when they were as sheep without a shepherd.
In October, 1791, the Rev. Seth Hart, who had been officiating for some time previous as lay reader, was ordained deacon by Bishop Seabury at Watertown, with the agreement that he was to officiate here half the time, the other half to be divided between Salem and Woodbury. His salary was £40, lawful money, the first year, to be increased fi annually until it reached £45, and the use of the glebe. I suppose this was equal to about $150, but it was in "ready money," which went a great way in those days, and the use of the glebe was doubtless of considerable value. Mr. Hart's min- istry here is said to have been quite successful, but he only remained about two years after his ordination, and then removed to Wallingford. He officiated also at North Haven, and four years later he removed to Hempstead, Long Island, where he remained rector until his death, March 16, 1832. He was born in Berlin (Conn.), June 21, 1763, graduated at Yale college in 1784, was ordained deacon October 9, 1791, and priest at Huntington, October 14, 1792. It is recorded of him that he was a good scholar, an amiable man, a successful teacher and an acceptable preacher. While here he owned and occupied the place next south of St. John's church (E. M. Burrall's), including the ground where the church now stands and several acres of adjoining land. When he left, several liberal persons bought his place and presented it to the church, the old rectory before mentioned having become unfit for use. It was afterwards sold, and the present site was repurchased about 1847.
The affairs of the parish and its people were now clearly pros- pering. The old St. James's church, at the corner of Willow street, had been occupied nearly fifty years, and both the needs and the pride of the parish demanded a better house. In April, 1793, dur- ing the Rev. Mr. Hart's ministry, a committee was appointed "to agree upon a place to set a church and the bigness of the same," and in September following, having voted that the society were willing and thought it necessary to build a church, Eli Curtis, Esq., Jude Blakeslee and Captain Amos Bronson were chosen a com- mittee "to set a stake for the place where to build a church." *
* These gentlemen were all non-residents. Eli Curtis was a lawyer residing in Watertown, and I think Mr. Blakeslee and Captain Bronson were both from Plymouth. Difficulties and heart-burnings so frequently arose in those days from differences of opinion as to the proper location of churches and schools that it was quite customary to call in a committee of disinterested persons from neighboring towns to "set a stake." Whether this parish in its wisdom avoided all trouble by appointing the committee at the outset, or whether some difficulties had already arisen, I do not know. That there were difficulties, however, very clearly appears ..
657
THE EPISCOPAL PARISH TO 1830.
Whether this committee acted or not, the record does not show, but in December following another committee, namely, John Woos- ter of Derby, Thomas At- water of Cheshire and Abner Brad- ley of Wood- bury, were appointed, and this time under the sanction of the county court, which had jurisdic- tion when ap- plied to in such matters. Still they were not quite satisfied, and in the follow- ing March the court and committee were asked to place the stake five rods further south, so that the first stake must have been driven very near where the Soldiers' monument is. On February 9, 1795, a vote RIM, SHERMAN was passed ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, 1795. FROM A DRAWING FROM MEMORY. directing the committee to build a decent, well-furnished church fifty-four by thirty-eight feet, with a decent steeple on the outside, at the east end of the same.
42
658
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
This church building was a great credit to the parish. Its gallery windows were arched at the top-a feature which was supposed to give it a churchly appearance-and it had a tall, slender, gracefully tapering spire, on the top of which shone a bright gilt star, with a handsome gilt vane just beneath. David Hoadley was the archi- tect. The interior was divided into square pews with seats on three sides; the ceiling was arched between the galleries; the pulpit was high, with winding stairs on each side and the reading desk in front of it below. They were of dark wood, probably cherry. The robing-room was near the entrance of the church. After reading the service, the minister walked the length of the church to the robing-room, laid aside his surplice, returned and slowly mounted the long pulpit stairs in his black gown. If done with dignity this was quite an effective part of the service. The crowning glory of the church consisted of two large fresco paint- ings, one at either end of the arched ceiling of the church on the pediment over the pulpit and over the choir gallery. As I remem- ber them, they occupied the whole of the pediments, or ends of the arch. They were painted in different shades of green on a white ground. The subject of that over the pulpit was the baptism of Jesus by John in the river Jordan. The Jordan was a very respect- able stream, looking nearly a quarter of a mile wide in the picture, and the landscape on the further side was quite inviting. I always thought, while looking at it, of the hymn:
On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, And cast a wistful eye To Canaan's fair and happy land, Where my possessions lie.
The river seemed altogether too deep to wade. The picture at the other end was a village green on which was a church-the church, I suppose, in which the picture was-with rather stiff trees and a. long row of people moving toward the sanctuary, conspicuous among whom was the rector, marked by his shovel hat. To my boyish eyes these pictures were marvels of art. At the same time that this church was being built, the Congregational society was erecting one at the other end of the Green, and a healthy spirit of emulation was doubtless of considerable advantage to both build- ings. The new church was consecrated by the name of St. John's on November 1, 1797, by Bishop Jarvis.
After Mr. Hart's departure the pulpit was partially supplied for a time by the Rev. Alexander V. Griswold and by the Rev. William Green. Of Mr. Griswold nothing more need be said here than that he subsequently became Bishop of Massachusetts. The Rev ..
659
THE EPISCOPAL PARISH TO 1830.
William Green was a graduate of Dartmouth college in 1791. He was ordained deacon by Bishop Seabury at New London, October 18, 1793. To the record of the ordination the bishop adds: "Mr. Green was ordained on my own personal knowledge of him and on recommendation of Rev. Dr. Bela Hubbard of New Haven; he was licensed to preach and purposes to go into Maryland." The Dart- mouth college catalogue says that he died in 1801, aged thirty. Where he spent the few years that intervened betwen his service here and his death I have not learned.
Soon after the completion of the church, in December, 1797, the Rev. Tillotson Bronson, who had officiated here and in Bristol for some months, became the rector, with the agreement that he was to officiate here three-fourths of the time and one-fourth in Salem society. His salary was $250. In June, 1806, not feeling able longer to support his family on this sum, and the parish being unable (or unwilling) to increase it, he preached his farewell ser- mon, and retired, with the approbation of the bishop and the good will of the people. Dr. Tillotson Bronson (D. D., Brown univer- sity, 1813), was a son of Captain Amos Bronson of Plymouth, whose residence was at Jericho on the Naugatuck river. He was born there January 8, 1762, fitted for college with the Rev. John Trum- bull, Congregational pastor of Watertown, graduated at Yale in 1786, studied theology with Dr. Mansfield and Bishop Seabury, was ordained deacon September 11, 1787, and priest February 24, 1788. He preached for a year in Vermont and New Hampshire, which was the missionary ground of that period; then for a while in Boston and at several places in this state, and also taught school. While in Waterbury he lived in a house on Grand street which was taken down in 1882 to make room for the Baptist church. He owned the place and sold it to his successor, the Rev. V. H. Barber. From Waterbury he went to New Haven to take charge of the Churchman's Magazine, a periodical then recently established, which he continued to edit with ability for some years. Only a few months, however, after leaving Waterbury he was appointed by the Convention principal of the Episcopal academy at Cheshire. He removed there, and after a long and successful career as the head of that institution he died September 6, 1826. He was a prominent man in the church and plenty of material exists for a fuller biogra- phy, but most of it relates to his life after leaving here.
I notice on the record (as a sign of progress) that on August 19, 1799, a committee was appointed to procure subscriptions to pur- chase a bass viol. On December 8, 1803, it was "voted to dignify the pews." This consisted in allotting the seats in the church to
660
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
the members of the congregation according to their "dignity," the standard being a fixed one, based partly upon age, partly on the amount of tax paid and partly on official or social standing.
Dr. Bronson was succeeded by the Rev. Virgil Horace Barber, who remained here from June 16, 1807, until May 6, 1814. He was a son of the Rev. Daniel Barber of Claremont, N. H. He was ordained deacon June 9, 1805, and priest, September 20, 1807. I have not been able to learn where he was educated, but he was a schol- arly man and a superior teacher, and while here maintained a school of high order. He doubtless discharged his ministerial duties with zeal, but it was as an inspiring and instructive teacher he did most for the generation to which he belonged, and his influ- ence was long felt. It is said that he required his own family, including the pupils who resided with him, to converse in Latin. He was, however, eccentric and somewhat unpractical. I find this entry on the parish records when he had been here but six months: "December 29, 1807. Voted to send Mr. Justus Warner to the town of Claremont, N. H., to know the reason of Mr. Barber's not returning to this town, and to give Mr. Warner $14 for his expenses." There were no telegraphs, and letters had evidently failed. We know that Mr. Barber came back, but why not sooner remains a mystery. He left here to become principal of an acad- emy at Fairfield, N. Y., but two years later (in 1816) became a Roman Catholic, and, placing his wife and children in a convent, went, in July, 1817, to Rome, and after a period of study, became a priest in the Society of Jesuits. A clergyman who had known him here visited him in Rome, and found him an inmate of a Jesuit college under the name of Signor Barberini, clothed in the habit, and practicing the austerities which belong to the order. After his return from Rome he went in 1822, by direction of his superior, to Claremont, where he established a Roman Catholic church. Later he was sent on a mission to the Indian tribes in Maine and to various towns in that state where there were Roman Catholic resi- dents without pastors. He was afterward assigned to duty in Maryland and that vicinity. He died at Georgetown, D. C., March 27, 1847 .*
* The Rev. Daniel Barber, the father of Virgil H. Barber, was a native of Simsbury, and was born October 2, 1756. In 1827, when he was seventy-one years old, he published, at Washington, D. C., a pam- phlet entitled " History of My Own Times," which is of considerable value as a picture of the period. He was a soldier in the Revolution, and kept a diary, portions of which are contained in his pamphlet and are also copied in the sketch of Simsbury in Barber's Historical Collections of Connecticut. The Barbers seem to have been an independent family, much given to speculative theology (the main source of recreation for thinking people in those times), and always having the courage of their convictions, if not a little to spare. Daniel's father and mother each had their own views and stood by them. "They could never agree," says Daniel, "as to their points of faith." When Daniel was twenty-seven years old he became an Episcopalian, at thirty an Episcopal clergyman and at sixty-two a Roman Catholic. This was in 1818, when he publicly
661
THE EPISCOPAL PARISH TO 1830.
In September, 1814, the Rev. Alpheus Geer was invited to become rector, at a salary of $600, "provided Gunntown will pay one-third for his services one-third of the time." The vote as finally passed was to pay him $400 for two-thirds of his time, leav- ing Mr. Geer and Gunntown to settle for the remainder. Alpheus Geer was born at Kent, August 7, 1788, graduated at Union college in 1813, was ordained deacon by Bishop Hobart in New York city, June 12, 1814, and priest by Bishop Griswold at Middletown, early in 1815. He remained in Waterbury nearly sixteen years, from the fall of 1814 to the spring of 1830. He went from here to Hebron, where he remained about fourteen years, and afterwards preached at a number of places in this state. He died at Norwich, February 3, 1866. While here he lived first on South Main street and later in the Judge Hopkins place, on West Main street. The period of Mr. Geer's pastorate was one of quiet and moderate prosperity. There was not at that time much growth in the town, and as a semi-farmer clergyman, who was expected to live to some extent off the product of his glebe, he was a very fair representative of the country clergy of his time. On Sunday, October 20, 1816, he presented to Bishop Hobart of New York, then acting as bishop in this diocese, which was temporarily without a bishop, a class of 226 for confirmation, being the largest class ever confirmed by Bishop Hobart. The manuscript from which the information in this sketch was in part obtained, adds: "It is thought the largest ever presented to any bishop in this country." The writer was not aware of the class of 256 confirmed in the same place by Bishop Seabury thirty years before, but these two classes, both of them in this parish, have seldom been exceeded in numbers. Mr. Geer's second son, the Rev. George Jarvis Geer (D. D., Trinity, 1842) was for many years a suc- cessful clergyman in the city of New York, and his grandson, the Rev. William Montague Geer, is now one of the assistant ministers of Trinity parish in that city.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.