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 71
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announced his change and left his church in Claremont. There seems to be some discrepancy in the several biographical statements as to whether the father or son first entered the Roman Catholic church. The prob- ability is that the father started first, but the son outstripped him in the race. It is a sad story throughout,- such a spirit of self-sacrifice and such a lack of sense. When Virgil H. Barber made up his mind to become a Roman Catholic priest he was thirty-four years old and his wife twenty-eight, and they had five children, and no means of support. The mother and children were placed in a convent, and the father went to Rome to study. All became prominent in the church of their choice. Mrs. Barber was known "in religion " as Sister Mary Augustine (or as it is frequently written, Austin). She died at Georgetown, D. C., January 1, 1860. Their son, Samuel Joseph, became a priest of the order of Jesuits, and died in Charles county, Md., February 23, 1864. The youngest and last surviving member of the family, Sister Mary Josephine, died at the Convent of the Visitation in St. Louis, two or three years since.
Besides the " History of My Own Times." Daniel Barber wrote " Catholic Worship and Piety explained and recommended to a very near Friend and Others,"-a pamphlet, Washington, 1821. See also, " Catholic Memoirs of Vermont and New Hampshire," by Bishop Goesbriand, Burlington, Vt., 1886, and Griffin's Jour- nal, Philadelphia, June 1, 1894.
662
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
ST. PETER'S PARISH, NORTHBURY.
In Northbury, at "the Hollow," now Thomaston, a building was erected about 1738 (on land given by the Rev. John Southmayd, pastor of the First church), which was used as a place of public meetings, for religious purposes, and also for a school-house. After a few years a portion of the society wished to build a new church and preferred to have it on the hill. This led to a division. Part of the society built a new house and went to the hill, while the others remained at the old place. Dr. Leonard Bacon of New Haven used to say that "anger and marriage were converting ordi- nances." This view of the matter was illustrated in Northbury, for it was not long before this remnant left in "the Hollow " became an Episcopal parish, or at any rate a band of people worshipping according to the liturgy of the Church of England and receiving the occasional ministrations of the missionaries of the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, Messrs. Morris, Arnold, Lyon and Mansfield.
Dr. Bronson's History (page 310) represents the majority of the congregation as having become Episcopalians and having voted out the minority with the Rev. Samuel Todd, the Congregational clergyman, and Dr. Beardsley has followed this in his History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. But the Rev. E. B. Hillard, in some researches made in 1888, while he was pastor of the Con- gregational church at Plymouth, found a document which puts a somewhat different face on the matter. As this document does not appear in the Colonial Records, and is valuable evidence on a con- troverted, or at least misunderstood, matter, it is reproduced here, pour servir. It is dated at Northbury, October 8, 1740:
To the Honorable and General Assembly convened at New Haven:
We, the subscribers, having in time past applied ourselves to this Assembly for, and they being so complaisant to us ward as to grant us, the liberty in the first place to hire the gospel preached with us in the winter season, which privilege we thankfully improved, and after that, through their benignity toward us we obtained the privilege of hiring the gospel preached with us for the space of two years, and having no house in the centre of us convenient to attend the public worship in, the Rev. Mr. Southmayd encouraged us to erect a small house for that use, by giving us a parcel of land in the centre of us for that end, upon which we built a small house and in a short time carried on the public worship peaceably in it. And after we had met in the house about a year our necessity was so great of enjoying the gospel ordinances, upon our request (though we were very small) the Assembly was pleased to favor us with society privileges, upon which in a little time we gave Mr. Samuel Todd a call to settle in the work of the ministry with us, of which he accepted, and, being settled with us, we find our obligations to him full as much,
663
THIE EPISCOPAL PARISII TO 1830.
if not more than we can answer; and it being evident at this day to the Assembly that a certain number among us are striving to involve us in much greater charges still, which, if obtained, we despair of answering our obligation to Mr. Todd, and we humbly conceive that the forementioned house of which we are the proprietors will answer the present necessity of the society to attend public worship and which we freely dedicate to that use, and request, if the Assembly see fit, that the said house may be established. the place of public worship so long as they see fit. That so the charge of building a meeting-house or any charge for that end may be pre- vented at present .*
At the October session the assembly apparently took no action, but the following May, "being informed of the broken and confused circumstances of the parish at Northbury, etc., they appointed a committee to conduct said society in the choice of proper officers and advise and direct where they shall meet on the Sabbath for public worship." In October following they appointed another committee, in part the same persons, to "fix a site," etc. + The end of it all was that the party favoring a new church and a new site carried the day, but the disaffected portion declined to be taxed and stuck to their school-house, and soon after most of them declared themselves members of the Church of England.
In 1759, when the Rev. James Scovil became the rector in Water- bury, he gave one-half his services to Northbury and New Cam- bridge. In 1771, Northbury and New Cambridge seem to have set up for themselves. Dr. Bronson says they obtained the services of a minister. In 1773 the Rev. James Nichols, a native of Waterbury, became the rector, supplying the two places; but in 1775 he went to Litchfield. During the Revolution few services appear to have been held, although there were many ardent churchmen in that section of the town, the feeling being so strong that there was a great number of disaffected persons, some of whom suffered seri- ously for their opinious. Among them was Moses Dunbar, who was hanged for treason at Hartford (see Volume I, page 434).
In 1784 an Episcopal society was legally formed under the new enabling act, and for the next few years the parish had such ser- vices as they could secure temporarily. The Rev. Asahel Baldwin, the Rev. Philo Shelton, the Rev. Tillotson Bronson and the Rev. Edward Blakeslee appear on the record as having officiated. In 1788 the Rev. Chauncey Prindle became rector, serving both North- bury and Westbury, and so remained until 1806. In 1795 Plymouth was incorporated as a separate town.
* The signers to this document are: William Ludenton, Jonathan Cook, John Sutlef, Jr., Barnabas Ford, John How, Isaac Cassel, Thomas Blasle [Blakeslee], Jacob Blasle, Ebenezer Richardson, Caleb Humaston, Phinehas Rice, Daniel Curtis, Gedian Allen, Jeremiah Peck, Jeremiah Peck, Jr., Ebenezer Elwell, Samuel Frost, John Sutlef, Samuel Jacobs.
+ Colonial Records, Vol. VIII, Pp. 373, 424.
664
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
CHRIST'S CHURCH, WATERTOWN.
In 1764 twenty persons (whose names are given in Bronson's History, page 308) entered into an agreement "to hold public wor- ship in Westbury on those Sundays when there was no preaching in Waterbury," and to make arrangements to build an Episcopal church. They met at the house of James Doolittle in the winter and at Ensign David Scott's in the summer. The next year (1765) Captain George Nichols of Waterbury gave them a lot, and by October, through the efficient management of Captain Edward Scovil, they had a building fit to occupy, although not completed. It stood, as nearly as can be ascertained, on the east side of the road leading to Waterbury, about a quarter of a mile southward from the green and a little southwest from the Congregational church, which stood within the old cemetery enclosure, or nearly so, at the southwest corner. The Episcopal church is supposed to have been on the south side of the road leading east.
In 1773 the Rev. James Scovil of Waterbury agreed to give one- third of his time to this parish, and it continued under his care so long as he remained in Waterbury. This was nominally until 1786, although during the last two years he was absent much of the time in New Brunswick. In 1788 the Rev. Chauncey Prindle, a native of Westbury, a nephew of Mr. Scovil and a Yale graduate of 1776, then in deacon's orders and previously a lay-reader, took charge of the parish, having also the church at Northbury under his care. In 1793 a new church was built, and consecrated by Bishop Seabury as Christ's church on November 18, 1794. This church stood on a piece of ground purchased of Samuel Southmayd, at the intersection of the streets near the site of the present church .*
ST. MICHAEL'S, NAUGATUCK. +
This parish was formally organized February 16, 1786, at the house of Jobamah Gunn, and fourteen persons enrolled themselves as members. They mostly resided in the western part of Salem society, which was then known as Gunntown, the Gunns being a prominent family there. Services were conducted at some private
* A part of the open ground about the church has since been inclosed in the grounds now occupied by J. A. Buckingham. The house itself fronted the east, the west line being nearly in a line with Mr. Bucking- ham's east fence. In 1780 Watertown became a separate town.
+ This following sketch has been mostly taken from a manuscript history of the parish prepared by the Rev. E. C. Gardner, for the use of which I am indebted to the kindness of the present rector, the Rev. J. W. Ellsworth-F. J. K.
665
THIE EPISCOPAL PARISH TO 1830.
house, usually by the minister officiating in Waterbury, one Sunday in a month, sometimes every third Sunday; the services of the intervening Sunday being conducted by a lay-reader. In 1803, after several unsuccessful efforts, a small church building (the vote says 44 by 34 feet) was sufficiently finished for use. This stood, according to the record, "on the hill, about fifty rods west of Jobamah Gunn's dwelling house," which still retains the local name, Church hill. In 1806 the Rev. Chauncey Prindle, who was then settled in Watertown, was engaged to preach in the parish one- fourth of the time. The following year he divided his time equally between this church and the one at Oxford. He continued in charge until 1814. The Rev. Alpheus Geer of Waterbury then took charge of the parish, and preached there one-third of the time. This arrangement continued until 1830, when Mr. Geer left Waterbury.
In 1832 the church was taken down and removed to a place near its present position, at the centre of Naugatuck. It had never been finished inside. It was now completed and was duly consecrated on June 8, 1832. During the interval occupied in removing and finish- ing it up, services were held in a hall in the factory of W. C. DeForest, which was fitted up by him for the purpose. During this period the Rev. William A. Curtis and the Rev. T. J. Davis successively minis- tered here, dividing their time between this parish and Bethany.
On July 21, 1833, the Rev. Oliver Hopson began his ministry. He was the first resident rector, and after the first year gave his whole time to the parish. His connection with it lasted nearly fourteen years and until after Naugatuck became a separate town.
EPISCOPACY IN MIDDLEBURY.
A considerable number of the members of the Gunntown parish were apparently residents of Middlebury. At the time of the removal of the building to Naugatuck centre, one of the reasons given was that a new parish had been formed in Middle- bury. We learn from the journals of the annual Protestant Episcopal Convention that a parish at Middlebury, without name, was admittted in 1830. It appears to have been mostly under the care of the Rev. Oliver Hopson, mentioned above. In 1835 the bishop reports twelve persons confirmed there. In 1841 Mr. Hopson reports that "his engagement terminated at Easter, since which no stated services are held there." In 1843 he reports at Naugatuck "nine communicants formerly numbered in the Middlebury parish." No further reports appear, and in 1851 the parish was dropped from the list. It is supposed to have owed its existence mainly to the efforts of Larmon Townsend, a merchant at Gunntown, near the church, who afterward removed his business and residence to Middlebury. He was an ardent " churchman," and frequently officiated as a lay-reader. He died May II, 1858, aged eighty-one years.
CHAPTER XLII.
THE GRAND STREET CEMETERY-EARLY BURIALS AND GRAVE-DIGGERS- REMOVALS TO RIVERSIDE-PROTESTS AGAINST NEGLECT-S. M. JUDD'S MAP-KATHARINE PRICHARD'S WORK-SOME OLD HEAD- STONES-ENLARGEMENTS-CONVEYED TO THE CITY - PROTESTS AGAINST DESECRATION-STONES AND REMAINS RESCUED-THE BRONSON LIBRARY IN POSSESSION-PINE HILL, AND HILLSIDE IN NAUGATUCK-NORTHBURY, WESTBURY AND FARMINGBURY CEME- TERIES-EAST FARMS-GUNNTOWN-MIDDLEBURY-BUCK'S HILL- BROCKETT-WOOSTER-A HISTORY OF BELLS-BELL .RINGING- TOLLING FOR DEATHS-OTHER PRACTICES.
THE GRAND STREET CEMETERY.
T HE earliest mention that has been noticed upon our records of a burial place in Waterbury is in 1695, as follows: "The town grants to Edmund Scott a parcel of land lying within the common fence, butting east on the burying-yard, north on the fence, west on the highway." It has already been mentioned, on page 235, that the custom prevailed at an early date of appropriat- ing the foot of the minister's garden for a burial-place; and as Mr. Peck's house-lot extended to present Grand street-the land at first occupied by this cemetery being a continuation of the same-there is no doubt that the practice was followed here. This was the only place of burial within the township until 1709. There had died during this time, besides the Rev. Mr. Peck, ten of the proprietors of the town, two wives and mothers, four young men, and, at least, fifteen children. Of their graves, the only memorial that remains is the gravestone of young Benjamin Barnes, pictured on page 173.
The office of grave-digger seems to have been filled by appoint- ment, with the other town offices, at the yearly December meeting, upon occasional years; Benjamin Barnes being the first person so chosen-in 1700. Edmund Scott's name is next mentioned, he hav- ing filled the office in 1708, 1717, 1720 and 1722; Richard Porter in 17II, 1712 and 1713; Thomas Richason until 1716; Samuel Barnes in 1719; Moses Bronson in 1724, and in 1725 it is recorded that "it was left with the townsmen to procure somebody to do it." John Welton dug the graves in 1726, 1727 and 1729; after the latter date the only appointments on record are: "Jonathan Scott, son of Edmund," for 1737; and for 1738 " James Pritchard was made choice of to dig the graves as there shall be occasion."
667
BURYING GROUNDS AND TOLLING BELLS.
From this time until near the close of the century we know little of the history of this place. "Burying-yard hill," "Ram pasture " and " Ram Pasture lane" are referred to in deeds and layouts of land; but whose hands prepared the last (alas! not the last) resting places of our beloved ancestors, tradition does not tell us. Judge Bennet Bronson left.a manuscript list of about six hundred deaths, which he says was copied from Captain Benjamin Upson's account. (See Ap. p. 158.) From this we infer that Benjamin Upson was the sexton from 1797 until his death in 1824, or nearly to that time. John S. Tuttle probably followed Upson, and Ard Warner succeeded Tuttle. Henry Garry Hotchkiss became sexton in 1843 and had charge of the ground until he left town in 1860 or 1861. The Water- bury American said of him: "During the time that he has had the charge he has done all that was in his power, with the limited means granted him by the selectmen, to keep it free from brush and attend to the necessary repairs, for which he states that he has received very inadequate remuneration."* Sturges M. Judd was the custo- dian of the place from 1862 until its destruction in 1891. He reports that the first interment that took place under his charge was that of Henry Grilley, aged eighty-nine years, on January 30, 1862.
Soon after the opening of Riverside cemetery, in 1853, re- movals from the old to the new place of burial were begun, and the old place soon showed the effects thereof. "Re-opened graves, with fragments of coffins left uncovered " in them, and overturned head and foot stones, became features of the place, and before many years had passed, the ground was overgrown with weeds, briars and bushes, save that a few careful hands kept in order the graves of their buried friends and relatives. E. B. Cooke from time to time called public attention to its condition in the American, and in June, 1875, the Rev. Dr. Anderson suggested, in a Sunday evening lecture to his congregation, a plan for preserving the head- stones and beautifying the enclosure after the manner of old Eng- lish church yards, but his words fell upon stony ground. Some time thereafter, certain persons petitioned the legislature for per- mission to extend Church street to Meadow street, which was granted. On April 27, 1884, Dr. Anderson delivered another dis- course upon this and other burial places in the township, in which he said:
It is a closed up and desolate place, right in the heart of our city. At the same time, it is not only one of the most conspicuous within our limits, but one of the most desirable. It seems eminently fitted for some public use, in which living men can take an interest. The people of Waterbury, it seems to me, should never let it go to be used for business purposes; but why not set it apart for a public park, and place in the centre a building worthy to serve as the home of our public library ?
* He died May 23, 1867, and was buried not far from the Hall street gate.
668
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
If we can thus make use of this ancient and now neglected burial place, and at the same time preserve every vestige of historical record which it contains, why should we not do so ?
About a year ago, with a laborious care which only those can fully appreciate who have attempted a similar work, Sturges M. Judd procured and prepared the data for a complete map of the Grand street burying ground. This map when finished will aim to contain every recognizable grave in the entire enclosure, those graves which have inscribed headstones being clearly distinguished from the others.
Mr. Judd's map was accompanied by a record of the names and ages of the persons so interred, as found upon the headstones, and a list, so far as known to Mr. Judd, of persons there buried, without monumental stones-including the Roman Catholic cemetery. In 1890 and 1891, a copy of the entire inscriptions upon the stones- not including the Roman Catholic portion-was made by Katharine Prichard. Julius Gay of Farmington also made a transcript of names, dates and ages in 1885. A comparison of these lists shows that no stones had disappeared between 1885 and 1890. Miss Prichard's record of 1890 gives a few names not noted by Mr. Gay, and about fifty not given by Mr. Judd.
A word may be said of some 1EB of the older stones. That of Benjamin Barnes has already been S I. NO 3 1726. noticed ; the next in age is lettered as in the margin, it being the stone set up by Deacon Judd in loving remembrance of his daughter, Sarah; and it is interesting to note that no older one bearing a date was to be seen when Fred- erick J. Kingsbury was a boy. The name of Thomas Hikcox," the second Waterbury deacon, was upon the third oldest, the date 1728. This stone was buried in the great transformation. Per- haps the stone that will interest A:AVEFORM, HFD .CT . the greatest number of readers GRAVESTONE OF HANNAH HOPKINS. of this History is that of Han- nah Hopkins, wife of John, the miller, and fore-mother of a long line of distinguished men. Her descendants to-day are many, and
669
BURYING GROUNDS AND TOLLING BELLS.
MI D OC 8 1730
it is a matter of regret that her maiden name is unknown. She died May 3, 1730. Another old stone, not identified, is inscribed as shown in the margin. It might be Michael, son of Thomas Judd, had the date been 1734. Joseph Nichols died March 10, 1733. Perhaps the most curious of these early stones was a
small field stone about six inches thick, lettered on both sides as here Jy 10 1736 shown. Dinah was the first wife of diNAH Lieutenant Josiah Bronson, who was bRovnson; grandfather of Silas Bronson. A d. b. stone with the inscription here given marked the resting-place of Samuel Welton, son of George. Mrs. Thomas Judd also died in 1738.
SW a Iun-16 1738
These stones comprise all that were found in 1890 bearing dates prior to 1740. There were forty-four bearing dates between 1740 and 1760. The stones placed at the graves of the persons who died in the great sickness of 1749 and 1750 (see page 370) were of one pattern, though varying in size. All were pointed, and were of a gray color. The carved red sand-stones, with cherub's faces-in one instance crowned-came in use after 1750,* and marble about 1800.
The number of persons whose age was above seventy years is 150; of these, fifty-five were between eighty and ninety years of age, and the following fourteen over ninety: Mrs. William Adams, 94; Mrs. Jonathan Baldwin, 97; Amasa Bronson, 101; Mrs. Ezra Bronson, 91; Thomas Bronson, 92; Timothy Clark, 92; Mrs. Stephen Hotchkiss, 94; John Judd, 98; Captain Samuel Judd, 91; Joseph Leavenworth, 92; Tamar, his wife, 93; David Prichard, Sr., nearly 102; George Prichard, brother of David, 97; Ebenezer Warner, 94.
The following lines were engraved upon the gravestones of two young men, brothers, who died more than sixty years ago. On the one:
The Genius of music beamed forth in this youth, Of earth's fading endowments a sad mournful truth, But his soft busy eye shall forever be bright, When sun, moon and stars all cease of their light.
On the other:
O when pale death his features spread How deep the pang. O! grief, he's dead But hark! his silent whispers deep: Parents and mourners, cease to weep. Go and prepare in death to sleep.
* See note on page 380.
670
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
Another young man died away from home in 1823:
He died among strangers no kindred near To wipe away a falling tear Oh Lord how oft thy wrath appears And cuts off our expected years.
But not all the epitaphs are of this style, as note the two following:
Sleep on dear youth, heaven's high almighty King: Hath to eternal summer changed thy Spring.
Know thou, Oh Stranger to the fame Of this much lov'd, much honored name For none that knew him need be told- A warmer heart, death ne'er made cold.
Some of the burial customs of the older time are touchingly referred to by Horace Hotchkiss in a contribution to the Waterbury American in 1876:
I well remember as a child, six years old, being taken out of bed one cold autumn night [October 28, 1808] to stand beside the death-bed of my mother. .
ยท Afterward, as she lay in her coffin, my childish curiosity was occupied in studying the initials formed on the lid with brass-headed nails, as was then the custom. Men came, and taking up the bier, carried the coffin to its resting place in the old burying ground, while we followed on foot.
I remember when a boy often examining the old headstones. Some were rough from the field, others were so overgrown with moss that, until it was removed, neither name nor quaint epitaph was traceable, making it true that " the dead forgotten lie." In the custom of that time, the coffin was borne to the grave on men's shoulders, in some cases two or three miles or more .*
The first enlargement of this burial ground was made in June, 1805, when an exchange was effected with Mrs. Sarah Leavenworth, widow of the Rev. Mark Leavenworth, by which the town received about an acre of land on the east, and Mrs. Leavenworth twenty- five rods on the south and $25. In 1823 (in accordance with a state law) the care of the grounds passed into the control of the First School society. On January 31, 1842, this society appointed a com- mittee "to purchase one and one-fourth acres of land south of the burying ground, at $50 per acre, to grade the ground, to build a suit- able fence, to repair the hearse and hearse-house, and make such other repairs as to expend the two mill tax laid by the society this evening." "Mr. Warner was also authorized to purchase a hearse and pall" (see Volume II, page 489, note). The land just mentioned belonged to Edward G. Field and was conveyed to the society through his guardian, Joel R. Hinman, in 1843.
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