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 III > Part 10
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On April 21, 1885, Mr. Waters married Mary, daughter of Charles Starr, of Hamilton, N. Y. They have three children.
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THIRD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, BROOKLYN DISTRICT, 1893.
CHAPTER XXXV.
AN EPOCH IN THE PARISH-THE REV. MESSRS. BARLOW AND MORGAN- THE FIRST ORGAN IN WATERBURY-DR. CLARK'S LONG MINISTRY -HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER-A NEW CHURCH IN 1847-DE- STROVED BY FIRE, CHRISTMAS, 1868-THE PRESENT EDIFICE; ITS COST-MEMORIAL GIFTS IN IT-DR. BINGHAM'S MINISTRY-S. W. HALL'S BENEFACTIONS-THE REV. MR. CONVERSE-THE REV. DR. ROWLAND-THE RECTORY AND THE PARISH HOUSE-ASSISTANT MINISTERS-CLERGYMEN "RAISED UP" - PARISH ORGANIZATION AND EXPENSES-CHAPEL AT WATERVILLE-CANDLES AND GAS- LIGHTS-THE SEWING SCHOOL-MEN DEVOTED TO "THE SERVICE OF SONG."
I N our first volume the history of episcopacy in Waterbury is brought down to 1830, the year in which the ministry of the Rev. Alpheus Geer in St. John's parish came to its close. It was appropriate for more reasons than one that the earlier period should be terminated at this date. Mr. Geer was the last of the Waterbury clergymen who joined the care of some other parish to his ministerial work here. This is also approximately the epoch which marks the transition in Connecticut from an agricultural condition to one in which manufactures became the dominant interest, and Mr. Geer was the last minister of St. John's parish who depended on the cultivation of land for a portion of his income. The cultivation of glebe land and of their own land by the early New England clergy afforded an important part of their support. A settlement was regarded as for life, and a grant of land was usually part of the settlement. In many cases the clergy were considerable landholders and successful cultivators. This condition of things continued in some towns to a later date, and possibly there are lingering cases still, but the year 1830 is as near the turning point as any that could be selected .*
On July 19, 1830, the Rev. William Barlow was invited to become rector. He remained here about two years and a half. At a
* If the people of to-day can imagine the rector of St. John's in "shirt sleeves." working in a mild spring rain to turn the water through sluices into his grass land (as I have seen Mr. Gert doing), of can imagine the pastor of the First church with a very broad brimmed straw hat and a called dressing gown, carrying a rake across his shoulder and following a load of hay from the "little pasture" through the main street of the town (as I have seen Mr. Arnold doing), it will help them to understand some of the charges which sixty years have brought about, both in the sources of income and in the customs of life F. 1 K
646
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
meeting of the parish in October, 1832, it was voted to give him a leave of absence during the winter (he being obliged to go south on account of his wife's health), and this seems virtually to have closed his connection with the parish. He was a man of dignified manner and refined and rather scholarly tastes. While here he took an active interest in schools and in a public library. The library continued to exist in a feeble way for many years after he left. Some of the books went into the Young Men's institute and finally into the Bronson library. One of Mr. Barlow's contem- poraries speaks of him as a "smart but erratic man." He was ordained deacon by Bishop Hobart, December 28, 1819, and died February 24, 1850. He occupied while here the house on Grand street which had been occupied by the Rev. Dr. Bronson and the Rev. Mr. Barber. After leaving Waterbury he was at Wilton, at Ogdensburg, N. Y., at the West as a missionary, at Flatbush on Long Island, at Chicago, and again in New York.
On February 20, 1833, it was voted to alter and repair the church. This was accomplished some time afterward, and the changes consisted principally in taking out the square pews and substituting those of the present style, then known as "slips." By this the seating capacity of the church was considerably increased.
On April 8, 1833, it was voted to make a contract with the Rev. Allen C. Morgan, either party to be at liberty to terminate the engagement on giving six months' notice. Mr. Morgan began his service here as a deacon about the time that Mr. Barlow left, and was ordained a priest January 17, 1833. He remained here until the fall of 1836, and left to take charge of the Cheshire academy. After a brief but very successful career as a teacher he died suddenly in New York city, October 12, 1838. During the short period of his ministry here he had become so much attached to the place and people that he wished to regard it as his home. He was buried here, and his old parishioners erected a monument to his memory.
Allen C. Morgan was born at Norwich, January 7, 1802. His father removed soon after to Greenfield, Mass. Being desirous of obtaining a classical education, and dependent on his own exertions, he early engaged in teaching. While thus occupied, the Rev. Dr. Wheaton, then rector of Christ Church, Hartford, offered to assist him in his education. The offer was accepted, and he graduated with distinction at Yale college in 1826. He taught for a while at Norwalk, and then at Ulster, N. Y., until the autumn of 1831, when he returned to Hartford and was ordained deacon, November 27. He officiated for a few months at Plymouth and
647
ST. JOHN'S PARISH SINCE 1830.
Bristol, and then came here. He was a man of dignified appear- ance, rather stout for his years and slow in his motions, but of an active mind and finished scholarship. He was a faithful pastor and a sympathetic friend. He never married.
It was during Mr. Morgan's rectorship, December 10, 1835, that a committee was appointed to purchase an organ and make the necessary alterations in the galleries for its reception. This was the first church organ in Waterbury, and it was for many years the only one. The organist was St. John Rowley, an Englishman employed in Beecher's woollen mill.
On January 28, 1837, it was voted that the society's committee be authorized to correspond with the Rev. J. L. Clark on the sub- ject of becoming rector, and to offer him $750 a year. He accepted the offer, and on the second Sunday after Easter began his long service here.
Jacob Lyman Clark was the son of Jacob and Susannah (Bangs) Clark, and was born at Westhampton, Mass., September 19, 1807. Previous to his fifteenth year he lived for some time with a mar- ried sister, Mrs. Harriet King, working with her husband on his farm. In 1822 he went to Cambridge to study with his brother, Orange Clark, afterwards the Rev. Orange Clark, D. D., who after many years of service in this vicinity spent the closing years of his life in California, but who was at this time a student in Har- vard college. He remained in Cambridge about two years, when he went with his brother to assist him in a school at Portsmouth, N. H., teaching also, during a portion of the time, the children of the officers at the navy yard at Kittery. He also taught a public school at Beverly, Mass., somewhere about this time, having sailors and sailor boys for pupils. He entered Trinity (then Washington) college in 1827, and graduated in 1831. His father was a farmer of moderate means and the sons were mainly dependent on their own exertions for such educational advantages as they obtained,-a statement which would probably be true of nine-tenths of the New England boys of that period who rose to distinction. While at college he taught in the family of William H. Imlay, and in the long vacations visited his brother, then in orders, at Delhi and at Rochester, N. Y., and while at the former place he read service in the neighboring villages. He seems not to have had the ministry in view at first, as he became a communicant of the church while in college, and it has been said that until after he was twenty years old he had never seen the inside of an Episcopal church .* He
* This may not be strictly correct, but there was no such church in his native town and the family wies staunch Congregationalists.
648
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
studied three years at the General Theological seminary in New York, and was ordained deacon by Bishop Brownell, at St. Mark's, New Canaan, June 29, 1835. He supplied that parish and Ridge- field until he came to Waterbury, the second Sunday after Easter, 1837. Here he labored with great success for almost forty years, until his death, January 26, 1877.
During this long period the history of his life is substantially the history of the parish. His success here however was so marked, his power of administration so evident and the contribu- tions of the parish under his guidance so liberal to the general .work of the church that it could not fail to attract attention, and few parishes in the country were better known or more highly esteemed than St. John's, Waterbury, and few clergymen better known or more highly esteemed than its rector. The missionaries and the missionary bishops found in him an unfailing friend. In 1854, feeling somewhat overworked, he sent in his resignation, but the parish declined to receive it and proposed to give him six months' leave of absence. He decided to take this and by way of light recreation did six months' canvassing for the Board of Mis- sions. This seemed to be just what he needed, and he came back to his work greatly refreshed. The Society for the Increase of the Ministry might almost be said to be of his creation, and for one year (1859) he gave up a large part of his parochial work to act as its agent. He was a member of the General Conventions of 1850, 1862, 1865, 1868 and 1874, and a prominent member of the General Board of Missions. At the General Convention of 1856 he was nominated by the House of Bishops to the episcopate of Nebraska and Kansas, but the lower house did not think the time had come to establish that jurisdiction. In 1859 the convention elected him Bishop of Kansas and the Northwest, but he declined, feeling doubtless that he was more in the line of his special work in his own parish. The reason he usually gave when asked was that he was not sufficiently learned to be a bishop. He was doubt- less quite sincere, too, in this estimate of himself. He was not a scholar. He never gave himself the slightest trouble about vexed questions of theology or metaphysics. He was a Christian worker, a servant of Christ and his church. It was for that church to point out the way, and for him to follow in it. Nevertheless in all prac- tical questions, intimately related as they frequently were to matters of theological doctrine, his shrewd common sense and sound business judgment made him a leader and a guide. In 1848 he became a member of the standing committee of the diocese of Connecticut, and was annually re-elected for the next twenty-three
1. 2. lework
649
ST. JOHN'S PARISH SINCE 1830.
years, after which he declined a re-election. In the Diocesan Con- vention he was a leading member and continually served on many important committees, but he never spent his own time or that of the convention in discussions about anything except the most prac- tical questions, and then in the most practical way. He received the degree of D. D. from his Alma Mater in 1853, and in 1862 was made a member of the college corporation, which place he retained until his death.
His life had few salient points for biographical purposes. He will be remembered in the church, outside of his parish, by his earnest labor in missionary work and his single hearted zeal for all that was good.
Dr. Clark had not in any great degree what is usually called a knowledge of men but he had a wonderful knowledge of the individuals composing his own parish He knew every man, woman and child. He never met one of them on the street without a recognition. He seldom entered a house without inquiring for every member of the family, from the eldest to the youngest. He knew all the intricate relationships of the various families, their descents and intermarriages. He knew enough of their affairs to know their ability to assist him in his parish work. He knew when to ask for money, and also how, and for how much; for he was apt to be very definite in those matters. There were men in his parish who did not take much interest in church or charitable work, from whom nevertheless he could get sums of from one dollar to ten dollars whenever he saw fit to ask. He was seldom, perhaps never, refused. He had completely subjugated himself to his work. Always and everywhere he was the clergyman, and the black cane which he carried seemed an official staff. When he came to Waterbury he was thirty years old. Tall, erect, of spare figure, his resolute, straight-forward walk was altogether characteristic of the man; one saw at once that he was going to a specific place for a specific purpose, and felt pretty sure that whatever it was, he could carry it out. You would not say of him, as of some men, that he forgot himself, but rather that he never thought of himself. He was the man to lead a forlorn hope. or, with equal readiness, to follow another if it seemed his business to follow rather than to lead. He was by nature and by carly training a Puritan, but not in theory an ascetic. He was fond of social intercourse, intensely enjoying the com- panionship and conversation of his brethren in the ministry. He had, too, a good sense of humor, but it was strictly of the clerical kind His manner was cheerful and genial and the tones of his voice hearty and inspiring, though upon occasion he could be very stern
He never attempted eloquence or strove for well turned sentences. but there were times when the importance of the theme and his own intense earnestness gave his utterances much power, and in presenting the importance and the needs of Christian enterprises he had a business-like direetness which seldom failed to pro- duce substantial results. He had an indomitable will. All that perseverance and persistence to the verge of obstinacy could accomplish he would do. He had no great talent for organizing. He did not lay out or discuss his plans beforehand to any great extent or work on methods and with subordinates. When anything was to be done he called on all to help; then while he supervised the labor he put his own shoulder to the wheel, quietly filled the gaps, and the result was success.
650
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
He was not a student. He read few books and few newspapers. What was happening in the diocese and in the church at large, so far as it affected him as a clergyman, or his work, or the welfare of the church, he generally contrived to find out, and those who came in contact with him knew very well that he had his opin- ions and maintained them against all comers; but he had no time to waste on spec- ulative questions. With the sick and the poor his presence was ubiquitous, his patience unwearied, his labors unceasing, his charity unfailing. Fuel, food, medi- cine, clothes, money for rent-to see that no one should lack these was his daily and nightly business. His life in the parish might be summed up in that royal sen- tence, "He went about doing good."
He spoke no evil of any man to his fellow man, but with the wrong-doer himself he never held back or hesitated when he thought good could be done. Crossing the Green one day, he met a workman whom he knew, partially intoxicated. He told the man he was sorry to see him in that state and pointed out to him the injury he was inflicting on himself; among other things he warned him that he was destroying his strength and power to labor for his family. This touched the man's pride, and he replied, "I can whip you, Dr. Clark, and if you will step back on the Green I will do it." "No," said Dr. Clark; " when you are sober you are a much stronger man than I am, but if you go on drinking, or even now, if you had a glass or two more, I shouldn't be afraid of you." This argument seemed to reach him, and the result was that he went directly with the clergyman to the secretary of the local temperance society, and there signed the pledge.
It is probably safe to say that no man in this town was so well known or so uni- versally esteemed. Although St. John's was only one of eight or ten churches in the town, yet on the afternoon of his funeral business was suspended as by common consent, and the whole population poured forth to do honor to his memory. It was such a spontaneous tribute to a life of goodness as gives one renewed confidence in his fellow men.
Dr. Clark was a man of warm domestic attachments, to whom a home meant much. Although thrice married during his pastorate, he lived a widower for more than twenty-seven years. On April 28, 1839, he married Mary Thankful, youngest daughter of James Scovill, Esq., and granddaughter of the Rev. James Scovil. She died May 2, 1842. On September 12, 1847, he married Mary DeFor- est, daughter of Gad Taylor of New York. She died July 13, 1848, and on November 16, 1870, he married Anna Galpin, daughter of William R. Hitchcock, long an officer of St. John's parish. She survives him. He left but one child, a daughter of his first wife, now Mrs Ambrose I. Upson. During the long years of his widow- hood his house and home were under the care of his maiden sister, Miss Samantha Clark, who came to him after the death of his sec- ond wife and devoted the remainder of her life to the care of her brother. She died at Westhampton her old home, in May, 1886.
Soon after Dr. Clark came to the parish signs of growth began to appear, owing doubtless in part to the increase of population, but also in part to his energetic methods. On May 19, 1838, it was voted to finish off the gallery of the church into slips. On Jan-
651
ST. JOHN'S PARISH SINCE 1830.
uary 12, 1839, it was voted to make an addition on each side of the church, provided the money could be raised by subscription. The addition was made, consisting of a wing, one story high and about twelve feet wide, on each side, giving two additional rows of pews, and two aisles, the entire length of the church. The front of the church was also built out on a line with the front of the steeple. The appearance of the edifice, with these wings, was not architec- turally elegant, and they were spoken of as "cow-sheds " and "bowl-
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH AS ENLARGED IN 1839. FROM A DAGUERREOTYPE IN THE POSSESSION OF F. J. KINGSBURY.
ing alleys " by the irreverent; nevertheless, they served a good pur- pose for a number of years.
On February 23, 1846, it was voted that it was "expedient to build a new church, if the funds can be raised by subscription." A building committee was appointed, and nothing more appears on the record until March 8, 1847, when a committee was appointed to sell the old building. But in the meantime much had been done. It had been decided that the new church should be of stone, and a new site was selected and purchased, a short distance from the old one and directly west of it. The dimensions of the whole edifice,
652
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
including the chapel, were 154 by 76 feet, and the spire was 186 feet in height. The interior was richly finished in black walnut, and the chancel window bore a colossal figure of St. John, with a book resting upon his lap and a pen in his hand, with the em- blematic eagle by his side. At the date of its erection, the church was certainly surpassed by few if any in the state. It was the result of great liberality and of much self-denial on the part of the society, and its completion was an occasion of just pride. It was consecrated by Bishop Brownell, January 12, 1848.
The old church was sold to the Roman Catholic parish and removed to East Main street. It was used first for a church and afterwards for a school until 1888, when it was taken down to make room for the block built by the parish of the Immac- ulate Conception. Its timbers showed no signs of decay, and it might have stood for another century.
On January 18, 1857, a violent snow storm occurred, accompa- nied by a heavy gale of wind, and the steeple of St. John's church was blown down, crushing a por- tion of the south ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, BUILT IN 1848. tower in its fall. The steeple was a mass of broken sticks, but the bell, which weighed 3800 pounds, fell on them in such a way that it was uninjured .* The destruction of this steeple was a heavy loss to the parish. It was rebuilt in 1859 of wood as before, but in a very solid and sub- stantial manner, at a cost of over $5000.
* This was the gale in which the spire of the Second Congregational church was blown down. See PP. 595, 596.
653
ST. JOHN'S PARISH SINCE 1830.
In the early morning of December 24, 1868, the church was totally destroyed by fire. The other religious societies immedi- ately proffered a partial use of their buildings, and the Christmas services were held in the Second Congrega- tional church and a parish meeting in the Methodist church. Sunday evening services were held for some time in the First church, and the Sun- day morning ser- vice and the Sunday
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, JANUARY 19, 1857. FROM A DAGUERREOTYPE IN THE POSSESSION OF MRS. G. L. TOWNSEND.
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, AFTER THE FIRE OF DECEMBER 24, 1868.
1
654
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
school in Military hall (the third story of E. T. Turner's store). Immediate measures were taken for the erection of a temporary chapel on ground furnished by S. M. Buckingham, senior warden, at the corner of West Main and State streets, and the first service was held there March 29, 1869. It was a comfortable building, measuring 100 feet by 40, with seats for 629 persons. It cost about $6500, and was the home of the parish for nearly four years.
While the temporary chapel was being prepared another com- mittee took in hand the subject of a new church, and subscription papers were at once circulated. About $35,000 were received for insurance, but it was clear that this would not go far towards a new church. Between the building of the two churches our civil war took place, and at the date now referred to, values had not yet assumed their normal proportions. The style of living, the demands of the public, the whole structure of society in short, had been changed. The new church, relatively, was not much in advance of the old one, but it probably cost four times as much.
The first vote was to raise $100,000, but it was soon found that this would not do what was wanted, and the amount was increased to $125,000. The following summary shows the cost and value of the building and the land:
Contract (and extras) for mason and joiner work,
$117,855
Windows,
3,532
Heating apparatus and plumbing, 6,536
Gas fixtures, 1,500
Architect's fees,
4,969
Decoration,
2,700
Oiling,
550
Carpets, cushions, altar furniture and sundries,
7,083
$144,725
Special gifts, estimated :
Two organs,
$12,000
Chimes, clock and bust,
10,000
Stained windows,
5,000
27,000
$171,725
The value of the ground and of the foundations, which were very heavy (the old foundations having been added to but not disturbed), makes the total value about $200,000. To this can now be added the rectory and lot, valued at $25,000, and the parish house and the State street lot, the value of which is about $27,000.
The founding of a second parish, although not accomplished until some years later, was substantially decided upon in connec-
ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, 1889.
656
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
tion with the building of the new church. What is to be said in regard to it will be found in the next chapter.
The church was consecrated by Bishop Williams on St. John's day, June 24, 1873. As already indicated it is unusually rich in memorial windows and other memorials, gifts for the most part of members of the parish. The most valuable of these is the great organ, built by Hook & Hastings at a cost of $10,000. It was the gift of Abram Ives. Next is the marble bust of Bishop Brownell, by Ives the sculptor, surmounted by a richly carved Gothic canopy of Caen stone, the whole structure being about twenty-five feet in height. It bears the following inscriptions :
The Right Reverend Thomas Church Brownell, D. D., S. T. D. Born in West- port, Mass., October XIX. MDCCLXXIX. Consecrated third Bishop of Connect- icut, Oct. XXVII, MDCCCXIX. Founder and first President of Trinity College. Presiding Bishop in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. Died in Hartford, Jan. XIII, MDCCCLXV, in the LXXXVI year of his age and the XLVI year of his Episcopate.
" Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."
Erected by Gordon W. Burnham, A. D. MDCCCLXXI.
In memory of Gordon W. Burnham, who was born at Hampton, Conn., Mar. 20, 1803, and died in N. Y. city Mar. 18, 1885. He was at one time a vestryman of St. John's Church, and with his wife Louisa, a daughter of the Rt. Rev. T. C. Brownell, D. D., S. T. D., bestowed liberal gifts upon the church.
" Yea, because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek to do thee good."
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