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 3
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THE CHURCHES IN THE MODERN ERA.
and Southington roads. The realization of the idea was largely the result of individual effort. Mrs. Emma Doolittle Johnson, effi- ciently assisted by Mrs. Gertrude Bradley, took the leading part in the canvass for money. The Doolittle family, descendants of David Frost (see elsewhere), were perhaps the most liberal benefactors of the enterprise, but it was cordially supported by the inhabitants of Sawmill Plain and the neighboring districts, and many of the citi- zens of Waterbury made liberal contributions. Mrs. Lydia Sackett gave the land, on condition that the chapel should be used only by the four leading denominations of the place, Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Baptists and Methodists.
The sum of $2000 was raised by subscription, and the chapel was built under the supervision of James Porter, A. B. Pierpont, Charles Frost and G. B. Hitchcock, these gentle- men having been appointed at a meet- ing held in the school-house, Novem- ber 9, 1882, to act with Mrs. Johnson as a building committee. An organiza- tion called the Ladies' Social union (the nucleus of the Chapel society) held weekly neighbor- hood meetings, in prep- aration for a fair. By this fair they raised the money necessary for furnishing and equip- ping the chapel. The dedication took place May 11, 1883, ministers of the several denomina- tions assisting. Three years later the audience room was enlarged and a kitchen and dining- room were added. For this purpose the sum of THE MILL PLAIN CHAPEL. $ (500 was raised, of which the Ladies' Social union furnished $400. making the entire cost of the building about $3500.
Mill Plain chapel has been a conspicuous success from the begin- ning. Services are conducted every Sunday afternoon by ministers of the four denominations already mentioned, in rotation. This arrangement is satisfactory to the residents and others who attend the services, and seems to be a means of enlisting the interest of
37
578
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
the churches in the work of the chapel. There has been no fric- tion between members of the several denominations, and the dif- ferent ministers have been welcomed and supported by all with equal cordiality. There has been a Sunday school connected with the chapel from the first, Fannie Porter, H. S. Abel and J. H. Gar- rigus having acted successively as superintendents. The business interests of the Chapel society are intrusted to a committee of four persons, elected annually, in which the four denominations are represented.
In 1892 the decennial of the chapel was celebrated at a public meeting. Congratulatory addresses were made by several of the ministers, and such a spirit of harmony and good fellowship pre- vailed as to suggest that the plan of the interdenominational chapel might lead to important results in the promotion of Christian union.
Three memorial windows have been placed in the Mill Plain chapel,-one "in memory of Timothy Porter and Polly Ann Porter, his wife," another in memory of William Shannon, and another in memory of Irving G. Hitchcock, son of George Hitchcock, who died in his boyhood.
THE BUNKER HILL CHAPEL AND LADIES' AID SOCIETY.
A " Ladies' Union " was organized in the Bunker Hill district in April, 1888, to assume the expenses of a Sunday school which had been held in the Bunker Hill school-house for several months. Its first officers were Mrs. J. C. Hitchcock, president; Mrs. E. L. Day, vice-president; Mrs. O. W. Noble, secretary and treasurer; Mrs. F. W. Tobey and Mrs. L. M. Camp, directresses. The Sunday school hav- ing outgrown the capacity of the school-house, it was proposed to build a union chapel. It was completed June 26, 1889, at a cost of SIIOO. Part of the land was given by Mr. and Mrs. G. S. Parsons, and the members of the society raised $810 by subscription. The balance, in addition to the cost of furnishings and equipments, was made by suppers and an annual fair.
At the annual meeting, April 10, 1891, the name of the Ladies' union was changed to Ladies' Aid society. The successive presi- dents of the society since the first have been Mrs. S. N. Merwin, Mrs. I. N. Lewin, Mrs. G. W. Garlick, Mrs. S. Bacon, Mrs. E. B. Whitley. The present officers are :
President, Mrs. E. L. Day. Vice-President, Mrs. N. S. Thomas. Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. G. W. Garlick.
Directresses, Mrs. L. Millaux, Mrs. A. H. Burritt.
CHAPTER XXXII.
"THE OLD ORDER CHANGETH "-YEARS WITHOUT A PASTOR-A DAY OF SMALL THINGS-A FAITHFUL FEW-UNWILLING CANDIDATES-ORI- GIN OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL-"THE SINGING" AND THE "CHOR- ISTERS"-J. R. ARNOLD CALLED-PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS- LABORS AND RESULTS-NEW "ARTICLES"-HENRY N. DAY-REVI- VALS AND A PRAYER MEETING-FOURTH MEETING-HOUSE-DAVID ROOT AND ANTI-SLAVERY-HIS PECULIARITIES-H. B. ELLIOT-ILL HEALTH BUT SUCCESSFUL WORK-THE SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH-W. W. WOODWORTH-THE FIRST PARSONAGE-THE "PAR- SONAGE LOT"-A MORE MODERN ERA-GEORGE BUSHNELL-THE WAR AND ITS ANTAGONISMS.
T HE dismission of the Rev. Daniel Crane from the pastoral care of the First church took place April 25, 1825. Water- bury was organized as a borough in May following. The division of the history of the church at this point leaves for the present volume a period of seventy years. This period, although only one-half as long as that which is covered in Volume I, is in many respects of far greater importance,-is at any rate much more crowded with events. Compared with the preceding, it has been an era of rapid change-especially the latter half of it-and the contrasts that have been developed are almost startling.
In 1825 the ecclesiastical condition of Waterbury was very much the same as it had been for eighty years before. The field was still occupied by two organizations, the First ecclesiastical society, of which the First church was the spiritual nucleus, and the Episco- pal parish, which, although representing dissent from the standing order, had outlived the era of antagonism. The two parishes were geographically the same, and the two "societies" consisted of the same kind of people. The " meeting-house" at the east end of the Green and the "church " at the west end in their outward resem- blance to one another represented the general similarity in type and character of the two groups of Christians that worshipped in them from generation to generation. Horace Hotchkiss, in his " Reminiscences," already more than once referred to, says :
I have been told that both buildings were " raised" at the same time. The inte- riors of both were divided into square pews, with high railings, so that when the door was fastened the occupants were secure from intrusion. Each had galleries on three sides, and the small tub-shaped pulpits were elevated ten of twelve feet
580
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
above the congregation. Both the meeting-house and the church had tall and slen- der spires, and before they were taken down both leaned from an upright position .*
It is true that the homogeneous character of the community had begun to be modified by the incoming of new " sects," but thus far little impression had been made. The Baptists had an insignificant meeting-house at Sawmill Plain, but they did not build at the centre until 1835, and the Methodists had been organized since 1815, but they also were without a house of worship until 1833, and their religious gatherings at Mrs. Mary Peck's "little red house" and occasionally at the school-houses attracted but slight notice from the staid and orthodox church-goers of the village. As for the Roman Catholic church, more than ten years must elapse before the voice of one of its ministers should be heard in the town. Sun- day after Sunday, for generations, these New England people had resorted to their respective places of worship in the forenoon and the afternoon, and during the intervening hour had walked sol- emnly home to their cold Sunday dinner, or if they came from a distance had found quarters in the "Sabba' day house," to eat their luncheon there and in winter to fill their foot-stoves anew for the second service of the day. The one bell of the Congregational society summoned both congregations to worship at the same time, and alike in church and meeting-house the worshippers were seated according to an accurate and rigid gradation, based upon the age of the individual and the amount of his taxable property.+ And
* Mr. Hotchkiss adds: "I once listened to an amusing exchange of repartee between Dr. Frederick Leavenworth and the Rev. Alpheus Geer, who was at that time the Episcopal rector, respecting the vanes of the two edifices. During a violent storm the vane of the Episcopal church remained immovable while the other veered with the wind. Dr. Leavenworth, accosting Mr. Geer, remarked that he was noticing how per- sistently the churches pointed in different directions. 'True,' replied Mr. Geer; 'we are not blown about by every wind of doctrine.' 'Yes,' said Dr. Leavenworth, 'it takes a tornado to move you in the right direc- tion !'" In reference to the high pulpits Mr. Hotchkiss says : " A preacher once remarked to me, as he came down from the pulpit of the Congregational church, that he felt dizzy, for he had been 'obliged to gesture with one hand and hold on to the Bible with the other to prevent it from falling on the heads of the deacons below.' The deacons then sat under the pulpit, on a bench called the deacons' seat, facing the congregation." + For a dozen years subsequent to the opening of the period now under review, the custom of " seating the meeting-house" continued in full force. It is true that in February, 1826, the ecclesiastical society voted " to lease the pews in the meeting-house until the first Sabbath in February next ;" but on March 5, 1827, they voted "to seat the meeting-house according to age, placing the oldest members of the society in the pews that are dignified the highest," and a committee of such men as " Mark Leavenworth, David Hay- den, Eli Clark, Charles D. Kingsbury, Joseph Cook and Edward Field" was appointed to manage this important matter, while at the same time the seating committee was authorized to " lease the pews to per- sons not members of the society who request it, not exceeding one year at a time." In 1828 the rule of seat- ing according to age was still in force, but in January, 1829, the vote was " to seat the meeting-house accord- ing to list and age, allowing ten dollars in the list of October last equal to one year." The custom of seating seems to have been entirely superseded by that of renting in 1837, the pews having in the meantime been superseded by "slips." At all events, the last seating committee was appointed at the meeting of February 2, 1836, and on January 1, 1838, the society appointed a committee " to value the slips in the meeting-house and rent them to the highest bidder, for the purpose of defraying the ordinary expenses of the society for the ensuing year," and in 1840 an additional committee was appointed "to provide seats for strangers and others not members,"-items suggestive of important changes in the social and ecclesiastical life of the com- munity.
581
THE FIRST CHURCH FROM 1825 TO 1864.
thus ceremoniously disposed of, they sat through interminable dis- courses and elaborate prayers in the coldest winter days, with no artificial heat to warm them except what they brought with them in their little tin foot-stoves. Mr. Hotchkiss in his " Reminis -- cences " says this was the condition of things as late as 1825, and adds that about that time he and Israel Coe, as society's committee, "took the responsibility of placing two wood stoves in the Congre- gational house of worship, to supply what warmth the preacher failed to impart, and make it comfortable during the recess between the first and second services for those who came from the farms." * A new era, however, had now been entered upon, and some of those who in 1825 had already grown to man's estate were destined to witness changes in the life of the community and in the beliefs and practices of the churches which no one could have anticipated or imagined.
The Rev. Mr. Crane's dismission left the church and society in a somewhat unfavorable condition. It was probably well that Mr. Crane should depart, for the enmity and prejudice that had devel- oped could not have been outgrown. But the evil results of a pro- tracted quarrel between a pastor and prominent families of his parish are not likely to vanish in a day even in the sunshine of a new pastorate, and in this instance the coming of the new pastor was delayed for several years. Besides, it was a day of small things in the religious life of the town. The parish was poor, and a large proportion of its men were engrossed as never before in the new industrial life that was opening before them. Mr. Hotchkiss, in writing of his father, who was the senior deacon at this time, refers to the " struggles of the church " and its "days of darkness and feebleness," and contrasts them with its later and more prosperous years. It is, perhaps, an indication of the low estate of the parish pecuniarily that the church on April 6, 1826, and repeatedly after- ward, felt called upon to vote an appropriation of $50 or more toward the expenses of the society from its small accumulation of interest money.
Although the parish was without a settled pastor, there must have been a faithful few who took an active interest in the man- agement of its religious affairs. The records afford evidence that the difficult matter of discipline was not neglected. The "subject
* At a meeting of the church (not the society) November 18, 1827, it was voted to appropriate " from the interest money belonging to said church" $25 toward paying for these stoves, provided a sufficient sam could be raised otherwise to make up the required amount. But Israel Cor, who was clerk of the church at this time, adds in a note that "the money here voted was not called for, as the stoves were not bought." In November, 183x, the society gave consent to have stoves placed in the meeting-house, provided it could be done free of expense to the society.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
of disorderly members" was brought forward, and offenders were faithfully dealt with. In February, 1826, a committee of prominent men was appointed, to see on what terms the difficulty between John Clark, who was Mr. Crane's chief opponent, and the church could be settled, and although it took a year or two to accomplish the result, a gratifying reconciliation was brought about-both the church and Mr. Clark acknowledging the mistakes they had made and confessing that in various instances they had been actuated by an un-Christian spirit.
It must be remembered that although without a settled pastor, the parish was not destitute of a Christian ministry. On Sep- tember 12, 1825, the society instructed its committee "to hire Mr. Henry Benedict for one year, provided he can be procured for $475." The church in April appropriated $50 to help the society out with this salary, but before the end of July Mr. Benedict had asked to be released, and they had acceded to his request. In December, 1827, the society "approved of Xenophon Betts," of Norwalk, and called him, but without result. In January, 1829, they approached Joseph Whittlesey, who was then preaching for them, with the same object in view, but again without result, and in June of the same year appointed a committee of four to call on " Mr. Jason Atwater, to ascertain on what terms he would become their pastor, either by hiring or settlement." Mr. Atwater was engaged for a year and the society voted to pay him $520 for a year's services. In May, 1830, he was called to the pastorate on a salary of $550, but the invitation was declined .*
It was during this period of interrupted ministrations, on July 6, 1828, that nineteen persons were admitted to the church at one time, ten of them being "baptized by the Rev. Mr. Cone." A brief vote passed at a meeting held the day before-" that $10 be paid to the Sabbath school library"-brings to light the interesting fact that during this same period the Sunday school of the First church came into existence. Mr. Hotchkiss, in a letter dated July 13, 1875, speaks of having himself "organized the first Sunday school in Waterbury, now nearly fifty years ago," and adds, " We formed in procession at the close of the morning service and walked from the old house of worship to the school-house near the Episcopal church, and the exercises consisted in repeating passages of Scripture committed during the week." Other votes bring before us a sub-
* Jason Atwater graduated at Yale in the class of 1825. He was licensed by the New Haven East Consociation in 1827 and began preaching in the First church in New Britain the same year. His term of service in Waterbury extended from March, 1829, to June, 1830. He was pastor of the church in Middlebury from 1830 to 1845, and "acting pastor" at Newtown from 1846 to 1856 and at Southbury from 1856 to 1859. He died at West Haven in April, 1860.
583
THE FIRST CHURCH FROM 1825 TO 1864.
ject that fills a large place in the records of the First society- "the singing." In January, 1827, Aaron Benedict, Anson Sperry and Elias Cook were appointed "choristers" for the ensuing year. A year afterward the society at its annual meeting "gave leave to have the pews in the steeple altered into slips for singing (to be done by subscription)," and the following week appointed as additional "choristers" Elisha Steele, Hiram J. White, Willard Spencer and Edward Nettleton. These were men who were likely to infuse serious purpose and real vigor into the service of song, and the impression which one of them made upon an auditor a few years afterward has been put on record. The reminiscence is given in "Recollections of a Watertown Man," published in the Waterbury American of January 11, 1876. Speaking of the funeral of the Holmes children, who perished in the fire that destroyed the Judd house (see page III), he says:
It was held in the old Congregational church, which was filled to overflowing. When the funeral hymn was given out from the pulpit the congregation arose. Turning around with the rest, as was customary in those days, I saw for the first time in my life the manly form and benevolent countenance of your late lamented townsman, Deacon Aaron Benedict, who was standing in the centre of the front gallery with his daughter, now Mrs. S. M. Buckingham, at his right hand. Mr. Benedict was the chorister. The singing was most solemnly and admirably per- formed. My mind was vividly impressed with his first appearance, and it will be among the last which time will obliterate.
But the remarkable fact revealed in the records is the small amount paid for the support of the service of song in the early days of this period, the slow but steady increase in the annual out- lay for this purpose, and the contrast between the early and the latest appropriations. While the minister's salary has grown to be nine times as large in 1895 as it was in 1825, the cost of the music has increased from $15 to $1750 per annum .*
The period during which the parish was without a pastor extended to the end of 1830. At a meeting on November 22, the church "approved of the Christian character and qualifications of the Rev. Joel Rannie Arnold as a gospel minister," and " invited him to take the pastoral care and charge of the church." They requested the society to unite with them in this, and the society.
* On January 17, 1832, it was voted "to appropriate Sis to and the singing In this society." Thise years later $50 were appropriated-this time for hiring an instructor while the church added Se fos money in its treasury for the same object. In January, 18 ;- , the amount was $/k, and a fail that bas luca preserved explains it: "Congregational society, to Elisha Steele, Dr. To services in the year abig to pre mote the Science of Sacred Music: $75.00." In rije the amount had reached Stro, and in itte it was s. " to be divided between the chorister and orchestry, as they may see fit." And so the record goes on. For 1874-the last year spent in the fourth church edifice-the cost of the music was $855; for 1884 it Was $1 3/2). and for 1894, $1750.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
the same day, extended to Mr. Arnold the same invitation, and voted him a salary of $600 a year, twenty-five dollars of this amount "to be paid in the use of the parsonage lot, so-called." The society also voted-probably as a result of their experience with the Rev. Mr. Crane-" that either party to this agreement may put an end to it by giving six months' notice to the other party." Mr. Arnold accepted the call and was installed by the New Haven West conso- ciation on January 26, 1831. The sermon at his installation was preached by the Rev. Leonard Bacon of New Haven, and " the right hand of fellowship" was given by the Rev. Jason Atwater, who had by this time became pastor of the church at Middlebury .*
Mr. Arnold was born April 25, 1794-so that at the time of his coming to Waterbury he was nearly thirty-seven years of age. He was ordained to the ministry in 1820, and in 1824 received the degrees of A. M. and M. D. from Dartmouth college-from which it may be inferred that he had not had a collegiate education, but that his scholastic attainments were somewhat conspicuous. His first parish was at Chester, N. H., whence he and his wife (whose maiden name was Julia Arnold) brought letters of dismission to the Waterbury church. Mr. F. J. Kingsbury, in some manuscript reminiscences of the Arnold pastorate, says:
There was no house ready for him, and the various members of the family, including a niece somewhat older than his own children, were billetted on various parishioners until arrangements could be made for them. The first winter of his stay, he lived on the west side of the river in the house of Amos Morris, but in the spring he removed to a house on South Main street (next below what is known as Scovill's block) afterwards owned by Deacon P. W. Carter. He lived here during the remainder of his stay, and had, when he left, nine or ten children. He culti- vated-partly, at least, with his own hands-the " parsonage lot" belonging to the First society.
Mr. Arnold is described as a tall and large man, with full face and figure, of slow and measured speech and somewhat unpolished manner. An old friend of his, still in the ministry, speaks of him as a strong man intellectually and a good preacher. "The people of Colchester," he adds, "thought him great." If we may judge from the published discourse (already referred to on page 112) delivered at the funeral of those who perished in the destruction of the Judd house, he was a preacher without much elegance of expression, but possessed of some ingenuity in the elaboration of an idea. The same characteristic must have been manifest in another of his discourses, known as the "guide-board sermon." Per- sonally Mr. Arnold was interesting and attractive. He was beloved
* See the Religious Intelligencer of February 5, 1831.
.
585
THE FIRST CHURCH FROM 1825 TO 1864.
by old and young. A simple incident related by Mrs. S. E. Harri- son illustrates these qualities. She says:
Saturday afternoon was always a holiday in our public schools in those days, and the children used to gather at the school-house on Union square to study the catechism under his direction. We came together around him in a familiar way as he explained what we were studying, and greatly enjoyed this nearer and personal intercourse with one under whose ministrations we sat with so much of reverence and awe when he preached in the meeting-house, so far above the children. Pick- ing up, one day, after our lesson, a "sampler "-the one kind of fancy work known to the children of that time-he questioned us in reference to its practical value and much besides, and then wrote the following lines to be wrought into our work:
"Sampler of the marking art, Wrought on canvas by a child. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, Be the sampler of my heart."
An anecdote of a more amusing kind is that told of him by Charles A. Sperry (see page 206) :
In common with most tillers of the soil, Mr. Arnold planted each year a quan- tity of pole beans. On one occasion he cut a number of poles for his beans in a wood not far from his house, and left them on the ground while he went in search of a conveyance in which to carry them to his garden. During his absence a mulatto boy in the employ of the Rev. William Barlow, the rector at that time of St. John's parish, also bent on a search for poles, espied those that had just been cut by Mr. Arnold lying on the ground. He at once confiscated them and carried his prize in triumph to his master's door yard. There they were discovered by the horrified Mr. Arnold while he was prosecuting an indignant search for his stolen property.
Mr. Arnold entered upon his work in Waterbury with great earnestness and vigor. He is doubtless responsible for the vote of the church on March 4, 1831, "to hold a prayer meeting." He is probably responsible, at least in part, for the organization of a Waterbury Tract society on January 19, 1832. He seems also to have undertaken preaching on Sunday evenings in addition to his morning and afternoon labors; at any rate this is a natural inference from a dingy subscription paper still extant, dated August 8, 1831. bearing the following heading:
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