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 9
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On June 5, 1890, F. C. Baker was employed as pastor's assistant. He resigned October 29, 1892, and on April 1, 1893, the Rev. F. M. Hollister became his successor.
The following have been elected deacons of the church, the eight last mentioned being now in office:
Nelson Hall, Frank Warren,
John Woodward,
Charles Benedict,
W. P. Abernethy,
S. W. Kellogg,
G. W. Cooke,
L. S. Davis,
L. J. Atwood,
E. W. Keeler,
D. F. Maltby,
J. B. Riggs,
E. A. Lum,
H. W. Keeler,
W. H. Camp.
Jonathan Highmore,
A. M. Blakesley,
The church has been active in missionary work at home and abroad, and its benevolent offerings have been large.
In 1876 it voted to sustain religious meetings on Sundays at Oakville, and in 1877 began building a chapel in that village. The Oakville Pin company donated a lot and the people of the village furnished the foundations. The chapel was dedicated in April, 1878. Since that time the pastors and members of the Second church have regularly conducted services there, assisted to some extent, since 1890, by Watertown pastors. A thriving Sunday school in the chapel has been superintended by J. J. Rogers.
On July 14, 1880, the church voted to employ Deacon Jonathan Highmore as a "city missionary," with a salary sufficient to enable him to devote his entire time to the work. He resigned January 1, 1890. Mr. Highmore was born in England, January 21, 1821, and died at Branford, October 31, 1893.
As already mentioned (page 576), religious services were held in the school-house in the Mall Plain district for two years before the
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
erection of a Union chapel in that neighborhood. These services were under the auspices of the Second Congregational church. The Second church also conducted services for a time in the Bucks Hill school-house.
The entire number of members received into the fellowship of the Second church from April 4, 1852, to July 7, 1895, is 1733. Its present membership is more than 950 .*
THE REV. S. W. MAGILL, D. D.
Seagrove William Magill, son of Charles and Eliza Ann (Zubly) Magill, grandson of Charles Magill of Middletown, a sea captain, and great-grandson of the Rev. J. J. Zubly, D. D., of Savannah, Ga., was born in St. Mary's, Ga., September 27, 1810. He spent his boy- hood and received his early education in that place. After a few months further study at the Mount Pleasant school, Amherst, Mass., he entered Amherst college, at the age of seventeen. Dur- ing his freshman year he was converted, and joined the college church. In 1830 he entered Yale, and graduated in the class of 1831. He spent two years of theological study in New Haven and one at Princeton, and was licensed to preach by the New Haven West association, in April, 1833.
In October, 1834, he went south, feeling that he was adapted to work in the southern field. He served as "stated supply " of a Presbyterian church in St. Augustine, Fla., in 1835, and of another in Byron county, Ga., from July, 1835, to April, 1840. He was ordained "without charge" at Terryville in 1836 or 1838.
Efforts for the moral elevation of the negroes, to which Mr. Magill wished to devote himself, were so circumscribed by state laws and public sentiment that in 1840 he accepted a charge in Tallmadge, O. He was installed there in May, 1841, and dismissed in July, 1843. In the following autumn he became pastor of the Congregational church in Cornwall, Vt., and remained there until September 14, 1847, when he sought a dismission on account of impaired health. During his residence at Cornwall, in the sum- mer of 1847, an epidemic of ship-fever prevailed. "It was then," said a parishioner, writing thirty years after, "that the noble
* A "Manual of the Second Congregational Church" (pp. 58), prepared by Dr. Beckwith, was pub- lished in 1874. It contains a brief history of the church, its articles of faith and ecclesiastical principles, and chronological and alphabetical catalogues of its members. The section relating to "principles" was re- published separately for general distribution in a pamphlet of twelve pages, entitled, "The Ecclesiastical Principles and Usages of Congregational Churches." A "Directory of the Second Congregational Church" (pp. 27), was published in 1892, containing a list of the officers and an alphabetical catalogue of those who were members at that time. During the pastorate of Dr. Davenport a church paper entitled Second Church Chronicle has appeared at intervals.
Itt. Magill
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THE SECOND AND THIRD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES.
qualities of his heart appeared to the best advantage. Regardless of consequences to themselves, he and his wife gave up their time almost wholly to the care of the sick." Between 1847 and 1851 he was principal of female seminaries in Greensboro and in Athens, Ga. During this period his health was restored, and he returned to the north.
In 1851, while supplying the pulpit of the First church in Water- bury, he was invited to become pastor of the Second society, and preached at their first public service, in Gothic hall, January 4, I852. His connection with the Second church as pastor has already been mentioned. After his resignation, he engaged in the work of the American Missionary association among the freed- men. He was employed in organizing schools and churches in the Mississippi valley during January and February, 1864, and in Georgia from January to June, 1865. He collected funds for the American Missionary association until September, 1866, and acted as agent of the Yale Divinity school in 1866 and 1867. He returned to his former parish, Cornwall, Vt., October 1867, and remained there until 1878. Being compelled by disease of the heart to cease from regular work, he bought a house in Amherst, Mass., and resided there, without pastoral charge, until his death, which took place January 20, 1884.
On June 12, 1834, he married Helen Almira, daughter of Stephen Twining of New Haven. They had one son, William Alexander.
Dr. Magill's Waterbury pastorate is commemorated by a beauti- ful memorial window in the Second Congregational church .*
THE REV. ELISHA WHITTLESEY.
Elisha Whittlesey was born in Salisbury, November 13, 1821, and received his early education in that town. He prepared himself for college at an academy in Lenox, Mass., and graduated at Wil- liams in 1846. After a three years' course in the Yale Divinity school, he began his ministry at North Canaan. He remained there about three years, and then went to St. Thomas, in the West Indies, for eighteen months. He preached in Kent about four years, and in Le Roy, N. Y., five years, and came to Waterbury March 1. 1864. He was installed on November 29.
Deacon H. W. Keeler of the Second church, in a paper read at the fortieth anniversary of its organization, characterized Mr. Whittlesey as follows:
* A sermon in memory of Dr. Magill was preached by the Res 1. 6. Daryupert Je che Seund C. gregational church on Sunday, January 27, 1991, of which a fill abstract was parilised in the Water American the following day.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
As a preacher of the gospel he was sincere, direct and faithful. When aroused, on special occasions, he spoke with much force. I recall a remarkably pungent address which he made in the " wigwam " during the revival of 1868, and a very interesting, helpful and suggestive sermon, of an entirely different type, from the text, "And they feared as they entered into the cloud," the influence of which abides with me. He was always to be found on the right side in regard to the reforms of the day, and was fearless in his utterances from the pulpit. As a pastor, he was faithful, sympathetic, solicitous for the welfare of his people, and by his ministrations endeared himself to a large circle of friends. His character was pure, his bearing courteous and his disposition kind and affectionate, although he was not possessed of the spirit which inspires enthusiasm.
After a pastorate of five and a half years, during which the membership of the church advanced from about 200 to nearly 300, he resigned in 1869. Not long after this, he experienced a change of views in regard to the constitution of the Christian church and became an Episcopalian. He was admitted to orders, and subse- quently had charge of the parishes of North Canaan and Kent for about six years. Since then, he has been corresponding secretary of the Society for the Increase of the Ministry.
THE REV. E. G. BECKWITH, D. D.
Edward Griffin Beckwith, son of Erastus and Martha (Wilcox) Beckwith, was born in Great Barrington, Mass., November 16, 1826. His early education was obtained in the common school and at the academy where he prepared for college. He graduated at Williams in 1849, the valedictorian of his class. He taught school for a winter in Salisbury, and after his graduation taught a year in Granby, and then became an assistant in the normal school at West- field, Mass. In college he was distinguished for his staunch defense of all that was true and right, and was recognized by his classmates as their best scholar. After the lapse of more than forty years one of them wrote: "I have not met a man who in the various forms of intercourse has impressed me more strongly with a sense of spiritual security than did Beckwith."
At the normal school in Westfield, he exhibited so great an aptitude for teaching as to draw to him the attention of the trustees of Williams college as a suitable man to go to the Hawaiian Islands to develop the educational institutions of the newly formed kingdom. He became in 1851 principal of the Royal school at Honolulu, where the native chiefs and the missionaries and the other white residents were educated. King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani were among his pupils. In 1854 he was called to the presidency of the Oahu college for white pupils, in the vicinity of Honolulu.
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THE SECOND AND THIRD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHIES.
At this time he was licensed to preach, and did so occasionally as opportunity offered. In 1859 he was led by the condition of his wife's health to seek a change. He removed to California, and preached for a year in Sacramento, but feeling that he needed a more thorough theological preparation, he returned to New Eng. land and studied at Andover seminary for two years. Returning to California in 1862 he founded the Third Congregational church of San Francisco, and was its pastor for about five years. In 1867 he became principal of a large preparatory school for boys at Oak- land, but retired from this position on account of ill health, and accepted a call to the Second Congregational church of San Fran- cisco. Being warned that the continued failure of his health was due to overwork, he sought rest at the old homestead in Great Bar- rington. At this time the Second church was looking for a pastor, and at the suggestion of Samuel Holmes of Montclair, N. J., Mr. Beckwith was sent for. His first sermon captivated the church, and having been without a pastor for a year and a half, they gave him a unanimous call, and he entered upon his work with characteristic ardor. At the commencement of his labors the mem- bership of the church was not quite 300, and at its close it num- bered over 550.
Dr. Beckwith has a cultivated mind, excellent reasoning facul- ties, a keen insight and an earnestness which carries conviction. By forethought and judicious management he carried most of the changes which he desired to introduce in the church. He was rarely uninteresting, often brilliant and sometimes eloquent. He drew large congregations. It is often the case that one who excels as a preacher is deficient as a pastor, but the Second church found Dr. Beckwith to be an exception to this rule. He was unwearied in his attention to his parish duties. His heart overflowed with sympathy as he visited the sick and dying, and comforted those who were stricken with sorrow. He was loved not only by his own church but by all denominations for the catholicity of his spirit and his genial and brotherly ways.
After nearly ten years of earnest work by which the Second church was placed next to the highest in membership in the state. he came to feel that he had reached the climax of his usefulness as its pastor, and therefore resigned, to accept a call to his former charge, the Third Congregational church of San Francisco, The Waterbury American said at the time : " It will hardly be extrava. gant to say that the regret felt in the city at Dr. Beckwith's approaching departure is well nigh universal. The loss of his voice and influence will not be easy to supply."
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
He remained in San Francisco about six years, securing for the church by his industry and perseverance a house of worship free from debt. At the end of that time, feeling that the church had reached a position in which it could take care of itself, he listened to a call from Honolulu, which he accepted in 1887. He had vis- ited that city as a healer of ecclesiastical disturbances, and had secured the consolidation of two Congregational churches under the name of the Central Union church. This was the church of which he now became pastor, and it proceeded at once to erect a capacious and beautiful house of worship. In 1894 he resigned his pastorate in Honolulu, and assumed the charge of a small church on the island of Maui.
Dr. Beckwith's wife is a daughter of the missionary Armstrong, one of the pioneers of missionary work in the Hawaiian Islands, and a sister of General S. C. Armstrong, so long connected with the Hampton institute. They have had two children, Frank Arm- strong and Millie.
FRANK ARMSTRONG BECKWITH was born at Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, April 23, 1854. He graduated from Yale college (the salu- tatorian of his class) in 1878. On June 17, 1881, he married Ellen Warren, daughter of Samuel Holmes of Montclair, N. J. He was ordained pastor of the Congregational church at Santa Barbara, Cal., in November, 1881, and after a courageous conflict with dis- ease died at his father's house in San Francisco, December 12, 1885. Of Mr. and Mrs. Beckwith's two children, the first, Ruth, was born at Santa Barbara; the second, Holmes, at Haiku, Maui, Hawaiian Islands, October 5, 1884.
THE REV. J. G. DAVENPORT, D. D.
John Gaylord Davenport, the only son of Charles A. and Sarah M. (Gaylord) Davenport, was born in Wilton, November 24, 1840.
His mother's grandfather, the Rev. William Gaylord, was pastor for thirty-three years of the Congregational church in Wilton. On the other side, one of his ancestors, six generations removed, was the Rev. John Davenport of Stamford, pastor there from 1694 to 1731, and another ancestor, eight generations removed, was the Rev. John Davenport of New Haven, the famous pastor of the First church from 1638 to 1667. Both his father and mother were born upon estates that had originally constituted a portion of the "set- tlement" of colonial ministers, and his father's family traces its pedigree directly back to the time of the Norman conquest.
After enjoying the usual common school advantages Mr. Daven- port in 1856 entered the Wilton academy, established by Hawley Olmstead and at that time conducted by his son, Professor Edward
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THE SECOND AND THIRD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES.
Olmstead. Here he prepared for college, and entered Williams in the class of 1863. At graduation he delivered the salutatory ora- tion. The next year was spent at an academy at Jewett, N. Y., in teaching, and the year following at the Union Theological seminary in New York city. In 1865 an invitation to a tutorship at Williams brought the young graduate back to college, where for two years he taught Latin and mathematics. At the same time he read theology under the direction of President Hopkins, and with four or five other young alumni frequently met the venerable teacher for an hour of discussion. He was licensed to preach by the Berk- shire North association, March 5, 1866.
In the spring of 1868 Mr. Davenport was invited to the pastor- ate of a new Congregational church in Bridgeport. After preach- ing there for three months he accepted their call and was ordained July 1. The new organization, which had adopted the name of " Park Street church," soon erected a commodious building and gathered to itself much of the strength of the community in which it was placed. Mr. Davenport was its pastor for more than thirteen years, and received to its membership nearly 600 persons. The call to the pastorate of the Second Congregational church in this city was received, as already stated, in 1881, and he was installed on November 9.
While in college, Mr. Davenport indulged to some extent in poetical composition and at graduation was the class-day poet. Since then he has furnished original poems for the 150th anni- versary of the Wilton church, the Tooth of the North Stamford church, the 150th of the New Canaan church, the 250th of the church in Stamford, and the 200th of the First church in Waterbury, all of which have been published. He has furnished for the press many short poems, a few sermons, reports of the class of 1863 at Williams, and many brief articles.
Dr. Davenport is prominent in temperance matters, having been for many years a member of the National division of the Sons of Temperance, and at one time a director of the Connecticut Temper- ance union. Various movements in behalf of the young have espe- cially enlisted his activities, notably the Sunday school, the Young Men's Christian association and the Christian Endeavor society. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from his Alma Mater on the thirtieth anniversary of his graduation, and in iso4 was made a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
On November 29, 1866, he married Alice Westcott of Wilton. Their children are Clarence Gaylord, born April 21, 1865, Lilian Louisa, and Mary Lindley.
11
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
THE THIRD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
The third Congregational Church was organized April 19, 1892, in the basement of the Bank street school-house. There were thirty-two " charter " members, of which number the First church furnished six and the Second church sixteen. The others brought letters from churches in other places. On April 26, the church was formally incorporated as a body politic under the recent ecclesias- tical laws of the state. The officers elected at the time of organiza- tion were the Rev. F. P. Waters, pastor; Samuel W. Chapman, clerk; and Thomas B. Walker, treasurer. The election of deacons was deferred until the church should occupy its house of worship, as it was decided to worship with the First and Second churches, holding no public services till the new building was ready.
The new organization was recognized as a Congregational church by a council of the Congregational churches of the vicinity, convened in the lecture room of the new church building, Decem- ber 29, 1892. This was the first meeting in the new building. The Rev. J. L. R. Wyckoff was moderator and the Rev. H. G. Hoadley scribe. The origin and development of the movement were pre- sented to the council as follows:
The idea of a Protestant church in the Brooklyn district was not new. Attempts to establish and maintain chapels without a settled pastor had not been successful. For three or four years past some of the members of the First and Second Congregational churches had felt that something ought to be done to pro- vide for public worship in this section, not only for the convenience of Protestants residing here, but in the hope of reaching the large and increasing class of those who belong to no church. This conviction was strengthened by the rapid increase of the population in the Brooklyn and Town Plot districts, which is now estimated to be more than 6000, and by the growth of the habit, on the part of those who toil in the shops, of absenting themselves from public worship. It was believed by those interested in the movement that the tendency to neglect public worship was largely due to the distance of the residents from the centre, and their consequent failure to become vitally connected with the life and activity of the churches.
But no definite action on the part of the churches was taken, and nothing occurred that gave promise of success, excepting the offer of John Henderson, Jr., and J Richard Smith, of a lot on which to build a church edifice, until November, IS91. At this time, by the joint action of the First and Second Congregational churches and the Missionary society of Connecticut, the Rev. F. P. Waters was engaged for six months to investigate this section of the city, to ascertain whether it would be feasible to establish a church here, and to report to the churches the actual condition of the field. Mr. Waters came to the city on the evening of the closing services of the bi-centenary of the First church, at which time it seemed like an auspicious conclusion of the celebration to recognize the Third church as the latest offspring of a prolific mother in the Naugatuck valley.
On February 8, 1892, the committees of the First and Second churches came together to hear and act upon Mr. Waters's report. The committee advised that
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THE SECOND AND THIRD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHIES,
funds be raised by subscription to build a church edifice in the Brooklyn district, to cost not less than $5000, nor over $15,000, and that as soon as $5000 were sub- scribed a church should be organized. The sum of $5000 was subscribed before April 19, 1892, and was considered by the committee a sufficient guarantee of the success of the enterprise to warrant the organization of a Third church on that date.
The plans submitted by E. E. Benedict were adopted by the building com- mittee. The contracts were for $10,400. With the necessary fixtures and inci- dentals the cost of the building will be $13,000, and the total value of the church . property will be about $15,000.
The church has but one article of faith to submit to the council. The cosmo- politan character of this district-occupied as it is by people of nearly every na- tionality on the globe-as well as the cosmopolitan character of the Christians here, who represent nearly all creeds, seem to justify a statement of faith that avoids disputed points, while containing all that is essential for Christian living. This article of faith is as follows: "We regard the Holy Scriptures as our rule of faith and practice, and accept a simple statement of faith in Jesus Christ as revealed in the New Testament, when accompanied by a manifest purpose to forsake all sin and to live unto God, as a sufficient condition of church mem- bership."
The council, being by itself, adopted the following minute : " That we approve of the course that has been taken by the new organization, and that we proceed to the services appropriate to the recognition of the new church." At the service of recognition the Rev. Sherrod Soule of Naugatuck, preached the sermon; the pastor and people entered into covenant together; the prayer of consecration and fellowship was offered by the moderator; the right hand of fellowship was given by Dr. J. G. Davenport, and the address to the new church by Dr. Joseph Anderson.
Beginning with January 1, 1893 (six months from the time the building was begun), services were held in the lecture room. A Sunday school was organized, which numbered 110. John Hender- son, Jr., was elected deacon for three years and T. B. Walker for two years. On July 3, 1893-one year from the time when ground was broken for the new edifice-it was opened to the public. All the evangelical denominations of the city participated in the dedica. tion services. The audience room has a seating capacity of 504 and is lighted with electricity. The building is equipped with nearly all the modern conveniences for church work,-a lecture room, class rooms, a kitchen, a play room, kindergarten room and reading rooms.
It is expected that the organization will develop into an "in- stitutional church," ministering to all the needs, physical, intel- lectual and spiritual, of the district in which it is situated, and will thus become a power in reforming and elevating the com- munity.
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HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
THE REV. F. P. WATERS.
Frank Palmer Waters, son of Theodore and Rowena (Carey) Waters, was born at Whitewater, Wis., October 10, 1856. When he was fourteen months old, his father died, and his mother returned to her former home in Oxford, N. Y. At the age of twelve he removed to Norwich, in the same county, and lived there until he reached manhood. He graduated at the Norwich academy, and after so doing resumed the study of law, which he had begun before entering it. At the same time he prepared himself for college, entered Madison University, and graduated from there in the class of 1883; after which he devoted himself to teaching, and was principal for two years of the academy at Groton, N. Y.
During this time he became dissatisfied with the law, which he had still kept in view as a profession, and turned his attention to the ministry. He took charge of a small home missionary church at New Haven, N. Y., where he remained one year. He then came into Connecticut and was minister of the Congregational church at Hadlyme, and afterward of the Congregational church at Riverton for over two years. On November 1, 1892, he took charge of the mission .in the Brooklyn district, which afterward became the Third Congregational church.
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