USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > Haddam > The two hundredth anniversary of the First Congregational Church of Haddam, Connecticut, October 14th and 17th, 1900. Church organized, 1696. Pastor installed, 1700 > Part 10
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main house and a peaked roof, and an attic or loft were requested, all of which the town fathers "freely al- lowed." From the dimensions one guesses the house to have been of the typical style, two square front rooms, a small hall and stairway, with the lean-to forming the kitchen and pantry in the rear. There were six children at the parsonage, and near lived John Fiske, the clergy- man's brother, and a house full of cousins. There is no happier picture in our annals than this of the parsonage from 1714 to 1738. The pastor found time for tutoring, and two of the ministers raised by Haddam were trained in this study. They gained not only wisdom but wives, Abigail Fiske marrying Chiliab, and Elizabeth, Nehe- miah Brainerd. Mary, the baby who came to Haddam in 1712, married Nehemiah's brother Hezekiah, and that other son of Dorothy Hobart, their brother David, came, in his turn, from what we call Riverside Farm, to be taught by that scholar and gentleman, Parson Fiske. He lived at the parsonage during the last year of Mr. Fiske's life, and the life there, as described by his jour- nal, is fitly summed in that advice of the teacher to his pupil, "Wholly to abandon young company and asso- ciate himself with grave and elderly people." To us the further history of this house after that sad October 14, 1738, is interesting. At first Mrs. Fiske still dwelt there, and the town records, with pathetic meaning underlying the bare words, "Paid Mrs. Fiske two pounds for en- tertaining Sunday ministers." The one son, Samuel, but recently back from Yale, lived only four years. Then the ownership was divided between the four daughters. But Elizabeth's husband died and she and the little Nehemiah, Jr., returned to the old home. Ne- . hemiah in time bought the right of his aunts, and his
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sons, whom we all know as Nehemiah and General John Brainerd, gave their great-grandfather's home to their only brother, Deacon Fiske Brainerd.
About the time of Mr. Cleveland's settlement it was decided to sell the parsonage lands, as they were called. So Mr. Cleveland's arrangement has no mention of land, or house, or firewood, but only of money, of which, owing to the dearth of that article, he enjoyed little. He pur- chased several "parcells" of land, two of them having houses upon them, but that which legend has always called his dwelling stood in the "Old House Lot" at the top of Jail, or better, Noyes's Hill, where the roads from the school-house and the Red Store intersect. Gnarled apple trees tell that the pasture was once a home lot. The cellar hole is still visible, while the timbers of the old house now form the frame of a red barn, standing on what became the homestead of Parson May.
The windows of the Cleveland house must have looked on a winding length of river and long wooded slopes encircling the village in the valley. It is one of the love- liest views in the region, and one would naturally draw an inference as to the effect of nature on the childish mind if dates did not, with indifference to the best the- ories, state that Aaron, Jr., one of Connecticut's poets, left Haddam at the age of two.
Joshua Elderkin rented much of what still remained of the parsonage land and built a "Mansion House" on the east of the street, about a quarter of a mile southeast of the church, or near the present cemetery. It is pos- sible that the name, "the parsonage," which long clung to the lot above the "Home" where General Brainerd cut his stone, refers to this ownership, and research has verified this supposition. Mr. Elderkin's health giving
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way, he was forced to leave, and the sale of the dwelling to Samuel Clark refunded the town for its settlement money.
Parson May came in two or three years, bought the place to the east of the Church Green of his day, and there built for his bride what is known in one family at least as the "Old Red House." It stood on the crest of the hill close to the present turnpike. This road was laid out in its later days, and Parson May's maples were set close against the new fence; but when the house was built the road ran much on a line with that to the present parsonage, and the red door with its white deco- rations looked out on a wide yard. It was a large house, arranged as we take it was Parson Fiske's. A house so full of children it proved, that one is glad for Mrs. Sybil when the church was built on the green before her door. Even with it so near, it must have been a task to marshal that flock at the proper moment into the pew that the ecclesiastical society asked her hus- band to choose for his family.
On the death of Parson May came Mr. Field, with his young wife to the little house, torn down in recent years, opposite the school-house. Most of us know how it looked, a tiny yard separating it from the street, a heavy stone chimney peering above the short front roof, and within, one of the finest corner cupboards. The second home, the square white house, burned some years ago, that stood on the site of Zechariah Brainerd's dwelling, was built by Dr. Field. David Dudley helped in the moving, and later Timothy, Stephen, Jonathan, and Matthew ran about the street barefoot, on errands for their mother, just as do our boys to-day. The rows of
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elms that make the spot, though shut from sight of the river, one of the prettiest in the street, were set by Mr. Field.
Dr. Marsh bought the place that to the last generation bore his name, that opposite the May house, behind the old meeting-house, and to him we owe the beautiful elms of the green. The story of the cold water raisin' is too well known to be here repeated, but it seems par- ticularly appropriate that on Dr. Marsh's place, near the upper "Sabba' day house," a spring, still famed for its water, was considered on Sundays the especial prop- erty of Dr. Marsh's flock, and the day's program had not been carried out till its water had been tasted.
The ecclesiastical society hired this place for Dr. Marsh's successor, Dr. Clark, and also for Dr. Field on his return in 1837. Here those who had been children in the homes farther down the street, returned as men and women, and one of the younger, Rev. Henry M. Field, came to preach in his father's pulpit. Before this time the brothers Nehemiah and General John Brainerd had offered the Marsh place to the church, and the gift was now made. It was a large house, and Mr. Cook, who came here a bachelor, preferred to bring his bride to what was then a smaller house, now that of Mr. Charles T. Russell. Mr. and Mrs. Colton boarded in the home of the village doctor. When Mr. Wright came it was decided to make a sale of all church property. Mr. Wright hired for a time the house then standing beside the court-house, before the old burying- yard; then the stone house; and then the ecclesiastical society bought the present parsonage, built by Chauncey Clark. There were children in this home also, one going
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forth in '61, never to return. And in those years, under Mr. and Mrs. Wright, the parish learned to look on their new parsonage with affection; and in the years that have since passed, it has been known as to-day we know it as the house of the beautiful flowers, the home where willing help and wise counsel may be had for the asking.
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ADDRESS
EDWARD W. HAZEN
M R. CHAIRMAN, BROTHERS AND SISTERS: Our presi- dent has introduced me in connection with the subject "Our Young Men." As full discretion was given me to choose my own subject, my remarks may not closely follow the subject suggested.
Most of your faces are familiar to me, and for your encouragement I wish to say that I am limited to about five or six minutes.
Have you ever tried to recall your actions for the previous day ? How fully have you succeeded in bring- ing back all the details? If you are able to remember one day, try to recall two, then one week, then one year. How much can you recall of your daily life ten years ago? Only the merest skeleton. But how about two hundred years ? All the history that we have from every source is only a suggestion of a very few prominent points-the milestones of the influence of this church covering over seventy-three thousand days. Think of the prayers, the sacrifices, and the struggles put forth during this time-the only record of which is on high- each influence still operating and reaching all over this country.
Our present pastor first came here by boat (or stage) in September, 1871, and in January, 1872, was ordained in this edifice. This was just about the time the Con-
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necticut Valley Railroad was constructed. He came here in the full vigor of young manhood, and has given this people his love and devoted service for twenty-nine years. His training and abilities fitted him for positions in the commercial world that command many times the remuneration received here, but remuneration for life's work does not all come upon this earth. That man is richest who has the greatest number of jewels in the crown awaiting him.
The church membership January 1, 1872, was one hundred and twenty. Thirty-two of them still remain on the roll. During these twenty-nine years one hundred and ten persons have been added to the church, of which only fifty-nine remain, thus making the present member- ship ninety-one; and twenty-five of these are actually absentees who prefer to keep their connection here rather than unite with the churches where they are ac- tively interested.
Those who are familiar with the history of the com- munity during this period will note that the member- ship of the church is larger to-day in proportion to the church-going population than in 1872. During the win- ter of 1875 and 1876 a revival of great power manifested itself, and stirred every person of mature years in the community. This was preceded by months of earnest prayer and intelligent effort by the pastor and his de- voted wife; also by the handful of active workers in the church and Sunday-school. I remember that I person- ally received two very touching letters from Mrs. Lewis urging me to become a Christian. As a result of this awakening, forty-seven persons were added to the church roll during 1876.
Of these forty-seven persons, I think, thirty-seven are
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living to-day, and yet only nine are left in this commu- nity. Thus you see most of them are actively interested in church work elsewhere. Following this revival, by the exercise of the faculty for organization, and the won- derful ability to teach possessed by our pastor, the foundation for many useful Christian lives was laid. This was some time before Mr. Clark started the Chris- tian Endeavor movement; but, seeing the need of the hour, our pastor established a weekly Young People's Meeting for Saturday night. These meetings were so well sustained by the young people that often time was not sufficient to give all an opportunity to take part. This movement did not in the least interfere with the attendance and support of the regular Thursday night meeting.
As time passed on, one after another left town, leav- ing the active work to a few.
I have purposely avoided personal references, but can- not close my remarks without paying tribute to our noble departed brother, Cephas Brainerd, Jr. He was with us during only a part of each week in the summer, but his presence always brought strength and encouragement to the church work here. In the great city of New York he was loved and respected by all who knew him, and few men of his years had so large a circle of acquain- tances. He was active not only in his profession, but in church and Y. M. C. A. work in that city. He has gone to his reward, but his influence still lives.
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ADDRESS
REV. WILLIAM C. KNOWLES
M Y FRIENDS: In the language of the Book of Com- mon Prayer, I greet you as "dearly beloved brethren."
Having been kindly invited to make a few remarks on this occasion, what few words may be said will relate more particularly to the people of Ponsett.
The exterior of the old meeting-house, which remained standing some years after its abandonment as a place of worship, I can well remember; of the interior, how- ever, I have no remembrance. My earliest recollection of going to meeting was with my parents at the white school-house in Higganum, after that society was set off from the old parish.
In this church-not this building, but in those that preceded it-all the inhabitants of Ponsett attended service for many generations; and their dead were brought to Haddam for burial until 1761.
A little more than a century ago, a Methodist society was organized in the western part of the town. The Methodist church in Ponsett supplied a long-felt want. Many families availed themselves of its privileges, and did well in doing so. It was no small undertaking for the inhabitants of that portion of the town to go of a Sunday morning six or seven miles for worship. But many families still continued to attend this church; and even at as late a date as the setting off of the Higga-
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num Society, a few individuals refused to sever their connection with the old parish.
Again we find the times have changed. We are not taking the long walks, or rides even, to attend divine service that our ancestors did, and St. James's Church, Ponsett, supplies another means of grace to those who prefer the Liturgy of the Mother Church.
On the road running west from the old meeting-house stood the Ponsett "Sabba' day house," where the wor- shipers resorted for warmth and luncheon.
Churches were poorly heated, if heated at all, in those days. I once heard my great-grandmother say that our old meeting-house was the first place of worship in which she ever saw a stove, and she came to Haddam in 1793. Hence the necessity of the "Sabba' day house," in which a fire was kindled on the hearth before morning service, where the people warmed themselves, and, when the la- dies had filled their tin foot-stoves with coals, they were ready to go into the church.
Something over one hundred years ago, Miss Susan- nah and Miss Catharine Hubbard, the blind daughters of Jeremiah and Alice Shailer Hubbard, were members of the choir. They were very remarkable women. Dr. Field says of them, "They were singers and conversant with the Scriptures and Dr. Watts's Psalms." I have been told these women could, on returning from church, repeat the sermon entire.
I never believed that story until to-day, for I had sup- posed Mr. May's sermons were of unusual length; but Dr. Munger told us this morning that they were very short-so short, in fact, that I can now readily believe that these blind women, not being disturbed by vision (for they never saw daylight), might so imprint them
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upon their memories as to be able to repeat them. These sisters lived to be very aged, Miss Susannah dying in 1827, at the age of ninety.
The first death recorded on the parish register in 1804, the year Dr. Field was ordained, was that of my grand- mother, Mrs. Judith Knowles. She was buried in a blinding snowstorm, with no minister to perform the last sad rites. Mr. May was dead and Dr. Field had not entered upon his duties as pastor.
The first person to call on Dr. Field for the purpose of conversing on the subject of personal religion, was Miss Mary Hubbard of Ponsett. She was one of the few who refused to unite with the Higganum Society, pre- ferring to live and die in the old church. In her old age she used to ride to church in an ox-cart. On Sunday morning, her husband, for she had married, would take off the cart body, putting on a plain box instead, and in it the old couple would ride from Ponsett to Haddam, to attend divine service. One incident I have never for- gotten. My mother was called one Sunday evening to watch with a sick neighbor and left me, then a small boy, in care of this aged couple. After I had been snugly put in bed, I heard the old lady say to her husband,- and oh, how hard it was for her to say it !- "We shall have to give up going to meeting; there is no place for the oxen, and we are getting old." There was still another trouble-the boys bothered them. There were boys in Haddam then, as there are now, and the un- usual sight of an ox-team on Sunday aroused their curi- osity and excited merriment. She died at my father's house in 1850. The Rev. Mr. Cook officiated at the funeral.
Stephen Tibbals, Esq., who gave the solid silver tan-
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kard for the communion service, was from Ponsett. So also was Deacon David Hubbard, who for many years faithfully performed the duties pertaining to his office, and whose grave is with us.
As a native of Ponsett and a descendant of the early members of this church, I feel a deep interest in its wel- fare. The fervent piety and sincere devotion of many of its members give us cause for thankfulness. The dying words of Mrs. Susannah Hubbard, who died in 1719, have been handed down to her posterity. She was said to have been very pious, and on the night in which she died, taking notice that the watchers looked for the dawning of the day, she observed, in the language of the Psalmist, "My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they who watch for the morning." Such is one in- stance of the piety brought forth by this church in the days long gone by. The like I trust has been exhibited in all the intervening years down to the present day. It was my privilege a few days ago to converse with the oldest member of this church, a woman who has seen one hundred years and been well on to fourscore years a member of this church. Her long walk in close com- munion with her God, her long continuous growth in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, made me feel like a child who would gladly sit at her feet as a learner.
Here my own ancestors worshiped for many genera- tions. Here they "heard of heaven and learned the way." They were Congregationalists. I became a Churchman. The Prayer Book declares the church to be "the mystical body of Christ, which is the blessed company of all faithful people." Such is the language of the Liturgy, and I came here to-day to rejoice with you and to wish you prosperity ; and (in the words of the
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Collect) I pray that God will visit you with his love and favor; that he will enlighten your minds more and more with the light of his everlasting Gospel; that he will graft in your hearts the love of his name, increase in you true religion, nourish you with all goodness, and bring you to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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GREETING FROM "THE OLDEST CHURCHES "
REV. AZEL W. HAZEN, D.D.
TN bringing to you the salutations of "the oldest churches," it is my painful duty to remind you that there are twenty-nine churches in our Commonwealth which were born before you saw the light of day. Thus, let us hope that my few words may be salutary, as well as salutatory, inasmuch as they may guard you against too high exaltation in view of your venerable age.
However, candor requires me to say that there are only three churches in this county older than you, and but four in our Conference. These are Old Saybrook, on whose historic Platform we all stand, going back to 1646 ; Clinton, which by some strategy got itself dated 1667, a year earlier than the First Church in Middletown, 1668, and Old Lyme, 1693.
The church of which I have the honor to be the pastor, is just as old as your township. When Middletown cele- brated its two hundredth anniversary in 1850, it fell to one who had been for many years a pastor of this church to give the able historical address. Not a little of the value of that occasion and of its fruits was due to Dr. Field.
Middletown has been closely connected with Haddam in a variety of ways. The highway which joins the towns used to be called the "Haddam Turnpike," and that is still its title among persons of intelligence. Many of
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our citizens have made frequent pilgrimages to this town for legal purposes, while others have passed weeks and months as involuntary occupants of your renowned health resort. Again, this town has furnished to ours for more than a century solid building material, both in the form of granite, and of men.
Hence it is with peculiar pleasure that I, in behalf of its older sisters, congratulate this church upon its bicen- tennial. I congratulate you upon the long, self-denying, faithful labors of your present pastor. I do this with unusual pleasure, since it is now well-nigh thirty years ago that I chanced to call your attention to him as a clergyman suited to your needs.
I congratulate you upon the strong men and women you have here raised up and sent forth to render effec- tive service in other fields. How rich you are in these to-day. (In a whisper, I am moved to rejoice with you that you have had the name of "Hazen" on your records so many years. That title is always not "an evident token of perdition," but a badge of respectability.)
It is inspiring to think of the influence this church has exerted here and elsewhere since it was planted. What other force in this town has borne any comparison with it? It has been on the side of all agencies which have furthered the prosperity of the community.
It was a "Cyprian," doubtless a remote ancestor of the Cyprian who so loyally served this church for a generation in its deaconate, and then of the other Cy- prian whose noble memorial of his parents gladdens your hearts on this occasion, who said, "He cannot have God for his Father, who has not the church for his mother." So high an estimate did this martyr of Car- thage place upon the church of Christ in the third cen-
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tury of our era. What a fountain of benediction has this ancient church ever been, in its noiseless yet most potent witness for the truth of the gospel of the grace of God! May it so long abide here that its present age, hoary as it seems to us mortals, shall be merely its childhood :
Came north, and south, and east, and west,
Four sages, to a mountain crest,
Each pledged to search the wide world round
Until the wondrous well be found. Before a crag they took their seat, Pure, bubbling waters at their feet. Said one: "This well is small and mean,
Too petty for a village green." Another said: "So small and dumb, From earth's deep center can it come?" The third: "This water is not rare; Not even bright, but pale as air." The fourth: "Thick crowds I looked to see; Where the true well is, these must be." They rose and left the mountain crest, One north, one south, one east, one west; O'er many seas and deserts wide, They wandered, thirsting, till they died. The simple shepherds by the mountain dwell, And dip their pitchers in the wondrous well.
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GREETING FROM THE MIDDLESEX COUNTY CONFERENCE
REV. ENOCH F. BURR, D.D.
M R. CHAIRMAN, AND MEMBERS OF THE CONGREGA- TIONAL CHURCH IN HADDAM : Two centuries do not seem as long to me as they once did. Once they seemed a very considerable part of the Everlasting. Of late, they have sensibly dwindled; but they still continue to appear to me a very respectable period-a period cov- ering some six average human generations and vast chapters of human history.
During this very respectable period the church of Haddam has successfully withstood the attacks of Time and-Satan. I say Satan; for the roaring lion that goes about seeking whom he may devour is ever seeking to devour churches as well as individuals ; and sometimes he succeeds. But, thank God, he has not succeeded in de- vouring this church. Nor has that other waster who, under the venerable name of Time, makes way with so many old things and deluges the world with change. During the last two hundred years empires have risen and fallen, great wars have come and gone, hosts of in- ventions and discoveries have largely swept away old things in favor of the new or of nothing. But the old Haddam church has not been swept away. It has defied all enemies, supernal and infernal. It has firmly held its ground until now; witnessing to successive genera- tions the saving Gospel of Christ.
No wonder that you of this generation take a warm in-
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terest in such a fact as this. Of course you are glad that the ship in which you are embarked has weathered the storms of two centuries. Of course you are glad to publicly thank the helpful Providence without whose help all ships must founder and go to the bottom; glad to publicly honor the fathers whose faith and sacrifices made this anniversary possible. Of course you wish to retouch the fading pictures of memory; to gather into a sheaf and transmit to future times the profitable les- sons taught by the past; to set up, as did men of old, in their Bethels and Jordans, stones of commemoration to say, "Hitherto has the Lord helped us."
In short, you wish to celebrate; and have invited the sister churches of the Middlesex Conference to join you in the celebration.
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