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 2
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HADDAM CHURCH ANNIVERSARY
stated. Daniel Brainerd owned the covenant at the baptism of two children in 1691, and in June, 1696, his daughter Hannah is baptized, probably by virtue of his previous owning of the covenant, but without any state- ment to that effect.
The inference from these records is imperative that by some well-known action, and with the approbation of other churches, Haddam was known to have a church earlier than and probably but a few months before the Ventres baptism. The pastor of the Middletown church, Mr. Russell, was, as we have noted, a member of the council of installation, and probably, if not certainly, he was present when the church was organized. His testimony, therefore, in these carefully worded records, regarding a church here, in the essential feature that gives "constitution and being" to a church, represents his own and also the opinion of the elders and messen- gers taking part in the council of formation.
Further, the record indicates that conservative usage at least followed the early New England conception that baptism was to be administered only by an officer of the church in which the rite was performed. Accordingly, Mr. Hobart, though previously a pastor in other churches, and acting as the minister of this church, would be unable to administer the ordinances. It is possible, however, inasmuch as a freer practice as to baptism was beginning to prevail, that Mr. Hobart may have performed the rite among a portion of his people. Otherwise it is difficult to explain why only a small minority of the twenty-three baptisms at Middletown are from the west side, where the number of families largely exceeded those east of the river.
As to the precise year of the organization between
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THE EARLY HISTORY
August, 1695, and January, 1697, the evidence seems to favor the latter part of 1696. But for the persistent hindrances that barred progress, notably those which forbade the settlement of Mr. Hobart when at last the church entered into covenant relations, the action of the town from April to August, 1695, would indicate that the imbodying occurred before the end of that year. There is no reference, however, to a church among the Middle- town baptisms during 1695 and 1696, and in one in- stance, that of Daniel Brainerd referred to above, this omission may suggest, without proving, that it was not formed as late as June, 1696. On the other hand, while it is possible that the council was convened between the first and the seventeenth of January, 1697, it seems far more likely that its meeting occurred before the close of the previous year. This decision also agrees with Dr. Field's opinion, who, though quoting from the Prince Letters in another connection, makes no reference to Mr. Fiske's testimony, an omission as inexplicable, under the circumstances, as, in the light of what is here recited, is the statement that the church was first gathered at the settlement of Mr. Hobart.
The more probable inferences, therefore, unite in mak- ing 1696, without giving month or day, the memorable year in which this church, resolute in faith and courage, coming to its high privilege through long years of dis- appointing efforts, and not even then extricated from its perplexities in choosing a pastor, first entered, by mu- tual covenanting, with the approval of other churches, into the Congregational fellowship; and November 14, 1700, marks the completion of its organization and the beginning of its settled pastorates. The date 1696 makes this church the thirty-first in the colony.
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HADDAM CHURCH ANNIVERSARY
Of the eventful years that, from the settlement of the town, preceded the imbodying in church estate, only a brief account can be given.
The earliest settlers came from the vicinity of Hart- ford in 1662, the very year that John Winthrop procured from Charles II the famous royal charter, with its ex- tremely liberal provisions, under which New Haven was incorporated with Connecticut only three years later. Charles and his successor, James, however, made a de- termined effort to rob all the colonies of their charters and establish the supremacy of the crown. Andros was sent over as governor, and instituted drastic measures to reduce the colonies to subjection. Permanent relief, however, from the threatened calamity came unex- pectedly by the accession, in 1688, of William and Mary. Connecticut, in common with the other colonies, received the news with great rejoicings and immediately rein- stated the charter government. "Again," says Palfrey, "Englishmen were free and self-governed in the settle- ments of New England." The door was wide open for the sure unfoldings, civil and religious, of the principles preached by John Robinson, and transferred in 1636 by Thomas Hooker across the wilderness from Massa- chusetts to the fruitful valley of the Connecticut.
These political agitations and changes, even if they did not seriously disturb our Haddam ancestry during those first twenty-five years of resolute endeavor to establish homes for their families at Thirty Mile Island, were at least the victorious pledge to them of their complete success.
It was during this period that the first meeting-house was built, located at the front of the minister's lot in the Little Meadow, "its dimensions being twenty-eight
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THE EARLY HISTORY
by twenty-four feet with eight places for windows," but no windows for a few years, and used for worship, in an unfinished state, as early, probably, as 1674.
The names of three ministers are found in the town records. Jonathan Willoughby, son of Francis, deputy governor of Massachusetts from 1665 to 1667, preached first at Wethersfield from 1664 to May, 1666, when, with his wife and two children, he came to Haddam for a brief service of about a year. The people gave him land and began to build him a house. He seems to have been of a roving disposition, and not very efficient in the management of his financial affairs. His father's will, written four years after Jonathan left Haddam, states that he had already spent thrice his rightful inheritance, and is for that and other sufficient reasons debarred from receiving any further assistance. The town, also, had occasion to reserve a part of the money due him to pay certain of his debts, and was not disposed to make arrangements for his permanent settlement.
Nicholas Noyes, a graduate of Harvard in 1667,-three of the Hobarts, brothers of our Jeremiah, belonging to the same class, -was the second minister and the first to gain any permanent hold upon the people. Probably he came to Haddam the year of his graduation, for, Febru- ary, 1669, the year after the town was incorporated, tak- ing its name from Hadham of the mother-land, the town offered him a salary of forty pounds and the use of the minister's lot. The same year, he was made a freeman. The house begun for Mr. Willoughby, shingled and clap- boarded for the use of the town and undoubtedly used for the few years before the meeting-house was erected as the place of worship, including the lot on which it stood, was offered to him on condition that he accepted
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HADDAM CHURCH ANNIVERSARY
their proposals to settle as their pastor. As late as 1681, the town emphasized its desire to have him remain by adding to his salary and promising, "If he stand in need of more maintenance we shall be willing to do our ut- most, if it shall please God in his good providence to enable us to give it to him."
No satisfactory explanation is found for his persistent refusal to become the ordained pastor of a church which naturally and urgently should have been gathered the very year he came as a candidate. His action cost the people thirty-one years of deprivation of the full priv- ileges of the gospel. He removed to Salem, Massachu- setts, where he became influential and, unfortunately, one of the most unrelenting persecutors of those ac- cused of witchcraft. He was never married, and died at. seventy in 1717. His temperament was sanguine, his scholarship abreast of his times, and his reputation most worthy.
Daniel Brainerd and George Gates were sent to New London early in 1683, to engage Mr. John James to take the place vacated by Mr. Noyes. When he came or how long he stayed is not known. The house, orchard, and pasture which belonged to Mr. Noyes were rented to him for a year free of charge. But as early as 1691 the town votes to encourage a minister to settle with them by offering "fifty pounds in provision pay by the year." Mr. James may have stayed till 1690. Three years later, he appears in Derby, where he was settled and remained till his resignation, on account of increas- ing disability, in 1706, was accepted with reluctance and a generous vote of appreciation of his faithful services. He was the first teacher of a public school in Derby, and for several years its town clerk. He removed to Wethers-
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THE EARLY HISTORY
field, where he died August 9, 1729, at the age of sev- enty-two.
The story of Mr. Hobart's long probation prior to his settlement in 1700 has already been told. From one point of view the date seems far away. Volumes of human history are crowded into two full centuries. Yet at that date our King James version of the Bible had been in use eighty-nine years. Shakspere had been read for fully as long a period. Milton's "Paradise Lost" was fast becoming an old book. But even more vividly is the time caused to seem short when we recall that Miss Larissa Shailer, the venerable and greatly esteemed mother in Israel, who joined the church in 1824, under the ministry of Dr. Marsh, and as a child probably saw Mr. May and has known and cheered all the pastors for a full century, is still with us and deeply interested in this anniversary.
The answers to some inquiries from England in 1680 are full of interest as to the state of affairs, civil and religious, during these formative years of our history. "Our people in this colony," says the report, "are, some strict Congregational men, others more large Con- gregational men, and some moderate Presbyterians; and take the Congregational men of both sorts, they are the greatest part of the people of the colony. There are four or five Seven-day men in our colony, and about as many more Quakers." The reply to the twenty-sev- enth and last question indicates how closely the civil government watched over the religious interests of the people: "Great care is taken for the instruction of the people in the Christian religion, by ministers cate- chising of them and preaching to them twice every Sab- bath day, and sometimes on Lecture days; and so by
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HADDAM CHURCH ANNIVERSARY
masters of families instructing and catechising their children and servants, being so required to do by law." Nor can we fail to observe that the emphasis of pas- toral obligation rested on religious teaching and train- ing. The fathers enthroned religion in the family, the town, and the state. "In our corporation are twenty-six towns and there are one and twenty churches in them."
Passing to the first half-century of the settled pas- torates, a natural division occurs at the coming of Mr. May in 1756. The successors of Mr. Hobart are Phineas Fiske, Aaron Cleveland, and Joshua Elderkin, each of whom in his own way, but notably Mr. Fiske, will wor- thily maintain the reputation of the New England churches for having "a scholar for their minister in every town and village." The day of small beginnings and of almost doubtful struggle for existence yields to that of steady and prosperous growth.
Mr. Fiske received a call to the pastorate November 15, 1712, but was not settled as Mr. Hobart's colleague till January 27, 1714. Not since the period of Mr. Noyes's service had the people manifested so much en- thusiasm in securing a pastor. A movement to provide seats in the galleries is at once started, and more fre- quently than before do we find votes directing that the drum shall be sounded every Sabbath day, and appoint- ing a committee to seat the meeting-house.
Mr. Fiske was a man of solid worth. His father, Dr. John Fiske, married Hannah Baldwin of Milford, and later became a resident of the place. Phineas was born there, December 2, 1682; and largely through the influence of his pastor, Samuel Andrews, a warm friend of the Collegiate School at Saybrook, became first a stu- dent in the class of 1704, and two years after graduation
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THE EARLY HISTORY
returned to serve as tutor till he came to Haddam. He may have studied medicine under his father's super- vision.
Dr. Field tells us that his talents were solid rather than brilliant. It was just this quality of strength that the church needed. The tutor who had trained students in logic, metaphysics, and ethics with enviable success would not fail as the teacher of the church to lay broad and deep the foundations of its growth and stability. He had in his parish such men as Hezekiah Brainerd, the father of the widely known and honored mission- aries, David and John, who was himself a man of re- pute and influence in the colony. For ten years he represented the town in the General Court, was Speaker of the House, and for the four years preceding his death was a member of the Council. His death at the early age of forty-six was a serious loss to the town and to the colony. His wife was Dorothy, the daughter of Mr. Hobart. Their first child was the Deacon Hezekiah Brainerd of our records, who married Mary, daughter of Rev. Mr. Fiske, and was a man of much influence in the church and town. The third child, Nehemiah, also married into the Fiske family, but after a brief pas- torate at Eastbury he died and his widow returned to Haddam. Their only child, a graduate of Yale Univer- sity in 1763, was the tenth deacon of the church.
The most prominent external sign of prosperity dur- ing the quarter of a century closing with Mr. Fiske's death was the erection of the second meeting-house, located near the old cemetery, and having a seating capacity twice that of the old house. At first "com- fortable seats" were ordered for the first floor only, and all were to be pews. The congregation grew, and pews
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HADDAM CHURCH ANNIVERSARY
in the great alley and galleries were added. Quietly these years of slow growth passed away. The loss of Mr. Fiske's records forbids any careful study of the work he accomplished. But the few suggestions from the traditions connected with his pastorate, and the steady growth in material things, fully assure us that he was a thoughtful and effective preacher, a friendly and helpful pastor, strong and wise in the administration of the affairs of the church, and emphatically loyal to his calling. As a medical adviser, his skill in the treat- ment of insanity and epilepsy is specially mentioned. His grave, with those of the other pastors buried in yon- der cemetery, may well be visited this anniversary week and decorated with flags and flowers in silent and grate- ful tribute of respect to the men whose religious influence was so impressive during the first century of our settled pastorates.
This address, as most fitting to the opening service of our anniversary, and in accordance with the plan for these exercises, has dwelt at length on the earliest years of our history. The era of beginnings is absorbingly attractive. A few words only are added regarding the three remaining pastorates of the first century. The two following Mr. Fiske's were short.
Aaron Cleveland was ordained the third settled pas- tor of the church July 5, 1739. He remained seven years, when, on account of serious financial difficulties caused by the influence of the war upon the currency, he resigned his office, much to the regret of a large part of the parish. Eight years later than his dismission in 1746, he was again invited, though declining the offer, to accept the pastorate. After leaving Haddam he en- tered the English church, and, having received ordina-
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THE EARLY HISTORY
tion in London from Bishop Sherlock, returned to this country as a missionary of the Society for the Propaga- tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. He died, "greatly lamented by all who knew him," August 11, 1757.
His successor, Joshua Elderkin, served the church but four years, being constrained by failing health to give up preaching. At Windham, whither he removed after his dismission, April 18, 1753, he became promi- nent, and in the Revolution "took an active and honor- able part in the movement, sacrificing loyally of his re- sources in the public cause." With the coming of Mr. May, at the opening of the second half-century, our church records begin. Declining a call from Coventry in the latter part of 1754, he received in February of 1756, on the recommendation of the Hartford South Associa- tion, an invitation from this church to preach as a can- didate for settlement. In May proposals were made for his acceptance of the pastorate on the basis of £160 set- tlement and £70 annual salary, which later, at his re- quest, was increased with the limitations that the salary should never fall below £70 or exceed £100. Mr. May's records are highly prized not only as being the first that are preserved, but also for their detailed account of his official actions. They open with an account of the or- dination services, June 30, 1756, and a list of the mem- bership of the church. Just one hundred names are enrolled and three are added before the year closes. Rebecca Selden Wells, widow of James, the son of James of the first settlement in 1662, stands first on the list, being at that time seventy-seven years of age, and dying eight years later. Other names of special interest are Lydia Pratt Fiske, widow of the second pastor, and his daughter, Elizabeth, the widow of Rev. Nehemiah Brain-
2
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HADDAM CHURCH ANNIVERSARY
erd, also her sister Mary, the wife of Hezekiah Brainerd, who, in 1764, became a deacon in the church; Sarah Brainerd, the widow of James, the fourth in the list of deacons; Thomas Brooks and Elisha Cone, whom Dr. Field marks as known to have been ordained as deacons, and both serving from 1742, the latter for sixty-seven years, till his death in 1809 at the advanced age of nine- ty-nine; Elijah Brainerd and Joseph Smith, who became deacons, the first in 1759, and the second in 1771; Dr. Hopestill Crittenden, and others not as easily identified. These and their associates welcomed the youthful pastor, then in his twenty-fourth year, to a long and useful ministry. The population of the town steadily increased from twelve hundred and forty-one in 1756 till at Mr. May's death it had reached twenty-three hundred. The erection of our third house of worship occurred under Mr. May's pastorate. The attention of the people im- mediately following its dedication in 1771 was directed to the struggle for independence, in which the town shared with commendable devotion.
By a fearless and faithful ministry, Mr. May was making large preparation for the deeper religious awak- ening that was already, as his ministry drew to its close, beginning to be felt in parts of New England; but for the full influence of which this church will wait till the opening of the new century and the coming of young men to make the new brighter than the old.
As we close, anticipating the larger gathering on Wed- nesday, our thoughts turn again with grateful emotion to the fathers. They are not here. They toiled and prayed and preached. They made our history fragrant with the breath of spring and joyous with autumn's harvests. But the past of the church is the prophecy
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THE EARLY HISTORY
of its future. We recite the story of the church mili- tant, and the centuries already passed bid us look for- ward with exultant confidence and say, with the twelve hundred saints of our enrolment already gathered in,-
Come, thou Church Triumphant, come, Raise the song of Harvest-home! All are safely gathered in, Free from sorrow, free from sin; Come to God's own temple, come; Raise the song of Harvest-home.
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SUNDAY-SCHOOLS OF HADDAM
MRS. FRANK H. ARNOLD
T HE first Sunday-school of which we have any record was held over two thousand years ago, in the streets of Jerusalem; and though it lasted from daybreak until the noontide, the pupils were so interested that they gathered together the second day, and the third, and for seven days, "and there was great gladness."
The superintendent was one Ezra, with a corps of teachers whose names I will not attempt to pronounce. In at least four respects this Sabbath-school was a model for all to come: in attendance-"all the people gath- ered as one man," in attention-"the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law," in reverence-"when he opened the book all the people stood up," and in efficient teaching-"they read in the book of the law of God distinctly and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading."
The present system of Sabbath-schools probably origi- nated with Robert Raikes in Gloucester, England, one hundred years later than the organization of the Had- dam church. Although since the sixteenth century children have been gathered together for religious in- struction on the Sabbath, and in the summer of 1781, the same year which marked the beginning of the Glou- cester Sunday-school, some of the fathers of the church in Washington, this State, gathered the children around
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SUNDAY-SCHOOLS OF HADDAM
them, under the trees, during the intermission, and taught them in the Bible and catechism.
The Sunday-school organized by Mr. Raikes differed greatly from those of the present day. Business leading him into the suburbs of the town inhabited by the lowest class of the people, he was struck with concern at seeing a group of ragged children at play. He was informed that "on Sunday the street was filled with a multitude of wretches, who, having no employment on that day, spent their time in noise and riot, playing at chuck, and cursing and swearing." To check this deplorable pro- fanation of the Lord's Day, he engaged four women to instruct as many children as he should send them on the Sabbath, in reading and the church catechism. In a short time a visible improvement was effected both in the manners and morals of the children, who attended in considerable numbers.
Ten years later Sunday-schools were established in Philadelphia, and the system soon extended to New York and the New England States. At first those who taught were hired to do the work, and the common rudiments of learning were taught as well as Scripture texts and the catechism.
A picture of the earliest Sunday-school in Haddam is given in Rev. E. E. Lewis's historical sketch of the church.
It was opened the second Sabbath in May, 1819, dur- ing Dr. Marsh's ministry, and continued until the close of August. It was discontinued during the winter months, as there was no provision for warming the meet- ing-house; each family had an old-fashioned foot-stove, which was supplied with coals from the home hearth in the morning, and supplemented at noon from some neigh-
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HADDAM CHURCH ANNIVERSARY
boring house, or at the "Sabbath Day House," a small house near the church, where the people gathered after morning service for warmth and social intercourse.
The Sunday-school numbered at that time sixty boys and one hundred girls between the ages of seven and sixteen. They were separated into classes of five, each of which, with its teacher, was located in a pew in the meeting-house. The school opened at 12:30 by a hymn sung by the teachers, entitled "The Teacher's Prayer"; the superintendent, accompanied by the scholars, then offered the Lord's Prayer; after this the teachers devoted themselves to their classes for fifty minutes, hearing the children recite the lessons they had learned, and convers- ing with them.
The children then advanced into the aisle and sang. to the tune of "Bath" this hymn :
Oh, what a privilege is this That we obtain so rich a grace! We 're taught the path to endless day, We 're taught to read, to sing, and pray!
They then went in regular procession out of the house for some relaxation before the afternoon services.
During the preaching, the children sat together in the gallery, with a male and a female teacher with them to watch over them and mark such as behaved disorderly. Good-behavior tickets were given to all who had not for- feited them by bad conduct, and at the end of each month the tickets were redeemed by small religious books.
During the four months of this first summer there were recited by each scholar an average of over three
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SUNDAY-SCHOOLS OF HADDAM
hundred and fifty verses of the Bible, over one hundred and twenty hymns, and three hundred and sixty an- swers to the catechism. Can the children of 1900 surpass that record !
Deacon Jonathan Huntington was the first superin- tendent of the school.
In a letter written in 1862 to Rev. Charles Nichols, pastor of the Higganum church, Dr. Marsh speaks of the pleasure it gives him that "you hold in recollection the old minister who forty-three years ago gathered around him, with great delight, the boys and girls of Haddam, to teach them the ways of Zion, then a more beautiful sight than the most beautiful flower-garden."
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