USA > Connecticut > Hartford County > Kensington > Two hundredth anniversary, Kensington Congregational Church : organized December 12, 1712. Kensington, Connecticut, June 29th, 30th, July 1st, 1912 > Part 5
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The Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, organ- ized January 23, 1883, is credited by the State Union as "the first fully fledged Christian Endeavor Society in the State." The Men's Lyceum, which includes members without regard to
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their religious affiliation, was organized in 1903, and has been very useful in training the men in speaking and interesting them in public affairs. At a much earlier period a Lyceum existed in Kensington, of which no record is extant. Also a Young Men's Christian Association flourished for a number of years.
From a Harvest Festival which was held in the vestry of the church in 1884 the Berlin Agricultural Society came into being, which has since been merged with the Connecticut State Agricultural Society. For several years a monthly paper (semi- monthly for one year) was published by the church, called "The Church Record." It continued from May 1885 until January 1892. During a considerable part of that period it was the organ of the Christian Endeavor societies and Sunday- schools of the neighboring churches. During the first year the valuable "Historical Sketch of Kensington," delivered July 4, 1876 by Edward W. Robbins, was printed as a serial, and afterward published in pamphlet form.
The spirit of patriotism has been nourished by the church. It is said that "at some time during the Revolutionary War nearly all the able-bodied men went into the service of the country in some capacity, several of whom were killed in battle or died in camp." A large number of men from Kensington were engaged in the Civil War. The soldiers' monument, erected in 1863 only a few yards from the east end of the church building, was the first in the country to commemorate those who perished in the great conflict. A large flag, made by the women of the parish at the outbreak of the War and which floated from the tower of the meeting house, is also a witness of the patriotism of that time.
Though there were defections to various sects already mentioned at an early date, and later of some who adopted the Millerite doctrines, none of them established a permanent organization within the limits of Kensington. The Separates held their meetings for some years at the home of Nathan Cole, as we have seen. Late in life, he became a Baptist and prob- ably his followers formed the Baptist meeting or society of Kensington, the certificates of whose members are on record between 1805 and 1816. A tradition remains that Baptist meetings were held in the barn or house of Gideon Williams, the adopted son of Nathan Cole. It is said that there was a Methodist Episcopal Class of six persons in 1858; and in 1865 the corner stone of their house of worship was laid, across the
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street from this house, and some years later their present build- ing was erected nearly a mile farther north. The Roman Catholic house of worship was built in 1876. [It was burned in 1913, and the corner stone of a new building has been laid a mile northward.]
In recent years the population within the bounds of the parish has largely increased, and to a considerable extent the original stock has been replaced by people of other races. In the Chapel built by this church a mission on behalf of the many Italians who were employed in the brick-yards which occupy much of the Great Swamp was undertaken by the Central Conference of Congregational Churches in 1893 and 1894. The Missionary Society of Connecticut assumed the care of the mission afterward, and it is the first Italian work that appears in the reports of that organization. Since that time the work has been continued with some intermittence, and is now carried on in connection with similar work in New Brit- ain. Some of the early fruit of the mission appeared in 1894 when ten Italians entered into fellowship with the church. One of these is included among the ministers from Kensington.
Altogether the parish and its ministers may be credited with a good degree of progressiveness, in such movements as have been mentioned, and other things. For some years an omnibus was provided for transporting people who lived at a distance from the church. A notable plan of parish organi- zation was wrought out by Mr. Hutchins, which he described in a paper before the Christian Workers' Convention in Hart- ford in 1890, and whose results in stimulating social religion are reported in the files of "The Church Record." The mem- bership and financial strength of the church and society have fluctuated, often being affected by changes in the industries of the place. Yet it has been a country church, with a large portion of its constituency among a farming people. At the time of the separation of the New Britain Church the member- ship must have been more than two hundred, and just previous to the separation of the Worthington Church there were prob- ably not far from two hundred members. The seating plan of the meeting house in 1815 contains the names of more than two hundred persons that were on the tax list in Kensington. But the church membership in 1835, when statistics are first available, was only sixty-eight. For the half-century following the number ranges from that minimum to one hundred and
REV. ROYAL ROBBINS
THE HOME OF REV. ROYAL ROBBINS
1821
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thirty; and during the last quarter-century the total has risen to one hundred and seventy-five, including a considerable pro- portion of non-residents.
There are comparatively few years during the last century and a half, for which the original roll is preserved, when there were no additions, indicating that the increase has been secured through normal influences more than through extraordinary revivals. Yet there were years of large ingathering, especially during the first half of the nineteenth century, when revivals were prevalent among all the churches. The largest number of members received during one year was forty-five in 1816. The next largest harvests were twenty-six in 1821, thirty-seven in 1835, and twenty-nine in 1842. It is impossible to ascertain what part of these ingatherings was due to the work of evan- gelists. There is a record in 1755 of payment for the "dinering of Mr Whitfield & other ministers that came to lecture." A tradition of the presence of Asahel Nettleton is preserved in a story, that Squire Barnes was asked by Uncle Moses Peck if he was going up to the church to hear Nettleton preach. The Squire, who was almost a Universalist, looking around to the northwest, where a black cloud was forming, replied, "No, I guess we'll get thunder and lightning enough anyway." This was probably in 1821, when Nettleton's work in the neighbor- ing churches of Wethersfield, Newington and Farmington pro- duced marked results. Mr. Pease is remembered by some as an evangelist in 1858, and twenty-two members were added that year. In 1869, when twenty-three members were added, John D. Porter assisted the pastor. In 1887 Rev. A. T. Reed was present as an evangelist, and twelve young people "declared that they had begun the Christian life." The total member- ship for the two centuries, as witnessed by the register, deduct- ing a few names repeated, is about eleven hundred and seventy- six. Forty-five of the fifty members who formed the New Britain Church are not found on the Kensington register; also many names are lost of those who died or removed earlier than 1756, when the continuous register begins.
There is no record of the original Covenant of the church. In 1762 the following entry is found:
"The Church at a meeting Regularly warned agreed to Comply with the advice of the Association given at their Ses- sion at my house on the 1st Instant, viz. that we make use of the Former Covenant for the admission of members into our-
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Communion-which has been used from the first of my Settle- ment. Samuel Clark, Pastor." Here is a hint that the Cove- nant was not a fixed and unchangeable form of words, though the Covenant idea was unvarying. The earliest surviving Covenant, together with Articles of Faith, is found between the close of Mr. Clark's record and the beginning of Mr. Upson's; but the hand-writing is unmistakably Mr. Hillard's. The origin and date of these formulas is therefore uncertain, though they may belong to the period where they are placed. In 1838 it was "Voted, that Rev. Royal Robbins, Sheldon Moore and Horace Haskell be a Committee to revise the articles of the s'd Church and procure them to be printed and circulated among the members of the Church." Again in 1861 there was a vote, "that the roll of the Church from the beginning be printed, the same to be done by the committee of revision" (of the roll). The committee consisted of the Pastor (Mr. Hillard), Samuel M. Hotchkiss and Samuel Upson. No copy of these documents can be discovered. The manual published in 1877 is the earliest extant. This contains Articles of Faith and Covenant different from those on the earlier pages of the record. The Covenant is identical with one in the Manual of the South Church, New Britain, 1860, and was probably copied from that. It embodies a few phrases of the Covenant of the New Britain Church in 1758. The earlier of these Creeds gives prominence to original sin, election, the ordinances and final judgment. The Creed of 1877 gives expression to the love of God, and emphasizes the fact of the one Catholic Church and the duty of walking in Christian charity with other churches. When a Supplement to the Manual was to be published in 1887, it was unanimously voted that the Covenant only should be used in the public admission of members on profession of faith. Thus at the present time the Covenant stands as the real charter and constitution of the church, after the manner of the early days.
Though Kensington has been "little among the thousands of Judah," yet out of her have come forth men of note. A brief outline of some of the rich biographical material will conclude this sketch. It will necessarily leave unmentioned many no less worthy of remembrance. The names of twenty-three men are on record who have held the office of deacon; and twenty- five who have served as superintendent of the Sunday-school. The first deacon, Anthony Judd, a grandson of Dea. Thomas
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Judd of Farmington, lived in the north part of the parish. He was a large farmer and a man of influence, and represented the town of Farmington in the General Court many times between the years 1717 and 1739. He was a petitioner for the separation of New Britain, but died in 1751, before the division was secured.
The second deacon, Thomas Hart, a grandson of Dea. Stephen Hart of Farmington, was also a representative from Farmington at six sessions, 1739-1747. He was a maker of reeds for weaving. He died in 1773, aged nearly 93 years. Ebenezer Hart, deacon from 1762 to 1773, was one of his sons. Another son Elijah Hart, was the first of four generations of deacons in the New Britain Church. The ancestry of Selah Hart, deacon from 1775 to 1803, was by another line from Dea. Stephen Hart of Farmington. He was chairman of the committee for building the present meeting house. He was often moderator of Farmington town meetings, was four times elected representative from Farmington, and was moderator of the first meeting of Berlin town. He was an officer in the Revolutionary army and attained the rank of brigadier general. While commanding a brigade which covered Washington's evacuation of New York, he was captured and held a prisoner for two years. His widow, Ruth Hart, lived to the age of one hundred and one years. The sermon preached by Rev. Royal Robbins at her death was published. The testimony of her epitaph is: "Extraordinary in age, she was not less distinguished by strength of character, correctness of moral principle and holiness of life." It is said that the money which she received as a pension enabled her to make the gift for repairing the meet- ing house. Samuel Ashbel Hart of the present generation, chosen deacon in 1897, is also descended from Dea. Stephen Hart by a still different line. These several members consti- tute this a true Levitical family.
Jonathan Lee, the third in our list of deacons, 1756-1758, was a nephew of Captain Stephen Lee, whose name stands next to that of Mr. Burnham among the "pillars." He was a black- smith. Noah Cowles, deacon 1780-1820, was from the same family with another of the pillars, Caleb Cowles, though not in direct descent. So also are Henry M. Cowles, deacon 1860-1898, and Sidney M. Cowles, chosen deacon in 1910, in active service.
Roswell Moore, deacon 1845-1857, was also several times superintendent of the Sunday-school. Pastor Robbins, in his memorial sermon, called him "that pleasant man, that honest
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man, that large-souled man, so ready for every good work, so alive to every interest of religion and humanity." He also said, "Perhaps no man among us was better known in this county, with the reformatory, industrial, philanthropic, Chris- tian portion of it, than he." His brother Sheldon Moore, Yale 1818, studied law. He was also superintendent of the Sunday- school and was the first layman to serve as clerk of the church. Nelson A. Moore, son of Roswell Moore, was an artist, and the designer of the soldiers' monument. Both father and son were efficient in the musical service of the church, and the latter was the leader in securing the pipe organ in 1865. Various articles connected with the church in the olden times have been pre- served in this family.
Cyprian Goodrich, deacon 1834-1864, was accustomed to play the bass viol in the church. He is characterized asfollows by Pastor Hillard in a memorial sermon: "The patriarch of God, the servant of the church, the father of the community ..... He concerned himself with the public interests. .. . and to these he subordinated his own. The qualifications of a peace-maker he possessed in a degree equalled probably by no other member of the community." We should be glad if the tributes of the ministers to other faithful deacons had been preserved.
There have been three deacons of the Upson family, John, deacon 1860-1876, William, deacon 1870-1904; and Willis H., deacon 1904-1909, whose death in the first month of the present pastorate cast its shadows over the community.
Kensington has sent to Yale College a steady stream of young men to be educated and equipped for service in the world. Some have entered the ministry, others have ministered as physicians, teachers or in other vocations. Sixteen persons who were either born in Kensington or lived here for a time have prepared for the ministry.
John Norton, Yale 1737, son of John Norton, was born only three years after the church was organized. He was ordained at Bernardston, Mass., in 1741. Four years later he was dismissed, and became chaplain at a fort in Adams, Mass. He was carried captive with the rest of the garrison to Canada, and afterward published an account of the captivity. He was settled as pastor of the church in East Hampton, and was again chaplain in the expedition to Crown Point in 1755.
Samuel Langdon, Yale 1747, son of Samuel Langdon, was born in 1723. He preached at Hebron (Parish of Gilead) a
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year or two and was ordained in the North Parish at York, Me., in 1754. He received the honorary degree of M. A. from Har- vard.
John Hooker, Yale 1751, son of John Hooker, of the line of Rev. Samuel and Rev. Thomas Hooker, was born in 1729. He became the successor of Jonathan Edwards at Northampton in 1753, and harmonized that community which had been "con- vulsed by controversy."
Theodore Hinsdale, Yale 1762, son of John Hinsdale who was a blacksmith in the part of the parish that became Worth- ington, was born in 1738. He was an uncle of Emma Hart. He was ordained pastor of the North Church, Windsor, in 1766. He often served on important committees of the General Asso- ciation. With Timothy Pitkin and John Smalley he edited an edition of Watts Psalms and Hymns, which was published at Hartford in 1785. In 1795 he removed to Hinsdale, Mass., where, although he was not the pastor, he was influential in organizing a church and laying the foundations of the town, which was named for him.
Salmon Hurlbut, Yale 1763, a native of Woodbury, became a resident of the parish and a member of the church in 1766, the same year in which he was licensed to preach. He preached here some time while Mr. Clark was unable to fulfill his public duties, and after Mr. Clark's death. Later he removed to Warren, and afterward to Vermont and New York. It is not known that he was ever ordained. His grandson was the second pastor of the church in Rochester, Vt., where the writer was ordained to the ministry.
Asahel Hart, Yale 1764, son of Nathaniel Hart, and brother of Selah Hart, was ordained the first pastor of the church in North Canaan in 1770. He died in 1775, at the early age of thirty-three years.
Uriel Gridley, Yale 1783, son of Amos Gridley, was born in 1762. He was ordained in 1785 at Watertown as colleague pastor with Rev. John Trumbull.
Elijah Gridley, son of Clement Gridley, was born in 1760. He was ordained at Mansfield in 1789. He became pastor at Granby, Mass., (West Parish) in 1797.
Seth Hart, Yale 1784, son of Matthew Hart, was born in 1763, in the house which is now the residence of Mr. Isaac Porter. He was ordained a deacon "according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England" in 1791, and was ordained
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a priest one year later. He ministered in Waterbury and neighboring churches; then in Wallingford and neighboring churches, one of which was Christ Church in the parish of Worthington in the borders of the town of Wethersfield (New- ington), of which he was the first Rector, 1798-1800; and in Hempstead, L. I.
Horace Hooker, Yale 1815, son of Elijah Hooker, who declined the office of deacon to which he was chosen in 1806, and nephew of Rev. John Hooker, was born in 1793. He was ordained at Watertown in 1822. He became editor, author and missionary secretary. A fuller biography is contained in the address by Rev. Sherrod Soule.
Horatio Gridley, Yale 1815, son of Amos Gridley, Jr., was born in 1792. He graduated at Andover Theological Seminary in 1818, but on account of ill health did not enter the ministry. He studied medicine, and began practice in Woodbury in 1820, but returned to his native town in 1826 and settled in the Worthington parish. He received from Yale the honorary degree of M. D. There is a tradition that he was the superintendent of the first Sunday-school in Kensington.
John Gridley was born in Kinderhook, N. Y., but his name is found among the ministers said to have been raised in Ken- sington. He studied one year in Yale Divinity School, class of 1834. He received the degree of M. D. from a medical col- lege in Fairfield, N. Y. He was ordained by the Presbytery at Onondaga, N. Y., in 1835, and was pastor in several places in New York, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
Samuel Lee, Yale College 1827, Divinity School 1830, was born in Kensington in 1803, but removed in childhood to West- field. He was ordained pastor in Sherborn, Mass. Later he was pastor at New Ipswich, N. H.
Henry Upson, Yale College 1859, Andover Seminary and Yale Divinity School class of 1861, son of Thomas Upson, and brother of Dea. William Upson, was born in Wolcott, but at an early age removed with his parents to Kensington. He was commissioned Chaplain of the 13th Regiment Connecticut Vol- unteers, and was ordained June 24, 1862. So far as known he is the only son of the church ordained in the home church. The most of his life was spent in the ministry and as principal of a school for boys in New Preston. Within a year he has passed on, and his body was laid at rest with his kindred on the green hilltop in the southern part of the parish.
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Kensington has the distinction of being the native place of the only woman who has been ordained to the Congrega- tional ministry in Connecticut. Miss Marion H. Jones, daugh- ter of Horace K. Jones, a former Sunday-school superintendent, was educated at Smith College and was ordained at Stafford- ville, January 9, 1911.
Joseph Brunn, a native of Italy, united with this church in 1894, through the Italian mission at the Chapel. A letter from him says that it was this mission "that made me what I am." He has been engaged in missionary work, since 1899 in Hazelton, Pa., where he was ordained by the Presbytery of Lehigh in 1902.
The Centennial Sketch by E. W. Robbins claims another minister, Jonathan Judd; but the sole record of a member dis- missed during the early years shows that his father, William Judd, removed to Waterbury in 1818, the year before the birth of this son.
Besides these ministers, a few distinguished names ought to be mentioned. James Gates Percival, Yale 1815 and M. D. 1820, a son of Dr. James Percival, who was a lineal descendant from the Pilgrim Pastor, John Robinson, was born within sight of this building. He became physician, poet, linguist and geolo- gist. He mastered many languages, assisted Noah Webster in the production of his dictionary, and made a geological survey of Connecticut, for which he crossed and recrossed the State, touching every square mile of its surface. He was also State geologist of Wisconsin.
Charles Hooker, Yale 1820 and M. D. 1823, son of William H. Hooker, was born in 1799. He was professor of anatomy and physiology at Yale from 1838 until his death in 1863.
Major Jonathan Hart (or Heart as he signed himself), Yale 1768, son of Dea. Ebenezer Hart, was born in 1748. He was a volunteer on the Lexington alarm, captain in 1780 and brigade major in 1781. He was slain by Indians in Ohio at the defeat of St. Clair in 1791.
Dr. John Hart, Yale 1766, another son of Dea. Ebenezer Hart, was born in 1753. He was a surgeon in the U. S. Army and was ensign at the surrender of Cornwallis. For a few years he resided in Farmington, then entered the naval service and died at sea in 1798.
Edward W. Robbins, Yale 1843, a son of Rev. Royal Robbins, was born in 1822, studied law, but on account of ill
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health was never admitted to the bar. He was a teacher, and during his later years, until a short time before his death in 1899, he resided in Kensington. He was the author of the Centen- nial Historical Sketch already mentioned, and of a poem for the dedication of the Soldiers monument.
Livingston Warner Cleaveland, Yale Law School 1881, a son of Rev. James B. Cleaveland, spent some of the years of his youth here. For several years he was Judge of Probate at New Haven. He has honored us by his presence and par- ticipation in this anniversary.
At the present time and for many years Kensington has been widely known as the home of Secretary Henry H. Spooner of the Connecticut Temperance Union, and the official organ of the Union, "The Connecticut Citizen," has borne the Ken- sington imprint.
The names of the men are found in positions of prominence; but the work of the women of the church deserves more gener- ous recognition than is here given. Noble women, "mothers in Israel," have lived and labored with the men in moulding the life and character of each generation. Hannah, a daughter of Rev. William Burnham, became the wife of Rev. Jeremiah Curtis of Southington. A copy of the letter dismissing her is preserved in the History of Southington, and is well worth being included as a memorial of Mr. Burnham.
"To the Rev'd Jer. Curtiss & the Ch with him-Greeting:
Rev'd & Beloved in our Lord Jesus: These may certify you that Hannah, now the wife of the above mentioned Mr. Jer. Curtiss, was ad- mitted a member in full communion with our Church in Kensington and Remained in good acceptance with the Church So Long as She Dwelt among us-and Whereas the Great Lord of the World, which appointed to every one the bounds of their habitation, hath so ordered it in his holy Providence that she is removed into your limits, and hath also desired a Dismission from our Church to yours, the Church with us hath granted her desire herein-These are therefore to signifie it to you, & we do hereby recommend her to your holy communion and fellowship. Wishing you an increase of Grace & all Spiritual Blessings and Such a Presence of Christ with his ordinances among you that they may be effective for the Conversion & Salvation of many and Desiring your Prayers for us that the like blessings may be multiplied to us, we rest yours in our Common Lord-
William Burnham, Pastor,
Kensington, June 13, 1733. in the name of the Church.
Sarah, a daughter of Dr. Upson, became the wife of Rev. Charles A. Goodrich. They resided in Kensington for several years (1820-35), and for some time he conducted a school for boys. Their grandson, Rev. Frank G. Woodworth, D. D., whose presence with us is most welcome, also found a helpmeet
REV. ELIAS B. HILLARD
FIRST MONUMENT TO SOLDIERS OF THE CIVIL WAR 1863
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in Kensington, Ellen Evelyn, a daughter of Samuel Upson, and for a quarter of a century he has been the president of Tougaloo University, Mississippi, building an institution for the uplift of the Negro race.
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