USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Stockbridge > Historical sketch, Congregational, of the church in Stockbridge, Mass. > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
-
...
.
GC 974.402 St6f 1851590
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00084 5468
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historicalsketch00fiel 1
1
AN
HISTORICAL SKETCH,
CONGREGATIONAL,
OF THE
CHURCH IN STOCKBRIDGE, MASS.
BY REV. DAVID D. FIELD, D.D.
WITH THE
CONFESSION, COVENANTS, AND CATALOGUE OF MEMBERS.
1853.
NEWBERRY LIBRARY CHIC460
NEW-YORK : JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER, 95 & 97 CLIFF STREET - 1853.
.
L
1851590
THE Pastor recommends to the Members of the Church to examine frequently and seriously their Confession, Covenants, and Standing Rules; especially on the morning of Communion Sabbaths.
3692
HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF THE
CHURCH IN STOCKBRIDGE.
THIS church owes its origin and support for many years to missionary zeal excited towards the remnant of the Muhhekaneew, or Stockbridge Indians. These lived in different places on the Housatonic river, in Massa- chusetts and Connecticut, and more in various places within the limits of New-York. The immediate cause of the interest in their favor was that KONKAPOT, the principal Indian on the Housatonic, in Massachusetts, was known to be favorably disposed towards the Christian religion. He lived in Stockbridge, and was regarded by his acquaintances as a man of worth, strictly temperate, honest in his dealings, prudent and industrious in his business; and it was strongly hoped that, under proper instruction, he would become a decided Christian, and that many others connected with him would be brought into the kingdom of God. Rev. Samuel Hopkins, a worthy minister of the gospel in West Springfield, was greatly affected by the state of this Indian, and was determined that he and others should be taught the truths of Christianity. He consulted Col. John Stoddard on the subject, who knew more about the Indians in Massachusetts than any other man, having been often employed by Government in affairs respecting them. He said these Indians were the largest tribe of Aborigines near the English settlements, and that they were not under the influence of French Catholics, as Indians in some other parts of the land were. He thought a missionary might be very profitably employed among them. He consulted also Rev. Stephen Williams, of Long Meadow, who, when young, was carried captive to Canada with his father, Rev. John Williams of Deerfield, and knew well how much the Indians needed instruction in the gospel, and how they were misled by Jesuits in Canada. He was ready to cooperate with Mr. Hopkins. Through these men the matter was brought before the Honorable and Rev. Commissioners for Indian Affairs in Boston, of whom his Excellency, Jona- than Belcher, British Governor of Massachusetts, and Rev. Dr. Benjamin Colman, were the most active and influential. This was in the spring of 1734. The Commissioners at once took an interest in the matter, appointed a committee to consult the Indians on the Housatonic living in Stockbridge
HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF THE
CHURCH IN STOCKBRIDGE.
THIS church owes its origin and support for many years to missionary zeal excited towards the remnant of the Muhhekancew, or Stockbridge Indians. These lived in different places on the Housatonic river, in Massa- chusetts and Connecticut, and more in various places within the limits of New-York. The immediate cause of the interest in their favor was that KONKAPOT, the principal Indian on the Housatonic, in Massachusetts, was known to be favorably disposed towards the Christian religion. He lived in Stockbridge, and was regarded by his acquaintances as a man of worth, strictly temperate, honest in his dealings, prudent and industrious in his business; and it was strongly hoped that, under proper instruction, he would become a decided Christian, and that many others connected with him would be brought into the kingdom of God. Rev. Samuel Hopkins, a worthy minister of the gospel in West Springfield, was greatly affected by the state of this Indian, and was determined that he and others should be taught the truths of Christianity. He consulted Col. John Stoddard on the subject, who knew more about the Indians in Massachusetts than any other man, having been often employed by Government in affairs respecting them. He said these Indians were the largest tribe of Aborigines near the English settlements, and that they were not under the influence of French Catholics, as Indians in some other parts of the land were. He thought a missionary might be very profitably employed among them. Ile consulted also Rev. Stephen Williams, of Long Meadow, who, when young, was carried captive to Canada with his father, Rev. John Williams of Deerfield, and knew well how much the Indians needed instruction in the gospel, and how they were misled by Jesuits in Canada. Ile was ready to cooperate with Mr. Hopkins. Through these men the matter was brought before the Honorable and Rev. Commissioners for Indian Affairs in Boston, of whom his Excellency, Jona- than Belcher, British Governor of Massachusetts, and Rev. Dr. Benjamin Colman, were the most active and influential. This was in the spring of 1734. The Commissioners at once took an interest in the matter, appointed a committee to consult the Indians on the Housatonic living in Stockbridge
4
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
and Sheffield, " whether they were willing a minister should be sent to them to instruct them in the Christian religion, to teach their children to read," &c. These Indians, after thinking on the subject four days, "all gave in their names, and signified their desire that a minister should be sent to them for the end proposed."
While these proceedings were taking place, the Lord was preparing a man to preach the gospel to these heathen. Mr. John Sergeant, a native of Newark, N. J., a graduate of Yale College, and a tutor in that institution, a candidate for the ministry, had freely said, before any application was made to him, that "he had rather be employed as a missionary to the Natives than to accept a call any English parish might give him." A committee, appointed by the Commissioners to engage a minister, informed of this declaration, and well assured of his fitness for the work, applied to Mr. Sergeant. He had already been a tutor nearly three years, and wished to aid his pupils through their remaining year; and if we consider that his class consisted of twenty-four young men, and that among them there were such persons as James Lockwood, who afterwards became the pastor of the church in Wethersfield, and was offered the presidency of Yale College ; as Aaron Burr, who became the President of Princeton College; and as Joseph Bellamy, the distinguished minister of Bethlehem, Conn., we need not wonder that his heart, as much as it felt for the mission, felt also strongly for these youth. He agreed, however, to undertake the mission, provided the Rector and Trustees of the College would approve of his spending about half the year with the Indians, and living the other half at College. To this the Rector and Trustees acceded; and during this year, in three visits at different periods which Mr. Sergeant made them, he did much to secure their affections, and there was evidence that on some minds saving influences were bestowed.
But it was apparent at the outset that the Indians' living in two places, eight or ten miles apart, would be a serious inconvenience about their attendance upon public worship on the Sabbath, particularly in the winter season, and against the regular attendance of the children at school. As a partial remedy for these inconveniences, they agreed to dwell in the winter season in temporary buildings, erected between the two settlements, and to attend worship there also in a temporary building. But as Mr. Sergeant was to be at College half of this year, Mr. Timothy Woodbridge, son of Rev. John Woodbridge, of West Springfield, deceased, was engaged to come for the winter, and instruct the Indians in a catechetical way, and also to teach school. His services were needed afterwards; and being a superior young man, he was long employed as a school teacher, and became a permanent settler, and a very influential and prominent inhabitant of the town.
On the first of July, 1735, Mr. Sergeant (having dismissed his class) left New-Haven, intending to spend the rest of the summer, and indeed of his life, with the Indians at Housatonic, arriving there on the 5th. Mr. Wood- bridge and he then went on as they had done before at a preceding visit about May, as to keeping school, one teaching in Stockbridge, and the other in Sheffield, changing places with each other weekly.
5
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
The subject of being ordained had occupied Mr. Sergeant's mind, that he might administer divine ordinances. Dr. Colman and Governor Belcher favored it, and Providence opened the way for his ordination, with the pros- pect of good, not only to the tribe to which he was to minister, but to other tribes with whom the Governor was about to hold a treaty at Deerfield. The Commissioners agreed that he should be ordained on that occasion; and the service was performed on the Sabbath, August 31, 1735, in the presence not only of the assembly usually worshipping there, but in the presence of the Governor and a large committee of both houses of the Legislature, and many Indians interested in the treaty. The Muhhekaneews sat by themselves, and formally received him as their minister. The sermon was preached by Dr. Nathaniel Appleton, of Cambridge, one of the most dis- tinguished ministers in Massachusetts during the last century. This was published. Rev. William Williams took part in the solemnities, and Rev. Dr. Williams gave the right hand of fellowship and administered the charge.
In the autumn following, Mr. Sergeant was greatly encouraged by success in his labors. Hence, in a letter to his friend, Dr. Colman, under date of November 18, 1735, he says, "God has been pleased to crown our labors with surprising and unexpected success. I have baptized almost forty per- sons, infants and adults." Among these were Captain Konkapot and Lieutenant Umpachenee, whom the Governor had previously honored with commissions. He had also baptized their wives and children, as well as some other families of superior standing and influence in the tribe. "I hope," he adds, "that the adults have a pretty good understanding of the main and fundamental doctrines of the holy religion into which they have been baptized. And I always endeavored to possess their minds with the most serious sense of what they were about when they entered themselves the disciples of Christ. Their whole hearts seemed to be engaged in the matter, and I have reason to think that the imperfection of their knowledge is made up by their zeal and integrity. Those who have been baptized have behaved very well, though they have been several times tempted to exceed the rules of temperance by offers of strong drink, which used to be their beloved destruction. They seemed to be surprised with the change they find in themselves; expressing the difference between their former state and the present, by 'infancy' and 'manhood,' 'dreaming' and 'being awake,' 'darkness' and 'light,' and the like metaphors. I pray God the Day-Star that seems to be arisen in their hearts, may shine more and more to the perfect day."
As the news of this success was spread abroad, it not only excited inter- est in New-England, but soon engaged the attention of some eminently pious and benevolent persons in the mother-country.
The difficulties arising from the distance between the Indian settlements, which had led them, as a partial remedy, to erect buildings at an interme- diate site for the first winter, (and in which they also spent the second winter,) prompted the friends of the mission to inquire for a full and permanent relief, and one which should induce others, more remote, to unite with the Housatonic Indians. In these inquiries, Col. Stoddard
6
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
appears to have taken the lead. Accordingly, he proposed a statement to be laid before the Indians, in January of the first winter, in which he says, "There is a projection to get the most of the Great Meadow above the mountain of Housatonic [Monument Mountain] for the Indians, so that they may live together, and be able with convenience to attend the public worship, and to have a school at their doors, provided the Government can agree with the English who have lands there, and can suit them with lands elsewhere."
It was very desirable that the Great Meadow should be secured for the Indians. Some of them already lived there; it contained a considerable amount of such interval land as the Indians were in the habit of cultivating; and the Housatonic river, in meanders through the meadow, (running five miles in passing three in a straight line,) furnished great advantages for fishing. It was protected in nearly all directions from the rage of the elements by mountains ; and these mountains abounded in game. But how to get possession of it legally and honorably, was the difficulty ; and this difficulty arose from various circumstances. Thirteen years previous to this time, the General Court had granted to 177 petitioners, living in the county of Hampshire, a large tract of land in the south-west corner of Massachu- setts, which, by the terms then used, and as the line between Massachusetts and New-York was finally found to run, fairly included the present townships of Sheffield, Egremont, Mount Washington, Great Barrington, and Alford, a considerable portion of Lec, and the greater part of Stock- bridge and West Stockbridge. The grant was designed for two townships ; which were for years spoken of as the Housatonic townships; and before the mission began, the Indian titles to the included lands were very generally extinguished. English families had settled in Sheffield, and in the southern part of Great Barrington ; and some few Dutch families (for this town was settled in part by the Dutch) had located on or very near this meadow. Gov. Belcher felt the importance of the Indians living together and having a sufficiency of lands, and he adverted to the subject in an address to them at Deerfield. He brought it up afterwards before the General Court; and a Committee was appointed, at the head of which was Col. Stoddard, "to weigh and consider all things and circumstances so as to accommodate the Indians with land in the best possible manner." Under the wise proceedings of this committee, the lands above Monument Moun- tain were freed from all encumbrances, so that early in 1736, the General Court granted the Indians a township, which in April was laid out in an exact square, six miles in length and breadth. This included the present township of Stockbridge, within which is the "Great Meadow," and also the township of West Stockbridge. In the grant, it was provided that lots should be laid out for the missionary and schoolmaster, and, agrecably to the wishes of Mr. Sergeant, for four other persons who should be approved by Col. Stoddard, and should settle here for the purpose of aiding the pastor and teacher, particularly in the work of civilization. The grant of the town in this manner was admirable ; and in May of this year, some of the Indians moved into the town, with two families who were added to their
7
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
number. The township was at this time formally confirmed to them ; and others moved in, in a few weeks; so that by the close of June there were 90 souls in the settlement.
Nor did the kindness of the General Court stop here. Agreeably to the request of Mr. Sergeant, and of some of the Indians who waited upon their friend, Gov. Belcher, the Court, in Jan. 1737, passed an order, that a meet- ing-house 30 feet by 40, together with a school-house, should be built for them at the charge of the province. Some time elapsed before this order was fulfilled, probably owing to the difficulty in procuring materials ; but the meeting-house was so far fitted for use, that on the day for public thanksgiving in the Commonwealth, Nov. 29, 1739, it was dedicated to the worship of Almighty God. This stood a few rods north-east of the site of the present South Meeting-house ; and it was the place of divine solemnities until 1785. The frame of this building is now the frame of a barn, half a mile west of its former locality, a humble memento of the blessed men who preached in it, and of the blessings which descended upon those who worshipped in it. The school-house stood near the dwelling of the writer.
After the collection of the Indians in one place, and their accommodation with suitable public buildings, their prospects brightened. At first, indeed, there was no considerable increase of inhabitants ; for in March, 1740, the number of souls was but 120 : but afterwards families came in from various places. In the spring of 1744, the Indians from Kau-nau-meek, a small village on the flat about Brainerd's Bridge, six miles west of New-Lebanon, where David Brainerd labored about a year, moved here, agreeably, to the advice of that celebrated missionary. In January, 1747, there were nearly 50 families in the settlement, and probably about 200 souls ; in July, 1749, 53 families, and 218 souls. They were afterwards increased to about 400 ; and it is believed that at one time they were about 600; though, as far as is now known, 400 was about their average number for the greater part of the time in which they lived in this town.
At first, Mr. Sergeant, of necessity, preached to the Indians by an interpreter, being unacquainted with their language. But as the disad- vantages of this mode were many, he applied himself diligently to study, and in August, 1737, began to deliver unto them, in their own language, the wonderful works of God; and he afterwards made such proficiency in it, that the Indians were in the habit of saying that he spoke the language better than they did.
This year, Col. Ephraim Williams, from Newton, and Mr. Josiah Jones, from Weston, two of the men expected to aid in the civilization of the Indians, emigrated to this town with their families. Joseph Woodbridge, brother of the school-teacher, another of the men, came here in 1739 or 1740; and Ephraim Brown from the place called Spencer, probably about the same time. Mr. Brown did not remain here, but was succeeded by a cousin, Samuel Brown.
Mr. Timothy Woodbridge was the first deacon in the church ; but Peter Pau-quau-nau-peet was associated with him; and when the sacramental
8
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
supper was first celebrated here, June 4, 1738, the English and Indian professors sat down together at the table of the Lord.
The voices of the natives were found to be well adapted to sacred music, and their singing was much admired.
In 1739, when it is supposed there were six English families collected here, the town was incorporated; and after this, the civil officers of the town were elected from both classes of inhabitants. It is very evident that the town was called Stockbridge, after Stockbridge in the county of Hamp- shire, England, from the general resemblance of the scenery in the two places; Stockbridge in England being built upon the river Test, as our Stockbridge village is upon the Housatonic, both on level grounds, and the eastern and western road through each, remarkably corresponding with each other.
The accession to the settlement of the four men just named, with their families, though much desired by the missionary and teacher, and propitious to the mission, greatly increased the labors of Mr. Sergeant; for he had now to discharge the duties of a minister both to the Indians and to the English. "He began public worship on the Sabbath with a short, pathetic prayer for a blessing upon the Word, in both languages, and then read a portion of Scripture with explanatory notes and observations, also in both, on such passages as appeared to need them. All his public - prayers, and the communion service, were in both languages ; and it was his constant practice to preach four sermons every Lord's day -two to the English, and two to the Indians; except on the cold days in the short season of winter, when he preached three-one to the English, and two to the Indians. Besides all this, in the summer season, it was his constant custom to spend about an hour with the Indians after divine service was over in the afternoon, instructing, exhorting, warning, cautioning them in a free, familiar, and pathetic manner, in their own language; and in the winter season, he commonly met with them one evening in the week for religious exercises. His sermons and comments on passages of Scripture for the Indians were first written in English, and then translated into the Indian tongue. In the course of his reading to them, he translated the most important passages in the Old Testament, and the whole of the New Testsment, with the exception of the book of Revelations; while, for the benefit of the English, he went through with the whole of the Epistles in a labored and learned paraphrase, with critical and practical observations, directly from the original language. In addition to this, he had the constant care of the Indians, and maintained an extensive correspondence." These services show that he was a very studious and faithful man.
Nor is this all he did. In 1741, he projected the plan of a boarding-school, which was summarily this: that a tract of land of two hundred acres should be set aside for the use of the school, and a house erected upon it; that a number of children and youth between the ages of 10 and 20 should be received, and placed under the care of two masters, one of whom should take the oversight of them in the hours of labor, and the other in the hours
9
HISTORICAL SKETCH.
of study; and that their time should be so divided between labor and study, as to make one the diversion of the other; that the fruit of their labor should go towards their support, and to carry on the general design; and that a stock of cattle should be maintained on the place for the same purpose. It was also proposed to take into the number, on certain condi- tions, children from any of the tribes around, that, by their means, the principles of virtue and Christian knowledge might be spread as far as possible.
This was a favorite plan with the inhabitants of the place, both Indian and English, and with the Commissioners and their friends in Boston. But before much was done, the occurrence of the first French War rendered it expedient that the subject should be postponed for a season. Still, the project was passed over the Atlantic to the Corporation for Indian Affairs in London, and secured the favorable notice of such blessed men as Dr. Isaac Watts and Captain Thomas Coram, who exerted themselves to raise funds for the support of the school. The Prince of Wales headed the subscription with twenty guineas, and a few others, high in rank and office, subscribed for it. Mr. Isaac Hollis made provision at first for supporting twelve boys, and afterwards for supporting twenty-four; and he was so anxious that the children should be instructed immediately, that Mr. Sergeant took twelve under his care in 1748. But as it was not altogether safe for them to remain here during the war, he procured Capt. Martin Kellog, of Newington, in Wethersfield, Conn., to take them and instruct them for a year, he being well qualified for that service. In 1749, the war being closed, a house for a boarding-school was erected on the southern end of the garden now belonging to the house of Mr. Thomas Wells. The heart of Mr. Sergeant was drawn exceedingly towards this school, and so was the heart of his successor, the first President Edwards, as we shall presently see.
But no plans and efforts for doing good were security from disease and death. We shall however err, if we suppose that the usefulness of emi- nently good men ceases at death. That very goodness may be a reason for their removal, that they may enter upon a higher and wider sphere of use- fulness in heaven.
On the last week in June, 1749, Mr. Sergeant was seized with a nervous fever, attended with a canker and inflammation in the throat, which closed ยท his life on the 27th of July, at the age of 39, and in the 15th year of his ministry. Few persons have been as greatly beloved in life and lamented in death as was this distinguished servant of God. Not only were the Indian and English inhabitants of the town hearty mourners for him, but the friends of the mission in New and in Old England. His temper was most sweet, his manners courteous, his talents, natural and acquired, superior, and his piety ardent and persevering. In epistolary writing he greatly excelled. But one.of his sermons was printed. That was preached in Springfield before the associated pastors of the county of Hampshire, April 4, 1743, on the cause and danger of declension in the affairs of religion, and was published at the request of the hearers.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.