USA > New York > Chenango County > Norwich > History and manual of the First Congregational Church, Norwich, N.Y. > Part 6
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About 1814 the father-Rev. P. V. Bogue-moved from Georgia, anklin County, Vt., whither he had gone from Vernon Centre, Onei- County, N. Y., fourteen years before, on account of ill health, to suquoit, Oneida County, N. Y., and became Pastor of the Congrega- onal Church there. Two years before Hamilton College had been corporated, at Clinton, and being so near, the son, H. P. Bogue, en- red that institution instead of Yale, and graduated in 1820, in the me class with Rev. Albert Barnes and others who have since become ted men. He then studied theology at Andover, Mass., graduating January, 1823.
He was licensed by Oneida Association, and Wednesday, January , 1823, joined Otsego Presbytery from Presbytery of Oneida. The xt day he was ordained and installed by Otsego Presbytery, over the hurch at Butternuts, Otsego County, N. Y. Sunday, February 23, 323, he married Grace Caroline Brown, at Bridgewater, Oneida Coun- . He remained at Butternuts until late in December, 1829, and had o doubt preached several times in Norwich, for September 8, 1829, e Norwich Church asked permission of Chenango Presbytery to call im from Otsego Presbytery. A special meeting of Otsego Presbytery as held, October 13, at Butternuts, to consider the matter. Jeduthan itchcock, as Commissioner from the Norwich Church, "requested ave to prosecute the said call," for the following reasons, viz:
"1st. The peculiar state of the Church in Norwich, in being unable, fter several attempts, to unite on any other man." (Mr. Hitchcock dded-referring to Mr. Lockwood-' that one man came and did not ay long enough to unpack his goods.')
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" 2d. The town of Norwich and its vicinity presents a more extende field of usefulness than the town of Butternuts."
Dea. Joseph T. Gilbert-brother-in-law of Benjamin Chapman, ( Norwich-and Russell Millard, were Commissioners from the Church in Butternuts. They signified the willingness of the Church that th Presbytery decide the matter. Mr. Bogue also expressed the same and added " that in view of all circumstances it was his impressio that duty called him to Norwich." The matter was discussed freely and the next day, October 14, a season of prayer was held for Divir, direction. The Records then go on to say:
" Presbytery having heard the Commissioners from the Churches and Congregations of Norwich and Butternuts, setting forth the respectiv, claims of said Churches, and having sought for direction from heave on the subject, resolved as follows, viz:
"1st. That the pastoral relation now existing between the Rev. E. P. Bogue and the Church of Butternuts be continued to the 1st day ( January, 1830.
"2d. That after the 1st day of January, 1830, the Congregation c Norwich be permitted to prosecute their call agreeably to their r quest.
"3d. That after the 1st day of January, 1830, the pastoral relatio now existing between the Rev. H. P. Bogue and the Church and Cor gregation of Butternuts be dissolved, and that he be dismissed fro! this Presbytery and recommended to the Presbytery of Chenango."
Toward the last of December, 1829, he came to Norwich, and with out doubt began his engagement with this Church, Sunday, January 1830. Wednesday, December 30, 1829, he was made a Director ( Chenango County Temperance Society. Tuesday, February 2, 183 he joined Chenango Presbytery, and Truman Enos presented, as Cor missioner from this Church, a formal call through the Presbyter. This Mr. Bogue of course accepted, and Wednesday, February 24, 1 was installed by the Presbytery. The services were at 11 A. M., an Rev. Peter Lockwood preached the sermon. May 31, he was mac Secretary and a Director of Chenango County Bible Society. July he opened a school for young ladies in Norwich.
Tuesday, March 19, 1833, he, with Elder Swan, was at the executid of George Denison, in Norwich, and addressed the multitude asser bled in the mud and slush, to see the first execution in this Count and until June 6, 1879,* the only one. As the time came for the dro to fall, Mr. Bogue was called upon to offer prayer. He complied, ar continued his prayer for three-quarters of an hour. "That prayer as it has since been called, was the subject of much remark, and M Bogue was very sharply censured by the newspapers of the time, an by many people. It is still vividly remembered by the old res dents. Whether this storm of words had anything to do with it not, does not now appear, but Tuesday, April 16, he asked leave
· * The date of the second. The criminal was Felix McCann, of Sherburne.
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e Presbytery to resign lis pastorate, and D. Buttolph, as Commis- oner from the Church, concurred in the request. The next day it as granted, and Mr. Bogue was directed to preach to the Church the st Sunday in April, and declare the pulpit vacant.
He soon after removed to Vernon, Oneida County, and remained ere until 1840. He was after this at Seneca Falls from 1842 to 1849. t Seneca Falls his health failed, and he took an agency for the " So- ety for Ameliorating the Condition of the Jews," and the "New York olonization Society," and from 1851 to 1864 lived in Syracuse. From 362 to '64 was Stated Supply at Preble, Cortland County; from 1864 '66, at East Hamburgh, Erie County. . His strength failing, he re- oved to Buffalo, where a married daughter was living, and when althi permitted supplied destitute Churches in the vicinity. He died his daughter's residence in Buffalo, January 15, 1872, not having een confined to his bed at all. He was buried in Forest Lawn Ceme- ry, near that city. His age was seventy-five years.
Through his exertions a professorship was endowed with $20,000, the College of Liberia, Africa; and the first degree conferred by at institution was that of D. D. upon Mr. Bogue, in 1871, as a token regard, and appreciation of his labors.
Dr. Fowler says of him: His "person was striking and imposing, d his manners studied, but demonstrative and elegant. While de- berate in utterance, he was vivacious and free, and always earnest, d he made private conversation and social intercourse the opportu- ty and means of conveying important sentiments he held. His con- ctions were positive and frankly expressed, and favored conserva- sm and opposed radicalism, both in religion and reform. He led in tivity certainly, the opposition in this region to abolitionism and ew measures, and not only dared to resist them, but delighted to as- il them. His sermons commanded attention, but more from his nat- ral force than from investigation and reflection. He preached from e impulse of the moment, and as a busy man, and not as a profound cholar and elaborate orator; but divine testimony was often given to le words of grace he spoke."
One of his sons-Rev. H. P. V. Bogue-is a clergyman, and Pastor f the Presbyterian Church at Avon, N. Y. A few months since he resented this (Norwich) Church with a copy of the Articles of Faith nd Covenant adopted by it at its organization. This copy had be- onged to his father. (Letters of Rev. H. P. V. Bogue. Records of tsego and Chen. Presbtys. Files of "Chenango Telegraph." F., p. 65-'6. H., p. 293.)
REV. SETH WILLISTON.
Mr. Williston was born April 4, 1790, at Suffield, Hartford County, 'onn. His father combined the occupations of saddler and farmer.
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The son was converted, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 179: receiving his first degree. After three years of school teaching he be gan the study of theology with Dr. Bachus, of Somers, Conn. Octes ber 7, 1794, he was licensed by North Association of Hartford, any preached in several places in Connecticut and Vermont. He writes " About this time I attended a meeting of ministers in Hartford, as spectator, being out of employment. The destitution of the Gospel i the west and the " Chenang Country " was spoken of. As they wer
e coming out of the meeting, one of the ministers said, 'Mr. Willistor you are just the man to go.' It struck me favorably, and I conclude to go." He found another. man destined for the same section, and they went together. He reached Patterson Settlement -- now Lisleos Broome County, but then in Chenango County-July, 1796, and soo D located there. The next year he returned to Connecticut, and June Tisz was ordained as an Evangelist at Northington, by North Association o tot Hartford, went back to Lisle and organized a Church the last ofme that year, or the first of 1798. He was without doubt the first Congrens gational minister that settled in Chenango County.
· At the organization of the Missionary Society of Connecticut, i 1798, he was employed by it as a missionary; and in June of the sam year, by the General Assembly, to labor for four months in a like ca lons pacity. During these tours he went over the " Chenang Country " an the " Military Tract " in Central New York. In 1799 he was agai th rch ble hi employed by the Missionary Society of Connecticut, and spent fou months in Ontario County. To a very great extent the "great rev val" in Central New York, which made that year a date mark to tha generation, was the result of his labors during these tours. In 1800 h per was employed by the same Society to labor in all Western New York en In May, 1801, he was installed Pastor in Lisle, but used one-quarter o isto his time in missionary labors.
May 8, 1804, he married Mrs. Sibyl Dudley. In 1809 he resigned his pastorate at Lisle, and not long after settled in Durham, Green County, N. Y., where he remained Pastor until 1828; at which time feeling that he was called to the especial work of an Evangelist, at hi own urgent request, the Church accepted his resignation, and he did not again become a Pastor, but acted as Stated Supply over som twelve or thirteen Churches, in some places only a few months, and in others as long as two years. Among the longer terms was the on with the Norwich Church, which began Sunday, June 9, 1833. Being obliged to attend to his affairs in Durham, which was still his home he closed his labors here with two sermons, one of which was at : funeral, Wednesday, September 10, 1834.
While in Norwich he spent much time on his " Harmony of Divine Truth," a closely printed 8vo. of over 600 pages, published il Utica in 1836, and much esteemed at that time. After its publication the degree of D. D .- " semi-lunar fardels," as he called it-was con
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rred upon him by Hamilton College. After attending to his affairs Durham, he went from place to place soliciting subscriptions for s "Harmony." From Sunday, January 14, 1844, to Friday, Febru- y 9, 1844, he again supplied the Norwich pulpit, Rev. William M. ichards beginning the following Sunday.
Sunday, March 2, 1851, he died at Guilford Centre, Chenango Coun- , N. Y., and was buried there. His age was 80 years and 11 months. ednesday, June 25, following, Chenango Presbytery met at that ace, and in the afternoon went in a body to his grave, and held a emorial service, Rev. John B. Hoyt leading. It was not a service ld in honor of or out of respect for the aged saint, but a family of ns mourning for a father beloved and a faithful minister of Christ.
Dr. Williston was a very active man. No hardships could lessen s zeal, nor overcome his desire for the salvation of souls. Dr. otchkin says of him: "He kept his eye open to the signs of the nes, and incessantly strove to stir up God's people to improve sea- ns and opportunities to advance His kingdom and do His work. is earnestness may have too uniformly given seriousness and solem- ty to his appearance, and he may have dealt disproportionately with e law at the expense of the Gospel, but it was the error of a tender nscience, and not of a harsh heart. I met him in the decline of his e, at the house of his brother, a distinguished lawyer and Judge, of thens, Pa. Tall, slender and dignified, with the manners of a patri- ch and the spirit of a saint, he made the deepest impression of vener- leness upon me I ever received." Father Enos, who knew him well hile with this Church, used to say. " He could live down any man I er saw." He wrote with case, and published no less than nine or n books, and quite a number of pamphlets. (Letter of Rev. T. Wil- ston. H., ps. 36, 43-45, 62-65, and others. F., ps. 50, 51 and 684. ecords of Chen. Presbty.)
REV. JOHN SESSIONS.
Mr. Sessions was the son of a farmer in Putney, Windham County, t., and was born at that place, September 29, 1795. Was converted 1 1812. Graduated from Dartmouth College in 1822. The same year e entered the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, at Princeton, N. J., and graduated in 1823. In January, 825, was ordained by the Presbytery of Watertown, Jefferson County, T. Y., and had for his first charge the Church at Adams, in that Coun- y. February 1, he married Eliza Winne. He afterwards preached in Brownville, in that County, from which place he came to Norwich, nd preached his first sermon in town Sunday, October 12, 1834. Wednesday, February 18, 1835, he joined Chenango Presbytery from Presbytery of Watertown, at a meeting at Norwich; was formally
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called by this Church, accepted, and was installed at once, Rev. Jame Abell preaching the sermon. Tuesday, April 19, 1842, he requeste the Presbytery to dissolve his pastoral relation to this Church. Ne. son Chapman, Commissioner from the Church, concurred, and MI Sessions was appointed to preach Sunday, May 1, and declare the pul pit vacant. A Committee was appointed by the Presbytery to draft : minute on the subject. The next day it reported as follows, and the report was adopted :
".Resolved, That in granting the mutual request of the (Norwich) Pastor and Congregation, in view of the reasons presented, the Pres- bytery have yielded to what appears to be the necessity of the case, and have been governed by a desire to promote the peace and welfare of the Congregation and the comfort and usefulness of this Brother, who has long and faithfully ministered to them in holy things. That although the Presbytery have consented to dissolve this connection, He they are at the same time deeply impressed with the importance and All 181 led sacredness of the pastoral relation, which they firmly believe ought never to be sundered except for the most weighty and urgent consid- erations. That they have acceded to this request with extreme reluct- ance and regret, inasmuch as this act will lead to the removal from their bounds of a Brother dearly beloved, for whose talents, piety and prudence the Presbytery entertain a high respect; and while they can- 3. not but lament the separation from their body of one the benefit of Here whose experience and sound judgment they have long enjoyed, their prayer and hope is that the Great Head of the Churchi may soon con- duct him to another field of labor where his happiness and usefulness polo will be greatly augmented."
His pastorate closed at the time appointed, but he still made Nor- wich his home until April 1, 1843, probably, and removed to Sand Lake, Rensselaer County, N. Y., and took charge of the Presbyterian Church there, which he retained about two years. August, 1843, lie was dismissed by Chenango Presbytery to Presbytery of Troy. In 1844 he opened a boarding school at Sand Lake. In 1848 he accepted a professorship in the Albany Institute and Academy, and remained several years. In 1855-'6 he traveled in the Sandwich Islands, where his son-in-law, Rev. S. E. Bishop, was stationed as a missionary.
In 1856 Mr. Sessions took charge of the Jefferson County Institute, at Watertown, and remained until 1859, after which, for three years, he supplied the Churches of Philadelphia and Dexter, in that County. September, 1863, he removed to Oakland, Alamada County, Cal., where, at the age of eighty-three, he now resides with one of his sons.
September 30, 1835, he was elected Secretary of Chenango County Bible Society, which office he held until May 4, 1842, being released at that time only because he was soon to leave the County.
Mr. Sessions was a rigid disciplinarian and a thorough Presbyterian. While with this Church he was both Pastor and Clerk, and was very accurate and methodical in all his entries in the Church books. Dur- ing his stay several persons were excommunicated from the Church. In the record of members kept by him, which is still preserved, oppo-
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the names of such persons, that formidable word is written in a d, large hand, showing the earnestness with which he followed an Calvin, and the satisfaction he felt in ridding the Church of un- rthy members. Before he came, the Church records had been very sely kept, when kept at all; but he gathered the scraps and copied m into a book, which he procured for the purpose, and from the members obtained much valuable information regarding the early arch, which he also recorded. This book was lost in 1856, and has come to light as yet, though searched for many times very thor. hly. (Records of Chen. Presbty. Letter of E. C. Sessions, etc.)
REV. AARON RUSSELL LIVERMORE.
e was the son of Aaron Livermore, who was a farmer, and lived Ilstead, Cheshire County, N. H., where the son was born October 1810. In June, 1827, he was converted, and in October, 1833, en- d Amherst College. In 1836, being unexpectedly called upon to ime the care of his parents for a few months, he left College in , at the close of the spring term, without graduating. In 1837 he red Lane Seminary at Cincinnati, then under the charge of Dr. han Beecher, and remained about a year. In 1838-9 he studied logy in the Connecticut Theological Institute at East Winsor Hill. ford County. In the fall of 1838 he was licensed to preach by upden (Mass.) Association, and in the fall of 1839 was called e Church at Westminster, Windham County, Vt. In the winter and ng of 1840, he labored with the Church at Gilsum, Cheshire Coun- T. H. Tuesday, October 6, 1840, he married Mary P. Skinner, at Winsor Hill, Conn.
1842, after the close of Mr. Sessions' pastorate, the officers of the wich Church wrote to Rev. Dr. Bennet Tyler, President of the Winsor Institute, inquiring about a man for a Pastor, Dr. Tyler mmended Mr. Livermore, and he came about September 1, and be- Stated Supply over this Church. The next spring-1843-find- hat the climate was not suited to his healtlı, he closed his labors, about April 1, went to Mansfield, Tolland County, Conn., where vas ordained Wednesday, August 30, by a Council composed of Pastors and delegates from the neighboring Congregational Church- He remained Pastor of this Church fifteen years and three months. ovember, 1859, he went to the 2d Congregational Church, Goshen h, in Lebanon, New London County, Conn., and was installed uary 22, 1860. He remained there eight years, until his health 1. After two years of rest, he so far regained his health that he ne Stated Supply over the Church in Bozrahville, in the same ty. About April 1, 1873, he was again forced to stop preaching, h. count of ill health, and since that time his health has not allowed 0. o.o take up that nor any other occupation. d
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When he came to Norwich he had a son a few months old. Th son entered the Union Army during the Rebellion, and died in th ce service. Mr. Livermore now lives in Fair Haven, New Haven Courte ty, Conn. He writes: "I loved the Church in Norwich, and hada high esteem for the people generally." (Letters of Dr. Hatfield, ara Mr. Livermore.)
REV. WILLIAM MASON RICHARDS.
Mr. Richards was born at Hartford, Conn., July 11, 1805. His fat. er was a surgeon in the United States Army, in the Revolution, so th he inherited the ardent love for freedom and hatred of slavery whic characterized him. In 1832 he graduated from Williams College; ar Wednesday, November 25, 1835, was ordained by Franklin (Mass Association, and installed over the Congregational Church in Sou Deerfield, Mass., where he remained until August, 1843.
December 9, 1835, he married Caroline Daugherty. From Sout Deerfield he came to Norwich as a candidate, "in a time of fathor less mud," and preached his first sermon Sunday, February 11, 184 Sunday, March 17, he became "Stated Supply," or " Acting Pastor and so remained until Friday, May 9, 1845. The Church was Presb terian, and he "was a Congregationalist and an abolitionist, and t] Session was not yet ready for advance movements," therefore he 1 signed the charge of the Church, but continued to live in Norwie until the following December or January, when he " went to Oxfo as successor to Rev. Arthur Burtis." Was there one year; at Ham ton three years; and, after "an interregnum of ill health, we to Morrisville;" and soon removed to Illinois. In 1857, he write "I went to Berlin, Wis., as a Congregational acting Pastor a Presbyterian Church. This state of things could not last long, al in '63 I was violently tossed into a large place, i. e., out of my pt pit there." "After five years choice work in the ministry." he we to Princeton, Wis., and remained ten years and a half, and now h returned to Berlin, Green Lake County, and lives with his son-in-la' a lawyer ..
He is remembered by the older people in Norwich, as a pleasa man, an earnest preacher, and a true citizen. (Records of the Che Presbty. Letter of Mr. Richards, etc.)
REV. CHARLES PIERSON JENNINGS.
Mr. Jennings was the son of a physician, and was born in Sprir field, N, J., October 29, 1820. At the age of thirteen he becar " clearer in faith and hope," though "never without feeling." ] marked change occurred, and he grew into the Christian faith withc any definite experience. He did not enter College, but studied theo
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y at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated in 1842. Was censed to preach by the Presbytery of Dayton, Ohio, and though he reached often, was not settled over a Church. September 6, 1842, he arried Gertrude Gouverneur Burnet, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Feb- . tary, 1843, was ordained by the Presbytery of Munroe, Mich., and egan preaching in the Presbyterian Church at Tecumseh, same State. 1 1845 the Church at Norwich proposed to call him to its pastorate, but refused to allow it, for the reason that the Church, though Presby- rian in form, was not united in that belief. He was himself a Pres- yterian. He came, however, as Stated Supply, in July, from Tecum- h.
In the fall of 1846, he was attacked with laryngitis, which disabled m for six months, and he gave up the charge of the Church, Friday, nuary 1, 1847; and the next summer and fall he spent in travel. he following winter he removed to the west to find a more favorable imate, and during the years following was Stated Supply over several hurches, was settled as Pastor over the 3d Church of Springfield, 1., and the 1st Church in La Fayette, Ind., and spent several years teaching.
In June, 1870, was ordained Deacon in the Protestant Episcopal hurch, by Bishop Talbot, at Indianapolis, Ind., and in February, 1871, as ordained Presbyter at St. Louis. In 1870 he removed to Missouri, and gaged in missionary work until 1876, when he was appointed Dean of t. Andrew's Divinity School at Syracuse, N. Y., and moved there in eptember. This office he still holds.
Those who knew him here remember him as " a perfect gentleman," id a very worthy man, whom it was a pleasure to know and asso- ate with.
He joined Chenango Presbytery, Wednesday, October 8, 1845, and mained a member until January 11, 1848, when he was dismissed to resbytery of Cincinnati, Ohio. (Records of Chen. Presbty. Letter [ Mr. Jennings, etc.)
REV. DANIEL CLARK, JR.
Mr. Clark's father was a farmer, and lived in the town of Western, neida County, N. Y., at which place the son was born, January 25, 305, and inherited much of the vigor and vim possessed by those arly settlers, the pioneers of that, at that time, almost unknown 'ilderness. At the age of nineteen-in 1824-he was converted at Ovid, injeneca County, N. Y. He entered Hamilton College, but did not re- main to finish his course. He then privately studied theology, and was licensed to preach in February, 1833, by the Presbytery of Oneida. ofbeing in debt for his education, he accepted an agency for the Ameri- olan Bible Society. August 11, 1833, he married Mary Parsons.
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He held the Bible Society agency until early in 1835, when he wasdes employed by the Chatham Street Chapel, in New York City. Thiso was the old Chatham Street Theatre, which had been altered into : · Church, and was under the patronage of Arthur Tappan & Co., silldec merchants, the noted abolitionists. About this time the Pastor of thela Chapel, Rev. Charles G. Finney, became engaged in those wonderfulfriv evangelistic labors which have not yet lost their influence, and Mr lu Clark was employed to supply his pulpit during his absence of severalrst months. Tuesday, November 3, 1835, Mr. Clark was called to thece " Village Church," then worshiping in the old Bank House, corner ofof 8th Avenue and 4th Street, New York, and began preaching there thier following Sunday. Tuesday, March 22, 1836, he was ordained by them Third Presbytery of New York, and installed over that Church. Ma ere 22, that Church occupied and dedicated the church building in Jan ra Street. It was Presbyterian at this time, but June 13, 1836, withdrew m from the Presbytery and became Congregational. Mr. Clark remaine its Pastor, however, though a Presbyterian, until April 4, 1838, whe Dr he accepted an urgent call to an agency for the American Educatio Hi Society. April 21, 1840, he attended a meeting at Norwich, of Ch nango Presbytery, and was invited to a seat.
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