USA > Vermont > Addison County > Middlebury > History of the town of Middlebury, in the county of Addison, Vermont > Part 35
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There had been, as elsewhere stated, religious meetings to some extent, and occasional preaching in town before any action in town meetings. At the annual meeting in March 1788, two years after the organization of the town, and the first meeting, when any busi- ness was done except the appointment of a few officers, the following votes were passed :
'. Voted to choose a committee to stick a stake for the meeting house and pitch on a place or places to bury the dead."
" Voted, That Mr. Daniel Foot's house be a place to meet for public worship for the present."
" Voted Daniel Foot, Benjamin Smalley, Abraham Kirby and Nathaniel Munger be a committee to procure preaching for the present year."
January 1, 1789, " Voted that the town be divided into two dis- tict societies." " Voted, that the committee, that was appointed last March, hire preaching for three months, as they, in their wis- dom, shall think proper." March 2, 1789, " Voted that we will try to procure preaching for the ensuing year. Voted that we will raise a tax of three pence on the pound to be paid in wheat at 5s per bushel. Voted that Benjamin Smalley, Abraham Kirby and Jonathan Chipman be a committee for the purpose of procuring
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some suitable person to preach in the town on probation for a settle- ment. Voted that we will meet one half of the time at the north end of the town, and the other half at the south end of the town on Sundays for public worship. Voted that Capt. Stephen Goodrich's house for the north end and Mr. Bill Thayer's for the south end for to meet at, at present. Voted to reconsider the vote passed last town meeting concerning dividing the town."
"July, 1789, " Voted that the committee try to hire Mr. Parme- lee, on probation five Sabbaths more, when he comes. back. Voted to re-consider the former vote that was passed, to meet one half the time at the north end and the other half at the south end of the town for public worship, and that we will meet at Mr. Daniel Foot's for said purpose."
February 8, 1790, " Voted to have the Rev. Mr. Parmelee to preach for the term of six months on probation, if the situation of his family is such that they can be removed by sleighing, otherwise for three months in the town of Middlebury."
March 11, 1790. Meeting warned "to see if they will raise a , tax to pay Mr. Parmelee for preaching in said town for the space of six or three months." " Voted Samuel Miller, Esq., Moderator; and tried to get a vote for the above purpose, and it passed in the negative."
At a meeting April 12, 1790, notified, among other business, " 4thly, to see if the town will agree to hire the Rev. Mr. Barnett to preach on probation, or some other person." " Voted Samuel Miller, Esq , moderator of said meeting. Voted to appoint a com- mittee to procure preaching for the present year. Voted Joshua Hyde, John Deming and John Chipman, Esq., to be a committee for the above purpose. Voted that we raise a tax of three pence on the pound, to be raised on the list of the present year 1790, and paid in grain by the first day of October next,-there being two thirds in the affirmative, and those two thirds consisted of more than twenty-five legal voters. Voted that wheat be paid at 5s and corn at 3s per bushel, and other grain equivalent on said tax. Voted not to act on the 4th article in the warning."
At a meeting June 2, 1790 warned " to deliberate on the subject
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY: 405
of hiring or settling Rev. Mr. Barnett as their minister, and choose a committee to treat with him, if necessary," it was "voted to choose a committee of three to treat with Mr. Barnett. Voted Gamaliel Painter Esq., Capt. Stephen Goodrich and Joshua Hyde a committee for said purpose."
June 15, 1790. " Voted to give the Rev. Mr. Barnett fifty pounds L. money per year as a salary to commence at his settle- ment. The above vote carried by more than two thirds of the meeting, and those two thirds consisted of more than twenty-five legal voters."
The result of these proceedings was, that the Rev. John Bar- nett was ordained as pastor of the church and society on the 11th of. November 1790. In anticipation of his ordination, a Congre- gational church was organized on the 5th day of September pre- vious, and adopted as their " articles of faith " the doctrines which are common in the Calvinistic Congregational churches in New England. The following persons composed the church at its organ- ization : Daniel Foot, Elijah Buttolph, Moses Hale, Bethuel Good- rich, Abraham Kirby, Ebenezer Sumner, Simon Farr, Prudence Preston, Silence Goodrich, Abigail Foot, Sarah Farr and Deborah Buttolph.
March 1791. "Voted that the selectmen for the present year be a committee to treat with Rev. Mr. Barnett and agree with him on some certain price, at which he will receive grain in payment of his salary."
March 1793. "Voted to hold meetings in future in Mr. Ebenezer Sumner's barn till such times as he shall fill it with hay."
December 30, 1794, at a meeting held at John Foot's, "The vote was called for the tax of 25 in addition to Mr. Barnett's salary and carried in the negative."
At a meeting at the same place January 1795, "Voted Mr. Bar- nett a dismission agreably to the warning."
. A committee was afterwards appointed to confer with Mr. Bar- nett respecting his dismission or continuance as a minister ;" but the result of the proceedings was that he was dismissed March 31, 1795. The controversy, which had existed in the town, in relation 34
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
to the place of holding meetings and the location of the meeting house, which we have referred to elsewhere, had extended to the church, and was the principal occasion for the dismission of their pastor. Whether he took any part in the controversy does not ap- pear ; but it rendered his position very unpleasant. It will be recollected, that the town had voted to hold religious meetings at Mr. Mattocks' in the village for the time being, with such conditions as to future meetings, as rendered it hopeless, that they would ever build a house of worship or again hold their mectings permanently in the centre of the town. Some of the members of the church, as well as others in that neighborhood, refused to attend the meet- ings. This led to a course of discipline, and several members were excluded or suspended ; but most of them afterwards returned, and were received by the church. Dr. Merrill says, "Mr. Barnett resided in town nearly two years after his dismission, he was chosen moderator of the church and preached as a supply. After several removals he died at Dorham N. Y. December 5, 1837, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-four."
After Mr. Barnett left, measures were adopted from time to time to sustain the preaching of the gospel, and various clergymen were employed temporarily. The expenses were principally paid by taxes voted by the town, but some times by subscription. In December 1798, some measures were adopted by the town toward extending an invitation to Mr. Mason to become the permanent pastor ; and in August 1799, similar measures were adopted in relation to Mr. Thomas Robbins ; but neither resulted in effecting the object. Mr. Robbins was son of Rev. Dr. Robbins of Norfolk Conn., from un- der whose preaching the Mungers and other settlers had removed, was then a young man, and now Rev. Dr. Robbins of Hartford. Soon after Mr. Robbins left, Rev. Jeremiah Atwater preached for the society two or three years, while acting as principal of Addison County Grammar School, and president of the college. Rev. Ros- well Shurtliff, afterwards professor in Dartmouth College, and Rev. Moses Stewart, afterwards professor in the Andover Theological Seminary, supplied the pulpit for a time, and each received a call to settle as pastor, but both declined. Rev. Dr. Merrill and Rev.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
Walter Chapin, then officiating as tutors in Middlebury College, jointly supplied the pulpit, for several months, commencing in March 1805.
The meeting held July 1, 1799, was notified as other town meet- ings were, but the business proposed and acted on related only to the ecclesiastical affairs of the town. For the first time the officers were chosen for the management of such business. Such continued to be the practice until the alteration of the law in 1807. And from this time those who assembled for that purpose were denomi- nated a " society," and sometimes " The first Congregational Soci- ety," and in one case, "The Religious Society consisting of the Town of Middlebury." The town clerk was also chosen and offici- ated as the society's clerk ; their meetings were sometimes held at the same time or an hour before the town meetings, and the records of both were for some years kept in the same book. After the completion of the court house in 1798, the meetings for business and for public worship were held in that building.
On the 3d of November 1801, the legislature altered the law " for the support of the gospel," and instead of a certificate signed by some church officer that the person belonged to some other de- nomination, required only a certificate signed by himself in the fol- lowing form : " I do not agree in religious opinion with a majority of the inhabitants of this town." This, being lodged with the town clerk for record, discharged the person signing it from all connection with the society, and exempted him from all future taxes in it. Previous to this few persons had lodged the required certificate ; for few belonged to any other denomination. But there were many, who thought themselves oppressed by being forced to pay taxes for the support of an institution, of which they did not approve. With- in two months after the alteration of the law, not less than forty- three persons, liable to pay taxes, had released themselves and with- in three years about thirty more.
In December 1801, incipient measures were adopted toward the erection of a church building, the location was fixed on the corner where the Methodist chapel now stands, then owned by Daniel Chipman, and a tax laid to defray the expense of the erection. It
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was in anticipation of this measure, that so large a number had lodged their certificates. As the meeting house was not erected for several years, it is possible, that this diminution of the society might have had some influence in delaying its erection ; but there were other sufficient causes of the delay, and the object was un- doubtedly more satisfactorily accomplished, than it would have been under the old law. In this country at least, the support of relig- ious institutions is rather encumbered than aided by unwilling con- tributors. Many who lodged certificates afterwards voluntarily returned and united with the society, and became members of the church.
The location of the church was several times changed, and at length the present site was settled on, the land was purchased of Laudon Case, who then owned it, and removed the house then standing on it to the north part of the lot, where it is now occupied by Dr. Charles L. Allen. The difficulty of fixing on the location did not arise from any difference of interest, convenience or opin- ion in the members of the society, but from a change of the general taste and judgment. At a meeting in August 1805, it had been decided, " that the expense of building the house shall be defrayed by a public sale of the pews ;" a committee of seven, including Judge Painter was appointed " to draw a plan of a meeting house, and expose the pews for sale by public auction," twenty per cent to be paid in money, " and the remainder in neat cattle or materials for building."
After the location was finally settled, the committee proceeded to. make the necessary arrangements, and Judge Painter acting as the agent for that purpose, contracted with Mr. Lavius Fillmore, an ex- perienced architect to erect and complete the building. The build- ing was commenced in the spring of 1806, and the frame was put up and covered, so that, with temporary seats, the legislature assem- bled in it to hear the election sermon that fall; but the house was not completed until the spring of 1809. It was dedicated on the 31st of May of that year. The sermon was preached by Rev. Heman Ball of Rutland. The expense of the building, we think, was between seven and eight thousand dollars,-about half what it
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would cost now. The house when completed was regarded as not inferior to any one in the state, and its steeple, -135 feet in hight,- is still admired for the beauty of its proportions. The pews or slips were circular, having the pulpit for the centre of the circle, so that the whole audiance, in their natural position, faced the speaker. With a few alterations, in lowering the pulpit and otherwise, and necessary repairs, the house was used until the summer of 1854. In the meantime the society, by the individual contribution of pews and money, had obtained the ownership of about two thirds of the slips on the lower floor, the rent of which had been appropriated to meet the expenses of the society.
Previous to the season above mentioned, arrangements had been, for some months, maturing for a thorough repair and alteration of the house to make it conform to the more modern style of such buildings. The society had decided on the alterations to be made, and several gentleman, belonging to the society proposed to com- plete them, under the direction of the society's committee, and pur- chase the remaining pews owned by individuals on their own re- sponsibility, with the right to compensate themselves from the sale " of the pews on the lower floor. This proposition was accepted. Under this contract the following alterations and repairs were made. The whole interior of the building was torn out, except the frame of the gallery ; the floor was raised two feet, together with the tim- bers under it; two chimneys were built at the north end for the smoke from the furnaces; the front of the gallery was lowered eight inches, and the stairways and entrances to the gallery rebuilt ; the pulpit was remodelled,and the lower floor and gallery re-seated, with four aisles below, instead of three as before; the west and north walls, which supported the building were taken down and rebuilt, and the earth, under and on the west side of the church, reduced about five feet, and a handsome and convenient lecture room, forty five by thirty-six feet, built in the basement, and furnaces placed in the basement for warming the house above.
The expense of these alterations, with some exterior repairs, and the purchase of pews belonging to individuals, was somewhat more than seven thousand dollars,-about the sum of the original
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cost of the building. Pews were sold to nearly the amount of this sum in one day, subject to a ground rent, which will amount to about five hundred dollars annually. Several families, which had not before been connected with the society, secured pews. The house was dedicated anew on the 5th day of February, 1855, and sermons were preached during the day and evening by Rev. R. S. Kendall, the pastor, Rev. Dr. Labaree and Rev. Professor Boardman.
We return to the general history of the society, the date of which we have anticipated. On the 15th of August, 1805,-the day on which the final measures for erecting the church originally were adopted,-an invitation was extended to Mr. Thomas A. Merrill to become their pastor, and he was ordained as such on the 19th of December, 1805. Rev. Asa Burton, with whom Mr. Merrill had pursued his theological studies, preached the sermon on the occasion.
Mr. Merrill was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1801, and had officiated as tutor in that institution before he came here. He continued to perform the duties of pastor until the 19th of October, 1842, when he presented a request to be released wholly from pas- ยท toral duties ; agreeing, in that case, to relinquish his salary ; and this proposition was accepted by the church. He afterwards preached occasionally in other places, and for several of his last years, as long as his health permitted, he supplied the destitute church in Weybridge. He had been for some time afflicted with a disease of the heart, of which he died on the 29th day of April, 1855. He had a reputation for talents of a high order, and at the commence- ment of Middlebury College in 1837, the corporation conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. During his ministry, the society and church of which he was pastor greatly prospered, and large additions, from time to time, were made to each. By his con- nection with all the ecclesiastical bodies of the Congregational de- nomination, and with the important benevolent associations in the state, and by his punctual attendance and active labors in them, he exerted an extensive influence among the clergy and churches, which was highly appreciated .*
*Rev. Josiah Goodhue, late pastor of the church in Shoreham, soon after Dr. Merrill's aeath, published a valuable memoir of his life; and Dr. Sprague, in his
32 & 34 John S. N.Y.
Cameron & Walsh , Lith.
Thomas A. Merrill,
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
After Dr. Merrill was released from his pastoral duties, the pul- pit was temporarily supplied by different clergymen. In the spring of 1844, Mr. Samuel G. Coe, of Greenwich, Conn., son of Rev. Noah Coe, of that place, preached several weeks for the society, and the society and church severally invited him to become their pastor. He accepted the invitation, and was ordained on the 17th day of July, 1844. Rev. Dr. Bacon, of New Haven, Conn., preached the ordination sermon. Mr. Coe was dismissed, at his own request, on the 30th of October, 1850, and has since been the pas- tor of a church in Danbury, Conn.
On the 14th day of April, 1853, Rev. R. S. Kendall, late pro- fessor in Illinois College, on the invitation of the church and society, was installed pastor. He continued to discharge the duties of that office until his ill health compelled him to request a release from them, and he was dismissed on the 4th day of June, 1856.
For another year the society was left destitute of a settled pastor, and supplied with preaching by several different clergymen. In the spring of 1857, they extended an invitation to Rev. James T. Hyde, the present pastor, who had been for a year or two supply- ing the pulpit of Rev. Dr. Bushnell, in Hartford, in his absence in California. The invitation was accepted, and Mr. Hyde was in- stalled pastor of the church and society on the 10th day of June, 1857. Rev. Dr. Bushnell preached the sermon on the occasion.
On the 24th of October, 1807, the legislature repealed all the ex- isting laws for the support of the gospel, except such as invested voluntary associations with corporate powers, and legalized all con- tracts voluntarily made for that purpose. Since that time the sup- rort of the gospel has been left entirely on the voluntary system. This society was immediately called together, and agreed to form an association, under the law which remained, and as their constitution and articles of association, adopted the provisions of the law which had been repealed, by signing this agreement and articles of as- sociation, each person became a member. The new society voted to
" Annals of the American Pulpit," has given a sketch of his life and character; which supercede more particular details here.
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assume the rights and obligations of that which had been dissolved.
Many persons were alarmed lest this sudden withdrawal of leg- islative aid should undermine all religious institutions, and dissolve the relations of pastors and churches. But no such devastation oc- curred in the Congregational Society. The church building, which was in the process of erection, proceeded vigorously to its comple- tion, and the pastor, who had been but a short time settled, remained as firmly settled as before. And we heard of no place where any serious injury occurred. It opened the way for the more convenient establishment of other denominations, which soon sprung up, and, without doubt, by giving each man the right of selection, more per- sons are enlisted in the aid of religious institutions. Notwith- standing the multitudes who have connected themselves with other associations, the Congregational society has been more prosperous than it would have been under the old law.
The entire destruction of the records on the 22d of February, 1852, left no evidence of the proceedings of the society since 1805, when they began to be kept separately from the records of the town; nor of the persons who constituted the association, or of the terms and conditions on which it was formed. The society was therefore called together for the purpose of renewing their compact and arti- cles of association, as far as practicable, so as to constitute them- selves a continuation of the former society, with the same rights and obligations. At the meeting called for that purpose on the 31st of March, 1852, they adopted a compact, with rules and conditions . somewhat more particular, but such generally as had been from time to time voted by the society. In order to avoid all appearance of constraint, one article is, that any person may at any time dis- charge himself from his connection with the association, and from all obligations he had assumed. The business has progressed pre- cisely as before the destruction of the records.
The numbers of the society and of the church have varied at dif- ferent times. While there have been accessions from time to time, the numbers in both have been greatly diminished by removals and deaths, especially in the agricultural districts. Dr. Merrill, while pastor, from 1806 to 1842, -- each year ending June 1,-kept a
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list of the additions to the church, and the deaths and dismissions to other churches, and the remaining members ; as did the succeeding pastors generally. June 1, 1806, the number of members was 197. From this period the number annually increased until 1817, when the number was 428. From that time to 1840,-we have not be- fore correct data of later years,-the smallest number, 404, was in 1820 ; and the largest number, 781, in 1836. In 1840, the last of these years, it was 515. . During the period which soon followed, while the church had no settled pastor, or the pastors were frequently changed, the number, by reason of deaths and removals, declined. It appears by a record of Rev. Mr. Kendall in 1853, that the num- ber was 358, some of whom were absent members,-as was the case in-other years,-and, among them, 19 clergymen. Since the in- stallation of the present pastor, Rev. James T. Hyde, in June 1857, 84 have been added, and many have died or been dismissed, leaving the number in June 1859 about four hundred.
ST. STEPHEN'S CHURCHI.
The following history has been furnished, at our request, by Rev. W. T. Webbe, rector of St. Stephen's Church in Middlebury.
The history of St. Stephens Church and of the Society to which it belongs, can only now be given with that brevity and incomplete- ness that results from deriving the knowledge that we possess from dry records of past recurrences, and not from the recollection, from the memory of an eye witness, or an actor in the scene. All of the individuals prominent in the establishment of this Parish, have gone from among us. The very meagre statements of business meetings, never very accurately kept, and the indefinite allusion to circumstances perhaps deemed unnecessary or unworthy of very much minuteness of detail, is all that can be relied upon as the ma- terials for this sketch. No attempt will be made to do more than condense the principal circumstances in order as they have occurred, leaving the real history of the Society confessedly unwritten. Many circumstances in the early efforts made to obtain clergymen, and many matters that to the worshippers in this church, scattered all
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over the land, would be of the greatest possible interest, must go' unnoticed, unrecorded.
The Society was organized December 5th, 1810, under the name of the " First Episcopal Society in Addison County," according to an act passed October 20th, 1797, entitled " An act for the support of the Gospel." Horatio Seymour, Joel Doolittle, George Cleve- land, Wm. B. Sumner, John A. Sumner, Isaac Landon, Sam. Clark, John Alexander, D. Henshaw, William Kellogg, Joseph Brackett, Luther Barnard, Daniel Chipman, Lavius Fillmore, John Willard, Lewis Stearns, Eben W. Judd, Stephen Weston, Roger Haskill, Sam' S. Phelps, Robert Holley, Jun., Chas' P. Harris, Dorastus Wooster, Jonathan Hagar, Alfred B. Allen, Josh' Burks, Albert P. Heath, Sam' H. Holley, Ozias Seymour, George Chip- man, John Chipman, Joseph Hough, Chas' Linsley, N. Wood, James McDonald, Robt' B. Bates, Edwd' Tudor, Calvin C. Walker, G. C. Loomis, J. W. Stephens, were among the earliest numbers of the Society, but how many of them identified themselves with it at the first meeting is not known.
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