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T

HE

. ONE

HUNDRETH

A N N I V E RS A RY of the
Wapping Congregational Meeting House
Erected
1801
and Occupied
1802
in South Windsor,
Connecticut

OCTOBER ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH

NINETEEN

HUNDRED

& TWO

..

REV.

J.

E. HURLBUT.

3

SATURDAY MORNING.
Service at 10.30.

Organ Voluntary.
Doxology.
Rev . F. R. Waite
Scripture Reading,
Gloria.
Rev. E. E. Colburn
Prayer-(Response
by Choir), ·
Anthem-"Great
is the Lord."
Opening Address,
The Pastor, Rev. J. E. Hurlbut
Responses. Rev. Roscoe Nelson
Rev. D. E. Jones
Rev. C. A. Jaquith
Rev. E. W. Burch
Rev. W. F. English, Ph. D. Rev. W. Stanley Post
Hymn 603--"Glorious
Things of Thee are Spoken."
Benediction.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON.
Service at 2.00.
Organ Voluntary.
Anthem-"Praise
God."
Prayer-(Response
by Choir),
Rev. W. B. Tuthill
Address,
Rev. C. H. Barber
Historical Addresses,
Dea. C. C. Vinton and W. A. Howe
Anthem-"Let us Kneel before the Lord."
Reminiscent Addresses,
J. M. Talcott and Mrs. E. S. Bissell
Hymn 597-"Blest be the Tie that Binds."
Benediction.
SUNDAY MORNING.
Service at 10.45.
Organ Voluntary.
Doxology.
Invocation.
Gloria.
Bible Reading-(Response
Anthem.
Baptism of Children.

by Choir).

4

Prayer.
Mrs . Alice Ewell
Solo--''The Planes of Peace, "
Rev.
W . S. Hawkes
Sermon,
Lord
God
Almighty
.''
Hymn 1-"Holy,
Holy, Holy!
Benediction.
Sunday School Service.
SUNDAY EVENING.
Service at 7 .00.
Praise Service--Old Time Hymns and other selections .
Sermon,
Rev . E . N. Hardy
Hymn 599-"I Love Thy Kingdom , Lord."
Benediction.

s
PASTORS.

1765---1800
MATTHEWROCKWELL, \
MosEs TUTHILL,
f
July 10, 1829-1832
HENRY MORRIS,
July, 1832-May 1, 1835
DAVID L. HUNN,
June 29, 1836--April 29, 1840
Installed,
MARVINRooT,
Jan.-,
1843
Supply,
0. F. PARKER,
o. F. PARKER, Ordained and Installed,
Jan. 3, 1844-Oct. 24, 1848
WM. WRIGHT,
Installed,
Aug. 22, 1854-May 1, 1865
W. S. HAWKES, Ordained and Installed,
Nov. 12, 1868-Mar. 31, 1871
CHARLESDRAKE, Supply,
1871
STEPHEN FENN,
1873; died Feb. 19, 1875
HENRY E. HART,
June 20, 1875-June,
1878
CHAS. N. FLANDERS,"
Nov., 1878-Jan.6,
1884
GEO. A. BRYAN,
May 1, 1884-Nov. 1, 1886
DANIEL PHILLIPS,
April 1, 1887-April 1, 1388
G. 0. McINTYRE,
May, 1888-Aug. 1, 1889
E. N. HARDY,
Aug., 1889-Sept.
1, 1890
F. M. HOLLISTER,Ordained and Installed,
Dec. 31, 1890--Apr. 5, 1892
C. A. REDGRAvE, Supply-,
June 1, 1892-June
1, 1895
W. STANLEYPosT, "
Oct. 1, 1895---April 1, 1900
Oct. 1. 1900JOHN E. HURLBUT, "
THE CENTURY CYCLE.

The centuries have run their round,
The Fathers sleep beneath the ground.
God's acres hold their precious dust,
While God, in whom they put their trust,
Their spirits keep against that day
When heaven and earth shall pass away
And kingdoms be, by promised word,
The kingdoms of His Christ, our Lord.
Whence came these men of courage tried
Who for their faith had gladly died
If by their death that faith could be
God's gift to lands beyond the sea?
In ancient annals we may read,God sifted nations for this seed.
The rack, the dungeon, sword and stake,
Where martyrs died for Jesus' sake,
This dreadful work of sifting did.

6

Then God, in Holland, this seed hid
Until, beyond the swelling wave,
Columbus to the old world gave
A continent so grand and great
That God no longer had to wait.
His time had come to plant this seed,
The world's great hope, the world's great need,
That long to Him for help had cried,
In Pilgrim met and satisfied.
These men of sturdy faith and mold
Sought not this land for greed of gold,
But love of God and truth and right,
And as God said, "Let there be light,"
And on creation's night there broke
That light that into being woke
Those starry hosts that made this world,
As round the throne of God it whirled,
The home of races yet unborn:
So broke for liberty God's morn.
From tyrant's shackles faith set free
When God said, "Let the Pilgrims be."
'Tis true that with the Pilgrim band
There later came to this fair land
The Puritan of faith the same.
From this twin stock the courage came
That made the Saxons pioneers,
Not taking counsel of their fears,
But westward pressing, thither led,
By Southern Cross above their head
Last seen by eyes in Eastern sky
When Christ upon the cross did die,
Till globe encircled this hosts' van
Came back where journey they began.
Not here need we these names rehearse,
For oft before, in poets' verse,
These names with reverence have been told,
As novice counts her beads of gold
And with each bead, breathes forth a prayer,
So midst the nations everywhere
These names are found as incense rare.
Thus has it come to pass that we
From all these lands those rivulets see
That have been as a river grand
To water and enrich this land,
For when Old Glory waves above
With liberty men's hearts must move,
And peoples of all clime and race

7

With those to manor born take place
As citizens, their lives to give
To make America to live,And while this alchemy shall hold
To change all metals into gold,
The gold of character and right,
We still shall be the beacon light
Of hope to nations yet unborn
And lead to God's Millennial Morn.
But let us now a short time look
Upon the page of open book
That gives us views of long ago,
That these men we may better know.
Not palaces of marble white
That shine as pearls in sunshine bright,
Or blaze at night with lights that seem
Creations of Aladdin's dream,
Filled with a furniture so fine
That in its making and design
Artistic skill its zenith found.
Not this, but huts of logs, where ground
Made hard by usage was the floor,
No glass for windows or for door,
With furniture of homely make,These were their homes where morn did wake
The hymn of praise to God who gave
His Son from sin the world to save,
And with the hymn the heartfelt prayer
For this, God's fellowship and care
In all the work of each new day.
At night, e'er head on pillow lay,
The praise again for blessings brought,
The prayer that for protection sought
As night, with perils new, drew nea,r.
Not that these men knew aught of fear,
But in new countries, with the fight
To wrest from Nature in her might
The treasures of her wooded soil
That call for sacrifice and toil,
Another conflict must be fought
As savage beast and foe oft sought
Their life blood. What! have we forgot
The Deerfield massacre?
That spot
But one of many in this land
Where suddenly an Indian band
From far off Canada swooped down
As hawk on prey, and morning found
But smoking ruins left to tell

8

Of those who in death's struggle fell,
Or captive to a cruel foe
Stained with their blood the winter's snow,
Till Canada was reached to be
The place of their captivity.
Have we forgotten this? Then we
Know naught of cost of liberty .
.And with these homes of praise and prayer
Went meetinghouse that everywhere
Was centre of each hamlet's life,
I ts presence stilling angry strife,
As mother, 'mid her girls and boys
With loving counsel, keeps peace poise,
And helps her children strong to grow,
And in the ways of wisdom go,
The meetinghouse and home to be
The hands of Christianity;
And here in W apping hamlet came
This meetinghouse that place to claim
One hundred years ago, for then
We find, writ by a woman's pen:
"Today, for which let God be praised,
A meetinghouse was safely raised."
June third that day, yet year went by
And fall with flaming torch drew nigh
As forest trees with colors bright
Flashed with a thousand rays of light
Before the house completed stood
Pronounced by those who saw it good,
For if we should this house compare
With meetinghouses everywhere
One hundred years before this day,
Then of this building we would say,"A palace as compared with hut."
Of course with architectural strut
Of present day, this is not true,
But I would rather this church view
Than many that this name now bear
Whose wondrous shapes not anywhere
In earth or sky or sea are found,
And which with echo so abound
That preacher's voice is made to be
As droning bug or buzzing bee.

9

Since then, some changes have been made,
The floor been lifted up and laid
Where it is now; below you see
The old floor as it used to be,
The old square pulpit, where the Word
With no uncertain sound was heard,
But with heart passion all aflame,
"Thus saith the Lord," the message cameThe galleries that circled round
Where unnailed floors gave out a sound
Quite deafening, as the youngsters' feet
Their tipping surface used to meet.
For here it was the children sat
To often feel the warning pat
Of tithing master's ruling stick
'Gainst which it was no use to kick,
For no despotic prince or king
Did rod of might or justice swing
With more determined zeal and sway
Then tithing master of that day.
And of these boys one pastor said
That oft, into temptation led
By jackknife, of the ancient kind,
"Much ingenuity of mind"
Did show, constructing their profile
On wall in quaint artistic style.
Which was but their prophetic ken
Of what they did when they were men
To make their mark in Church and State.
So if development be late,
These noisy boys,-yes,
girls as well,Will yet to generations tell
What good New England stock can do
When time and tact has worked it through.
These both long since have passed from view:
Like preacher and like people too,
They had their day, their work did well,
And we are here of this to tell
And honor give to these true men
Who served their age with sword and pen,
And hoes as well, for we of late
Have had this man brought down to date,
"The man with hoe," by poet's ken
The grandest of God's noblemen.

IO

One hundred years they worshipped here:
The bridal train, the funeral bier
Passed up these aisles. The words were said
Before men laid from sight their dead
In graveyard, as in England found
To compass meetinghouse around.
That comfort gave and hope and life
When soul was tost with passion's strife,
Or godly counsel well applied
To hearts of groom and blushing bride,
That joy which overflowed them then
Might not rest in the hope of men
But God, whose joy could only be
That which should last eternally.
From out these homes, the children went,Their strength and wisdom gladly lent
To make the town, the city, state,
To be as they today are ·great,
This nation of all nations found
In liberty to most abound,
In righteousness and justice too,
Its part in God's great work to <lo.
We have not time today in verse
These noble deeds to all rehearse,
But what is better, let men see
Their virtues in our lives to be,
And when this Anniversary Day
Of century that has passed away
Will blossom in the centurv new .
To make us noble, strong and true,
Our work for God to grandly do.
This is the welcome we extend
As you these services attend.
Our Church, our homes, our hearts, throw wide,
While as our guests you here abide.
JOHN E. HURLBUT.

9

PAPER

BY DEACON

VINTON

In the history of the settlement of the Town of East Windsor, the people living on the east side of the "great River" had
become so numerous that they petitioned and obtained leave
of the General Court to establish separate worship.
Some of the names of the forty-four men who signed this
petition were Nathaniel Bissell, Samuel Grant, Samuel Rockwell, Thomas Stoughton,
John Stoughton,
Simon Wolcott.
Such liberty was granted by the Court, May 10, 1694, under the
name of Windsor farm.
The services of Timothy Edwards were secured the November following, and he commenced his labors among this scattered
people.
The families to which Mr. Edwards ministered were scattered
upon one long winding path, a little way back from Connecticut
Meadows, which reached from Hartford town line, four miles
below his home, to an equal distance above.
This road, which
at the first was only a rude bridle path, was gradually improved
and enlarged, as the years passed on, until it became to be
known at the Street, a name which still continues in common
use and distinguishing it from all other roads in this vicinity.
Mr. Edwards was ordained in 1698-his
ministry lasting
more than sixty-three years-only
ending by his death in 1758during which time parishes had been established, one in Ellington, in 1735, and another parish on the east side of the river
under the memorial of Thomas Grant and others, subscribing
thereunto, inhabitants
of Wapping, on east side of second
Society in Windsor.
Leave was granted in 1761, in consequence
of their distance from the place of public worship, that they
might be a half ecclesiastical parish, and for five months in the
year might procure preaching themselves, and be exempt from
taxation in the old parish during that portion of each year.
This peculiar organization long ago ceased to exist, but may be
regarded as a forerunner of the present Congregational Church
in Wapping.
We have
then the somewhat
remarkable
fact of four
ecclesiastical parishes existing upon the east side of the Connecticut River, within the limit of the ancient town of Windsor,
before the Town of East Windsor itself came into being.
About the year 1700, and following, settlements were being
made in Wapping and vicinity, which for a time made themselves accommodated
by attending
services in the Second
Society, but as the roads were extremely bad they petitioned
for winter privileges-that
is-hire
a minister for six months
in the year-or,
during the winter months.
This seemingly
reasonable request was for many years neglected, but was finally
conceded.

10

The first meetinghouse
was under the title of a schoolhouse,
about 1765, and it stood near the present parsonage
of the
Congregational
Society.
The windows were boarded up above
and only those below were glazed.
This church edifice became so dilapidated
that the six
months' winter privileges were extended to eight by leave of
the General Court; the warm weather
was substituted
for
winter.
The people worshipped
the rest of the season with
the Society in the "Street,"
which invited them to do so, free
of tax.
Their edifice was us ed onl y spring, summer and fall,
until it became so entirely out of repair , as to acquire the appellation of the "W apping barn" and was pulled down in 1789,
by some young men, out on a frolic.
After some delay a church edifice was designed, and the
frame for the structure
was raised in 1801, and is the one in
which we now worship.
rt · stood a year without
covering.
In 1802, a subscription
was raised to cover the building and
glaze the windows.
The pulpit and seats were rough and
unfinished.
A pillow with clean case was carried ever y Sunday
and placed on the pulpit for a cushion.
The building was
erected by people of different denominations
living in Wapping
on a mission plan.
The Congregationalists
were to become sole proprietors b y paying the others - which they did in 1816 and 1817.
In 1829, money was raised by subscription
to lath and
plaster the house, build a breast work around the gallery ', and
a pulpit, at which time the settees were removed and the repairs
which were contemplated
were completed.
Services
were
continued in the house during the following years, up to the year
of 1843, when the Rev. 0. F. Parker commenced
his labors
here, and through his efforts the building was changed to its
present plan and shape.
1

PAPER

BY WM. A. HOWE.

We celebrate today the Centennial of the occupanc y of this
house of worship, and though for thirty years it was in an
unfinished
state, here worshipped
the fathers and mothers,
and today their children meet to recall the past, and to look
forward with hope to the future.
It is well for us to remember those who laid the foundations
of our Church and of our State, those who, amid perils and
privations,
planted what we are now enjoying, the fathers and
mothers of our own goodly Connecticut.
The Pilgrim Fathers came to New England first, and we
give them due honor, but there were others beside those who
came in the Mayflower.
New England had its Winthrops,
its
Cotton, its Hooker, its Eaton, its Davenport,
and others, the
Puritan Fathers of Massachusetts
Bay and of Connecticut.
There were wide diversities of view, not only as between the

II

Pilgrims and the Puritans, but equally wide differences among
the Puritan Fathers of Massachusetts Bay. John Cotton and
Thomas Hooker were the leaders in opposing views concerning
both church and civil affairs. Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield were settled by those who were in sympathy with Hooker,
corning mostly from Dorchester, Newtown, now Cambridge,
and Watertown.
We have descendants of the early settlers
of each of these towns in our church and congregation.
Thomas Hooker and his friends did not favor independency,
so we find in the further development of the Connecticut church
order, a closer relationship between the churches than prevailed
in the mother colony of Massachusetts, and under the Consociation System our churches grew and prospered, and when
many of the old churches of Massachusetts became Unitarian,
our Connecticut churches , with but one exception, stood firm
on the old foundations.
The three towns in 1639, formed the first known written
Constitution in the world. Here in Connecticut were laid the
foundations of our State and of the Nation.
Our fathers of Connecticut gave the right to vote in civil
affairs to those who were not members of the church, while
Massachusetts restricted it to church members only, and very
naturally Connecticut attracted rnany settlers who were not
members of churches.
Though the settlers of these three towns
brought with them churches already organized, these churches
were very small as compared with the number of inhabitants.
Wethersfield in 1640, with more than sixty families, had but
seven male church members, and the churches of Hartford and
Windsor, though probably larger, were also small, though no
very definite statement as to numbers is given.
In some of our early settlements the church organization
did not come in till several years after. In a Connecticut town
settled in 1640, there was no church organization for a period
of sixty-seven years, though there was a succession of ministers
and a house of worship.
Our Puritan forefathers insisted on having the meetinghouse
and the public worship of God, even when they were not associated together in church estate, and the towns not only supported the same, but compelled attendance on the Sabbath
Day. In 1669, one town was negligent in the matter, and the
General Court or Assembly of Connecticut resolved, "if the sayd
people's prudent consideration do not move them to make such
provision of a suitable person, sound and orthodox in his principles and apt to teach, so approved by 'four neighboring ministers who were named,' the Court will themselves procure and
settle a preaching minister amongst them and take sufficient
order that he be maintayned by them at their next session."
It was not the idea of our fathers that the church organization alone was responsible for the support of public worship,
but it was like the school, a public necessity, for the benefit of

12

all , and to be paid for from the public treasur y, and the rates
paid by those who w ere Episcopalians
or Baptists were paid
for the support of tho se churches; all oth ers paid to the Congr egationalists,
and this was the law till 1816.
In 1694, the part of Windsor on the east side of the river
was incorporated
as a distinct societ y, and after 1700 the mor e
eastern portion of Windsor began to be settled . In 1735, th e
northeastern
section was made a society b y the name of Ellington , and in 1757 the societ y of North Windsor was incorporated.
The di v iding line began at the mouth of Scantic River , following
it to the crossing of th e road leading to Enfield , thence following
the line of the Stiles lot to the east end of the three mile lots,
thence on a lin e parallel to th e north line of Hartford to th e
east part of the town and the Ellington line. This line runs
by Mr . Nevers' place, farther east b y Mr . Hosmer's and a little
below Mr. J. A. Belknap 's, to a point just north of W. A. Howe 's,
which point is the southeast corner of the old North or Scantic
parish; thence the line ran northerly
past the house of Mrs.
E. S. Bissell to the southwest corner of Ellington .
The same year, 1757, Benjamin Stoughton, Dani el Rockwell ,
Daniel Skinner, Samuel Smith, Daniel Bissell, Thomas Bissell ,
Thomas Grant, Thomas Sadd, John Rockwell, Rockwell Grant,
John Boynton, Robert White, Aaron Strong, James Fitch and
George Smith, inhabitants
of Wapping, petitioned the General
Court for the privilege of separate religious worship and to be
made a society . They speak of the difficulty of going to the
street, especially in the winter, that there were thirty-eight
families with 250 souls living at a distanc e of from four to eight
miles from their present place of worship.
The General Assembly did not grant their request.
In 1760, another petition was sent, which was also refused,
and again in the spring of 1761, thirty-three
persons petitioned
with the same result, but in October following the fourth petition
was successful, and W apping was made a half society or winter
parish , and was permitted to have preaching for five months
in the year.
A petition to the General Assembly soon followed,
asking for another month, but it was not granted .
Services were held at first in private houses till in 1765 the
first house of worship was built on or very near the site now
occupied by our parsonage.
It was left in an unfinished state,
and was not fit for winter use, and the five months were changed
to a more favorable season, the people going to the Street
during the other seveff months.
Five famiiies living west of the east end of the three mile
lots were included in the half society, the bounds on the west
going in and out on the three mile line to include these families.
There were no easy carriages or even wagons in those early
days, and the fathers and mothers went to meeting on horseback, taking such of the children as could be carried in front on
the horse or behind; the rest of the family walked, and the road

to the Street must have been in very bad condition at times.
Some of us remember seeing the very first road vehicles our
grandfathers had.
There was preaching in Wapping as early as 1762 . Matthew
Rockwell, son of Deacon Samuel Rockwell of East Windsor,
a graduate of Yale in 1728, preached to the people, for how
long a period is not known . Services were for a part of the year
only , and for this reason Wapping could not well have a resident minister.
Mr. Rockwell, living at the Street, could come
ov er and preach for so long a time as he was wanted.
Rev . Moses Tuthill preached here for three years. His wife
was of the Edwards family.
He graduated at Yale in 1745.
He died at Southold, L. I., 1785.
His first ministry was at Granville, Mass.
Then he
preached in Delaware, and later came to East Windsor.
He
appears to have been here in 1769. He is said to have been a
man of talent, though eccentric, and if he was eccentric, his
wife was not less so . When in 1745 or '46 he asked of Rev.
Mr . Edwards, the hand of his daughter Martha, Mr. Edwards
assured him that she would be a thorn in his flesh; that God's
grace might perhaps liv e with her, but that no man could with
any comfort.
He took the risk, and married her. He is said
to have been a faithful and acceptable minister of the Gospel,
his ministry "blessed with prosperity and peace."
One Sabbath Mr. Tuthill did not appear in the pulpit, and
after waiting for some time , his wife, who was present, was
asked where Mr. Tuthill was? She said that, as she had stayed
at home to take care of the children long enough, she told him
it was his turn now, so he stayed at home in her place.
At another time Mr. Tuthill failed to appear in his pulpit,
and after waiting a while, inquir y was made as to his absence.
His wife sa id that he went off down to the woods on Satu r day
and he had not come back. She did not know why. So some
of the men went to find him and in the woods they came to a
hollow log with a man's feet sticking out. Mr . Tuthill had
followed something which had run into the log, and he having
a long surtout with cape , it had rolled up when he tried to back
out an.d he was fast. The men pulled but could not get him
out, and they had to split the log before he could be released.
After his death his family came to live in W apping in a
house near Mr. Waldo Belcher's and where Mrs. Tuthill died
in 1794. TwQ daughters lived there for some years after.
In April, 1772, thirty-one persons petitioned the General
Assembly for eight months' preaching, which was granted.
The petitioners
were Benjamin Stoughton,
Ezra Rockwell,
John Rockwell, Thatcher Lathrop, Samuel Smith, Isaac Rockwell, Nathan Kingsley, Gideon Grant, Justus Loomis, Daniel
Rockwell , Daniel Rockwell, Jr., Ebenezer Rockwell, William
Grant, Oliver Skinner, Abner Rockwell, Noah Barber, Barzillai
Green, Matthew Sadd, Isaac Grant, John Skinner, Timothy

14

Skinner, Daniel Skinner, Daniel Skinner, Jr., Timothy Bissell,
John Bowlen, David Wright,
Alexander
Elmer, Rockwell
Grant, Benjamin Smith, Zalmon Kingsley, Phineas Strong.
With no services for four months in each year, it is evident
that no permanent ministry could be secured.
In January, 1799, the old house of worship was torn down,
and it was not till 1802, one hundred years ago, that the present
one was occupied.
Various ministers preached to the people.
Rev. Mr. Blakely, a Baptist minister, preached for two years,
1816, '17, and with considerable
success, though there was
s~me dissatisfaction with him on the part of some of the congregation.
The close of his ministry here marks also the end of
the W apping Half Society.
With the new State Constitution,
the Ecclesiastical
Society of the . Standing Order, as it was
called, was changed to a voluntary organization, and the School
Society was separated from the Ecclesiastical, retaining the old
Society boundaries.
For about nine years following there was no preaching
service in Wapping.
The people who attended church, went
to the Street, and some, perhaps, to Scantic.
Some of them
were members of the First Church.
Intemperance
came in
and made sad havoc in the community.
About 1826, Rev. V. Osborn, a Methodist minister, began to
preach to the people of W apping, and continued for two years.
He was disposed to be controversial and there was friction and
dissatisfaction
in his congregation.
In 1827, he organized
the Methodist Episcopal Church in this place with eight members, and which in 1833 erected its present house of worship.
Today the pastors and people of the two churches are in harmony, working together in this vineyard of the Lord.
It was a time of theological controversy, not only as between
Arminians and Calvinists, but there was a sharper and more
bitter one, even, between the old and new schools, both in the
Presbyterian
and in the Congregational
churches.
The East
Windsor Hill Seminary was founded to combat the heresies
of the New Haven Seminary.
Drs. Tyler and Taylor, now we
trust of one mind and knowing more than they could know
when on earth, were leaders of opposing forces. Men contended
earnestly for the faith which was supposed to have been once
delivered to the saints, and in our churches "the doctrines"
were made promiIJ-ent in religious teaching.
In 1838 at the examination
of a young girl of fifteen for
admission to this church, one of the deacons questioned her
as to her belief in foreordination.
Some of the people here
were members of the First Church, and in discussing this question, "Must our children be brought up under a religious belief
different from the one which we and our fathers embraced?"
resolved to make an effort to sustain a minister of their own,
and Rev . Hiram N. Brinsmade labored among them for six
months.
A revival commenced in the North School District,

among children belonging to the school, which soon spread to
the adults, anri. the organization of a church began to be talked
about.
Mr. Brinsmade closed his labors here in the spring of 1829.
Mr. Roland and Mr. Kennedy supplied till July when Rev.
Henry Morris began his work here. A Council met at the house
of Mr. Samuel Hall, February 2, 1830. Rev. Samuel Whelpley
of the First Church was moderator.
The Council proceeded
to organize a church.
Twenty-five persons were received by
letters from the First Church and three from the Second or
Scantic Church, a total of 28. In April, 22 united on profession
of faith and four by letter, making a total of 54 members at the
beginning of this church.
The next year there was a powerful
work of grace, beginning with a protracted meeting of six days
conducted by Mr. Barrows, an evangelist, commencing August
30, and before Mr. Morris closed his pastorate
in 1832, 28
persons united on confession.
Rev. David L. Hunn began his ministry here July, 1832,
coming from the neighboring church at Vernon, and the church
soon received several families from the North or Scan tic parish
and from Vernon.
Deacon Anson Bissell from the Scantic
church, became a deacon of this church.
Deacon Bissell had
three sons who became ministers.
Rev. Dr. Lemuel Bissell
for many years connected with the Mahratta mission in India,
and whose children, Rev. Henry and Misses Julia and Emily
Bissell are prominent in missionary and medical work in that
mission. Rev. Henry N. Bissell was a pastor in Michigan and
Rev. Sanford Bissell, in Illinois.
In September, 1832, and January, 1833, the church received
14 by letter, 11 of whom were from the Scantic church and
three from Vernon.
Four united on profession, two of whom
were from Scantic.
By 1836, the southern portion of the North parish had been
transferred to Wapping, and from these families we have today,
some of those who are active in our church work.
June 29, 1836, Rev. Marvin Root was installed as pastor.
September 26, 1837, the church became connected with the
Hartford North Consociation.
Mr. Root resigned April, 1839,
but the resignation was not accepted.
He was dismissed April,
1840.
The church was supplied by various ministers and in the
latter part of 1841 when the church was still without a pastor,
21 persons were received on profession of faith.
The early period of the church was marked by most wonderful
seasons of revival.
January 1, 1843, Mr. 0. F. Parker began
to supply the pulpit and January 3, 1844, he was ordained and
installed pastor.
In 1846, 13 persons united with the church,
the fruits of a revival.
About 1845 or '46 the church edifice had come to be unsatisfactory, and the question of repair or rebuilding was agitated

and with differing minds, but in January, 1849, the remodelled
church was dedicated . Mr. Parker's health failed and he was
dismissed a few months previous to the dedication.
For the next following years there was no settled pastor.
Rev. John Frazer supplied for two years.
Rev. Mr. Strong,
one, and Dr. Tyler and others from the Seminar y supplied till
the coming and installation
of Re v. William Wright, in 1854 .
Mr. Wright was dismissed aft er a pastorate
of nearly eleven
years . When th e church was without a pastor in 1852, 14
united on prof ession and again in Janu a r y, 1868 , six more wer e
added.
Rev. Winfield S. Hawkes was installed pastor in 1868 and
in January, 1869 , 13 more were receiv ed , the fruit of his labors .
He was dismissed March, 1871.
Rev . Charl es W . Drake follow ed and was succe eded by R ev.
Stephen Fenn, who died here three years later.
Rev . Henry
E . Hart, his successor, received 29 to the church in the three
years he was with us.
Our next pastor , Rev. C. N. Flanders , was with us six years,
and in this time th e afternoon services were given up.
Rev. G. A. Bryan was here for eighteen months and in thi s
time the Christian
Endeavor
Societ y was formed.
Rev.
Daniel Phillips served here one year.
Rev. 0. G. McIntyre
followed and in August, 1889, Rev . Edwin N . Hardy came to us ,
quickening into new life the Endeavor Society and the church ,
and during that one year 19 new members were added to the
church .
Rev. F. M. Hollister 's pastorate of a year and three months
followed . He was dismissed April , 1892, being called to Waterbury.
Rev . C. A. Redgrave
supplied for the next three years,
followed by Rev. W. S. Post as acting pastor till April, 1900,
a pastorate of four and a half years.
Mr . George B . Hawkes, son of our former pastor , supplied
during the summer, and October 1, Rev . John E. Hurlbut
came to us, from the Church of the Cov enant, Worcester, Mass.
In February
of last y ear the church became incorporated
under the state law , and the Society transferred
to the church
the real estate, house of worship and parsonage , the trust funds
which were then in its possession and the support of public
worship here . Fourteen
of our young people came into the
church during the pastorate of Mr. Post, and since our present
pastor came 15 more have professed their faith in Christ.
The hope of our Church is in its young people who are coming
in to take the places of some of us who will soon pass away.
We owe much to those who have sustained our Christian Endeavor Society, and the Junior Society, the nursery from which
this church has received some of its fruitful members .
In January,
1833, after the accessions from Scan tic and
Vernon, there were 98 members, since which there have been

received 223 by profession
number is 124.
PAPER

and

151 by let ter.

Th e present

BY MRS. E. S. BISSELL.

In vis iting the home of his childhood a celebrated physician
once said, . "It surprises me how the sight of these familiar
fields, rocks and brooks bring back to my mind impressions
made upon me by my famil y training.
I suppose they are the
friends to whom I uncon sciously told my joys and so rrows .
But the straRgest part is that they bring back so vividly m y
fat her , mother, brother and sister, that they seem to be present
with m e now , I hear m y father telling of the building of that
ho us e, our home, till I realiz e more fully than in m y childhood
days the tremendous power of his muscular frame, his indomnitable will and his loving heart."
And so my friends within these walls and listening to the
history of effort, discourag emen t and final success in obtaining
per mission to build a house of worship, we feel the very presence
of those resolute m en and women who gave us this heritage .
Though memory cannot quite reach the beginnings, we look
upon the faces of those who were there, and many incidents of
the past come floating through our minds as recounted to us in
our youtn by those "gone before ."
William Sadd, one of the original members of this church,
te lls of the hard work and scant gatherings of money that they
might have a home place of worship .
Lyman Sadd, a young man of 28 or 29 years, the first superintendent of Sunday school which was formed before the church
was organized, with the woman of his choice, Mary Skinner ,
as his wife, devoted their energies for years to the best interests
of church and Sunday school.
Aunt Mary Lyman-as
we familiarly ca lled h er-I can see
her with the little ones gathered around her , looking up lov ingly in her face, as she told them of the love of Jesus, and of
the necessity of always doing right .
She was never too old to be wanted as a te ac her. Class
after class passed into life's arena and still she was at h er post.
Some of the oldest here present were doubtl ess among h er bo ys
and girls .
Rosina Green tells of the la ck of cushioned pews and plastered
walls. No smoke troubled
the singers' voices.
Footstoves
contained the only artificial heat . Home-made woolen stockings
in cowhide boots kept the feet of the sturdy farmers warm ,
while their hearts glowed with spiritual fire kindled at the famil y
altar , and fanned by the preach er's words of exhortation
and
warning.
Was it a hardship for those men and women to gather within
that desolate room , and, seated on the rude b enches made of
slabs, listeD. to long doctrinal sermons, for enoon and afternoon,

18

and Sunday school, with only time in the intermission
to eat a
cooky or two and replenish coals in footstove from neighboring
fires?
If a hardship it was a hardship they loved, made bearable'
by looking forward to a better condition of creature comforts
and an expectation
of the continued
presence of God's Spirit.
Religion to them was life.
As George McDonald says, "Religion is not an addition to
life, or a starry crown set upon the head of humanity . The
man to whom virtue _is but the ornament of character, something
over and ·above and not essential to it , is not yet a man ." So
their life was growth and when the meetinghouse
becam e the
home of one denomination
they grew united in effort to better
their home.
Instead
of rough slab seats with men on one side of the
room and women on the other, and children in the gallery, they
wanted family pews and pews they had.
Instead of galleries
with floor boards unnailed,
they wanted them finished and so
it was.
The opportunity
for the children to devise mischief
was great.
And whether the stick of timber that fell from the
side gallery into Priest Root's pew, where his wife was sitting,
was aided by the kick of little toes will probably never be known.
Those square pews!
They embody my first recollections
of
church going, and the minister, who wore the first pair of gold
spectacles
I had ever seen, was a terror to my childish imagination.
I thought his double pair of eyes could tell even my
thoughts.
But seated on a low stool behind the high back of
the pew with father and our family and Uncle Kellogg and his
family, I thought
I could escape his vision.
My little cousin
Jennie, younger than myself, now risen to the dignity of Grandma
Howe, beguiled the time by playing bopeep with her handkerchief.
I essayed to do likewise, but a reproving
glance from
Aunt Margaret convinced
me that the minister could see me
through
the boards.
As Nicholas Minturn,
who was always
studying cause and effect, looking from a garret window, seeing
the tree tops in the distance swaying in the breeze, concluded
it was the trees that caused the wind to blow, so I concluded
that my misdemeanors
had come to be unbearable
and father
suddenly
decided to take us to Vernon to church.
Alas! I
never saw those square pews again.
Progress was the watchword . Life was growth, and the church home was again to be
renovated.
Some wanted
the old building removed
and a new one
built on a hill to the northeast,
claiming it would be more
nearly the center of the parish.
Mr. Parker preached a sermon
on "Sanballat
and Tobiah hindering
the work of the Lord,"
which caused offense not only to the High Hill people who
seceded, but to some who remained.
The subsequent
history
of those who seceded justifies us in believing that they were not
lacking in Christian love and service.
I am told that three heads of families left the room in sermon

time. James Skinner said he did not blame them and felt
inclined to do the same thing himself.
My sister, Mrs. Par so ns ,
to ld me that she remember ed that when father drove home
that da y he plied the whip with unusual v igor, say ing , "Get up,
Sanba llat , go it Tobiah."
He with William Kello gg and Oliver Dart, unlike Tobiah
and Sanb allat, had their part and lot in the remodelling, inasmuc h as the y paid th eir full quota in money for the repairs,
but the y and their families left and went to Vernon. Just here
I wo uld like to r ead a portion of a letter received from my sister
in Milwaukee.
"My recollections of th e old church as it was in the times
befo r e th e advent of Mr. Parker, through whose endeavors it
was remodelled are restricted to the ex terior with the exception
that on th e day of the sermon where in the High Hill people
were scored for " hind eri ng the work of the Lord." I distinctly
remember sitting in a high backed, square pew next the wall on
the right hand aisle about a third of th e way from door to pulpit.
All the pews b y the wall were of the square, old fashioned kind,
but I think those in the center of th e building were like the
mode rn slip though short and narrow.
The exterior as I recall
it to my mental vision, was a ve ry model of ugliness, high,
sq uare and somewhat weather beaten , wi th a multitude
of
cur tainless windows that seemed to stare reproachfully at the
little reprobate, who at an early age developed a dislike of long ,
doc trin al sermons and of th e books in the Sunday school library.
"A t that tim e, th e only Looks she could get hold of were memoirs of good little children who suffe red so patiently that they
died young.
"To my childish mind the logic of it all was that it didn't pay
to be good and patient in illnes s.
" I wanted to live and grow up and I hated those scenes so
thoro ughl y that eve n the walls of the old church where the books
were kept nev er failed to arouse m y " innate cussedness" and
at the same time to awaken my New England conscience to such
an extent that I felt as though the Day of Judgment was staring at me through th e ugly , curtainless windows.
To this day
I am inclined to shiver at th e thought of the old church as it was,
and without entering into the wh ys and wherefores of the oppo sition movement , which took us children from ·w apping at an
ear ly age, I am trul y grateful to those who persist ed in their
efforts to transform the ugl y old building into a n ea t , tasteful
modern church .''
Staunch members continued the building.
Herman Hall,
who lived on the sit e of the present high sc hool building, gave
th e stone underpinning , and was always active in the interest of
the edifice. H e took care of the bui ldin g, in other words was
janitor for upwards of tw ent y years, and received in compensa tion one dollar a year.
It was the custom for the congregation to stand during the

20

long prayer (said sometimes to be an hour long, timed by the
watch).
After the custom..,.ceased.,..Deacon
Horace..,,_Stoughton
always reverently stood facing the minister with his head slightly
bowed, while John Stoughton also stood with his back to the
minister and looked out of the window.
The children, both boys and girls, went barefoot in the
summer both at their homes and at school, but it was out of
character to appear on holy ground without shoes on their feet.
They carried them in their hand till within sight of the church
when they would put them on, much to their discomfort.
One
lady here present tells me that she remembers when she was
four years old,walking over two miles to church and wearing a
blue dress with polka dots, and when near here, put on her shoes
as was the custom, as did her sister with her.
This little girl was in after years assistant superintendent
of
the Sunday school and was also secretary of the Ladies' Sewing Society eight years.
Cora Martin, living with her grandmother,
was dressed ready
for church and then required to sit • still till all were ready to go.
That to her was the most tedious part of the day.
A penny for
keeping quiet in service time was a compensation.
Then in the
intermission
a walk to the graveyard was enlivening.
Doubtless heads of dill, caraway seed and fennel (meeting
seed as it was called), beguiled the time for many little ones.
You who pity those children for being made to go to church,
please remember they could not have been hired to stay at home.
They were used to hardships and were not carried around on
pillows till they were six years old.
It seems strange to us to think of our late Deacon Collins as
a little boy, but Mrs. Alonzo Barber tells me she remembers
at the time Mr. Barrows held protracted
meetings, that he and
his sister Henrietta, with other children, were baptized.
He was
then about ten years old. She also remembers Mrs. John Collins
(the deacon's mother), Mrs. Eldad Barber (my grandmother),
and Mrs. William Sadd, going forward for prayers.
The singing in church was an important
feature, and was
at one time led by Colonel Frederick H. Sadd, who, with his
tuning fork pitched the tune, beat the time, and the choir followed his lead with uplifted voices as near together as possible.
The "Psalms and Hymns" was universally used and had to
be set to appropriate
music by the chorister.
If the leader was absent an attempt would be made to start
the tune, sometimes pitched so high that at the second verse
another member of the choir would hurriedly start on a lower
key, and "others boldly waded in and chased each other" till
they triumphantly
:finished the tune.
I do not know just when instrumental
music was introduced
but the need of a reliable guide was felt and a bass viol played
by A very Stoughton was used, though I think a euphoniad was
tried first.

21

Mr. Lorin Loomis had a small melodeon which he brought
to church with him, taking it home at night.
He took it to rehearsals also. It was a happy day for the choir (and congregation too) when they were able to purchase their first organ .
The donation party was one of the events of the year. Perhaps not so much to the minister and his family, as it is possible
Will Carleton went behind the scenes in many a parsonage
when he wrote "Elder Lamb's Donation."
But to the young
people it afforded a social opportunity unequalled by any other
event.
Sleighing parties were planned and singing schools started
when all met together at the minister's and weddings were the
outcome.
The monthly missionary concert was a regular part of the
service, and not to be interested in foreign missions was falling
short of duty and bordered on heathenism.
Doubtless interest
in the subject was increased by the fact that Deacon Anson
Bissell's son Lemuel, went out as a missionary to India.
The young ladies who were appointed by the church , among
whom were Harriet Green and Fanny Skinner, to canvass the
parish and collect money for the American Board sometimes
met with sharp rebuffs as though begging money for themselves,
but oftener found members ready with money laid by in store
for those who should gather the Lord's tithes .
In order to preserve due decorum during divine service, a
tithing man was annually appointed.
He was to have special
care of the boys and girls in the gallery and also to waken sleepers in the congregation . The boys and girls naturally found
playing and whispering more interesting than the sixthlys and
tenthlys of the sermon, but Laura Ann, Amelia and Miranda
The boys who
found the reprimand at home not so interesting.
were taken by the coat collar down the gallery stairs dreaded
the approach of the tithing man and were made glad to keep
their ears busy and their tongues idle . Sometimes the pastors
took matters in their own hands and publicly rebuked disturbers.
Mr. Root once, when annoyed by whisperers, stopped in his sermon and in his deep toned voice said, "Boys, keep your tongues
between your teeth ." I can remember when the tithing man's
labors were confined to the singers' gallery, where the boys liked
to sit behind the singers.
Lorenzo Crane as tithing man was
not so much feared, as he persuaded to good behavior by sugar
plums instead of force. Perhaps the removal of the singers to
the front in the audience-room made the office less onerous.
The youth of today are more angelic and only need a figure head,
the present tithing man never exercising the power of his office.
Well do I remember those singers in the gallery, Chauncey
Stoughton, Wolcott, Gertrude, Charlotte, Cornelia, Sarah, Alice,
Laura, Josie, Helen, Edith, Henry, Frank, Revillo, Seth and
many others.
I think one only remains in the choir who was
among the gallery singers.

22

I have mentioned the custom of standing in prayer time.
It was also the custom for the congregation
to rise when the
choir sang and turning with their backs to the preacher face
the singers in the gallery.
But there • came into our midst a
lady from the city unused to the custom, who stood facing the
minister and remained so in her decided but unobtrusive manner.
The next Sabbath and succeeding ones many followed her example until half turned one way and half the other.
The pastor
asked for uniformity and all quietly gave up the old custom.
So
much for the force of Mrs. H. W . Sadd's example.
Does memory bring back to us the sermon preached?
It
certainly does many texts . "And lo, a cake of barley bread
tumbled into the host of Midian," was the text of the first sermon Mr. Hawkes preached
here.
Mr. Winch
from Enfield
preached here one Sunday from the text, "Thou fool."
Others
had this text, "Speak unto the 'children of Israel that they go
forward;"
and another, "First cast out the beam out of thine
own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to pull the mote out of
thy brother's eye."
Rev. Daniel Phillips, whose stay here was only too short,
gave a discourse one fast day on the political phase which was
much enjoyed.
Mr. Hardy's prayer meeting talks made us feel the necessity
of our own right living and our responsibility
for our neighbors
conversion.
Mr. Wright in his farewell sermon spoke of the impossibility
of pleasing everybody . One wanted the minister to do things
in his way and another in his way, and perhaps he commits the
unpardonable
offense of having a mind of his own.
While the Seminary was located at East Windsor Hill this
church had the benefit 'of weighty instruction.
Doctor Tyler
and Doctor Thompson, professors in the Seminary, frequently
discoursed on Foreordination,
Total Depravity,
Perseverance
of the Saints, Original Sin, Future Punishment,
Sanctification
and Redemption.
Were candidates for admission to the church
supposed to fully understand
these subjects?
I remember talking with two daughters of a former member
here.
One joined the Congregationalists
and one the Methodists.
When asked why they did not both join the same church
the reply was, "I believe in total depravity and live up to it.
She believes in falling from grace and practices it."
Method"Assurance of 1:wpe," was a subject often discussed.
ist camp meetings were held in neighboring woods.
One year
the camp meeting ground was near where Elam Belknap now
lives.
A crowd had gathered when a down pour of rain drove
them to their tents and then from their tents to houses in the
neighborhood.
Lorenzo Dow, an eccentric preacher with great
force of character, with other Methodist brothers, found grandfather's hospitable
roof a shelter from the storm . Naturally
conversation
at meal time was upon the all engrossing topic of

religion.
The great man insisted on ones knowing that he was
saved, and exclaimed, Oh, ye miserable, whining Presbyterians,
you hope and hope and are always hoping you are saved.
Now
I am just as sure of going to Heaven as I am of eating that piece
of meat.
In his earnestness
he gesticulated
so forcibly with
his hand that held the fork, that the piece of meat became
loosened and fell to the floor and the dog ate it up. This story
has been told with variations but Mrs . Howe will vouch for its
actual occurrence, as related, in the house now her home.
One hundred years is a long time in the retrospect and we are
obliged to pass over many familiar incidents , but the Civil War
was a time that touched men's hearts and tried men's souls.
From this church and community
went many of manhood's
fairest promise.
Forty years ago on the 25th day of August,
1862, a war meeting was held in the basement of this church.
At that time quite a number from this place signed their names
to the roll and enlisted for the army.
This was one of the most
solemn meetings ever held in this house.
The music was a drum
corps, but it brought tears from a great many of those present,
for it was almost certain that some of those boys would never
come back to meet with us again in the old meetinghouse.
With them went the prayers of those left behind.
With the
prayers went work and sometimes twice a week did the sewing
society meet to lay out and do work for the suffering soldiers.
Stockings were knit, bandages made of lint prepared with careful hand, and contributions
received and forwarded, not only to
personal friends but for the common cause in which our boys
enlisted.
There was no time or inclination
for church dissension.
The most important
feature in church work is spiritual prosperity.
In union is strength and strength means growth and
growth means not only increase in numbers but increase in
creature comforts in our place of worship, a sense of home life.
We are growing to feel the need of a place of social prayer.
Some of the best prayer meetings that I remember were
held in homes of the the people.
This audience room is too
large for our best social prayer.
Unless there is the heat of
brotherly love (and he that loveth God lovet h his brother also)
the prayers freeze in the atmosphere.
We should hate to find
ourselves in the condition of the church whose roof leaked badly.
Patching was of no avail, so they had to tear off the whole roof.
There they found accumulated
prayers that had ascended no
higher than the roof and had mildewed.
When the mid-week service is held there is a dampening
influence in the scattered
audience and we earnestly desire a
cozy, warm prayer meeting home and a place for our best social
development.
To that end we are working to collect funds
In building it we want the foundation laid firm
for a chapel.
and solid on the ;Rock Christ Jesus and its structure such as
shall contain only the Spirit of the Lord, even the Holy Spirit.

24

Then shall we all agree that our church is a part of the new
Jerusalem.
That in its construction are the elements of strength
as of iron, the brilliance of the ruby, the transparence
of the
sapphire, the lustre of the diamond, and the ductility, softness
and malleability of gold. "Instead of our fathers shall be our
children."
They began worship in an unfinished building but they did
not hold that they had more religion on account of it. They
knew that their religion would enable them to carry forward
the work.
Their steadfastness
was such as progressed.
George McDonald says, "Some apparent
steadfastness
is
but sluggishness and comes from incapacity to generate change
or contribute
toward personal growth."
When Rev. W. S. Hawkes first came among us we felt our
weakness, then began our strength.
From paying a salary of $500, we agreed to pay $800.
Though applying for aid to the H. M. S. we were persuaded
by Mr. Hawkes that we could do the work ourselves and we did
it and not only paid his salary with reasonable promptness
but built a parsonage and gave more to missionary work than
in previous years.
Following this effort which some criticised as unwise and
impossible was a sifting of hearts as to whom the gold and
silver belonged, also a question as to whom the hearts belonged.
The barley loaf overturned the tents and revealed the insecurity
of our reliance.
Church members were pricked in their hearts
and the unconverted
said, "We would see Jesus."
Friends
near and dear to us accepted Christ as their Saviour and established the family altar, for Mr. Hawkes insisted on a thorough
consecration.
Our hearts go out with a bound of joy and thankfulness,
first to our Heavenly Father, then to our earthly fathers who
gave us this heritage.
And we would pass on to our children
more than we have received and cement the bond of Christian
love and fellowship.
MRS.

E. S.

BISSELL.

Exodus 22:12.-"Honor
thy father and thy mother; that
thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God
giveth thee."
Genesis 17:16.-"I
will bless her, and she shall be a mother
of nations."
Judges 5:7.-"Deborah
arose .....
a mother in Israel.."
The Bible gives great prominence
to the family; every
reader must have noticed it; almost at the beginning we have the
institution of the ideal family; one man and one woman, united
for life, thenceforward
one, so far as aims, interests and rewards are concerned.
At the two beginnings of the race,
Adam and Noah, it was "father and mother," two, not three
or more, father and mother; not a hint of more than one wife.
All nature exhibits the male as physically stronger, and the

leader, which is also assumed in the Bible regarding man; and
often when the man is spoken of he stands for the whole
family . But while this is constantly so, there are not wanting
records of women of such individuality
that they are accorded
special notice; and wifehood and motherhood
are constantly
honored in the history of God's people . Sarah, Abraham's wife,
is particulariy named and promised blessings.
It is one peculiarity of our Holy Book, the Bible, that it makes prominent
mention of women and children; no such records are found in
the holy books of any other religion . Although in most of the
Bible history it is assumed that women exerted their due influence and performed their tasks, yet a multitude are named;
we readily recall Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Jocobed, the
mother of Moses, Zipporah his wife and Miriam his sister ,
Deborah, "a mother in Israel," who was 9ne of the Judges or
Rulers, the mother of Jabez, whose name is not given, but whose
prayer shows that she was a notable woman; Ruth the Moabitess, Hannah the mother of Samuel, Abigail the wife of Nabal
and afterwards of David, the woman of Shunem of Elisha's day,
and others.
The stories of Ruth, Naomi, Abigail and the Shunemite show us a glimpse of the rural home life of those days, and
that in some cases, if not in many, it was sweet and godly; from
which we may gather that all through those troubled days there
were some who kept the traditions of the Fathers and feared
God; and it was just so in Europe preceding the Reformation;
through those Dark Ages there were among the people pure
he.arts and homes where the fire of Pentecost was kept burning.
During the later years of the Hebrew kings, preceding the Captivity, we hear little of the women; but we may be sure there
were good mothers to have produced Daniel, Shadrach, Meshack
and Abed-Nego.
At a later period the story of Zacharias and
Elizabeth and Mary the mother of our Lord, show us that good
women were not wanting in Canaan at that time . The Hebrews
had always honored women as other nations, as a rule, did not;
and the coming of the Savior put special honor on them;
and
from Mary of Nazareth down through the Christian Ages woman
has been receiving her right.
And it is along this particular
line of thought I am to speak today . From the sermons of
Stephen, Peter and Paul we see how much the early Christian
preachers dwelt on the story of the Fathers of the Hebrew people; the Fathers of the Christian church are just as worthy
of mention, and were as truly called of God as were the Patriarchs; and the leaders of the Reformation were their rightful
successors; and the Fathers and Mothers of America, those who
first came to these shores, and their immediate children, who
were the pioneers of these towns where Christian institutions
were planted and have flourished, are as worthy of mention on
the Lord's Day in Church service as those whose names are
written in the Bible. These are later Worthies of Faith, some
of whose names would undoubtedly
have been included in the

XI th of Hebrews had that narrative been written one hundred
years ago instead of eighteen hundred years ago . In that remarkable
chapter women are named and others referred to .
On such occasions as this it is more common that the Fathers
receive mention; although often the term is used generically,
and the Mothers are just as much meant as the Fathers.
I love
and honor the Fathers; none more than I; but today I am to
speak particularly
of the Mothers-the
women of our early history; to emphasize what we of America owe to them.
Most of you must be aware that many of the first attempts
of Europeans to colonize America were made by " men only."
The Spanish colonies around the Gialf of Mexico were thus started
and only succeeded after many failures . The ever recurring
story makes it almost seem as though Spaniards thought men,
monks and the Inquisition
were enough , without good women
to be honorable wives and mothers . And what was true of the
Catholic Spaniards at the south was also true of the Protestant
English in Virginia, and at several places on the coast of Massachusetts, New Hampshire
and Maine . And in Canada Louis
XIV followed the Catholic Spanish method.
When the term of
service of his soldiers expired, which he had sent to Canada, he
used his influence to induce both officers and men to settle in
that land; but after a time that astute monarch was quite surprised and pained to learn that the French population was not
increasing, although half-breeds were multiplying
from Indian
mothers; Louis at once set about correcting his mistake, and
proceeded to provide French wives and mothers by Government aid; the prospect of a husband, a home, and a dower of
money was held out as an inducement
to women and girls to
cross the ocean to Canada ; and many ship-loads were thus sent
over; while much the larger number were respectable, yet among
so many thus secured, of necessity, there would be some of indifferent physical, mental and moral quality, which accounts
for the complaint of one of the prominent Nuns who had charge
of these immigrant women, who wrote of one ship's company
as a "cargo of mixed goods ." The historian Parkman says of
this movement of Louis XIV, "It is a pecularity of Canadian immigration, at its most flourishing epoch , that it was mainly an
immigration
of single men and single women.
The cases in
which entire families came over were comparatively
few."
The Protestant
English settlements
which were attempted
on the same plan, with "men only" were failures, all except
Jamestown which almost failed, and was only saved by the coming of virtuous women , the story of which is told in the popular
novel "To Have and to Hold."
The first English settlement which had a healthful and unfaltering growth from the start was that at Plymouth;
and the
women of the Pilgrim band, as wives, mothers,
sisters and
daughters, had been in consultation
with the men before they
left England for Holland, and while in the Low Countries they

27
were in all the consultations
about coming to the:New World;
and the social unit that came in the Mayflower was not the individual, a man, and he perhaps, a poor debtor, a rake, or a
"ne'er
do well," but the social unit of the Pilgrims was the
family, the Christian family of father, mother and children; and
while there were some young men and women of marriageable
age in that company, they were not sent because of that fact,
but because they were members of some family.
And it is significant of the character of the Pilgrim band that a woman was
in the first boat-load sent ashore for final location at Plymouth,
and a woman, Mary Chilton, was the first to step on historic
Plymouth Rock.
Thomas Weston, a London merchant,
who posed as a good
Puritan, advanced money for the outfit and vessels of the Pilgrims; but soon became disgusted with the small and slow profits; it was his belief that the Plymouth party was hindered by
having their families with them; and he determined
to try for
quicker returns, and sent over a colony of men without family
incumbrance,
who located on the shores of Massachusetts
Bay;
but they soon so rioted among themselves
and so abused the
Indians that they came near causing their own destruction
and
that of the Pilgrims also, who saved them from the Indians and
then from starvation,
and I imagine it was the tender-hearted
Pilgrim women who prompted
the men to their rescue.
As the years went on the large and rich party in England
known as Puritans, found their lot under James I growing harder
and harder to bear; he seemed determined to keep the promise
he had once made that he would "harry them out of the land."
And when he died in 1625 it was soon seen that their lot would
be no easier under his son Charles I; they were now hearing
much about the success of the Plymouth
colony, and in 1627
and 1628 there were many deliberations
among them whether
considerable numbers should not emigrate to this new land; the
historian Green says these matters "were talked over in every
Puritan household;
it is certain that the women of these households knew all about the plans and purposes, and when all was
ready to begin, John Endicott was sent ahead to prepare the
way, and Bancroft significantly says that Endicott's
"wife and
family were the companions of his voyage, the hostages of his
fixed attachment
to the New World."
So woman was at the
first permanent settlement of Massachusetts
Bay as she had been
at Plymouth;
and when the Connecticut
Colony was about to
begin, the advance party was sent by sea and the Connecticut
River, and, as at Plymouth, it was a woman, Rachel Stiles, who
first stepped ashore at Old Windsor.
And it was the same at
New Haven, the godly and refining English woman was there.
Virginia, with its contract women for wives and mothers,
had a dubious growth for many years; what afterwards
gave
that Colony its distinguished
character was the fact that during
the Commonwealth
times in England many of the Cavaliers took

2S
their families, wives and children, to that Colony, and their
women were among the very best of Old England; and in this
we see again the distinctive English Christian social unit-the
family.
The Pilgrim and Puritan women who helped make these New
England settlements a success from the start were some of the
very best of women-kind of any race or age. One has but to
read their record to admire them, and to discover the secret of
the dominance of their descendants in the making of this Nation.
In the Puritan party of England were many representatives
of the nobility, and some of them were planning to come to
America with their wealth, retainers and titles; but the major
part of the would-be settlers would not agree that the titles and
special privileges of the nobility should be recognized and continued in the new settlements; and so most of them held back
from coming; but quite a number of relatives and some of their
daughters came, and among them Lady Arabella, daughter of the
Earl of Lincoln, and wife of Isaac Johnson, an excellent man and
a great helper of the colony with money and service; in letters
of the time we read much of Lady Arabella's gentle Christian
graces; she and her husband were not rugged enough to endure
the hardships and were among the first to die. Bancroft says
of those early Puritans and their efforts, "Woman was there to
struggle against unforeseen hardships, unwonted sorrows."
As
half the Pilgrim band died that first awful winter at Plymouth,
so about 200 of the Puritans at Salem, Charlestown and Boston
during that first summer.
After describing their sufferings,
Bancroft says, "Their enthusiasm was softened by the mildest
sympathy with suffering humanity, while sincere faith kept
guard against despondency and weakness.
Not a hurried line,
not a trace of repining appears in their records.
. . . . .
For that placid resignation which diffuses grace round the bed
of sickness, and makes death too serene for sorrow and too
beautiful for fear, no one was more remarkable than the
daughter of Thomas Sharp, whose youth and sex, and, as it
seemed, unqualified virtues, won warmest eulogies. . . . .
.
Even little children caught the spirit of the
place; and in their last hours, awoke to the awful mystery of
the impending change, awaited its approach in the tranquil confidence of faith, and went to the grave full of immortality."
It
is easy to see that such men were made what they were, not
only by their faith, but by that faith shared and sustained by
their sweet, intelligent and godly women. If any of you are curious to know more of just what those women were, read the story
of Margaret Tyndall, third wife of Governor John Winthrop. Her
letters show the strong and beautiful character which sustained
and encouraged her husband during the planning for the Puritan
colony. He was a prominent lawyer of good estate and social
standing, and she from a family of still higher social grade; she
not only intelligently counselled him in advance, but cordially

29

assented to his going at first alone when she must remain behind
for motherhood,
and afterwards
when he had not hidden one of
the trials from her, she was anxious to join him that she might
share them with her beloved husband and so help and cheer him
and advance
the great cause.
It is clearly evident that Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
Bay and the Connecticut
Colonies
would never have been embalmed in song and story if it had not
been for the quality of our foremothers,
who possessed "unfeigned faith" like that of Lois and Eunice, the grandmother
and mother of Timothy.
And with their assured faith was their
placid devotion, their quiet but deep enthusiasm,
their unrepining endurance,
their gentle ministrations,
and their fervid love,
all of which made the men what they were-good
men nobler.
The story of some of those women has been written and given
the world; the story of many more ought to be carefully gathered
together and published to the world before the records are lost.
A concrete case often impresses us more than general facts; and
for my purpose today I have one at hand that is peculiarly appropriate for this place and occasion; for the "mother in Israel"
of whom I am about to speak was born in the town of which
Wapping and South Windsor was a part, and many of her descendents
have lived in this town; and some, I think, in this
parish, and some of them are, I think, here present today.
She
was not one of the first settlers of Plymouth
or Massachusetts
Bay, but the daughter of one of them, who soon left the seaboard
settlements
and came to this Valley and helped to make this
town and surrounding
region; so this woman and her descendants are a part of your history, and her story peculiarly appropriate to this occasion.
I refer to
ESTHER

W ARHAM.

Esther, or as sometimes written in the old records, Hester
Warham,
was born in Windsor, where her remarkable
father
was the first pastor.
It would be highly interesting
to speak
of that Forefather,
but I am to tell of his daughter, a Foremother.
Before her father came to this town he lived a short time in Dorchester, Mass., whose first minister was Richard Mather, another
remarkable
man.
His son Eleazar was called to be the first
pastor of the Northampton,
Mass., church, and needing a wife,
sought her in the family of his father's friend, John Warham;
and having wooed and won the young and attractive
girl, the
impatient
lover hastened
the marriage,
and Esther became a
bride when a month or two less than 15 years of age.
This need
not surprise us, for the character,
mission and environments
of
those first settlers hastened development
of body and mind, and
the Puritans in a corrupt age looked on early marriage as a safeguard of the purity of the home.
Some time before this Governor John Winthrop
of the Massachusetts
Bay Colony, was

not yet 18 years old when first married in England, and his
second brid e was but 17 y ea rs old at marri age, and both unions
were looked upon with appro v al by all concerned at the time ;
and 70 y ears after the time of E sther's marriage Sarah Pierrepont ,
was onl y 17 years of age wh en sh e m a rri ed Jonathan Edwards ,
th e grandson of our Esther.
Anoth er common practice in those
early New Engl and da ys wa s th e interm arriage betw een
minister s ' families; Esther, a minist er 's d aughter was marri ed
to a minister , th e son of a mini ster , and afterwards six of h er
se v en daughters marri ed minist ers , and some of her sons took
minist ers' daught ers to wif e. This girl wife liv ed happil y with
Mr. Mather 'almo st ten ye ars , and after a widowhood of five
y ears married her husband's
succe ssor in the pastoral office ,
Solomon Stoddard , with whom sh e live d in happin ess 55 y ears.
H e was no common man; th e gr andson of Go v ernor Winthrop's
sis te r , he p os sessed gr eat abilit y.
The President Timothy Dwight of Yale College , one hundred
ye ars ago , said that h e "possessed , probabl y, mor e influence
than an y other clergyman in the Pro v ince during a period of 30
y ears.
He was regarded with a re v erence which will scarcely
be rendered to any other man."
Another said of him, " His look and behavior was such as
gave those who conversed with him, occasion to say of him, as
the woman of the prophet , 'I perceive that this is a man of
God.'"
The Indians called him "The Englishman's
God," and
his grandson, Edwards, said he was a "ver y great man."
Yet
it was he, more than anyone else, who introduced into the New
England churches what was called the "Half-way
Covenant,"
which was accepting
church m embership
before conversion,
whence it was called "a half-way covenant ."
Stoddard was a m an of intell ect and faith, and came to his
belief in the "Half-way
Covenant"
in a singular manner, in
which his remarkable
wife, without intending to lead to that
It is said that, in the common acresult, played a leading part.
ceptation of the term, he was not a converted man when he
began his Northampton
pastorate, and that when that change
did come to him the human agent that led to it was Mrs.
Stoddard.
The way in which the stor y has come down to us
shows how near we really ar e to those days.
My great-grandfather
was born in 1715 , and it is as though
he. having known some of the parties, told the story to his son,
my grandfather,
and he to m y father, and my father to me. We
are onl y three lives, if long ones , away from it . Dr. Increase N . Tarbox , who was born in East Windsor, so a son of
Windsor town, had the story from Dr. Thomas "\iVilli ams of
Providence,
who had it from Dr . Joseph Lath ro p of West
Springfield, who was ordained about the tim e E dwards left
Northampton,
when some must have been still liv ing who readily
recalled Stoddard and his wife Esther.
The nub of t h e story is
that as time went on Mrs. Stoddard feared that h er abl e husb and

31

had not an experimental
knowledge of Christ as a Savior, which
opinion was shared by some of her intimate friends, a company
or godly women; and Mrs. Stoddard began praying with these
women for her husband's
conversion;
after a while he noticed
that his wife was keeping an appointment
a certain day of the
week, and asked her about it. ' Mrs. Stoddard frankly told him
the burden of her heart which deeply affected him.
Not long
afterwards,
when officiating
at the communion
table,
he
had a new view of Christ as his personal
Savior,
which
produced
a radical
change in his thinking
and preaching.
And it is a curious
and
interesting
fact, showing
how
personal
experiences
are apt to color
and
shape
our
thinking
and conduct, that that experience having come to
Mr. Stoddard
at the communion
table
he ever after
attached a new and deeper meaning to that rite, thinking it almost, if not quite, a saving ordinance.
There is much reason
to accept this story; and it shows both the strong individuality
and the deep spiritual piety of Esther W arham.
Mr. Stoddard
was an advocate
of the Half-way Covenant,
and practiced it; but through the influence of his wife he was so
spiritual minded, and his preaching so pungent, that it undoubtedly saved his congregation
from the spiritual deadness which
prevailed in most of the churches where the Half-way Covenant
was practiced;
and there was a spiritual
atmosphere
in that
town which was ready to be affected by the searching preaching
of Edwards, who succeeded Mr. Stoddard, and whose grandson
he was.
Esther survived her husband seven years, and thus as wife or
widow of pastors she was identified with that church for 77
years.
She was the mother of 13 children, some records say 15;
but 13 grew up, married and had families.
Hers was a remarkable
experience
and hers a remarkable
family.
Of some of the daughters a few words should be said:
The oldest was Eunice Mather, 'who married Rev. John Williams,
first pastor of the Deerfield Church; when that town was captured by the French•and
Indians in 1704, the whole family were
made captives and started for Canada; Mrs. Williams had a babe
but a few days old, and could not endure the hardship;
knowing
that she would soon fall out and probably be at once killed by
the Indians
she took a tender
and affectionate
farewell
of her husband,
in which the same strong
faith of her
mother Esther was prominent,
and calmly waited for her fate
which for her and her babe soon came from the merciless Indian.
Mr. Williams and the other children were carried to Canada.
All but one daughter· were afterward ransomed;
that daughter
would not be given up by the Indians,
afterwards
married
among them, and many of her descendants
are today numbered
among the Canada Indians.
Stephen,
one of the boys was
afterwards the first pastor of the Longmeadow
Church.
Esther
W arham's eldest daughter by Mr. Stoddard was named Esther

32
after herself, and became the wife of Rev. Timothy Edwards,
first pastor of the first Church of this town; she is spoken of as
having been stately, handsome, of polished manners, thoroughly
educated, having a "business head," being an earnest Christian,
and altogether a strong character;
she and Mr. Edwards lived
together 64 years and she was the mother of 11 children, of
whom the fifth, and the only boy, was the distinguished
Jonathan Edwards; one boy among ten sisters! and perhaps that
was a reason of his sweetness and gentleness of character, for
although as bold as a lion, he was a man of exceeding gentle
spirit and breeding.
Those ten sisters were thorough scholars
and assisted their father in teaching the boys he fitted for Yale
College; like their mother they were tall, all six feet or more
in height! and Mr. Edwards used to facetiously
say he "had
sixty feet of daughters!"
Seven of the ten married in Connecticut, and from them are descended some of the most prominent
families of this town and State.
The youngest of them was Martha, who was the erratic wife
of Rev. Moses Tuthill, the second pastor of this parish, who, I
understand
preached here some time before the church was
organized.
Two of their daughters
inherited
some of their
mother's erratic ways, and lived in this part of the town, the
last of the two not dying till 1837. During my pastorate the
aged people used to tell me anecdotes
of the family, one of
Martha Edwards Tuthill who was a "thorn in the flesh" to her
husband; and perchance, a "means of grace" to him.
Passing over others mention should be made of another
granddaughter,
Jonathan Edwards' daughter Esther, who married Rev. Aaron Burr, President of Princeton,
N. J., College,
who was the father of Aaron Burr, Vice-President
of the United
States; a man of whom many strange things not to his credit
are told.
It has often excited wonder that Aaron Burr should
have been the unprincipled man he was with such a godly ancestry behind him.
But during my studies the past year I have
discovered that Jonathan
Edwards'
grandmother,
mother of
Rev. Timothy Edwards of our First Church, was a woman of
deranged mind, as well as other members of her family; and if
we accept the teaching of heredity we need not be surprised
that some strange and dark individuals appeared among her descendants, as three notable ones did; one each in three successive generations, of whom her granddaughter,
Martha Edwards
Tuthill of this town was one; her great-grandson,
youngest son
of Jonathan
Edwards,
was another; and Aaron Burr, her
great-great-grandson
was a third.
However we view her, Esther Warham was a remarkable
woman; of her mother we know little; but history says her
father was an uncommon
man; being sometimes called "the
gentle Warham," but a noted preacher, who left his impress on
Old Windsor.
It is of local interest to us today that Jolin Warham's daugh-

33

ter next older than Esther was Sarah.
Her granddaughter
was
Elizabeth Moore Foster, whose body was one of the first buried
in the yard directly back of this meetinghouse.
not far from
where I stand.
I understand
that all the Fosters of this part
of the town, and all the descendants
of Edward Chapman
Grant, are descendants of this woman, granddaughter
of Sarah
Warham, sister of our Esther.
We have seen that Esther was wife of the first and second
pastors of the Northampton
Church and that the third was her
grandson, Jonathan
Edwards;
the fifth was her great-greatgrandson, who was the pastor 56 years, and a grandson of his
was, in our day, pastor 14 years; which shows that the husbands
or descendants of Esther Warham have been pastors of that one
church for 158 years of its history; or 160 if we count the two
years when another was associate pastor with one of the others.
A vast host of her descendants have been Congregational ministers; a half dozen have been College Presidents, some United
States Senators, some Governors, others representatives,
judges,
lawyers, physicians, and many others prominent
men and women of this country.
Among the families descended from her who have furnished
many noted ministers have been two lines of the Williams family,
the Edwards, Dwight, Mather, Stoddard, Hooker, Strong, Porter, Parsons, Baccus,
Hopkins,
Woodbridge,
Park, Hawley,
Sheldon, and Storrs families, and others I have not recalled;
and General W. T. and Hon. John Sherman,
outside the pulpit,
and who -can tell how many others?
As we read her story it not hard to trace her influence; we
see it through her uncommon daughters in the parsonages to
which they went in different parts of New England; her spirituality was felt in many parishes beyond Northampton.
It
reached the parsonage in South Windsor Street in a letter which
she sent her daughter Esther after the birth of Jonathan
Ed wards, congratulating
her on the birth of her son, and referring
to the death of her own daughter Eunice by the Indians, which
breathes a spirit of strong faith and implicit trust in the divine
wisdom.
But, womanlike, there is a postcript to the letter, in
the thoughtful
mother
appears. She says, "P. S. I would
have sent you a half a thousand pins and a porringer of marmalat if I had an opporturtity."
Her influence is clearly seen in
Jonathan
Edwards; many of her traits reappear in him, and it
is interesting
t,o know that he was her pastor some years and
that she lived to see the first great revival that came under his
preaching at Northampton.
How that must have rejoiced her
devotedly pious soul? When we become acquainted
with Edwards' grandmother
and wonderful wife we are not much surprised that he was the man he was. Of him Whittier wrote:

34
"In the church of the wilderness Edwards wrought,
Shaping his creed at the forge of thought;
And with Thor's own hammer welded and bent
The iron links of his argument,
Which strove to grasp in its mighty span
The purpose of God and the fate of man!
Yet faithful still, in his daily round.
To the weak, and the poor, and sin-sick found,
The schoolman's lore and the casuist's art
Drew warmth and life from his fervent heart.
Had he not seen in the solitudes
Of his deep and dark Northampton
woods
A vision about him falI?
Not the blinding splendor that fell on Saul,
But the tenderer glory that rests on them
Who walk in the New Jerusalem,
Where never the sun nor moon are known,
But the Lord and His love are the light alone!
And watching the sweet, still countenance
Of the wife of his bosom rapt in trance,
Had he not treasured each broken word
Of the mystical wonder seen and heard;
And loved the beautiful dreamer more
That thus to the desert of earth she bore
Clusters of Rschol from Canaan's shore?"

This "wife of his bosom,"
"the beautiful
dreamer,"
was
Sarah, daughter of Rev. John Pierrepont of New Haven, who,
when but 13 years of age, had such remarkable religious experiences; "trances" Whittier calls them, but wholly unlike those
of so-called "mediums;"
but such religious exercises that the
repute of them went far and wide; and Edwards, before he ever
saw her wrote about them and her in his diary, and she became
his wife when but seventeen years of age, and seemed from the
first a matured character; and when the mother of six children
George Whitefield wrote, after a visit to her home, that she was
the most beautiful woman he had ever known; and who, from
abundant testimony, was as practical and winsome, as beautiful. She was a woman after the own heart of Esther W ar:rnm,
her grandmother-in-law.
And while the great men, the Fathers of New England, were departing into cold formality in
preaching and life, it was such women as this foremother and
her daughters
and others like them, who prayed, saw by intuition, and held by mighty but intelligent faith, the great center
of the gospel; and through Esther W arham, her daughter Esther
Stoddard Edwards, and her daughter-in -law, Sarah Pierrepont
Edwards, an influence was exerted on Jonathan
Edwards, by
grandmother, mother and wife, by whom more than by any other
man, the church of New England was brought back.

"

-