Part 2

This Society has uniformly treated its ministers honorably and kindly. It has always acted with a good degree of unanimity. In every instance, except the first, the Society has found it difficult to unite in the calling of a pastor. At such times feeling has often run high, and when a call was voted, there has often been a few votes in the negative But the call once given and the pastor settled, parties have disappeared and all united in treating the man with the respect due to his office. Of the 8 pastors who have preceded the present, 3—Boardman, Taylor, and Elliot—died in office. Mr. Griswold left voluntarily, without any action on the part of the Church or Society. Mr. Porter resigned because of his “physical inability to perform the duties belonging to so large and scattered a parish.” Mr. Murdoch resigned to accept the invitation of the Third Church in New Haven. In regard to Mr. Rood, the Church and Society both voted unanimously that a change was needful for their well being; but even then, it voted him a gift of $400 and borrowed the money to give it to him. In the only other instance in which a change was desired, it was solely because of the physical infirmity of the pastor, who was as universally admired for his talents, as he was revered for his character. On his resignation, the Society voted him a donation of $500. The Society has always cared for the comfort of its pastors and been faithful to its promises to them. In the times of Messrs. Boardman and Taylor it was very poor and did not always pay promptly; but then it allowed interest on all arrearages. It gave Mr. Boardman a settlement in land and increased his salary from £50 and 40 cords of wood, “good and suitable for the fire,” to £125. It gave Mr. Taylor a settlement of £1,000, payable in installments within three years, and increased his salary from time to time at his request. But in 1779—“the time that tried men’s souls”—Mr. Taylor, “trusting to the generosity of the members of the Society,” relinquished his salary of £150, lawful money, from May 1st, 1778, to May 1st, 1779. And in 1782, Mr. Taylor, “taking into consideration the great burden and heavy taxes now lying on the people by reason of the present war, and he, being free and willing to bear a proportionate part of the cost and burden with others of the Society,” did “abate and discharge to said Society, the sum of £30, lawful money” from what was then due to him. And the Society, in its vote of thanks, “allowed that £30 was his full equal part, according to his interest or estate.” On the ordination of Mr. Griswold the Society voted Mr. Taylor “a gratuity of £80, in addition to all arrears then due to him.” Mr. Griswold’s settlement was £200, with a salary of £100, “payable in gold or silver, or produce at such prices as he would accept, with interest on all arrears.” £15 was afterwards added to his salary “because he did not receive so much wood as he expected.” And from 1794 to 1801 the Society annually voted him, usually £30 “in view of the high price of provisions the current year.” Mr. Elliot’s salary was $550: but from 1819 to his death $50 additional was annually voted to him except in 1826. Mr. Rood’s salary was $600, while Messrs. Porter and Greenwood had $700; Mr. Murdoch accepted the call of the Church and Society at a salary of $800, which, on his application, was gradually increased to $2,000. And in 1868 members of the Society presented him $1,750.

This statement of facts shows that this Society has aimed to do well by its pastors, and that these pastors were men who were worthy of good treatment.

These pastors were:—

1. Daniel Boardman—Graduated at Yale College, 1709, was ordained here November 21st, 1716, and died August, 25th, 1744.

2. Nathaniel Taylor was born in Danbury, August 27th, 1722; graduated at Yale College, in 1745; was ordained pastor here June 29th, 1748, and died here December 9th, 1800. He fitted many boys for College and married the daughter of his predecessor.

3. Stanley Griswold was born in Torringford, November 14th, 1763; graduated at Yale College, in 1786; was ordained pastor here June 20th, 1790; became a Unitarian, threw open the sacraments to all, and was censured by Consociation. He left town in 1802, and edited a political paper in New Hampshire. In 1805 he was appointed Secretary of Michigan Territory. In 1809 he was sent to the U. S. Senate, was afterwards Chief Judge of the N. W. Territory, and died at Shawneetown, Ill., August 25th, 1815, aged 52.

This Church and Society united in forming the Litchfield South Consociation, on July 7th, 1752. But feeling aggrieved by the action of the Association and Consociation in relation to Mr. Griswold, the Society, September 1805, by a unanimous vote withdrew from said Consociation, for intermeddling in the private affairs of this Society and excommunicating the pastor unheard in his own defence. It stood unconsociated until the installation of Mr. Elliot, when dropping the half-way covenant, which was adopted here in 1769, it was received into the Fairfield Consociation, February 24th, 1808. It returned to Litchfield South Consociation, April 27th, 1836.

4. Andrew Elliot, son of Rev. Andrew Elliot, of Fairfield; graduated at Yale College, in 1790; was ordained pastor here February 24th, 1808, and labored most successfully until his death, May 9th, 1829. No pastor of this Church has exerted a more powerful and healthy influence upon the town than Mr. Elliot. The most extensive and genuine revival that ever blessed this community, was under his ministry.

5. Heman Rood was born in Vermont; graduated at Middlebury College in 1819, and Seminary in 1825; was ordained pastor at Gilmanton, N. H., June 12th, 1826-30; was pastor in New Milford from 1830 to 1835. Mr. Rood’s pastorate was the briefest this Church has ever had. He was afterwards professor in the Theological Seminary, at Gilmanton, N. H., 7 years.

6. Noah Porter, son of Rev. Noah Porter, D. D., of Farmington, was born December 14th, 1811; graduated at Yale College, in 1831; at Yale Seminary, in 1836; was ordained pastor here April 27th, 1836, and resigned December 31st, 1842; after serving the South Church, Springfield, Mass., 4 years, he then became a professor in Yale University of which institution he was elected President, and inaugurated October 11th, 1871.

7. John Greenwood was born in Berwick, Yorkshire, England, June 5th, 1794, and was ordained pastor at Royston, Cambridgeshire, June 20th, 1822-July 17th, 1836; installed pastor at Bethel, April 18th, 1838-February 1842; after serving this Church as settled pastor for one year, he was installed pastor April 24th, 1844, and resigned May 19th, 1849. In 1843 he received the honorable degree of A. M. from Yale College.

8. David Murdoch, was born in Glasgow, Scotland; graduated at Union College, in 1845; Union Theological Seminary, 1848; ordained pastor here September 18th, 1850, and remained until September 28th, 1869. He was installed pastor of the New Haven Third Church, October 1st, 1869, and remained until May 15th, 1874.

9. James B. Bonar graduated at Wabash College, 1853; at Union Theological Seminary, New York, 1856; ordained —— by the Third Presbyterian Church, New York, March 18th, 1857; installed pastor American Presbyterian Church, Montreal, Canada, June 6th, 1857, and left in 1869. He was installed pastor at New Milford, June 30th, 1870.

The Church connected with this Society was organized November 21st, 1716, with 8 male and 5 female members. During the first pastorate 225 more were added by profession and letter. During Mr. Taylor’s ministry of 42 years, 301 names were added to the roll. Mr. Griswold kept a full record of Baptisms, Marriages, and Deaths during his entire ministry. His list of admissions to the Church is only to January 1st, 1797. From that date he seems to have invited all persons to the Sacraments. Under his ministry only 34 persons united with the Church. At his ordination Mr. Elliott found only 43 members—showing how the Church had been broken up in the 8 years preceding. Nine years later, after the Church at Bridgewater had been formed, Mr. Elliott reports a membership of 118; but this was before the revival that moved the town. Three hundred and nineteen members were added to the Church during Mr. Elliot’s ministry—most of them on profession of faith. There were added to the Church under Mr. Rood, 153, Mr. Porter, 116, and Mr. Greenwood, 46. After the retirement of Mr. Greenwood, Rev. E. W. Andrews was acting pastor for 6 or 8 months, and received 63 persons to Church fellowship. In the 19 years of Mr. Murdoch’s ministry there were added to the Church, 243 persons; and under the present pastorate of 6 years 80 have been received. The number of names on the Church roll up to this date is 1593. In 1861 there was a reported membership of 476; but the roll had not been revised and corrected since 1836. A careful sifting of the list in the Fall of 1870, showed a Church membership of 310 at the beginning of the present pastorate. The actual membership to-day is 332—27 of them over 75 years of age, and one of them over 100 years. At the head of the list is Mrs. Polly Canfield who united in 1812. Two persons are said to have died in this town over 100 years of age—Harry Carpenter, a colored man, and Noah Nodine, who was born in the 17th century and died in the 19th. Miss Sally Northrop, who celebrated the anniversary of her 100th birthday on the 29th of June is still living.

During the last century, the Church was sensitive as to the character of its Deacons. Instead of electing brethren at once to the office, it choose them to serve during the Church’s pleasure. If acceptable after one or two years trial, they were, by vote, “established as Deacons.” And in 1750 the Church voted that one brother, who had thus been on trial for two years, “should not be established in the office of Deacon.” Twenty-one persons have so far served the Church in this office, viz:—Samuel Brownson, James Prime, John Bostwick, Job Terrill, Samuel Canfield, Bushnell Bostwick, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Gaylord, John Hitchcock, Sherman Boardman, Elizur Warner, Joseph Merwin, Dobson W. M’Mahon, John Beecher, Nicanor Stilson, Geo. W. Whittelsey, Geradus Roberts, Seymour B. Green, William Hine, John J. Conklin, and Ethiel S. Green. From 1716 to 1803, the Lord’s Supper was administered 4 times a year; since 1808, every two months.

Nineteen men from this Church have entered the Gospel ministry, viz:—

1. David Bostwick, born here January 8th, 1721; was ordained pastor at Jamaica, L. I., October 9th, 1745, where he stayed until 1746. He was installed pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, in New York City, in 1756, and died in 1763. His work on Infant Baptism was published here and in England, and republished in 1837.

2. Joseph Treat; graduated at Princeton College, in 1757. He was ordained pastor colleague of Rev. Dr. Bostwick, First Presbyterian Church, N. Y. City, in 1762, where he remained until 1784.

3. David Brownson; graduated at Yale College, in 1762, and was ordained pastor at Oxford in 1764, staying until 1779. He died in 1806.

4. Benjamin Wildman; graduated at Yale College, in 1758; was ordained pastor at Southbury, in 1766 and died in 1812.

5. Whitmon Welch; graduated at Yale College in 1762, and died in 1776.

6. Gideon Bostwick was born here in 1742; graduated at Yale College in 1762. He was a teacher of the Classical School established in Great Barrington, Mass., by Dr. Whiting, Col. Dwight and other members of the Episcopal Church, in 1766. Invited to act as Lay reader, he went to England and received orders from the Bishop of London, and was Rector at Great Barrington, from 1767 to 1793. He died here while on a visit to Mrs. Boardman, who was Dr. Whiting’s daughter. [See Schroeder’s Memorial of Mrs. M. A. Boardman.]

7. David Sandford was born in Milford, December 11th, 1737; graduated at Yale College in 1755; was ordained pastor at Medway, Mass., April 14th, 1763, and continued there until April 7th, 1810.

8. John Stevens; graduated at Yale College, in 1779; was licensed by Litchfield South Association, 1780, and died in 1799.

9. David Baldwin.

10. Daniel Marsh was born in 1762; graduated at Williams College; was pastor of Bennington, Vt., from 1806 to 1820; died at Janesville, New York, in 1843.

11. Nathaniel W. Taylor, grandson of the second pastor of this Church, was born here, June 13, 1786; graduated at Yale College, in 1807; converted in College; was ordained pastor at New Haven, on the first of April, 1812, and retained the position until December 1822. He was then Professor in Yale College Theological Seminary, and died in 1858. He trained nearly 700 young men for the ministry.

12. Charles A. Boardman; was pastor at New Preston from June 1818, until March 1830; was installed pastor at New Haven, on the third of March, 1830, remaining until September 1832. He was also installed pastor at Westport, February 1833, and stayed until December 1836. He died in 1860.

13. Orlo D. Hine was born here, October 28, 1815; graduated at Yale College, in 1837; was ordained pastor at Clinton, April 14th, 1841, laboring there until October 25th, 1842. He was also acting pastor at Fair Haven, Vt., from 1843 to 1845; acting pastor at Pontiac, Mich., from 1846 to 1851; installed pastor at North Woodstock, January 6th, 1852, and stayed until November 5th, 1855; and was installed pastor at Lebanon the first of May 1856.

14. Merrit S. Platt was born in 1805; graduated at Hamilton College; was ordained pastor at Madison, N.Y., September 1837, remaining until 1855; was acting pastor at Hamilton, N. Y., 1855, staying until 1864; was also acting pastor at Glassboro, New Field, Franklin, New Jersey, in 1864. He is still living.

15. Eliezur Beecher, ordained by the Baptists about 1814; was never settled; preached mainly in this town.

16. Asahel Bronson was ordained about 1820 or 1825; supposed to be dead.

17. John Treat Baldwin; graduated at Princeton College; was ordained about 1820. He is still living.

18. George Todd; graduated at Yale College about 1820 or 1825; supposed to be living.

19. George Sterling was ordained pastor at Wayland, Mich., December, 1874.

At least four men in this town have been active in National affairs. The most distinguished was Roger Sherman, a native of Mass., who came here in 1743. He was clerk to this Ecclesiastical Society, from 1753 to 1761, and established in the office of Deacon in 1757. Here he wrought as a shoemaker, aided his brother in the store, and in 1745 was appointed land surveyor for the County. Removing to New Haven in 1761, he became judge of the court of Common Pleas, a member of the upper House in the Legislature, and judge of the Superior Court. In 1774 he was appointed a member of the first Congress, in which he continued until his death, at which time he was in the Senate, to which he was elected in 1791. He was a member of the Governor’s Council of safety, and Mayor of New Haven from 1784 to his death, July 23d, 1793. In the Congress of 1776 he was a member of the Committee appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence, as well as of many of the other most important Committees, and he was also a member of the board of war, and of the board of treasury. His services to the Country were invaluable, and few of his contemporaries left their impress more clearly upon American institutions.

Elijah Boardman, third son of Deacon Sherman Boardman, and grandson of the first pastor of this Church, was born March 7, 1760. In 1821 he was elected to the U. S. Senate; he died August 18th, 1823. Mr. Boardman’s earlier years were in connection with this Society; but having married a daughter of the aforementioned Dr. Whiting, a zealous Episcopalian who engaged in a pamphlet controversy with Dr. Billamy, he afterwards identified himself with the Episcopal Church and died in its communion.

Perry Smith, who died in 1852, was elected to the United States Senate in 1836, and served one term. He was connected with the Episcopal Society.

Orange Merwin, born here July 3, 1776, was in Congress in 1826-7, during the administration of John Quincy Adams. He died September 5th, 1854. He was a member of this Society.

The Sabbath School was begun in 1812 or 14 by Rev. Mr. Elliott, who for some time was the only teacher. The first appropriation of money for its benefit by the Church was in 1821. The present membership of the Sabbath School is 300. The Infant Class in the Chapel was begun, under its present teacher, Miss Isabella Wilson, in 1872.

Under Mr. Elliott’s ministry, prayer meetings became common in the town. They were held on Sundays between services, in the Town House and in the school houses of the outlying districts. In times of religious interest many week day meetings were held in various places. A Saturday evening prayer meeting was held for years in the parlors of Mr. and Mrs. Eli Mygatt, when they lived on the spot now occupied by the residence of Mrs. Sanford and afterwards in the Town house. But no regular mid-week Church afternoon service was established until during Mr. Rood’s pastorate, when the Friday afternoon meeting was begun. The Tuesday evening meeting was commenced in 1865 or 66. The Mother’s Monthly Prayer Meeting began in 1869.

The gifts to the Church, so far, are these: July 14th, 1815, Deacon Dobson, and W. M’Mahon gave the Church $100, the interest to be used for relief of poor members, or for books. February 20th, 1820, Deacon M’Mahon gave $400 to be used for the same purposes.

In 1844 Miss Lois Wells gave the Church $200 for the relief of the poor, sick and destitute female members.

Mrs. Anna Hine, widow of Stephen, who died in 1851 or 2 bequeathed $200 to the Church.

And in January 6th, 1860, Miss Sully Northrop, who completed her 100th year a few days ago, gave $200 to be added to the Church Fund.

The Benevolent Library originated in the gifts of Deacon M’Mahon, Col. Samuel Canfield and Philo N. Heacock, who took great interest in it. No additions have been made to it for some years. It consists of about 600 volumes of standard works, and merits more attention than it has lately received.

It is impossible to form any estimate of the amount of money contributed by this Church and Society, to religious and benevolent objects. Until after the installation of Mr. Porter there was no system or regularity in its charities. Collections were taken up as the town was visited by agents, or as necessity seemed to require. It is thought that contributions have been made regularly to the A. B. C. F. M., and the Am. H. M. S., ever since these societies were formed. The oldest record of any contribution by this Congregation is the receipt of the County Treasurer for £94 16s. 0d. which this Society gave “for the suffering and distressed inhabitants of the towns of New Haven, Fairfield and Norwalk.” This receipt is dated September 1779, three months after the towns named had been sacked by Major General Tryon.

From 1836 to 1871 the Congregation contributed regularly to the Am. Ed., the Bible, the A. H. M., the Seamen’s F. & S. S. Union, the A. B. C. F. M., and the A. Tract Societies. Since 1871 we have contributed annually to the Bible S., Congregational Union, A. H. M. S., Fund for Disabled Ministers and their widows, the A. B. C. F. M., and the A. M. Association.

The Rev. W. H. Moore states that, in the 17 years from 1859 to 1875, this Congregation contributed $18,876.53. Dividing this into two periods, he finds that in the first nine years you gave $3,765.90, and in the last eight years $11,810.63, a gratifying increase, which, it is hoped we shall fully maintain.

The Ladies’ Mite Society was formed in 1817 as a Dorcas Society. For 50 years it has annually contributed about $75, divided between A. H. M. S., Seamen’s F. and A. Ed. Societies.

The Auxiliary to the Woman’s B. of Missions was formed in May 1872, “The Golden Links,” and “Star Circle” a year later. These organizations last year, together, contributed $389.

Such, in brief, brethren, is the story of your Church, Society and town. It is one of which you need not be ashamed. A careful study of these old records has increased my respect and reverence for the men of the past. Their courage in facing difficulties, their heroic endurance of privation, their sturdy independence, their delight in the ordinances of the Gospel, their readiness to assist each other, and their generosity towards those who differed from them in opinion, are worthy not only of warm praise, but of careful imitation.

And yet these men of the past were not all saints and patriots. In 1776 there were some bitter tories here: One of these was compelled by a company of riflemen to walk before them from New Milford to Litchfield carrying one of his own geese the entire distance At Litchfield they tarred him, made him pluck his own goose, bestowed the feathers upon him, and drummed him out of the place, after obliging him to kneel down and thank them for their leniency. And in 1757 David Ferriss was paid 11s. out of the Society’s treasury, to reimburse him for counterfeit money which he had received as Collector. This nest of counterfeiters was not broken up until 1768, when a dozen of them were arrested. The old Church books show that immorality was not unknown among Church members. The pastoral letter which was issued to the Churches by the Litchfield South Consociation in 1752, reveals a state of things in these Churches worse than any known to-day. Sixty years ago (1816) there was a distillery in every town—169 in Litchfield County,—26 of them in New Milford. To-day there are three distilleries in town, and soon it is hoped these will disappear and the nine places licensed to sell liquors.

There is abundant cause for gratitude. There has been progress in every direction. In our beautiful village—than which there is not now a lovelier or a healthier in New England—with our system of concrete walks, lamps and water works, our substantial Town Hall and enlarged school privileges—we may here spend life as pleasantly and profitably, doing the will of God from the heart—as was could anywhere on the face of the globe. With all these blessings and privileges there is, of course, an increased responsibility. It becomes us to conserve and improve all that the fathers have left us, and hand down an unimpaired inheritance to the generations that are to follow.