-':^-f:^ ^ ■^r > r^«r '*e'*L»i ^.^^ 4r %^i ^1 i» • • > « . iii_J f jd^ . LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.# I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ! T II 1-; H i; 8 TORY OF HAEWINTON, C O N N E C T T C r T -^ Bv H \[ AXXTXa CHIPMAN II A PvTFORT): PRESS OF WILLIAMS, WILEV & TT'R\Kli> Parle Priiuin." Offloo, LOS Asylum St.. 1 --<1< >. (^0-33^8' TO Till-: NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC-GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, f I) I s 'i!') i s t r n , PUKr.\Ili:i> UY ONK OK TIIKIK KAKI.rKST-CIIO.SEX fOBKESI'O.VUIXC MEMBKlt^!, IS. WITH EXI'RKSSIOXS OF Till: ALTIIORS f'OXTlXUKD DKSIUK fOU TIIKIU I'ltOSI'tlMTV. |{i'<<|ii-ciriill V IriMcrilx'tl. PREFACE. A cenliiij of its imiiikipal oxisttuco was coinplolcil Ity lliiiwinloii, in the vrar pighteoa hundred juul thirty-seven. The facts, regarding it, wliidi as viewed from jnst tlio close of that perioil seemed to be the more wortliy of notice, were prcsjcnicd then in pulpit discourses delivered by the pastor of the (Congregational) Church in the Town. "When of late there began to be desire that a History of the Town should Ik? prepared, those discourses, remembered as probably containing outlines or ru1>- stanco for such a narrative, were brought into review. After there had been 8\il>- triicted from them such portions mainl)- as, suggested by the subject, were more germane to a Sabbath-days ministration than to a purpose not thus restricted, there was left the basis of the following work. The first movement towards publiciition hiul respect to that residuum, without addition of matter and without alteration of form. Enlargement and changes liocame desirable when recurrence to ' the old fDUuts' of information had brought forth ncwsupjilies; while investigation made in quarters not before resorted to discovered more. The recast, which fused the older mid the newer materials together, partially mlmitted the shape before chosen: by the retention, in a few paragraphs transferred, of the style distinctive in personal a'ldress. Ill tlio direct narrative as well as in the ApiH^ndix Vvill lie found fuller details than the di.scourses gave of the things which, as "old" in eighteen hundred ;uitl thirty-seven, were then '"ready to vanish away.' These additions comprise alto a sufficient account of the things "which cnmo newly up:" and so bring the narra- tive down to the current time. In the added matter are ineludwl all the notices furnislK'*! to the writer, of the Kpi.scopal Church whiili has lx>en established or rv- ostabli.she<.l in Ilarwinton, since tlie diil<' i f his residem-e then'. When a locality not of Connecticiit i.s nametl in the siK-cco4ling pagv.s, the iSialo to which it pertains is usually spocifio*!. The e^iacs cxccptt'd arc those whose pub- licity or s Kandolpli and Andross, - - - • ■ KJ Hartford and Windsor rs. the State. - - - • IG-llt Division of "tlie Western Lands," - • • \H-10 Name, and its import, of Ilarwinton. ■ • ■ 21-22 Relative priority of Harwinton, . - - • 22-23 Captain ^resseugcr, ..... '23-2G Other early settlers, .... - 26-30 Whence they came, .--■•• 30-3- Primordials, ...--• 3*_-.>.> Result^, ....•■• n;i-:5.-. Agriculturists, . • - ... ^o-.u Agricultural advantages, . . . ■ • 37-39 School provisions, . - • • - .i9— 1.) Building Church edifice, - - - ■ ■ "''-''"• OIIAriKR III. TIIK lunrilFT-;. Formation of Church — First preacher, • ^i'i-^i' Pastors, incidents and characters of, - 57-8(1 Deacons, - • • ■ " 8G-S7 CHAPTER IV. DIVINK WORDS XSD ST.KTl'TKS TAKK HOI.P. Religious revivals, - • - • " 8i-9.> An'KXDIX. XOTKS A. TO II. New England Towns seminaries of Liberty, • • 9r,-9< Population of Harwinton, - • • •'' A „„.,-;, -.n Tn.i;:,n=—PurH.a«'> of land from Indians. ■ '.is^jol 8 Page. Coniipcticut ('blue') laws, .... 101-102 Early 'border ruffians,' ..... 102-10?. Extent of the 'land claim' set up by Hartford and Windsor, 103-104 Original Proprietors of Harwinton, • - • 1 04 Act incorporating Harwinton, .... 104-105 Litchfield County formed, .... 105 The pioneer settler, • - • • . 100 'Modern improvements,' • - • • lOG The Messenger family, ..... 106-107 Statistics of early immigrants, .... 107-109 Titles as formerly prized, ..... 110-112 Boundary questions, - • • • . 112 Singing, old and new style of, .... 112-113 Wars and soldiers, ..... 113-115 Oldest Houses, - • • • - 116 First Town Meeting, - • - ■ - 116-117 Town and State officers, .... 117-123 •One Hundred Years Ago,' .... 123-124 Tunxis and other Indian tribes, - • - 124-125 AVild Animals, - - ■ - - - 126-127 Minerals, '■ ex^yloitations^ of, and explorations for, in Harwinton, 127-131 Vital statistics and viability, .... 131-132 Traders and trading, ..... 132-133 Manufacturers, ...... 133-134 Education — College graduates, .... 134—135 Professional men, ..... 135-136 ' Raising the meeting house,' .... 135 ' Dignifying the seats,' .... 137-138 PcNVS, - - • • • • • 138-139 'Sabbath-day houses,' .... 139-140 Preachers, who in Harwinton were not pastors, - - 140-141 First pastor's grave, .... - 141-142 Half-way Covenant, ..... 142-144 Separatists, ...... 144-146 Church records, ...... 146-148 First settlers' last-surviving children, - - - 148 SUPPLEMENTARY. (,'atliii Family in Massachusetts, • • - 149 IXPEX OF NAMES. - - 149-152 HISTORY OF IIAPaVIXTOX. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY. An instinct of nature prompts in every man a reverent regard for liis parentage. A command from the Author of nature, ''Honor thy fother and thy mother," sliows that to heed that prom})ting is our duty. This duty we may best perform when we most fully appreciate the character and the condition of our parents, by obtaining an accurate knowledge of their times; and this knowledge we the more largely obtain while, as we keep in view that portion of the past which is compassed by our personal recollections, we also bring into view that incom- parably greater portion of it which is assured to us by writ- ten records alone. Not from the Hebrews only was sought such an intelligent compliance with natural prompting, such an enlarged obedience to Divine command, when, after their legislator had bid that poojile: "Kemembcr the days of old," he with equal authority bade them: "Consider the years of many generations." The spirit of such precepts cogently applies to ourselves. From our position near where were blended our Town's first and second centuries. Affection is seen now looking forward with alternate hope and fear towards those who will be here in time coming, and now looking backward with grateful veneration to those who were here in times gone ; and Keason with Religion is heard approving and sanctioning the design of rendering a meet tribute to our predecessors' memory. As their era and their circumstances arc recalled; iu sketching their inci- 2 10 dents correctly, tlieir character and themselves may rightly be portrayed. Some persons will not admit that just a Town, especially a smaller Town, can possess any significance worth commemo- rating. Yet to deny this would betray sheer superficialness. One might as well deny that there exists any significance in what even distinguishes a nation ; for what distinction pertains to at least this nation more notably than that which belongs to New England? and what distinction more remarkable has New England than her origin, at Plymouth, Salem, Wethersfield, New Haven, from Towns ? From the beginning planted in Towns and with them, they ever have been to her as they ever wall be her seed, her stem, her branches with fair flowers and crowning fruit.* Few Towns indeed are prominently figured on charts outlining the boundaries of a continent or of an em- pire, just as few springs and rivulets or none are denoted on maps exhibiting the course and chief tributaries of the Missis- sippi; but, apart from those unmarked confluents which first gave and still continue to give their liquid quotas to the vast flood of that mighty stream, where would the Mississippi be? The American cities now largest were a while since villages merely ; and from what were less than hamlets rose the old world's London and Eome. Regarding places as correlated with their occupants, the names which grace the annals of America's most historic period, names in their illustrious nationality second to none, a Trumbull, an Adams, a Washington, attach to Lebanon and Quincy villages, with Vernon a villa-farm. The public is nowhere when individuals all are gone. The integral parts of families are the integrating parts of nations. A history divorced from biography is a nullity. Gibbon's itself, were there with- drawn from it the personages it presents, would for another reason deserve the title which it bears : The Decline and Fall. Every nation, in respect of that which imparts to it true dignity, is in its greatest things what it is in its least things. Bodies politic as really as bodies natural have members, and the one sort not less than the other live and thrive, in the only way an organism can, by "the effectual working in the measure of *See, in Appendix, Note A. 11 every part;" and always is "the wliole body fitly joined to- gether and compacted by that which every joint supplieth." The affcrrcffate common- weal will be the better understood and the more prized by him who best understands and most prizes the several contributive portions. Our Towns us well the small as the great, each in its own measure, are all directly constit- uent of our State ; and so the honor of the State is consulted for and her welfare throughout is promoted, by whatever adorns the present or illustrates the past of her smallest incorporated divisions. In this faith are we to estimate Ilarwinton — which one may liken to " Bethlehem-Ephratah," in the respect of be- ing " little among the thousands of Judah, yet" " not the least among the princes of Juda."''*' CHAPTER II. Y O XJI^ FATHERS. t THEIR WAY PREPARED FOR THEM. At this outset of the sketch proposed, God's Providence is recognized as having assigned other times to other men, and, meanwhile, determined our epoch, established our bounds of habitation, and in every way supervised kindly all these our humbler affairs. It is interesting to notice the broad sweep which that Providence takes in its course ; how, in even apparent intermis- sions of its work, it is never the more working vigorously ; and to trace out those steps by which, when it even was seemingly at halt, it still was in grandeur marching on. Such interest will ♦See, in Appendix, Note B. f Not made by ago naught, but enhanced by ago into a more i>reoiou9 gem, ia that scripture which " camo the word of the LORU unto Zechariah ;" each phraso of it, as if prearranged with such intent, expressing themes which the proposed narration requires : its natural intjuiry — " Your fjitliers, where arc they?" its plain- tive elegj- — "And the prophets, do they live forever?" ita energetic eulogium — " But my wortls, and my statutes which I commiindod my servants the prophets, did they not tJiko liold of your futliers?" — On that passage, Zech. 1 : 5, G, wero based the Couicuuial DiscourHett herein (, in tlie Preface,) ruforred to. 12 be quickened by the perception we shall gain, that certain things which, viewed aside from that Agency, were quite aloof from ourselves, have in fact had, by that Agency employing them, a near connection with our immediate concerns. REMOTER EVENTS PREPARATIVE. The earliest historians of the eastern continent had no knowl- edge of this western one. It long was untenanted by man. Peoples renowned through centuries are there, while not even wild men arc here. Another cycle of ages come and gone, and then men indeed are here of whom those, dwelling in the old seats of these, retain no memory. Through all this procession and recession of years, the races which we denominate civilized were held back from our hemisphere. Practically, it was to them then as if it had not been made, or as if, like a thing marred in the making, it had been rejected by its Maker. At length, certain Iceland wanderers at sea come hitherward and — wonder- ful to them — behold what we now style a Massachusetts coast ; they do not however remain and — wonderful to us — their dis- covery, after they have returned to their drear homes, is fated to go for ages into oblivion. That discovery was in A. D. 1000-1, and towards the end of half another millenium Colum- bus, starting for Cathay* but reaching Guanahani,f makes, by a blunder which has sublimity in it, a re-discovery. Once more are European feet on Transatlantic soil. Spaniards are the first European colonizers of North America. Its south part is their location. Cabot, emulating Columbus' career, *That ' wonderful' land in the East, or India, of which he was in quest, and about whicla Marco Polo had excited many others' imaginations, was China — the Cathay of which old writers speak. "Before the invasion of Zingis, China was divided into two empires or dynasties of the North and South." "In Marco Polo, and the Oriental geographers, the names of Cathay and Mangi distinguish the northern and southern empires, which, from A. D. 1234 to 1279, were those of the great khan, and of the Chinese." — Gibbon, Chap. LXIV. As Khataiis a Persian, so Kitai appears to be a Russian, name of China. " Kiiai Gorod, or Chinese City,"_ sc. Cathay Court, is the only part of Moscow, in Rus- sia^ which escaped destruction in the memorable conflagration of that city, in 1812. f Called, by Columbus, San Salvador (, St. Savior); called now, on maps, Cat Island. 13 and, soon after him, arrivinj^ more northerly at the American continent, accomplishes again a re-discovery. Fifty years ]iass. English colonists have come. They, also, are southward. They are for trade. They are transient. A generation from their date is completed; and now other colonists from England are on their way hither. Persecution has driven them out. These, mainly, are for religion. These, too, have chosen a locality where shine warmer suns ; but the perverseness of their pilot — as some then thought it was ; the favor of their God — as we now know it to have been ; brought them to found and to maintain their settlement " ai Aew Plimouth in New Enrjland.^^ NEARER EVENTS PREPARATORY. Fourteen years after the Pilgrims from England had foun- ded Plymouth, eight years after the Planters from England had founded Salem, and thus Massachusetts on the seaboard had be- gun, English emigrants, who had been tarrying in that Colony for a time, have founded "Wethersfield, to which the next year are added Hartford and Windsor; and so Connecticut by the riverside begins. One series of fifty years following is signal- ized by the new Colony finishing the settlement of its eastern extremity; a second by its beginning the settlement of this western one. The termination of a hundred years to our State synchronize with the commencement of a hundred years to our Town ; but through a longer period than the first century of the Town the influence has been felt of certain events which oc- curred in the middle part of the State's first centu^}^ This specialty in Connecticut's relation to ITarwinton will suflicii-ntly appear from a brief outline of the condition of our State, during the most turbulent time in her history. Connecticut, like the other States of New England, but unlike most States known, had her origin in an ascertained method and known time. She did not, on her entrance into being, find herself possessing a territory which became hers no man could tell how. She did not inherit her soil. She did not steal it. Though it had been nominally given to her by authorities in ICngland, yet she also came actually into possession of it in the unsurroptitiuus way of open purcha.se from inhabitants whom she regarded as its j)roprietors by a previous occupancy. She gave 14 for it to them a price which, small next to nothing as that price may to others have seemed, was all which the sellers required for it and which they accounted an equivalent value.* This correct general statement of the matter is qualified, or rather is verified, by a single important exception ; for, if the land of the Pequods within her boundaries was obtained in war, the title to even that part of her domain was acquired by at least as good a right as a miUtary conquest ever gave. So far forth this Colony had done as well, then, as her sister Colonies had done. The equality extended farther. Upon Connecticut, as upon Mas- sachusetts, there had been laid a necessity of making the haz- ardous experiment, to unite two original Colonial establishments into one; and here, as well as there, the great difficulty and danger had been surmounted and the delicate adjustment effected with so little trouble as may well excite surprise. This Colony, not less happily than that, had struck out a free constitution and set up a decided though mild administration of laws which approved themselves in the main wise and good.f The former, indeed, in attacking and subduing the red men, who prowled around her young townships and in the midst of them, had nearly as much excelled the latter as the number and hostility of these savages was here proportionably greater than there. In a word, thi'ough all the obstructions, privations, hardships, toils, incident to founding new States on wild nature made worse by wilder men, our Colony, as fully as any one of the sister- hood, had not only taken a fair start, but made, on the whole, steady advances, upon the road conducting to a permanent solid prosperity. Just now, as to all the nascent States of New Eng- land, a cloud rolls up over the sky, their prosperous career is as ignobly as undeservedly interrupted, and that, for which they now for half a century have made efforts so strenuous and sac- rifices at so high a cost, is brought into imminent peril. Expla- nation of this reverse behooves to be given. The guiding spirits who led forth and gave prominent char- acter to these Colonies had ever been surpassed by few men in such qualities as have sterling worth ; yet did neither their ob- *See, in Appendix, Note C. fSee, in Appendix, Note D. 15 ject nor their success in obtaining it receive an nnqnalified approbation from the many persons whom they had li-ft in their fatlicrhiiul. it was true, rather, that *thc people raged and tlieir rulers took counsel together against' them. Especially that sort of men in England who liad forced ujion their coun- trymen, better than themselves, the necessity of planting these Colonies, in effect had wickedly harried them into expatriation, looked upon the prosperity of the Colonies with unfriendliness, and upon that of the colonists with envy. Among the colonists, too, as — since they were human — was to have been expected, there were some "false brethren unawares brought in who came in privily to spy out our liberty," and who were anon disclosed in their true aspect of traitors and enemies. Mingled in among the good, like " Satan" among " the sons of God," some bad persons came at the beginning; as, for instance, John Billington in the May-Flower's first company, who, getting ''in due time" hanged for murder * received upon himself that recompense of his error which was meet'. Others survived and perpetuated their kind, who too much merited a punishment which they escaped. Around this early nucleus there of course, as the col- onists in general increased, gathered yet other " sons of Belial."* Those who, as by the working in them of some abnormal instinct, were precociously inclined to evil ; those who, for any rea.«?on or for no reason, came to be displeased with their betters, disliking the character, position, principles, objects, or methods and measures of these ; whoever was arraigned before the au- thorities and, for his misdemeanors, cither was punished, or felt that he deserved it and feared that he might be ; men soured by disappointment attending their overweening expectations; men irritated by the circumvention and defeat of their schemes of villany ; men of desperate fortune and grovelling ambition ; all these, acting here as their clan always acts elsewhere, natu- rally endeavored, what they earnestly desired, to do to the rest an injury. As a Latin writer long ago said : " The wrong-doer hates him whom he has injured ;"t and Hebrew ones, more anciently: "The wicked bend their bow, they make ready •.Sec, in Apjx-ndix, Not© E. jProprium humani ingenii at, odisM quern Ueseria. — Tacitcs. 16 their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart;" "these arc the men that devise mischief." A corypheus of these turbulent agitators was, notoriously, one Edward Randolph* who, on malign errands ever in motion, crossing the Atlantic one cannot well say how many times, now flitting to and fro in the Colonies, now rambling up and down in their fatherland, ubiquitously exerting himself for mischief with an energy worthy of some noblest cause, effected, at last, the evil purpose which throughout he had kept steadily before him, to wit, subverting the freedom of New England. Moved by the calumnies and misrepresentations brought to his court mainly by Randolph, the bigot monarch, James II., who indeed was predisposed towards the measure, appoints, in 1687, Sir Edmund Andross to be President and Captain-general over New England, its several Colonies consolidated into one royal Prov- ince, to whose government New York and New Jersey also are soon after required to bow. This minion, issuing to Connecti- cut the same order which he sends to her sister Colonies, enjoins her to put her privileges into his hands and lay her franchises at his feet. Of course such a mandate was not welcomed by the Colonies, nor by any was it readily obeyed. Each, so far as ex- pedients were at hand or daring found, resisted it. To the people of Connecticut this revulsion of prospects and reversion of hopes came not wholly unawares, but rather from a blow which had been anticipated ; and, in the proceedings to which a foresight of evil impending led their rulers, there was in particular one act done, — at the time it, no doubt, was accounted wise, — which, fifty years afterwards, had results not expected convulsing the whole Colony for a season, and, following those, remoter influ- ences that, in two subdivisions of its territory combined into one to make Harwinton, are, as before said, working still. The act thus specified, passed by the Colonial Legislature, 26 Jan., 1686, was in the words following : " This Court grants to the plantations of Hartford and Windsor those lands on the north of Woodbury and Mattatuck, and on the west of Farm- *And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto hiiu ; and he became a cap- tain over them. — 1 Sam. 22:2. 17 infrtoji and Simsbury, to tlic Massachusetts line nortli ; to run west to Ilousatonick, or Stratford river; j)rovided it be not, or part of it, formerly granted to any particular person to make a plantition, or village."* The * Mattatuck' therein intended is AVaterburv,t then including riymouth.:|: Farmington, as therein referred to, embraced Bristol and Burlington ; Sims- bury then included Canton and Granby ; SuUleld then belonged to Massachusetts. That this measure was 'huddled throunrh'. or passed, as Dr. Trumbull says of it, " in a hasty manner," is suniciently manifest from its terms. In design more a resolve for the by, than an act for permanency, it was meant to serve merel}^ as a legislative expedient, resorted to under pres- sure of an emergency, with the view of preventing these " Western lands" of the Colony being wrested from it and sequestered to the English Crown, that is, in part at least, to himself, by Sir Edmund's magisterial or personal rapacity. § It simply designed " that," as Trumbull's language is, " these towns should hold the lands, thus granted, for the Governor and Com- pany, until those times of danger and trouble should be past, but not as their property. Tlicy had never purclia.sed, nor given the least valuable consideration for them, and had no deeds or patents of them." The Colony, therefore, after the ill-boding but brief control of Andross had ended, regarded these lands as being still in the Colony's possession, just as they were be- fore the Colonial Legislature had taken said action resj)ecting them. From such a view of the matter, however, the Towns, •Colony Records. fWatcrbury received ita present name on its incorporation, in ifay, 1686. The name 'Mattatiic' is now applied to the little villa^fo, partly in Ilarwiiiton and parti}' in Litchfield, where, on the west side of the Xaiivriitiic River, tiin-c ujiles south of Wolcottville, is Iho 'Litchfield Station' of the Nuiipatuc Railroad. JTho oastem towns on I/ong Island were, at that jwriod, in Connecticut's juris- diction. ' Mattittick' parish incluilea tho |)resent town of Rivcrheod, L. I., and 'Mattaluc' is in tlie town of Southold, L. I., — as see I'riiuc's, or see Thompson's History of Lonj? Inland. gA writer says, with \chh courtesy than truth, of Sir Kdmund: "Tliis .\ndr0.s3 was a modern Xero, and [he] employed all ids pf)wer8 to des|X)il the Colonies and to enrich himself" — Rev. Grant Powers, Centennial .\ddrcss at Goshen, Ct., 1838. Others speak of iiim with much the same degree of re8])0ct 3 IS Hartford and Windsor, very naturally dissented. They clung to the resolve of the Legislature as tenaciously, as they would have done, had that Body in good faith designed it to be a con- veyance transferring the fee to them and giving to them the sole and indefeasible ownership. It certainly was such a con- veyance, if its words have meaning. The term 'grants' had then for them, as it has now to others, a peculiar charm. They were thus, and perhaps otherwise, also, inclined to make the most of it. They did make of it all which they could, and held the Legislature to its resolve as to a bond. When the lands, a genera- tion after, by coming into request became valuable, then, car- rying out their claim into action, — Trumbull says, "in contra- vention of the most express laws of the Colony, — they pro- ceeded to locate and vend the lands." This proceeding of the Hartford and Windsor claimants brought them, in 1722, as it could not fail of doing, into a direct conflict with the Colonial authorities. Violent infractions were made of the pub- lic peace. Some of the trespassers, those claimants or certain agents they had employed, are arrested, tried, convicted, and, in execution of judgment, "committed to the common prison in Hartford." Their upholders oppose the Government by force of arms. The sheritT is specially "authorized to call out the whole militia of the county to his assistance," and " the officers and privates" are required, under a special " penalty," to aid him. Such, however, was the popular feeling then, even in 'steady' Connecticut, that, " notwithstanding this precautionary act of the Assembly, there was a riot at Hartford, the common goal was broken oj)en, and the delinquents were set at liberty, even while the Assembly were in session." Our older State his- torian, in noticing this matter, added: "These were indeed evil times. Men, with an uncommon obstinacy, resisted the laws, and trampled on the authority of the Legislature." " This controversy had already occasioned a general ferment and great animosities among the people, and there was danger that it might be attended with still more serious consequences. The Hart- ford and Windsor claimants found it to be a difficult business to contend with the Governor and Company." One sees not why this last sentence, with neither a qualifying nor a connective 19 particle, ia made thus immorliately to follow the next preceding one; for, in keepinc;; with what has been previously cit^d, the fact in the sequel ajipeared, that *' the Governor and Com])any" as clearly "found it to be a difhcult business to contend with" "the Hartford and Windsor claimants," backed up by the pur- chasers under them, who in their turn were supplemented by agents and attornies and various other partisans. With those claimants by such helps sustained, treats a duly appointed Com- mittee of the ' Assembly' ; seeking in vain, by such concilatory " propositions as [it seemed to the ' Assembly'] should be made to them," " that the difBculties subsisting might be quieted." Their persistence in continuing to claim that 'grants,' volunta- rily made by the ' Assembly' to themselves or to their prede- cessors in law, ought to be made good, the Committee are unable to overcome. " An affair of great labor and difiiculty" these found it, not so much, probably, "to examine the claims," as " to obtain such concessions and propositions as they judged rea- sonable, or as the Assembly would accept." IIow could the * Assembly' expect work of this sort to be ea.«y, while that res- olution of the 'Assembly' making the 'grants' which gave rise to and supported 'the claims' stood unrepealed, pledging the faith of the Colony, that the gift it purported to bestow should be given ? " After laboring in the business nearly two years, [said Committee] made their report," the tenor of which may be gathered from what preceded and succeeded the making it. For the claimants, persistence obtained a compromise. To the de- murrers, wisdom acquired in the contest suggested, that there lay some value before unlearned in the trite maxim, ' lictter lose half than the whole ;' and so, acting in literal conn)rmity to that doctrine, "the Legislature, wishing to preserve the peace of the Colony, and to settle the lands in controversy as expedi- tiouslv as might be, on the report of their Committt^e, Resolved [,26 May, 1726], That the lands in controversy should be divided between tlie Colony and the towns of Hartford and Windsor; that the Colony should iiave the western, and Hartfuxl and Windsor the eastern divi.sion;" and "the Governor and Com- pany, 22 Mav, 1729, gave a patent of one half of said lands to them." The territory of Litehlicld, the laying out and sale of 20 wbich liad begun the trouble, was excepted from this partition.* The share, therefore, which the Towns of Hartford and Windsor received of the territory in dispute was so much of what now is Litchfield county as lies east of Litchfield, Goshen, and Norfolk, together with Hartland which now is, as originally all said ter- ritory was, in Hartford county.f Of this share one moiety was given to Hartford, the other to Windsor; occasioning, 11 Feb., 1731-2, a second partition. Three townships in the eastern and north part of the share having been made from Hartford's lot, and three townships in the western and north part of the share from Windsor's lot, a remainder of the share was left, all of it, excepting Kent (Warren included) situated west of Litchfield, being situated north and east of Litchfield and northwest of Farmington. Dividing this remainder, of what was owned jointly by Hartford and Windsor, adequate in size for a seventh town- ship, there was made an eastern portion, assigned to Hartford, and a western one, assigned to Windsor ; that is, a half town- ship belonging to Hartford, and a half township belonging to Windsor; Hartford's again the eastern, Windsor's again the western portion. Two other partitions are made, one, 7 April, 1732, at Windsor, whereby the Windsor people distribute their three townships and their half township:}: among themselves; and one, 5 April, 1732, (meetings continued by adjournment till) 27 September 1732, at Hartford, whereby the Hartford people distribute their three townships and their half township:}: among themselves. The several companies to which the differ- ent parcels of land, made out of Windsor people's moiety, had been allotted, were respectively incorporated, 11 May, 1732 ; and it was then enacted also, that their half township, " contain- ing 9,560 acres, should be forever called Harwinton." (Better to bestow titles on unfinished places, than on unfurnished men.) The several companies to which had been allotted the several parcels of land, made out of Hartford people's moiety, received incorporation respectively, — May, 1733; and it also was then *See, in AppendLx, (towards the end of) Note C. f See, in Appendix, Notes F., and I. JSee, in Appendix, Note G. 21 enacted that their lialf township, "containing, hy estimation,* 8,590 acres," "should forever hereafter, in conjunction with the other })art, be called Harwinton." — Thus terminated the only intestine altercation which has ever disturbed, by popular resort to j)hysical violence, Connecticut's habitual serenity. Yet this contest, as well as other incidents, involved a decidedly Con- necticut character, since it exhibited as working at home, though in confessedly an exceptionable manner, that ingenuity for which her people have abroad been proverbial. In that meas- ure which her citizens, elevated to oflice, had devised for pre- venting a transfer of her territory to others, her citizens, not raised to authority, found the means of procuring a transfer of that territory to themselves. What royal messengers, relying on power which they well knew by experience how to wield, could not have made her give up, her own plebeian republicans, who as yet were but leaniing their strength, induced her in wil- lingness to bestow. The rebellion, waged as vigorously as its occasion was singular, ended singularly — in this amicable work of dividing, apportioning, and naming lands. The reception of these distributed lands was probably as pleasant to the receivers, as the elfort, needful to understand so many divisions and sub- divisions, may have proved tedious to us. From this recital, which the writer has tried to make explicit, of transactions nec- essarily complicate both in themselves and in the accountsf of them, this much at least is clear; that the two half townships, apparent in the unit of Harwinton territory, did not arise cas- ually, as contingencies of many dividings; that they were not brought together after such dividings, as odds and ends which had before been unconnected; that they occurred from the cir- cumstance that certain joint owners of a tract of land separated it for size' .sake into an uneven number of portions; that the western, or first designated half of one certain portion, was the moiety of Windsor-loivn ; that the eastern, or second desig- nated half of the same portion, was the moiety of llarljord- *D7 a sur\-ey made, 1133, tho whole township wiis 18,150 acres. Colonj Records. fSoo, as ro^^nls all the townships into which " tho Wcstom lands" within tho prosont liniiti of Conaacticut woro luaio, Trumbull's Hidtory of Counoclicut, II. 95— lU. 22 town ; and that the name Har-win-ton^ given in the two fold way and at the two times above specified, carries in it a designed ref- erence* to that previous double proprietorship here, and so imports HARtford-TOwN-WiNdsor-TOwN." Such, set forth briefly, are some of the preparations variously made for our Town. Along with these, and partly by means of them, were selected and combined certain elements of the moral atmosphere in which we here breathe and live. Compared historically with the other Towns comprised in our county, this holds a satisfactory position. Tne tract of land, specified in the before-mentioned resolve of the Colonial Legis- lature, and repeated divisions of which were by subsequent acts of that Body appointed and ratified, is about half of that which the county, Litchfield, contains. After said tract had by those partitions been laid off into townships of due size; "as the pur- chasers were none but the inhabitants of Connecticut, it was many years before they could all be sold and settled."f The first of them settled was Harwinton. — In the courtty are only four Towns in which settlement was earlier made, namely, Wpodbury, settled in 1673, then in Fairfield county ; New Mil- *Names, constructed ia a similar maiiner, were applied to other places in West- ern Connecticut. Farming-bur 7j, the denomination of what, become since the Town of Wolcott, was once a ' Society' made in part from (the original territory of) Farmingion, and in part from 'Northbury (then a ' Society' in Waterfewr?/, now the Town of Plymouth); was equivalent to FARMiNGton (-parish)- WaterBURY (-pa- rish). Win-sted, designating now a thriving Village, was thus denominated to remind one, that it was a district partly of TFmchester and partly of Barkhamp- stead- as if to say Wi>Jcho3ter (-place)-BarkhampsTEaD (-place). Win-ton-hury, formerly a 'Society,' latterly the Town of Bloomfield, received that appellation to denote its territory as lying respectively in TFtndsor and Sims&wrj/ Town?, ; so inti- mating WiNdsor-towN (-parish)-SimsBURY-TOwN (-parish). Torriag-ford, a ' So- cietj',' designates its origin from the Towns of ToRRiXGton and New-lIartFORD : JIad-lyme, a 'Society,' designates its origin from the Towns of (East) ilAodam and Lyme. The name given to another locality, LTart-land, cannot be justly held primarily responsible for awakening, as in poetic minds it by its form and by its sound does awaken, thoughts of scenes fair, quiet, sylvan, the haunt where harts resort; be- cause, implying no more than does the term set upon a fellow town, New-Hart- FORD, its sole intent is to suggest, in the short commercial way, a ' reference' to HABTford-LAND. f Trumbull, II. 104. 23 ford, sottlod in 1707, then in New Haven county; T.itr.lifield, settled in 1720; Salislmry, settled, a part of it, tlu'ii regarded as in New York, in 1720, by Dutch emigrants from that Province (, but settled, the most part, then regarded as in New Haven county, in 1739, by New England ones), llarwinton was set- tled in 1730. Its eastern half, or "East llarwinton," w;^ the earlier occupied, although its western half, or " West llarwin- ton," had been the earlier appropriated. That the eastern was earlier settled resulted from several circumstances. Ilarwinton's territory bordered east as well as south on that of Towns a con- siderable time established ; there ran through it a ' cleared road' which already had been used several years; and, what in those days was not a small matter, the " East llarwinton Proprietors" were nearer than were the "West llarwinton" ones to their Propriety. The other Towns in the county were settled later, those above-named excepted, than this. — There are, in the county, but three Towns which earlier received incorporation, namely, Woodbury, incorporated in 1674, tJicn in the county of Eairlleld ; New Milford, incorporated in 1713, ilien in the county of New Haven; Litchfield, incorporated in 1721. llarwinton thus, Litchfield excepted, the oldest within the "Western lands," was incor|X)rated in October, 1737.* The other Towns in the county, those above-named excepted, were later in this respect. Most of the Towns, now in Litchfield county, were for some years in Hartford county.f DATES OF SOME OF THK IMMIGKANTS GIVEX. The pioneer settler in this township was Daniel Messenger. He fixed his abode here in January 1730.i In him we reeoth "Ejist llarwinton" ♦See, in Appendix, Note H. fSoo, in Appendix, Xoto I. JSeo, in Apj>eudix, Note J. 24 and " West Harwinton" respectively, and so for us all was 'the pathfinder.' Viewed in relation with merely such effects, con- sequent on his coming to Harwinton, as here, while he lived, he saw accomplished ; much more, viewed in relation with those results, thence originating, which here, since his death, have been ^unfolded; he appears, even aside from any of his own purposes in the matter, to have executed a mission from God for the good of all other persons who should dwell here ; so that without intent to utter it punningly — far less, profanel}^ — one might say that, to each of such persons. Providence in effect affirmed of him (what was said of one "greater than he"): " This is he of whom it is written. Behold I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." As to our ' pathfinder,' literally " before" him, respecting time and otherwise, was that " wa}'" prepared which has incidentally been twice mentioned. In the latter mention of it were quoted the words of a record which, one other excepted, is the oldest that Harwinton possesses.* This road which our annals present thus early was, previously to Capt. Messenger's taking his resi- dence in the township, part of the route traversed and incip- iently ' made' by such persons as, at Farmington, Hartford, and other places, had been interested in facilitating access and acces- sions to the plantation by them set forward at Bantam, f now *9 Jan., 1731-2. "Ebenezer Hopkins, of Waterbury," buys land of (his uncle) "Samuel Sedgwick, of Hartford." 10 Jan., 1732-3. Ebenezer Hopkins, of "the "Western lands near the road between Litchfield -and Farmington," sells land to " my father Daniel Messenger, living at the same place." — " East Harwinton" Rec- ords. (22 Feb., 1732-3. "Anthony Hoskins, Jr., of Windsor," etc., is the ear- liest date noticed in the " "West Harwinton" Records.) f The inquiry may be allowed : How came Bantam to designate Litchfield ? J. Hammond Trumbull, Esq., who has bestowed much attention on the primitive local names in Connecticut, thinks that some person who anciently lived in Litch- field bore that appellation. Books give Bantam as the American Indians' name of that place. In books Bantam also appears as, apparently, the Asiatic Indians' name of a chief comniercial Town in Java, E. L Dutchmen preceded the English alike in Connecticut and in Java. Swinton, in his Rambles Among Words, repre- sents bantam (, sc. the fowl so called,) as being of Malay (, que. Bantam, Java ?) origin. All this may be casual coincidence. In Sketches and Chronicles of Litch- field, Connecticut, 1850, a work of the late Payne Kcnyon Kilbourne, Esq., a cor- respondent is quoted as affirming, " that the Java [Town] Bantam was in exist- Litchfield. Chiefly by this did the people of Hartford and the other easterly towns gain entrance into a territory which, form- ing at present a large part of the largest county in Connecticut, and supplied now with agricultural product^', manufactures, vil- lages, and well-instructed inhabitants, was, at that period, a wil- derness known as " the Western lands."* The said road, by Capt. Messenger and other "East Ilarwinton Proprietors" put into fit condition, Dec. 1732, continued to be a main thorough- fare, until long after the establishment of stage-coach accomoda- tions ; so that, by means of the travellers who used it, Ilarwinton had, at that day and for years afterward, a more extensive publicity than it has now. It was over this road that, — with his suite including Major General the Marquis dc La Fayette, General Knox, and several other American officers of distinc- tion, — passed our nation's ' Pathfinder,' General Wa.shington.f .\fter his party had taken here refreshments, in presenting which the choicest of our young maidens honored themselves as well as their fathers' and their Town's welcome guests,* the cavalcade went onward; and when, in its progress, it moved once and had a king eighteen years before tiie huidiiig of the Pilgrims," " was ofcupiod by the Dutch in the sixteentii centurj-, and was a place of much conse- quence;" and that " in the Portuguese writings of Jono de Barras [Joao dc Bar- ros], (Lisbon, 1777,) the place is called " Bintam or Bantiim." The Portuguese have no w in their language, and the nearest c(|uivalent, v, id omployeoaii, Admiral Ternay, and other distinguished French commanders, whose forces were then coop- erating with the American army. — Soo HoUister's History of Connecticut, II., 387. JThe repa.«t was taken, aged people, my informants in 1837, said, in tho house llion occupied by a Mr. Bronson, in which, 1860, is tho oflBce of Hon. Abijah Cat- lin. That building, however, was tho first taveni-house kept in Harwinton. Whether it was so usoeurinK- . ,. ,v .1 ., The evil that men do, lives atter them . The good is oft interretl with their bones. Some undersipicd 'influences of the dead' remind one thus of marks loft on the finger, for a week or two, from the bite of a dyinjt eel. 32 Connecticut, and through Cambridge (,also at first named New- ton), in Massachusetts, over to "Brantree" and Chelmsford, in Essex County, England — there is the other greater portion of your distant ancestry, English men on English soil. Such men, leaving the Towns which they in England had loved, sought to create even better American Towns. Be it ours to show that these, so far as this one is properly a specimen, have proved to be, at least, ec[ually good. THEIR BEGINNINGS. Special circumstances lead to special advantages, or in some way they affect and effect special results. Yet some things per- tain similarly to all men ; and, to that extent, the lot which our fathers with their parents had in former abodes, our fathers with their children would have in this. Beginning to live ; making arrangements the more comfortably to live ; working; building; contests,* with victory or defeat ; sooner or later, dying ; are everywhere. The earliest marriages registered in Harwinton are those of William Robinson with Elizabeth Lawrence and Edmund Austin with Susannah Lawrence : "William : Roljoson was Marreed to Elisabeth lawrence on tlie : (i : day of January anno dom 1736 : — Edmon Austin was Marreed to Susanna LaAvrence on the : (j : day of January Anno dom 1736 : — The earliest birth registered is that of Euth Phelps : Ruth Phelps of Harwinton the Daughter of Let Samuel Phelps & Ruth Phelps his Avife was Born the Sixth Day of Febuary Anno. Dom- ini 1733 The earliest death registered is that of Dorcas Bissel : Darcis Bissell of Harwinton the Daugliter of Jabez Bissell and Dorcis Bissell his wife Died 29 day of April] year 1742 The first dwelling-house here which merited such a name, was erected by Daniel Messenger, in 1731.f An anomaly then, it gave more than "shadow of good things to come" when the ' log cabins ' should have fulfilled their destiny. *See, in Appendix, Note 0. •j-See, in Appendix, Note P. 83 The first T.^vn Meeting was held, 20 Dec, 1737.* Such are the events of a coniinunity organized. They mark it, as commencing to gain firmer eslablisliment and, with hi)inf- ness, regularity. They attest a mingled experience, of joy and of sorrow, the designed consequence of that succession of inci- dents which, under Providence, comes to every community. The succession, wisely superintended still, has continued, little varying through six score years; all the while marriages, birth.s, life, work, gladness, grief, health, sickness, death — yet, for the most part, death after accomplishing something. That which our predecessors here accomplished is sufficiently evident in what we ourselves here are, what for good we here may be, what we here look upon and possess and enjoy. THE CU ANGE lIEltE WHICH THEY MADE. Since "your fathers" first came hither, this region has indeed changed. Perceptible alteration has occurred within less than the quarter of a second centenary which haspa.st since was com- memorated here 'One Hundred Years Ago.'f The prominent features of the territory, it is true, have remained unvaried, holding their sameness, thus far, indelibly. Still unaltered are, especially, these parallel hills, extending through the townshi]) from the north to the south, with sides eastwardly and westward- ly rounded, which together, — lying thus along, all one triad, — so much exhibit their general outlines as to suggest, to a mind that is only moderately fanciful, ideas of a huge Titanic melon of some more than Titanic king. Here continue, also, as now being what of yore they were, the out'^prcad valley, the flowing, j^himmering brook, the overarching sky. But otherwise, how greatly the scene is transformed. Over this landscajK;, in the earlier days of men whom some of the eldest among you knew, roved at his will the Indian, in his, at best, poor tawdry attire; or, to relieve for a while his migratory life, he here set up, oc- casionally, his cheerless, uncouth wigwam.:}; As, seeking prey,§ ♦See, in Api>on(Jix, Xoto i). f.Soo, in .Vppondii, Not* U. JSoo. in Appendix, Nolo S. ^Soo, in Api)on(lix. Not© T 34 be traversed a domain wliich till so lately was his fathers' and his own, through the openings of the primitive forest, — whose tall trees with their rich and dense foliage shed a pensive sweet gloom all around, and amid whose solitude, the silence of it breaking, the woodman's axe seldom rung, — his feathered arrow whizzed sure to its mark ; and, perhaps, even thus far up that river which is our township's western boundary, his frail canoe, light and swift as a bird, sped strait, like his arrow, to its desti- nation. So, as we deem, was it then. We are not sorry that it was so, then. But we are glad that here are, now, preferable things. Since the white men succeeded to the red, all for the better has been the resulting transformation. What the territo- ry with its incidents was. Fancy is pleased with. What the ter- ritory with its circumstances is, Reason approves. Civilization has been introduced. Comfort with wealth has supervened. Where were only those wild growths of nature which, however in some sense luxuriant, are comparatively as a " desolate wil- derness," Culture exhibits her nobler harvests. Those who to- day have, on these hill-sides and in these vallies, a home in the midst of fruitful fields, possess what gives ever the highest worth to home, arts, manners, education, science, together with a ra- tional liberty so much the more to be prized, as it, first, is rec- ognized in Constitutions duly ordered and clearly expressed, and, then, secured to us through our intelligent obedience to salutary laws that, in good measure, are both enacted and administered upon that basis-principle, of all right civil and ecclesiastical pol- ity, which is in the New-Testament announced*: Govern- *He is the minister of God to thee FOR GOOD ; said, Rom. 13 : 4, of "the power" or "niler," that is, any man who, being at the post of command over other men, uses the place for its "ordained" purposes, fulfilling, not violating his trust. This principle has two applications. As to persons wider authority, hereon rests the charge given, Rom. 13 : 1, "be subject," i. e., obey the ruler, and hereon rests the necessity stated, Rom. 13: 5, "ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience' sake," i. e., yield not a slave's unwilling external obedience, out of fear of being punished by the human delegate of magistracy, but a freeman's volun- tary and so internal obedience, out of regard to the divine Appointer of magistracy. Hence is authorized an inference, — When the "subject" knows that not his good, but perhaps or certainly the contrarj', is the "ruler"s design, then to the " subject" ceases, its foundation being gone, the force of said charge and necessity. From that inference follows another, — The " subject" in the case last put, is at liberty to 35 MEXTS ARE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE GOVERNED. How would tho persons who, some hundred and thirty years since, began, ns well " in fear and in much trembling " as with hope, the work of creating in a district then desert such homes as ours, have re- joiced and given thanks, might they but have seen, when finished, the work which they commenced. Those persons were " your fathers". That work is done. Such transformation made in this territory is, to a greater degree than most of us have learned, the result, under God, of their designing minds and laboring hands. Our occasion and our opportunity for rejoicing have come from their success. More yours than theirs is the advantage of so much 'accomplished bliss'. "Other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors." Did we, though living in Africa or in Greenland, instead of in America, possess such municipal ad- vantages, such civil immunities, such encouragements to indus- trial pursuits, such educational fiicilities, as we here do to-day rich ly possess ; did we there have these unconnected, were the thing possible, with those means of moral improvement which are im- parted by that religion, divinely revealed, to practise which man's conscience is in this land free, as it never has been in other lands ; even there would such patrimonial possessions be to us incomparably " a goodly heritage." THKIH PfRSUITS. The Urst comers hither were all agriculturists.* That occu- Uiko any suitable time and needful measures to displace such hopelessly derelict "ruler, " that a faithful one may siieceed him. An inference from all tho above trutiis is, — In only such desperate ca.^es should this ' ripht of revuhition' he exer- cised. As to iKTSons in authority, one coroUarj- from the principle is, — Incorrigi- ble rulers stay in place by sufferance. A second i.s, — To that " Power" whose 'ser- vant.s' a people's 'masters' are, those 'servants' are acvountablc. From this arises a thini. — With that "One greater than they," these lesser "pe" must have a reckoning. By that is suggested yet one other, — These " powers " should be ready to meet that reckoning from which they cannot escajH-. *.^x>e, in Appendix (, Note Q.), their vote, passed at tlietlrst Towni Mei'ting, invi- ting a " smith " to renew his residence with them. Such wan, natunilly, a very fn'rtion, on the termina- tion oi the controversy it had, respecting them, with the Towns *In A Discourse on Kducation, delivered at Braintree, [Ma.,] Thursday, Oct. 24. 1839. fSeo in Trumbull's Colonial Ilccxjrds, I. 520, 5'JI, Lbi, 556. JHoD. Samuel Church's Centennial Address at Salisbury, 20 Sept., 1841. 6 of Hartford and Windsor. In the same spirit, also, the General Court, designing to extend aid to humbler institutions, reserved in each of said townships, when offering these for sale, one of the twenty-five lots into which each of said townships was sub- divided, to be applied to the support of schools that should be in each of these established ; and it also, by an act passed in 1733, directed that the proceeds arising from the sale of all those townships should be distributed to the several Towns then ex- isting in the Colony, to be by those applied in supporting schools : Viz, those schools that ought to be kept in those towns that are now settled, and that did make and compute lists of their polls, and ratable estate in tlie year last past, and such towns shall receive said money, every town according to the proportion of said list, and each parish to receive in proportion according to their own list given in as aforesaid the last year; all which money shall be let out, and the interest thereof im- proved for the support of the respective schools aforesaid forever and to no other use.* While the rights reserved for supporting schools were, in some of the new Towns within the then " Western lands," made quite serviceable to that end ; the chief benefit accruing from the Legis- lature appropriating the proceeds of sale of other rights in those Towns, to the support of schools in the older Towns, seems to have been, that it suggested or prepared the way for that Body, at a later period, to originate, — from the funds procured to the State by her cession, to the United States, of what were more truly "Western" lands, — that liberal "School Fund" by which, since 1796, the Common Schools of Connecticut have been, al- most exclusively of other means, maintained. What our fathers, in whose township there had been no right reserved for supporting schools, and for whose children no funds from any source had been appropriated by the Colony, were in the penury of their early condition enabled and inclined to ac- complish for that end ; the following extracts from their records will show. 20 Jan., 1741-2. Uoted : that: wee will: haue schooling sum part of the year Uoted that theire be three : pence upon the pound Leued upon the Grand List in order to Maintain a School in the town *Quoted in the History of Waterbury, Connecticut, by Henry Bronson, M. D. Uoted that Jacob Benttm and Joiiatlian Hopkins iind Nathan Davia Be a Commity in order to prouidee Sofisiant School master and mistress for the year insuing in the town Uotod that the School for the Jnstructiug tlie youth to Right vVnd Read for two months this year Be att the Dweliug House of Jsarael Merinion, Uoted that the Rest of the Mony Be Left to the Discresion of the Commity to Lay out upon School Dames 9 June, 1743. Voted that any parson or parsons Joyning to gelhcr to Build a School house in the town of Harwinton shall have Liberty to Build a Schoolhouse Sumwhero Neer the Meeting Hous upon there one cost. Uoted that Jsrael Merrimon and Daniel Bartholomew Be a Commity to Determin the place whare the School House Shall Stand 13 Jan., 1745-G. it was Voted that there Shold be a School house built in Sum Cenvenient place near the meeting house in Said Town 17 Feb., 1745-G. it is now Voted that y* above Said School house Shold butt Sumwhar neare y' SouthEast corner of y" R*": M': Andrew Bartholomew y' Lyeth West of y" meeting house* or near there as y* Comiitis descresion Shall Lad them Voted that y" above menshoned School house Shall be Eighteen feet in length & Si.xteen feet in Wedth one Story higii Voted that Do: ■' Jacol) Benton & Daniel Bartholonii.'w &; Jonathan Butler Shall be a Commity to order & See to y* building & finishing of y* above Said Schoolhouse it was Voted that all y" boards & Timber & Stone that was Left in finishing of y* Lour part of y* meeting house Shall be made Use of So fare as it will Go for the benifit of the above Said School house in any Use as sd Commity Shall See fit about sd house 15 Dec, 1747. this meeting [, begun at the Meeting-House,] is aiorned to the School house in y* above Said town this meeting being opned at said School house they proseded uiz — Uoted that Amaziah Ashman Shall be a town Inhabitant in this Town. Uoted that there Siiall be a Rate Leued on poles and Ratabel Estats in this town of Seventy pounds money of the old tener to Defray the Charge of Building the Schoolhouse in this town in this year Uoted that there Shell Be Twenty pounds in money of the old tenor Leued on poles and Ratabele Estats in this town in order to maintaining of a Schouing. 13 Dec, 174S. Uoted that there* Shall be Eigiity pounds ui money of the old tenon Loved on pols and Ratabel Estats in this town in order to Cary [on] Scl»ooling in tiiis town the one half of it is to be improued to Iiire a School niatiler as fare as it Shall Go in this town for the year ♦The prenu.409 indicatod are tlioso now owiioJ by Mr. Lowi.s Catlia,Jr. 44 insuing and the other half is to be improued to hire School danes in this town for y* year Insuing Uoted that d° Jacob Benton and and Samuel Phelps and Daniel Bar- tholomew and Daniel Phelps and Capt Daniel Messenger Shall be a Committee to order and a point a School master and School mistrises in this town in the year insuing and to Receive in and pay out the above Sum of money for the use aforesaid according to there Discresion for the Larning of the youth a mongst us to w[r]ight and Reade 3 Dec, 1750, Voted that there be Sixty pounds leved for the hiring a School master to teach Children to Read & write Cypher the one half to be Raised by the town and the other half to be by the parents or mas- ters of the Children that thay Send to Said School Voted that there Shall be Forty pounds Raysd for the hiring of two women to teach Children to Read the Schools to be kept the one East Side of the town at Such Place as the Committee that Shall be Chosen Shall a point ; to be Raised one half by the town the other half by the parents and masters of the Children that thay send according to the number they send Voted that Ebenezer Hopkins Isaac Bull and Abijah Catling Shall be a Commitee to order the prudentals of the of the Schools in hiring a School master and School mistrises and disposing the money tliat was Voted for School according to the true intent for what it was Granted 3 Dec, 1751. Voted that there Shall be one hundred pounds in money of the old tenor Raised in this Town for Schooling of Children in order to teach them to writ and Read the one half of s*^ money to be Raised on the Ratetabel Estate of the inhabitants and the other half to be Raised upon the poles of Such Children as Shall be Sent [to] School the above money to be divided upon the List on Each Side of the town and Improved as the Commitee that Shall Be Chosen Shall order the same in one Shool or more and to apoint the places to keep the Schools and git school masters for y* same Voted that Ebenezer Hopkins and Abijah Catling and Lt Aaron Cook and Israel Merriman and David Hayden and decon Daniel Phelps Shall be a Comm[ittee] to apoint the Places for the Schools and dispose of the School money for the Use for which it is voted for 20 Dec, 1752. Voted that we will have a School in this town for the year Insuing to wit one month on the East Side of the town and one month at the School house in this town & one month on the "West Side the Town Voted that their Shall be f^ — ^l' oo hi money of the old tenor Leived on the one half of it Leived on the Ratable Estate in this Town and the other half of the s'^ money to be Leived on the poles of Such as Go to School in order to maintain a school among us Voted that Cyprian Webster & Samuel Phelps &; De° Jacob Benton Shall be a Commetee to apoint places for Said School and to hire a School master for said School 18 Sept., 1753. Voted that their Shall be Seventy Pounds money Levied on the poles & Ratable Estates of the Inhabitants of this Town to Defray the Charges of the meeting house and of the Schooling that 45 we have had Done allready in this Town this year & pay for a Cloth to Cover the Ded that is allready provided in this town To the above extracts from the To\Tn Book I., should be add- ed, as follows, from the Records of "the west propriaters of har- winton :" ■JO Marrh, 175.'?. voted that the proprietors will dispose of the un- devided Land tlie interest of S"* money to Support a School in the west propriety of Harwinton* These arrangements, — at first one school, in the Center of the Town ; afterwards, either two schools, the one on the East- erly, the other on the Westerly part of the Town, or three schools, one in each of those localities, — were found adequate until 1766, when, the population of the township being between 800 and 1000 persons, there were made for School purposes ten Districts. To a good degree the Schools answered their design. The funds, needful to meet the expense of su.staining them, were provided freely. So much as, in 1750, £60, and, in 1751, £100, devoted here to educational purposes, though one should recol- lect that there was then the evil of a depreciated currency, may, in view of the small number of the householders then, the new condition of the settlement, and the fact that the firet house of worship was scarcely finished then, be pronounced a liberality, regarding education, which can be remembered with quite as much of admiration for our fathers, as of complacency toward ourselves.f *In the Records of the " Proprietors of East nar\vinton," the latest mention no- ticed of "undevided lauds" is under date of 174G, at which time "dock [Dear.] thomas richards" was allowed to "make his pitch'' of them. The last entry made in the Recortls of the " Proprietors of Kast llarwintou " is, under date of G Marcli, 1769, in these words: ajiimod to tho flnt uunday of uiarrh next The last entry made in the Records of tlie " Proprietors of West Harwinton" in, under date of 14 April, 1757 [,17G9?], in these words: Vot<-c tiljorncil to the first munday of marrh ITTu The Ro<'ords of these Proprietors, kept tlrst at llartfonl and Windsor respective- ly, at which plucos the tlrst meotinffs of siiid jwrsons were held, were kept, and said rai*etinps wore helil, in Ilurwintun. uftur llw organization of the Town. ■fSoe, in Appendix, Note Y. 46 THEIR CHURCH BUILDING. If, as the fact was, the fathers here did well, in regard to edu- cational interests, so, in respect to another Adtal interest of the community, they approved themselves equally commendable. Not least, among the social wants which earliest drew their at- tention, was the necessity of possessing among themselves a structure in which, they with their children assembling, the so- cial element should have scope afforded to it for application and development and training, as to the highest of human concerns — an edifice appropriated to the public worship of their own great Father, God. For the many years before the building by them made for that purpose was employed, not even a Schoolhouse was ready to serve that end ; for, as may be seen by comparing the dates pertaining to notices which soon will be given, the first Schoolhouse was not erected until long after their 'Meeting- house' was reared. The Church-building, indeed, contributed towards tliat erection; the surplus materials of the larger edifice having been applied in the construction of the smaller one. Be- fore their edifice for public worship was sufficiently near com- pletion to allow their meeting in it, they worshipped together in the dwelling-house of one of their number. As they there attended upon the Christian ordinances, we may believe that they there obtained the Christian consolations, while on the fam- ily of that house was meantime descending such blessings as came to Obed-Edom's, when in his dwelling had sojourned " the ark of God." Still, this arrangement could last but temporarily. A building designed expressly for public social worship was their great need. Therefore such an one was, if it were possible, to be reared. If an enterprise of this nature should at this time be under- taken here, it would require thought, care, prudence, wisdom, patience, forbearance, union of feeling, with various other sorts of good moral qualities kept in exercise, as well as requisite pe- cuniary means. A work involving so many interests and pref- erences which never are easily kept in harmony, is indeed, at all times and among every people, found to be one of a delicacy equal to its magnitude. Our fathers, in prosecuting such a work, 47 had to contend with peculiar embarrassments. Besides the grat- ifying various tastes, and the conciliating and reconciling con- flicting interests, in men as they iLsually are situated, they had to consult not only how to accommodate best the conveniences, but how to remove best the prejudices of persons so recently brought together as not yet to have become assimilated to each other^ and with whom the ties which association promotes were yet to be, if they could be, established. The circumstance that they all were, for the present, so busied in providing for the supply of their physical wants by subduing, and as it were training to their use, lands almost wholly uninured to the plouglC and this other that, apart from mere ownership of such lands, their wealth yet remained to be created ; environed the work with difficulties more than ordinarily trying. We, in our condition which their accomplishment of the undertaking has benefitted, can only by an eifort appreciate the troubles that, in accomplishing it, they overcame. The following notices how- ever may, in part, show the difficulties wlii<-h ntt(>ndcd what they achieved. 4 Oct, 1737. The inhabitants of Ilarwinton presenting, by their Agents, Daniel Messenger, Zechariah Seymour, and Antho- ny Hoskins, a Memorial to the General Court, in which they ask from that Body what they had unsuccessfully sought from it, 13 May, 1736, "authority to embody in church order" and "to be incorporated* as a town," a.ssign as reasons for their request that, " the place being daily increasing, it will be necessary for us not only to have a settled mini.ster," but "also to build us a house" for divine worship.f 20 Dec, 1737, at the first Town Meeting it was Uotcd that the Knhabitciits of the town of Ilarwinton hauo uery unanirauslv A priced to Build A Meteing House for Duunc Worship :— Voted we agree thus that the Meeting House Shall b.- set m the ben^ ter Line Between the Proprietors of Hartford and wuidsor Condishond that Windsor Propriators give their Proporshon of land Agreed for the JncurrigmentofourMinnistor and Pay half the Choost boddmg the •Persons inl.abitinp unit.eorporatcd torritory, won? limile \ r nujah, Noy ; but I will Hiirely buy it of thee for « price: neither 50 "Voted that the Meeting House as to the former width be mad fine foot narrowwer than the former uot was * 7 May, 1740. More difficulties are developed; as Pelatiah Mills, Daniel Bissel, Hezekiali Bissel, Josiah Higley, Ebenezer Tyler, Samuel Barber, Thomas Bull, Samuel Haydon, Daniel Phelps, Job Alford, Daniel Gillet, John Stoughton, and Noah Loomis, petition the Legislature that ' they may be discharged from paying any tax on land lying within two and one quarter miles from the south end of the town.'f The Meeting-house was by them, it seems, regarded as likely to be erected too far north for their convenience.:}: 13 May, 1740. Other dissatisfaction is manifested; as Benja- min Catling, Israel Merriman, Jacob Benton, Jonathan Hopkins, Jonathan Catling, Jonathan Brace, Ebenezer Hopkins, John Coult, Samuel Phelps, Hezekiah Hopkins, Stephen Hopkins, Joseph Kichards, Joseph Merriman, Samuel Catling, Nathan Davis, James Cole, Abijah Catling, Jonathan Butler, Zechariah Seymour, Jr., Nehemiah Messenger, Amos Hinsdell, Satouel Moody, certify to the Legislature, that 'they had not been invi- ted to a friendly conference in regard to locating the Meeting- will I ofifer burnt-offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me noth- ing." The whole enterprise of this Church building showed our fathers exhibiling the same commendable spirit. Too many serve God with what costs them very little ; some indeed, if they serve him at all, with hardly even that. Mr. Merriman's house is said to have stood where stands the one, built by Rev. Dr. Pierce, at present owned and occupied by Mrs. Orson Barber. — At Wallingford, Ct., "till April, 1680, the first settlers assembled for religious worship in a private house, Lieut. Nathanael Merriman's." "Nathanael Merriman [diedj February 13, 1694, ^t. 80." A CENTURY DISCOURSE Delivered at the ANNIVERSARY Meeting Op the FREEMEN of the TOWN of WALLINGFORD, APRIL 9, 1770. By James Dana, d.d. NEW HAVEN: Printed by T. and S. Green. *Harwinton Records, Book I. f State Archives, "Ecclesiastical" Papers. ^Whatever disadvantage, as to distance, was occasioned to some of the fathers by the location adopted for their Church edifice, that location seems to have pro- cured additions to the number of worshippers in their Town. It appears, from the State Archives as above referred to, that, in 1757, certain Torringford people were Harwinton church-goers ; and that, in 1771, John Wiard, Joseph Bacon, Joseph Bacon, Jr., Daniel Bacon, Asa Yale, Asa Yale, Jr., Titus Bunnel and Ruth Davis were for religious purposes transferred from Farmington (that part now Burhngton) to Har- winton. For a long period certain families residing in the nearer part of New- Hartford have worshipped here. 51 house, nor had they hetml ol' it till alter iho nifctin^-,' for that purpose, had been held.* y. July, 1740. Uoted tliat arate of Eight teon Ponce uPuii the round in the hst Be Made on the Ratable E.state that is in the town of Harwinton Now Set down in the list and it .Shall be Put to the use of ( 'arring on the nesesary Charges of finishing the Mee[t]ing House Uoted that the glase for the meetting House Shall be of that size that is Colled Seuen Eiichs and Nine Uoted that M' daniel Messinger Shall haue one Pound eleuen Shilings and SixPence out of the towji tresurror for rum y' was found f*tr the raisingf of the Meting HousJ 'J 2 Dec, 1740. uoted this town will not moot at the house of m' Jsrael merremans onthe Sabbath day under the Present Circumsances uoted that this town will moot oti the Sabbath day three months next ensuing at M' Beniamin Catlings haus and after that tomeet on Sabatli Git a Stock of powder Shall now be payd out to the Joynors to defray the Charges of finishing said meeting house [. Other specified sums aro, by vote, appropriated to the same purpose.] •State Arcliives, " Eccleaiaslical " PapcrH. f.See, ill Appendix, Note Z. Illurwinton Records, Book I. gTlii."? voto indicat«« that ft constant oooupnnoy of the edifloo, re^ilated acconl- iag to the commou method of those limes, wna at liaud. S**, in Appendix, Note A A. 52 Voted that [the Building Committee] Should Dignify the Seats in Said meting house & give Instruction to the if Commity that was Cho- sen to Sate the Meeting house in Righting* 25 Sept., 1745. Report is made, that " the inside work and the gallery are finished."f 17 Dec, 1745. Voted that what tlie Seeters that was Chosen to Seet the meetinghous there Seeting of it Shoold be of no valu [N. P. the dignifying of the Seets and the Jnstructions that the Commity that was Chosen gave to the Seeters inorder to Seet the meeting house Shall l)e of no Ualu or Signifycation y'' Town Excepted what M' Jacob Hinsdell Did in Seeting tlie meet- ing House in sd Town 17 Feb., 1745-6. it was Voted that all y" boards & Timber & Stone that was Left in finishing of y" Loar part of y* meeting house Shall be made Use of So fare as it will Go for the benifit of the above Said School house in any Use as sd Commity [,at the present Meeting of the Town appointed, for building a School-house,] Shall See fit about sd [School] house Voted that Ebenezer Hopkins & Jacob benten & Samuel Wesson & John Wesson & Asa Hoskins & Amos Catling & Timothy Stanly & Nehamiah Hopkins & William Cook Shall Sit in y^ pew under y* Stares at the west end of the meeting house & that Sarah Merimon & Sarah Phelps & Ann Hinsdell & Mary Hopkins & Abigail Stanly & Mary Kellogg & Elisabeth Webster & Ruth Phelps & Martha Davis & Han- nah Phelps Shall Sitt in y* pew under the Stares at y^ East End of the meeting housej 3 Dec, 1750. Voted that there shall be ;fo_oo:oo. ino"ey old tenor Leved on poles and Ratable Estats in this toAvn in order to pay the Charges that Shall arise in Citing the Glass that is wanting for the meeting house & y** Steps for y* meeting house door and to pay other Charges that Shall arisse in this town in year insuing it was Voted that the Select men of this town for the time Being Shall be a Commitee to Regeulate the Seting of the meeting house in this Town for y® year insuing 3 Dec, 1751. Voted that the Sura of Forty Pounds in money of the old tenor be raised on the pols and Ratabel Estates of the Inhabi- tane of this town in order to Repare the meeting House in this town at the Discresion of the Select men of this town 20 Dec, 1752. Voted that we will take up all the Long Seats in the meeting House Exepting the two fore Seats one on the Right Side the Grate alley and the other on the Left side Voted that there shall be 50 — 00 — 00 pounds in money old tenor *Harwinton Records, B. I. f State Archives, "Ecclesiastical" Papers. :j:The males sat on the right side of the house ; the females, on the left side of it. The same custom, in that day, obtained in other places. By certain denominations of Christians, mostly outside of New England, that method is not yet abandoned. 53 Leveil on the Ratiiblo Elstate in UiLsTown to dftfray the Cliarg of Biild- ing of the Pews in flio Body of tlie meeting lioudc Voted that De" Jacob Benten & Abijali Catling & Cyrrian Welj.sl.-r Shall be a Commetee to Look after and See that the Pews be made in the body of the meeting liouse and to draw tlie said 50 — 00. 00 pounds in money and dispose of it to the -workmen that doe the work Voted that De" Jacob Benten & Cyrrian Webster & vVbijah Catling & Lt Nathan Davis & Lt Samuel Phelps & Capt Jacob Hinsdell Shall be Seeters of the meetinghouse after the ))ews are made* in the Loer part of the Meeting House in this town in the year Insuingf The building wliich thus our fathers erected, and which tho delays that inevitably occurred made old, even while it was young, stood somewhat south of that which the Congregational Church now occupies. A centenary continuance it had. When one looked upon it in 1840, though it had then been dismantled and, put to municipal use some thirty years, had come into a most Ibrlorn state of dilapidation ; he could sec in it ye traces of its original design. Duly conformed to the mode of Church- ly architecture adopted by many rural Towns in the fathere' time, their edifice, by its length and its breadth a square not much oblong, — having, in connection with no tower, no porti- * CO, no vestibule, a froijt door and two side doors, opening in- ward, — exhibited interiorly, at a remarkable elevation from its ground-floor, a balustraded gallery extended along all its sides, except that whereto the lofty pulpit, fronting one of three paral- lel aisles and with a conspicuous sounding-board surmounted, firmly adhered; and in either angle, farthest from the pulpit, the entrance to a partially enclosed flight of stairs by which ac- cess to the gallery was given, t That building our fatliers ven- erated as a "holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High." Not small was the joy which they felt when they beheld it lu^, at last, finished. Saying, as with a like reference David said, "Of thine own have we given thee,'' tliey now had, in comfort and witli profit, just to use it for that principal purpose whicli, during their struggles, jwrplexities, toils, they at no time had *Soe, in Appcndbc, Note BB. fllarwinton Reconls, B. I. XA. structure, like theirs, stood in Torringfonl, where it was used as tlie place for public worship, till obout 1841; others of similar oonstructiuu may. perhaps, in some few New England Towns, bo still visible. 54 lost sight of, but with steady praiseworthy persistence had kept ever in view. Circumstances like our fathers', as they have just been brought to our attention, show to us what a work it was, in the middle of the last century, to establish a new Town* In New Eng- land thus laborious was a beginning, and only through effort "so as by fire " were effected municipal and religious organizations. The difficulties at that time encountered at the East were really greater than, with the wealth and other increased facilities of our day, await the establishment of new Towns at the West. But from effort comes again ability ; Pallas from Jupiter's head. In fact, from toil and groans with faith and prayer have sprung those excelling qualities in New England which have made her sons and even hei- soil generous. The man who thinks of him as being niggard, has yet to know the genuine New Englander. If he was himself born there, either his birth was misplaced, or he is recreant to his ancestry. Let him manifest whether he comes up or can be drawn up to their measure of doing and giv- ing for worthy ends. How often are his benefactions an equa- tion, in the percentage, of theirs; out of each hundred owned, now five and now seven or eight dollars given annually in pro- moting a community's welfare ? In that ratio our predecessors here gave, levying upon their estates a tax ungrudgingly paid, one year of twelve, another of eighteen pence to the pound. This they did, that by their community a "sanctuary" in which to " come before the Lord" might be obtained, and for their min- ister and his due maintenance be secured. Not great was ' all their living,' but its outgo provided an income more than re- storing the "two mites." Thus by painstaking which benevolence renders pleasant, and self-denial which piety makes easy, was their work, as should be every good work, commenced, persevered in, consummated, approved. " For who hath despised the day of small things?" Only a degenerate son of better men than he who, by doing thus, proves himself unworthy of such sires. In- stead of looking back superciliously upon our fathers, we rather should gratefully recognize "the grace of God" in them; mani- *As it wa3 to build Rome : Tantm moUs erat Romanam condere gentem. 55 festcd, as said an apostle of "the churches of Macedonia," so "that in a great trial of aflliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality,"* CHAPTER III. THE PROPHETS. The primary acknowledgment of thankfulness, for the relig- ious as well as the other blessings possessed by our fathers and by ourselves, is due to God. Yet it having pleased him, " both theirs and ours," that a large part of our share of such favors should be brought to us by our fathers' hand; we properly hon- or him as well as them when, for the agency which thus they had in the transmission, we render, as true sons of our fathers, a secondary grateful ascription to these. Their agency in effect- ing this, having been considerately directed towards our welfare, makes evident their kindly intention; so that our possession of the favors by them transmitted, is the result of a design which, ;vs well on their part and in their lesser measure, as on God's part and in God's greater measure, has been successfully accom- plished. If it was indeed their energy which conquered the mighty forests here, and made here fields to smile and gardens to rejoice ; so, to the same extent, it was their wisdom which set up those institutions best characterizing and most distinguish- ing our lot ; and, to the same extent, it was their piety which laid the foundation of that regard for the enjoined observances uf divine worship through which come our noblest, highest hopes, with our richest, fullest consolations. They gained and cherished and nurtured piety, as we must, by personal endeav- ors ; but they found aid to such endeavors, — aid in acquiring, enlarging, expressing, applying piety, — ;us wc do, from the ap- point<.d ordinances of Christianity, witli her ministers and their ministrations. The time when the Congregational Church in llarwinton wa.s *See, iu Appendix, Note CC 56 formed is not stated in any records found in Harwinton ; nor have patient researches in other places, deemed likely to contain accounts of that event, done more than tantalize inquiry. Yet there is no reason to suppose that a custom nearly universal as to new Towns in New England, during the earlier part of the last century, was departed from in Harwinton ; if it was followed here, the Church was organized on the same day in which its first pastor was ordained. That day is indicated (,on pp. 57-60,) to have been 4 Oct., 1738. As the formation was hardly possi- ble on a day either later or earlier than that, the date sought be- comes thus sufficiently manifest. The Harwinton Church thus was prior in time to all the other Churches in the county ; except the Litchfield, organized in 1722 ; the New Milford, organized in 1716 (,at that time, in New Haven Co.); the Woodbury, First, organized in 1670 (, at that time in Fairfield Co.); and to all those in the Consociation, Litchfield South, save those above excepted, and the Southbury, organized in 1732-3 (, at that time in Fairfield Co. ; at this, in New Haven Co. ; though its locality as well as its ecclesiastical relation was, rom 1786 to 1818, in Litchfield County). THE FIRST PREACHER. The earliest account discovered of social religious worship being attended publicly in Harwinton, is contained in a document, j)re- served in the State Archives* at Hartford, and herein before re- ferred to as bearing date, 13 May, 1736 ; a 'Memorial of George Wyllys, Daniel Messenger, Nathan Davis, and the rest of the in- habitants of Harwinton.' After ' referring to a tax, granted ' by the General Court, in May, 1735, 'of one penny on a pound for the support of preaching, etc.', it relates, that " The Memorialists have thereupon hired y" very worthy M' Timothy Woodbridge, Jun', who hath for a considerable time preached to us, to the univer- sal content, satisfaction, and approbation of us his hearers." It farther relates, that 'they had agreed to pay him £104, per an- num, that is, 30 \s a week and his board: [that] they were then in *" Ecclesiastical " Papers. 57 sirreurs lo M' Woodbridgc lor the preceding year; and (that tlnn- therefore] ask authority to hiy another tax.' Of the hust named person, as connected with llarwinton, our State records have no other notice and our Town records have none* TllK FIHST rAPTOH. In the State Arcliivesf is a Memorial, herein before reierred to as dated 4 Oct., 1737, addressed to the General Court by its signers, Daniel Messenger, Zechariah Seymour, and Anthony Hoskins, in behalf of themselves and of the other inhabitants of Harwinton. 'Asking authority to embody in church estate, to be incorporated as a Town, and to lay a tax for support of a minister,' the memorialists relate, that " it will be necessary for us" "to have a settled minister (in regard to which we have aj)- plyed to a Gentleman who is well approved of by the Ministei-s &c. in the Gov', and especially by us to pretich for us some con- siderable time, to great satisfaction, and have as far as was con- sistent with our duty ca])itulated with him about a settlein') and also," etc. From this Memorial, as c<^mpared with the earlier one, it is plain that a second person ;us preacher is intended. The votes below-quoted refer to him. I Nov., 17:n. Alt a mooting of llie Proprit-tors of cast Hai wiiitdii hoM att tlio house of Mr Daniel Mossenfjer by a Jurinnent Voted tliut the Proprietors (Jive to the first man that is unlaiiiiMl ui I lie work of the niinistrv amongst us one Ifuiuheil aCres of Laiii] and that lie may Chu8c it where it Shall best »Sute Him in our undevided Land in the maner & form as our Lotts ware Laid out in provided he Sliall Contincw in the work of the ministry and in Principelsto wich he is ordained Voted that m' Daniel Brown and ni' Daniel Messenger boa Conmiitee to go to Winsor Proprietors meting k to im form them what we liave done at our Proprietors meeting and to make return of what they dow to our ne.vt meetingj 20 Dec, 1737. The inhabiUmU^ of Harwinton in th.-ir lirst Town Meeting assembled, to their vote expressing their unani- mous agreement "to Build A Meteing House for Diuin<' Wor- ship," add an explanatory and restrictive one : •Soc, in Appendix, Note DD. f " Ecclesiasliial " Papers. IF^ast Ilnrwiiitoii Records. 58 Voted we agree thus that the Meeting House Shall be set iu the Seii- ter Line Between the Proprietors of Hartford and windsor Condishond that Windsor Propriators give their Proporshon of land Agreed for the Jncurrigment of our Minnistor and Pay half the Clioost boilding the Meeting House and half the : 100 : Pound Agreed to giue the Miuistor Jn Labour : * At this period the Proprietors of "East Harwinton" held their meetings within their Propriety here; but, as the next cited vote shows, the Proprietors of "West Harwinton" were, for the most part, non-residents on their Propriety still. Their meet- ings, also, were afterwards held here. 7 Feb., 1737-8. In Windsor upon the Seventh Day of Feb''-^ : 1737-8 Voated that M' Daniel Bissell Jun'' Mr Nathan Davis & Koger New- bery or any two of them be a Com"" to Dispose of to y'' first ordained minister Jn Harwinton Sixty Acres of Land Lying y" North End of y* Middle Tear of Home Lots & about twenty five acres of undivided Land Lying at y* West End of the fifty acres already Granted to y" first ordained minister upon such tearms as They Shall agree and Exe- cute a Deed thereof to Himf 2\ Feb., 1737-8. Whereas there is no time limitted or mentioned how Long such Minister Shall Continue in the Ministry to be Entituled to the sd greants &c it is therefore Voted and Agreed by the pro})trs that the sd One hun- dred acres of Land Shall be Granted and the same is hereby Granted unto the first minister of the Gospel that shall be settled and ordained to the ministry amongst us and to his heirs and assigns forever Prouided Such Minister Shall Continue in the Ministry And PrienfalLs [principles] in which he shall be ordained for the full space of five years next After his ordination without any condition or limitationj 21 Ap., 1738. Att a metting of the Jnhabitants of the town ol Harwinton legily wornied to be at the hous of Jacob Benton A Prid the 21 1738 Voted that M'' Antony Horskins be Moderator for this Meeting- Voted And unanimusly a Greed to giue M' Andrew Bartholoim-w A Call to Setel in the work of the ministry a Mongust us. — Voted that M' Daniel Messinger Israel Merriman Jacob Benton dau- iel Brown Cyprian Webster Nathan Dauis & M' Daniel Phelps Shall be A Coumieete to treet with M' Andrew Bartholomew in order to asettelment in the work of the Menesterry A mongst us and to Lay the Propossels y' AUready haue been Proposed before him and to bring his Answer if any bemad to the next meeting for a further Confirmation *Harwinton Records, Book I: . (■West Harwmton Records. :l;East Harwinton Records. r)9 Ami it is fartlier uotod that the said Coinmct-to or any tow of thorn Sliall make ther APHcation to the next Association for tiuTo advicf in ordor to tlic Settolmpnt of a minister amongst us * 9 May, 1738. The Committee, apijoiuted by the vote Ijist i|Uotccl, made report to the Town, at a Meeting " Held by ad- jouriimen att the hous of Mr Israel Merremoii may the : : 1738," "tliMt M' Andrew liartholomcw will P^xcept of our Pro- possuls." 28 Aug., 17;'.S. Att. A. :\[eoting &c at tlio lions of ^[r J.-^ioal Mor- i-pmons August the : 2S : 1738 : Uotfd that M' Benjamin Catlin Daniel Messingcr and daniol rhlujlps He a Comnieote to Send to the Neighbouring Minsters forthere Assist- tance Jn Ordaining of the re".:! M' Andrew Bartholomew and also f o makf what Proui.'?on is Ne.ssesary for the Ordainnatioji* In the Town Hecords, Book I., Mr Bartholomew's acknowl- t'dgnu'nt.s of salary received show that his oflicial year be Committee Rpport that M' Davifl Kly "Would N(.t tarry to iircach on tlie above [not ineiilion«>(ll proposals. \'otod to .^f'liil forM' David Kly* to come and prraHi AVitli u.s — Voted lliat StP- plieii Butler Should apply To M' Ely '_»:? Feb., 1773. Voted that Committee Should Apply to M' Robert Hubbard Kiutiier Voted that If s"* rommittee Could Not Obtain Mr llubbert tluit they .vjioidd Apjdy to some one Khc to Supply ih.' pu1|iit '27} Mav, 1773. Voted to Give M' Rolu-rt Hubbard* a e:dl to (•••ni.- .\nd Settle In the work of the Ministry Voted to Discharge the Rev'' W Andrew Harthol"' From Giving in a List During hi.s life— Provided S'' ReV' M' Rarthdlomew Discliarges The Town from paying him his Saleryf 1 June, 1773. The proposal, inailc in tlic liust vote above tpioted, was acceptx^d by Mr. Bartholoinew ; as appears by the ajjreeineut which in full is reconled.f 7 Sept., 1773. Voted the Committee Shall apply T.. M' David Per- ry to preach with them The Winter Conieingf 21 Sept., 1773. The action, specified in the vote la.-i ipu'ir.j, \v:is renewed. 11 Oct., 1773. Voted the vSociety Committee Shall apply to M' Da- vid Perrv to Settle In the work of the Ministry In the Town of har- winton 10 Jan., 1774. Voted to Discharge The Rev'' Mr Andrew Rarthol"' From paying any taxes or Rates whatso March, 1776, he died.:}: Mr Bartholomew was bom, at \Vallin<,d'ord, in 1711. lie graduated at Yale College in 1731. No account apix-ars of the theoloo-ical studies lie may have pursued, neither any of the place or occupation he may have been in, between his Im •S«e, in ApiK'ndix, Note I'D. f Fkrclosiastical Society Records. Bffjk 1 JSee. in Appendix, Note KK ri\!' 62 college and his ordination. Of two anecdotes related respect- ing him, the one* imports that he was, in personal appear- ance, not prepossessing; the other, — referring to his having without opportunity for premeditation preached a sermon, on an occasion when other ministers present had declined to preach, on the ground that they were then without preparations for such a service, — implies, perhaps, that he had a ready mind. He seldom preached otherwise than extempore. In the discussions that, during the middle part of the last century, were prevalent in New England, in respect of what is with more familiarity than exactness called 'the half-way covenant system,'' Mr. Bartholomew was known to be decidedly and practically averse to the views ably presented in this vicinity by the Rev. Dr. Bellamy. Against Dr. Bellamy's positions on that subject, Mr. Bartholomew pul3- lished a pamphlet in 1769. What can be recollected of this production is that it exhibits a considerable degree of mental acuteness, without acerbity of temper; and that it indicates the tiuthor to h.';.ve been more inured to thinking than exercised in literary composition. He was the author of another published treatise, the title of which is : Some Eemarks upon the claims and doings of the Consociation [, etc]. It was one of the mul- titude of ' Narratives,' with dissertations, called forth by the cir- cumstances attending the ordination of the 'Rev. Dr. Dana, at Wallingford, in 1758. If from perusal of the first mentioned pamphlet, and from conversations respecting Mr Bartholomew, had with the aged here who remembered him, were received cor- rect impressions as to his theology, the tone of it was by no means too rigid. His character may be indicated by saying : While he "saw that wisdom excelleth folly," and said of pru- dence, " My soul followeth hard after thee," yet he loved also ^i'He is said, on his return from a journey, made in the early part of his connec- tion with Harwinton, to have related the incident, and the compliment referred to, with an appropriate satisfaction : While one day, in a place at some distance from Harwinton, ridmg on horseback, as was the style then, a lady, journeying by the like mode of conveyance, having overtaken him, and entered freely into conversation with him, and found, though she knew not whom she was talking with, that he belonged to Harwinton, imme- diately rejoined, " Well, the Harwinton minister, tlicy say, is an exTRAOKDwary ordinary man." 63 what he regarded as truth ; and, aiming to be right in all things, on points of Christian doctrine which arc vital he was deemed to be sound. , Previously to the last year or two of Mr. Bartholomew's min- istry, the temporal business connected with the support of relig- ious institutions here was, though not in the best smse, a 'public concern.' At first it was attended to by the inhabitants casually gathered or ' mot in convention.' After the incorporation of the ^''own it was transacted, with the municipal concerns generally, by 'the voters in Town Meeting assembled;' and so the record of it, if made anywhere, was made in ' the Town Book.' Such a custom, as viewed now, is unseemly. " The things that are God's" mixed up with " the things that are Cesar's," we look on as a jumble. Incongruous, almost in every respect undesirable, still such was the usage which formerly was general in New Englantl. In Harwinton after the Ecclesiastical Society* had been formed some ten or twelve years and meantime had, i'or aught that ai>pcars to the contrary, done its proper work reason- ably well, the old metliod seemed to many pei-sons to be the better one. These had so long been habituated to it, that they wouM have it, if possible, again. A Town Meeting to act on the matter was called, when it ajipeared that the earnestness of their efforts was greater tlian their success.f THK ShX'OND I'ASTOU. There was appointed, 2 Feb., 1771, a " ('oniniitttv to Call in an Ordaining Counsel to Settle M' David Pony In the work of the Ministry In this Town on the 15th Day of InsUuit February 1774.'':{: On that day the Council met and he wa.^ ordained. >$ The vi\\\ he had rcceiverl to become a pastor here, was given tci him more than three month's before Mr. Bartholomew's dismis- sion. His ordination occurred in Ic.^sthan three weeks after Mr. ♦The namo has boon changed. — //anri«''>'» F>>k III. ^ Kctlcsia.stical Society Rcconis, Book I. gCljurch Uocord.'s Book I. 64 Bartholomew's dismissioD. A like call made within a year pre- viously to two other gentlemen, both had declined to accept. Why these declined is not apparent. That Mr. Perry was un- willing to be a colleague with Mr. Bartholomew seems manifest. The unwillingness was not without its reason. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" The 'half-way covenant' practice was here. It was known to be at variance with that which the earliest Churches of New England had followed.* Let persons not scandalous in their lives but profess, in a wa}^ ready to hand, a speculative or historical assent to Christianity ; then solely on the ground of that profession, the rite of baptism should be administered to their children. Mr. Bartholomew had strenuously defended this practice. " And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest." The result was, there pertained to the Church individuals not a few that might have been termed ' lobby members,' persons attached about it rather than admitted into it, excrescences adhering to it, not ingredients, not "cornel}'' parts." Among these, unless their peculiar ' profession ' should be excepted, a form submitted to avowedly " for the sake of advantage," there was not, generally, found even so much as 'pretension to piety.' Such was the condition of things which the new pastor had to meet. The cause of it he discerned, and sought at the outset to remove. If, when Mr. Perry was induc- ted into office, there was between him and his people, an ' im- plied understanding ' that he would not forbid to be brought to baptism children whose parents sustained towards the Church relations of the equivocal sort that has been described ; so there was an ' express agreement' to the effect that he might by his preaching and in other persuasory methods show to such parents, and to whom else he would, that those relations were wrong.f ' The articles of stipulation,' designed to be " an end of all strife," proved to be only a ''i^lan of union ;' for the sequel showed that the people's attachment to their preferences was not less strong than the pastor's suasory power, and that his views were capable of modification in a way that tended little to unite him and them *See, in Appendix, Note FF. f Ecclesiastical Society Records, Book I. 65 in ' bands of harmony.' When the time came that, acting con- scientiously, he could no longer apply the baptismal ordinance to the infant offsj)ring of non-communicants, he told them so. By what he said, he stood. Then was trouble both to him and to them. 'The covenant-owners' considered him to have be- come a ' covenant-breaker.' The matter was by them stated and acted upon thus : 'IS Sept., 1778.. . .tliore is ;i difficulty Arose in tlic Society by Reasun of tlie Rev"' M' David Furry Refusing to Baptise Cliildron of those par- ents who wore in Covenant when s"* Rev'' Mr Perry Ordained in the work of tlie Ministry Votpd it is the Minds of the Society that the Rev"* Mr David Perry is holden by a Covenant he has made with liis People to Baptise the Chil- dren of those person who was in Covenant when the Rev"* ^^r Perrv was Ordained and Look upon it the Duty of the Rev** Mr Perrv to do the Same* Then "the fire burned ;" for in the records of the Church, as well as in those above cited from, is shown that there were here very inllammablc and combustible things. Details need not be given. The gist of tlic matter is that error and truth were in conflict, and by such persons as, mistaking the former for the latter, did battle for error as if it had been truth, 'the irrepressible conlhct' was made the more severe. Councils and Consociations, Refer- ences, Associations, trials, examinations, censures, exconnnuni- cation.s, were, in a long series, the order or disorder of the day. The general state of things was a sad one, though, throughout the whole of this great moral storm, a certain preparation was making — not only for the return of bright hours, but — for the coming of even better seasons than had a.s yet been ex{)ericneed here. These, as a thing of course, the pastor was not to tarry to behold. The first considerable lull in the strife mav have ajv pcared at his dismission which occurred, in concurrence with advice of other churche.<«, 23 Dec, 1783. f *F}cclc8ia8tical Society Rocord<», Book I. f PrccodiiiK pastoral ilianpps Iif>ro in siihflofnicnt times, tlicrc Imvo bwn conflicts of inlorcst ami of fooling from which a 'larpo nmonnt of iiont' wa.s evolve*!, and in which moa.surc8 were employed such as, on review, jx)uld not be pronounced right. Of those controversioa, as well a.s of that in Mr. Perry's day, the particulars would have lKH?n Aimisheil, hatl there l)eon a reasonable prospect affonlod that the presen- 9 66 After the termination of his labors in this Church, the Eev. Mr. Perry was settled, the second pastor there, in Eichmond, Ms., 25 Aug., 1784. From that relation, in which he was both happy and successful, he was dismissed, 1 Jan., 1816. He died there, 7 June, 1816, '*at the age of seventy-one years." Mr. Perry was born at Stratford (, Huntington), in 1745, and graduated at Yale College in 1772. Where or with whom he pursued the study of theology, does not appear. In manners pleasant, his mien, the aged (in 1837) said, was prepossessing. His person was portly. Those who knew him here, represent him as having been familiar in the style of his preaching, but earnest and pungent, and strenuous in insisting on those cardi- nal scriptural truths which are more or less accurately embodied in what has for some centuries past been denominated Calvinism. He seems, like Paul, to have said, in reference to every thing righteously permissible, " I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some;" and, equally like Paul, to have said, in reference to any thing not righteously permissible, "We gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you." Though, for a season, the proper warmth of kind affections towards him was diminished, and the improper warmth of unkind affections to- wards him was increased ; though the prescriptions of courtesy and the requisitions of Christianity were alike disregarded when, in respect to him, bitter words instead of sweet ones were spo- ken, and the promised means of living were withheld ; yet it at last appeared, that he had secured from many of the peoj)le their permanent esteem, so that, on his removal to the sphere of an easier work that invited him, he took from them "a letter of Re- commendation to other Churches."* This, certainly, did not, at one time, appear a thing likely to be done. And yet, why tatiou of such items would be likely to have, for readers in general, a sufficient pre- ponderance of good. The fact that means for exhibiting such details are furnisha- ble will, with thoughtful minds, serve to hold iu check those tendencies from which come wrong contests and wrong methods of carrying on right contests. Indeed all men should at all times remember that there is appointed for them, in a future life, an impartial investigation which "shall try every man's work, of what sort it is." *Church Records, Book I.; under date of 21 April, 1*784. (57 should one wonder that it was done? It had become to liis hearers beyond questioning, that his leading motto was, " I seek not yours, but you ;" that when he called out to them as a " son of tiiundcr," it was to awaken only salutary terror; and that when he did "rebuke with all authority," the severest lacerations of mind which he made showed that "fiiithful arc the wounds of a friend." As wc look back to Mr. Perry's ministry in llar- winton, through the light that its consequences after unfolding f(jt more than two generations throw back upon it, we see that, notwithsUmding the turbulence that attended it, the, for those days, premature close to which it came, and even the division that followed it, his ministry here was, in its main character and abiding results, eminently a successful one; since by him, under God's supervision, wa.s laid a foundation for that peculiar degree of prosperity " in spiritual things " which has, in later times, been experienced here. Such a benignant issue may ever be expected to pastoral labors respecting which, while they perform them, other ministers, like the apostle with his fellow- workers, can say tr\dy, " Commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."* Before Mr. Perry's pastorate in llarwinton had closed, there sprang up in the Town a 'Separate' Congregational Society or Church. Exclusive of children, and a very few other per- sons, it may be ; that Church and that Society were, probably, the .same individuals viewed as in diiVerent relation.^. A little later, the preachings, or at least the meetings, of Baptists were attended here. Wiiat is known of these operations, is the fol- lowing : ll.irwinfi.n Oclol/ AD 1783 1 John Bnioker profess myself to bo A Strict Congror^ationel John Brookerf ♦l/oiig after tho remarks a»K)ve presented wore written, their wriUr first saw tlie notice following: " Tho n-liK'ious cliaraotor of Mr. Porr)' was such as to fiiniisli a briRht exjimplo to every gfwptl minister. IIo was t-mineut for his cxprcssfitins and daily exhibitions of pii-ty, and eminently devoted and lUilhfiil as a minister of ChriHt."— History of the County of Berkshire, Ma-ssacliusflls. fHo was lx>rn at Snybrook, abo\it 1750. "John Brooker, son© of John A .Sarali Brooker. was born y 2l8t of July, .\nno Homini, 1718."— Reeords of Saybrook CL, inN. K. His. God. Reg. 68 Tliese may Certify that the above Signer hatli attended the Strict Congregation* Meeting the Year past James Bacon Elder Rec"* the above for Record Octob' 1783 Test Nath' Bnll, then Society Clerk Harwinton April 23'' 1785 Jacob Catling for Various Reasons him moving thereto hath Conformed himself to the Society Called Separtes* in this town & made Declara- tion that he is of that perswasion Dan' Catlin Jun' Clerk Harwin ton September 5th 1785 This may Certify that Timothy Catlin has Constantly attended on the Seperate* Baptist Meeting in Harwinton & Communicated of his Sub- stance to the Support of those that preach the Gospel for near two years Last past Certifyed by Sam' Meacham ) Members Dan" Sherman J of s** Meeting The above is a true Copy of the original Test Dan' Catlin Clerkf The blending of tlie two denominational names, in the last quoted Certificate, is an indication that, in this place as in seve- ral other places some, who at first became Separatists, afterwards became Baptists. These may have coalesced with the Baptists who once were at Burlington, or with those whose organization longer remained in New Hartford. Most or all of those sece- ders who stopped short of the second variation, are believed to have returned to their original connection. As nearly related to the pastorate of Mr. Perry in Harwinton, there is to be noticed another movement in which a larger num- ber of persons engaged. That ' sore,' in our body ecclesiastical which Mr. Perry had found, and which by his clerical 'surgery, ' necessary and kind though severe, had indeed been very thor- oughly 'probed,' was not of the sort that are said to 'heal by the first intention.' Hurts in such bodies often exhibit, before the remedy prevails, such phenomena as, in bodies human, are presented by ' gunshot wounds.' While he remained here, there was ' much swelling inwardly' with palpable ' throbs.' After he withdrew hence, there was 'external discharge' with 'fracture' extensively visible. His next successor in the pastoral office *See, in Appendix, Note GG. •{-Ecclesiastical Society Records, Book I. no here when he, thirty years after the occurrence, referred to this same thing, spoke of it as " a forniiaable schism." " M« tc lh:in one fourth of the inhabitants,"* then in llarwinton, left their connection with its origin:il rehgious Society. In that number were males, part or all of whom had been members of the Con- gregational Church, forty-six persons who, by Certificates, were set "forth as being, 26 May, 1784,t Episcopalians. For their worship according to the method of that denomination, there was, sometime afterward, erected an edifice which stood a few rods due south of the Congregational one. As prominent indi- viduals in that Society have been mentioned Alexander Allbrd, Luman Bishop, Lt. Levi Munson, Mark Prindle, Capt. Kzeldel ScQville. There ministered to that Society, ministering at the same time to other Societies in the vicinity, Rev. Ashbel Bald- win, Rev. Alexander Viets Griswold, D.D. (, afterwards bishop of the ' eastern diocese ' formerly existing). Rev. Frederick llol- comb, D.D., Rev. [James?] Nichols, Rev Roger Searle. Dr. Ilolcomb ceased to ofBciate in llarwinton, for the fii-st time, in 1820. About the .same period, the Church building which that Society had used was subjected to demolition, and a portion of the materials were employed in the construction of a small hou.se of worship, occupied by Ba})tists and ^fcthodists which, in 1838, underwent a recon.struction at Bakerville (, New Hartford). Since worship afler the Episcopal method was commenced in the .structure erected (above the Town Hall) in 1840, the min- isters here of that denomination have been, successively, Rev. Messrs. Frederick Ilolcomb, D.D., Henry Zell, William H. Fris- bie, U. V. Gardner, Timothy Wilcoxson, Orrin Jlolconib, .lames Morton. The latter gentleman, though resident still in llarwin- t(.n, has for the last few years preached in I'lymouth (East Church), and the Epi.scopal church edifice here has been clased. TlIK TinUI) I'ASTOU. Between the removal of the .second Congregationalist pastor and the induction of his next onicial sil-.-.c^mi- h.r.-, s.>v.ral years intervened. •Religioiia Intelligcncor, II April, 1818. f Ecclosiastionl Society Rcconls, Bo«>k I. 70 6 Dec, 1784. A committee of tlie Society were directed to " apply to Mr. Alexander to Supply the Pulput the insuing Win- ter."* It is probable, that he had been doing that service dur- ing the preceding summer and autumn, and that he continued doing it through the greater part of the subsequent year. One cannot, except by that supposition, account either for the third pastor's statement,f that Mr. Alexander preached here " a few years afterwards," i. e. after the second pastor's exit hence, or for the impression which others have had, that Mr. Alexander preached here "nearly three years." The true account may be, that his ministerial labors in Harwinton extended through a large portion of the year 1784, through either the whole or the largest part of the year 1785, and into the beginning, j^erhaps^ of the year 1786. The Eev. Caleb Alexander, after being at New Marlborough, Ms., its second pastor sixteen months precise- ly, a not long pastorate now, sljort to a prodigy then, had been dismissed thence in consequence of much the same thing as oc- casioned the dismission of Ilarwinton's second pastor, — leading the Church, as before his induction there he did, to abandon their ' half-way covenant ' practices.:]; Having left New Marl- borough in June, 1782, and having been installed at Mendon, Ms., in March, 1786, he may have ministered here as has above been indicated. Whatever was the time of his stay in Harwin- ton, his ministrations here were such as were then needed, such as his character and his previous experience had fitted him to give, and such in their influence as God deigned to bless ; the appropriate " work of an evangelist." The third pastor in Har- winton, writing in 1790, says of him: "It appears, that by the Assistance of the Eev'd Caleb Alexander^ the Church became more harmonious and united by the different parties making a degree of mutual Concessions to each other — especially [was con- cession made] on the side of the Excommunicated. And a wri- ting was formed — upon the subscribing of which all the excom- municated who were not then present might again be admitted ♦Ecclesiastical Society Records, Book I. •j-Cliurcli Records, Book IT. ^History of Western Massachusetts. §Seo, in Appendix, Note D.D. 71 to a good standing in tlio Church — of which but low refused to avail tlicmsolves. Henceforward tlic Church l^ecamc so united as to apply to several Candidates* to preach witii them, with a View to their Settlement over them."f 5 March, 1787. The fnllowiiif^j votes passoil. To make rro|>(jsaIs of Settlemont to M' Lemuel Tyler J etc. etc.§ [Whether the Church concurred in this action of the Society, is not manifest. The vote cited implies that Mr. Tyler had preached here for a considerahlo time. The period was, |irohablv, nearly or quite a year.] 25 Feb., 1788. Voted That this meeting is AVillin^' to Settle Mr Rowland. § [It does not appear that the Church took any action concur- ring with this expression. During nearly one year preceding, Mr. Kow- laiicl, prol)al)ly, preached here.] '2'^ April, 1788. Voted This Society Proceed to make proposals of Settlement to Mr. Rowland. § | [It doe.«! not appear that, with this more decisive expression, any action l»y the Church was in concurrence.] 9 April, 1789. Voted to Give M' Aaron C. CollinsJ an Invitation To Settle With us in the Ministry in this place, etc.§ [The'Church by their.=;, not effectually, it seems, concurred with this vote of the Society. Ry this vote, aa comiected with other circumstances known respecting Mr. Collins, it appears that he, too, had ofliciated in Ilarwinton for seve- ral months preceding.] 12 A\ig., 1789. Voted the Committee npply to Mr White| to sup- ply the pulpit.§ [(^ne finds not, b}- record, whether Mr. AVhite did suj)- j)Iy the pulpit. If lie did, it was for only a few Sabbatli.s. The aged who were here in 1837, of him said nothing.] In the six or seven years thus barely touched uj)oii, tlierc must have been, to a thoughtful and good man resident, liorc, many hours, if not days and months besides, in which his lieart felt sad. However brightly above him shone the sun, or amund him waved the green growing graas and the yellow ripened ♦Since, along witli thoso U8a>,'ca wliich gave occasion for tlio employment of Uio word 'candidate,' with reference to parocliiul ooncenis, tlio word itself, as to giicli a reference, i.«, in New Kiiglaml, so rapidly l)as.'^in^,' away llial it intist soon Ik) ob- Holeto entirely, in parisli vo<«al>ularioa ; there properly might in this connexion bo fumisiied a Note explaining tlie wnnl lor the Itenefit, |x>Bsibly, of fuliiro itarish his- torians and 'p.iiiil'id miliipiarians' generally. There i.x, however, entertained (veu- turoiiHly, porhap!*,) the ho|H5 th.it, for some few ye:irs l«i come, inquisitive people may, on this, enlighten tliemsclves snfllciently by mrefully consulting tijo memory of such aged persons as can bo reliod upon for nxvUcetiug with prmsiou. fCliurch Uiconlx, Book II. ^Soe, in Apjiendix, Note I)D. §Eccle8ia!«tical Society Records, Book 1. 72 grain, yet, as to the moral state of Harwinton, there were scenes, indeed dark and drear, on either hand. In respect to matters directly affecting man's highest concerns, all around him, and haply within himself, too, he saw great cause for grief. Espec* ially, if such a man was then at the head of a household the children of which already were, or soon would be, in the most formative period of their life, he could not refrain from asking even with anguish, when and in what would end the existing lamentable things. Yet to come after the dark of that night, there was predestined a day that at length gave signs of its dawn ; and to banish the drear of that winter, there drew nearer every minute the longed-for spring. The moral revolution that for a ten years' space wrought and progressed by battles, in the six years' time thereto succeeding laid even its skirmishing by, and through 2:)eaceful methods perfected and established the victory it had gained. Sixteen years are not ill spent, when in such a period are well removed the evils that, by nearly forty years in- dulgence and defence, have, as reputedly good things, been made strong. By Mr. Alexander chiefly, indeed, but in some degree by the others who after him ministered here for a season, were labors done the effect of which, as of the pioneering work of our Savior's harbinger, had been "to turn the hearts of the fa- thers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people preparecZ /or the LorcV Than a 2:)reparation for him, none is better for a pastor whom he sends. Not here only had there been preparation. That which the people had been fitly prepared for, had been fitly prepared for them. 28 Dec, 1789. Voted Rev"* M' Joshua Williams [an] invitation To Settle With us in the Minstry in this Place.* Mr. Williams, whose preaching began with approbation from "the Hartford South Association "f received the same month (, Oct., 1782,f) in which a pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Southampton, L. I., died,:}: was in that place ordained niid in- *Ecclesiastical Society Records, Book I. f MS. Autobiographical Sketch of Mr. Wllhams. ^Journal Book of the Proceedings of the first Church of CHRIST, Southampton, January 1'' 1785. This Journal, now in possession of Mrs. Oriuda Catlin, of Har- 73 stalled by the SufTolk: Presbytery, as pafltor the fourth or lilth there in siicecssidn, 20 May, 1785.* During the first year of his pastorate in that Church, forty-two persons were added to its number.* lie also performed an evangelist's work successful Iv, while pastor at Southampton, and so, as he expressed it, he "was made an instrument of good by circularf preaching on the Isl- and.":}: At his own request, his pastoral relation in Southamp- ton was sundered by the Suffolk Presbytery, 21§ April, 1789.:}: lie was qualified, by the experience he had gained, for the w(^rk greater and more successful, as it proved, which here awaited his installation. "Previous to this, it was thought proper that the Church should renew their Profession and their public Cov- enant with each other."!] Such " Profession and Covenant," — in substance identical with the (" Articles of Faith," the) "Con- fession of Faith," and the "Covenant," since used here, — "was agreed uj)on, at a Church Meeting, on the 15th of February, 1790, and signed by the" members of the Church; "and [the same], on the Day of the Fast preceding the installation, was publicly read and solemnly agreed to, — each Member prescin. standing up."|| There was, at the same time and in the same manner, "publicly read and solemnly agreed to," an engagement which .seemed to be as scriptural as, explicitly set forth, it may be found unusual, viz., "We also solemnly })romise, that we will not encourage among us any Speaker or Preacher of Whatever Denomination, by a.sking him to preach or going to hear him; unless he have the Countenance of our Watchman, or [we shall] have consulted and obtained Liberty from those whom we shall api)oint as helps and Officers in the Church."!] This engage- wiiitoii, a (laughter of Mr. Williams, conUiina in his chirog^phy, "Tho Confession of Faith and Covenant unanimously voted by thi.s [tho Southampton] Clnireli," on the evo of his .settlement there; ami embraces business accounts of hi.s the record of which wa.s kept simultaueously willi that of the '•Proceedings." — See, in Ap- |H.'udix, Note nil. ^Journal Book, etc, as ia uoto next al)ove. f Itinerant. JM.S. Autobiopniphical Sketch of Mr. Williams. J^Prinio's History of Long Islnml. (Church Rrcords, Book II. 10 74 ment, — "Article of" Practice, we may term it, adapted as well as adopted to make due 'works' attend "Faith," — is a rather significant suggestion, both of what 'the pastor elect' had else- where, and of what the flock ' elect ' had here, seen of the ' Sep- arates ' of that day. Those people were disorderly. ' Their ministers were generally of the order of Jeroboam,' it was af- firmed. Erratic as comets, rushing within the orbits, disturbing the "stars"; it could not always be easily said, that, when at the farthest aphelion to which they wandered, they owned the attraction of the great moral Sun.^ Having accepted the call which this Church and Society had unanimously given to him, Mr. Williams, " by the Consociation of Litchfield County, was installed over them, March 3d, 1790."t His pastorate was, for the most part, the equable motion of a stream with no cataract's plunge and roar. The events most no- ticeable in it are those which betokened a peculiar success in his work. These excepted, it had no incident of more consequence than the erection of another Church edifice. In the early part of Mr. Williams' ministry here, several of the founders of the Town, among them Dea. John Wilson and other original members of the Church, were still surviving. These, so long as their life was continued, had a natural satisfac- tion in seeing, and a spiritual pleasure in using, the temple that, like themselves, had belonged to former days. Their age, ma- king them forgetful of other things, kept them mindful of how they once were here without any temple, and of the painful pro- tracted endeavors by which they, with the rest of "your fathers," completed the first. In no other one could they become so at home. There was to be no other for them. The undertaking to build a second one was by this Society not attempted, it seems to have been not projected, until the last living of the first dwel- lers in Harwinton had passed away. Then the ancient one was in such a decayed condition as not to afford sufficient protection against either rain or snow, either the heat or the cold. Its hold- ing capacity was not large enough. Its attractive capability was too small. As to the worshippers, it did not meet their demand *See, in Appendix, Note GG. f Church Kecords, Book II. 75 for convenience, it did not satisfy their taste; while, m to the Object of their worship, it did not correspond to what, in their view, the proprieties of his service by a congregation required. The primitive structure had well answered the primitive design.* It must, as being superannuated, be superseded. The Commit- tee, with whom the Society, in 1807, entrusted the work of su- perintending the erection of a new structure, were Messrs. David Candee, Isaac Cathn, Daniel Ilolt, John Ilungerford, Jonathan llossiter. Sen., Daniel S. \Vilson, Dea. Abncr Barber, Dr. Tim- othy Clark, with James Brace, Lewis Catlin, Sen., and Benjamin Griswold, Esqs. What was begun under fiivoring auspices, was haj)pily prosecuted and successfully finished. The existing temple, beautiful and commodious and hallowed by religious anticipations then, by religious remembrances now, was in 1808, near the end of that year, thankfully and with ser- vices appropriate to the occasion, set apart to the high end it was designed to advance — the honoring of God, through those assembled within it seeking to render due homage with obedi- ence to him. It cost about $8,000 (eight thousand dollars).f As such things are usually estimated, this outlay in a rural Town should be considered for that time, and might be for this, as gen- erous in amount. At least, a mind not illiberal would regard it as such. To some persons so great a sum, by such a Town to such a purjwse applied, would appear to be a needless and waste- ful expense. But how can any thing be needless, which helps best what all men need most? and how is any thing wasteful which is helpful thus? Wherever men having bodies would ofter social worship publicly, there accommodations suitable for their rendering it in that manner arc required. The importance of such accommodations is in proportion to the necessity for them. The benefits which experience shows to result from them, ♦Wlien tho new building liad been corapletod, tho old ono, its gallery and pulpit and \HiWfi Uikcn out, was roinovetl to near tho South Durial-placo when?, as pre- viously said, it did service as ii Town House nndnthorwiso, until 1940. On its final dismemljennent, tliero were, however, found remaining in it some parts scr>iccable for entering into tho constniction of other buildiupt. A house having in ita frame what suggests so much would, to some persons, have special value. f Ecclesiastical Society Records, Book II., etc. 76 are ever more than any expense thej occasion. Omit reference to sncli influences as, from a temple which saints in it make a sanctuary, flow into the individual heart, ever prompting anew the utterance, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts;" it still is true, that our choicest civil immunities, the most valued of human institutions, derive thence, as from a cit- adel, their firmest support. Omit, with those personal spiritual ones, these municipal and civil advantages, also; it still is true, that a sanctuary* — the Church building, set up for, and put to, and held to its proper use — always gives to any community more than it takes from that community. Even in a commercial use of the phrase, ' it is good property.' It is such, not only indi- rectly, by making other property ' safe ' through its effect in be- getting and upholding honesty ; but directly, too, by its very existence operating to add to what is called ' real ' estate more value than it subtracts from it. That this fact led to the reser- vation of two 'Town rights' for the support of the ministry in each of the townships made by the Legislature of Connecticut from their moiety of "the Western lands," or led other Ameri- can Legislatures to do the like, is not said. This fact shrewd builders of villages well know, and they act on the principle it suggests to them. An immediate effect of erecting the present Congregational Church edifice demonstrated it. As soon as this was finished, farms in Harwinton, so it was told, were marketa- bly worth one dollar per acre more than they were by the pre- vious appraisement ; yet the cost of its erection, had all the acres in town been taxed to provide the means for defraying it, would have been forty-four cents, plus a microscopic fraction, per acre. Facts like this retained in memory, funds for meeting the cur- rent expenses of an 'Ecclesiastical Society,' and for repairing or beautifying a Church building, would be readily furnished ; even at times when simply for duty's sake they might but reluctantly be given. Mr. Williams officiated in this newer structure more than two- thirds as long a time as he had officiated in the older one. For the period of an entire generation, " he was happy in the aflfec- *Saucta [soint] -area. 77 tions and confidence of" a large people prospering nndcr his min- istry. Tt was in his heart to die, as he had lived, with them ; but," in 1817, being then "at the age of fifty-six, [and] worn down by the labors of a revival [of religion], he was attacked by a disease which confined hini seventy-seven days to his house, and for several weeks raged so violently that each successive day was expected to be his last,"*f — occasioning, as one result, so much continued impairment of his constitutional vigor, as " rendered it proper that [he] should seek a dismission or a col- league."* lie, therefore, "petitioned for a release," and "a dis- mi.<:.sion took place, Jan' 9, 1822."* lie removed, in 1823, to Bethlem; and, in 1831, to Middletown (Upper Ilouses, now Cromwell). An invitation which he received, to become again a pastf)r, considerations regarding his health induced him to de- cline.* In the place hist specified he decca.sed, 8 Feb., 1836. The event, soon afterwards, was appropriately noticed in a .ser- mon delivered to this congregation by his .second succe.s.sor in the ])astorate here. Mr. Williams was born at Wethersfield (, Rocky Hill), 3 Feb., 17»j1. lie graduated at Yale College, in 1780.:}: His autobiog- raphy is silent, as to theological studies. Of a stature not above the medium, he was in neither body nor mind massive, but in both agile. Confessedly a )nan not perfect in piety, his religion wxs sincere and, like his temperament, ardent. Ingenuous, his failings had one trait which relatively is almost a virtue, that they were neither from himself nor from other men concealed. If through sensitive feeling or otherwise he had wronged any one, with characteristic quickness he both saw and, at once, by due methods made due amends for the wrong. " His faith was Calvinistic; but it was not a mere form of doctrine for curious di.^quisition or subtile disputation. It wjus a living principle op- *Autobio^rapliy of the Rer. Joshua Williams, in MS. f Obituary NoUoo, in the Connecticut Observer, 5 M.arcb, 183C ; prcjiared by Rt»r. Xoab Porter, Son., D.P., of Karniin^ton. {At College his stuiUos were much intcrrujjtcU hy tiio events of that .stoniiful pcrioil. Not overrating bin 'literary ae(|uironienL<(,' ho rcasonalily expressed huni- ble vifwfl R'SiKH'ting them. 78 crating in his daily thouglits and feelings of action. It was taught him, as he supposed, the last year of his connection with College, not by men, but by the Spirit of God." " Mr. Williams was an instructive example of the good which may be done by the more private offices of the Christian ministry. His sermons were less interesting than they might have been, if he had given them more time and thought. lie may have erred in this. Still, his ministry was unspeakably more useful than has been that of many, whose sermons, painfully wrought out by prolonged la- bors of the closet, have called forth the applauses of delighted auditors, while the people of their charge have been left, in re- spect to pastoral care, as sheep having no shepherd. Often in every part of his parish, free and open-hearted in his addresses to persons of every age and class, affectionate, skilful, and often exceedingly pungent and powerful in his instructions, reproofs, and persuasions;" "he was directly instrumental in the awaken- ing and conversion of many, and very successful in carrying forward the members of his church in the unity of the faith and in habits of constant piety and usefulness."* As a Christian, he had been "much in prayer," and "an example of the believ- ers." As a minister of Christ, both in Southampton and in Har- winton "he had been wise to win souls." Though not distin- guished either as a scholar or [as] an orator, he was more than *Early in enlisting himself and his people in the missionary cause, he once re- marked (to his grandson, Hon. Abijah Catlin), "that he with the neighboring min- isters was the first in the world, so far as he knew, to set up and establish the Monthly Concert of Prayer that now prevails all over Christendom." A similar relation of their beginning that movement, as not aware that their fellow-Christians both in this country and elsewhere had equally begun it, various other persons have made. A like movement, from a like common impulse, originated in Scotland in 1747, in England in about 1752. Such a movement, renewed in England not far from 1790, was again renewed there in 1816-20 and special efforts made to extend it through our land. In the Harwinton Church Records, Book II., is this entry : "February 27^'' 1815. Conversed on the Subject of a monthly prayer Meeting." When Mr. Wiliiams had become aged, he was 'not backward' as to reform. His Autobiography has this passage: "Jany 1829, I renounced Free-Masonry, fulling believing that I had done -wrong in uniting with it, tho' at the time I was deceitfully persuaded to it as a matter of duty. I must, I ought to confess, that I have found it an unchristian and deceptive institution. The same year also, I put m)"- name to the Temperance list." 79 either, "for he was a good man and full of faith and of the Holy Ghost; and much people was added unto the Lord."* 'Ac- count's,' respecting those years of his ministry here in which such additions were most numerously made, are the only printcdf productions known of his pen. THE FOURTH PASTOR. The Church Records;}: since Mr. Williams' time, arc ample. Many persons have in memory his successors in office here. Those successors are, in other places, still actively engaged in affairs. Of their work in Uarwinton, therefore, brief notices will suftice. Rev. George Edmond Pierce, D.D., was ''invited to preach t(j this church and people as a candidate for the Gospel ministry," in Feb., 1822. He was invited to become their pastor, in May, 1822. lie was ordained to that office by the Litchfield South Consociation, 10 July, 1822. He was dismissed from it by the same Body, " at their Annual Meeting, at Watertown, [10] July, 1834." Dr. Pierce, bom in Southbury (, South Britain parish), 9 Sept., 1794, was graduated at Yale College, in 1816, and at Andover Theological Seminary, in 1821. He was Preceptor of the Acad- emy at Fairfield, Ct., in 1817 and 1818. He entered unon the duties of the Presidency of Western Reserve College, then but recently established at Hudson, O., 5 July, 1834. He re- mained in that position, until " the burdens of office, the failure ♦Tlie quotations in the above paragrapli nro mainly from the Obitiinry Xotico, a quite extended one, before adverted to. f.Vn acfount of a Revival of Rclij,Hoii in Harwinton, Conn., in the yonr 1799; publislied in the Connecticut Kvnngolical Magazine, June, 1801. An .Vttxiunt of a Revival of Religion in Harwininn, Conn., in tho years 1805 and 1S06; published in the Connecticut Evangelical Magazine, April, 1807. An account of a Revival of lieligion in Harwinton, Conn., in the year 1816; published in the Religious Intel- ligencer, April lull, 1818. — The narratives ptibli«)ied in the Connecticut Kvangeli- cal Magazine form with otliers, and with a Preface written by Uennet Tyler, D.D., New Kngland Revivals, a work issued in 1816 by the Massachusetts Sabbath School Society. ^S«e, in Appendix, Kot« IIH. 80 of health, and the correct advice of the Medical Profession in- duced [him] to resign." His letter of resignation, dated 31 May, 1855, took effect at the next following Commencement, 12 July. After his resignation. President Pierce supplied the pul- pit in Hudson, 0., for nearly a year. Still residing in that place, he preaches occasionally, though he is mainly engaged in other employments. Of his printed productions the principal ones are : The Importance of Religious Knowledge, a sermon published in The American Evangelist, Boston, November, 1827 ; The Tears of Jesus, a sermon (whose title would have been The Com- passion of Christ, had its author's preference as to a name for it been adhered to), published in The American National Preacher, New York, April, 1833 ; A Report on the Study of the Bible and Christian Authors, instead of Heathen Classics, published, by request of the Trustees of Western Reserve College, in The Ohio Observer, Hudson, 0., 9 Oct., 1834; The Streams of the River of Life, a Sermon preached at the Dedication of the Chaj:)- el of Western Reserve College, August 23, 1836, published at New York, 1836; A Plea for Stability and Permanence in In- stitutions of Learning, delivered before the Trustees, Officers and Students of the Cleveland Medical College, February 26, 1845, published, by request, at Cleveland, 0., 1845 ; An Address in Commemoration of the Serai-Centennial Anniversary of the Settlement of the town of Hudson, O., delivered 18 June, 1850, repeated 18 June, 1856, and, with the other Proceedings of the Fifty-Sixth An»iversary of the Settlement of Hudson [0.], pub- lished at Hudson, O., 1856 ; The Heavenly Throne, a Baccalau- reate Sermon, delivered in the Chapel of Western Reserve Col- lege, July 9, 1854, published at Hudson, 0., 1854. From Dr. Pierce appeared in the Ohio Observer, 10 July, 1840, and on, articles in defence and advocacy of the American Education So- ciety and of its principles ; in the New England Puritan, 1846, 1847, articles "giving some historical, statistical and religious account of the Western Reserve;" and in the Independent, 23 November, 1854, and on, communications, " over the signature of Prudential Committee and with their [viz., such Coamiittee's as connected with the institution named,] examination and ap- 81 proval, giving' in part the history of the Western Eeserve Col- lege, and also the principles on which a College is to be conduct- ed." It is understood that their author designs to publish those communications in a more permanent form, THE FIFTH PASTOK. The Congregational Society, 13 Oct., 1834, invited Mr. Wil- liam James Breed,* who had for some time preached here, "to return and preach a.s a Candidate for Settlement." lie did not so return. Following him a Rev. Mr, Church* supplied the pul- pit a few Sabbaths. Mr. R. Manning Chipman, whose first sermon here wa.s preached 14 Dec, 1834, was invited to become pastor of the Congregational Church, 26 Jan., 1835. lie was ordained and installed in that relation, 4 March, 1835, by the South Consocia- tion of Litchfield County. He wivs dismissed from it, by the same Body, 13 March, 1839. Richard >ranning Chipman, Jr., a native of Salem, Ms,, where still his father Richard Manning Chipman, Sen., re- sides, was gi-aduated at Dartmouth College, in 1832, He pur- sued professional studies in the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church at Princeton, N. J., and in the Theological Department of the University of the City of New York, a De- ])artment suspended from operation since the establishment, in that locality, of the Union Theological Seminary. In l(So3, 1834, he was Corresponding Secretary of the American Peace Society and Editor of their Periodical, the Calumet, their office being' at that time in New York. He received approbation U) preach from the Litchfield South Association convened at Wa.shington, 20 Oct., 1834. He declined an invitation, given to him 27 June, 1839, to become Profes.sor of Theology in the Oi.rida Institute, at Whitesboro', N. Y., and a call, given to him 7 Julv, 1839, to be pastor of the Second Congregational Church in "(Old Well, now) Soutli Norwalk, Ct. He was in sUiUeil pastor of the Evangelical Congregational Church in Athol, Ms., 15 Aug., 1839 ; from which relation he was di.s- ♦See, in Appendix, Note T>D. 11 82 missed, 23 Dec, 1851. He was installed pastor of the Third Congregational Church in the borough of Guilford, Ct., 14 Jan., 1852. His release from that position was obtained, 19 May, 1858. Accepting an invitation " to discharge the duties of a pastor " to the First Congregational Church and Society in Wol- cottville, (, Torrington), Ct., he has discharged there such duties since 15 May, 1859 ; though, in accordance with his preference expressed, the formality of an installation has been waved. Of his writings, other than anonymous contributions in journals, have been published : A Discourse on the Nature and Means of Ecclesiastical Prosperity, delivered at the Dedication of the House of Worship in Terrysville, Ct., August 8th, 1838, — Hart- ford, 1839 ; A Discourse on Free Discussion, delivered in Har- winton, Ct., February 17th, 1839,— Hartford, 1839 ; A Discourse on the Maintenance of Moral Purity, delivered, 13 September 1840, in the course of his ordinary pastoral instructions to the Evangelical Church and Society in Athol, Ms., — (in The Friend of Virtue,) Boston, 1841 ; Memoir of Eli Thorp, — (by the Mas- sachusetts Sabbath School Society,) Boston, 1842. During the fifth pastorate of this Church there were, as re- spects matters pertaining to public worship, some changes for the better introduced. The Society, 29 Oct., 1837 : Voted to Slip [put 'slips' into] the meeting house. That work, done in the winter following, occasioned a second beneficial innovation, — as expressed 19 March, 1838 : Resolved By this meeting that this Ecclesiastical Society Avill on tlie 'I""^ Monday of April next procede to lease the slips in tlie meeting house for one year from the P' day of April [, etc.] Thus passed away, with the old pews,'^ the ancient custom of 'dignifying' them and 'seating the Meeting-house ;'f and, at the same time, was commenced a different method of raising the means by wliich the cost of sustaining religious services is pro- vided. Within the same period, as also previously, there lived here a few individuals of .^the Methodist Episcopal Church. No *See, in Appendix, Note BB. fSee, in Appendix, Note AA. 83 oiXanization of them has here been effected. A young niinistcr of that denomination, for a few months before his decease resi- (h>nt but not officiating in llarwinton, Kev. Myron W. Peek, died 23 May, 1837. Amiable, devout, resigned; though di.sa))- pointed in his hope of spending years in the work he had cho- .sen, the hope itself showed that, as in Josiah, .so '' in him there was found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel." « THE SIXTH I'A.'^TOH. Rev. Charles Bentley was invited to become pastor of th<' Congregational Church, in the summer of 1839. The action of tlie Society to that effect was taken, 16 .lune, 1839. lie was duly installed in that rehuion, 11 Sept., 1839; and dismi.s.sed from it, 15 Jan., 18r)0. Mr. Bentley is a native of Tyringham, Ms. lie graduated at Amherst College, in 1824. He studied theology with Rev. Al- len McLean, of Sim.sburv. lie was ordained and in.stallcd jias- torof the Congregational Church in (Middle Iladdam.) Chatham, 16 Feb., 1826; and dismissed thence, 22 May, 1833 He was installed pastor of the Congregational Church at (Salmon Brook.) (jranby, in Aug., 1833; and dismissed thence, in April, 1.S39. lie was installed at (Greens Farms,) Fairfield, 22 May, 1850 ; and dismissed thence, 18 May, 1858. lie was installed pastor of the Congregational Church at (West^ Willington. 27 Oct.. 1858. In 1843, the galleries in the Congregational Church ediliee were made lower, the 'sittings' in them differently arranged, and those in the Choir gallery brought farther forward: while the arch in the ceiling ceased to be, and the stately but too elevated j)nlpit gave way to one which quite as well answers a pulpit's especial design. These changes in its interior, if they have not added to the architectural effect, have increased the convenience, of the building. Although of those worshipping in it .some can easily remember when it was reared, and can as ciusily rccal the time when with those of a former generation they worshipped in the older one; yet thi.s, too, has about it now that venerablc- ncss which a religious use long-continued gives; and, preserved 84 well in the future, as it has been in the past, may it, touched softly by the hand of time, remain yet many years, undefaced, cherished, loved, " the house of God " and " the gate of heaven." As before referred to, in 1840 the Town erected a Ilall above which the Episcopal Society constructed an edifice for worship. The renewed ministrations in Harwinton of Eev. Frederick Holcomb, D.D., of Watertown, were contributive to the prose- cution of that design. • THE SEVENTH PASTOE. Eev. Warren G. Jones was installed pastor of the Congrega- tional Church, 3 Oct., 1850; from which relation he was dis- missed, 7 June, 1853. Mr. Jones, bom at (Millington,) East Haddam, graduated at Union College, 1831. Having studied a year and a half at the Theological Seminary in Princeton, N. J., he finished his profes- sional preparation under the care of the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, Pa., and by that body, a licentiate of which he became 6 June, 1833, he was ordained and installed pastor of the Drawyers (Presbyterian,) Church, in St. George's Hundred, New Castle Co., Del., 20 Nov., 1833. After three years, his pastorate Inhere was terminated by dismission. He was installed pastor of the Congregational Church in South Glastenbur}^, Ct., 26 Jul}^, 1837, and dismissed thence, 27 Aug., 1850. He com- menced, 1 May, 1853, the enterprise which resulted in the for- mation of the Market Street (Congregational) Church in Hart- ford. His labors in that relation were relinquished, 1 April, 1858. He resides in Hartford still ; officiating, since 1859, in the Second Congregational Church in Manchester. Writings of Mr. Jones published, otherwise than in journals, are: Piety Honored after Death, a sermon preached on occasion of the death of Pardon Brown, Esq., a Deacon in the Congregational Church in South Glastenbury ; A Correct Account of the Dis- cussion held in the Meeting House of the Congregational Church in South Glastenbury, Jan. 30 and 31, 1850, between the Pastor of that Church and Elder Joseph Turner, on the Immortality of the Soul ; Assured Hope, a sermon occasioned by the death of Truman Kellogg [, Esq.], at Harwinton. 85 THK EIGIITir PASTOR. Kev. Jacob Uerritt Miller was installed pastor of the ('i>u<^u:- gational Church, 13 July, 1854. lie was dismissed from that relation, 11 May, 1857. Mr. Miller, a native of Sandlake, N. Y., graduated at Wil- liams College, 1848, and at the Theological Seminary, vVuljuni, N. Y., 1851. He was ordained as an evangelist by the Presby- tery of Troy, N. Y., at Whitehall in that State, 13 Dee., 1852. After his dismission from Ilarwinton, he ministered to the Pres- byterian congregation at Green Island (near Troy), N. Y. lie was installed, colleague pastor of the Congregational Church in Branford, Ct., 20 Oct., 1859. THE NINTH PASTOR. Rev. John Alexander McKinstry was installed jiastor of the Congregational Church here, 1 Oct., 1857. Mr. McKinstry, born at Chicopce (, thena })artof Sj)nMgtield), Ms., a graduate of Amherst College, 1838, and of the Theologic-al Institute, East Windsor, Ct., 1841, had been ordained and installed pastor of the Congregational Church in Torrington (parish, Tor- rington) 5 Oct., 1842, and dismissed thence, 28 Se])t., 1857. "And the prophets, ?'' Of the nine persons, successively pjustors of the Congregational Church in Ilarwinton duriu"- the one hundred and twenty-two years of its existence, all, except him who now su.stains to it that relation, have been separated from it by dismission. All of those dismis.scd hence, the first excepted, have subsequently to that event performed the stated work of ministers, most of them as once or oftener pastcu-s, to other congregations. Of this number, el.NS, with consoling re- membrances of God's strength : " All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower <>f the field, but the word of the Loud endureth forever; and this is the word which by the go.s- pel is preached unto you." ♦Sec, in Appendix, Note II. To communities, as to individuals, the interests most impor- tant are those which relate to religion. For the reason that these interests are as unobtrusive as they are urgent in their de- mands, it is not always that either themselves, or the events which most signally illustrate them, appear prominently in a community's history. In Harwinton, during two-thirds of the time it has existed, no other events have been so conspicuous and impressive. It is not improbable that the influence, which led the Church at its origin to adopt and through forty years thereafter to main- tain 'the half-way covenant' practice, came from that leading- portion of our first settlers who emigrated from the Town where, in 1657, views favorable to that practice were held, and where, in 1696, that practice was strongly established. It seems certain that the character which the Church, and through the Church the Town, has borne in more recent times, may be attributable, so far as such agencies can be traced, to the circumstance that the other principal part of our earliest immigrants were emi- grants from the Town where, in 1734, began in this Colony a memorable revival of religion which afterwards overspread New England. That manifestation of "power from on high," since referred to as 'the great awakening,' "commenced in the First Parish in Windsor [, Ct.], about the same time as at Northamp- ton [, Ms]. It was remarkable at East Windsor."* As it extend- ed and wrought out its effects, it arrested the progress of many evils. It set up barriers against that corruption of principles and deterioration of morals which had for more than half of a century been like a violent tide rolling in. It showed that the lamentations of patriots over this degenerac}^, and the prayers of good men that it might be stayed, had not in vain ascended to Heaven. So many Windsor people came hither, with the influences of that "power" fresh in their minds that if they did not give body and shape, they at least imparted a manifest col- oring, to all that has here become history. To them, under God^ do we ascribe the facts, that a religious spirit has been so preva- *The Great Awakening. A History, i&c. By Josepli Tracy. 89 lent in ITiirwlnton, and tliat this spirit, especially at some sea- sons, has been made remarkable by so decisive manifestations. There being found no records of the Church kept while Mr. Bartholomew was its pastor, we are without evidence, cither that the tone of its piety was increa.sed, or that the number of its members was enlarged, on special occasions in his ministry. Such augmentations there may have been. It might seem from the absence of direct testimony to that effect, that such did not happen ; but an argument from the same premise would prove as conclusively, that in his ministry the Church had no deacons. Only indirect evidence, the title a})plied in the Town's Ilec- ords to their names, is furuishcd that such oflicers existed here in his time. Visible tokens of the divine approbation accompanied Mr, Perry's ministrations. Since the cessation of that great religious movement whose origin was coeval with Ilarwinton's ; similar seasons had been so few that, till the year when he began his pastorate, "we cannot find more than fifteen places in New Eng- land in which there was a special work of grace."* There were admitted to this Church in that year, in April, 15 members ; in May, 15; in June, 9; in July, 43; in October, 1; in Novem- ber, 2; in the remaining time of his ministry, 38.f Two tliirds of the accessions to church membership, while he w;is pastor here, resulted from religious revivals. As has in a previous connexion been mentioned, in the som- bre years, 'dark ages' in miniature they were, that came after Mr. Perry had gone, the way became gradually prepared for those times of brightness to follow which never, since their re- turn, have wholly withdrawn. In the first year of the pastorate of Mr. Williams, there was evident an improved state of things. The number of members of the Church increased, in that period, from 131 to 1534 I'iftwn of the persons then admitted Mr. "Williams regarded as the "converts," made during "a small rc- *Cbristian Spectator, June, 1333. fChiirth Reconla, Book I. ^Church K.>cord8, Book II. 12 90 vival of religion."* In 1799, such a season more extensive was experienced. It commenced in February on a week-day, at a meeting in whicli " a lecture had been previously appointed. The congregation was very large, and the effects of the Word were very visible.. In the evening another sermon was preached and some exhortations given. The effects were still more visi- ble. It is believed that, on this and the two succeeding days, more than a hundred persons received deep impressions of their miserable state ; and many of them were feelingly convicted of their total depravity of heart.. .Many were brought to see that a selfish religion, such as theirs was, was unsafe; and that they must have a principle, higher than the fear of hell or desire of happiness, to prompt them in the path of life.. .Several were brought under sorrowful and distressing conviction at midnight, on their beds — and many in such circumstances that it could not be accounted for on any principle, but the sovereign power and mercy of God." "From the 14th to the 20th of April, there were eighteen instances of hopeful conversion ;" from the be- ginning to the close of the season under review, "about one hundred and forty," principally of persons who were from twen- ty-five to forty-five years of age. Mr, Williams, in his "ac- count"f from which these statements are taken, said : "Some of the most unlikely to human appearance have been the subjects of this work. The high and the low, the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor, the mere moralist and the scoffer, the professor and the profligate, the profane and the inconsiderate.. .have been wrought upon. ..Surely it is all done by the blessing of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace." The number of admissions to the Church thus occasioned was, in 1799, one hun- dred. Mr, Williams described another season of this kind,f Beginning "about the middle of September, 1805," "its prog- ress was very rapid, attended with marks of divine sovereignty," It continued, "without very sensible abatement, for nearly six months ; in which time numbers were hopefully converted, and *His Autobiography. fSee herein, at p. 19, Note (f). 91 such visible tokens of divine grace.. .Avcrc exhibited, a.s gave oc- casion for the warmest thanksgiving." "The wicked lieart seemed to be overawed by the majesty find the sovereignty of the work ; and to appear as an o})p<>ser was to appear to be led, not by rational views of things, but by the spirit which actuated the Jews in their opposition to the work of God, when Paul and Barnabas were preaching successfully' at Antioch...Like the form- er, this awakening has extended into almost every part of the societ}'-, but the converts [in this] are not so immerous. The number now is seventy-five." " Though a few were of middle age, yet generally they were between the age of thirteen and twenty-five.. .In the former awakening it was observeil, that the subjects of it being principally heads of families cast a delight- ful a.poals, but, for the most part, adult persons, varying from twenty to sevent}' years in age. It was disclosed, however, in regard to some of the youngest of that coini)any, that they were tho.se for whom mothers had .spent many a nndnight hour in beseeching that spiritual blessings might be given them, and over whom now those same mothers, their prayers answered in fulfilment of the promi.ses, were re- joicing that the relatives i») dear to them had, in the highest •Sco herein, at page 79, Note (f). 92 sense, become indeed "cliildren of God." The number of per- sons added to the Church, in 1816, was one hundred and three.* Its members, 5 Jan., 1817, eleven having on that day been re- ceived, were three hundred and forty-one ; 2 May, 1819, three hundred and twenty-six.* The second year of the pastorate of Dr. Pierce " was distin- guished as a season of special grace. In the latter part of Feb- ruary, 1821, there appeared a deep and solemn impression on the minds of the people, manifestly the effect of divine influence. The work, at its commencement, was powerful and rapid. In the space of about three weeks seventy, a large proportion of them men and heads of families, expressed hopes of having ob- tained an interest in Christ. The work afterwards was more gradual and regular in its progress. It lasted till September or October when it gradually declined."f " During the second or third week of the revival, thirty expressed similar hopes." " Among the means blessed in promoting it, were religious visi- ting and conversation on the part of the members of the church. The scene was active, rather than passive ; yet there was great reliance on divine influence." " While it continued, the impres- sion was very general, ' It is the work of God ;' and there was little or no opposition to it.":}: "As the result of this revival, on the first Sabbath in September, a day of great interest and solemnity, one hundred and twenty-six, most of them people in mature life and many of them advanced in age, were added to the Church ; the first Sabbath in November, twenty more were added, and four afterwards ; making a total of one hundred and fifty [additions]. The principal part of the adult population, who were in the habit of attending on the means of grace, were now members of the Church, and the Church, embracing four hundred members, enjoyed a season of unexampled prosperit3^"f *Church Records, Book II. In that, on a cover, Mr. Williams has written: "By my records it appears that, during my pastoral connection, 3 years, 11 montlis at Southampton, and 32 years at Harwinton, the number of those admitted to com- munion with hopeful evidence of true^piety is 486." See, herein, at page 73. ■j-MS. of Dr. Pierce. :JChurch Records, Book III. 93 "No general revival was exjicricnoeersons, most of them in the flower of life, were the subjects of unusual religious impressions. In 1836, thirty -six j>ersons united them- selves to the Church; at other times, during his ministry, twen ty-three.f Some twenty- five jicrsons, who afterwards entered •MS. of Dr. ricroo. f Church RcvX>rU», Book IIL 94 its membership, stated that their new hopes and new life began in the period embraced by his pastorate here. By him were baptized in Harwinton six individuals of adult age, and forty-four children.* While Mr. Eentley was pastor of the same Church, " a work of divine grace made its appearance in the winter of 1840, char- acterized by deep and thorough convictions. The number added to the Church [was] forty. Again, [there was] a powerful work of grace, reaching almost all classes, [attended with] pungent convictions and in many instances speedy conversions, in the winter of 1842-3."f The number of persons, by profession admitted to the Church, in 1843, was fifty-three."^ There oc- curred another religious "revival in the winter of 1846 and 7, more limited."f In 1847 were, by jorofession, admitted to the Church eighteen persons.* In 1851, under Mr. Jones' pastorate, there were received to the Congregational Church ninety-six persons,* ninety-four at onetime.:}: Mr. Jones states: "These were not, however, near all who hopefully embraced Christ under my ministry among that people [, viz., in Harwinton]. There were some forty per- sons, the most of whom were young, who, I felt, needed trial and training, before they took upon them the obligations of the Church. There were persons from Plymouth Congregation, some from Northfield, Wolcottville and Burlington, who came to our meetings and were, it was hoped, savingly benefitted.":}: In respect to most of the seasons thus briefly sketched, in which religious truth was here accompanied with manifestations of unwonted power, may be said what the third Congregational pastor, writing in 1807, affirmed in respect to two of them: " The effect of those revivals was conspicuous, especially in the harmony and peace which pervaded the [Congregational] society, and in an uncommon degree of brotherly affection cementing the members of the Church." Eegarding all of the scenes that, since he thus spoke, himself and pastors succeeding him here *Cliurch Records, Book III. fMS. of Mr. Bentley. :^MS. of Mr. Jones. 95 have with tho same Church been delighted to behold, with how much energy might be repeated and witli how much feelmg mi<^ht be heard another expression which, at the time specified, beln view of similar ones made: ''I hope it will not appear ar. ro-ant to say, surely the members of this Church, together with their pastor and the society, ought humbly and affectionately to acknowledge, that they have very abundant reason for the live- liest exercise of gratitude and praise; and forever to bless the Lord of hosts for such wonderful and repeated tokens of his mercy ; and continually to sing. Alleluia."* ♦Account, &.C., 1807. See herein, at page 1% Note (f). APPENDIX. Note A., Page 10. Importance of a Neiu England Town. " To commemorate tlie birth-day and perpetuate the annals of a retired New England town, may seem to some a trifling affair. But there is nothing dearer, to a man of sensibility, than his home. . . Here is the only true source of patriotism ; and the man who loves not to indulge in recollections of the home of his youth, is constituted of such materials as traitors are made of But a New England town, when philosophically considered, is of more importance than at first may be supposed. It is not a mere corpo- ration, but IS a little commonwealth of itself. Our towns are pure de- mocracies. Here alone [,a3 politically regarded,] the people deliberate, decide, and act, without the intervention of a second power ; and their most important interests are here consulted and regulated by themselves. The chief objects of taxation are entrusted to the towns. Tlie great and absorbing interests of learning and religion are within their jurisdiction, in their capacities of school and ecclesiastical societies. In town meetings, these primary assemblies of the people, our youth and young men are instructed in the first elements of political science ; not by study alone, but by actual observation and participation. Here have been the nurseries of our statesmen, and here, too, the quiet du- ties and submission of the citizen are first learned. I am persuaded, that without these rudimental institutions of civil liberty, New England could never have furnished her bright example in the struggle [of our nation] for independence ; nor could we have so successfully carried out the dangerous experiment of a people governed by themselves." — Hon. Samuel Churclis Centennial Address at Salishury^ {^^-i) -0 Oct., 1841. As more than sustaining those views of the late Chief Justice Church, himself an Episcopalian, may be cited from The Congregationalist, Bos- ton, May 18, 1860, thus: "The Churches' Quarrel Espoused." — This ancient volume by John Vise, first [ro-] issued in 1772, is soon to be published by the Congregational Board of Publication. Rev. Joseph S. Clark, D. D., in his " Historical Sketch of the Con- gregational Churches of Mass," speaks as follows of the work: Some of the most glittering sentences in the immortal Declaration of American Independence are almost literal quotations from this essay of John Wise. And it is a significant fact, that in 1772, only four j-ears Ijefore that declaration was made, a large edition of botli these tracts was published by subscription in one duo- decimo volume. The suspicion which this fact alone suggests, that it was used as a political text-book in the great struggle for freedom then opening in earnest, is fully confirmed by the list of subscriber.s' names printed at the end, with the num- ber of copies aimexed. Distinguished laymen in all parts of New England, who were soon to be heralded to the world as heroes in that struggle, are on that list 97 for sir, twelve, twenty-four, thirty-six, nnd two of tlicm for a Imndrcd copies ench! 81ioiilii tlie tiino ever come for tlio poojilc ol this rc|>iil>lic to renew that fitnu^nle, or the Con(jre|.':itional oluirciies to rc-aasert their ancient riglita, anollier edition of this rare ohl boolt would be called for. The primary New England Towns originateil n.s adjuncts and out- growths of the distinctive Now Enghind, viz.. Cnngrogational, Cliurchos. In lioth institutions, the methods of organization and administration are radically the same. As, therefore, the Congregational C'hiirch .system i.s, what the best-informed ' di.ssenters ' from it admit, a revival of that which obtained among the primitive Christian.", the typical form of which ■was the svnagogne; New Englanders, with such of their countrymen as have the like immunities, are under indebtedness to an ancient "peculiar people " who have for ages Ijcen greatly despised. Americans can be just to all men; and it is the part of magnanimity to acknowledge that, in the respects and to the degree above indicated, our freedom as well as "salvation is of the Jews." Some fifteen years ago the writer of this Note saw a prize Essay on the benefits attending on and resulting from the Town Organization. It was published near 1840. Abridged, it would be a valuable 'Tract for the Times.' Perhaps a patriot American could not easily render to his country a greater service tlian to place some appropriate treatise on that subject in the hands of the young men, especially of the young voters, in our land. 'The origin of society' so learnedly or, rather, so dogmatically-igno- rantly written and talked about, lies too near home for a philo.sophist to see, viz., in the natural aggregation of families. The history of Europe to .some extent, the history of the United States more clearly, shows that the best political confederation results from the organic and organ ific aggregation of Towns. NoTK B., Tage 11. Population of I Far xc in ton. The number of inhabitants in Ilarwinton was in 17.3G Ifio.* IS'^O, 1 *•'''. 17:57' K'.l.* 1810, 1V18, I7.v;' •J->".t 1«20 i:>on, 1771 l()ir.,+ 1S30 I5ir,, 17S->' Vl\'>,^ 1840 r.'oi, 1790', 13G7,' 1850 1 1T5.| ♦Sec. heroin alwvp, pflR© 28. fSin.-o 1741), there had U-on little immigration. .6, of Litchfield County w.19 U.RiT; of ConnecUcut, 129.- 99V in 1741 of LitchlUld Countv, 27,i.'^5: of Conneclicul, 197,85G: in 1S40. of LiU-iitleld County. 40.448; of Connoclicu^ 309,978: in 18i0, of LitcbfioUl County, 45,253; of ConnVoticul, 370,792. V6 98 Note C, Page 14, 20. Purchase of Land from Indians. No man who is intelligent will deny, and no one who is humane but will regret, that our national government has, not always itideed, yet in many instances, pursued a policy, in respect to lands owned by 'native tribes/ akin to that which Ahab adopted in respect to Naboth's vine- yard. It must also be acknowledged, that too many persons are inclined to feel and to act toward the American Indians, as the ancient Israelites did towards the people of Canaan. Until a divine right, explicitly set forth in a divine command to that effect, can be produced, the work of fraudulently disinheriting these Indians, and of extirpating them either with or without removal from their possessions, ought to be abandoned. So much of that work has been already done, as may well awaken fear in the mind of any individual who remembers, that the just God will never forget the weak who are wronged and oppressed. Still, the talk which is sometimes heard from New Englanders, as in- volving accusations that like wrongs were committed against Indians here by the earliest English settlers in New England, is worse than an affectation of that sentimentality for which it seems intended to pass. Coming from such persons who either know, or have certainly had suf- ficient opportunity to know, what were the facts in this ca^e, such talk is as odious, without being as excusable, as is mere blattering ignorance. It falls little short of being a gratuitous slander thrown V>y degenerate men on their own parentage, the courage to do which they could not muster up — were that parentage still alive. Apart from the wrong of this matter, it is mortifying to be obliged to hear the prattle of persons, "neither understanding what they say, nor knowing Avhereof they af- firm." Facts, relative to the purchase of the territory of New England from its Indian possessors, may be found in a large part of our New England Histories. The earliest records of our oldest New England Towns are of deeds, duly given, conveying the land within the bounds of such Towns, for due considerations received by the Indians formerly owning it. One of the eminent lawyers of Massachusetts, who had been most conversant with contested land claims, has stated that he was never en- gaged in such a case, in which the title was not ultimately traced up to an ' Indian deed.' In instances where, as at Salem, Ms., the Indians had nearly or quite left a territory before the English colonists came to it ; Indians who afterwards appeared, claiming the territory, received satis- faction. Those who wish to examine this matter, should consult the archives of the oldest New England States and Towns, with the state- inents of the earliest New England historians. How fairly bought and how fully paid for by the English settlers was the land of these eastern States, is not a thing hard to be learned. As to this locality, these things appear. Sequassen,* who was Sacliem *So, DeForest. Goodwin, iu his Descendants of Thomas Olcott, Appendix, writes the name Sunckquasson. 00 of wh.it now is Hartfonl, sol.l to the Knglisli f=fttk«rg tliore not only that phice l)ut, with that, "tlio whole region westward, inelmling the territo- ries of the Tunxis as far as the country of the Mohawks." Tho doel extending from Perpionnnck in Hridgeport, on the south, to Goshen and Torrington, on the north." It appears from this recital, that whatever rights the Indians had to this part of Connecticut soil they conveyed away by manv rei.eated sales. Their rights to it, it should also be said, seem to ha^e been onlv such as attach to a mere hunting groun.l. The Pootatucks a small tribe at Woodbury excepted, no In- dians lived permanentlv in any part of what is now Litchfield county, until towards the middle part of the seventeenth century. 1 hen, or at about that period, various clans had emigrated into its northwestern por- tion. Previously to that time, Indians were here as occasional sojourn- ers, not as stated residents. r -iir i The Indian convevance of the territory comprising part of Waterl.ury ( Plvmouth), with this township and in part that of Litchheld, will he found in Farmington Records. This territory, as has before (. pp. IJ-'-il-) been mention.Ml, had been, formally at lea.st, given, in 1(580, to the Towns of Hartford and Windsor. The interest which the Farmington people had 1)V that convevance acquired, or the claim which they had foundeJ upon that convevance, they gave up to those Town«, and »]»;>; ^'r'J'f'' from the Colon v' therefor one sixth part of the township of Litchheld.t One deed "copied from the Farmington record." Dr. Hronson, in his llis- torv of Waterbury. gives as follows (. together with facsimiles of thr» murkj of the grantors, which are here onii ted): Tl.i'« Witncsscth llmt WwKcpafiu.ainp nnd Qucrrimtis nn.j Mauiucagr li.^v.- .o„.„ to William UwU and Samue-U Sloole of lTariiuutcl«" -^ P**-'!! ur \ irackl of I^.d •Hintofy of Woodbury, fU.slory of Litclifiold, and lliatory of Wiiiorbury. 100 called matetacoke that is to Say the hill from whence John Standley and -John Andrews: brought the black lead and all the Land within eight: mylle: of that hill: on every side: to dig: and carry away what they will and To build on y' for y« Vse of tiiem tliat Labor there : and not otherwise To improve : y" Land In wit- nes whereof wee: have hereunto set our: liands: and those: Indians above men- tioned must free the purchasers from all Claymes: by any other Indyans: Witnes John Steel William Lewis febuary: y« S'l-ISST Samuel Steele The marke ( ) of Kepaquamp : The mark ( ) of Q\ierrimu3 The mark of ( ) Mataneage After copying the above-quoted instrument into liis History of the Town- of Litchfield, Connecticut, George C. "Woodruff, Esq., says: "Precisely where the hill referred to in this deed was situated, I have been unable to discover, but from the subsequent claims of the grantees, from tradition, and from the deed itself, it would seem that it w-as in the southern part of Harwinton, and embraced that Town and also some portion of Plymouth (then [called] Matatuck or Waterbury) and Litch- field. This purchase was made by the grantees in behalf of themselves and [of] a companjr composed of certain other inhabitants of Farming- ton." Dr. Bronson says : "It doubtless proved valueless for the pur- poses for which it was obtained, as we hear nothing further concerning the black lead."* The later deed, conveying to Farmington people the whole Lidian title to the " trackt," bears date. Dr. Bronson affirms, "the 11th day of August, 1718." The essential part of it, as given by Mr. Woodruff, is as follows : . . . Allso y« s^ Pethuzso, and Toxcronuck with y' Rest of the Jndians subscri- bing do hereby for our selves and our heir execut" couenant promise, grant and agree, to and with j" s'^ John Stanly Steel and Lewis in manner and form as fol- loweth, tliat y« s<' Keepaquam, Querimus and Mattaneage at y" time of y" enseal- ing of y" conuayance above expressed, they were y" true and lawfull owners of y" Land contained jn y« Premises and stood seized of the whole tract of land con- tained in J" book of Records in y« premises : after y" meathod that other Jndians useed to do, jn theycr own right; yet for a further sattisfaction of y° heirs of Capt. Lewis, Steel, and Stanly we haue giuen this Jnstrument to Left Stanly and Wilham Lewis, son of Capt Lewis, and Ebenezor Steele to be A further confirmation to them and y* ancient Purcliasers forever. Now this Jndcnture wittnesseth for a ' furtlier confirmation to them y' s^ Stanly, Lewis and Steel, that we y** s-" Pethuzso and Toxcronuck with j" rest of us y" subscribers do grant Release and Quitt any claime to y" aboue s"* Tract or Percell of Land and do hereby assigne, enfeoffe, Rat- tefie and Confirm unto the afores'^ Will'" Lewis Sarjt Ebenezer Steel and Left John Stanly theyer ancient Purchasers and theyer lieirs forever, all y" forementioned premises that is to say the hill from wlience John Stanly and John Andrus brought y« blacklead and all y« Land within eight mile of y= hill on euery side, wiih all y« timber trees, woods brooks rivers, mines, minerals thereupon, and hereby sur- render and Quitt our claime to y' same for them to have and to hold Possess and enjoy and their heirs forever, and do hereby warrant maintain, and defend y* s"* Pur- chasefs theyer heirs and assigns jn y Quiet and Peaceable Possession, and enjoy- ment thereof as above described, against our selves our heirs execut" admini" and assigns and and all and euery other p "■ son or p ■■ sons lawfully claiming Right Title Jntrest therein from by, or under us. *It was traditionally transmuted into block lead ; as see (, hereinafter,) Note U. Petasas granchild her mark. Awowas his mark 101 Jn withiPM wl.orcof wo y' paid Pctthu/.so Toxcrnnnck Awowas will. >•• Rest ha.io U. tl.is Jn.lcnttire Put our liands. and scales, tl.is Howcnll. of Augu«t in y year of o' I^rd one thousand and seven liundred and loiirtfcn: 1 1 U Sifemed scaled and dehvered "1 Pctthuzso: his mark in V prL'sence of us, 1 John Thomson, [ Toxcruuuck: his lloz. Hooker J ffarminpton September v* elcncnlh day, Anno q- Do™. 1714, Petthnzso, and Tox- cronnck mirminK'ton Jndians, and subscribers to this abouc written Jnstrum.-nt came n' sonallv before mo and acknowledged y same to be theyerown wilhiiR and free act and deed, J^H^ UOOkhll, Justic. ^Vittnesses to Taphow "1 and his squa sijrn- Young Taphow his mark, ing scaling and de- 1 livcring ( Tho's I^e, Young Tapho w Squa Ilez. Hooker J "Witnesses to Awo- was signing seal- ing A delivering. Timothy Porttcr, Jo-siah Hart. ffamiincton Octob' V 12th. Anno Domi: 1711: Taphow y younger and his sqiia; allso Wowowis all ffarmington Jndians came p ' sonally before me, and acknowl- edged tiiis abouc written Jnstrumcnt— which they have signed and sealed to be thver own willing free act and deed. •^ *' JOHN HOOKER, Justic Note D., Page 14. Connecticut Ixiivs. The so called 'Blue Laws' of Connecticut form the staple topic, and that a verv stale one, of her revilor.j;. If she had actually been in the shameful or shameless condition which such persons, too often her own sons, represent her to have come into by making and enforcing those as.'ertcil 'laws,' did it not become these persons rather to tljrow a man- tle over her, tlian, by talking with plea.'jure about her being in .<:uch a pli-'ht. to 'foam out their own sliame?' Those so called 'law.--.' liowever, we're not so much enactdl by a Connecticut Legislature as invented by a renegade maligner of the position and measures which, eighty years ago, Connecticut chose to take regarding the revolutionary war, to all which his instincts and objects made him averse. Any one who desires to see what is revealed by an examination of Dr. Sanniel I'ctcrs. and of his accusations of Connecticut, as respects those a.sserted 'laws,' will find hi:^ work thoroughly dissected and its author morally gibbete.D.'s Historical Address, d.livricd at the Bi- centennial Anniversary of the settlement of New Haven. Connecticut has never claimed perfection. Her legislators hnve not been faultless. Her laws bear, what tlu-ir autlmrs did, the marks of some Inuiian imperfections. Let as nmch be made of tliis fact as truth will justify and as circumstances may reinler needful, but not more than that. Having read carefully the ancient laws of Connecticut, the writer, 102 not by birth to Connecticut belonging, might with some confidence pre- sent his own views regarding the general character of said laws. He might, in preference to intimating any judgment of his own touching the matter, cite, respecting it, the deliberately formed and publicly ex- pressed sentiments of speakers and writers, as well out of Connecticut as in it, who are in every respect ^"^ to the fullest extent competent to pronounce in this regard. But there is a way more decisive of the ques- tion, than the delivering or tlie quoting oi opinions. Let one who wish- es to know what the laws of Connecticut have been in former times, just find what her people have been. Let him read, as to their character the whole State through, Hollister's History of Connecticut, and, as to their character in Litchfield County, Bushnell's ' Sermon ' delivered at the Litclifield Jubilee in 185 L Indeed, for learning this, he need not wait till he has read any thing. A candid man can satisfactorily deter- mine what the former generations were, by seeing what the present gen- eration is. Are a people such as in general those now in Connecticut are, the descendants of men who, as a body, were such as making or submitting to the asserted ' Blue Laws ' would show them to have been ? As a general fact, a whole people are never better than their laws are ; often, they are worse. If the present people of Connecticut are what they are admitted to be, the laws which their fathers had, and their fathers themselves in helping by means of their laws to make these peo- ple what they are, deserve high commendation. Note E., Page 15. Early Evil-Doers of New England. " No colony ever emigrated into a wilderness without soon drawing into their neighborhood, if not into their number, those whose congenial habitation is on the borders between a civilized and a savage comnmni- ty. Our fathers were by no means exempt from tliis universal bane of new settlements." " Even of the one hundred and one who first arrived in Cape Cod Harbor, there were evidently several, besides children, who made no pretensions to personal godliness.. .several in the capacity of ser- vants. Two of these soon engaged in fighting a duel, and were sen- tenced by the whole company " to have their hands and feet tied togeth- er, and so remain twenty-four hours without meat or drink." ' [The Planters of Massachusetts and those of Connecticut and of New Haven, equally with the Pilgrims of Plymouth, have, as thus inevitably connect- ed with what are in these days expressively termed ' harder ruffians,^ received an immoderate apportionment of obloquy.] " When they ban- ished such pests from tlieir domain, they were complained of as intole- rant, and if they suffered them to remain, they were represented as con- niving at their iniquities. Very often do tlieir descendants, at this day, represent them as guilty of the very acts of the hangers-on, against Avhom they contended wnth all their miglit, and then with the same breath condemn them as bitter persecutors for expelling such gross of- fenders as tliey were able to banish from their community. Tliese cul- prits, hke others in all ages and countries, went off complaining loudly 103 of infringement of their liberties ; [atul] now, witli unaccountable gusto, nuiltituiles swallow their complaints, and aro far more sure that ihey judge right than are those best aciiuainttrd with the whole history of their case." — C. [Joseph S. Clark, D.D. ?J, in The Conjn/jntionalist, Huston, September 10, 1858, Note F., Taof. 20. Did Hartford and Windsor contest the title of the Colony to land, now in Litchfield County, west of the Ilousatonic river f It has been supposed that the Towns of Hartford and "Windsor, in their controversy with the Colony of Connecticut, respecting " the Wes- tern lands," laid claim to a tract more extended than the one specified in the act of the Colonial Legislature. Rev. Grant Powers, in his Centen- nial Address at Goshen, says : " Their [the said Towns'] claim was extensive, comprehending Kent, Litchfield, Ilarwiiiton, New Hartford, Torrington, Goshen, Cornwall, Salisbury, Canaan, Norfolk, AVinchester, Colebruok, liarkhamstcd, and Ilartland." Dr. Bronson, in his History of Waterburv, (followed by Mr. Kilbourn, in his Sketches and Chroni- cles of Litchiield,) implies the like opinion by saying: "In settling the claims of the Ilart/ord and Windsor proprietors to the lands in Litch- iield County, the Colony obtained the quiet possession of seven town- ships in the western part of the County — Norfolk, Goshen, Canaan, Cornwall, Kent, Salisbury and Sharon." It will be noticed that Mr. Powers' enumeration omits Sharon, and that Dr. Bron.son's includes, with Kent which lies partly on each side of the Ilousatonic, Salisbury and Sharon which lie wholly on the west side of it. This discrepancy may not argue an error ; but the assertion of the one writer so agrees with the implication of the other writer, as seems to denote that the view held by both of them had, in each, the same occasion. "What this was mav, perhaps, 1)0 conjectured. Dr. Trumbull, in his History of Ctinnecticut, gives his account of the controversy which Hartford and "Windsor had with the col«>Tiy about "the Western land.s," in so clo.se a connection with his account of the arrangements which, after the contro- versv was ended, were made by the Legislature for the sale and .se'tle- menl of those lands, and lie, throughout this latter acoomit, so speaks of " the fourteen townships," " the fourteen new townships," and of " Kent anotlu'r of the new townships;" as very naturally to makt« the impres- sion that those Towns had altercated witii tlif Colony for lands west, as well as cast, of the Ilousatonic. A person, not one of the al>ove named, is known to have derived from those prenjises that conchusion. Dr. Trumbull, however, does not aflirm that as many of those new town- ships were made out of that share of tho disputed territory which the Colon V at last secured, as were made out of that which it ceded to Hart- f )rc Taxed, mid Dial tliiy may have Liberty to Jiiil)0(ly in Clmrcii Ivstatf, Ueaolved by this AKsemlily tiiat Said I'laiitation be a Town .Incor- porate Known by tiio name of llarwiiiton and Vested wilii Town Priviiedj^es as Other Towns in tliis Colony I'lstabiisiied by Law arc, and tiiat a Tax of iwo jjenee pr Acre shall be Assesed &. Lcvyed u[)on all the Lands within tho IJounds of said Town Annually for the S|iace of four years, next after the Session of tho Uen' As- sembly in May next in Lieu of any former (jrant or Tax, and that the Collectors for the Time bcinj; in said Town shall annually CoUeet said Tax, who are hereby Au- thorized and Jmpowred to Collect tho same as Other Collectors of town Rates by Law are .t haviuf? Collected tho same, said Collectors are to deliver tho snmo to such Couunittee or Committees from Time to Time as said Town shall make Choice of for that pur|)ose, and to l)e by them Applyed and Jmproved, for tho Support of the OospcU Ministry and Buildiiii; a Meeting IIouso in said Town, and it is further Resolvetl that said Juhabitants have Liberty to Jmbody themselves into Church Ks- tate and Settle an Orthodox Minister of tho Gospoll in said Town with the Advice ami Consent of tho Xeighbouring Churches, and it is further by this Assembly Re- solved that the Lcltor A shall be the Brand for Horses in the Town of Ilarwinton — Note L, Tage 23, 20. Formation of Litchfield County. A petition, praying " that the towns of Litchfield, "Woodburj, Ne\r Milfonl, Kent, Sharon, Salisbury, Canaan, Cornwall, Goshen, Harwinton, Torrington, Norfolk, New Hartford, Barkhampstoad, Hartkind, Win- chester, and Colebrook, be made a County," was presented, t'j) the Legis- lature, 20 Aug., 175L Said petition has on it, of Harwinton citizens, the names following : Daniell Phelps, Abijah Catlinp, Joseph Marrimon, Jobo Alford, Ezreal [Kzekiel] Scovil. Benjamin Catlintr, Jun.. Daniel Catlinp, Ebenezer Hopkins, Jun., W" Hey- don, Nathan Davis, David '\i\'iUcoks, Ju., John Barbour, Jacob Benton, Jonathan Hopkins, Amos Bull, L«aac Bull, Noah Lomes, Juner, Sam" Stone Butler, Ciprian Webster, Aaron Cook, L-^ral Merimon, Anthony Hoskins, I'^benezer Hopkins. Jacob Hinsdell, Sam' Phelps, Timothy Stanly, .T\m., John Wilson, Sam' Barbor, Thomas Bull, Daniel Bartholomew, Jacob Peck, Noah Loomus, Samutl Bull, Joel Catlin. A remonstrance against the formation of such proposed new County was presented to the Legislature, 17 Sept., 1751. On said remonstrance are, of Harwinton citizens, tlie names following : Bcnj. Catling, Ebenczcr TIeydon, Daniel Messenger, Jonathan Hopkins, Xath" Mood}-, J.acob Benton, Abraiiam Catlin, Aaron Cook, Junor, Johnntlian Catling, S;imuel Cj one horse, were not known here, till about 1818, and these were then more like what is called 'a one-horse lumber-waggon' than what are now styled buggies. Some years before the date last mentioned, wagons drawn by tioo horses began to be used for conveyance of per- sons. Among the first individuals who owned here such Carriages, were Messrs. Hayden, Joel Gillet, Samuel Phelps, David Candee, who, coming with their families to Church in these carriages, occasioned, by the noise which was made, ' some excitement ' to their neighbors who had not the means of being in that way as noisy. The early manners and customs of Connecticut, are noticed at length in Hollisters History of Connecticut, V, I., Cliap. XX. Note L., Page 27. The Messenger Family. On account of the prominence of Capt. Daniel Messenger in the early history of Harwinton, and as illustrating the migratory habits of New Englanders, the following notices are given. Edward Messenger was a grantee of New London, Ct., 6 Nov., 1651. He, soon after, removed to Windsor, Ct. — Hist, of New Lond. Henry Messenger was a first settler of Jamaica, L. I., 1656. He was from Con- necticut. — Thompson's Hist, of L. I. Nathaniel Messenger, of Hartford, was one of the grantees of Bantam (, Litch- field), 27 April, 1719.— (History of Litch.?) Nathaniel Messenger, from Hartford, began the settlement, 1742, of 'the South- west or Winter parish,' in Farmington, incorporated a 'Society' and called New Cambridge in 1744, now the Town of Bristol. — Porter's Centen. Address at Far- mington. 107 Nehcmia)i, son of Capt. Daniel Messenger, was of Cornwall, Ct., 1713; of Shuf- ficld, Ms., n.'iO; and. us hcroinbeforo mentioned, of Egremont, Ms., 1756. — liar- winton Roc. IILst. of Berkshire Co., M.S. Mos.'seni^LT was a settler of Becket, Ms., 175r). — Hist, of Berk. Co., Mh. Uo'.ifrii'k Mcsseiijrer, liurn (:i twin brother to Andrew Messenj^er) at llarwint.in. a sun of Samuel and Mabel Mes.?enger. 11 Mareli, 1711-2, was among ti)c first im- migrants of West Stockbridgo, Ms. Ho went thither from Farmington, Ct. — J list. of Berk. Co., Ms. Lsaac Messenger removed from Pimsbiiry (, now Granby.) to "West Simsbury {, now Canton), about 17-i:{-4. He died in 1801, aged 82. — Hist, of Canton, Ct. Tliis surname did not long romain in Ilarwinton. The cliildren of Dea. Junatlian Balch (, sxa see hereinbefore Note J.), of Horace Bissell, residents of Harwinton, and those of Gaylord Wells, M. D., resident in West Hartford, are descendants of the pioneer settler, Capt. Daniel Messenger. Note M., Page 28, 30. Tabular arrangement of Earhj Settlers in Ilaricinton. To ascertain in what places had previously resided those persons ^vllo became the earliest inhabitants of Englisli descent in any New England Town, i.*, in many respects, a matter of worthier interest than the grati- fication of even a laudable curiosity. With tho.se places, as below des- ignated of such inhabitants of Harwinton, it seemed desirable to connect certain other specifications. As the basis of such specifications, /i£«<3 c eeec^c e,oei-e-<-tSr=icee<^eeee^e 00 7 O-^00-^OO>-lir5Oa3lflO-^e<>T)f!MMO.-HfCrHO00 •q^Jiq JO o;ca; o 1— 1— I0502r-(i— lOi— (00>-«000i— (1— Ir-HOOi— irtO^CJ i-H X-r-OOr-£-I:-t-«£)l:-t-Ot-r-r-ir-i-i-t-J.-t-t.O &< «M *S ^ -Ci tH-^rO rO ^ e-^i'^'C'O'Cl'O «ylrO 5M &< ~- ~> -» •(1S9A\) sJiqsu.vvoi j[t;q ^ ^ f4 fii ^ ^ K fq H K f4 W H M N M N M K p: M M W H oq} JO qoiq.^i ni e '«e-r-i— 1— r-i— t— t-r- 0} otuBa ;sag noq^ rH 1— ( r=J >0 "^ 'l-v'O >C>fa-^^rO.Cl^ •diqsnAvo} sq? n; puK] jo paap •^oo^ :(SJi} uoq^ I I r-< ^^^^ ^ ^ ^ ^ rt ^O " ■-' '-H rt rH rH r-l rH rH ^ rt C O t. c-3 S o 1^ g^ -^ rJ^— ■ or: i; r? .Q-csra t: > ^ ^ ^ . c3 c; '—' p5 .9".S" : c3 ci 5 6.S a ^ c 5 o a S^ "^ 's 2 S" S • -S" ■> ^ W fc-, ^-^ "i ; G 5 .2 ^ 'I^ S ^ ) C _ ff -. c „ '^ j2 -2 ^ c — .2 o ■S S rt 5C- P= i- S -k the op- p^rtunitv of Governour Winthropa being there, to have the thing pubhckly pro- Kuded in the congregation; who in answer thereunto, d.slu,gu.shed between a rZ?« and a monW goodness ; adding, that when .lur.os wore l.rs used u. Kng- land U was usual for the erier, after tho nanies of persons l.l for that Bor^u-e were called over, to bid them all, "Attend good men and true; whence .t grc-w to be a civil custom in the English nation, for neighl>ours livmg by one another, to call one another "good man sueh an one;" and it was pity now to make a st.r about a c.vd c stom so innocently introduced. And that speech of Mr. W uithrop s put a last- ing stop to tho Uttle, idle, whimsical conceits, then begmnmg to grow obstreper- ous."* When the appellation Mr. had in New England bocomo somewhat com- mon, as it had become about the time of the settlen>ent of Harwmtun there was di.ssatisfaction felt by some. Thus, Rev. Ihomas Kuggles of Guilford, in this State, giving, about a century ago, a review of Us early times "^aid • " The first planters who came to the town were ot two rank-' viz such who in England are called gentlemen and commonahty None were poor men, and few or no servants. The gentlemen were all men of wealth, and they bear the appellation of Mr., as Mr. Desborow, etc while according to the plain customs of those times the commonali- ty were named only Goodman or Xdghb.jr, such or such an one. llow ereatlv are times now changed 1 Every man almost is called Mr. everv woman Miss [Mrs. ?], Madam or Lady. Popularity destroys all civil distinction."! „ . ,• •, j ^ ^i r This extension to the many of appellations once limited to the lew, has crone on elsewhere. Columbus and his heirs were by special letters fronfthe king of Spain, in 1492, "authorized to prefix the title of Don r Lord Mr ] to their names; a distinction accorded, in those days, only to persons of rank and estate, though it has since lost all value from be- incember. 1775.' -"A JOURNAL of a March from Cam- hriJ.r \ M^..l on ayi Erprdition against Quebec, in Coi.. Bknk.dict Ar- s.>,.p'.^^i)etacliment, Se/t. VX 1775 F, and on] : ke,.t by Jo.SKt.H Wabk of Needham, Ms.; ,.ub. iu N. E. }h:^. den. Reg Aprd, 1852. Thi.s Benjamin Catlin seems to have be.-n from (^t. ; and to have enlisted at some place other than llarwintoii. II- was, probably, son of Benjamin, Jr.. and grandson of Benjamin, Sen., nf llarw.nt.m. 116 Note P., Pagr 32. Ancient Houses. The house, which Capt. Messenger liuilt, stood near the site of that now belonging to the widow Irene Phelps. The house Avhich Dea. John Wilson built stood, in its last years a venerable ruin, near the one noAv owned by Mr. Sheldon A. Barber. Among the oldest houses now in Harwinton are those in which live Messrs. Loren Barber, Allen Birge, Ellis Burwell, Ephraim S. Cleveland, AYakeman G. Cook, Enos Frisbie, James Mather, Sheldon Pond, Addison Webster. To ancient dwellings attach many associations which are indeed "pleasant and mournful," but withal useful too. A Town whose homes are all new lacks one of the elements which connect the present with preceding generations. So far, the inhabitants of a place thus unhistorical will probably, as dissevered from them, be forgetful of ancestral ties. 'The old stone house in Guilford,' Ct., dates from the founding of that Town in 1639. In Salem, Ms., founded in 162G, there stands in good state and modern form a wooden mansion which, brought to that city in 1628 from a settlement then brokeniup at Cape Ann, had been con- structed and occupied by Roger Conant there in 1624. Note Q., Page 33. Harwin ton Organization. As it may interest some persons to see how tlie ' fathers of the Town ' transacted its business, the proceedings at the first Town Meeting, as copied from the record of the same, are given. Att a Meeting of the Jnliabitants of the town of Harwiton Legily Wornied to be at the hous of Jacob Bentons on december: — the : 20 : 1737 Uoted that: M'' Daniel Messenger be Moderrator for this Meetins:- Uoted that Jacob Benton be town Clerk for the town of Harwinton for tlie year Ensuing Uoted that M'' Israel Marrimoun M"' Cyperan webster and W danicl Bro^\'n be towns men or select men for this town Uoted tliat liez hopkins ))e Constobel for s*" town for tlie year Ensuing Uoted that Samuel Phelps and Nathaniel ITatcli be Graniijurors for this town for the year Ensuing Uoted that Ebnezer Hopkins and Antony Horskin Be Suruej'ors of High ways for this Town Uoted that Jonathan Brace and thomas Bull be fence urewers for this town fur the year Ensuing Uoted that Samuell Barber and John "Wilson Be fence urewers for this town foi- the year Ensuing Uoted that Jacob Benton : Daniel Phelps and Samuel Messinger Be Listers for this town of Harwington for the year Ensuing Voted that Isral Marremoun be hrander of horsses and of hors Kind* for the lOM'ii of Harwington for the year Ensuing *There were, at that time, few enclosures. Horses ran at large. Hence brand- ing was necessary that stray animals might be reclaimed and identified. The new settlements had each its own mark prescribed ])y tlieHeneral Court. See. in Note H., page ]05 117 ^A^r^r1 thftt Tacob Benton l)0 town troasurrcr fur tliis town ond that lie Be A ordered- and as there act and law tlirects Voted that the Select Men Make the tax Kale- for th. Ensn.nK year: Voti'd that Swine may hauo there hberty to Run at LarKe— Vote tn ll^s town jnvne with Litehlield to l.uild A Und^e «f /^"l*^"^" . [NauX^l ri-r I'-nided" they will heo at two thurds of the Cost-And we at but ^"tlS t;^t^^:o;" >[o;St^Sii^r nopUlns .. a Co.n.eto to treat with '^ roS'ih^ u.e S;;;&s.s^ the ?:-^ >>-« -^^ -----^^ ^ yrieed to Build A Meteint; House for Dnnno \\ orsinp: ;- *^ Uoted t a the Place for A Poun.l for the tow.^e of llarwu.ton I'e "oar to M' «- real Merrilnan A-Bout the Sou-terline Betweeno the Proprietors of Hartford And ''' Voteluii^tho Place for the Sine Post Shall Be att the Sentcr-Line Betweene the PrViotors of Hartford And Windsor Att the C.mterry ^7 " 77 ^„.,.. t i,,,. b.- Voted we agree thus that the Meeting House Shall be s.-t m l'^„^"^'^^/,;"";^^^, tween the Propriators of Hartford and Windsor Con-hshond that A^ u.dsor 1 ropru- o "i^le thdr^'roporshon of land Agreed for the 'Tneurr^tiu.nt of onr Muuu t^. and Pay half the rhoost boilding the Meetuig House and hall the. lOn. I oun.l ■\trreed to crine the Ministor Jn Labour: . ,, ^ i„ah Voted tlmt if M' '.TosePh larrence [returns to liv,e- A" Mong ns and w<'rWs At the SmUhs trade he shall be freed from Paing of All towne and mnnstera rates and working att Highway for the S-Pace of flue years next Knsunig test Jacob Benton CU-rk: . Names of officers clioscn in ITarAvinton, from 17^,7 U> ISfiO, aro. witli other matters of organization, as follows : List of Officers. EAST IIARWIN'TON PROPRIKTOKS WKST HARWIKTON PROPRIKTOr's CI.KRK. I7;i2-3G. tit'orgi' Wylly.s. 1730 & on. Jacob Benton. CI.KRK. 17;!:i-ll. Kogt-r X.-wl)iir\. 171.'. i*c on. Anlliony ITo^^kins. Jr. T4. Danirl Catling. J r IS.'.I-GO. Elijah Gayloril. Joel (J. Candee. Dfunis r.-rkins. (Jayh.r.l Well.^. AVilliam C. Abernethy Antlrt'w Abfrnelliv. (J. B. MiU.r. L«'wiM Cntlin. Jr 118 SELECTMEN. 1737. Israel Merriman, Cyprian "Webster, Daniel Brown. 1738. Benjamin Catling, Daniel Messenger, Daniel Phelps. 1739. Daniel Phelps, Daniel Messenger. 1740. Jacob Hinsdale, Nathan Davis, Daniel Messenger. 1741. Jacob Hinsdale, Daniel Phelps, Anthony Hoskins. 1742. Jacob Benton, Jonathan Brace, Samuel Phelps. 1743. Dea. Jacob Benton, John Wilson, Jonathan Brace. 1744. Dea. Jacob Benton, Israel Merriman, Daniel Phelps. 1745. Lt. Aaron Cook, Jacob Hinsdale, William Haydon. 1746. Capt. Daniel Messenger, Samuel Phelps, Israel Merriman. 1747. Jonathan Hopkins, Samuel Barber, Dea. Jacob Benton. 1748. Sargt. Jacob Hinsdale, Dea. Jacob Benton, Sargt. Samuel Phelps. 1749. Dea. Jacob Benton, Lt. Samuel Phelps, Capt. Jacob Hinsdale. 1750. Jonathan Brace, John Wilson, Abijah Catling. 1751. Ebenezer Hopkins, Daniel Bartliolomew, Ashbel Skinner. 1752. Lt. Aaron Cook, John Wilson, Ens. Jonathan Hopkins. 1753. Capt. Jacob Hinsdale, Jonathan Catling, Thomas Bull. 1754. Dea. Jacob Benton, David Haydon, Jonathan Brace. 1755. Lt. Nathan Davis, Lt. Jonathan Brace, Dea. Jacob Benton. 1756. Abijah CatUn, Jr., Jonathan Butler, Samuel Barber. 1757. Capt. Jacob Hinsdale, Stephen Rossiter, Jonathan Catling. 1758. Jacob Benton, John Wilson, Jonathan Brace. 1759. Capt. Jacob Hinsdale, Capt. Abijah Catlmg, Daniel Phelps. 1760. William Haydon, Josiah Butler, Joel Catling. 1761. Jonathan Brace, John Wilson, Abijah Catlmg. 1762. Cyprian Webster, Daniel Catling, Daniel Bartholomew. 1763. Ashbel Skinner, Capt. John Wilson, Lt. Jonathan Brace. 1764. Ashbel Skinner, John Wilson. Jonathan Brace. 1765. Ashbel Skinner, Capt. John Wilson, Lt. Jonathan Brace. 1766. Samuel Cook, Jonathan Catling, Capt. Abijali Catling. 1767. Jonathan Cathng, Samuel Cook, Abijah Catling. 1768. Josiah Butler, Joseph Cook, Jesse Woodruff. 1769. Josiah Butler, Joseph Cook, Jesse Woodruff. 1770. Capt. John Wilson, Ashbel Skinner, WiUiam Haydon, Joel Catlin, Josiah Phelps. 1771. John Wilson, Ashbel Skinner, William Haj'don, Joel Catling, Josiali Phelps. 1772. John Wilson, Ashbel Skinner, WiUiam Haydon, Joel Catlin, Josiah Phelps. 1773. Dea. John Wilson, WiUiam Haydon, Josiah Plielps, Joel Catlin, Mark Prindle. 1774. Ashbel Skinner, Joseph Cook, Reuben Barber, Jacob Catlin, Eli Wilson. 1775. Ashbel Skinner, Joseph Cook, Reuben Barber, Eli WUsou, Cj-prian Webster. 1776. Uriah Hopkins, Joel CatUn, Samuel Cook, Elijah Haydon, Jacob Hinsdale. 1777. Joel Catlin, Samuel Cook, Joseph Cook, George Catlin, Reuben Barber. 1778. Joseph Cook, Ashbel Skinner, Reuben Barber, Josiah Phelps, Ezra Hinsdale. 1779. Ashbel Skinner, Reuben Barber, Joseph Cook, Ezra Hinsdale, William Abernethy. 1780. Ashbel Skinner, Reuben Barber, Joseph Cook, WiUiam Abernethy, Jacob CatUn, Ezra Hinsdale, EU WUson. 1781. Reuben Barber, Joseph Cook, Mark Prindle, Josiah Phelps, Eli WUson. 1782. Thomas Skinner, Mark Prmdle, Eli WUson, Abijah Catlin, Joseph Haydon. 1783. Mark Prindle, Joseph Cook, EU WUson, Samuel Bald\vin, Reuben Barber. 1784. Mark Prindle, Reuben Barber, Joseph Cook, Joseph Haydon, Samuel Baldwin. 17, s... Kus. lioul,on Barber, Ll. Josoph Cook, Ll. Eli Wilson, lins. Mark ITiudle, 178(5 aS Callin, Reuben Barber. Joseph Cook, Mark rrmdlo, Kh Wdso .. 787 Kli W Iscm. Reuben Barber, Klijah llaydon Joseph (ook, Abner \y .-„. \]ll: Reuben Barber, Josq^h Cook, I-IU Wilson, A^.nerJV^dso^Ab^..C^^ 1780. ^S SS^^nj^n GdswoH Joseph Cook, Charles Prindle, Isaae 171.0 Jo^-S'cook, Josiuh rhelps, Abnor Wilson. Klijah Ilaydon, Kli Wilson. 17<»1. Josiah Phelps, Klijah Haydon, Benjamin bnswold. 1702 Josiah Phelps, Klijah Haydon. i.i,„l„= Uh Joseph Cook, kli Wilson, Benjamin Griswold, James Brace, Josnih 1 helps. 94" Josefh Cook Josiali Phelps, Eli Wilson, Jan.es Brace, Be nj a nun Gnsv^old^ 795 Josilh Phelps, Benjamin Griswold, Eli Wilson, James Brace, Abner W dson. nit. JoJiah Phelps, Kh Wil.son, James Brace, Benjamm Gnswold, felephen Graves. 17'.)7 Daniel Wilson, James Bartholomew. 1798. Josiah Phelps, David Candeo, Benjamin Gnswold. 1709. Benjamin Griswold, Lewis Catlin, Kh Wilson. 1800 Benjamin Griswold, Lewis Catlin, Azariah Kellogf-. .Ir. 1801 Benjamin GriswoM, Lewis Catlin, Azanah Kellogg, Jr. 1802. Benjamin Griswold, Lewis Catlin, Azanah Kellogg, Jr. 1803. David Candee, Aziiriah Kellogg, Lewis Cathn. 1804. Benjamin Griswold, I^wis Catlin, David Candee. 1805. lA'wis Catlin, Benjamin Griswold. David Candee. 1H06 David Candeo, Benjamin Griswold, Doct. Tnnothy I lark. 1807 Doot. Timothy Clark, Daniel Holt, Jonathan Rossiter. 1808. Doct. Timothy Clark. Daniel Holt, David Candee. 1809. Doct. Timothv Clark, Major Cyprian Webster, Daniel Holt. 1810. David Candee, Jonathan Rossiter, John Hungerford. V- 1811. Doct. Timothy Clark, Israel .'^mith. John Bull V 1812. John Bull, Israel Smith, William C. Aberncthy. U 1813. John Bull. Joel Bradley. William C. Abernethy. 1814 William C. Abernothv. Daniel Holt. David Candee. 1S15. William C. Aberncthy, Daniel Holt, Roswell Alford. ISIG. Israel Smith, Kli Wilson, James A. Perkins 1817. William C. Abernethv. Daniel Holt, Kh W'll.son. 1818 Uriah Hopkins, Roswell Alford, James A. Perkins. 1819. Uriah Hopkins, Stephen A. Clark, William C. Abernelliv. 1820. Uriah Hopkin.s, William C. Abernethy, Israel Smith. 1821 John S. Pre.otou. William C. Abernethy, Noah Welton. IS'"' William C. Abernethv, Uriah Hopkins. John S. Preston. 1823. Uriah Hopkins. William C Abernethy, John S. Preston. 1824. Marvin Griswold, Uriah Hopkins, Roswell Alford. 1825. Roswell Alford. Thomas Perkins. Jeremiah H.ilt. 1826. Roswell Alford, Uriah Hopkins, Abijah Webster. 1827. Stephen Wilson. Thomas Perkins, Pluneha.s W. ^oblc. 1828. Elijah Gnvlord, David Wilson. Jeremiah Holt. 1829. David Wi'lson, Jonathan Rossiter, A.saliel Hooker. 1830. David Wil.son. Asjihel Ibwker, Asahel N. Barber. 1831. David Wilson, Asahel Hooker, Asah.l N. Barljcr. 1832. Abijah Webster, Augustus S. Johnson. U'vi B. Dunbar. 1833. Abijah WebsU?r, Julius Alford, Moses Beach. 1834. Lynian Perkins, John Bull, Jr., Allen Birge. 1835. John Bull. Jr., Allen Birg«, J(K'l Gridley. 1836. Joel (Jridley, .lonathan Rossiter, Bnidley Catlin. 1837. Joel (Jritlley. Bradley Catlin, .' • •' " "dfh. 1838. Bradley Ca'tlin, David Wilson, "' !»• 1839. David Wil.son, Mo.s<'s Bea«h. (, : . 'Her. 1840. Moses Beach. Asahel N. Barber. 1841. Chauncvy Potter, Gardner PreslOD, Solomou Barker. 120 1842. Solomon Barker, Orriu Barber, Horatio L. WhiUiiore. 1843. Solomon Barker, Orrin Barber, Horatio L. 'Whitmore. 1844. Solomon Barker, Orriu Barber, Horatio L. Whitmore. 1845. Moses Beach, Adin Phelps. 1846. Sheldon Osborn, William S. Goodsell. 1847. Sheldon Osborn, Horatio L. Whitmore. 1848. Abijah Webster, Orson Barber. 1849. Orson Barber, Addison Webster. 1850. William S. Goodsell, Auson Candee, Jr. 1851. Roswcll Cook, John S. Preston. 1852. James Ailing, Thomas 0. Davis. 1853. James Ailing, Samuel S. Catliu. 1854. Samuel S. Cathn, Joseph Fenn. 1855. Addison Webster, Charles H. Barber. 1856. Augustus Alford, Charles Wilcox. 185'?. Charles WUcox, RosweU Cook. 1858. Sheldon G. Catlin, Lyman Perkins. 1859. Juhus Catliu, Charles H. Barber. REPRESENTATIVES. 1757. Capt. Abijah Catliug, Capt. Jacob Hinsdale. 1758. Dea. Jacob Benton, Capt. Jacob Hinsdale. 1759. Capt. Abijah Catling, Daniel Catling. 1700. Capt. Abijah Catling, Daniel Catling. 1761. Capt. Jacob Hinsdale, Capt. Abijah Catling. 1762. Capt. Abijah Catling. 1763. Daniel Catling. 1764. Abijah Catlin, Daniel Catlin. 1765. Capt. Daniel Catliu, Joel Catlin. 1766. Abijah Catlin, George Catliu. 1767. George Cathn. 1768. Abijah Catlin, Daniel Catlin. 1769. Capt. Abijah Catliug, John Wilson. 1770. Maj. Abijah Catliu, Daniel Cathn. Oct. 1770. Maj. Abijah Catliu, Josiah Phelps. 1771. Maj. Abijah Catliu, Josiah Phelps. 1772. Joseph Phelps, Abijah Catliu. 1773. Josiah Phelps, Capt. John Wilson. 1774. Josiah Phelps, Mark Prindle. 1775. Capt. John Wilson, Josiah Phelps. 1770. 1777. 1778. 1779. 1780. 1781. 1782. 1783. 1784. 1785. 1786. 1787. 1788. 1789. 1790. 1791. 1792. 1793. John Wilsou. Josiah Phelps. Josiah Phelps, t!.yprian Webster. John Wilson, Daniel Catliu. Joseph Cook, Daniel Cathn. Josiah Phelps, Joseph Cook. Josiah Phelps, Capt. George Catlin. George Catlin, Josiah Phelps. Josiah Phelps, George Cathn. George Catlin, Josiah Phelps. Mark Prindle, Joseph Cook. Mark Prindle, Joseph Cook. Abner Wilson, Josiah Phelps. Joseph Cook, Eli Wilson. Mark Prindle, Josiah Phelps. Josiah Phelp.s, Col. Abner Wilsou. Josiah Phelps, Abner Wilsou. Josiah Phelps, Daniel Catlm. Josiah Phelps, Daniel Cathn. 121 17D1. JosK-ih Pliflps. Daniel C'atlia, Jr. 1795. Josiah Phelps. Ahner Wilsou. I 7 fir,. .Tosiah Pliolps, Danifl Catliii. I7'.»7. Paiiicl Catlin. .rallies Hracc. 1708. Daniel Catlin, Janien Braeo. 17:tf). Daniel Catlin, .Tames Brace. 1800. rianicl Catlin. James Brace. 1801. Daniel Catlin. f •• No .second relnrned. 1 so'J. Daniel Catlin, James Brace. 180:!. James Brace. Timothy Clark, Jr. 1 SO 1. James Brace, Timothy Clark, Jr. 1805. James Brace, Benjamin Griswoli.1. 1806. James Brace. Benjamin Griswold. 1807. James Brace. Benjamin GriswoUi. 1 808. James Brace, Benjamin Griswold. 1 809. James Brace, Benjamin Griswold. 1810. Timothy Clark, .Toel Bradley. 1811. Timothy Clark, Joel Bradlov. 1812. Timothy Clark. Benjamin Griswold. 181.".. .Tames Brace, Benjamin Griswold. 1811. James Brace, Cyprian Webster. I81.'i. Cyprian Webster, Joel Bradley. I81G. Cyprian Webster. William C. Abomethy. 1817. William C. Al>cmothy. I'riah Hopkins. 1818. William C. Abemothy, Uriah Hopkins. 1819. William C. Abonietliy. Knos Frisbie. 1 820. Triah Hopkins, William C. Aljernetliy. 1821. Kli Candoc, Mar\in Griswold. 1822. Eli Candeo, John S. Preston. 16 1823. Uriah Hopkin.^ Marvin (Jriswold. 1821. Uriah Hopkins, Marvin (Jriswold. 1825. Uriah Hopkins, John S. I'restoii. 182G. Marvin Griswold. Jtoswell Alford. 1827. Phinehas \V. Noble. Noah Weltoii. 1 828. Phinehas W. Noble, Noah Welton. 182'.». David Wilson, Marvin ftriswold. 1830. David Wilson, Jeremiah Holt. 1831. Jeremiah Holt. Marsin Griswold. 1 832. Gaylord Wells. Asahel Hooker. 1833. Gaylord Wells, Abijah Webster. IS.M. Abijah Webster. Chester N. Case. 1 835. Aujrnstus S. Johnson, Lj-mau Perkins. 1836. Augnstus S. John.soii. Andrew Alwmethv. 1837. Abijah Catlin, Andrew Abernethv. 1838. Abijah Catlin, Sheldon Osborn. 1839. Abijah Catlin, Slieldon Osborn. 1810. Allen Birgo, Abijah Catlin. 1841. Allen Birge. Moses Beach. 1812. Moses Beach, Asahel N. Barber. »- 181.3. Asahel N. Barber. John Bull. V 1844. John Bull. Phinehas W. Xoblo. 1845. Phinehas W. Noble. Augustus S. Johnson 1846. Gardner Preston, Augustus S. Johnson. 1847. Ganlner Preston, Sheldon G. Cathn. 1848. Jeremiah Holt, Sheldon G. Catlin. 1849. Jeremiah Holt, Philo Hall. 1850. Daniel Hinman, Phinehas W. Noble. 1851. David A. Wilson, Abijali Catlin. 122 1852. Lewis Callio, Jr., ]857. Horace Wilsou. Samuel S. Catlm. Addison Webster. 1853. James Alliug, 1858. Wolcott Hinsdale, William Knox. William Wilson. 1854. Charles Wilcox, 1859. Julius Catlin, Hart Barker. Charles Hubert Barljer. 1855. Augustus S. Johnson. 1860. Charles M. Wilson, Alpliouso Candee. George Gridley. . 1856. Lewis Catlin, Sen., " ' Thomas E. Candee. COUKTY COMMISSIONEK. 1 859-60. Augustus S. Johnsou. CllIEK JUDGE OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY COURT. 1844-45. Abijah Catlin. .STATE SEXATOKS. 1838-40. Andrew Abernethy. 1844-45. Aljijah Catlin. 1859-60. Sheldon Osborn. COMMISSIONEK OF THE SCIIOOL FUND. 1851-52. Abijah Catliu. COMl^TKOLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS. 1847-50. Abijah Catlin. EXECUTIVE SECRETAKY. 1831-33. George S. Catliu. SECRETARY OF THE STATE. 1735. George Wyllys.* LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR. 1858-60. Julius Catliu.f To the Convention, held at Hartford, January, 17S8, by which was ratified the Constitution of the United States, were : Delegates from Harwinton. Abner WUson, Marlv Prindle. To the Convention, held at Hartford, August, 1818, l)y which was formed the Constitution of Connecticut, were : Delegates Jrom Harw iniun . James Brace, Uriah Hopkins. ♦Resident subsequently at Hartford, he held the office until 1796. f Originally of Harwinton, but in very early life of Litclifield, and since of Hart- ford. V i2n I'ROBATK COrUT OF IIARWIXTOX. The Probate business of Harwinton was fiimierly transjicted at Litcli- tield. The Probate District of Litchfield, cstaljlished 1 747, included, with Litchfield and Harwinton, Canaan, Cornwall, Goshen, Kent (of which Warren then was a part), Norfi;ilk, Salis))ury, Sharon, Torrington, and 'the land>', on the west side of the Hoysatnnic river, between New Fairfield and Sharon." Harwinton was constituted a Probate District. i)i IS.T.'). For the Probate District of Ifarwinton have been: Jioh/r.t nj Prohute. 1835-38. Bcnajah Havdoii. 1838-42. Abijah Catlfii. 1842-14. Benajah llaydoii. l8-t4-46. I^wis Smith. 1846-47. Martin Cook. 2«1. 1817-50. Lcwi3 Smitli. 1850-51. Martin Cook, 2a. 1851-52. Lewis Smith. 1852-56. Moses Beacli. 1855-60. Lewis Smitli. HARWINTON MUTUAL KIUK INSURANCK COMPANY "Was orpjinized, July, 1 856. Its officers have been : Phiiiehas W. Xrowii lioiisc cast of iho blacksmith's shop, in this village. This is not more remarkable than that, in 17GG, when bears were ravaging fields and destroying sheep and swine in the Towns near Hartford, one. was killed in ' the Main Street ' <>f that plan-. NoTii U., Paoj: .'J 7. Mineralogy of Harivinton. NeitluT '•Alit'iMjii on the Geological Survey of I'oiuH'clicut," nor any similar work that has been consulted, refers specifically to mhieral deposits, or even to sporadic chance-found mineral specimens, in Ilarwin- ton. "While we would not, without very great diffidence, venture to in- limate that such omission indicates some degree of remissness in research, tm the part of 'exploiters' and savans, we must regret that this, at least an a)>parent deficiency, imposes on us the necessity of either letting the world remain ignorant ol the mineralogical riches of our territory, or making report of them ourselves. Tlie latter course we have (as with- out a choice) chosen ; so with becoming modesty we j)roceed to the work. .\s the subject involved is extensive, it will be conveniently set forth in distinct categories. i. Antimony. \ stalemeni was nuide, about 1812-17, to the effect I hat there was in Harwinton a 'locality ' of 'antimony,' singularly ' pure,' e.xisting in 'blocks' of massive size. The locality was alfinued to be, in a direction 'north-east of the Meeting-house,' upon land then owned by Lewis Catlin, »Sen., Ks(|. The originator of the statement exhibited large jiieces of the mineral kind mentioned, which, as he said, were taken by him froiu that locality. Some of those pieces he gave to a young gentleman of Harwinton who, at the time, was a member of Yale College. Through this latter person these pieces came into the hands of scientific men, some of whom posted hither, and, with as great s\iccess as, by those who well know the originator of the statement, coidd have been expected, made search lor the mitieral in place. It is said that a distinguished I'rofessor of Mineralogv, who not long since de- ceased, inserted smuic account of Harwinton 'native antimonv ' in a text- book which he |iublished ; and that anothej- ilislinguished I'rofessor, yet living, did the like in a .scientific Journal V>y him edited. The writer of this Note has not felt strongly encouraged to verify the accuracv of the .saying. The person who set allnat the statement and oxhil>ited the spe- cimens, tised to aflirm with much decision, that 'he woidd never diiJclose the locality,' whence he ol)taincd the specimen.s 'so long as a certain person,' in Harwinton then, 'siirvived.' He made no other explanation, if indeed this waslany. He afterwards did, however, vouchsafe to vary his decision so far as, about 1830, to state, significantly, that ' he never liad told where the treasure lay, and he iww thought it hardly worth the while to tell.' As he died without substitution, or froiii iljf iiioio Jiuilo chaii^o of a into o, cannot witli certainty be said ; but after tlie thought ol blAck lead being native hen; had been rehiKjuishod, llicro was induli;cd, in minds strong enoufrh lor ■juch a mental feat, a more than supposition that l)]()ck lead existed with- in our boundaries. Lead-mine Brook, which Mows through the valley just west of our village, was so denominatcil as early as Oct., ll'.i'I. The •• West Harwinton " records, in that year, designate it by that name. Traditions which, traced back to nearly that time, had, no doubt, a much earlier origin, asserted that, in the high lands situated in the eastern and southern portions of the township, that is within the territory lying north of Xorthburv (, Plymouth,) and between the head waters of the Pequa- buck River, viz., the land somewhat north-east of the mouth of Lead- mine Brook, there existed a vast aggregation of lead in a natural condi- tion so pure as to bo malleable without previous fusion. Some persons, among the first settlers here, are said to have stated that the Indians gave to them accounts of this mass of block lead ; and others, that "they had seeJi it," rock-like and huge in form, "with their orrn eyes." Mr. Joseph Merriman, whose general veracity was imquestioned, did, report says, '• cut oft" and bring home " large solid ingots of this petri- form treasure. These ho molded into '' bullets, which he found excel- lent ' fur purposes of musketry. This circumstance led him, some time afterwards, to resolve, — as naturally as, regarding another matter, did the man whom a chapter in the Proverbs descril)es as one '* that lieth upon the top of a mast," — '' I will seek it yet again." Relative to his putting his re.solve into execution, rcpecn found (miU made accessible to ordinary wights), would surely have proved indefinitely valuable. And then tho lead mine, of which the rock, thus far but n hypothetical radix and expiment, should be. if it ould be, demonstrated tfif actual head-piece indeed, yet mere excrescence, — what les.^ find.s of many when, during tiie war of the American revolution, lead had again come into 'e\tni demand,' and at Litchfield people were converting into Mnisket-lmlls the leaden stiitue, brought from New Vork, of (ieorge 111., of Kngland. late their king. Whatever their reasoning (?) nuiy liave been, persons in Harwinton ami persons belonging to Towns in its neighborhood determined that, it it were po.ssible, this wonderful 'depository' and 'excretory' of lead should be found, antl, when found, applieoriginal smelters wrought there .'] He, with several other persons, afterwanis sought for more, but as they, Viy their own confession, had superstitious fears resjx-cting it \, poor fellows!], they proVjably did not make a very minute investigation, and no more was foinid. This mass passed through several hands, and was linally obtained by the son-in-law of tho discoverer, a coppersmith [, which was he?], who consid- ered it as very free from alloy, an and. in the aggregate, greater. " Lead-rock " huiders, hearken. NOTK \'., PA(iK .Is'. Ih'ilth and Longtvily. There have in Harwinton, as elsewhere, been seasons in which there was less healthfulne.ss than is usual. Scarlet fever and dysentery, with nthcr disea,seg ever more known thati wr-lcomed, have sometimes oc- furred h«'re. They however, so far as appears, have never had an ex- tensive range among Ui», nor been peculiarly fatal. No account,^ arc found of any distemper raging here with special vindeme. in his " List of funenils, 1818," Uev. Mr. Williams not«'d Hvo persons as having "died with mulignat |)leuri3y »»r fever, Peripneinnony | — nia\ Xotha, an epidemic verv extensive ;" yet the number who deceiused liere did not in that year exceed the ordinary aiuiual number. M«»rtuary stotistics for some part ol tin' time are not obtiiinable ; for 132 certain jeais they can be acciu'ately given. The degree of niortahty has probably varied but little in different seasons. In the Church Rec- ords, Books II. and III., are enumerated and named, as having died in the years 1790-1837 inclusive, forty-eight years, 909 persons. This total embraces, among those who deceased between 1790-1823 inclu- sive, four deaths of "strangers" in Harwinton and nine of Harwinton people "at a distance." All who died here in 1790-1837 inclusive, were therefore 900. Of these there were persons, from 70 to 80 years of age, 91 ; from 90 years and upwards, 10. Benjamin Cathn died in 1767, aged 88 years; John Wilson died, 1799, aged 88 years; Reuben Barber died, 1815, aged 86 years ; widow Margaret (Kellogg) Catlin, relict of Benjamin above-mentioned, died in 1786, aged 97 years; wid- ow Sarah Phelps died in 1799, aged 98 years; widow Rogers, in 1803, aged 92 years; widow Thankful Bartholomew, in 1836, aged 92 years. These persons, as may be noticed, deceased before the later ' spirit of emigration ' had invaded the Town, to leave in it thereafter a disproportionate number of individuals extremely old. The average population through the period specified having been 1479, the average immber per annum of deaths was, of persons of all ages, (a percentage of 1,267+, i- P-) 18.75; of persons between 70 and 80 years of age, 1.895-f- ; of persons between 80 and 90 years- of age, 1.470-}-. Note W., Pagk 38, 39. Trading and Trader-'i. Mercantile business, lor the greater part of the la.-t tilly oi sixty years, has in Harwinton been transacted at from three to five stores under the care of four or more owners, among wliidi nve named: Christopher Johnson. ( !atlin & WilUains. David Sniitli. Kellogg & Hoadlcy. Joel Bradley, .Vbijah Catlin, Clark & Abernetln-, Kellogg & Smith, Noble & Kellogg, .1 alius Catlin & Co.. Asahel Hooker, Kellogg & "Woodward. Pliinelias "W. Noble, Truman Kellogg, Sanford & Hungeribrd. Chester N. Case. Gay B. Sanford, 10. & F. W. Burwell. Abijah Catlin,. A. S. Beardsley, Kellogg & Hungeribrd. L. Catlin & Co.. David W. Catlin, lloadley & Catlin, Kellogg and Burwell, Lewis Catlin, Jr. Two stores are at present kept iji Harwinton, one by Lewis (..'athu. Jr.^ one by Capt. Phinehas W. Noble; while, as for many years past, various persons here resident are partners in commercial establishments set up elsewhere, chiefly in Georgia and Alabama. Since the present century opened, a disposition to 'engage ni traffic,' probably more dominant than among the other Yankees even of Con- necticut, has characterized this commnnity. Connnenced, it is believed, by a few individuals who, at first, sold "tin ware' nearer home, and, after- wards, along Avith that article, various other ' notions ' and valuable com- « 133 inodilies at the rfmith ; ' sjiuculalioii ' botame, in :i wliort time, all the rago.' In itnitation of the example of their seniors, young lads, not so well seeing or caring for the unfortunate as the fortunate in that avoca- tion, regarded trading, and especially that form of it termed ' travelling with goods,' as the shortest way to wealth and so to a desired ' respecta- bility.' They were, of coiu'se, eager to engage in that method of cha- sing 'golden visions,' so soon as they had, in their own judgment, reached age enough for the pursuit. Our young men caiuiot now he seen, a.s twenty-five years ago tliey were, going liy scores at a time, each one with his own liorse and loaded vehicle, to thi> region where winter is mild ; yet some of them still go hence in that direction, matiifestlv moved Viy the same impulse toward the same end. This disposition has been tliought to have aflectcd the agricultural and educatioiud interests here unfavoral)lv. and it lias addi-d strength to the proneness here developed for emigratii'ii. NoTK X., I'Atii: 3;i. Mu n II f'dct tires atv/ MannfaclHrers. KiiMu ihf outset there have bc^eu made in llarwiutou such articles, for domestic use, as carpeting, mats, brushes, brooms, baskets, chairs (. for- merly domestic cloth, woulleu ami limn); aiul, for farmers' purposes, wagons or cart^!, as als<» pitch-forks, duug-fork.«, rake.s, ox-buttons, ox- bows, yokes, ax -helves, beetles, wedges, chains, rub-.stones, shingles, boards, planks, sill.s, and one musical instrument manufactory. At Mat- tatuc (, West Ilarwititon), one of the flouring mills ha^ given place to a paper- factory. Our wat«'r courses wlien put to the greatest use that, thus far, has ever been required of them, have carried lour grist mills, at some of which were bolting machines, twelve saw-mills, one clock facto- ry, one cutlery factory, aflerwanl converted into a warp-making estab 134 lishment, and two clolhieries. The opinion has by some been held that. our portion of the Naugatuc might be made nearly as serviceable as is that portion of it which, above our Town, flows through Wolcottville, and, below our Town, flows through Plj-mouth Hollow. But we have, besides those water-privileges, others available for manufacturing purpo- ses. The Lead-mine Brook, flowing southwardly and bisecting the town- ship into nearly equal divisions, has, — on the forks that form its western branch, the one coining from Torringford, the other from New Hartford, as well as on its eastern branch, coming from New Hartford, and on its course below where those branches unite, — more mill-sites than now are or have ever been put to use for moving machinery. The Pequabuck or Poland River has, — on its main stream upon our side of the Plymouth line, and on that branch of it which flows in from Burlington, — been put to some service for mills ; and this stream, which beyond our limits is of such importance to the business prosperity of Terryville and of Bris- tol, might also, some have judged, be, within our bounds, turned to profit- able account by manufacturers. Note Y., Page 4j. Education. Professional Men. In Harwiutou are twelve School Districts, in each of which is kept a public School. For increasing the efficiency of their Schools, some of the Districts, though rarely, have added to the monies drawn by them from the School Fund of the State, sums raised by a levy of i or 1 per cent on the Grand List or by a tax on polls. For many years private Schools have, for portions of the AVinter esjieciallv, been kept in ' Acad- emy' buildings. Public Schools here as elsewhere deserve aud, in the benefits the)- impart, will more than repay a much greater interest and more expenditure in their behalf, tlian in any Town they have ever received. The point to be aimed at is, to have enough of them, conveniently situated, made so efficient in discipline and so thorough in the training they give, that no private Schools in a Town will be needed. So long as, that point not being gained, private Schools cannot be dispensed with, the thing, as next best to be sought for, is, to have in a Town its own private Schools such for number and so excellent in character, that no pare.nt will have necessity of send- ing his children out of the Town, in order to have them well instructed in such branches of study as are pursued in seminaries of grades lower than Colleges. Good citizens will with regard for their Town show their patriotism by doing what they can do towards effecting a consummation so desiralile. Graduates of Culleijcs who were natives of Harwinton arc, so i'ar as they have come to the writer's knowledge, as follows : At Yale College, Phinehas Bartholomew, 177S, Joiiatlian Brace, 1779, Daniel Cathn, 1779, Jacob Catlin, 1784, Russel Cailin, 1784, Norris Bull, 1813. Jared Pardee, 1816, Norman Bull, 1819, Elias Wil- liam TVilliam.s, 1819, John Jay Abernethy, 1825, Abijah Catlin, 1825; at Williams College, David Lord Perry, "1798, Alfred Perry, 1803 ; at Amherst College, lleury NortJi Peck, 1849; at Western Reserve Col- lege, Walter Sessions Barber, 1841, George Carmi Bristol, 1841, Charles Rockwell Pierce, 1844, John Pierce, 1850. (Joshua Lewis Williams. 135 iViiiii rally cliiliUiood :i rcsidriit of }[.irwiiilon, gra! pro|.'ssiuns other than tiie cli-rical. lave been as follows : 136 Attornies-at-Law ; (Frederick?) Beers, Maj. Abijah Catlin (, 1st), Hon. Abijah Catlin (, 4tli), Dea. Daniel Catlin, Jr., Capt. Pelatiah Mills, Sen. Of these the first was here but a short time, the third is now resi- dent here ; that the fifth resided here appears only from what is presented herein at p. 50 with (Appendix, Note M.,) p. 109 ; the third and fourth were born here. Physicians ; Hon. Andrew Al^ernethy, Roswell Abernethy, M. D., Wilham Abernethy, Peter B. Beardslee, M. D., Joel Gillet Candee, M. D., Timothy Clark, Jr., J. H. T. Cockey, M. D., Isaac Cowles, Hooker, Benjamin judd, Gfaylord B. Miller, M!^ D., Gaylord Wells, M. D., E. A. Woodward. Of these, the first, noAv residing but not practising here, and the second, with, as is believed, the fifrh. w^re born in Harwinton. Dr. Miller is the present practitioner. Note Z., Pagk F*]. '^ Raising the Meeting-hoKse.' The amount of fiery liquid procured for the occasion of erecting the edifice referred to, was a supply cpiite ample for furnishing each person present with a quantity sufficiently large to 'raise' himself enough for his good ; especially as the tradition is that all the persons, living in the township at that time, found seats upon the sills of the building. On a similar occasion which, nine years later, occurred in Salisbury, sixteen gallons of rum were provided, though the inhabitants in that place at that time were only about one third part as many as there were in Har- winton, when the Harwinton first Church structure was raised. Regard- ing a custom always 'more honored in the breach than in the observance,' the fathers should, however, be judged by the rules rather of their own day than of ours. Those persons had certainly less to answer for, as to a misuse of strong drink, tlian either their descendants who a generation ago had in use here twenty ' stills' as they called them, (facetiously ? — for they were kept in proximately 'perpetual motion,') by which cider was tortured into a terrific species of 'brandy ;' or the people of New York city who, as a statement current in the newspapers averred, paid, in 1858, $672 for 'drinks' of intoxicating liquor taken "on the road to and from the cemetery " by those who attended the funeral of one Mur- ray, aldennan defunct of that city. The ' stills ' have, happily, now for years better deserved the name they bore, being quite among the things here unknown, except through memory of the evils they wrought. The tradition which Harwinton has, of all the persons or all the adult males in the township sitting on the sills of the Church building, after said building was raised, is found also, with reference to raising the first Church structures in many other townships, as Danbury, Litchfield, New Milford, Waterbury, &c. Such stories told of places in Ms. are, in South- ampton, Ms., so varied as to relate that, "when the meetings were first held on the Sabbath, the people sat on the sills of the house." — Edwards' Centen. Address at Southampton. Such stories, like most traditional ones, had a nnlural nriein. After the ' rnisii^o- of the frame' was accom V67 plislied, a repast inevitably followed. In tliu circumstances atlonding a 'raising,' no other seats for the 'raisers' were .so accessible as ' the sills.' • NOTK A A., FACiK .">1, H--'. ' Seating tlic Mcctinj-housc.^ The practice of assirriiiiig to each worshipper the nt".ii to ))»• by liiiii or )ior occupied in the Sabl>atiiday services, seems to have Ix'cn n«>t niiivcr- sal, tliiiugh it was adopted extensively in Nfw Knglaiid. Tims, at New- bury, Ms., 1051, ''in consequence of complaints having been made, from time to time, of disorder in the meeting house," and in consideration that "the abuses in the youth cannot be so easily reformed, unlesse every house- holder knows his seat in the meeting house," the selectmen '' hereby or- der that everv house-houlder both men and women shall sit in those seats that are appointed for them during their lives, and not to presse into seats where they are full already." Said officers at the same time de- clared, that they had "drawne a list of the names of the inhabitants and appointed them their jdaces in the meeting house," and had ''set their names in each particular seat where they shall sit, ami the young men shall sit in the four backer seats in the gallery, and in the two lower seats at the west door."* At Ipswich, Ms., "in December, A. D. 17U0, a new meeting-hou.-^c h:iving been built, the town diose a committee " to appoint all persons where they sliould sitt in y' new meetinghou.-ie — and also to grant pues in y" places reserved joining to y' walls and sides of y* meeting house — not to extend aboue 5 foot & ^ from y' sides of y* house into y' allies". ...Twenty-five of the pews against the walls were assigned to thirty-five of the principal inhabitants ; " for the use of their wives and families," while to themselves were appointed seats in the body of the house. The men were seated on one side of ' the broad aisle,' the women on the other. There were on each side, one seat be hind the pulpit and three short seats on each side of the pulpit and com- munion table. On these were seated the more elderly people, without much distinction of rank ; the most elderly appear to have been placed on the seat [s] behind the pulpit. About the table wereseated ten of the more elderlv of the iij)pfr cliiss in society. On thirteen lung .seats, on each side of the house, were jilaced the rest of the inhabitants, accord- ing to tlu'ir rank and station in ,society." On the five scats nio.st forward were placed those who had the titles, M', Dea', C\»rp', Serj\ Lt., Capt., Q' M' (Quarter Master), Maj', ('."ll" (Colonel), Dcct'. The six seats be- hind were assigned to free-holders and commoners who had no title. " The thirteenth seat wa.s assigned to the " Boyes." 'f At FVamiugham, Ms., 1715, after nine persons had been chosen for the purpose indicated, it was " Voted, that their rule for .seating be, according to every man's rate or proportion in the £70 granted for the repairing of the meeting house." (.\s 'sharp' that as it was cfiuitable.) The committee were •History of Nowbun', Ms. fN. E. ilist Gen. Rop., Jan., 1850. 18 138 also instructed "to have respect to but one single poll in every mans rate, and that rate and age be the two things observed only ; and as for the dignity of the seats, the table and the fore seats are accounted to be the two highest ; the front gallery is accounted, in dignity, equal to the second and third seats in the body of the meeting house ; and the side gallery is accounted equal to the fourth and fifth seats in the body of the meeting house."* At Norfolk, Ct., the custom of ' seating the meeting house' is still retained. The writer of this Note who never, ex- cept in Harwinton, had witnessed a 'dignifying of seats' in houses ap- propriated to public worship, has often heard as well as seen elsewhere, so lately as, in Royalston, Ms., in 1839, a custom not known in HarAvin- ton — seats of churches made to revolve on hinges and, at the close of prayer, '■slammed down,' one after another in irregular succession, so as to 'make report' like the discharge of muskets by a regiment of newly recruited militia. Happy that such things are now gone ; and happier when, with visible disorders, whatever works unseen to mar the profit- ableness of religious services, shall as thoroughly be abolished. Note BB., Pack 53, 82. Peics, Not unfro(juenily were pews absent from the New England Cluu'ches of former days. Sometimes permission to erect a pew, sometimes one already erected, was by a congregation granted to a dignitary or bene- factor in token of honor or gratitude. Thus at Upper Beverly (, Pre- cinct of Salem and Beverly), Ms., a gentleman having at his own charge built a porch and placed within it " the women's entrance to the gallery," a flight of stairs Avhich before had stood in the audience room ; the par- ish allowed him to set up a pew in the said room. The same parish having, in 1753, received the gift of a bell, ''Voted, that where- as Robert Hooper, Jr., Esq., of Marblehead, hath by his generosity and donation greatly obhged this precinct in presenting us with a bell on his own cost and charge, for y" use of 3"= sd. precinct : In consideration whereof, Voted, tliat this precinct do grant and freel}'- give unto y"* sd. Robert Hooper, Esq., his heirs and assigns, the Pew at the southerly corner of our Public Meeting House, situate between Mr. Wm. Porter's and Deacon Cresey's pew.''f At Pomfret, in this State, individuals, in 1714, erected pews for themselves. :|; In Framingham, Ms., 1702, '• Jno. Jaquish was permitted to build a pew behind the men's seats, on condition of taking care of the meetinghouse for 7 years. Jeremiah Pike, also, had the same privileges."§ What in the present day seems more remarkable is that, to some ex- tent, pews in New England places of worship had, like ' boxes ' in thea- ters, ' private entrances.' At Boston, Ms., at the meeting of a parish, relative to erecting a house for worship, 1677, they by w^ay of precau- *History of Framingham [, Ms]. -j-Stonc's Lecture on the History of the Second Parish in Beverly [, Ms]. I" Every man made his own, to box up himself and [his] family." — Rev. D, Hunt's Thanksgiving Discourse, at Pomfret, Ct., §History of Framingham [, Ms]. 139 tion acrroed, Ihat "no pew was to be ImilL wlUi a door into tlie street."* At Framni'^luini, Ms., to the i)ernrission accorded, as above mentioned, t() Jeremiah Pike, tliere was added : " providf-d lie cuts a door, to come into it, llinmgh llie end of tlie nn-eting house." This sort of liberty in tliat plaee passed, as was natural, so rapidly into a sort of licentiousness that, nine or ten years allerwards, 1711-12, the Town chose a com- mittee . . .to rcf^ulatc tlioso disorders in our piiblifiuo meetinjrlioiiso;" .ind "dpclarcd l>y Iho aivrii manual of the luliahitants of Framiiijrliam, that the cutting off of Hoats in tlie meeliii','h()use. and also the cutting of Holes through the walls of Iho aforesaid iKK-otinghouse, either for doors or wuidows, or on what prctontv soever, without li- cnce for the same obtained of the town; and also the Building or onlarging of Pews in the said incetini,' house. witho\it the said Towns License, first for the same ohuiined, are disorders to he regulated l»y the aforesaid committee.f Pews, as they u.sed to be in Harwinton and as elsewh.Tc ihey still may be found, were, according to a style which the forefatlu-rs had across the sea been inured to, square enclosures formed by four tall walls of wain.scot work against which were arranged seats that, in some cases were firmly nailed, in others made to lift up by hinges, upon their props. Chairs were placed in them, additionally. Impounded in those awkward pens of a grotesquely imcouth and false 'dignity,' children, when cither tired or mischievous, could sleep or take j.a.stime securely; while their seniors, as certain to be tired with sitting against a perpendicular board or harder surface as high as, if not higher than, their heads,— or in pref- erence to sitting, as perforce many of them must sit, with their backs or sides towards the preacher, contorting themselves, in order to far,- him, into postures never voluntarily in other places assumed, — might oftener think than .sav, of the pew side, ' Thou " wall of partition between us ;" ' and might thus gymna-stically solve, as best they could, the i)robleni, how to reconrih' with their circumstances of constraint the apostle s av.Tin.-nl : ''AVIi.-re tli'- Spirit of llic Lord is. there is liberty." XoTK CC, Pagk J5. ' Fyihha(h-'(Jiiy JIoHses.'' Near to the Church edifice were put up pubsidinry constructions. At a Town Meeting, held 3 Dec, 1754, it was Uoto.i that anv of the Inhabitants of tho town ..f Harwiiit..i, Sliall hav tho Lil>- erty to build Holisos for their Comfort on the Siiboth In'twi-.-n m.-elings and honsi-s for" to Slu'ltor their horsos under on the Saboth Day Sum whare Net-ro to the meet- ing hous»'s allwnys i)rovidc«i tliay Pont bUn-k uji the highway The 'Houses f(.r their C(.mfort' were sometim.s «alled 'Xoon Hou-ses;' generally, 'Sabbath-day Houses.' Such, probably a CiUinect- icut invention, there formerlv were in Hranf .rd, Durham, Guilford, Go- shen, Litchfield, Salisbury, "\Vaterl.nr\ . .V.-. An 'a<<..unt rendered ' of •.">now's Ilislnr)- of lloston f. Msj. flliatory of Framintfham (. M**]. 140 sucli structures by Rev. Grant Powers, in his Centennial Address at Goshen, 1838, which has with variations been followed by Prof. William C. Fowler, in his Dedication Sermon at (South) Durliam, 1847, and by Payne Kenyon Kilbourne, Esq., in his History of Litchfield, 1859 ; may, more briefly, be followed here. Built, for the most part, at the joint ex- pense of two or more families, a 'Sabbath-day House' comprised, ordi- narily, two rooms, each of them, ten or twelve feet square, having a fire-pltice that opened into a chimney set in the middle of the building. In these rooms were, with fuel ready for 'making a quick fire,' some chairs, a table, plates, dishes, and utensils for warming food. They also contained devotional books. In the winter, a family, leaving their dwel- ling-house early on Lord's-day, came to their 'Sabbath-day House,' and having, by a genial blaze which they made there, restored the heat which in reaching it they had lost, were better fitted to withstand the rigorous air that they had to encounter during the ' morning services ' in a Church where, save in a foot-stove, no fire was found. In the same place they, at noon, took a repast, discussed the "sermon they had heard, read from the Bible or from some other volume which they prized, sung devotion- ally, and offered prayer. From the same place, their warmth again re- newed there after the Sabbath's public services had closed, they comfort- abl}' returned to tlieir home. Note DD., Pages 57, Gl, 70, 71, 81. Preachers, in Ilarwinton, who did not become Pastors tJiere. 1. Rev. Timothy "Woodbridge, a graduate of Yale College, 1732, tutor of the same, 1737-39, the ' Mr. Timo. Woodbridge, ' probably, Avliom a Committee at New Hartford were directed to invite to preacli at that place, 1738, was ordained, 1740, as pastor (, colleague with Rev. William AVilliams,) of the Cong. Church at Hatfield, Ms., where he died, in the pastoral office, 3 June, 1770, in the 58th year of his age. He was a son of Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, of Simsbury, and a grand- son of Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, of Hartford. The Wyllys and the Woodbridge families of Hartford were united by marriage bonds, and both families, as the records show, held lands, 173'2-38, in Harwinton. 2. Rev. David Ely, DD., a graduate of Yale College, 1769, fellow of the same, 1788 — 1816, secretary of the same, 1793 — 1815, was or- dained pastor of the Cong. Church in Huntington, 1780. He deceased, 1816. 3. Rev. Robert Hubbard, born at Middletown, a graduate of Yale College, 1769, was ordained the first pastor of the Cong. Church in Shelburne, Ms., 20 Oct., 1773, while holding which relation he died, at his native place, 2 Nov., 1788, aged 45. 4. Rev. Caleb Alexander, born at Northfield, Ms., 22 July, 1755, a graduate of Yale College, 1777, ordained pastor at New Marlborough. Ms., 28 Feb., 1781, dismissed thence, 28 June, 1782, installed pastor of the First Congregational Church at Mendon, Ms., 23 March, 1786, dismissed from said Church, 13 June, 1791, but retained by the First Parish (connected with that Church) until 7 Dec, 1802, wlien, with the 141 concurrence of the Clmrcli, he was (hsniissod from ministori.-il rolatiuns there; removed, alioiiL 18»»:{, to FairlnM, If.rkimcr Co., N. Y., in wliich phice, Principal of an Academy that lit- soiij^lit to eh;vat<' into a College, he erected the l)\uldings since occu|iit'd hy a Medical School. He died, the Preceptor of an Academy, at Onomlaga Hollow, Onondaga Co., N. Y., 12 April, ISL'S. A mail of talents and a good theologian, as well a.s a clas.sical scholar, ho prepared and puhlishcd, besides several occa- sional Sermon.s : An Essay on the Deity of Jesns C'hrist, with Strictures on Emelyn, an English writer; an Introduction to Making Latin; a Greek Grammar ; an English Grammar ; Elements of English Gram- mar; a Spelhng Book ; a New and Complete System of Aritlimetic ; a Latiii (Grammar; a Translation of the Works of Virgil ; the CV.huuhian Dictionary; all previouslv to 1804. — Blake's Hist, of Mcndon, in Bar- ber's Hist. Collec. of Mass.; Packard's Hist, of Churches and Ministers in Franklin Co., Ms. ; Catalogue of All the Books Printed in the Uni- ted States, Boston, Jan., 1804. 5. Rev. Lemu»d Tyler, a native of Branford, a graduate of Yale College, 1780, wa.s ordained pastor of the Cong. Church in Preston. 1787, •where he deceased in 1810. C. Rev. 'William Frederick Rowland, horn a}. Plainfield, Ct., 17t;l, a graduate of Dartmouth College, 1784, was ordained pastor of the First Cong. Church in E.xeter, N. II., '2 June, 17!)0, dismissed thence, 5 Dec, 1828, and died there, 10 June, 184.*?. Rev. Henry Augustus R..wland, born at Providence, R. I., 13 Jan., 1764, a graduate of Dartmouth Col- lege, 178.5, was ordained pastor of the Cong. Church in Windsor, Ct., 5 Mav, 1790, and died there 28 Xov., 1835. Which of these sons of Rev. David Sherman Rowland, of I'lainfield and of Windsor, is refi'rred to, in tlu! quotation (, on j). 71,) hereinabove given, is not clear. The lat- ter seems to be the one intended. 7. Rev, Aaron Cook Collins, born at (North) Guilford, 4 May, 17<;2, a graduate of Yale College, 1780, approved, as a candiilate for the min- istry, by the New Haven East Association, 29 May, 1787, was pastor of a Cong, or Prcs. Church at East BlooinHcld, N. ">'.. where he de- cea.sed, 1830. 8. Rev. Calvin White, a graduate (.f "^'ale College, 178(;, died Is.'..!. 9. Rev. Wdliain James Breed, a graduate of Yale Ctdlege, IS."!!, ordained pa.stor of Cong. Church, Nantucket, Ms., afterward a pastor at Cincinnati, O., and at Providence, R. 1., was installoorn at Amherst, Ms., an|i«T. Dr. Bfllaniv, refi-rrinfj to tliis Synod as lii-l>l "when tho first p.-ji,. ration wore "•(•norallv dead," says tliat its nioinl)('rs " professod to believe lliat none had a right to the seals [of 'the rf>venaiil of grace,' viz., bapti.sin and the Lord's Stipper, ] for themselves, or their children, biiMrnc Iteliev- ers, and real .saints: however, they thonght a lessdi-rrree of grace wonM (pialifv for one ordinance than for the other. And on this principle the lialf- wav ])racticc wa.s introdnced." It has, wifli loss propriety, been called 'the half-way covenant .<;//.';/c//j.' There was published, in 1710, " A Confe.«sion of f''aith, owned and consented to by the Klders and Messengers of the C'hnrches hi the (V)lony of Connecticnt, in New Eng- land, assembled by Delegation at Saybrook, September 9, 1708;" with " Tlie Heads of Agreement, assenteressengers of the Churches of the Colony of Connecti- cut, in New Englanility, had. in various ways, been foremost in upliolding the innovation. Soon after the beginning of the present century, the half-way covenant practice wjis at an end. It had existed about one hundred and fifly years. Dr. Tnnjd)ull aflirnis that, so early as lG5r), "there was a strong party, in the Colony of Connecti- cut, who were for admitting all persons of a reg\dar life to fidl commu- nion in the churches, upon their making a profession of the Christian re- ligion, without any empiiry [made of them] with respect to a change of heart; and for treating all baptized pi'rsons jus member.-? of the church. [Dr. Hollamy represents this to have been Kev. Mr. Stoddard's nu'thml, at Northampton, Ms.] Some CJtrricd the aflair .still further, and insist- 144 ed, tliat all persons, who liad been members of chnrches m England, or had been members of regular ecclesiastical parishes there, and supported the public worship, should be allowed to enjoy the privileges of mem- bers in full commmiion in the churches of Connecticut. They also in- sisted, that all baptized persons, upon owning the covenant, as it was called, should have their children baptized, though they [such owners of the covenant] came not to the Lord's table." He assigns, as the ori- gin of the party, that the descendants of the planters of the Colony, along with later immigrants hither, " wished for the honors and privi- leges of church members for themselves, and baptism for their children ; but they were not persuaded that they were regenerated, and knew not how to comply with the rigid terms of the congregational churches." The half-way practice was the expedient resorted to, to quiet the uneasi- ness of such persons. It had the odious nature and seeds of evil, though when it was devised these were not seen, which attach to such meas- ures as, in political concerns, men avIio deemed themselves sagacious have found to be quite wretched things. The results of the practice were bad. It crippled the power of the Churches regarding discipline. Doc- trinal errors and immoralities in life were less easily reproved. It facili- tated the entrance into the Churches and into their ministry of irreli- , gious, insincere, ambitious men, having worldly rather than^ spiritual minds. It was a chief source, among the New England Churches, as well of what first came in upon them as (in name) Arminianism, (in fact) a comparative carelessness for both the doctrines and the duties pe- culiar to Christianity, as of what afterwards has been known as Unita- rianism. As illustrating a state of things once existing in this vicinity, and the contest while Mr. Perry was pastor here, the acts on record of a certain Town near this may be given. The dates of these are 1769, 1770. Voted, that we think tlie scaling ordinances [, Baptism and the Lord's Supper,] are equally sacred, and any person that is qualified for one is (qualified for botli. Voted, that we approve of the church vote, viz : That conversion should not be a term of admission for Church communion. Rev. Ebenezer Booge, pastor of the Second Church in Avon, 1751- 66, accustomed to make record at home of occurrences incidental to his labors beyond his own parish, made in his journal the minute following. It was well said of it : "A shghter clew than this has often revealed much of [one's] character." Dec. the 22'^ 1154, Samuel Mills of West Symsbury [, Canton], was admitted into the church a half-member — 1 do'n't know what! may-bo a covenantee — for I think some call 'em so. Notp: GG., Page 68, 74. The Separatists. The ' Separate ' Churches were mainly composed of seceders from Congregational Churches. The persons who composed them did not 14:> like 'tin' half-way covenant' practicf, ami llioj approvfd, as means for I'roiiiotiiig religion and oxliilMting its nature an/mra(^ Churches of New ?]ngland. Both here and there they re- mained for many years, in a strictly independent form. But in process of time those churches in Connecticut, with their ministers, formed an ecclesiastical organization under the style of the '' Strict Comjrrijational Convrntiini of Connecticut ;" and, in 1781, they published a "Confession of Faith and Form of Government," which wiu? republished on Long I«lan N. K. Hist. Gen. Register. July. 1855, Jan. and Oct., 1856. These records, which while they were lost were, in a negative respect, invaluable, have since they were found been, in a pos- itive respect^ invaluable. The Church at "West Barnstable, where it was e.stablished with its above-nanieay .serve to show that there have been not seldom made writings which, while they were bv all me.ins Church records, in respect to the nature of the mate- rials they contained, were by no means Church records, in so far .ns the preparation and ownership of theni are considered; since they were made, not by a Clerk or other agent of the Ciuinh chosen and directed to il.i tl..' liii-iiir-,- lint liv til.' ii.i-lnr. ri< till'' of hi>» own motion, t^pro- 148 vide memoranda for aid to him personally in discharging his official ser- vices, or for some like design. This distinction, duly applied, has bear- ings that 'look forward and after.' It suggests, among other things, the following : 1. Churches, in order that Minutes of their proceedings may be made and, with statistics of their condition or other matters concerning them, be kept for the benefit of future times, should appoint a fit person to do for them that work. 2. Compensating their agent, if he asks compensation, for doing such work, they should, by inspection officially made, see that the work is well done and well preserved. 3. Pastors of Churches doing such work, without appointment to it or interest felt in it, on the part of Churches, may rightly regard the memoranda thus made as their private property, and let them pass, with the little else they leave, to their heirs. 4. It is plain enough, why, in regard to many Churches, no records appear. 5. Tlie assertion made of many former pastors of Churches that, when they left those Churches, ' they carried off with them the records,' instead of conveying the idea of theft, conveys or should, unless the fact is known to be otherwise, be held to convey the statement, that said pastors took that which was in the high- est and truest sense their own. 6. Of some Churches, no memorials of whose origin and early history are known, such memorials may yet be found. 7. Such memorials now existing 'forgotten and imknown,' if they shall hereafter be recovered, will most probably be found among the descendants of pastors, or with careful persons who value such things more than some descendants of pastors have valued them. Records of Churches have more utility than most members of Cliurch- es, or than persons in general, suppose. As things whose importance, great at present, will become greater with every lapsing year, they deserve more attention from all persons than they ordinarily receive from any. Note II., Page 87. Last- Surviving Children of the First Settlers. So far as known, there were living, in 1837, of the sons of the found- ers of Harwinton, none ; of their daughters only one, then residing with her daughter and her son-in-laAv at Milford, Ct., viz., Martha, daughter of Hezekiah Hopkins, and widow of Dr. Caleb Austin to whom she was married in 1778. So far as known, there survived, in 1837, of members received into the Church under the ministry of its first pastor, not one ; of those re- ceived into it under the ministry of its second pastor, only two, viz., Widow Ruth Bull, admitted 19 Aug., 1782, Widow Rachel Frisbie, ad- mitted 12 Oct., 1783. SUP PL EM i:n T \ ]\ V For convenience' sake is hereto subjoined matter which, as first ar- ranged, ininiediatelv followed what is seen licreinabove on p. 100, in font- note (*). The Catlins recently in DeorficUl, Ms., are, no doubt, of the same sleek with those in llarwintoii. John, son of Thomas Cutliu (' KetlinR') of Hartford, was father ol a son John born in 1G7G, who, it has been supposed, died at sea. Tiiat llrst Jolm, it can hardly be doubted, was the John 'Catling' who with others signed, at llrau- ford tJt 1005. an agreement to found a Town in New Jersey: but whoso name is absent iu the list of thoso who, in lOOG. went from said Dranfonl and founded New- ark N J — Hov Stepiien Dod's Family Reeord of Daniil Dod. That first John 'CaUiiig' too, was probably the " Joliu Catlin " who with " his son .lonatlian" was "Slain in y' Fort," and probably the fatl>cr of -'Joseph Cathn" "t^lain in y Fieht in Deerti-^ld Medow," on "Feb' y' I^st day, Anno 170}," when "JOO of French & Indians (as is thought) AssaUilcd the Fort took it and KiU' and Cap- tiv" IC-' of v« Inliabitants" of Deerfield. Ms.— Mamp.shire County [. M.s.. J •Record- er's Book : as quoted inN. K. His. (leu. Reg., April. 1855. -John Catlin" and "Ruth Catlin" were there and then "eaptivated."—13iograph. Mem. of tiio Rev. John Williams, first Minister of IVerfield, Ms. "Capt. John Catlin " (. perhaps the one 'captivated,) lived in said Deerlield, in 1753.— Willards Hist. ..f (JreenUdd r Msl Of those once in Ueerfield having this surname, survives an aged latly, long the writer's family friend, Miss Catliarino Catlin of Cambridge. Ms. INDEX OF NAMES OF PERSONS. The figures annexed designate pages in this work. Abemcthv, 117-119, 121, 122, U2, 134- 130. Adam, 3C. Adam."*, 10, 41. Ahab, 98. Ahamo, 99. Alexander, 70, 72, 140. Alford, 30, 50, C9, 105, 103, 110-121. Allen, AUing, AUyn, 104, 112, 114. 120, 122. Amherst, 113. Andrews, see Audrus, 100, 104. 129. Andross, 16, 17. Aiidrus, see Andrews. 100. Araunah, 49. Arnold, IU4, 115. Ashman, 4:<. Aupei, Aui.kt, Aup^ 125. Austin, 30, 32. 103, 109 135, 14"^ Awowas. nee Wowowis. 101. Baekus, 145. Bacon, 50, 63. Baleh, 86, 100, 107, 119. Baldwin, 69, 118. l{aiieral\, 104. Baiitiim, 24. Barber. 2X, 30. GO, 75, 80, 104, 105, 108, 111, 111-110. 118-12.1. 131, 132. 134. 141. Barker, 80, 119, 120. 122. Harnaba.''. 91. Hamanl. 104, 112. Banies, 115. l?arri>s, dc, 25. Bartholomew, 30, 43, 44. 58-C4, 89. 105. lOH. 118. 119, 132, 134. 13.'., 141. 142. 150 Beach, 119-121, 123, 126. Beardslee, Beardsler, 132, 136. Beers, 136. Bellamy, 62, 143. Bentley, 83, 9-1. Benton, 28, 30, 43, 44, 49-53, 58, 60, 86, 104, 105, 108, 116-118, 120. Billington, 15. Bird, set'Burd, 112. Birge, 116, 119, 121. Bishop. 69. Bisscll, 28, 30, 32, 50, 58, 104, 107, 108. Blake, 141. Booge, 144. Brace, Bracy, 30, 50, "75, 104-106. 108, 116, 118, 119, 121, 122, 134, 135. Bradley, 119, 121, 132. Breed, 81, 141. Bristol, 86, 134, 135. Bronson, 25, 42, 99, 100, 103. Brooker, 67. Brown, 28, 30, 57, 58, 84, 108, 109, IIC, 118. Buckland, 104. * Bull, 28, 30, 44,49-51, 68, 104, 105. 108, 116-119, 121, 1.34, 135, 148. Bimce, 10-4. Bunnel, 50. Biird. see Bird, 48. Burwell, 116. 132. Bushnell, 102. Butler. 30, 43, 50, 61. 104, 105, 108. 115, 118, 135. CalJOt, 12. Oandee, 75, 106. 117, 119-122, 135, 136. Carter, 104. Case, 121, 132. Catlin, Catling, see Ketling, 6, 25, 30, 43, 44, 49-53, 59, 68, 72, 75, 78, 86, 104, 105, 108, 109, 112, 115, 117-123, 126. 127, 132, 134-136, 149. Cesar, 63. Chapman, 104. Chipnian, 81. Chob, Chops, Chup, 124, 125. Church, 41, 81, 96, 141. Clark, Clarke, 75, 86, 96, 103, 113. 114, 119, 121, 128, 132, 136. Cleveland, 116. Cockey, 136. Coke, 112. Cole, 30, 50, 108. Collins, 71, 141. Colt, 30, 50, 104, 105, 108, 135. Columbus, 12, 111. Conant, 1 1 6. Cook, 44, 52, 104, 105, 115, 116, 118- 120, 123, 126. 135. Cowles, 119, 136. Cresey, 138. Curtice, 105. Dana, 50, 62. David, 49, 53. Davis, 28, 30, 43, 60, 52, 5.3, 56. 58, 105, 108, 118, 120, 126. De Barros, 25. De Forest, 98, 125. De La Faj^ette, 25, 115. Denslow, 104. De Rocharabeau, 25. Desborow, 111. Dod, 149. Doolittle, 131. Douglas, 114. Dowd, 125. Drake, 104. Dunbar, 119. D wight, 37. Easton, 104. Edwards, 136, 143. Eglestone, 104. I51mer, Elmore, 104, 115. Elsworth, 104, 105. Ely, 60, 61, 140. Emelyn, 141. Fayette, de La. 25, 115. Eenn, 120. Folsom, 124. Foot, 115. Forest, De, 98, 125. Fowler, 140. Frisbie, 69, 86, 115, 116, 121, 148. G-ardnor, 69. Garrett, 104. Gaylord, 104, 117, 119. Gengis Khan, see Zingis. George III., 129. Gibbon, 10, 12. Gillet, 28, 30, 50, 104-106. 108. Gilpin, 130. Goodsell, 120. Goodwin, 98, 109, 113, 114. Graham, see Gray ham. Grant, 104, 125. Graves, 119. Grayham (, Graham), 104. Green, Greene, 50, 114, 115. Gridley, 115, 119, 122. Griswold, 69, 75, 86, 104, 105, 115. 119, 121, 135. Gross, 104. Hall, 121. Halsted, 115. (Hanchet,) Handchitt, 115. Hart, 86, 101. Hatch, 28, 30, 108, 116. Haven, 113. 151 Huwiev, 1 1.'». Havfioii, llavfloii, 3(1. U, ..n. :.l, 101- foG, lOS, "115. 118, no, 123. Higlcv, :in, 50, los, ii.t. Hinman, 109. 114, 121. Hinsdale, Hinsdell, 28, 30, 50-53, lOJ, 105, 108, 113, 115, 118, 120, 122. Hoadlov, 132. llodKt',"ll5, 117. Holcoinb, Ctt, 81. 101. Mollistcr, 25, 102. 106. Holt, 75, 119, 121. Holtom. 104. Hoinaston, 113. Hooker, 101, 119, 121, l::4, IM. Hooi>or, 138. Hopkiu.s 24. 2G-28, :!0, 43. 44. 50, 52, 60. 104, 105, 109, 116-119, 121, 122, 148. Hosford, 104. Hoskins. 24. 28. 30, 47, 52, 57, 58, 101, 10.5. 109, 116-118. Hoiiph, 113. Hubbard, 61. 140. Hiinpcrford, 75, 119, 132. Hunt, 138. Irvinp. 111. Jacob, 147. James II., 16. .ra(|iii.'(li, 138. Jeroboam, 74. Johnson, 5rt Jonson. 115. W'.), 121-12.!, 132. Jones, 84, 94, 115. Jon.son, Ave Johnson. 115. Josiah, 8.3. Jndd. 109, 112, 136. KellopR. 52, 84, 119. 132. Kepaquanip, 99. 100. 12«. Ketlinp. sr,- Tatliti, 109, 149. Kilbourne. 24. lO.t, 1 |(i. Kinp. 30. KH, 109. Kinpslev. 101. Knox, 2.5, 122. La Fayette, de. 25, 115. I>.im>)crt, 115. I.iithro|>, »'(• liothmp. I>Hwronco. 30, 32, 109, 117. LeiK-h. 11.5. I/^^'. 101. I/'wi.H, 911. 100. Ixjpan, 125. I/j<'.in, 83. Moacham, 6«. Mcrriam, 135. Morriman. 28. 30. 43, 44, 48-52, 58, 59, 105, 109, 116-119. 129. Mcssenper, 23-28, 30, 32, 37. 44, 47-51, 56-59. 104-107, 109, 112, 116, 118. Miller, 8.5, 117, 136. Mill.s, 30. 50, 104, 109, 112, 130, 136, 144. Mon.son, sn: Munson, 114. Moodev. Moody, 28, 30, 50, 105, 109, 112.' More, 104. Morton, 69. Moses, 37. Mossoek, see Maua.ssclh, 125. Munson, see Monson, 69. Murray, 136. Mvpatt, 104. Isfabotii. 98. Xero. 17. Newliorrv, Newbury, 58, 101, 117 Newell. i30. Nichols. 69. Noble, 119, 121. 123, 132. O^^P'l-Kdoni, 46. On-um. 124. (Uootf. Olcut, 98, 115. (Mmstead. 104. Osliorn. 120-122. Owen, 101. Packard, 111. Pardee, 131. 13.5. Paul, 66, 91. Payne, 128. Peek, 83, 10.5, 131, 135. iVniberton, 125. P.rkin.s, 117. 119-121. I'.Try. 61, r,;i-6S. s'. i : i i • , i i * i i ■■ I'ii.i'^.i.s, KM. rct.rs. 101. Pethus, Pethn/j<<>, lVllliiio, 99-UM. Pheli.s. 26-28. 30, 32, 43. 41. 48-5.3. 58, 59,86, 101-106,109, 113, 115, 1 IC. 118-121, 126. 132. Pieriv, 50, 79, SO, 92, 93, 131, 135. 1 16. Pike, 138, 139. Polo, 12. Pond. 116. Porter, 77, lol, lot"., H.-i, 138. P. It tor. 115, 119. Powerx, 17, 103. 140. Pr.>