/ m TKINITY CHURCH, SIXTH EDIFICE. 1898 NNALS OF AN OLD PARISH HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF TRINITY CHURCH SOUTHPORT CON NECTICUT 1725 TO 1898 BY REV. EDMUND GUILBERT D. D. Published by Thomas Whittaker, 2 and 3 Bible House, New York MDCCCXCVIII # jt # # COPYRIGHT 1898 BY EDMUND GUILBERT. Co my Beloved Parishioners of trinity Cburcl), Whose Eoyal Devotion and Unwavering Kindness tiave united in making my sojourn among them Cbe happiest Period of my Life, this Uoiumc, Che Record of the noble Ulorks done in their Days find in the Old time before Chem, i$ Affectionately Dedicated. 20124G* EDITION DE LUXE One Hundred copies, on extra paper, numbered from 1 to 100, were printed in the month of November, 1898. PREFACE. The annals of a religious Society, whose inception long ante- dates this waning century, are necessarily the record of the varying vicissitudes through which it has passed ; the successes it has achieved ; as well as the unerring witness to the quality of the men and women, who, from the beginning, have been identified with its career. It follows then, that our venerable Parish, having been the representative of principles which, though unpopular with the many, were as dear to their uphold- ers as their existence; having begun and maintained, for a century and three-quarters, a continuously vigorous life, in the face, a part of the time, of determined opposition; and having had in its membership specimens of the best brawn and intel- ligence of New England, must have in its past much that is in- teresting, and worth rescuing from oblivion. Possessed with this feeling, and also conscious that there are those of advan- cing years, whose memory of events and persons is still vivid ; who, in the course of nature, will not be with us a great while longer, the writer has felt impelled to prepare this volume. Nor is this all: Fairfield and Stratford for the two places are indissolubly linked together in the early history of Episco- pacy in Connecticut formed the "cradle" in which the Church in these parts was nurtured ; and while it ought never to be for- gotten by Churchmen, what a vast debt is due to such men as Johnson, and Caner, and Shelton, and to their successors, for the important part they took in its upbringing, there is another aspect of the matter. The writer is no bigot; he ever strives to own and cultivate a "judicial mind;" he dis- claims any intention of being, under the guise of an impartial observer, a partisan; he is, however, constrained to state, as Vi. PREFACE. the result of his observations, his conviction, that the Denom- inations around him are also under great obligations to the Communion with which he is connected. The Protestant Epis- copal Church, although they may not know, or be willing to acknowledge it, he believes, has helped materially to advance their condition. One has only to note the character of the prevailing religious services of to-day, to discern that it is the features the Church has always made part of its system, which are set forth in its Book of Common Prayer, that freely adopted, largely enables them to retain their hold upon their people. Nor is this a new departure. In the early part of the eigh- teenth century, the leanest kind of provision was made for those who attended Divine worship in the different meeting- houses; and from that time onward there has been a gradual enrichment, until we reach the stage that is visible at the present time. It must be difficult for modern non-Episcopalians, for exam- ple, who are accustomed to fine organs, and elaborate music, rendered by selected choirs; who hear the Te Deum, and Gloria in Excelsis, and Gloria Patri, sung every Sunday, and the Apostles Creed recited ; the Psalms said antiphonally ; who observe Christmas and are familiar with Easter floral decora- tions; who are fully aware that the trend of their worship is more and more in a liturgical direction, to realize that these things are all borrowed from the Episcopal Church ; that in the old days the keeping of Christmas and Easter, was considered sure evidence of affiliation with the Papacy; that the Lord's Supper and Holy Baptism were little esteemed and infrequent- ly administered; that laymen, without a scintilla of authority, ordained other men to the sacred Ministry ; that laymen in- variably performed the marriage ceremony; that the dead were buried, without any service being said over them at all. Yet such is the fact, and there is no question but that the Episco- pal Church, by means of its Liturgy, its painstaking and rev erent attention to the details of Divine Worship, its Sacra- ments, its Ministry, the same ever as it is to-day, has percep- tibly influenced the various religious bodies with which it has come in contact. They owe it then their good-will, and should surely be among those who regard its history in the past with kindly interest, and are resolved to pray for its prosperity in the years to come. These reflections are especially com- mended, with the writer's fraternal regards, to his neighbors, the religious Organizations of the Town of Fairfield. Once in a great while allusion is made to the so-called dis- loyalty of the Episcopal Church in the time of the American Revolution. Its Clergy at that crucial epoch were mostly Englishmen; ordained in England; and supported altogether, or in part, by the Venerable Society of London. As was to be expected, they looked at events, as they came to pass, from the English point of view. Not a few of the Clergy, nevertheless, were devoted to the cause of the Colonies ; while the laity as a body were overwhelmingly on its side. What if a portion of the former remained steadfast to the old order of things? At least, they were sincere in their convictions, and honest in the maintenance of them. We have had an experience in the late Civil War that must teach us to view tenderly, and have great respect for, men who had the courage of their convictions, who refused under the greatest pressure to violate their oath of allegiance, and own submission to what they considered an usurping government. The attention of the reader is particularly invited by the writer to the great value of the appendices. The quaint and interesting "Sketch of Trinity Parish," by the Rev. Philo Shelton, is printed in full for the first time. The almost priceless "Private Record of Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, etc., performed by Rev. Philo Shelton, during the Forty Years of his Ministry, 1785-1825 A. D.," has never been given to the public before, so far as is known. It contains over four thou- sand names, and deserves not only to be put in a shape which shall transmit it unmutilated to succeeding generations; but yjU PREFACE. also to be made accessible to those, who at any future time, shall be interested in genealogical researches among the early settlers of the Town of Fairfield. The copy of the " Record,'' now in the possession of Trinity Parish, was transcribed from the original, which is held as an heirloom in the Sheldon fam- ily, by Mr. Lewis B. Curtis, of Southport ; to whose faithful and arduous labors the thanks of the writer are due. Whatever may be the merit of the following pages, the writer makes no claim to originality. Others before him have treated portions of his subject exhaustively. It has been his pur- pose rather to collect than to construct that which is entirely new; to procure from all available sources such items of his- tory as relate to Trinity Parish; and arrange them in the most convenient order. The archives of the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, of London, England, under whose welcome auspices, what is now the Protestant Episco- pal Church, was introduced into Connecticut, have been con- sulted. The Town Records have been carefully searched. The Colonial Records, as far as published, have also been examined. The Rev. Dr. Beardsley's " History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut;" as well as the admirable "Historical Discourse for the Jubilee of the Venerable Society," above mentioned, de- livered in Trinity Church, Southport, August 10th, 1851, by the Rev. Nathaniel E. Corn wall, Rector, have afforded much neces- sary information, which has been freely utilized. The Parish Records preserved intact from the year of the destruction of the second Church and Parsonage, by the British, 1779, A. D. to the present day, have proved a source of enlightenment to so great an extent, that were they wanting, even this brief tran- script of the past life of the Parish could never have been written. Various parishioners, and others who do not stand in that relation, have furnished a great deal of valuable material, both written and oral. As it would be invidious to specify one and not the rest, their names are not published. To all of them the writer's indebtedness is gratefully acknowledged. This does not pretend to be a perfect book. No history that was ever written, can claim to be faultless. The most careful, as well as diligent, student is always liable to make mistakes. The writer believes, though, there are but few in the work he now offers to his readers. Whatever genuine errors or notable omissions there may be, whoever discovers them, will do him a favor by pointing them out, and he prom- ises that in due time they shall be corrected or supplied. Southport, November 1st, 1898. E. G. "Superficial it must be, but I do not disown the charge. Better a superficial book which brings well and strikingly together the known and acknowledged facts, than a dull, boring narrative, pausing at every moment to see further into a millstone than the nature of the millstone will admit." Sir Walter Scott, Journal, December 22nc7, 1825. CONTENTS. PAGE. I. FIRST SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY OF UNQUOWA, AFTERWARDS, THE TOWN OF FAIRFIELD, 1638 A.D. 1 II. SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SITUATION IN CON- NECTICUT, 1638 A. D to 1818 A. D. - 6 III. ORGANIZATION OF THE VENERABLE SOCIETY : VISIT OF KEITH AND TALBOT TO THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES, 1702 A. D. 10 IV. THE KEY. GEORGE MUIRSON, THE REV. MESSRS. TAL- BOT, SHARPE, AND BRIDGE, OFFICIATE AT FAIRFIELD 1706-1723 A. D. 24 V. THE MINISTRY OF THE EEV. SAMUEL JOHNSON, AND THE BUILDING OF THE FIRST CHURCH AT MILL PLAIN, 1723-1727 A. D. 30 VI. THE REV. HENRY CANER, THE FIRST EECTOR OF TRINITY CHURCH, AND THE BUILDING OF THE SEC- OND CHURCH EDIFICE, 1727-1747 A. D. 38 VII. THE REV. JOSEPH LAMSON'S RECTORSHIP, 1747-1773 A. D. 45 VIII. THE REV. JOHN SAYRE'S RECTORSHIP : THE BURNING OF FAIRFIELD, 1773 1779 A. D. - 50 IX. MR. PHILO SHELTON, LAY READER: ELECTION OF BISHOP SEABURY, 1779-1785 A. D. - 56 X. THE REV. PHILO SHELTON'S RECTORSHIP : BUILDING OF THE THIRD CHURCH ON MILL PLAIN, 1785-1817 A. D. 68 XI. THE REV. PHELO SHELTON'S RECTORSHIP CONTINUED : THE LOTTERY: FOUNDING OF THE BIBLE AND PRAY- ER BOOK SOCIETY OF TRINITY PARISH, 1817-1820 A. D. ---..... 75 xn CONTENTS. PAGE. XII. LATTER YEARS OF REV. PHILO SHELTON'S RECTOR- SHIP: His DEATH, 1820-1825 A. D. XIII. THE RECTORSHIP OF THE REV. WILLIAM SHELTOX, 1825-1829 AD. 89 XIV. THE RECTORSHIP OF THE REV. CHARLES SMITH: ERECTION OF THE CHAPEL AT SOTJTHPORT, 1828- 1834, A. D. 94 XV. THE RECTORSHIP OF THE REV. NATHANIEL E. CORN- WALL: TRANSFER OF SERVICES FROM MILL PLAIN TO SOUTHPORT: DEMOLITION OF THE MILL PLAIN CHUBCH, 1834-1841 A. D. - 99 XVI. CONTINUATION OF REV. NATHANIEL E. CORNWALL'S RECTORSHIP : STATE OF THE PARISH : RESIGNATION. 1841-1853 A. D. 109 XVII. THE RECTORSHIP OF THE REV. JAMES SOUVERAINE PURDY: DESTRUCTION OF THE FOURTH CHURCH BY FIRE: CHANGE OF SITE,AVD BUILDING OF THE FIFTH CHURCH, 1853-1858 A. D. - 117 XVIII. THE RECTORSHIP OF THE REV. RUFUS EMERY : DE- STRUCTION OF THE FIFTH CHURCH BY A TORNADO : BUILDING OF THE SIXTH CHURCH, 1858-1871, A. D. 127 XIX. THE RECTORSHIP OF THE REV. EDWARD LIVINGSTON- WELLS: BUILDING OF THE CHAPEL, 1870-1877 A.D. 138 XX. THE RECTORSHIP OF THE REV. TALIAFERRO P. CASKEY, 1877-1879 A. D. . 144 XXI. THE RECTORSHIP OF THE REV. CHARLES G. ADAMS, 1879-1890 A. D. . 146 XXII. THE RECTORSHIP OF THE REV. EDMUND GUILBERT, 1890- 152 ILLUSTRATIONS. Trinity Church, Sixth Edifice, 1898 A. D. Frontispiece Trinity Church, Easter, 1898 A. D. - 1 Eev. George Keith - - - - 1G Seal of the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts - - 18 Eev. Samuel Johnson 30 Map of the Sites of the Churches, Erected by Trinity Parish since its organization 33 The First Church Edifice, Mill Plain :<5 Tombstone of Abraham Adams 36 Eev. Henry Cauer 38 The Second Church Edifice, Fairfield Village 41 Eev. John Say re - 51 Eev. Philo Shelton - 58 House of John Sherwood, Greenfield Hill 59 Site of Old St. Andrews, Aberdeen G3 Bishop Seabury 64 First page of Parish Eecord, 1779 A. D. - - 66 The Third Church Edifice, Mill Plain 69 Bishop Jarvis, 71 Foot Stove used in the Olden Time 73 Fac-Simile of Lottery Ticket, 1820 A. D. - 78 Bishop Hobart - 80 The Shelton Homestead, Bridgeport 85 Bishop Brownell 87 Eev. William Shelton M) The Old Academy - - 92 Eev. Charles Smith .... 94 Eev. Nathaniel E. Cornwall ------ 99 XIV. ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. The First Southport Parsonage - 104 The Fourth Church Edifice, Southport 109 Pitch Pipe used in the Old Church 111 Jeremiah. Sturges - 113 Rev. James S. Purdy 117 The Fifth Church Edifice, Southport 119 Bishop Williams 121 St. Paul's Church, Fairfield Village 122 Justus Sherwood, M. D. 124 Rev. Rufus Emery 127 Hull Sherwood 129 Andrew Bulkley - - 131 William Bulkley - - - - 133 Moses Bulkley - 136 Rev. Edward L. Wells - - - 138 The Chapel and the Parish School, 1874 A. D. - - 139 Francis D. Perry - . 149 Charles Bulkley ----... 142 Bishop Brewster .-..-. 143 Rev. Taliaferro P. Caskey - . . 144 Francis Jelliff . 145 Rev. Charles G. Adams - - - - - 146 Jonathan Godfrey - --.._. 148 David Banks -....__ 159 Rev. Edmund Guilbert 152 Chancel of Trinity Church - - - - . - 154 Trinity Church, Interior, 1890 A. D. - . . 155 The Second Southport Parsonage - - 156 The Rockwell Memorial Font - - . - 157 The Francis D. Perry Rectory . 153 APPENDICES. A. BISHOPS OF THE DIOCESE OF CONNECTICUT. B. CLERGYMEN WHO OFFICIATED IN FAIRFIELD BEFORE 1827. C. RECTORS OF TRINITY PARISH. D. CHURCH- WARDENS AND VESTRYMEN OF TRINITY PARISH. E. BAPTISMS RECORDED PREVIOUS TO 1779. F. SOME CURIOUS FACTS IN THE LIFE OF DR. JAMES LABORIE. G. STATEMENT CONCERNING TRINITY PARISH, WRITTEN IN THE PARISH RECORD, BY THE REV. NATHANIEL E. CORNWALL, SEPTEMBER 5th, 1851. H. SKETCH OF THE CHURCH AT FAIRFIELD, BY THE REV. PHILO SHELTON, WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1804. I. PRIVATE PAROCHIAL REGISTER OF THE REV. PHILO SHELTON. ( Containing over 4,000 names of persons Baptized, Conflrmed, Admit- ted to the Communion, Married, and Burled, during the Rev. Philo Shelton's Kectorshlp.) J. OBITUARY NOTICES OF THE REV. PHILO SHELTON, AND LUCY SHELTON, His WIFE, BY THE REV. DR. JARVIS, 1827. K. THE BIBLE AND PRAYER BOOK SOCIETY OF TRINITY PARISH. " oB of our fatbers ! S&till be ours ; Cbp gates toHtoe open set, .3ni fortifp tbe aneient totuers o olhrrr Cbon with them bast met. Cbp guarfcian fire, Cbp guifcing clouU, ;>till let them gilD our wall, I-ior be our foes, nor Cbine allotueti Co see us faint or fall. Cbe worship of tbe glorious past ^toell on from age to age, Snfc be, tobile time itself sball last, ur ebtlUren's bcrttage." Key. William Croswell, D. D. TRINITY CHURCH, 1898. CHAPTER I. THE FIRST SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY OF UNQUOWA, AF- TERWARDS THE TOWN OF FAIRFIELD, 1638, A. D. Scarcely two and three-quarter centuries have passed, since the region in which the beautiful village of Southport now lies, was a savage wilderness. No foot of white man, un- less it may have been that of some adventurous explorer, had ever trodden its solitary wastes. Bears in plentiful numbers roamed, where now abodes of refinement and culture abound. Wolves found an unmolested retreat amid thickets which no woodman's axe had ever invaded.* Everything was in its pristine dress ; hillside and glen ; forest tree and mossy rock ; wavy margined coast, and arbored running stream ; all were as nature made and meant them. Such was Unquowa in 1637, when a decisive battle was fought, within its borders, between a detachment of colonists and the remnant of the tribe of the Pequots. The habitat of the latter was the extreme eastern section of the Colony, reaching from the Niantic river to Rhode Island, where it had been guilty of numerous unprovoked at- tacks upon the dwellings and hamlets of the settlers. Driven to desperation, the colonists attacked their foes, destroyed their fort at Groton, and when they fled, pursued, overtook, and defeated them again, near where the Pequot Library building now stands.f Long after the settlement of Unquowa, the bears, the wolves and the wild-cats made frequent and ferocious attacks upon the Inhabitants. On August 22nd, 1666, " The Townsmen order that whoever kills a bear In the bounds of the town shall be paid fifty shillings for each old, and for cubs twenty shillings each." Child : An Old New England Town, p. 28. tThe symbol oj brutlsm Is war; of civilization, a library. The Pequot Library picturesque architecturally, containing on Its shelves 15,000 well selected volumes, now marks the spot where the Pequots were exterminated. Over Its portal, cut in Imperishable granite, are these figures, 1637-1887. How many, as they go In and out, note their deep signification? 2 EARLY HISTORY OF UNQUOWA. After the small but heroic band,* under valiant Captain Mason, had exterminated or scattered its savage foes, it re- turned, flushed with victory, to the familiar scenes, which for the time it had left behind, and the stillness and solitude of the forest primeval again prevailed. In April of the following year, 1638, John Davenport and his associates, who had wintered at Boston, waiting there, to use his own words, for "The eye of God's Providence" to "guide us to a place convenient for our families and for our friends," and resisting the inducements offered them to re- main in Massachusetts and blend their influence and their wealth with the earlier immigrants anchored their ships in Quinnipiack harbor, and began the settlement of the Colony of New Haven. In 1638, a prominent member of the Colony, Roger Ludlow, becoming dissatisfied with the existing con- dition of affairs,f resolved to journey further westward and establish a new home for himself, and those willing to accom- pany him. The precise spot he had in his mind was Unquowa, When Captain Mason two years previously had marched against the Pequots, Ludlow had served under him, and capti- vated by the beauty and the promise of the region, had carried away with him a remembrance of it that could not be forgot- ten. To Unquowa then came Roger Ludlow and his follow- ers, and selecting the name of Fail-field for the new settlement, began to devote themselves to its improvement. The Indians, It Is ordered that there shall be an offensive war against the Pequots, & that there shall be 90 men levied out of the three plantations, Hartford, Wethers, field & Windsor ; (viz.) out of Hartford 42, Windsor 30, Wethersfleld 18 ; under the command of Capt. John Mason, & In case of death or sickness, under the command of Robt. Seely, Lelft.; and the eldest S'geantor military officer surviving, If both these miscarry." Col. Rec. of Conn. I., 9. tTo the Connecticut settler, religion was an essential part of dally life and poli- tics, and logic was an essential part of religion. Town and church were but two sides of the same thing. Differences of opinion there must be, In church as well as town matters, therefore, ruptures became Inevitable. The minority, unwilling to resist the majority, or to continue In Illogical union with It, preferred a different location. Thus every religious dispute usually gave rise to a new town. John- ston : History of Connecticut, p. 6. EARLY HISTORY OF UNQUOWA. 3 native and to the manner born, at first were troublesome, but kindly treatment and just dealing soon changed their animos- ity into friendship. Before many decades bad passed, Fair- field, Mill Plain, Stratfield, Greenfield Hill, Mill Kiver (now Southport), and Green's Farms, were flourishing localities. And here this fact must be borne in mind: Trinity Church, whose history, truly recorded, without bias, these pages seek to perpetuate, has never been the Church of a particular vil- lage, but rather of an extensive district the whole Town of Fairtield. All the places mentioned above, have had a special interest in it. At one period, vestrymen were annually elected to represent them in its councils. Long after the Revolution, the parish, in addition to the near-by settlements, reached out and took in Stratfield, now Bridgeport, and Northfield, now Weston To-day, although situate in Southport, its member- ship is made up, as of old, not merely of dwellers in that village, but. also of residents of Saugatuck, Green's Farms, Greenfield Hill, Mill Plain, and Fairfield as well. From the first, the settlers of Unquowa enjoyed the great privilege, new to them, of perfectly autonomous action in re- ligious and civil affairs. As the Church, so far as their experi- ence went, had always been the creature of the State, they adopted a novel and untried system, which subordinated it, in every way, to the civil authority. Their aim was to inaugurate a government in which the power should issue wholly from the people, and under which, the people should be supreme. This was the meaning of the contest which was being waged in England during this period : the old feudal idea of absolute rule by one man, be he Baron or King, was dying out. The people had resolved to have somewhat to say in the administration of affairs ; and it was because he failed to discern this fact, that Charles I. died the reverse of a martyr's death at Wbitehall, in 1649. The Puri- tans then, who settled Fairfield, and those otherwise, who afterwards joined them, represented the intense desire for self- 4 EABLV HISTORY OF UNQUOWA. government which at that period was in the air ; which to-day is just as strongly a characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race. They were seekers after pure doctrine, pure politics, pure wor- ship, pure life. They desired to solve for all time the most difficult problem that touches the secular life of man how to produce a perfect civic condition ; to get as near Sir Thomas More's Utopian ideal as is possible on this mundane sphere. Tiie environment of these worthies, we must remember, was not as helpful for the achievement of such a great aim, as is ours. Three hundred years ago the world was literally in its swaddling-clothes. It is really surprising, when we look into it, how modern all that makes up the comfort of present liv- ing is. We feel ourselves aggrieved to-day, if we have not on our breakfast-tables, all that mankind said and did yesterday. The Puritans had no newspapers, no steam transit, no tele- graph system, nor telephone. It was the middle of the seven- teenth century before stage-coaches were introduced in Eng- land, and then it took four days to convey a passenger at the cost of four pounds, from London to York. Many lines did not even try to run in winter. The roads were so narrow that the Dover coach was drawn by six horses tandem, while the coachman walked by their side. The first carriage ever used in England, was invented by a Hollander for Queen Elizabeth. Erasmus tells us that salt beef and strong ale constituted the chief part of this great sovereign's breakfast ; that similar refreshments were served her in bed for supper ; and that, as forks were not invented, she ate with her fingers. There is hardly a thriving shopkeeper who does not occupy at the close of this nineteenth century, a house which English nobles in 1650, woull have envied. Here in New England, life was even more primitive. There were no post-offices in Connecticut until 1790. Communication with the great centres was kept up by means of post-horses. "It was an exciting time when John Perry, the carrier of the mail, the man of news, the individual who kept Fuirfield in touch with Boston, Stamford and interven- EAELY HISTORY OF UNQTJOWA. 5 ing towns, arrived and handed over'mail and news together. He was appointed to office in 1687. The whole trip was made once a month during the winter, and once in three weeks dur- ing the summer."* Floors were carpetless; walls bare of plas- ter, the rafters showing ; no pictures adorned the walls ; illum- ination was obtained from candles made of tallow, and mould- ed in the house. The cold in those days was intense. One writer mentions, "the bread freezing at the Lord's Table." Slavery flourished until a late date. There are few wills that, up to the beginning of this century,do not contain bequests of slaves. In 1790 there were 2,759, and in 1840, quite a recent date, 17 were still living. Such were the primitive conditions out of which the highly civilized Fairfield that we know so well, has emerged. The Town of Fairfield extends from the Bridgeport line on the east, to the Sasco river on the west a distance of about six miles ; and from Long Island Sound to the boundary of the town of Easton on the north. The ground is delightfully varied, consisting of plains and lofty hills, from which en- trancing views of the blue water are obtained. The popula- tion in 1890 was 3,868. 'Child : An Old New England Town, p. 37. CHAPTER II. SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SITUATION IN CONNECTICUT FKOM 1638, A. D., TO 1818, A. D. To understand clearly and fully the difficulties with which those in the Town of Fairfield who favored the Church of England had to contend, it is necessary that the ecclesiasti- cal situation in Connecticut from its colonization in the first half of the seventeenth century, to the adoption of the new Constitution in the early part of the nineteenth, be set forth. When Roger Ludlow and his companions settled in Fairfield, the only religious organization that was per- mitted to exist, was of the Congregational Faith and Order. As far as possible it was intended to be a stern, unyielding protest, against everything churchly with which the colonists had been familiar in their life beyond the sea.* One of its marked features was the close alliance it created between civil and ecclesiastical affairs.f The township and the church were one.J At the public meetings, matters It Is not unfair to assume that Roger Ludlow himself at last tired of the situa- tion he had helped to create. In 1654, Incensed ostensibly at the Interference of New Haven to prevent his town, Falrfleld, from waging an Independent warfare against the Dutch, he went to Virginia, ( a Colony wholly settled Dy members of the Church of England,) taking the records of the town with him. It Is not known when or where he died. Johnston : History of Connecticut, p. 20. tManlfestly the aim of the pilgrims was the construction of a theocratic state which should be to them, all that the theocracy of Moses, and Joshua, and Samuel had been to the Jews In Old Testament days. In such a scheme there was no room for religious liberty as we understand It. The state they were to found was to consist of a united body of believers, and In It there was apparently no more room for heretics than there was In Rome or Madrid." Flske: The Beginnings of New England, p. 146. JFor nearly a century, the same persons In each town considered and decided ecclesiastical affairs Indifferently, acting as a town or a church meeting. The same body laid the taxes, called the minister, and provided for his salary. Johnston : History of Connecticut, p. 60. SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SITUATION. / pertaining to both, were discussed and passed upon. Thus the different town charges, the church, and the school went hand in hand, and every inhabitant was compelled by the law to contribute towards the maintenance of each. The result, in a brief space of time, was open revolt on the part of those who, where their religious preferences were concerned, re- solved to act independently. As far back as 1664, William Pitkin, and others, signing themselves, "Professors of the Protestant Christian Religion, members of the Church of England, and subjects to our Sovereign Lord, Charles the Second, by God's grace, King of England," addressed the General Assembly at the October session "declaring their aggrievances,'' and "petitioning for a redress of the same." Their grievances were that they were not under the care of those who " administered in a due manner " the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper ; that they "were as sheep scattered, having no shepherd ; " and they asked for the establishment of " some wholesome law " by virtue of which they might both claim and receive their privileges ; and furthermore, they humbly requested, " that for the future no law might be of any force to make them pay or contribute to the maintenance of any minister, or officer, in the church that will neglect or refuse to baptize their children and take care of them" as church members. In 1690, a considerable num- ber of the freeholders of Stratford, " professors of the Faith of the Church of England, asked permission to worship God in the way of their forefathers."* The ranks of such dissi- dents, no doubt by this time had largely increased, for com- munication between this and the mother-country had become so frequent, that additions to the population were constantly being made, and of these the Church of England must have As the number of colonists Increased, dissatisfaction Increased with them. It often took the shape of complaints that the children of such persons were refused baptism ; but It may be suspected fairly that the natural wish to share In the con- trol of the church whose expenses they helped to pay, had a great deal to do with It. Johnston : History of Connecticut, p. 226. 8 SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SITUATION. had a fair share. Petitions and strivings for liberty to worship God " according to the dictates of one's conscience,'' were though, of no avail. Church and State were, at this period, as closely connected as they ever were in England. The ecclesiastical and civil powers were blended together* and liberty of conscience, and the theory of human rights existed more in name than in reality. The people were required to support the Congregational Order, which was the Order of Faith established by the civil government. Nor was this all. None had liberty to worship publicly in any other way, nor could men vote or hold any civil office, unless they were members of some Congregational church.* This unwise as well as unnatural policy, was persisted in until 1708. In that year the General Assembly of Connecticut passed what was termed the "Act of Toleration," by which all persons who "soberly dissented" from the worship and ministry by law established, that is, the Congregational Faith and Order, were permitted to enjoy the same liberty of conscience with the dissenters in England, under the act of William and Mary. That act exempted dissenters from punishment for non- conformity to the Established Church, but did not exempt them from taxation for its maintenance. And so, by appear- ing before the County Court, and there in legal forms declar- ing their "sober dissent," any persons in the Colony of Con- necticut could obtain permission to have public worship their own way; but they were still obliged to pay for the support of the Congregational churches in the place of their respective residences. It was this latter provision that practically negatived the Act of Toleration. How could Churchmen of limited means, no matter how ardent their love for their own Church, contribute at the same time for the upholding of a form of religion, for which, under the circum- Beardsley : History of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, vol. 1, p. 8. SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SITUATION. stances, they felt no sympathy ? Add to this, the innate feel- ing that ever impels us to resist being driven against our wills, especially in the sphere of religion, and we have at once an explanation of the stalwartness of those who because of their resistance to the law, were haled to prison. In the Town of Fail-field there were many who were subjected to this penalty. Eev. Samuel Johnson, Rector of Stratford, in February, 1727, writes to the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, at London : "I have just come from Fairfield, where I have been to visit a considerable number of our people in prison for their taxes to the dissenting ministers, to comfort and encourage them under their sufferings. But, verily, unless we can have relief and be delivered from this unreason- able treatment, I fear I must give up the cause, and our Church must sink and come to nothing. There are thirty-five heads of families in Fairfield, who, all of them, expect what these have suffered : and though I have endeavored to gain the compassion and favor of the government, yet can I avail nothing ; and both I and my people grow weary of our lives under our poverty and oppression." Nor was this an isolated case. Letters sent to the Venerable Society by the mission- aries, frequently contained complaints of persecutions because of their Religion. AVe adduce only one instance of what took place at Stratford : " On the 12th day of December, 1709, some of their officers, about midnight, did apprehend and seize the bodies of Timothy Titharton, one of our Church "Wardens, and John Marcy, one of the Vestrymen, and forced them to travel, under very bad circumstances, in the winter season, and at that unseasonable hour of night, to the com- mon gaol, where felons are confined, being eight miles dis- tant, not allowing them so much as fire or candle-light for their comfort, and there continued them until they paid such sums as by the gaoler was demanded, which was on the 15th day of the same month." 10 SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SITUATION. On May 15, 1727, a petition was presented to the Assembly, signed by Moses Ward and Samuel Lyon, Church Wardens, and Dougal Mackenzie, John Lock wood, Nathan Adams, Ben- jamin Sturges, and others, in the name and behalf of all the rest of their brethren,'' stating that ten of them had been lately imprisoned for taxes, at Fairfield, praying that the sums of money so taken from them might be restored ; and declar- ing that if their grievances might be redressed, they should 41 aim at nothing but to live peaceably and as becometh Christians among their dissenting brethren." And in re- sponse to this petition, an act was passed, providing that the taxes collected from Episcopalians for the support of religion, might, under certain circumstances, be paid to the Episcopal missionaries instead of the Congregational ministers. This movement of the early Churchmen of Fairfield, was the first effective step ever taken towards the establishment of religious liberty in Connecticut; a result which it required nearly another century to bring to pass. Nor did their efforts to gain their end stop at this point. The above petition was followed up by another acknowledging the " great wisdom and Christian compassion " of the Assembly, and requesting liberty to manage their own affairs as a Society, according to the canons and rubrics of the Church of England, and ex- pressing their adherence to that Church, " let the difficulties be never so great." But this petition was rejected. Afterwards, in 1738, when the Legislature was about to sell the land of several townships, which had been set apart for the maintenance of the Gospel, six hundred and thirty- six Episcopalians, heads of families, in nine parishes or mis- sions, supplied by seven ministers, requested, by a petition* duly presented, that a small share of the avails of the land A most manly memorial "to the Honorable the Governor, Council and Representa- tives In his Majesty's English Colony of Connecticut," very modestly and courte- ously eatltlel by its authors, " the humble address of the members and professor of that part of Christ's Church called the Church of England, living In and under the government of the said Coiony." Eccl. Affairs, vol. x, 324, SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SITUATION. 11 to be sold, and of the funds from other sources for tbe same purpose, might be appropriated to them. But this, like every other attempt of Churchmen to secure to themselves equal rights in ecclesiastical affairs, met with an unfavorable recep- tion at the hands of the Assembly. Finally, in the year 1746, the Episcopalians, who had been allowed under former laws of the Colony, to vote with their Congregational neighbors in the meetings of the towns and societies by which the taxes for the maintenance of religion were laid, lost that privilege by an act of the Legislature, which required that none but Congregationalists should vote in such meetings. Against such partial legislation, those in sympathy with the Church of England, again entered their protest.* All of these acts of the Colonial Legislature are interesting and important, as indications of the state and progress of Episcopal Parishes in Connecticut, from the year 1725 to the year 1750. The last instance, that of 1747, which is very singular, may probably be best accounted for by the fact, that the Episcopalians had become so numerous in some places as to be quite formidable in the position of a third party, holding the balance of power, whenever divisions arose, as they often did in those days, among the Congregation- alists themselves f Harsh treatment of Churchmen, though, did not cease even in the latter half of the century. In the proceedings of the Venerable Society some years before the American Revolution, in connection with the statement : " There is at this present time, a number of ministers of the Church of England in prison on account of their persecution from the dissenters," Thus did the Churchmen of Connecticut occupy, thirty years before the Revo- lution, a position strikingly illustrative of the grand fundamental principle of that great movement ; namely, resistance to " taxation without representation." t Rev. N. E. Cornwall : Historical Discourse . p. 26. 12 SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SITUATION./ this remark is added, " these sort of complaints come now by almost every ship.''* While the successful issue of the war of the Eevolution bettered somewhat the status of Churchmen, pains were taken to keep the control of the government in the hands of the ruling Order, and to shape thiugs with reference to the per- petuity of its influence. The Congregational body was as yet the State Church. Every individual was still subject to personal liability for its maintenance. This continued until 1818, when the spirit of toleration that was abroad, led to the In proof of the Intolerance and persecution to which the early Churchmen of Connecticut were subjected, we cite as follows. The history of the Church in Con- necticut, cannot be understood without such retrospect. We give our authorities: In the early settlement of the New Haven Colony, after enacting that "none shall be admitted to the free Burgesses In any of the Plantations within this juris- diction, for the future, but such planters as are members of some or other of the ap- proved Churches in New England," and that "the court shall, with all care and dilllgence, provide for the maintenance of the purity of Religion and suppress tJte contrary" ; it was enacted in April, 1644, that the Judicial Laws of God, as they were delivered by Moses, * * shall be a rule to all the Courts in this juris- diction." The following are specimens of their laws : " It Is ordered and decreed by this Court if any person within this juris- tlon shall, without just and necessary cause, withdraw himself from hearing the public ministry of the Word, after due means of conviction used, he shall forfeit for his absence from every such public meeting, five shillings." '-And if any man refuse to pay meet proportion, that then he be rated by authority in some just and equal way: and If, after this, any man withhold or delay due payment, the Civil J'o>cer to f>e exercised as in other just debts." For behaving contemptuously toward the Word preached, or the Messengers thereof. It was ordered, '"And If a second time they break forth into the like con- temptuous carriages, they shall either pay five pounds to the public treasury, or stand two hours openly upon a block or stool, four feet high, upon a lecture day, with a paper fixed on his breast, written with capital letters, AN OPEN AND OB- STINATE CONTEMNEK OF GOD'S HOLT ORDINANCES." " Trumbull's Colonial Records of Connecticut," pp. 524, 545, 524. These laws were not a dead letter. The Rev. Samuel Seabury, afterwards Bishop of Connecticut, was seized in another Colony, at Westchester, N. Y., dragged like a felon seventy miles irom home" to New Haven by an armed band ; and there after firing two cannon and hurraing," he was placed in close confinement, and treated with extreme severity. MSS. State Papers of Conn. vol. 1, doc. 436. The laws of the Massachusetts Colony were still more Intolerant. The penalty affixed to those laws was " banishment on pain of death ;" and the laws them- selves were executed with the most studied and horrible cruelty. See Mass. Bay Col. Laws, Ch. 1. Sec. ii ; Ch. 11, Sec. ix and x. SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SITUATION. 13 inception of a movement, which abolished forever in the Commonwealth, those laws which gave to the majority un- equal civil and religious privileges. The Old Charter, granted by Charles the Second, under which Connecticut had been governed for one hundred and fifty years, but which time had shown to be honeycombed with defects, was supplanted by vote of the people, on the 4th day of July, with a broad and liberal Constitution, which abolished utterly the connection of the existing ecclesiastical system with the State. Religious pro- fession and worship henceforth, were to be free to all, and no sect was to be preferred by law. No person was to be com- pelled to join, associate with, support, or remain a member of, any religious body; and all religious bodies were to be en- tirely equal before the law. The last restriction upon the consciences of the people of Connecticut was now removed, and religion in whatever form it presented itself was left, for all time, to their free acceptance or deliberate rejection. The hardships which Churchmen were subjected to, which we have thus considered, form a startling pic- ture for us to contemplate, who live at the close of the nineteenth century ; yet it has an explanation that readily occurs to every impartial student of history. Such persecution for religious feeling was the outcome of a state of things, that had slowly, but surely, grown upon the Christian world. In the early ages the Church had to endure persecution ; then was the age of the martyrs. In the later centuries the Church had to struggle against heresies ; then was the age of the controversialists. Now, the danger of controversy, necessary as it often is for the defense of the Truth, is that it is apt to arouse a persecuting, vindictive temper. The man invested with power, the over-man, flushed with zeal, naturally endeavors to make the under-man think as he thinks; and if he rebels, is tempted to use force to accomplish his end. This is where Churchmen erred in the past. 14: SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SITUATION. Heresy aud Schism came to be treated as crimes for which the prison and the stake were adjudged to be the rightful penalties. But " curses come home to roost." Those who were perse- cuted learned the same lesson ; and, in turn, became perse- cutors. When their time came, the Calvinists at Geneva, and the Independents in the Colonies, proved they could be even more ruthless than their opponents. Neal, in his " History of New England,'' says: "It must be allowed that, when the Puritans were in power, they carried their resentments too far." Bishop Burnet testifies : " It were as easy, as it would be invidious, to show that both Presby- terians and Independents have carried the principle of rigor in the point of conscience much higher, and have acted more implacably upon it, than ever the Church of England has done, even in her angriest fits." Let us, with one accord, thank God that those old days of ecclesiastical tyranny have passed away, we trust never to re- turn in any part of our land ! In this age the spirit and language of conciliation are known and appreciated. Uphold ing the Faith and Order of any particular religious body, by the secular arm, is not accounted to-day, a wise or seemly method by which to bring about unity of belief or action. We have learned that there can be no way to accomplish that desired end, except God's way, and that includes always sympa- thy and comprehension. The Truth of God must be carried to hearts and consciences by the teachings of those who are filled with it, ; and the love and faith which it begets and fosters. As Churchmen, looking out upon the broad page of human experience, let us be just, and utter no harsh or bitter word about the narrowness peculiar to the days of old.* We our- selves, as well as those who differed from us, in the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries, when opportunity served, When In 1691, King William sent out Sir Lionel Copley to be royal governor of Maryland, taxes were straightway laid for the support of the Church of England. SKETCH OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL SITUATION. 15 were alike intolerant. When we bad the upper hand, we sought by every available means to enforce conformity ; when it came to be the turn of those who had opposed us, they sought by equally violent processes, to maintain the position they had adopted. As has been forcibly said, " We cannot complain of Dissenters, as if mere Schisms accounted for their existence, when, in fact, it was to an extent it is difficult to exaggerate, the sin of our Church which caused separation to seem right to purer consciences in the past ; when, in fact, it is to non-con- formists that we owe, in times when darkness had almost settled down upon us, the revival and maintenance of the very ideas of Religion ; when, once more, God has so manifestly blessed their spiritual life. Let us never forget that a belief in a valid Church and Ministry is not in any logical connection with the quite unjustifiable denial that God can act, and has acted in irregular channels. God is not tied to his Sacra- ments, even though as men, if we know the Truth, we are bound to seek this fellowship in accordance with His cove- nant, and only so."* and the further Immigration of Romanists was prohibited under heavy penalties. This measure Involving legislation for the support of a Church of which only a small part of the population were members, was as unpopular with Puritans as with Papists. Those of the former who had worked zealously to undermine the Roman Church, had not bargained for such a result as this. John Fiske : Old Virginia, vol.ii, p. 162. *Canon Gore : The Church and Dissent. CHAPTER III. ORGANIZATION OF THE VENERABLE SOCIETY FOR THE PROPAGATION OF THE GOSPEL, 1701, A. D. : VISIT OF ITS FIRST MIS- SIONARIES, KEITH AND TALBOT, TO THE COLONIES, 1702, A. D. REV. GEORGE KEITH, M. A. In England, as far back as the reign of William and Mary, deep interest was felt in the spiritual needs of the American VISIT OF MESSRS. KEITH AND TALBOT. 17 Colonies, which were then beginning to loom into prominence. New England, especially, was thought to be in great danger from various sectaries, who branching off from the new form of religion by law established, felt themselves free to teach and hold grievous forms of error. A writer of the time, declares that that region already " swarmed " with Antinomians, Familists, Conformatists, Seekers, Gortonists, and others of equally startling nomenclature. The aborigines, as well as the negroes who had been introduced in large numbers, also came in for a share of the general attention and sympathy. In 1701, this widespread interest culminated in the formation of the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; an institution, which still flourishes with even more vigor than that which characterized its in- fancy. Its charter ran : "William the Third, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, greeting : "Whereas we are informed that in many of our Plantations and Colonies beyond the sea, belonging to our Kingdom of England, the provision for ministers is very mean, whereby there is a great lack of the administration of the Word and Sacraments, causing atheism to abound for the want of learned and orthodox ministers, and Eomish priests and Jesuits are encouraged to proselyte . . . We therefore em- power these, our right trusty subjects ; " -then follow a hundred of the noblest names in England, with the Arch- bishop of Canterbury at the head, constituting the Society. Its popularity was great from the outset. One member gave a thousand pounds for the work ; another nine hundred for teaching the negroes. One gave to it his estate in the Bar- badoes to found a college ; and another a present of books and maps. Archbishop Tennison left it one thousand pounds towards founding two American Bishoprics. The proprietors of Vermont set apart townships for its use. Evelyn enters 18 VISIT OF MESSRS. KEITH AND TALBOT. upon the pages of his diary that he had promised twenty pounds a year towards it.* Minus a year towards u. The object of the Society, set forth in the beginning, and THE SEAL OF THE VENERABLE SOCIETY. from which, so far, it has never yet deviated, was declared to be the spread of the "Worship of God according to the man- McConnell : History American Episcopal Church, p. 99. VISIT OF MESSRS. KEITH AND TALBOT. 19 ner of the Church of England. On entering upon this work, it shortly divided it into three branches ; the spiritual oversight of those English emigrants who had settled in the Colonies : the conversion of the Indians ; and also of the African slaves. Of these three, the first asserted itself as the most important, not only because the settlers being brethren and country- men, had the first claim upon its consideration, but because as soon as the formation of the Society became known, this element began to be clamorous for assistance. From South and North Carolina, from Virginia, from Maryland, from Pennsylvania, from New Jersey, from New York, from New England, the Macedonian cry was heard, " Come over and help us." It thus became so evident that a wide-spread dissatisfaction with the existing religious situation prevailed, that the Saciety determined to send an experienced mission- ary to travel over and preach to the people in the several Colonies, who should desire to listen to him ; and if possible aid them in establishing permanent organizations. A large number of those in the Colonies, at this period, had been bap- tized and confirmed in the Church, before they left England. Tempted by the prospect of great material advantages they had left their homes, without calculating the loss they were to sustain in being separated from the Ministry, Worship and Sacraments with which they were familiar. Had they been of the opinion that religious differences were of little importance, the situation in which they found themselves would not have troubled them greatly. But they regarded the matter from another standpoint. Nothing less than the ministra- tions of a clergyman of the Church of England would satisfy their desires. Assenting to what seemed an imperative de- mand the Venerable Society proceeded to act ; the Rev. George Keith was the missionary selected to visit the Col- onies on a " mission of observation," to discover and study the state of religion therein, and to report where mission- aries could be sent and congregations established. 20 VISIT OF MESSES. KEITH AND TALBOT. His commission was, " to seek the scattered families of the Church, and awaken the people to a sense of their religious duties." The selection was an admirable one. Those who knew him well, declared Mr. Keith to be "a pioneer and propa- gandist by nature." Earlier in life, while a member of the Society of Friends, he had been sent to the Colony of Penn- sylvania, to aid its founder, but discerning dangerous tendencies in the tenets of the Quakers, and foreseeing their results, he severed his connection with his associates, and returned to England, not long after to take Holy Orders in the Church. In April, 1702, he started on his mission to the Colonies. He came in an English warship, which brought the Govern- ors of New England and New Jersey to their provinces. The Rev. John Talbot came with them as chaplain. With them also was the Rev. Patrick Gordon, who was sent out as mis- sionary to Jamaica, Long Island. The passengers seem to have been congenial to each other. Mr. Keith, writing to the Venerable Society, says: "Gov- ernor Dudley was so civil to Mr. Gordon and me, that he caused us to eat at his table all the voyage, and his conversa- tion was both pleasant and instructive, insomuch that the great cabin of the ship was like a college for good discourse, both in matters theological and philosophical." There was daily service, in which both the passengers and crew joined heartily and devoutly. Mr. Keith mentions the strictness of the discipline which prevailed upon the ship, and describes the punishment of the crew for " profane swearing," which was " causing them to carry a heavy wooden collar about their necks for an hour, that was both painful and shameful."* Mr. Talbot, the chaplain, became so enthusiastic about Mr. Keith and his mission, that he begged to become a fellow laborer and a companion in his travels. His proposal was accepted and in due time, at the solicitation of the Rev. Mr. Ms. Letters, 8. P. G., vol. 1, p. 9. VISIT OF MESSRS. KEITH AND TALBOT. 21 Gordon, the Venerable Society appointed him Mr. Keith's assistant. Their ship reached Boston in June, 1702, and after a few days the two men began their journey. They went from hamlet to hamlet, and house to house, preaching wherever they could gain a hearing, baptizing hundreds, gathering the wandering sheep into organized folds, and making provision to build churches wherever that work could be done. Everywhere there were numbers who cordially welcomed them. In a letter addressed by Mr. Keith to "the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and all others, the Honorable Members of the Society," dated the 29th of November, 1702, and giving an account of his labors since his arrival in Boston, on the llth of June preceding, he says : " In divers places of New England where we traveled, we found many well affected to the Church, not only the people but several Presbyterian ministers in New England, who re- ceived us as brethren, and requested us to preach to their congregations, as accordingly we did. These were Mr. John Cotton ( a grandson to old John Cotton ) the Presby- terian minister at Hampton, where I preached twice, and Mr. Talbot once, having very great auditories ; Mr. Cushin, Pres- byterian minister at Salisbury, eight miles distant from Hampton westward, where we both preached on a Sunday, and had a great auditory ; Mr. Gurdon Saltonstall at New London, fifty miles west from Narragansetts, where we both preached on a Sunday ; the people generally well affected, and those three ministers aforesaid, all worthy gentlemen, who declared their owning the Church of England, and that if they were in England, they would join in external com- munion with her ; and were there a Bishop in America, we doubt not but several would receive ordination from him."* *Cliurcli Record, vol. i, no. xvii. 22 VISIT OF MESSRS. KEITH AND TALBOT. This very circumstantial account clearly gives to the people of New London the honor of first welcoming in Connecticut the missionaries sent forth by the Venerable Society. But there is no doubt Messrs. Keith and Talbot preached in all the principal places of the Colonies. Humphrey says : *" They traveled over and preached in all the Governments and Dominions belonging to the Crown of England, betwixt North Carolina and Piscataway River in New England, inclusively, being ten distinct Governments; and extending in length 800 miles." At all events, the reception given to Mr. Keith and his companion, reveals these facts : that even at that early date, there was a strong drift towards Episcopacy ; that the Congregational system, although in operation for more than half a century, without any interruption or hindrance, had begun to prove unsatisfactory to many of its prominent supporters, and that for a permanent settlement of the re- ligious question, the people, if allowed to choose, would prefer the ecclesiastical system of the Church of England. Of a visitation of Messrs. Keith and Talbot to Fairfield we have no satisfactory evidence. One tradition relates that they stopped there for a brief period, as they journeyed from New London to New York ; another that they crossed the Sound from New London to Long Island in a sloop which they hired. If New London was the only town in Connecticut visited by them, somehow they obtained in a brief space of time ample information concerning the whole Colony. Wri- ting home a few months afterwards, they reported of Connecticut that it contained " thirty thousand souls in about thirty-three towns, all Dissenters, supplied with ministers and schools of their own persuasion." One general result accrued from their protracted itineracy : numbers again had a taste of the worship of the Book of Common Prayer ; their courage to stand up in its behalf was fortified ; while their longing for a settled ministry among them was History S. P. G., p. 20. VISIT OF MESSES. KEITH AND TALBOT. 23 aroused. The proof of this is found in the announcement the Venerable Society was shortly compelled to make : " that it was unable to respond favorably to one half of the appeals from the Colonies, presented to it for its consideration." After an absence of two years, Mr. Keith returned to England, and became incumbent of Edburton, in the pleasant County of Sussex. It was in March, 1716, that he finished his earthly labors, and the simple record in the parish register under date of March 29th, reads: "Then the Kev. Mr. Keith, Rector of Edburtou, was buried.'' The Venerable Society sent out no missionary more successful and self-sacrificing, than this godly man. He began the work and laid the foundations on which others built. Mr. Talbot was an effective and faithful coadjutor. The two labored together, harmoniously and enthusiastically, throughout their extended tours. After Mr. Keith's de- parture, Mr. Talbot became Rector of St. Mary's Church, Burlington, New Jersey, of which he was the founder. When he retired he was the oldest missionary in the Colonies, and in influence he stood first among the Churchmen of his day.* *Mr. Talbot lias been the subject of a curious story. It Is alleged that after twenty years of faithful service at Burlington, he went to England, and was consecrated to the Episcopate by the non-juring Bishops. McConnell: History of the Ameri- can Episcopal Church, p. 103, says : " Anderson, Hawks, Wllberforce, and Caswell affirm that he did. The Rev. Dr. Hills, In his ' History of the Church In Burlington,' discusses the same subject exhaustively and maintains the same assertion. In Vol. I. of Bishop Perry's ' History of the American Episcopal church' Is a Monograph by Rev. John Fulton, D. D., In which he re-examines the whole case, and arrives at the conclusion, that Mr. Talbot never received such consecra- tion ; and that the tradition arose from confounding his name with that of another person." CHAPTER IV. THE REV. GEORGE MUIRSON ; THE REV. MESSRS TALBOT, SHARPE, AND BRIDGE ; AND THE REV. GEORGE PIGOT, OFFICIATE AT FAIRFIELD, 1706-1723, A. D. In 1704, the Venerable Society established a mission at Rye, in New York, and sent over the Rev. George Muirson to take charge of it. He wrote thus to the Society in 1706: "I have baptized about two hundred young and old, but mostly grown persons. I have now above forty communi- cants, though I had only six when I first administered the Holv Sacrament." The fact of Mr. Muirson's settlement at Rye, and his successful labors there, soon became known in many of the shore-towns of Connecticut, and repeated and urgent petitions to visit them were sent by the Church-people. Possessed with the missionary spirit of St. Paul. Mr. Muir- son determined to comply with their request. In the sum- mer of 1706, in company with Colonel Caleb Heathcote, a zealous and affluent layman, at that time residing in West- chester county, he set out upon a journey, which it was pur- posed should extend as far as the Housatouic river. They rode to Fairfield, and thence to Stratford. The missionary, though " threatened with prison and hard usage," preached to large congregations, and " baptized about twenty-four, mostly grown people." Writing to the Society, on his return, he says : "I have been lately in the Government of Connecticut, where I observe some people well affected to the Church ; so that I am assured an itinerant missionary might do great service in that Province. Some of their ministers have privately told me that, had we a Bishop among us they would THE REV. GEORGE MUIRSON. 25 c mform and receive Holy Orders, from which, as well as on the Continent, the necessity of a Bishop will appear." Col. Heathcote was so favorably impressed by what he saw and heard during this visit, that he hastened to give his im- pressions concerning it to the Venerable Society. He says : " We found the places we visited very ignorant of the Consti- tution of our Church, and therefore enemies to it. The chief towns are furnished with ministers, mainly Independents, denying baptism to the children of all such as are not in full communion with them : there are many thousands in that Government unbaptized. The ministers were very uneasy at our coming amongst then, and abundance of pains were taken to terrify the people from hearing Mr. Muirson. But it availed nothing, for notwithstanding all their endeavors, we had a very great congregation, and indeed infinitely beyond expectation. The people were wonderfully surprised at the order of our Church, expecting to have heard and seen some strange thing, by the accounts and representations of it that their teachers had given them.' 1 * In a later letter, dated Scarsdale Manor, Nov. 9, 1706, Colonel Heathcote enters upon a, discussion of the general affdrs of the Church in New York, New Jersey and Connecti- cut. He says : But bordering on Connecticut there is no part of the Continent, from whence the Church can have so fair an opportunity to make impressions upon the Inde- pendents in that Government, who are settled by their laws, from Rye Parish to Boston Colony, which is about 35 leagues, in which there are abundance of people and places. As for Boston Colony, I never was in it, so can say little of it. But for Connecticut, I am and have been pretty conversant ; and always was as much in their good graces as any man. And now I am upon that subject, I will give the best account I can of that Colon}'. It contains in length about 140 miles, and has in it about 40 towns, in which there is a Presbyterian Humphrey: History of the Venerable Society, p. 118. 26 THE REV. GEORGE MCIR8ON. or Independent minister settled by their law ; to whom the people are obliged to pay, notwithstanding many times they are not ordained ; of which I have known several examples. The number of people there, I believe, is about 2,400 souls. They have an abundance of odd kind of laws, to prevent any from dissenting from their church, and endeavor to keep the people in as much blindness and unacquaintedness with any other religion as possible ; but in a more particular manner, the Church, looking upon her as the most dangerous enemy they have to grapple withall, and abundance of pains is taken to make the ignorant think as bad as possible of her. And I really believe that more than half of the people of that Gov- ernment, think our Church is little better than the Papists, and the truth is, they improve everything against us. Yet I dare aver, that there is not a much greater necessity of having the Christian religion preached in its true light anywhere than amongst them. Many, if not the greater number of them, being in a little better than in a state of heathenism ; having never been baptized or admitted to the Holy Com- munion."* Concluding his letter, Colonel Heathcote recom- mends that Rev. Mr. Muirson be sent on a second missionary tour throughout the Colony. It was under such circum- stances that the Episcopal Church was introduced in form, both at Fairfield, and at Stratford. The following year, Mr. Muirson came again to Fail-field by invitation of the Church- people there, and preached to a large congregation in a private house, and baptized a number of adults and children. Concerning this visit he wrote to the Society : " The Inde- pendents used means to obstruct me. The people were like- wise threatened with imprisonment, and a forfeiture of five pounds for coming to hear me. It would require more time than you would willingly bestow on these lines, to express how rigidly and severely they treat our people, by taking their estates by distress when they do not willingly pay to * Boiron : History or VVestchester County, vol. ii, p. 106. THE REV. GEORGE MUIRSON. 27 support their ministers ; and though every Churchman in that Colony pays his rate for the building and repairing their meeting-houses, yet they are so set against us, that they deny us the use of them though on the week days. All the Churchmen of this Colony request is that they may not be oppressed ; that they may obtain a liberty of conscience, and call a minister of their own ; that they be freed from paying to their ministers, and thereby be enabled to suppoi't their own. This is all these good men desire." * The missionary efforts of Mr. Muirson were not long in producing a satisfactory result. Early in the year 1707, the Episcopalians of Stratford, probably in connection with a few from Fairfield, "embodied themselves in a religious society," and requested that Mr. Muirson might be sent to reside among them as a settled missionai-y. But before they received any answer to their application, he died, in October, 1708 ; and the few Churchmen, who had begun with much hope and amid cheering prospects, to lay the foundation of the first Episcopal parish in Connecticut, were called, in the providence of God, to await with patience, through a series of untoward events, during a number of years, the coming of a resident clergyman. After the death of Mr. Muirson, the Kev. Messrs. Talbot, Sharpe and Bridge, missionaries located in New York and New Jersey, occasionly visited Stratford and Fairfield. And at one time, Mr. Sharpe spent nearly a month, and took much pains, and baptized many ; among whom was an aged man, said to have been the first man-child born in the Colony of Connecticut. At length, in 1713, the Kev. Mr. Phillips was put in charge of the parish at Stratford ; but after a few months, during which his ministrations were very irregular, he suddenly left the Colony. And finally, to add to the disappointment of the scattered flock, not yet fully organized and settled as a regular mission, after several years of zealous Humphrey : History of the Venerable Society, p. 119. 28 THE REV. GEORGE MUIRSON. and patient effort to that end, the Rev. Aeneas Mackenzie, condi- tionally appointed for the supply of Stratford, was detained at Staten Island, by the offer of a gentleman to build and endow a Church there. Thus thwarted by various circum- stances, scarcely less discouraging than the opposition and hindrance presented by laws of the Colony, which were devised for the support of the Congregational system of religion, the Churchmen of Stratford and Fail-field, to whom Mr. Muirson had preached in 1706 and 1707, were not pro- vided with a resident pastor until 1722.* Then, to their great joy, the Rev. George Pigot was sent hither by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and located for a while at Stratford ; with a general charge of all the Church-people in these parts ; who seem to have been, as yet, almost confined to Stratford and Fairfield. Mr. Pigot held his first service at Fairfield, at the house of Mr. Hanford, and preached to about six families, the 26th day of August. He arranged to officiate regularly thereafter, once a month. The other Sundays, when Mr. Pigot was offi- ciating at Stratford, or elsewhere, services at Fairfleld were kept up by the aid of a faithful lay-reader. It appears from letters preserved in the archives of the Venerable Society, that in the year 1723, Dr. James Laborie, a French physician of eminence, who had left his native country towards the close of the seventeenth century, and been " ordained by Mr. Knight, antistes of the Canton of Zurich," taught and held service conformably to the usage of the Church of England in his own house in Fairfield. According to the records of the Town he resided there in 1718, having bought at that time, of Mr. Isaac Jennings, a place known as " the stone house on the rocks," probably the same concerning which he afterwards said, that he had " destinated " it to the service of the Church of England. Anyway, using the Book of Common Prayer for a manual of worship, this zealous layman invited beneath his * Rev. N. E. Cornwall : Historical Discourse, p. 9. THE REV. GEORGE MU1RSON. 29 roof, on Sunday mornings, those who still clung to the Church of England and its form of worship. Here, then, was a nucleus, independent of a settled minister, about which the Church sentiment could gather and grow ! And doubtless it did much to strengthen Mr. Pigot's brief but successful ministry. The latter served Fairfield, in common with Stratford and Newtown but a year and a half, when he was removed by the Venerable Society's order, to Providence* Khode Island, the place for which he had been intended when he first arrived in America. It seems quite plain then that the Church in Fairfield, actually began with the lay services of Dr. Laborie. If the date of his coming to Fairfield, 1718, is correct, that would be the year of its inception. Mr. Pigot was the first clergyman who officiated regularly, but even in his time, 1722, the continuous life of the parish can be said to have depended upon the fervor of those Churchmen who met from Sunday to Sunday, and participated in Divine worship according to the Book of Common Prayer, the officiant being more frequently one of their own number.* * In a "Registry- book" kept by Mr. Pigot and Mr. Johnson, at Stratford, there is a record of the appointment, in 1724, of two Wardens and nine Vestrymen " for Stratford," one Warden and two Vestrymen " for Falrfleld." one Warden and two Vestrymen "for Newtown," and two Wardens and three Vestrymen "for Ripton ; " the Warden for Fairfleld being Dougal Mackenzie, and the Vestrymen, James Laborie, Sen. and Benjamin Sturges. At the same time James Laborie, Jun. was one of the Vestrymen for Stratford. CHAPTER V. THE MINISTRY OF THE REV. SAMUEL JOHNSON AND THE BUILD- ING OF THE FIRST CHURCH AT MILL PLAIN, 1723-1727. REV. SAMUEL JOHNSON. In 1723, Rev. Samuel Johnson, succeeded Mr. Pigot as rector of the parish at Stratford, and animated with the same THE REV. SAMUEL JOHNSON. 31 noble spirit of his predecessor, still continued to give to the Church-people at Fairfield, a generous shave of his time. He it was, who having been a tutor at Yale college, and afterwards a popular Congregational minister at West Haven, and having had a Prayer Book put into his hands,* had read and re-read it until he had become convinced that " there were no prayers like those of the Church of England:'' had crossed the ocean to the mother-country, and been " Episco- pally initiated, confirmed and ordained ;" and was now returned to Connecticut to extend the borders of the Church of his convictions. How few Churchmen of the present day are conversant with that stirring episode in the ecclesias- tical history of Connecticut ! Dr. Cutler, President of Yale, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Brown, also a Tutor at Yale, all men of great purity of character, of profound learning, and liberal culture, became convinced that their duty lay in returning to the Church of their fathers, the Church of England. One reason was. the Congregational system was not meeting the spiritual need of the time. This was the period of controversy. The principles of Puritanism had lost their held upon many of the people. A re-action had set in, and the moral tone of the Connecticut towns was lowered. " The complicated relations of Church and State needed disentanglement and explana- tion." f Another was, it became evident after calm, unpreju- diced study, that unless God was the author of confusion, He would establish but one Church, not many so-called churches, to extend and conserve the Gospel of His Son ; that He had done so through His inspired Apostles, and that His Church with its Holy Scriptures, Ministry, Sacraments, and Liturgy, * A good man in Guilford, Smithson toy name blessed be his memory ! liad a Prayer Book which he put into the hands of the youthful Johnson before he left his native town. Many of the prayers that he found therein, Johnson committed to memory, and afterwards used as occasion required, in public worship, alike to the comfort of himself and to the comfort and edification of his flock. Beardsley : History of the Episcopal Church, vol. ii, p. 34. t Child : The Prime Ancient Society, p. 30.