History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

The Society of Newbury was, by an act of (Jei\eral Assembly, incorporated !»s a town in 17.S8, Mr. Anios Wheeler acting sus the society's agent in carrying its memorial to the Assembly and obtaining the act of incorporation. It would seem, from the repeated cflbrts of the society in this direction before the final success was achieved, that either tlie ]K'ople were unduly aml)itious for manhood before they had got- ten their growth, or else that the then lawmakers of Connecticut, wise and conservative men as they doubt- less were, were chary of allowing upstart societies to " put on airs" and have their ambitious notions grati- fied too hiLstily. Application wits made for town privileges its early lus 1772, and the purpose ])rose- cuted through succc-ssivc years before many sessions of the Legislature until the final victory over opposi- tion, as already stated, in 1788. Hope deferred and endeavors made through sixteen years would cer- tainly indicate a good mciusure of will on the part of the men then active. It is just a little more than possible that Danbury, Newtown, and New Milford knew something of the reasons why the success was 80 long in coming. THE FIR.ST TOWN-MEETING. The first town-meeting wjus helil on .Tune y, 1788, and w;ls moderated by Col. Samuel I'anfield, who wa-s appointed by (ieneral As.-ieinbly to "warn" the meet- ing and preside over its doings. It was evidently regarded as quite an event in the history of the place, and interest was felt in it even in the surrounding towns, jLs shown by the following vote passed at the meeting: " I'o/fv/, TliniikH Ui IIk' (;<'iitliMU<-ri F'lH-ctiitot-H rmiii tlio licighlioring towiih fur l\w ro(*i»ect nIiowh to Uii* town of rirooklli'M in attciiiliiig tlit-ir flntt titwii-iiifvtinK, aii.1 in pitrtictilnr return tluinkH to C*>\. SaiuiicI Chu- ficM, Kf«i.. n|)|K)intiHl tint mtKlvnitor fur Mitil towu of Bniuklleld tiy tho Gt'iu'nU Ai*.enili1>', for liln rare uii<) portico in luUil olllco." The following-name<l persons chosen at this meet- ing had the honor of serving the town as the first selectmen: Lieut. Martain Warner, Capt. Joseph Smith, {'ajit. Ezra Dibble, Mr. .Vmos AVheeler, and Capt. Richanl Smith. Elijah S. Starr was elected ii-s the first town " dark." The name of the town seems to have been adopted a.s a tribute of re-spect to the first pa-stor of the place (for the entire town wa.s under his ministrations and pastoral care). lirooL-'n Jiihl vuMy was converted into " Brookfield" as the ])ermanent de.signation of the place. Being thus incorporated as a separate town, the people soon ajipreciated the need of a town-house, their meetings for business for the first few years being generally " warned" to meet at the " Sign Po.st," and being thence adjourned either to the " meeting-house," a school-house, or to some i)rivate residence. At an adjourned meeting held on Dec. 22, 1794, it Wiis voted "That this town build a house the ensuing year for the purpose of transacting all business in," "that said house be built thirty-four feet long and twenty-four feet wide, two stories high," and " that said house be built convenient for hanging a bell upon." The committee appointed to superintend the building were instructed by vote of the same meeting " to procure the most convenient place near the meet- ing-house for .setting the town-house upon," and the .selectmen were authorized to " draw orders upon tho town trcjusurer to the amount of the expenses of said building." The lower portion of this house was finished and "seated" two years afterwards, so as to become avail- able for town |iuri)oses, the ujiper part remaining un- finished until a later jieriod. .V bell Wits placed U])on this house in 1795, and was replaced by another— the one now in use — in 1829. The house, thus built and appointed, served the annual gatherings of the freemen of the town until the summer of 187;"), when, after a somewhat pro- tracted and heated controversy, mainly in respect to the h)cation of the proiK>sed new building, it was torn down, and the present more comely and commo- dious structure was built upon its foundations. PAUISH AND CHUUCU ORGANIZATIONS. In New England, in " the days of old," there wiw a mingling, as there is not now, of church and town history, of ecclesiastical and civil aft'airs. In the meeting of the freemen tax-levies were raised for the "support of the gospel" and ministers were chosen. Especially the Congregational Church — the church of the "Standing Order," as it was called— was cared for, every legal voter being responsible for pecuniary support and having a voice in it.s afl'airs. Parish and church organizations, therefore, must be taken into account in any complete town historj', as should be the ca.se also on the ground that the Church and the sanctuary are .such important factors of influence and destiny in any community. There is no record now available by which can be BROOKFlKJ.l). 171 ascertiiinod when reli^imis services beirnii to be helil in Newbury, or the exact date when thi' ecclesiastical society wiis organizeil. We may naturally sup]"isc that in the first years of their settlement the peojile worshiped in the towns to which they respectively lielon};e<l, — some at New- town, where a ehuri-h was (irLMiiizi'd in 171">; sunic at New Millnrd. where a elinrch was irathercil in 1710; and some in Danluiry, wiuTe the first church began its existence in KilH;. It is to he presunie<l that for some time after separation from these chnrches the peojde pithered in private houses for their Sabbath-day devotions. — tlie jieople, for these were times in which nil hcM it their duly and their ])rivileg'e to be worshipers on th<' Lord's day, A book of society records, sU|)pos,(l to have been lost, but recently recovered, nuikcs it certain tliat the society was in working order so early as 17oa. and two years later — viz,, in ]7")7 — the church was organized, tlie only account of tlie event being the following en- try in the records of Consociation: "A nundier of tliis society tlnit came well recommended from neigh- boring churches a])peared before this council, .gave their consent to the Saybrook Confession of Faith and Platform of Church Discipline, unitedly con- sented to a church covenant, and as members of a church gave a unanimous 'call' to Jfr. Brooks to be their minister, to which he gave his consent." In this somewhat informal way the living temjile began here to be builded. All the facts of its early history have passed beyond jiresent knowledge b.v reasf)n of the fact, much to be regretted, that no church records were kept prior to the settlement of Rev. Uichanl Williams, in 1S07. .Vs already indicated, tin' earliest Sabbath-day ser- vices were probably held in [irivate houses, perhaps at the residence of .Joshua Northrop, Amos Nm-th- rop, or Peter Hubbell, where it is a nifitter of record that society meetings were frequently convened for business purposes. While a sanctuary was being jirepared the ark of the Lord rested in the "house of 0))ed-e(IoinV' and we shall not hazard much if we b(dieve " the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edfuu ami all that per- tained unto him because of the ark of the Lord," But a change was at hand : the long-felt need for a church edifice was to be nu't, " At a lawful meeting, Jan. 21, 1755, of the inhabitants of the estaldished religious society of Newbury. nn>re than two-thirds of the inhabitants of said society then present ami qualified by law to vote declared it necessary to build a meeting-house," and either because of dift'erences of opinion concerning the site upon which to build, or through desire to avoid future divisions such as are very likely to grow out of locating public buildings, they made application to the court of Fairfiidd County "to ajipoint and fix the place whereon the meeting-house should be erected and built," and the court thereupon apjiointed a commission "to fix the ]dacc." For reasons not stated, the recomnu'udations of this I'onunission were negatived by the court. Ill the following April the court took still further action in the ea~e. ami a new commission was ap- pointed, consisting of Increase jNlosely, Benjamin Htiles (?), an<l Gideon Walker, all of Woodbury, in Lit(difiehl County, who were empowere<l "to fix a plai-e whereon to .set a mectin,ir-house." The doings of this conunission were acccptecl liy the society and aiqiroved by the court, and so tlie place of the sanc- tuary was "fixed," and with it doubtless the place of the village itself; and if so. the wisdom of the com- missioners must have been more clear to themselves than in the judgment of succeeding generations. In Decendjer the society made appointment of a liuilding committee, and took action with reference to tiie finances of the undertaking. It was also voted that the structure should be " forty-six feet in length and thirty-six feet in width, and that the posts should be twcntyyb((A« long." The committee were further instructeil "to get cedar shingles, if they can be at- tained to, to cover the fore-side of the ruff, and eliestnut for the back-side, and to cover the iLpright with oak ' claiiboards.'" This building seems to have been sini]dy " covered in" at the first, and to have been used for a jicriod without seats other than benches carried in for temjiorary convenience, and even without a fioor, except of loose boards, on which these benches were placed. Seats and pews were in- troduced into thebuihling in 17ri!t, four years after its erection. In ]7ll!l it was voted that "the society will oi/I and cnUn- the v'liiikrs and doors and corner-ionfe," and a coinmittee was appointed with power " to i/''^ and jiririirr nijl and .«/)/»;/' to fulfill the said vote." Four years later galleries were added to the accom- modations already existing. The house was inter- nally improved with "plaster" in 17'Jit, and was ex- ternally shingled upon " both sides and each end." The struiture was at first without a steeple, and this was added in 1824, after the house had been occupied nearly seventy years, though a bell was never mounted np<m its deck, the town-house bell, after its l>urehase, being used for calling the peo|ile together for religious services.