History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

On motion of W. T. Scofield, it was voted that the board accept the proposals of Barnum & Starr for erect- ing the new church, seventy-four by fifty feet, for nine thousand three hundred dollars, provided the money can be raised to meet the several payments as they become due in said proposals. It wiis ftirther voted that Sanuu'l Stebbins and George Hull be a building committee, with power to make the contracts with Barnum & Starr, to sui)erintend the erection of said church, and to do any other business to be done by the trustees in relation thereto. It was also voted that Sturges Selleck and Rev. W. C. Hoyt be a committee to circulate the subseri|)tion-pa]ier drawn uj) this day for five thousand dollars. At a subseipient nu'eting the size of the church was enlarged to seventy-eight by fifty-six feet. At the opening of the new church the society num- bered about three hundred, including probationers. The Sunday-school was in a prosperous condition, un- der the superintendence of George Starr, consisting of nearly fnrty otliccrs ami teachers and one hundred and fifty seludars. The pastor, lU'v. W. C. Hnyt, in his report to the Quarterly Conference, says, "The numbers gradually increase. The Bible-cla.sscs are interesting. The in- fant cla.ss is well sustained. The teachers are gener- ally in their places, and labor faithfully for the good of their scholars. The friends of the school have much to encourage them." In the spring of 1855 the New York East Confer- ence of the MetluHlist Episcopal Churcli, consisting of nearly two hundred ministers, held its annual ses- sion in Danbury. The changed feelings of the ])eople towards the preachers of the denomination was beau- DAN BURY. 217 tifully illustrated by the cheeriulnt'ss witli which the homes and churches were oj)ened for their entertain- meut and service. The Conference passed resolutions ; highly comjjlimentary to the town and the hospitality of its eiti/ens. "What hath (Jud wrought" in behalf of Methodism ! Since the erection of the new building now occu- pied the following pastors have officiated in the order named: Rev. E. E. Griswold, recently deceased ; Rev. George W. Woodruff, a man sui f/cneris and successful in his pastorate; Rev. John Miley, now professor in the Drew Theological Seminary ; Rev. John Pegg, Jr. ; Rev. John Crawford, whose home is with us still ; Rev. W. T. Hill, now presiding elder of tlie Xew Haven District, who under the extended pastoral term remained three years ; Rev. Thomas H. iSurch ; Rev. W. F. Hatfield, who was removed in the spring of 1873 to White Plains, N. Y. Rev. J. L. Peck suc- ceeded Mr. Hatfield, anil remained three years. Rev. P. Pilsbury followed Mr. Peck, and remained one year. The present pastor is the Rev. Si)encer H. Bray. At the last report, rendered in April of this year, the membcrsliip nundjercd si.x hundred and fifty full members and eighty-five jirobationers, making a total of seven hundred and thirty-five. The church was enlarged and improved during tlie year 187(i, and now has very pleasant Sunday-school rooms and a fine auditorium. FIR.?T CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. On Sunday, July 9, 187(3, Rev. J. J. Hougli, then pastor of this church, preached a historical sermon, from which the following is taken : "The history of this churcli stretelies back over a period of a hundred and eighty years. For more than three-quarters of a century had the First Church of Danbury been in existence at the time of the American Revolution. Two generations liad re- ceived instruction and guidance from its pastors, while as yet there was no thought among the colo- nists of a separate nationality. Could the founders of the church now return, they would find no trace of the work of tlieir hands. Not a familiar house, or even a forest-tree, would greet them. The landscape they might recognize, for the everlasting hills, the valleys, and the streams are unchanged, but evcry- tliing else would be to them new and surprising. The luxurious homes, the busy factories, the stores, the railroads and telegraphs, the schools, the present tem- ples of worship, the altogether new and changed life of their descendants, the diflerent styles of clothing worn, would all be to tliem subjects of won<ler and surprise. "In the year 1696— the year of the formation of this church — Danbury had been organized as a town but three years, although its earliest settlement was in 1(;84, when it was known by the Indian name of Pahquioque, or, as I find it in the old colonial records, Paquiage. 15 "From the records of a General Court held at Hartford, May 14, 1690, I take the following extract: 'Upon the petition of the towne of Danbury this court granted them lilicrty to endjody themselves into churcli estate in an orderly way, with the consent of neighbour churches.' Pi-evious to this act of th • court a meeting-house had been built, proljably on the theory tliat the logical order was the procurement of a cage before catching a bird. The site (jf the first meeting-house was on ' the Town street' I now Main Street), a little north of where the court-liousc now stands. Its dimensions were about those of an ordi nary farm barn, — thirty by forty feet. It is recorded that ' every person belimging to the town was ]iresent at the raising and sat on the sills at once.' It is suji- posed that Mr. Seth Shove was ordained pastor at the time the church was organized, in 1096. The court grant (juoted above is the only record in existence re- specting the origin of the church, not even the num- ber of the original members nor their names being known. 'Rol)liins' Century Sermon,' preaclied in 1801, characterizes the first pastor, Mr. Shove, as a ' very ]>ious and worthy man, who was very successful in his exertions for the promotion of peace, virtue, and religion.' " By a council of the colony authorities assembled at Hartford, Feb. 6, 1707, a time when the French were trying to excite the Indians to hostility against the Englisli, it was ' Hi-so/inl, That for the preserva- tion of the frfintier towns of Symsbury, AVaterbury, Woodbury, and Danbury, order be sent to tlie inhabi- tants of those towns to provide with all i)Ossil)le speed a sutticicnt nundier of wcU-fortificd houses for the saftie of themselves and fannlies in their respective towns.' In obedience to this order the town put in posture of defense the house of Rev. Mr. Shove, which stood on an eminence near the church, and the house of Mr. Samuel Benedict, at the lower end of tlie street. The colonial records show that the sum of ' five pounds in country ]iay' was granted the town of Danbury the following year 'in consideration of the charge of said town in fortifying.' In connection with the defenses provided, obedience to the following order by the council, of the .same date, may have contributed to the 'safetie' of the jicople : ' Rcstnlred, That these towns do every of them main- tain a good scout out every day of two faithful and trusty men to observe the motions of the enemy.' " Mr. Shove's pastorate was terminated by his death, Oct. 3, 173.5. The inscription upon his toml)stone is: 'Here lyes buried ye body f)f Rev. Mr. Seth Shove, ye pious and faithful pastor of ye church in Danlniry 39 years, who died Oct. 3d, Anno Domini, 173-7i, tetatis sua; 68.' " The church records were consumed when the town was burned by the British in 1777, consequently there are no writings to acquaint us with this early j>eriod in the history of the church ; but we may infer an in- crease of population and the growth of the church 218 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. unik'r Mr. Shove's ministrj- from the fact that the first mceting-housc gave place to a larger structure in 1719. Its dimensions were thirty-five by fifty feet. It occupied the same site as the building it replaced. The continued growth of the town and of the church is further indicated by the enlargement of this new | meeting-house in 1745, during the ministry of Mr. AVhite, fifteen feet being added to the front, making its dimensions thirty-five by sixty-five feet. "March 10, 173<i, five and one-half months after Mr. Shove's death, Mr. Ebenezer White was ordained pastor. In Robbins' sermon this commendatory state- ment appears: ' Universal harmony prevailed between the people and their minister for twenty-five years. The people of the town were considered by all the neighboring towns as eminent for morality and reli- gion, for regularity of conduct and constant atten- tions on the institutions of charity.' " During the pastorate of Mr. White, the Fairfield East Association, in session in Danbury, July, 174-5, licensed as a preacher of the gospel David Braiuard, who wiLS then under censure of Yale College, having been e.xpelled for saying of Tutor Whittlesey, ' that he had no more of the grace of God in him than that : chair.' (As Tutor Whittlesey wa.s afterwards pastor of ' the Centre Church, New Haven, it is to be hoped j that Brainard was mistaken in his harsh utterance.) The Association justified itself for its action in a lengthy document ; but if this were needed, a better vindication wa.s the very useful work done by Brain- ard in his ministry. In a short career of five and one-half years he gained renown as a missionary apostle to the Indians. He died in 1747 at North- ampton, in the family of President Edwards, by whom sliortly afterwards his biography was written.