History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

For more than two hundred years Fairfi(dd was the queen of the county: the courts were held there till 1852, or thereabouts ; its educational advantages f(U' both nniles and females ranked very high ; and it was formerly a port of entry. It had for these various rea- sons an enviable reputation, but time has changed all these things, and Fairfield's future glory will be accorded from its being a town noted for its health- fulness and beauty, as the drift of public spirit id' late expends itself mostly on sanitary measures and testlietic culture. S.-\MP MORTAU KOI'K. About three and a half miles from the Sound, and near the centre of the township of Fairfield, is a won- derful natural curiosity, attractive not only fin' its gran<lenr, but fiir the tradition associated with it. In visiting Niagara one should obtain the first view by looking upward from the fi)ot of the fall ; here one should take the first view from the top of the rock, looking down into the ravine below. Theory asserts that the (jrigin of Niagar.n was through the wearing away by the water of the brittle stone till it formed the stupendous cataract witnessed at this period ; it must assert that here was a modified glacier of diluvial structure, w Inch has snlfered greatly by some great natural convulsion. Approaching this freak id' nature from the direction of the Sound, there is not th.e least intimation of any- thing unusual till the visitor is brought suddenly upon it. G(jnveyances sto]) at the loot of a nnissive leilge of immense layers of stone, which a])iiear to have been regularly broken, but through some great agency have been separated slightly. The impulse is to stop and examine the species of stone, to noti' the marked difi'erence between the severed strata and tlie under surface of the layers as they project beyond their supports, the layers being as discernible as the component parts of pastry when they are improperly incorjxjrated ; in fact, the face of the rock is decidedly streaked. The top, seen from above, bespeaks granite ; the under layer seems somi-pcrforated by symmetrical indentures, as if sand-swallows had attem])ted to build their nests in reversed positions. In front of this ledge TJ Now Mrs. Wm. Burr, of Green's Farms. 346 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COU^^TY, CONNECTICUT. a cart-path begins, which leads up a gradual inclina- , tion, across which are large sto7ics which appear to bear grooves caused by inucii usage. The ascent is easy, and, tlie top once reached, a distance of a few rods brings one to the brink of a rocky precipice, over ! which he peers cautiously and passes on mindful of ' his steps, watchful that a proper margin is observed, so that, in case of a slip or a misstep, he shall not be instantly hurled into eternity. After traversing a few rods the traditional mortar — a round hole in tlie rock capable of containing from twelve to si.xteen quarts of corn — is found ; also tlie footmarks worn in the rock by the i)erson grinding — rather cracking — the corn are identified. This is said to be the place where the Indians were wont to carry their corn to be prepared for food. At this point tlie descent to the ravine below has already begun. Another section of the ledge is at the left, and contains a cave accessible to an average- sized individual, where he may enjoy a dark retreat at his option. The contour of the rocks, trees grow- ing from the crevices, is worthy of observation. The ravine gained, one is desirous of obtaining a glimpse of the great precipice over which he so care- fully looked a few minutes before. A few feet above him is an overhanging rock ; several feet above this is another, of similar form, projecting still farther, and away above this is still another, from whose top a birch-tree a foot and a half in diameter at its root, with a uniform trunk of nearly a foot, rears itself as if jiroud of its situation and view, apparently as se- cure as in a forest on a level plain. At its root ferns of the polypod species furnish a bit of trimming for a border. Long rock-like shelves appear at intervals, upon which one would be secure from northwest storms. From various crevices good-sized trees are growing, wlicrc it would seem impracticable for plants to obtain a root hold. The ravine is here blocked by a mass of large rocks, whose size is rendered insignificant from their prox- imity to those so much greater. These rocks arc broken and detached, but if one is dextrous he may jiass througli, over jagged edges, underneath a liuge rock spanning the chasm, underneath which is a small cave, where some animals of rodent jirodivitics have reveled in their feasts, and which would furnish comfortable quarters for a hunter or a fugitive es- caping the law. This blockade in the ravine has evidently been, ages ago, rock overhanging from the main ledge, and, falling, has broken into various immense fragments. Tlie wciitcrn portion, having an inward slope upward from the base, remains as when first formed and located. CHAPTER XX.XMI. PAIRPIELD (Continued). ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. TIic Firet Con^egntionnl Clinrch— Coiigregalional Cliurcli, Greenflold --Congropalioiinl Church, Souttiport— Triuity Church, Soulhport— St. Paul'H Church, Fiiirtlchl—MothodiBt Episcopal Church, S<mthport — Roman Catholic Church, Fairfield. FIRST COXGREGATIONAL CHURCH, FAIRFIELD.* The foundation of this church was coexistent with the settlement of tlic town, and the first pa.stor was Rev. John .Jones, from 1G39 to 1GG4. " This first date is five years earlier than one which apjiears in a history of Concord, whence he came. He was one of the two elders of the church in that place, being associated with Peter Rucklcy, who had the title of teacher, while Mr. Jones was pastor. He was the son of William Jones, of Abergavenny, in Moiiinoutb- shire. He entered Jesus College, O.xford, in 1()24, at the age of seventeen. Coming to New England, Oct. 2, 1635, he was ordained at Concord, Mass., April 6, 1(537, sustaining the relation of colleague minister at Concord for some eight years. On account of ' the ])overty and meanness of Concord, together witli the badness and wetness of the meadows,' a seventh ur eighth part of the people of that place emigrated in 1644 to Fairfield, and Mr. Jones came with them. These Concord people, with the previous colony from AVindsor and others from Watcrtown, formed the first community, the fathers and mothers of our church and village. Few traces are left of this, the earliast mini.ster of this church. He bore, according to tra- dition, a most highly respectable character. His position and education in England gives lustre to the occasion of his emigration, for he came when few save those who were devoted to the cause of liberty were willing to enccmnter for its sake trials and pri- vations such as we can hardly estimate. At the aire of seventy he fell asleep, leaving six children. " A daughter was married to Thomas Bulkeley,t ■■>"ii of Rev. Peter Bulkley, and removed with her father to Fairfield, where he died in 16r)2. " One son, John, graduated at Harvard in 1643, and another, Eliphalet, was the first minister of Hunting- ton, L. I., where he died about one hundred years old. "A copy of the will of Mr. Jones may be seen at the Probate office, and is a document of interest. "Rev. Samuel Wakeman succeeded Mr. Jones in the pastoral office, and his ministry continued from 166.5 to 1()".I2. He ajipears to have lieen a man of mark, and was one of five ministers ap|)ointed by the Legislature in 1668 to proceed to Saybrook and de- vi.se a way of uniting the churches in some genera! * rompilcd chiefly from a hbtoricAl dlacoarvo delivered by Dr. K. ) lUlikIn, D.I)., Nov. 2i, 1870. t Itulkelt-y lit t-<u)r>idcrcil an the correct orthogrvphy, though the com- mon lui-llioil, llulklcy, Imm been commonly accepted. FAIRFIELD. 347 |ilan of communion and discipline. This was forty years previous to tlie adoption of tlie fSaylirook Plat- form, and appears to liave been tlie first step towards firming a religious eonstitulioii in the State. " In 1(J94, Rev. Joseph Welih became jiastor of the church, and with his ministry commences its earliest reconls now extant. Tlie society records date no fur- ther back than l(!!t4, owing tn the tire of 177'.l. "The tir.st deacon of the churcli whose election is mentioned was Lothrop Lewis, chosen May 2',), 1729, and when in June, 173.3, Deacon Lewis declined to serve longer, Capt. Moses Dimon was chosen to suc- ceed him. May 20, 1739, we have the record again of the choosiug of Mr. Lothrop Lewis as deacon. There is the name of another deacon on the reconls of the same date, for 'the church appointed Mr. Lothrop Lewis and Mr. Samuel Rowland a committee to take an account of the church's stock which was in the hands of Deacon Hill, deceased, and is now to be delivered to Deacon Dimon.' So Deacon lliU's name jirobably stood in the destroyed records. "In Mr. Webb's day some of the inner workings of the church and society are seen. Thus, at .a church-meeting in May, 1729, it was voted that the worshijtful John Gold should set and read the Psalm, and in case he be absent or indisposed, that his lirother, Mr. Samuel (4old, should do it. "The Psalm was set and read in this wise : After the minister had given out its number, this chosen leader of song whose social position is clearly a high one, for he is called the worshipful, rose in his place and after reading the first line sung it with the aid of a tuning-fork, or perchance a violin, and then reading the second line went on with the niiisic, and so on to the end of the Psalm. The version used was proba- bly the quaint collection of Sti'rnhold and Hopkins, for although Dr. Isaac Watts was a cotemporary with Mr. Webb, his version of Psalms and hymns did not come into use until a later day.