History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

The covenant in 1726 was signed by .John Goodsell, Cornelius Hull, Obadiah Gilburd, John Hide, George Hull, Peter Burr, Daniel Bradley, Theophilus Hull, John Burr, Stephen Burr, and Ebenezcr Hull. CONGREGATIONAL CIICRCII, SOUTIIPORT. The village of Southport was originally included in the parish of Fairfield. A general desire on the part of its residents to enjoy the privileges of the .sanctuary within a more convenient distance led to the comple- tion of a church edifice in their village in the year 1843. A meeting of the brethren of the Fairfield Church residing in the village was held Feb. 18, 1843, at which it was resolved to take the necessary steps to organize themselves into a sepamte church of Christ, to be de- nominated " The Congregational Church of South- port." Letters were accordingly sent to five churches in the vicinity, — namely, the First Church in Fair- field, the First Church in Bridgeport, the Second Church in Bridgeport, the church in Greenfield, and the church in Norwalk, — inviting them by their [>astors and delegates to meet in council " for the pur- pose of organizing a church of Christ in the Borough of Southport." The council thus called met March 7, 1843, and. after hearing and ap|iroving the purpose of the peti- tioners, proceeded to organize them into a church of Christ. The number of members so organized into the new church was twenty-eight. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Atwater, of Fairfield. In the evening the house was dedicated to the worship FAIRFIELD. 351 I if Almighty God, tlie Rev. Pr. Howit, of Bridge- port, proachiiig the dedieatioii seriudii. On iippliea- tion, tlie cliureh was received into tlie Consoeiation of tne Western District of Fairfield (.'ounty, June G, 1S43. The house completed in 1S43 was used by the church as its place of worship until 1874, when it was removed and the jiresent handsome and substantial stone edifice erected on its site. This was completed and dedicated Feb. 2, 187(3. The Rev. S. J. M. Merwin, (.f Wilton, the first p.astor of the church, preached the dedica- tion sermon from the te.xt, " The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts, and in this jilace will I give iieace, saith tlie Lord of Hosts." Hez. ii. !•. He was assisted in the services by the Rev. Dr. Atwater, the Rev. Charles E. Lindsley, and the Rev. George E. Hill. The first members of the church were JL's. Eliza- beth B. Alvord, Elias P. Benham, Mrs. Rachael M. Benham, Mrs. Miranda Bulkeley, Levi Down, Mrs. Peggy Lacey, Frederick Marquand, Jlrs. Hetty Mar- qnand, Anna Osborn, Mrs. Eleanor Osborn, Jeremiah (jsborn, Mrs. Abigail Osborn, Austin Perry, Mrs. Emily A. Perry, i\Liry A. Perry, Delia F. Perry, Francis D. Perry, Mrs. Ann Eliza Perry, Oliver H. Perry, Mrs. Eliza P. Robinson, Mrs. Marj' A. Sher- wood, Mrs. Mary B. Sherwood, Mrs. Catherine G. Sherwood, Edward A. Smith, :Mrs. Esther M. Smith, Walter Thorp, Mary C. Thorp, and Maurice W'akeman. The pastors of the church have been as fidlows: Rev. Samuel J. M. Merwin, ordained Dec. 18, 1844, dismissed May 3, 18.59; Rev. Charles E. Lindsley, installed Feb. 29, 18(50, dismisscil Feb. 1(3, 18(59 ; Rev. George E. Hill, installed March 22, 1870, dismissed Dec. 27, 187(5; Rev. William H. Holman, ordained June 12, 1878, present pastor. The officers of the church are as follows: Deacons, Frederick Maniuand, Charles Lacey, Oliver H. Perry, E. Cornelius Sherwood, and Levi T. Sherwood. Su- perintendent of Sunday-school, John H. Perry. The membership of the church Jan. 1, 1880, was one hundred and sixty-seven. TRINITY CHURCH, SOUTlirORT.9 It appears from letters preserved in the archives of the society, that in the year 1723, Dr. .Tanu's Laborie, a French physician of eminence, who had left his native country towards the close of the seventeenth century and been "ordained by Mr. Kinglet, anfistes of the Canton of Zurich," in Switzerland, taught and held service according to the usage of the (Jhurch of England, in his own hou.sc in Fairfield, on those Sun- days on which Mr. Pigot i)reaehed in Stratford or some other place. In one of those letters, Dr. Laljorie says, moreover, that he " came to this country as a teacher under the patronage of the Bishop of London, t and * Compiled principally from an address delivered by Rev. X. E. Corn- well, Ang.ln, 18.51. t The tVtlluwing extract from the proceedings of the .Society for 1710-11 13 worthy of notice here: being (listiirl)ed by Indians in the vicinily of liostmi, came to the colony and county of Fairfield, and began by an introductory discourse to act as missionary to the English and native inhabitants, but was inter- rupted immediately by one of the magistrates." Tliis commencement of his ufl'orts in Connecticut was probably made at Strallbrd, where he seems to have resided from 170-3 till 1717. t But it appears from the records of this town that he resided in Fairfield as early as 1718; having bought at that time of J\L-. "Isaac Jennings" a place known as "the stone house on the rocks," jirobably the same of which he after- wards said, in the letter just referred to, that he had "destinated it to the service of the Church of Eng- land." It seems probable, therefore, that some stejjs were taken at that time for the formation of an Epis- cojial parish and the stated performance of its relig- ious services in this town. But I find no record ni' the orgjiiiization of a parisli here, separate from tliat of Stratford, ii:itil the year 1724. At the close of the preceding year, Mr. Pigot, removing to Providence, had been succeeded in the mission at Stratford by the Rev. Samuel Johnson, who, with anotlier Congrega- tional minister, the rector (jr president of Vale Col- legia aud a tutor of the same institution, embraced the doctrines of Ejiiscopacy in 1722. and wa- ordained in England, with his two friends and companions, by the Piishoj) of Xorwich, acting in liehalf of the Bishop of London. In one of his earliest communications to the society from Stratford, Mr. .lolin-ion s:;ated that his |)arlshioners in that town had " lately opened their new churcli, called Christ Chmvh," and that at Fair- field the people were also " vigor:)Usly going fi)rward in building a church. "(J Soon afterwards he reported that " the church at Fairfield was going on apace," and that " the iioojile at New London would also build with all expedition." And on the 10th of November, 172'), the day of the annual thanksgiving of the colony, he ope;ied, with a "suitable discourse," the church which the Episcopalians of Fairfield had built, and which they then nameil " Trinity Church." In that church, which seems to have stood on Mill Plain, a few rods northeast of the place where the "Tlie Society liiiviiig thought fit to admit into tlieir lioijy several emi- nent IMvincs and nther persons of Holland, (Jerniany, Sweden, Switzer- land, and fitlier eonnlries, being of tlio Protestant religion ; it has been resnived, fir the dignity of tlie Sjciety, and to sle.w them the greater respc't, that tlie notice of tlieir admission slumld be sent ttieni, under the seal of the said .Society." Page 37. J His medical diploma, dated London, 1111)7, wiitten in Latin, and de- si rilling him as the son of a celebrated physician of France, was recorded by the clerk of the Fairfield County Court in 17o;{. And in 17Ki loavo was granted him by the town of Stratford " to build a pew" in the Con- gregational meetiiig-honse, where Jlr. lilacUlatcli, one of the struggling and waiting churchmen of Stratford, then had "a pew." ^ In a " registry-hook" kept by .Mr. I'igut and ^Ir. .lohns ni, at Strat- ford, there is a record of the appointment, in 17i4, of two wardens jind nine vestrymen "for Stratford," one warden and two vestrymen "for Fairfield," one warden and two vestrymen " f u- Xewtown," and two wardens ami three vestrymen " fir Ripton ;" the warden for Fairfield being Dougal Mackenzie, and the vestrymen, .lames Laborie, Sr., and Benjamin .sturges. At the same time James Laborie, .Jr., was one of the vestrymen for Stiatf ird. 352 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. country seat of the late Jonathan Sturges now stands,* Mr. .Johnson j)rcachcd a part of the time for some two years, iliviclin<; his labors for the most i)art be- tween Stratford and Fairfield. At tiie same time Mr. Henry Cancr, a graduate of Yale College, but as yet too young to be ordained, read service in Fairfield wlionever Mr. .Johnson preached at Stratford and other places. He was "son of the Mr. Caner who Iniilt the first colle^je and rector's htmse" at New Haven. His parents are generally supposeil to have been ('ongregationalists.+ But Dr. Trumbull calls England " the land of his nativity."! Mr. Caner was ordained in England, and appointed missionary to I-"airfield in 1727, having been very highly recommended to the society and to the Hishop of liOndon by Jlr. .jDlinson, uniler whose supervision he had jnirsued his theological studies for some three years. And from tlie time of his settlement here until the Revolution this parish seems to have been cstab- lislied on a permanent foundation, and to liavc been generally in a very prosperous condition, exhibiting, in the leading fai'ts of its history, a very interesting view of the gradual, steady jirogress of Episcopacy in Connecticut during those fifty years of ita struggles against various adverse influences, British as well as American.