Address at the Centenary of St. Paul's Church, Norwalk, Conn.

Say not “her voice and harp are mute,” I seem to hear their accents rise, In unison with angel’s lute, Chanting the chorals of the skies. “My Saviour, meet me,” — thus she prayed, And Heaven’s portals opened wide, Her soul on Jesus’ breast was stayed, And borne across the chilling tide. And when our pilgrimage is o’er, And earthly cares and trials cease. She’ll meet us on that heavenly shore, And welcome us to perfect peace. Sarah, the oldest child of Rev. James Keeler, was a devoted daughter of the church, and while in Connecticut was intimate in the family of Bishop Brow- nell. She was, in reality, the founder, in years gone by, of the mission in West Norwalk. •29 on this chancel-pane memorial to two of these old parishioners, “to Him be highest praise;” but honor also, to the fathers of a century ago. They are no more, and their places know them no longer, still they served the church long and they served it well. They were charged with the difficult task of maintaining their faith against the attacks of prejudice, and at a period when peril was imminent; but they stood their ground, believing in the omnipotence of truth, and that time would right all wrongs Brave people; great princi- ples make a great and brave people. Brave fathers, next to God ye have claim to-day to the foremost rank in our affections. We speak for you, you of the silent throng. Your very graves around us appeal strongly to our veneration.* Departed sires, ye have a place in the recesses of our hearts, and your deeds are worthy of imitation. The first mention in our parish records is of one of the founders of a family of distinguished name in the American church. On May lltli, 1741, William Jarvis was chosen society’s clerk, and was the same month sworn to the faithful discharge of his said office, “before Captain Samuel Hanford, one of George II. justices of the peace.” The Jarvises Avere true and loyal to St. Paul’s. Tlieir antecedents and their genuine attitude with reference to the church justify the remark. There were several of them, and the registry of their doings fills a deep page in our parish history. William, the first, was for seventeen years clerk, which is sufficient evidence of his appreciation by his cotemporaries. To Samuel, his brother, as is supposed, was committed an important trust. Nathan was the first recorded treasurer of the parish. Noah, of generous emotions and patriotic principles, and across whose life even in age sparkled the silver ripple of happy humor, was choir-master at the age of twenty-four; and Hezekiali was in office over fifty years. This youngest brother of Bishop J arvis, was possessed of qualities which will live and be admired as long as virtue is cultivated and purity *It used to be said that the dust of no clergyman Is mingled with the dead in St. Paul’s yard, and, until 1879, this was true Still the old acre had for many years urned the ashes of the father of one bishop, and the wife of an- other, and the nephew of another, while in the north-east corner lie the re- mains of the parents of one in the second grade of the ministry, and in the south-east corner those of still another, and in other portions the wife and daughter of one, and the wife of another clergyman repose. The remains of the Rev. Dr. Mead lie in front of the present church. He built a tomb adjoin- ing to, and as a part of, one built by his much prized friend, one of the lofty- spirited men of the past, James Moody Hoyt, deceased and a few feet from him is interred the body of another, who also was of a superior worth, his dear and valued friend, Rev. John Purves. Near the north gate of the church- yard is buried the mother of one of this country’s bible historians, and near the south gate is the “Stranger’s grave,” a grave in which rests one of good birth, and although of troubled term of days while here, yet a faithful char- acter; north of the chancel is a stone, the marking upon which suggests two families of ancient name in this country. prized. His loftiness of walk assigned to him a sort of pre-eminence, while his ceaseless regard for the weal of the parish, is a claim upon its never-ceasing gratitude; and the fifteen consecutive years’ ves- tryship of his son Samuel certifies to his zeal in the work of the church. These were men of Christian dignity and integrity of character, and their fame is an enviable one.* Another name upon our records is that of the successor in office of Mr. Jarvis, John Cannon, Jr. His father, John Cannon, Sr.,f known at that day as Commodore Cannon, was a prominent parish- ioner of Dr. Learning. He did a large business with the West Indies, and his means and influence were employed in our aid. He lived on the grounds now occupied by Col. F. St. John Lockwood, and the old Cannon well is still, or was until recently, shown. His name is at the head of the subscription for the church the anniver- sary of the consecration of which we are this day observing; and liis own subscription, and that of his neighbor, Thomas Belden, which were of equal amounts, were the largest. His son, the clerk, was, in 1 786, elected vestryman also, which position he, with three * The family of Gervias, Jarveis, or, as anglicised, Jarvis, is evidently of con- tinental origin, and of highly respectable antiquity. It is traced back to about the time of William the Conqueror, and has been honorably prominent in the history of different powers. Those of the name in this country, and there are many such, seem to be of English extraction. Their fathers may or may not have been among the Hon. James G. Blaine’s estimated 21, 000 emi- grants, from Old to New England, during the second and third and fourth decades of the Seventeenth Century, but they were found in this land as early as 1623, and again in 1630. The name does not appear in Norwalk until about a hundred years later, and it appears upon the court records, at Hartford, about the time that it is found in the town records here. As far as the parish registration is concerned, William Jarvis, son, it is thought, of William, Sr., of Huntington, L. I., and hence, uncle of Bishop Jarvis, has the first mention. One hundred and forty-eight years ago, forty-two churchmen — ALL the male members (over sixteen years of age), of the Church of England, in this town, united with their brethren in other portions of Connecticut, in a petition to the general assembly, and among the forty-two are found three of the Jarvis patronymic, Samuel, (father of the bishop) who is buried in St. Paul’s yard; and his son, Samuel, who is buried in Trinity Church yard. New York; and his brother (?) William, born, in 1696, and first parish clerk. From these have descended the following living communicants of St. Paul’s. Mrs. Elizabeth McLean, Miss Emily Pinckney, Miss Mary Jarvis, Charles F. Osborn, Clarence F. Osborn, Josiah Kellogg, William M. Kellogg, G. Willis White. The names of the forty-two original members of the Church of England, in Norwalk, (1738) will be found in the appendix. t Called “Commodore,” was grand-son of the John Cannon, who was a mer- chant in New York aoout two centuries ago, and who, in September, lfc97, married Maria, daughter of Peter LeGrand, another old merchant, who lived in Whitehall street, near the then famous and fashionable Battery Park, and close by Bowling Green, where the leaden statue of George III was afterward erected. (This statue was thrown down, in 1770, by a mob, cut into fragments, and of these a large portion was shipped, by sloop, to Norwalk, where they still remain.) The Commodore’s father was Peter Cannon, and his mother was a Schermerhorn. At the age of twenty-five he married Esther Perry, of Fairfield, aunt to the father of Dr. Samuel Perry, who died, in 1817. His own residence stood just south of Grumman’s Hill, and his son Samuel’s at the top of Mill Hill. His son James built the house which his (James’s) grand- daughter, Mrs. Jonathan Camp, now occupies, and his son John, (John, Jr., 31 others, held at the ceremonies that year. * John, Jr. , was the brother of Samuel Cannon, who was a leading member of this parish, and vestrymen from 1809 to 1817, and afterward warden, and who died suddenly in his stately residence,! the same which to-day so hand- somely crowns Mill Hill. J Hezekiali Belden was John Cannon, Jr.’s successor; and the Belden family has been one of the foremost families of St. Paul’s. The first of the name to appear upon the register is Samuel. He lived in Wilton, but was in 1742 chosen to solicit donations of mate- rials for the church of 1743. He is the earliest named moderator upon the records. His brother John has second mention. John and Samuel Belden, and Jonathan Camp, and Capt. Joseph Ketchum were the society’s committee for carrying on, from com- mencement to completion, the church which was burned in 1 779. Of the two other brothers, Hezekiali was clerk for eight years, and Thomas a very pillar of the parish. The meeting at which it was proposed to build anew, after the disaster in 1779, and which voted to call the Rev. Dr. Dibble, was held at his house, which, through the instrumentality of his housekeeper, § was one of the number saved from burning, and which stood upon the corner which was for so many years the home of one of Norwalk’s most respected and the temporary parish clerk,) built where Mr. Charles C. Betts resides. There were three other houses of this or like architecture in the vicinity. The St. John, afterwards Sherry House, and the Dr. Knight House in the upper part of Knight street, and the Jonathan Fitch House, Down Town; at the raising of one of these, the John Cannon, Jr., House, a serious accident befell.