CHAPTER XXVII.
CHESHIRE.
cheshire was originally a part of Wallingford, and was made a society in 1723, consisting of about thirty-five families. In 1718 Homer Brooks, Stephen Hotchkiss and Mathew Bellamy, complained to the General Assembly that
-" By reason of the distance from the town and difficulty in the way, we are under great disadvantage to appear on the public worship of God and also for Edicating our Children,"- and petitioned that they might have the privilege of setting up worship for themselves, and be constituted a parish. Messrs. James Wadsworth, Nathaniel Yale, and Samuel Bishop, were appointed by the Assembly to examine into the affairs of the "West Farmers," as they were called. They found the number of families to be about forty-five, "including in ye numb'r sum few new beginners that have not famelys," and the value of estates to be about two thousand pounds, and thought best that they still remain with the town of Wallingford. But the question of separation was still agitated, and in 1723 the district was constituted a society. The west society had considerable trouble to fix a situation for their meeting-house, so they petitioned the General Assembly,
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"That having made some essays to fix the place for the Setting the first meeting House for Sd worship and finding our endeavors of that kind to be attended with some difficulties and dissatisfaction among ourselves, we have unanimously agreed to address the Honble assembly and do accordingly thereby pray that a Committee Chosen be appointed by this assembly may fix and determine the place for building the first meeting-house in our society. Signed,
"thomas brooks, john hitchcock, nathll bunnell."
A committee of three was appointed, the ground selected, and the first church built in 1724. The second church was built in 1738, on the public common, and the present one was built in 1826. The following have been pastors:
samuel HALL,1 Dec., 1724, died Feb., 1776. john FOOT,2 Mar., 1767, " Aug., 1813. humphrey H. perrine, June, 1813, dismissed Apr., 1816. jeremiah atwater, D. D., Apr., 1816, " July, 1817, died July, 1858. M. kellogg, Nov., 1818, " Nov., 1819. roger hitchcock, Sept., 1820, died Jan, 1823. luke wood, Dec., 1824, dismissed 1826. joseph whiting, Oct., 1827, " Dec., 1836. erastus colton, Jan., 1838, " July, 1843. daniel march, Apr., 1845, " Nov., 1848. daniel S. rodman, Oct., 1849, " Dec., 1854. C. W. clapp, May, 1855, " May, 1857.
1 Rev. Samuel Hall was graduated at Yale College in 1716, where he was a tutor from 1716 to 1718; was ordained pastor of the church in Cheshire in Dec., 1724, and died in 1776. He preached the Election Sermon in 1746, which was published. His daughter Ann, married Nov 13, 1752, Warham, second son of Rev. Stephen Williams.
2 Mr. Foot was ordained colleague pastor with Mr. Hall.
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david root, Oct., 1857, dismissed April, 1859. J. S. C. abbott, April, 1860.
The number of male members of the church at first was eleven. In 1770 it had three hundred male and female members, and at that time Mr. Hall had baptized 2013. The number of births in forty-seven years was 2500; deaths 700. The first deacons of the church were Stephen Hotchkiss and Joseph Ives. On the resignation of the latter, Timothy Tuttle was chosen, and on the death of Deacon Hotchkiss (Deacon Tuttle resigning) Edward Parker and Stephen Hotchkiss (son of the first of that name) succeeded.
Mr. Foot received into the church 603, baptized 1767, and buried 1109. Mr. Whiting received into the church 241, baptized 165; Mr. Colton received into the church 139, and baptized 61. Mr. Hitchcock had been a deacon of the church, and stipulated that one-fifth of his salary of five hundred dollars should be reserved by the society annually, and put at interest for the future support of the ministry. He was taken sick one year after his settlement, and was never afterwards able to preach. Calls were extended (not accepted) to Revs. John March, in 1817, Cornelius Tuthill, in 1818, Handel Nott, in 1826, Judson A. Root in 1827, and Dwight M. Seward in 1842. There was a continuous revival under Mr. Whiting's ministry, also in 1838 and 1858, which added 88 and 104 to the church.
In 1751 Rev. Ichabod Camp formed an Episcopal Society in Cheshire, and for a time services were read by a layman named Moss. In 1760 a church was built, and Mr. Camp again preached for the society. In 1761 the society was supplied by Rev. Samuel Andrews, and in 1770 a larger church was built. In 1786 Mr. Andrews
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went to Nova Scotia. The church was afterwards supplied by the following clergy:
In 1788, Reuben Ives; 1820, Dr. Bronson and Rev. Mr. Cornwall, principal and assistant of the academy, preached; 1825, Mr. Cornwall; 1828, Henry M. Mason, C. F. Cruse, Rev. Dr. Judd ; 1835, E. E. Beardsley; 1840, new church erected; 1841, Wm, F. Morgan; 1841, Frederick Miller; 1843, E. E. Beardsley; 1848, Joseph H. Nichols; 1852, Milliard Bryant; 1865, Julius H. Ward; 1868, E. M. Pecke.
In 1869, 83 families were connected with the society; 127 communicants, and 66 scholars in Sunday-school.
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EPISCOPAL ACADEMY.
The project of establishing an Episcopal Academy in the Diocese of Connecticut, was formed soon after the consecration of Dr. Seabury to the Episcopate. He, in common with his brethren of the clergy, felt most keenly the want of some literary institution where the sons of the church might receive a thorough classical education without endangering the religious predilections of their childhood.
It was a period of strong prejudice, and no little intolerance. The war of the Revolution had just closed, and the favor which the Episcopal clergy and their people had generally shown toward the mother-country in that struggle, was calculated to strengthen the prejudice of the dominant sects in the land. The ministers of the church were missionaries of the "venerable society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts," and the oath of allegiance which they were required to take previous to their ordination, and the peculiar relations in which they stood to the Bishop of London, made it in their view, as unnatural for them to resist the pretentious of the crown of England as for a child to oppose the wishes of its parents. If this were not a sufficient excuse for their loyalty, it should have palliated in some degree the heinousness of the offence, and spared the church from subsequent hostility on their account. The bishop and clergy might have been urged to the establishment of an institution of their own, by the illiberal policy of Yale college at that time.
The first record relating to the establishment of the Episcopal Academy was made in 1792. At a convention of the clergy holden at East Haddam, on the 15th of
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Feb. of that year, it was voted, "that the several clergy make inquiry of their neighboring towns and see what can be done toward erecting an Episcopal Academy, and report at the next convention." This resolution received only a verbal response, for nothing is found recorded until the year 1794, when the convention taking hold of the matter went earnestly to work, appointed a committee to prepare an address to the members of the Protestant Episcopal Church of this state, pointing out the importance of establishing an Episcopal Academy; at the same time instructing them to provide subscription papers for the purpose of obtaining the necessary funds to support such an establishment. This committee were required to report the next morning; and they reported that they had attended to the business assigned them, and recommended that a standing committee be appointed to prepare an address to be sent out among the people, pointing out the importance of such an institution, and to present a plan of the Academy, with subscription papers for raising funds for it. The Rev. Doctor Mansfield of Derby was chairman of this committee, and at the next annual convention held at Stratford, June 3, 1795, subscriptions from Wallingford and Cheshire were returned which were so favorable, that it was resolved to go on with this work at once and establish an Episcopal Academy.
A subsequent committee was appointed to receive proposals from the towns of Wallingford, Cheshire and Stratford only, until the first day of July, at which time they were to meet at Major Bellamy's tavern in Hamden, and locate the institution, in that town which they should consider the most eligible. At the same convention the Rev. John Howden, Rev. Ashbell Ballow
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and S. W. Johnson, Esq., were appointed to draft a code of by-laws for the temporary government of the institution till the next annual meeting of the convention, and also to form a constitution upon the most liberal and beneficial plan, together with a code of bylaws for the future government of the Academy, all to be submitted to the next general convention for consideration and approbation.
EPISCOPAL ACADEMY, CHESHIRE, 1840.
At the annual convention held at Cheshire, June r, 1796, the subject of the Academy was brought out and discussed, and a board of twenty trustees appointed. The latter proceeded to ballot for a principal of the Academy, and the Rev. Dr. John Bowden was unanimously elected. He accepted the call and entered on his duties as soon as the building was ready. The corner stone was laid with masonic honors, on the 28th day of April, 1796. On that occasion the late Rev. Reuben Ives, through whose influence more than to any other one man the Academy was established at Cheshire, delivered
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an address, and was followed by the Rev. Dr. Tillotson Bronson,
The building was completed in 1796, at a cost of L702 lawful money. The principal was required to teach or cause to be taught the English language, Philosophy, Mathematics, and every science usually taught at colleges; likewise the dead languages, such as Greek and Latin, and then French was to be taught whenever the funds became sufficient; also a library was to be purchased and a philosophical apparatus as soon as the funds would justify the expense. The principal had liberty to employ at any time with the advice of the trustees any gentlemen eminent in Divinity, Law, or Physics, to read lectures in these branches provided a fund be procured for that purpose. It was no doubt the intention of the founders to erect it into a college, and many of the donations were made upon this supposition, and some of the books now in the Library-the gift of private benevolence - are labelled, "Seabury College in Connecticut."
The first legitimate attempt made toward raising a fund for the endowment of the institution was in 1797-8. In the latter year a committee was appointed by the convention to ascertain the grand levy of the church in Connecticut, and a treasurer to receive all donations that might be procured. By a formal vote the convention appropriated to the benefit of the Episcopal Academy the money that had been previously collected for the purpose of sending Missionaries to the frontiers of the States. The next year, Bishop Jarvis alluded to the subject in his annual address, and measures were adopted to solicit aid, generally from the churchmen of the diocese, and to send an agent to Europe with a similar
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object in view was recommended to the trustees as soon as they have the means. The agency to Europe was never accomplished.
On the 14th day of April, 1801, the trustees met at Cheshire and resolved to petition the first Assembly then about to convene at Hartford, praying that they might be made and constituted a body politic, and corporate, by the name of the Trustees of the Episcopal Academy of Connecticut; Dr. Bowden stating that since the month of June of the year 1796 it had been open for the reception of students, and had generally in the course, sixty students. The funds amounted at this time to about three thousand dollars. The act of incorporation was passed, and the number of students was increased. Every thing was now prosperous and favorable to the success of the Academy. But a shock was given, when Dr. Bowden intimated that he should resign his office of principal, and accept the more compatible station of Professor of Moral Philosophy and Belles-Lettres in Columbia College, New York. This was in the beginning of 1802; and at a special convention held at Cheshire, April 12, of the same year, his resignation was accepted, and the Rev. Dr. Wm. Smith was unanimiously elected to supply his place. He entered at once upon his duties.
Dr. Bowden was the eldest son of Thomas Bowden, a Major in his Brittanic Majesty's 46th regiment of Foot. His early life was full of incident, as his middle age was of trial. At the time of his birth, Jan. 7, 1751, his father's regiment was stationed in Ireland. On the breaking out of the Old French War the major came to this country and made Schenectady, N. Y., his headquarters. His son John soon after followed him, under
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the charge of a clergyman of the church of England. He entered the college at Princeton, N. J., where he remained two years. The fortunes of his father called him to return home (to England). In 1770 at the age of nineteen he again crossed the Atlantic and immediately entered King's college, now Columbia, where he graduated in 1772. He was ordained in 1774 deacon, and was elected assistant minister in Trinity church, N. Y. Upon the breaking out of the revolutionary war the city churches were closed and the clergy scattered, and Dr. Bowden retired to Norwalk, Ct. He continued in the office of Professor until his death, July 31, 1817, at Ballston Springs.
Dr. William Smith entered upon his duties as principal of the Academy in the spring of 1802. The institution was in a flourishing condition. Efforts had been made to increase the funds, and regarding then the procedure as perfectly consistent with the dictates of Christian morality, a resolution was taken in April, 1801, to prefer a petition to the General Assembly for a lottery to raise the sum of four thousand pounds, to enable the trustees to purchase a library and a philosophical apparatus, and support assistant instruction. This application was unsuccessful, as was also another the next year, to obtain a lottery to raise a larger amount - the sum of twenty-eight thousand dollars. But during the October session of the Legislature of 1802, the matter was more judiciously prepared, and the act was finally passed, granting a lottery to raise the sum of fifteen thousand dollars. After considerable delay and perplexity, and no little loss in the sale of tickets, the managers closed their drawings, and the net proceeds amounted to twelve thousand dollars.
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The financial affairs of the institution being thus improved, its friends began to turn their attention to the original design of erecting it into a college. In 1804, obedient to a vote of the convention, the board of trustees resolved to petition the General Assembly for a charter empowering them to confer degrees in the arts, divinity and law, and to enjoy all the privileges of a college. This application failed, and was not again renewed during the administration of Dr. Smith. Though a man of learning, he seems not to have had the requisite qualifications of a teacher. The institution gradually languished under his care, and losing the confidence of the public, the annual convention in 1805 appointed a committee to inquire into the present condition, and make an immediate report; this report is spread at large upon the journals of that year. On the 5th day of June, Dr. Smith resigned; his resignation was accepted, and the convention, without appointing a successor, adjourned to meet at Newtown the eighth day of October. The missives that passed between Dr. Smith and the Trustees were not, as may be inferred from the tenor of his letter, altogether of a pleasant nature. Dr. Smith was a Scotchman, and received his education at one of the Universities of his native country. He left College with a good reputation as a classical scholar. He came to this country in 1787, and entered upon the duties of Rector of St. Paul's church and congregation, at Narragansett, R. I., where he continued three years. After leaving Cheshire he returned to New York, and the remainder of his days were passed between that city and Connecticut.
The Rev. Tillotson Bronson was appointed to the Academy, and for the first fifteen years of his adminis-
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tration the institution flourished and enjoyed a large share of the public confidence and patronage. In 1810 another petition was made for college privileges, but failed of success. It was again renewed and passed the house, but failed in the Senate. Dr. Bronson was born in 1762. He graduated in 1786. Ordained by Bishop Seabury 1786, and Priest Feb. 24th, 1788. Christian F. Cruse was elected to the Academy in 1831. In 1832 Rev. Dr. Judd was elected principal. He resigned in 1835.
In 1836 the Rev. Alien C. Morgan was elected principal, under whose administration the Academy flourished. He died suddenly in New York, on the 7th of Nov., 1838. The Rev. Ebenezer E. Beardsley was next appointed to the charge. After him came the Rev. Seth B. Paddock; then the Rev. Hillyard Bryant; then Rev. Mr. Ballard, who was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Horton, under whose administration the institution has flourished and been greatly enlarged by additional new buildings. Dr. Horton is now (1870), the principal of the Academy, which is in a highly prosperous and flourishing condition.