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 Two 
 
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 SEPTEMBER 30 AIVD OCTOBER 1, 1»22. 
 
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 Two 
 Hundredth Anniversary 
 
 OF 
 
 S[Ije Olljutctj of dtjnst, 
 
 QJangregational, 
 
 Ncmingtott, (fonttectirut 
 
 * * * 
 
 SEPTEMBKU 30 AIVD OCTOBER 1, 1»22. 
 
 Printed by Vote of the Standing Committee of the Church. 
 
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 nPHE words printed in this book tell us what was spoken at the 
 200th anniversary of this Church, but they can not picture for 
 us the many people who were present nor the fine spirit of the 
 occasion. 
 
 September 30th and October 1st were ideal days, and many of 
 the Church's friends and members of former years came and mingled 
 with those of the present time. The ladies of the Church served 
 dinner to a happy family of about two hundred persons. 
 
 The loan of antiques added a touch of reality to the historic 
 days mentioned in the addresses. The friendly groups, gathered to 
 renew old acquaintances, added the touch of reality to the bonds 
 of Christian love, and the music, given by those who had charge 
 of that part of the program, surrounded all with the enchantment 
 of melody. 
 
 May the years to come make the numbers greater and the bonds 
 stronger. May we all strive in His name to pass on to the next 
 generation the rich inheritance we have received from the past made 
 richer still by our own Christian experience. May our Church, 
 though old in years, be ever young in spirit and be ever ready to 
 leap to the challenge which every passing year shall bring for 
 Christian service. Let this be our prayer. 
 
 HARRY SEAVEY MARTIN, 
 . : Minister of the Church, 1922. 
 
 Olft 
 
 MAir 
 
 \9 1928 
 
NEWINGTON, CONN. 
 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1922 
 
 2:00 P.M. HISTORICAL SERVICE 
 Prelude 
 Invocation 
 
 Hymn, 553 — I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord 
 History of the Church from its organization in 1722 to 
 the close of the ministry of Rev. Joab Brace in 1855 
 E. Stanley Welles 
 Hymn, 573 — Children of the Heav'nly King 
 History of the Church from the installation of Rev. Wil- 
 liam P. Aikin in 1856 to the present time 
 William A. Willard 
 Hymn, 382 — What a Friend We Have in Jesus 
 Solo 
 Sketch of Some of the Early Families of the Parish 
 
 Mrs. Arlan P. Francis 
 Hymn, 562— Blest Be the Tie That Binds 
 
 6:00 P.M. DINNER 
 
 7:30 P.M. PRAISE SERVICE 
 
 Anthem — Jehovah's Praise 
 Anthem — Dreams of Galilee 
 Anthem — Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem 
 Hymn, 698—1 Love to Tell the Story 
 Illustrated Address — Contemporaneous Neighboring 
 Churches 
 
 Rev. Sherrod Soule, D.D. 
 Hymn, 146— God Be With You Till We Meet Again 
 
 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1922 
 
 10:30 A.M. CHURCH SERVICE 
 
 Anthem — Jerusalem My Glorious Home 
 Solo — Open the Gates of the Temple 
 Sermon — The Church of Eternity in Newington 
 Rev. H. S. Martin 
 
 12:00 M. SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 History of the Sunday School, 1818 — 1922 
 Joshua Belden 
 7:30 P.M. CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR 
 Reminiscences of the Society 
 
 Some of the Older Members 
 
 There was a Loan Exhibit of heirlooms representing the first 100 
 
 years of this period in the parish house on Saturday, 
 
 September 30th, at 1:00 P. M. 
 
HISTORICAL ADDRESS 
 
 BY EDWIN STANLEY WELLES 
 
 THE privileges of a saw-mill for making pipe staves to be ex- 
 ported to the West Indies were what really began the settlement 
 of Newington. 
 
 At a town meeting of Wethersfield held Oct. 25th, 1G77, liberty 
 was granted to Emmanuel Buck, John Riley, Samuel Boardman and 
 Joseph Riley to build a saw-mill "with sufficient ponding and also 
 twenty acres of land to each of them for ever and to be about Pipe 
 stave Swamp" — the region adjacent to our Center mill pond — "and 
 the mill to be up and fit to work at or before the last of September 
 next insuing the date hereof."* 
 
 While there is nothing to prove that this saw-mill, the second 
 in the then spacious territory of ancient Wethersfield, but the first 
 on this west side of the Connecticut River, was erected by September 
 30th, 1678, it is reasonable to suppose that by 1680, at the latest, the 
 mill and some sort of a house adjoining it, were built in Newington, 
 thus forming the tiny nucleus of the present town. 
 
 A document recently unearthed indicates that the name of the 
 first settler was John Slead, who was living "at the saw-mill house" 
 in June of 1682. It is regrettable to state that he was a troublesome 
 individual who was ejected by Farmington from its town bounds 
 at the hands of Capt. Richard Seymour. Fortunately, he remained 
 in Newington something less than 20 years ** and passed on to Port- 
 land, this state, where he died in 1719. 
 
 A tradition, probably correct, gives as the other first settlers, 
 Joseph Andrus, earlier a soldier in King Phillip's war, who came 
 over from Farmington, his two nephews, Daniel and John, who 
 followed him later, and Samuel Hunn of Wethersfield. 
 
 Newington is rightly called a daughter of Wethersfield, but it 
 is surprising to find that only one of the five pioneers came from 
 that town. 
 
 Samuel Hunn was the founder of the settlement at the North 
 End and lived on the place now owned by Mr. Albert D. Whaples. 
 Do the words on his grave-stone suggest an active, restless character? 
 
 -Wethersfield Town Votes, 1, p. 11. 
 
 -Middletown Land Records, 2, p. 50. 
 
"The flesh & bones of Samuel Hunn 
 Ly underneath this Toomb 
 oh lett them rest in Quietness 
 Until the day of Doome" 
 
 Joseph Andrus settled on the site south of the Center post office 
 where Mr. Ernest Shelton lives, and the old Andrus house was still 
 standing 25 years ago.* 
 
 His nephew, Daniel, lived at the extreme south end of what is 
 now Newington, on the farm belonging to Mr. Gustave Gronlund 
 and known as the Philo Webster homestead. Daniel's brother, John, 
 also located in that section of the parish. 
 
 The noticeable feature in this settlement is the distance each 
 settler was from the other, a distance from lack of roads, of serious 
 import. 
 
 It makes it clear, however, that these founders had little, if any 
 fear of the neighboring Indians, whose "wigwams around the mill 
 pond," were, as an old chronicler informs us, "near as thick as the 
 houses in a city." Otherwise, a compact settlement would have been 
 imperative. 
 
 For 30 years after the building of the saw-mill near our Center 
 Mill Pond, we are left to conjecture what was happening in the little 
 hamlet west of Cedar Mountain. 
 
 It is evident that there was no large migration into our valley, 
 but a steady, gradual growth of inhabitants. 
 
 We know they were obliged to make the toilsome passage over 
 the wooded mountain and across the swamp beyond, to attend divine 
 worship in the Wethersfield meeting house, a task that challenged 
 the strongest men on some of those winter Sundays, with drifting 
 snows and a temperature below zero. 
 
 How women and children got over there, as they must have, is 
 an enigma. 
 
 It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that in 1708, they made 
 their discontent known by petitioning for the privileges of a dis- 
 trict parish. 
 
 After a delay of 2 years, the town of Wethersfield granted them 
 liberty to worship God "amongst themselves," for the four harsh 
 months of December, January, February and March. 
 
 This half-way covenant was scarcely satisfactory, and 2 years 
 later the inhabitants in this West Division again petitioned for a 
 separate parish. 
 
 This time their importunity prevailed and a committee appointed 
 for the purpose, reported at a town meeting held Mar. 23, 1713, that 
 the proposed meeting house should be located "on that piece of 
 cleared land adjacent to the house of Joseph Hurlbut and John 
 Griswold, westerly, about the middle of said land." At the May 
 session of the General Court of that year, the new parish was char- 
 tered, and the choice of the site of the proposed meeting house was 
 confirmed by a committee of the General Court in October, 1715. 
 * — It burnt down Dec. S, 1897. 
 
/ 
 
 This site, it should be explained, was south of the residence of Mrs. 
 Henry M. Robbins, and was subsequently relinquished in favor of 
 the one north of the house of Joseph Andrus at the Center, where 
 the meeting house was erected. The first recorded meeting of our 
 Ecclesiastical Society was held on the 5th day of April, 1716, at the 
 house of James Francis who, it is thought, lived across the street 
 to the south of the present residence of Mrs. William T. Wells. It 
 was then voted to raise the new meeting house "in this instant month 
 April," and a committee, consisting of John Stoddard, Samuel Hunn 
 and Stephen Buck, was chosen to have charge of the undertaking. 
 Josiah Willard — let his name be remembered — was elected the first 
 clerk of the new Society, an office he faithfully filled for 28 years. 
 
 He was its first recorded treasurer, and subsequently was a 
 deacon until his death in 1757. The first Society's committee was 
 chosen at the meeting held December 2, 1717, and the men comprising 
 it were Jabez Whittlesey, Joseph Andrus and John Deming. 
 
 Of these, John Deming was the first deacon of our church, while 
 Jabez Whittlesey was the second, and Joseph Andrus's son, Joshua, 
 succeeded Josiah Willard as deacon at the latter's death. 
 
 Significance attaches to the date of the Society's meeting of 
 Dec. 15th, 1718, as the name NEWINGTON first appears, without 
 explanation, in the records of that meeting. Why was it so called? 
 
 Dr. Brace understood that it was "out of regard to the place 
 
 of Dr. Watts's residence near London, and as a testimony of the 
 love for the character and writings of that eminent minister and 
 poet, which has ever been felt by the people of this place." 
 
 His is the only authority we have on the subject. 
 
 It was nearly 4 years after the first Society's meeting, that a 
 committee was selected to invite a minister to settle over the new 
 parish. The man invited was Mr. Nathaniel Burnham of Wethers- 
 field, brother of the Rev. William Burnham of Kensington, and a 
 graduate of Yale in 1709, who never became a settled minister, pre- 
 sumably preferring the secular life. He declined, and a few months 
 later, in April, 1720, the Rev. Elisha Williams, also then living in 
 Wethersfield, was called to be the pastor here. 
 
 For the first time at the meeting of the Society held September 
 5, 1722, is there mention of the choice of a moderator. On that 
 occasion Jabez Whittlesey — he of unyielding character — was chosen, 
 with the stern injunction that "if any man shall presume to speek 
 without Liberty he shall forfit the sum of one shilling." The day 
 of gathering informally at the Society's meeting was over. 
 
 The building of the new meeting house had been lagging: indeed 
 in its 80 years of existence, it never was a completely finished edifice. 
 It stood about opposite Mr. George Pittsinger's house, fronting closely 
 the street which then ran where the trolley tracks do now. 
 
Rude, unpainted, and hardly fit for use, the Rev. Elisha Williams 
 had been officiating in it for 2 years, when at a meeting, September 
 12, 1722, it was voted, "to keep wensday the 3d of October next 
 ensuing as a fast to implore devine assistance of God in gathering 
 a Church of Christ hear and in the ordination of the Revd. Mr. 
 Elisha Williams." 
 
 And on Wednesday, Oct. 3rd, 1722, kept as a solemn fast day, 
 this church of Christ was duly organized and the Rev. Mr. Williams 
 ordained, with the assistance of the Rev. Stephen Mix of Wethers- 
 field and the Rev. Samuel Whitman of Farmington. 
 
 The little company that gathered weekly in that ancient meeting 
 house was doubtless summoned by the beating of a drum, for the 
 Society's committee was authorized to purchase one, and tho the 
 vote does not state for what purpose, the reason for its purchase 
 is evident. 
 
 The earliest church records are lost, but it must have been a 
 small flock that Mr. Williams began to tend as its spiritual shepherd. 
 
 The slow progress in making the house of worship habitable, 
 would indicate that the people were weak in both numbers and 
 means. 
 
 They were strained to the utmost to provide a meeting house 
 and a parsonage at the same time. 
 
 A year after the organization of the church we find mention of 
 the institution next to it, dearest to the minds and hearts of our 
 New England ancestors — the school. 
 
 Dec. 31, 1723, Jabez Whittlesey and Isaac Buck were appointed 
 "a school Comtee and the Cuntry Money to them to defray part 
 of the charg of a school." At first the school was kept in a private 
 dwelling: indeed it was thus kept for many years at both ends of 
 the parish, and for a number of years at the so-called "west side," 
 toward Stanley Quarter. 
 
 6 years after the appointment of a school committee, a com- 
 mittee, consisting of Ebenezer Kilbourn and Nathaniel Churchill, 
 was chosen to cover the school house which stood off the commons 
 near the green, which was somewhat south and southwest of the 
 present green. This was the first school house in Newington, and 
 it was undoubtedly completed and ready for use in 1730. 
 
 Another necessary adjunct to a New England settlement was the 
 pound, a square enclosure, familiar in my boyhood days, now un- 
 known here. 
 
 In 1726, Ebenezer Kilbourn, who had been the local constable, 
 a man of considerable influence, was chosen to have charge of erecting 
 the pound, and to serve as pound keeper. 
 
 When I was a boy, Erastus Kilbourn, a descendant of Ebenezer, 
 was pound keeper and used to step across the street from the Kil- 
 bourn homestead, to let in and let out the impounded animals. For 
 generations, the Kilbourns seem to have acted as pound keepers. 
 
sextons and grave diggers. The original pound, it should be said, was 
 in the rear of the first meeting house, and only separated from it 
 by a lane or passage way. 
 
 In our chronology we are already getting beyond the pastorate 
 of the Rev. Elisha Williams. Some sentences should be devoted to 
 this extraordinary man. 
 
 He was born in Hatfield, Mass.; a Harvard graduate, he married 
 Miss Eunice Chester of Wethersfield, and was for a time tutor of 
 the Yale refugee students staying in that town. After 6 years of 
 service as first pastor of our church, he was honored with a call to 
 become Rector or President of Yale College. He was a versatile man, 
 of brilliant parts and his parishioners parted with him, with great 
 reluctance, as well they might. After 13 years of service at Yale 
 College, he resigned on account of ill health and returned to Wethers- 
 field, but his years of usefulness were by no means over. 
 
 He was Representative to the General Assembly for 22 sessions, 
 5 of which. hg served as Speaker of the House; he was a Judge of 
 the Supp&Ki£ Court, a Colonel of a regiment raised to go to Canada, 
 and Colonial Agent to Great Britain. He was not quite 61 years of 
 age when he died July 24, 1755 in Wethersfield. He must have been, 
 as President Stiles depicted him, "a man of splendor." He lived, 
 while in Newington, in a large house of which I have an indistinct 
 recollection, on the knoll across the street, south of the residence of 
 Mr. Harry C. Goodale, where one can picture him gazing at the sweet 
 meadow scenery spread out before him, and the glorious winter sun- 
 sets over the sparkling wastes of snow. 
 
 It was not until the year of Mr. Williams's removal to Yale 
 College that an acre of ground, some rods northwest of the meeting 
 house, was set apart for burial purposes. 
 
 The inscription on the grave-stone informs the reader, that Lydia, 
 wife of Pelatiah Buck, a young woman of 27, who died July 29, 1726, 
 was "the first that was laid in this yard." Was Mr. Williams able to 
 officiate on that sad occasion? We do not know. 
 
 His successor, the Rev. Simon Backus, who was ordained here 
 Dec. 28, 1726, must have been present at the second burial, that of 
 Simon Willard who died Jan. 8, 1727, at the age of 65, and was. as 
 his head-stone tells us, "the first Male laid in this Yard." 
 
 There is no mention in the Society records of a grave digger 
 until 25 years after the first interment, when at the annual meeting 
 in December, 1751, Timothy Kilbourn was appointed "a Sextone to 
 dig graves in this Society." Did some friend or neighbor perform 
 that necessary task before that date? 
 
 A year earlier the Society had voted to have "a Bier" provided for 
 carrying the dead to their graves. 23 years later Josiah Willard was 
 authorized to buy a "funeral cloth" or pall, and at the beginning of 
 the following century, "Arthur Andrus was appointed to make Coffins 
 for those that apply in this Society." 
 
 It was very generally the custom in early New England to pay 
 
scant attention to the appearance of "God's acre." Briars, weeds and 
 grasses grew riotously together. Dr. Brace states that even in his 
 day, the burying ground "lay open to the highway and was trodden 
 by all manner of feet," and in 1753 we discover this odd vote that 
 Lieut. Ebenezer Kilbourn "may have the Liberty to Inclose the 
 Burying Place If he Pleases." 
 
 Perhaps the cows of Lieut. Kilbourn who lived close by, with 
 no fence to prohibit, caused him some inconvenience by straying into 
 the unprotected burying ground, where there was more herbage 
 than graves. 
 
 The duty of caring for the meeting house was a simple one then, 
 and was quite often entrusted to some woman living near by, for 
 there was no bell to ring and no fires to kindle or tend. This task 
 was for years called "Sweeping out the Meeting house," and widow 
 Elizabeth Andrus, to whose house one winter's day the Society's 
 meeting adjourned, appears on the records as the first to perform 
 that menial but essential work, for which she received the sum of 
 £1-12 shillings for the year 1723. 
 
 Widow Sarah Whaples did the "sweeping out" for 5 years at 
 least, and Sergeant Caleb Andrus for a longer period. Later Eunice 
 Kilbourn was for a number of years the sweeper, as was also her 
 sister Happy. 
 
 For over a hundred years after the close of Mr. Williams's min- 
 istry there was no bell to call the people to worship. 
 
 It has already been noticed that the Ecclesiastical Society was 
 exercising jurisdiction over civil as well as church aflfairs, and a 
 minute of the doings of a meeting held Dec. 15, 1729, records a vote 
 that the Society's committee, Joseph Hurlbut, Capt. John Camp and 
 Ensign Richard Boardman should have "as ful power as ye selectmen 
 in ye town as to ye business of our Society." 
 
 At first it would seem as if this vote were a direct challenge 
 to the authority of the selectmen of Wethersfield. A little study of 
 our Colonial statutes and of the acts of the early towns, satisfies one 
 that such was not the case. While by law the selectmen were to 
 "order the prudential occasions of the Town," * as a matter of fact, 
 the powers exercised by them were far more limited than those of 
 our present selectmen, and the selectmen of Wethersfield no doubt 
 accepted the action of our Society as the customary procedure in 
 the management of new parishes. 
 
 It clearly shows that the parish was largely a distinct, self- 
 governing unit, and it was the independent, self-reliant spirit bred 
 and manifested in our towns and parishes, that later powerfully con- 
 tributed to bringing on the Revolution. 
 
 The Rev. Simon Backus, of Norwich, was the second pastor of 
 this church.. He was graduated from Yale in 1724, and was in his 
 27th year when he was ordained here, Dec. 19, 1726. He did not 
 marry for nearly 3 years after his ordination, and then he went out- 
 side of his parish, and took as his bride Miss Eunice Edwards of East 
 Windsor, a sister of the famous Jonathan Edwards, one of the most 
 
 * — The vote entered for the choice of the society's committee sometimes used almost 
 the Scune language, viz: — "to order the prudentials of our Society." 
 
original thinkers of America, and it is of interest to know that the 
 celebrated divine occasionally visited his sister and preached to our 
 people. The ministry of Mr. Backus was uneventful. After serving 
 here quietly for nearly 19 years, he was appointed by Governor Law, 
 chaplain of the Connecticut troops in their expedition against Louis- 
 burg on Isle Cape Breton in 1745. Many of the soldiers, encamped 
 there, fell victims to a prevailing epidemic, and doubtless enfeebled 
 by his constant ministrations to them, Mr. Backus succumbed to the 
 malady himself, and died Feb. 2, 1746, and was buried there. 
 
 Dr. Brace believed him to have been "a substantial, orthodox, 
 pious minister that gave good satisfaction to the people," and with 
 this testimony we must be content. 
 
 It has been mentioned that a school house at the Center was 
 built about 1730. It must have been a flimsy structure, for it did 
 not last for more than about 24 years, for at the meeting of August 
 17th, 1756, it was voted that the school "be kept into two parts & 
 the one Part to be kept yearly as near the Dwelling house of Daniel 
 Williard southwardly as may be the other near the Dwelling house 
 of Heirs of Revd. Mr. Simon Backus." 
 
 This indicates that the school house near the green was either 
 gone or unfit for use, and for nearly 30 years the middle portion of 
 the parish remained without a school building. 
 
 The second school house in Newington was built at the North 
 End in 1757, as an entry on the Society records shows. Dec. 1, 1760, 
 the Society voted that "the school be kept the year ensueing three 
 months in the winter season in two Places one at the school house 
 near Daniel Williards and at the south end near the widd. Robbins," 
 and then it passed this suggestive vote that "the school be kept three 
 months in the summer at three places one at each end and in near 
 the middle of the Society by a school Dame." 
 
 This is the first notice of a female teacher in Newington, and 
 she was to teach only during the summer when the larger boys would 
 be at work on the farm. 
 
 In his "Early New England Schools," Mr. Small states that "the 
 instruction in these dame schools was very elementary: the rudiments 
 of spelling, reading in the New England Primer and the Psalter, and 
 learning the catechism comprised it all, except in a few cases; rarely 
 was writing or arithmetic touched upon. Knitting and sewing were 
 generally taught the girls."* It is doubtful if the male teachers taught 
 much besides reading, writing, arithmetic and the catechism. 
 
 The third school house was built at the South End. On Jan. 14th, 
 1771, it was voted that "two more school houses be Built . . one 
 near the Southerly Corner of Lieut. Martin Kellogg's home lot and 
 the other near Francis Deming's home lot the school houses [to] 
 be Built by subscriptions." 
 
 As the school house at the South End is mentioned in the records 
 of a meeting, Dec. 23rd, 1773, it was probably built that year. 
 
 In a deed of Jedidiah Mills dated April 24, 1784, it speaks of a 
 "school House now building near to Capn. Martin Kellogg's," 
 
 » — Early New England Schools, p. 182. 
 
proving that the second school house at the Center, and the one 
 which I attended as a boy, was constructed in 1784. It is certainly 
 surprising that it was not built for 13 years after it was voted. 
 
 Was the long delay due at first to the necessity of building it by 
 subscriptions, and then to the coming on of the Revolution which 
 turned men's minds and means in a single direction? 
 
 It would be most pleasing to commemorate by name the first 
 woman teacher of Newington, but the records are silent as to that. 
 From private sources we learn that Miss Esther Latimer taught 
 the middle school in 1796 and in 1802, doubtless for the summer terms. 
 
 It is possible, however, to mention a few of the early school 
 masters. The first one recorded was Capt. Martin Kellogg. 
 
 He was one of the notable men of this place. Taken captive by 
 the Indians in their raid on Deerfield the last day of February, 1704, 
 when he was a lad of 17, he sufifered untold hardships at their hands 
 during the several years of his captivity, made three desperate 
 escapes, the last of which was successful, married Miss Dorothy 
 Chester of Wethersfield, and came over here in 1734. He taught 
 school in Newington in 1741, and it is agreeable to learn that the 
 Rev. Mr. Backus preached to the young people of the parish in 
 November of that year at Capt. Kellogg's home, the house formerly 
 occupied by the Rev. Mr. Williams. One may readily conjecture 
 that Capt. Kellogg requested such a service for the young people in 
 whom he was peculiarly interested. 
 
 Some years later Capt. Kellogg instructed 12 Indian boys who 
 came down here from Stockbridge, Mass., for that purpose. 
 
 He was a true philanthopist and Newington was much the poorer 
 when his honored life closed on the 13th of November, 1753. 
 
 David Webster's name appears as that of a school master, 
 "some years past" in 1758, and in December, 1762, it was voted to 
 pay him £2-8 shillings for "keeping school." During the period of 
 the Revolutionary war, three men, all from the North End, were 
 teaching school here: Josiah Willard, Daniel Willard, Jr. and Joseph 
 Camp. Among the Willard papers are some lists of children taught 
 at the South school in December, 1766, and at the North school in 
 the winters of 1768 and 1769. 
 
 Probably Josiah Willard was the teacher, as Daniel Willard, Jr. 
 was scarcely old enough at that time for such employment. 
 
 As Newington was noteworthy for the large number of school 
 teachers it produced, those mentioned include only a few of the 
 many who served in that capacity. 
 
 When the Rev. Simon Backus bade a last farewell to his wife 
 in the spring of 1745, and departed as chaplain on that fateful expe- 
 dition to Louisburg, he had been living with his family in the 
 parsonage on the rise of ground across the street west of the old 
 Martin Robbins homestead, and after his death, his widow remained 
 there for some 5 years. 
 
 His successor, the Rev. Joshua Bclden lived in his own house 
 which stood about on the site of that part of the mansion occupied 
 
by his great grand daughter, Miss JuUa Belden. 
 
 He was the first and only one of our ministers to be a native of 
 Wethersfield, was like Mr. Backus, a graduate of Yale, and at the 
 time of his ordination, Nov. 11, 1747, 23 years of age. It is impossible 
 to go into the details of his long and eventful ministry of 56 years. 
 According to his own record there were 97 church members in full 
 communion when he began his pastorate. 
 
 Two wars, the French and Indian, and the Revolutionary war 
 which made serious inroads in his small parish, occurred during his 
 ministry. 
 
 He watched the decaying condition of the old meeting house 
 which became so dilapidated as to invite depredations, so that twice 
 the Society's committee was directed to prosecute effectually those 
 who had damaged it. 
 
 As early as 1779, in the midst of the Revolution, the people be- 
 gan to realize that something would have to be done about the 
 matter, for it was voted that year, that a meeting be warned "to 
 consider about building a new meeting House or repairing the old 
 one." 
 
 5 j^ears later it was decided by "a majority of more than two 
 thirds of the Voters to build a New Meeting House for Divine 
 Worship." 
 
 The story of the struggles, often bitter, for 13 years, to locate 
 the new meeting house, which must have grieved the heart of Mr. 
 Belden, can not be told here. 
 
 At one time, the site chosen was on the Back Lane, southwest of 
 the Mill Pond, then on Blinn Hill, to the southwest of the present 
 parsonage, again, northeast across the street from the Rector Wil- 
 liams house, and yet again, "near the West end of the Burying Yard," 
 until in the end, wisdom prevailed and the most sightly and con- 
 venient spot was selected where this building stands, the cornerstone 
 of which bears the date, "Sep. 1797." 
 
 We must picture the men and women as sitting apart at worship 
 for nearly 50 years, for it was not until 1770 that it was voted that 
 "men and their wifes be seated together." 
 
 From the minutes of a meeting held 6 years earlier, we learn 
 the order then existing, of seating the meeting house. 
 
 It is instructive as showing who in those days were given the 
 precedence in the selection of pews. 
 
 This is the order: — 
 
 First, List, by which the tax list is meant. 
 
 Second, Age. 
 
 Third, Parentage, and 
 
 Last of all, Usefulness. 
 
 I need not comment on this, except to remark that such an 
 arrangement to-day would be considered intolerable. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Belden had many trials, among which was this: 
 Early in his ministry his salary was not paid in money, a scarce 
 commodity, but in grain and wood, namely: — 
 
100 bushels of wheat 
 150 bushels of rye 
 150 bushels of corn 
 30 bushels of oats and 
 IG cords of green oak or walnut wood. 
 
 It is obvious that some of his parishioners might contribute 
 inferior grain, perhaps at times necessarily, but at other times, to 
 get the better of the minister. 
 
 At all events, Mr. Belden bore this one-sided agreement as long 
 as he could, and it was not until 1773, that the Society learning by 
 experience that "the grain was found not to be an Equal Standard 
 which has occasioned frequent uneasiness 8i Disquietude to the Dis- 
 turbance of the Peace & harmony in the Society & of wrongs being 
 done," voted to pay him £70, "Lawfull money," with the use of the 
 parsonage and wood as before. 
 
 Here ended, we may be sure, that particular trial. 
 
 Mr. Belden was what might be called a "bookish" man, and 
 it is very possible that the first public library called "The Newington 
 Library," started in 1752, 5 years after his ordination, owed its origin 
 to him.* 
 
 Mr. Belden had the sorrow of seeing his congregation badly 
 depleted by the calls for men and youth to serve in the Revolution, 
 and by the long protracted dissensions arising out of the location of 
 the second meeting house. 
 
 He survived both his wives, and when he retired in 1803, he was 
 apparently an infirm old man, for Dr. Brace states that tho he 
 lived 10 years longer, he never preached in his pulpit after his ordin- 
 ation in 1805. With no wife and children at home, he vacated his 
 house and in 1808, went to live with the family of his son, Doctor 
 Joshua Belden, whose death that year in the prime of life, must have 
 been a crushing blow to him. In the home of his son's widow, the 
 house now occupied by Mr. Le Roy Redick, east of the Center green, 
 he lived for 5 years, dying there July 23, 1813, at the ripe old age of 
 89. His grave is among those of his parishioners in our church-yard 
 at the Center. 
 
 Dr. Brace who came to know him well, sums up his character 
 in these words, "He was sound in the faith, dignified and circumspect 
 in his conversation, a conscientious, holy, praying man." He might 
 have added that he was an intense patriot during the Revolution 
 arousing his people to make any sacrifice for the cause of liberty. 
 
 It should also be said in conclusion that he was at Yale, a class- 
 mate of the saintly missionary, David Brainerd, and all his life a 
 supporter of the liberal theology of the great evangelist, George 
 Whitefield, whom he entertained and with whom he enjoyed sweet 
 communion as they strolled together along the lane back of Mr. 
 Belden's residence. 
 
 During the long ministry of Mr. Belden the territorial limits were 
 fixed practically as they are to-day. 
 
 -Some of the first books of that Library bear his autograph. 
 
Originally the parish formed a parallelogram about 7 miles long 
 by 2 miles and 50 rods wide, and embraced the region known as 
 Beckley Quarter in. the present town of Berlin. 
 
 The residents of Beckley Quarter, comprising 8 or 10 families, 
 were so far removed from what we now call the Center, that they 
 desired to be united to the Great Swamp or Kensington Society. 
 After a series of negotiations, an exchange was effected in October, 
 1715, whereby this parish lost that section and gained in its place 
 the Stanley Quarter section. Some here may be surprised to learn 
 that until 1754, when the new parish of New Britain was established, 
 the west boundary line of Newington was at least 130 rods west of 
 Stanley Quarter street. For 7 years after the ordination of Mr. 
 Belden, certain families still came from that long distance to worship 
 here. 
 
 In 1794, Enoch Kelsey, living far to the south of our meeting 
 house but in our parish, petitioned with some others, that a tract 
 of land on which they lived, adjoining the Society of Worthington, 
 now a part of Berlin, be annexed to it, and their petition was granted, 
 so another piece was subtracted from our territory. 
 
 The process of diminishing the comparatively small area of our 
 parish, began as soon as possible, continued intermittently, and, as 
 some of us suspect, has not yet ended. 
 
 For a while after the retirement of the Rev. Mr. Belden, and be- 
 fore the ordination of Mr. Brace, the Rev. Aaron Cleveland supplied 
 the pulpit. He was the great grand-father of President Grover Cleve- 
 land, and used to come down here to ofificiate from Elmwood where 
 he was living with Samuel Talcott, in a house jointly owned by him 
 and Mr. Talcott, now occupied by the latter's grand-daughters, the 
 Misses Talcott. 
 
 An account was sent in to the "Connecticut Courant" from New- 
 ington, of a Fourth of July celebration in 1804, when Mr. Cleveland 
 delivered, so we are informed, "a sermon suitable to the occasion," 
 from Mark III, 24. Colonel Levi Lusk and Capt. Absalom Welles 
 had charge of the celebration and the Sons of Liberty marched in 
 procession, Capt. Robert Francis and company in front, to the house 
 of Mrs. Blinn "where a handsome dinner was provided." "After a 
 temperate regalement," so the account reads, "a number of patriotic 
 toasts were drunk with the discharge of musquetry." 
 
 "Their dispersion at 6 o'clock witnessed their decorum and love 
 of good order."* 
 
 The Rev. Joab Brace, affectionately known as "Father Brace," 
 was born in West Hartford in 1781, and was graduated from Yale 
 College in 1804, the distinguished statesman, John C. Calhoun, being 
 one of his class-mates. 
 
 He preached his first sermon in Ellington where he conducted 
 the service for the Rev. Diodate Brockway, who fell 65 feet from the 
 steeple of his church, and lived 45 years afterwards to tell the tale 
 of his miraculous preservation. 
 
 The next Sunday, Oct. 7th, 1804, he rode down from his native 
 
 -Connecticut Courant, Wednesday, July 18, 1804. 
 
town, an utter stranger along a lonely road, to the house of Deacon 
 James Welles, then living on the site of Mr. Walker's residence, 
 who escorted him to this building where he preached from that in- 
 spiring text, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." He 
 was consecrated here Jan. 16, 1805, and like his predecessor, spent his 
 entire ministry of 50 years in Newington. There are a few living 
 among us who remember Dr. Brace.** 
 
 He was a tall, spare man, of vigorous health, with dark, piercing 
 eyes and a sonorous voice, intimately acquainted with the experiences, 
 both of joy and sorrow, of the families in his parish, and often laying 
 his hand in benediction on the heads of their children. 
 
 My mother often repeated his blessing on her first born child, 
 "The Lord bless him!" and believed in the efficacy of that benediction. 
 He loved the people of Newington almost as much as he did his own 
 family, and he taught them, by his own example, many lessons in 
 every-day living, as those of thrift, the consecration of a tenth of 
 one's income to the Lord, the scrupulous observance of the ten com- 
 mandments and, at all times, a spirit of sturdy self-reliance in de- 
 pendence on God. 
 
 His impress on our lives still lives. His wife, Lucy Collins, of 
 West Hartford, whom he married a year after his ordination, was 
 quite as remarkable as he, heartily co-operating with him in every 
 good work, and displaying unusual abilities of mind and heart. The 
 cause of Missions both at home and abroad was fostered by them. 
 Our Sunday School was organized during Dr. Brace's ministry, and 
 the distilleries here ceased their operations under his pleas for tem- 
 perance. For 30 years he kept a sort of select school in his own 
 house, attended in all by about 200 students, "out of which," he wrote, 
 "some came to be teachers, lawyers, physicians, ministers, members 
 of Congress and officers in Missionary institutions." 
 
 For reasons already stated, the church had been sadly depleted 
 during the latter part of Mr. Belden's ministry, and when Dr. Brace 
 entered upon his work here there were only 51 church members, a 
 little over one-half as many as greeted Mr. Belden at his ordination. 
 
 Dr. Brace believed with all his heart in prayerful, evangelical 
 work among his people, and as a result of the revival services of the 
 ardent Nettleton in 1821, more members were added to the church in 
 that year than the entire number at the beginning of his ministry. 
 
 When Dr. Brace came here the burying ground was unfenced, the 
 meeting house was unhealed; there was no direct road to Hartford; 
 one was obliged either to go over the mountain to Wethersfield and 
 then up, or around by way of West Hartford.* 
 
 Letters for Newington people were left to be called for either in 
 Wethersfield or Hartford. There were no carpets in the houses, and 
 the music to be heard was that of the spinning wheel. 
 
 There was no bell in this edifice until 1828, and never an organ. 
 Nearly all who did not walk, rode on horseback to meeting. Works 
 of divinity, with a sprinkling of history and biography, and now and 
 then a surreptitious novel, were the books read by the people. At 
 
 -He died in Pittsfield, Mass., at the home of the Rev. Dr. John Todd, his son-in- 
 law, Apr. 20, 1861, and lies buried in our Newington church yard. 
 
 • — This was, of course, by the way of Francis Ave. to West Hartford main street. 
 
the most, they did not number at any period of his pastorate more 
 than 700 and were a homogeneous, farming community. 75 years ago 
 at this season of the year, every day for several weeks, ox teams 
 loaded with potatoes could have been seen wending their way to 
 Hartford from the farms of Newington, thousands of bushels of them. 
 
 Nothing has been said about the military history of Newington. 
 
 I shall be brief in alluding to it. 
 
 Our men were principally engaged in three wars: — The French 
 and Indian War, and the War of the Revolution, during Mr. Belden's 
 ministry, as has been said, and the War of 1812, during Dr. Brace's 
 pastorate. 
 
 In the French and Indian War, at least 30 young men went out 
 from Newington, some of them serving under the veteran campaigner, 
 Capt. Ephalet Whittlesey, of this place, and others under Capt. John 
 Paterson of Stanley Quarter. 
 
 This parish was almost drained of its men during the anxious 
 years of the Revolution. In 1776 our parish numbered 467 persons, a.'^rJ) hJ^,.. 
 Capt, EliphalctWhittloocy, of thio place , and oth e rs uudci Cci pt. John a^ S'i^»^ tU^V*. 
 and sons, saw actual service in that war.* 
 
 Charles Churchill, a man of the greatest influence in church and 
 town aflfairs, served as Captain and three of his sons as privates, the 
 youngest being only 9 years of age at the outbreak of the war. 
 
 Martin Kellogg hurried to enlist in that first call to arms, the 
 Lexington Alarm in 1775, became a Captain, and subsequently a 
 Major-General of the Militia. 
 
 Roger Welles served as a Captain under LaFayette, was present 
 at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and died at 41 a Briga- 
 dier-General of the Militia. 
 
 Levi Lusk was a private in Col. Wolcott's regiment before Bos- 
 ton, a Brigadier-General in the War of 1812 and later was promoted to 
 a Major-General of the Militia. 
 
 In the War of 1812, 40 men from Newington comprised the 5th 
 Company of the 6th Regiment of Militia, serving under Capt. Joseph 
 Camp, who afterwards became a Colonel. 
 
 These military leaders from Newington, it should be noted, loved 
 this church and were foremost in its service. 
 
 And now, in closing, may I oflfer a brief survey of that period in 
 this parish previous to 1855? It may, as a whole, be described as 
 provincial. 
 
 When Dr. Brace recorded the dismission of Mary Cole, in 1827, 
 to Hannibal, New York, near Lake Ontario, he wrote in parenthesis, 
 "Western Country." 
 
 Those young adventurers called "Forty-Niners," one of whom 
 set out from Newington, the late John S. Kirkham, sailed round Cape 
 Horn to reach their destination in California, which was practically 
 a new continent. Of creature comforts there were scarcely any. 
 
 Those miracles — the automobile, the airplane, the submarine, the 
 telephone, the electric light and the electric car, artificial heat and 
 wireless telegraphy — to mention a few, had not appeared. 
 
 • — In 1779 Dea. John Camp collected 106 pounds, 10 shillings, 8 pence half penny 
 in continental money from the people of Newinpton, for the relief of the people 
 of New Haven, Fairfield and Norwalk, who suffered from Tryon's invasion. 
 
The discovery of steam as a motive power and the invention ol 
 the cotton gin, revolutionary factors in the industrial world, were 
 only beginning to be felt in Dr. Brace's day, and the use of petroleum 
 was practically unknown. 
 
 Slavery still existed in the land, and while it had largely disap- 
 peared from Connecticut by the time of Dr. Brace's pastorate, we 
 know that his predecessor in the ministry kept slaves, as did a few 
 of his influential parishioners. Aristocracy and wealth walked hand 
 in hand and dominated in church and state. Tolerance was a scarce 
 virtue. 
 
 Federalism was the political faith of most of our Newington 
 ancestors. Wethersfield was one of the strongholds of Federalism, 
 and when the liberal forces of Connecticut secured the Constitutional 
 Convention of 1818, Gen. Levi Lusk of this parish, one of the two 
 delegates from the parent town, voted against the proposed constitu- 
 tion, which when adopted by the people, forever broke the power of 
 Federalism, so strongly entrenched in church and state. 
 >tP-m_ /60 ^^1^^ That explosive doctrine, known as the Darwinian theory of evo- 
 i:^^ ^aX^^^-e/f-^ lution, had not made its momentous effects felt in this quiet com- 
 munity. In those days the sermon was magnified as it is with some 
 
 today. 
 
 Formality attended the Minister, and rigidity his theology. A 
 belief in the literal inspiration of the Scriptures was in vogue, and 
 the sanctions of the Old Testament were widely appealed to. The 
 clouds of that dreadful doctrine of the predestination of some to 
 eternal damnation, largely overhung the blue sky of God's encom- 
 passing love. Yet an earnestness, a fearlessness, a zeal for righteous- 
 ness, a desire to seek and to obey God's will, humility before Him, a 
 willing acceptance of drudgery and hard work and the acquisitive 
 spirit, characterized those men and women. 
 
 How much we have to be thankful for, as we stand on the 
 threshold of the third century of this church's organization! 
 
 With our lives surrounded by influences to enlarge and enrich 
 them spiritually and mentally, with widened visions of truth, with the 
 heritage of those blessed lives, gone on, but still inspiriting us, let us 
 be grateful for all the past, and ready for all the future! 
 
 HISTORICAL ADDRESS 
 
 BY WILLIAM A. WILLARD OF HARTFORD 
 
 THE people of Newington have from their earliest days been a 
 cultured, church-loving people. Early in their history they built 
 their church on this, the best spot of land they could find, choosing 
 a location most convenient for all. Their public schools also had and 
 still have their earnest and careful attention. Their cemetery, where 
 sleep their fathers, also receives their watchful oversight, and its well 
 kept grounds and the evidence of the care the monuments and grave- 
 marks receive, reflect credit to the people of the Town and to the 
 State. 
 
There, carved in granite, we read the name of Rev. Joab Brace, 
 D.D., who for 56 years preached the Word of God in the church that 
 still shadows the peaceful spot where he sleeps among the people he 
 loved and cared for, and to whose interests he devoted the best of his 
 long life. 
 
 Among the old and time-worn stones in this beautiful cemetery 
 we can still read the names of the early settlers of the town, buried 
 there nearly 200 years ago. One of them Dr. Brace mentioned in 
 his 50th anniversary discourse, the name of Simon Willard, buried 
 Uiere Jan. 8, 1727, and recorded as "the first Male laid in this Yard." 
 
 Simon Willard was a son of Josiah Willard, an early settler of the 
 Town of Wethersfield, of which Newington was once a part, owning 
 over 200 acres of land there on Broad street (now known), a part of 
 his land lying on the east side of Connecticut River, now Glastonbury. 
 Josiah Willard, the settler, was son of Major Simon Willard of 
 Kent County, England, an early pioneer to America in the year 1634 
 who with the Rev. Peter Bulkeley (ancestor of U. S. Senator Hon. 
 Morgan G. Bulkeley) founded the Town of Concord, Mass., purchas- 
 ing the land from the Indians, and because of the peaceful settlement 
 they named their town "Concord." 
 
 Before the people of Newington built their first church on this 
 sacred ground they traveled on foot over the mountain to attend 
 the church at Wethersfield and, as is recorded, the women carrying 
 their infant children in their arms and the men carrying their loaded 
 guns with them to protect from the Indians. 
 
 The Sabbath was sacredly kept by our forefathers here. It 
 began at sun-down on Saturday night, when all work ceased, till 
 sun-down on Sunday. Parents and children attended divine worship. 
 The Bible was read in the homes and the children taught its truths 
 and its teachings as laid down in the catechism, much of which they 
 committed to memory and we can truly say put into practice in their 
 daily lives and intercourse with their fellow men. There were no 
 jails or prisons in those early days of Wethersfield and Newington, 
 the influence of the "Mayflower compact" in which men agreed to be 
 true to God and to their fellow men, the principles on which this 
 land was founded still guided our early settlers here in Newington, 
 and the influence is still held for good among its peace-loving people. 
 It was the custom during Dr. Brace's long administration as 
 pastor of this church for the children to show respect and reverence 
 for their minister. If a group of children were walking along the 
 road and the minister approached, the children would stand on either 
 side of the road and the boys remove their hats and the girls make 
 their courtesies of respect as the minister passed by and unless in 
 much hurry the minister would stop, whether he was riding or walk- 
 ing, and have a few words' conversation with the children who were 
 taught to love and respect the minister. 
 
 As a descendant of Simon Willard, the first male laid in your 
 beautiful cemetery, and of Daniel Willard, one of the founders and 
 early superintendent of Newington Sunday School, and as one who 
 
remembers all the pastors of your church from Dr. Brace's time 
 when he was succeeded by Rev. William P. Aiken, I have been asked 
 to continue the history from 1855 to the present time regarding the 
 pastors this church has had since Dr. Brace's long service ended. 
 
 I remember well, and recall with much pleasure, the kindly and 
 saintly face of Reverend William P. Aiken who succeeded Dr. Brace 
 as pastor of this people. His face seemed to me as the expression 
 of his love to God and to his fellow men, and when he spoke, the 
 desire of his heart, for the good of his hearers, was surely evident. 
 Much of the expression of his face has remained with you here in 
 the face of his beloved sister, Mrs. Roger Welles, whose saintly 
 form j'ou laid to rest but a few days since in the family lot in your 
 beautiful cemetery. Her's was a long life of usefulness. Useful? 
 Yes! not only in the christian home where she presided over her 
 large family of children, who justly "Rise up to call her blessed," 
 but her life of usefulness was felt throughout the community where 
 many, yes many, of the sick and afflicted were cared for by her, and 
 their wants attended to and their needs supplied to the extent of her 
 ability and means. Her sympathy for those in distress seemed to 
 know no limit. 
 
 Mr. Aiken was not possessed of a powerful voice as some min- 
 isters but convincing and persuading, drawing men to the better life 
 as he unfolded the truths he had himself formed and believed and 
 practiced in his own life we can truly say from his youth up. Ht 
 began at the age of 3 years to love to read his testament. 
 
 During Mr. Aiken's pastorate he had calls to go to other churches 
 but he remained with the people of Newington for 10 years, 5 
 to 1867. At the close of his third year as pastor he asked to be 
 released to accept a call to another and larger church but at the 
 earnest request of his people, expressed at a meeting called June 11, 
 1860, for the purpose of passing a resolution earnestly and sincerely 
 asking him to withdraw his resignation and continue his loving ac- 
 ceptable service among them. He was moved to remain with the 
 church and for several years longer till he was called to become 
 principal of Lawrence Academy of Groton, Mass., in 1867. 
 
 Following Rev. Mr. Aiken the Rev. Sanford S. Martyn was or- 
 dained pastor April 29, 1808 and continued till his resignation in 1870 
 to become pastor of the church at New Hartford. Mr. Martyn was 
 a graduate of Yale University where he took an honorable stand as 
 scholar, receiving prizes for writing, speaking and debating while 
 a member of the senior class at Yale Theological Seminary. In 
 advocacy of his call to become pastor of this church, not only the 
 church members joined, but 27 of the hearers of his sermons, during 
 his preliminary stay among them, signed a paper expressing their 
 intention soon to become members and their wish that he might be 
 chosen to preach to them. This paper was by vote of the church 
 ordered to be kept as part of the church record. 
 
 On the second sabbath in June, 1870, Rev. Dr. Robert G. 
 Vermilye, then professor in Hartford Theological Seminary, began 
 to supply the pulpit, and on July 3 became the stated preacher of the 
 
church and continued so till Nov. 21, 1873, when, on account of failing 
 health, he was obliged to cease his labors. 
 
 Dr. Vermilye was a scholarly and profound preacher and his 
 sermons were appreciated and enjoyed by his hearers and remem- 
 bered and spoken of long after he had passed away. He was, like 
 many scholarly ministers, possessed of greater ambition and nervous 
 force than was balanced by robust health and strength for continuance 
 and endurance. 
 
 Dr. Vermilye closed his ministry on a common sabbath and it is 
 recorded by Deacon Roger Welles that as he dispersed the symbols 
 of the Saviour's love for the last time, and spoke his own parting 
 words the tearful eyes of his congregation testified their love, sym- 
 pathy and sorrow. He died July 5, 1875. His funeral was attended 
 at Center Church, Hartford. His burial at Cedar Hill Cemetery. A 
 few minutes before his death he committed his soul to his Lord 
 in these few words: "And now, O my Saviour, keep me in life or 
 death; I commit myself to Thee." 
 
 The seventh pastor of the church was Rev. William J. Thomson 
 who began his services in 1875 and continued till 1879. 
 
 Mr. Thomson was a graduate of Columbia University, declining 
 a professorship there in order to enter the ministry of Christ. He 
 came to Newington from Seymour, Conn., where he had preached 
 acceptably for two years. He was possessed of a happy faculty of 
 winning and holding the young men of his parish for Christ. 
 
 He was a fine picture of physical strength and manliness but not 
 of enduring health, and his failing strength induced him to discon- 
 tinue as pastor. He ministered temporarily afterward as supply to 
 the people of South Glastonbury and later at East Canaan, Conn. It 
 was here that he finished his life work and died as bravely as he had 
 lived at the age of 44 years, and is remembered and spoken of as a 
 "Good Soldier of Christ," manfully yielding up his life in the service 
 of His Master and Great Captain. 
 
 The eighth pastor was the Rev. John E. Elliott, a descendant 
 of Elder Brewster. 
 
 Born in New London, Oct. 22, 1829, he was consecrated to the 
 work of the Lord by an exceedingly pious mother in his infancy and 
 early instructed in the truths and beauties brought out before him 
 from the word of God. He graduated at Amherst College in 1854 
 and Hartford Theological Seminary in 1860. 
 
 He was ordained to the ministry in the Congregational church 
 in Ridgebury where he became pastor. Afterwards he settled in 
 Higganum, from there he went to the Home Missionary field in Iowa 
 and Nebraska. That had been his long cherished purpose in the 
 service, and his chosen work, but on account of the death of his 
 brother and sister he felt called to return to the East and care for his 
 aged mother in 1874. He preached at the Congregational church in 
 South Glastonbury a few years and from there was called to New- 
 ington pastorate, serving here from 1879 till 1884. It has been said 
 of him that his ministry was characterized by intense earnestness 
 and perseverance in planning and studying those things that would 
 
be useful in the spirituality of his people. He was very desirous also 
 that the church finances receive the careful attention of his people 
 and during his time of service the large debt of the Society was 
 cancelled. 
 
 He was much interested and put forth great efforts to interest 
 his people in the proposition to build a chapel adjoining the church, 
 so useful in the work of the church, and the subscription was begun 
 in his time and finished during Rev. Mr. Macy's time and the fine 
 chapel built and enjoyed to the present day. By his efforts the young 
 people's society of Christian Endeavor was organized in the church 
 and has added much to its usefulness. He was a man of strict 
 economy and was able to make his small salary cover his expenses, 
 although educating his son at Amherst and scrupulously giving his 
 tenth of his income to the Lord. 
 
 From Newington he spent about three years in Bridgewater, and 
 from there was called to the state of Washington where he hoped 
 to give the remainder of his life to the Home Missionary work, but 
 failing health gradually caused his death in less than three months 
 after beginning his work there. His body was brought East and 
 buried in his native town of New London. 
 
 The ninth pastor. Rev. John Otis Barrows, was born in Mans- 
 field, Conn., 1833. In 1860 he graduated from Amherst College, and 
 took his theological course at Hartford and Andover seminaries. 
 
 He was called to North Hampton, New Hampshire, in 1863, where 
 he preached for a number of years. Following this lie preached at 
 Exeter, N. H. It was here that he felt called to enter the Foreign 
 Missionary work and in 1870 was sent by the A. B. C. F. M. as a 
 missionary to Turkey. 
 
 He served ten and a half years in this field when he was obliged 
 to return on account of the health of his family. 
 
 He preached for a time at Atchison, N. H., was called to become 
 pastor at Newington Church in 1885 and faithfully served these people 
 till 1891, as many will testify, as a very self-sacrificing pastor. The 
 tender ministries of himself and his benevolent wife will long be re- 
 membered by the grateful people who received their care in sickness 
 and affliction, also those who were helped by them in time of trouble. 
 
 He was much interested in getting the non-church-goers to attend 
 the Sabbath services, and in this he was remarkably successful. 
 
 On one occasion, after several attempts on his part, one, who had 
 long absented herself from church said: "I shall have to go to church 
 now — Mr. Barrows will never let me alone till I do." And she re- 
 sumed attendance and became interested and serviceable in the work 
 of the church. Mr. Barrows had a wonderful frankness and fearless- 
 ness in rebuking the wrong-doer, speaking in words of love and ten- 
 derness such as to win the heart of his hearer. It is recorded that one 
 of his parishioners declared after one of these occasions that "he 
 never got such a dressing down in his life before," but remarked in 
 almost the same breath: "There is nobody I respect more than I do 
 Mr. Barrows." This sentiment he often repeated and it was the means 
 
of doing much good — like pruning vines to bring forth better fruit. 
 
 Mr. Barrows had good success in awakening a sense of responsi- 
 bility for action among those who were inclined to stay in the back- 
 ground and let others lead in prayer meeting and other work of the 
 church, bringing many to active work in the different calls to service. 
 The temperance cause received his most earnest efforts, and by 
 his methods the benevolent objects of the church were set forth, the 
 blessed spirit of giving for Christ was manifest in increased offerings, 
 and year by year gained an enviable prominence, the people being 
 blessed in giving. 
 
 The tenth pastor was Rev. Herbert Macy, born in Fall River, 
 Mass., in 1857, son of Alexander and Sarah Judkins Macy. Mr. Macy 
 was graduated at Hartford Theological Seminary in 1883, served as 
 pastor of the Fourth Congregational Church at San Francisco, Cal., 
 in 188G., and later was pastor of the Third Congregational Church in 
 Clinton, Mass. From there he went to St. Paul, where he organized 
 the Olivet church and became its pastor. After three years of service 
 there he returned to New England and was called to the pastorate of 
 Newington Church in 1893, serving faithfully and diligently till the 
 year 1919, a period of 27 years, the next longest in service as pastor 
 to that of Rev. Joab Brace. 
 
 Mr. Macy was an earnest preacher, keeping up with the times, 
 much interested in the conversion of the young with whom his labors 
 were earnestly given and rewarded bountifully. 
 
 He was thoughful for the aged and infirm. Active in matters con- 
 cerning the good not only of the church but the town and all its 
 people, ever watchful for the interests of all. To those coming under 
 his special care and needing advice and help in any matter concerning 
 the individual or public good, to these Mr. Macy was ever helpful as 
 many do testify of his thoughtful advice and Christian help given them 
 in time of need or in trouble of any kind. As a preacher it is said of 
 Mr. Macy that he "never preached a dull sermon." He "studied to be 
 approved of God, rightly dividing the word of truth." 
 
 His sermon at the 100th anniversary of the building of this Church 
 from the text in Timothy, the 3rd chapter ,15th verse, on the subject, 
 "The church of the Living God. the pillar and ground of the truth," 
 was considered a masterpiece. 
 
 We quote just one paragraph from this valuable sermon: 
 "What is more worth}' of a celebration than a church? Nothing! 
 Because the Church comprehends such precious interests vitally con- 
 cerning us all. The School touch; s life on one side, the State on an- 
 other side, but the Church touchf's life on all sides of its diameter and 
 its circumference. It is this whn:h enlists our hearts in this celebra- 
 tion. We can none of us repre>is the emotions that come to us on 
 this occasion when we remember what the Church is to us, our homes, 
 our state and the world. 
 
 "We yield ourselves to its ckums and it begins to identify itself 
 with all that is vital and precious in our experiences. It blesses our 
 friendships, cements our home-ties, records our vows, comforts us in 
 sorrow and affliction and death, stands with us by the open grave and 
 
points our shrinking souls to heaven. This is why the celebration of 
 a church thrills our souls. It affects not only the surface and tem- 
 porary interests only, but those that are deep and eternal, because it 
 is the Church of the Living God, and is blessed of Him." I would love 
 to quote further from that great sermon but time will not allow. 
 
 The eleventh pastor of the Church was Rev. Howard A. Morton, 
 serving from February, 1920, to May, 1921. Mr. Morton came to 
 this church from Deep River, Conn., where he was pastor. He en- 
 listed in the service of World War and returned to labor in the cause 
 of the Pilgrim Memorial Fund, and in that capacity preached at New- 
 ington in November, 1919, and was much liked by the people of this 
 Church — so much so that he was called to the pastorate here. He 
 was well recommended by his people, among them Hon. Rollin U. 
 Tyler of Deep River. He served faithfully during his short period. 
 
 The twelfth, now Acting Pastor, is Rev. Harry S. Martin, who 
 began his services for this church in August, 1921, coming from the 
 church in Wapping, Conn. Mr. Martin's father was a native of 
 Maine, though he was born in Massachusetts and spent his youth in 
 the town of Amesbury, the nome town of our beloved poet, John G. 
 Whittier. Mr. Martin is showing himself to be an active, earnest 
 preacher, with the qualities of a good pastor, active and interested in 
 all matters pertaining to the church and the community. 
 
 Through his efforts a branch of the Young Men's Christian As- 
 sociation has been organized here and is in a good and flourishing 
 condition, and its influence is being felt for good in the town. Mr. 
 Martin adapts himself to all the interests of the church, not only 
 preaching Christ and Him crucified to his people, but taking personal 
 interest in the general good and advancement in the work of the Lord 
 in this community. Taking up the work with his young, strong en- 
 deavors and his determination that the cause of Christ shall be well 
 presented here and His claim to our services, our love and our devo- 
 tion to His cause faithfully set forth. 
 
 Many gifts in aid of this church have been presented to the so- 
 ciety by good and benevolent members and attendants of this parish, 
 and their value is appreciated and their benefits enjoyed by all. Among 
 the gifts we can mention the much-admired pipe organ, beautiful in 
 appearance and in musical helps, and admired and enjoyed by all, was 
 given to this church by the widow and children of Mr. Reuben C. 
 Osbornd, late of Newington, in loving memory of him. His children 
 were Mr. Newton Osborn of Newington and Mrs. Edward Buck of 
 Wethersfield. In 1898 Mr. Henry M. Robbins, a much respected and 
 useful citizen of Newington, gave $2,000 for the benefit of the church 
 choir and music; also $5,000 for the uses and purposes of the Ecclesi- 
 astical Society, a generous and ever helpful gift. 
 
 Mary Willard, daughter of Josiah Willard, left a fund of £80 
 for educational purposes. This fund, through the good care and at- 
 tention given it by the trustees appointed, now has a balance on hand 
 of over $4,000, and has done much good in the cause for which it was 
 given. 
 
DeForest Willard, of Philadelphia, one of Newington's sons, who 
 rose by his earnest efifort and careful study to be recognized by his 
 brothers in the profession as authority on surgery of the bones, gave 
 a fund for the care of the cemetery, the income to be used each year 
 in the necessary up-keep and care of the grounds and monuments. 
 He was the son of Daniel H. Willard, whose home stood on the knoll 
 between Pratt Francis's home and the old Willard homestead, now 
 owned by Dairy Commissioner Holt, near the brick school house at 
 Newington Junction. This Willard homestead was entirely consumed 
 by fire on the evening of the inarriage of Mr. Newton Osborn, and 
 the guests on leaving the Osborn home saw the fire. 
 
 The late William A. Hubbard, who lived opposite this church, next 
 to the Town Hall, gave by his will the most of his estate, amounting 
 to over $13,000, to the Ecclesiastical Society of Newington, subject to 
 the life use of his brother, Fred Hubbard. This is the largest gift 
 received by the church and reflects honor to its donor, whom we re- 
 member as a modest, quiet citizen. Interested in all good work of the 
 town and church, yet in his feeble health he was not able to render 
 much personal assistance, yet it was his desire to be of service and so 
 arranged that his money would eventually help the cause of Christ 
 here in Newington. A good gift from a good man. 
 
 Newington is a beautiful town, finely located midway between two 
 large cities, enjoying prosperities never dreamed of by its early 
 settlers, who had no direct road to Hartford, being obliged to travel 
 through Wethersfield or through West Hartford till the road along 
 Cedar Mountain was built, connecting them so readily with Hartford. 
 This direct communication has resulted in much improvement in the 
 town and year by year additional advantages and helps have come to 
 our people till now the good line of trolley cars transport them read- 
 ily. Electric lights adorn and illuminate thir homes. 
 
 Fine brick school houses have taken the places of the little 
 wooden structures so long used by the scholars. Fine homes adorned 
 by fine surroundings have sprung up. Automobiles convey the people 
 to and fro, new streets are laid out, new homes rapidly built, and 
 could our forefathers see now the town they loved and helped to 
 found and perpetuate thriving beyond all their fondest thoughts and 
 hopes, would they not feel that God had rewarded them and answered 
 the many prayers that have ascended to Him from this sacred place 
 of worship which they builded to His name. 
 
 Let us as a people rejoice in the cause and lend our aid gladly and 
 cheerfully to the work of the Lord here in our midst, and in that way 
 we receive a blessing ourselves and the church and its good work 
 will be sustained and prosper. 
 
 It is good to recall the names and faces and the works of the good 
 men and women who in time past have labored earnestly to make 
 Newington what it is today. The burden and responsibility now is 
 ours, to perpetuate their good works and carry on even greater im- 
 provements than they with their limited means and advantages could 
 do. Doth not the world look to us that we "hold fast" what they left 
 us and press on to better work in His name. 
 
One preacher and historian has told us that "He who taketh not 
 a fond look backward to our ancestry will never take the best look 
 forward to posterity." The past is well recorded. Its saints have gone 
 to their well-earned rest. The present is ours to hold fast that which 
 has come to us, and as a priceless inheritance, and hand it down with 
 all its beauty and glory, unsoiled, to those who shall follow us. 
 
 May the Church of Newington hear the command as given to 
 Moses when the Lord's voice came to him by the shore of the Red 
 Sea, saying, "Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward." 
 May this be our motto till we meet again at another similar anni- 
 versary granted through the blessing of God. 
 
 SKETCH OF SOME OF THE EARLY FAMILIES OF 
 THE PARISH 
 
 By MRS. ARLAN P. FRANCIS 
 
 WE ARE looking backward to-day, two hundred years! Can you 
 visualize the Newington of that remote period? 
 
 Let imagination wing us back for a moment to stand on Cedar 
 Mountain — we casually speak of it as Cedar Hill — and look down 
 upon the valley, so different then from our own environment. 
 
 The forests first catch our eye. Even in my childhood days — for 
 I have reached an age when one is indulgently permitted to babble of 
 childish memories — there were large tracts of woodland. A pity that 
 the ax has wrought so great a change! 
 
 Where are the roads? you ask; mere footpaths yet, or lanes at 
 best. The houses? Yes! Here and there — not many — well-scat- 
 tered mostly. A little handful to the North; others strung along the 
 Center; more again at the South End. But don't think of them as 
 white, nestling amid the green! At this time, probably, none were 
 painted; later on there were some red houses. 
 
 It was well along in the growth of the place, when a good matron, 
 commenting upon an improvement desired for the church, said, "If it 
 is done, the people who live in the white houses will have to pay 
 for it!" 
 
 It is a peaceful scene before us! Almost it tempts us to envy! 
 No honking automobile or silent speedster threaten the pedestrian. 
 No Americanization problems of church or school. True, the fam- 
 ilies of the very first settlers are said to have gathered nights at the 
 fortified house of Joseph Andrus for protection from Indians, the men 
 sleeping with their fire-arms at hand; but there is not even a tradition 
 of an attack. This happy valley was spared the horrors of Indian 
 warfare. 
 
 Moreover, at this time, when we are supposed to be gazing valley- 
 ward, all Indian menace was past. The tiny hamlet is now the "West- 
 wardmost Society'" of Wethcrsficld, separate and distinct from the 
 mother church. 
 
It is not known who came directly after the five "pioneers," but 
 many of our family names are on record before 1720. Some are gone, 
 or are passing from among us, but a few still occupy the homesteads 
 and uphold the offices of their progenitors. 
 
 The bare names of these earlier settlers would be, to many in this 
 audience, as meaningless as a page from a telephone directory. It is 
 only as we can imagine them in flesh and blood, dwelling in their 
 homes, building up the infant church and carrying forward the aflfairs 
 of the community, that they become real to us. 
 
 Various tales and traditions have been handed down through the 
 years. Each family has its own, but it is largely through the descend- 
 ants that we judge of the forbears. As these families married and 
 intermarried, there came to be an almost general relationship, which 
 tended to similarity of thought and habit. Reverence for the Church 
 went hand in hand with their love of education. The youth of those 
 days were well taught — private schools and tutors supplementing the 
 district schools that were early instituted. There was no grinding 
 through the grammar school mill into a high school hopper. The 
 Town did not pay the bills. It cost the individual child the maximum 
 of efTort and untold sacrifices on the part of the parents. That this 
 was ever a musical parish is evinced by the selection of the name 
 Newington. In the new meeting-house the hymns of Isaac Watts 
 were sung with love and fervor. Much later on, "Glee Clubs" were 
 formed, gathering at the houses of the members for secular music. 
 I just remember one of these "Glee" evenings, and the sympathetic 
 smile bestowed by Mrs. John Stoddard upon the very small girl being 
 banished to bed. 
 
 But we are getting ahead of our dates! Imagination now may 
 take us, on an April day in 1716, to the house of James Francis to 
 attend the first meeting of the new society, to perfect plans, the ways 
 and means for the building of the meeting-house so long desired. We 
 can well believe it a serious assemblage. It was a great step forward 
 which they had taken and they fully realized its importance. 
 
 Among those gathered in council it is reasonable to assume were 
 John and Ephriam Whaples, Simon Willard, Jabez and Eliphalet 
 Whittlesey, Nathaniel Churchill, three Stoddards, John and Joseph 
 Camp, two Hunns, two Andruses, John and Ephriam Deming, be- 
 sides James and Thomas Francis, and others less familiar and long 
 since lost. All these men were among the petitioners for the new 
 parish in 1715. Josiah Willard was chosen clerk of the Society. No 
 sinecure that! But for many years the Willard name was synony- 
 mous with public service. Most happily do I remember the last, 
 Daniel Willard, whose big frame covered an equally big heart, and 
 who never failed to give a smile and a word of greeting to the chil- 
 dren. Would that the family still dwelt on the old hearth stone, but 
 it is only as Willard Street that the name exists to-day, appropriately 
 applied to the road running by their old homes. 
 
 Following Willard Street northward we come to the old rooftree 
 of Jonathan Stoddard; hard by is the Camp house with its long slop- 
 ing roof; between the two stands another Stoddard house of a later 
 
generation, but this also is old-built, probably about 1793. There is a 
 Sycamore tree by the roadside in front of the Church — I remember 
 when there were two there — planted by Jonathan Stoddard in 1792. 
 In front of his own house he set two more, bringing the young trees 
 from the Farmington Meadows; "Buttonwoods," they called them 
 then. Both of this pair survive. It was a goodly deed! Give the old 
 tree a look when you pass out and think how long it has endured! 
 Perhaps some one's descendant may be moved to plant another! 
 
 Still further north lived — are yet living — the Nathaniel branch of 
 the Stoddard tree. Springing from a common root, Sergent John, who 
 lived in Wethersfield around 1740, these Stoddards, too, have long 
 been "standbys." Deacon Rufus was the choir leader of my earliest 
 recollection, the ofifice falling at his untimely death to Mr. Laurens 
 Kellogg. Mr. John Stoddard played the 'cello for the Church service 
 before the advent of an organ, but that was before my day. 
 
 Camp is a "good name" that has persisted since 1712. Long may 
 it continue! There was a Col. Joseph Camp of staunch character, of 
 whom many annecdotes used to be related, but I cannot recall them 
 sufficiently to quote. Ask our Deacon Joseph! 
 
 Yet northward lived the Hunns of pioneer settlement. Samuel 
 Hunn did well his part, as did his descendants, the last of whom I 
 dimly recall. It was this Mr. Hunn who was instrumental in the 
 erection of the north row of horse-sheds; thus locating them to save 
 the expense of fencing that portion of the cemetery which they bor- 
 der. Would that he had left a descendant to replace them with a less 
 conspicuous fence, now that they are not needed as sheds! A little 
 boy now lives in the last of the old Hunn houses, not of direct Hunn 
 descent, but of Whaples ancestry, who sometime will be interested to 
 know that Ephriam Whaples is on record in 1712. Between Hunn and 
 Whaples, he comes closely to the beginnings! 
 
 While at the North End, we will stop for a moment's mention of 
 the Seymour family, although it was around 1740 when Bevil Sey- 
 mour came down from Hartford, where the family had been estab- 
 lished for several generations. His grandson. Deacon Jeremiah, built 
 the first brick house in the place. Though now pulled down, it inust 
 be generally remembered, as the post-ofifice at the Junction was long 
 housed there. 
 
 Deming is one of the oldest names, John Deming being one of the 
 Committee to present the petition to the General Assembly in 1713. 
 There have followed many, many of the name, scattered from the 
 north end to the south, but to us the name is summed up in "Jede- 
 diah Deming," our dear "Deacon Jeddy." Taking him as a type of 
 the line, what a vision of good — and tall — men arises before us! And 
 with him we associate his daughter Ellen, whom we still mourn — we 
 need her to-day! Everyone's friend, wise councilor, entertaining com- 
 panion — there is none to fill her place! 
 
 It is to another Deming, Deacon Levi, that we are indebted for 
 many of the trees that beautify our church lawn. A committee was 
 appointed to attend to this matter, but most of the actual work fell to 
 the willing hands of Deacon Levi. We are grateful to him! And, by 
 
the way, how many of the children at the Center School know that 
 one of the trees on the school grounds was planted in memory of 
 Mrs. Ann Deming — a long time teacher and most excellent woman. 
 Associated with John Deming on that committee in 1713 was Jabez 
 Whittlesey, who took an active part in the building of the new meet- 
 ing-house, in which he was the first to bear the title of Deacon. He 
 and his brother, Eliphalet, headed a goodly company of upright, hon- 
 orable men. It is not so long since a Deacon Whittlesey officiated 
 among us. We miss him. Through various intermarriages, we still 
 claim Whittlesey blood, but the name has passed. 
 
 Taking a long step to the South End, we find Nathaniel Churchill 
 and his brother, Samuel, prominent citizens of those early days. 
 Charles, a son of Samuel, born in 1723, became one of its most dis- 
 tinguished leaders. His home was the "show place" of the country- 
 side, wherein a lavish hospitality was maintained. Architecturely, it 
 was celebrated far and wide. The base-relief near the entrance shows 
 the beautiful doorway. The old mansion has fallen into decay, but 
 we still count Churchills proudly including Miss Mary Churchill, 
 whose energy and activities up to four score and over are worthy her 
 lineage. 
 
 At the ordination of Rev. Mr. Williams, in 1722, Ebenezer Kilborn 
 and James Francis were on the committee appointed "to keep a public 
 house of entertainment." For generations the Kilborns held the cen- 
 ter of the town. Some of their houses are now occupied by later 
 comers. Of their great cherry trees, that turned that portion of the 
 place into a bit of "Old Japan" at blossoming-time, hardly a branch is 
 left. 
 
 There are now no descendants here of James Francis, but his 
 brother, Thomas, has been followed by a long line. We lament to-day 
 the recent death of Herbert Francis. Few have served both church 
 and town so long and faithfully, or have been so universally beloved. 
 Thomas, sixth in line from the original Thomas, is ably carrying on 
 his brother's work, and could ill be spared from among us. 
 
 Two or three generations later, descendants of Robert Francis, a 
 younger brother of James and Thomas, followed their cousins to New- 
 ington and are still helping to swell our ranks. 
 
 Henry Kirkham and his wife, Martha, were among the original 
 members of the new church in 1722. Their son, John, at the age of 
 sixteen, entered the Revolutionary Army as a musician, remaining 
 until its close. This family has been marked by musical talent and by 
 ready speakers of wit and originality. We need them back again. 
 
 In 1734 Capt. Martin Kellogg came to Newington, buying the 
 house that was built for Rev. Mr. Williams, and in which he lived 
 until his death in 1753. To give the early history of his life, his cap- 
 ture by the Indians in the massacre at Deerfield, Mass., his long cap- 
 tivity among them in Canada, his escape, and settlement in Wethers- 
 field in 1716, would require a paper by itself. Suffice it to say, that 
 he was one of the most noteworthy men of that period, ably filling 
 the manifold positions to which he was called. A unique service that 
 
he rendered humanity was the taking of a number of Indian boys to 
 teach, instructing them not only in the rudiments of an English edu- 
 cation, but in the essentials of Christian living, as well, thus literally 
 returning good for evil to the race that had caused him such loss and 
 suffering. 
 
 There have been nine Martin Kelloggs in direct descent. The 
 last three are claimed in the South, but here's hoping that some day 
 one of them may return to carry on his so many-times great grand- 
 father's name. 
 
 There are two divisions of the Welles family, one branch having 
 dropped an "E" in the spelling of the name, but both are descended 
 from Gov. Thomas Welles, one of the most important personages in 
 the earliest history of the State. 
 
 William Wells (without the "E") settled in Newington in 1738. 
 His sons, Elijah and Deacon James, lived where Mr. Osborn and Mr. 
 Walker now reside. Deacon Origen was son of Deacon James. His 
 farm is now occupied by the Children's Home. Some of his descend- 
 ants of a younger generation were lured from us by California, draw- 
 ing the Latimers, another old-time family, in their wake. A loss to 
 the town. 
 
 It was considerably later, 1785, that Gen. Roger Welles (with the 
 "E") came over the mountain. He at once became an outstanding 
 figure in the community, although he died in his prime, only forty- 
 two! At his funeral Rev. Joshua Belden said of him, "The glory of 
 Newington has departed!" But he left worthy descendants who still 
 uphold the best traditions of his name. To his grandson, Deacon 
 Roger Welles, we and the future generations owe a debt of gratitude 
 for his historical writings, "The annals of Newington" among them, a 
 work that is a monument of patience and erudition. That his "mantle" 
 has fallen to his son, Deacon Stanley, we have evidence to-day. 
 
 In connection with the publication of the "Annuls," another in- 
 fluential family stands forth — Messrs. Martin and Henry Robbins, 
 generously assuming all financial responsibility. Especially public 
 spirited, the Robbins were ever liberal toward all calls for both time 
 and money. Extending back to 1740, the family played a large part 
 in the affairs of the town. 
 
 What would this Church have been without the Beldens! From 
 the days of the Rev. Joshua, they have been a power for good. In the 
 Sunday School and in the fostering of a missionary spirit among us, 
 their influence is beyond estimate. Gladly we point to Deacon Joshua, 
 our long-time Superintendent, and give him the Eastern Greeting, 
 "May you live a thousand years!" 
 
 There is much more that might be told; such wealth of material 
 is hard to choose from. But it has been our aim to emphasize the 
 spirit that aniinated these ancestors. "Let somebody else do it," was 
 not their slogan. They put their own shoulders to the wheel. The 
 Church, the schools, the town interests (which was not interest on 
 debts) all received their hearty allegiance. Theirs was a gracious 
 hospitality, a gentle courtesy, and on occasion, a delicate formality 
 that we well might imitate. 
 
 "We are omnibusses in which all our ancestors ride!" Let us not 
 make them ashamed of their carryall! 
 
SERMON, THE ETERNAL CHURCH 
 
 By THE PASTOR 
 
 Scripture Reading: Acts 1:6-14 15, Psalm 122. Text, Matthew 16:18b 
 
 "1 WILL BUILD MY CHURCH, AND THE GATES OF HELL 
 SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT." 
 
 BEFORE attempting to preach upon a theme in any way suitable 
 for such an occasion as this, the two hundredth anniversary of 
 the founding ot this churcii, i must first plead for your forbearance 
 and sympathy. Dr. Joseph Parker, who was at one time the pastor 
 ot the i^onaon iabernacie, and a very noted preacher, advised min- 
 isters never to appeal to an audience tor sympathy because, he said, 
 "An audience has no sympatny." I his may have been true of his Lon- 
 don iaoernacle audience, but it is not true ot you here in Newington. 
 1 am sure all ot you unaerstand the ditticulty one must encounter who 
 would, attempt to add anytning turttier to the iniormation already 
 given about tne fiistory ot ttiis cliurch. 
 
 Some of you were present at the one hundred and seventy-fifth an- 
 niversary lieid nere tweniy-hve years ago and you well know how 
 adnurauiy tUe story ot tms cliurch was told by those who, both from 
 Uieir own memories anu irom carexul inquiries into the records, were 
 familiar with its past years, bome ot you have read the addresses 
 given at tuat time and you have noted the brilliant and instructive 
 sermon preacued by him wiio was then pastor. iVlany ot you 
 heara the addresses oi yesterday which so brightly re-iliuminated 
 tne many pages oi this church which the moving hand of time has 
 written. Ana so as one who is under the necessity ot preaching some- 
 tmng appropriate 1 ao not tear to ask for your indulgence because, 
 like my sell, you must have wondered how one could hnd a theme rel- 
 evant to this celebration which has not already been considered. 
 
 But after all, when we turn to the subject of His church we are 
 in a held of the inexhaustible "Riches of Christ," from which we may 
 alwa>s dig new treasures no matter how many have mined there be- 
 fore us, and I think there is a theme which grows out of this occasion 
 that will provide us with a topic profitable for discussion. It is the 
 fact that right here in Newington we have the divinely founded and 
 eternal Church of Christ. With your permission and your patience 
 this is what I wish to speak about. It is a great theme and I do not 
 promise to stick very closely to this subject, but I hope as well as I 
 may to bring this truth before us all — that our Church, whose two 
 hundredth anniversary we now coinmemorate, is a part of the uni- 
 versal eternal Cliurch founded by our divine Lord and Master himself. 
 
 In order to bring out this fact more clearly, we have taken part 
 of the words which our Lord spoke to Simon Peter in those mem- 
 orable moments when Peter had discovered just who Jesus was. He 
 had asked them, "Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" and 
 they had answered and told him the different opinions which the 
 
people held concerning Him. Then He had asked them, "But whom 
 say ye that I am?" and Peter had answered and said, "Thou art the 
 Christ, the Son of the living God." Without going into the matter in 
 detail it is evident that Jesus' approving reply to Peter and His words, 
 "Upon this rock I will build my Church," were as if He had said to 
 Peter, "Blessed art thou Simon, son of Jonah, upon the rock of my 
 divine nature and by men who, like thee, know me to be the Son of 
 God I will build my Church." 
 
 But the part of our Lord's reply which concerns us this morning 
 is the comment which He made about that Church which He said He 
 would build. He said, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 
 This strong and vivid language at once gives us a sense of profound 
 mystery, of terrible strength, of everlasting endurance against all odds 
 however fearful. The figure "Gates of Hell" was quite familiar to 
 our Lord's hearers. Hell was imagined under the figure of a walled 
 enclosure which confined evil powers. If the gates were opened, these 
 powers might escape, and the meaning was, as Jesus used the figure, 
 that even if the evil and sin of this world which is at least partly re- 
 strained, should break forth in all its power, if legions of wicked beings 
 should be given the opportunity to assault with all their might His 
 Church, still that Church would stand undestroyed and undefeated. 
 
 Perhaps the first thought which comes to us is, this may have 
 been true of the Church which He founded; but can it apply to the 
 Church now? In this modern maze of sects and beliefs and disbeliefs 
 can we discover this original Church, or what is hardest of all, can 
 we take our own little church and say that this First Church of Christ 
 in Newington, Connecticut, can be identified with that mysterious, ter- 
 rible, unconquerable and eternal Church against which our Lord said 
 the powers of evil were helpless? I suppose the absurdity of this idea 
 at once comes into our minds as we think of our Church made up of 
 our own home people with all their faults and failings and good points, 
 but let us not become skeptical on account of the human factor in our 
 Church. If it seems absurd to say of this church that the gates of hell 
 shall not prevail against it, it was far more contrary to reason when 
 Jesus said it of a church which hardly existed at all, at least in any 
 visible form. 
 
 Jesus said this about His Church when He and His disciples were 
 in a region among the mountains of Lebanon. Suppose we had been 
 there; suppose we had been intelligent, sane-minded pagans, Romans 
 for instance, and that we had been hiding behind some rock watching 
 Him and His little band and listening to their conversation. We 
 would have had difficulty to suppress our laughter as we saw this little 
 company of Galileans, most of them young men, some of them mere 
 boys from out a region that was a mere dot on the great map of the 
 Roman Empire, gathered around their young leader who was making 
 claims for himself such as no other had ever made before and been 
 believed, and who was telling them about an organization which He 
 would found that could not be destroyed. 
 
The contrast between His ambitions and the actual facts would 
 have been pathetic from their sheer improbability. There He was 
 calling Peter "Blessed," that same Peter who, a little while later, 
 would stand outside Pilate's judgment hall and deny with oaths that 
 he had ever known Him. There was that Judas who would betray 
 Him into the hands which would nail him to a cross. There were 
 the others who, when He should decide to leave the safety of the 
 Lebanon mountains to go to Jerusalem, would say to Him, "Master 
 the Jews of late sought to stone Thee! and goest Thou thither again," 
 and there was that disciple who said, "Let us go that we may die with 
 Him," because he saw nothing but total disaster for every one of 
 them. These are but a few illustrations which we might choose from 
 among many to show that at the very beginning of the Church the 
 human element was present which made it very difficult to apply these 
 words of Jesus "The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it," to the 
 Church in its visible and human prospects. And having these ex- 
 amples before us let us not hastily reject as impossible of application 
 to our own Church these words, "The Gates of Hell shall not prevail 
 against it." The very difficulty we find m applying this description to 
 our own Church on account of our own problem of the human element 
 in it tends to indicate our similarity and affinity to the Church which 
 Jesus was describing rather than our unlikeness and non-relationship 
 to it. 
 
 But there is another and a more common and practical difficulty 
 which makes us hesitate to say "the Gates of Hell shall not prevail 
 against" our Church. It is our generally prevalent habit of not ascrib- 
 ing to our Church its due honor and glory. It is one of the grave and 
 serious defects of our Protestant faith. I know you may say, "Do 
 we not often sing hymns praising the Church?" — hymns such as "I 
 love Thy kingdom Lord, the house of Thine abode," and "The 
 Church's one Foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord, She is His new 
 creation by water and the word," or "Like a mighty army moves the 
 Church of God," and etc.?" But can you say that we always have 
 our own Church in mind and that we feel we are praising it rather 
 than some vague Church whose whereabouts we only very dimly 
 perceive? 
 
 And we have our phrases such as, "The Lord is in His Holy 
 Temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him," or "I was glad 
 when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord," and so 
 on; but would you care to say there is not often a hollow sound in our 
 recitations? I do not think I make an unjust criticism if I say that 
 we do not always feel quite as glad as we might feel, when some one 
 says to us, "We will go into the house of the Lord." If we translate 
 this into ordinary language, we will hear it in many a home as mother 
 saying to little Willie, "Come William, there goes the bell, it is time 
 to get washed and dressed for church," and I think we can truly say 
 in many instances that little Willie's face does not beam with smiles 
 at the proposition. I am sure we might hear it in many homes as, 
 mother saying to father, "Come, we shall be too late to go at all if you 
 
do not hurry, the bell rang twenty minutes ago." Perhaps it is such 
 translation at home of these words, "We will go into the house of the 
 Lord," that make the "I was glad" part sound rather hollow, when we 
 try to say it here. But however this may be, it certainly is true that 
 the Church does not mean for us all it ought to mean nor occupy the 
 place in our respect and afifections that it ought to occupy. 
 
 Think how far reaching the idea is that one can be a Christian 
 without being a Church member. In the words of a certain modern, 
 well known divinity scholar, W. E. Orchard, we may find the fallacy 
 of this position clearly stated. He says, "Those who declare that they 
 love Christ, and stand aloof from the Church, might well ask how 
 this coincides with his love for the Church, whether their action, if 
 aniversally followed, would not be suicidal, and especially whether it 
 is not mere laziness asking to be excused a difficult problem." This 
 is putting the non-membership problem of many Christian people 
 strongly in the accusative case; but it is the statement of a fact even 
 if we do get some discomfort from it. 
 
 It would be quite unwise and also untrue to say that only Church 
 members are Christians. In a way it is perhaps to the credit of our 
 Protestant position that one may have faith in Christ even when faith 
 in the Church has been lost; but it is equally false and unwise to 
 overlook the logic of the position which inevitably shows us that, let 
 all adopt this course, then the days would soon come when there 
 would be no Christianity at all. No matter how bad they are, there 
 simply must be Church members, if there are going to be any Chris- 
 tians, for Christianity is far more than a matter of mere individual 
 opinion. It is a living faith. It grows out of historic facts that hap- 
 pened in the past. To be continuous it must be carried on by some 
 kind of an organization. It must overlap every age. In each year and 
 each century it must take into account time past, time present, time yet 
 to come, and no individuals can do this by themselves. 
 
 Over in Hartford in the Morgan Memorial, as you all know, there 
 is a vast and precious collection of art treasures. Suppose, for a 
 moment, these were all taken away and given back to their individual 
 owners; for a while the treasures would remain, but it is certain that 
 only a few would ever see them and they would no longer be of any 
 public benefit. And after a while the days would surely come when 
 they would fall into the hands of disinterested persons and eventually 
 perish. If they are to be protected, if it is to be possible for them to 
 instruct and inspire the present and the future generations of Hart- 
 ford, it is absolutely necessary that they be gathered together and 
 put into the keeping of some organization which has the power to 
 protect and preserve them as no individual could possibly do. And 
 so it is with Christianity and its truths. Organizations there must be, 
 if they are to be kept pure and to be saved for those now living and 
 for the many more who yet shall live, and to have organization there 
 must be members who gather together for this purpose because they 
 see that "two or three gathered in a common purpose have powers 
 impossible to them if they remained one by one." This is what we 
 
often miss as Protestants. We seem to lack the power to see the 
 function of the Church. Nearly every one of us, without a doubt, 
 knows that Christianity is a historic religion that reaches over a long 
 period of years, but somehow we do not seem to see that the Church 
 is just as historic as is Christianity, and just as necessary to it as flesh 
 is to a living body. 
 
 Even in this age when indifference to the Church is so general, I 
 do not think it would be true to say that indiflference to Christianity 
 is also general. Indeed, it is often those who say that they have but 
 little use for the Church who are the very ones that often pay Chris- 
 tianity a kind of left-handed compliment by saying they object to the 
 Church because they do not think its members are Christians; 
 but no matter what one thinks, the Church is, after all, the source of 
 Christianity. Even the judgments we make against it we learn from 
 it. The very principles by which we test its Christianity are those 
 which the Church has preserved for us. As I say this you may be 
 thinking, "No, we get our Christ and the principles by which we make 
 our judgments from our Bibles," and so you do, perhaps, but just how 
 did you get your Bible? It came to you through the Church. It is the 
 Church which has preserved it through all these years. 
 
 Surely a time like this is a proper time for us to glory in ou** 
 Church as it represents to us the great, historic medium which bridges 
 the great gulf of time and enables us to have the Master with us in 
 spirit as He was with that other little company in the flesh so long 
 ago. But maybe you say, "This is what we have been doing," "Have 
 we not heard the history of our Church?", "Has it not been told to 
 us how in 1712 at a town meeting in Wethersfield permission was 
 granted to make a separate parish in the west part of the town, and 
 to erect a new ineeting house for the Church, and how in 1716 'The 
 frame of a Church was raised,' and from then until now there has 
 been a building for worship in this place?" Yes, you have heard this 
 but it is not the whole story; it is only a very little of it. What you 
 have heard is simply the founding of the Newington Church. To get 
 the true significance of this Church; to see it in all its greatness; to 
 feel that this place is Holy; to dare to say about it, "The Gates of 
 Hell shall not prevail against it," you will have to go far beyond these 
 events which happened in Wethersfield two hundred years ago. You 
 will have to multiply that two hundred by ten if you would have the 
 whole story. Not the founding of the Newington Church, but the 
 founding of the Church in Newington you will have to consider, if 
 you would ascribe to it the honor and glory due its Holy name. 
 
 Whence came this Church which came to Newington? How came 
 the Fathers to have this ambition to build a house for Christian wor- 
 ship in this place? Perhaps at some time you have been late arriving 
 at some play or picture drama, and as you became interested you 
 wished you might have been present at the beginning so you would 
 have better understood the acts that were being played and the scenes 
 to come later. And thus it is with us and the Church: we have ar- 
 rived late; she has been playing her part long before we were here. 
 O, that we might turn back Time's moving picture so that we might 
 
understand the story of the Church, no, not of the Church but this 
 Church better! 
 
 We should see the little company coming along the forest trail 
 from Massachusetts Bay to the Connecticut. We should see the 
 stormy ocean and the little ship with its one hundred and two pas- 
 sengers who had in their hearts their covenant with God which they 
 were bringing to the new world as the Israelites of o'd carried the ark 
 of their covenant across the desert. We should see unrolled before us 
 all of England's history. We should see the contest between the 
 Bishops and the Puritan scholars and the tragedy of the fires at Smith- 
 field. We should see the contest between the Crown of England and 
 the triple crown of the Papal power, and the tragedy of the inquisi- 
 tion. We should see the times of Wicklifife and his doctrines. We 
 should see the days of Grosseteste, the times of Hugh of Avalon. We 
 should see Thomas a Becket when he came before the King and defied 
 him on behalf of the poor of England, and we should see him dead 
 at the altar in Canterbury Cathedral. 
 
 We should see the days of the great Anslem. We should see the 
 coming of William the Conqueror and see the great Landfranc restore 
 order in Britain. We should see the dark days when the lamp of 
 learning had gone out, and we should see the Venerable Bede fan- 
 ning it into flame again with his scholarship. We should see the 
 Roman missionaries under Augustine, seeking to establish their mis- 
 sions in Britain. We should see the little island of lona and the great 
 Irish monasteries where lived Patrick, Columbanus a«id Columba. We 
 should see Northern Africa and the little town of Hippo near the ruins 
 of old Carthage where Augustine the Great was guiding the Church 
 through those days when Rome was falling. 
 
 We should see the times of Constantine and see him put upon 
 his banners the sign of the cross, saying, "In this sign we shall con- 
 quer." We should see the dreadful contest between old Pagan Rome 
 and Christianity. We should see the trans-Tiber district where today 
 stands the Vatican palace. We should see the Christian slaves gather- 
 ing in Catacombs and other hidden places to worship their crucified 
 Saviour. Often would we see them in the Colliseum and hear them 
 saying "Ave, Caesar, nos morituri te salutamus" while the lions were 
 roaring in their dens. 
 
 We should see old Jerusalem. We should stand "Beside the 
 Temple There." We should see the great apostle reasoning with the 
 mob. We should see the days when Stephen suffered martyrdom for 
 the "name," and finally we should see that room, and, "that glorious 
 band, the chosen few, on whom the spirit came." We should hear 
 "the sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind." We should 
 see "Cloven tongues as of Fire" sitting upon them. We should hear 
 them speak with other tongues as they were filled with the Holy 
 Spirit. Here is the thread of history, the scarlet cord that is woven 
 into our Church. Here it is reaching back into those days when the 
 spirit of Christ took possession of the hearts of men. 
 
 This is but a small part of the whole story of our Church. It is 
 a mere synopsis of what it has done before we came, but where can 
 
you find anything like this? What institution can you name, what or- 
 ganization, what order, what government, what anything is there to 
 compare with this continuous, living Church reaching clear from 
 Newington to Israel. Do you think it is reckless to say the gates of 
 hell shall not prevail against it? When all these ages stand back of it? 
 O, come, let us think of our Church in this way. Let us see it as 
 a branch that is living because it is joined onto that living vine, the 
 greater Church of Jesus Christ. The new State Bank building in Hart- 
 ford has a number of great stone columns in front of it. One seeing 
 the stone columns now would think the heavy pediment and roof de- 
 pended upon them for support, but when the building was being 
 erected, the pediment and the roof were made before the columns 
 were put in place. They do but little to bear any weight. The fact 
 is that the roof really holds them in place, and they, great, heavy, 
 handsome columns though they are, like the rest of the building, de- 
 pend for support upon the foundations. The foundations are hidden 
 out of sight below the ground. The columns stand in full view, and 
 appear as though they would stand for ages — so they will, — as long as 
 the foundation remains. It is like our Church. It seems as though 
 it depended upon such and such a one but it is not so. It depends 
 upon the foundations, the foundations hidden in history which I have 
 tried to lay bare. It rests upon the "Word of our God," and because 
 it does rest upon His word, like His word, it shall stand forever. And 
 the important question for us in our celebration of this two hundredth 
 anniversary of the coming of the Church to Newington is that you and 
 I each ask ourselves, "What is our personal relation to this divinely 
 founded, eternal Church?" "Are we standing within its shelter secure 
 upon its immovable foundations? Do you have union with the Church 
 because, 
 
 'She on earth hath union with God the three in one 
 And mystic, sweet communion with those whose rest is won? 
 O happy ones and Holy, Lord give us grace that we 
 Like them the meek and lowly on High may dwell with Thee*." 
 
 — Amen. 
 
 HISTORY OF NEWINGTON SUNDAY SCHOOL 
 
 By JOSHUA BELDEN 
 
 HISTORY tells us that the Newington Sunday School was started 
 here June 20, 1819. But I believe the seeds of the school were 
 planted many years before this, for when Rev. Joshua Belden was the 
 pastor, after preaching two long sermons, he would invite the younger 
 portion of the audience to meet him in the little room in the tower of 
 the church, for the purpose of studying the Shorter Catechism. I do 
 not know how many responded to the invitation, but enough so that 
 he held the class for a number of years. I acknowledge it was not a 
 Bible school, but it was a Sunday school, and involved a good deal of 
 hard study at home to be able to give the correct answers to those 
 profound theological questions, as I very well found out, as a boy, 
 when I tried to prepare for a similar class that the Rev. W. P. Aikin 
 
held in the old Center school house on a week day. I have been told 
 that my great grandfather knew the Assembly Catechism so well that 
 when he could not sleep at night he would repeat the whole of it, 
 questions and answers, from beginning to end, without missing a 
 single one of those hard, dry subjects. Whether he found it a remedy 
 for sleepless nights or not, I cannot say; neither can I recommend it 
 for I have never tried it. The credit of establishing the Sunday 
 school here is not given to the pastor nor even to the church at large, 
 but to a band of faithful, devoted young ladies. Prudence Kellogg At- 
 wood, Electa Kellogg Whittlesey, Mary Wells Stoddard, Harriet 
 Benham, Julia Churchill, Alma Camp, Mary and Martha Brace. 
 
 Miss Churchill, in her diary, under the date of June 20, 1819, 
 writes: "This day hath been solemn. A Sunday school was estab- 
 lished in this place. Four little children were committed to my care, 
 to instruct on the Sabbath. O, Lord, help me to do my duty toward 
 ihem, and wilt Thou touch their young and tender minds by the in- 
 fluences of Thy spirit." 
 
 This school has been blessed throughout its more than one hun- 
 dred years of its life with devout consecrated workers. The school 
 was started in 1819 and then, because there was not any provision 
 made for heating the church, it was given up for the winter months. 
 But in 1831 the Newington School is reported as being held during the 
 winter months. The next spring the church organized the school and 
 elected Daniel Willard as the first Superintendent, who served for 
 eighteen years. The last five years he was assisted by Wm. Deming 
 on account of Mr. Willard being out of town for the most of the time. 
 The church has continued to elect the officers and help meet its ex- 
 penses. The school met in the auditorium of the present building, 
 but it presented a very dififerent appearance both outside and inside 
 from what it is today. There was a tall, slender spire, which was re- 
 moved in 1837. There was not any bell in the tower until 1828 and 
 two rows of windows on each side with small window panes. One 
 window back of the pulpit, which for a time had neither shade nor 
 blind, so that the hot summer sun shone in the afternoon unresistingly 
 on Dr. Brace's back, until one Sunday he had to change his position 
 for, as he told his congregation, he could not stand it any longer for 
 the sweat was running down into his boots. After this a pair of blinds 
 relieved the situation. There was no provision made for heating or 
 lighting the building. 
 
 Instead of the present pews, there were square ones with seats 
 on three sides, so that one-third of the audience had their backs to the 
 minister. There was one pew in the gallery back of the singers' seats, 
 so closed in that only the heads of those who sat there could be seen. 
 We look back now to those days of our fathers when every one went 
 to church, and wish that that habit prevailed now. But I wonder 
 what our pastor would think of some things that we are told were done 
 in those high-backed pews. Dea. Levi S. Deming said at the 175th an- 
 niversary of our church that sometimes cards were played and wine 
 drunk during the sermon by those persons in the pew. Dr. Brace 
 held a Bible class of young men in that pew or rooin. He was not 
 
that stern, austere man without humor that his picture, which hangs 
 on the wall here, would make us expect. My father told me he at- 
 tended that class in the little room and one night he went in, and there 
 not being any light he thought there was no one in the room, when 
 suddenly out of the darkness came the doctor's gruflf voice saying, 
 "Who comes here? Old King Cole?" 
 
 At the close of his ministry here the whole Sunday school, to the 
 number of some two hundred, met one evening at his house and, 
 through their Superintendent, Dea. Levi S. Deming, presented him 
 with a large easy chair. In his reply he said, "It is about the first 
 luxury that ever came into my house." There was not any question 
 books or papers used in the first years of the school. Texts of Scrip- 
 ture were learned and recited. The first question books, called New- 
 comb's were used in 1840, when Dea. Origen Wells was Superinten- 
 dent. Afterwards we had the Union Question Book, each scholar 
 buying a book for himself. Since then we have used the Interna- 
 tional, and some classes for a time used the Graded Lessons. In an 
 old note book of Dea. Origen Wells, in 1840, he has recorded the 
 names and ages of the members of the school. There were seven 
 classes of boys and young men from the ages of seven to twenty-four. 
 All had men for their teachers. Then there were nine classes of young 
 ladies or girls, seven of whom were seventeen or under; the other two 
 classes were evidently a little over seventeen, but the deacon made no 
 attempt to give their age. I do not know whether they refusd to an- 
 swer when asked, or that he did not dare to inquire. Anyway, human 
 nature has not changed very much. The good deacon lived in the 
 farm house of the Children's home, and he was nearly blind during his 
 last years. He was very much opposed to dancing, and I remember 
 very distinctly of meeting him a little north of the old parsonage early 
 one morning when I was twelve or thirteen years old, and when I told 
 him who I was he told me he was on his way to see the pastor to 
 urge him to preach against that sinful practice. Then he told me 
 what a bad thing it was to do. I did not promise never to indulge. 
 I certainly had not up to that time, and since then, with the exception 
 of a few times walking through a dance called Virginia Reel, I am 
 certainly guiltless. 
 
 No singing books were used and singing was not introduced for 
 many years, save in the infant class, as it was then called, which met 
 in the little north room upstairs, where songs called "I want to be an 
 Angel," "Little Drops of Water, Little Drops of Sand" were taught 
 the class. While Dea. C. K. Atwood was Superintendent, in the 60's, 
 Gen. Martin Kellogg gave the school fifty copies of a singing book 
 entitled "Sabbath School Bell." Since that time singing of gospel 
 hymns has had a prominent part in the worship of the school. Mr. 
 Herbert C. Francis and others were a great help for a number of 
 years by accompanying the pianist with their violins. Mr. H. L. Kel- 
 logg for a number of years served very acceptably as our Chorister, 
 and now for several years the school has been greatly blessed with the 
 able leadership of Geo. W. Hanbury. On June 1, 1858, the church 
 voted "That the afternoon of the second Sabbath in each month be 
 
devoted to the catechetical instruction of the children. This was done 
 for a time and then changed to the monthly concert, when the school 
 sat in the body of the house and class after class arose and recited 
 verses of Scripture. Then some one, usually from out of town, talked 
 to the school. I can remember some of the stories that Father Haw- 
 lejs the city missionary of Hartford, told us. He said to us boys that 
 when we went for the cows Sunday evening to let down the bars very 
 still. The school for many years maintained a library of 700 or 800 
 books, but since we have had the Town library there has not been 
 much call for books, and now we are giving each Sunday some six 
 different papers. In 1846 there were taken in the school forty copies 
 of the Wellspring, also the Temperance Advocate. I remember very 
 well how pleased I was once a month to receive the Child's Paper. 
 Since 1860 regular offerings have been taken for benevolence, and 
 before that time Dr. Brace tells of contributions made by the school 
 for benevolent purposes. During the last 61 years we have given 
 $9,750 for charitable purposes besides helping to pay for the expenses 
 of the school. 
 
 There have been admitted to the church on profession of faith 
 since 1863, from the school, 355, as shown by the church calendar. 
 The attendance during these years has been very good for so small 
 a church. The average attendance each year has run from 64 to 168. 
 In 1831, 23 teachers and 148 scholars. In 1841, when Dea. Origen Wells 
 was Superintendent, the average for the year was 120; when Rev. J. O. 
 Barrows was our pastor, the average attendance for one year was 167, 
 and the next year 168. 
 
 Our young men have always been ready to respond to their coun- 
 try's call in its defense. In the Revolutionary War, when the popula- 
 tion of Newington was only about 500, 100 were enrolled as its defend- 
 ers. In 1812, 40 answered the call. In the Civil War Dea. Atwood 
 who was the Superintendent, reports that 12 members had enlisted. 
 In the World War I counted the names on the Roll of Honor that 
 stands on the Green of 20 young men of the school and one young 
 lady. During 1883 and 1884 Mr. J. B. Smith of New Britain took an 
 active interest in the work of the schools belonging to the Wethers- 
 field and Berlin S. S. Union and prepared a list of questions for each 
 previous quarter's lessons, for a written examination of all who would 
 take it. The papers on which the answers were written were given to 
 a committee, who marked them on a scale of ten for a perfect report. 
 In the report of the fourth quarter of 1883 I find the names of the 
 following persons who were marked ten: Agnes W. Belden, F. H. 
 Kirkham, T. A. Kirkham, J. H. Kirkham and M. A. Kirkham. Those 
 marked 9.8 were E. W. Atwood, Elmer Chapman, Grace L. Pimm, 
 A. E. Ross, H. C. Francis and C. E. Wetherell. The school, from its 
 beginning, has stood firmly for the cause of temperance. Dr. Brace, 
 in his farewell sermon, says, "At my coming among my people, they 
 generally drank ardent spirits, although they were not intemperate, 
 according to the standard of that day. The first cost of liquor was 
 greater, I judge, than the minister's salary." In 1816 Dr. Chapin was 
 the first man to move for the exclusion of liquor, and the people soon 
 followed his example. 
 
Then Dr. Brace writes: "I have been a witness of a wonderful 
 change, and I must testify to the remarkable temperance and sobriety 
 of this people. This change took place some two or three years be- 
 fore the organization of the school. 
 
 In June, 1886, the Rev. J. O. Barrows drew up the following 
 pledge: " We, the undersigned, relying upon the grace of God, as 
 alone able to keep us from falling, and to establish us in every good 
 "Word and work, do hereby give our testimony to the value and im- 
 portance of temperance in all things; and more especially do we make 
 known our belief, that in view of the evil and danger of using intoxi- 
 cating liquors, entire abstinence from the use of such liquors, as a 
 beverage, is a part of the truest temperance. Accordingly it is our 
 purpose to abstain wholly from such use ourselves, and in all suitable 
 ways to try to encourage others to practice the same abstinence." 
 There are 224 names attached to this pledge. Nearly all in the school, 
 except the very youngest classes, and also a few who were not mem- 
 bers, signed this pledge. Other temperance work has been carried on 
 here from time to time by earnest workers. Miss Mary Churchill has 
 been a faithful one in the cause and has obtained many signatures to 
 the pledge. 
 
 There have been only ten Superintendents, as follows: Dea. Daniel 
 Willard, 18 years; Dea. Origen Wells, 4 years; Dea. Jedediah Deming, 
 4 years; Dea. Levi S. Deming, 11 years; Marcus W. Stoddard, 1 
 year; Dea. C. K. Atwood, 5 years; Joseph J. Francis, 5 years; 
 Dea. Roger Welles, 4 years; Dea. John S. Kirkham, 7 years; Dea. 
 Joshua Belden, since Jan. 2, 1880. 
 
 Such is the record of this school as I have been able to gather it 
 up, but what has been the results or the influence of the work done 
 here no one can tell or measure. Only God knows the earnest pray- 
 ers oflFered up by the teachers in behalf of their scholars, or their 
 self-sacrifice and devotion, so gladly and freely given for the good of 
 the school. I have been a member for nearly three score and ten 
 years and I know that the teachers I have had here have exerted a 
 very great influence for good over my life. And now that our num- 
 bers seem to be rapidly decreasing I want to appeal to each and every 
 member of this church to do all in his power to carry on the work. 
 That each one would feel a responsibility resting upon him and not 
 leave it to those who are the officers and teachers. When we see some 
 one taking the wrong road we wish we had the power to reach out our 
 hand and lift that person into the right path. Jesus told His disciples 
 that if He was lifted up He would draw all men unto Him. That won- 
 derful lifting power that we desired. He has, but He asks His followers 
 to lift Him up so that others can see what He has done for them, what 
 He is ready to do if they will only let Him. That is what we are try- 
 ing to do here in this school by precept and example. Won't you 
 come and help us, and not when the morning service is over turn your 
 back upon us. We need you, Jesus needs you, and He has a rich 
 blessing in store for all that deny themselves for His sake. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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