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 PROCEEDINGS AT SUFFIELD, 
 
 SEPTEMBER 16, 185i 
 
 ON THE OCCASION OF THE 
 
 OF THE DECEASE OF THE 
 
 REV. BENJAMIN RUGGLES, 
 
 First Pastor of the First Congregattonal Church. 
 
 SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 
 
 SAMUEL BOWLES AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, 
 
 1859.
 
 
 PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 A Hundred and fifty years had nearly expired since tlie 
 decease of the first Pastor of the First Congregational 
 Church, and no monument or stone had been set to indi- 
 cate to the passer-by his hist resting-phice. The idea was 
 conceived of erecting a suitable monument to his memory ; 
 and on the 24th of May, 1858, the Church appointed Dea. 
 Henry A. Sykes, Daniel W. Xortox and Byron Loomis 
 a Committee to Carry this into efl;*ect. 
 
 At a subsequent meeting of the Church, a Committee on 
 Inscriptions was appointed, consisting of the following 
 individuals: Rev. Henry Robinson, Rev. Joel Mann, 
 Rev. A. C. Washburn and Rev. J. R. Miller. 
 
 It was felt to be desirable also to observe, in connection 
 with the above, the One Hundred and Fiftietli Anniversary 
 of Mr. Ruggles' decease ; and a Committee of Arranjre- 
 ments was appointed to make suitable provision therefor. 
 A Committee of Correspondence was also chosen; and the 
 following is the Circular Letter which they issued : 
 
 Sdffield, Conn., July 27, 1858. 
 
 Dear : Tbo First Congregational Church in this town, 
 
 having engaged in the enterprise of erecting a niouument to the mem- 
 ory of the first Pastor of this Chureli — Rev .Benj.^min Ruggles, — and 
 in connection therewith, of commemorating the one hundred and fiftieth 
 Anniversary of his decease, September IG. 1858. X. S.. have voted to
 
 invite the Citizens generally, and the Sons and Daughters of SufEeld 
 
 abroad especially, to join with us in the celebration of the day. 
 
 The Committee of Correspondence, therefore, respectfully invite you 
 
 and as many of your family as can make it convenient, to be present to 
 
 participate in the exercises of the occasion. 
 
 DANIEL HEMENWAY, 
 DANIEL W. NORTON, 
 HORACE SHELDON, 2d. 
 
 The Anniversary fell on a very nnpropitious day, yet it& 
 celebration was very successful. 
 The officers of the day were : — 
 
 PRESIDENT, 
 
 Dea. HORACE SHELDON, 2d. 
 
 VICE PRESIDENT, 
 
 ARTEMAS KING, Esq. 
 
 COMMITTEE OF RECEPTION, 
 
 Messrs. NELOND LOOMIS, GEORGE A. DOUGLAS, 
 Dr. ARETUS RISING. 
 
 MARSHAL, 
 
 SIMON B. KENDALL, Esq. 
 
 FIRST DIVISION. 
 
 At 9 o'clock, the President called the people to order 
 under the elm trees in front of the Ruggles and Devotion 
 Parsonage Grounds, and as the morning was rainy, they 
 adjourned into the tent which had been erected on said 
 grounds, for the purpose of having a collation with which 
 to close the services of the day, where the exercises were 
 as follows : 
 
 Invocation by Rev. Henry Cooley. 
 
 Rev. A. C. "Washburn read the following selected por- 
 tions of Scripture : — 
 
 " Lord, how manifold are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made 
 them all. Our fathers trusted in thee : they trusted, and thou didst 
 deliver them. We have heard with our ears, God, our fathers have
 
 told us, what work tliou didst in their day, in the times of old. For 
 they got not the land in possession Ijy their own sword, neither did 
 their own arm save them ; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the 
 light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favor unto them. The 
 Lord is our defence ; and the Holy One of Israel is our King. God 
 is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble. 
 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all the inhabitants of the land. 
 Tell ye yoiu- children of it, and lot your children tell their children, 
 and their children to another generation. Know therefore this day, 
 and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above 
 and upon the earth beneath : there is none else. Thou shalt keep 
 therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee 
 this day, that it may go well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong 
 thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee. God 
 be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us : 
 that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth ; that our 
 daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a 
 palace. Happy is the people that is in such a case ; yea, happy is 
 that people whose God is the Lord. God shall bless us ; and all the 
 ends of the earth shall fear him. Let the people praise thee, God ; 
 let all the people praise thee. let the nations be glad, and sing for 
 joy. Lord God of liosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee ? 
 Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee." 
 
 Rev. Henry Robinson offered the following Prayer : 
 
 Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we are assembled in thy prov- 
 idence, under circumstances of deep and solemn interest. We feel 
 that the place where we stand is holy ground. Here was the dwelling 
 of thy servant, under whose ministrations a church of Clirist was first 
 planted in this town. Here he gathered around him his beloved fami- 
 ly and experienced the joys and sorrows of earth. Here he erected an 
 altar to thy name, and prayed, and labored, and wept for the souls com- 
 mitted to his care. Here his successor in office passed through similar 
 scenes of labor and trial ; and fi-om this consecrated spot, we doubt 
 not, they went up to dwell with thee in that house not made with 
 hands, eternal in the heavens. We thank thee for their holy and 
 bright example. We thank thee for the good tliey accomplished 
 during their lifetime, and for the good that lias come to succeeding gen- 
 erations through tlieir faitliful labors. We thank thee that tliis day 
 has been set apart by this churcli, for the purpose of calling to remem-
 
 6 
 
 brance tliese, its early pastors, and others who have spoken to it the 
 word of God, but have finished their eartldj course. We beseech thee 
 to grant thy assistance in all the exercises in which we may engage. 
 Make the occasion one of blessing to the pastor and members of this 
 church, and to all who may attend upon the services of the day. 
 While called to review thy dealings with this beloved flock, and the 
 manifestations of thy goodness in this town, may our hearts go forth to 
 thee in devout gratitude and praise. And to the Father, the Son, and 
 the Holy Ghost be all the glory. Amen. 
 
 The following words were sung in tlie old style of lining : 
 
 " What though the arm of conquering death, 
 Does God's own house invade ? 
 What though the prophet and the priest 
 Are numbered with the dead ? 
 
 Though earthly shepherds dwell in dust, — 
 
 The aged and the young, 
 The watchful eye in darkness closed. 
 
 And mute the instructive tongue : — 
 
 Th' eternal Shepherd still survives. 
 
 New comfort to impart ; 
 His eye still guides us, and his voice 
 
 Still animates our heart." 
 
 SECOND DIVISION". 
 A Procession was formed and proceeded to the Burial 
 Ground, and formed a hollow square around the Monu- 
 ment, where were performed the following exercises ; — 
 
 REPOKT OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, TO THE FIRST CONGRE- 
 GATIONAL CHURCH IN SUFFIELD. 
 
 Dear Brethren : — The undersigned appointed by your suffrage, an 
 Executive Committee, for the erection of a monument to the memory 
 of Rev. Benjamin Ruggles, first pastor of the church in this town, 
 and his consort, respectfully report : — 
 
 Upon assuming the duties assigned them, the attention of your com- 
 mittee was directed toward the adoption of a suitable design for said
 
 monument ; and the thought oceurrecl to their minds that a model of 
 the first house erected for public worship in this town, in which Mr. 
 RuGGLES was ordained, would be well adapted for the purpose, and at 
 the same time be an interesting memento of the humlde house in which 
 our fathers worshiped. Upon further consideration the idea was by 
 them adopted ; and plans for such a monument were prepared, repre- 
 senting said house in its general form, as near as could l)e gathered 
 ,from records concerning it, and by inference from the known architec- 
 ture of that period. 
 
 The place of Mr. Ruggles' sepulture has been a subject of investiga- 
 tion by your committee. It is well known that a dilapidated monu- 
 ment remained to mark the grave of Mrs. Ruggles, but otherwise there 
 was nothing visible to mark his grave. There is a record under date 
 of September 22, 1708, seventeen days subsequent to Mr. Ruggles' 
 decease, that it was voted to allow John Rising and Samuel Sikes a 
 compensation " for their going to the Bay with y® Rev. Mr. Ruggles ; " 
 and August 2, 1709, about one year later, it was " voted to set a 
 decent tomb upon the grave of the Rev. Mr. Benjamin Ruggles, 
 deceased, upon the town's charge." The first of the above quoted votes 
 shows that Mr. Ruggles had journeyed to Roxbury, the place of his 
 nativity, no great length of time previous, and as no tomb or monument 
 marked his grave here, the question arose, " Did not his death occur 
 while absent on a visit to his friends?" To satisfy their minds with 
 respect to this and also with respect to his birth, they have examined 
 the records of Roxbury, his native place, and also of Braintree and 
 Weymouth, where some of his kindred resided. By this investigation 
 your committee were convinced that he died in SuflSeld, and that here 
 was the place to look for his grave. Upon locating the moiuinient and 
 excavating for its foundation, the grave of Mrs. Ruggles was very 
 readily found, but nothing indicating the resting place of Mr. Ruggles. 
 Mrs. Ruggles' grave was found to lie close to the east side of the 
 Monument, and upon investigation by excavating on the east side of 
 her grave, the place of Mr. Ruggles' sepulture was found to be under 
 the Avenue, four feet from the monument. Since this investigation 
 your committee have also received testimony from Rev. Samuel Ruggles 
 of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, saying that his ancestor, Rev. Benjamin 
 Ruggles, died in this town, and was buried by the side of his wife. 
 
 Another subject for consideration was the disposition to be made of 
 the stone slab which for one hujidred and fifty years had markeil the 
 grave of Mrs. Ruggles ; and your committee came to the conclusion to
 
 8 
 
 deposit it in the gi-ound over the graves of Mr. Ruggles and his con- 
 sort ; and it has thus been deposited, extending east from the monument 
 over both their graves. 
 
 Brethren, the monument is before you, bearing upon one side an 
 inscription, to tlie memory of Mr. Euggles, a draft of which was 
 presented to us, by the committee whom you appointed to prepare it ; 
 and on the other side is -a fac simile of the inscription, with its accom- 
 panying quaint emblems, which the old monument has so long borne. 
 The whole expense of the monument and fixtures has been some three 
 hundred dollars. Through your munificence, aided by that of some of 
 our fellow citizens and some of the sons and daughters of Suffield 
 abroad, we have been enabled to accomplish this work. 
 
 In the days when our fathers assembled to worship God in the 
 liumble house of which this monument is both a model and a memento, 
 " a red flag "* was hung out to notify them of the hour for meeting. 
 
 As a token of our offering this monument for your acceptance and to 
 your care we now place upon it this little flag, which we present to the 
 pastor of this church, as a memento of the transactions of this day, and 
 of the days of his early predecessors in the pastoral office. 
 
 Yours in the Fellowship of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 
 HENRY A. SYKES, 
 DANIEL W. NORTON, 
 BYRON LOOMIS, 
 
 Executive Gommitiee. 
 
 Suffield, Ct., September 16, 1858. 
 
 REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON INSCRIPTIONS, TO THE FIRST CONGRE- 
 GATIONAL CHURCH IN SUFFIELD. 
 
 The committee appointed by the church to prepare an inscription for the 
 monument of Rev. Benjamin Ruggles, would present the follow- 
 ing report : — 
 
 As the members of the committee were too distant from one another 
 to render a personal interview convenient, they could accomplish the 
 object of their appointment only by correspondence. They have given 
 such attention to the matter as their situation and the shortness of the 
 
 * April 6, 1685. " Agreed and voted to begin the meeting on y^ Sabbath at nine 
 of the clock in the morning and at halfe an houre after one of y^ clock in the after- 
 noone — And that the Townsemen shall upon ye townes' cost procure a ladder and 
 alsoe a red flagg to hang out for a signe that persons may know the time for 
 assembling together." — Town Records.
 
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 9 
 
 time permitted. The principal facts embodied in the inscription were 
 furnished by tlie kindness of Mr. Hexry A. Sykes, to whose thorough 
 investigations at home and abroad, the committee would acknowledge 
 themselves highly indebted. 
 
 The inscription is as follows : 
 
 "Rev. benjamin RUGGLES ; 
 
 Born ix Roxbury, Mass., August il, 1676, 0. S. 
 
 Graduated at Harvard, 1693 ; 
 
 Ordained in Suffield, April 26, 1698. 
 
 Died September 5, 1708, Aged 32. 
 
 TUE character GIVEN HIM IN THE RECORD OF THE PAST, IS THAT 
 OF .A HUMBLE CHRISTIAN ; A TRUE PEACEMAKER ; AN EVAN- 
 GELICAL preacher, AND A SUCCESSFUL PASTOR. 
 ' The Righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.' 
 ERECTED 
 BY THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN SUFFIELD, IN HONOR OF 
 ITS FIRST PASTOR AND IN CONNEXION WITH THE ONE HUN- 
 DRED AND FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DECEASE, 
 COMMEMORATED SEPTEMBER 16, 1858, N. S." 
 
 JOEL MANN, 
 HENRY ROBINSON, 
 ASAHEL C. WASHBURN, 
 JOHN R. MILLER, 
 
 Committee on Inscriptions. 
 SuFFiELD, September 16, 1858. 
 
 RESPONSE OF REV. J. R. MILLER, PASTOR OF THE FIRST CONGRE- 
 GATIOXAL CHURCH. 
 
 Mr. President : — A response is expected ; and it naturally devolves 
 upon the pastor of the church, as chairman of its business meetings ; 
 but it is with diffidence and yet with pleasure that I appear to perform 
 this duty on an occasion like this. 
 
 The reports just made by the executive committee, and the commit- 
 tee on inscriptions point us to this Monument as the object of our 
 present thoughts, designed by its structure to be, in the language of 
 the report, " an interesting memento of the humble house in which 
 OUR FATHERS WORSHIPED." Behold it ; mark its form ; read its inscrip- 
 tions ; they carry us back in imagination a hundred and fifty years ; 
 2
 
 10 
 
 and wbat monumental form could be more befitting the object we have 
 anned at in the erection of this ! Then the godly man, whose mortal 
 remains have since been mouldering side by side with those of his 
 beloved consort under this sacred sod, and in honor of whom this Mon- 
 ument has now been erected, had finished his earthly labors. He had 
 sowed the seed that is gladdening us by its fruits to-day. 
 
 A hundred and fifty years ago ! That is far back in our country's 
 history. You see by that inscription that the Rev. Mr. Ruggles was 
 born within fifty-six years of the landing of the Pilgrims on Plymouth 
 Rock ; and that his death occurred within eighty-eight years of that 
 time, ever memorable in the annals of New England. Ten years as 
 pastor, and two years previously, he labored as a pioneer in laying the 
 foundations of a religious society on this spot, blessed of God above 
 most other places, both in beauty and fertility. 
 
 But could he descend to-day, would he recognize the scene of his 
 earthly labors ? 
 
 Yon hills remain ; the general configuration of the land is the same ; 
 the same sun, and moon, and stars shine down upon it : but time has 
 wrought a mighty change. Not a house, I suppose, remains that was 
 then standing, unless it has been so thoroughly remodeled as to be 
 made over almost entirely new ; and few, if any, are the trees that 
 were even saplings then. Those grand old forests that stood on these 
 fields have all disappeared. And the fathers, where are they ? Gone ; 
 all gone. Many of them sleep on this very spot. Their graves are 
 HERE ; and the graves of many of their children ; yea, and of their 
 ehildrens' children. A succession of pastors have here lived and la- 
 bored. The monuments of some of them we behold, standing here 
 where we now stand. Generations have here passed away. Many 
 scenes and events have here transpired. How different from a hundred 
 and fifty years ago all things here to-day ! 
 
 This country was not free, but under British rule when our first 
 pastor labored here. He came to this place during the time embraced 
 in what is known as King William's war. The tragedy of Deerfield 
 Mass., in which the Rev. Mr. Williams and all his family were taken 
 captive by the Indians, occurred during the latter part of his ministry. 
 Since then we have grown into an independent Republic. The wars of 
 the revolution have been fought ; a succession of Presidents have been 
 elected to office, and retired ; population has multiplied ; education 
 has advanced ; the arts have been cultivated ; religion has spread ; 
 schools, colleges, churches, and cities have thickened in the land ; the
 
 11 
 
 events of a great and growing nation have transpired ; a net-work 
 of railways and telegraph wires have made this wide-spread country as 
 a neighborhood ; and recently the two continents have been bound to- 
 gether by a CABLE through which there is said to be free communication 
 of thought and intelligence — words like lightning leap to and fro 
 through their mighty course along the ocean's bed. Standing here to- 
 day how difficult to conceive the difference between now, and then. 
 The place has changed ; the country has changed ; the times are 
 changed. 
 
 But the erection of this Monument, and the gathering of this assem- 
 bly prove that the seed sown by our first pastor has not been lost, but 
 that there are here to-day, those who hold a sympathy with the man, 
 and with his chi-istian work. Instead of the fathers are the children. 
 A like spirit animates them. And they will not suffer the fathers to 
 be forgotten, No. They have copied from the good old Bible, and 
 engraved on this tablet as their sentiment, 
 
 " The righteous shall he in everlasting remenibrance." 
 
 The transactions of this day say loudly, " Let the righteous in our 
 memory live, and let their righteous deeds be recorded." It is right. 
 It is beneficial. We owe it to them. We owe it to ourselves, and 
 our children, and coming posterity. We owe it to Grod. And why 
 to God ? Because in every church there is a history, and the dealings 
 of God are to be traced in that history. Therefore the erection of this 
 Monument is a noble and praise-worthy undertaking. It is important 
 in its historic bearings. The facts that will be thus rescued from ob- 
 livion are important. They will be gathered up, and handed down as 
 items first and important in the history of God's gracious dealings with 
 his church in this place. 
 
 This movement is attended with some cost of thought, and labor, 
 and money. But we would have none of that narrow-minded, parsi- 
 monious, selfish, mean, Judas-like spirit, that would say, " AVhorcfore 
 is this waste, for this Monument might have been spared, and the 
 THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS givcu to the poor." No. And it is not those 
 who care most for the poor, that would say this. 
 
 Would there were more of this philanthrophy. It opens the heart, 
 and makes broader and deeper the christian sentiment. 
 
 Therefore, Mr. President, I will here introduce a short episode, and 
 speaking as a citizen of Suffield, make a suggestion. Back of Mr. 
 RuGGLES, there was a minister here — the Rev. Joun Younglove. He
 
 12 
 
 was pre-eminently the minister of the town. He is buried on this spot, 
 but no stone marks the place of his grave. Now would it not be no- 
 ble in us as a town to do for his memory as the first minister, what 
 the first church has done for the memory of its first pastor ? 
 
 This is an age of sentiment ; and sentiment as well as law has its au- 
 thority and its sanctions : the one presides in the Forum, the other in 
 the Cemetery ; the one essays to protect the rights of the living, the 
 other the ashes of the dead. The last resting-place of man is a strife- 
 less resting-place. No rivalries agitate the bosom, and no alarms dis- 
 turb the slumbers of the dead. Even the sight of the grave of a fallen 
 foe chanees resentment into reverence, and transforms hatred into love. 
 The grave is sacred ; it is inviolate, even though it be an humble one. 
 In all ages and among all nations it has proved a defense to the sacred 
 deposit committed to its trust. The rude hand is palsied here. None 
 but a wretch will violate the sanctuary of the grave. 
 
 And should it not be so ? 
 
 Who has not friends in the da!rk domain of the dead ? And towards 
 that dark domain a resistless power is bearing us all onward. To die 
 is the common doom. There is no escape. Redeemed dust must lie 
 imprisoned its appointed time. But the time of release will come. 
 How long soever these slumbers shall continue, the earth and sea shall 
 ultimately give up the dead that are in them ; then, death, where 
 will be thy sting ; grave, where thy victory. 
 
 Singing by the Choir, 673d Hymn, (Church Psalmody.) 
 
 ' ' Hear what the voice from heaven proclaims 
 For all the pious dead ! 
 Sweet is the savor of their names. 
 And soft their sleeping bed. 
 
 They die in Jesus, and are blest ; 
 
 How kind their slumbers are ! 
 From suffering and from sin released. 
 
 They're freed from every snare. 
 
 Far from this world of toil and strife. 
 
 They're present with the Lord ; 
 The labors of their mortal life 
 
 End in a large reward.*^
 
 13 
 
 THIRD tHA^ISIOX. 
 
 The procession then proceeded to the church, which had 
 been appropriately and tastefiillj decked, by the young la- 
 dies, with wreaths of evergreen. Upon the wall over the 
 })u]pit, hung a banner encircled with a wreath of evergreen, 
 bearing these inviting words : 
 
 c^fcBi©^ 
 
 >B 
 
 WELCOME 
 
 Ve Aged 
 
 .J^nantsi of tJtc pvd. 
 
 WELCOJTIE 
 
 Sons and Daughters of Suffield to 
 the Home of your Fathers 
 
 P 
 
 WELCOME 
 
 JTelloto (TitiKns, one anti all 
 
 ■^. 
 
 At tlie church there were the following exercises : — 
 Singing by the Congregation, 654th Hymn, (Church 
 Psalmody.) 
 
 " Great God I beneath •whopo piercing eye 
 The earth's extended kingdoms lie ; 
 Whose favoring smile upholds them all, 
 Whose anger smites them and they foil ; — 
 
 We bow before thy heavenly throne ; 
 Thy jx)wer we see — thy greatness own ; 
 Yet, cherished by the milder voice. 
 Our bosoms tremble and rejoice.
 
 14 
 
 Thy kindness to our fathers shown 
 Their children's cliildren long shall own ; 
 To thee, with grateful hearts, shall raise 
 The tribute of exulting praise. 
 
 Led on by thine unerring aid. 
 Secure the paths of life we tread ; 
 And, freely as the vital air, 
 Thy first and noblest bounties share. 
 
 Great God, our guardian, guide, and friend ! 
 Oh still thy sheltering arm extend ; 
 Preserved by thee for ages past. 
 For ages let thy kindness last !" 
 
 Prayer by Rev. Daniel Waldo. 
 
 Almighty and most merciful Father ; may our minds be deeply 
 solemnized while we celebrate the memory of thy long departed servant. 
 May we all be imbued with the spirit that animated him ; and fulfill 
 our mission as he did, be it longer or shorter. 
 
 Give, we beseech thee, to all who perform parts on this occasion, the 
 influences of thy Holy Spirit, that the hearers may receive a new un- 
 pulse in discharging their duty with greater fidelity to their Master, 
 being instrumental in turning many from darkness to light ; and that 
 we all may receive the plaudit of the Judge — Well done thou good 
 and faithful servant ; enter into the joy of thy Lord. Amen. 
 
 Then followed an Address by Eev. Aratus Kent. 
 
 Fellow Citizens of Suffield : — We are assembled here this day 
 to take note of the flight of time, to revive early friendship, and to call 
 up recollections of former years before they have escaped from our 
 grasp. 
 
 One hundred and fifty years have passed away since a mourning 
 church were gathered in yonder grave-yard to pay the last tribute of 
 respect to their revered and aflfectionate pastor. I shall not attempt to 
 depict the burial scene, for there is no record left of the transaction. 
 
 Human life is reduced to a brief period, and the burdened memory 
 of advanced years falters and forgets most of the innumerable events 
 which have crowded along its lengthened pathway, and yet I can look 
 back more than fifty years and call to mind facts and incidents that
 
 15 
 
 were indelibly written upon my memory. And as " the interest and 
 value of history depends upon details," I need no apology for giving 
 some of ray personal recollections. 
 
 It is more than half a century since I used to pass the house and 
 watch the slow tread of old Captain Hitcucock, then more than ninety, 
 as he walked out and leaning upon the top of his staff, bent down to 
 extract the last bunch of i\Iay-weed that ventured to take root in front 
 of his domicil. I remember the school-house which stood on the Green, 
 as it was brilliantly illuminated, when the choice of Jefferson to the 
 presidency was announced ; and I remember the gloomy forebodings of 
 the Federalists on that occasion. I remember some fifty years ago 
 when Gideon Granger, Postmster-General, used to come home from 
 Washington City, portly, polite, and his head powdered according to 
 the fashion of the times ; and I remember the fact stated by my father, 
 that he was born on the very site where I was afterwards cradled. I 
 have a dim and hazy recollection of the Hon. Oliver Phelps, once 
 the proprietor of the mansion next south of the Old Parsonage, where 
 we were just now convened. He was famous for his agency in the set- 
 tlement of the Holland Purchase and the immense wealth he wa.s sup- 
 posed at that time to possess. He removed to Canandaigua in eighteen 
 hundred and two. I have a more distinct recollection of his son Lies- 
 CESTER, and of the humorous story told when he went to France, that if 
 he liked it, his father would buy it for him. I have had a more recent 
 acquaintance with his grandson. Judge Oliver Phelps, who was con- 
 spicuous among those who carved a road for the Erie canal through the 
 mountain rock at Lockport, and it is but five days since in passing 
 through Canada I traveled with his great grandson, who resides in the 
 province near Suspension Bridge. He is reported to be largely opulent, 
 and he certainly was largely gray-headed. Fifty years ago I was a 
 school-boy here, who with my mates used to race over the play-ground, 
 and fish in the ponds, and bathe in the creek ; and once I recollect that 
 a bottle of spirits was in attendance : I do not remember wliicli boy it 
 was that carried the bottle ; but I do remember many who liave been 
 slain by it ; and why was not I ? It is about fifty years since I 
 looked into the grave of a lad of my own age, and thought of death, 
 and the necessity of a speedy preparation. It is not far from lialf a 
 century since, in passing down the road towards our pa.sture, I met a 
 lad of my age coming towards me, and I went round on the hill to 
 avoid him, for it was reported that he had become a christian, and I 
 feared to encounter the young convert.
 
 16 
 
 Fifty years have registered their changes on me. I cannot conceal 
 them if I would, and I would not if I could. 
 
 What changes in my early associates ! Most of them are dead. 
 And how altered the appearance of those that still live ! Once young 
 and blithe as the morning songster, and sprightly as the deer, their 
 eyes sparkled with animation. Their countenances were ruddy with 
 health, and their spirits were buoyant with hope. But old time has 
 written decay upon their wrinkled brow. Gray hairs are multiplying, 
 and the next generation are anticipating their speedy removal. 
 
 In the town these changes are everywhere visible. It is true some 
 things remain as they were. Some houses are still standing, but their 
 inmates are changed. Some trees that my neighbor Loomis planted 
 and watered are still there ; and I rejoice that he still lives to enjoy 
 their shade. May he partake richly of the fruit of the tree of life, 
 whose very leaves are for the healing of the nations. And those ven- 
 erable spreading elms, which I used to admire, which hung so grace- 
 fully over the parson's door, and under whose shadow we this day con- 
 vened, are yet standing as monuments of the taste of their proprietors. 
 
 The old homestead (the present parsonage) where my parents toiled 
 and prayed and died, still remains very much as it was. But its pres- 
 ent occupants know not Joseph. Strange voices there greet my ears. 
 The furniture is changed, and the pictures that childish scrutiny paint- 
 ed on the memory are gone. The old aunt has ceased to knit, and the 
 old clock to tick, as they were wont to do fifty years ago. 
 
 The brook still flows as when I ran along the banks and traced its 
 obliquities and dropped my fishing line into its deep pools ; but the 
 brook seems smaller, since I have encountered so many broad rivers in 
 my pereginations. Mount Tom still lifts its heavy head to the specta- 
 tor's gaze. It was once to me an other name for north. I remember 
 how pleasantly the church bell of Enfield and others responded to each 
 other on the sabbath morning over the waters of Connecticut River, 
 little dreaming then that I should live to witness Europe and America 
 ringing changes to each other under the waters of the ocean. 
 
 So if we take a hasty glance at the state, the whole confederacy, or 
 the world at large, what changes has half a century wrought in society 
 and public sentiment. What improvements have obtained in hus- 
 bandry, in science and in the arts. 
 
 My honored father when he stood with sickle on his shoulder, his 
 hands resting on his tired hips, and the perspiration pouring off his 
 furrowed cheeks, could not easily have anticipated that his grandson, a
 
 17 
 
 lad of sixteen should with two horses and a reaper, and without previ- 
 ous experience or fatigue, cut down thi-ee acres of heavy wheat in as 
 many hours. 
 
 There arc many before me who remember the meavSured pace and 
 slow progress of Dr. Pease, who in his professional duties traveled 
 constantly over this town for half a century, until his coming down the 
 road was almost as much a matter of course as the return of the morn- 
 ing. Suppose that by some magic art, the Doctor could have ex- 
 changed his meek animal for the ii*on horse — his plain vehicle for a 
 cushioned and curtained rail-car — his exposures to cold and storm for 
 a warm and parlor-like coach, and his three mile gait for thirty miles 
 an hour. Would not the change have disturbed his equinimity, and 
 would he not have repeated with nervous agitation what he was wont to 
 say with his accustomed pleasantry, " There is no use in hurrying 
 through the world." Dr. Franklin would hardly have believed what 
 is quite familiar now, that we in this age should so far tame uis fiery 
 STEED, the lightning, that it should come and go at our bidding — that 
 in place of ranging at will among the clouds, he should submissively 
 follow our leading line along the bottom of the sea, and should carry 
 messages quick as thought to friends on the eastern continent. 
 
 There is however, no one thing that more impressively reminds me 
 of the changes of half a century than to come into your sanctuary, 
 where I was taught and trained to be present every sabbath, (and I 
 bless God for such a training.) The congregation is changed, and 
 there are but few whom I know, and other few whom I recognize by a 
 strong family likeness to those with whom I was once associated. The 
 fathers where are they, and the prophets do they live forever. There 
 were 'Squire Hatheway, and 'Squire Leavitt, and 'Squire Gay, Dr. 
 Alden and Josiah King always at church ; Dea. Taylor always at 
 funerals ; Col. Kent with pitch-pipe in hand always in his place to 
 lead the choir. There were Mr. Fuller, Seth King, Nathaniel 
 Rising, Dea. Hale and Shadrach Trumbol, and many others. I 
 see them no more. There were many honorable women, Mothers in 
 Israel. I name them not, except Mrs. Gay, wife of our pastor. She 
 was always in her seat. Their plcc3S ai*e now vacant, but their record 
 is on high. But not alone the congregation, the house itself is 
 changed. The sounding-board is taken down ; the foot-stoves have all 
 been laid aside ; and the old square pews are gone. Tlic high pews 
 in the gallery, where I and other lads were turned loose to hie and 
 tempt each other to sin, are gone. There is no safe place for children 
 3
 
 18 
 
 on the sabbath but by the side of their parents. Dr. Bacon says, 
 " The congregation ought to present themselves in the house of God 
 by families." 
 
 But it is time to put a check upon these dreams of memory which I 
 have indulged in, not to be egotistic, but only from a wish to say some- 
 thing for the entertainment of those who have met on this special occa- 
 sion. T will liowever, allude to one additional incident which belongs 
 to the list of personal recollections. It is more than fifty years since I 
 used to run across the grave-yard and leave my little footrprints on the 
 broad and moss-covered tablet of the wife of that honored ancestor 
 whose demise we this day commemorate. And this will very naturally 
 introduce you to my subject which is. The Inestimable value op an 
 Educated and Evangelical Ministry. 
 
 The Christian Ministry aside from its relations to our eternity is 
 vastly important for its influence upon society, for it is that mainly 
 which lifts us to an elevation such as Paganism never could obtain. 
 But educated minds will always maintain the ascendancy, and there- 
 fore uneducated clergymen fail to mould public sentiment because they 
 cannot reach the leading minds. 
 
 But ministers may be educated and yet fail of success because they 
 are not Evangelical, i. e., they do not embrace and teach those great 
 truths of the Gospel, and those soul-humbling doctrines which the 
 spirit of God employs to arouse the slumbering conscience, and to turn 
 the heai't's warm affections from self aggandisement to the promotion 
 of God's glory. Hence, I say, by way of discrimination that an edu- 
 cated Evangelical Ministry possesses a value that no arithmetic can es- 
 timate, in its influence on society. Such a Ministry should be highly 
 valued for the morality it ineulates and the power it exerts to enforce it. 
 
 The Holy Scriptures "show unto us the way of salvation," but my 
 object now is not so mucli to treat of a future state as to prove that 
 they inculcate the only reliable morality. I say then that every minis- 
 ter who would improve society by his preaching, must base his instruc- 
 tions upon ilie great principles imbedded in iiie tun Comnuaidiuonts. 
 Human fingers never wrote out a code of laws that will compare with 
 that great compendium of morality written on two tables of stone by 
 the finger of God. 
 
 The visionary theories of Heathen Philosophy as well as the teach- 
 ings of Free Thinkers — the code of honor (a great misnomer) and all 
 .the infidel speculations, have utterly failed to reform mankind, because
 
 19 
 
 they have neither a solid basis nor a divine sanction. And when these 
 worldly wise men attempt to put down divine revelation and put forth 
 their own fancies in place of it, they deserve no more respect than the 
 vagabond Jews obtained when the man in whom the evil spirit wa.s, 
 leaped upon them and evercome them, saying, " Jesus I know, and 
 Paul I know, but who are ye ?" 
 
 But the morality of the Bible is adapted to man's nature, and ap- 
 proved by his conscience. This is so true that the libertine and the 
 murderer and every other transgressor however reckless cannot call it 
 in question. While the worldling's morality, like Lord Chesterfield's 
 politeness, is but a silver coating to conceal the rottenness within, the 
 morality we commend assumes to regulate the heart, and erects her 
 censorship over the hidden motives and secret thoughts. 
 
 Mark also the powkr they wield. 
 
 It may be a matter of surprise to some, that ministers should possess 
 the power to enforce a morality imposing such restraints upon the ap- 
 petites and passions of selfish men — To a superficial observer it is un- 
 accountable, that a modest man, who like his divine Master makes no 
 parade of his learning or authority, and never puts himself forward but 
 as his official duties push him into public view — that such an one 
 should be able to recommend and establish a morality so uncongenial 
 to the taste and so crossing to the habits of society. 
 
 Let us look at this, and perhaps we may discover the secret of their 
 power. It is the power of truth over error ; and this by frequent repeti- 
 tion ha.s gradually wi'ought a settled conviction which silences theii' cavils 
 if it does not more, for there are but few men so hardened as to be 
 willing to engage against the convictions of their own conscience, and 
 however much they may dislike its doctrines there are but few who 
 care to inveigh against the morality of the Bible, even when it in- 
 fringes upon their own conduct. 
 
 The power of the preacher is increased by the fact that a i'oktion of 
 TIME is set apart for the public exhibition of those truths, when a great 
 variety of motives combine to induce people to attend upon his instruc- 
 tions. Consider too, that his lectures are not didactic and dry, as fitted 
 only for philosophers, but delivered in j^opular discourses, level to the 
 capacities of his audience, and coming from a heart fully alive to their 
 importance. It serves deeply to rivet the impression that they are repeat- 
 ed every sabbath day. Thus by a constant attendance the hearer secures 
 a course of fifty-two lectures in a year, and although the instructions
 
 20 
 
 are as diversified as tlie number of the sal)batlis and the endless variety 
 of subjects on which he treats, yet in so far as morality is concerned, 
 every sabbath-service is but deepening the impression of all the pre- 
 vious lectures. 
 
 You will remark also, the authority with which they are clothed for 
 the administration of a wholesome discipline. The Lord Jesus is the 
 source of all power in heaven and on earth, and he has delegated the 
 power of discipline to the minister and his church. " Whatsoever ye 
 shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." On this passage. Dr. 
 Mason made this comment, " discipline is as much a mean of grace as 
 prayer or preaching, and no church can flourish where it is neglected." 
 
 The general acquaintance of the minister with his people which he 
 has acquired by pastoral visitation, and the high reputation of moral 
 excellence which he sustains, serves to extend the sphere of his influ- 
 ence, and to enforce the teachings of the pulpit. If books are to him 
 what tools are to the mechanic, it is no less true that character is to 
 him what capital is to the merchant. As the one cannot do business 
 without a certain amount of stock in trade, so the other cannot sway 
 the public mind, nor mould public sentiment on the basis of scriptural 
 morality if his own reputation is tarnished. But if he is known only 
 to be loved and revered, then will he command respect when he urges 
 truth and duty upon others. 
 
 Again, this unrivaled moral power of the pulpit is in no small meas- 
 ure the effect of those higher motives which the preacher employs. 
 Wicked men may be checked somewhat by pride of character, the in- 
 fluence of pious parents, and of an early education, and the fear 
 of losing caste. But all these motives are no better than a flaxen 
 cord to bind a man when exposed to the flames of excited passions. 
 It is then that he needs the restraints imposed by the fear of God, the 
 terrors of a future retribution, and above all by the constraining power 
 of Christ's love. These are the only motives which will sustain that 
 elevated and rectified morality essential to refined and Christian so- 
 ciety. Finally, the power of the Christian minister depends very much 
 upon his possessing the unction of his subject. If bis most labored ef- 
 forts are cold as a moon-beam, he will have no power at all ; but if he 
 is himself moved by love and gi-atitude to Glod, he will then possess 
 the power to move his audience as the trees of the wood are moved by 
 the wind. 
 
 Now let this analysis of the influence of the ministry be gathered
 
 21 
 
 into a brief synopsis. The intrinsic power of truth ; the time set 
 apart for the investigation ; the weekly repetition of the same great 
 principles ; the power of a righteous discipline ; the extensive act^uaint- 
 ance and the high character of the administrator; the far reaching 
 motives he employs ; the tender concern of the pastor, and the soul 
 stirring inspiration of his subject. Let all these be combined, and the 
 influence of such a preacher must be powerful, salutary, and perma- 
 nent. But if we would do justice to the subject we must consider the 
 amount of labor he performs. His weekly preparations are a severe 
 tax upon his mental energies. The sabbath service exhausts him by its 
 crushing responsibilities, and then he is called to perform a vast amount 
 of pastoral duty. He solemnizes weddings. He conducts funerals. 
 His presence is anticipated in the sick-room. His visits to the afflicted 
 are soothing as oil — to the mourners they are cheering as a cordial to 
 the perishing. He instructs the children. He relnikes the wayward 
 youth, midway between boyhood and manhood, and persuades him to 
 submit patiently to parental restraint ; while intemjjerance, lewdness, 
 sabbath breaking and profane language are sure to meet a timely re- 
 proof at every new development. And is not such a reformer worthy 
 of patronage if there were no other life but this ? Such a man we 
 may presume was Rev. Benjamin Eucglks, though I know little of 
 him but the honorable record of his graduation and deatli in the 
 Triennial Catalogue of Harvard College ; and is it any wonder that his 
 people should weep when he ceases from his work and lays him down 
 to die. Is it any wonder that those he has trained to usefulness 
 should rise up and call him blessed, or that unborn generations should 
 build anew his sepulture. This is in sweet accordance with that scrip- 
 ture which we have just now read upon his tomb-stone, " tiik kigiit- 
 
 EOUS SHALL BE IN EVERLASTING REMEMBRANCE ;" and that Otlior 
 
 scripture, " They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the 
 stars forever and ever." 
 
 But I nuxst hasten my farewell to the scenes of cliildhood that I 
 loved so well. Farewell to the church and the scliool-house. Fare- 
 well to this broad and pleasant common on which I built snow-forts on 
 a winter's night, and ran races during tlio twilight of a summer's ev- 
 ening. Farewell to the companions of my youth. Our last race will 
 soon be run. It matters not whether we meet again on earth, if 
 we do but enter Paradise together. It matters not whether we go 
 sooner or later, so that we go the right way. It matters little with me
 
 22 
 
 ■whether I find a grave by the side of my parents, in the valley of the 
 Connecticut River, or by the side of my children in the Mississippi 
 Valley. Again I say, farewell until we meet before the great white 
 throne ; and it should be a great motive to hasten our preparation that 
 Behold the Judge standeth at the door. 
 
 Singing by tlie Clioir, lOOtli Psalm, 3d part (Church 
 Psalmody.) 
 
 " Before Jehovah's awful throne. 
 
 Ye Nations, bow with sacred joy ; 
 Know that the Lord is God alone ; 
 He can create and he destroy. 
 
 His sovereign power, without our aid. 
 
 Made us of clay and formed us men ; 
 And when, like wandering sheep we strayed, 
 
 He brought us to his fold again. 
 
 We are his people — we his care — 
 
 Our souls, and all our mortal frame : 
 
 What lasting honors shall we rear, 
 Almighty Maker, to thy name ? 
 
 We'll crowd thy gates, with thankful songs, 
 High, as the Heaven, our voices raise ; 
 
 And earth, with all her thousand tongues, 
 Shall fill thy courts with sounding praise. 
 
 Wide — as the world — is thy command ; 
 
 Vast — as eternity — tliy love ; 
 Firm — as a rock — thy truth shall stand. 
 
 When rolling years shall cease to move." 
 
 Historical Address by Henry A. Sykes, A. M.
 
 ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. President, Friends, and Fellow Citizens : 
 
 Living, as we do, at the close of a cycle of time, 
 reminding us of one who, in the Providence of God, was 
 appointed to be a prominent instrument in establishing 
 the privileges and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ 
 among our ancestors ; and, assembled as we are, to com- 
 memorate the close of his pastoral labors, and his departure 
 to his reward ; it is well to recall to mind transactions of 
 the past, and trace the dealings of God with those who 
 have gone before us, whose places we now occupy, whom 
 we must soon follow, and render account of the manner in 
 which we improve the privileges transmitted to us. 
 
 The study of Divine Providence as revealed in the his- 
 tory of man, either in his individual, social, or qivil rela- 
 tions, Is ii duty replete with interest and profit to all who 
 bring to it hearts purified from that morbid spirit of self- 
 love, which, in its own estimation, can derive good only 
 from that which in its earth-born wisdom, it conceives to 
 be calculated to promote its own narrow purposes of self- 
 aggrandizement.
 
 24 
 
 Says Bisliop Meade,* "It is a useful employment for 
 societies, as well as individuals, to look back throngli tkeir 
 past Instoiy, and mark tlie dealings of a kind Providence 
 towards tkem." Anotlier writerf remarks that " The ways 
 of Pro\adence are the noblest study of man." And when 
 the inspired Lawgiver of God's chosen people, in the last 
 solemn, closing scene of his commission, addresses them in 
 language like this : " Remember the days of old, consider 
 the years of many generations ; ask thy father, and he will 
 shew thee ; thy elders and they will tell thee/'| Does it 
 not become us — is it not wise for us — to consider our past 
 history, to mark the dealings of God in his Providence 
 w^ith us, as individuals, as families, and as a community ? 
 'Naj ! — it is folly, it is ingratitude, a sin of a deep and dark 
 dye, to neglect to do it, yet, how^ often do we hear remarks 
 of a contemptuous nature, respecting an inquiry, or a 
 knowledge of Avhat lias occurred in past time in a commu- 
 nity like ours. Such things, in the minds of some, seem to 
 be, in their estimation, beneath their dignity, and as of too 
 small consequence to merit their notice. They can in- 
 quire, perhaps, respecting the doings of statesmen and war- 
 riors ; can read and discuss the price current of stocks, 
 merchandise, produce, horses &c. They can tell you of the 
 pedigree of this or that man's cattle and sheep ; and of 
 the number and quality of their acres of land ; — and per- 
 haps they may tell you the address to some gift enterj)rise, 
 where you may invest a dollar and obtain Robinson Cru- 
 
 * Old Churches and Families of Virginia, f Rev. Geo. Croly. J Deut. xxxii, 7,
 
 25 
 
 soe, or a beautiful gilt annual, and even a Bible, — and O ! 
 such prizes of nice jewelry. 
 
 Another class have such piety they can find no time to 
 inquire of the years of the past; they are so zealous in do- 
 ing God service, they cannot obey his precepts. They will 
 hold uj) their hands in wondrous admiration of the lessons 
 of wisdom drawn by others from such researches, but they 
 themselves must be engaged in more important business. 
 All these people are in the habit of declaring, with an air 
 of self-complacency, that they neither know nor care what 
 was transacted in the community, nor by whom it was 
 done a hundred years ago. Perhaps they will give you 
 the intelligence that they hardly know \\^liat was the name 
 of their grandfather. Can it be said of such, that they 
 "remember the days of old," and "consider the years of 
 many generations?" Can it be said of them that they 
 obey the Divine command ? which says : " Honor thy fath- 
 er and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land 
 which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Are they like their 
 Heavenly Father ? of whom we are taught that not even a 
 sparrow falls to the ground without his notice ? 
 
 The individual who enters upon the stage of active life, 
 without some knowledge of what has transpired in time 
 that has passed, especially in his own country, is but poor- 
 ly prepared to act his part in the duties of a citizen of an 
 enlightened community. Indeed, such an one cannot ap 
 predate and enjoy the high privileges and advantages 
 which a position, in such a community, is calculated to 
 4
 
 26 
 
 impart, to one fitted for it. He occupies, as it were au 
 isolated position in the midst of his compeers. He may 
 be compared to an islet standing in the midst of rushing 
 rapids, alone and inaccessible to the improvements and 
 beauties of the surrounding landscape : remaining 
 " Alike unknowing and unknown."* 
 But history, as presented by its writers, too often gives 
 an account only of rulers, statesmen and generals ; while 
 the people are practically considered as mere vassals, and 
 slaves, unworthy of any particular attention, otherwise 
 than as instruments which have been used for accomplish- 
 ing the ambitious purposes of those whom the world call 
 great. Their joys and sorrows, their hopes and fears, their 
 trials and sufferings, are not considered worth the trouble 
 of commemorating on its page. Yet he that would study 
 Divine Providence, as revealed in the histoiy of man, 
 should not confine his research merely to the doings of 
 rulers, the debates of statesmen, nor the devastations of 
 generals ; but should make himself acquainted with the do- 
 ings of the people, in their more private walks. He should 
 inquire into their moral character and learn the motives 
 by which they were influenced, in doing as they did. He 
 should, if possible, make himself familiar with the springs 
 of action which have been the motive power that has ac- 
 complished whatever may have been done among them. 
 Unless he does this, he can hardly be said to be deriving 
 advantage from his studies. He may indeed amuse 
 
 « Watts.
 
 27 
 
 himself witli accounts of the overthrow of states and em- 
 pires, the intrigues of legislators, and the death of kings ; 
 — he may revel in the detail of the strange work of battles, 
 where men have destroyed their fellow men, where, 
 
 ' ' By torch and trumpet fast array 'd, 
 Each horseman drew his battle blade, 
 And furious every charger neigh'd 
 To join the dreadful revelry."* 
 
 But he will fail to lay up those rich stores of the knowl- 
 edge of man which he might derive from an acquaintance 
 Avith the character, feelings, motives and actions of those 
 who have lived before him in the humble walks of pri- 
 vate life. 
 
 True indeed, it may be difficult to gather up the infor- 
 mation derived from the oblivion of the past ; so true is it 
 that man lives and dies, and the places that knew him, 
 know him no more forever. In a very short time, the 
 transactions of a private individual pass from the recollec- 
 tion of a community in which he may have lived, and are, 
 as relates to this world, — except in their effects, — forever 
 lost. And what is true of an individual, is also true, in 
 the ordinary course of events, of communities, so far as re- 
 gards the transactions of private life. Yet it cannot be 
 said that the life of any individual, however obscure, has 
 had no effect, either for good or for evil, on the community 
 of which he may have formed a part. 
 
 In reviewing the history of this town, we are met at 
 
 * Campbell's " Hohenlinden."
 
 28 
 
 have access to public records and documents, from which 
 we learn when, and by whom, its settlement was com- 
 the outset with the difficulty just referred to. True, we 
 menced and accomplished. But the means of learning 
 their character and motives of action, their trials and suf- 
 ferings in the accomplishment of their purposes, are very 
 
 limited. 
 
 The last half century, in passing, has carried with it 
 
 many a living oracle who might have been consulted, and 
 many an interesting incident to enlighten us on this point, 
 have been saved from oblivion. But they are gone ! and 
 it now remains for us to rescue what may yet be found. 
 Should the present brief review of our history stimulate to 
 more diligent and combined action toward the accomplish- 
 ment of this, we believe our efforts of this day will not 
 have been made in vain. 
 
 In detailing the history of Suffield, there are no accounts 
 to give of hair breadth escapes from ruthless foes, nor of 
 battle fields drenched in blood, by which to awaken an in- 
 terest in the hearts of those whose attention can be arrest- 
 ed only by the thrilling scenes of war and its attendant 
 horrors ; — we have no fields whose story tells of — 
 
 " Sounds that mingled laugh, — and shout, — and scream, — 
 
 To freeze the blood, in one discordant jar, 
 Rung to the pealing thunderbolts of war," 
 
 Nor have we legends telling — 
 
 " Where human fiends, on midnight errands walk'd. 
 And bath'd in brains the murderous tomahawk."* 
 
 * Campbell.
 
 29 
 
 Our history relates the more common occurrences of or- 
 
 dinaiy hfe, where, in the peaceful pursuits of iudustiy, our 
 
 ancestors have subdued the sturdy forest that once covered 
 
 this domain, and transmitted to us their successors, the 
 
 rich inheritance of beautiful landscape and fi'uitful fields, 
 
 together with the civil and religious privileges which we 
 
 are permitted by an overruling Providence to enjoy at this 
 
 day. 
 
 "The farmer here, with honest pleasure, sees 
 The orchards bhishing to the fervid breeze ; 
 The ripening fields, for joyous harvest drest, 
 And the white spire that points a world of rest." 
 
 In a very short time after our fathers had commenced 
 their settlements around the Massachusetts Bay, their at- 
 tention was turned toward the valley of the Quonnecticut. 
 Within sixteen years from the arrival of the ^Slay Flower 
 in Plymouth harbor. Hooker, Wareham, and Pynchon, 
 with their worthy associates and compeers, had become 
 the pioneers of Wethersfield, Hartford, Windsor and 
 Springfield. Yet although geographically located in the 
 midst of those towns, and the route of communication 
 passed through this territory, Stony-brook, as it was then 
 called, remained a wild unbroken forest, for half a centuiy 
 after the landins; of the Pilgrims on Plvmouth Rock. 
 
 To a casual observer it may appear somewhat singular, 
 that so fertile and beautiful a region as this now is, should 
 have been so long passed by and neglected ; and probably 
 it will appear still more strange, when informed that its
 
 30 
 
 fertility, and what now contributes to its attractions and 
 beauty were the ver}^ causes of its neglect at that day. 
 
 Geologically considered, Sufiield is found to be situ- 
 ated on an elevation of sand-stone which divides the lower 
 valley of the Connecticut into an upper and lower basin. 
 This elevation, forming those beautiful undulations so 
 characteristic of its surface, and impinging upon the river, 
 deprive it of the alluvial interval lands which form an inter- 
 esting feature in those towns, and which being compara- 
 tively easily subdued and cultivated, were, no doubt, the 
 objects of attraction to the early settlers in this valley. 
 But the hills and dales of this town were overlaid with a 
 rich, tenacious and retentive soil, producing a dense and 
 heavy forest, thus rendering it, as our ancestors emphati- 
 cally expressed it, "a very woody place, and difficult to 
 winne." 
 
 It may perhaps be interesting to take a brief retrospec- 
 tive view of this region, and endeavor to picture to our 
 minds its aspect at that day. Entering near its north-east 
 corner, from the borders of Springfield, we find a lonely 
 pathway winding along through the forest, following the 
 summit of the ridges of high ground that it may avoid 
 the dark and miry swamps intervening, as it passes in a 
 south-westerly direction until it reaches the spot which, at 
 a later day, was called Meeting-house Hill. Thence, in a 
 more southern course, to Stony-brook, which it crosses, it 
 continues onward till it enters upon Windsor Plain. This 
 was the Springfield road, and is substantially the route
 
 31 
 
 now followed in passing tlirougli Crooked-Lane, Higli and 
 South Streets. Again returning to the place w^here we firet 
 set out, we find another pathway diverging to the left of the 
 first, and passing east of the hill in that corner of the town, 
 following near or upon the bank of the river, until it comes 
 to the place now known as the Old Ferry Landing, — thence 
 turning to the right, and continuing in a westerly direction 
 till it intersects with the first, in the southern part of what 
 is now called Crooked Lane, — and we have traced another 
 branch of the Springfield road, a part of which has long 
 been disused and forgotten. Going now to the north-west- 
 erly part of that portion of tlie town lying east of the 
 mountain, we find another }»athway coming from tlie 
 north, and passing southerly ovei- the hill where the First 
 Baptist meeting house now stands, thence onward over 
 and west of Muddy-Brook to Stony-Brook, and soon after 
 crossing it, intersecting the Springfield road, near the 
 north end of what is now South Street. This was the 
 Northampton road, and through these pathways was the in- 
 tercourse between the upper and lower towns, carried on 
 upon this side of the river. Passing along these pathways, 
 we are every where suri'oundcd by a dark and heavy for- 
 est. The sturdy oak and majestic elm reach their strong 
 arms high over our heads, while the deep foliage of the 
 maple and its kindred trees shut out the genial rays of the 
 sun, and enclose us beneath their umbrage. As we ascend 
 some of the higher points of ground, we may perhaps 
 through the interstices of the forest catch a glim]>se of
 
 32 
 
 some lofty pine as it sighs to the breeze. Looking down 
 the gentle slopes of the hill sides toward the lower grounds, 
 our vision is intercepted by a chaos, composed of the 
 ruins of more primeval trees which have been laid pros- 
 trate by the storms of past ages and now are mouldering 
 beneath the dank herbage of the forest, which draws its 
 sustenance from their decay. Go now to those low 
 grounds ; enveloped in a labyrinth of murky shrubbery, 
 and sinking in the miry soil, you will soon be glad to beat 
 a retreat to a more genial region. 
 
 Such was Suffield two centuries ago. But a change was 
 to come. Pampunkshat and Mishnoasqus with their tawny 
 associates, were destined by an overruling Providence, to 
 give place to the white man ; — the dark forest to the culti- 
 vated fields ; and the sighing of the pine, to the voices of 
 rural life and the song of praise from human lips in the 
 house of God. 
 
 About that period, Capt, John Pynchon of Springfield, 
 in behalf of the people, purchased of the Indians Pam- 
 punkshat and Mishnoasqus — alias Margery — those districts 
 called by them, Lacowsic, Squotuc, Mayawaug, Wecups, 
 Ashawalas and Wonococomaug.* These were embraced 
 in what was by the English called Stony-brook. The con- 
 sideration paid them "to their satisfaction," was thirty 
 pounds sterling (about one hundred and fifty dollars), which 
 was, most likely, really a gratuity, the lands for all practi- 
 cal purposes probably, being of as much service to them 
 
 * Pynchon's deed to proprietors of Suffield.
 
 33 
 
 after, as before their relinquishment of title to them. But 
 thus quietly and peacably was their title legally extin- 
 guished, and the red man — he is gone ! Peace to his 
 ashes. No collision causing the shedding of blood, either 
 of the white, or the red man on the soil of Suffield, is 
 known to have taken place ; though fears of such a 
 catastrophe were sometimes entertained, particularly in 
 the time of Philip's war in 1675. 
 
 In the winter of 1669 - 70, Samuel and Joseph Har- 
 mon, having perhaps previously noted the tract of land 
 lying west of the Northampton road, near the present cen- 
 ter of the town, with some others, petitioned the select- 
 men of Springfield for grants of land at Stony-Brook,* 
 which were conditionally given them. It is supposed that 
 the Harmons came here the next ensuing summer, and 
 that to them must be given the honor of being the pi- 
 oneers of the town. None of the other persons who had 
 grants from the authority of Springfield, ever settled here. 
 A petition for a grant of a plantation, or a township, at 
 Stony-Brook, was presented to the General Court of Massa- 
 chusetts Colony at their session, held at Boston, May 1670 ; 
 and some action was taken respecting it at that time. At 
 their next session, held October 12, the same year, the 
 Court passed an act or grant, authorizing the settlement 
 of a township at this place, defining its extent, limiting the 
 amount of individual grants, requiring the maintenance of 
 
 * Springfield Town Records,
 
 34 
 
 a Gospel Ministry, with some other minor details, and ap- 
 pointing a committee of six persons to grant lands to set- 
 tlers, and conduct the public aiFairs of the plantation. 
 The persons comprising this committee were, Capt. John 
 Pynchon, Capt. Elizur Holyoke, Lieutenant Thomas 
 Cooper, Quartermaster George Colton, Ensign Benjamin 
 CooLEY, and Rowland Thomas.* 
 
 This committee met for the first time in their official ca- 
 pacity, January 12, 1670-1, and drew up an Instru- 
 ment, by which they were to be governed in attending to 
 the duties of their commission.! At this time it was de- 
 termined to settle eighty families in the place. After- 
 wards the number was increased to one hundred. During 
 the year 1671, lands were granted to nine persons who be- 
 came settlers here. In May of this year, the committee 
 determined that there should be a division of allotments 
 or grants west of the Northampton road ; another, com- 
 prising two ranges of lots upon the central street which 
 they named High Street ; and a third division of a single 
 range, on the west side of Feather Street, having the 
 ground in front, between the street and the river, for a 
 common. They afterward made divisions on South 
 Street, Crooked Lane, and at the river near the Ferry. 
 The streets between the divisions were laid out from six- 
 teen to twenty rods wide, and those passing across the 
 divisions from east to west, were from eight to twelve 
 
 * Massachusetts Colonial Records. t Suffield Town Records.
 
 35 
 
 rods wide. WTiere are those broad streets now ? The 
 spirit of enterprise for straightning them, which has been 
 indulged for the last thirty or forty years, will, if contin- 
 ued, give to future generations, streets like those of orien- 
 tal cities, so strait that a loaded mule may- sweep both 
 sides at once. 
 
 In 1672 the committee set out the ground for the 
 meeting-house and for a public common. This was some 
 forty rods wide. They also at the same time set apart 
 a ministry grant, and an allotment for the first minister 
 that should settle in the place. This was at a subsequent 
 period given to Mr. John Younglove. During the year 
 1672 no additions were made to the number of grantees. 
 In the winter following, some alterations were made 
 in the terms or tenure of Grants, more favorable to set- 
 tlers. In 1673 it was determined that four pence per acre 
 should be paid by grantees for their first grants to remu- 
 nerate Mr. Pynchon his expenses on extinguishing the In- 
 dian title. Nine grants were made this year ; two of them 
 were to Mr. Pynchon — one in consideration of his having 
 built a saw-mill in the place, and the other to him as peti- 
 tioner at the General Court for the plantation. The saw- 
 mill was built upon Stony-Brook in the \icinity of the 
 great river. 
 
 In 1674 the plantation was named Suffield, an abbrevia- 
 tion of Southfield.* At the same time the General Court 
 
 * Massachusetts Colonial Records, Vol. V.
 
 36 
 
 confirmed the bounds of tlie plantation according with a 
 survey, extending six miles from north to south, and seven 
 and a half miles from the river west. It was at this time 
 that the Court were petitioned to grant this plantation 
 seven years freedom from country rates it being " a very 
 woody place and difficult to winne." Four years abate- 
 ment were granted. Twenty grants of land were made 
 during the year, one, together with the privileges of 
 Stony and Muddy Brooks to Mr. Pynchon in consideration 
 of his having built a " Corne Mill."* 
 
 The war with the Indians, commonly called Philip's 
 War, breaking out in 1675, the settlement was temporary ly 
 broken up, and the inhabitants sought places of supposed 
 greater security. At this time some thirty-five families 
 were settled or about to settle here ; and after the war was 
 closed some thirty of them returned to the place and re- 
 sumed their residence here. No grants were made for 
 nearly two and a half years, but in 1677, settlers again be- 
 gan to come in, and during that year, thirteen new names 
 appear as grantees in the place. It was determined in 
 view of the experience of the late war with the Indians, to 
 settle more compact than had hitherto been done, and the 
 Harmons and others from the west division were accom- 
 modated with house-lots on High Street. Twelve new in- 
 habitants appeared in 1678 : five of them settled by the 
 river, near where the Ferry now is, between Suffield and 
 Thompsonville. 
 
 ♦ Suffield Town Records.
 
 37 
 
 In 1679 fourteen allotments were granted, five of them 
 were to sons of previous settlers, and one was to Mr. John 
 Younglove, who had been invited to come and settle here 
 in the ministry. The homestead pertaining to Mr. 
 Younglove's grant, containing thirty acres, was land now 
 owned and occupied by the second Baptist Society. lio- 
 vember 17th of that year, the inhabitants met and voted 
 to build a house for Mr. Younglove, forty feet long by 
 twent}' feet wide and ten feet high. It is probable that 
 this house was built near the ground where the second 
 Baptist meeting-house now stands. 
 
 In 1680, nineteen persons had grants of allotments, nine 
 of them north of High Street, on the west side of the 
 Springfield road, and another portion of them were the 
 next summer located in the \dcinity of the sawmill, south 
 of it, on the continuation of Feather Street. 
 
 In 1681, the committee made six allotments to individ- 
 uals, and one for school purposes. Their last official meet- 
 ing previous to their resignation, was held Januar}- 2, 
 1681-2. At this meeting they made sundry grants of 
 land to individual settlers increasing their previous grants, 
 or special allotments for their sons ; also to several other 
 persons who never settled here. Having at a previous pe- 
 riod set apart four hundred acres of land for a compensa- 
 tion for their services, they at this time reduced the appro- 
 priation to three hundred acres, dividing it into specified 
 grants to each of the survivors of the committee, and 
 to the heirs of those deceased. Lieut. Thomas Cooper
 
 38 
 
 one of the committee was slain by the Indians, October 5, 
 1675, the day they burnt Springfiekl ; and Capt. EHzur 
 Holyoke died February 6, 1675-6.* 
 
 These first grants consisted of allotments (as they were 
 termed) of land of from forty, fifty, sixty, or eighty acres, 
 according to the rank or condition of the grantees. One 
 acre of meadow or good swamp land to ten acres of up- 
 land were allowed in addition to each man's grant. These 
 were then considered the choice land of the township, the 
 scarcity of which made the place, proverbially, "poor 
 Stony-Brook." These grantees, their heirs and assigns, 
 became, by virtue of these grants, the proprietors of the 
 entire township, and the residue of the lands were, at a 
 later period, from time to time, distributed among them. 
 
 On the ninth of March, 1681 - 2, a general town meeting 
 was convened in accordance with an order of the General 
 Court passed at their session, held October 12, 1681, to 
 organize the town, make choice of municipal ofiicers, and 
 discharge the committee, they being present. At this 
 meeting, the first board of selectmen in Sufi[ield, was 
 chosen. The members of it were : Lieut. Anthony Aus- 
 tin, Sergeant Samuel Kent, Thomas Remington, senior, 
 and Joseph Harmon. 
 
 Lieut. Austin was chosen Town Clerk. He was after- 
 ward annually re-elected to this ofiice till his death, Au- 
 gust 22, 1708, with the exception of the year 1688, when 
 he was chosen Commissioner. He was the first who is 
 
 * Springfield Records.
 
 39 
 
 known to liave tauglit a [)ul)lic scliool in this town. A 
 liumble monument remains to mark the place of his sepul- 
 ture. Long may it be cherished with respect, as sacred to 
 the memory of one who appears to have been honored by 
 his compeers of that day. 
 
 From the first organization of the town to the present 
 time, there has been a regular annual succession of muni- 
 cipal officers elected to conduct its prudential and civil af- 
 fairs. The original grant for the }>lantation specified its 
 limits to be six miles square ; but upon surveying the 
 boundaries, it was found that Westfield extended into the 
 north-west part of this territory ; and to remedy this the 
 northern line, after bending to the southern extremity of 
 Westfield, was, together with the southern line, extended 
 west from the river seven and one half miles. 
 
 In a few years, conflicting claims arose between Suifield 
 on the one part, and Windsor and Simsbury on the other, 
 with respect to the southern line of this town. This conten- 
 tion was carried on with a considerable degree of acrimo- 
 ny. In the mean time it was discovered that Suftield lay 
 within the chartered limits of Connecticut, and thence 
 arose a matter for adjustment between the colonies of 
 Massachusetts and Connecticut. In 1711 coniniissi()iiei*s 
 were appointed by the two colonies for that purpose. In 
 consideration of the town of tSufiield, together with Enfield 
 and Woodstock, having been settled under Massachusetts 
 authority, they were continued under tlie jnrisdiction of 
 that colony, an equivalent of an equal amount of wild
 
 40 
 
 lauds being granted to Connecticut. These lands were 
 mainly comprised within the present towns of Belcher- 
 town and Pelham in Massachusetts. They were sold by 
 Connecticut in 1727 and the avails bestowed toward the 
 endowment of Yale College. The commissioners allowed 
 the claim of Simsbury, thus dismembering the southwest 
 corner of this town. The proprietors of Suffield believing 
 they had been wronged by this decision, soon began to 
 call upon the General Court for redress, and persevered in 
 presenting their claim until 1732, when a tract of land six 
 miles square was granted them, as an equivalent. This 
 tract comprised a large portion of the present town of 
 Blandford in Massachusetts. It was sold by the proprie- 
 tors of Suffield in 1735 to Christopher Jacob Lawton, a 
 son of John Lawton, one of the first settlers in this town. 
 IS^otwithstanding Suffield had been settled under the ju- 
 risdiction of Massachusetts, the inhabitants do not appear 
 to have been satisfied with the decision which continued 
 them there. As early as 1720, they voted to adopt meas- 
 ures to come under the jurisdiction of Connecticut, and 
 with the towns of Enfield, Somers, and Woodstock, contin- 
 ued their exertions from time to time until it was effected 
 in 1749, This has been called the revolt of the Massachu- 
 setts towns in Connecticut. A late writer of the history of 
 Western Massachusetts has stated that these towns had re- 
 mained contented under the Massachusetts government, 
 until the peace of Aix la Chapelle in 1748 found Massa- 
 chusetts burdened with taxes and a large debt, while Con-
 
 41 
 
 iiecticut was comparatively easy in tliese respects, and 
 ascribes this as the motive of tlieir "revolt." Had he ex- 
 amined our records he must have been convinced that it 
 was a powerful cause indeed which could have influenced 
 a community to such an extent, as to awaken them to 
 take measures to escape its consequences some thirty years 
 previous to its existence ! It must at least, be conceded 
 that the people of this town, at that day, possessed an un- 
 usual degree of foresight. But when we consider the dif- 
 ference of civil rights and pri\aleges enjoyed by the two 
 colonies, together with the local position of those towns, 
 we believe we have a more substantial motive for their ac- 
 tion than the taxes even of Massachusetts. 
 
 It has been observed that the committee set apart an 
 allotment of land for school purposes at an early day ; but 
 it does not appear that anything further was done toward 
 establishing such a pri^^lege, until the organization of the 
 town, when it was voted to invite a Mr. Trowbridge to 
 teach school in Suffield, and to allow him ten pounds 
 per annum for five years, besides the legal allowance from 
 the scholars. There is no evidence that he came liere, 
 nor that anything further was done to establish a iniblic 
 school, until August, 1693, when they voted "• to use their ut- 
 most endeavour to procure a schoolmaster to teach children 
 and youth to read, write and cypher." In Januaiy, 
 1693-4 it was "voted to set up a free school for the edu- 
 cation of children and youth," and that "ye school be 
 6
 
 42 
 
 kept in the most convenient place in Higlie Street." " An- 
 thony Austin senior, was chosen to be schoohnaster," and 
 thirty pounds per annum were voted for his salar3^ In 
 August, 1695, a renewal of this vote was made ; at the 
 same time there are intimations, that no school had then 
 been commenced. In March 1695 - 6, action was again 
 had toward setting up a school, and Anthony Austin sen- 
 ior, at this time expresses his reluctant acceptance of the 
 office of teacher " soe farr as to experiment for one year," 
 and to commence on the first of May next ensuing. It is 
 probable that the first public school ever opened in Suf- 
 field, was that commenced on the first of May 1696, with 
 Anthony Austin senior for its principal. 
 
 In 1702 a school-house was commenced. This was six- 
 teen by twenty feet, with walls six feet high. It was 
 voted to have it fit for use by the last of October. After 
 this, provision was made from time to time, for the main- 
 tenance of a school, and though votes for that purpose 
 were often modified and rescinded, it is certain that one 
 was irregularly, at least sustained. The principle of tax- 
 ing property, for the support of schools, was then main- 
 tained, though, as now, opposed by some. This was the 
 beginning of school privileges in this place. Children and 
 youth of Suffield, think of that little school-room, sixteen 
 feet by twenty feet, for the whole town, and the one in- 
 structor in reading, writing, and cyphering ; and compare
 
 43 
 
 the privileges of tliat day, with those of the present time 
 which yon enjoy. 
 
 We have previously stated that in 1679, Mr. John Young- 
 love was invited to come and settle here in the ministry. 
 The Act of the General Court authorizing a plantation 
 here, required the settlement and maintenance of a minis- 
 ter of the Gospel in the place ; but it does not appear that 
 anything had been done, or at least, nothing effectual 
 toward the accomplishment of this object, until this time. 
 Mr. Younglove came here sometime during that year, or 
 early in 1680. He was the first minister in the town, 
 though perhaps never ordained, as no church was organ- 
 ized here until sometime after his decease. He had 
 preached at Quabaog (Brookfield, Massachusetts,) for 
 sometime previous to Philip's War. After the destruction 
 of that settlement by the Indians in 1675, he went to Had- 
 ley and taught the town or grammar school, till he was 
 invited to Suffield. He continued here until his decease 
 June 3, 1690. Of him as a minister, little is known ; he 
 was no doubt an educated man, though it is not known 
 that he was a graduate of any college, his name not being 
 among those of the graduates of Hansard, then tlie only 
 college in America. Mr. Younglove loft a widow and 
 seven children, four sons and three daughters ; one daugh- 
 ter had died j^revious to his decease. His descendants are 
 among us to this day, though the family name has not been 
 represented here for a long time, Mrs. Sarah Younglove,
 
 44 
 
 widow of Mr. Younglove survived him near twenty years ; 
 she died January 17, 1709 - 10. Their remains were depos- 
 ited — where ? Perhaps beneath our feet, at least near this 
 hallowed spot.* Ko monument exists to remind us and 
 our childi'en of the first minister of the town. Citizens of 
 Sufl3.eld, how long shall it be, that this may be said ? 
 
 In May, 1690, one week before Mr. Younglove's de- 
 cease, it was voted by the inhabitants of the town to in- 
 vite a Mr. Stevens, then a schoolmaster in Northampton, 
 to come here to engage in the work of the ministry At 
 this time they speak of their unhappy dissensions, and of 
 their need of being again united " together in peace 
 and love." These dissensions had arisen during Mr. 
 Younglove's ministry, and as early as 1687 it had been 
 thought expedient, in order to put an end to them, to em- 
 ploy him in the ministry no longer than till the expiration 
 of his year, which would take place in the next ensuing 
 May. He however was continued until May preceding 
 his death in 1690. But his removal, as the sequel will 
 show, did not prove to be an eftectual remedy ; the disease 
 lay to deep to be eradicated by such outward applications. 
 
 It does not appear that Mr. Stevens accepted their invi- 
 tation ; but Mr. George Phillips, son of Rev. Samuel 
 Phillips of Rowley, Massachusetts, came here sometime 
 during that year, and preached until the spring of 1692. 
 
 * The present meeting-house stands in part upon the old burying-place, covering 
 a number of graves.
 
 45 
 
 Mr. Phillips afterward settled in Brookhaven on Long 
 Island. It is said of him, "though a good man, it is 
 thought that he was too much addicted to facetiousness 
 and wit."* 
 
 July 8, 1692, it was voted to invite Rev. Messrs. Stod- 
 dard of Northampton, Taylor of Westfield, Mather of 
 Windsor, and Brewer of Springfield, to give " their ad\dce 
 and counsell who they shall judge may be a likely and 
 suitable person to dispence the word of God to us, and 
 after our bitterly to be lamented differences, to be a re- 
 pairer and healer of our breaches, and instrumental to 
 unite us and bring us againe into one." Mr. Stephen 
 Mix of Kew Haven was invited and came here in the 
 spring of 1693, but did not remain long. August 1, 1693, 
 the people voted an invitation to Rev. [Nathaniel Clap to 
 settle with them in the ministry, " promising by God's as- 
 sistance to carry towards him in all respects, becoming 
 christians, and to submit themselves to him as their minis- 
 ter according to the rules of the Gospell." They also 
 voted to give him a salary of sixty pounds per annum and 
 his firewood ; and for his settlement, " a dwelling house 
 with a porch, the house containing about forty and two 
 foot in length, twenty foot in breadth, and fourteen foot 
 between joynts," together with a home lot of twenty acres 
 of land, on which were " al)out two acres planted to an 
 orchard." Also eighty acres of land elsewhere. This call 
 
 ♦Allen's American Biographical Dictionary-.
 
 46 
 
 to Mr. Clap was renewed in October 1693, and in April, 
 
 1694, and again in February 1694 - 5. But notwithstand- 
 ing thus earnestly and repeatedly called, Mr. Clap did not 
 respond to their wishes,* and the inhabitants of Suffield 
 were under the necessity of seeking a pastor elsewhere. 
 
 Accordingly, under date of August 1, 16P5, just two 
 years after the first, and about six months after the last 
 call to Mr. Clap, we find that the people in town meeting 
 assembled, adopted the following preamble and resolu- 
 tion : — " It having pleased God in his Providence to in- 
 cline the heart of Mr. Benjamin Ruggles to come and give 
 us a visit ; soe that we for some sabbaths past have had a 
 taste of his laboYirs and proof of his abilities and accom- 
 plishment for the work of the ministry to the good likeing, 
 satisfaction, and content of us his auditours. We there- 
 fore the inhabitants of Sutfi.eld being legally warned and 
 orderly convened or assembled together the first of August 
 
 1695, have joyntly and unanimously agreed (and by a full 
 and ciear vote manifested the same) to give Mr. Benjamin 
 Ruggles a call to returne and dispence the things of God 
 to us, and that in order to his continuance and settlement 
 amongst us in due time may it please the Lord to encline 
 his heart to embrace the same." 
 
 To Mr. Ruggles for his salary &c., was made essentially 
 the same proposals as had been previously ofiered to Mr. 
 Clap. This call was renewed in May 1697, and March 1, 
 
 * He settled in Newport, R. I. (Allen's Biographical Dictionary.)
 
 47 
 
 1697 - 8, Mr. Ruggles having made some proposals to the 
 town in order to his settlement, tliey were " after some de- 
 bate " accepted. 
 
 At this time the Court of Quarter Sessions addressed 
 the foHowing communication to the people of Suffield: 
 
 Springfield. March 1, 1098. 
 To THE Inhabitants of the Toavn of Suffield. 
 
 Gentlemen : — The Quarter Sessions of the Peace, now sittin"' at 
 Springfiekl, having an intimation of some differenoes and dissatisfiic- 
 tions among yourselves referring to the full settling of the Rev. Mr. 
 Benjamin Ruggles as your minister to dispense the word of God to you 
 and to carry on the work of Christ in that great and weighty affair and 
 concern, which hath a great influence unto the welfare benefit and ad- 
 vantage of your place and all the inhabitants thereof, both in temporal 
 and spiritual respects, and therefore ought to be well weighed and 
 seriously considered with humble, sensible and penitent application to 
 God for guidance and direction ; and inasmuch as the law of this 
 Province gives a particular advice and conclusion in your case as it is 
 circumstanced you having no settled church of Christ in your town, 
 the law is express that the major part of such a town, agreeing, taking 
 or obtaining the advice of three orthodox ministers pointing and direct- 
 ing to a man most suitable, such one to be the minister for such a 
 place, and such a town engaged to attend and maintain him, and al- 
 though some particular persons in the town may have some objections 
 as to circumstances of qualifications or otherwise, which we judge 
 ought at this juncture to be overlooked and laid by, and all persons 
 readily and willingly comply and unanimously agree to renew your 
 addresses unto Mr. Ruggles, fully to settle him with you in that great 
 work ; as also that you endeavor to optain the help and direction of 
 the Rev. Mr. Stoddard, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Brewer, and such others 
 as you may see meet to call and invite to meet at your place to advise 
 and persuade Mr. Ruggles, as also to advise the people to a full settle- 
 ment of this so great an affair which this court do earnestly advise to. 
 Such an opportunity of advantage once lost, may not easily be recov- 
 ered again. And therefore being very desirous of your welfare and 
 good settlement in this weighty matter, and that the blessing and pres-
 
 48 
 
 ence of the Great Shepherd of Israel may be with and increase you in 
 all respects, that God may be glorified by you, and you may find in- 
 crease in grace, knowledge, love, peace, and that the God of peace 
 may settle, stablish and unite you and all things to his glory and your 
 welfare, is the desire and prayer of tliis court to which, 
 
 We subscribe, this 2nd of March, 1698, 
 
 Per JOHN PYNCHON, Clerk. 
 
 In accordance with tlie advice of the Court, Rev. Messrs. 
 Stoddard, Taylor, Williams, Brewer and Mather were in- 
 vited to meet in the place the last Tuesday in April, 1698, 
 as council for ordination and settlement of Mr. Ruggles in 
 the ministry here. Although the record of the organiza- 
 tion of the first church in Suffield is lost, yet it is evident 
 that this transaction was carried into effect at the same 
 time Mr. Ruggles was ordained. The first incipient step 
 we know of toward the accomplishment of such a purpose 
 was taken March 20, 1693 - 4, when, in accordance with 
 the advice of Rev. Messrs. Taylor and Mather, a day of 
 " humiliation " was observed with reference to " embody- 
 ing together in a church way." But it appears that this 
 purpose was not then eftected, for the letter from the 
 Court of Quarter Sessions, dated March 1, 1698, express- 
 ly informs us that no church then existed in the town ; 
 but within two years after this last date, we learn from the 
 records of the first church in Westfield that there was then 
 a church existing here. We therefore arrive at this con- 
 clusion : — that the first Congregational Church in Suffield 
 was organized, and Rev. Benjamin Ruggles ordained and 
 constituted its first pastor, by the council convened here for
 
 49 
 
 that purpose on Tuesday, April 26, 1698. Thus, after a 
 period of some twenty-eight years after the commencement 
 of the settlement of the town, was the Church of Christ 
 and the regular ministration of the privileges and ordi- 
 nances of the Gospel established here. 
 
 Mr. Ruggles was a native of Eoxbury, Massachusetts. 
 He was son of John and Sarah Ruggles, of Roxbury, and 
 grandson of John and Barbara Ruggles, who emigrated 
 from England in 1635. Of his gi-andfather it is said that 
 he was a son of a "godly father," that "he joined the 
 church soon after his coming," and that "he was a 
 lively Christian, known to many of the church in Old 
 England, when they met socially together." Mr. Rug- 
 gles was born August 11, 1676, graduated at Harvard 
 College 1693, came to Suffield in 1695 when he was 
 but nineteen years of age, and was ordained before tho 
 completion of his twenty-seeond year. He departed this 
 life September 5, 1708, 0. S., at thirty-two years of age. His 
 pilgrimage on earth was short, his years in the ministry 
 few, yet if we measure his life and his ministry by its use- 
 fulness, and good accomplished, we arc constrained to say 
 of him that his is a long life, and his nihiistry is full of 
 years. We believe that the teachings of Providence, as 
 learned fi-om records of the past, call upon us as churches, 
 and as a people, to render thanksgiving to the Great Shep- 
 herd of Israel that, at tliat time, ho did send the yontliful 
 Benjamin, armed with the sling of faith, and the "smooth 
 stones " of Gospel truth, to go forth in the name of the.
 
 50 
 
 " Lord of hosts " and slay the Goliath of dissension, and 
 anarchy that had crept in among our fathers threatening 
 for a time, the destruction of that fair inheritance which 
 has been transmitted to us. So effectually was the spirit 
 of discord and contention laid and kept in subjection after- 
 ward, through the blessing of God upon His preached 
 word, that we hear little more of it in this town for nearly 
 half a century. 
 
 Mr. Ruggles married with Mercy "Woodbridge, Novem- 
 ber 19, 1696 : — She was a daughter of Rev. John and Mrs. 
 Abigail "Woodbridge of Wethersfield, and a grand daugh- 
 ter of Gov. William Leete. Mrs. E,uggles died June 28, 
 1707, leaving seven children, one an infant of six days. 
 From them have arisen a numerous posterity, many of 
 whom have filled places of usefulness and honor both in 
 State and in the church. Two were among the first corn- 
 pan}^ of missionaries to the Sandwich Islands, who sailed 
 from Boston October 23, 1819. " The righteous shall be 
 in everlasting remembrance." 
 
 It is not known from actual direct record who were the 
 persons who constituted the membership of the church at 
 its formation and during the period of Mr. Ruggles' minis- 
 try. From evidence drawn from various sources, we have 
 reason to believe, that in proportion to the population of 
 the town, its membership was large. 
 
 Rev. Ebenezer Devotion successor to Mr. Ruggles, in 
 the pastoral office, came to Suffield sometime in June or 
 July 1709, and was ordained June 28, 1710. Mr. Devo-
 
 51 
 
 tion it is supposed was a native of Dorchester, Massacliu- 
 setts ; lie graduated at Harvard College in 1707. He con- 
 tinued in the discharge of the pastoral duties of this 
 church until his decease, April 11, 1741, at the age of fifty- 
 seven years, and in the thirty-first year of his ministry. 
 During this ministry, three hundred and thirty-four persons 
 were admitted to the communion of the church, three 
 hundred and seven by profession ; one hundred and twen- 
 ty of which were admitted in the year 1735. But one 
 year of his ministry (1717) passed without some additions 
 to the church. 
 
 Mr. Devotion appears to have been a fervent christian ; 
 and a faithful, beloved and successful Pastor. He was 
 thrice married ; first, October 4, 1710 with Hannah Breck, 
 daughter of Capt. John Breck of Dorchester, Massachu- 
 setts. Mrs. Hannah Devotion died March 23, 1719, aged 
 thirty-two years, leaving three children a son and two 
 daughters. Mr. Devotion married a second time June 4, 
 1720, with l^aomi Taylor daughter of Rev. Edward and 
 Mrs. Euth Taylor of Westfield, Massachusetts. Mrs. 
 Naomi Devotion died August 6, 1739, aged forty-four 
 years, leaving six children, one son and five daughters. 
 Mr. Devotion married a third time October 27, 1740 with 
 Mrs. Sarah Hebard who survived him. His sous both en- 
 tered the ministry, and were of considerable eminence. 
 The eldest, Ebenezer, settled in Scotland, a parish in 
 Windham, Connecticut, and the youngest, John, settled 
 in the third parish in Saybrook, Connecticut.
 
 52 
 
 Ecclesiastical affairs of a secular nature relating to min- 
 isters' salaries, building liouses for public worsbip, &c., were 
 conducted by the town until 1740, when it was divided 
 into two parishes, and since tliat time sucli affairs have 
 been conducted by tbe several Ecclesiastical societies. 
 
 Wbat bas been called tbe great awakening of tbe 
 eigbteentb century, occurred just at tbe close of Mr. Devo- 
 tion's ministry, resulting in tbe gathering into tbis cburcb 
 of more tban two bundred persons. 
 
 Rev. Ebenezer Gay, D. D., successor to Mr. Devotion, 
 came to SufSeld in 1741, and preacbed here tbe first time 
 August 9tb of tbat year. He was ordained January 13, 
 1742, nine months subsequent to Mr. Devotion's decease. 
 
 Tbe di^asion of tbe town into two parishes, became tbe 
 cause of dissension in the cburcb which began to develope 
 itself soon after Mr. Gay's settlement. It was respecting 
 tbe right of the members of tbe cburcb residing in the 
 west Parish to act in church affairs, some acknowledging 
 such a right, while others contended against it. A ques- 
 tion, which at the present day would present no difficulty 
 of solution ; but then produced discord which could not be 
 allayed until an arrangment was made by which the or- 
 ganization of tbe second Congregational Church was ef- 
 fected, IsTovember 10, 1743. 
 
 Beside this difficulty, which was thus disposed of, anoth- 
 er element of discord began its development in tbis church 
 about this time. It bas been observed, tbat over two bun- 
 .dred persons bad been gathered into tbe cburcb as the
 
 53 
 
 fruits of the great revival. It can readily be perceived, 
 that among this number, together vt^ith the previous mem- 
 bership there must have been a great variety of natural 
 temperament, aljility, and christian attainment. While 
 there vrere those, who were strong in faith, yet humble in 
 spirit ; there were also the weak, the unstable, and yet 
 others, who like Diotrephes loved the pre-eminence. 
 Added to this, the Davenport School, so called, had then 
 developed itself over the land ; its followers claiming what 
 they termed, freedom to exercise gifts, or in other words, 
 the freedom of all classes and both sexes, to speak at all 
 times in public worship, as they thought the Spirit moved 
 them ; and these exercises accompanied with responses, 
 groanings, hallooings and grotesque gesturings. These 
 practices begau to be advocated to some extent by mem- 
 bers in this church. The result was, tlie members soon be- 
 gan to be arrayed into parties ; Dr. Gay with the major part 
 of the church taking the strong conservative ground of the 
 Cambridge School, while quite a number in the minority 
 under the head of Joseph Hastings, afterward the first 
 pastor of the Separates, advocated the opposite or Daven- 
 port principle. Thus originated that schism which resulted 
 in constituting the Separate Church in this town. As 
 early as October 10, 1742, at the close of public worship 
 on the sabbath, Josei)h Hastings arose and expressed liim- 
 self in a loud voice in words of this import, " Come forth 
 you Xicodomnses, you ministers and magistrates, you 
 bloody persecutors." For this and for ex[»rcssing a wisli
 
 64 
 
 that " tlie cliurcli was broke all to pieces," lie was brought 
 under the discipline of the church. For his expressions 
 on the sabbath, the church by vote reproved him. To his 
 remarks with respect to the church ; he made an explana- 
 tory statement, that he had said "y' he tho* y® divisions 
 among us were made or occasioned by y" spirit of God ; 
 and if he so wish'd they were greater." The church ac- 
 cepted this explanation, and the second charge was over- 
 looked. In 1747 Mr. Hastings with a number of the 
 members withdrew in an irregular manner, and set up 
 meeting by themselves. They were requested by the 
 church to give their reasons in writing for so doing ; this 
 they refused to do. They were then permitted to do it 
 verbally, but their reasons not being satisfactory to the 
 church, it was by vote declared March 9, 1748, " that this 
 church are of opinion that they are no longer properly 
 members of this church." 
 
 Dr. Gay continued the acting pastor until March 6, 
 1793, when his son Rev. Ebenezer Gay, Junior, was or- 
 dained. Dr. Gay died March 7, 1796 in the seventy- 
 eighth year of his age, and fifty-fifth of his ministiy. 
 
 Rev. Ebenezer Gay, Junior, continued the acting pastor 
 until December 13, 1826, and senior pastor until his de- 
 cease January 1, 1837, in the seventy-first year of his age, 
 and forty-fourth of his ministry. 
 
 Rev. Joel Mann was installed pastor December 13, 1826, 
 and dismissed at his request, December 1, 1829. Rev. 
 Henry Robinson was installed June 1, 1831, dismissed
 
 55 
 
 April 18, 1837. Rev. Asaliel C. "Washburn was installed 
 January 3, 1838, dismissed July 23, 1851. Rev. John IL 
 Miller, the present pastor, was installed December 28, 
 1853. All these are now living, and by the good Provi- 
 dence of God are permitted to be present to join with us 
 in the exercises of this day. 
 
 There has been several periods as indicated ])y oiir 
 records when God has appeared to bless this church with 
 the more special presence of His Holy Spirit. In 1721, 
 fourteen persons were received by the church on their pro- 
 fession of faith ; in 1728, thirty-six ; in 1735, one hundred 
 and twenty ; in 1741, one hundred and seventy-six ; in 
 1742, thirty-one ; in 1798, ten ; in 1822, sixty-five. 
 
 Since that time, these periods have been still more fre- 
 quent until the present : fifty-seven have been received into 
 the fellowship of the church the current year. The whole 
 number admitted since Mr. Devotion's ordination is about 
 one thousand two hundred and fifty. The present number 
 of members is about two hundred and fifty. 
 
 The second Congregational Church was organized jN'o- 
 vember 10, 1743. Their first pastor was Rev. John Gra- 
 ham, who was ordained October 22, 1746. Mr. Graham 
 was succeeded by Rev. Daniel AYaldo, the venerable man 
 whom God has given strength to continue, and be present 
 with us this day, in the ninety-seventh year of his age. 
 Mr. Waldo was ordained May 23, 1792. Rev. J. ^lix suc- 
 ceeded him. Frequent changes have since been made of 
 incumbents of the pastoral office in that church.
 
 56 
 
 It lias been stated tliat Josepli Hastings and others^ 
 withdrew from tlie first cliurcli in 174T. Tliey were or- 
 ganized into wliat was called the Separate Church, and 
 Joseph Hastings was ordained their first pastor, April 18^ 
 1750. They built a house for public woi-ship in 1762.* 
 Mr. Hastings having either withdrawn from them or been 
 dismissed, Rev. Israel Holley was ordained and became 
 their pastor June 29, 1763. This church and society was 
 dissolved about 1784. Mr. Holley was afterward appro- 
 bated by the Hartford Korth Association and preached a 
 few years in Granby, Connecticut, and in Cornwall. He 
 then returned to Sufiield where he died June 28, 1809, 
 aged eighty-two years. 
 
 A number of persons who for a time were connected 
 with the Separates, were about the year 1769, constituted 
 the first Baptist Church, with Rev. Joseph Hastings, pastor. 
 He was succeeded by his son Rev. John Hastings, in 1775. 
 Mr. Joseph Hastings died ISTovember 4, 1785, aged eighty- 
 two years. Mr. John Hastings died March 17, 1811, aged 
 sixty-eight. He was succeeded by Rev. Asahel Morse, who 
 died June 10, 1838, aged sixty-six. Since that time, some 
 ten dift'erent persons have officiated in the pastoral rela- 
 tion to this church. Its present membership is ninety. 
 
 The second Baptist Church was constituted in 1805. 
 Its pastors have been numerous, none having continued 
 but a few years, except its present one, Rev. Dwight Ives, 
 
 * This house was removed to Agawam, and is yet occupied by the Congregational 
 Church in the East Parish.
 
 57 
 
 D. D., who entered upon those duties in connection with 
 this church in 1839. Its entire membership has been 
 about fifteen hundred. During the time its present pastor 
 has been with them eight hundred have been added to it. 
 " The present number after a thorough revision of the list 
 is six hundred and fifteen."* 
 
 There is a small Methodist Episcopal Society in the 
 West Parish, but of their history we can give no particu- 
 lar account. 
 
 The first birth, and the first death which occurred in 
 Suffield, according to the Hampshire County Records were 
 in the family of Judah and Mary Trumble. John, born 
 March 5, 1674, and Ebenezer died September 23, 1675. 
 The first marriage was that of Thomas Taylor and Abigail 
 Roe, June 15, 1678, The family cognomen of Trumble 
 and Taylor, as descending from Judah Trumble and 
 Thomas Taylor, has become extinct, in this town. 
 
 It might be interesting to take a brief retrospective view 
 of the history of the original families of the town, but our 
 time will not permit. 
 
 Our ancient burial place claims, at least a passing no- 
 tice. The first mention of it in our records, incidentally 
 occurs under date of March 6, 1682-3. In April 1684, it 
 was " voted to fence in y*" burying place." This was the 
 beautiful portion of ground, to which our steps have this 
 day been directed. Beneath the turf, our feet has pressed ; 
 under this sacred house, in which we are now assembled ; 
 
 * Statement by Dr. Ives. 
 
 8
 
 58 
 
 liave long since been deposited tlie mortal remains of those 
 who first encountered, and began the subjugation of the 
 forest that once waved in unbroken grandeur over these 
 hills and dales. A few humble monuments remain to re- 
 mind us of them ; let those dilapidated, moss covered 
 stones be cherished as mementos of the past, and as we 
 tread the soil that rests upon the unmarked graves of 
 others, let us listen to the silent voice that calls upon us 
 for reflection. 
 
 " Hark !. how the sacred calm that breathes around 
 Bids every fierce tumultuous passion cease ; 
 In still small accents whispering from the ground, 
 A grateful earnest of eternal peace."* 
 
 But those are not all whose remains have here been de- 
 posited. Their children, and their children's children 
 luito the sixth and seventh generation, together with the 
 stranger that has come within their gates, and humble Af- 
 rican, once held in bondage under their roofs ; here, have 
 rested from their labors, and together await a resurrection 
 
 day. 
 
 " The breezy call of incense breathing morn, 
 
 The swallow twittering from the straw built shed. 
 The cock's shrill clarion or the echoing horn, 
 
 No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed."* 
 
 Too much has this sacred spot been neglected. Genera- 
 tion after generation have here been laid in the dust, and 
 it would have seemed, that survivors would have cherished 
 it, with deep respect. But how has it been ? There are 
 many here who can well remember the time, when the 
 
 * Gray.
 
 59 
 
 best method that was devised to take care of it, was to 
 convert it into a sheep pasture ; and it is of but very re- 
 cent date that a man would be lost from siffht amid the 
 wild, unsightly shrubbeiy that was allowed to flourish 
 upon some portions of it. The original ground had be- 
 come filled with graves, to the extent that the sexton's 
 spade in preparing a resting place for those recently de- 
 parted, often disturbed the rjemains of those who had gone 
 before. But thanks : improvement has been made ; ,sheep 
 can now find pasture elsewhere ; unsightly bushes, have 
 in a measure given place to ornamental trees, and through 
 public ond private enterprise, the area of the enclosure, 
 has been enlarged. Still there is scope for further exer- 
 tion : public opinion should be directed with strong repro- 
 bation against the desecration of those grounds, by the 
 reckless pranks, of the thoughtless ; the hand of cultivated 
 taste, should be employed to improve and protect those 
 precints, until it becomes a place where true, enlightened, 
 christian refinement, may in sacred, cheerful, contempla- 
 tion, recall to mind memories of those who have gone be- 
 fore, consider the bourne, to which we are all hastening, 
 and lifting up the eye of faith look with unwavering con- 
 fidence, toward the eternal rest of the pure in heart, ex- 
 claiming, in fullness of joy, 
 
 " pjlorious hour I blest abode ! 
 I shall be near, and like my God ; 
 And flesh, and sin, no more control 
 The sacred pleasures of the soul."* 
 
 * Watts.
 
 60 
 
 When the town was organized, there were about eighty 
 proprietors settled in the place some sixty of them, with 
 families ; one half of the names of those families are now 
 extinct in this town.* At the time of Mr. Ruggles' ordi- 
 nation, the number of families had increased to about sev- 
 enty-five or eighty. This increase was mainly from fami- 
 lies of first proprietors, but very few having come, or been 
 admitted from other places. A large proportion of the 
 first proprietors were children of the first emigrants from 
 
 * Heads of families in Suffield, at its organization in 1682 
 an asterisk (*) attached are now extinct in Suflfield. 
 Edward Allen, senior, deceased in 1696, * John Lawton, deceased 
 John Allen, moved to Deerfield, 
 Capt. Anthony Austin, deceased 1708, 
 
 * James Earlier, moved to Springfield, 
 
 * James Barlow, deceased 1690, 
 
 * Thomas Barber, ' ' 
 
 * John Barber, " 1690, 
 John Burbank, senior, " 1709, 
 
 * Edward Burleson, " 1698, 
 
 * Samuel Bushe, moved to Westfield, 
 
 * Isaac Cokebread, deceased 
 
 Those surnames with 
 
 * Thomas Copley, " 1712, 
 
 * Abraham Dibble, " 1690, 
 
 * Joseph Eastman, " 1692, 
 
 * Zerubbabel Tyler, " 
 
 *John Filley, " ab't 1688, 
 
 * David Froe, " 1710, 
 Launcelot Granger, " 1689, 
 Timothy Hale, " 1689, 
 Joseph Harmon, " 1729, 
 Dea. Thos. Hanchet, " 1686, 
 Thos. Hanchet, Jr., moved to Westfield, 
 John Hanchet, deceased, 1744, 
 Walter Halladay, " 1709, 
 
 * John Hodge, " 
 
 * Thomas Huscley, " 1721, 
 
 * John Huggins, " 
 
 * George Jefi"ery, " 1683, 
 
 Serg't Samuel Kent, " 
 
 James King, senior, " 1722, 
 
 Samuel Lane, " 
 
 * John Millington, " 
 
 * John Mighill, senior, " 
 Edmund Marshall, " 
 Capt. George Norton, " 
 Robert Old, " 
 Timothy Palmer, " 
 *Thomas Parsons, " 
 *John Pengilley, " 
 
 * William Pritchard, " 
 Thomas Remington, " 
 James Rising, senior, " 
 Hughe Roe, " 
 *John Scot, » 
 
 * Joseph Segars, " 
 
 * John Severans, " 
 Thomas Spencer, " 
 Victory Sykes, " 
 Stephen Taylor, " 
 Thomas Taylor, " 
 James Taylor, " 
 Jonathan Taylor, Jr., " 
 
 * Judah Trumble, " 
 
 * Joseph Trumble, " 
 
 * Michael Towsley, " 
 
 * Jonathan Winchill, " 
 
 * David Winchill, " 
 
 * Richard Woolworth, " 
 
 * John Younglove, " 
 
 1690, 
 
 1732, 
 1696, 
 1728, 
 1696, 
 1701, 
 1735, 
 
 1721, 
 1688, 
 1689, 
 
 1689, 
 1740, 
 
 1689, 
 
 1708, 
 
 1741, 
 
 1726, 
 1692, 
 1684, 
 1712, 
 1716, 
 1723, 
 1696, 
 1690.
 
 61 
 
 England, who liad settled in tlic neighboring towns of 
 Hartford, "Windsor and Springfield, and the more eastern 
 towns of Rowley, Ipswich and ISTewbury, in Massachusetts. 
 But few, if any of them were born in the old country, and 
 all had grown up, amid the trials and deprivations of a 
 pioneer life in a wild unsubdued wilderness, separated 
 from the civilized world, by the dark waves of the broad 
 Atlantic. No steamships then, made their ten day voy- 
 ages across the stormy ocean, conveying their precious 
 freight of human beings, from continent to continent. Ko 
 telegraphic cable lay beneath those wild waves, stretched 
 from shore to shore, to conduct the magnetic flash freight- 
 ed with intelligence of the transactions of either clime. 
 The transports of those days, required weeks, and months 
 to convey intelligence between transatlantic harbors. The 
 wilderness around them was peopled with wild savage 
 tribes, .with whom they sometime had friendly intercourse, 
 and then again were engaged in deadly conflict. 
 
 Thus situated what must have been their physical, intel- 
 lectual, and moral characters. Some perhaps may imagine, 
 that separated as they were from the luxuries, and the 
 concomitant temptations of civilized life, and liaviiig 
 grown up under the influence of the strict religious train- 
 ing of their puritan fixthers and mothers, that tlie sons and 
 daughters of that generation, must have been from their 
 youth a godly race. But are there no moral dangers in a 
 life of deprivation, as well as in a life of })k'nty, or even 
 luxury ? Is man anything l)ut an erring, sinful creature.
 
 62 
 
 in any situation, yet without the grace of God, the living 
 vital principle, of true piety in the heart ? 
 
 Subjected to toil and hardship, the children of the emi- 
 grants, who survived the dangers of early life, under their 
 circumstances, mostly no doubt, grew up a hardy, robust 
 generation. Isolated as it were from mankind they im- 
 bibed a self-reliant, independent spirit; but deprived of 
 thorough educational privileges, their minds were not de- 
 veloped by the broad principles of true christian refine- 
 ment. Trained under the strict discipline, and teachings 
 of their puritan fathers, the seed of the word of truth was 
 implanted in their hearts, but it needed the waterings of 
 the Holy Spirit, and the effulgent vivifying beams of the 
 Sun of Eighteousness, to cause it to bring forth its legiti- 
 mate fruit. This work not having been developed in their 
 hearts, to the casting out of that spirit of the world which 
 seeks its own ; and to the engrafting in of the spirit of 
 faith, and charity which seeks first the kingdom of God 
 and his righteousness, they were not, -like their fathers, 
 prepared to, or rather did not appreciate the importance of 
 establishing the ordinances of the Gospel at the veiy out- 
 set or commencement of their settlement in a new place. 
 Hence we find a material difference in the history of 
 many, at least, of the later, from that of the earlier towns 
 of New England. 
 
 With the puritan emigrants the church and pastor, ac- 
 companied by the school and the teacher, were the prima- 
 ry object sought; through the instrumentality of which,
 
 they expected to establish civil, and religious liberty ; and 
 receive the blessing of God, for tliemselves, and their pos- 
 terity. Hence we find them established simultaneously 
 ^vith their settlement. 
 
 But after the settlement of this town, a quarter of a cen- 
 tury passes, ere the church with its pastor, sheds its genial 
 influence over those who had here made their homes. 
 The fathers of this town, did not, like the patriarch Abra- 
 ham, at the first pitching of their tents, build there an al- 
 tar unto the Lord. In this the}' erred, and for this, they 
 suffered. Infidelity may scofi" at this idea ; but it needs no 
 argument, to prove to the true christian, that tlie living 
 church of Christ is "the salt of the earth," and "the light 
 of the world." 
 
 Perhaps it will be said by some, that our fathers were 
 poor. True indeed they were ; and were not theirs before 
 them ? had they not suffered loss of worldly ease, that they 
 might enjoy Christ's ordinances ? And does it require the 
 riches, or even a competency of this world's goods, to ena- 
 ble man to obey the Di^ane command, " Do this in re- 
 membrance of me." The truth is, those who truly cht-r- 
 ish the spirit of Christ in tlicir liearts, are ever ready to 
 co-operate in setting up the Toinjtle (^f God, wlicrevcr lie 
 may cast their lot; -which temple they are. 
 
 But the good seed sown in the hearts of our fathers, was 
 not to be lost, though choked for a time. The tliorny 
 cares of the world, were, by the dealings of an overruling 
 Providejice to be subdued, that the good seed might take
 
 64 
 
 root in tlieir hearts, and produce an abundant harvest. 
 The divine precept " seek ye first the kingdom of God, 
 and his righteousness," must be obeyed, God must be hon- 
 ored, his church established, his ordinances cherished, and 
 the way is prepared for the concomitant blessing, that 
 what is needed of this world " shall be added unto you." 
 
 Thus has God in his Providence dealt with our fathers. 
 He has guided, watched over, and protected them ; and 
 when they erred, like a kind father he corrected them ; 
 when they trusted in themselves, He reminded them of 
 their dependance upon Him. When they looked unto 
 Him, He blessed them ; and the inheritance has been 
 transmitted to us. The church has come down to us with 
 increased strength ; though clouds have at times arisen, 
 and enveloped its beauties in darkness. Still the good 
 Shepherd has watched over it. His beams have dispelled 
 the darkness, and He has watered it from time to time, 
 with the heavenly dews of his grace. 
 
 And this has been accompanied with His temporal 
 blessings. Family, educational, and civil privileges, have 
 been continued and increased unto us. The wilderness has 
 been changed to fruitful fields. These lonely pathways, 
 with others of later date, are made cheerful with the pres- 
 ence of the homes of the happy and the free, and all may 
 enjoy the privileges, of social, civil, and religious liberty. 
 What was once proverbially "poor mean Stony-Brook," 
 has become, as noted, for its wealth, fertility, and beauty. 
 
 To accomplish this, it has required the instrumentality
 
 65 
 
 of the toil of fathers and mothers, followed by that of their 
 sons and daughters, through succeeding generations. Our 
 ancestors encountered and in a measure overcome, that 
 wilderness which once overspread this now fair domain. 
 The sons, 'aided by the encouraging, and co-operating hand 
 of the daughters, took up the work, and carried it onward. 
 And when the savage foe, urged on, to accomplish the am- 
 bitious designs of princes and their abettors, invaded the 
 land ; then they stood up with their fellow citizens in its 
 defence, and the shores of Lakes George and Champlain 
 witnessed their valor. When the liberties of their countiy 
 called for defence against the encroachments of a fratricid- 
 al foe, Dorchester,* and Brookline Heights, Saratoga, and 
 Oriskany ; Chippewa and Lundy's Lane received the trust 
 of the sacrifice of their blood. IS'or have the sons of Suf- 
 field been found wanting in the more peaceful scenes of 
 usefulness. The whole country from the Canadas, to Mex- 
 ico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, has been a field for 
 their enterprise. The councils of state, and of justice, 
 have witnessed their ability and felt its influence. Nor has 
 the pulpit been altogether neglected by them, but many 
 have stood up in it, and proclaimed the word of life. 
 
 And now fellow citizens, perhaps it may be thought 
 that we are going beyond the proper sphere of remark for 
 this occasion ; but may we not have your candid indul-. 
 gence, and patient attention, while we call upoo, you to be. 
 
 *It may appear somewhat singular to some, to refer to Dorckestw; ^eights if), this, 
 connection ; but our records and history justify this reference 
 
 9
 
 66 
 
 mindful to improve this inheritance which you enjoy: not 
 merely for your own selfish purposes of acquisition, or in- 
 dulgence and ease ; but to remember that " unto whom- 
 soever much is given, of him shall be much required," and 
 that " he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." To 
 do this it is necessary, first to cultivate the man ; not a 
 part merely, but the whole man, in all his faculties, physi- 
 cal, intellectual, and moral ; the body and the soul. 
 Man with his physical nature only developed, is but a 
 brute, with his physical and intellectual only, he sinks into 
 practical infidelity, and with his moral nature cultivated 
 alone, he becomes an enthusiast : thus in either case, fail- 
 ing of coming to those pure and satisfying enjoyments, 
 which our Heavenly Father has prepared for the pure in 
 
 heart. 
 
 There are some things among us, as a community, 
 which stand in the way and hinder the full development 
 of the man, and therefore need reformation or removal. 
 "We will just refer to some of them. One is, we labor too 
 much, or rather our labor is too much misapplied. Indus- 
 try is a noble virtue, and when directed in proper chan- 
 nels, and applied to right objects, by that wisdom which 
 is from above, it becomes conducive to the development 
 of all the faculties of man, l:)oth of body and soul. But 
 industry, when prostituted to be subservient to the mere 
 love of gain, or the gratification of the appetite for ambi- 
 tion, luxury, and show, becomes an evil, sinking ourselves 
 by it, and others with us, to the condition of slaves ; do-
 
 67 
 
 ing this we "labor for tliat which satisfyeth not." Some 
 perhaps, will say, they must toil incessantly to support 
 their families. But is not this plea, too often made to cov- 
 er the sin of covetousness, or some other evil, and at the 
 most favorable view is it not practical infidelity, an entire 
 distrust of the teachings of our Lord. 
 
 Another evil among us is, that idea of utility, prevailing 
 to a firreat extent, which can discover nothing: valu- 
 able, in any enterprise, having in view the development 
 of true cultivated taste. The beautiful is practically des- 
 pised. "We boast, and that not without reason, of our 
 beautiful town ; but what do we do, to enhance its beau- 
 ties ; look for example at our naturally beautiful common ; 
 made a gymnasium of at one end, and a gravel pit at the 
 other, while throughout its length it is traversed with 
 pathways at every one's fancied convenience, and not a tree 
 or a shrub, to decorate its naked bosom, or cast a cooling 
 shade from summer's burning sun. Enough is expended 
 upon our residences, to make them homes to be cherished 
 in the memories of our children, and admired by the stran- 
 ger, were they not so destitute of the lineaments, and the 
 surroundings, of true taste. It would not perhaps cost five 
 hundred dollarvS to make a duplicate of the most truly taste- 
 ful home in our town. It is not the pecuniary means that 
 is wanting, but the cultivation of those faculties of the soul 
 whi<}h would lead us to discover beauties, worthy of our 
 attention in all the works of God, whether accomplished
 
 68 
 
 by his direct agency, or through the instrumentality of the 
 cultivated taste of man. 
 
 Another evil is our religion ; start not, brother, we say 
 our religion ; not the pure self-denying religion which is 
 of God ; but that which seeks to satisfy conscience, with 
 an outward observance of duty in formal worship and or- 
 dinances, while the heart is given to the world. 
 
 Fellow Citizens, be not offended though we speak in 
 plain language. It is not the true friend that flattereth 
 with his lips ; but he that is a friend indeed, will speak the 
 words of truth and soberness, though they be not smooth 
 words. And may we not hope, yea, may we not see a re- 
 formation from some of these evils. 
 
 Let not incessant toil so wear down your physical na- 
 tures, and benumb the finer faculties of the soul, as to dis- 
 qualify you for high, and pure enjoyments of domestic and 
 social life. Let not the love of gain so blind your moral 
 vision, that you cannot find happiness for yourself, in the 
 welfare of your fellow man. Cherish the love of the beau- 
 tiful in your hearts. Manifest it in your fields, in your 
 homes, and on your person ; not by imitating the gaudy 
 display of fashion and luxury, but be guided by the aspi- 
 rations of a pure and cultivated mind. Form associations 
 for the development of these qualities in your social rela- 
 tions, let them improve your public grounds with decora- 
 tions of nature and of art. Seek gravel elsewhere than on 
 your public Common, it is useful but there is an abundance 
 of it in your hill-sides. Boys should play, it is delightful,
 
 69 
 
 and healthfal for them to play, but there is a place, as 
 well as a time for that exercise ; that place is not the most 
 prominent of our public grounds. Let those public 
 grounds be adorned with trees, that when a few years 
 hence you may assemble to commemorate the two hun- 
 dredth anniversary of this town, you may have before you 
 the promise of future beauty, and when your children's 
 children may assemble to commemorate the three hun- 
 dredth anniversary, they may rise up and call you blessed. 
 Above all, cherish piety in the heart, that pure, and 
 holy principle, which elevates the soul in heavenward as- 
 pirations, of supreme devotion to God, and good will to 
 man. Then you will be truly prepared, to enjoy the bless- 
 ings, which our Heavenly Father showers upon us here, 
 and look forward in joyful anticipation, to that rest which 
 he has prepared for those who " have washed their robes, 
 and made them white in the blood of the lamb." 
 
 The following words were sung by the choir : 
 
 " The Lord is great ! ye hosts of Heaven adore him, 
 And ye who tread this earthly ball ; 
 
 In holy songs rejoice aloud before him, 
 And shout his praise who made you all. 
 
 The Lord is great — his majesty how glorious ! 
 
 Resound his praise from shore to shore ; 
 O'er sin, and death, and hell, now made victorious, 
 
 He rules and reigns forevermore.
 
 70 
 
 The Lord is great — his mercy how abounding ! 
 
 Ye angels strike your golden chords ! 
 Oh praise our Grod ! with voice and harp resounding, 
 
 The Kmg of kings, and Lord of lords !" 
 
 Benediction by Rev. D. Ives, D. D. 
 
 FOURTH DIVISIOISr. 
 
 The storm increased to such a degree that the idea of 
 holding the collation in the tent was given up ; and the 
 vestry of the Second Baptist Church having been kindly 
 offered for the purpose, the procession was formed, and 
 proceeded to that place, where provision, the best that cir- 
 cumstances would allow, had been made ; the tables were 
 tastefully decorated with flowers, and bountifully loaded 
 with " creature comforts." 
 
 The President of the day called on Rev. J. R. Miller, 
 the present pastor of the church, to invoke the blessing of 
 Grod, which he did in the following words : — 
 
 Holy and Eternal Father, we adore Thee for Thy greatness and 
 glory ; and we love Thee for Thy condescension and grace. We ac- 
 knowledge with gratitude Thy great mercies to us, in granting us so 
 goodly an heritage ; in securing to us civil and religious liberty, 
 wholesome laws, and institutions of learning ; and in giving us that 
 blessed hope through Thy dear Son, which adds to all our other bless- 
 ings the prospects of a blissful immortality. We thank Thee for the 
 good of past years, and for the prospect of good in years to come. We 
 thank Thee for this day, and these interesting services and friendly 
 greetings. Let Thy blessing rest upon us, and upon the provision here 
 made for our temporal wants. May this day be crowned with Thy 
 rich benediction, be greatly promotive of time religion in us, and 
 abundantly conducive to Thine honor and glory, which we ask in the 
 worthy name of Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
 n 
 
 After the collation, the President said : 
 
 GrENTLEMEN AND Ladies : — My positlon to-day renders it proper 
 tliat I should say a few words in behalf of the First Congregational 
 Church, and of the people generally of Suffield. A few months since, 
 a lady, a descendant of Rev. Benjamin Ruggles, met a gentleman of 
 this place, accidentally, in the grave-yard. She made to him the 
 proffer, of twenty-five dollars toward a monument for her male ances- 
 tor, and the repair of that of his wife. This fact was communicated to 
 the church, and very cordially entertained. A committee was appoint- 
 ed to carry the project into effect. Hence the noble monument which 
 adorns our cemetery to-day. 
 
 It has long been in contemplation to revive the early history of this 
 church and town, for many years very nearly identical. The gentle- 
 man who has given us the historical address to-day was appointed to 
 collect the scattered fragments, recorded and traditional, into a connect- 
 ed form. This occasion seemed a fitting one to present to his fellow 
 townsmen the result of his investigations. The invitation was given 
 to the sons and daughters of Suffield, who have gone out from us, to 
 return and participate in this celebration. We rejoice that so large a 
 number have found it convenient with their other engagements to re- 
 spond to this invitation. We are happy to see so many from abroad 
 present to-day. 
 
 In behalf of this church and of the citizens of Suffield, I tender you 
 a hearty welcome. AVe welcome you to your native town. We wel- 
 come you to this occasion. And we cordially welcome you to our 
 homes and to our most cheerful hospitalities. Specially invited guests, 
 who have honored us with your presence, you too we bid a cordial wel- 
 come. Welcome all. 
 
 As I am wholly unaccustomed to ]mblic speaking, it will not be ex- 
 pected I shall trespass on your patience. Nor does it devolve upon 
 me to-day to make speeches, but to call out others to make them. 
 There are those present to follow who will both please and instruct. 
 
 The President then presented the name of Rev. Joun 
 YouNGLOVE ; the first minister of Sufiield. 
 
 Mr. Moses C. Younglove of Cleveland, Ohio, respond- 
 ed as follows : 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : — Being an entire stranger among you, 
 and a stranger to the scenes around me, I have no personal sympathies
 
 72 
 
 or local recollections of which I can speak. But being a son of the 
 Pilgrims, and standing here among their children, I can speak of them 
 and of their deeds, and hope for a response from every heart. But I 
 should say to you that public speaking is not my vocation, and even 
 if it were so, I am unused to such a presence as this — these gray 
 heads, these venerable forms ! These admonish me that here I should 
 keep silence — that it is far more becoming for me to stand among you 
 an humble listener, than to occupy this place as a speaker. But this to 
 me is a most interesting occasion ; my heart is full of it, and impels 
 me to add my humble testimony to the accumulated evidence of the 
 sterling virtues of the Puritans. 
 
 In other places, and on other occasions, I have felt called upon to 
 defend their memories from aspersion. But here, standing among 
 their children, with my feet mingling in their sacred dust, it would be 
 an insult to their memories, and to you, even to suppose that such a 
 necessity could exist. 
 
 Now if you will travel back with me through the long vista of 
 years, to the time when our fathers stood on the ground which we now 
 occupy, and inaugurated the events we meet here to commemorate, we 
 can talk as friends, face to face. One hundred and fifty years ago, 
 this church was organized. It then first took the form of a visible in- 
 stitution. It is true that the good seed had before been planted, and 
 had begun to germinate and strike its tender roots into the genial soil 
 around — and the upward shoots, too, had begun to drink in the genial 
 rays of God's love. But not till then and here, did our fathers begin 
 mutually and collectively to recognize that which was already a living 
 fact in their own hearts. Not till then did they begin to dig around 
 it, and to nourish it with their sympathies, and to strengthen it with 
 their prayers. 
 
 For a moment let us contrast the scenes which surrounded them, as 
 they stood on this ground one hundred and fifty years ago, and took 
 upon themselves their covenant vows and pledged themselves to each 
 other and to God, to live in accordance with those vows — with the 
 scenes that surround us here to-day. They were here in the midst of 
 a wilderness, surrounded by wild beasts and savage men. These fields 
 now so productive and beautiful, were then covered with their native 
 forests. These roads now so indurate and perfect, were but "trails 
 through the woods." Log huts, or at best, dwellings of the most 
 humble class, occupied the sites of your beautiful and well-furnished
 
 73 
 
 houses. No steam whistle broke the sflence of their forest homes ; no 
 cheerful church bell from some neighboring and friendly village, 
 awoke the echoes of their silent valleys. The lightning had not yet 
 been chained, and no electric telegraph flashed living thoughts from 
 afar, to tell them of the world beyond their own quiet homes. But 
 here they stood alone, — with God for their God ; with the blue firma- 
 ment for their temple, and pledged themselves to build this church on 
 that Rock, on which if a man build, his building shall stand. 
 
 But this was not so strange a thing for our fathers to do ! It was 
 just what they were in the habit of doing, indeed I may say, " it was 
 just like them." Wherever they went, there they built a church, and 
 close by, nestling under its friendly shadow, the school-house soon 
 found a place. And these two formed the broad, deep and strong 
 foundation, on which our institutions so firmly stand. 
 
 And now, I hope these Reverend gentlemen, and my venerable 
 friends here present, will not charge me with sacrilege, when I assure 
 them that there is a very striking resemblance, between our puritan 
 fathers, and the Abrahamic branch of the holy family. It will be re- 
 membered that the sacred historian gives us only the salient points in 
 Abraham's history, or only so much as was necessary to give a con- 
 nected, complete, and correct history of the church. Now if we will 
 occupy the same stand-point, and look at the same class of events, in 
 the history of our pilgrim fathers, we shall see that there is a very 
 close parallel between them. Abraham was a dweller in Mesopotamia, 
 a country where his religion was aspersed, and where he was not per- 
 mitted to worship after the dictates of his own conscience ; and the 
 Lord, in his own good time, determined to take him out from among 
 those heathen nations, and to establish through him, the worship of 
 the true God. And He said unto Abraham, '"Get thee out of thy 
 country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a 
 land that I will shew thee." And Abraham gathered together his 
 household and all their substance, and into the and of Canaan they 
 came, unto the place of Sichem, and there huilt an altar unto the Lord. 
 And from thence he passed on to "Bethel," and there, too, he huilt 
 an altar unto the Lord, " and called upon the name of the Lord." 
 And in the course of time he came to the plain of Mamrc, and buiU 
 there an altar to the Lord ; and wherever Abraham dwelt, his first 
 public act .was to build an altar to the Most High God, and renew his 
 covenant vows with the Lord. And if you will pursue this history a 
 10
 
 u 
 
 little farther, you will see that it has a sequel full of instruction. May 
 we not listen to-day to its teachings ? 
 
 Many long years after Abraham had built the altar in Bethel, Jacob, 
 fleeing through the wilderness, from before the wrathful face of his 
 brother, came to this very place, and while he slept he dreamed, and 
 beheld a ladder reaching from earth to heaven and the angels of 
 God ascending and descending on it. This ladder was a beautiful 
 figure of the mediatorial office of Christ. And the figure will appear 
 still more beautiful if we will adopt a more correct reading of the pas- 
 sage, which should be thus, — " And Jacob saw a way cast up, a high- 
 way of the Lord — reaching from earth to heaven, and angels passing 
 to and fro thereon." 
 
 Now may not we, the sons and daughters of the pilgrim fathers, 
 gathered from afar around this altar built by them, may not we, I 
 say, perceive in our hearts and souls, this day, that glorious high-way 
 of the Lord cast up for our salvation — even Christ Jesus V 
 
 But to return to the pilgrims. They were dwellers in a land where 
 their religion was held in contempt, and where they were not permitted 
 to worship God after the dictates of their own consciences. And God 
 determined in his own good time to take them out from among their 
 revilers and persecutors, and to place them in a land free and fresh 
 from his own hand, untrod by the oppressor's foot, and unstained by 
 the martyr's blood. And he said to their hearts, get thee out of 
 this land, from thy father's house and from thy kindred, into a land 
 that I will show thee. And they gathered together their wives, their 
 little ones, and their scanty substance, and they came into the land. 
 And now mark the history. Their first act was to build an altar to 
 the Lord, and there on the bleak rocks, they renewed their covenant 
 vows, and pledged themselves and theirs to the Lord's service ; and 
 wherever they moved in the land and fixed their dwellings, there they 
 built an altar to the Lord. And when, in the course of time, they 
 came to this spot, here too, they built an altar to the Most High God ; 
 and this day around that altar we stand. 
 
 Our pilgrim fathers were rather a remarkable race of men, as com- 
 pared with the men of the present day. They were higher-law men — 
 stern and uncompromising in matters of principle — no political party 
 had their consciences in keeping. They took the Lord for their God, 
 and his law for their law. Their religion was an' every day religion. 
 It bore exportation and transportation ; whether tossed on the billows
 
 75 
 
 of the Atlantic or wandering in the wilderness of America, it was the 
 same. They were wise, far-seeing men, and lived not for themselves 
 and their generation alone — as the beautiful villages of New England, 
 with their broad streets and their wide spreading trees, bear ample 
 testimony. Their provisions for a religious and common school educa- 
 tion, are also evidences of their far seeing beneficence. Their laws 
 were simple, just and equitable ; having God's word — not merely in 
 theory hut in fact — for their model. In short, whatever they did, 
 was done for the establishing and building up of the nation which they 
 had planted. 
 
 But you will expect me to say something of your first ministers. 
 
 Of Mr. Ruggles, of course, I can say nothing, as I know nothing of 
 his history. And of ray paternal ancestor I know but little. Yet 
 that he was a puritan minister, and lived and died here, I do know. 
 That he had preceding generations, we have no written testimony, 
 but that he had succeeding generations, I stand here before you to-day 
 a living witness. The time of his settlement, and his death ; the 
 births, names and deaths of his children, are found in your town and 
 church records. 
 
 But of the puritan ministers generally, I can say truly, that they 
 were a noble race of men. They were God's noblemen ; knighted by 
 no earthly king, but by the King of kings. And perhaps I cannot 
 better convey to you my estimation of their worth than to tell you 
 what I wrote to a kinsman who said he had traced our ancestors to 
 a puritan minister, and was pushing hi.s enquiries into England, to 
 learn where in that realm they came from. I begged him to desist, 
 fearing that he might run us into some noble house. As for me, I was 
 satisfied with being descended from a puritan minister. That was no- 
 bility enough. 
 
 The President next presented the name of Rev. Ben- 
 jamin RuGGLES ; first pastor of the fi/st church in Suffield, 
 and the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of whose 
 death we were commemorating. Rev. Aratus Kent of 
 Galena, Illinois, who was expected to respond, being under 
 the necessity of leaving before this time, no response was 
 made. The President next presented the name of Rev. 
 Ebenezer Devotion ; second pastor of this church.
 
 Y6 
 
 Col. John L. Devotion of Norwich, Connecticut, re- 
 sponded as follows : 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen : — It has seldom, and, I think I may 
 safely say, never been my lot to be present on an occasion more truly 
 interesting, than the one which has brought me among you to partici- 
 pate in the inauguration of a monument to the memory of the Rev. 
 Benjamin Ruggles. And here allow me to thank you for the invita- 
 tion which your Committee extended to me, and since the receipt of 
 which, I have experienced not a little of that wild delight which chil- 
 dren feel in looking forward to the arrival of some cherished holiday. 
 
 The name of your beautiful town is associated with my earliest rec- 
 ollections ; and I have long desired that an opportunity might be 
 presented which would enable me to view the resting place of a worthy 
 progenitor. The erection of a monument to commemorate your first 
 pastor is a noble enterprise ; one which I would like to see imitated by 
 other towns, until all our cemeteries shall have such endearing memo- 
 rials of the departed. In yonder cemetery are deposited the ashes of 
 a venerable ancestor. More than a century has passed since many of 
 your ancestors stood around his grave, to pay the last tribute of affec- 
 tion to their departed pastor. To you is entrusted the guardianship 
 of those sacred remains ; let no ruthless hand desecrate his grave, or 
 disturb his quiet repose. As we turn from the interesting exercises of 
 the day, let ue not forget to invoke the blessing of God on the work, 
 and ask that his watchful care and guidance may be continued over us 
 to our lives' end. 
 
 The President next gave the name of Rev. Ebenezer 
 Gay, D. D. ; third pastor of the church, and the name of 
 Rev. Ebenezer Gay, Jr., his colleague, and afterward his 
 successor to the pastoral office. 
 
 Rev. Henry Robinson made the following response : 
 
 No male descendant of t)r. Gay, bearing the family name, is living 
 to respond to the call now made. There are among you, female de- 
 scendants, retaining the name ; but as they defer to the gentlemen in 
 the matter of public speaking, it seems to devolve on some of us, who 
 do not bear the name, but have borne away those who did, to say 
 something on the present occasion. 
 
 My impressions of Dr. Gay are taken chiefly from his friend, Rev.
 
 77 
 
 Dr. Lathrop of West Springfield, who says, in a sennon preached at 
 his funeral, " Dr. Gay was an able and learned divine; a scribe well 
 instructed into the kingdom of Grod. The doctrines of grace were con- 
 spicuous in his discourses. He preached them abundantly, and 
 preached them in the apostolic manner. He was a wise and judicious 
 counsellor. In conversation he was pleasant and instructive, and 
 sometimes agreeably facetious and innocently humorous." Some anec- 
 dotes, illustrative of this last trait in his character, have ■come down to 
 us, one of which may here be given. 
 
 It seems that candidates for settlement in the ministry were sub- 
 jected to a rigid scrutiny from the people in Dr. Gay's time, as they 
 have been ever since. None of them were exactly right. They were 
 too long or too short, too thick or too thin. This last was the objec- 
 tion against Dr. Gay. Though in latter years he was rather corpulent, 
 in early life he was very slender. It began to be whispered among 
 the people, that the candidate was too spare — his legs were too small 
 — there was not enough of him to answer their purpose. Finding 
 which way things were tending in the parish, and not being quite will- 
 ing to " go by weight," he came out with a sermon from the text, " He 
 taketh ?iot pleasure in the legs of a man.^^ It proved a sermon for 
 the times. The disturbance was quieted. The candidate was harmo- 
 niously settled, and enjoyed, in the main, a prosperous ministry. 
 
 Rev. Ebenezer Gay, Jr., my honored father-in-law, was a fine 
 scholar, having graduated at Yale in 1787, with the first honors of his 
 class, and having been two years tutor in the college. He studied 
 theology chiefly with Dr. Dana of New Haven, and his cotemporaries 
 testify, that in his youth, he was a very popular preacher. From 1793 
 to 18*26 he had charge of the Congregational Church here ; the first 
 three years as colleague with his father. The pastorates of father and 
 son extended through a period of eighty-four years. 
 
 Mr. Gay did much for the cause of education, preparing young men 
 for college and for the various departments of business. He was a 
 warm friend of his country, and earnestly sought its welfare. He was 
 given to hospitality. His heart was full of sympathy for the dis- 
 tressed and his hand was ever open for their relief. He was social in 
 his feelings, and instructive and entertaining in conversation. In the 
 domestic relations he was kind and exemplary. The closing scene 
 with him was calm and peaceful, and he left the world with a hope 
 full of immortality.
 
 78 
 
 William Gay, Esq., the younger son of Dr. Gay, after graduating 
 at Yale, settled in this town as a lawyer. Here he passed a long and 
 useful life, filling several important offices with honor to himself and 
 benefit to the community.* The religion of Christ crowned his later 
 years, and sustained him in the final conflict. His two sons were 
 called away before him ; one in childhood, the other, William C. Gay, 
 Esq., in early manhood, to the great sorrow of relatives and friends. 
 
 The two daughters of Dr. Gay were married ; one to Timothy 
 Swan Esq., of Northfield, Mass., the other, successively to David 
 Bronson, Esq., of Sufiield, and Benjamin Swan, Esq., of Wood.stock, 
 Vt.f Their descendants are somewhat numerous and occupy impor- 
 tant places in society. 
 
 A word in reference to the past and present of Sufiield, and I have 
 done. I have spoken of the efforts of Rev. Ebenezer Gay, Jr., in the 
 cause of education, and in teaching a select school for the benefit of 
 the youth of his time. Now the Connecticut Literary Institute 
 adorns your beautiful town, furnishing in its spacious buildings, its 
 able corps of teachers and its various appliances, distinguished facili- 
 ties for the education of youth ; and which during the quarter of a 
 century of its existence, has trained great numbers for a collegiate 
 course, and for professional and business life. 
 
 We have been told in the historical discourse, that Rev. John 
 Younglove, who first preached the gospel in this town, had his habita- 
 tion on or near the place where we are met. It is enough to invest 
 the spot with a character of sacredness, that a faithful minister of 
 Christ here lived, and labored, and committed his departing spirit into 
 the hands of his Savior. But here is now a house of God, where as- 
 sembles from Sabbath to Sabbath, one of the largest churches in the 
 state, consisting of more than six hundred members, and where have 
 been witnessed remarkable displays of divine power and grace in the 
 conversion of souls. 
 
 In these and other evidences of progress in matters of the highest 
 moment, and of the favor of God toward this town, I sincerely rejoice. 
 I can never cease to feel a deep interest in Suffield. The scenes 
 through which I passed, during the six years of my pastorate in the 
 Congregational Church are indelibly stamped on my heart. The re- 
 
 * He was postmaster in Suffield 36 years. 
 
 t Mr. Benjamia Swan was Treasurer of Vermont 32 years, and Clerk of the Courts 
 42 years.
 
 79 
 
 unions and reminiscences of this day have only rendered those scenes 
 more fresh and vivid, the recollection of which will never fade from my 
 memory. 
 
 The President gave several sentiments, wliicli follow, 
 with the responses given : 
 
 SENTIMENT. 
 " While we commemorate the virtues, and honor the memory of the 
 distinguished dead, we cherish with unabated affection their livinn^ suc- 
 cessors in the pastoral office of this church, all of whom have done us 
 the honor to be present on this occasion." 
 
 Response of Rev. Joel Mann. 
 
 The present commemorative occasion is both a pleasing and a sad- 
 dening one. Such in fact is the nature of almost all retrospections of 
 the past, both in regard to ourselves and others. It is pleasing to 
 stand among those for whose spiritual welfare I performed a brief min- 
 istry, some of whom continue to the present. It is delightful to look 
 upon their faces, and exchange greetings with them after the lapse of 
 nearly thirty years. But it is saddening to call to mind those with 
 whom we have taken sweet counsel, who have finished their labors 
 and passed away from the earth. Their removal from the world gives 
 a monitory lesson to us and impresses our minds with the brevity of 
 life, and the transitoriness of all earthly things. 
 
 It was my privilege to be associated in the pastorate here with a 
 venerable servant of God who had long been a watchman on this por- 
 tion of Zion, the second Mr. Gay ; a man of genial spirit, given to 
 hospitality, a man of faith and prayer. His love to the people of his 
 charge led him to make large sacrifices for their good ; and I doubt 
 not that this people cherish his memory with affection, and that his 
 children are loved for the father's sake as well as for their own. The 
 seed of the righteous is blessed. 
 
 Though my ministry was short, extending to about three years, and 
 though it was in various respects defective, it was attended with saving 
 results to some. A precious visitation of the Holy Spirit at one time, 
 wrought, as it was believed, the conversion of about thirty, some of 
 whom still live to pray and labor for the holy cause, which is dear to 
 the hearts of those wjio love Christ. 
 
 That was a kind of transition period from the staid, uniform, quiet
 
 80 
 
 mode of operation both by ministers and churches, to the adoption of 
 what were called new measures, and with these the putting forth of 
 greater efforts, — the multiplication of religious meetings, and extra 
 means for the conversion of men. Protracted services like those of 
 the Sabbath were soon after introduced, continuing for several succes- 
 sive days and even weeks. Christians awoke to a greater sense of re- 
 sponsibility to God and men, and to greater prayerfulness and zeal. 
 They consecrated themselves anew to the service of Christ — shook off 
 their formality, and commenced a course of action more accordant with 
 their vows. Many were alarmed by these new measures, and augured 
 disastrous effects to the cause of religion, and the purity of the churches. 
 Many were unwilling to admit that sinners could be soundly converted 
 so suddenly ; and that such large numbers could be safely added to 
 the churches by such a summary process. They thought that the old 
 way of coming along into religion by degrees, was a safer way. Well, 
 it has been shown, that the Lord knows how to do his own work, and 
 it is not best for us to be over anxious to steady the ark, but commit 
 the keeping of it to his care. It should be observed, however, that 
 the conservatism of those to whom I have alluded, was caused by their 
 love to the church, and their desire for its welfare. The law of 
 progress was not so fully comprehended by them perhaps as by those 
 who have come after them. 
 
 We seem to have come to the commencement of another era, 
 which is unfolding more clearly the duties of ministers and churches in 
 regard to the kingdom of Christ. The dispensations of divine grace 
 are teaching us new lessons ; and are showing that every member of 
 the household of faith has much to do for its prosperity at home an 
 abroad. 
 
 Here the speaker alluded to the recent revivals, and the 
 daily prayer meetings, which had been a chief instrumen- 
 tality in beginning them and carrying them on. He al- 
 luded also to his ancestry, and remarked that he was de- 
 scended from Richard Mann, who came in the May Flow- 
 er, and was one of those who landed on Plymouth Rock. 
 Having expressed his reverence for the good and great 
 who have gone to their eternal reward, he exhorted all to 
 be followers of those who through faith • and patience in- 
 herit the promises.
 
 81 
 
 Response of Rev. A. C. Washburn. 
 
 Mr. President, it is impossible for me fully to express my feelings 
 on this present occasion. Nor need I make the attempt. For in con- 
 nection with this sumptuous feast there has been such an overflowing 
 of rich thought, and of varied and appropriate sentiment tliat surely this 
 audience must be well nigh surfeited, and perhaps would long since 
 have cried " enough " had not the benevolent Creator bestowed upon 
 them in large measure, pliysical and mental power. Yet I ask their 
 indulgence while I briefly reciprocate the kind and aflfectionate senti- 
 ments you have uttered, as their organ, in relation to former pastors 
 of this church. 
 
 I thank you for the opportunity of expressing the pleasure I feel in 
 recalling scenes of thrilling interest through which I have here passed. 
 Here I found, and still find, friends whose friendship it is no sin for a 
 mortal creature to covet. Alas ! many, how many, we meet here 
 no more. It was my happiness to labor here during four sea.sons of 
 special revival, and dui-ing the fourteen years of my pastorate more than 
 two hundred were added to the church. It was also my privilege to 
 be instrumental in promoting the happiness of many in matters some- 
 what less spiritual, but not less talked of in most circles. During my 
 ministry here, I joined in marriage one hundred and seventy couple, 
 and I know not that in any instance the knot has slipped, or that any 
 one of that happy number ever desired to break the bond. Not a few 
 I see here to-day, who are competent witnesses in this matter. 
 
 In recalling the friendships of by-gone days, I love to dwell on 
 that brotherly union and christian affection ever manifested towards me 
 here, by ministers of other denominations. And happy am I to learn, 
 that this broth^jrly feeling still exists, so that when the rain was coming 
 down this morning in torrents, and your arrangements for meeting in a 
 great tent were likely to be frustrated, the pastor of the Baptist 
 Church, with the cordial approbation of his people, promptly oflTered 
 the use of this spacious room, their vestry, where we are comfortably 
 sheltered from the pelting storm. God grant that this christian union 
 may never be sundered ! 
 
 I rejoice to find the people of my former charge so happily united 
 in my successor. And in this connection permit me, sir, to recall a 
 thought of great practical value, brought out to-day in the historical 
 
 11
 
 82 
 
 address, viz., The dismission of ministers does not always settle dif- 
 ficulties in churches. There is a better way. 
 
 Some gentlemen have alluded in very appropriate terms to their 
 honorable ancestry. Ancestors are all honorable men, and I presume 
 mine were equal to the best of them, though my acquaintance with 
 them is somewhat limited. I do not know that any of them ever fell 
 from a platform and broke their neck, when addressing a multitude. 
 Perhaps some of them have deserved that fate, though I have never 
 known one, bearing my name, ever sent to prison. And I do know 
 that many of that name, which is becoming quite common in our 
 country, have made good ministers, lawyers, doctors, judges, congress- 
 men, and governors ; and if there are not some of the same sort left, 
 I presume there will be many in due time. But, sir, I will stop lest 
 you mistake my design, and think I am trying to make a speech. 
 
 Permit me to renew my thanks for the affectionate reception I have 
 met here to-day, and which I ahvays meet among this beloved people. 
 And, sir, if you and they enjoy the Divine Benediction, and prosper 
 according to the sincere desire of my heart, this will evermore be indeed 
 a happy people. 
 
 Response of Rev. J. R. Miller, 
 
 Mr. President, the sentiment has effected, what I suppose was de- 
 signed, to bring out the former surviving pastors who had not spoken 
 in the proceedings of this day. A few words from the present pastor, 
 for himself and people, seem in place. "We rejoice to meet here to-day 
 those who have occupied our places before us, to greet them, and hear 
 their voices. We are made glad by the presence of those who have 
 left this their native home to seek their fortunes and serve their God 
 elsewhere. We cannot yield to any in the interest taken in this day's 
 transactions. For we assure them that while others come excited by 
 old scenes and recollections and associations, we feel animated by the 
 present realities; while the past was theirs, the present is ours ; its 
 joys, its anxieties, and its responsibilities. For this day we have 
 j^anned, and labored, and provided, and prayed, and felt solicitude. 
 We have done what we could. And now our hearts are full. Nor 
 c^n we yield to any in our attachment to SuflBeld. Its beauties are to 
 us, not the beauties of a place we have left for other attractions, but 
 those of a v\^c,e to which we have still fondly clung as dear above all,
 
 83 
 
 or for which we have left other scenes that we might adopt it as our 
 own. We call it our home. We look out upon its broad and pleasant 
 fields, and rejoice in them as the heritage in which our lot is cast, and 
 feel that our lines are fallen in pleasant places. Its hi.story is dear, 
 and we will seek to perpetuate it. Its interests are dear, and we will 
 strive to preserve them. And now as we stand in the light which this 
 day casts upon it, and consider the worthies that have here lived and la- 
 bored before us, a new sense of responsibility is felt. Surely, we have 
 something to do, and strive for, in emulation of their virtues. 
 
 We will not speak of our past works, except, for the information of 
 others, to say, that the results, through the blessing of God, will not 
 compare unfavorably with any who have preceded us. We stand 
 to-day united and strong. And while we think we stand we would 
 mind the admonition to take heed lest we fall. Our hope and trust is 
 in God. He is able to keep us from falling. But left of him, our pride, 
 or self-will, or folly would soon cast us down. The Lord has blessed 
 us greatly, and is blessing us still ; and our earnest prayer is that we 
 may so labor and be faithful unto the end, that men may be ever able 
 to adopt concerning us the language of the last sentiment. 
 
 SENTIMENT. 
 " The Fathers in the Christian Ministry, the pioneers in planting 
 churches, schools, academies, and colleges ; where are they V They 
 have their living representatives here to-day." 
 
 Response of Rev. Daniel Waldo, in his ninety-seventh 
 year. 
 
 To give all the reminiscences of ninety years would fill a folio. A 
 few will suffice. The churches were often taught within my memory 
 by those who knew less than their hearers ; and schools were taught 
 by those who made two syllables of ton-gue. Dilworth's grammar and 
 spelling-book were the only ones in use. The immortal Noah Web- 
 ster soon dispelled the darkness that brooded over the land. At the 
 close of the Revolution many sought a liberal education ; and science 
 soon began to be sown broadcast over our land. Common schools be- 
 gan to have competent teachers, for all business and social intercourse. 
 Academies were established in all our villages of note. Colleges have 
 become almost as numerous as common schools a hundred and fifty
 
 84 
 
 years ago. As science increased, the Bible was more highly esteemed, 
 not only for its pure morality, but as the best book to make the hest 
 reader. Could Dr. Mathews' Bible and Civil Government, and his 
 Connection of Science and Religion be universally read by all persons 
 of intelligence, this world of bloody wickedness would soon be paradise 
 
 regained. 
 
 SENTIMENT. 
 
 " The city of Hartford — distinguished for its fine churches, and elo- 
 quent preachers, its humane institutions, its antiquaries, and its ora- 
 tors ; has honored us by the presence of some of its distinguished rep- 
 resentatives on this occasion." 
 
 Mr, Joseph E. Hawley responded. 
 
 SENTIMENT. 
 " The Great West — the adopted home of many of the sons and 
 daughters of Suffield, is honorably represented here to-day, by our 
 own son — the orator of the day." 
 
 Not responded to. 
 
 SENTIMENT. 
 " The parson and the poet — an honored son of West Suffield — the 
 author of the original hymn for the occasion." 
 
 Not responded to. 
 
 SENTIMENT. 
 
 " The Connecticut Literary Institute, as an ornament to the town, 
 and a hand-maid to the christian church — may it fully answer the de- 
 sire of its friends — that our sons may be as plants grown in their 
 youth, and that our daughters may be polished after the similitude of 
 a palace." 
 
 Dr. Ives, pastor of the Second Baptist Church said, that 
 since the President of the day had alluded to the offer 
 made of the vestry, in which to have the collation, on ac- 
 count of the storm, he wished to say, it was voluntarily 
 •and cordially offered. As it respected the institution, Mr. 
 Pratt, the Principal, was present and could speak for that. 
 It was an object dear to his heart. He felt that its influ- 
 ence had been good, and mshed its future advancement.
 
 85 
 
 It was iu a flourishing conditiou — liad an able and efficient 
 board of instructors — and efforts were being made to re- 
 lieve it of an embarrassing debt, whicii lie felt would be 
 successful. 
 
 He said, that this was a day in wiiich he had taken great 
 interest ; he might say, that it was one of the happiest of 
 his life. He felt proud of the historian of the day. He 
 could but admire the manner in which he handled those 
 exceedingly delicate matters pertaining to the separation 
 of the church. In speaking of those things, (as fidelity 
 required him to speak of them,) it was truly gratifying to 
 see with what candor and impartiality they were treated. 
 He felt that a noble example was given for the imitation 
 of other historians, who had not always exhibited the like 
 unbiased and unprejudiced feelings toward those of an- 
 other name. 
 
 Mr. Pratt, Principal of the institution, said, that he had 
 not expected to be called upon for a speech. As it re- 
 spected the sentiment, he would express his thanks ; and 
 as the Doctor had spoken a few words relative to the insti- 
 tution, perhaps tliat would do for the response. He would 
 say however, that he felt the influence of the institution 
 upon the town to be good. He thought its influence in 
 time past had been good. It formed a band of union. 
 The young people of both societies were educated there ; 
 and so a common interest was felt in its welfare and pros- 
 perity. And those feeling an interest in the same object, 
 are likely to have kinder feelings towards each other. He 
 had been much interested in the services of the day, and 
 felt that they would have a beneficial influence. 
 
 Rev. Daniel Hemenway, spoke in confirmation of what 
 the two preceding speakers had said. He regarded the 
 influence of the institution as salutary. He desired to see it 
 prosper even beyond its present prosperity. He regretted 
 that it was burdened with so great a debt. He felt that 
 there were those who were abundantly able to relieve it,
 
 86 
 
 and he hoped and trusted that the earnest effort would be 
 made, and prove successful. 
 
 SENTIMENT. 
 
 ' ' The ladies of Suffield — though not represented on this occasion by 
 speakers, have represented themselves by works which cost more and 
 taste sweeter than words." 
 
 An opportunity being given for voluntaiy addresses. 
 Judge Huntington, of Washington, said : 
 
 When I received the invitation of the Committee to attend here 
 to-day, I felt that official duties at Washington would render my com- 
 pliance with that invitation impossible. But so strong was my desire 
 to be present upon this occasion, that official duties, however pressing, 
 have been postponed, and I have traveled some four hundred miles 
 or more, for the sole object of uniting with some of the associates of 
 my boyhood, and the present inhabitants of my native town in this 
 interesting commemoration. 
 
 It is a praise-worthy object which has brought us together ; and al- 
 low me here in the outset to remark, that whatever diversity of religious 
 creeds may prevail among us at the present day, we stand here to a 
 certain extent as the representatives of our ancestors, in their religious 
 character. And as they were all congregationalists, we therefore, for 
 the occasion, should ourselves, be congregationalists. In commemorat- 
 ing the erection of a monument to the memory of their first pastor, 
 upon this one hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of his death, we do as 
 they would have done, could they have carried out their wishes at the 
 time ; and thus all are acting for them, and by respecting their senti- 
 ments, we honor their memories and thus bring ourselves within the 
 benefit of the " first commandment with promise." 
 
 It is an occasion too, on which we can, with propriety, indulge in 
 that peculiar pleasure which . arises from a revival of our earliest recol- 
 lections. The scenes — the hopes and the joys — the little trials and 
 disappointments — all tjiat make up the history of our childhood are en- 
 graven deeply on our hearts — ^they are written indelibly there. The 
 events of our maturer or declining years often pass off with the day of 
 their occurrence; the incidents of yesterday are forgotten to-day; and 
 those of to-day will pass into oblivion to-morrow. Mingled as they are 
 with the strife, the emulation and the rivalry of business — the tur-
 
 »7 
 
 moil and the contention of life — we are willing to forget them. Not so 
 with our early life. Its history is interwoven with our purest, our 
 warmest, our holiest affections — with the love for our parents, for our 
 brothers and sisters — with the attachment to our playmates, and with 
 all these hallowed memories which cluster around the unbroken family 
 circle ; and therefore it is, that we love to revisit the scenes and to re- 
 call the events of that history. 
 
 With my school-mate, to whose sermon we have listened to-day, 
 with so much interest and satisfaction, my memory runs back some 
 fifty years or more ; more than forty-five years ago I parted with him 
 — a ruddy, handsome, bright-eyed youth — and have not seen him since, 
 until I entered the church this morning and saw the venerable preach- 
 er in your pulpit. The incidents, and the old men of his childhood, 
 alluded to by him, are quite distmct in my memory. I well recollect, 
 too, the " Old Porch House," — the first parsonage— on the site of 
 which, this day's exercises were commenced. I believe I am the only 
 living person bom in that house, — the only tie, therefore, between it and 
 the living successors of those who erected it. It had of course, ceased to 
 be the parsonage when my parents occupied it at the commencement of 
 their manned life. It stood a rod or two back from the highway — two 
 stories high — the upper projecting perhaps a foot or so, over the lower 
 — with a large porch in front, also two stories high, and what was 
 called a " lean-to " in the rear. I remember well an old pear tree^ 
 the old fashioned bell-pear— standing a few rods back from the house, 
 within what was probably once the garden of the parsonage. And 
 as it was quite an old tree in appearance when I was a child, it was 
 doubtless originally planted there by the hand of one t)f the good men 
 who occupied the house as a parsonage. A pear from that tree was a 
 choice acquisition. The tree is gone ; but the old elms, probably 
 planted by the same hand, still stand in front ; and long may they re- 
 main to marie the site of the -dwelling place of holy men of old. 
 
 From this house, my memory naturally turns to the old " Meeting 
 House," on the hill; the site of which is occupied by the house in 
 which a portion of our exercises have this day taken place. The exte- 
 rior appearance and the internal arrangement were similar to what 
 might, fifty years ago, have been seen in almost every town in New 
 England. The posts were cased inside, so that their size was ol)vious 
 to the eye. Running up the tower-stairs to the belfry, as we boys 
 were in the habit of doing very often, we could see the massive frame-
 
 88 
 
 work of the roof. Judging from wbat I recollect of its appearance, it 
 might now have been standing, but for that unfortunate trait of our 
 character — all aversion to everything old. The belfry was surmount- 
 ed by a handsome spire of, I think, very fortunate proportions, indi- 
 cating that they who designed it, retained the taste and impressions 
 derived from similar objects in our father-land. 
 
 The square, unpainted, high pews — with their uncushioned seats and 
 bare floors — the pulpit large enough to accommodate an ordinary con- 
 vocation of the clergy — the immense sounding board, with its elabo- 
 rate paneled and carved work — which always excited my boyish fears 
 for the personal safety of Mr. Gay^for since I could discover no ade- 
 quate means for its suspension, it was in my opinion inevitably des- 
 tined to fall — the wide o-alleries on three sides, with the loner seats back 
 of them, and the high pews against the wall, are all most clearly inter- 
 woven with my earliest recollections of public worship. 
 
 These galleries served as a sort of play-ground for the boys, and I 
 remember well an honest, simple man, who lived, I think, with Mr. Jo- 
 seph Pease, and who seemed to imagine that he was earning a certain 
 passport to heaven by rapping the boys on the head to keep them still, 
 but greatly increasing the disturbance. 
 
 No deep toned organ then aided the service. The rational taste in 
 church music had not then overcome the aversion of our puritan an- 
 cestors to the becoming usages of the English Church, and I doubt if 
 a church organ could have been found m a single congregational house 
 of worship in this State, during the first quarter of the present century. 
 
 The singers, or choir, were then arranged in four parts, occupying 
 the entire fx'ont of the gallery on three sides, and my uncle, Elihu 
 Kent — the father of my cousin Horace Kent, from Virginia, whom I 
 have the happiness of meeting here to-day — was the leader. In the 
 language of the day, he " set the psalm ;" and that " pitch pipe," with 
 which he gave what I believe is termed the " key note," was to me a 
 most mysterious instrument. 
 
 There were no means for warming the building. Foot stoves were 
 common — carried by the boys for the comfort of their grandmothers ; 
 and the transfer of these from one pew to another, over the high di- 
 visions, was considered a mark of singular benevolence on the part of 
 the more aristocratic elderly ladies towards their less favored neigh- 
 bors. Whether the greater warmth of the piety of our ancestors sup- 
 plied the heat of stoves and furnaces of modern days, is perhaps a
 
 89 
 
 question to be solved. Of one thing, however, I am certain, that not- 
 withstanding the absence of cushions and carpets and anthracite fur- 
 naces, the attendance in those days at the places of public worship 
 was little affected by the variations of the thermometer, and was more 
 general and uniform than at the present day. The change in the arrange- 
 ment of tlie Ijuilding, tlie good taste and comforts of its furniture as seen 
 in the present structure, the improvement of the music by the introiluc- 
 tion of the choir and organ, point significantly to a wholesome change in 
 public sentiment, not only as to the mode of conducting public worship, 
 but as to the proper and appropriate uses of church buildings. 
 
 The English Church, followed by the Episcopal Church in this 
 country, separated by a solemn form of consecration, their churches 
 " from all unhallowed, worldly or common use ;" and therefore their 
 churches were held exclusively for the worship of Almighty God. Our 
 puritan ancestors thinking tliey saw in this proper and becoming prac- 
 tice, a tendency to superstition and a blind reverence for mere objects 
 of sense, went too far the other way, and degraded the house of God 
 to the most common, not to say profane, uses. The controlling influ- 
 ence of this feeling was most manifest, within my recollection. The 
 town and freemen's meetings, as they were termed, were always held 
 in the "Meeting House." Theatrical exhibitions were sometimes got 
 up in it ; and I well remember, upon one of these occasions, the " star " 
 of the performance was a Miss Sheldon — I think a daughter of Col. 
 Thomas Sheldon of the West Society. If it .happened to rain on 
 "training day," the company was marched into the " Meeting House," 
 and the manual exercise was gone through with, there. 
 
 As I have remarked, more rational and consistent views now pro- 
 vail ; and I presume no one in this beautiful village associates other 
 duties with the church than the public worsliip of his Maker. 
 
 Mr. Gay was the first and the last congregational minister to whom 
 I ever listened. My parents, during my childhood, became connected 
 with the Baptist conmiunion ; but their place of worship was so far di.s- 
 tant that their children lingered at tlie old house to a great extent, un- 
 til the erection of the Baptist meeting house, just south of where Mr. 
 Thomas Archer now resides. This took place a year or two before my 
 parents removed from the town. Since that time, my brothers and 
 myself have strayed, as you may think, into the Episcopal Church. 
 But whether strayed or not— I found peace, and quiet, and comfort 
 there, and I trust a hope sure and steadfast, of final rest in heaven. 
 12
 
 90 
 
 through the merits of our blessed Redeemer. From the old " Meeting 
 House " my memory naturally turns to the school house. In my day 
 it stood nearly in front of the " Meeting House," on " the green," as 
 it was called — in the middle of your beautiful broad street. My earliest 
 recollections of it are when it was new. The old school house — its 
 predecessor — I know by tradition, stood down the hill, at the ojDcning 
 of the road leading to West Suffield. I do not remember the buildine, 
 but I do remember the traces of its foundation and the fragments of 
 bricks left there after its demolition. My recollections of first attending 
 school are in the new school house, standing where I have described it. 
 The house was new and freshly painted white ; and it left upon my 
 childish imagination an impression of magnificence and grandeur of 
 architecture far surpassing anything I have since seen. I have been 
 abroad — have viewed with admiration Westminister Abbey and the new 
 Parliament House opposite — many of the grand old cathedrals — many 
 of the royal and noble castles and palaces of England and of the continent. 
 But none of them made, at the time, an impression surpassing that 
 which I now recall as left upon my boyish fancy by the new school- 
 house. Improved taste, or better judgment, has removed the building 
 from the highway to adjoining land, formerly a part of the farm of 
 Col. Luther Loomis ; and there it now stands — a plain and simple 
 structure of no great dimensions — a monument, convincing me of the 
 marvelous changes wrought in our ideas by the flight of fifty years. 
 Not only the school-house, but the hills, down which I used to slide on 
 my sled — the brook on which I skated in the winter, and in which I 
 bathed almost daily in the summer — have all dwindled into most un- 
 accountably contracted dimensions. 
 
 The various experiences of my early school days, and the names and 
 persons of my school mates are vivid in my memory. The Grangers — 
 the Peases — the Kents — the Loomises — the Kings — the Hathaways — 
 the Austins — the Remingtons — the Sheldons — the Phelpses, the 
 Hitchcocks, and others that I might name — now as I stand on the 
 ground where I knew them so long ago, come up in my memory with 
 all their personal peculiarities. The simple beauty of the girls, and the 
 athletic feats, the skill at ball, the manliness, and in some instances 
 the clownishness, of the boy.s, are distinctly recalled. 
 
 Of the experiences of my school days, I could recount many, which 
 might show that I was to say the least, unfortunate. Among the 
 teachers, I remember a master Sykes — Lott Sykes was his name.
 
 91 
 
 Whether our historian of to-day is of his family, I know not. I recollect 
 he combed his hair in precisely the same, somewhat peculiar manner. 
 Goldsmith's description of his country school master, was in one re- 
 spect applicable to him : — 
 
 " A man severe he was, and stem to view, 
 I knew him well, and every tniaut knew." 
 
 He was a good teacher, and maintained excellent discipline in a 
 school of fifty or sixty unruly boys — to say nothing of the girls. His 
 hand-writing was like copper-plate. He feruled me once, for tripping 
 down in school an awkward school-mate, while he was going to the fire 
 to warm his feet. I doubtless deserved the punishment, though the of- 
 fence arose from no " malice aforethought." 
 
 From the district school, I ascended to a classical school, in the up- 
 per west room, first taught, I think, by Mr. Gaylord Welles, and after- 
 wards by Mr. Roswell Bailey, a very unfit man, for I have not for- 
 gotten the aid he afforded me in deceiving the Committee at a public ex- 
 amination. From the school-house, I was transferred to Mr. Gay's school 
 in his house — in the chamber over the kitchen ; and in the small south 
 chamber adjoining was kept the town library. Mr. Gay was not only a 
 good man, but a good teacher. I remember well having committed 
 Murray's Grammar to memory most thoroughly, without the slightest 
 comprehension of the prmciples of English Grammar, until I came un- 
 der his tuition, when his clear and simple illustrations in one or two 
 lessons revealed the whole subject to my mind. 
 
 Among ray school-fellows, there were William C. Gay and An- 
 thony Hathaway. They were both good scholars. The fluency with 
 which they translated Virgil, excited on my part mingled feelings of 
 admiration and boyish env}'. The first was a year before me in college. 
 He sustained a good reputation for scholarship there, and gave fair 
 promise of success in his profession afterwards, but was carried to com- 
 paratively an early grave by, I believe, some chronic affection of the 
 brain. The second Avas in the same class — but alas I never attained to 
 graduation. Not many years since he was called to his final rest ; but. 
 although his life was thus prolonged, his precocious faculties, to the sore 
 disappointment of the justly high expectations of his friends, sank into a 
 premature decay. The last recollection I have of him, is that of hear- 
 ing him recite in the college chapel a ludicrous parody of Cato's solil- 
 oquy on the immortality of the soul. Strange coincidence I that his
 
 92 
 
 after life should have seemed to be a practical contradiction of that 
 same soliloquy ! But to those who knew him, as I did, in his bright 
 boyhood, it will be gratifying to learn that on the eve of his departure 
 for a better and brighter world, the cloud which had so long darkened 
 his intellect passed off, and he seemed, from his quotations from Latin 
 authors, to be entering the immortal world from a point in his early 
 life where his mind was active and occupied in the study of the classics. 
 Mr. Gay was cheerful and kindly in his intercourse with his school- 
 boys, and yet he always commanded their love and respect. His sal- 
 ary as a clergyman was small, and he was obliged to supply its defic- 
 iency by school teaching and active labor on his farm. He was hos- 
 pitable in liis house, and, in the discharge of his pastoral duties, kind 
 and charitable, though unostentatious. My recollection of many inci- 
 dents justifies me in saying that the few poor of that day had cause to 
 be thankful to him, and, could they speak now, would bless his memory. 
 
 To the leading men of Sufiield and their political afiinities, fifty 
 years ago, allusion has already been made. Thaddeus Leavitt, Asahel 
 Hathaway, William Gay, Esquires, Captain John Kent, the father 
 of the preacher to-day, and Deacon Taylor, were among the known and 
 decided Federalists, as they were called. Mr. Granger, Postmaster 
 General, Mr. Seth Pease, Assistant Postmaster General, and afterwards 
 Surveyor General of the United States, Col. Luther Loomis, Capt. Tim- 
 othy Phelps and my father, were among the leading men of the Demo- 
 cratic party. 
 
 Esquire Leavitt and Esquire Hathaway, as they were generally des- 
 ignated, were the principal Justices of the Peace of the town. My 
 father's professional practice as a lawyer led him to send me to them 
 frequently on business errands. I remember well the awe and fear 
 with which I used to enter their presence. Esquire Leavitt was tall in 
 his person, always neat in his apparel, moved with a dignified aristo- 
 cratic air, and, to my young eyes, venerable in his appearance, with 
 an exceepingly mild and benevolent expression of countenance. Es- 
 quire Hathaway was in his personal appearance rather the reverse of 
 Esquire Leavitt. The sobriquet of "Bishop" was often attached to 
 his name. The origin of this high ecclesiastical title, as given to him, 
 I have never learned. He was an educated man — of strong good 
 sense, united with an occasional flash of homely, but pungent wit. 
 He was one of the deacons of the church. 
 
 Capt. John Kent was remarkable for order and system in all his af-
 
 93 
 
 fairs ; of rather strong political prejudices, but most consistent and ex- 
 emplary in life. His fences were always good — his farm well cultivated, 
 his boys well trained and dressed, which contrasted rather strongly 
 with my father's premises and boys, especially as they were on the 
 opposite sides of the same road. I am justified, perhaps, in adding an 
 an apology, that my father's professional duties called him much from 
 home, so that the charge of all these matters devolved upon my 
 mother. 
 
 Of Postmaster General Granger it is unnecessary to say much, as 
 he was a man of national reputation. I have always understood that 
 he was a leader of the Hartford County bar. As a member of the 
 State Legislature, the people of Connecticut owe him a vast debt of 
 gratitude ; since by his efforts, more than by those of any other individ- 
 ual, were the avails of the Western Reserve directed to the support of 
 common schools ; and from which arose our munificent school Fund, 
 affording to every child of our state, the means of obtaining a respecta- 
 ble education. In his person Mr. Granger was one of the handsomest 
 men I ever saw. His son Francis Granger, who was also Postmaster 
 General under President Harrison, is, according to my recollection, 
 almost afac simile of his father. 
 
 Col. Loomis was an active, energetic and most industrious man. 
 Though somewhat corpulent, ho moved with a quiet and business step. 
 He often represented the town in the State Legislature, and was gen- 
 erally a successful man in the conduct of his affairs. He, with Esquire 
 Leavitt, Capt. Kent, and at a soniewliat later day, Mr. Thomas Arch- 
 er, were the merchants of the town. 
 
 Captain Timothy Phelps was a reading man — fond of social inter- 
 course, ready in conversation, as his mind was well stored with histori- 
 cal information. Mr. Pease the assistant Postmaster General was a 
 rare man in his day. He was a man of science. As a surveyor, as- 
 tronomer, and geographer, ho was greatly in advance of the age in 
 which he lived. 
 
 My father, Hezekiah Huntington, was a soldier in the revolution, 
 and was at one time, for several months, confined in the infamous Jer- 
 sey prison ship. He acquired his professional education after the close 
 of the war, and settled in this town. In 1813 he removed to Harfford. 
 He was appointed District Attorney by Mr. Jefferson, and lield the 
 office more than twenty-five years. He was also State Attorney for 
 Hartford County many years.
 
 94 
 
 William Gay, Esquire, I pass over as he has been appropriately 
 mentioned hy another who knew him well. 
 
 I hope to be pardoned for alluding in tliis connection to one of an 
 earlier generation than these of whom I have spoken, and who sur- 
 vived within my recollection. I refer to my maternal grandfather, 
 Elihu Kent — Major Kent as he was commonly called. He was born, 
 I believe, and lived and died in a house that stood where Mr. Heze- 
 kiah Spencer's house now stands. My recollections of the venerable 
 man undoubtedly derive their coloring in some measure, from that affec- 
 tionate reverence which a grandson necessarily feels for a kind and in- 
 dulgent grand-parent. But my reason can draw conclusions from facts 
 which I do remember as such, however much they may be mingled 
 with the fiction of the peculiar relative to which I have alluded. From 
 these I can say with confidence that he was a man of great frankness 
 of character, of independence and firmness in his opinions, consistent 
 and exemplary in his life. With an iron constitution he possessed an 
 untiring energy. Patriotism was a leading and controlling trait of his 
 character. He was an officer in what was called the French war, 
 which resulted in the conquest from the French by the English and 
 the Colonies, of the country northwest of the Ohio and of the Canadas, 
 and was finally terminated by the treaty of Paris in 1763. 
 
 At the breaking out of the revolution, with his characteristic energy 
 and promptitude he raised a company of one hundred and twenty men, 
 on what was called the " Lexington alarm," and as their commander, 
 marched with them to the " relief of Boston." At the expiration of the 
 term for which the company engaged, he returned home, and during 
 the continuance of the war, sent his three of four sons, with I believe, 
 two negro slaves to many surrounding campaigns — he himself remain- 
 ing at home to conduct the operations of his farm. His surplus of 
 grain — of pork and beef, I have often heard my mother say, was 
 carried to the army for which he freely received in payment, continen- 
 tal money, for the sake of sustaining the credit of the only currency 
 within the command of the government. I remember well seeing in 
 the garret of his house, large quantities of this worthless paper money. 
 He always rode on horse-back, and at a galloping or cantering gait. 
 In the latter years of his life he was so feeble as to require assistance 
 to mount his horse, and yet he would persist in that mode of riding, 
 and when mounted he would move with the same gait. He died, I 
 think, in 1814, in the eighty-third year of his age.
 
 95 
 
 I have reserved Deacon Taylor's name for the last, as lie naturally 
 leads me to another subject upon which I wish to say a few words be- 
 fore closing these remarks. Deacon Taylor was the blaeksniitli of the 
 village, and none the less respected on that account. His dwelling 
 house stood where the church, in which we are now assembled, stands. 
 His shop, a long, low, unpainted building, stood a few rods south. In 
 his life and conversation he was very exemplary. He was a hard work- 
 ing man, employing many journeymen and apprentices in his shop. 
 A village blacksmith's shop, in tliose days, was a very different affair 
 from what it is at present. Now the business of it is almo.st wholly 
 confined to shoeing our horses and oxen. Then, as in Deacon Taylor's 
 — not only our horses and oxen were shod, but all our agricultural im- 
 plements were manufactured — our scythes — our plouglishare.s — hoes 
 — pitchforks — spades — hammers — axes — many of our household uten- 
 sils — our gridirons — toasting-irons — andirons and fire shovels and 
 tongs. And so it was with almost every other article of house- 
 hold furniture, and wearing apparel — they were of domestic man- 
 ufacture. Mr. Fitch Parsons was the cabinet maker. A Mr. 
 Hathaway, I think, who lived in what was called Christian Street, was 
 the hatter ; Messrs. Jones and Gabriel and Mr. Brown the shoemakers ; 
 Mr. Bestor the tailor ; all of whom, I remember well, were very much 
 hurried just before thanksgiving, that being the time when the boys as- 
 sumed their new winter suits : and what labor, and care, and vexation 
 attended the preparation of these suits. I can remember when the 
 wool was carded by hand. Afterwards the great improvement of carding 
 machines was introduced. The manufacture began early in the suuuner; 
 the wool was carded as I have intimated, then spun upon what was 
 called a large wheel, by the daughters of the family, or by a person 
 hired for that special purpose, carried to the weaver's, and thence to 
 the clothier's, and then brought home, a good, warm, substantial, but- 
 ternut brown cloth usually, ready for the tailoress, who in many cases 
 came to the house to cut and make it into suits. So with the sum- 
 mer clothes ; the flax was spun in the winter, whitened on the early 
 spring grass, a part colored blue, and then woven into blue stripes or 
 checks ; and such fabrics made garments which lasted ({uite as long as 
 the wearers desired. 
 
 I mention these things as illustrating the progress made in our 
 domestic civilization within the past fifty years. Tlie labors of the fe- 
 males of a family, in a vast majority of instances, at the period I speak
 
 96 
 
 of, left little time or opportunity to obtain an education to qualify them 
 for the important station tliey necessarily fill in society. 
 
 The improvement in the particulars to which I have referred, as well 
 as in many other respects, leave to our wives and daughters, time to fit 
 themselves for their appropriate spheres, to cultivate and enlarge their 
 minds, to acquire the knowledge which enables them to control and in- 
 fluence public opinion, to purify and elevate public sentiment, to be- 
 come the educators of our younger children, to cheer with their smiles 
 and to lighten with their love, the increased labors of man. 
 
 I have thus hastily sketched from my memory, some of the things, the 
 incidents, and the men of SufReld, of fifty years ago. I must conclude 
 with expressing the earnest hope that my native town, so beautiful in 
 its natural scenery, so rich in men, who have here concentrated so 
 much of the means of human happiness, or gone forth to make their 
 mark in other towns and states, will upon some other and early fitting 
 occasion find a historian, who will fill up and give the true coloring to 
 the picture, of which I have drawn but a very imperfect outline. 
 
 liemarks by Henry A. Sykes. 
 
 Mr. President : — The gentleman who has so kindly entertained us 
 with reminiscences of his early years in this place, in the course of his 
 remarks respecting those who had i\\Q'' task to teach ^^ his '■'young 
 idea how to shoot,^'' alludes to one Sykes, as one of those who enjoyed 
 so " delightful^'' a privilege ; and seems to infer, from the cut of the 
 hair, that he was an ancestor of mine. Now sir, it is not ray wish to 
 leave any one laboring under an error of such magnitude ; and will 
 therefore inform him, that while the individual he alludes to, and ray 
 humble self, have a common origin in one Victory, who favored this 
 plantation with his regis in 1680 ; it was his Lot, to originate from two 
 Jonathans, results of that Victory ; while I claim a paternity in an 
 Alexander's two Victory's, by Samuel, another consequence of the 
 first Victory.* 
 
 * Explanation. Victory Sykes settled in Suffield, in 16S0, had sons — 
 
 I I I 
 
 Jonathan, born 1675; Samuel, born 1680; Victory, born 1689. 
 
 I I 
 
 Jonathan, born 1708; Victory, born 1712. 
 
 I I 
 
 Lot, born 1739 ; Victory, brrn 1758. 
 
 I I 
 
 Lot, the teacher, bn. 1774; Alexander, born 1786. 
 I 
 Henry Alexander, the speaker.
 
 97 
 
 But enough, let thus much suffice on this point ; I will now ask this 
 audience to transport themselves, in imagination, back in time, to tho 
 commencement of the reign of our sovereign Lady Queen Anne, and 
 we will endeavor to picture to our minds the appearance of some of tho 
 .prominent features of this neighborhood, and perhaps introduce our- 
 selves to some of the people in their homes of that day. 
 
 And first let us look at High Street itself. We have before us a- 
 broad avenue, twenty rods in breadth, extending more than two miles, 
 in a straight line, from north to south, bearing about twenty degrees' 
 west. We arc not however, to imagine it to be flanked on either, 
 hand, with painted fences, protecting enclosures filled with fruit and 
 ^ornamental trees ; on the contrary, the forest still stands upon its bor- 
 ders, in some portions of its extent, and in some parts occupies its sur- 
 fiicc ; while the roadway is but a mere path, meandering among tho 
 stumps and bushes that still encumber the soil. Log fences inclose 
 some of the cleared fields that present themselves to view, and many 
 of those fields arc thickly studded with the huge stumps of trees that 
 have recently been fallen, and not altogether removed. Our prospect 
 is limited by the forest yet remaining, tho borders of which prcesnt to 
 our vision, serried ranks of trees, bare of foliage except at their very 
 summit. A marsh covered with alders and other swamp bushes en- 
 croaching far upon the street, presents its unsightly aspect, and holds 
 the center of its sway near tho place where now stands the spacious 
 mansion lately owned and occupied by William Gay, Esq.,' deceased. 
 Along the borders of tho street, in irregular positions stand the dwell- 
 ings of the pioneers of tho town, entirely, guiltless of paint, or other 
 coloring, except what they take from their material, and the subdued 
 tints of time. Some of them aspire to tho aristocratic form of two 
 ptories, with two rooms in each story, and a lean-to back for the con- 
 venience of culinary, and laundry operations. 
 
 Sloping away to the east, north and south, for some forty rods from 
 the summit of the elevated ground, before the burial place, lies a 
 broad common, upon which since the destruction of the forest, has 
 sprung up a luxuriant growth of shrubs. At the summit aforesaid ia 
 the Meeting House, an unic^uc building, wliich if standing at the prcscnit, 
 time would be an object of curiosity. It was erected in the reiga of 
 King William (Prince of Orange) about two years previous to his 
 demise, and consequently has not yet received the bronzjng tints of 
 age. Let us picture to our minds this edifice in which our fathcra. 
 13
 
 98 
 
 worshiped for about fifty years, where Mr. Ruggles preached, and 
 Mr. Devotion and Dr. Gay were ordained. It is a building forty feet 
 square and some twenty feet high to the eaves. The roof is in the 
 form of an Egyptian pyramid, .truncated at the 'top, around which 
 there is a railing inclosing the flat. On each of the four sides of the 
 roof stands a high, pointed gable of about twenty feet span at the base. 
 There is a door at each of the three sides facing to the east, north, and 
 south, and four windows in each of the four sides of the edifice, beside 
 one in the center of the west side for the pulpit, and one in each of the 
 four gables. The windows are glazed with quarries set in lead. En- 
 tering the house at the eastern door, we have before us an aisle, lead- 
 ing to the pulpit, at the west side, over which hangs in threatening 
 aspect, a sounding board, bearing no very distant resemblance in its 
 general outline, to the top of a Britannia tea-pot. At the right and 
 left of the pulpit is a row of " flanker seats " so called, facing toward 
 the north and south according to their relative position with respect to 
 the pulpit. On each side of the central aisle, is a row of seats facing 
 to the west, and an aisle at their outer ends, next the north and south 
 walls of the room. Looking up, we find a gallery extending over 
 libout three fourths of the area of the house. Above this, at the level 
 ©f the eaves of the edifice, we find a second gallery, which is lighted 
 by the windows in the gables. The open area, in front of the galleries 
 permits us to look far up the interior, and study the heavy carpentry of 
 the roof. 
 
 In the rear of the Meeting House are several grassy mounds, mark- 
 itig the resting places of those whose labors here arc ended. Among 
 them is one covering the remains of Mr. John Younglove, and there, 
 may also be seen those round-topped stones inscribed to the memory 
 of John Lawton and his wife Benedick ; Esther, late wife of Captain 
 Anthony Austin ; and Sarah, late wife of Thomas Stevens, all of which 
 are still remaining. 
 
 Now let us imagine a beautiful Sabbath morn in the early autumn 
 of 1702, one hundred and fifty-six years ago. The looked for " red 
 flag" is floating to the breeze from the top of the Church, notifying 
 the people that the hour to assemble for worship has come, and they 
 are beginning to appear along the street, bending their way towards 
 the house of God. No wheel carriages are seen among the groups 
 approaching, mostly on foot, but a few of the proprietors from the 
 more distant grants are mounted on horseback, with their loving spouses
 
 99 
 
 on pillions behind, while their sturdy children trudge along on foot 
 beside them. They are mostly clad in home manufactured fabrics, 
 (literally so.) The males in small clothes and hose, with long waist- 
 coats, over which is thrown a loose tunic or coat, and wide brimmed 
 hats to protect their heads. The females appear in substantial home- 
 spun linsey-woolscys and checks; but although tlien, as now, hoops 
 bore sway at the Courts of Europe, wo believe few will be found here. 
 As the groups approach, we see among them Lieut. John Pengilley 
 with his wife Mary, Ebenezer Burbank and his wife Rebecca, and 
 Jacob Adams with his wife Anna, accompanied by their sons and 
 daughters ; from the ferry. Another group from Feather street ar- 
 rives, and among them we sec John Trumble and his wife Elizabeth, 
 Walter Halladay and John Burbank Sen., with his son John Jr., and 
 their wives Mehitabel and Mary. From the west comes Lieut. Joseph 
 Harmon and his brother Nathaniel, with their wives Hannah and 
 Mary, and their sons and daughters, a goodly number. From the 
 north comes David Free, Jonathan Taylor and his brother Samuel ; 
 and from the south Capt. Antliony Austin, Edmund Marshall and 
 John Rising with their families ; while approaching from the more im- 
 mediate vicinity, among others, may be seen James King, Peter Roe, 
 John Hanchet, Thomas Remington, Thomas and Samuel Granger, 
 Samuel Kent, David and Jonathan Winchcll, Mrs. Younglovc, Corpo- 
 ral Joseph Pumrey, Thomas Copley, George Norton, Samuel and 
 William Spencer, Thomas Huxley and Robert Old. Finally with 
 grave but cheerful demeanor, the beloved pastor appears leading by 
 the hand his child, Mercy, who bids fair to be a counterpart of her 
 mother Mercy, whom the cares of a fast increasing, and rising family 
 will not permit often to accompany her husband to the house of pub- 
 lic worship. As he enters the pulpit, the congregation arc hushed in 
 silence, and stand in reverential deportment while the blessing of Al- 
 mighty God is invoked upon their assembling. A psalm is given out 
 to be sung from the version set to meter by Stcrnhold and Hopkins, 
 and Goodman Sykes rises, sets the tune, reads a line and the congre- 
 gation join in singing it, then another line is read and then sung ; 
 thus they make melody in their hearts unto the Lord. Then their 
 pastor leads them td the throne of grace, that they may feed in heav- 
 enly pastures, and draw water from the wells of salvation. After the 
 singing of another of tlie songs of Zion, he opens the Word of God, 
 and breaks unto them the Broad of Life, endeavoring, in the Spirit to
 
 100 
 
 divide unto each his portioa in due season. The services of the morn- 
 ing are closed with the benediction, and the people retire, many to 
 their homes accompanied by some of their distant neighbors, while 
 others gather in groups ; perhaps converse upon the merits of their 
 new sovereign,* and discuss the probable results of the impending war 
 with France, which soon became noted for the battle of Blenheim, in 
 Europe, but caused anxiety and sorrow in the hearts of many here, at 
 the destruction of Decrfield and the captivity and massacre of most of 
 its inhabitants. 
 
 We will now allow the wheels of time to move forward some two 
 and a half years. The fierce winds of March are careering over the 
 Know clad fields, and ringing out their strong base in the neighboring 
 forest. In a low brown house nearly opposite the Meeting House is 
 assembled a group consisting of a matronly appearing lady, somewhat 
 advanced in the downhill of life, a man of about thirty-six years of 
 age, and a robust young man of twenty-two years. These are Mrs. 
 Sarah Younglove, the widow of Mr. John Younglove, and John, and 
 Joseph, her first and last born sons. Her other sons, Samuel and 
 James, and her surviving daughters, Mary, Hannah and Lydia, have 
 all married, and are settled around her, in the neighborhood, while she 
 and the two first named occupy the house built by the people of the 
 town, for her husband, when he first came to be their minister. They 
 are conversing upon the rumors of threatened disturbances from the 
 northern Indians, when Sergeant Joseph Sheldon their next door 
 neighbor comes in and informs them that news has just arrived, that 
 the Indians, under the lead of a Frenchman, have attacked and de- 
 stroyed Decrfield ; that they have killed and scalped a number of the 
 inhabitants, and carried off in captivity nearly all the rest, among 
 them young Joseph Eastman ; and that his kinsman's house is the 
 only one left in the place, which was saved by timely discovery of the 
 enemy, and the desperate bravery of its inmates, though Mrs. Sheldon 
 was shot upon her bed. After the first shock which this information 
 produced has in a measure subsided, and some remarks of commisera- 
 tion for poor Joseph and his bereaved mother, Mrs. Younglove begins 
 to relate reminiscences of her experience of Indian warfare at Brook- 
 field in 1675. 
 
 Leaving them we will proceed up the street some three-fourths of a 
 
 * Queen Anne.
 
 101 
 
 mile from the meeting-house. On the cast side of the way stands a 
 house with its sharp-pcakcd gable facing toward the west. It is about 
 twenty-eight feet long by twenty feet wide. The second story juts over 
 the lower toward the street, some eighteen inches, and the gable projects 
 over the second story. At each end of the lower projection hangs a cu- 
 riously carved pendant. A chimney of ample proportions stands at the 
 east end, and a door at the south side gives access to an entry, in which 
 we find a stairway by the side of the chimney leading to the chambers. 
 At the loft hand is a door through which we pass to the only room on 
 the first floor, but it is none of your six by eight boxes, to viciate the 
 pure air and poison its inmates ; on the contrary there is room for the 
 old folks to be at home by the ample fireside, and leave full scope for 
 the young to play at hide and seek, or blind man's buff. The ceiling 
 over our heads is constructed of huge moulded beams supporting lighter 
 joists over which is laid a sheathing of boards forming both the ceiling 
 of the room, and the floor of the chambers above. Time will not per- 
 mit me to point out specifically the furniture, nor the contents of the 
 china closet at the north side of the chimney. But let mc introduce 
 you to Gopdman Sykes, the architect, builder and proprietor of the 
 mansion ; he has just entered upon the fifty-sixth year of his age. This 
 good lady is Mary, his third wife, and he is her second husband. These 
 two young men are his sons Jonathan and Samuel, by his first wife 
 Elizabeth (Burt) ; they were natives of Springfield, but were trans- 
 planted into the wilds of Sxiffield in their infoncy. They have not yet 
 entered upon a wedded life, but the fair Mary Lane who lives across 
 the street has entrapped the heart of Jonathan, and Samuel frequent- 
 ly finds it convenient to stop at the house of Goodman Hanehct which 
 stands upon the knoll north of the alder swamp, where the blooming 
 Mabel alias Mehitabel Hanchet may be found. This youth of fifteen 
 is Victory Jr., the only surviving child of Goodman Sykcs, by his 
 second wife, Elizabeth (Granger) ; and the young maiden so engaged 
 at her spinning is Mary Trumble, a daughter of Goody Sykes by lier 
 first husband, Judah Trumble ; and here is neighbor Quinton Stock- 
 well, who resides at the opposite side of the way. Having heard the 
 news of the disasters at Deerfield, he has come in to relate it, which 
 having done, he as a matter of cour-e in sympathetic feeling has been 
 led into a narration of his own captivity at tliat place in 1G77, and his 
 adventures among the Indians in Canada ; and here, wc must leavo 
 them, for time forbids our tarry ; we must obey its mandate and hasten
 
 102 
 
 onward. Goodman Stockwell has long since closed the relation of his 
 adventures. Goodman Sykes continued some four years after the 
 events just adverted to, and was gathered to his fathers. His sons, and 
 the maidens of their choice, joining hands, hearts, and fortunes, walked 
 along the journey of life, reared their families, and passed away. But 
 the old homestead ! It remained on that spot until about thirty years 
 since, when the sacrilegious hand of modern improvement was laid 
 upon it, and it was removed thence, and degraded to the ignoble office 
 of a cattle shed, which office it still occupies at the homestead of Capt. 
 Seth King, in North street, one of Suffield's independent farmers. 
 The house of Mrs. Younglove has long since disappeared, nor left " a 
 wreck behind." 
 
 The Meeting House survived some alterations, many repairs and 
 resolutions to build a successor, until the 25th of April, 1749, when 
 it was laid prostrate. On the Sabbath following, (April 30,) public 
 worship was held in the open air, the congregation seating theraselvea 
 " on y^ Timber," and the next Sabbath, worship was held at the house 
 of Major (afterward Gen.) Phineas Lyman. The sills for a new 
 Meeting House were laid May 8th, and the raising commenced the 
 next day ; " y"" Steeple " was raised the 22d of August following. 
 This house was forty feet wide and fifty-seven feet long, extending 
 from north to south parallel with the front of the burial ground. Its 
 interior arrangement was similar to its predecessor, except that it had 
 but one tier of galleries ; and the audience room had a ceiling instead 
 of being open up to the roof. The steeple stood on the top of the 
 house, at the north end. It was taken down in 1786, and was re- 
 placed with a tower and spire built from the ground, whose combined 
 height was about one hundred and thirty feet. It was designed, and 
 built by Joseph Howard of Suffield, and was of beautiful proportions 
 and thoroughly built. It might and ought to have been preserved, 
 but the old house having become somewhat rickety, it was decided in 
 1835 to rebuild ; and spires being at that time unpopular, this was 
 involved in ruin with the house. It was thrown down March ICth, 
 1835, and the tower and house were demolished soon after. Its suc- 
 cessor, the present house, was raised in June of that year. These 
 three houses for public worship, the first erected in 1700, the second 
 in 1749, and the present one in 1835, have successively occupied the 
 same site. The first Meeting House erected in the town (of which the 
 monument, this day inaugurated is a model, in its general outline,)
 
 103 
 
 stood upon the Common, southeast of tlic site of its successors. It 
 probably was built about 1G80 and was removed in 1701. 
 
 In 1685, a " red flag" was procured to hang out to notify the 
 people of the hour for assembling. In 1710 a drum was purchased 
 to use for that purpose, and in 17G0, the Society voted to purchase a 
 bell, which was brought into the town November 18th, 1701. 
 
 This brings to remembrance the " black knight" of the bell, Ti,* 
 with a brief notice of whom I will close. He was one of those wliose 
 fortune it was to be born in bondage, in the house of Dr. Gay, yet 
 knew nothing of the galling chains of slavery. There are many here, 
 who can remember his glistening countenance, as he tolled the bell, 
 with measured stroke, to the step of the good panson Gay ; and his 
 care to ring the last peal as Mr. Gay entered the pulpit door. With 
 many will arise memories of loved ones, by whose open graves he 
 stood, and carefully covered their coffins with earth, and then uncov- 
 ered his head, a signal for the closing funeral ceremony. But he, too 
 is gone, his remains have been laid in the ground with those for whom 
 he had performed this last sad office. May they rest in peace, and hia 
 memory be cherished among the mementos of the past. 
 
 The folloAving original Hymn hy S. Dryden Phelps, 
 D. D., of I^ew Haven, a native of Suifield, was sung in the 
 tune of Old Hundred : — 
 
 '• Sweet, holy memories throng to-day 
 The place where we rejoicing stand. 
 Where lovely prospects stretcli away 
 O'er hill and vale on every hand. 
 
 Not such in olden time the view, 
 
 When first God's servants gathered here, 
 
 The field and forest to subdue. 
 
 And home, and church, and school to rear. 
 
 Nobly they wrought — those stalwart men, 
 
 Led on by him whose worthy name 
 And earnest zeal, revived again, 
 
 We give afresh to sacred fame. 
 
 * Titus Kent.
 
 104 
 
 Blest was the Pastor's early toil, 
 
 Blest is the memory of the just ; 
 Let sculptured column crown the soil 
 
 Where sleeps serene, his honored dust. 
 
 Virtue and faith survive the dead, 
 
 Their fruits to wide results expand ; 
 Sons of the sires have risen and spread 
 
 Their leavening power throughout the land. 
 
 Hither to-day these children come, 
 
 To greet the scenes of other years, 
 To taste again the joys of home, 
 
 At loved ones' graves to drop their tears. 
 
 God ! from Thee our treasures flow. 
 From Thee, the present and the past ; 
 
 A parting blessing now bestow. 
 
 And may we meet in Heaven at last !" 
 
 The Bexediction was pronounced by Rev. Henry 
 
 COOLEY, 
 
 It is an interesting fact, that tlie tune (Old China), in 
 which the opening hymn was sung, and the closing hymn, 
 were each composed by a son of Nuffield.* 
 
 * Timothy Swan.
 
 105 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 OF PERSONS NOT PRESENT, IN REPLY TO INMTATIONS FROM THE 
 
 COMMITTEE. 
 
 Fort Atkinson, September 4, 1858. 
 
 Mr. Norton — Very Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 27th ult., waa 
 received on Wednesday evening, but as I was in a neighboring town 
 attending a convention of ministers, I have not seen it till this evening. 
 I hasten to reply very briefly. 
 
 I rejoice exceedingly to learn of your purposes and plans in the 
 erection of a respectable monument to the memory of our honored an- 
 cestor, who served the church and his generation so faithfully, and in 
 so godly a manner, during his short pilgrimage on the earth, and who 
 has now been a glorified saint in heaven for a hundred and fifty years. 
 I most sincerely thank you for your invitation to be present with you 
 on the 16th of the present month. Nothing of an earthly nature 
 would be so gratifying to my feelings as to be able to comply with 
 your request ; and nothing but the want of means prevents me from 
 turning my face SufSeld-ward without delay. But I am a superannu- 
 ated missionary of very small means, and cannot command a sufficient 
 sum of money to take me there, and return me back. My thoughts, 
 my heart, my soul, will be with you, and it is hard to feel reconciled 
 that my body will have to remain behind. I shall try, however, to 
 say, not my will, but thine, Lord, be done. 
 
 Some eight years since I set about tracing back the genealogy of 
 the Ruggles' family as far as I could, and was successful beyond my 
 expectations. I will state in few words my line of descent from my 
 great, great, great grandfather, which I am satisfied is perfectly correct. 
 
 John Run^gles, a native of Nasinj;, Essexshire, England, with his 
 wife Barbaric, left their country and kindred for the sake of freedom 
 of conscience, and came to this, then new world, in the year 1634, in 
 the same ship with Elliott, the missionary, to the Indians. They had 
 then one child two years old, named John. They settled in Roxbury, 
 Massachusetts. Benjamin llugglos of Suffield was the son of this 
 14
 
 . 106 
 
 second John. Benjamin was educated at Cambridge, and graduated 
 honorably when seventeen years of age. This was considered very 
 young at that time ; but he was thought an uncommon youth. He 
 was ordained in Suffield at the age of twenty-two, I think. I have 
 the record, but it is at present loaned, I think, however, he was thirty- 
 two when he died. He died in Suffield, greatly lamented, as he had 
 been greatly beloved. He was undoubtedly buried by the side of his 
 wife, Mercy, who died about a year and three months previous to him. 
 They left seven children, five daughters and two sons — Mary, Benja- 
 min, Joseph, Abigail, Ruth, Aphia, Tryphena. The mother died six 
 days after the birth of Tryphena. Joseph was my grandfather. He 
 was born in the year 1701, and died in 1791, aged just ninety years. 
 He had fifteen children. My father, Samuel, was his youngest son, 
 and lived and died at the homestead of his father in Brookfield, Con- 
 necticut. He left nine children, of whom I am the youngest, and was 
 just eight days old when my father died. He died at the age of forty- 
 four, March 17, 1795. I am sixty-three years old, have four children, 
 two sons and two daughters. 
 
 I obtained my information partly from tradition, but mostly from 
 church and town records, wills, deeds, &c., &c., in Boston, Roxbury, 
 Cambridgeport, and Suffield. My Suffield informants are probably 
 dead, as they were quite old when they gave the information. I could 
 give more particulars of the two Johns, and of Thomas, an elder 
 brother of John the first, who came over two years after, in 1G36, but 
 as I said, my documents are not by me at present. 
 
 Please make my kind regards and love to all the descendants of my 
 great grandsire, Benjamin Buggies, who may gather at your place, and 
 tell them, it would rejoice me greatly to mingle with them on the IGth. 
 Should an account of your meeting be published, I would re(|ucst that 
 a copy may be sent me, or if it should not be published, will you be so 
 kind as to inform me of its results. 
 
 I am most sincerely yours, &c. 
 
 SAMUEL RUGGLES. 
 
 Brookfield, August 15, 1858. 
 Dear Sir : — Your letter to Eli Ruggles came to my hands last 
 evening. He has been dead eleven years, and most of his family have
 
 lo: 
 
 left this place, or are deceased. I married his youngest sister some 
 twenty years since. She was one of tlie first missionaries to the Sand- 
 wich Islands, the wife of doctor Holnian, who staid at the Ishmds some 
 two years, and di^d in Bridgeport, some two or three years after his 
 return. 
 
 I am nearly eighty-two years old, and I remember Joseph Ruggles,. 
 the first of the name who came to this place, and I believe the first of 
 three or four persons who settled here. As nearly as I remember, he 
 died not far from the beginning of this century, aged I believe, ninety 
 years. He was the son of tlie Rev. Benjamin Buggies of Suffield — 
 was deacon of the Presbyterian Church here for many years — was the 
 father of fifteen children, by three wives, all of whom are now dead. 
 
 Names of the children of Joseph Buggies : 
 
 Sarah, 
 
 married 
 
 David Smith. 
 
 Benjamin, 
 
 married Sarah Seely, 
 
 Lois, 
 
 
 Oliver Warner. 
 
 Joseph, 
 
 " Sarah Dunning. 
 
 Rachel, 
 
 
 John Bishop. 
 
 Lazarus, 
 
 " Hannah Bostwick. 
 
 Mercy, 
 
 
 Edmund Bostwick. 
 
 Timothy, 
 
 " Sybil Wooden. 
 
 JIabel, 
 
 
 Reuben Bostwick. 
 
 Ashbcl," 
 
 " Rebecca Bostwick 
 
 Lucy, 
 
 
 Jonathan Starr. 
 
 Elizabeth, 
 
 " Eli Segur. 
 
 Anna, 
 
 '• 
 
 William Phelps. 
 
 Mary, 
 
 " Nathan Merwin. 
 
 Samuel, married Huldah Waklee. 
 
 Eli Buggies to whom your letter was directed, was the eldest son of 
 Samuel Buggies, who was the youngest son of Deacon Joseph Buggies. 
 
 Samuel B. Buggies of New York, (canal commissioner of the Erie 
 canal,) is the grandson of Lazarus Buggies, who was the third son of 
 Deacon Joseph Buggies — he can probably give some information rela- 
 tive to the Buggies. race. 
 
 Samuel Buggies, father of my wife, was his youngest son, who died 
 over sixty years since ; his son Samuel, who was, with my wife, one of 
 the first missionaries to the Sandwich Islands, is now residing at Fort 
 Atkinson, Wisconsin. He has, I am informed, all the documents re- 
 quired, or that can be obtained from any of the descendants of Deacon 
 Buggies. His brother. Rev. Isaac W. Buggies, who died a year or 
 two since, and who resided at Pontiac, Michigan, had taken mueli pains 
 to obtain the genealogy of the Buggies family, and Samuel can probably 
 obtain all the documents. 
 
 The above is all I think of at present that can be interesting to you. 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 DANIEL TOMLINSOX. 
 
 Daniel W. Norton, Esq.
 
 108 
 
 Buffalo, Sep'eniber 13, 1858. 
 
 Daniel W. Norton, Esq. — Sir : — Your favor of August 28, to- 
 gether with a circular inviting nic to attend your celebration on the 
 16th of September, was duly received. I immediately wrote to sev- 
 eral of the Youngloves, but have not been able to write since until to- 
 day. Some of the Younglove family will be with you on the 16th, — 
 but my own bad health, and the condition of my family, will deprive 
 me of the pleasure of mingling With the multitude which will undoubt- 
 edly attend. 
 
 My mother was a Younglove ; a great grand daughter of the Rev. 
 John Younglove of whom you speak. The love which I bare her in- 
 duced me to learn as much as possible about her ancestors, and the 
 collateral branches of her family. Had my health been spared, I 
 should have written for you something about the Youngloves, which 
 would probably have been interesting to all of that name or lineage ; 
 but I have not been able to do it, I will, however, simply remark that 
 I have often referred to that family as a proof that the influence of 
 pious ancestors, who not only profess religion, but live it, will be felt 
 by their descendants for many generations. 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 W. K. SCOTT. 
 
 Hartford, September 7, 1858. 
 
 Sir :— I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of 
 the 29th ult., inviting me to be present at Suffield on Thursday the 
 16th inst., and to join with you in the celebration. I should have 
 noticed your polite invitation before, had I not been absent from home 
 for the last ten days. 
 
 It would give me much pleasure to meet you and my other friends in 
 Suffield on that occasion. I had partially engaged to be at New 
 Haven on Thursday the 16th, and if I can excuse myself from going 
 there, as I now think I can, I will do myself the pleasure of accepting 
 the kind invitation of your Committee. I will go up in the nine
 
 109 
 
 o'clock morning train to Windsor Locks, and there take the stage to 
 your place. 
 
 I am with great respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JULIUS CATLIN. 
 S. B. Kendall, Esq. 
 
 Norwich, September 4, 1858. 
 S. B. Kendall, Esq. — Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 27th of Au- 
 gust, was duly received, inviting me and my staff to participate in the 
 exercises connected with the commemoration of the death of the first 
 pastor of the Congregational Church in Sufiield. 
 
 I should be very happy to meet your citizens, as well as the sons 
 and daughters of Suffield, who will then gather from all parts of our 
 country, on an occasion of so much interest ; but I have an engage- 
 ment for that and the following day which must deprive me of that 
 pleasure. 
 
 I am very respectfully yours, 
 
 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 
 
 Hartford, September 7, 1758. 
 ■ S. B. Kendall, Esq.— Dear Sir : — Your kind invitation to attend 
 your approaching celebration on the 16th inst., is received. 
 
 I regret to say I shall not be able to attend, as the term of the su- 
 preme court commences here on the 14th inst. 
 
 Accept my thanks. • 
 
 Yours with sincere respect, 
 
 WILLIAM W. ELLSWORTH. 
 
 East Windsor Hill, September 10, 1858. 
 Rev. J. R. Miller — My Dear Sir : — I have just received your 
 special invitation to be present at the public exercises in Suffield to-day.
 
 110 
 
 It was a liappy thonglit. on the part of tlie good people in Suffield to 
 signalize this sixteenth day of September, 1858, in the manner set 
 forth by your Committee of arrangements. Respecting the life and 
 character of Rev. Benjamin Ruggles, the first pastor of your church, I 
 have little knowledge, but the tribute about to be paid to his memory, 
 by an intelligent Christian people, is a warrant for the strong impres- 
 sion which I have of his ministerial worth. Who can estimate aright 
 the influence transmitted to successive generations in Suffield by the 
 man of God whose virtues and toils are now gratefully recalled ? And 
 what an incentive does this thought supply to us, entrusted as we are in 
 our several spheres, with a work which borrows most of its significance 
 from the distant future ! 
 
 I regret that my associates, Drs. Vermilye and Lawrence, are out of 
 the State at this time, and that it is impracticable for me to witness the 
 joyful and instructive solemnity which the sons and daughters of Suf- 
 field will never forgot. May the God of their fathers be their God ! 
 May those evangelical doctrines and institutions to which Connecticut 
 and New England are so deeply indebted for all their solid advantages 
 be maintained evermore in the favored town where your lot is cast ! 
 
 With a grateful acknowledgement of the kind invitation extended to 
 mc by the Committee and yourself, 
 
 I am yours sincerely, 
 
 WILLIAM THOMPSON. 
 
 Paterson, N. J., August 31, 1858. 
 Mr. Daniel W. Norton. — Dear Sir : — I have just returned home 
 after an absence of some days with my family, which must excuse the 
 delay in my answer to your note of last week. It will afford me great 
 pleasure to attend the interesting ceremonies in Suffield on the 16th 
 of September next, and I shall esteem it an honor to take an active 
 part in them. 
 
 There is some uncertainty whether I can gratify my wish to be with 
 you. The time happens to be exceedingly inconvenient for me. But 
 I will make every effort, and if not disappointed will, in company with 
 my wife and two sons, unite with you in the celebration of the day. 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 WILLIAM H. HORNBLOWER.
 
 Ill 
 
 Utica, N. Y., August 2G, 1858. 
 
 Dear Sir : — Your circular and letter, conveying to me the informa- 
 tion of your intended commemoration of the anniversary of the decease 
 of your first pastor, has been duly received. The observance of that 
 day will give favoralde opportunity for a rare gathering of the scattered 
 sons and daughters of old Suffield ; and they will without doubt avail 
 themselves of it, and come bringing many a liberal offering both in 
 mind and money, to aid in the accomplishment of your praiseworthy 
 monumental enterprise — with many an eloquent word of pleasant mem- 
 ories of " days of yore," to contribute to the interest of the occasion. 
 
 I do deeply regret that circumstances will prevent my acceptance of 
 your very polite and cordial invitation to attend, and mingle with you 
 in the exercises and pleasures of the celebration. I can only tender to 
 you my best wishes for the success of your efforts, and the hope that 
 there may be a glorious reunion of friends and citizens from far and 
 near to participate in the observances of the anniversary. 
 With respectful regard, your obedient servant, 
 
 JOHN YOUNGLOVE. 
 
 D. W. Norton, Esq. 
 
 North Bennington, Vt., September 7, 1858. 
 Dear Sir : — I received yours of August 29th, a day or two since, 
 and hasten to thank you for your kind invitation to be present with 
 you on the IGth. I am sorry that my engagements will not allow mo 
 to do so, as we have engaged to spend the next two or three weeks 
 with our friends at Saratoga, and other places. We should feel much 
 pleased in being with you on that occasion, if wo C(juld do so. 
 
 I hope you will succeed in your enterprise of erecting a monument 
 to the memory of llev. Benjamin Buggies. I shall be happy to hear 
 of your success. 
 
 Eespectfully yours, 
 
 J. Y. BRECKENRIDGE. 
 Mr. D. W. Norton. 
 
 Cincinnati, August 29, 1858. 
 My Dear Sir : — Owing to my absence for some weeks past, your 
 kind letter of the 13th inst. did not come to my possession until this
 
 112 
 
 morning. I am very thankful for the invitation it contains, to be pres- 
 ent in my native town, on the interesting occasion mentioned in your 
 letter, as also for the polite manner of its communication. 
 
 For many years past it has been my settled purpose to visit the 
 place of my birth, and look at the mouldering grave-stones of my an- 
 cestors ; but heretofore circumstances have intervened to prevent it. 
 
 It could not be otherwise than interesting to me to visit the place 
 where I was born. I dare not now say that I can be present on the 
 occasion to which you refer. But for my recent protracted absence 
 from home I would promise without hesitation to be with you on the 
 16th proximo ; but under existing circumstances, it is doubtful if I 
 shall be able to enjoy that pleasure. If however, I can so arrange my 
 business as to leave home I shall most gladly comply with your kind 
 invitation. 
 
 Hoping I may hear from you again, and often, 
 
 I am truly yours, 
 
 H. H. LEAVITT. 
 
 Wm. L. Loomis, Esq. 
 
 New York, August 24, 1858. 
 
 Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 24th inst. containing enclosures for 
 Messrs. Watt, Wright, and John I. Sherman, was duly received, and 
 the notes delivered as you requested. Our legal vacation closes on 
 the 1st September proximo, and my business engagements, which are 
 just now somewhat urgent, will, much to my regret prevent my attend- 
 ing the commemoration alluded to in your circular. 
 
 You will however, please present the thanks of myself and wife to 
 the gentlemen comprising the Committee of correspondenise for the 
 compliment of their invitation, and also accept our acknowledgments 
 personally for your courtesy and politeness. 
 
 With our regards to yourself and family, I remain. 
 Very respectfully and sincerely yours, 
 
 C. A. SHERMAN, 
 
 Rev. D. Hemenway.
 
 113 
 
 New Haven, September 9, 1858. 
 
 Dear Sir : — ^T herewith send you the ode I have written for the 
 celebration next week. I am sorry not to have sent it sooner, but cir- 
 cumstances prevented my doing so. It is longer than I intended it to 
 be. The last verse but one may be left out if thought best. I have 
 sent a copy of this ode to Mr. C. F. Loomis, who is to conduct 
 the singing. He proposed that it be adapted to " Old Hundred," 
 and I have written it for that tune. 
 
 I hope I shall be able to attend the celebration. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 S. D. PHELPS. 
 
 D. W. Norton, Esq. 
 
 Hartford, September 9th, 1858. 
 Kev. Mr. Miller — Dear Sir : — It would afford me great pleas- 
 ure to be with you on the occasion mentioned in your kind note just 
 received ; but there is to be a special meeting of the corporation of 
 Yale College on that day for the tran inaction of important business, and 
 my duty will require me to meet with them. The programme of exer- 
 cises interests me much, and if well carried out, you cannot fail to 
 have an interesting and profitable occasion. So may it be. 
 
 Yours in Christ, 
 
 J. HAWES, 
 
 .Brooklyn, N. Y., September 6, 1858. 
 Gentlemen : — I have received your circular of invitation to attend 
 the celebration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the 
 death of the first pastor of the First Congregational Church in Suffield, 
 Eev. Benjamin Buggies, which is to take place on the 16th of 
 September, 1858. 
 
 I regret to say, that engagements, which T cqu neither perform in 
 15
 
 114 
 
 advance nor postpone, will deprive me of the great pleasure of being 
 with you on that interesting occasion ; but, Providence permitting, 
 Mrs. Sizer will be there to join with the sons and daughters of Sufl&eld 
 in those sacred festivities, and also to point out to our little son the 
 graves of our ancestors, the Hales, the Nortons and the Remingtons, 
 some of whom labored with, and most of whom now sleep by the side 
 of the illustrious dead whose virtues you meet to celebrate, and over 
 whose remains you purpose to embody yovir filial and pious affection in 
 the form of a cenotaph. 
 
 The settlements of New England were peculiar. Neither mineral 
 wealth, commercial prosperity, nor ambition to wield a political scepter, 
 tempted her pioneers to those rocky shores. They came to enjoy 
 a free gospel and an equality of civil rights. Hence the minister 
 and the teacher, the church and the school-house were made radical, 
 central, and indispensable institutions in the framework of the new 
 society. These constituted the focus and heart of the community, and 
 to this day, not only in New England, but among New England ers, 
 who are scattered as noble pioneers for good all over the world, the 
 family, the school, and the church — purity, education and piety, are 
 paramount in their characters and prominent elements in the institu- 
 tions which they planted. 
 
 It is fitting, therefore, to meet for the purposes which call you to- 
 gether, to commemorate the virtues, and to build a monument over the 
 ashes of Benjamin Ruggles, the eminent New England minister and 
 pioneer of liberty and law in the wilderness. 
 
 God bless you, and prosper your laudable work ! 
 Yours truly, 
 
 NELSON SIZER. 
 
 Rev. D. Hemenway, and others. 
 
 City op Washington, August 26, 185S. 
 Dear Sir : — I have received your kind invitation to be present at 
 the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the decease of the Rev. 
 Benjamin Ruggles. If it is possible I shall be present. Few will be 
 present whose recollections can extend back farther than mine. I can 
 distinctly remember the father of the late Rev. Ebeoezer Gay in thq
 
 116 
 
 pulpit of the old church, with his great white wig, about the year 1794 
 being born myself August 24, 1788. 
 
 It would give me great satisfaction to once more visit " Old Suf- 
 field," and the graves of my parents. Remember me with sincere re- 
 gard to all that remember me. 
 
 Acce^jt my sincere regard, 
 
 CHAUNCEY BESTOR. 
 Daniel W. Norton, Esq. 
 
 Hudson, Ohio, September 13, 1858. 
 
 Gentlemen : — I am honored with an invitation through your circu- 
 lar of the 27th of July last, accompanied with a polite request from 
 my worthy friend Daniel W. Norton, Esq., to be present at Suffield on 
 the 16th inst., to join you in celebrating the One Hundred and Fiftieth 
 Anniversary of the decease of the Rev. Benjamin Ruggles ; and though 
 I regret to say that business relations will deprive me of that satisfac- 
 tion, yet be assured that nothing would give me or my wife, who is a 
 daughter of Suffield, greater pleasure than to participate in the festivi- 
 ties of that occasion. 
 
 Suffield had her full share in the early struggles and privations inci- 
 dent to a new settlement, has maintained a healthy progress in all the 
 elements of civilization and Christianity, and commended herself to the 
 favorable consideration of enlightened men everywhere, by giving, in 
 the persons of her children, the riches of her experience, enterprise and 
 knowledge to almost every locality in the union. Little as I am versed 
 in her history, I know that Ohio still remembers with just pride a 
 chief justice of our own supreme court, and a United States senator, 
 (the latter, if I mistake not, being a descendant of the very person 
 whose demise you commemorate,) together with many other distin- 
 guished men who trace their nativity to Suffield ; and well may she 
 point to her children in distant states and climes, and without arro- 
 gance or ostentation challenge competition. 
 
 The enterprise in which your church is engaged, is a noble one, and 
 worthy of Suffield, and you have the united aspirations of myself and 
 wife that it will meet with entire success ; and that your festival and 
 its results may become in the hearts of residents and distant children 
 new incentives to noble deeds, and additional instrumentalities in the
 
 116 
 
 hands of Providence of a deeper and more lasting attachment to the 
 land of their origin. 
 
 Be pleased to accept my highest esteem. 
 
 VAN. B. HUMPHREY. 
 Rev. Daniel Hemenway, and others. 
 
 Dayton, 0., September 9, 1858. 
 
 GrENTLEMEN : — Your invitation to be present at Sufl&eld on the 16th 
 inst., at the commemoration of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniver- 
 sary of the decease of the Rev. Benjamin Ruggles, the first pastor of the 
 First Congregational Church, I received this morning. 
 
 As a descendant, as you please to say, "of one of old Sufl&eld's 
 best sons, and also of the Rev. Mr. Devotion, who succeeded Mr. Rug- 
 gles in the ministry " one hundred and fifty years ago, I should be re- 
 joiced were it in my power to be with you on the very interesting occa- 
 sion of the proposed commemoration. 
 
 I admire and appreciate the attachment of the people of SuflBeld to 
 the memories of their forefathers, their careful preservation of the his- 
 tory of their ancient town, and their far-reaching interest displayed in 
 following over the earth as it were, those descendants of her early citi- 
 zens, whose lot in life is not cast upon the pleasant banks of the Con- 
 necticut, and to whom the time-honored tombs of Suffield are but a 
 solemn yet pleasing remembrance. 
 
 You attach us to you by links of sympathy, bearing from you to us, 
 and back to you again, the kindliest, indeed I may say the most fi-ater- 
 nal feeling. I am daily reminded that ' ' old Sufiield ' ' was the home of my 
 American ancestors on the paternal side. My grandfather, Eliphalet 
 King's two military commissions, one under " King George," signed 
 before the breaking out of the Revolution, but the other dated January 
 1st, 1776, from the Continental Congress and signed by John Han- 
 cock, are framed with a silhouette likeness of grandfather in the upper 
 portion, and adorn the walls of our parlor. On the fourth of July last, 
 as they will be on each succeeding anniversary, they were encircled 
 with beautiful evergreens and wreaths by the willing hands of my wife 
 and daughter. I have also in my possession grandfather's revolution- 
 ary musket, (officers at the time of that period cai-ried muskets) of
 
 117 
 
 English manufacture, the lock bearing date, " June 1762." It was 
 captured from the British at the commencement of the Revolution, and 
 is now in a good state of preservation. 
 
 My father, Augustus King, as you are aware, was born in Suffield. 
 He died on the 19th of September, 1856, aged seventy-two years. 
 He was all that a man, a husband, a father, a good citizen and a chris- 
 tian should be. A son can say no more. I enclose an account of his 
 death, " written by his son-in-law to Mr. Putnam :" 
 
 ACCOUNT. 
 
 Dear Friend : — Caroline has just reminded me of a duty which 
 ought to have been performed a few days ago, a mournful and yet 
 delightful task. Your old friend, father King, has moved away from 
 among us. He has gone to another world. For over fifty years he 
 has been studying the history, and tracing the maps of a " brighter 
 world." He became dissatisfied with this world of diurnal darkness 
 and light, of pain and of death ; and for more than fifty years he has 
 led a nomadic life, daily seeking for green pastures ; but alas I they 
 were nowhere to be found upon earth. He had lived out the allotted 
 days of man upon earth, with three years " grace." He left us on his 
 birth-day, being exactly seventy-three years old. 
 
 As he was about leaving he told us with feelings of enraptured de- 
 light, that he had found another, yea, a heavenly world. The old man 
 was young again. He smiled and rejoiced like a child, as he drew 
 near his journey's end. " Oh I" said he, "what a lovely Savior I 
 have found ; He is very near." 
 
 Father King had been afflcted with bronchitis for a year, which 
 finally terminated his life here. He was confined to his bed for three 
 weeks, the last two he had to have some one with him all the time. 
 Caroline stood by him unremittingly nineteen hours out of the twenty- 
 four, the whole time, none of us could prevent her. On the night of 
 the 19th we saw that he must soon leave us. At nine P. JI., we all 
 gathered around his bed. He was bolstered up straight ; calmly he 
 looked around upon us ; not a word was said ; not a movement made ; 
 all was calm and quiet as night. Here was a scene for Eaphacl ; his 
 immortal pencil could not desire a grander scene. There sat the 
 white-haired old man transformed into an angel. At the head on one 
 side stood the sympathizing doctor ; near him Edward sat, leaning on 
 the bed ; in the middle sat Eufus on the bed-side holding his father's
 
 118 
 
 hand ; I leaned on the post at the foot ; at the other foot-post stood 
 Edward's wife ; in the middle on the other side sat Caroline with her 
 father's other hand in hers ; at the other head-post leaned an old friend, 
 who had been with him several days. Stillness reigned supreme. 
 We know the angels are here among us ; we know their errand.; we 
 treat them with reverence. The old saint is the first to move. He 
 withdraws his hand, and looks an invitation for me to come and bid 
 him a long farewell. In like manner he withdrew his hand from mine, 
 and so on till I thought all had parted with him. He looked for 
 others : I thought of our two faithful servant girls that have been with 
 us for several years. I sent for them ; they in like manner bid him a 
 long farewell, still not a word was spoken. He then shut his eyes 
 and breathed less and less. I took his hand and looked at him closely. 
 Not a muscle moved ; not a sigh, or an inhalation to disturb the beauty 
 of the scene. Less and less became the movement of his breast, until all 
 was still ! The angels stole him away when my eyes, when all eyes 
 were fixed upon him, and we knew not the moment that he departed 
 with them. Never did a babe go more quietly to sleep on its mother's 
 bosom, than did father King on the bosom of his Savior. 
 
 We laid him, in the same vault by his wife. She had been there 
 thirteen winters waiting for him. They now sleep together on earth. 
 They now sing together in heaven. Your Friend, . 
 
 Please accept my acknowledgements for your kind invitation, and 
 think of me as one who never forgets his Suflfield descent, and who is 
 always deeply interested in all that concerns " Old Suffield " and its 
 people. In your midst, for almost hundreds of years, have reposed the 
 remains of my ancestors, and I recur to the fact with an almost Indian- 
 like feeling of regard for the spot where they lie. That the people of 
 Suffield may always be what the people of Suffield have always been — 
 Christian, loving, generous and patriotic, fit guardians of their honored 
 dead, and fit tutors and exemplars to their children, is my earnest wish 
 in their behalf. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 EDWARD A. KING. 
 
 Rev. Daniel Hemenway, and others. 
 
 ^
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 On page 86, 12th line from bottom, read " we " for " all." 
 Page 88, 3d line from top, read " an " for " all." 
 Page 93, in 2d line of 2d paragraph, read " quick " for " quiet." 
 Page 94, 13th line from top, read " relation " for " relative;" and 7th line of 3d 
 paragraph, same page, read " succeeding " for " surrounding."
 
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