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 3 ^153 DlEtDflflD? S 
 
THE EARLY HISTOEY f.^^ 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND SOCIETY, 
 
 OF 
 
 NORTH BRANFORD. 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE OOIfGREGATIONAL OHDHOH, JAN. 6 1850. 
 
 Remember the days of old ; consider the years of many generations. — Deut. xxxn, 7. 
 
 BY GEORGE I. WOOD. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 NEW HAVEN : 
 
 PRINTED BY J. H. BENHAM, ORANGE STREET. 
 
 1850. 
 

 ; 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following sketch was originally delivered in sermon form on the text 
 
 which appears on the title page. Since its delivery it has been revised and 
 
 rewritten. It was written and is now published, for the people of North 
 
 r~ Branford. The reference it contains to certain localities in the town, and 
 
 <j- the names of persons which appear on its pages, will of course be matters 
 
 y of interest chiefly among those for whose benefit it was written. Whatever 
 
 vj interest may be felt in it by others who happen to read it, can arise only 
 
 U from the fact that it forms a constituent, though humble chapter in the his- 
 
 tj^tory of the early Puritans of New England. 
 
 North Branford, Feb. 1860. 
 
EARLY HISTORY CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 
 
HISTORY. 
 
 It is among the first duties of every religious community 
 which is fortunate enough to have a Past, to know its own 
 history. Some of God's richest mercies to a given generation 
 will be found to have had their earthly germ in times long 
 past ; and the] generation consequently which is not familiar 
 with the experience of its predecessors, can have at the best 
 but a very limited and imperfect view of the extent of God's 
 goodness to itself. Each generation as it appears on the 
 earth in its turn, (and especially here in New England,) resem- 
 bles in an important respect the trees which beautify its 
 surface ; its roots — the source of its beauty and glory and 
 life — lie buried in the soil. Whatever there may be in the 
 character of this community which is. worthy to be perpetu- 
 ated among the generations to come, came, under God, 
 mainly, as I believe, from the fathers who lie buried in these 
 adjacent grounds. 
 
 I propose then to trace the history of this church and society, 
 so far as the materials for such a history are still accessible 
 — from its earliest days. 
 
 The religious history of the early inhabitants of North 
 Branford, until the year 1701, is nearly identical with that 
 of the Congregational church of Branford, with which they 
 were originally connected. We claim, therefore, a common 
 property, and feel a common interest in all that pertains to 
 the early history of that church. The outlines of that his- 
 tory, in a few words, may properly precede such matters as 
 relate exclusively to ourselves. 
 
 The whole region included in the ancient limits of 
 the Town of Branford, was granted by the New Haven 
 Colony to Mr. Samuel Eaton, in the year 1640, under the 
 Indian name of Totoket ; a name which is still retained as 
 a designation of the mountain range in North Branford. 
 Mr. Eaton having failed to fulfill the condition of the grant, 
 — which was, that he should procure a number of his friends 
 in England within a specified time, to settle within these 
 limits, — the Colony afterward sold it to William Swain and 
 
6 
 
 others of the Town of Wethersfield ; stipulating that they 
 should unite themselves with the New Haven Colony in all 
 the fundamental articles of government. They immediately 
 removed to Totoket and commenced the settlement of Bran- 
 ford in 1644. The reason of this exodus from Wethersfield 
 was, the existence of an unhappy division among the early 
 settlers of that town. By the advice of Rev. John Davenport 
 and others of New Haven, the people separated, and a part of 
 them removed and purchased a tract of land in Stamford, of 
 which town they were the founders, and another part, as I 
 have already noticed, removed to Branford. Just at this 
 period, the Rev. Abraham Pierson, of South Hampton, Long 
 Island, feeling aggrieved, with many of his people, because 
 that town had put itself under the jurisdiction of the Con- 
 necticut Colony instead of the Colony of New Haven, re- 
 moved to Branford and united with Mr. Swain and his friends 
 in the settlement of the town. Mr. Pierson was soon chosen 
 to the pastorate of the church, being the first who held that 
 office ; and was assisted for a time by a Mr. Brucy. He 
 was installed in 1644. In 1665 he removed with most of his 
 people in a body from Branford to Newark N. J., carrying 
 with him the original records of the church and town. Not 
 to leave this allusion to rather a singular event in our early 
 history, unintelligible to those who are not familiar with its 
 circumstances, I observe very briefly, that by the charter of 
 Charles II. the New Haven Colony was incorporated with the 
 Connecticut Colony. This union was much disrelished and 
 resisted by the colony of New Haven, and especially by the 
 towns New Haven aiid Branford, these towns holding out in 
 their opposition for some time after Guilford, Milford and 
 Stamford had assented to the union. Mr. Pierson and his 
 church were so much opposed to this measure that they almost 
 all removed to Newark in 1665. Branford was, in conse- 
 quence, almost without inhabitants, and entirely without a 
 church and minister for twenty years. After some of these 
 years, a population gradually moved in from other parts, and 
 in 1685, Branford was re-invested with town privileges. I 
 will add but a single remark explanatory in some measure of 
 the opposition of the New Haven Colony to a union with that 
 of Connecticut. It was a fundamental and important point 
 in the government of the New Haven Colony, that none but 
 members of the church should be elected to civil office — a 
 mistake in political matters certainly not more pernicious than 
 that of more recent days, in which piety and a high regard 
 for the welfare of the church seem often to amount to a 
 virtual disqualification for civil office. For this reason and 
 others, New Haven Colony objected to the union. 
 
Omitting to notice such other matters as pertain exclusively 
 to the history of Branford and its church, I observe that 
 with the means of information to which I have had access, the 
 nearest approximation I can make to the exact date at which 
 the inhabitants of Branford began to move into and settle 
 this, then, northern part of the town, is the year 1680. As 
 the population began to be numerous enough here in 1701* to 
 have occasional worship among themselves, especially in the 
 winter season, it is evident that some years must then have 
 elapsed since the first settlers moved into this region. The 
 year brought down to us by tradition as the year in which 
 the settlement of this region began, is 1680, which probably 
 is not far from the truth. The first house erected within the 
 present limits of North Branford according to the tradition, 
 was built by Capt. Jonathan Rose,f the ancestor of the Roses 
 of North Branford, near the house now occupied by Widow 
 Hannah Rose, on Hop-yard Plain. 
 
 From that period, then, or somewhere near it, down to the 
 year 1701, and occasionally till 1724, the first settlers of this 
 region, then called the North Farms, might have been seen on 
 Sabbath morning making their way to church along the 
 track of what is called the old road to Branford, to attend 
 public worship in Town. It was a time somewhat like the 
 days of vShamgar in Israel, when men travelled by " walking 
 through crooked by-ways " and when, indeed, the very term 
 employed to denote travellers was (in the original) " walk- 
 ers of paths." At that early period the only way of commu- 
 nication between the North Farms and the Town, was along 
 a foot path through the forest, so narrow that none but 
 walkers and riders on horses could make their way. With a 
 slight assistance from the imagination, we may see our 
 worthy sires and their wives on the morning of the Sabbath, 
 moving onward toward the settlement with becoming gravity, 
 on saddles and pillions, with the wallet slung between them, 
 to carry provisions for the day — this being the mode, as I am 
 
 *For this date and the fact here asserted, I am indebted to the discoursa 
 preached by Rev. Timothy P. Gillett, of Branford, on the last occasion of 
 tlieir meeting for worship in the old church. 
 
 f The father of this Jonathan Rose, was Robert Rose, the first of the fam- 
 ily who came to this country, from the North of England. He was one of 
 the eight individuals who owned originally the township of Branford, — 
 Tradition reports that he owned ten cows (besides sixty horses) at a time 
 when there were not ten more in all Braniord, and that the Sunday^s milking 
 was always given to the poor. The bible he brought with him from Eng- 
 land, printed in 1599, is still extant, in the possession of Widow Hannah 
 Rose, and has been in its time, the property of three or four deacons of the 
 Rose family. 
 
8 
 
 informed, in which all riders made their way to church. At 
 
 that time, the land now covered in part by this church and 
 
 occupied as a place of burial, was thickly covered with trees, 
 
 and what is now the main road that passes the church, was 
 
 a simple foot-path of the kind described. It was a time, too, 
 
 in which the wallet was not the only "life preserver" needed 
 
 on the way to church. There were beasts of prey and 
 
 Indians nearly as wild, to be guarded against, and the gun 
 
 with its deadly contents was considered by some, a necessary 
 
 accompaniment of the ride to church. Indeed,, so serious an 
 
 undertaking was it in the beginning for some of the earliest 
 
 settlers in these North Farms who lived two miles above us 
 
 to the North East, to reach the sanctuary in Town and 
 
 return again without being lost, that they found it necessary 
 
 on the first occasion of their going down to carry an axe, and 
 
 blaze the trees that they might keep the path on their return. 
 
 Whoever travels over the same two miles of road now and 
 
 wonders at its serpentine and hilly course, may reflect, with 
 
 some consolation and profit, that it was originally laid out as 
 
 a road to the sanctuary, and that our church-going fathers 
 
 wisely preferred crossing the hills to passing the swamp and 
 
 the thicket. 
 
 These resolute men and women of that day, evidently 
 prized the ministrations of the Rev. Samuel Russel, who was 
 at that time Pastor of the flock. 
 
 Beginning at length to experience the inconvenience of 
 so long and difficult a journey to the sanctuary, especially in 
 the winter, they were permitted after they became suffi- 
 ciently numerous, about the year 1701, to have occasional 
 preaching among themselves ; which was probably held in 
 the school house, (or perhaps in some private dwelling.) 
 
 In the year 1722 we find the first entry in the town records 
 respecting what is called " the North Society." On the 27th. 
 of Sept. in that year, a Parsonage lot is purchased by the 
 Town for the use of this Society ; whence we gather that 
 the community here are now beginning to mature towar^ an 
 ecclesiastical distinctness. A purchase of lands on Indian Neck 
 had been made of the Indians as early as July 30, 1685, for 
 the support of the ministry in said town forever. These 
 Parsonage lands were equitably divided beween what was 
 then called the South and the North societies, on the 8th of 
 Oct., 1722. 
 
 On the 12th of May, 1724, the Town voted to build "a 
 meeting house " (we use the term employed by our fathers, 
 without holding ourselves responsible for the propriety and 
 good taste of the same) in the North Farms. In the words 
 of the record, it was " voted that the whole Town would as 
 
9 
 
 one, in respect that they are numerous, so that one meeting 
 house is not sufficient to contain them, build another meeting 
 house jointly and settle another minister, and maintain each 
 of them by one rate ;" whence it appears that what are called 
 the North and South societies were still blended in their in- 
 terests, and that their affairs are managed by the Town. — 
 Three distinct sites having been proposed for the new meet- 
 ing house, it was decided by vote to locate it " on the knoll on 
 the west side of the river, at the place near Samuel Harrison's." 
 The spot designated by these words was that occupied 
 accordingly, as you all know, by what we call the old meet- 
 ing house, which stood within a few feet of this to the south, 
 and stood till this was nearly completed. The town meeting 
 at which this vote was passed, was warned by Lieut. Thos. 
 Harrison and Joseph Morris, Nathaniel Harrison being 
 Moderator. Isaac Foot, Lieut. Rose, John Harrison, Daniel 
 Barker and Josiah Rogers,* were the committee appointed by 
 the town to superintend the building of the house. 
 
 About six months after this, the Town revoked their agree- 
 ment to support both ministers by one rate, and then, in 1724, 
 this ecclesiastical society of North Branford was fully or- 
 ganized, and assumed the entire support of its own minister. ' 
 
 By an entry on the records of " the Branford Society," 
 which likewise begins now its own proper existence as distinct 
 from the Tovv^n, it appears that they had at this time "just 
 begun to have a minister among themselves in the North 
 Society." It is then 126 years since this people began to 
 enjoy the labors of a minister of their own, and about 149 
 years, (nearly a century and a half,) since meetings for relig- 
 ious worship were first held within the limits of North 
 Branford. Who this first minister was, who supplied the 
 pulpit in the outset before they had a settled Pastor, we have 
 no means of knowing. The Rev. Jonathan Merick was the 
 first pastor of the church ; but his ordination took place tv/o 
 years after this date. It is possible that he supplied the pul- 
 pi* .durmg these two years, but more probable that one or 
 more preceded him before the society was in a condition to 
 call a minister for settlement. The old meeting house was 
 framed, erected and covered the same year, and began to be 
 used, but was not entirely finished for seven or eight years 
 afterward — as I find on our society records, that in the year 
 1732, Capt. Jonathan Rose and Isaac Baldwin, were chosen a 
 committee to finish the gallery of the house. The dimensions 
 
 * This Josiah Rojjers, the ancestor of the Rogerses of North Branford, was 
 a lineal descendant of the 5th generation from John Rogers, who was 
 buriii by the Roman Catholics at Smithfield, in 1554. 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 of the house were 45 by 35 feet. The Rev. Mr. Russell 
 came up and offered prayer at the erection of the frame, and 
 an accident occurred at the time, which, but for the marked 
 favor of Providence, must have been fatal to several. One 
 of the heavy upright beams, (and beams in those days were 
 heavy,) fell from its position into the midst, as it seemed, of the 
 people, but by a kind Providence, without hitting or injuring 
 any. 
 
 As the records kept b}^ the Rev. Mr. Merick are unfortu- 
 nately lost, we have not the exact date of the distinct organ- 
 ization of this church, though it is highly probable that this 
 took place in the same year, 1724^ about the time of the 
 organization of the Society. Thus a formal separation has 
 at length been effected from the church in Branford, in a 
 spirit mutually amicable — a spirit which we have reason to 
 believe has descended from generation to generation, and 
 which still exists between the two churches. 
 
 Before entering upon the history of Mr. Merick's ministry, 
 I would make a single remark in relation to the old burying 
 place adjacent to this church. When the stones were taken 
 up in 1848, to be placed in a safer position, the oldest stone 
 was one that recorded the death of Isaac Bartholomew, in 
 1727. From a tradition that has come down very directly 
 from Aaron Baldwin, (a son of Dea. Israel Baldwin,* one of 
 the first settlers,) it is evident that this must have been one of 
 the first graves, if not the first ; and consequently that this 
 ground began to be appropriated as a place of burial about 
 the year 1727. 
 
 Till the year 1726, this people seem not to have been in a 
 condition to have a settled minister among them. In this 
 year, the Rev. Jonathan Merick, their first pastor, was 
 ordained over them. He was born in Springfield, Mass., in 
 the year 1700, and was consequently 26 years of age at the 
 commencement of his ministry. His house was framed at the 
 expense of the Town, at the time the frame was made for the 
 old church, and was erected soon after. According to the 
 tradition which has descended among us, Mr. Merick was a 
 man of decision and energy, generally accomplishing what- 
 ever he undertook. From his word there seemed to be but 
 little disposition among his people to take any appeal. He 
 was beloved and respected among them as is tolerably evident 
 from the length of his ministry here, which was forty three 
 years. He owned and cultivated an extensive farm in 
 connection with the discharge of his ministry, as was not an 
 
 * The ancestor of the Baldwins of North Branford, was George Baldwin, 
 who moved into Branford a few years after its desertion, from Milford. 
 
11 
 
 uncommon custom at that day — the same farm which is still 
 in possession of the family which have inherited his name. 
 His ministry ceased in 1769, in consequence of a paralysis, 
 which incapacitated him for its duties. The last public act 
 of his life was to preside as Moderator of a church meeting 
 held Feb. 23, 1769, to appoint the day for the ordination of 
 his successor, the Rev. Samuel Eells. His signature appears 
 for the last and now the only time on our church records, as 
 Moderator of that meeting. He lived till the 27th of June, 
 1772, when, at the age of 72, he died and was buried among 
 his own people, a few feet east of this edifice. The inscription 
 on his grave-stone is as worthy of the attention of the present 
 generation as it was of that generation to whom it was par- 
 ticularly addressed. " Remember them that have spoken 
 unto you the word of God." There is one individual still 
 living who attended upon Mr. Merick's ministry and remem- 
 bers his personal appearance — Mr. Ebenezer Russell, 91 years 
 of age. He informed me that Mr. M. was a man of large 
 and commanding stature, and wore one of the large old 
 fashioned wio^s. 
 
 During the ministry of Merick, until the year 1745, the 
 people residing in what is now the northern part of North 
 Branford, and the society of Northford, attended public 
 worship in this place, and constituted part of this church and 
 society. Having become at this time sufficiently numerous 
 and able, they were set off as a distinct society by the 
 General Assembly in the session of that year. For a while 
 after the old burial-place was appropiated, they likewise 
 buried their dead in this place. In the days of Mr. Merick, 
 and for some time after him, the settlement here was designa- 
 ted by the name of " the village," — a term worthy to be re- 
 vived again for the fathers' sakes, as well as its own, and far 
 preferable, as it seems to me, to the foreign name which has 
 somehow usurped its place. 
 
 The first deacon of this church was Benjamin Barnes — a 
 man distinguished alike for his piety and his poverty.* An- 
 
 * An incident which will serve to illustrate his reputation for poverty and 
 the cheerful submission he felt under this allotment, is preserved in an anec- 
 dote which has descended respecting him. Meeting on a certain occasion 
 one of his wealthier neighbors, Mr. Timothy Harrison, Deac. Barnes was 
 noticed to have his pocket knife in his hand. After a little pleasant conver- 
 sation together, Deac. Barnes observed in a good humored tone, that he 
 carried his knife about in his hand because he was too poor to have a pocket. 
 
 All else that is known respecting him is, that the cellar of his humble 
 dwelling is still visible on "Bare Plain," near the spring which supplies the 
 aqueduct of the main street of that district. I may add here, that I have 
 spelled the name of this Plain, Bare instead of Bearf (which is sometimes 
 
12 
 
 other of the deacons who officiated during Mr. Merick's 
 ministry was Israel Baldw^in, who w^as one of the original inhab- 
 itants of North Branford. He w^as found dead some lime in 
 the year 1765, on "the Great Hill," alone, with his horse tied 
 to the tree under which he lay. His death was evidently a 
 natui'al one, though he seems to have died very suddenly. An- 
 other of Mr. Merick's early deacons was Daniel Page,' one of 
 the original settlers of this region, and the first of the name 
 who came here, who resided near the summit of Sibbies' 
 Hill.* He died in 1766. Ithiel Russell and Barnabas Mul- 
 ford w^ere the deacons of the church in the last days of Mr. 
 Merick, and the first days of Mr. Eells's ministry. Deacon 
 Russell was the representative of the church in the council 
 that ordained Mr. Eells. He retired to rest in good health in 
 the evening of March 25, 1772, and was found dead in his 
 bed on the next morning. f 
 
 During the ministry of Mr. Merick, the mode of conducting 
 religious w^orship, especially in the department of praise, w^as 
 quite different from the mode of the present day. We find 
 that from 1732, and for several years thereafter, an individual 
 was annually chosen by the society as "clerk," whose office 
 w^as to " read and tune the PsalmV' Jonathan Butler, Jun., 
 was the first appointed to this office ; and by vote of the so- 
 ciety he was " seated in the second seat" — which I judge to 
 have been a seat of honor from the fact that it seems to have 
 been assisgned to men of military rank in the congregation. 
 Abiel Linsley and Abraham Whedon were his immediate 
 successors in this office. There seems to have been some 
 
 adopted.) for the following reason. The Indians having been long accus- 
 tomed to burn over this piece of ground annually to make it a good hunting 
 ground for deer, when the first settlers began to build upon this Plain, it was 
 found to be almost entirely bare of trees and of all vegetation. I am informed 
 likewise, what would not now be easily credited, that when it was first 
 surveyed, the whole tract was not considered of sufficient value to be worth 
 recording. The most reasonable conjecture then is, that the name of the 
 Plain was not derived originally, as some have supposed, from a beast of prey, 
 but from the fact that the land was originally bare of vegetation. The 
 venerable and majestic oak which stands in the street near the middle of the 
 Plain, from the tradition which has descended respecting it, dates its origin 
 much farther back in the past than the earliest settlements in this region, 
 and probably often refreshed with its shade the wild hunters of this region. 
 
 * The name given to this hill was originally connected with a Spring, 
 still called " Sibbie's Spring," on the homestead of Widow Augustus Russell. 
 It Avas the name of a petty Indian Sachem, (under Kishonk, the Sachem on 
 Indian Neck,) who was the chief over the Indians of this neighborhood.— 
 The spot on which they had their wigwams is still to be seen a little south 
 of « Goshen Pond." 
 
 fSee Appendix. B. 
 
13 
 
 difference of opinion in the congregation as to the proper 
 mode of conducting this part of worship, as the society voted, 
 in 1735, that "the clerk have Hberty to tune the Psalm which 
 way he jyleasethP 
 
 It would be a matter of some interest doubtless to you, had 
 we a list of the names of those who were first ors^anized into 
 a church in this " village," and who' constituted Mr. Merick's 
 original flock, and were among the earliest inhabitants of this 
 place. This list of names, with other things, doubtless, which 
 it might interest us to know, being unfortunately lost with 
 the records kept by Mr. Merick, I have appended, at the end 
 of this historical sketch, a list recorded by Mr .Eells at the 
 commencement of his ministry in 1769, of those who consti- 
 tuted the church at that time.* As 45 years only had elapsed 
 at that time since the organization of the church, it is highly 
 probable, if not certain, that the oldest members were among 
 the number of those first organized into a church. 
 
 Probably there are few, if any communities in the State, in 
 which so large a portion of the present generation of residents 
 are the direct descendants of the original settlers of the soil. If 
 we have not more of the Puritan spirit and principles than 
 any other community, it certainly is not because we have not 
 been favored with peculiar advantages for their preservation. 
 
 It is one of the pleasant circumstances we have to contem- 
 plate in the history of the first generation of men who settled 
 New England, and one of no little miportance to us, that they 
 were generally a generation of godly men, who, in founding 
 these towns and villages, made it their first care to provide 
 for their religious and educational welfare, and that of their 
 descendants. It is a peculiar and significant fact, that the early 
 history of these towns is, to a great extent, an ecclesiastical 
 history. The church was the nucleus around which the town 
 formed itself, and the spirit of religion was the spirit which, to 
 a great extent, animated and controlled the town in its first 
 public acts, and gave complexion to its history. They 
 brought the ministry and all the institutions of religion with 
 them, and maintained them from the begining, (without aid 
 from any Foreign or Home Missionary Society,) with a self- 
 denial, and a firmness of principle truly admirable, and worthy 
 of all imitation. They did not flock hither because lands 
 w^ere cheap or fertile, or because New England was a country 
 »of great water power, which could be turned to the advantage 
 of their secular interests. They did not come to find money 
 or to make it, (though their descendants certainly have not 
 been unsuccessful in the latter particular.) They came to 
 
 *See Appendix, C. 
 
]4 
 
 worship God in peace — " seeking his kingdom" as it should 
 be sought by every emigrant, " first " of all, first for them- 
 selves, and first for their posterity. In their thoughts, Eter- 
 nity w^as first and greatest, and Time, to them, derived all its 
 significance from its bearings on that Eternity. These Col- 
 onies were, for the greatest part, self-supporting Missions. 
 Such men as these are not to be forgotten. These " days of 
 old and these years of many generations," ought to considered 
 by us and by every succeeding generation ; and the spirit of 
 these men should be kept alive as long as their blood and 
 their names descend among men. 
 
 The immediate successor of Mr. Merick was the Rev. 
 Samuel Eells, son of Rev. Edward Eells of Middletown. He 
 was born in that place, Jan 13, 1745, and was ordained over 
 this church on the 29th dav of March, 1769. The 8th of 
 March had been observed as a day of Fasting and Prayer 
 with reference to the ordination, and two sermons were 
 preached on the occasion ; one by the Rev. Philemon Robbins 
 of Branford, and the other by the Rev. Warham Williams of 
 Northford. An ordination in those davs of old was an occa- 
 
 ft/ 
 
 sion of great solemnity and importance, and one for which 
 our fathers endeavored to make suitable preparation by spend- 
 ing a whole day in Fasting and Prayer. The sermon at the 
 ordination was preached by the father of Mr. Eells. 
 
 Mr. Eells had a " settlement " at the time of his ordination, 
 of two hundred pounds, besides materials for building a house 
 and barn. 
 
 He was a man of much native humor and vivacity, and had 
 a faculty of easily adapting himself to those with whom he 
 came in contact ; being always a welcome guest at every 
 fire-side. He succeeded better than many in interesting the 
 children and youth in his flock in himself and his instructions. 
 His services on funeral occasions, especially, both his pray- 
 ers and his remarks, were always happy, being well adapted 
 to the circumstances of each case ; his native susceptibility 
 and sympathy enabling him to weep with those who wept, as 
 well as to rejoice with those who rejoiced. Being a man of 
 much versatility of talent, he practiced to some extent among 
 his own people as a physician for the body as well as a 
 watchman for souls. From one incident in his life which has 
 been preserved in the memories of his people, it would seem 
 that he was likewise capable, as necessity required, of wield- 
 ing either carnal or spiritual weapons. His ministry em- 
 braced the trying and eventful period of our revolutionary 
 struggle. On one occasion in the early part of the year 1777, 
 when Washington was in the vicinity of New York, his whole 
 force not amounting to more than fifteen hundred men, he 
 
15 
 
 called upon the people of Connecticut to send down, with all 
 dispatch, their quota of troops. The intelligence of this re- 
 quisition arrived in this place on the Sabbath, while the people 
 were engaged in public worship. Considering this to be one 
 of those works of necessity which might properly receive the 
 attention of his people on the Sabbath, Mr. Eells communicated 
 the important intelligence from the pulpit, and requested at 
 once that those who were willing and ready to go forth on 
 this important misssion, should parade on the green in front of 
 the meeting house, immediately after service. The able bod- 
 ied men of this society made a ready response to this unexpect- 
 ed summons. At the conclusion of service, a line was 
 promptly formed on the green, and principally through the 
 agency and energy of Lieut. Samuel Baldwin, a company 
 was organized. This company, including its officers, consist- 
 ed finally of 60 men, a portion of whom belonged to the so- 
 cieties of Branford and of Northford. The command of it be- 
 longed of right to Lieut. Baldwin, who with great expedition 
 had succeded in gathering it together in a short time. But 
 Lieut. B. courteously waved his right in favor of his own 
 minister, and the Rev. Samuel Eells was accordingly chosen 
 to the Captaincy (not Chaplaincy !) of the body. Mr. Eells 
 seemed to prefer being in a position in which he could say to 
 his people " come, follow," instead of standing at a safer post 
 in which he could only exhort them to " go." * Whether it 
 would or would not have been better on all accounts had Mr. 
 Eells declined this evidence of the confidence and respect of 
 the company, and continued to wield his spiritual weapons in 
 behalf of his country, whether he acted rightly in this or not, 
 is a question I am not required to decide. 
 
 The moral aspect of war, in his day, was contemplated 
 from a very different stand-point from that in which the min- 
 isters of the Prince of Peace have since begun to contemplate 
 the same subject. That war besides was a war of defense 
 and not of conquest ; it was a war to preserve what was dear 
 to our fathers, and not a war to destroy the liberties or infringe 
 the just rights of another people ; it was a war that had gen- 
 erally the prayers and the countenance of the Congregational 
 ministry, and why, thought Mr. Eells, should it not have my 
 agency in a time of need ? 
 
 We may discern in this incident, something of the same 
 spirit which dictated the advice once given by Cromwell to 
 his praying soldiery on the eve of an important battle waged 
 in the same general cause. The weather was damp and rainy, 
 and much depended on the care that should be taken by his 
 
 * See Appendix, D. 
 
16 
 
 men to preserve their powder in a dry and serviceable state. 
 Cromwell's charge to his men on that occasion was brief and 
 comprehensive. " Pray," said he, " and mind and keep your 
 powder dry !" Be sure and seek God's help — but do all you 
 can to help yourselves. Prayer and wet powder can not be 
 expected to be of much avail. Mr. Eells doubtless prayed for 
 his country, and then did what he could to help her. To his 
 own Master he standeth or falleth. Fortunately, he and his 
 company had no occasion to proceed to the extremities of war, 
 and he returned without having killed anybody. 
 
 From what I have been able to learn from his own people 
 and their immediate descendants, to whom I am indebted for 
 no small portion of what I have to communicate respecting 
 him, he appears to have been a man who, while not deficient 
 in grace, (certainly not destitute of it, we hope,) retained a 
 good share of nature, and that not of the worst, nor of an un- 
 interesting character. Grace did not impair his own individ- 
 uality. He was natural and true to himself in all he did and 
 said. In the words of the concluding portion of the inscrip- 
 tion upon his grave stone, he was likewise " a lover oi good 
 men, given to hospitality, gentle towards all ;" in which re- 
 spects all his successors may well imitate his example. 
 
 During his ministry, this church, in common with many 
 others, adopted what was called " the half-way covenant ;" a 
 regulation by which individuals in the congregation, who had 
 arrived at adult years without the seal of baptism, were per- 
 mitted to be baptized upon their professing the faith of the 
 gospel and being free from public scandal, without coming to 
 full communion with the church ; that is, without participa- 
 ting in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper ; and by which like- 
 wise they were permitted to have baptism administered to 
 their children. This practice, I should judge, grew out of a 
 lingering Popish and superstitious regard for the ordinance of 
 baptism, which had not entirely vanished from the minds of 
 that generation. It was a measure which proved, in the end, 
 a fruitful source of corruption and of contention in the church, 
 and was at length universally abandoned. Whether, however, 
 this superstitious regard for the ordinance of baptism was worse 
 in its consequences than the prevailing disregard and low es- 
 timate of this ordinance among the church members of this 
 generation, is a question that can not yet be very well de- 
 termined. Mr. Eells, I am informed, was never satisfied of the 
 propriety nor expediency of this measure. His own convic- 
 tions were against it. 
 
 We noticed, that during the ministry of Mr. Merick, an in- 
 dividual was annually appointed by the society, whose office 
 it was to " read and tune the Psalm." It is a matter of some 
 
17 . 
 
 interest to trace the progress made in this branch of worship 
 under the ministry of Mr. Eells. 
 
 In 1770, we have a notice of the appointment of " two chor- 
 isters," William Wheadon and Ithiel Russell being appointed 
 to this office. Five years after this, we have the first notice 
 of a " singing master " and a " singing school " — an evidence 
 of a rising appreciation of this part of worship. Nine years 
 after this, in 1784, we find a body of " singers" in existence, 
 who are seated by vote in " the front seats of the gallery." 
 This vote was regularly renewed from year to year for a 
 number of years. In 1792, we learn of "the Musical Society 
 of North Branford," and a sum of money is appropriated frorn 
 the Society's treasury to procure books for that Society. In 
 1799, the singers are allowed to receive ten dollars a year, as 
 the vote stands, " in case they sing." 
 
 The generation that may be found here fifty years hence, 
 will probably find by looking back to our times, notice of an 
 " organ," and that in 1849-50, the singers here felt sufficient in- 
 terest in sacred music to sustain a singing school and pur- 
 chase books at their own expense ; and they will observe toOj, 
 that the art of singing began to be sufficiently appreciated in 
 our day to be introduced into some of the High and Common 
 Schools of our State. This branch of worship, I will take the 
 liberty to add, will not have reached its highest perfection in 
 our churches, until the congregation, as a body, qualify them- 
 selves to unite vocally in this part of our worship, under the 
 lead and guidance, of course, of a well-trained choir. 
 
 In the year 1789, I find on the society records, a phrase 
 which I did not at once fully comprehend. Mention is made 
 of a committee appointed to " dignify the pews." As this was 
 the day when the congregation were seated by vote accor- 
 ding to their " dignity " or rank, I conclude that the office of 
 this committee was to determine the degree of dignity or im- 
 portance which should be attached to each pew ; so that the 
 higher and lower dignitaries, civil, military and musical, might 
 all be accommodated according to the degree of dignity 
 which they might possess — a matter, we should suppose, of 
 some delicacy and difficulty, at least it might be found so in 
 these republican days, when every man has become a " sove- 
 reign," not only in the eyes of the law, but in his own esti- 
 mation. 
 
 Mr. Eells closed a ministry of 39 years in this place, by 
 death, April 3d, 1808, at the age of 63. His remains sleep in 
 the dust by the side of his immediate predecessor, and in the 
 midst of most of the generation which constituted his flock. 
 The church at the time of his settlement consisted of seventy 
 seven members. The number received to "full communion" 
 
 3 
 
'18 
 
 during his ministry was 104 ; the largest number received in 
 any one year was twelve. I may add here, that I have suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining possession of the most legible of his ser- 
 mons, together with a few of his books, and his commission as 
 Captain of the military company, signed by Jonathan Trum- 
 bull, and dated at Middletown, Jan 14, 1777, and likewise his 
 " muster roll," and have appropriated to their preservation, a 
 closet in the Parsonage. 
 
 Closing here my account of the life and times of Mr. Eells, 
 we come next to the confines of more modern times, the days 
 of his immediate successor in the pastoral office, the Rev. 
 Charles Atwater. 
 
 Mr. Atwater, son of Jeremiah Atwater, a merchant in New 
 Haven, was born in that city on the 18th of Aug., 1786. He 
 was graduated at Yale College in 1805, studied theology un- 
 der Pres. Dwight, and was ordained over this church March 
 1st, 1809. The sermon on the occasion was preached by the 
 Rev. Samuel Merwin, of New Haven. Mr. Atwater was a 
 man of rather a commanding figure, erect and portly, and as 
 a speaker, had a clear and powerful voice. The impression he 
 left of himself in the minds of his people, was that of a man of 
 sincere piety and truly devoted to his work. He was accept- 
 able and successful as a preacher. His ministry, and espec- 
 ially the year 1821, was signalized by a very extensive relig- 
 ious awakening, such as this people had never before experi- 
 enced ; the fruits of which appear on our records, in the ad- 
 dition of 45 members to the church. The whole number of 
 members received during his ministry was 96. He is still re- 
 membered by many with that peculiar affection which is al- 
 ways felt and always will be, by a new-born soul toward its 
 own spiritual father. His pastorship of 16 years terminated 
 in death, Feb. 21, 1825, at the vigorous age of 39 ; and his re- 
 mains repose by the side of those of his predecessors in the 
 pastoral office.* Thus, as we have seen, the first three Pas- 
 tors of this church, whose united labors filled a century, died 
 at their first post of duty, and among their own people — a 
 privilege, and I may say an honor, of rare enjoyment in these 
 later days of change. 
 
 * During the ministry of Mr. Atwater, an Episcopal church was organized 
 in this society, which afterwards erected a neat and substantial church edi- 
 fice. 
 
19 
 
 It was my original intention to close this historical sketch 
 at the period we have now reached, confining it strictly to 
 the earlier period of our history, and leaving the history of 
 this church during the ministry of its still surviving Pastors, 
 to be traced by §ome other hand, after a sufficient time had 
 elapsed to surround the events of this subsequent period with 
 more historic interest. This intention I have been induced 
 to change only so far as to present the names of succeeding 
 Pastors and the important dates in their period of labor, with 
 a few of the important events in their ministry. I may here, 
 however, briefly premise, that we have now reached, in the 
 course of our narrative, the confines of an era in the history 
 of our churches and ministers, diflfering essentially from the 
 times we have been contemplating. Up to this period, the 
 ministry of our churches was generally a permanent ministry, 
 and the ties which bound Pastors to their people, were ordi- 
 narily dissolved only by death and physical or mental disabil- 
 ity. The ministry of later days has been generally of a more 
 transient and itinerant character. Few of us remain long 
 enough in the first field of our labors, to be overtaken by 
 death. We can remember the place where we were born, 
 but where we belong, and where we shall die, and who will 
 follow us to the grave, is, in many cases, beyond our conjecture. 
 In this matter, however, as it seems to me, it poorly becomes 
 either party, either the church or the ministry, to lay upon 
 each other the entire responsibility for the change that has 
 evidently come over us. We need not be surprised, then, to 
 find a more rapid succession of ministers here, as we reach 
 the era of general agitation and change in our churches. 
 
 The next Pastor of this church was the Rev. Judson A* 
 Root, who was ordained Oct. 15, 1828. Until the year 1831, 
 Mr. Root preached in the old church, which was erected, 
 as already noticed, in 1724. By a vote of the society, that 
 building began to be taken down and removed February 28, 
 1831, and was succeeded by the present edifice, which was 
 erected mainly through the influence of Mr. Root. This 
 building, which began to be erected on the 26th of May, 1830, 
 was dedicated to the worship of God on the last Thursday of 
 April, 1831. Its position is 6 feet north of the site occupied 
 by the old church. 
 
 It deserves to be recorded as one of the events which oc- 
 curred during Mr. Root's ministry, (though not, I suppose, 
 connected with it,) that this society, together with that of 
 Northford, were set oflf from the town of Branford in the year 
 1831^ and were constituted the Town of North Branford. 
 After a ministry of six years, during which 58 members were 
 
20 
 
 added to his church, Mr. Root was dismissed at his own re- 
 quest, some time time in the year 1834. 
 
 In the year 1835, he was succeded by the Rev. Henry B. 
 Camp, who was ordained in July 30, of that year. In conse- 
 quence of a threatened pulmonary disease, Mr Camp was 
 obliged to relinquish preaching and retire from the ministry, 
 and was accordingly dismissed Oct. 9, 1836. After his dis- 
 mission, the pulpit was supplied by a variety of preachers, un- 
 til, in Jan. 17, 1838, the Rev. John D.Baldwin was installed, 
 who was the last Pastor of this church. During his ministry, 
 of six years, 60 members were added to this church, of whom 
 25 were added in Sept. 1840, as the fruit of an awakened and 
 general interest in religious things. Mr. Baldwin was dis- 
 missed at his own request, July 3, 1844. My own labors 
 among you commenced Dec. 1st of the same year. * 
 
 Thus one soweth and another reapeth, each performing a 
 work equally honorable and important ; and whether we reap 
 that whereon we bestowed no labor, or sow that which we are 
 not permitted to reap, both he that soweth and he that reapeth 
 should rejoice together as the fruit of their united labors is gath- 
 ered unto life eternal. 
 
 We have thus traced the history of this church, and to 
 some extent, of this community, from the time of the first 
 settlement of this region, about 170 years ago, to the time 
 when our fathers began to meet in this place for religious 
 worship, and thence to the organization of this church and 
 society in 1724; and from that period through the successive 
 ministration of its six Pastors. The task has been one, in the 
 execution of which I have especially attempted to gather 
 together all the well authenticated unwritten traditions of 
 interest which have come down from " the days of old." If 
 by means of this sketch of early times I may assist the 
 present generation in North Branford in " remembering the 
 days of old," and in " considering the years of many genera- 
 tions," I shall feel requited for the task I have undertaken. 
 
 * See Appendix, A, 
 
^^' 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 W 
 
 A. 
 
 Names of the Ministers of this church from the beginning, with 
 the year of the commencement and of the close of their ministry. 
 The first six commenced their ministry here, either by ordination 
 or installation ; the last without installation. 
 
 A. D. A. D. 
 Rev. Jonathan Meeick, . . 1726 1769 
 
 i( 
 
 ^( 
 
 (I 
 
 a 
 
 (( 
 
 Samuel Eells, 
 Charles Atwater, 
 JuDsoN A. Root, 
 Henry B. Camp, . 
 John D. Baldwin, 
 George I. Wood, . 
 
 1769 
 
 1808 
 
 1809 
 
 1825 
 
 1828 
 
 1834 
 
 1835 
 
 1836 
 
 1838 
 
 1844 
 
 1844 
 
 
 Names of all who have held the office of Deacon in this church, 
 with the year, so far as can be ascertained, in which they were 
 elected to office. 
 
 
 A. D 
 
 Benjamin Barnes, .... 
 
 1724 
 
 Daniel Page, some time before . 
 
 . 1734 
 
 Israel Baldwin, some time before . 
 
 1744 
 
 Ithiel Russell, 
 
 . 1754 
 
 Barnabas Mulford, some time before 
 
 1769 
 
 Ensign Ebenezer Russell, 
 
 . 1772 
 
 Aaron Baldwin, 
 
 1778 
 
 Israel Baldwin, 
 
 . 1798 
 
 Daniel Russell, 
 
 1808 
 
 Daniel Wheadon, . . . « . 
 
 . 1822 
 
 Sydney Alden, 
 
 1822 
 
 Thomas Plant, . . . , . 
 
 . 1838 
 
 Samuel F. Russell, .... 
 
 1846 
 
 Luther Chidsey, 
 
 . 1846 
 
 c. 
 
 A list of the names of those who constituted this church, at the 
 time of Mr. Eell's ordination, in 1769 ; 45 years after the church 
 was organized. The names are given as they stand in Mr. Eell's 
 record. 
 
22 
 
 Deacons < o 
 
 Ithiel Russell, 
 
 and y' wives 
 
 { Jerusha Russell. 
 
 larnabas Mulford, J «-"" j »»xt^o ^ fjannah Mulford. 
 The Rev. Jonathan Merick and his wife Jerusha Merick. 
 Esq. Jonathan Russell. 
 
 Capt. Samuel Harrison, and his wife Rebecca Harrison. 
 Capt. Josiah Harrison. 
 Ensign Jacob Rose. 
 Ensign Ebenezer Russell, and his wife Mable Russell. 
 
 David Rose, 
 Daniel Barker, 
 Daniel Foot. 
 Abraham Page, 
 Oliver Collins, 
 John Foot, 
 Samuel Buel, Sen. " 
 Jonathan Russell, " 
 Solomon Rose, " 
 Stephen Palmer, " 
 Daniel Baldwin, " 
 Samuel Ford, '* 
 Timothy Harrison, " 
 Edward Petty, 
 
 (( 
 
 (( 
 
 i( 
 
 (( 
 
 (( 
 
 (( 
 
 Hannah Rose. 
 Patience Barker. 
 
 and his wife 
 
 (( 
 
 a 
 
 Abigail Page. 
 
 Collins. 
 
 Abigail Foot. 
 
 Buel. 
 
 Lydia Russell. 
 
 Thankful Rose. 
 
 Lydia Palmer. 
 
 Theodosia Baldwin. 
 
 Martha Ford. 
 
 Lydia Harrison. 
 
 Elizabeth Petty. 
 
 Ensign Josiah Harrison and his wife Harrison. 
 
 Aaron Baldwin " *' " Sarah Baldwin. 
 
 Nathan Palmer. 
 James Harrison. 
 Daniel Linsley. 
 
 The widow Sarah Baldwin. 
 
 u 
 
 n 
 
 a 
 
 i( 
 
 iC 
 
 n 
 
 «( 
 
 it 
 
 n 
 
 a 
 
 n 
 a 
 (( 
 
 K 
 il 
 
 (C 
 
 U 
 
 it 
 
 Hannah Whedon. 
 Martha Barker. 
 Dinah Baldwin. 
 Abigail Pond. 
 Thankful Palmer. 
 Lucy Rose. 
 Mary Palmer. 
 Mrs. Abigal Merick, wife of Minor Merick. 
 
 it 
 li 
 it 
 n 
 a 
 n 
 
 it 
 
 (t 
 
 a 
 
 it 
 
 ti 
 
 it 
 
 ti 
 
 it 
 it 
 
 ti 
 
 it 
 
 it 
 ti 
 
 it 
 
 it 
 
 (( 
 
 i( 
 
 (( 
 
 it 
 
 it 
 il 
 
 Martha Page, 
 Sarah Wolcott, 
 Priscilla Linsley, 
 Elizabeth Palmer,'* 
 Mary Scarritt, " 
 Hannah Harrison," 
 
 Whedon, " 
 
 Submit Norton, " 
 Rachel Rogers, 
 Rebecca Rogers, 
 Martha Harrison, " 
 — — Darwin, " 
 Margaret Butler, " 
 Thankful Rose, " 
 
 
 " Lieut. Ephraim Page. 
 
 *' Doct. Jeremiah Wolcott. 
 
 " Israel Linsley. 
 
 " Samuel Palmer. 
 
 " Jeremiah Scarritt. 
 
 " Daniel Harrison. 
 
 " Jehiel Whedon. 
 
 " Asahel Norton. 
 
 " Nehemiah Rogers. 
 
 " Thomas Rogers. 
 
 " Nathan Harrison. 
 
 " Joseph Darwin. 
 
 *' John Butler. 
 
 " Nathan Rose. 
 
23 
 
 
 Mrs. Lydia Barker, wife of Jacob Barker. 
 Zillah Page, " " Nathaniel Page. 
 
 Hannah Baldwin," " George Baldwin. 
 Lydia Tyler, " " George Tyler. 
 Rebecca Hubbard, widow. 
 Mary Hoadley, wife of Daniel Hoadley. 
 Daniel Rose. 
 
 Whole number of church members, 77. 
 
 B. 
 
 As a matter of interest to the people of North Branford, I have 
 appended, for the sake of preservation, (what does not fall very le- 
 gitimately in my province, as an ecclesiastical historian,) a list of 
 officers and men of Mr. Eell's military company. 
 
 Capt. Samuel Eells. 
 1st. Lieut. Samuel Baldwin, 
 2d. Lieut. Jacob Bunnell. 
 Sergeants, 
 
 Ebenezer Linsley, 
 
 Isaac Foot, 
 
 John White, 
 
 Lud. Munson, 
 
 Abraham Foot. 
 Corporals. 
 
 Uriah Collins, 
 
 Samuel Harrison, 
 
 Samuel Brown, 
 
 Jacob Page. 
 
 Musicians, 
 
 John Bunnell, 
 
 Joseph Whedon, 
 
 Moses Baldwin. 
 
 Samuel Augustus Barker, 
 Ambrose Baldwin, 
 James Barker, 
 Benjamin Bartholomew, 
 Samuel Bartholomew, 
 Daniel Baldwin, 
 Jairus Bunnell, 
 Phineas Baldwin, 
 Jacob Barker, 
 Gideon Bartholomew, 
 Jonathan Byington, 
 Aaron Cook, * 
 
 Titus Cook, 
 
 Stephen Cook, 
 Hooker Frisbee, 
 Isaac Frisbee, 
 Samuel Ford, 
 Gideon Goodrich, 
 Daniel Hoadley, 
 Samuel Hoadley, 
 Ralph Hoadley, 
 Jairus Harrison, 
 Rufus Harrison, 
 Isaac Hanford, 
 Benjamin Harrison, 
 Reuben Johnson, 
 John Linsley, 
 Jonathan Munson, 
 James Pierpont, 
 Samuel Peck, 
 John Potter, 
 Solomon Rose, 
 Billy Rose, 
 Jonathan Russell, 
 Ebenezer Rogers, 
 Heman Rogers, 
 Joseph Smith, 
 Dow Smith, 
 Allen Smith, 
 Othniel Stent, 
 Ebenezer Trusdell, 
 Solomon Talmage, 
 Asa Todd, 
 Jonathan Tyler, 
 Medad Taintor. 
 
University of 
 Connecticut 
 
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