34

85
1975 t L U )

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

This is an authorized facsimile
of the original book,
and was produced in 1975 by microfilm-xerography
by Xerox University Microfilms,
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.

"Windsor Farmes."

A Glimpse of an Old Parish

TOGETHER WITH THE

DECIPHERED INSCRIPTIONS FROM A FEW
FOUNDATION STONES OF A MUCH
ABUSED THEOLOGY.

?'

JOHN A. STOUGHTON.
HI

HARTFORD :
Claw A Smith, Book and Job Printers, 363 Main Strut.
1883.

@f»w:^ '¦'-'•''', 5=--.= g&C?"XXrr4
'¦-• '. |

i*rtfft'"* '"i

Copvrjoht, KB], iy John A. Stouohtom.

©Ken, efCatie, ^ftcobo^ia aub Cfk>,
THIS STORY OF AN HONORABLE ANCESTOR
u
^ffutioimitlg $nicribtfc.

ABBREVIATIONS USED BY MR. EDWARDS
IN HIS WRITINGS.

Oly
yro yn> selves
yy yyryeyyyr of
yyr by
yX nt
e m
y X'
L<ix«

word

World

"

Worldly

Ii

Them

11

Themselves

II

They

If

Their

<*

The

»

Then

41

Thereof

Ii

Thereby

11

That

l<

Not

"

Them, someiimcs lutead of y1

II

Your

11

Christ

11

Lord Jesus Christ.

PREFACE.

•"THE author offers this sketch to the public with the
hope that it will aid somewhat in filling what may be
called a gap in the history of the Edwards family. In
fact anything that will throw light upon the antecedents of
a great man is usually welcomed by the true student. I
think that the majority of students have lost sight of the
prominent characteristics of the elder Edwards in their ad
miration of the brilliant qualities of his son Jonathan. And
possibly enough has been gathered in the following pages to
show that the genius of Jonathan Edwards was developed from
a strong, vigorous and refined source; in fact, that his was an
hereditary strength, bearing the paternal impress of an original,
richly endowed, godly character. It is to be regretted that of
the many thousands of papers and books that were, after Mr.
Timothy Edwards' death, removed from his house to the
garret of the "Capt. John Ellsworth house," many are lost or
have been destroyed. Mr. Ellsworth \ -\d married Annie Ed
wards and was one of the executors o' Timothy Edwards' will,
consequently he had .he custody of much which to-day would
be of inestimable value to the historian. To quote the words of
Mrs. Ann E. Grant (a great grand-daughter of Capt. Ellsworth)
who was born in the old house : "When I was a child there
was a large heap of papers on the garret floor belonging to th«
Edwards estate ; of these many were injured by the rain from
the leaky roof until they crumbled to dust, and many others
were given to various persons who, anxious to obtain some
memento of the family were allowed to help themselves without

vl PREFACE-
stint from the collection." Unquestionably, the rarest pages of
East Windsor civil and ecclesiastical history thus passed into
indifferent hands, Mr. Edwards was a voluminous writer, and
the frequent references in his existing MSS. to previous books
and memoranda show that from the earliest years of his ministry
he made careful minutes of parish transactions,
I can hardly understand how Dr. Screno K. Dwight could
have overlooked so valuable a mass of material as lay close at
hand, when he made his visit to East Windsor in 1823 ; for, at
that time, the number of sermons, letters, etc., of Mr. Edwards,
then in the Ellsworth house, was very considerable, and would
doubtless have revealed to him much that must now remain
sealed regarding the life and times of Timothy and Jonathan
Edwards. From the sixty discourses in my hands I have transcribed
so many as I think will show the active positive style of V.r.
Edwards' ministry, and covering, as they do, periods of his
labors from 1695 to 1 746, they offer a forceful refutation of Dr.
Dwight's statement that "Mr. Edwards always preached ex
temporaneously and until he was upwards of seventy, without
noting down the heads of his discourse.''
The body of the narrative, wliich affords "glimpses" of the
parish of" Windsor Farnie," will be found to vary somewhat
from the commonly accepted chronology ; but the discrepan
cies arc not glaring, and I shall leave the critic to decide the
matters without any other explanation than that, which may
be found in the fact, that most of my quotations arc from what
are in the pure sense "original records," that is, those writings
which come to the hands of the historian without the interven
tion of a single transcriber. Of this class, are letters, original
deeds, account and memorandum books, etc. Among them
quotations have been made from Mr. Timothy Edwards'
"Rate book" of about 200 pages covering many transactions
with his parishioners from the year 1715 to 1745, written in his
own hand and "John Stoughton's Book, made June yc 25,
1695," a record of many official and private matters by Mr,

PREFACE. vii
Stoughton, who was, at the time of Mr. Edwards' settlement, a
selectman in Windsor, I have copied also from the private
papers of Capt. Thomas Stoughton, who married Abigail, sister
of Timothy Edwards, for his second wife. These are the prin
cipal sources from which has been drawn a picture of the cus
toms of the people of East Windsor ; and in doing it frequent
minutes of apparently trifling matters have been made, for the
reason that sometimes, by mentioning the occupation or some
other trifling circumstance connected with an "Old Settler," a
clue may be furnished by which a descendant may more easily
trace his geneological relation to the fathers.
The author flatters himself that he has preserved the lan
guage of the original writing in his transcriptions, although
the sermons were by far the most difficult to decipher, requiring
in many cases, the use of a magnifying glass, the text being
much abbreviated and wiitten in a very fine hand. Maybe the
reader will understand, from the illustrations which were taken
from the original MSS., something of the labor of transcribing.
Much material has not been introduced that bears directly
upon East Windsor history, because the character of the work
precluded it.
The object has been to sketch, rather than exhaustively des
cribe the period to which I have referred. Of the obstacles
wliich lie in the way of the seeker after old documents it is
hardly necessary to particularize, yet it is reasonable to con
clude that there are constantly thrown aside and sold for old
paper in our New England towns many valuable historic doc
uments. In one instance, when application was made for a
trunk of papers, which had been for generations accumulating
in one of the oldest houses in Mr. Edwards' parish, papers
which, from their authorship must have been of great local in
terest, the exhilarating information was communicated, that the
lady when "cleaning house had thrown all that old rubbish into
the fire." Under the circumstances I hope the "Manes" of
old Matthew Rockwell will be just and easily appeased.

Vili PREFACE.
These prefatory remarks would be incomplete without some
reference to the courtesy of those who have aided my investi
gations. Among them, the Rev. I. N, Tarbox, of Boston, Mass.,
whom I desire particularly to thank, has rendered essential ser
vice. Upon the Edwards genealogy he has bestowed much
time, and his frequent contributions to the history of the family
have done much to smooth the course of the later historian.
J. Hammond Trumbull and J. C. Hoadley, Esqrs., have at all
times extended the freedom of the libraries of this city and
State, besides freely giving me the benefit of their intimate ac
quaintance with colonial history. And although much of the
information thus obtained is not incorporated in this work be
cause its purpose and scope did not demand it, their kindly in
terest will be gratefully remembered. Of the others who con
ferred similar favors mention will be found in the body of the
work; their aid has been very valuable and of a character that no
public archives contained. Deacon John H. Woodford, town
clerk of Windsor, furnished much corroborative evidence from
the papers in his hands which comprise the most valuable town
records in the State. J. A. S.
Hartford, May, 1883.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
Settlement of Wbdsor. — Characteristics of Inhabitants. — Difference* between
Colonists. — Congregational Church. — Mr. Maverick. — Mr. Hoit. — Mr. Warham.
—Old Mill, Laws Regulating — Deed from the Town to Mr. Warham. — Abigail
Warham's Jointure. — Manuscript Sermon. — Mrs. Warham's Will, . Page 9
CHAPTER II.
East of River.— Formation of Parish. — Mandamus General Court.— Vote calling
Mr. Edwards to"offi9." — Seating the Meeting House. — Indians of Windsor, Page 31
CHAPTER III.
Extracts from Old Memoranda.— Mr. Edwards' Salary.— Early Pastoral Work.—
Sundry Neighborhood Transactions. — School Regulations.— Old Physicians in
Windsor.— Value of Real Estate  Page 28
CHAPTER IV.
Origin of the Edwards Family. — Advent in this Country. — Scholarship of Timothy.
—Commencement of Ministry. — Character of Pastorate.— First Meeting House.
Erection of Homestead  Page 38
CHAPTER V.
Ordination. — Pastoral Labors. — Sermons, &c. — Collection of Minister's Rate. —
List of Contributors.— Grant Family.— Old Dill of Lading. — Mr. E's Argument
for Increase of Salary,  Page 49
CHAPTER VI.
Family Peculiarities. — Indian Matters. — Parish Difficulties, . . . Page 66
CHAPTER VII.
Jonathan Edwards. — Mr. Edwards' Family School. — Names of Boys Educated by
Him.— Parish of Bolton. — Correspondence Relating to Jonathan's Call to Bolton,
Page 76

X C0NTENT8.
CHAPtER VIII.
Rate Book, Extracts from. — Mr. Edwards' Slave.— Marriage of Daughter!.—
Invitation to Wedding. — Matthew Rockwell. — Mr. Potwine's Parish. — Trouble
about Singing, &c  Page 86
CHAPTER IX,
Reseating the "meeting-house."— Roger Wolcott. — Dr. Alexander Wolcott.—
Confession of Drunkenness. — Men Enlisted for Frontier Service. — Fort William
Henry.— Distillation of Brandy  Page 90.

APPENDIX,

I'ACB
Sermons,  iai
Geneological  '4°

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Grant Mansion, East Windsor Hill. . . Frontispiece,
Mr. Warham's Sermon, 1662,  18
Mr. Edwards' Sermon, Oct. 29, 1695  52
Gov. Winthrop's Commission, May 20, 1698  66
Sermons— Mr. Edwards, 1709-1734, ..... 74
Index Mr. Edwards' Rate Book,  86
Account with Major (afterwards Gov.) Rooer Wolcott, 10a
Sermon— Mr. Samuel Woodbridge, op East Hartford,
Sept. 18, 1709, 104
Map of the Siege of Fort William Henry  no

ERRATA,

Page 26, paragraph 3d. — Read were," instead of "was", and
coarse for " course."
Page 36,— Read Pharmacopoeia, ins. ..-ad of " Pharmacopoe."
Page 79. — Read Encomium, " Enconium."

CHAPTER I.

THE PARENT CHURCH,

" We are In no danger of falling into too great a reverence for the thing! of
antiquity."— Ananynnui.
HPHE history of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut, the town so
inseparably and essentially connected with the birth and
development of our civil and ecclesiastical polity, has received
such complete and able treatment at the hands of a descendent1
of one of her most honored "First Settlers," that it will be un
necessary in this sketch to attempt anything in the direction of
his labors, aside from a brief consideration of the reasons which
led, first, to the formation of the parish, and afterward the town
of East Windsor, of which in these pages we shall particularly
speak. The town of Windsor was born out of a sort of civil tumult,
and if we review in a general way the prominent characteristics
of the early inhabitants of Windsor, we shall find that while
they were distinguished by the same high spirit of indepen
dence and enterprise that characterized their Puritan predeces
sors, they were also noted for a more shrewd calculating policy,
which, if it existed in the first Colonists, was so subdued and
held in abeyance by the intensity of their religious zeal, that
the student does not readily discover it.
The decade that intervened between the landing of the May
Flower's precious freight at Plymouth, and the arrival of the
emigrants at Dorchester, from which colony the Windsor set-
'Sec Stiles' llittory Ancient Windsor.

16 A Glim fist of an Old Parish
tiers came, had been sufficient to familiarize men with the fact,
that New England offered to the adventurer, as well as to the
pilgrim an ample field, not only of safety but also of prospec
tive gain. Enterprising spirits had not long to inquire before
they learned that the waves that " dashed high on a stern and
rock bound coast " also fell away to gently lave less forbidding
shores. Even godly souls, with a somewhat subdued enthusi
asm, seemed to lose sight for a little, of the great primal motive
of Liberty, for which they had given up home and friends and
mother-land, and listened, with almost itching ears, to the en
chanting talcs of the valley of the Connecticut.
About the first of the year 1631, Wahquimacut, a Connecti
cut sachem, anxious to propitiate the power and aid of the
English against his Pequot foes, gave such » glowing account of
the country to Governor Winslow of Plymouth, that he was in
duced to call a conference of the officials of his own and the
Massachusetts Bay Company, to take into consideration the
project of establishing a trading post on the banks of the
Quonek-ta-cut (/. e.) Connecticut River. Strange to say this
did not meet with favoi from Governor Winthrop, who repre
sented the interests of the Bay Company, and finally, upon the
pretense of impoverished resources lie withdrew and the Plym
outh Company were left to prosecute the enterprise alone.
But here we are forced to the painful conclusion that our an
cestors of the Bay colonies did not deal quite fairly and openly
with their brethren in this matter, for within two years from the
period in which Governor Bradford, of Plymouth, who succeded
Winslow, had, through the perseverance and courage of Wil
liam Holmes (who commanded the first English vessel that as
cended the Connecticut river), effected a lodgment on its banks,
wc find him treating with his neighbors from the Bay in relation
to the occupancy of the very lands which he had the best right
to by priority of possession as well us purchase. And in this
connection it is interesting to note the quaint tone of submis-
siveness with which, in his narrative, he mentions their aggran
dizing spirit He says : " Some of tlieir neighbors in the Bay,

A Glimpse cf an Old Parish. 1 1
hearing of the fame of Connecticut river, had a hankiring
after it (as was before noted) and now, understanding that the
Indians were swept away by the great mortality,' the fear of
whom was an obstacle unto them before, which being now taken
away, they began to prosecute it with great eagerness." (Page
338, Bradford's history.)
It is hardly necessary for us here to recount the particulars
of those difficulties which are described at length in the his
tories of the period to which we refer. It is sufficient for our
purpose to notice the firm, aggressive spirit of the men who
had marked this fair land for their own, before whom the Dutch
trader vanished almost without resistance, notwithstanding he
had succeeded in establishing a lucrative traffic with the natives,
from whose presence the " Royal Patentees," under Richard
Saltonstall, fell back, and even after effecting a landing, finally
ceased to insist upon rights, which, judging from the ease with
wliich they yielded them up, they instinctively seemed to feel
would never be accorded them as " Noblemen and Gentlemen,"
by the bold men whose indomitable energy seemed to gain
fresh vigor from their struggles to subdue the country of their
adoption. Certain differences which existed between the colonists from
Dorchester and those who had previously occupied a portion of
the territory of ancient Windsor under Holmes, were brought
to an amicable settlement by a purchase by the new comers of
all but a sixteenth part of the land owned by the Plymouth
Company in Connecticut, known as New Plymouth, for the
sum of " thirty-seven pounds ten shillings." This transaction
was confirmed by a deed, bearing date May 15, 1637, n"d with
It all controversy upon the respective claims ceased. But, as
Governor Bradford tersely expresses it, the "unkindness was not
so soon forgotten."
Enough has been adduced in the foregoing to give us a tol
erably clear insight of the motives and iron determination of
fhose to whom Windsor owes her place in history. That they
Ismail Von which prevailed in 1634.

I» A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
were godly men none can deny. They could hardly fail to
be otherwise, if they listened carefully to such instruction us
was dispensed by their eminently devout minister, John War
ham, but that their religious zeal was coupled with n good de
gree of "diligence in business," which may cause it to suffer
somewhat by comparison with that high standard to which the
Pilgrims attained, is apparent in all transactions to which they
were parties. Nevertheless, this very element of their nature,
under the moral and self-imposed restraints to which they- sub
jected it, has developed characteristics which have become
national in their importance, and which, largely underlying as
they do the very foundations of our structure as a free people,
have made " Windsor " a cherished name among her descend
ants, and the "Mecca" toward which, however far they have
wandered from her, they gladly send their thoughts and desires
in joyous pilgrimage.
The Congregational church of Windsor, which claims to be
the oldest organization of the kind in America, except the
churches of Plymouth and Salem, and whose pretensions to
this position against the rival claimants, located respectively in
Hartford, Connecticut, and Lynn, Massachusetts, have been so
clearly examined and convincingly substantiated by Mr, J. H,
llayden, of Windsor Locks,1 was favored with the ministrations
of the godly John Warham for the first thirty-five years of its
existence in the land of its adoption.
As originally organized and perfected at Plymouth, England,
in 1630, on the eve of their departure for Dorchester, the church
had chosen and installed, as Mr. Warham's colleague, Mr. John
Maverick, who unfortunately died at Dorchester before the re
moval to Windsor,
After a few years, the services of Mr. Ephraim Huit were
secured, and, under the joint labors of these two devoted men,
the church entered upon a course of religious prosperity which
was uninterrupted for a long period in its general progress,
One of the most pleasing features of the early ecclesiastical
"See appendix. Stiles' History, Ancient Windsor.

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. IJ
history of the days of our Fathers, is the honored place the
messengers of God occupied in the hearts of the people,
During his long ministry, no one became more endeared to the
dwellers of this lonely hamlet in the wilderness than their be
loved pastor. Amid all the vicissitudes of war, famine and
pestilence, his voice was heard and his presence was seen
cheering his almost discouraged flock.
But not only in matters of spiritual import was Mr. Warham
especially active, he was thoroughly identified with the civil
and material development of Windsor. Prominent among the
enterprises in which he was interested was the erection of a
grist mill, which, to the present day, is known as the " Old
Warham mill." This great public convenience was the first of
the kind in Connecticut, and tradition tells us that for a long
time its reputation for superior work secured the patronage of
the people for miles around, its renown even extending to the
remoter settlements. Thither in the autumn months, from the
adjacent towns of Middletown, Hartford and Wethersfield,
came the husbandmen, bringing through the forest roads, on
the backs of horses, the scanty products of their newly tilled
lands, tn secure for themselves a winter's supply ol thc"wheatcn
meal " which was turned out by this famous mill, of superior
quality. In this connection, we must remember, that the refined art
of bolting (/. e.) the separation of the bran from the flour by
machinery was then unknown, and the careful housekeeper had
to resort to the tedious operation of hand-sifting the meal when
anxious to produce bread of superior excellence,
The frequent reference to this coarse flour or " meal," in the
old accounts of the period, substantiates the belief that no
marked improvement was made in perfecting the milling
process for many years after the establishment of the colony.
From an old account book which belonged to John Stoughton,
who was at the time selectman of Windsor, bearing date 1695,
we find "An account of ye provision set in ye house of ye Rev.
Timothy Edwards at y<= time of his ordination," and one of the

14 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
most liberal contributions for that occasion was " wheat meal,"
which undoubtedly came with an extra finish from the re
nowned " Old Mill." We can imagine, even at this distance
from the event, the staid demeanor with which each veteran
housewife presented her humble contribution to the newly
married pair, while, no doubt, she looked askance at the
scholarly young minister, and his graceful, handsome bride, the
accomplished Esther Stoddard, speculating mueh the while as
to how the dainty looking lady would accommodate herself to
their humble way of life, or perchance tendered from the store
house of her experience to the young wife, that very uncertain
kind of sympathy which falls to the lot of every young house
keeper to receive, and which it is the peculiar privilege of com
petent matrons to give. But without dwelling upon that
eventful day that marked an epoch in the history of Windsor,
wc can feel assured that when all was over, and the last guest
had gone his way, while the shadows of the dark pine forests
crept toward the humble dwelling that nestled as it were under
their protecting branches, there seemed to come with the
whisperings of the night-winds to those young hearts the
Divine benediction speaking the assuring words of the prophet
" This is the way, walk ye in it." So the night closed around
them in their new home, but tlie light of God's love illumined
their souls, and, warmed by its rays through sixty-three years of
eventful labor in the field they had chosen, Timothy and Esther
Edwards left the impress of their united lives upon the hearts
of untold thousands.
Asking the reader to excuse this digression, the subject of
which will be continued in another chapter, we will return to
the matter in hand. The exact time of the completion of the
Warham mill is uncertain, but it is certain that it was a well
known institution as early as 1645-50, and the evidence of the
records would indicate that this almost indispensable adjunct of
civilization was built about the time of the first church, the
erection of the latter having been delayed from the various
causes incident to a new settlement At least, we have before

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. i$
ui the pleasing incident of Mr. Warham's thorough identifica
tion not only with the church which prospered so signally dur
ing his ministry, in spite of dissenting elements in its midst, but
also with its only material counterpart. From the one he
preached the unquestioned law of God and broke to his little
flock the bread of Eternal Life. From the other he practiced
for their example the " measure they should mete," " pressed
down and well shaken together," and dispensed the wholesome
elements of that daily bread by which his people were wont to
symbolize their faith in spiritual things.
We gather from the old records a few regulations for the
grinding of difierent grains at the old mill, which are herewith
appended. In the year 1650 the record is made that " Robert
Hayward, who was miller in Windsor that year, is freed from
Jury duty while tending his mill." January 8, 1658-9, " At a
town meeting was voted that Samuel Grant should try and seal
measures for the town."
" Also, that Peter Brown, that keeps Ihe mill, should take
but single toll, or the sixteenth part of all grain for his grind-
ing; only of Indian Corn it was voted by the major part that
he should take toll and half, from this time until the 25th of
March next ensuing but no longer."
June I, 1659, " Also, this day, terms agreed upon about the
tolls at the mill : Mr. Warham is to have the sixteenth part, or
two quarts upon a bushel of all English and Malt grinding, and
for Indian Corn a twelfth part, or three quarts upon a bushel
grinding."' Mr. Warham seems to have been quite largely interested in
real estate during the infant years of the colony, his name oc
curring in connection with at least twelve different transfers of
real property, and once he sells a neighbor a mare, for which
the buyer gives a bond, but the investigator is left in the dark
as to the merits of the beast, the record only certifying that the
obligation is cancelled. We hope that the reverend gentleman
I Indian corn was more difficult lo grind than what were known as " English
grains," hence more loll was aiiowed.

1 6 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
gave his customer no reason to cry "It is Naught 1 It U
Naught I "»
October 10, 1640, we find the following record, which deter
mines the fact of the full operation of the mill at that early
date : " Mr. John Warham has by Gift of y« Town one acre of
land more or less. Lying by his Mill, as it bounds north begin-
ing at y« fall of y« water out of ye Trough upon y« Wheel &
So goes downward by ye Runing of ye Mill water till it comes
to ye water in ye Brook and there then it bounds easterly by
yc land of Job Drake along in ye loo bottom, and riseth yc side
of y« bank, going to a tree near ye way where Job goeth down
into his swamp, and there turns from that tree straight six rod
to ye highway, and then bounds by ye way to yc mill afore
exprcst." Under the same date the amount of land belonging
to Mr, Warham is described as follows, viz. : " Ye Mill and land
about it is Four Score and two acres more or less. Bounded
by yc old Brook north and taking in ye South Banks, the new
water course from above y mill against y° corner of Nubcrric's
Lott dotin below yc mill till y" waters meet." In conclusion,
the last and most interesting connection of Mr. Warham with
the mill is found in the deed of gift to his wife Abigail, wliich is
copied from the record.
" Know all Men by these presents that I, John Warham of
Windsor, upon Connecticott having upon a Contract of Mar
riage with my beloved wife Abigail Received with her an Estate
of Five hundred pounds, at an under valine, whereof she stood
fully and Absolutely possessed for herself, Heirs Executors
Administrators and Assignes forever. I the said John Warham
do in consideration hereof. Give make over and assure and
Confirm, unto the said Abigail my endeared wife this fol
lowing Estate, by way of Jointure, Viz. Imprimis — My now
dwelling' house in Windsor the Bam out housing Orchard Garden
and home Lott with the meadow of all sorts swamp and upland,
Cleared and not cleared adjoyning to the said home Lott. by
Estimate thirty-three acres and a half more or less, with all the
'See I Book Town Records, 1640-1670.

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. I
fences and wood and other Immunities Priviledges and Appui
tenances thereto belonging, to be her, her Heirs. Executors an
Assignes forever. It™. My Corn Mill being and standin
within the Township of Windsor (It first being provided wit
new Stones and whatever is wanting in Repairs made up 01
of my Estate) with all the land thereto belonging According t
the true and full bounds thereof and the Privilidges Appurtt
nances and Immunities thereto belonging, to be hers, her Heir
Executors Administrators and Assignes forever. Itm. the Ian
of her former husbands Mr. Brankers, (except the house an
home Lott with the privilidges and appurtenances thereto b«
longing which are already sold to my Son Allyn) valued at 50,
& also a debt due to me from Miles Murrwin to the vallew c
50,6 both these with the Priviledges and Appurtenances ;.ieret
belonging to be hers, her Heirs Administrators and Assignt
forever. All and every of the said paicclls of Estate to be m
said wife's, and she to take possession thereof and to have rigl
to dispose of intircly after my decease, and to have and to hoi
all and every of the said Paicclls of Estate to herself. Heir
Executors and Asiigncs forever, hereto as my fiee act and dee
and that which I have desired to be recorded according to la\
I have set my hand and seal this present 8th of Aprill, 166.
In witness of us, John Russell,
Matthew Grant, Recorder.
Richard Veer."
Note. — Mr. Warham's signature is wanting in the record.
Unfortunately but few of the manuscript sermons of M
Warham are in existence, but the composition and writing ii
dicate the clear, active temperament of the man. In referem
to this matter Cotton Mather, in his " Magnalia," says : '
suppose the first Preacher that ever preached with notes, in 01
New England, was the Rev. Warham, who though he was son
limes faulted for it by some judicious men who had never heai
him, yet when once they came to hear him, they could not bi

• 8 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
admire the notable energy of his ministry. But I have one
thing to relate concerning him which I would not mention, if
I did not by the mention thereof propound and expect the ad
vantage, of some that may be my readers. Know then that
though our Warham were as pious a man as most that wero out"
of Heaven, yet Satan often threw him into those deadly pangs
of melancholy that made him despair of ever getting thither,
Such were the terrible temptations and horrible buffetings un
dergone sometimes by the soul of this holy man that when he
has administered the Lord's Supper to his flock whom he durst
not starve by omitting to administer that ordinance, yet he has
forborne himself to partake at the same time in the ordinance,
through the fearful dejections of his mind, which persuaded him
that those blessed seals did not belong unto him. The dread
ful darkness which overwhelmed this child of light in his life did
not wholly leave him till his death.
'Tis reported that he did even set in a cloud, when he retired
into the Glorified Society of those Righteous ones that are to
shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father, though
some have asserted that the cloud was dispelled before he
expired." The following fac-similie is from a sermon found in a trunk
in the possession of the author, which belonged to Esther
Edwards, the mother of Jonathan Edwards, and doubtless came
into her hands through her mother, Mrs. Solomon Stoddard, of
Northampton, who was Esther? or Hester, Mr. Warham's
youngest daughter.
The sermon opens as 'follows: Psalme 7, Verse 2 to y« 10
Verse. Februry I : 1662.
" The authorer's, occasion and scope ol this psalme, we have —
severily set downe and continued in y« above inscription, Shig-
gaion of David or David's shiggaion as .some do state it. Shig-
gaion, y<= word comes from a word y' signefys to stray or wan
der, the meaning of ye word is very uncertain. Some take it
to bee an instrum' of musick, others a certain tune or begin-

Fac Simile Sermon— Rev. John Wareham. [Two-thirds Actual Size.]

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 19
ning of song, or certainee kinde of verse and used in great an-
guishee and strivings of heart through greatness of trouble
which might occation weary — and much falling from overstay
ing &c,"
'The above manuscript testifies to the strict economy forced
upon our ancestors in the use of paper, that article being a
luxury not generally indulged in by the people, u.itil many
years later, Even ministers and officials were frequently
obliged to economize its use, and, consequently, the text of old
manuscripts is often closely written and abbreviated to a puz
zling degree.'
The Edwards papers, from which we shall quote in another
chapter, were peculiarly so, many of the sermons being so fine
ly written as to require the aid of a glass in deciphering them.
Mr. Warham died in 1670, leaving a large estate over which
his heirs contended sharply for some time, until the Colonial
Court decided that as Mr. Warham had left " three wills," and
the court could not decide as to the validity of any of them,
his estate shall be distributed " According to Law."'
Among those who contested the "Wills" and petitioned for
a statutory distribution were the Rev. Solomon Stoddard and
his wife Hester, of Northampton. This lady was a daughter of
Mr. Warham, and had been the wife of Mr. Mather, by whom
she had three children. By her second husband she bore twelve
more, among whom was Esther, the wife of Timothy Ed
wards. Mrs. Abigail Warham survived her husband several years.
She had considerable property of her own at the time of her
marriage to Mr. W., who was her second husband. There ap
pears to have been several expectant relatives, who were impa
tiently waiting for her demise. We give her will, which was
copied from the original record, in the exact language of the
original.

'See Piobate Records for Hartford and Windsor, Vol. jd, 1670-1700.

»o A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
"THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF MRS. ABICALL
WARHAM."
We under written being present with Mrs Warham who
spent her last dayes in our family, she discoursing with us
respecting her Estate, she declared that she had formerly given
her Cousin Miles Merwin such a Multitude, that if she had
thousands she would not give him a penny. No not a pinns
poynt, she further said that things were so with her now in re
gard of her long sickness and expense thereupon that she could
not tell whether she had anything to give away. She also dis
owned that she had any will and sayd further that her Cousin
Miles Merwin desired that she would make over her estate to
him. and she manifested herself much troubled, and sayd she
knew not but that she might live to need it and expend it. and
that she had before she dyed, Mary the wife of Capt Newberry
and Abagaill the daughter of the aforesaid, both affirm that
Mrs Warham sayd to them when she was of good understand
ing & sound memory concerning her Estate, that if there was
any thing left when the Court had to consider thereoff, she had
thought that little Miles Merwin should have somewhat and the
other that lived with her so long, & as for her moveables that
were brought into our house. Return Strong, Mary Ncw-
burry & Abagail doe testify she freely gave them to us, and
sayd they should not be taken from us. The abovesajed was
by her declared to us sometime last March. Sept. 4 1684

Benjamin Newberry
Mary M Newberry's mark
Abagail C Newberry's mark
Return Strong,"

We have spoken at length of Mr. Warham and his character
istics, because of his connection with the distinguished family
of Timothy Edwards, whose life we shall briefly consider in the
following pages.

CHAPTER II.

FORMATION OF MR, EDWARDS1 80CIETV.
" "(range that from a beginning 10 feeble, »o frail, so worthy, not to much I
admiration M of pity, should have gone forth a growth » wonderful, a progrei
10 steady, a reality to Important,"— Evtrttt'i Afettnfki It tkt Pitpims.

""THE town of Windsor, as originally occupied by the Dor
Chester emigrants, embraced a tract about ten by twelv
miles in area, and was divided into two nearly equal portion
by the Connecticut, or "Ye Great River," as the dwellers on it
banks were wont to call it ; that portion upon the west sid
being Wind, or proper, while the parish opposite is spoken c
in ancient records as "Windsor Farmes," later known as Eas
Windsor. Over this last named society Mr. Timothy Edward
was settled as their first pastor. According to tradition, it ha
been the intention of the emigrants to locate upon this east sid
of the river when the first attempt was made at colonizatior
Whether there are sufficient grounds for accepting this, it i
difficult to ascertain, but if the reason assigned by the histoi
ians as preventing the accomplishment of the purpose be an
thenticated, i. e. danger from freshets, we can readily undei
stand why the preference was given to the west bank, where
seems, without question, a lodgment was first made. Thei
are records, however, at a very early date, of purchases froi
Indians, embracing large tracts in what is now East Windso
Not long after the building of the first church in 1640, tli
records show that the enterprising farmers of the valley ha
secured for themselves large possessions upon the east side 1
the river, and thither, after a little, many of the younger me

»» A Glimpse of an Old Parish. , ,
with their families had removed. There, for more than forty
years, this little off-shoot of the parent colony existed, and
grew in the face of obstacles truly appalling, until, at length,
feeling a strength adequate to the undertaking, they demanded
recognition as an independent society.
For more than a generation, they argued, that in order to
worship God in his house they had been obliged to cross a
broad and rapid stream which at some seasons constituted an
almost impassable barrier between them and their kindred. No
bridge then spanned its turbulent waters; no substantial boats
plied between its banks. Tl.c only means of passage was the
rudely constructed craft that the settler improvised from scanty
materials, by the aid of few and imperfect tools. Yet at the
sound of "ye trumpet" that called to prayer, or the beat of
"Ye Alarum Drum" that bespoke the hostile advance of their
vigilant, dusky, forest toe, these intrepid men ventured upon
the treacherous ice bridge amid the driving snows of winter;
or launched tlieir frail canoes upon the broad bosom of the
stream, which, swollen by the melting snow of spring time,
swept then, as it now annually sweeps, a mighty waste of ice
laden waters, between the high bluffs that define its course.
Thus, amid these perils, for years they had given their heart
and strength to tlieir brethren of the west side ; tliey had con
tributed tlieir quota of men and money against the common
foe; they aided by their deliberations in the town meetings,
frequently called for the common weal ; they hasted to the
house of God, to receive the elements of that spiritual food, for
which their fathers had sought a forest home ; and finally, like
worthy descendants of those stern pioneers in the wilderness,
who had transmitted to them the free spirit by which they
themselves grew, they rose up and asked from the general court
of the colony recognition as a distinct society and township.
Of those who first occupied lands upon the east side we have
but very scanty testimony, and the allusions to them in the old
records previous to their organization as a distinct parish are
confusing, so much so, in some instances, as to prevent a satis-

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 23
factory conclusion as to whether certain town acts have distinct
reference to the eastern society or not. For instance, it has been
commonly accepted that the beautiful street which follows the
bluff through what is now South Windsor (formerly a part of
East Windsor) was laid out as a public highway as early as
1672, in accordance with an order of the court. But, among
the papers of Capt. Thomas Stoughton, we find the following
"Mandamus," which indicates that travel had been rather by
sufferance than by any legal right over each other's lands.
"WHEREAS— The General Court of Connecticut at their
Sessions the 12 of May 1670 ordered that the Selectmen in the
respective Plantations on the river shall lay out a Highway six
rods wide upon the upland on the East Side of the Great River,
that men may pass to their Lotts thiere as occasions shall re
quire, as more at large may appear by the said order, & where
as it is
"Complayned by several of the Inhabitants of Windsor on
the East Side the River that it is neglected by the Selectmen
wliich is to the Great damage of the Inhabitants there. These
therefore are within named to require the Selectmen of said
Windsor, forthwith to attend the aforesaid order of Court, & to
Lay out the said highway, that so one neighbor may pass to
another with out being a Tresspasser. Dated in Hartford
April 6, 1692. John Allyn, )
Caleb Stanley, > Assistants."
Nathaniel Stanley. )
The petition to the General Court, in 1 694, signed by about
forty of the landholders of the East township, in which they
respectfully solicit the privilege of securing and maintaining a
pastor among them, was granted 011 the 10th of May.
This occurred about fourteen years after the first effort to
obtain this concession. We have not the complete record of
all the objections which were urged against the measure by
their brethren of the Old Parish, but it appears that they per-

34 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
sistently opposed the petition. It is very probable they feared
the loss of numerical strength, many of their younger and enter
prising men, attracted by the rich, alluvial soil of the wide
meadows which lay between the river and the high bluff upon
which they could locate above the devastating freshets, had re
moved from the west to the east side. Large grants of land
had been occupied between the Scantic and Podunk rivers, and
upon them were living some of the men who were the very
bone and sinew of the colony. They were the men whose
contributions of time and money had done much to recuperate
'he exhausted strength of Mr. Warham's church, before his
death, when it was suffering from the bickerings of those who
finally departed and formed a new church under Mr. Wood-
bridge, — men who had been ready to shed their blood in the
defence of their mutual rights against the common foe, during
the Indian war of 1675. To allow such elements of strength
to withdraw, seemed to the dwellers in the mother settlement
almost a suicidal policy. Hitherto all had been united in the
support of the minister and administration of local govern
ment. With a new church organization, they could hardly ex
pect financial aid from the second parish in support of their
own minister, and, as a consequence, the burden of this would
draw heavily upon their depleted finances. These, with many
other objections, had been sufficient to cause the General Court
to delay, for the period mentioned, a favorable consideration of
the petition referred to.
But the concession on the part of the General Court, when
it came, was only a partial one, and although they were per
mitted to settle a minister, in 1694, the final incorporation of
the people of Mr. Edwards' parish, as a distinct society, did
not take place until 1699; and this act of the Court seems to
have been a sort of compromise between two extreme demands
of the people; for we find, among the old manuscripts, evidence
that the restive inhabitants of " Windsor Farmes " wished to
separate themselves from Old Windsor in civil as well as in
ecclesiastical matters. This is evident, from the following vote.

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 2$
which we give in the quaint and dubious wording and ortho
graphy of the original :
"Att a meeting of the inhaby tance on the East Side of Con-
etycott River in ye township of Windsor on the 3d day of Maye
1697. They then voated to ma.ke aplycation to the honnored
general Court to be holden att Hartford this instant month
y' the presant inhabytance and those y' shall inhabit with them
hereafter may have the liberties and privilcdges of a towne.
Capt Joseph Fitch Mr Nathaniel Bissell and Thomas Stough
ton chosen to order that afaire." "Allso Voted that Seatcs be
made in the meeting house and each one to pay thiere propor
tion by way of Rate." " Voated also that Mr Edwards should
be called to ofiis a soon as convenyiantly may be, and those
that are male church members to treat with him respectin that
matter." At the time of the formation and formal recognition of the
new church, as the Second Church of Windsor, the township
east of the river was comparatively sparsely settled. " Above
fifty families," according to the petition, made up a population
extending along the river from Podunk, on the south, to the
site of the present location of the Connecticut River Quarry
Company, at the northern limit, a distance of about six miles.
There were a few adventurous dwellers who had penetrated the
forests in the vicinity of what is now the village of Windsorville
upon " Ketch Brook," also, upon the Scantic River, which
afforded a good milling location, there had been one or two
buildings erected, but, in the main, the territory now occupied
by the thriving villages of Broad Brook, Ellington, Warehouse
Point and Windsorville, then embraced in the town of East
Windsor, was a howling wilderness, almost unexplored, and
untenanted except by herds of red deer and crafty savages,
Although the defeat of Philip, in 1676, had done much
toward breaking the spirit of the ancient owners of the soil, the
Indian was far from being rendered an insignificant foe. The
dark pine forests that overshadowed the settlers' homes and
stretched miles away to tlie eastward, up the head waters of

26 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
the Podunk and Scantic rivers, sheltered, in their recesses,
hundreds of sworn foes of the white man. Remnants of those
tribes which had so lately laid aside all sectional and tribal
jealousies, and under the impulse of a common cause had fol
lowed the haughty Philip, stood ready, at the beck of their
chieftains, to avenge his blood. For many years the intrepid
dwellers at " Windsor Farmes " " slept on their arms " and at
tended to their simple duties amid unseen dangers from the
fierce Podunk and Scantic Indians; dangers, the magnitude of
which are only understood by those who see their revelation in
the smoking embers of what was once an humble home, or
read the startling testimony of their weight in the cold, pale
faces of loved ones ruthlessly slain.
That the Indians of Windsor were vindictive, none can doubt
who are familiar with the records of the period to which we
refer ; and that they were comparatively numerous, is apparent
from the many implements of warfare and husbandry that are
frequently brought to light by the husbandman's plough, or
found by the diligent antiquary upon the sandy slopes ol the
many forest streams.
Thus, in the spirit to wliich we have alluded, these men toiled
on, laying deep the foundations of a religious liberty which, in
its characteristics, was distinctly puritan, yet which, under a
peculiar combination of climatic and moral influences, seemed
to differ from the darker, sterner spirit of 1620, even as the
fertile vales and alluvial soil of "ye Great River Valley" was
unlike the course sand and flinty rock of Plymouth.
Thus our ancestors labored and builded, little dreaming of
the wonderful growth to be developed by God's untiring hand
from their feeble beginning. And when we, who live upon the
fruit of their ripened principles, look back upon the dawning
day of our Commonwealth, we wonder that even the privileges
of religious liberty, of mutual protection and self-government,
should have been persistently sought at such a price as history
records.

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. a;
To such a people the choice of a minister was an importan
step, and in this case peculiarly so. Many of the members o
the new had been participants in, as well as witnesses of, th<
dissensions of the old church, and they were anxious to secur
one whose ministrations should unite any discordant element
in their midst, and lead them up to a more wholesome inwan
and outward prosperity, and, to use the words of their peti
tion, " enabling us to be more servicible to the public weal o
this Colony."
This was the spirit and condition of the parish to which Tim
othy Edwards was called, and to it he came in the strength am
richness of early manhood, cultured and refined beyond hi
fellows, deeply imbued with that love to God and man whicl
his life and teachings so beautifully exemplified. The recon
of his ministry is one long tale of arduous labor in the Master'
vineyard, and its crowning glory is a name which, borne by hi
own flesh, nurtured and warmed by the fires of his own devo
tion during the tender years of youth, is to-day world-wide i:
its celebrity, and the recognized head of his school. Surely n
greater, richer heritage can belong to any community than th
memories that cluster about the honored name of that god!
child of " Windsor Farmes," JONATHAN EDWARDS.

-iri^fe-^

CHAPTER III.

A GLANCE AT THE PEOPLE OF THE "FARME."

" What constitutes a State?"
TT may give us quite as clear a picture of the customs and
condition of the people at the " Farmes," at the time of Mr.
Edwards' settlement, to consult their own memoranda of trans
actions' between each other, as to refer to the public records.
From an old account book wliich bears the following unmistak
able testimony of its antiquity, viz.: "John Stoughton, his
Book— made June the 27th, 1695," we gather some particulars.
This John Stoughton1 was the son of Thomas Stoughton, the
first of the name who'came to Windsor, in 1635. He received
from his father quite a large tract of land lying east of the
river, near what was then the northern limit of the settlement,
including the premises now occupied by the Hon. Lemuel
Stoughton, in East Windsor, This he increased, by various
purchases, until he ranked among the first property holders in
the parish. He had a large family by two wives, and we find,
from his accounts, that he was one of the prominent and most
active business men in the town.
Mr. Stoughton opens his book with a memorandum of "one
load of wood carried to Mr. Edwards, on the nth October,
1695." Then follow, in succession, several entries of a similar
kind, which seem to indicate a sort of gratuitous contribution
of fuel to the new pastor, for, after Mr. Edwards was fairly set-
led, an account is opened which indicates great exactness on
the part of Mr. S., as to charges and credits with the minister.
On the 25th of September, 1695, the people of the " Farmes"
I His grandson, Nathaniel, married Abigail Poiwin, daughter of Rev. Mr. Pot-
win, of East Windsor, and removed to Wethersfield, Vermont, and became the
grandfather of the late E. W, Stoughton, of New York.

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. ao,
had " voted to Mr. Edwards, besides the hundred pounds before
granted, three score pounds a year for the two first years, seven
ty pounds per year for the next two years, and eighty pounds
per year for the future, and his wood." Of this salary, Mr.
Stoughton's " rate," or proportion, is entered in his account
with Mr. E., as follows : " My Rate to Mr. Timothy Edwards
in yc year 1695, to his settlement £01, 17SI1, 05d."
The hundred pounds referred to in the vote were as compen
sation for Mr. E.'s time while preaching as a candidate, previous
to his call. According to Mr. S.'s memoranda, " Mr. Edwards
came with his wife November 14, 1694," and probably his first
ministerial work was done in Mr. Stoughton's house, the church
edifice and the parsonage not being completed for more than
two years after, or, more likely, he gathered his flock in some
large barn, and there preached with the forceful eloquence of
his ardent nature the merits of Christ crucified. Nor is this '
improbable, for it is certain there was no public edifice that
would have answered the purpose, then standing in the town,
and the records conclusively show when the church was finished.
Certain it is, that many years later, when Mr. Potwin was or
dained over the second society in East Windsor, the services
were conducted in Mr. "Joel Prior's barn," which venerable
structure is still standing, a few rods north of what is known as
"Quarry Brook."
Mr. Stoughton was at this time selectman of Windsor, and
owing to his prominence in the community was naturally called
upon to entertain the ministerial bridal party, for, only eight
days before, the queenly young woman, who accompanied Mr,
Edwards, had, in her distant Northampton home, become the
new pastor's bride, and after the fashion of those early days,
they hasted through the forests to the scenes of their after
labors. There, for the present, by that huge wood fire, in Mr.
Stoughton's hospitable mansion, on that chill November night
of 1694, let us leave them.
Looking through the " Book," we find mention of the first
Deacon of the new church, and also at the same time get some

30 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
idea of the price of pigeons. "Aug, i, 1699, Deacon Job
Drake is dettor to one duson pigins £00. ooj. o6d. " and
certainly sixpence a dozen does not seem an exorbitant price if
we call the meat nothing and simply allow for the amount of
powder and shot which our ancestors (or, to say the least, which
their degenerate descendants,) would use to secure that number
of " Pigins." On the "Cr " page we find " Deacon Job," upon
the I October 1 700, offsets the Pigeon account with "one pint
of honey — .£00. on. O^d," Job Drake senior, appears from
the accounts, to have been a tailor. "Januwary 21 for makeing
John a lether wastecoat £00. 02*. o8d." Looking along a
little farther, Deacon Drake's honey charge is supplemented by
" one day to plaster " £00. 03*. ood, and Mr. Stoughton, after
charging up " pigins " enough to partly meet this enormous
charge of the Deacon of three shillings for a day's work, closes
the account with a balance due Deacon Drake of £00 01s. 03^.
The Stoughtons seem to have been the Nimrods of the east
side, for John records as follows, " 1699 bought of Brother
Israel Stoughton one dear skin at 5sh. money." The spelling
leaves us in some doubt as to whether the skin was dear (deer)
at the price or not. Page 20, Samuel Rockwell is charged as
follows i

"June 4"1 1697 Dettor for one day with my
teeme to draw loogs to the Sa'mill 00-06-00
December 18 for 3 bushels of indian corn 00-07-03

The credit side of the account reads;

00-13-03" £ s d

"bought of Samuel Rockwell July 26"> 1697
21 pound 6 ounces of venison at id. per
pound 00-02-09
Sept 2" for a Doo skin [Doe] 00-04-00 00-06-09"
Samuel Grant Junior (grandson of Matthew Grant, the first
pf the name in America), was a carpenter, and is charged by

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. J I
Mr. S upon the 21 of July 1697, "for one acar of gnu in the
Booges (Bogs) (». e. the low meadow) £00 o2i\ ocW. Cr. by
yourself and John Davis to frame a leanto £00 05/. OoVi's
Sept 18 1697 by makeing 4 barrils of Sidar at your mill and
Press £00 02 s. ood."
Nanthaniel Bissell is a shoemaker and keeps a ferry. We
will give some extracts from this account. This ferry was
located near the wharf of the present Conn. River Quarry Co.,
and just north of Mr. Stoughton's meadow.
" April 25 1696 — bought of Nathaniel Bissell one pare of
6hooes for John .£00 05*. odd. May 2d one pare for William
£00 05*. o6d."
It is refreshing to find that " deadheads " were not then rec
ognized in an official capacity and consequently Mr. S, although
selectman, pays full fare for himself and family unless on
"public business." We resume: "April i8lh 1698 for ferriing
myself and horse forth & back .£00 on. o6d." Mr. Bissell also
has a cider press, and for this he is further credited, August 24,
1697, " By the use of your mill and Press to make 2 barrils of
Sidar £00 01*. ood." The same month, the weather probably
being warm and Mr. Bissel not craving spiritual lore disposes
of his " Catechisom " to Mr. S for the sum of £00 00*. o6d.
The Dr. side charges Mr. Nathaniel Bissel on the 21 of Decem
ber, with 7 pounds of tobacco .£00 03*. o6d, and for William
one day to dtive plow ^00 01*. 041/. and so the account runs
for several years with a final balance in Bissell's favor cf £01 OOS,
04^. Brother Atherton Marthar who married Mr. S's sister
Rebecca, was a merchant and is Cr. as follows ; £ s d
"July 5 1700 bought of brother Marthar one
tithe 00-05-00
" bought of brother Marthar one
Gallon of Molasses OO-03-OO
& a pint and a half of rum at 1 shilling 00-01-06
" " Rapiar for John OO-13-00
all money or pay at money price 02-02-06"

]3 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
The next Cr. leaves the antiquary in some doubt as to
whether the contents of the " Bottel" may not have been reduced
when the entry was made,
"Aug 14 Bought of Brother Marthar one Glas bottel full of
rum ooiT 02*, odd. Page 55 exhibits a condition of things
which had they been known to Mr. Edwards, would undoubt
edly have called forth a sermon on " total depravity," but
perhaps it was all he would have expected of a man who would
buy his neighbor's " Cathechisom " and sell him "tobackoo" to
balance the account."
The entry indicates an important crisis at home. We read,
"November 25 1708 Dettor to Mr. Nathaniel Bissel for ferriage
the midwife and waiting at the river in pay <x>£ 02s. ood. and
for a pint of rhtim at the same time in pay oo,£ on. 031?'."
But when we read the corresponding entry, and recall the fact
that the festivities were prolonged into the night, the old
gentleman's conduct seems less reprehensible. "November 25
1708 Mary Stoughton was borne }'i houre after Sundowne
baptized Nov 28 1708 by Mr. Edwards."
At a meeting of the town January 17, 1697-8, it was
" Voted that all the male inhabitants from sixteen years of age
and upwards shall kill one dozen of Blackbirds or give one
shilling to the town treasury, And whosoever shall kill above
his dozen shall have one shilling paid out of the town rate, and
whosoever shall kill six Blackbirds, in March or April, it shall
be counted as if he had killed a dozen," Town Acts Book (1 (
-72 Page.) The extra inducement for killing in the spring
months, mentioned above, was undoubtedly to ptevent the
breeding of the birds, who were very destructive to the crops.
In the account with the town among other items wc find;
"April, 1699. Dettor the townc of Windsor for killing 6 black-
birds 00,£ 01s. ood. May 1699, for killing 39 blackbirds oo,£
03*. id." In this pastime, he was undoubtedly assisted by his
sons John and William, children by his first wife, who were
then young men.

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 33
The town is made "dettor" In May, 1699, "for John to warn
the inhabitants on the East Side of y« Great River to a town
meeting £00 ok. ood. & for myself to run the line between
Hartford and us, £00 02*. ood" which no one will deny was a
modest charge for an "official survey." A year or so later,
John seems to have laid aside the " Rapiar " which his father
had purchased of "Alherton Marthar," and with it all aspira
tions for military renown. His father records on June 19,
1701, "John Stoughton went to live with Matthew Grant, to
lame to be a Shoemaker."
From this Old Book we also have an insight of the workings
of the law in reference to indigent and idle persons. Under the
old restrictions, such persons could only be harbored in the
towns to which they belonged cither by birth, or adoption and
legal residence,
December 19, 1702, "I warned widow Hutchins and Richard
Persee out of the toutie, both of sd persons liveing at the house
of Ebenzer Loomis warned by me John S.oughton one of the
Selectmen. Dec 21 I also warned Elizabeth Warnar out of the
tonne at this time, sd Warner liveing at the house of Mr.
Nathaniel BUsell, by me John Stoughton Selectman."
" 1702 Peter Miles Junior cr for making John a Jacket and a
pare of briches £<x> 07*. ood." In this entry Mr. S uses, as
will be noticed, the letter i instead of j, which occurs frequently
in his accounts.
Samuel Tudor teaches school. "April 14 1703 Samuel
Tudor began to keep school at the meeting house and is to
keep there seavon weeks wanting one day." 1 11 another place,
we learn that his compensation was " nine shilling 9 pence per
week," A little later William Sloughtoii seems to have taken
up the " Rapiar " which his brother had so ignominiuusly re
signed for the awl and wax. His father records the following;
"May 13 1704, William went to pursue the common adversary..
returned may 18 1 704."

34 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
February 10, 1706-7, occurs an entry which would teem to
indicate that William did not annihilate the foe the first trip he
made. In fact, to use a vulgarism, his " staying qualities " do
not seem to have been remarkable — at any rate his father
quaintly observes: "Feb 10 William marched up into the
county of Hampshire, on the country service ; returned Feb
ruary 19." We are not informed whether William "marched"
or flew back, but as the county of Hampshire was about forty
miles distant, through a dense wilderness, we may justly infer
that he did not hold a protracted interview with his " Red
Brother." Mrs. Stoughton falls sick in 1705, and consequently, the ac
count shows Mr. S to be "dettor to Doct. Obadiah Hosford for
visiting my wife, and <t portion of lodonum [laudanum] in
money ^00 01*. 04'/" The next physician mentioned is Samuel
Mathar. " Nov 4 1705 Doct Mather cr for visiting my wife and
for a viall of stuff /oo 02*. odd." In another place Mr. S. is
charged with a "sleeping powder," and a "portion of fisick."
July 11, 1706, " Dr Mather cr by spirits of liartnhorne and a
Pill £00 01*. \od." The only other physician mentioned is
" Dotr Thomas Hooker of Hartford," 1'uithcr reference shows
the employments of some of the people of the "Farmes."
"Thomas Marshall makes a pare of wheels." "Samuel Elmor
is a weaver and is credited Oct 2 1699 by weaving 25 yards and
a half of ocuni & linnin cluath ,£00 13*. ood." The blacksmith
of the village is Samuel Burnham, and the account opens with
some of the most striking orthographical features in the whole
book. "Feb 29 1699 Dettor to Samuel Burnham for makeing
a stirrup iron £00 01*. ood."
" May 22a for mending a how and making a kee for a yoake
£00 00*. oSd."
" May 16 1 70 1 for making a Gridiron & shutting a bayle of
a payle ;£oo 02*. ood. Sept 8 for shutting a link in a whippol-
tree chain ,£00 01*. ood. On the "4 April 1704 Mr. Whiiin of
Hartford is cr one dear skin in money £00 II*. OOd." (/, /. to
be paid for in cash, not barter.)

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 35
Page 49 shows Nathaniel Grant to have been town collector
for the year 1700, "and the widow Easther Phelpes" is charged
with her town tax, paid by Mr, Stoughton to Grant, £00 05*
031/. To offset this, the widow " spins half a pound of stokin
yarn," and knits the warlike William " one pare of stokins £00
03*. odd." About this time there is a memorandum of " Wil
liam going a scouting," for which a moderate charge is made
against the town, probably, however, commensurate with tlie
young man's capabilities in Indian warfare.
William Wolcott is credited, "April 18 1706 by makeing a
mante for my daughter Rebeckah ,£00 02*. Old." and May 21,
the doting sire credits, " 3 pare of small stays ,£00 07*. odd."
Mr. John Wolcott is a brewer, and February 19, 1704-5, Mr.
Stoughton enters, "five bushels of Otes carried to Mr. John
Wolcott to be malted, Feb 2 1 eight bushels of barley carried to
be malted."
From these accounts we get an idea of the cost of living, &c.
Sugar is quoted at " 6^ per lb in money," a distinction being
made between a cash and exchange trade.
Wool 10 pence per pound. The luxury of an ivory comb
cost £00 01*. odd, and "one yard and a quarter of printed lin-
nin at 02*. per yard £00 02*. o6r/."
William Pitkin, cf Hartford, is credited by "fulling 28 yarde
of plaine cloath at $<< per yarde ,£00 07*. ood. Aprill 9 1697
by fulling 10 yardes of linscwoolse at 3rf per yard ,£00. 02*.
06</." On page 46, we find Mr. Stoughton makes himself "dettor"
to the Rev. Timothy Edwards, for the year 1700, "my Rate
£01 09*. odd." He pays his rate that year in farm products
and labor upon Mr. Edwards' farm, as follows : " Decr Timothy
Edwards dr for 2 bu iiidian corn ,£00 05*. ood. and for William
# day to cut bushes & ]4 a duzen pigines £00 01*. ogd."
"Brother Thomas Stoughton," who married Mr. Timothy
Edwards' sister, Abigail, in 1697, was evidently busy prepar
ing for that event, which occurred on the 19th of May. He is

36 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
/Too oix. 02d. for my teeme to cart a load of bords from Sc»n-
tuck— jtjoo 00*. oorf."
Thomas retaliates by " filling a bbl with sidar at £oo oSs.
ood.," and November 3d, delivers " 26 lb beefe to his brother
for £00 06*. 09<V."
Wc find, from various memoranda, something of Mr. Stough
ton's property: "September 11 1696 i give in my list —

My Parson (1. e. person)

18.00

land

16.00

2 horses 2 oxen 1 cow

17.00

2 of 2 ycare, 2 swine

06.00

£57-o°

The list of my estate 1703

2 Persons

36—00 — 00

meado 7 acurs )
upland 9 acr )

13—00 —

meado at Podunk 5 % acr

05—00—

2 horses 3 oxen

18—00—

2 cows, 1 year

07 — 00—

4 swine

4 — 00 —

£83 — 00 — 00"
We discover here, also, the price of land. June 12, 1701,
Joseph Fitch, Jr., receipts for "eighteen pounds of currant
money received for 3 acurs of land sold Mr. Stoughton." The
school teacher for the year 1702 is discovered in the following
memoranda: "April 27 1 702 James Younglove began to keep
school." Below this memoranda, an entry reveals the secrets
of the family pharmacopje : " To make a sump, (Take) Lickoris
rod, red rooses, coltsfoot, burnit (burnt) anniseed maidenhair."
The proportions in which these ingredients are to be used are
not mentioned, and the writer seems indifferent as to the quan
tity for a dose. Undoubtedly its virtues were sung by them
of olden times as they rehearsed its magical woi kings. But
we must leave this musty book. The selections have been
made from the hundreds of entries on its closely written pages

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 37
limply to show a little of the humble mode of life of our ances
tors. As we close the time-worn volume, the picture of those
forest homes rises, well defined, before us, and, as we bid fare
well to its testimonies, we can almost fancy we feel the loosen
ing pressure of the toil-worn hands that penned them, while
the evening prayers of the little hamlet of " Windsor Farmes "
seem rising with the woodland mists around us.

CHAPTER IV,

MR. EDWARDS' CALL TO "OFFIS."

" The fertilising power of a great mind is truly wonderful. The farther we
wander from It, the more completely is it hidden from us by the very abundance
and productiveness it haa caused." — Agatsh Addrttt at th* Humboldt Ctnttnniat.

THE veil of obscurity rests upon the origin of that branch
of the Edwards family which came to America. Burke,
in his work on heraldry, makes mention of two distinguished
branches of the name, of Welsh origin. One of these bore on
their "Arms" the Welsh motto, " Heb Dduw, Ddim Dww
Adigon," — " Everything with God, Nothing without God."
Certainly the above sentiment would seem doubly significant if
its unquestioned connection with the renowned representative
of the Edwards name in America could be established.
Tradition has always associated the first emigrant of the
family to America with a Welsh ancestry, and Dr. Dwight's
genealogical notice asserts the Rev. Richard Edwards, a dis
tinguished London clergyman during Queen Elizabeth's reign,
to have been the father of William, the first of the name on
these shores. Later investigations render the old traditions
doubtful, in some- impoitant respects. It is, however, well au
thenticated that the Widow Anne Edwards, with her son Wil
liam, came to Hartford about 1640. Before her coming, or
soon afterwards, she became the wife of Mr. James Cole.
William Edwards, in 1645 or 1646, espoused Agnes Spencer,
widow of William Spencer, who had been a prominent and
respected citizen of Massachusetts Bay, up to 1639, when he
removed to Hartford, where he soon after died, leaving the

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. JO
Widow Agnes with three children to care for. The dates of
these events are clearly established ; but so much uncertainty
attaches to the English ancestor, the Rev. Richard Edwards,
who, to say the least, must have been distinguished, if at all,
during Queen Elisabeth's reign, before 1603, as Elisabeth died
that year, that we can hardly accept Dr. Dwight's chronology.
Mrs. Anne (Edward-.) Cole died in Hartford in 1679, if we ac
cept Dr. Dwight's theory regarding her husband's notoriety
during the reign of Queen Bess, and allow her to have been a
wife and mother before 1603, the year of the Queen's death,
her age would have been probably so great as to have attracted
more than passing comment. On the other hand, supposing
the Rev. Richard Edwards to have survived his sovereign, it is
singular that so distinguished, and in all probability, so aged a
divine should have gone out in such obscurity. Until further
light is thrown upon the subject, we shall be obliged, with one
who has given the subject carelul consideration, to regard the
Rev. Richard Edwards as " too shadowy a personage for his
tory.'" Richard, only child of William and Agnes (Spencer)
Edwards, was born in Hartford in 1647. He twice married;
first, Elizabeth Tuttle, or Tuthill, of New Haven, in 1667, from
whom he was divorced in 1691,' and second, Mary (daughter of
Lt -Col. John) Talcott, in 1692.'
Mr. Richard Edwards had, by his first wife, six children,
whom he recognized as his own ; and one, the first after their
marriage, a daughter, of whom there is no trace, aside from the
record of her birth. Mr. Edwards did not own her as his child.'
Timothy, the eldest son of Richard Edwards, was born May
14, 1669, and, fortunately, seems to have inherited none of his
mother's propensities, his youth being distinguished by a quiet,
studious demeanor, which early developed into the firm,
I Rev. I. N. Tarbox, private correspondence.
a See Col. Records, page 59. Vol. 4.
• For particulars of this marriage, see Goodwin's Gen. Notes.
* On account of this daughter Mr. Edwards was fined by ihe colonial court for
fornication, although he earnestly protested his innocence of ihe crime, and, from the
lubsequent conduct of the mother, it is reasonable to infer that he was ignorant of
her condition when he married her.

40 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
thoughtful characteristics that marked his maturer years. Hi*
father, at lhat time a successful merchant, gave his son a liberal
education, and the days of his preparatory course, as well as
the years of college life, were improved by young Edwards to
o remarkable degree, Harvard College, from which he gradu
ated in 1691, was then the only institution of the kind in New
England, and it is no small tribute to the scholarly attainments
of liniothy Edwards, that he was the first student to bear
away from those classic shades, upon his graduating day, the
honorable degrees of A. B. and A. M., both conferred, the one
in the forenoon and the other in the afternoon of that memora
ble occasion.
This recognition of his scholarship is the more remarkable,
when we consider that it was accorded upon the merits of his
learning, without the " prestige " of social rank and family dis
tinction. "At that time, and for eighty years afterwards, the
custom at Harvard was to arrange the students upon the cata
logue, not in alphabetical order, as now, but simply and solely
according to what was supposed to be their family rank and
social standing. This was a custom transferred from the mother
country, and was in accordance with the notions of the English
aristociacy, but out of place on these wild shores of the New
World. This rule must always have been a difficult and deli
cate one to apply; and one is curious lo know by what princi
ple it was applied, for example, in the case of Timothy Ed
wards."' If social rank was then measured by a successful
mercantile career, one would think that Richard Edwards had
sufficient renown and influence, as a man of unquestioned pro
bity and wealth, to have secured for his son's name another
position than that of the last, among a class of eight members,
But if blood and tilled lineage were arrayed against one, who
brought no such empty, ephemeral claims for recognition by
the faculty, we can more readily understand why the unpreten
tious sou of a Hartford merchant did not receive, to say the
least, the flattering welcome that we fancy was tendered the
> See Rev. I. N. Tarboa, in Cong. Quarterly, for April, 1871,

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 41
ivored representatives of a degenerate aristocracy. The infer-
nce we draw may be incorrect, but we know that under the
ivoring influences of the period of which we write, the com-
laratively prosperous condition of the Colonies had tempted
ilther many families from England, who brought with them
listinctions and social qualifications, which they would fain
iave engrafted upon the budding liberties of the nation, and
/hich we may reasonably suppose they endeavored to in-
jse into its heart blood, through the institutions of learning.
Whatever the cause may have been in this case, the authori-
ies placed the young student's name in the catalogue of 1691
he last upon the list of the graduating class, and truly, if we
oncede that in social rank his fellows were his superiors, we
ave the unequivocal testimony of the instructors of Timothy
Edwards to the marked ability and meritorious conduct which
o soon placed him at the head of his class.
Mr. Edwards began his ministry as a candidate in the East
iociety, in November, 1694. This is the year that has been
ssigned by some writers as that of his ordination, but it is evi-
ently incorrect, for the private papers of one who was after
wards clerk of the Society, and was prominent in organiz-
lg the new church, particularly state that " Mr. Edwards
ame, with his wife, Nov. 14, 1694," just eight days after his
larriage, which would afford ample time to accomplish the
>urney from Northampton, including short visits to his brothers
nd sisters in Hartford. The best evidence we have indicates
hat Mr. Edwards was not formally ordained until 1698. The
ecords referring to his settlement, and the vote fixing his salary
assed in 1695, a year after his arrival, seem to show that he
ad simply accepted the call ; for, eighteen months later, we
nd by some manuscripts of Capt. Thomas Stoughton, Mr.
idwards' brother-in-law, that, upon " ye 3d day of Maye 1697
: was voted to call Mr. Edwards to offis as soon as convenient-
f maybe ; " in other words, to proceed to his ceremonious
rdination and installation, of which we will now speak,

4> A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
It was not until 1699 that the good people of the "Farme"
were by the "General Court incorporated as a distinct ecclesias
tical society,1 but, about the time tlu-y called a pastor, they had
commenced a house of worship. This building stood opposite
the present residence of Oliver Cook, on what was then, as
now, the principal street. It occupied the crest of a sandy
knoll, in the extreme north-east coiner of the old burying
ground, where, to-day, among the quaint, crumbling tombstones
of many of his parishioners, may be seen, by the passer by,
the massive tablet that marks the resting-place of him " Who,
with such grace of simple courtesy and fervent zeal, so boldly
reasoned for the truth of God." From this spot went forth the
unquestioned terrors of the broken law. Here was eloquently
pleaded the fullness of redeeming love, and all this in no nar
row spirit of bigotry. Those who are wont to cavil, and draw
unfavorable comparisons between the old and new school theo
logians, will seek in vain for any cause of censure in the wri
tings of Timothy Edwards. He preached no hell other than
that which the bible depicted, and drew no graphic pictures of
immortality that belied the precious truths of holy writ. Erni-
nently a godly man, he knew of no better way to forward the
cause and interests of his Divine Lord than to preach the truth
in Christ, and lie not. "The truth, the life, the way," was the
burden of his ministry. No sweeping words of condemnation
fell on those who had " no light ; " no tesselated pave of " in
fant's skulls" floored the infernal vault, for those who were not
among the elect. But for the soul "continued in sin," he
preached naught save an eternal death. The crucial test of Ed-
wardean theology is found in his oft repeated words: "You
who have sinned against your light." This was the tenor of that
ministry under which the child Jonathan sat. There he drank
deep of unmixed truth, and fed on holy things, there that
subtle intellect found its natural sustenance, and finally stepped
out in the richness of God-like beaut)', and the plentitude of a
royal power to combat the things of darkness. Mr. Edwards'
1 Col. Records, Vols. 4 and 5,

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 43
delivery was peculiarly fluent and forceful, with so little atten
tion to notes as to give the impression that he always spoke
extemporaneously;1 but, on the contrary, his sermons were
almost always carefully written, in a very fine, systematically
arranged text, fortified by copious quotations from Scripture,
many of the sentences ending with "&c," an expression which
was evidently intended to suggest to the writer strong memory
and imagination — thoughts which the scarcity of paper preven
ted him from elaborating in the text. In reading his discourses,
we can easily understand the comment of those of his hearers
who had the privilege of listening to Jonathan, who often
preached in his father's desk. "Mr. Edwards was, perhaps, the
more learned man, and more animated in his manner. Yet Mr.
Jonathan was the deeper preacher."
But to return to our meeting house, which by this time must
have become a moss-roofed edifice. Just north of it, across a
narrow ravine, then much more abrupt than now, stood the old
Palisado or fort which was built as a protection against Indians,
This was upon the lot now owned by Major F. W. Grant, to
whom I am indebted for many interesting paiticulars of the
early history of the parish. Vestiges of this fortification were
discernible about 1800. lis location upon the brow of the hill,
overlooking the meadows, gave an advantageous site from which
to repel the foe, while its proximity to the only house of wor
ship made it a convenient point of rendezvous for the settlers,
who, at the sound of the drum cr blowing of the trumpet, were
wont to assemble at the church. Both these structures were
within sight and signal of the old fort and church west of the
river, being erected at a point where the highway approached
nearest the meadows. From this point to-day the traveller may
discern the white glistening spire that represents tlie ancient
church of Mr. Warham's time ; and when the broad beams of
the harvest moon fall athwart the silent meadows, seeming to
*Dr. Dwight says that Mr. Edwards never preached from notes until about
seventy years of age. This is erroneous. The writer has over sixty of his sermons,
from 1695 to l;s).

44 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
lave In silver the sombre banks of the dark, rippling river, It
requires no great stretch of the imagination to fancy the new
church, in its snowy garb, to be the midnight ghost of her
ancient self.
Mr. Stiles, in his description of the church of Mr. Edwards'
time, supposes it to have been " merely a covered frame without
floor or seats, and the people sat upon the sills -and sleepers."
He quotes a society vote of 1706, " that the young men should
have liberty to make a seat upon the beams," evidently with
the understanding that this was the first attempt to make any
such accommodations for the congregation. We have not much
information regarding it, but I see no reason for thinking that
the first building was so barren an affair as he mentions. If
there were sleepers, the inference is that a floor was laid, and
the inference naturally would be that rude seats would follow
such an improvement as a floor.1 We know that several years
elapsed before the completion of the building, and it is not
probable that regular services were holden in it before 1696-7.
Again, it is certain that the vote referred to had reference to a
rude kind of gallery, and this is confirmed by the place desig
nated, i. e., " the beams " or timbers which spanned the building
from side to side, and they may have been necessitated by the
increase of the population.3
1 There is also evidence of seats in the vote we have quoted and in the charge
for seat limber.
8 This edifice stood until 1714, when, after much parish dissension, it was
pulled down and a new one erected. This latter building Stiles, on page 234,
note 2, mistakenly supposes to ha,ve been in East Hartford, notwithstanding he
quotes a vote of May 22, 1713, showing that the " Farmes" had resolved to build.
But the matter is completely put at rest by the following entry that I found in the
accounts of Deacon Samuel Rockwell, which cover a period from 1688-1723;
"Work at the Meeting [House] 1714"
at the gabel end o — 5 — 0
2 days measuring o — 6—0
one day pulling down old hous o — 3—0
And again on another page —
''meeting house — acount"
146 feet slit work quarter Jos [Joseph]
200 feet of bords half Joseph
Gallery work, gie [1. /., guy or brace]

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 4j
The ceremony of ordination had been delayed on account
of family cares and for want of suitable accommodations. Mr.
Edward's own house had not been completed, his first child had
been born almost before his acceptance of the call, and during
the summer that he occupied his new home another heiress
gladdened his hearthstone. We, fortunately, have some of the
bills of timber of the old church, which we will quote verbatim
et literatim: "1697 Detter the sosioty on the east side the
great river in Windsor for timber for the Seates £00 ods. 0$d,"
and for carting almost 200 of timber from the Samill to the
meeting house ^00 01;. ogd. My seate rate in 1697 00. 04. 08."
From this we learn that, aside from the yearly assessment,
there was a special seat tax imposed upon the worshipers, the
proceeds of which undoubtedly went to defray the ordinary
expenses of maintaining service.
The edifice was finished with a sounding board, or canopy,
though we can scarcely understand the necessity of such an aid
to the voice in so small a building as the house then was.
" 1699. Detter the Sosioty on the East Side the Great River
for makeing 2 Rates and takeing the list and for a quartar of a
thousan Zd. nayles £00 09^. 041/. for a peece of timber to hang
the canope to — ,£00 — Ols.—ood. March 6 1699 — bought of
Thomas Burnham one pare of hookes and hinges and a hoock
and 2 small stapels for our meeting house, for which I am to
pay to Mr. Timothy Edwards ^00 02s. od., in indian come,
besides a fine for neglecting to traine the 14th day of last
november which £00 03 s. ood. pay, and my labour to do the
work " ' myself a day and half
myself a " for Sam baker."
The East Hartford church was located five miles south, and was erected in
1699. 'Vide Goodwin's history of East Hartford.
1 1 am aware that in the "Contributions to Ecclesiastical History of Connecti
cut" tlie date of Mr. Edwards' ordination is said to have been March, 1695, and
the date of the erection of the second meeting house given as 1709. These are
both manifestly errors. The bills for timber and for labor on the two churches are
In my possession, and the dates and accompanying memoranda all confirm
the teat.

4fi A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
In several succeeding accounts with the blacksmith mention
is made during the years 1697-8 of various "Hoockes," "case
ment irons, hinges and stapels," which undoubtedly were used
in finishing the church, in payment for which Mr. Stoughton
carries wood to Mr. Edwards to be applied on Mr. Burnham's
tax for the support of the ministry, and also charges Mr. Burn
ham "May 3 1698 for a day to settel your bounes between
John Williams and you— £00 2s. odd.," balancing the account
August 23d with a "dusen" of his inevitable "Pigins"—
£00— ooj. — odd., which figure all through the old accounts and
appear to have been a "dernier ressort" for settling with one's
neighbors. July 21 " 1639 the society purchased its first com
munion service, and Deacon Job Drake was commissioned to
procure it," or in the original, " for to procure Cupes
and plators, flaggons, tabel linin " [»'. e., table linen]. Then
follow regular entries for sacramental charges to January
19, 1709-10, of which Mr. S.'s proportiDn averaged £00 01 s. 0$d.
"Sept 6, 1700 Payed to deacon Job Drake towards the sacra
ment this yeare in money £00 — 01;. — 04^." About the time
Mr. Edwards accepted the call his father purchased for him a
farm, and upon it built a good, substantial house, which stood
until 1813, when it was replaced by a smaller one erected by
Mr. James Flint, which stands over the original cellar. Captain
John Moore1 and others, who distinctly remember the old
house, described it to the writer as a plain two-story house,
built close to the ground. It was narrow and long, with a door
in the middle of the front, which faced the west.2 The south
west room had a bench fastened to the wall around three sides.
It was located on the east side of the main street, near the resi
dence of his brother-in-law, Captain Thomas Stoughton, on a
slight eminence.' The land sloped toward the east to the brook
that flowed at the foot of a steeper hill, wliich was then crowned
' Lately deceased.
8 Mr. Edwards, in his memoranda, speaks of a "porch,'' which vias probably
over the front door.
• Stiles has erroneously located it on the west side of the street.

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 47
with a beautiful forest of primeval trees, and from which an
extensive view was afforded of the wide sweeping meadows and
broad flowing Quonetakut beyond. To this spot Mr. Edwards
was accustomed to go for seclusion, and there his son Jonathan
built the booth wherein he held that soul-inspiring converse
with God, and from which the eye could wander over some of
the fairest handiwork of the Creator to be found in the whole
Book of Nature. Mr. Edwards was not an enthusiastic farmer,
and, unlike Mr. Warham, left no contentious heirs to share a
large estate. Even carefully as his accounts were kept, it is
evident he was more at home with books, and happier far in the
sympathy of cultured minds, than when engaged in the distract
ing cares of husbandry. The house in which he lived was built
under his personal supervision, and the date of its completion
was about Jan. I, 1697. The construction occupied about a
year, the timber being drawn from the distant mill during the
winter season, when the snow offered an opportunity to handle
it easily and when the farmers were more at leisure.
Corporal Stiles and John Hosford seem to have been master
workmen, and, a portion of the time, were boarded by the
selectman, who charges Mr. Edwards " Sept 25 1696 for
diatting corporal Stiles and his son Joseph 4 days ,£00 05*. 04*/.
Oct 4 for diatting John Hosford 1 weeke .£00 04s. odd." The
industry of brick making was then carried on at " Podunk" or
near the river of that name where it crosses the street.1
"Oct 27 for carting a load of brik from Podunk £00 03s.
ood." ' Mortar was then little used, and it was customary to
1 From the books of Deacon Samuel Rockwell we learn that Simon Drake was
a brick maker in Windsor in 1697, when he is charged by the deacon as follows:
" Deter by Sedar Shingle 1430 £03 — 16M.— old.
Contra Credit making brick 02—03 "- -°°"
a The name of Podunk is still retained by the district located in the vicinity of
Ihe old Indian burying ground in South Windsor. It was one of the original
school districts. "June 22 1702. James Younglove began to keep school at
Podunck " and from the same record we find " an account how the school money
Is divided:
To that part north of Scantuck £t — oyjA.—oid,

„l :., ,\.i. ~... .

48 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
fill the Interstices between the bricks and stone with day.
" Oct 30 Mr Edwards pays for a load of clay £00 on. 02d."
" Oct I for carting a crotch and sweep for y* well £00 01 s. ood.
Nov 6 One day with my teeme to cart sleepers £00 05*. ood."
But at length the house was finished, and on the 28th of May,
1698, were held under its ample roof the ordination services, of
which we have but scanty record.
To that part where the meeting hous is 3—09 — 00
In this part One month and 14 days and half.
To the tower part [1*. 1. Podunk] 3 — 10 —09
In this part one month and : 15, days and half,"
The list on which Ihe school tax was laid was ,£1,787. lo/A. ood.

CHAPTER V.

PASTORAL LABORS.
" I have wrestled on toward heaven 'gainst storm and wind and tide."
""THE year 1695 has commonly been accepted as the date of
Mr. Timothy Edwards' ordination, but there are strong
reasons, as already suggested, to substantiate the belief that it
did not occur so early. There is no reason to think that he had
accepted the call before the 25th of Sept, 1695, when the
society record gives us the terms of the salary for the " Settling
of Mr Timothy Edwards in the work of the ministry." Again,
it is a well-ascertained fact that his own house, in which he was
ordained, was not completed and indeed hardly commenced at
the time and date referred to above. And further than this, by
special vote, noted in a previous chapter, there seems to have
been distinct reference to the approaching event, when it was
voted that the " Seates " should be made in the meeting house
and " Mr Edwards should be called to offis as soon as con-
venyantly may be." Why this event should not have been
more carefully recorded we do not understand, unless it was
neglected through the confusion arising from the division of the
old church, on the west side of the river, into two distinct
bodies. But happily some light is thrown upon the subject by
the old account book, from which so many quotations have
been made ; and as the recorder was, at that time, an active
man in public affairs, we may safely give credence to his state
ments'. We will give, in the language of the chronicler, the
" account " ;

50

A Glimpse of an Old Parish.

" May 28 1698 An account of provition laide in at the house
of Mr Edwards for his ordination—
by Cap' Thomas Stoughton 10 pound of Souger 00— 05— 00
by Ser< James Portar half a bushel of wheat
meale, 2 pound of butter & 2 pound of cheese
wanting an ounce 
By Samuel Tudor one bushel and a half of wheat
meale 00—07—06
by Ser' Nathn Loomis half a bushel of malt 00—01—09
by Joseph Loomis half a bushel of malt and one
pound of hoopes [hops] 09— 00— 06
by John Loomis half a bushel of malt-
by Mr Nath Bissell in money 00—06—00
by Thomas Bissell in money 00—04 — °°
by Samuel Rockwell senir in money 00 — 03—00
by Samuel Baker in money 00—06 — 00
by Cap' Stoughton for Samuel Grant senior in
money 00— 06— 00
by Samuel Grant iunr in money 00—01—06
by capt Fitch in money 00—04 — 00
by Ben Loomis in money 00 — 00—04
by Ser' Loomis 14 pound of mutton : one pound
of butter & one ounce of Pepper 00—03 — °9
by Job Drake in money 00—06 — 00
by James Loomis in money 00— 01 — 00
by Matthew Grant 2 qt of rum
by Samuel Rockwell iunr [Junior] 2 qt of rum
by Joseph Loomis half a bushel of wheat meal 2
pound and a half of butter 24 egges & a qt of
salt OO—04—03
and 18 pound of Velle [veal] 00—03—00
by capt Stoughton in Sidar 00—04—04
by Joseph Drake 2 qt of wine money
by John Stoughton 6 qt of wine money 00— 06 — 09

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 51
bought of Mr Shurley 88 pound of beefe \d. Per
pound and 5 pound and half of suit, Pay to Mr
Shurley in money 01— X2— 00
Pay to Mrs. Edwards for spice in money 01—00—00
From these simple records we can picture the festivities of
that occasion, which mark an epoch in the annals of " Windsor
Farme." Those who derisively point the finger of scorn at the
staid manners and wholesome plainness of the ministers of the
Gospel, during the infancy of the church in New England, will
scarcely credit the fact that Mr. Edwards' ordination was
followed by a ball in honor of the event. Such, however, is the
truth, and not long since there was found, in the young pastor's
handwriting, the original invitation sent to Capt. Thomas
Stoughton and wife, urging their attendance at an " Ordination
ball" given at his own house, and signed by Timothy
Edwards, "Old times have changed, old manners gone." Yet the
occasional glimpses we obtain of the fathers, through their own
records, do much to relieve the unnatural gloom in which they
are thought to have existed. Mr. Warham and Mr. Edwards
each lived among his people as one of them, and, while never con
descending to anything likely to derogate from the dignity and
influence of the priestly office, they did not hesitate to mingle
in the simple everyday employments and even amusements of
their respective flocks. The lives of both were full and fruitful ;
the harvests they garnered were fuller far than they would have
been had their sanctity been of that mock type which shrouds
too many modern ministers.
Mr. Edwards' pastoral labors commenced immediately upon
his arrival at the "farme" in 1694, but the early records of it
are very incomplete. During this period of his ministry, as
well as in after years, he was frequently called upon by other
1 This invitation was, a few years since, in the hands of Mrs. S. Vv*. Rockwell,
of East Windsor Hill, Conn., who is a descendant of Thomas Stoughton and
Abigail Edwards, sister of Timothy,

S3 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
Parishes to administer spiritual consolation and advice in times
of trouble and occasions of doubt It was his habit to make
frequent notes of journeys and memoranda of events on the
narrow margins of his closely-written sermons. The earliest of
these journeys of which we have any record was made to Suf-
field, where he preached a sermon, about the time of the
ordination of Benjamin Ruggles. This discourse bears date
Oct. 24, 1695, and was found, with several others bearing date
from 1698 to 1701, in the old trunk to which we have previously
referred. This trunk, with many of the manuscripts, was given
to Col. Lemuel Stoughton, who married Anne Ellsworth,
granddaughter of Timothy Edwards, and remained in the
garret of the old Ellsworth house until 1856, when it passed
into the hands of the author. A facsimile is given below. It
is one of the largest-paged of Mr. Edwards' productions, and
contains two full sermons on its eighteen leaves, one of which is
given in full in the latter part of this volume. The occasion of
its delivery called forth Mr. Edwards' bold denunciatory powers.
The parish of Suffield had been for some years in a distracted
condition. Ungodly men had opposed the settlement of a
minister, and desolation and ruin stared the society in the face.
In their extremity, a day of fasting was appointed, and Mr.
Edwards, then in his 26th year, preached the sermon. It is
written in his characteristic manner, many sentences ending
with " &c," and all fortified by Scripture quotations. As we
read the strong language of its propositions, and remember the
comparison (already quoted) wliich tradition says the people
were accustomed to make between Timothy and Jonathan
Edwards, we can easily understand the sympathy that must
have existed between the two men, And what must have been
the feelings of the father when, fifty years later, he listened to
that tremendous invective against sin as it poured from the
devoted lips of his only son, when he shook the trembling
inhabitants of Enfield over the "yawning pit of hell" by a
discourse so similar in its tone to the one which his father, when
a young man, had delivered to the impious men of Suffield, on

Fac Simile Sermon— Rev. Timothy Edwards, Oct. 29, 1695.
[Two-thirds Actual Size.]

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 53
the opposite bank of the river.' In comparing the writings of
the two men, we can readily discover the strong impress of his
paternity on the mind of Jonathan Edwards. And, as we look
upon the toiling, scholarly, farmer minister of Windsor Farme,
we can hardly doubt that, had his life work been in the realm
of pure thought, as was his son's, the fires of Calvinistic theology
would have burned with greater strength than ever before upon
these New England shores.
Few men have been more singularly gifted and equally mated
than this father and son. For fifty years their united strength
was opposed against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Together they resisted the encroachments of the world upon
the church. Again and again, amid taunts and dissensions,
strifes and tumults, they insisted upon the absolute authority of
Christ's ministers to husband the flock, without interference
from the world. Shepherds were they and bishops too, who
realized full well the danger to a church organization, whose
members were to be obtained through the concessions of the
"half-way covenant," which permitted the augmentation of the
numerical strength of the church, at the expense of its spiritual
life. Those who have attributed the development of Jonathan
Edwards' wondrous faculties more to the mother than the
father, will do well to examine more closely the relations that
existed between the two men before they pronounce judgment.
Noble and exalted as was the nature of Esther Edwards,
refining and beautifying as must have been the influence of his
elder sisters upon him, yet the " boy Jonathan," as his father
tenderly calls him in his letters, was eminently the pride of his
heart, and to him must justly belong the credit of opening up
that fountain of love and manly devotion that flowed so sweetly
in accord with his own burning zeal for many years. The
frequent mention of journeys to Northampton in Mr. Timothy
Edwards' memoranda, the interchange of ministerial services
which frequently occurred, the leaning upon his father's advice,
1 The subject of Jonathan's famous discourse was " Sinners in the hands of an
angry God,"

$4 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
as appears from the correspondence which has been preserved,
all go to show the beauty and strength of the bonds that held
the two together. They lived, loved, and labored, sustained by
each other's counsels and prayers, and even in their deaths they
were hardly divided. Within a few weeks of each other, in the
winter of 1758, the venerable pastor of Windsor Farme, bowed
by the unremitted toil of sixty-three years' labor in the vine
yard, and his son, the lordly, richly-endowed President Edwards,
of Princeton, joined hands in the bright streets of the New
Jerusalem. As has been intimated, Mr. Edwards' ministry was a peculiarly
laborious one. Through his minutes of transactions, we have
the evidence of his self-denying spirit. When we consider that
this merchant's son — this foremost among the scholars of New
England — was restrained in the development of those innate
powers of his being by the drudgery of a farmer's life — a life
from which by birth arid education he must naturally have
shrank — we can have some idea of what it was to bring down
his lofty conceptions and thoughts to practice the routine
of a husbandman's career. And we can also learn from his
memoranda what wondrous powers of endurance in spiritual
warfare that Godly man possessed. Mr. Edwards had been
presented by his father with a large farm, but he seems never
to have been a very successful farmer; and, in fact, there
appears to be ground for thinking the gift rather a burden to
him than otherwise. His family was large, but of the eleven
children only one was a son, whose tastes certainly did not lie
in the line of agricultural pursuits. His "sixty feet of
daughters," as Mr. Edwards was wont jocularly to designate
the ten tall girls, who were to be clothed, warmed, and fed from
his meagre salary, were of too scholarly habits to aid him much
in husbandry. Mr. Edwards' salary was payable in money,
according to the vote passed at the time of his settlement; but
frequently, owing to the poverty of "many of his parishioners,
and the unproductiveness of his own land, or, at least, its
insufficient products for his large family, he took, in pay, differ-

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 5)
ent articles of food and clothing materials. His rate book, in
which he kept his accounts with his parishioners, will be quoted
from in another chapter. We have a clue to the relative wealth
of the people of the parish in the year 1735, from the accounts
of Ebenezer Grant, who was one of the collectors at that time.
We give herewith the order under which the collections were
made: " To Mess Pelatiah Bliss & Ebenezer Grant both of Windsor
in y county of Hartford collectors lor y seecond society in
S"1 Windsor, to them or to either of them in the office of Col
lectors for sd society for ye present year — Greeting.
In his Majesties Name — you and each of you are respectively
hereby required forthwith to Levy & collect of the persons
named in the Lists herewith Committed unto you, each one of
his several proportion as therein set down, of ye sum Total of
such Lists, being taxes or assessments granted or agreed upon
by ye inhabitants of ye sd second society on ye East side of
Conn" River in sd Windsor Regularly assembled in sd Windsor
on ye 15 day of December last, past; for ye defraying of Minis
terial charges Si other necessary charges arising in sd society &
for the Incouragement of supporting of schooling within y«
same as by y votes of sJ Society on record may more fully
appear and you are to deliver and pay in y Sum 81 Sums you
shall so Levy and Collect unto y SJ Society Comtt for y pres
ent year, or to their order or orders. And if any Person or
Persons shall neglect or Refuse to make payment of y Sum or
Sums, whereof he or they are respectively set in y sd Lists, to
destrain ye Goods or chattels of Such Person or Persons, and
y« same dispose of as y law directs, returning ye overplus (if
any be) unto ye Owner or Owners. And for want of Goods
and chattels whereon to make distress you are to seize the Body
or Bodies of ye Person or Persons so refusing him or them
commit unto y common Goal of y county of Hartford in ye
s° Prison there to remain until he or they pay and satisfie y
several! sum or sums assessed upon him or them, unless the

Sd A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
same or any part thereof, upon application made unto y county
court shall be abated.
Dated at Windsor Aprill y« 22* 1736.
ROGER WOLCOTT
Assist."
Under such a regime as this indicates, one would suppose
that the minister promptly received his pay ; but this does not
always seem to have been the case, as we shall hereafter show.
From the list before us, we select a few names of the contribu
tors to the " ministerial charges." And it is well to note that
the church was considered an advantageous and desirable
institution to which all were expected to contribute, whether
members or not — an order of things which might be restored
with salutary results in many New England towns, and
unquestionably so in the old parish under consideration,'
"Mr Abbicl Abbott Rate £oi—iSs.—02d
Lent John Anderson " 02 — 00 —09
Mr Hezckiah Bissell " 01 — 01 — 00
Corporal Ebezer Bissell " 01 — 13 — 03
Cant John Ellsworth " 02 — 03 — 04
Saml Allyn " 00 — 12 — 08
Jonathan Bliss Jr " 00 — 05 — 6
Nath Bancroft " 00 — 10 —02
'This parish, in Mr. Edwards' day, was an exceedingly difficult one to curb
and direct. The community then, as now, was perhaps tlie wealthiest agricultural
village in the State ; but many of the men were far removed in their connection!
and practices from that spirit if .self-denial that is so essential to the happy union
of Church and Slate. The characteristics of indifference to the support of religious
institutions have unhappily been transmitted to later generations. Although under
the vigorous administrations of Mr. Edwards they were stimulated to a high degree
of activity, even he deplores that although they are able, yet they will not con
tribute to the comfortable support of Gospel privileges. The investigator of the
parish history since 1760 is forced to tlie painful conclusion that not only the
spiritual but Ihe material interests of the place are suffering from the same causes
to-day. Indeed, it will be difficult to find in New England any oilier town that
contributes so small a proportion of its wealth to the usually recognized means of
religious instruction. Its present condition is not owing to any reactionary move-
ment from Calvinistic Iheology ; it is simply the result of hereditary causes,

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 57
The highest rate paid that year was by Roger Wolcott, who
was assessed £02—06—05."
There was a good deal of wealth in the Wolcott family at that
time, there being nine of the name who were taxed for the
support of Timothy Edwards in 1 73 5, the aggregate amount of
their rate being £10 — 15/. ood.
There were 203 persons assessed that year for the " minis
terial charges." Of these there are seventeen by the name of
Loomis, whose taxes amount to £11 — 02j\ — lid. Nine
Osbornes contribute as little as any of the number, the highest
tax being that of Samuel Osborne, Jr., who was assessed
£00 — 17*. — ogd., and the lowest levy on the family being
£00— 03.1. — odd.
The most poverty-stricken man on the list, unless we may
suppose his estate to have been " non-taxable," is Stephen
Olmsted, the only one of the name, who paid £00 — oat,— lid.
Of the Pinney family, one impecunious representative, Isaac,
appears in the ranks to the amount of £00 — 04s. — o8</. Among
the Stoughtons, Thomas, Mr. Edwards' brother-in-law, is the
heaviest taxpayer, his rate being entered at £01 — 13*— odd.
There are six of the name, whose aggregate tax amounts to
£0$ — I SJ. — Odd. The lowest family average is that of Burn
ham, which is represented by twelve names on the list, whose
aggregate tax is £01—1 is.— 1 id. There are nine by the name
of Grant, among whom Ebenezer stands first on the list, paying
a tax for the support of Mr. Edwards of £01 — ods.—iod. Of "^
the young men, Mr. Ebenezer Grant was by far the most
prominent one in Mr. Edwards' parish. He was son of Samuel
Grant, Jr., and great-grandson of Matthew Grant, who came to
America in 163 1, and to Windsor with the first emigrants from
Dorchester. He was the youngest of eight children, by
Samuel Grant, Jr.'s, second wife, Grace. Among his brothers
was Noah, who removed to Tolland and became the ancestor
of General Grant, late President of the United States. Mr.
Ebenezer Grant remained in East Windsor, becoming a
prosperous merchant in tlie West India trade, and built the old

58 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
Grant mansion, which is represented in this volume. This is
one of the oldest houses in the town, and the rear portion of it
is supposed to be the original "Grant house," built by Samuel,
son of Matthew, after he removed from his residence on the
river bank, where he first located, east of the river. The
modern portion of the building was erected in 1750, and was
then considered, as it is now, one of the finest houses in the
place.' The older or rear portion bears on its interior strong
evidence of its antiquity, and certainly was standing before
1700. The great beams and broad-paneled walls, together with
the vast chimney laid up with the broad, flat bricks of that early
day, and cemented with clay instead of mortar, indicate to the
antiquary the age of the structure, which undoubtedly is the
most ancient in East Windsor. It is now in the possession of
Major F. W. Grant, a cultured gentleman of the old school,
who, at the age of 85 years, represents the fourth generation that
have held the property, around which many historic memories
cluster, and of which he speaks with the ardor and assurance of
one thoroughly versed in "ancient lore." In the south-east
front room General Richard Prescott was ensconced, after his
capture by the Americans during the war of the Revolution,
and during his parole occupied himself and men by setting out
the magnificent elms that shade the street so beautifully in the
vicinity. Captain Ebenezer Grant survived Mr. Edwards many
years, and was active during the ministry of his successor, Mr.
Perry, the old account books of the former showing many
entries for " Rum Sic," which he sold his pastor, and which the
latter seemed to crave, if we may judge from Mr. Grant's
charges against him. Rum was a commodity which formed a
staple article in West India trade, but the rather unusual style
of the following bill of lading, found among some old papers of
' This part of the house was modeled afler John Hancock's house, and its con
struction was planned by the architect of the latter. Mr. Grant was an intimate
acquaintance and business correspondent of the famous Massachusetts patriot, and
much of the written evidence of the contract for the house, including bill of timber,
&c, still exists.

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 59
Capt Grant's, indicates a fervency in the traffic not seen at the
present day. I give it verbatim et literatim :
Shipped by the Grace of God in Good order and Condition
by John Olcott, in and upon the good Sloop called the " Dol
phin " whereof is Master under God for the present Voyage-
Moses Williams— and now riding at Anchor in Carlile Bay and
by Gods Grace bound for Middletown in Connecticitt, to say,
Six hhds Rum, being marked and numbered as in the margin,
and are to be delivered in like good Order and Condition at the
aforesaid Port of Middletown (the dangers of the Seas only
excepted) unto Ebenezer Grant, or to his Assigns, paying
freight for the said Goods Fifteen shilling per hhd, with Primage
and Average accustomed, in witness whereof the Master or
Purser of the said ship hath affirmed 2 Bills of lading of this
Tenor and Date, the one of which 2 Bills being accomplished,
the other I to stand void, and so God send the Good ship to
her desired Port in safety, Amen. Dated in Barbados
July II 1769 MOSES WILLIAMS
We find from the book of rates that Mr. Edwards' salary for
the year 1735 was 135 pounds, but this seems to have been
hardly enough for his wants. His family was expensive, and
particularly the provision for the marriages of his daughters
must have drawn heavily upon his slender income. In a blank
space upon one of his sermons we find him recording the
following " case," which undoubtedly bore upon his own
condition :
" A Case. Whether a Minister wanting wherewithall Com
fortably to Live in the World and provide for his family, 81 that
not through the inability of the People, and after much pains
taken in the use of proper means, hath no prospect of a supply
of that want by those whom he serves in the work of the min
istry, may not on that account Lawfully Leave his People and
Remove ? "
This matter, with Mr. Edwards, was a clear "case" of con
scientiousness. After the custom of the age, he had been

(Jo A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
settled for his life work at the " Farmes," and now he questions
whether he can rightly leave a people who are perfectly able to
pay, but will not Truly this lesson can be laid to heart by
many teachers of the present day, who have not hesitated for
the most trivial pretexts to seek their own comfort instead of
the interests of immortal souls committed to their trust. A few
years after the above question was raised by Mr. Edwards, we
find him openly pleading with his people for an increase of pay,
and adducing in a series of memoranda the prices of different
articles of living, which he compares with former years, All
through it, we can see the strict economy he was forced to
practice, which is evinced in comparisons which show him to
be without many comforts which he first enjoyed, The items
of his memoranda are prepared with his usual care, and are
given below,
MEMS
Land in yc meadow when I first came to this place as Deacon
Drake told me, as (I think) I well Remember was d£ in pay
[»', e., barter] wliich was yn 4/ in money. Now if Meadow
Land be worth 30^ in money an acree it is considerably more
yn 7 times as dear as it was then. (2d)
Some years after I came hither I bought a horse for jl* in
money, & many years -ago a man seeing him told me he
thought he might be worth Sixty yn, W money was much
better y" it is now, So y' it is to me very probable such a
horse would bring 70 or 80 in money now. So y' if I were to buy
such a horse now it would cost me 10 if not 12 times as much
as did then. (3d)
When I first came here (for it was I remember Either the
first or 2" year after I came) I bought a good large deer skin,

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 6t
Skins were dressed for four shilling* and six pence In money,
and now such a one by what some of my neighbors have told
me would cost 4 pounds in the hair.
(4 Indian Corn)
Since my coming to this place for several years Indian corn
was 2sh dd a Bush' in Pay, or is Sd in money & since y1 it
has been Ssh Per Bush', and this year I have found sometimes
it is like to be I2a7< in money a Bush11 wch makes it some
thing more than seven times as dear as it was then.
(5" — Hiring an Acre of Grass — )
In former years cost me Zsh and as I remember no more
and as I remember now (as I have been informed) It is $osh
an acre, which is something more than 6 times as Dear as it
was when I first came to this place and for several years after.
(6")
In former years I have had 3 Loads of hay carted from my
Land in Podunk meadow for dsh in pay wch was 4S/1 in money
and of late I think I have Given ten shillings, or thus I think I
have heard some speak of ten shillings for one load
wcn is $osh for 3 loads which is more than 7 times as dear as
formerly. (7,h)
A good load of pine or candle wood as it is sometimes called
was for several years after I came hither but six shillings in pay,
which was 4sh in money and I hear that this year $osh was
given for a load wcl> is more than 7 times as Dear as it was in
former years. (8")
Molases (or Malases) in former years was 2sh or 2s dd. at
most a Gallon and now or lately I have been informed it has
been 12s per Gal — & I conclude it is so much if not more now

62 A Glimpse at an Old Parish.
If it was 2s a gallon y» It is 6 times as Dear now. If it was
formerly 2s dd per Gal" y it is now at 12s per Gal. very near
5 times as Dear. (9)
Rum (or Rhum) was in former years sold at Hartford for 4sh
by y« single Gallon and I conclude cheaper some times, and I
know was sold for 2s id by y Single Gallon & 2sh by y cask,
And of late I have heard y< it is l8sh a Gallon wch is 9 times
as Dear as it was at 2s per G. by a whole cask & about 8 times
as Dear as at 2s id by y single Gallon & more y"4 times as
Dear as 4s/* &c. (.0)
Sugar in former years, & y' y' was very good as light and
Good as I think I may say as ever I saw. I have known (sold)
for a Groat a pound, & now such sugar as I suppose cant be
bought under 3s dd per lb. wcn is something more y" 10 times
as dear as sugar of y' same sort at 4J lb and 7 times as dear as
sugar at dd pe. lb.
Wine I suppose by whl I heard a man well acquainted with
sucli things I say | is now 5 times if not more as dear as it was
40 years ago, (11.)
Flax was in former years dd a pound as I Remember in Pay,
which was ^d in money 8: now it is 2s dd— w'h is 5 times as
Dear as formerly, Yea indeed is something more yn 7 times as
dear as in former years and if some asked Zd per lb for Flax in
former years I mean 40 or 50 years ago as I do nt Remember
any did yet now it is more yn 5 times as dear in money y" it
was then at y' price. (.2)
Shoes were ds a pair. I mean shoes wn I first came hither
and some years after yea many for aught I know (whether in
pay or in money I cant tell) but if it was in money. If now yy

A Glimpse at an Old Parish. 6]
are 30^ a pr y"> they are 5 times as dear now as yy were then,
and if y< prices of Mens Shoes was in former Years &c.
[13] Mowing &c
Cutting an acre of Grass was &c  Or thus I heard L'
Loomis,— & Say openly at a Society meeting, y> he had cut
many an acre of Grass for isft & now as I think I have sev11
times heard men ask \osh for cutting an Acre So y' such work
is 5 times as dear as it was sometimes done formerly. I have
observed already that if Indian corn Goes at l2sh Per Bush' this
year it will be as I have cast it something more yn 7 times as
Dear as it was when I first came hither & I may say for several
Si for aught I know for years after. (>4)
Rie when I first came to this place & for several years after
was ish a bushel y' was y* stated country price in pay wch is
2sh in money, it was so y" & if it should be 15.1// Per bushel
now, it would be now yn 7 times as it was yn & if it should be
but 145/* Per Bsh11 it would be Just 7 times as dear as it was y".
('5")
Pork nt salted was ids a pound in pay, or 2d in money
formerly & if it be \2sh Per. lb now y" it is 6 times as Dear as
it was yn, (.6)
Beif was but 2d a pound or 1 y2d pr pound in money & this
year I have given od Per pound for it w<=h is 6 times as dear as
it was then. (•7)
Wheat was in former years 4sh Pr Bush1 in pay wcl> yn was
in money 2sh Zd. Now if wheat should be this year i8jvS per
Bus" among us, it would be almost 7 times as dear as formerly
& if it should be ids per Bshl it would be Just 6 times as Dear,

64 A Glimpse at an Old Parish.
(18)
Pease, were formerly is Per Bush" this was the Stated
country Price, wch was 2s in money. But of Late I have given
here 20sh per B" for y™ . So y' now if it be still y« price yy
are 10 times as Dear as yy were formerly.
(•9)
Wool was formerly i2d per lb in money now I hear y' it is
91 per lb. which makes it now 9 times as Dear as formerly.
(20)
Boards formerly some years after I came hither 2$sh per
1000. Now I hear g£ . But if but d£ per 1000 almost 6
times as Dear. (21)
Ye price of a Serv*.
Viz, a Negro formerly Q0j£ my negro was. Now 200jO» for
a Negro woman. Salt i$s/i a Bush" now Formerly but ish Zd
and now I hear it is 35.S/1 per Bush1' wc>> is more y» 20 times as
Dear as formerly. Butter $d per lb w» I first came hither fit
now ish per lb wcn is something above 7 times as dear as it
was. MEMDS
To Mr Russell of Middletown5 salary 100/, added 200 Last
year, besides his wood, 300 in all & Besides 2 contributions, fie
This year added 260 -more, 360 in all. Voted for his wood
6o£: To Mr Hopkins ioaC in money at first, added last 200/,
300j£ in all 8t this [year] 333^ for his salary, besides a parson
age of good Land wch he values as was worth to him y ijo£ a
year. To M' B • • • k this [yr] ido£ he also has y benefit of a
Parsonage. To Mr Williams of Long Meadow, Y« Society consisting of

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 65
fifty families, 300^ besides a parsonage & 40 acres of Land
given him by y people.
Mr Williams of Lebanon, y people have of late Greatly
added to his salary. 8c by w' I am [told] y people have made
these additions nt as Gifts but to do yy' minister Justice.

CHAPTER VI.

CHURCH DISCIPLINE.
"The final and permanent fruits of Liberty are wisdom, moderation, and
mercy."— UtauUy.
•"PHE early years of Mr. Edwards' pastorate were diversified
by the trials and discomforts incident to a new settlement.
Indian incursions were quite frequent, and finally open war was
declared. Mr. Edwards, during these seasons, encouraged his
people by frequent discourses appropriate to the condition of
the colony.' The following illustration of two pages of a
sermon, which is given in full in this volume, is one of a series
of discourses delivered during Queen Anne's and the French
and Indian wars.
During Mr. Edwards' absence as chaplain, two years later,
the records of the church seem to have been very imperfectly
kept, notwithstanding he writes from Albany to his wife, to be
"very careful of his books and Rates." On his return he was
called upon to preach in the churches near his own, and he
mentions one discourse preached " at Hartford at the South
meeting house." Among the persons to whom frequent refer
ence is made in Mr. Edwards' notes, was the brother-in-law of
the pastor, who lived near him. His commission was conferred
by John Winthrop, Colonial Governor in 1698, and is in the
possession of Dr. S. W. Rockwell, of East Windsor Hill. From
it the accompanying facsimile was taken.
Among the members of the " train band " was Corporal
Pitkin, whose military correspondence comes down to us in the
'Mr. Edwards' family had been afflicted by the killing of Mrs. Williams, a
half sister of Mrs. Edwards, at the time the Indians burned Deerfield, in 1704.

•J «*J *;

iQPiltj

fill \ i J S'-s^

ill Ij^ipI s i i\4.n iS r4«

f|^-J>3 1^4" i iy.!«

JOHN WINTHROP'S COMMISSION TO THOMAS STOUGHTON.

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 67
following letter, " De Bellura Podunk," which was found among
Capt Stoughton's papers :
"Cap' Stouten. Since I came home I am informed that
Sollomon Andross having had his house broaken up by the
Indians, and three Indians breaking in again this morning a
little before day— hath killed one of them, and the other twoo
fled up this way, he pursued but they were to light of foot for
him, and in all Likelihood were the two which my brother saw :
for they came into the widow Pratts at the uper end of the
meadow about sun up, so that its very probable they swam
over the River, where they left the horse they tooke, which I
thought best to give you an account of to quiet the people and
prevent you of further trouble on that account.
June 30" 1706 Yours to Serve Wm Pitkin"
Another little pamphlet found among the same papers bears
the name " Mehetabel Stoughton of Marshfield, England," and
throws some light upon the educational facilities of the parish.
From it we learn that "June y 6ll» five of Major Wolcotts
[children] came to school, Sarah was absent from school 6 days,
the other four children left school August 22."
" Martha Edwards came to school June y 7" 1726 and was
absent 13 days she left school September ye 14."
This Martha Edwards afterward married the Rev. Moses Tut-
hill (or Tuttle), of Granville, Mass. She was a woman of very
peculiar disposition, and led her husband an unquiet life. It is
related of Mr. TuthiU's courtship, that when he, after the custom
of the time, requested of Mr. Edwards the privilege of soliciting
Miss Martha's hand, the latter gentleman, knowing the propensi
ties of his daughter, expressed a fear that she might not be a
suitable companion for the would-be son-in-law. Mr. Tuthill,
misunderstanding the reply, supposed it had reference to her
spiritual condition, and anxiously inquired if " Miss Martha had
not experienced the great change." " Oh, yes, yes," said the
father, " Martha is a good girl ; yes, she is a good girl, but,

68 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
Brother Tuthill, the grace of God will go where man can't." •
In spite of this dubious warning, the match was consummated;
and, from the anecdotes that have come down to us in connec
tion with the union, we may reasonably conclude that Mr.
Tuttle did not accomplish much toward subduing Miss Mar
tha's refractory spirit. Upon one occasion, while her husband
was supplying the church at Wapping, a meeting of ministers
was called at the parsonage, and as night drew on he
suggested to his spouse that, as the brethren were about to
depart, he would like to have some repast made ready for
them. " And what would you like, my dear ? " said the
amiable consort, who had not up to this time paid the slightest
attention to the guests. " O," replied the reverend gentleman,
overjoyed at the tractable disposition of his better half, " Any
thing you please, something light, no matter about meats,
only a light, wholesome meal, that is all." In about half an
hour Mrs. Tuttle announced supper and motioned the mortified
husband and his guests into a room where a table covered with
a snowy-white cloth bore upon it the "light" repast in the
shape of a burning candle at the chair of each guest, and it was
not until the disappointed divines were about to leave in disgust
that the mistress came forward with a very substantial and
" wholesome " meal, which induced them to resume their seats,
while she stood by and laughed merrily at their expense. Mr.
and Mrs. Tuthill had four daughters, two of whom inherited
many of their mother's peculiarities. They finally became
confirmed opium eaters, but lived to great age, dying in Wap
ping unmarried, one in f83i and the other in 1837. In this
connection it is easy to see that some of tlie peculiarities of the
Tuttle blood, which were transmitted through the union of
Richard Edwards and Elizabeth Tuttle (or Tuthill) to the
Edwards line, crop out here with all the force of unimpaired
' This incident has been attributed to Jonathan Edwards without the slightest •
foundation in fact. The incident 'lad become a part of East Windsor traditions '
before Jonathan Edwards had marriageable daughters.

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 69
vitality.1 Writers who have speculated much on the strange
and curious outbreaks of depravity in certain members of the
Edwards race, but which were restrained by the strong will of
President Edwards, to renew their fierce activity in his son
Pierrepont and grandson Aaron Burr, can find ample explana
tion of their origin upon physiological grounds, if they will
study the history of that branch of the Tuthill family.
" Great wits are sure to madness near allied,
And thin partitions do their bounds divide."
Quoting from our file of old papers as they come to hand,
there being no chronological connection to be found among
them, our attention is next attracted by Miss Mehetabel's bill
for tuition against Major Roger Wolcott, afterward Governor
of the State:
By schooling Sarah Wolcott 7 weeks at 8 pence £00— o+»— oid
" " Hepzibah 10 " & 4 days " " 00—07 —OI
" " Josiah 10 " 2  00—06—10
" " Eppefras 10 " 3 " " " 00—05 — o>
" " Eraslus 10 " 1 '  00— <>5 — °'
Total 01 — 08 — 10
On another page Miss Mehetabel makes the entry that her
" schooling for (1726) came to £02 — o8j — lod."
The pleasant relations that the pastor sustained with his
brother-in-law seem to have been uninterrupted except upon
one occasion, when the town had granted Mr. Edwards some
wood land for his own use. Captain Thomas and his brother
John Stoughton opposed the pastor in his enjoyment of it, and
finally the matter was left out for the consideration of two
1 There can he no question that this branch of the Tutlle family, from which
Jonathan Edwards' grandmother came, was erratic to the degree of insanity. Mrs,
Richard Edwards' brother was found by the colonial court guilty of murdering a
sister, and another sister found guilty of killing her son. Both of these persons
would undoubtedly have been pronounced insane by a committee ,l de lunatica
inquirendo," — but the plea of insanity was little favored by the early courts, and
Indeed in his case was not urged. The brother was executed, but the sister,
through the confusion arising at the* time in the administration of colonial affairs,
escaped the penalty of the law, there being in point of fact no government that
could lawfully execute her, owing to trouble growing out of Sir Edwin Andross'
' administration.

7° A Glimpse at an Old Parish.
neighboring ministers, who decided that Mr. Edwards had a
full right to the gift. The original award, as found among
the old papers, reads as below :
" We the subscribers having lately had a hearing of y differ
ence between M' Timothy Edwards & Mr John Stoughton
Cap' Thomas Stoughton 8t Serg' John Strong concerning y
land lately given to him y said Edwards by y« towne of
Windsor do Judge upon y"" discourse we have heard between
them that Mr Edwards came lawfully and very fairly by Si hath
a good right both in law and equity to y said land and these
y foresaid persons have engaged themselves faithfully to
endeavour to remove whatsoever they may Judge to be of
weakening of his Title by giving  confirmation from y
Towne of said land to Mr Edwards St they ought not to give
him any molestation in his possession or Improvement thereof.
Hartford July 24 1704
I subscribe to all that is above written except y< promise
mentioned 81 made in my absence. Samuel Mather
I subscribe to y whole T. Woodbridge
To this Mr. Edwards replied as follows 1
" It is to be understood that the above written is no award
and y' neither Brother nor Cousin Stoughton did send for these
gentlemen or either of them to decide this controversy between
us, or agree when they came y' thier Judgment should stand
for an arbitration : only I told ym y' they would be at my house
on such a day, and I was willing or in words to y< purpose y1
yy should be here viz at my house, & say what yy could to
clear up the truth, and accordingly they came and we discoursed
the matter before e'm, and the above written is only thier bare
Judgment of the case and not in the Least given as a binding
thing. It is also to be understood y' all yl Good™ Strong did in y
case was to desire y' Mr Mather should come to my house and
hear it on such a day & accordingly to go himself for him as I

A Glimpse at an Old Parish. 71
take It, and also to consent upon my desire y1 Mr Woodbridgc
should hear it with him, and to discourse it withe me before
e'm & accordingly he did so."
Mr. Edwards' signature is torn off in the original.
The parish of East Windsor seems to have been in a ferment
during a large part of Mr. Edwards' ministry. As has been
intimated, many of the men who composed it were of an
irreligious habit, and it required all the energy and forbearance
of their pastor to encourage and restrain them. Their manners
were, in many cases, uncouth, and to one like Mr. Edwards this
was exceedingly disagreeable. His own address was extremely
ceremonious, yet pleasing and often affable. He rebukes them in
several instances for their ill breeding, intimating in his sermons
that toward himself he wishes a greater deference shown, calling
attention to the fact that he notices they do not " remove their
hats when they meet their betters upon the street," &c. Per
haps the most disagreeable contests that occurred in the parish
grew out of this very element of coarseness to which we have
alluded. The first of these difficulties was occasioned by the
unfortunate attachment which sprang up between his niece,
Abigail, and John Moore, Jr., a profligate young man of the
parish. This: soon ripened into a secret marriage, much to the
consternation and dismay of the parents and uncle of the bride.
Mr. Edwards, deeply wounded and anxious to aid the afflicted
parents, used his influence to have the matter brought before
the North Association of Ministers for Hartford County. These
gentlemen met at Windsor on the 3d day of February, 1724-5,
and discussed the following question : " Whether matrimonial
contracts, either private or publick, made by children living in
thier father's house, and being in thier youth, without y con-
sent of thier parents, and especially contrary to thier minds
clearly notified to them, do bind in conscience ? " • To this
question the assembly returned the following answer: "By the
best light we have, from the word of God, Si according to tlie

73 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
concurrent Judgment of Learned Judicious and approved
divines, we Judge that the father hath a right or power to
make void such contracts in ordinary cases, — Voted."
Attest: — John Graham, Scribe.
It would be interesting to know the arguments by which
the association reached this conclusion. With Mr, Edwards,
family government was a dear thing, and upon it he preached
with all his wonted vigor. Sternly he rebuked the lapses from
parental dignity and authority among his parishioners. But, in
this case, where a girl of twenty had legally married, we are
curious to know how the "judicious divines " would scripturt'.ly
empower the parents to annul the marriage, in "ordinary
cases." Evidently the colonial court were in some doubt as to
the propriety of dividing the parties, notwithstanding they were
fortified by evidence like the following:
"The Subscriber, pleads as followeth, —
That notwithstanding I had some Respect for John Moore
yet I never should have pretended to marry him in Such an
Irregular manner If I had not been afraid he would have mur
dered himself. And I am now convinced in my Conscience y'
I had no power to dispose of myself in marriage without y
Consent of my parents. Especially Considering they alwaies
from first to Last manifested a Great aversion to my proceeding
with Moore, which proceeding I am very sorry for, and do
hereby as far as in me Lies Renounce and Retract what I did
Therein, and pray this honourable Court y' If it be agreeable
to ye word ol God y' you would set me at Liberty.
Abigail Stoughton."
To this was appended a certificate of " Carracter," which, if
as bad as the spelling of the document, would certainly condemn
John Moore, Jr., before any tribunal:
" The Subscribers Testifie That John More Jr of Windsor is

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 73
a person of a veri bad Carracter In our place and hath been So
accounted These several years March the 8" 1724-5 "
" Henery Wolcott
Matthew Grant
John Strong
" Jeremiah Digens
Joseph Rockwell
W» Wolcott
Josh Baker"
How long the contest between Mr. Stoughton and his
objectionable son-in-law continued we do not know, but there
are various writs wherein Mr. Edwards' name appears as a
witness in a suit pending between the two parties. It is certain
no divorce was granted, and a few years later Abigail Moore
received from her father a " setting out," in the shape of various
household goods, which seems to indicate an adjustment of the
difficulties. The next case which greatly disturbed the church harmony
was the " escapade " of Joseph Diggens, a pupil of Mr. Edwards'
and son of Jeremiah, who had attested the " Carracter " of John
Moore, Jr., a few years previous.
This young man, of exemplary habits, so far as we can
learn, had ventured to marry, contrary to her parents' wishes,
the daughter of a parishioner, and, as a consequence, Mr.
Edwards refused to allow him to own the covenant unless he
would make a public confession of this " scandalous offence."
To this Joseph demurred and desired baptism for his child,
which was also refused unless the pastor's terms were acceded
to. From Mr. Edwards young Diggens appealed to the church,
and demanded a trial, in which he expected to prove his inno
cence. But all of no avail. The iron-willed minister very
plainly intimated to his people that he was the head of the
church, concluding his reply to the brethren with a protest
against his wayward pupil, in which he charged him with
having broken the fifth and eighth commandments. To thh

74 A Glimpse of an Old Parish. "
charge Joseph Diggens, in 1740, filed a counter charge against
his pastor of " mal-administration."
Upon this a council was called to discuss and consider the
propriety of Mr. Edwards' position, and to determine as well
the true question, which really was the important issue at stake,
viz. : " Whether the pastor had power to negative the action of
the church." Previous to this trouble the church had been
strong adherents of the old Congregational order of discipline ;
but after the promulgation of the Saybrook platform, in 1708,
Mr. Edwards had asserted, among other things, that " the votes
of the brethren to convict or restore an offender were inopera
tive without the concurrence or approbation of the pastor," and
to this position he rigidly adhered in the face of all argument
and entreaty. What would have been the result of the contro
versy we can hardly conceive, had Brother Diggens remained
firm. But finally he withdrew his charge of mal-administration,
and a number of church members thereupon addressed a letter
to their pastor, which earnestly solicited him to call the church
around the sacramental table again, a privilege from wliich it
had been debarred for three years, owing to the trouble which
had arisen out of Joseph Diggens' unfortunate matrimonial
venture. Mr. Edwards, upon the occasion of the sacrament, notes that
it is the " first they have had for a long time on account of their
division." How the whole matter was finally determined, we do not
know. The records dp not give us an insight of the contest
beyond the reunion in 1 74 1, and the probabilities are that,
under the softening influences of the "great awakening" which
at the time began to spread over the land, the rigor of Mr.
Edwards' policy was abated, and Joseph Diggens and his child
received to open and full communion.
There arc those who attribute Mr. Edwards' position in this
case to a " disarrangement of the nervous functions that accopt-
panies the decay of physical powers." ' With this opinion we
ISec Stiles, page 246,

jtT°n' jfJT1 *

' -11

~U mJTi^~t. . 7n»UA „y,^J
* &-a*. <» r-?'4"-1 ^^ — ¦/- i'^'j-'j
•glr-Z-lU-,*™.* - 7*" Ti.f.,rCi.'~
~jy.,u^ )' ^-^ <W/ /«/~t, ^yC.L, U
Fac Simile Sermon— Mr. Edwards, Nov. 23, 1709 and Feb. 1733-4.
[Two-thirdi Actual Size.]
A Glimpse of an Old Parish. j$
can hardly agree. That he was sick at the time seems to have
been the case, but this was more the result of the common pre
disposing causes than the consequences of broken health. His
accounts, his sermons, thirteen years later, show him to have
been even then vigorous in mind. Several discourses, preached
from 1750-5, are written in the clear, vigorous style of his
earlier productions; and as his death did not occur until
eighteen years after the controversy, we must conclude that at
1740 his "natural force was unabated."
This reasoning seems to be fortified by the condition of his
parish during the next five years. According to his son
Jonathan, no parish was more signally blessed than his father's
in the outpouring of the spirit.

CHAPTER VII.

JONATHAN EDWARDS.
" From the days of Plato there has been no life of mora slmplt and Imposing
frandeur than that of Jonathan Edwards."— WestminiUr Review, Vat. LVII,
ftp tie).
A LTHOUGH Mr. Edwards' salary was payable in money,
yet, owing to the impoverished condition of some of his
people, he frequently accepted various kinds of produce in pay,
which he credited to them upon their rate, or proportion of the
tax, for the support of the ministry.
Fortunately the book which covers the portion of his pastor
ate from 1715-50 ha3 been preserved. From it we gather some
interesting items regarding the people and pastor of " Windsor
Farme." Among the notes that it contains, and from which
we shall quote more at length in the future, are frequent
references to different young men who studied under Mr.
Edwards and were by him fitted for college. The foremost
among these was his only son, Jonathan, born on the 5th of
Oct, 1703.
This young man " enjoyed the rare advantage (never under
stood and felt except by those who have been fortunate enough
to experience it) of all the softening and hallowed influences
which refined female society sheds, like an atmosphere of light.
around the mind and soul of boyhood. Had that fond mother
and those loving sisters been fully aware of the glorious gifts
that were even then beginning to glow in the eyes of their
darling; had they been able to see, in its full blaze, the immor
tal beauty, borrowed from the regions of spiritualized thought
and hallowed affections, that was one day to encircle his fore-

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 77
head as with a wreath from the bowers of paradise, they could
hardly have unfolded his moral and intellectual nature with
more discreet care." *
Truly a mother's yearning love never found a more complete
fruition than the sweet confidence that poured full and free from
the tender heart of that dear son. Truly a sister's gentle affec
tions were never hallowed and treasured as were the minis
trations of those loving ones who wreathed in smiles the happy
days of Edwards' childhood. And yet there was another mind
whose masterful impress moulded and shaped the high course
which God had planned for His chosen one, and all the woman
liness of Esther Edwards, all the song-like hopefulness of that
band of devoted sisters, did not so much to form the life of
Jonathan Edwards as did that father's kindred spirit On him
he showered the rich treasures of his well-stored mind. Upward
he led him, through the rugged paths of knowledge, until at
length the child man caught the inspiration of his father's zeal,
and, hand in hand, they trod those ways of pleasantness and
paths of peace which led to a diviner life.
Much as Jonathan Edwards owed to the womanly influences
by which he was surrounded, and deeply as he reverenced his
mother's teachings and treasured his sister's love, above all
these we can discern in his maturer years the outbreakings of
the distinctive " Edwardean " teachings of his reverend father.
The words of Agassiz, at the celebration of the centennial of
Humboldt's birth, are applicable in their fullest sense to the
cultured pastor of the " Farme." Many young men of Con
necticut, who were afterward distinguished in the history of the
State, sought instruction at his hands, until at length the humble
home became a sort of school, from which if a young man
graduated with Mr. Edwards' certificate of his fitness he was
admitted to Yale College without further examination. His
own family was one with strong literary tastes. The daughters
being all conversant with Latin, and some of them with Greek,
1 Hollister's History Connecticut.

Graduated Yale,

1731

H

II

1739

II

M

'733

14

II

• 734

II

II

1740

II

II

1720

II

II

1722

78 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
their aid was often required during the pastor's absence to
Instruct the boys under his charge. From the list of those who
were, by Mr. Edwards, fitted for college and who afterward
graduated at Yale, we select seven who were born in his parish,
as follows :
Alexander Wolcott,
Alexander Gaylord,
Hezekiah Bissell,
William Wolcott,
John P'ggcns,
Jonathan Edwards (his son),
Isaac Stiles,
Daniel Edwards (half brother of Timothy,
from Hartford), " " 1720
Of these, Bissell, Stiles, and Jonathan Edwards became min
isters. The first named was ordained as the pastor of the
Congregational church of Bloomfield, then called Wintonbury,
This ecclesiastical society was organized in 1738, and Mr. Bis-
sell's ordination took place upon the 15th of February of that
year. His pastorate of forty-four years was distinguished by a
degree of harmony among the members of his flock which con
trasted strongly with the embittered state of feeling which
prevailed during the administration of his successor.
Mr. Bissell's church adopted the "half-way covenant" as its
standard, and no effort was made to abolish it until 1785, two
years after his death, when the adoption of a new covenant led
to the difficulties to which we have referred.' The Rev. Isaac
Stiles, whom Mr. Edwards fitted for college, was the life-long
pastor of North Haven church, and appears to have been a
minister of a stronger " Edwardean " type than Mr. Bissell.
The following instance of his outspoken, fearless manner is
related by " Stiles " : " Once on a time, during intermission on
Sunday, he saw one of his congregation stealing melons. In
his afternoon sermon he referred to the taking in a manner
1 For history of Wintonbury church, see Stiles' History Ancient Windsor,

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 79
somewhat personal. After treating of the particular sin of
theft, said he: 'No longer than this Lord's day noon [pointing
to a person In the gallery], I saw you, John Johnson, thou son
of Belial, thou child of the devil, enter my garden and steal my
melons.' "
There does not appear to have been anything " half-way " in
the above rebuke ; neither was there anything in Mr. Stiles'
whole ministry of that temporizing policy by which the church
has too often been compromised at the expense of the principles
upon which it was founded, by Him " whose kingdom was not
of this world."
Mr. Stiles was the father of Rev. Ezra Stiles, President of Yale
College. But of that gifted circle over which Timothy and
Esther Edwards presided, none have shed so bright a lustre on
the profession he adorned as their son, whose transcendent
genius has almost hidden from the world the devoted man who
fanned its dawning light, and in after years, by counsel and by
prayer, nurtured its noontide splendor.
It is not the object of this sketch to review the life and work
of Jonathan Edwards; full justice is being done this wondrous
man both at home and abroad. The brilliant light which broke
like a meteor's gleam from these western wilds, when he arose
and demonstrated his propositions, has spread like a silver
lining over the dark clouds of German mysticism, while to-day
the great minds of England and France pour high enconiums
on the humble " Stockbridge missionary."
" In the background of our New England history he moves a
figure of the stateliest proportions." Yet we who live so near
the scenes of his labors and triumphs have not seen him as they
who, removed from the immediate conflicts in which he engaged,
have viewed him. Like the traveller at the foot of some lofty
height, we have only hitherto marked the towering form, with
but slight conceptions of its-magnificent proportions. But now,
at the distance of more than a century, we begin to realize the
force of his character and vie with each other in offering some

80 A Glimpse of an Old Parish,
refutation of the proverb " A prophet Is not without honor save
in his own country, and in his own house."
No loftier praise has been accorded any American than this
tribute from the Westminster Review (1852, Vol. LVII):
" Before the commencement of this century America had but
one great man in philosophy, but that one was illustrious,
From the days of Plato there has been no life of more simple
and imposing grandeur than that of Jonathan Edwards, who,
living as a missionary at Northampton, then on the confines of
civilization, set up his propositions, which have remained as if
they were mountains of solid crystal in the centre of the
world."1 He came upon the field during the contentious
period when the primitive church of the New World was
struggling against the assailing powers of darkness. The
insidious workings of the " half-way covenant " had prepared
the path of corruption and opened the way for innovations
which threatened the spiritual life of the church. His youthful
ears had listened to the noise of tumult in his father's house,
where the rival factions that wrangled over the location of the
new meeting house were wont to assemble. The very college
in which he was educated was without a resting place, and not
until after his graduation did the fierce war over its removal to
New Haven cease. Upon all these petty strifes and dissensions
Edwards had looked with that apparent indifference with which
the great warrior looks on the skirmishing pickets of the
advancing foe ; but, nevertheless, he read in them the signs of
the times, and when a few years later the church of Christ,
weakening in the grasp of the relentless world power, was about
to stoop to concessions unworthy of its high position, he rose
"and thrust between the struggling foes his giant strength,"
forced apart the relenting forces, and, with the sword of the
Spirit in his hand, fought his way to the front ranks of the
eighteenth century polemists.
1 Stockbridge, not Northampton, was the scene of his missionary labors and
most remarkable intellectual efforts,

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 81
After his graduation from Yale, Jonathan Edwards, then but
nineteen years of age, was settled over a small congregation of
Presbyterians in New York. From the correspondence of the
period it is evident that he had been offered inducements to
remain with them, but out of respect to his father's wishes had
decided not to do so. It was during his ministrations in New
York that he received n call to become pastor of the Bolton
Congregational Church In his native State. To this proposition
his father and mother seem both to have been favorably inclined,
and the letters appended below show the tender respect with
which their wishes were regarded. The society of Bolton had
two candidates in view, as appears from the following vote upon
the town records: "At a town meeting May 27, 1723 Voted to
apply to Rev Jonathan Edwards. If he declined, to invite Mr
Isaac Stiles of Westficld."1 Another vote in connection with
Mr. Edwards' call is as follows :
"At a town meeting in Bolton legally warned Oct 10" 1723
Voted at said meeting to give the Rev Mr Edwards in case he
should settle in the work of the ministry in this Towne the
allotment in Bolton assyned by the Com" for the Ministry with
all the rights appertaining thereto." " Voted also to give him
the sum of 220 pounds for his settlement, and salary for the
space of two years, commencing from his first coming among
us and settling in said town."
"Oct 28 1723. Voted that the town shall take the whole
care of gathering the Rate and that the minister shall have
nothing to do but to receive it, and if the minister shall agree
with any person to do any work, or pay his Rate in provision
he shall give a note."
" Voted also that the Rate the three years shall be 6o,£ the
next year d$£ the ncx £70, the next 75 the next 8o,£."
"Voted also that all the male inhabitants of Bolton from 16
years old and upwards work two days in each year for the
three years in fencing and clearing for the minister."
1 Afterward of North Haven.

8a A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
"Voted that the ministers Rate of salary shall be paid
annually one half in money, and the other half in Indian corn &
wheat at current money price."
" Voted also that the people shall cut and cart the ministers
wood." In town meeting Nov. 9, 1723, "Voted to add to the
¦aid salary of So£ per annum when there shall be occasion, and
as shall be just and reasonable."
To these terms Mr. Edwards acceded, and his acceptance,
in his own hand upon the Bolton town records, reads as follows :
" Nov 1 1 1723. Upon the terms that are here recorded I do
consent to be the settled pastor of this Town of Bolton.
Jonathan Edwards."
The next record of young Edwards shows him in the capacity
of a tutor at Yale College, and soon after associated with Daniel
Edwards (half brother of his father) in the work of sustaining a
religious interest in the institution, which tended to greatly
promote the spiritual life of that " mother of the Connecticut
churches." History throws no light upon his brief ministry at Bolton, nor
are we certain what. caused the sudden change in his plans; but
romantic tradition lends a charm to the rumor that an accom
plished and lovely girl, the daughter of an eminent New Haven
clergyman, threw her weight in the scale that preponderated in
favor of Yale, thus turning from the comparatively obscure
country town into the congenial ways of thought and culture
the studious man whose companionship she afterward shared.
Perhaps nothing shows the beauty and delicate purity of the
young minister's mind better than the following tribute to his
future wife, the lovely Sarah Pierrepont, wliich Edwards wrote
in the year 1723 upon a blank leaf of a book, wliich is still pre
served :
" They say there is a young lady in  who is beloved by
that Great being who made and rules the world, and that there
are certain seasons in which this Great Being in some way or
other invisibly comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding
sweet delights, and that she hardly cares for anything except to

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 83
meditate on him. That she expects after a while to be where
he is, to be raised up out of the world and caught up into
heaven, being assured that he loves her too well to let her
remain at a distance from him always. There she Is to dwell
with him. Therefore if you present all the world before her
with the richest of its treasures she disregards it and cares
nothing for it and is unmindful of any pain or affliction. She
has a strange sweetness in her mind and singular purity in her
affections, is most just and conscientious in her conduct, and you
could not persuade her to do anything wrong or sinful if you
would give her all the world, lest she should offend the Great
Being. She is for wonderful sweetness calmness and universal
Benevolence of mind Especially after this Great Being has
manifested himself to her mind. She will sometimes go about
from place to place singing sweetly and seems to be always
full of Joy and pleasure, and no one knows for what She loves
to be alone walking in the fields and groves and seems to have
some one invisible always conversing with her."
Thus, at the age of twenty, wrote Jonathan Edwards, and in
the foregoing quotation we can see the glimmering light that
ere long was destined to illume the dark horizon of New
England with the broad gleam of his spiritual logic.
Wc give here the correspondence referred to on a previous
page: To Nathaniel Loomis
In Bolton These
To the Gentlemen of Y« Committy In y
Town of Bolton Gent™ I have herewith sent you
a Letter that I have lately received from my Son which he
directed to yourselves from New York, as you will see by the
Date and Contents of it, At the same time I received one from
him to myself of the same date with yours, And also another to
his Mother written near a Moneth since viz Jan? y 7th from

84 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
which I expect (Life permitted & health continued) to see him
in the Spring and I am apt to think he will be here either in
March or sometime in April next at furthest, And considering
my own mind in the matter together with what he hath expres't
in his above mentioned Letters both to myself and his Mother,
I very much expect that he will leave the people with whom he
now is at his next journey home. I have perused my Sons
Letter to yselves and find nothing in it Discouraging as to the
motion you have made to him, I am
Gent"1 yr affectionate Friend
8c Serv' Tim° Edwards.
Windsor Jany 16 1721 New York Dec" 10, 1722
To the Gentlemen of the Committy ) Gentlemen, According

/ to my promise I here

In the Town of Bolton , send you ,he most p,en.
ary and satisfactory answer that I can from the best observation
and most mature deliberation I have been able to make since
my return to New York. I have not been able to come to a
full determination whether to leave York in a short time or No
but I think for the present considering the circumstances of the
Society and my Fathers inclination to the contrary, it seems
most probable I shall not settle here, but am ready to think I
shall leave them in the spring. I believe I shall not return into
New England till that time. Whither you will wait with
expectation of me so long is entirely with you and as you think
fit I think it would be unreasonable of me to desire or expect
it of you, especially considering that it is not absolutely certain
that I shall leave York then. This is all the Resolution Gentra
that I can possibly give you at this time. I assure you I have
a great esteem of and affection to the people of your Town so
far as I am acquainted with them, And should count it a Smile
of Providence upon me if ever I should be settled amongst such
a People as your Society seems at present to me to be. I

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 85
heartily wish for your Prosperity In all things especially upon
spiritual accounts, that God would give you an able, faithful!
Pious, and successfull Pastor, that may be a Great Instrument
of the advancement of Gods Glory 8c the Eternal interests of
Souls among you.
I am your hearty friend & humble Serv'
Jonathan Edwards.

CHAPTER VIII.

PARISH ACCOUNTS.
""P HE Index page of Mr. Edwards' " Rate book " contains 244
names, represented in the accompanying illustrations,
which show the fine, systematic handwriting of the man, and,
at the same time, familiarize the reader with the names of some
who have been founders of families distinguished in the history
of our country.
It must be borne in mind that, at the date of our history,
East Windsor and the old parish of Windsor comprised one
town, and that, aside from the separate church interests, the
affairs of the settlement were conducted in the name of the
town of Windsor.
In looking over the list, we find that in 1725-6 there are
forty more persons with whom Mr. Edwards has accounts for
" Rates " than were assessed ten years later for the support of
the ministry. We may explain this partly upon the ground
that many of the older men had died, while some had removed
to form and maintain other townships. The index opens with
John Anderson, whose only companion under the letter " A "
is Abiel Abbott. Of the latter gentleman Mr. Edwards, on
page 30, records: " Mr Abiel Abbott is Dr
By his Rate for y year 1727, £001 — odsh — O^d," upon the
30th of July, 1728. "Contra is  Cr by iosk in Bills
£001 — losh—ood."
This financial strain, however, evidently proved too much for
Mr. Abbott's purse. Consequently we find, in 1737, that Mr.
Edwards has no "Rate" charged against him, but in the place
thereof makes an entry to the following effect: "July 13 1 737
Abiel Abbott Is Dr-to, To a iQsh Bill, and a Gallon of Vinegar,

Mei£l^' "

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- A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 87
Olsh— Ot\d a jfooo — 1 ish— 04," which seems to indicate a
neighborly loan on the part of Mr. Edwards.
On a blank page opposite the index are numerous mem
oranda, or, as Mr. Edwards calls them, " memorandums," some
of which we will quote as showing the conscientious accuracy
of his transactions with his parishioners.
" March 3d 1726-7 I finished measuring of Jabez Coults
Corn which I carefully Laid, and kept by itself to see w< it
would shrink, and found it to be 7 half bushels and half a peck,
and a small matter more, viz a little above a pint as I thought"
On looking at page 12, "Jabez Coult is  Dr
To his ' Rate' for y year 1726 — .6001 — oysh — 02d."
Contra he is Cr. :
"Dec 5" 1726 by 5 bushels of Indian corn at ish By his
son David ^000— 15.5/* — ood."
It is evident from the above entries that the minister dis
covered that the grain was too damp for " legal tender,"
although he must have accepted some of it as David delivered
it ; otherwise we can hardly account for a shrinkage of almost
three "half bushels " in a few months. We are inclined to think
that the youthful David received kindly admonition upon the
subject, for in January he brings for his father " 3 bush Indian
Corn at ish = £000 — ogsh — ood," which is duly " credited "
without demurrer.
The account runs on through several years. We will give
extracts without reference to chronological order, as space will
not permit copying the whole account.
Jabez Coult is " Dr to his Rate for ye year 1729 £001"
Oish" lid." Contra "Cr May 1729 by weaving Linnin &
Towe cloth £001" oysh" nd," which leaves a balance in Mr.
Coult's favor.
"June 26 1730 Cr by 1 Bushel & % & # almost of Indian
corn ;£ooo" 0$sh" ot,d."
So careful is Mr. Edwards in his accounts that he makes after
the above record the note that "This was June 27'h," having
made an error in the former date. The amount involved does

88 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
i
not appear to have been very great, and indicates that Mr.
Coult's corn bin must have "shrunk" considerably since our
first acquaintance with it.
On June 14, 1732, "Cousin Daniel Stoughton" pays ios/i.
e\d. for Goodman Coult, which is duly credited, "JanT 27
'734-5 Reckoned with Good"1 Coult and due to him £000"
00s" o$d." This closes the account with Jabez Coult.
Other pages afford an insight into the economy of Mr.
Edwards' farming operations, and show him to have been
a very accommodating man, although he appeals frequent
ly to his wife to substantiate his records, as will be seen
hereafter. " Memd» — 1726-71 Joseph Porter Junr told me this day
that I owed him l$sh — od for mending Glass, my wife sold
him at the same time }{ lbs wanting an ounce of old Pewter at
20a"his own price. So y' now he say» I owe him 14*// — dd,
this he told me at the same time."
"Jannr ye 19. I pd the above sd 141/* — dd to Joseph Porter
Junr. so y' now I owe him nothing."
Mr. Edwards' house was finished with " diamond windows,"
so that we can understand how the pewter would be useful to a
glazier in repairing the leaden sash in which the diamond-
shaped glass was set. The next entry comes to our ears with
a mournful serenity.
"Dec 26" (1727) the Last of my shoats was killed to spend
in ye family, on Monday." No wonder a minute of the purpose
for which this porcine bud was blasted is made in the pastor's
journal. Domestic economy demanded it. With a family of
eleven children, most of whom were at home at that date, and
with enough servants and transient guests to make the places
of the absent ones good, Mr. and Mrs. Edwards must have
looked with no small degree of curiosity upon the demise of the
" Last shoat" at such an curly date of a rigorous New England
I Owing to the difficulty of determining Ihe dated nenr lire commencement of
the year, according lo " new or old style," usually in old accounts they are given
|ri the alternative, as, for Instance, Jan. lolh, 1 726-7,

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 89
winter. But even the certainty of this supply was rendered
precarious by the advent of a neighbor who, after the ancient
custom, borrowed a " spare rib." " Lent Lieut Chas. Wolcott
16" of Pork" is the record succeeding the foregoing; and
although the " Cr." does not appear on the book, doubtless the
pork was returned with interest " Memd Mrs Bartlett had of my
wife as near as we can come at it, it was about y year 1723-4
(enqf of y wife whether it was so or no, I mean whether it was
then or no) I say she had of my wife }4 a bushel of Rie meal,
02s" Oid" and my wife also says y' ye year after she had a
Peck of Rie meal 81 quickly after y< 2 Bushells of Rie."
The next date, April, 1726, Mr. Edwards supplied his
neighbor with spiritual food. "Lent Serg' Rockwell 'The
meditations of a mind seeking after X1' with another Book
concerning ye experience of a scotch minister."
"June 6 Lent Bro. Whitman One of Jonathan's books con
cerning true Christianity, or some such subject by a German
Divine." " May — Lent Neighbor Rockwell the Book called a Pious
soul breathing after X1 in a 100  meditations, with another
called " pillars of salt."
The account with Lieut. Loomis shows him to have been in
arrears of his rate. " May 2 (1726) Bought of L< Loomis' Wife
8 lbs of cheese at yd per pound, only 1 id of it goes in on her
husbands acct. for his Rate for 1725."
Jonathan Bissell shows a degree of liberality which is truly
commendable. "April 22" 1726 Received of Jonathan Bis
sell by his wife idsh id in Bills. His wife tells me my Ferriage
comes to for y<= last year 2sh Zd 81 that he demands but 2sh of
me." Certainly the ampunt discounted was small, but it shows
to us the sincere respect in wliich Mr. Edwards was held by his
people. His book exhibits frequent instances where he records
that certain neighbors have "cast in" or discounted small sums
which he owed them, and frequently the same courtesy is.
shown toward them by their pastor,

9° A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
Corporal Nathaniel Fitch comes forward with some " Green
Corn," but the vigilant pastor notices the condition of the grain,
and notes as follows: "Nov 30" 1726. Reed" of Corporal
Nath" Fitch 3 Bush"» & 14 of Indian Corn as he saith, wch is
very Green and I am apt to think will shrink about y, a Bush1
if nt more."
Sergt. Rockwell owns a cider mill, and thither Mr. Edwards
takes his apples to be ground. " Sergt. Joseph Phelps Cr 4s dd
Aug IS" (1726) Serg' Rockwell Gave an ace" of it this day
out of his Book this 4s dd is for his help in making cider for me
Last year at Sergt. R's."
Mr. Edwards' orchard appears from his book to have been
very productive. It was located on the high sandy land east
of his house, where to-day the country is covered with forest,
among which there may occasionally be found stunted descend
ants of the old colonial orchards.
Brother John Edwards, who was a merchant in Hartford,
appears upon the book in various transactions. "July 21 1730
I paid Bro John Edwards of Hartford I $sh in 2 Bills a tosh St
a $sh." The next charge indicates an abundant apple crop for
the year. " Novbr Bro John Edwards had of me 10 Bbls of
Cyder at gsh per Bbl = ^004" I or" 00^."
The old warehouse in which Mr. Edwards' father, Richard,
had done business in Hartford had evidently changed hands.
"June 17" 1730 I paid M' Austen 30*/* at his warehouse in
Hartford, viz y< wch was my Fathers first warehouse."
This Mr. Austin referred to was a dealer in fancy goods and
notions, as the following bill attests :
" 1726 A prill 26" my wife bought of M' Austin
5 yd & '/i of Shalloon at dsh 01 " Ii" 06
By 6 Doz & J^ of Coat Buttons 00" 13" 00
By 4 Doz & Yt of Brass Buttons
By 6 sticks of Black mo hair
By a hank of Silk— I Zd 00" Ol" OtS
By lA lb of coperas — id 00" 00" 03
02" 06" OJ

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 9'
The same day she pd Mr Austin iosh
The same day she pd $s Zd for chocolat & Raisins of the
Sun April 26 I p<> to Mr Booshon 2sh in a Bill for a pound of
Raisins of the Sun."
Another memorandum shows tlie watchful care Mrs. Edwards
exercised over her husband's affairs.
" May 11" 1726 My wife told me y' I have 5 calf skins at
Thos Sads with a Cow Skin to be tanned and curried, y first
was y« Tuesday before y Election in ye year 1725 of our Red
Py'd Cow, ye 2d was of our Black Cow & ye same month or at
least pretty soon after yf 3d was in ye Last winter of our Black
Py'd Cow a little before ye People brought wood for me, y«
41" was of y« Red Cow sometime in March or Aprill 1 726,
ye 5th wa3 0f our Brown Cow ye Tuesday before ye Election,
ye Cow skin was yl of a young Red Cow killed sometime
before ye Last Thanksgiving."
" Three of y above sd 5 calf skins were larger y" ordinary
they were all Good ones also y Cow skin was a very Good
one." We have every reason to believe that, with such careful
records of his property, there was little danger of Mr. Edwards'
hides being lost or exchanged fcr his neighbors'. We find by
turning to Thomas Sad's account for 1726: " Contra he is Cr
by Dressing Calf St Cow skins  £01 — 02s— ood."
On the first page of the book the first deacon of the church,
referred to in a former chapter, is mentioned.
"Deacon Job Drake is Dr to his Rate for ye year 1730
£000" I is" 2d." This charge the deacon confronts with some
grain, wliich " Mercy Brooks," tlie maid of all work at Mr,
Edwards', does not report favorably upon, as appears from the
following credit: "May 6" 1730 Deacon Drake is Cr By 1
Bushell St ]/t of Indian corn and 1 Bush" of Rie all— 000" io"of5.
Mercy Brooks told me this morning that this Rie is much
blasted and very Poor." One of the last acts of the humble
deacon is performed for Mr. Edwards' negro slave, Ansars, and
comes down to posterity with a " Dorcas "-like pathos. " Dea-

92 A Glimpse of an Old Parish. '
con Job Drake is Cr By 6" of flax dsh mending " Ansars "
Breeches Zd= £000" 06^/1 oZd." Deacon Drake and his
associate deacon, Samuel Rockwell, were succeeded by Joseph
Skinner, who is " Dr to his Rate for ye year 1725 ,£001 — IS*
oZd." This assessment, however, does not dismay the good
deacon, who evidently could administer physical as well as
spiritual consolation.
"June 24 1725 Contra  he is Cr £000" 091*" o$d.
By ye reckoning June 24 aforesaid
By a Turkey — ish by a dozen pigeons Zd
Drawing a tooth for my daughter Esther ish
Aug 27 1725 a tooth for Abigail ish 000 OS" 08
Sept 19 1725 By drawing a Tooth ish
his horse to  Mr Reynolds ordination all
is ish" dd" 1 000 05" 06
March 7 1726 By drawing a tooth for Lucy ish
Oct 21 1726 By bringing home a calf 2sh 000 03" 00
JanT 7" 1726 By a ham whirl & straitning the
spindle
June 14 1727 By drawing a tooth for Lucy ish
June IS 1727 By varnishing two chairs 2s Sd
June 1727 By six chairs, all is 02" 11" 09
Aug 3 1727 By a dozen J4 of pigeons St a dozen
more St half a dozen more in all 3 doz 000" Ot" 03"
Truly few men are credited with so manifold talents as this
worthy deacon, Perhaps we can understand something of this
extra brushing and varnishing in June, 1727; that was the
month in which the oldest daughter, Esther, married Rev.
Samuel Hopkins, of West Springfield, Mass. This was the
second wedding among Mr. Edwards' daughters; Elizabeth, the
second child, having married Col. Jabez Huntington, of Wind
ham, June, 1724. The original wedding invitation sent to Mr.
Edwards' brother-in-law is as follows:
S' This comes from my Self and my wife as an Invitation to y'
1 Mr. Peter Reynolds, minister of the first church in Enfield,

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 9]
Self and Sister to my Daughter Betty's Wedding y« day
Intended for which is the next Tuesday. I therefore do hereby
request you both to be at my house on that occation that day,
at about three of the Clock in the afternoon, whereby you will
oblige. Sr V" to Serve you Tim<> Edwards.
Windsor June 27"1 1724.
Of Deacon Samuel Rockwell we find but scanty evidence, as
he died in 1725, and his estate was settled by Thomas Grant,
with whom Mr. Edwards keeps the account which opens thus:
" Thomas Grant is Dr partly on ace" of what is due to me from
Deacon Rockwells Estate Deceased." "JanT 10" 1722-3. To
Teaching his Son Matthew, viz Dea Rockwells Son Matthew,
two years and as long besides as from Jamr 10" to Sept 8" as
I reckon it 138 weeks at 2s ddpec week all is, £17 — 05 s — ood."
The next charge is of a spiritual nature, and looks as if Mr.
Edwards' "Cyder" had undergone a change:
"To 4 Quarts of Brandy £00 041/; ood."
"June 14" 1726 Reckoned with Thomas Grant and due from
him to me for teaching Matthew Rockwell (1 casting in ten
shillings) as a gift to his mother Rockwell — £12 — 19J/1— 05</."
This Thomas Grant was evidently a son-in-law of Deacon
Matthew Rockwell, because Mr. Edwards makes mention of
Thomas Grant's " mother Rockwell " and " Brother Rockwell,"
referring evidently to the young man whom he instructed.
Deacon Rockwell had a daughter, Elizabeth, who, according to
" Stiles," married a Thomas Spencer. (Query: Was it not the
Thomas Grant whose account wc have quoted ?)'
1 1 have since received a note from Miss Clarissa Collins, of Wapping, a
descendant of Deacon Samuel Rockwell, in which she says: " My grandfather's
mo.her's maiden name was Elizabeth Rockwell. Sire married Thomas Grant.
She had a brother, Matthew Rockwell, in Vale College,"
The following receipt was found among Thomas Grant's papers:
" Windsor March 4 1763. Received of Rockwell Grant the sum of £1 — Ish — So*
(or preaching in Wapping 10 the year 1763 Byrne Matthew Rockwell,

94 A. Glimpse of an Old Parish.
But, returning to the young man, who afterward became a
physician and clergyman in Windsor, and during the dissensions
in the church in 1733-40 preached in Mr. Edwards' stead, we
find the following entry in another part of the volume: "Jan
II 1722-3 Matt, Rockwell first came to school to me, 8c con
tinued with me till ye monday before y next commencement
came, twelve months after, viz about a year St 8 months,"
This was an unfortunate educational experience for poor
Matthew. While in Mr. Edwards' family he became enamored
of one of the daughters. An engagement followed, and after
the completion of his college course Mr. Rockwell built, in his
native place, a house, still standing. The south front room was
supplied with one of the ample fire-places common at that time,
over the crown of which was built into the chimney wall a brick
tablet, with the initials of his inamorata's name burned therein.
But for some reason, which will probably elude historic
research, the engagement was broken, and the despairing
young physician immediately left his new home for a less pre
tentious dwelling in the lower part of the town, where he finally
solaced himself under the wifely ministrations of Jemima Cook,
whom he married in 1743. The house remains much as it was
in 1735-40, with the exception of the fire-place, which was
walled up about sixty years since, and reduced to modern
dimensions.1 The present occupant, an old lady of eighty-five
years, who was born on the premises, remembers distinctly the
appearance of the room in which her ancestor had anticipated
such happy hours.9 -.
On another page we find the following : " Memdm Mr
Matthew Rockwell came to Board at my house Jany" 30 iyil/i
at Noon, he was absent 2 Journeys one to Lime, and the other
to Northampton he was absent not quite a week as my wife
tells me in either of ym, Enqr of him how Long."
"June 8 1732 Mr Matthew' Rockwell went from my house."
I The brick and initials have been lost,
> Miss Henrietta Rockwell, of East Windsor Hill.

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 95
Passing from this page, we encounter the minute of a trans
action which sounds somewhat at variance with our ideas of
pastoral property rights at the present day : " 1 726 Novb' I
paid to Major Roger Wolcott 7 pounds in Bills of Credit on y
acctt of Mr John Anderson of Windsor for a Negro I Bought
of him, and by Andersons order."
"July 29 1 73 1 The widow Grace Grants acct concerning
my teaching her Son Ebenezer in my Red pocket Book Fo :
53-75-" Unfortunately this " Red Book," to which Mr. Edwards
refers frequently, is lost; but we know that Ebenezer Grant
afterward entered Yale College, and subsequently became a
prominent merchant in his native town. His account with Mr.
Edwards covers a number of years, and consists largely of
credits for rum, sugar, 8tc, which he furnishes his pastor to
offset his " Rate," which was among the largest of Mr. Edwards'
parishioners. " Nov 6 1734 Mr Ebenezer Grant is Cr by 10 lbs & y£ of
Sugar at 1 5</and a Gallon of Rhum losh = £001 — OJsh—oid."
Mr. Edwards frequently let his slave work for the neighbors,
for which he makes certain charges, as follows .
."Sergt Joseph Rockwell is Dr Oct 1727 to half a day of my
Negro picking corn for him in y home Lot — £000 on odd."
Returning to the catalogue of those who studied with Mr.
Edwards, we find "January 8" 1728. Mr Samuel Talcot Gov.
Talcots Son, by ye Govern™ desire came to me to be Instructed
in ye Latin Tongue 81c Si y« next Saturday late in y afternoon
went home and came again next Monday, JanT 13 he went
home again & came again Feb 6 1728-9, Feb 22 he went home
again." "Dec n" 1732 John Diggens came to me By his Fathers
desire to be Instructed in y Latin Tongue 8tc."
"An acctt of Jno Diggens absence May 1736 4 dayes about
ye Election time, 6 dayes or a week when I went to Northamp
ton, a week and 3 dayes when Mary was sick at Newingtoq

9* A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
about 6 dayes in Jany 1636-7 when I went to Farmington, 2
dayes when I went to Poquonnock."
From the above we see something of Mr. Edwards' activity.
-His advice and counsel were highly coveted by the adjoining
churches. His son Jonathan was frequently visited at North
hampton, where he was associated as colleague with his grand
father, Rev. Solomon Stoddard, then about eighty-five years of
age. At Newiugton Mr. Backus, who married Eunice Edwards,
was settled as minister, and undoubtedly Mary was visiting her
sister when the sickness alluded to gave John Diggens a respite
for a few days. The next aspirant for knowledge is discovered
on page 40. "Anno 1738 Corp" Ebenezer Bissell is Dr To
Teaching his son Aaron ye Latin S: Greek Tongues with 4
Rates = £20 — ods — lod."
We get an inkling of the son;;s of the sanctuary from the
following: "1728 Sept 9, I p<l Bro, John Edwards a ish Bill
and had of him Mr Chaunceys Hook of Regular singing wcl> as
I remember he told me was ldd."
The matter of singing seems to have been a disturbing cause
in the church. There was a Mr. George Beale and his son,
who traveled from church to church giving instruction in sing
ing ; at least that is the inference from the record Mr. Edwards
makes of their sojourn with him.
" Mr George Beale and his son Matthew came to my house
at noon, and went that day to dinner both of them, & at night
to supper & Lay here that night, & went to breakfast and
dinner also y next day, & in y afternoon went to liurtford, viz
on Tuesday next,"
Then follow various arrivals and departures of Mr. Beale and
his son: " 8c so Mr Beale hath been here after ye same manner
ever since with his Son, only y' week that ye Singing Lecture
was his Son was here from Friday night ye week before all y«
time till yc next Thursday after dinner, & he himself was here
all yl time also except Tuesday at dinner he was absent going
yt day after breakfast to Springfield and returning again y1
same day in y evening."

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 97
" May 9 Mr Beale went to Hartford."
May 23 he went with Mr Woodbridge to Springfield after
dinner." "June 19 Mr Beale went after dinner to Willington fie came
again y next Thursday. Matthew continued here."
"July 12 Mr Beale and his Son went in y forenoon to y
West Side of y River 81c."
Their frequent journeys were taken probably for the purpose
of visiting various societies and giving instruction in singing.
But there were some who were not pleased with the superiority
assumed by Mr. Beale, and to whom the "new-fangled"
method was not acceptable, Consequently, some years later,
we find, after the division of the society, that Mr. Potwine's
parish questions whether they will employ Mr. Beale or Mr.
Wilson. "Dec 1758 Voted to raise eight pounds to hire Mr
Beal or Mr Wilson to teach us to sing."
The last intimations we have that the singing was not satis
factory arc given in the following petition found among Col.
Lemuel Stoughton's papers in the old Edwards trunk, and
refer to Mr. Potwine's parish some time after Mr. Edwards'
death. East Windsor Sept ye 9 1772
To yc Jentlemen Society Com" for y North Society in said
East Windsor, this from us the subscribers are to Desier you as
soon as may be to warne a society meeting to do ye following
Business viz —
l". To see what y« society will do Respecting Singing
whether they will aprove of Beeting y tune with y hand in
divine worship.
2d. Whether ye society will approve of Sounding or Pitching
ye notes with ye voice or Pitchpipe before they begin to sing.
3d. to see whether they will appoint y Rev Mr Potwine to
tell the tuner what tune they shall sing.
4, to see if the Society will agree upon a Serteine number of

98

A Glimpse of an Old Parish.

tuns that shall be sung upon y« Lords Day in divine worship,
in this Society, and what tune they will have sung.
5. to see whether they will chuse any person or persons to
tune the Psalm for us in this Society.
6. to see whether the society will agree to Seet the Meeting
house againe, or approve of y disorderly Sitting in y" Gallerys
among y« young people.
7. to see if the society will agree to sing without having the
Psalm read upon the Saboth in divine worship.

Samuel Skinner
David Skinner
Lampson Willis
Job Thompson
Tho» Elsworth
Joseph Allen
Samuel Allen
Hezekiah Allen

Hezekiah Wells
Nathaniel Bancroft
Noah Stiles
Joel Price
John Bancroft
John Osbornes
Joseph Osborne
Thomas Bancroft

Josph Egolston
Jonathan Fish
Eleazer Blodget
Adonijah Crane
Nath Bissel
Will Bissel
John Gaylord
Charles Gaylord"

CHAPTER IX.
CONCLUSION,
" Clasp, Angel ol Ihe backward look
And folded wlngi of aihen gray
And voice of echoei far away,
The brazen coven of thy book;
The wieid palimpsest old and vast,
Wherein thou hid'st the spectral put;
Where closely mingling, pale and glow
The characters of joy and woe;
The monographs of outlived years,
Or smile-illumed or dim with tears." • • •— WkittUr.
HP HE South parish, over which Mr. Edwards presided,
seemed more kindly disposed toward Mr. Beale than
their brethren of the North society. This is attested by the
following vote :
" May 22 1727 Voted that for the future the Rule of Sing
ing in this Society', shall be according to the rule of Singing
now brought in and taught among us by Mr Beall."
The " Seating of the meeting house " had been a source of
considerable trouble among the people. Certain of the ruder
young persons sought refuge in the gallery, and by their
behavior disturbed others who were of a more worshipful mind.
At length a committee was appointed to reseat the congregation.
This allotment of seats has been preserved, and is given below.
At the time it refers to, Mr. Edwards' church was composed
of attendants from the whole territory east of the river, then
known as Windsor, no parishes being set off until many years
later. The spelling is given as in the original manuscript :
" Wee the subscribers hereunto being chosen and apointed
by the society on the east side Conecticutt river in Windsor to
seat The meeting house there being met together february the
i8lh 1722-3 about that affaire proseed as followeth viz,

100

A Glimpse of an Old Parish.

I In the first pew next the
pulpit
Roger wolcott «qr
Thomas Stoughton
Mr Simeon wolcott
Lclut nathaniel lomli
Thomas lomis
Mr mathcw grant
widdow eUworth
widdow okbond

9 The next pew ajoyning
Thomas bissell
Serj' James porter
Lieut henry wolcott
Jedadiah walson
Edward elmer
Samuel tudor
decon Job Drake-""
Sej1 Thomas elsworth
Srj1 Jared bissell
Cnp1 Job elsworth
Mr John wolcot

3 the next pew adjoyning
Serj1 John Strong
Mr John more
Leu1 Samuel bancroft
hezakiah porter
Mr William wolcott
Mrs grace grant
deacon rockwell

4 The first seat
ioscph lomis
eiijnmin cglcston
iohn Taylor
czrtkinh lumis
Serj1 Joseph rockwell
Serj1 Joseph porter'
ebenezor watson
mrs abigail willis
Serj* Samuel more

5 The pew by the great dore
mr John bartlet
Serj1 Joseph phelpi
mr William Stoughton
mr Joseph newberry
Serj1 Jacob Strong
Joseph bacon
John Smith
Samuel elmer
Leiut Charles wolcott
muses lomis

6 The second seat
deacon Skiner
Joseph drake
Snmuel o*bond
John osbond
uremyah diglni
.leu1 Isac bissell
Ensgn Joseph lomii
Jeremiah bissell
Thomas Skinner
widdow hannah gaylord
IMiiiiiic bancroft

7 The fore front gaiety
Corp1 Samuel pinncy
Jonnihan blis
Serj1 Samuel osbond
Serj* John Elsworth
Thomas Stoughton
widdow newberry
John anderson
Ephraem bancroft Jr
Joseph Elmer
Jeremiah digins
widdow mary lomis
corp11 nathaniel fich

8 The pew adjoyning y* 3
pews
John rock well
Richard Skiner
John Stiles
James Joints
EnsgQ nathaniel bisiell
Corp11 Ivii.liunl Smith
iusiiali rockwell
ibeuezor bissell

9 The thitd Seat
iohn lomis
laihaniel porter
Jonalhan bissell
Serj1 robcrt Stedman
hezakiah parsons
Ebenezer wainer
Joseph Stedmon
John phelps
widdow ruth coult

10 The front side gaiety
Toshuah lomis
beniamin lomis
Thomas Sad
Jeremiah drake
abial abit
John morton
John grant
Thomas grant
Samuel grant

Joseph rockwell Jr
daniel grant
John more
Simon wolcot
cristovcr wolcot
daniel gillet
daniel Stoughton
Zacharlah long
moses lomis Jr
william Elmer
Thomas Elmer
aminy 1 nimble
u The middle pew in the
gaiety
Caleb Elmer
Cornelius birg
amus Elmer
Jacob osbond
beniamen elsworth
Job elsworth
daniel elsworth
Samuel burnham Jr
12 The north pew in the
gaiety
James wolcott
Ebenezer Stilei
noah Sparks
Job phelps
Enocli lomis
Samuel morton
Samuel fitch
Timothy demoting
13 The forth Seat
beniamin coult
Jabiz coult
Samuel gibi
Thomas uissell J"
John wood
Jacob unmeet
Nathaniel grant
John burrowes
nathaniel Taylor
14 The fifth Seat
Ebenezer Taylor

15 in the middle pew in
the gaiety
abial abit
Joseph rockwell Jnr
Samuel grant
daniel grant
Jacob osbond
John more
Thomas Stoughton
Thomas grant "

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. id
The first name on the list Is one distinguished in the annals
of the town and State.
Roger Wolcott was the most influential of Mr. Edwards'
parishioners, and occupied, for a large part of his life, positions
of trust and confidence, the most conspicuous of these being
the office of Colonial Governor, which he held from 1751 to
1754. His administration of public affairs was distinguished for
rectitude and ability.
Two of his descendants filled the gubernatorial chair after
him, viz., his son Oliver and grandson Oliver Wolcott, Esq., of
Litchfield, who inherited, in a great degree, their ancestor's
characteristics. Gov. Roger Wolcott was a man of considerable literary
attainments, and left some very interesting contributions to
colonial history. He was very careful to give his children
educational advantages, and one of them, who became a dis
tinguished physician, was fitted for Yale College by Mr.
Edwards, who enters as follows in his rate book: "Nov 10
1729 Allexander Wollcot came to me to be Instructed in ye
Tongues viz. to be farther Instructed for ye revival of his learn
ing, he told me Dec 1 1" 1729 y< he had been here y" a whole
week, and another week till fiiday, and so this week from Mon
day to Thursday, Instruction all to dec 11" a fortnight or two
weeks & 3 days."
It is evident from the expression Mr. Edwards uses — " revival
of his learning" — that young Wolcott had been a studious
youth, although he was but seventeen years of age at the time
of which Mr. Edwards speaks.
On January 13, 1729-30, "Allexander Wollcott told me this
day ke had been with me this last time just 5 weekes and 5
dayes to be instructed in y Latin and Greek Tongues."
" Majr Roger Wolcot is Dr To his Rate for
the year 1729 £002" lis" lid"
To Teaching his son Alexandr besides what
he paid me in march 1730, as I remember ^000" 04" 01 "

103 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
The " Cr." side of the account shows Major Wolcott to have
been able to pay cash for his debts, the only instance thus far
we have met with where that amount was credited to any one
parishioner. "Contra he is Cr June 30 1730 Reed" of Maj'
Wolcot 2"— 18" = £002" lZs ood." Although the account
covers several years there are but small amounts credited
in the farm products with which most of Mr. Edwards' people
paid their " rates."
Dr. Alexander Wolcott graduated at Yale College in 1731,
and settled down to a lucrative practice in his native town,
although he left it to act as surgeon in the colonial army in
1745 ; he also, during the war of the Revolution, occupied a
still more prominent position in the Continental army. He had
a fine library, a portion of which is in the possession of Trinity
College, at Hartford, Conn. Many of the volumes " bear Latin
annotations " in the doctor's handwriting, and show his pro
ficiency in the profession to which he belonged.1
The next name of the family is thus mentioned : " Mem"1"
Aug 31 1730 on a Monday William Wolcott Jnr came to me to
be Instructed in the Tongues Mr William Wollcot scnr came
to my house to talk with me about my Teaching his Son. I
told him he must give me ish per week for Teaching him.
I also told him y' I did nt oblige or bind myself to take up
with that, But if I found that would nt do he must give me
more, and that I should nt allow or abate anything for vacancies
except yy were considerable, (meaning very considerable) to
which he seemed ready readily to Consent, not making ye least
Objection. I told ye young man w" I first consented to take
him that he must do some chores for me, besides what his
Father gave me for his Learning, or to y< effect to wcl> he
seemed also very readily and freely to Consent."
This contract, which is the most explicit of any of the
kind that we find recorded, seems to have operated very
well, for the next reference to the pupil reads thus : " About
July 21 1 73 1 William Wolcott went to the college. Enqr."
1 See Dr. Sumner's address before State Medical Society.

7- s-fyr"- ~W~~ '""""

,/7jj 
.  77  — - r-fcs£fOTCTCS^s

-.»?*»

,  -aw- m - **

9-1

SiWsrr;
Si/.Jl'j'/?*, 
**-:
f '75+
^r^*-5
- twrcisox-
*> wife/***
0017 r o5"*f»
Vfto*  Jh*?,
e*«£L>/£> ~tfy&**
f&xz.
C'X ¦
f~c tfnt*. #i ?;;»>**-/'-*---  «<«i
•w m»
¦{T,'-/,iCi~'-.<I-«-»-»'''^-&i I
<V fS^Z^- —i cw n— , e,m^.<u~~j~„*u~ i j
Zfut**elt±3- irfr*  — '
iw. tfy.
F»e Simile of Mr. Edwards' Account with Got. Roger Wolcott.
ptc . rt .te
r.a . 41/ ....
A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 103
Possibly the chore system of instruction might be substituted
for base ball, boating, &c, in some of our modern academies
with salutary results.
" Mr William Wolcott is— Dr
Annis 1730 & 173 1 To Instructing his Son William in the
Latin and Greek Tongues 45 Weekes at ish per W. ,£006 —
15*/* — ood."
The "Cr." side of the account covers several years previous
to the dates we have been considering, and from it we gather
that Mr. Wolcott was a merchant.
"Contra he is Cr Anno 1726 By his horse a journey to
Windham losh and another to Northampton dsh all ,£000"
idsh" ood."
The next credit indicates that Mr. Edwards had tested
William's physical abilities before he stipulated for the " chores.'-
"Anno 1726 By a days work of his Son
William £000" 03*" ood"
July 1729 By calico to my daughter Eunice 000" 07" 02
" 1729 By Quality by my daughter
Abigail 5* 40*
more by Lucy 5.1 — 4^ in all 000" 10 —08
Anno 1729 By Black silk dd by I Bu salt
dsh OOO—06 — 06
May 20 1730 Reckoned with Mr William
Wolcot 81 due to him 000—09 —04 "
CONFESSION DRUNKENNESS, AMES1US WOLCOTT  1713.
Whereas I have Lately so neglected a carefull Close watch
over myself & yeilded to y Lust of my own heart & y temp
tations of ye Devil, y' I have fallen into ye Scandalous &
Shamefull sin of Drunkenness, as is | not known | in this place
upon w^ acctt I do acknowledge it to be duty to give Glory to
God and take shame to myself by publiquely making a humble
Confession of my Sin, & Considering y' I have lived all my
day under y light of ye Gospel experience & never of ye
Goodness of all love Counseled or considered nor hoped nor

'04 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
praised ever all my Life long to this very day. Also have
never been troubled of y evil of this sin, & now after I have
loved it refused and testified against it, and to many. Solemn
wrongs I have loved, given now in y name of God & y« testi
mony of his word, & how not very long since I have in a pub-
lique Solemn manner Particularly promised in y presence of
God & you a [Minister] of his People y> I would earnestly &
conscientiously endeavour to avoid all sin & particularly my pro
pensity  and y« Sin of excessive drinking, I have hopped
to do it humbly and truly I know I have given just cause to
Gods people to be offended at my drunkenness and my
neighbors too, Amesius Wolcott.
Mr. Edwards' daughter " Betty," whose wedding invitation
we have noticed, lived in Windham, and this explains the fre
quent journeys her father made thither.
Looking along the list, we find mention of his daughters'
assistance in teaching during Mr. Edwards' absence.
"Oct 16 1727 Thomas Moor By his Father and Mothers
desire came to me & begun his accidence in order to get
Learning," But the election festivities proved too much for the
boyish student, and consequently Mr. Edwards records : " T.
M. absent 3 dayes & ¦/£ at ye Election" and " 3 dayes in July,
only he was y" here wn ye Ministers met at Mr Woodbridges,
4 since in July wn I went to Northampton, besides 2 dayes w>
I went to Springfield in June, he was yn here and what Anne
did for him I can't tell."
"Jan 25 1727 Daniel Phelps and Jonathan Skinner came to
learn to write in ye evening."
"Aug 28 1727 Mr John Anderson brought his son to me to
keep at my house and to learn to read &c."
1 The earliest mention I find of any of the name of Wolcott in Mr. Edwards'
writings is that of Amesius, whose subjoined confession of drunkenness I copied
from Ihe conclusion of a sermon preached by Mr. Edwards in 1713. It is written
in Mr. Edwards' handwriting, and signed by Amesius Wolcott, who undoubtedly
was obliged to hear it read at the close of the services — one of Mr, Edwards'
characteristic methods of discipline.

LfMJi.ia. ,.«Je;;.,CX,. ",.A.W.i/:ziZStf?'. . J>.

¥ gj m »#"¦" 7 '" im,'"f" n^i">->Ou»^o<-vi«.«-,
y V" 6jrV M.W/LV ^&<w J^4</

fr«»y ^** r:^1 1,. vcj-.tyo, rfc<*« y?c*i*,' ^
Cftfv v t. yf/«- #¦/- r$U>.u3?£* rp ,U.\
L.Cl.-ffHtr. y/* "dlL-sr-. I *""?- (W^ '<y< •»•». /.. *«
MI lVi.«i>1 <t» ««<•.*«; •.•.if e<~X;,M(Xwcy'/^eV
(..y.,^ ¦'f{\^' '¦<***- £&**. o'wwrl yr~»i-ul*^4r .f/T^-,,,
Fac Simile Sermon— Rev. Samuel Woodbridge,
of East Hartford.

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 105
" Jno. Anderson was absent 4days in Feb y» week y associa-
tion met at my house 1727-8." Then there are records of John's
frequent absence, until, at last, the pastor, in despair of keeping
track of his truant pupil, appeals to a fellow scholar, who, boy
like, has noted his companion's delinquencies, which Mr. Edwards
notices in these words: "May ye 9 1732 William Wollcott yn
told me that Jno Anderson came to me again about y middle
of march viz the next month after he himself first came to
me viz until Aug 31" 1730, & y' Anderson continued coming
in a pretty steady manner till he went to ye College viz till
July about y 10" ye very next year viz 173 1."
"Nov 20 1727 L' Isaac Bissell desired me to take his son
Isaac and teach him y Latin Tongue &c."
"Nov 21 he sent his son Isaac."
"Nov 27 1727 Serg' David Bissell sent his Son Hezekiah to
me to be instructed in ye Latin Tongue he desired me to take
him ye evening before, he was absent in commencement time a
week since y' 2 days in Oct when I went to Mr Woodbridges
ordination." " Serg' David Bissell is Dr To his Son Hezekiahs Schooling
from Dec 8 1727 to Nov 28 1728 with 2 dayes 81 yi in Novbr
[727 allowing for ye dayes of his absence £ood—oosh — ood"
"Anno 1743 Contra he is Cr
By his horse to Boston
By " " " Newington
" 1744 By his horse to Hartford
" 1744 " " " to Guilford
"A. D. 1739 Corporal Ebenezer Bissell is Dr to instructing
his Son Aaron in y Latin 81 Greek tongues and two Rates
£20 — oos/i  00(/"
Mr. Edwards was a very regular attendant upon the com
mencement exercises at Yale College, judging from the frequent
vacations that occurred, and are noted by him as given his pupils
during that week. Occasionally he made journeys to Boston,
where he was acquainted with many who were his companions
in college days, and where his ability and piety were generally
fc L l Mr. Edwards' activity and strength were considerable for his age, 75 years,

£002''

05*/*"

ood

000"

06"

00

000"

03"

00

001"

04"

00 ">

tod

A Glimpse of an Old Parish.

recognized. On such occasions he hired a horse of some one of
his neighbors.
Mr. Williams, of Long Meadow, is mentioned in Mr. Edwards'
" mem"'," He was the settled pastor of the church there, and
related to Mrs. Edwards, being the son of her half sister Eunice
by her marriage with the Rev. John Williams, of Deerfield, who
was carried captive by the Indians in 1704, when they burned
that town. Mrs. Williams was slain by her captors, but her
husband and two children were carried to Canada, where the
daughter Eunice, becoming fascinated with the savage life,
remained and left many descendants by an Indian husband,
The father afterward returned to his pastorate at Deerfield.
While we are upon the subject of Indian wars, it may be
interesting for us to review the list of the men who composed the
little corps for the defence of the settlement a few years later.
From Capt. Ebenezer Grant's papers we copy this list: '
"An acct. of ye Men that went upon an Expedition into y«
frontiers under my command Dec 19" 1745

L' Thomas Grant
Ensign Gideon Wolcott
Serj' Thomas Drake
Serj' Thomas Skinner
Serj1 Joseph Diggens
Clerk Josiah Wolcott
Ammi Trumble Junr
Sam" Watson
Nathaniel Stoughton'
James Harper
Gershom Bartlett
Joseph Bartlett
Jacob Elmor
Will™ Bissell
John Gaylord

John Sikes
Samll Smith
Jerijah Bissell
Ezra Elgor
Ebnzr Moor
Samll Bartlett
Benj Cook
Azariah Grant

Caleb Booth Jun1
Elisha Munsil
Joseph Eglestone
Benj Bancroft
John Osband
John Prior
John Grant & John Grant Jr
Ephrm Wolcott
Benj Phelps
Joseph Nuberry
Zcbulon King
Abijah Skinner
Nathl Porter }'
Joseph Elmor Jr
Robert Wood

1 Capt. Grant's commission as captain of a " Train Band, East of Connecticut
River," issued from Gov, Jonathan Law, Oct. 39, 1743, and is in possession of his

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 107
Ebenezer Bliss Tim° Strong John Anderson J'
Noah Bissell James Rockwell Matthew Grant
Moses Bissell Job Rockwell Benoni Olcott
John Kellogg John Stoughton
Of the foregoing Capt. Grant remarks : " All returned from
their Expedition &c except Drake, Moor, Elgor & Gershom
Bartlett." Most of these were men from Mr. Edwards' parish, many of
them pupils of his, who were afterward favorably known in the
wars of the colonies. Among them was John Stoughton, who
was then finishing his education under Mr. Edwards' tuition.
He was soon promoted to a lieutenancy and afterward became
a colonel in the colonial army, and at the close of the French
and Indian war received a large grant of land near Ticonderoga
in consideration of his services, but was soon alter drowned
while transporting stock across Lake George.1 In a quaintly-
worded letter (in the compiler's possession), written Irom New
York, where he was then stationed, he informs his brother,
Lemuel, that " I am recovering from the Small Pox. I have
had about twenty of them just enough to show that I have had
it." His wife was Miss Ruthee Belden of Wethersfield, who after
ward married General Wyllis, Secretary of State in Connecticut,
and Elizabeth his only child, a woman of remarkable beauty,-
married the last Gov. Wolcott of Connecticut.3
The American Mercury, then published at Hartford, under
date of June 6, 1785, contains the following notice: "Married
— Oliver Wolcott, Junr., Esq., to Miss Betsey Stoughton."
We might dwell at length on the vicissitudes of the French
and Indian war, in which many sons of Windsor were promi
nently engaged and which for a long time threatened the
1 His solid silver-hiltcd sword, carried at the siege of Fort William Henry,
together with a map of the siege and engaged forces, drawn by himself, which he
sent to his brother, Col. Lemuel Stoughton, of East Windsor, are in the author's
possession. In some of the correspondence of the period mention is made of 640
acres of land granted lo him in addition to his " Former Grant."
' Elizabeth was an infant, about a year old. when Col. Stoughton married Misa
Belden, In 1765,

toft A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
colonies with ruin ; but the subject has been fully treated by
others. The best strength of the New England settlers was
required to foil their wily foes, and many " exceptions " of the
character, Capt Grant notes in his little company, were recorded
against the names of the brave men who enlisted for the defence
of their homes and dear ones, before the return of the victorious
troops in 1760 proclaimed the defeat of their foes.
Turning again to the account book, we find mention of
another deacon of the old church. "March 26 175 1 Deacon
Dan" Rockwell is Cr by 5 bush" wheat at 35J"// per bushel —
£008" 05/' ood." This shows a depreciation in the currency,
which probably accounts for the difficulty Mr. Edwards experi
enced in making the " ends meet," which he refers to at length
in the statement he prepared, quoted in a former chapter.
Among the physicians who practiced in Windsor, and to
whom there is frequent reference in the "old books" of private
accounts, was Dr. Gcrshom Buckley, of Glastonbury. We learn
from this record by one of Mr. Edwards' parishioners of one
instance of his prowess, which we quote :
"June 4" 1709 Dettor to Docktor Gersham Bucklee of
Glasonbury for Sperrits of hartshorn, and a dobel portion of
phissick and two papers of powders for my son Joseph in
money — £00,, ids,, os„ od."
The above prescription had such an alarming effect evidently
upon Joseph, that " Cousin Stoughton " called counsel. " June 8
Dettor to Docktor Thomas Hooker of Hartford for visiting my
Son Joseph as money — £00,, oish,, ood."
But all of no avail. We infer that even the " dobel " dose of
physic failed to revive the drooping Joseph, for on page 29 we
read: "June 12 1709 Dettor to Thomas Ellsworth for making
o Cofin for Joseph, as money — £00 05* Old."
Page 28 reveals an economy practiced by the afflicted parent
which is too suggestive to be passed unnoticed:
" Dec 6 1709 Payed to Doctor Gersham Bucklee
of Glastonbury in money 00 06 08
& the papers of Powder returned againe 00 04 06 "

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. I09
Mr. Edwards records! "Dec 19 1729 I pd to Doct Bull of
Hartford in Bills — >£ooo„ l2sh„ Oid."
"Dec 26 1729 I pd viz I sent by my Son and desired him to
pay to Doctr Pynchon of Springfield 10s dd on my acctt v/"* is
all I owe him as I have it from him in a note under his hand —
yooo losh odd."
This last entry indicates Jonathan to have been home on a
visit, and, as Springfield is on the way to Northampton, his
father avails himself of the opportunity to send the money to
Dr. Pynchon.
"July 21 1730 I pd Doct Mather a 40 shilling Bill at his own
house." At this time the money of the colonies was somewhat
dubious in its value, so Mr. Edwards scrutinizes it more closely
than formerly.
"May 2l1 1729 By Thomas Grant Collect1, Cr by his Son
Jonah in Bills only one bill is a doubtfull one viz whether it will
pass or no — £001 09.5// yd."
"Aug 28 1731 I pd doct Mather a Good 40sh Bill."
Dr. Mather died in 1746 and the last mention Mr. Edwards
makes of him is in connection with the settlement of his estate,
when he pays Nathan, the doctor's son, "Dec 9 1746 jfoi in
ood." Among the older members of his church, we find, on page
80, Deacon Porter mentioned. As this name does not appear
in the history of South Windsor church, I call attention to it.
"Mr Nathaniel Loomis Dr to his Rate for ye year 1736.
Contra he is Cr May 9 1737 By dsh pd by his uncle Deacon
Porter." After this follows a series of memoranda which we will quote
without reference to dates.
"Oct 24 1726 Madam Porter sent me by my daughter
Esther a 40*/* Bill as her Gift she not being rated to mc.''
Dec 16 James Skinner came to learn to write in y evening."
"Jan 12 1726-7 Abijah Skinner came to learn to write."
"Joseph Nuberry came to write Jan' y 25 or 26, Enqr."
"Jan 12 1727-8 John Wolcott Jun' came with Jn° Eliot by

no A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
his Sisters Eliots desire as he told me that I might teach him y«
Latin Tongue &c."
" The Widow Gaylor is Dr To Instructing her Son Alexander
in ye Lattin and Greek (viz ye Greek at least for a considerable
part of ye time at ish per week for 52 weekes ,£007 ids ood."
Oct 22 1730 Tim" Burbank (of Suffield) reckoned with me
l$sh this day wcl> was y full of what he owed me for 12 dayes
dyet and above a weekes Instruction."
The next physician bears a most ominous name, as Mr.
Edwards evidently regards it in this record, viz.: "July 25
'733 I paid a 2or// Bill to Doct. Poyson (alias Poison)."
" March 29 1734 I cleared my acctt at Mr Ruskins In Hartford
with Doct. Poison for wcl> I have his receit." "June 29 1734
I p'l Doct Mather 40sh in two 20sh Bills at my house in ye
south chamber Doct Pynchon being there with him."
In 1742, although Mr. Edwards was quite advanced in years,
we still find the busy man engaged in the labor of teaching.
He notes: "Nov 5 1742 Aaron Hutchinson is Dr By boarding
at my house & my Labour in Instructing him in Learning since
Dec 23 1741 Ten Pounds in currant money."
" Dec 27 1749 Capt Joshua Loomis is Dr To his Son Georges
schooling hereby agreed between him and I this day £30 oos
ood." Isaac Loomis seems to have been a sort of doctor or nurse :
" Isaac Loomis is Cr July 1 1 1729 By bleeding my Negro twice
ish he casting in ye Rest = £00 oil ood."
Capt. Joseph Drake does many kindly offices for his minister,
wliich are noted by Mr. Edwards: "Anno 1734 he is Cr By
digging a Grave for Mercy Brooks e\sh he asked I offered him
$sh." This was the old servant who had been in Mr. Edwards'
Bcrvicc many years, to whom he refers frequently in his mem
oranda. Capt. Drake also weaves" cloth, as the next credit shows:
"In ye spring 1736 By weaving 11 yds & ]/^ of Tow cloth at
lod with what he demands for putting it into his loom being a
short piece casting in w' is more = £00 lOsh 02d."

A Glimpse of an Old Parish. 1 1 ¦
Mr. Edwards' daughters were in the habit of busying them
selves in various matters of embroidery and fancy work. (A
specimen of Mary Edwards' handiwork is still to be seen in the
Hartford Athencum.) We find reference to this in the book we
are examining. " March 29 1734 I cleard my acctt with Capt.
William Pitkin wliich he told me was £1 14s/; 2d. I gave him
a 40sh Bill, and he gave me losh back again, and desird me
out of it to pay my daughter or daughters what he owed them
for covering Fans."
All of Mr. Edwards' children are mentioned in his records ;
but Mary, who lived unmarried, more frequently appears than
the others, as an assistant to her father in his dealings with his
neighbors, as well as in matters of her own of a similar kind to
hose we have mentioned. "Nov 26 1723 Josiah Rockwell is
Dr. To 2 Piggs wch weighed 37lbs. 81 ¦/£ at 4(/^ooo I2sh 04d."
"To lod paid my dau. Mary by his desire 000 06 10"
" M' Jonathan North is Dr
"Dec 10 1734 To my daughter Mary for
covering a Fan .£000 oish ood"
"Anno 1737 Eliakim Cook Dr
To covering 2 Fans ^000 Oish Old"
The next minute is enough to make an epicure's mouth
water: " Stephen Croufoot is Cr
"Aug 1731 By 22">s of venison at 41// £600 Ot\sh ood."
The year 1730 was a very productive year for apples, and
"Joshua Loomis is cr by making 79^ bbls Cyder" for his
minister, which the latter sells to his neighbors in the shape of
brandy the next season.
The distillation of brandy was an art which our forefathers
seem to have entered into with appalling zeal.
" Sergt Joseph Rockwell is Cr Aug 1727 By making 10 bbls
of Cyder and carting 2 loads of Cyder to ye Still — £000 I2sh
Odd." But the limits of our sketch will not permit us to copy from
the account at greater length, and as we close the record, which

112 A Glimpse of an Old Parish.
testifies to the ceaseless activity of the man whose simple
devotion to the Master's service comes down to us on the
humble pages of his " Rate Book " and sermons, we love to
think of the perpetuity of the principles he expounded, to
dwell on the magnificent proportions of the heritage which he
enjoys, aye to turn with a sort of restfulness from the uncertain,
groundless position of too many modern theologians to the
grand fixedness of man's relation to his God, as taught in the
Scriptures, and as expounded from them by those staunch
American Calvinists, Timothy and Jonathan Edwards,

APPENDIX.

THE Rockwell family were well known members of the Windsor Colony, and
of the name on the east side in Mr. Edwards' society, Samuel has left soma
Intereiting minutes of the every-day life of the people, In what he terms hU "Boole
of Acounti," lie was a deacon in the church and father of Matthew whom Mr,
Edwards educated. The colonies had quite early passed a law requiring that
horses should be branded and registered, and Mr, K, held the office of "Brander"
In (East) Windsor ; his commonplace book, from which quotations will be made,
contains numerous entries of his official acta between 1088 and 1726. The Grants and
Rockwells seemed to have intermarried early ; and, according to Stiles, Matthew
Grant married Susannah Rockwell for his second wife.1 Mr. Rockwell frequently
speaks of Samuel Grant, senior, and Tahan Grant, senior, (the sons of Matthew)
as uncles of his.1
"March 12, 1689. Reckoned with Uncle Samuel Grant and due to me £00
05sh. 1 id."
" Nov. 4, 169I. By 18 pound of venson j£oo— 2sh,— 03d."
" 1691, Sept. 24. Reckoned with Uncle Tahan Grant and due to you By a
barieUof Sidar ^01 04s!.. ood."
Alexander Allien is always mentioned as " Mr." He appears to have been a
merchant in Windsor.
" May 28 1691 Mr. Alexander Allien Contrce Credit
By 2 yards of Ribin £00 oish. o8d.
Sept. 9 By huland & Jack knife & yard & half of Satin &
musiling for neck cloth fvo i8sh. 03d"

1 Matthew Grant died 1681.
¦ Samuel Grant., Sr. lived on the river bank. In East Windsor, back of the present Theological
Institute building. Tahan remained west ol tho river.

" "4 Appenatx.
In the accounts with Nathaniel Bissell, light is thrown on the ownership of the
first saw mill east of the river. The Bissells were very large land owners In that
section, and made purchases of the Indians of » tract which included the
present location of Osborn's mill on the Scantic river : to this they added by other
purchases, and, from the Windsor land records, Vol. I, it is evident that they
owned a mill on the land purchased from the Indians before 1670.
" Nathaniel Bissell and John Bissell Jr purchased land jointly bounded easterly
on "Scantick Brook." "Oct 8th 1670," Dec. 18th, 1669. "John O&band sold
all his timber East of the Connecticut river " Fitt to saw at the saw mill" to John
and Nathaniel Bissell, but stipulated that they must not cut any within a mile of
the river. This was one of the " three mile lots," and the Bissells could cut
on the other two miles all the saw logs, but all Ihe " oaks fit for shingles and clap
boards " Osband reserved for his own use.1 The consideration for this whole tract
of primeval forest was "500 feet of good bords at the saw mill and slabs eneugh
to lay In the lower floorc of my house on the east side of the river,"
The proprietorship of the mill was evidently in the Bissell family in 1697 :
" Nathaniel Bissell Deter.
"•Aug— 97 By lend your saw mill three days  „__
" " By lend your mill a nit & day 
" " by 44 pound of moos in silver j£oo 05s.. ood"

One Is surprised at the abundance of gnme that entered into the transactions of
the settlers. In one single account, on the book now referred to, between the
the years 1691 and 1702, 1,636 lbs of venison, 50 lbs moose, 60 lbs of bear, besides
numerous "Blak Duks," " Rakoons," pigeons, "Dear skins " are charged and
credited. The venison was prepared for family use by salting, and the business of
dressing the skins of the wild animals entered largely into the occupations of the
period. The very slight allusions to the shad and salmon, whose habitat was "ye
great river" and Its tributaries, lead almost to the conclusion that they were not
perhaps so numerous as has been supposed : indeed it is a question whether the
shad is not in a measure the companion of civilization. Salt shad is an article of
diet almost unheard of in the records previous to 1720, and it is strange that such
delicious food should have been ignored by the first settlers, if it abounded. The
salmon was a more bold and gamey fish, and the probability is that he was followed
by the less vigorous shad. So late as 178s the salmon were more numerous than
shad according to the testimony of old inhabitants.

The following town votes indicate some changes in the ferry matters .
I Mo«t of the iMnuIci were " rlvcd " or i|>lit out, u well at the clapboard*, and (or ibis purpois
Itraltthl-tirahicd trc« wert desirable.

Appendix, 1 15
" At a meeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Windsor, Legally warned,
Held In Windsor, April 27th, 1731.
Vouted to raise money (not to exceed Twenty Pounds) In order to have a free
ferry, Crost the Great River at Scantick, for all the Inhabitants of this Town, for
the year Insuing. Said Ferry to be kept from day light to day light. The
Comrn"" chosen to look after said affair, are Capt. Job Ellsworth, L* Sam" Ban
croft, & Capt, Thomas Stoughton. A Question proposed, What was Intended by
those words in the foregoing vout (from day light to day light) Vouted and
Resolved that it should be kept from Brak of day, to Evening Shut.
" A True Copy of Record
" Examined by me Tim0 Loomis
"Registrar."
"To the Honorable the Govenour Councell Representatives In General Court
assembled— We your memorialists move to this honourable assembly that thejr in their wonted
Goodness would Grant unto the Town of Windsor a patient of the ancient ferry
in Windsor over the Great River at the place known as Scnntick ferry that so it may
be under belter regulation than now It is or can bee while It is only in the hands of
any and every person that will take it, and your memorialists are encouraged to
ssk this favour and privilege of the honourable Assembly, since they have lately
granted iho like favour and privilege to the worship full Roger Wolcot Esq, In
Windsor—and hereby your memorialists will be obliged uh in Duty Bound Ever to
Pray. ISRAEL STOUGHTON, \ ^hftmtn ,.
SAMUEL STRONG. \ **U(tm'n>

The Bissells were the proprietors of the first ferry at Windsor, and, in the " Book
of Wayes," the ferry road is described. This road continues over nearly its ancient
course east of the river to-day, and extends from the main street in East Windsor
from opposite the Quarry Co.'s property to their wharf at the river, although the
old ferry was long ago removed lo the mouth of the Scantic, where it still retains
the name of its original owners. Near ihe quarry wharf stood the first house
built east of the river and occupied by a Bissell, and there also was erected a for
tification or block house.1 Evidences of these structures were very distinct forty
years ago. Another feny was established by Roger Wolcott at the confluence of
Farming ton river with Connecticut in 1735, having an easterly landing at the rear
of the present Enoch Pelton properly. From this ferry was laid out a great high
way, twenty rods in width, so tradition says, extending east to Tolland and known
from its projector, Governor Wolcott, as the "Govenor's Road."
The old Wolcott house was on the premises now occupied by Bartholomew Mc-

I Thl* wo* built of ilone, and wtu Handing In iftoo,

»l6 Appendix.
Gulre, but the itone-walled well Is all that remains to mark the historic spot. The
road west of the street has been fenced in as a private way, although it is yet
believed to be subject to the right of public user,

Mills were erected at a very early period on Podunk Brook, on the lite of those
now owned by C. C. Vinton & Son, In South Windsor.1 They were for a long time
known as "Rockwell's Mills," and so late as 1867 furnished the refreshing sight to
the antiquary of a primitive colonial saw mill. The dam and foundation being of
heavy logs and plank, while the motive power was furnished by what is known as
the "flutter wheel," the simplest form of undershot motor, being little more than •
wooden shaft with a scries of short nrms supporting floats about ten feet long and
twelve inches wide against which the water was admitted from the bottom of a
flume, The coarse, upright Haw being attached to n crank and pitman at the end
of the wheel shaft. The companion grist mill had, at that dnte, been compara
tively modernized, and within a few years the lazy flutter wheel has given way
to a voracious turbine, while the sententious clip of the venerable upright saw
hns yielded lo the steady hum of that terror of our Amcricnn forests, the circular
saw.* Samuel Rockwell's book shows the following :
" Reckoned with John Grant, Conter Credit,
" March 3d [16] 9} by sawing 300 feet of boards for your right in the samill and
your shear of the iron work [in] silver £01 — l8sh. — cod"
Query wns it Rockwell's or Dissell's mill ?
There were undoubtedly several parties Interested in the mill, and the following
accounting may give some light :
"When we reckoned upon the mill acount Nathaniel Bissells acount was
;£lo. 02sh. o6d Samuel Grant senor 11 — 17 — 06 Samuel Grant Junior 14 — 10
— 00" " March 169} Nathaniel Grant and myself half a day mending the mill "
Other mills were erected at various convenient points. One was quite early op
erated at " Ketch Mills," now called Windsorville, and down so late as 1800 mills
were in operation at the mouth of Scantic, where, until timber grew scarce, ship
building for the West India trade, in which Capt. Ebenezer Grant was largely inter
ested, was carried on. Elihu Loomis had a mill there aboutlhat time. On the south
branch of Stoughton's brook a saw mill was standing near the main street just east
of the present residence of Oscar Stoughton, in 1775-90. The mills in rye street
on what is known as "dry brook" were very early in operation, the upper privilege
was occupied as a fulling mill and the lower as a grist mill a century or more ago.
1 1 have been unmewhnl cii.l»nrr.-i>icd to determine whether thin wan built earlier th.in lii»-ieU'i
mill or not, but after otrcful cx;imiii:ilion conclude not.
SThi*, I believe, »;is the l.u>t »aw mill in Windsor to rendu n complete set of old innihincry J
hut there Ii yet an upright »aw in u« at Osborne** mill, driven by a comparatively modern wheel,
find In the old grlil mill enn be »ecn the wooden gearing of \hr flour mill (hat has been In tuf
over too y*«r«i

Appendix. 117
But the mills at Scantic, as the village In the vicinity of Mr. Potwine's church was
called, were doubtless the earliest from which was obtained the lumber (or building
purposes. Frequent references in the old papers of the east side, previous to 1700,
show the fact,
" June 26 169} for my oxen to cart a load of bords from Scantick ", £<x> ouh.
ood Mr. William Pitkin, of Hartford, Ihe father of Governor Pitkin, owned a full
ing mill on the Hockanum river in what h now the village of Durnsldc.
" March 19 169} Dettor to William pitkin of harford for fulling 28 yd of
plnine cloalh M per yd, j£oo— 07sh.— 00"
James Enos appears lo have been a mechanic of varied capacities :
"Contra Credit Jan 4— 95 by puling a ludi for my wife £00, oish. 00
By puling another tuth (l) 00. 02. 00
by fulling 35 yds llncywoolcy 00. 06, 03
by leven shad in money 00, 00. 11"

Cedar Swamp is a locality to which frequent reference Is made In the affaire of
Ihe neighborhood, nnd to It the people resorted for clapboards and shingles. The
latter were made of various widths and two standard lengths, vis., eighteen Inches
and three feel, and in the absence of machinery were split or rived from the blocks.
The slow methods of manufacturing lumber made it comparatively expensive;
therefore, in the earlier accounts, shingles were i>old at so much per shingle. The
house now occupied by Major Grant is covered with rived, narrow cedar clap
boards, fastened by hand-made nails ; and, although put on before Ihe French
and Indian war, are perfectly sound. This swamp may have been identical with
what was known as "Ye Great Swamp." The latter was in Ihe parish of Elling
ton, and covered all that now productive grass and tillage land which ties to the
south and east of Ellington church, and is drained by the Hockanum river. It
was about one third to three quarters of a mile in width, and from its northern
limit, in the vicinity of the present " Windermere Mills," extended south toward
Vemon, where its waters were increased by the contributions of the Tangaroosen.
Upon the highlands, west of the swamp, the I'inneys settled upon their Indian
purchase, about the lime that Ihe easiern border was occupied by the Ellsworths.
Under the combined efforts of these families ant* their descendants large tracts of
land were made fruitful.1

I Perhaps denial *ur£con» fixed a scale of prices in llime days according to Mze and rai.ttancc of
ihe molart and bicu>,pid;., else how shall wc ro nm lie a (.barge of double the amount fur the second
touth over the f)n>(.
¦ There arc remain* of a very cxtcntlva swamp northeast of the prctent village of \V|ndior-yil|e

ihnt may be identical with th« undent " Cedar Swamp,"

1 1 8 Appendix.
Nails were made by hand, and were sold not by the pound, bnt by number.
We find on Deacon Rockwell's book ;
"Jan i" 1723-4 Mi Timothy Edwards Debter by myself and
Sam" half a day & 40 nails & a bord & hoop & heng for
a barn door in all £00 — 05 M — 041/."
"Jan 13th 1723-4 by 1a clapboards — by a load of candelwood — by 2 pair of
heals &c."
The "heals" came undoubtedly from Deacon Rockwell's lathe, and there are
thousands of ihem charged In Ihe old book against hi* neighbors. They were
made of wood, and fully as high and .sharp as any worn by the devotees of French
fashion and folly at (he present day, A pair of the sharp-toed ladles' shoes of that
generation was found in nn old house in the vicinity not long since, having leather-
covered wooden heels two and one quarter inches high, laperlng to a very small
surface at the bottom.

Apple trees and their products— cider and brandy— are frequently mentioned
among ihe farm products/as early as 1695-1700, in the East Windsor accounts;
but to the primitive forests the settlers resorted for a variety of articles that found
ready market at Harlford and the river towns. Turpentine and lar were staple
commodities: " May 3d 1692 Mr James Mackman Detor to 2 barriels Tar 01 — 10 — 00
Feb 1695 by 8 bariels of tar 06 — 00 — 00"
" Josiah Phelps iunior Deter for my right to a parcel of turpentine trees with
four bariels and turpentine in them, all is five pounds ten shillings in silver."
In 1694 " Glass for two windows" cost Deacon Rockwell £o% oosh ood."
In 1720 "Abiel Abbitt Credit 180 3 penny nails /oo los/t odd."
Tobacco was raised in small quantities and sold in 1697 at three and one half to
six pence per pound, and the tame year salmon are quoted in a charge against
Uncle Samuel Grant:
"g pound of samon; in silver £oo—oish — ictd
33 lbs moos; in silver 00 — 04 — 01
Nov 22 1692 by two doer skins 00 — 16 — 00
Nov 1695 by a quart of huny 00 — 02 — 00"
" 1691 Fiiiher Rockwell Deter
Sept 5th By a Turkey £oo—02sh—o6d
" II " 47 pound of bare [l. r., bear] 00 — 07 —09
Oct 23-92 By 187 pound of venisen 0;— 11 — 02
Nov 26" by half a Rackoone ot»— 00 — 06"
"July 24 1718 Thomas Sad Credit
by graining nine dear skins £00— <yjsh — odd"
" April 22 1724 William Burnham [Credit] by 6 shad 00 — oj — 00"

Appendix. • 119
Shad fisheries were early established at the mouth of Scantiest and just above the
present quarry wharf. At the latter place was quite an extensive island, wooded
and cultivated, known as Trumbull's Island; but this, as well as the one lower
down, called Strong's Island, has disappeared since 1820. They were alluvial in
their character, and the grinding ice of the spring freshets soon cut them out after
the hand of civilization had removed their forest barriers. The uniform testimony
of persons familiar with the history of these fibherles confirms our previous view that
for a long time the salmon were far more numerous than the shad, and at one time
It was stipulated that those who bought shad must lake a certain number of
salmon with thcm.i

The meadow lands lying contiguous to the street extending from the vicinity of
Scantic river on the north to the Hockanum on the south were, previous to 1711,
principally low and covered with water, with the exception of the knolls and a ridge
near the river, upon which grew vigorous and majestic elms and other trees whose
habitat is the vicinity of streams. According to tradition most uf the water found
lis outlet through the Hockanum into the Connecticut. This strip of land, now
comprising a portion of the most famous alluvial grass lands in the world, was about
nine miles in length and from one half to a mile in breadth. The lower sections
of it are referred to in the old private records as the "Booges" (1. e., bogs) or low
meadow. On a part of it lying a little south-west of the present Congregational
church was a large beaver pond, which locality bears the name to this day.
Through it flowed the accumulated waters of several brooks, and below it
the meadows were low and expanded to receive the waters of the Podunk
in the vicinity of the present East Hartford town line. None of these
streams pursued a course westward to the river, as they now do, but slug-
gishly turned southward to a common outlet before mentioned. By a vote
of the town in 1704 all the meadow on the east side of "ye Great River"
had been made common land. On March 27, 1711, thirty-six of the pro
prietors of the " Wctt Lands" on the east side petitioned the "Govcrnour Deputy
Governor & Couucill & Representatives" for a common " Drcine," showing that
" for as much as there is on the East side of Connecticut River in Windsor, a
considerable Tract of Land lying between the upland nnd Diy meadow of many
loo acres that is almost wholly usclcs* by reason that the water floweth on itt
Great Part of the year," &c, and then, after referring to an act of October 14,
1686, that had never been executed, ordering a ditch from "Podunque" through
out the breadth of the whole fields, ihey prayed that as some of thein had made
ditches at their own expense through the " Dry meadow " or the high land near
the river from east to west, all the proprietors should open and maintain " forever"
a ditch or water course, the same to be "at Least five foot wide and three foot
deep," and for this purpose assessments were to be laid, and the proprietors to
have all such powers to enforce contributions for ihe dilch, and appoint " viewers"

I This was confirmed to me by an old gentleman whose father was a large owner in a fishery
from 1709 to 1800,

lao Appendix,
as were given by the "printed Laws of this colony about viewing and making
sufficient the common fences, which would be of great advantage to the owners
and pay considerable contributions to the publick charge."
In 1721 U the "account" of those who worked at the "Dreine."

The surveyor In East Windsor in 1680-1700 appears to have been Samuel Grant,
Sr. Mention Is made of " measuring*" hy him, and It li quite probable that he
succeeded his father, Matthew, whose just and conscientious records are proverbial,
and who was the principal surveyor in Windsor from 1640-1680. The absence of
maps and plots showing courses and distances previous lo the Revolution is notice
able in the old documents. In a very old house occupied by the lineal descendants
of Matthew Grant, I found a very ancient compass and chain, much dilapidated,
that had in all probability belonged to the old surveyor. An ancient authentic
survey of general colonial interest is one that accompanied a mass of private
correspondence of the time of the French and Indian war, and shows the exact
relation of the opposing forces during the memorable siege of Fort William Henry,
whose subsequent atrocities have been so graphically pictured in the " Last of ihe
Mohicans," It is exactly reproduced on the following map, and is interesting
from the fact of having been lakeu on the spot by one of the devoted band that
East Windsor sent to the defense of the borders. It also is, I believe, with the
exception of Cooper's delightful word map, the only one ever published of that
sanguinary locality.

SERMONS.

" And if It bo not 10 now, who will make me a liar, and make my tpecch nothing worth 1 " —
Job xxiv. 35.

VJ R. EDWARDS' sermons offer interesting suggestions relative to the condition
of the church and community where he labored. The manuscripts bear
notes upon them of the various circumstances under which ihey were delivered— in
limes of mourning, thanksgiving, fasting, and drouth. One of his latest bears the
following note in his hand ; " E Windsor, on a Fastday kept by many of y* inhabi
tants of this place, viz of this church and Society by my desire in a time of very
great and sore Drought, to seek to God for Rains, Aug. 30, 1748,"
Also another : " East Windsor, On a Lecture Day March 6" 1705-6," and others
as follows: "Sepf 30, 1711, Being y° next sabbath after my return home, &
after my Sickness iny* Camp w° I went one of y° chaplains to our Regiment In
our expedition &c this year being much belter than I had been while abroad and
stilt in a recovering way,"
" On a day of Thanksgiving appointed by Govcnour Law— Novb 1744."
"At a religious meeting nl Cnpl. John Ellsworths March iS" 1735,"
" Prcpnrcd lo be preached nl Middletown by yB desire &c,"
" 1713 M " [a discourse on the death of a minister].
"Sacrament Day Jan 28' 1704-5." The few that are printed Indicate the
nature of parochial work a century and a half ago, and, as landmarks of those days*
are worth preserving. They are not ihe studied efforts of great occasions, but the
common product of pastoral toil for God's glory in an humble New England
hamlet. SUFFIELD, 1694.
" On a fast day at Suffield Oct 24" 1695."
36, Is, 9. With my soul have I desired thee in yc night, with my Spirit within
me will I seek thee early for w« thy Judgments are in y* earth y* Inhabitants of
ye world will Learn Righteousness.1
1 See page j*.

122 Sermons.
Then are many ways & means which ye great & holy God Is mercifully &
graciously condescending to make use & tryall of with y Sin full children of men
yt he may thereby bring em to yt great and reasonable duty of obedience unto his
holy Just and good commands, which he might weU expect yy could freely,
willingly & readily do, & of yy own accord comply with. Sometimes he makes
use of y« ways of his ordinances & trys w' yc means of grace will do, & wt effect
yc dreadful! threatnings, woes & curses of yc Law, & yc ways & yc Gracious calls,
Incouragements, Promises, counsells, Instructions, Exhortations, & warnings of
yc glorious gospell will have with em and uppon em, These are all yc means of ,
Grace eminently so. & ye ways & means yt ye Ld principally improves & makes
tryall of with those yt are his Covenant & professing people, though nt only these
for he goes further with ym still &. trys nt only yc ways of his ordinances and
ye ways of his providences too, both mercy* & afflictions many times have yry
turns & Returns upon em, Sometimes yc Ld follows em with — expressions of his
goodness & bounty Loving Kindness & tender mercy causes his paths to drop fatness
before em. draws with yc cords of Love & with yc bands of a man. Yea takes
em by ye arms and gently Leads em along as a Father doth his child as in yc nth
of Hosea. & in ye 4. : 1 verses. &. if this course fails he takes another, if mercy
fit yc cords of Love will not do, he try* afllictions & yc Rods of anger, he makes
use of many angry frowning dispensations chastens, corrects em. & sends
Calamily* & Judgments of various Kinds, & Sorts, as a prp means where other
means prove InclTectuall lo Reduce & bring e'm back from yy Sinfull Wanderings
unto ye Straight path of yy duty, & and this has been his manner allways with
ye children of men, especially those of e'm yt he has taken nearest himself, & thus
he dealt with yt sinfull and Rebellious people of his yc children of Israel, as
ye holy Scriptures llosca in Gen" & more particularly this book & this Chapter
gives us an account of, of ye mercy* and blessings yt God afforded e'm we have
some intimations in yc ,1. 2. 3. 4. & in 12. 14. 19. 20. & 2i»t & of ye Judgments
afflictions .and calamity* yt he sent upon e'm & visittcd e'm with, we may see some
plain Hints & expressions in yc 8. 16. 17. & 18" & so also especially in ye 9U1 verse
of ye Text, wch leads us to ye words, & yry are principally 6 things observable in
e'm which we may <io well to take notice of. for our better understanding of e'm,
ist We have here ye earnest desire of yc Church, yc Prophet speaking these
w<*» in ye name of yc Church & whose prayers as may be seen in yc foregoing verse
& by comparing this with it. With my soule have I desired thee Says Shee (1. *,
the church) &c. & 2d wee have yc object of this earnest desire of hers. & yt is
God, I have desired thee Says She. yt is the Ld , thee my God. As we may see by
comparing this with yc foregoing verse & y> 3.d we have ye subject of this earnest
desire of ye Church after God. & y1 is her soule. With my soule have I desired
thee say shee, ii yn 4 we have y= time of it also & yt is yc Night. With my soule
have I desired thee in ye night say* yc Church either taken figuratively for ye time
of affliction which is often cald Night or darkness, or else properly For ye Night
Season which seems to be principally here intended by yc following words wherein
Early or in ye morning is opposed to it. Now ye earnestness of her desire after
God is set forth and amplifyed to us very much by these 2 last things, With my
Soule Says She have I desired thee, y' is with my whole heart sincerely & most

Sermons. 1 23
affectionately. 63d p*a. ft yn Says Shee have I desired thee In y night too nt only
In y day but in y night, Night & day y desires of. my Soule are after God.
Wn others are Sleeping I am waking & my heart & soule is longing for y° Ld. &
my thoughts & desires are waking towda my God. & 5" We have y* effect of it
on yc fruite yt it brought Forth & yt is it puts her uppon earnest & early seeking
of God in these words, Says she with my spirit within me will I seek ycy early
&. yt is betimes in y morning wn others are in yyr beds, I will be up & upon my
Knees, by earnest prayer & Supplication with my Spirit within me, with my whole
heart, with my whole soule. I will seek Gods Fear & Favor, this also amplifys &
setts forth to us the earnestness of her desire after God. & 6th & Lastly we have
yc reason of it & ye motive to it in these words, for we thy Judgements are
¦{ abroade }- in yc earth ye Inhabitants of yc O will learn Righteousness, yt is as
if Shee should & there is good reason y ' we should thus desire & seek thee in ye way
of thy Judgmts as in yc 8 verse. . Bee* Now thy Judgments are uppon us & this is
ye very end & design of thy Judgments yt we should be thereby awakened to Learn
our duty, to consider of it, & to Return to it,, & this is a common effect A Fruit of
e'm that before Perhaps have been careless & Regardless of yry duty in prosperity
have yet been made belter by afflictions.- 
ye Doctrine from ye word* thus opened may be this, When yry are plain and
awfull appearances In yc Face of divine Providence, of ye displeasure & Anger
of God against a people for yry sin and disobedience yn it is yr great duty to hear
to him by hearty & Sincere Repentance,
In order to ye opening & clearing of this Doctrine, 2 things may be enquired
Into, First wn are there awfull appearances in ye Face of providence . yn God ii
angry with a people for yry sin & disobedience. 2d Why is y" yy great duty to
hear unto God by hearty & sinceer Repentance, & in 3d plnce I might also have
showed wn yy do so. or wt it is sinc-erly and heartily to turn to God by Repen
tance, but this will fall in better wn I come to yc Application, & Therefore I shall
speak only to those 2 enquiries in yc Doctrinall Part.
&. i»t I shall Endeavor to show w" yc anger of God doth awfully appear In
ye Face of his providence against a people for yry sin & disobedience. & yn a or 3
things, I more generally. 2d more especially. First in such wn Godsends Judg
ment* &. Calamity* upon a Sinfull & disobedient people yt an awfull sign of his
anger, & a plain appearance is in yc Face of Providence of divine displeasure, 85
Ps , 5" wilt thou be angry with us forever, wilt thou draw out thine anger to all.
Generations, yt is how Long shall yc Signs & Tokens of thine* anger continue.
How long will thy Judgment* lie upon us & goe forth against us, how Long shall
we continue in Captivity & under ye power of our Enemy* . yy knew by y Judg
ments & afflictions especially yt of Captivity yt yy Labourd under, yt God was
angry with e'm. .29 .Deut. 24." & all notice it &c wt meaneth ye heat of this
great anger, yt is wt is yc meaning of these dreadfull Judgments, awfull signs of
great anger. So 60 ,P» 1. 2. 3. G God: iic. Thus in Gen'l, Judgments &
Calamitys are awfull Signs & appearances of divine anger, this may pass for
Geu Rule, wn God visits a sinning disobedient & provoking people with afflictions,
Calamitous & Judicial! dispensations, it is an awfull appearance of his displeasure
& a Sad sign yt he is angry with e'm,

124 Sermons.
2d : more especially I shall give you some more speciall signs & tokens of
y« anger of God against a sinfull & disobedient people, & war persons may plainly
discern & clearly see awfull appearances of divine displeasure in y* Face of Provi
dence In Sev" things : —
1st Wn y Ld sends many Judgments at once upon one.
2'Hy W*a he follows e'm with Judgments and Calamity for a long time together,
3d Wn by his Judgments he more especially & peculiarly smites e'm in those
enjoyments which yy highly prized & stood much upon : 4" When he more
especially & peculiarly smites e'm in & deprives e'm of those mercy* & blessings
yt yy have most abased by yry sins,
5" : Wn his Judgments bear a proportion to yyr sins & he yyr by Singles out &
points out yy sins : 6: Wn he by one Judgment makes way for another. 7:
W" his Judgments are of a graver Sc more capitall nature : 6. W" ye Judgments
of God follow a people notwithstanding many prayer* and crycs offered up by ym to
ye contrary, : 9". Wn he advances still higher 8c higher & father & father in
yc way of his Judgments. 10 : & Lastly Wn notwithstanding all his Judgments
yt have been from time | to time | sent upon e'm. he dont give e'm hearts to turn
to him. of each of these in order. —
lit yn wn ye Ld sends many Judgments & calamitys at once upon a people
yn yry is a plain & awfull appearance in yc Face of providence yt he is angry with
e'm, .To this purpose wc find in 29 Deut. ; 27 : & in ye 28 : Deut from yc 15 to
ye end yy we have a  ¦ — & catalogue of Judgments yt God would in
his anger bring upon his people for yry sins, & so in yc : 32 : Deut. 22 : &. 23. &
you may [find J a full | prophesy | of this in ye 78 ps ; at large and in yc book of
Lamt. throughout.
2d : Another awfull Sign & appearance of ye anger of God against a sinfull &
disobedient people is wn he follows e'm with Judgments & Calamity* for a long
time together, wn there is a long continued scries of angry & Judicial! dispensa
tions & he afflicts & smites a people year after year. 9. Isiah II : 12' & 17. & 21,
as from ye 17 lo yc end.
3 : another awfull Sign & appearance in yc Face of providence of ye anger of
God against a sinfull' '& disobedient people is wn yc Judgments yt he sends upon
e'm are of a greater & more capitall nature, Such as Famine. Wars. & Pestilence
or some grievous wasting Sickness, 32 Deut. 24 * 25 : 5 Lamentations .9, ;io.
4": Another awfull Sign & appearance in ye Face of providence of ye Anger
of God against a Sinfull & disobedient people is wn he advances Still higher &
higher & goes on further *fc further in yc way of his Judgments. Many : according
to yt in llos 12, 14, & yl in 26 Levitt 18. 21. 24. 28.
5" Another awfull & plaine appearance in ye Face of providence of ye anger
and displeasure of God against a Sinfull & disobedient People is w" he by one
Judgment makes way for another, Wn one aflliction & calamity opens yc door for
another to come in at, w he by wars makes way for famine, & by sickness & by
ye sword too makes way for & opens a door for poverty. Wn one Judgment tics
bo long & heavy uppon a people yt it draws another after it, & often ns one Kin makes
way for another. So sometimes by yc just anger and displeasure of God one
Judgment makes way for another. & truly wn it is so as it sometimes is in a more

Sermons,. 125
y> ordinary manner, It is a sure expression of y anger & displeasure of God. For
woes & Judgment comes in uppon ye back of another upon a people. Nay some
times one Judgment opens a gate & lets in a troop, as to Instance y Sword lets in
famine & Poverty Sickness Captivity & Death & so Famine lets in y° enemy into
yc City & ye enemy by death bondage poverty & captivity in with him, Wn God
speaks of such dreadfull expressions of his anger Sometimes we find he say* he
made away to his anger as in 78. P* 49 & 50. he spared nt yy Soule from Death
&c  .
6th Another awfull Sign and appearance in yc Face of divine providence of
y« anger of God against a Sinfull and disobedient people is w he more especially
or peculiarly smites e'm in any of those enjoymts wch yy highly prized & stood
much upon & counted yn selves greatly priviledgcd in, So he often dealt by
yc Children of Israel in respect to yt enjoyment of yry civill liberty & Freedom &
Privilcdgcs, he took it away from e'm & gave e'm into y^y enemy* hand* . &
yt about 10 limes plainly showing how by yt he was angry with e'm for yy Sins.
78 P* 61 : he delivered his strength into captivity & his glory into yc enemys hand,
yry civill liberty & priviledges were often taken from e'm & yy Government
was often changed . yy were destroyed by Philistines Moabites children of
Ammon Assyrians. Ca'dcans Persians Grecians Romans & now (at Last)
yc Turks according to ye threatening in ye 26 Levitt. 19. Gcd smites
ym again & again in ye very thing yt yy gloryed & prided yn selves in, as we get
from yt in 8 John 33 verse.
7" : Another awfull Signcand plain appearance in yc Face of divine Providence
of yc Anger of God agai.ist a Sinfull & disobedient people, is wn he more espec
ially smites e'm in or deprives e'm of, some eminent Mercy & Great privilcdge or
Choice enjoyment wch yy have most abused by yy Sins. So he dealt with
ye Children of Israel of old .yy were blessed & favored with yt Great & Glorious
priviledge of being Gods peculiar people above all ye Nations upon ye earth, &
having God more near lo yn in all things yt yy cald uppon him for yn any other
people under heaven, as Moses tells e'm in 4* Deut. 7. & 8, & yet beca"* yy abused
this priviledge. god took it from e'm. Cast e'm off. Rejected e'm from being his
people thereby plainly & awfully showing yt he was dreadfully angry with yn n.
Rom att yc 20. 14 ; And so X1 dealt by yc Asian churches he look away his
Gospell from e'm bee* yy abused it.
6. Another awfull Signe & plaine appearance in yc Face of providence of
yc anger of God against a Sinfull & disobedient people is wn God fetters a people
from year lo year with Judgments tfe Calamity* .not withstanding many prayers &
cry* to yc contrary according to yt in ye 3 Lamt 8 : 80 P* . 4 : 65 P* 5 : 58 Isiah
&ye 3:
10. & Lastly ye last awfull Signe & token of Gods anger with or Against a
Sinfull & Provoking & disobedient People yt I shall mention at this time is this,
Wn notwithstanding all his Judgments yt he has sent uppon e'm & all yc Calamitys
& afliictions yt he has visited e'm with from time lo time, he dont give e'm hearts
to turn to lum according to yt in 29. Deut 4. — Thus for ye Showing wt ate
yc Signs of Gods anger or | wonders | in ye Face of divine providence against a
Sinfull & disobedient people.

126 Sermons.
gdiy . y Kcond Enquiry proposed to be spoken was Why is It a peoples or
persons great duty to turn to God by sinceer & hearty repentance when y«wy arc
awfull Signs and plaint appearances in ye face of his providence of his anger ft
displeasure against y.m for yry Sins and disobedience. In answer now unto this
Enquiry 1 shall give ye Reasons of y Doctrine &c, y Reason of it may be this,
bcc1 : this is one Great design of God in causing his anger thus to appear against
e'm in y* way* of his providence, this one main end yt god aims at to speak after
ye manner of men in yc judgments & calamitys yt- he sends upon a people. 24.
Jer 5. 8. Deut 2. & 16
2 God expects this from a people, especially at Such a time he looks for it,
Hos. 5. 15, I will go & Return to my place till yy acknowledge yry offense ft
seek my face, in y^y affliction yy will seek me early, yt it is yry duty to do it now
in a Spiritual  manner & yryfore I expect It, as God expects yt his Mercys
should win us to repentance 2. Rom 4 & 5. slsiah 4. 10 So he expects yt Judg
ments : Should awaken to it. 
3d Sinceer Repentance & hearty & Real returning unto God is yc prp voice ft
Loude call of ye Judgments of God, yt is ye Judgments of God do with a Loud
voice call upon a Sinfull & disobedient people to Repent & Return unto ye Ld ,
God calls upon e'm in every Judgment & in every Affliction. Repent of y sins &£
lurn uluo me as in 6" Micah & 9 verse. ye Lds voice cryeth unto yc city. Why,
wt voice is yt , Why nt only ye voice of his Prophets but by yc Voice of his Judg
ments. Also spoken of in ye 4 last verses, or ye last clause of this verse, intimates
lo us. Well and what did this voice cry Why to ye same purpose with yt in ye 8
verse & yryfore it is yc duty yc great Duty of a people at such a time
sinceerly to repent & turn to God.
4 : It is ye express command of God in his wd yt a sinful ft disibedient person
or people do take such notice of and be so affected with those Judgments he sends
upon e'm as to be awakened & stirrd up thereby to a hearty & sinceer Repentance
& turning unto himself, This is-nt only ye voice of God in his Judgments .yt yy
Repent unfeignedty of yry Sins ft be thoroughly converted & turned into him but
this is ye voice of God in his word too. & yryfore it is so much yc more yy duly,
y° Judgments of God* ft ye calamity* yt he sends upon e'm cry atoude with one
voice unto a Sinfull ft disobedient people Repent. Repent, Turn. Turn ft God
iny to cm In his word Sec you hear ye voice of my Judgments & my voice yry in
Is yt forewarned 6 Micah A ye 9 as if y« Ld should sny. hear wt my Judgments
gny. If yy ca'l upon you to Repent & Return. Do you | listen | to wisdom ft
do it.
5" : If a people or person should not Repent of yy sins ft Return to God or
at Least stir up ymselvcs so to do at such a time when God in his providence is
manifesting Ins Anger against e'm yy would show gi eat Slubborncss. obstinacy ft
hardness of heart, it shows a Pharaoh like spirit to go on in Sin and impenitence
under yc Judgments of God and awfull ex pressions of his anger. See what
ye word of God says of such impenitence & obstinate Carriage. 5 Jer 3 : O Lord
are nt thine eyes upon ye truth thou has stricken yn but yy have nt grieved, thou
hast consumed yn but yy have Refused to receive correction, yy have made yry Face
harder yn a rock yy have refused to Return, how f Fitly | no doubt on this acct—

Sermons, 127
God complains of y* obstinacy ft hard heartedncss of his people 48 Isiah 4.
Bee* I knew yt thou wert obstinate ft thy neck is as an iron sinew ft thy Brow
brass. Now such a frame of Spirit under y* Judgments of God ft the awfull
appearances of his anger is a great Sin ft yryfore yc contrary is a great duty.
6. If a Sinfull ft disobedient people should obstinately ft impenitenlly go on
in yy Sin ft disobedience ft refuse to Repent ft when under the awfull expressions
of Gods anger & displeasure against e'm. They would thereby show a contempt
of God, his Judgmts ft his Anger, yy would say in actions .or behaviour what
Pharaoh sd in words : 5 Exod. 2 .Who is yc Ld yt I should obey his voice &c,
Who is ye Ld yt we should fear his Anger, or Regard his Judgments, we know not
ye Ld , We fear nt yc Ld , We care nt for y Ld neither do we regard yc appear
ance of his anger, Such a carriage of this ought not to be. ft yryfore at such a
time it Is a great duty to .Reform, Repent ft Return.
7: for a people or a person not lo Repent and Return to God wn yry are awfull
Signs & appearances of his anger & displeasure against 'em in yc face of Providence,
is yc way for yn to Increase yry sins & disobedience against God, & lo provoke
him so much ye more, it's a great aggravation of sin to sin under awfull Signs of
displeasure, it's a very provoking thing to sin Just under ye Rod this makes God
very-angry indeed, for as sins against mercy so sins under affliction are very great
sins & make God greatly & dreadfully angry, this we may galher from yt in ye g
of Ish ii, 12. & 13. therefore it is ye great duty of a people wn yy see yc signs &
tokens of Gods anger appear in ye frowning face of Providence against e'm, to
Repent heartily & sincerely of yry sins ft unfeignedly & thoroughly to turn from
e'm unto God.
8: ft Lastly ye last Reason yt I shall give of this truth is this, yt mixture of
mercy yt always or at least ordinarily is in ye appearances of Gods anger ngainst a
sinfull and disobedient people for yry sins &c — should oblige e'm indeed doth
oblige e'm to be a Repenting & Returning, God is wont in judgment to Remem
ber mercy & doth nt commonly slirr up all his wrath against a people ft therefore
this should obiige e'm to repent of yry sins against him ft unfeignedly with all yry
hearts to turn to him, with yy souls to mourn afler him ft with yry spirits within
them to seek him early, his goodness mingled with his auger and Judgments
should break mens henrts and win them lo Repentance ns this in ye 2 Rom 4, 5.,
In 2 things ye auger of God in y° signs it appearances of it yt Is by bringing Judg.
ments ft Calamity! upon e'm are usually mingled with a great deal of Mercy as
I»t nt punishing of sin according to yry deserts: 2d to Reform one i*t by nt
punishing and nfllicting of e'm according to y deserts, 2d in nt turning of e'm into
hell as he might Justly Ezra 9. 13. Job 11:6. — 2d lty punishing and afflicting of
e*m to Reform e'm ft to bring e'm to Repentance this is usually one of Gods ends
In ye expression of his anger against a people (yt is according to wt he has revealed
in his word — ft leaving yc sacred purpose of his will lo himself) if he has not quite
rejected & cast yn off to reform ym as we have already intimated. Now herein is
great Mercy, yt God should take any pains, upon any means with a sinfull ft dis
obedient people to do e'm good, ft therefore upon this acct also because of those
mixtures of mercy with yry afflictions, it is yry great duty wn under awfull ft plain
appearances of divine anger and displeasure to turn to God by hearty & sinceer

138 Sermons,
Repentance, I come now to make some application or Improvement ft y i*t um
of it may be of Instruction ft yt in 3 or 4 Branches or Inferences of y* Doctrine.
1" If it be so as y« Doct, was, yt when yry are awfull ft plain appearances In
y face of divine Providence of y* anger ft displeasure of God against a people for
sin ft disobedience yt it is yry great duty to turn to him by hearty ft sinceer
Repentance y» here we may Learn how far yy fall short of yry duty yt are not so
much as affected with or awakened under ye awfull signs ft plain appearances of
ye anger of God against e'm, of whom it may be said as of yn 43. Is 25:
3d This Doct" teaches us also how far yy fall short of yry duty yea how much
yy act contrary to it yt grow worse ft worse under yc appearance of Gods angel
against e'm, yt sin more as in 78 P» 3. & 32.
Y« wrath of God came upon e'm ft slew ye fattest of e'm & smote down y<
chosen men of Israel, for all this yy sinned still,
3d This truth teaches us also, yt only sollemn show ft appearances of Repent
ance ft Reformation at such a point as we have been speaking of will not save a
people, Fair fasting ft prayers wont save them. Fair outward appearance of y*
which God requires in sincerity & from ye heart will nt do, why? because these
things yy may do and yet nt do yry duty, as we may see in 58 Is 5,
4. Here wc may Learn yt eo long as a People continue impenitent ft unre-
formed in ways of sin ft disobedience ngainst God under awfull Signs &c its a
thing yt yy may Rationally Look for ft expect yt God will continue to be angry
with them ft to show his anger against e'm in still continuing ye awful appearances
ft expressions of It,
Secondly. A second use mny be of examination I"* In respect to ye state of y°
country in gen" 2: In Respect lo the state of this Province 3dly In respect to
ye state of this Town in particular. Let us as well as wc can and as far as we are
able by Information ft observation to be acquainted with it examine Look into ft
Reflect upon yc state of each of those as it is at Present, 2d or as it has been for
some years with Respect unto both parts of ye Doctrine.
i*t Have yrr nt been for some years pnst Yea for many years together plaine ft
awful appcarnnces ft expressions of yc anger of God against this people in the
Land for yry sin and disobedience ft arc yry nt so still. Consider here ye sevH par
ticulars in answer to yc i*t enquiry ft more particularly how to particularize y«
JudgmcnU yt God has sent upon you ft his anger has awfully appeared against
you have you nt had Wasting ft mildew year after year 28 Deut 22. have | you |
nt had unfruitfull seasons ft unseasonable winds one year afler another ft one year
especially have wc nt had sweeping floods, & scorching parching droughts has nt
yc heavens over head been as Brass ft yc earth under us as iron ft y Rain of y
Land as powder ft Dust. 28 Deut have we nt ye wasting sword ft graves of war
amongst us.
have we nt | had | mortall ft contagious diseases and sicknesses one year after
another for many years together, Sore sickness ft of Long continuance. Small pon
malignant fevers, Plurisis ft ye Like, has nt ye word been fulfilled amongst us
have we nt also been smitten in our Libertys ft civill priviledges. Has nt God
| Justly | Broken y« Pride of our Power

Sermons, 129
according to yt in 36 Levitt. 19 have we nt had | several strifes | ft disagreements
In our publique affayres both civill ft military
idly how has it been with as ft how is it as to Repentance ft sincere ft hearty
turning to God have we as | yet | by hearty ft sincere Repentance returned unto y
Ld under these awfull appearances of his anger aganst us,
2d Has not this colony, this province, this part of y Country yt you belong to
had awfull and plaine appearances of Gods anger against yn many way, have yy
not had all or many of ye same Judgments upon yn yt I have mentioned respecting
y« country in Genii, Well ft has there been a Gen1' spirit of Repentance ft a hearty
ft sincere turning lo God throughout the Province,
3 Has nt every Town ft Inhabitant had awfull appearances of Gods anger on
yn*. Have | nt J you ye people of this Town yc inhabitants of this place for some
years been under ye awfull angry Frowns of heaven ft are you nt so j now | . I do
not mean only with Respect to ye share yt you have been | under | in the Judgment
ft calamitys yt have in a Genii way been sent upon this part of ye Country ft y
rest of this Province, but more especially with Respect to some awfully sad ft sor.
rowfull expressions ft touches of divine anger yt more peculiarly ft immediately
concern y, selves, has God nt only cut you short in yc fruit of ye ear, as well as y
neighbors: but cut you short in ye ordinance of his Gospell too ft yt for some yean
in a more awfull way yn your neighbors Round about you, have nt you been
awfully damned in ye ways, of Gods providence with you, yt enjoyment of yc
means of grace yt you have had. Is yry nt ft has yry nt been for (00 long a time
a kind of famine of ye heart | ft j of yc wrd of yc Ld amongst you, is yc bread of
life broken so plentifully to you as it is to others, have you nt met with great diffi
culties discouragements & disappointments some limes in your endeavors after a
settled | Gospell j ministry amongst you— ft are nt these things awfull. I dare nt
undertake to tell Gods word ft meaning in yn in all respects as to yrselves but this
I dare say yt yy have an awfull angry frowning look in yn ft call for services ft
sollemn consideration yea ft more yn yt too, | but lo | y1 .7. Ezek 14.
ft here lei us consider yc awfullncss of this with Respect to 2 soils of persons
amongst you 1st with Respect to yc Godly, 2d with Respecl to ye unconverted,
i»t with Respect to yc Godly must it not needs be very nlflictive ft sorrowful! to
ym yi yy are thus denyd in yc holy & awfull grandeur of God ye enjoyment of y*
sweet ft precious ordinances of his house, How did David j Reason | such a
thing as this is P* 63. I.
2d; Doth it nt lie very sadly uppon ye ungodly unconverted ones of ye place,
yt poor dark blind souls should have no Reason for slighting yc | pardon | ft
Gods grace, yt dead souls should have no means of life ft grace of God, or at least
| be disposed j to use proper means, yt peace dying souls ft hard Persons so lnck
of as given Jer 29. 18 Thus it is very awfull to be without yc ordinances of
yc Gospell ft means of grace, ft has it nt been thus with yju in this Towne for
long if not say for many years ft yn 2d have you been Gen" a Repenting ft
Returning people under these awfull signs of Gods Anger against you, 1 question
nt but yt yry have been some Repenting ft Returning ones but have yc Inhabitants
pf this place beep Gen" so, examine yrselves ft consider

130 Sermons,
3 Let It be of Lamentation ft mourning yea ft deep humiliation unto all per-
ions— Especialy those yt have gone on impenltently In a way of tin ft disobedience
under y° awful expressions of God's Anger, upon 9 1 accls,
I«t Lament ft mourn ft be deeply humbled with tense of y« Ld Gods anger
upon it. ad for sins of this province \ also part of y« | worship j of this day \ ft
Gods anger against it in yc awfull appearances of it, 9 of Ezra 1 to 6. verses
3d for ye sins of this Towne ft yc awfull expressions of Gods anger against It.
4 For yr own sins ft Gods anger against yrselves ft yr own impenitence under It,
4.: ft Lastly let it be of Counsel! ft Exhortations to all here but Especially
those yt have gone on impenitently in sin ft disobedience under ye awfull expres
sions of divine anger to Return lo God by hearty ft sincere repentance. i*t do it
in respect to yc Ld ad in respect to yselves.
i»t In respect to ye Ld 1 c [Land] yt part of it at least to wch you belong— !¦¦
consider yt you by yr impenitence & disobedience have been sins yt have
| brought | Judgments down uppon yr Land at least >¦' part of it lo which you
belong. aJ therefore it Is ye duly yt so Gods anger may be turned away from
ye Land I mean from yt part of It lo wliich you belong, to turn to God by serious
and henrly re pen lance, 3, Consider God | under | his Providence peculiarly calls
you lo this duty | to | day, 4: consider if you do Repent ft turn to God | whether
or nt | ye rest of yc Country do, Yet you have delivered y own soules, you have
done yr duty. 5: If ye rest of ye Land should Repent ft turn to God In a Gcnll
way ft yet you continue impenitent, you cant expect to share In ye blessings of God
uppon ym | wn God turns nway his anger from yn yet he can find to afflict
you 2d with respect to yrselves in Gen" 2 more privileges i*t with respect to
yc Towne O repent ft turn to God yl God | turn | these expressions of his anger
from ye Town & bestow uppon you ye blessings you need consider yt your
| impenitence is ye Great cause j of Gods anger against yc place
1 Let yr repentance ft Returning be | willing ]
2 Let it be resolved with a free purpose
3 Let it be spiritual
3d This Doctrine .calls upon all but especially uppon all unconverted Impenitent
ones to be deeply humbled and abased before ye Ld this day for yy great neglect
of thin great duty &c— Now of these impendent ft unconverted ones yry are a
sorts under ye Gospell 1: Sober civill persons 2: Prophane vicious persons-
Drunkards dishonest dealers &c whether yry be any of this last sort of Impenitent
ones among you or no I cant well tell, but if yry be Let e'm be deeply humbled &c
Yea let all impenitent ones whether loose and disorderly or Sober civill Livers be
deeply humbled for yry Neglect of this great duty especially at such a day as this
h, ft Let me here Lay 3 or 4 humbling considerations (especially) before you
yt are unconverted ft impenitent sinners, and especially of this number before
those yt are vicious ft disorderly persons if yry be any such.
x": Consider you have been ye great provoking causes of Gods anger ft dis
pleasure against ye place where you Live.
2d; You have been ye great hindrances of Us being turned away 9 Isiah 11,12,13.
3d: And of all in ye Place God is most angry with you— Because you are dij-

Sermons. ijl
obedient. Rebellious ft Impenitent ft regard nt y* appearances of hit anger or at
least nt so much as to turn to him by hearty and sincere repentance
4 consider at this time and on this day God doth in a special man' call you to
deep humiliation, this day is set apart by God in his providence for y end,
4: ye 4". ft Last use yt I shall make of this Doctrine may be of counsel! ft
exhortation unto all here present, to turn unto ye Ld by hearty ft sinceer Repent
ance if it be yr duty to do it do it | sinners | But i*t to y« Godly, ad to y« ungodly
ft impenitent.t*t Do you yt are Godly Renew yr repentance ft Returning to God, you have
repented already ft turned to God already, but you must do it againe and againe
for it is a daily work it's a duty incumbent upon you as well as others at such a
day of divine anger as this is. **t Consider yt though you are godly yet you by
your sins have offended God and doubtless made him angry, 2d though you are
Godly yet you for aught you know may have a hand In bringing down Judgments
upon ye place where you Live. ¦
ad ; Unto ye ungodly ft impenitent ones of y place O, sinners do you do this
great duty do you turn unto God by hearty ft sincere repentauce. 2 or 3 motives
here let me add,
t*t Consider this is ye likeliest course yt you can take or yt can be taken for
ye turning away of ye anger of God both from this Town ft from yrselves, 3
Jonah : 10—
2 Consider this is ye way ft y only way yt I know of to bring down blessing
uppon yrselves, (his is ye day to Prevail with God to settle ye Gospell among you,
Yea ft to bless it ft prosper it among you & to cause religion to flourish among
you. ft nt only yr Neighbors but yr own selves will fair ye better for such
blessings as yt,
3 ; Consider you have a 3 fold call, at this day unto this great duty of turning
unto God by hearty and sincere repentance,
1" Ye call of ye Judgments of God ft yc appearances of his Anger &c
2d Ye call of yc Authority whose government you are under
3 Ye call of yc word of God at this time.
4 Consider if you dont do this great duly heartily ft sincerely to repent of
yr sins ft turn lo God it is to be feared yt God will be still more angry with you ft
send heavier Judgments upon you ft uppon yc place where you Live for y sokes.
26 Levitt  18 : 21 : 24 : 28.
5 Consider if you dont do this great duty, this day yt you have now kept will
be as to ye main thing in vain.
6 Consider if you dont turn to God by hearty ft sinceer 1 epentance These
counsel!* ft considerations will Rise up in Judgment against you another day
Isiah 12. Jeremiah 48, I shall give you Directions to help you in ye performance
of this great duly v' you have been now exhorted lo,
I*t Get an awakened sense of y anger of God against yc Land ft against y*
Town ft against y own selves. Because of yc Sin ft impenitence ft yc Impeni
tence of such as you are, ft especially Get an | humbling | aflecting sense of Gods
anger against yrselves, lest | there be a lime | you cant Repent ft Return to God
119. P». 30:

li3 Sermons,
a: Get a thorough sense ft Sight of yr own sins whereby you have provoked
God to anger. 58: I»'»h j.
3d: See yt yf repentance of sin ft confession to God be thorough ft with all
full, yt U yt you spare no sin but repent of ft turn from all yr gins 14 Hoses.
2d 119, ps 8
l" heart sins ft yc corruption of nature
2 Life sins & of ym lit Great sins 2d small sins ft 3d most outward sins.
4: See yt you goe about this great duty with a fixed settled Resolution ft full
purpose of heart.
5 : See yt it be speedy do nt Delay but Repent ft turn to God presently 4.
Heb. 7
6 : Set about this great duty of turning to God with all yr might ft be nt
slightly In it.
7 : Pray to God to help you Repentance is y« gift of God Remember yt In
Jeremiah 31. 18

EAST WINDSOR, 1709.
"On a day of thanksgiving being yc very next week after a Publique fa»t had
upon yc acctl. of our fatal disappointment in our expedition against our French &
Indian Enemies anno 1709 being Wednesday ye 33d of Nov ; 1709."
Ezra 9. 13. 14. 15. And after all yt is come upon us for our evil deeds and for
our Great trespass, seeing yt our God hath punished us less y« our Iniquities
deserve and hast given us such a deliverance as this. Should we again break thy
commandments &c wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us
&c O Ld God of Israel thou art Righteous for we Remain yet escaped &c
Doctrine A People yt have been yc Subjects not only of awfull dispensations
for thier sins, but also of great mercies notwithstanding thier sins, should be very
careful yt yy dont still continue to Break Gods commandments, wch in such a
People is a very great and God provoking evil or thus. A people yt have been
ye subjects nt only of awfull dispensations for thier sins but also of great mercies
notwithstanding thier sins should be very careful! yt yy dont still continue to break
Gods commandments & yt yy be for time to come an obedient People yc contrary
to wch in such a people or any of ym is a very heinous & God provoking evil.
Propn — 1. A People sometimes are ye subjects of awfull dispensation &c P* 60,
I. 2. 3.
Ppn" a These awfull dispensations come upon yn for yry sins &c Jer. 14, 10.
Ppn 3. It sometimes pleases God yt such a people notwithstanding all yry gins
& provocations, are also ye subjects of Great mercies. P* 106. 6. 7. 8. yy have
been so before yy were yc subjects of awfull dispensations'for yry sins Hosea n. 1.
3. 4, yy are so also in ye very times thereof Lapi 3. 22. P* 7. & 30. P* 103. 10.
After yy awfull and sollemn times are in a good measure past God is wont to

Sermons. 133
prove and try such people with some obliging ft winning dispensations &c Ezra 9.
13* P* 106, 41. a. Or thus such a people as I have now been speaking of should
make it very much yy care yt yy dont still continue to break God's commandments
but yl yy be for time to come a ver obedient people.
For
i*t The calamities and sorrows yt yry sins have provoked God to visit yB with
should make yn afraid still to break his commandments, P» 119. 120.
a Yc mercies and favours of God toward yul or yt he hath obliged y°> with
notwithstanding thier sins should make yn abhor still to break his commandments,
& win and gain ym to obedience &c Rom 6. 1. a. Gen 39. 9.
3 For such a people or any of ym to break ye commandments of God & Live a
life of disobedience ii . very heinous & L-od provoking evil, such are wicked wn yy
are highly obliged to be Godly, yy are boldly presumptuous wn yy have great cause
to fear and tremble, yy are obstinate w" yy have great reason to be Penitent, Deut
33. 10, & 32. 20. AI'l'MCATION
Use I Of Instruction here we may learn how aggravating & provoking ye ways
of such as break Gods commandments at all times amongst us must needs be.
Use a Of self examination, to you whether or no you dont some way or other
heinously sin against God and Greatly provoke him to anger toward yrselves by this,
dont you live in ye violation of some of his commandments,
Use 3 Make it very much yr care to keep Gods commandments and lo be
obedient in all things unto him, or thus Let us all be exhorted to be obedient unto
God & take heed yt you dont break but let it be your concern ever to keep his
commandments. Deut 32. 6. Job. 2 MOTIVES
[ Consider yt to keep y commandments of God is yr natural duty. Every
human Creature is bound by ye very Light & Law of Nature to obey his Creator
&c Deut 10. 12.
2 Consider yt you are under very &c. or thus Consider what encouragements
you have to keep ye commandments of God Deut 4. 29 — P* 19. 11,
3 Consider yt you have been &c. or thus Consider wt pains have been taken ft
wl means have been used with you yt so you might be obedient to ye command
ments of God Is 65. 2, 3. Deut 5. 29. Jer 7. 22. 3.
4 Consider how highly you are obliged by the Goodness of God to keep his
Commandments & to be obedient to his voice, Deut. 8. 10. n,
5 Consider how much you have Smarted & Suffered for nt keeping ye com
mandments of God, Deut 8. 5. Jer 4. 18.
6 Consider yt you are bound by your own sollemn Promises 8c Engagemts to
heed Gods commandments, nt to allow yr selves to break Gods commandments
Deut 26. 16. 17. 18.
7 Consider wt all yr vocal praises in ye house of God & externall Thanksgivings
will be if you allow yr selves to break Gods Commandments Isiah 1. 11. 12. 13,
& 66. 3.
8 & Lastly Consider wt it is in itself & will be in its effects for you to refuse to
obey the commandment, of God Deuteronomy 30. 15. 16. 17. ft 3a. 20. Deut
31.29

134 Sermons. Direction!
I Seriously and truly ut yrselves to keep aU Godi commandment! a« Chton
¦o. ]. 13. I Chron 11. 19,
¦ Therefore ut y'solvcs In sincerity & uprightness to get y" knowledge ft
undemanding of y« Law, and Commandment, of Cod I Chron 16. 8. P« 119.
»7- 3- 4. 5
3 Often sincerely Consider & ask ytelvet whether or no you dont In a higher
or lower degree allow yr selvei In breaking some of God, commandments, P* 4. 4<
4 Seriously expostulate & reason with yr own souls concerning this great duty of
obeying ye commandments of God, as have I done well In breaking Gods command
ments as I have done already, have 1 not great cause to repent of my pnst sin and
wickedness therein, and yet shall 1 do it again and again. Shall 1 be so vile &c.
Text. Isiah I. 18.
5 Labour to be serious hearted & Content and Looking to God for grace
whereby you may truly serve and Love him & Jer 32. 39.0. Deut. 30, 13, 4,
6. 20.

EAST WINDSOR, 174:.
" E. Windsor Novr 29" 1741, being ye 2d sabbath after Enoch Morris lost hut
Son of about II y" & ye last of ye children by ye throat distemper."
Jeremiah 6. 26. O Daughter of my People, Gird thee with Sackcloth, and
wallow thyself in ashes, make thee mourning as for an Only Son most bitter
Lamentation. Doc: The death of a Child .especially Considering y« circumstances y' it may
be attended with, is a great & sore aflliction. and a cause of Bitter sorrow and
mourning to the Bereaved Parents.
This Doct may be opened in sev" particulars as &c
We are all sensible of y" truth of w'h God in his Providence glvei proof more
yn cneugh of, or lints, Gives us proof of it and that more than eneugh.
Some improvement hath already been made of this truth. Without any mention
of ye uses that have been already made o( it or any observation of yry number and
order. I shall further Improve it in some other uses.
Use 1" Is it so &c, yn doubtless there is a regard due to & some Improvement
to be made of what God hath of late done in this place by sickness & Death,
I have been now something more than seven & forty years an Inhabitant In this
part of this Town and I do nt Remember that in all this Long space of time so
many have died among us for ye | same | time I mean as have died here since
the beginning of last May. & y" we may consider as ye number of ye dead among
us has been more y° ordinary yy have all been children & young persons excepting
only two. 1
The Influences of Death among | us | in some of our families have been more

Sermons. 135
awfull yn what has been common among us Yea & considering y number of
Families y ever has been among us as far as I can Remember,
In three of our families 2 children died in each of y« In a short time of one
another. And in one since & yt very Lately namely three children In one Family
& or thus and since In another family three children have died In this place.
Y« first was as I remember about 4 years of age. Y« second about 14. & ye Last
about eleven years old, these all died in a short lime one of another & wero aU
yt Remained of seven children of yc same Parents,
These are all \wful strokes of y« Bereaving hand of God especially this last, &
several of these children died & particularly (he three Last if I mistake not by that
disease caled y* Throat distenner that hath been so dreadfully mortal In many
families here In (he country, and whereby so many hopeful young persons &
pleasant children have been cut off & Laid among the Dead. & bo has been a
cause of very great & son; aflliction and of bitter sorrow & mourning to many
Parents and to some Parents by this distemper God hath done according lo Hosea
9, 12. Isiah 16. 7.
This Dreadfull & desolating distemper hath been among us and we have had a
very awful! instance of it of Late.
Question: What use or Improvement should we make of these things.
Answer i: We should seriously Consider whether we have not Reason to think
from these things that God is angry with us. Acts 26.18 Levitt 15 26.16 & here lei
us Consider that God's granting converting grace to many among us is not a Certain
sign that he is not angry with us, or thus Gods pouring out his spirit and granting
converting Grace to many among us is no certain sign that God is not angry with us.
Acts ¦*. 22. 23 Acts 18. 9. 10. Acts 7. 41 19. 35. Mortal sickness prevailing
among a People is threatened by God in his word as a Judgment & token of his
Anger 2 Chron" 6, 26-28 Deut. 29. 22. 24:
A dying time among a people is mentioned in Scripture as a time wherein God
appears angry with yn &c Jeremiah 9. 13:15. 19. 20. 21 
2J ans Wc should Learn to be afraid of '.,oJ. to be afraid of Gods anger. To
be afraid of his Judgment Psal" 119. I2C.
To dread to sin against him Psl 4' 4' . we should be afraid of sin in all
Respects, We should be afraid of continuing in a State of Sin, We should be
afraid of particular acts of sin, We should be afraid of going on in a Course of
sin Jer 8. 6, Or thus Let all persons be afiaid of going on in a Course of sin,
Be afraid of going on in a course of sin ngaiust ye holy Laws of God therefore
dare not &c Romnns 2, 21. 2 J of James II. 12,
Be afraid of continuing in * Course of sin against ye Glorious Gospel & so
against . Heb 2- 3 . Rom 2 3. 5. Isiah 53' 3- Heb 10. 28" 29*
Be afraid of Inward spiritual Sins & of all heart wickedness
Be afraid of unbelief, or thus of Pride, of Blasphemous thoughts, of all corupt
Reasonings & Perverse disputings & and of all unchaste Thoughts, of all Stoutness
& Sturdiness of Spirit Luke 10, 16
Be afraid of nt only outward but also Inward Irreverence & contempt of God in
ye time of his Worship . Matt 15 7. 8 Heb* 12 - 28 Prov 16 .5 Heb 3 .12, 13
Be afraid of despising ye word of God in yr hearts when it is brought to you in

1 3*5 Sermons.
that great ordinance of God the preaching of It, I* Then . 4. 3. Prov 13. 13 Jer
4, 18
Be afraid of being a Sinner Still against God with great agravation, Dare nt to
sin against light & knowledge convictions and shocks of conversions, Dare nt still
to commit ye sins yt you have been often reproved for. Notwithstanding all
yt you have of Late heard & seen. Dare nt still to neglect ye great duty of Im
proving yr day of Grace Luk . 19, 4a, 44.
Be afraid of being a careless or Regardless hearer A So in yr Worship a forget
ful hearer of what you have now been agreeable to ye word of God, Against
despising ye word of G jd in Genii I said something already. Now I would
sollemnly warn you against despising of what you have heard in Particular,
Thus for ye ad thing in answer to this enquiry what Improvement Should we
make of ye Sickness yt God hath of late sent among us & of ye Dying time yt has
been the effect of it wch \% Sec.
3d : L.et us be afraid of God . afraid of ye Anger of God & so afraid of Sin,
of all sin, and in particular be afraid of such sins as I have now mentioned. Let
us be much in prayer to God that this mortal dreadful distemper may not spread &
prevail among us.
4 : Let us pray to God yt if it be his will that this Distemper must prevail now
among us & be ye means of ye death of some of our Children that are in their—
Childhood or youth, thnt are yet unconverted, that God in mercy to them would
convert them before they die, & so prepare them for death before yry sickness, yry
dying sickness comes, ifec —
That you may ut y have this sting In your aflliction In yry death as lo fear yy
are gone lo hull  yt you may have this lo comfort you w» mourning for yry death
yt you do not mourn without hope. 1 Them 4. 13. 
& Lastly Let our children and young people prny yt God would prepare yn for
death by this mortal distemper or any other yt he may please lo seize (hem with
or thus Let it be ye great concern of all of you y' are in yr childhood & youth &
especially those of you yt are yet in y« unconverted state yt you may be prepared
for Death by this mortal dislembcr or any other yt it may please God lo take you
out ye world by . & Consider ist, | It is possible you may die in a short time
either by this distemper or by some other means. 2d w you die there will be an
end for your part in ye day of Grace Deut 30. 6 3d W" you die yr Death will
be to you yr Entrance into Eternity or you death will be to you if you die as you
are (unconverted) an entrance into an eternal hell.
Thus for ye first use with Respect to what God hath done among us in taking
away of so many of our children, besides some others by Death as he hath done of
Late, Namely, Surely we ought to heed and express a due regard to his holy &
awful hand herein and to make a suitable Improvement of it Otherwise we shall
put a slight upon it & upon an awakening disposition, and an awful frown of God
is on it.
Use 2d This Doctrine may Lead us to think of Heaven & the state of Saints,
there. 1 ,
Jn heayen there is no peath no Dying &c— -

Sermons, - 137
This O Is a dying O here we Live in y« Land of y dying but heaven ii &o
Eccl. ach 1. 11
In heaven there is a perfect freedom from Sorrow and Grief.
this O Is a vale of tears, but in heaven &c  Rev. ai. 4.
In heaven Gods Saints have a fullness of joy: P* 16. iz,
Here men have some joy & often much trials & sorrow with It, but in Heaven
&c__ and this happy state will last forever.
Here our state is full of changes &c but in heaven Ac-
Here our Joy & comforts are but of short continuance or thus in this world if
men be in a prosperous 8c comfortable state and have joy & Gladness of heart in it.
yry Joy is but of short continuance, but in Heaven its abiding, its lasting, Yea
everlasting. Job 20". 5 2 Cor 4. 18. Isiah 35. 10. Isiah 60.20.
They are happy men and women that have a right & Title to heaven, & yy are
dayly travailing towards ye heavenly Canaan
Yet yy are happy for &c  Some are heavenly minded and there is Reason
yea great Reason yt we should be so, for there is grace in heavenlymindedness &c
Heb n. 13, 16. and there is wisdom in it too yea ye wisdom yt is truly divine,
ye greatest ye highest wisdom, ye wisdom yt is in Prov 3. 13. 14.
Use 3 Is it so y> here we may take occation to Consider. Job 28 how much
better it is to be a Godly man , than to be a wicked man even in this present life.
I mean especially as &c or thus here we may take Occation to Consider how much
belter it is to be Godly lhan wicked and that both in Life and Death,
Both y° Godly & Wicked have outward comforts of ye Good things of this Life.
but the Godly have them with y Lovo & favor of God, but y° wicked have them
with ye wrath & Curse of God.
l'» 5, 11. 12. Pi. 10. 2 Cor 2. 16.
Y« Godly have | them | in * pardoned Reconciled state. Prov 3. 33. a.
Malaclu 2. 2.
Ye Wicked have them as a Condemned prisoner. A malefactor under sentence
of Death has his bread his meat 8c drink, ye Godly have these things in ye world
as yry portion &c
Sev" other differences I might mention 8c you may easily think of. Again both
ye Godly and the wicked may & do meet with affliction, Yea with great & Sore
afflictions & troubles here in this world. P*al .32. 10. Many sorrows shall be to
ye Wicked, Ps 34. 19. Many are yc afflictions of ye Righteous, but there is a
great difference in ye afflictions between ye Godly & ye Wicked •{ & yy may both
be bereaved of children yea of all yry children )¦ The afflictions of ye Godly are
expressions of Gods Love to yn &c Heb 12. 6.
But yy | show | effects & tokens of Gods anger & acts of his Revenging Justice
In yry afflictions & sorrows the Godly have God to go to | for | help 8c pity, for
grace & comfort to thier God & Father, which is a most precious priviledge, but it
is not so with ye wicked for God is angry with ye wicked everyday. Psal 5. 5. ps n-u
Again the afflictions of ye Godly shall work for thier Good ye good of yry souls
and so yry best good  Rom 8, 28
But ye afflictions of y wicked aggravate yy sin and Increase yry Guilt. If yy

138 Sermons.
go on still in yry Impenlrency will surely be followed with y greater woe & misery.
Isiah i« .6, 7. 8, Amos 4. %,
Again both y Godly & the Wicked must die. But great very great exceeding
great indeed is the difference between y Godly and ye wicked in yry death,
Isiah 10. 11,
When the Godly die they have for ever done with afflictions and see an end of
all yy sorrows &c  Isiah 5' 7. 9,
But when y wicked die whatever afflictions and Borrow they have here suffered
in this world, (hey must still suffer more and far greater affliction, W« ye wicked
die yy go to that misery that will never end. Isiah 50. II.
W" ye Godly die thier souls go to heaven and are there with Christ, and are
like yc Angeli of God y8 holy Angels — both in holiness and happiness, Phil, I. 93.
Heb 19, 92. 93,
But wn ye Wicked die they go to hell, & thier souls are like y* Devils both in
wickedness and misery, Rev 8. 8, Luke .16, 22, 23.
When a Godly man dies he goes in to an Eternity of unspeakable happiness
When a Wicked man dies he goes into an Eternity of Inconceivable misery Or
thus. When a Godly man dies he goes to an Eternal world of happiness When
a wicked man dies he goes into a Boundless Bottomless sea of misery,
Question. Who are wicked persons — — Ans 1 All Irreligious persons. P» to.
4. Mat 22. 5.
a. All self RIght*ous persons 3 All yt are Rejected of Christ. Acts 19. 9.
Prov 1. 24,
4, All yt have nothing of Godly sorrow. Rev 2, 20,
5. All yt love ye world above God, all unbelievers & Christ Rejectors
6. All whose Religion is destitute of a principle of Divine Love.
Particularly, All that love this world above God 8c Jesus Christ. Mat 10. 37.
2 Tim 3. 2. 4. All that in yry Religion act from no higher principle than self
Love. Hos 10. 1. Zach 7. 5. 6.
Let me now solemnly caution and warn all them that are Irreligious persons
dcspisers 8c rejectors of, Christ impenitent & unconverted sinners and so wicked
persons. I say let me now solemnly warn all such persons among us to be afraid
of saying so. And that you may nt die so, be afraid of the things yt I shall now
mention which are common with wicked men.
1" It has been and is a Common thing with wicked men to chuse ralher to go
on in, yn to forsake a sin yt they have long been Joined to Now this is a very
dangerous thing therefore be afraid of it & here Jer 13. 23. . or thus .be afraid of
Still going on In | Sin [ &c Prov 5, 22, 23.
2d" It is a common thing with wicked persons against light & convictions of
Conscience to delay thier Repentance or Conversion & this &c Acts 94. 95, this
Is a very dangerous course, be afraid of it. Ac or thus, Be afraid of procrastination
or delays in ye work & duty of turning from sin to God by true faith ii Repentance,
3. It has been a Common thing with wicked men to refuse Christ and betake
ymselves to yry own Righteousness as yc refuge of thier souls. Luke 18. 12. 13,
Rom 9. 33> Rom 10- 3- —  1
or thus, this is a very dangerous thing indeed therefore be afraid of it

Sermons, 139
4* It has been a common thing with unconverted sinners & therein with wicked
persons when under some Convictions | to | behave Slack and | hateful | in looking
to God for Mercy, therefore be afraid, Luke 13. 24.
5. & Lastly it has been A Common thing for wicked men to lose a previous
day of Grace & to misspend times of precious advantage for thier souls, Or thus
it has been a Common thing with wicked persons to misspend and waste times of
, Great Advantage for thier souls, and lose a provision of Grace and Salvation for
want of a good Improvement of it, - Eccl 12, 44.
Youth is a time of Great advantage for salvation. But it is very common with
Wicked persons very sinfully to misspend Ihe time of thier youth. Job 36. 14,
Let our young people be afraid &c Prov 8. 17. 32.
A time wherein God in an uncommon and more yn ordinary pouring out of his
spirit,, a plentifull Raining down of Righteousness, this is a time of great advan
tages for conversion and salvation a precious day of Grace yn God calls as In 9 Cor
6, 2, Isiah 5. 5, 6, But it is very common with wicked men, with graceless and
unconverted sinners to misspend and lose such a good time, such a ) mercifull |
day for yry souls, Prov 6. 9.
Some lose it because yy sleep in Carnal security &c— — yy have no heart &c
Prov 10. 5. Jonah 1, 5, 6. Rom 13. 11. Hosea 6. 4. This is very Dangerous
therefore be afraid of it.

The following notice occurs at the margin of the above sermon, and was
probably read at the close of the discourse :
Phillis .Co1" Wolcotts Negro woman desires to Join with this Chh in a state of
F C. (1. /., full communion). Rem^r J, Wood to own ye Govt & yn to Baptize
him.

EAST WINDSOR, MAY, 1719.
" E. Windsor May 1719 On ye 2d Article of y« Writing drawn up by y min
isters of Hartford Windsor and Farmington Anno 1711, & Solemnly & Generally
engaged to on ye East side of ye River at Windsor .ye Article is this viz, We will
carefully watch | any signs of | Irreverence in ye worship of God & all prophanation
of his Glorious and fearfull name by Causeless Imprecations & Rash Swearing, or
any other way, in which it is or may be taken in vain."
P« 89. 7. Ged is greatly to be feared in ye assembly of his Saints & to be had
In Reverence of them yt are Round about him.
Doc It is our duty to draw nigh to God in ye duties of his worship with Great
seriousness solemnity and Reverence, or thus It is ye duty of those yt draw nigh to
God in ye duties of his worship therein to Serve and wait upon him wilh Great
Seriousness Solemnity and Reverence,
I shall first explain y« Doctrine and then give Reasons of it But first I shall
explain it in Propositions as 

¦46 Sermon*.
Ppa i- wn wC wonhlp God In y performance of y duties of his worship we
do In t Special manner draw nigh to him, or thus wa we perform y duties we
ought to drawn nigh to him &c P» 73. 98,
ppn ad When we perform y* duties of his worship we Serve and wait upon
God, or thus We should serve and attend or wait upon God u Subjects on yy
Sovereign, or Servu on yry Lord. We should make humble suit to wait upon God
for his favours and Blessings P» 193. s,
Ppn 3 Wa we draw nigh to God In y duties of his worship it Is our duty
therein to Serve and wait upon him with Great Seriousness, we ought nt with a
Light Senseless unconverted spirit to draw nigh to God &c but we should be very
thoughtful about as well as Sensible of what we do therein, we should do it with
Cotnposedness of mind with Intensness, Fixedness & Engagedness of Spirit. Jer
30. 21. P> 57. 7.
Pp° 4 It is ye duty cf those yt draw nigh to God in ye Duties of his worship
therein to Serve and wail upon him wilh Great Solemnity 1" Yt is yy should do
It wilh a sense of what a Great & Solemn thing it Is. 9<1 Without Extemall or
outward solemnity P' 95. 6. Rom 12. 1, Gen 18. 93. 7,
Pp» 5 It is ye duty of those yl draw nigh to God In ye duties of his worship
yryin to serve and wait upon him with Great Reverence or in a very Reverent
manner viz, t" With a holy Awe of God upon yry hearts pi 5. 7. I Cor 6. 20.
2<J with such an outward carriage and behaviour as may be to yc honour of God
Having thus explained or opened ye Doctrine I shall in ye next place give Reasons
for it, aa
Reason I This first Reason may be taken from ye Goodness of God or thus of
ye Divine Mijesly Gen 14. 19, 22. Isiah 40: 15. 16. 17. Job 26. 6.
Reas" 2<* Ye second Reason may be taken from ye holiness of God, Is 6. I. 3,
Rea 3 From ye Greatness and Solemnity of ye things yt we draw nigh to God
about in ye duties of his worship Hos. 6, 19.
Rea 4 From our own Meanness and Nothingness Gen, 18. 97, Luke 17. 13.
Rea 5 & Last from our own Sinfullness and Guiltiness. Is 6. 5. Luke 18. 13,
Application
Use t Of Information or Instruction on 9 or 3 Inferences aa
I&t Here we may Conclude y1 God is much offended by many Persons when yy
draw nigh to him in ye duties of his worship. Ezk 33. 31. Jer, 19. 2. Isiah
29. 13.
?A Here we may Infer yt it is our duty to take Care yt those yt are under our
Care and Government do in a Solemn and Reverent manner draw nigh to God in
ye duties of his worship & lo reprove y11^ w" we observe ye Contrary in y». or thus
Here we Infer yt those yt behave ymselves Irreverently in ye worship of God
should be reproved for it by those under whose Government Care or Instruction
God hath placed them 1" Parents & heads or Governours of Families should
reprove yry Children or Scrvt* wn yy observe yn. Guilty of this sin and make it yry
Care to Reform yn Gen 18. 19. 2d Ministers should endeavor to make yry hearers
Sensible of ye evil of thi«, thing and Reprove y\ for it as yry may be occation.
Heb. 12. 98. Josh. 24. 25.

Sermons. 14 1*
3d Here we may Infer yt those things wch are Contrary to Seriousness Solemnity
end Reverence in y worship of God must needs be matter of Grief and offence to
such a* are truly Godly, or thus
X," Wa such as are truly Godly do observe much want of Seriousness and
Reverence in others wa yy draw nigh to God and especially much Contrary to his
worship it will Grieve and offend yn ps 34. 3. & 119. 58.
ad that yy can with no more holy Seriousness . Solemnity and Reverence draw
nigh to God In y« duties of his worship themselves Is thier Grief and Sorrow. Rom
7. 18, 19, 9t, 39. 3.
And It must need's be so for as y doctrine tells It Is y« duly of those yt draw
nigh to God In ye duties of his worship therein to Serve and wait upon him with
great Seriousness Solemnity and Reverence. Now a slightly Irreverent behaviour
and Frame are Contrary to this duty and indeed are to Gods dishonour and there
fore must needs be contrary to that true Love to Gods holy Zeal for him i&S
Gracious tenderness of his Honour yt are in every truly Godly man ——
Use 2 Of Self Examination, Whether or no you be nt very Guilty of neglecting
this great duty ye Doctrine speaks of, Particularly
I Have you nt allowed yrselves In neglecting yt great duly of Solemnly seeking
God in secret yt he would prepare you to wait upon him in his house and help you
to do it with Seriousness and Reverence
2 Have you nt often allowed yrselves in vain thoughts and in a careless
Irreverent frame in the house of Divine worship
3 Have you nt often allowed yrselves and Einfully yielded to a drowsy sleepy
Frame in ihe time of DMne worship
4 Have none of you been Guilty of Irreverent carri:»gc and behaviour in
ye time of Gds worship hath y behaviour been always decent
5 Have you nt often disposed yr Bodies in an Irreverent Posture in ye time of
Gods worship, or thus Have you been daly Careful to avoid all Irreverent and
Indecent Posture of Body in ye worship of God Pa 63. 3. Pro 3. 14.
Use 3 Of Reproof to all those yt be nt Serious & Reverent in y« duties of Gods
worship . yt dont set yn.to draw nigh to God in ye duties of his worship with a
Serious spirit & in a Benevolent and Solemn manner you are very Greatly to
blame & have Great Reason to Judge & Condemn yrselves before God this day &
for yr conviction awakening & humiliation consider a few things, P9 90. II.
I*. 33- *4-
I Consider yt by y Irreverence in ye worship of God you Cast great Contempt
upon Gods majesty. Jer 5. 22. & 33. 6. 7. 8. & 10. 6, 7. P> 33. 6. 7. 8. P« 95. 6.
2 Consider hereby you cast Contempt upon ye greatest thing yt can be vis
upon y« most Dreadfull and desirable thing that can be
3 Consider yt hereby you offend God. ye holy Angels, Good men y ministers
of Christ all at once, 1 Cor 11. 10. Jer 6. 10. Isiah 49. 5.
4 Hereby you take a Course to get a Curse instead of a Blessing or thus to
deprive yrselves of Gods grace and Blessing Jer 48. 10,
Use 4 Of Exhortation. Let it be in yc last place of Solemn Caution & Eer-
ncst exhortation unto all Persons to take heed of all prophaneness and irreveience

¦"4* Sermons.
In ye worship of Ood & Let me Also exhort you to Labour In a serious solemn and
Reverent manner to draw nigh to God In all ye duties of his worship or rather Let
it be of Solemn Caution and warning to you to take heed of all Prophaneness and
Irreverence in y« worship of God, Particularly
! Take heed yt you dont carry yrselves vainly & of— — Prophancly Laughing
W" you are worshiping God,
1 Take heed of Vainly whispering or talking one with another w» you draw
nigh lo God In y« duties of his worship—
3 Take heed yt your eyes dont vainly wander up and down In y* Congregation
W» you are before God in ye dulies of his worship
4 Take heed of a wandering mind in ye duties of Gods worship.
5 Take heed of a Careless Senseless ' Regardless frame w° you are worshiping
God 6. Take heed of a Oly mind wn you draw nigh lo God In y duties of his
worship. 7 Take heed yt you dont receive any part of ye word of God. dispensed to you
In ye ministry of it with Contempt
B Take heed yt that you be nt Sinfully disturbed or Provoked by any of ye
truths of Gods word dispensed in ye publique Ministry of it,
Take heed yt you be nt disturbed and Provoked at w* is delivered in y« minis
try of ye word because it is nt according to yr Judgment .Prov 3. 5. Pro 5. II.
13. Heb 13. 17. James 3. 1. Rom 12. 16 Jer 1. 17. & 26. 2. Luke 12. 49.
Take heed yt you be nt disturbed and provoked by it because it Reproves and
Condemns yr ways . & because you think you are aimed at in it, Gal I. 10. 2 Tim
2. 15. For herein you may be much mistaken & it may be so & yet you may nt
have yc Least cause of offence . Gal, 4, 16. Is. 58. 1 Ezek, 6. 11.
Take heed yt you be nt disturbed and Provoked because you think ye minister is
too free and Plain or too severe in his Reproofs Acts 4. 29. Eph 6. 19. o— Tit
1. 3. Tit 2. 15. And y> you may be freed from this evil Consider a few things,
Acts to. 33.
1" Yt this is Contrary lo y holy Fear .Humility and Reverence yt you ought
to hear y word of God wilh . Is. 66. 2.
2 Consider yt hereby many limes men commit a great deal of Sin
3 Consider y> if you hear ye word of God with such a spirit you are not like to
profit by it. P> 25. 9. James I. 21. 2 Thcss . i. 10. 11. 12. Ps 138 : 6.
9 Dont allow yrselves to Sleep, or to be sleepy & drowsy wn you are hearing a
Sermon — Motives or Considerations to set home this Caution as 
1 Consider y* wn >ou are hearing a Sermon you are hearing ye word of God
and God himself is speaking to you . Luke— 10. 16. I . Thess . 4. 1. 2. I. Thess
2. 13. 1 .Thess. 8. I. Cor. 5. 20.
2 Consider yt w" you are hearing a Sermon especially on some Subjects . all
ye person? in ye Trinity are speaking to you and yt is a very solemn matter. Mat
:;. 5, Pro. 8. 4. Acts 7. 54- * Peter 3- 18. 19. .20 Heb. 12. 25.
3 Consider y* wn you are hearing a Sermon you are hearing ye Greatest and
most important things in ye world. Hos, 8. is. Deut 32. 46. 7, Acts 5. 90,

Sermons. s 143
4 Consider y your whole lifetime In (his 0 is very short and y time of y hear
ing Gods word Is but a small part of this short time, James 4. 14. John la. 35.
S Consider yt y* hours wherein you are hearing Sermons are some of y* most
precious hours In ye whole day of yr Life .Pro 17. 16 Rom. 10. 17.
6 Consider yt by an allowed sleeping at a Sermon you Justly give great offence,
Mark 3. 3, pe 34. 3. Acts 90. 9. Is 49, 4. Jer 6, 10, P* 95. 6, 7,
7 Consider, yt wn you are hearing a Sermon It may be y Last time yt ever y
mnn yi preaches It may speak lo you In y name of y Lord . Acta ao, 7. and
yt It may be Ihe last Sermon you may ever hear. Luke 18, 18, Pro 97. I,
B Consider . yt by sleeping at Sermons you may greatly wrong yr own Souls,
Pro 8. j6. John 19. 48.
10 & Lastly Consider yt men must give an account to God at ye Great Day of
what Improvement yy have made of ye Sermons yy have heard I.uke 16. a.
In ye next place before I come to ye Last Use I shall endeavor to speak to some
things yt some may be Ready lo Say in yry hearts. Some by way of Excuse &
others by way of Sorrowful Complaint of this practice of Sleeping at Sermons.
Plea, 1 Sleeping at Sermons is a very Common usual thing multitudes do it 4c
Ye Commonness of it neither makes it to be no sin or a little sin The Common
ness of it will never Excuse you in it Exodus 23. 2, P> 129. 158
For this Reason this thing should be your Grief and you should carefully
avoid it, Yea you should be ye more Grieved for it
Plea 2 But some may say in yry hearts, but it is a pretty Common thing for
Church members to do it & yryfore it seems to be no Great Evil it seems to be but
a liL.e sin a Light matter to do &c
Ans 1 Ye more ye pity. It is' a great pity yt any should be hardened in Sin
by ye practice and example of church members Mat 5. 16,
Ans 2 You must follow church members no further yn yy follow Xt. or thus
You should follow and Imitate church members in yry Verlues and Good things
but not in yry Failings and evil things . I Cor n. I.
Ans 3 If yry be any amongst you yt are truly Godly yt are often carried away
with this evil yt is Certainly yry Grief & Sorrowfull Complaint or thus If (here
be any among us y» are truly Godly yt are very apt to be often Sleepy and Drousy
when yy hear y« word of God it is certainly ye matter of yry Grief and Sorrow.
Rom 7. 15.
Plea 3 But possibly some may further plead thus , But I dont think yt my
sleeping at Sermons is any great fault in me. because it is so natural to me and I
am apt to be so overpowered with it yt I cant tell how to help it,
Ans 1 Are you so apt to be dull and drousy upon other occations
Ans 2 Is nt this great aptness of yrs to Sleep at Sermons an ill habit yt you
have Contracted by Custome Jer 13 23.
Ans 3 Do you nt make light of this Evil disposition Can you say yt it is
yr Burden & yt you Lament it & Pray and Strive against it as you might do
Plea 4 Ye Ld X Xt seems to Excuse his Disciples in yry Sleepiness because of
ye weakness of yry flesh &c
Ans 1 Ye Disciples of Christ at yt time had more reason to be sleeyy yn usually
men now have at a Sermon

¦44 Sermons.
Ads l Though y Ld x X«, doth mercifully Consider yy Sleepiness y Sleepi
ness of y* Disciples of Christ was not an allowed sleepiness, but was far more
excusable yn y Sleeping of many persons at a Sermon now
I Yry hearts were heavy and yy spirits were sad with sorrow. Luke aa. 45,
a It was very late in ye night •¦
3 Yry Sleepiness was nt an allowed Sleepiness. Mat 26. 41.
4 Wn yy Slept our Saviour was not with them nor any of his ministers to speak
to ym in his name but it was in ye time of his absence
Ans 3 Though ye Ld X xl was pleased at yt time mercifully to allow his
Disciples some excuse considering ye weakness of yry flesh & ye willingness and
desire of yry souls to be watchfull & wakefull, Yet he doth again & again Reprove
& Blame ym for yry dullness and sleepiness Mat 26. 40. I,
5 <fc Lastly It is possible yt some serious and truly Religious persons may say
but what shall I do yt I may be kept from sleepiness when I am silting under
ye word of God or thus is it possible yt some may if yy should speak what is in yry
hearts enquire and say .but w' shall I do yt I may be kept from and cured of this
drousy sleepy disposition wn I am hearing ye word of God
Ans I Bear it as yr Grief and Burden , don't make light of it, dont Slight it but
bear it as your Grief & Burden
Ans 2 Be much in entering Complaints and in prayer to God against it
" 3 Take heed of those things yt Lead to it
" 4 Resolve lo do yr true endeavor to break ihis 111 custom I om I 2. 11,
5 & Last beg hard and earnestly of God y' you may have a feeling and
heart affecting sense of w' you hear in a Sermon ,. I Thess 1, 5. Luke 24. 32.
Use 5 & Last of Exhortation in Particulars
1 To all professors of Godliness especiall church memhers in full Communion
Labour to draw nigh to God in all ye duties of his worship with serious Solemnity
& Reverence do it yt you may therein act according to y profession do it yt you
may nt set a bad example Mat 5. 16. Pliil I. 27, Gen 18, 19.
2 v To parents and all heads and Governours of families if you would be falthfull
in yr pluccs see yt those y» are under yr Care behave ym selves Reverently In
ye worship of God Eph 6. 4.
3 To children and all young persons see yt you draw nigh to God in ye duties
of his worship with fear & Reverence Eccl 12 .; I t 2.
4 To all yt desire to obtain saving Grace & mercy of God for yy perishing
Souis yc Counsel yt I would give to such yt yy draw nigh to God in ye duties of
his worship with fear and Reverence Deut 4. 29.
5 To all yl desire to honour God and to enjoy Communion with him in
ye duties of his worship Labour to draw nigh therein with Reverence and Godly
fear Heb 12. 28
6 To all yt have hitherto alloued y«selves in drawing nigh to God in ye duties
of his worship in an Irreverent manner whether as to yry outward behaviour or
inward frame, yt yy do set ynselves to R:prove yt Evil.
7 To all yt have lately owned or Renewed Gods Covenant let me exhort to be
Careful to do this Great duty.

Sermons. 14$
Adding . I shall conclude this Subject with considerations to w1 yon have
you have already heard nnder other Uses to set home this Counsel as 
I Consider yt Irreverence in y° worship of God is a Sin against y* very Light
of Nature Romans I. 20. x. Judges 3. 20. Mat ia. 41. a.
Consider yt you cant allow yrselves in this Sin without going very Contrary to
ye Solemn Covenant yt is between God end you. Deut 26. 16. 17. Ps 119. 106.
3 Consider yt if ye Solemn promises yt we have lately made to God had but
this effect upon us , to stir us up to be more Conscientiously Careful to do our duty
respecting Gods worship it would be a very Good effect of it, P> 78, 36. 7.
4 Consider yt you cant allow yrselves in an Irreverent approaching to God in
ye duties of his worship without greatly sinning against y Light Acts 24, 16.
Rom. 2. 15.
5 A Lastly Consider yt if any of you still allow yrselves with neglect of this
Great Duty as ye Evil of it will be Great, so ye effects of it are like to be sorrow
ful Exod 20. 7. Jer 48. 10.

-«$&&*"

EDWARDS FAMILY.

The first of the name that settled in Connecticut, and located himself in
Hartford about 1645, was William Edwards, whose father died in England before
the son came to this country. His mother, Agnes [or Anne] Edwards, married
there Mr, James Cole, who, with his children by a former wife, came to this
country. I. William Edwards married Agnes Spencer, widow, about 1646.
CHILDREN,
2. l Richard Edwards, born May, 1647, married Elisabeth Tuthill, daughter
of William Tuthill, of New Haven, Conn. ; was divorced from her. Second,
lo Mary Talcott, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel John Talcott, of Hartford,
by his first wife, Helena Wakeman, daughter of Rev. John Wakeman, of
New Haven. CHILDREN— FIRST WIFE.
3. Mary Edwards, born 1668,
- 4. Timothy " " May 14, 1669.
5. Abigail *» " 1671.
6. Elisabeth " " 1675.
7. Anne " " 1678.
8. Mabel " bap. Dec, 13, 1685.
CHILDREN — SECOND WIFE.
9. Jonathan Edwards, born Jan. 20, 1693.
10. John ** " Feb. 27, 1694.
II. Hannah " " Jan. 3, 1696.
13. Richard " " Jan. 5, 1698.
13. Daniel1 " " April 11, 1701.
14, Samuel " " Nov. 1, 1702,
Rev. Timothy Edwards, No. 4, of East Windsor, Conn,, married Esther
—  ¦  p 
I See page jij.
¦ There waa a Daniel Edwards In the Hit of Connecticut Superior Court Judges from 1793-341
and from i756-'705.

'Edwards Family. 147
Stoddard, daughter of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, pastor of the church
}n Northampton, Mass., Nov. 6, 1694 ; died Jan. 27, 1758, in the eighty-
ninth year of his age. His widow, Mrs. Esther Edwards, died Jan. 19,
1771, in the ninety-ninth year of her age,
CHILDREN.
1$. Esther Edwards, born Aug. 6, 1695.
16. Elisabeth *• " April 14, 1697.
17. Ann or Anne " " April 28, 1699.
18. Mary " " Feb. 11, 1701.
19. Rev. Jonathan " " Oct. 5. 1703.
20. Eunice " " Aug. 20, 1705.
21. Abigail " " Dec. 28, 1707.
22. Jerusha *' " May 30, 1710.
23. Hannah " " Feb. 8, 1713.
24, Lucy " " May 25, 1715.
95. Martha '* " June 5, 1718.
Abigail Edwards, No. 5, was twice married. First, Benjamin Lathrop, '
1689. He died 1690. Second, to Captain Thomas Stoughton, of East
Windsor, Conn., May 19, 1697. She was his second wife. His first
wife, to whom he was married Dec. 31, 1691, was Dorothy Talcott,
daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel John Talcott, of Hartford, Conn. She
died March 28, 1696, aged thirty-one years. By her Mr. Stoughton1 had
one child only, a daughter, Mary, born June 4, 1693, and married Pelatiah
Allyn, of Windsor. Abigail had no children by her first husband. By her
second husband, Captain Thomas Stoughton, she had children.
26. Thomas Stoughton, born April 9, 1698,
27. Daniel " " Aug. 13, 1699.
36. Benjamin " " April 28, 1701.
29. Timothy " " June 27, 1703.
30. Abigail " Dec. 21, 1704.
31, David " " Sept. 9, 1706.
39. Mabel " " Aug. 19, 1708.
33. Jonathan ** " Oct. 21, 1710.
34. Elisabeth " " Dec. 20, 1712.
35. Isaac " " Nov. ;*. 1714.
Rev. Jonathan Edwards married Sarah Pierpont, of New Haven, daughter
1 The first of the name of Stoughton in America were Thomas and Israel, who came on the
ship " Mary and John" in 1630. Israel rcm.iiiied in Dorchester. His ton became governor ol
Massachusetts and founder of Stoughton Hall in Harvard University. Thomas came to WincUor,
Conn., 1635. They were probably the t>ons of Rev. Joh'i Stoughton, of London and Alderman*
bury, A volume of his sermons, including seven I " preached before the Judges," printed in
1640 ami dedicated by his widow lo Robert, Kurl of Warwick, is in the poaicisiou of the author,
Thomas Muiighttm, who remained in Old Windsor, was the father of John Stoughton and the
Cnotiun Thomas Stoughton, who married Abig.nl Kdw.irda. John Stoughton wan the Selectman
whose record* have been quoted in this book. The i. unity name of StDughton is said to be formed
from Dc SioUon — it is traceable lo iiuo A. D. in Knglinh history, and the fortunes of the family
appear, ut one lime, to have been idcniillcd with those uf ihe EarU of Warwick, on whose estate*
the Stoughton Manor House was standing so late aa i6;6.

14& Edwards Family.
of Rev. James Pierpont by his third wife, Mary, daughter of Rev. Samuel
Hooker, and grand-daughter of Rev. Thomas Hooker, first minister of
Hartford, July 28, 1727.
CHILDREN OP REV. JONATHAN EDWARDS.
36. Sarah Edwards, born Aug. 25, 1728.
37. Jerusha " " April 26, 1730,
38. Esther* " " Feb. 13, 1732.
39. Mary " " April 7, 1734.
40. Lucy " " Aug. 31, 1736.
41. Timothy " " July 25, 1738.
42. Susanna " " June 20, 1740.
43. Eunice " *' May 9, 1743.
44. Jonathan " " May 26, 1745.
^5. Elisabeth " " May 6, 1747
46. Pierpont' " " April 8, 1750. *
¦ Mother of Aaron Burr.
aP-crpont Edwards became a brilliant, eccentric, and licentious Connecticut lawyer and jurist r
a rank prototype of talented immorality, which was only too closely imitated by his nephew, Aaron
Dint, with whom he was at one time quite intimate.

-*****'.5W*'*-**-

ADDENDA.

FIRST MILL EAST OF RIVER.
"Att a Town Meeting Feb i6i» 16S7-8 It was Voated that Samuel Grant Senr and
Nathan' Bissell shall have Liberty to set up a Saw mill upon the brook, that Is
known by the name of Catch, wilh the use of Ten acres of Land, where it may
suit to Lay Timber; and the Town is to have the boards for 4*h per too at the
mill or 5* at the Great River, they to have no right to the Land, any longer than
they maintain a mill upon the place. A True Copy of Record
Examined by me Tiin° Loomis Registr"

' " I testify I say that the bounds betwene Thomas Lomais and Oen Tudor is the
senter line and hath bin so acounted ever since the lots was first laid out, and my
brother Porler and I was apointed by the towne of Windsor to lay out the lots and
we laid out sd lots acording to sd Renter line as far as sergt Stoughtons lot, and
his lot was run out acording to sd line as far as where Ihe medow fence formerly
stood and I s.iy that the tree toward the swamp and ston ni the river in sd line was
Ihe first bounds was run below Scantick July 2. 1708 Samuel Grant Sirvaier"

" Stoughton Stoughton County Surrey, A Family of Remote antiquity: In the time ol
King Stephen. Godwin D* Stucton resided at Stoclon and In the 311 [year] F.dward
3d Henry Do Stockton had Royal license to t-mpnrk there 160 acres of Land, ihe
chief line the Stnngh.nns of Stoughton llccnme extinct at the I>cceane of Sir
Laurence Sloughlon Second Baronet of Stoughloit In l6<)2, but a younger Hrnnch
icated at S> Johns County Warwick preserved the Stu-ccosion until the death of Sir
George Stouglitnn, Tho arms of the family Field azure a cross engrailed ermine
Crest A Robin Red Urenst P. P. R,"

The ahove information came to hand after the book had been printed.
1 This seems to confirm the text in the statement that Samuel Grant succeeded Matthew a
surveyor in Windsor,

150

Addenda.

East Windsor Aprtte 21" 1777
' ' We the Subscribers being Convened by orders for y* Great & Important Purpose
•f furnishing our Proporton of men for the Continental Army & notwithstanding
Ihe Encouragement heretofor made by y° Honrbt Conllnentall Congress 8c this
Stale & Town there: appears a backwardness: we yc subscribers therefore Con
sidering y« ncsesaty of our furnishing our Colo are willing & promts to pay to
Capt James Harper & Capt Lem-I Stoughton y« sums anext to our names Provided
there is a number sufKtlent apears Be Enlibts to make up our quota now Required
for three year or during the war & we order sd Harper & Stoughton to Collect
forthwith & pay sd sums to those so inlisted

Epaphrai Wolcott
[ohn Gain 1
lonathan Barber
'mVining .e» 11 1, sell
John Hot wine
Jonathan Muiv.el
William Mssell '
Levi Homh
' Jacob M unset
Bam>> Allen
Turin loomis
Caleb .tooth
Asel Stiles
Oliver H.irbcr
A. M- I liarbcr
Silas Sitm ns
AK. 1,1 Hkdget
Simeon Barber
David Shaw
Zauhcin Muniell
Hc/ckiah Munsell
Alexander V inning
Len.H Stoughton
James Hayes
Itcsekiah Willes
Solomon EKworth
Frederick F.Uworth
Lanuon Willes
Henry WokoU
Henjamin Or»boa
Hcrekiah Crane
Samll Walton Jr
ioseph Stoughton
ennni Thomson
Daniel Orsliorn
Nathan Pclton
Joseph Chapen
Charles Gaylord
Joseph Allen Jr
ame* Thomson
use|ih Harper Jl
tcphcu PeaM
Israel Stiles
ElMia Munsell
Athermcr Pclton

£2 10

3 o
3 o
1 10

wain

John Thomson id
Edward Bancroft
Aran Frost
Sbub.il Parsons
Daniel Bra man
Jonathan Uutloti
Joel l'c.ise
I»aac llancroft Jr
losiah l.loJeet
Ebeneicr Allen
Timothy McKlei
Noah Allen
John Hadloak
Joel Elsworth
Abel Orsbon
ZcbedeOrsbon jr
Jonah Patsko
Obcduh Abby
Joseph Pierce
Elanathan Fitch
Benjamin Munsell
Noah Stiles Ir
Phinea* Hlivfycl
Nathaniel Allen
Samuel tlrsbon Jl
Gidcnn Drake
Thomas Hadlock
Nathaniel Stoughton Jl
Roswell ltlodget
John Thomson yCtfl
David Allen
John Loomis y* 3d
k^wcll Prior
Elihu Loomis
Hciekiah Allen
John III.-*
Samll Skinner
Samll Watson
Jeremiah Lord
David Trumbull

John Elsworth

£•

to

?

¦OO £2

0

00

2

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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