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Fairfield Centennial Commemoration
1779-1879.
Historical Discourse,
POEM,
ADDRESSES AND CORRESPONDENCE.
A-
1 779- 1 879.
CENTENNIAL COMMEMORATION
BURNING OF FAIRFIELD,
CONNECTICUT,
BRITISH TROOPS UNDER GOVERNOR TRYON,
JULY 8th, 1779.
NEW YORK :
A. S. BARNES & CO., PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS,
III AND 113 William Street.
18 79.
OFFICERS
Rev. SAMUEL OSGOOD, D.D., LL.D.,
SAMUEL MOREHOUSE,
WM. A. BEERS,
President.
Treasurer.
Secretary.
VICE-PRESIDENTS
FREDERICK BRONSON,
MORRIS W. LYON.
HENRY J. BEERS.
SAMUEL GLOVER.
HENRY W. CURTISS.
A. W. SANFORD.
EDMUND HOBART
ISAAC JENNINGS.
BURR BARTRAM.
JAMES A. COLE.
GEORGE A. PHELPS.
Hon. p. T. BARNUM.
Hon. S. p. BEARDSLEY.
PASCHAL SHEFFIELD.
FRANCIS D. PERRY.
JULIUS PIKE.
STEPHEN MOREHOUSE.
EPHRAIM H. BURR,
MOSES G. BETTS.
CHAS. B. WAKELEY.
J. M. xMOREKOUSE.
LEWIS BURR.
ALANSON ALLEN.
ZALMON B. BRADLEY.
HENRY BRADLEY.
ANSON BIBBINS.
FREDERICK STURGES.
O. W. JONES.
HENRY ROWLAND.
THEODORE SALTUS.
Rev. p. S. McCABE.
H. W. POPE.
CHARLES CARTER.
DAVID TRUBEE.
D. M. REDFIELD.
HENRY L. MILLS.
JAMES R SMITH.
FREDERICK MARQUAND.
EDWIN SHERWOOD.
JONATHAN GODFREY.
GEORGE BULKLEY.
ANDREW P. WAKEMAN.
BURR OSBORN.
DAVID BEERS.
ALBERT TURNEY.
WILLIAM BURR.
J. G. MOREHOUSE.
BENJ. PENFIELD.
C. H. FRENCH.
OLIVER BURR.
T. M. BANKS.
CHAS. ROCKWELL.
JULIAN W. CURTISS.
HARRY MILLS.
HERBERT KNAPP.
H. N. KNAPP.
MARSHALS:
WM. B. GLOVER.
WALTER JENNINGS.
EDWARD TAFT.
HENRY J. BEERS, Jr.
COMMITTEES,
EXECUTIVE:
O. B. JENNINGS. FREDERICK BRONSON. FRANCIS BULKLEY
SAMUEL MOREHOUSE. AUGUSTUS JENNINGS. JOHN H. GLOVER.
HENRY C. STURGES. CHAS. H. PHELPS. DAVID TRUBEE.
SAMUEL ROWLAND, BARLOW HILL. MORRIS W. LYON.
FINANCE:
SAMUEL MOREHOUSE. BARLOW HILL. SAMUEL OSGOOD.
AUGUSTUS JENNINGS.
MUSIC-dNSTRUMENTAL :)
WM. A. BEERS.
DAVID TRUBEE.
MUSIC-{VOCAL:)
JOHN H. WOOD. ANDREW WAKEMAN
DECORATION:
HENRY C. STURGES. FREDERICK BRONSON. CHARLES H. PHELPS.
ENTERTAINMENT
O. B. JENNINGS.
ISAAC JENNINGS.
FRANCIS BULKLEY.
DAVID TRUBEE.
M. W. LYON.
C. H. PHELPS.
COMMITTEES:
PLATFORM, SEATS AND TABLES.
O. B. JENNINGS.
ISAAC JENNINGS.
SAMUEL MOREHOUSE.
AUGUSTUS JENNINGS.
SAMUEL ROWLAND
JAMES S. COLE.
CARRIAGES.
SAMUEL ROWLAND.
PRINTING, ADVERTISING AND INVITATIONS.
WM. A. BEERS, (Ex-officio.)
SAMUEL OSGOOD.
JAMES K. LOMBARD.
PUBLICATION
SAMUEL MOREHOUSE.
WILLIAM A. BEERS.
LADIES COMMITTEE:
Mrs. HUNTINGTON,
Mrs. H. T. CURTISS.
Mrs. CHAS. PHELPS.
Mrs. FRED'K BRONSON.
Mrs. S. MOREHOUSE.
Mrs. SAM'L GLOVER.
Miss SUSAN HOBART.
Miss DORA BULKLEY.
Mrs. a. V. S. SCHENCK.
Mrs. GEORGE BULKLEY.
Mrs. THEO. TURNEY.
Mrs. T. BROOKE.
Mrs. BURR PERRY.
Miss ABBY NICHOLLS.
Miss HANNAH HOBART.
Miss R. ROWLAND.
President.
Mrs. SAM'L OSGOOD
Mrs. W. a. BEERS.
Mrs. J. K. LOMBARD
Mrs. A. B. JENNINGS.
Mrs. R. A. CURTISS.
Mrs. HENRY L. MILLS.
Mrs. BENJ. BETTS.
INTRODUCTION
The mind of our time is becoming decidedly his-
torical, and the idea is gaining ground that in the'
study of man, as of nature, the knowledge of facts
is the best way to ascertain principles and to order
conduct. We Americans are entering generously
into this movement. With us, in our literary career,
history has come in advance of poetry, and, of late,
the whole nation has formed itself into a history
class, and for three years our people have been read-
ing together their Centennial records, and are to keep
it up for four years to come, until the festival of
peace in 1883. As a nation we celebrated the great
Centennial of 1876, and each town has been earnest
to add its own testimony to whatever has been im-
portant in its own annals. The people of the old
Town of Fairfield joined with the whole country in
that jubilee, and in due time, Fairfield makes this
unpretending offering of its own local record to the
common treasury of patriotism.
We know very well that our most conspicuous date
is not of a jubilant character, and that it notes not a
victory, but a disaster. We therefore called the occa-
sion not a celebration but a commemoration, and we
determined to have a quiet, thoughtful, neighborly,
and patriotic reunion, without noise and revelry, with
due remembrance, in prose and poetry, of the great
8
calamity of a hundred years ago, with wh olesome
lessons from able speakers upon the duties and hopes
of good citizens, with sufficient hospitality to refresh
and cheer our guests in the mid-day interval, and with
patriotic and devout music to stir and uplift the assem-
bly. We mean to be wholly honest with ourselves
and our friends, and to let the occasion speak for
itself without any sham, clap-trap or pretension.
The task of preparation was divided between effi-
cient committees, and its own duty was assigned to
each proper quarter. The result more than gratified
our anticipations. The commemoration appears to
have been pleasing, impressive, instructive and whole-
some, without a single incident to mar its harmony,
without the least sign of disorder, with the hearty
concurrence of all classes of our residents, and a
large attendance of visitors, and with a certain ear-
nest attention and genial fellowship, that did honor
alike to hosts and guests, and will be gratefully asso-
ciated with the future of the town and neighborhood.
It is due to the principal speakers, especially to the
author of the historical address, to have it understood
that Fairfield has other records than those of disaster
and that since the destruction of its chief buildings,
its residents have not only been able to restore its
beauty, but in conspicuous cases, as the published
addresses testify, they have written their names upon
the culture and history of the nation. It is perhaps
well enouofh known what eminence the Fairfield
clergy have won, but the records of the bench and
bar have been far less known. It is interesting to read
in the Rev. Dr. Beardsley's Life and Times of Wil-
liam Samuel Johnson, that on the 9th of January,
18 1 2, while the Supreme Court was sitting- in Fair-
field, Dr. Johnson walked in and took a seat at the
bar. " The presence " says a cotemporary, "of this
venerable and celebrated counsellor, who has often
been styled the father of the bar in Connecticut,
and who has probably not appeared in a court of
justice for twenty-seven years, attracted the attention
of all who were present." Shortly after the adjourn-
ment, the legal men who were there appointed a
committee to express their respect for him in his
private and his public character, and Dr. Johnson
made a handsome reply. The names of Samuel B.
Sherwood, Roger M. Sherman, Matthew B. Whittle-
sey and James Gould appear on this Committee, and
show how strong a hold Fairfield had upon the legal
mind of that day.
The Decoration Committee carried out their pur-
pose of cheering and enlarging the fellowship of the
occasion by displaying the fiags of the great nations
of the world, especially remembering France, our
ally of old, and England, once our enemy, but now
our friend, and as such invited to our assembly, alike
by our note to her Minister and by placing her flag
near our own, an act which mingled courtesy to the
mother country, with a quiet and dignified intimation
that America, once so feeble, is now great enough to
honor the great of the earth by her hospitable regard.
lO
The Committee of Publication send this record of
the commemoration forth to the people of Fairfield,
in the hope that it is but the beginning of the good
work of town enterprise and public spirit. Perhaps
in 1889, when this town will have completed its
quarter of a thousand years, and the nation will hold
the Centennial of its established Constitution and
the inauguration of Washington, its first President,
the commemoration may be remembered in a more
grand and festive celebration. Perhaps after a cen-
tury, in 1979, copies of this pamphlet will be read by
Fairfield people, who can recall what their grand-
fathers said to them about the day, July 8th, 1879,
that we now commemorate.
Samuel Osgood,
James K. Lombard,
Samuel Morehouse,
William A. Beers,
Com^nittee of Publication.
ORDER OF EXERCISES.
I. MORNING.
Reception of the Governor and Staff at the Depot.
^SSEMBLY ON THE GrEEN, 1 1 O'CLOCK fs.. M..
Prayer.
During which the Old Flag of thirteen stars will be at half-mast, in token of
sympathy with our ancestors.
Singing of Commemoration Hymn.
Raising of the Old Flag, and display of the colors of England and America,
in token of reconciliation and good will.
National Airs of both Countries,
By the Band.
Historical Address, . . By Rev. E. E. Rankin, D. D.
Singing, By United Choirs.
Original Poem, .... Rev. James K. Lombard.
II. NOON.
Intermission.
During which there will be a Concert by Band and Luncheon on the Green.
III. AFTERNOON.
Singing, .... Whittier's Centennial Hymn.
Address, . . By Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D., L.L. D.
Singing, By The United Choirs.
Music, By the Band.
Addresses, By Guests.
Music, By the Band.
Escorting the Governor to the Depot.
I-MORNING.
The President, immediately upon the arrival of the
procession with the Governor and the escort at the
Green, called the assembly to order in these words :
"We meet, fellow citizens and friends, here to-day
under a cloudy and not wholly promising sky, and
our pleasant town is threatened by water, as she was
threatened a century ago by fire. But now, as always,
our New England pluck is equal to the hour.
Whether wet or dry, we are here in the spirit of our
stout old fathers and mothers, and the Yankee heart
knows not only how to rise, like the Phenix, from its
ashes, but like the dove from the deluge. It looks
as if we might be compelled to hold our exercises in
the church, the old Church of the Prime Ancient
Parish, of which the orator is pastor. In that case,
and in any event, it is well for us, here, in presence
of our Chief Magistrate and under God's heaven, to
make our position sure by saluting the good old flag
of the Union, with loyal hearts and to the music of
the Star Spangled Banner."
After the band had played that National air, the
President announced that the sky promised better
weather, and that the assembly would continue to
keep their places in the open air. " First of all, we
give glory to our God and the God of our fathers.
14
and ask His blessing upon ourselves and our children.'
The Rev. B. G. Relyea, of Green's Farm, formerly the
West Parish of Fairfield, offered the prayer of com
memoration, and the order of the day was carried out.
COMMEMORATION HYMN.
fairfield, conn.,
1779. July, 8th, 1879.
" Thou shall bless the Lord, thy God, for the good land, which He hath
■given thee." — Deut. 8-io.
Father, whose tender care,
All we, Thy children, share.
Bless Thou our town.
Teach us to walk aright,
Fill our souls with Thy light,
And aid us by Thy might,
^ Wrong to tread down.
Ever Thy mercies reign,
Ever through joy and pain
Feel we Thy hand,
That led through flame and strife,
Through years with anguish rife,
Up from death into life
Our noble land.
Breathe forth Thy blessing, Lord !
Fix in each heart Thy word.
Truth undefiled.
O'er the joined flags above
May Thine own Spirit move
Binding with lasting love
Mother and child.
Tune — Italian Hymn.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS,
by Rev. Edward E. Rankin, D. D.
In the summer of 1637, the coming of English
soldiers into this region became the occasion for
founding this town in the wilderness. A hundred
and forty-two years later, and just a century ago,
another army under the same flag made it to pass
through the ordeal of fire.
In commemorating the latter event we are remind-
ed of the former and it is fitting to give some attention
to the years in which Fairfield was forming its charac-
ter and history before its conflagration.
The savage Pequot tribe had filled the hearts of
many in the colonies with dismay and dread. In the
hostile measures pursued for its destruction some of
the chief magistrates of Connecticut were commission-
ed to accompany the troops sent out to conquer the
subtle foe. Their counsel it was thought would assist
in directing the valor of the soldiers and bring the
protracted conflict to a close.
Thus it came to pass that when Capt. Mason push-
ed his way to this hitherto unexplored portion of the
colony, Roger Ludlow, its deputy Governor, who had
held the same oflice in Massachusetts and was now
living in Windsor accompanied the troops.
The battle, fought two miles from the place we now
occupy, brought an end to the merciless war.
i6
After silence had settled over Sasco Swamp, amid
whose taneled thickets most of the Indian warriors had
been slain, the opportunity was used to explore the
country near to the scene of battle. This result-
ed in the return of Mr. Ludlow with eight or ten
families from Windsor, to make here their permanent
abode.
They were soon joined by others from Watertown
and Concord in Massachusetts, and thus within a few
years the Indian settlement of Un-quo-wa became the
English town of Fairfield.
A purchase of the territory l3'ing north of the sound
and reaching seven miles along the coast was fairly
made by Ludlow. Some remaining claim of the
friendly tribe of natives, who w^ere in no way connect-
ed with the hostile Pequots, was in 1670 extinguished
in a bargain made by the town through the agency of
one of its people, Mr. Jehu Burr.
The town records, although by no means complete,
run through many years, during v/hich the civil autho-
rity controlled ecclesiastical affairs, and all the town
meetings were held in the house where Divine service
was performed. From the measures taken at these
meetings we can form some idea of the difficulties by
which these early inhabitants were surrounded. They
offered a bounty of twenty shillings for every wolf
killed in the town and one shilling for every fox.
They passed stringent laws to punish vagrancy, they
voted upon the acceptability of every applicant for
residence within their precincts. Some they refused
17
to receive, some who were already here and guilty of
misconduct they ordered to depart. The magistrate,
minister and teacher were compensated for their
services by the grant or sale of common lands and a
new distribution of these public lands was made from
time to time in proportion to the possession already
obtained and the number of children in the house-
hold. The calls for untiring diligence were constant
and pressing. Those long and narrow lots reaching
back for miles must needs be brought under cultivation
by clearing, stubbing, ditching and fencing before they
could be used for meadow, pasture or arable land.
There were roads to lay out, bridges to build, water
courses to be turned into the mill dam, barns, dwell-
ings, school houses and churches to be erected and
much needful furniture to be made. Shingles had to
be planed and nails wrought by handiwork. All this
and much more of similar labor called for the exertion
both of brain and muscle in those primitive days of
Fairfield's industry and thrift. Nor were the women
idle. The flocks, largely depended on for family sup-
plies came under their care. From the clipping of
the wool to its transfer as a finished garment upon
the persons of their husbands, their children or them-
selves, womens' fingers were kept busy, while in the
washing, carding, spinning, weaving, dyeing, cutting
and the sewing, dames and damsels of those days be-
came adepts. The lard and candles, the soap and sul-
phur matches, the butter, cheese and bread all were
home made. Have I not said enough to show you that
both on the farm and within the dwelling there were
all the elements needful for self reliance and strength ?
In the absence of a piano, the music of the loom and
spinning wheel doubtless lulled many a Fairfield baby
to sleep. From these beginnings of agriculture and
in the foundation arts of the mason, carpenter, smith
and miller, the town made onward progress until it
became a port of entry for foreign goods, while the
destruction of no less than forty-eight shops and
stores in 1779 makes clear the increase of its com-
merce and manufacturers.
During all these early years there was peace within
its borders, only once interrupted by an early speck
of threatened war. In 1653 our neighbors of the
Manhadoes were suspected of efforts to incite the
Indians to massacre the white inhabitants of these
New England settlements. The authorities of the
colonies at first appeared to favor the suggestion of
a war against the Dutch, but soon wisely abandoned
the project. This change of policy did not suit the
views of our chief townsman, Mr. Ludlow. He urg-
ed the people of Fairfield and some dwelling in Stam-
ford, to prepare for such a war, on their own account,
and he was made General of a small army organized
here. The project was brought to naught by colonial
authority, and on account of this discomfiture Mr.
Ludlow took his departure from us and made a new
home in Virginia. Thus Connecticut and Fairfield
alike were losers of an honest and capable man, who
had held high offices and performed much useful
19
work. His chief faults appear to have been an impe-
rious temper and undue confidence in his own opinion.
His home here cannot be definitely ascertained, but
is supposed to have been not far from the present
residence of Mrs. Benson.
In connection with this mention of a small army,
home-made as were the most of our productions, I
will speak of another military spectacle in our town
that appeared about ninety years later. In 1768, a
portion of his majesty's 48th Highlanders were quar-
tered here. The town meeting took pity upon our
Gaelic guests whose short breeks left their knees un-
coverd to the biting cold, and with other supplies raised
by tax, they voted ^23 to furnish wood for the High-
land troops.
This passing notice of military topics would not be
complete unless allusion were made to that institution
of every Connecticut town the Trayne band with its
drillings six days every year, begun at eight o'clock
in the morning, often with the solemnity of prayer.
Into a minute description of other institutions of
those early years I cannot enter.
We learn from the provisions made in town meet-
ings for the support of the teacher that schools were
soon established.
The Prime Ecclesiastical Society was co-existant
with the town and the only other religious organiza-
tion near the centre was that of the Church of Eng-'
land, which had its distinct beginning here in i 724.
In explanation of the statements already made of the
20
amount of business carried on, we must remember
that Fairfield village was the centre of a large and
growing farming community. A few farms nearly
connected with it, were all that then existed of
Mill River, now known as the flourishing borough of
Southport. As for our enterprising neighbor on the
Pequonnock, her few scattered houses as yet had given
no presage of the business capacities latent within
her, of the vast factories that have since supplied the
world with their destructive and useful productions,
nor of the gorgeous spectacles that go forth thence
to astonish and delight the nations. To show how
early the fruitfulness of Bridgeport soil was under-
stood, I quote from the Fairfield town records of
May, 7, 1719 the following item : "The town grants
unto the Rev. Mr. Cooke of Stratford the whole
right in the herbage of Golden Hill, both meadow
and upland, which grant to continue during the town's
pleasure."
In the grand list of 1775, where one-hundred and
sixty-nine towns are enumerated, Fairfield stands
seventh in taxable wealth. Her political and social
powers were also great. Her representatives carried
the point in the General court, of having twelve
jurors instead of six in judicial trials. Mr. Ludlow
had been the first man to codify the laws of the col-
ony, and the general intelligence and integrity prevail-
ing in the town made it a place of attraction to
virtuous and cultivated people.
As wealth increased, society became more polished.
21
4
The mild system of New England slavery lightened
some of the burdens of the household. The children
of these servants were baptized and religiously educa-
ted, and among the few who died by the bayonets of
British soldiers in '79, one was a negro servant.
I beg to present to you a few names then familiar
in the households of Fairfield, the greater part of
which I have found upon the marriage records of
Rev. Mr. Eliot.
They are Toney, Tego, Callico, York, Priamus,
Primus, Titus and Prince, married respectively to
Dorcas, Sue, Dinah, Kate, Luce Jute, Nance and
Phillis. In addition to these may be mentioned
Marrimo, Parrot, Pompy, Sambo, Boston, Lyd,
Floro, Tama, Dolphin and Dran.
After these servants of earthly masters I will next
name the ministers who officiated in the Fairfield
churches in 1779. The prime ancient society had
for its pastor Andrew Eliot, son of Andrew Eliot, D.
D., of Boston, who was invited here from a steward-
ship at Harvard, Captain Abel having gone on horse-
back to Boston to convey to him a call. He was
ordained June 22d, 1774, and after a useful ministry
of more than thirty-one years, fell asleep among his
people, September 26th, 1 705. .
During the war he was a zealous advocate of In-
dependence and his account of the scenes of the 7th
and 8th of July is probably the most graphic narrative
that has come down to us of the events we commemo-
rate to-day. Mr. Eliot was a scholar of distinguished
22
ability, and under his instruction the late Prof. Benj.
Silliman was prepared to enter Yale College at a very
early age.
The Rev. John Sayre was minister of the Episcopal
church, having previously served a Parish in Newburg.
He was a decided loyalist and in the great excitement
of those times he had been for a season banished
from his home and parish. But many of the most
respectable of the towns-people, both within and out-
side of his church, although they had no sympathy
with his political opinions, esteeming him as a Godly
and useful minister, procured his recall. On the 7th
of July, after the firing had begun and the flames had
been kindled, Mr. Sayre appeared among the people
with the British General's address, and by this action
aroused great indignation against himself.
He entreated from Gen. Tryon the exemption of
the town from the flames. Failing in this, he begged
that a few houses includingr his own and that of Mr.
Eliot, might be spared. P""or these he obtained a
written protection, but the paper proved useless, and
both of these ministers were involved with the most
of their townsmen in the total loss of their property.
Mr. Sayre, with his wife and eight young children,
stripped of every earthly possession, excepting the
clothes they were wearing, found refuge on board the
British fleet, and after serving a church in Nova Sco-
tia, he closed his earthly ministry. A similar calam-
ity of fire was suffered by Rev. Hezekiah Ripley, the
able and excellent pastor of the Green's Farm's.
23
church. Dr. Ripley served for a time as chaplain in
the Continental army, and had a long and honored
pastorate at Green's Farms.
The most prominent physician here in those years
was Dr. Francis Forgue. He had married the charm-
ing widow of Mr. Dennie, and lived in the home left
to her by her first husband, near the site of Mrs. John
Sanford's house. As a county seat, Fairfield offered
an attractive home for the legal profession. Promi-
nent among our lawyers, was Judge Jonathan Sturges,
whose home was near the present junction of the
Railway and Mill Plain road. He was active in all
town affairs, and became one of the members of the
Congress of 1 789, the first that greeted Washington
as president of the United States. Another eminent
lawyer was Gold Selleck Silliman, whose dwelling yet
stands on Holland Hill. He is better known to us
in a military capacity, having served in the battles of
Long Island, White Plains and Ridgefield. To him had
been assigned the command of the militia in this county,
and his skill as a General was so highly appreciated
that Sir Henry Clinton employed a small company of
tory soldiers to make him prisoner. They came, eight
in number, from a whale boat, with which they had
crossed from Long Island, leaving it in charge of the
ninth of their band, hid in the sedges of Black Rock.
Stealthily feeling their way up the steep hill at mid-
night they forced a passage into the dwelling and
secured the prize. Gen. Silliman was deacon in the
old Fairfield church and had in charge the vessels to
24
be used on that Sabbath which had already begun at
the hour of sunset. With great presence of mind,
he cast one of his wife's garments over these utensils,
thus screening them from observation, and then, with
his son William, took his unwilling march to enter
upon a year's captivity. This was on the first night
of May, '79, and his enforced absence during the
coming July, caused the command to be devolved at
that season upon Col. Samuel Whiting, of Stratford,
who bravely fulfilled the duties thus imposed.
With Gen. Silliman's name is associated that of
Lieut. Col. Abraham Gold, the home of whose ances-
tors and descendants has belonged to the family more
than two hundred years. These two had fought in
the same fields of battle. The latest occasion of their
warlike companionship was at Ridgefield, in April,
1777, where Gen. Worster was mortally wounded and
Col. Gold was slain. His home was where the main
street turns northward toward Stratfield, Stratford
and New Haven, a part of the old King's highway
between New York and Boston, the lower road now
leading to Bridgeport not having been opened at that
time.
In the conflagration of the town, his widow, with
their chidren, lost their dwelling house which bounded
the limit of the fire in that direction.
On the corner below us, now occupied by the
beautiful lawn on which Mr. Henry Beer's house
stands, lived Capt. Samuel Smedley. When very
young he married Esther Rowland, his near neighbor.
25
and early In the war, became an officer on the Con-
necticut armed vessel the Defense, of which he was
soon promoted to the chief command. Among the
valuable prizes he took were the Snowswift, the Grog,
the Anna and the Lydia. In consort with Capt.
Parker of the Cromwell, another Connecticut ship,
two armed British vessels were attacked, the Admiral
Keppel of 1 8 guns and the Cyrus of i6. It was a
time of partial disablement on the Defense, one of
Capt. Smedley's officers had died of small pox and
fifty of the crew having been exposed to the disease,
had been inocculated. Yet though suffering from
the fever attending this process, the men did noble
service. Both the English ships were captured and
the prizes including their cargoes sold, the one for
about ^20,000, and the other, to give exact figures,
for ^22,320 1 8s. and 8d. After the war was closed
Capt. Smedley received the appointment of Collector
of this port.
The Sheriff of the county in those days was Gen.
Elijah Abel whose house was the second one set o^^
fire. This he afterward rebuilt and it is occupied by
Mrs. Benson. Gen. Able was an active man in the
affairs of the county, the town, the militia and the
church.
Mr. Andrew Rowland filled during many years the
important office of Town Clerk, and his dwelling
which survived the fire, is now the house of Mr.
Benjamin Betts.
In the group of families bearing the familiar name
26
of Burr, that of Mr. Thaddeus Burr and Eunice, his
wife, stands prominent. His dwelHng was on the
site of the house of Mr. O. W. Jones, and many
traditions have come down to us of the plenty,
elegance and hospitality which characterized that
home. Within it were welcomed friends driven out
of Boston at the time of its blockade. There, one
of the most noted beauties of that city, Dorothy,
daughter of Edmund Quincy, was, on the 28th of
August, 1779, married to John Hancock, President of
the Continental Congress.
Andrew Eliot, who records this marriage, places it
in its order next to that of Jack, negro servant of
David Barlow, and Mary, negro servant of Deacon
Hill. The nuptial tie, like the grip of death, clutches
mortals of every station. To Mr. Burr's dwelling
Gen. Tyron had given a protection, but this did not
avail to save it and its valuable contents from des-
truction.
The affidavit of Mrs. Burr, an intelligent and re-
fined women, describing the scene of which she was
a witness, presents a forcible demonstration of the
wanton outrages committed by the invadors of our
soil. The same may be said also of the sworn state-
ments made by others who witnessed similar scenes in
their own dwellings. Of these I may mention the
names of Jane and Abigail Bulkley, Mary Beers,
Isabella Trubee, Ruana Roberson and Ann Nichols,
all of them wives of Fairfield men. All offered vain
entreaties to prevent the destruction of the homes
over which they were watching.
27
In considering the calamity that came upon this
people, we must not forget that down to the year
1765, they, with all their New England compatriots
had been thoroughly loyal to the English Govern-
ment.
The news of Clive's wonderful victory at Plassy in
1757, which laid the foundation of a British
Empire in India, had been hailed by them with glad
acclamation. They did not foresee that policy which
to help the fortunes of the East India company
would seek to force its stores of tea upon unwilling
America.
These colonists also bore much of the burden laid
upon them in the French and Indian wars, and when
Quebec was taken and the treaty with France in 1 763
secured the possession of Canada as British territory,
our own town, with all others in New England,
welcomed the splendid results of Chatham's states-
manship and Wolfe's heroic valor.
But the stamp act of a two years' later date turn-
ed back the current of this loyalty. The sanctions
of constitutional law wrung by our fathers from the
hands of an unwilling king at Runnymede, and the
principles that occasioned and sustained the Pilgrim
exodus were alike arrayed against the new stand
taken by the British ministry. Throughout our
whole land the controversy waxed stronger, until ten .
years after its beginning it found vent in the bullets
of Lexington.
During these years men were brought face to face
28
with the question which each must answer for him-
self. Fairfield answered it with almost entire unan-
imity, and in response to those Massachusetts
muskets of the 19th of April, 1775, fifty of her militia,
under Capt. David Dimon, were speedily on their
march toward Boston.
Connecticut has been fortunate in the choice of her
governors, and the chief magistrate of our common-
wealth who is with us to-day belongs to a company
of noble men, and is, we believe, worthy to be en-
rolled in such a companionship. We feel all the
more confident in trusting the administration of
Governor Andrews because he had Jonathan Trum-
bull as one of his predecessors. Brother Jonathan,
Washington's prudent adviser, to whose wisdom and
patriotism the chief of the nation gave clearest tes-
timony. Under the counsels of this man, holding
the highest ofiice in the State, Connecticut, from the
first, took an active and important part in the conduct
of the war. Gov. Trumbull, as contrasted with
Tryon, the Royal Governor of our neighboring
State of New York, reminds us of objects presented
by Jotham's ancient allegory. One was a cedar of
Lebanon, under whose shadow men came for shelter
and strength ; the other, the bramble, out of whose
thorny spines shot forth the flames that blasted and
consumed.
Some of the sons of Fairfield were early enlisted
among the Continental troops sent to the defense of
New York. They shared in the disaster of Long
29
Island and White Plains. They had their represen-
tatives among the captives of the sugar house and
prison ship. On an exchange of prisoners some re-
turned suffering from small-pox, that scourge of the
army, and near the old powder house a commodious
barn was fitted up as a hospital for them. In our
town meeting, during the want occasioned by the
blockade of Boston, an effort to obtain food for the
suffering people resulted in the despatch of 750
bushels of grain for their relief. The thankful ac-
knowledgment of this timely gift may be read upon
our records, and it is one of the writings of which
none of our townsmen need to be ashamed. The im-
portant articles of association passed by Congress,
October 14th, 1774, met with hearty response among
us, and a large committee, consisting of some of our
most prominent citizens, was formed to make the
pledge effectual. It was designed to free our people
from dependence upon goods imported from Eng-
land, to encourage the practice of economy, alike in
sports, luxuries and mourning apparel, and to frus-
trate the efforts of any who might seek to weaken
the patriotic sentiment now rapidly advancing toward
the final conflict.
During these years, active measures were taken to
prevent surprise by sudden incursion upon our coasts.
Alarm signals were concerted and guards stationed
at Stratfield, Compo, Frost Point, and McKenzie's
Point, to keep watch from sunset to sunrise. The
fort on Grover's Hill was strengthened and supplied
30
with i2lb. cannon and ammunition for the use of its
garrison of 25 men. These were enough to act as
sentinels throughout during the day. They proved
afterward, though a Uttle decreased in number, vic-
torious against all the force that could be sent against
them.
In May, 1779, an unavailing request was made to
the Governor and Council for an armed vessel to
guard our coasts during that approaching summer,
for even then there were portents of dread events to
come troubling the minds of our people. The last
action taken in town meeting, before the house of its
assembly was consumed, was the adoption of a reso-
lution designed to arrest the depreciation of paper
money.
I have spoken of Gov. Tryon. The story of our
disasters could not be told without the frequent men-
tion of his name. Among the distinguished visitors
whom Fairfield has entertained, this British Gover-
nor and Major-General stands pre-eminent. So fas-
cinated were our people with him during his brief
stay of less than thirty hours, that twelve days after
his departure a committee was appointed in town
meeting to raise a sum of money to be offered as a
reward to any person who should " captivate " and
take him.
Sir Wm. Tryon, Bart, makes his earliest appear-
ance in American History as Governor of the
Province of North Carolina. Assuming a vice royal
state, he built a palace in Newbern, and to sup-
31
port the expenses attending his dignity oppressed
the people with heavy taxation. An insurrection
was caused by his petty tyrany, which he suppressed
with the bullets of his guards.
On the 8th of July, 1771, he was transferred to
New York, and appointed to the same station in
that province, having his residence in its chief city.
Surrounded there by active and intelligent loyalists
he yielded credence to their expressed statements
that through the weakness of resources and the
jealousies and corruption too manifest among them-
selves, the American people who had engaged in
the conflict must ultimately yield to the greater
power of the mother country. Tryon had much
vanity in his character; this he had shown in New-
bern, this also appears in his ordering a new county
to be made from Albany, to which his name was
attached, now substituted by that of Montgomery.
He had the disposition to be active in the contest
that when the rebellion had been crushed, King
George might be constrained to give to him a
better title than that of Baronet. Yet, although
he had physical courage, it is unfortunate for his
reputation that he never availed himself of his
high standing in the British army to encounter an
organized force in the open field.
He tried the art of rhetoric, addressing letters
to Gov. Trumbull, Gen. Parsons, and others, in
which he sought to convince them of the hope-
lessness of their cause. A specimen of his power
32
in this direction is before us in the famous address
issued to the people of Connecticut and widely
scattered at New Haven and Fairfield. This told
them that their towns, their property and them-
selves were within the grasp of a power whose
forbearance they had ungenerously construed into
fear, and urged them to humble themselves because
of their delusion and conscious guilt.
Tryon's pen in all these efforts proved powerless.
Another course he pursued was one of treachery.
He corrupted some near the person of Washington
in expectation that the American General might be
made his prisoner, but in this he was foiled.
He made similar efforts to secure the capture of
Putnam, but his secret agent was discovered and
taken. When Tryon sent a threatening message
demanding his release, the reply came back from
Peekskill in this curt and comprehensive note :
To Gov. Tryon, Sir : Nathan Palmer a lieutenant
in your service was taken in my camp as a spy ;
he was tried as a spy ; he was condemned as a spy ;
and you may rest assured, Sir, he shall be hanged
as a spy.
I have the honor to be &c.,
Israel Putnam.
P. S. — Afternoon : He is handed.
Gen. Tryon's warlike achievements were each con-
nected with the people of Fairfield County. The
33
first was in the spring of 'yy, when he landed at
Compo with two thousand troops and burned a por-
tion of Danbury — with this the battle of Ridgefield
was closely associated. Gen. Silliman and the Fair-
field militia and artillery then first encountered the
man who was two years later to set their town on fire.
The second of these expeditions was made by land,
in February, 1779, and is connected with the story of
Putnam's famous leap at Horse Neck Hill. The
third, and most interesting to us, was the descent
upon this portion of the coast occupying about ten
days in July, 1779.
We fnay properly pause here and inquire what
were the motives that led to this predatory warfare.
Gen. Tryon held no special grudge against these
three towns. He was not like John Butler, who
cherished intense hatred toward the Connecticut
colony of Wyoming, and whose people, with the aid
of his savage allies, he massacred in cold blood.
He had no such occasion of offence as later in the
war brought Benedict Arnold to wreak vengeance
on his native town of Norwich.
Tryon acted under instructions from the English
ministry and from Sir Henry Clinton, the comman-
der-in-chief of all the British forces in America.
The former were incensed at the recent alliance
formed between France and America. To them it
appeared like the mortgaging of English property to
England's ancient foe, and whatever could be done
to damage that property was in accord with justice
34
and propriety. The success of American privateers
had also been a source of great annoyance, and
the depredations on peaceful towns might, it was
thought, discourage such undertakings.
Gen. Clinton favored the expedition for military
reasons. With the exception of an army at New-
port and a small post on the Penobscot, New Eng-
land at this time was free from British troops The
active measures of the war had been transferred to
the south, but Clinton held a large and well organ-
ized army at or near New York. Meanwhile, the
American General was guarding the passage of the
Hudson, with his headquarters at New Windsor, and
his troops stationed among the highlands. To draw
Washington from this secure position, and to force
him to a battle on the open field, with all the advan-
tage of numbers and discipline on the British side,
was the purpose and wish of Clinton. Many at the
time blamed the American commander-in-chief be-
cause he did not march to the succor of distressed
Connecticut, but time, and the events of history have
vindicated both his judgment and humanity in the
course he pursued.
The ends aimed at by the British ministry and
military commander were not realized, and this sack
of the dwellings of inoffensive people added neither
credit nor strength to the British cause. Sir Henry
Clinton recalled the fleet without allowing the intend-
ed descent upon New London which was to follow
the burning of Norwalk. It may be his acute mind
35
perceived a mistake had been made. Sympathy was
aroused even among some who were enemies, and the
patriotic spirit of our own people was more than ever
intensified. Dr. Franklin, in a letter, quotes Paul
Jones, the valiant privateer, as saying that the burn-
inof of Fairfield and other towns had demolished all
his moderation.
As we endeavor to picture the appearance of our
own town when this descent was made, we must not
think of it as an old and dilapidated settlement.
Although well nigh a hundred and forty years had
passed since the colonists laid their first foundations,
scarcely a vestige of their earliest buildings remained.
They had given place to larger and better structures.
The Prime Ancient Society still retaining their original
site, had erected upon it in 1747 their third house of
worship. Its dimensions were 60 by 44 feet, and its
steeple was 1 20 feet high.
The Episcopal church, which, in 1 738, took the
place of the first building on Mill Plain, stood on
Main street, facing the street that leads to our pres-
ent post-office, on what is now Mr. Henry Rowland's
place ; it was also a commodious building with a
steeple 100 feet in height. The court-house on this
central green had only recently been erected in place
of one standinof before where Mr. Hobart's store now
stands. A noted thief named Fraser, confined in the
jail then connected with it, had set that building on
fire on the 4th of April, 1768. Hence had come the
rebuilding, and the erection of a separate prison which
36
was located where St. Paul's church now stands. All
these comparatively recent structures were consumed,
together with Penfield's Sun Tavern which also faced
the green. The public and private buildings were
creditable to the taste and prosperity of the people.
The village was surrounded with meadows, whose
stores of hay had recently been gathered into barns,
and the wheat harvest, which promised great abund-
ance, had just begun.
On Saturday evening, the 3d day of July, the Bri-
tish fleet weighed anchor off the port of Whitestone,
eleven miles east of New York. During the spring,
it had made a destructive raid upon Virginia, and re-
turned in time to aid General Clinton in his success-
ful assault upon Verplanck's and Stony Point on the
first of June.
The New York Sons of Liberty had been informed
of preparations for a fresh departure, and sent cour-
iers to New London to warn that city of the coming
invader.
Sunday, the fourth of July, was a warm, calm day.
Our people were in their churches, and the vessels
could scarcely have appeared in view before the night
came on. The light breeze had no power to move
them swiftly on their course. There were two large
men-of-war, the Camilla and Scorpion, and forty-
eight row galleys, tenders and transports. Sir
George Collier commanded the fleet and General
Tryon the land forces, about twenty-six hundred in
number. Brigadier-General Garth had special charge
37
of the Hessian regiments, the Landgraves and
Yaegers. The English forces consisted of two-
bodies of Fusileers, the Guards, the Fifty-fourth
regiment of foot and the King's American regiment,
refugees enlisted in the British army. Early on Mon-
day morning, the squadron came to anchor near New
Haven, where on that day and Tuesday the troops
pursued their desolating work. On the evening of
Tuesday the fleet left New Haven, and during that
night was moving toward Fairfield. About four
o'clock of Wednesday a gun from the fort on Gro-
ver's Hill announced its approach, but it seemed to
be passing by, and about seven o'clock the people
who were anxiously watching it were rejoiced to see
that it was steering westward, proceeding, as they
thought, to New York. Soon after a very thick fog
came on, during which the vessels were obscured
from view, but when this dispersed, between 9 and
10 o'clock it was seen with consternation that the
whole fleet was under our western shore, where they
came to anchor at the Pines, which have since dis-
appeared, a little to the east of McKenzie s Point.
From Gen. Tryon's report, it appears that he with
the main portion of the troops landed there, and
that the Hessians, under Gen. Garth, made their dis-
embarkation at the water front of Sasco Hill, over
which they marched to take possession of the
western section of the town.
Tryon, with the troops immediately under his
command, marched along the beach and turned up
38
the Beach Lane, somewhat galled by the guns of
Grover's Hill. They pursued their way to this point
where we are now assembled, and where, on the site
of our Town Hall, the Court House was then stand-
ing.
The British General was guided by George Hoyt,
who was brother-in-law of Mr. Benjamin Bulkley.
His house, since demolished, stood on the ground
where Mr. John Glover has his home, and Gen
Tryon made his headquarters while here. With
this, the dwellings of Capt. Maltbie, Justin Hobart,
and Nathan and Peter Bulkley, were saved from the
fire. These are now in the possession of Edmund
Hobart, Miss Hannah Hobart, and the Denison
estate.
The line of the conflagration extended from Mrs.
Gould's house to Mill River, in the vicinity of Per-
ry's Mill, including both the streets and their imme-
diate neighborhood, and extended westward through
the lower road at Green's Farms.
To silence the guns at the fort where Lieut. Isaac
Jarvis had a garrison of twenty-three men, a galley
had been dispatched, but although there was constant
firing throughout the night of Wednesday, and
several detachments of troops tried to take the fort
by assault, it was gallantly defended and held out to
the end.
As the troops marched up toward the centre of
the town, young Sam. Rowland, then ten years of
age, saw them from the steeple at the Episcopal
39
church, but he was soon sent home from his dan-
gerous position, and his grand -children to-day re-
peat the story they heard in their childhood from his
lips. Mrs. Gen. Silliman from the home of her tem-
porary widowhood on Holland Hill, heard the first
guns of the conflict and set out for a safe asylum
in Trumbull, where a few weeks later her second son,
the distinguished Yale Professor was born.
Before the landing was effected, Mrs. Esther Jen-
nings, the young wife of Peter Burr, went early to
the pasture fields near McKenzie's Point and drove
the cattle there feeding to a safe refuge on Green-
field Hill. Thither and to Fairfield Woods many of
the little children with much furniture were removed
in carts and chaises, while some of the women re-
mained to guard the dwellings. The company who
had charge of a field piece, wheeled it to a good po-
sition on Burr's highway. The men in the village
and farm-houses grasped their muskets and ammuni-
tion, and rallied under command of Col. Whiting at
the rendevous on Round Hill.
Tryon's march to the green was the signal of their
resistance, and a small company under Capt. Thomas
Nash, made a brilliant attack upon the English
troops, firing from behind the fences, and killing a
few who were laid in shallow graves by their com-
rades on the meeting-house grounds. These after-
wards were removed to permanent rest in our ancient
cemetery.
About this time it would appear that the first
40
house was fired, the one belonging to Isaac Jennings
on whose site Mrs. Esther Huntington now lives.
Then came the flag from Gen. Tryon and the read-
ing of that address of which I have spoken. Col.
Whiting sent back this spirited reply :
" Connecticut having nobly dared to take up arms
against the cruel despotism of Britain, and as the
flames have now preceded the answer to your flag,
they will persist to oppose to the utmost that power
exerted against injured innocence."
In resistance of an organized army who held pos-
session of the town it was impossible for the militia
to concentrate an effectual force. The night was
coming on — that Wednesday night of the 7th, which
witnessed scenes of debauchery and cruelty such as
Fairfield has never known at any other period of
her history. The Hessian general held the Western
portion of the town, and his regiment of Yaegers
are described as skulking and yelling like the wild
savages of the forest. The detachments broke up
into small squads and some of the governor's guards
engaged in a dance in the Sun Tavern on the green.
Most of the soldiers were passing in little companies
from house to house, pillaging and wasting provis-
ions, breaking up glass, earthenware and furniture,
stealing the watches, jewelry and shoe-buckles from
the persons of women, taking from them even their
aprons and handkerchiefs, and with oaths and ri-
baldry, grossly insulting them. Many soldiers were
drunk with liquor or strong cider they had stolen.
41
Tryon reports that they lay on their arms during the
night, and Dr. Dwight, who was not an eye-witness
to those scenes, describes in eloquent language a ter-
rific thunder-storm. Enough it is for us to hear the
guns thundering through all its dark hours in the de-
fense and attack of the little fort, and to see one
after another of the pillaged houses fall before the
flames which the British general's troops had kindled.
The burning cinders that fell that night, wet with the
tears of women then made homeless, must ever in
the record of history blacken Tryon's name.
The militia did all they were able to accomplish,
keeping up a running fire, and more were on their
way to join them. So the signal of retreat was
sounded early on Thursday, and in the course of
that morning of the 8th of July, the squadron was
off for Huntington, only to cross the Sound again,
and on the subsequent Sunday repeat their terrible
work at Norwalk. It was on the morningf of the
8th that the remaining private edifices and all the
public buildings were consumed. More destruction
would doubtless have been effected but for the
wholesome fear of the ambush of the watchful militia.
The enemy dreaded the stone walls, fences and
shrubbery. On this account the old mill of Peter
Perry, which had ground the corn of the people for
a hundred years, was still left to do its work.
Through the exertions of the women who kept watch
some fires that had been kindled were put out. This
was done four times by Mrs. Lucretia Redfield dur-
42
ing that Wednesday night, and the house she then
saved stands to-day a pleasant abode occupied by
some of the same name. The Nichols family, al-
ways proverbial for notable housewifery, employed
large hanks of yarn then soaking in preparation for
the dye and with it extinguished the flames that had
begun to consume their home.
There were burned a court house and jail, three
churches, two school houses, ninety-seven dwellings,
sixty-seven barns, forty-eight stores and shops, in all
two hundred and eighteen buildings. The gathered
labors of the field, the books, papers, pictures, the
well-preserved products of the spinning wheel and
needle, the precious heirlooms, tokens of love and
memorials of friendship, how were these brought
into destruction as in a moment !
The sparks, cinders and half burned feathers
floating in the summer air — what sickness must they
have brought to many hearts !
Some things had been removed to safe places be-
yond the reach of the fire. Isaac Burr, the jeweler,
hid the watches left for repair at his shop within the
stone fissures of his well and placed his Bible and
some of his own precious goods with them.
Prudent Phillis, servant of Judge Sturges, took the
wet linen from the wash tub and hid it among the
currant bushes. Pewter dishes, kept bright by con-
stant scouring, were thrown into the bottom of wells,
to be recovered when the danger was past. One
looking glass is still as reflecting as ever. It was
43
hidden in an uncradled rye field, and when, a few
days later a black man cut the swath that revealed it
standing there upright, he saw his own figure in the
sunshine, and mistaking it for Satan, whom he feared,
he threw down his sickle in terror and ran away.
The sadness had by that time been mollified, the
people had begun again to provide means for living.
They made new homes, some in warehouses or out-
buildings that had been spared, some rearing them
again upon the old foundations. The large grant of
State lands (on this account called the burnt lands),
in Ohio, tempted a few to find new homes in the
West. Some of our own people thus changed their
place of residence, and their descendants are there
abiding to this day, adorning their ancestral teach-
ings by lives of honor and usefulness; and of the stock
transplanted in this manner from our neighboring
town of Norwalk, sprung the two brothers Sherman,
one presiding to-day over our nation's treasury, and
the other commanding its army.
The life of Fairfield was not extinguished in its
burning, nor did the energy of the town expire. Its
source of strength was too deep to be reached by
the kindled brands, too high to be fatally affected by
the ascending flames. The town rose from its ashes,
and has had an honorable history down to the present
day. From the fire that consumed Mr. Eliot's
dwelling one book was rescued, the Church record,
running back to 1694. In his clear handwriting, he
inscribed within it a brief account of the events
44
which, after the lapse of a century, we now recall.
As in concluding this address I repeat his words,
they may convey to us the spirit of submission unto
God and trust in Him which strengthened this peo-
ple to pass through the furnace of calamity. In
subsequent times of prosperity and safety, these sen-
timents have not been wholly lost. May they always
prevail, and may the intelligence, soberness and in-
dustry of our people render them fit dwellers in
those pleasant places chosen more than two hundred
and forty years ago by the founders of our beautiful
town. By maintaining these principles in peace and
purity, and through a wise and constant exercise of
that public spirit which characterized our fathers, we
will show how greatly we prize this rich inheritance,
made more precious by the refining fire.
Copy of historical note of Rev. Andrew Eliot,
V.D.M. :
—1779.—
July 7th. — A part of the British army, consisting
of Britons, Germans, and American refugees, under
the command of Major-General Tryon, and Briga-
dier-General Garth, landed in this town from a fleet
commanded by Sir George Collier.
In the evening and night of the same day, a great
part of the buildings in the town plot were consumed
by said troops.
45
July 8th. — In the morning, the meeting-house, to-
gether with the Church of England building, the
court house, prison, and almost all the principal
buildings in the society, were laid in ashes.
Our holy and our beautiful house, where our
fathers praised Thee, is burnt up with fire, and all
our pleasant things are laid waste.
The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
All things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to
His purpose.
Alleluia !
The Lord, God, Omnipotent, reigneth. Amen.
POEM
By Rev. JAMES K. LOMBARD
UNQUOWA.
'' Farewell to the Old !" was the mariner's song
As he gave his adventurous sail to the breeze ;
'' Behind lies the bondage of falsehood and wrong,
Before floats the vision that beckons and frees.
Are there tears for the old ? they are profitless tears,
It hath shown neither pity nor care for to-day;
Lay the corpse, dumb and cold, in the grave of the years,
Mutter "ashes to ashes," then up and away !
All hail to the New ! to the land of our quest,
Though its welcome be bleak and its hillsides be bare,
'Tis the home of the true, the broad realm of the West,
Humanity's promise and future are there."
'Twas the watchword that lured them, faint echoed from far
And they bowed to its spell of resistless command,
" Unquowa ! Go further ! your beckoning star
At last o'er the cradle of freedom shall stand.
Press onward, fresh conquests and glories to find.
New homes and long vistas are opening to view,
Fairer fields are before you than aught left behind,
"Behold!" said the voice, "I make all things anew."
With hearts that were tender and brows that were stern
Our sires to the edge of the wilderness came,
And read, as discouragement whispered " Return !"
" Unquowa .'" writ over in letters of flame.
They followed to where 'twixt the hills and the sea
These plains in their vesture of emerald lie ;
'"'' No further r they cried, "this our haven shall be.
No lovelier field is o'erarched by the sky."
Note. — Unquowa is the Indian name of Fairrteld, meaning "go further.
48
Yet but for a moment, — the wave of unrest
With scarce a surcease rolled impatient along,
And still as it swept from the east to the west,
" Go further ! " the endless refrain to its song.
" Out-do all the deeds by humanity done,
Confound the old world with dismay and surprise
As it witnesses something new under the sun,
New morals, discoveries, isms and — lies.
Where others have climbed write your name above theirs,
Crowd all sail to the breeze, though for ballast you lack,
The favors of Fortune he merits who dares.
And the motto of progress is " Never look back !"
Some good he has wrought, to no region confined.
Freedom's heir, of a century, here in the west,
Some blessing has brought to himself and mankind,
Some glories achieved, be it freely confessed.
Some wisdom moreover, has won, dearly earned
At the price of disaster and costly delays,
And this not the least from experience learned.
True progress is Janus-faced, looking two ways.
One front shining fair with the beauty of youth.
Peering forward to pierce through futurity's vail.
Decks the day-dreams of Hope with the mantle of Truth
And listens entranced to the flatterer's tale ;
The other looks backward with calm level gaze,
Adown the long track by the centuries trod.
Traces out the great plan mid the devious maze,
And hears through the ages the voices of God.
Strange tissue of gold and of sable we weave
As we rest 'neath the broad leafy spaces to-day !
Old legends with tales of the hour interleave
And dreaui a long century quickly away.
49
Is it well from the glare of the noontide to turn
And awhile in some black, frowning shadow to dwells
The lesson sublime of endurance to learn,
The cost of our heritage, — say, is it well ?
If patience no less than achievement is grand,
If the soil bearing heroes is watered by tears.
Time itself but a speck by eternity spanned.
Is not this a proud day in the cycle of years ?
What wait ye, dear friends, as in silence ye sit
With the light and the shade interwoven around,
O'er your vision what phantoms of memory flit.
What voice from the fire, speaks of blood-hallowed ground ?
There's a guest whom ye see not, among you to-day,
His hand is in yours as he stands at your door.
With the dead generations he wandered away.
And now he returns to your hearth-stones once more.
For him ye have gathered with welcome and cheer.
For him thus your bountiful table have spread,
His soul-stirring words ye are waiting to hear,
To-day ye converse and commune with the dead.
With the dead ! nay, the livi?ig, they walk here again
As they wandered of yore through the ghost-haunted
streets,
Awakened the dust which in slumber had lain,
Sire to son still the sorrowful story repeats.
Men may die to the thought of their kindred and age,
Their names be forgot by their wonted abode.
But they who the fight for humanity wage
Ever live to a generous fame and to God.
For him ye are waiting, the soul of the past.
The spirit who dwelt in the woods and the waves,
Gently sighed in the breeze, wildly sobbed in the blast,
And knelt by our forefathers' cradles and graves ;
50
Who led them to where in his desperate flight
A merciless foe in the swamp stood at bay,
Nerved their hearts for the onset, their arms for the fight,
And swept the last hope of the Pequod away.
Who first on that day to their wondering eyes
This glorious vision of beauty revealed,
Where the plain and the sea meet and blend with the skies.
And our sires hailed in rapture their new-found Fairfield,
Theirs the spirit that tyranny fearlessly braves,
In the might of Omnipotence battles with wrong,
Spurns the peace that is won by the trappings of slaves,
By disaster grows great, and by suffering, strong.
That spirit they drank in the breath of the bay
As with fragrance and healing it passed on the breeze,
Its coolness they caught from the dash of the spray,
Its statue erect from the hills and the trees ;
Its rhythmical tones in the wavelets they heard
That crept up enamored to fondle the shore,
With its dauntless defiance their spirits were stirred,
In the growl of the surf and the breakers' dull roar.
That dim Presence is here ; Time returns on its track.
Our hearts feel the spell of a mystical power,
On the dial of years the grim shadow, turned back,
Points again to the pitiful day and the hour ;
Day whose cloud-curtained morn broke with ominous light
As the sun faintly streamed through the fog-laden air.
When the pillar of flame lit the blackness of night,
And the dawning of doubt brought the eve of despair
On the errand of demons with torch and with brand,
Do ye spread your white wings, O ye birds of the sea?
Fair as angels of light in the offing ye stand.
Speed away with the breezes that blow for the free !
51
They have passed ! hid from sight by the trend of the shore, —
Breathe a sigh of relief, lips with fear that were dumb,
Lift the voice of thanksgiving, the peril is o'er ! —
Hush ! a sound in the distance ! 'tis the beat of the drum !
Faint and fitful, then louder it falls on the ear,
To the hills ! for your lives, if your lives ye would save !
The fiend of destruction and carnage is near,
Of a pitiless foe vainly mercy ye crave.
Leave your hearth-stones and roofs to the conqueror's ire,
The sacrifice yield to fair Freedom's demand.
To-day ye pass through the baptism of fire
And leave to your children a heritage grand.
Up the lane from the beach comes the trampling of feet.
With the rattle of drums and with bayonets' sheen.
Red-coated marauders are thronging the street
And crowding, with insolent menace, the green.
"" Halt !" the order is heard and the uproar is still;
" Break your ranks !" then in groups the invaders disperse
Of lust and of plunder to gather their fill,
While the heavens grow black with a low-muttered curse.
Draw the curtain of night, thou kind angel of doom
O'er the deeds that men dare but that lips may not tell,
Yet with flashes of light half disclose through the gloom
To the awe-stricken gazer, the image of hell.
The flames streaming wildly from roof and from spire,
The cinders whirled upward, the storm-spirit's wail,
The jubilant dance of the demon of fire
Mid the thunder's long roll and the roar of the gale.
Yet not unresisting the patriots fly, —
Ere the foe's haughty challenge submission to yield.
From the fort on the hill comes an iron reply,
52
And the shot of the skirmisher rattles afield.
Pursuer uplifting the murderous hand
Follows close on the fugitive's hurried retreat,
Then his riderless steed at the captor's command
Comes to halt, as the trooper falls dead at his feet.
They are scores against thousands, — the contest is vain,
Yet hereafter the visitor, gazing around,
Shall say, " On this sod ran the blood of the slain,
Here the battle of freedom with triumph was crowned."
The black deed is done ; view your work with delight,
Who have written in ashes your passport to fame,
In the red, lurid glare of that horrible night
Emblazoning Tryon's illustrious name.
These desolate homes, these dull embers that lie
Where the temples of God once were fair to the sight,
Like the blood of the martyr for justice shall cry,
And the Power ye have slighted shall hear and requite.
But lo ! the dark vision dissolves from the view !
The current of years rolling swiftly away
In the room of the old brings the beautiful new
That greets us with smiling contentment to-day.
A benison thine, hallowed shrine of the past,
On the cloud of thy morn rest the rainbow of peace !
To far generations thy memories last,
And age bring of honors an endless increase.
Gaze not on the present with idle content,
Thine the watchword of Progress, " Go further ! soar
higher !"
Dwell not in the pride of a noble descent.
True nobleness blazons its legend, " Aspire !"
Old mansions that stand as ye stood in that day
When scathless ye passed through the midst of the flame.
53
This hour ye hold court in your stately array
While we wreathe your gray fronts with the laurel of
fame.
Ruthless hand of the spoiler preserve their renown,
From restless improvement these monuments spare,
Let them pass the old tales to posterity down
And Time make the trust his perpetual care.
Sacred dust of our forefathers, slumber in peace !
Your graves be the shrine to which patriots wend
And swear tireless vigilance never to cease
Till freedom's long struggle with tyranny end.
The triumph they won be it ours to maintain,
Lest from dreams of security mockingly torn,
The captive, too late, strive to rend off his chain,
The giant awake, of his manliness shorn. '
The old feud is ended ! embracing once more,
The sons of one mother, in amity true,
With a cable of steel binding shore unto shore.
Hail as one, and forever, Old England and New !
Run up the twin flags with the cross and the stars,
One in race, one in speech, one in faith, one in heart,
Wed the crimson and azure, the stripes and the bars.
Whom God hath thus joined let not man rend apart.
In glorious rivalry lead the oppressed,
Flags of union and liberty proudly unfurled,
Together float on o'er the East and the West
And march with the drum-beat that circles the world !
II —NOON —Intermission.
At the close of the morning proceedings, the
President announced that luncheon had been pro-
vided for the guests, and it was probable that
although the people were so many, all would find
themselves provided for. The intention had been
to have all the tables set in the grove in rear of
the Conorreo^ationalist Church, but the rain had led
the Committee to begin the task of removing them
under cover, a task in which they had only in part suc-
ceeded. Accordingly the Governor, the OfTficers, the
Clergy, the Press, the Mayor and Common Council
of Bridgeport, were asked to go to the upper hall of
the Town House ; other invited Quests would find
accommodation in the lower hall ; mothers with
children would be welcome by Miss Hobart in her
old historical mansion, and ample room would be
found for all beside in the fine erove behind the
church, where the whole company were to have
been entertained.
The arrangements were carried out successfully.
The Governor was introduced by Dr. Osgood to
the ladies in charore of the tables at the Town
House. Rev. Edward H. Wells said ofrace, and
the scene was as pleasing to the eyes as whole-
some to the inner man.
56
III-AFTERNOON,
ADDRESS BY DR. SAMUEL OSGOOD,
PRESIDENT OF THE DAY.
THE TOWN— ITS SCENERY— ITS HISTORY AND HOPES.
Fellow-citizens, Neighbors and Friends :
The exercises of this morning have set before you
the grave historical and literary aspects of this day,
and it is not for me to dispute with your orator and
poet the honors which they have so well won and
now so modestly wear. This is a social meeting,
and we come together now to talk over in a sympa-
thetic way the topics of this place and this day. It
is delightful to be assured that we are all as one here
now — all Americans, with one heart for the nation
and the flag, and ready to welcome all of our coun-
trymen to our hospitality, and to wish all men God
speed in their striving for justice, liberty and human-
ity.
Let us begin at the beginning and allow the fair
face of this charming old town, so old, yet ever young
and lovely, to win us all to itself and to each other.
There is no influence that does away differences and
57
assimilates various minds and tempers more than
beauty. We dispute about truth, but we feel the
charm of beauty and here this speaks to us in a
master-piece of God's own handiwork as it spoke
to our fathers who came here a quarter of a thousand
years ago. Look for yourselves and the look will
move you all with love and gratitude. Around us
see this pleasant plain with its fair and thrifty homes,
its bright gardens and broad meadows, its refreshing
groves and its soaring spires. In front there is the
great Sound with the variety and flow of a river and
the stately majesty of the sea, bearing sprightly boats
and stout vessels upon its bosom, sweeping afar to
Long Island, itself a little empire, and swelling here
towards us against our lovely crescent shore as full
of attraction as of health, and at the ends of the
crescent beach beyond goodly hills, filling welcome
harbors with its tide. Turn from all this rich land-
scape and the back ground is no less pleasing and
remarkably suited to the foreground. There are no
grand mountains, but sightly hills, rising in memora-
ble gradations, invite the eye and the footsteps, and
offer from their various points of view as delightful
prospects as those that have made the name and the
fortune of many of the famous places on earth. This
is our town, our Fairfield, and as we look, we feel
one pulse beating along the two and a half centuries,
and uniting us with the stout men and devoted women
who first called this land by its present name, and
declared it fair to all time as we do now.
58
May we not call this a bridal day for our lovely
village, not a first wedding, nor a silver, nor a golden,
nor a diamond wedding. What shall we call it, this
commemoration, not after twenty-five, or fifty, or
seventy-five years ; but after a hundred years ? Why
not call it the celestial wedding, now that this town
renewed in beauty and with forgiveness of her ene-
mies, stands forth again in her family and asks heav-
en's blessing. A hundred years ago she was wedded
to Freedom in sorrow and tears with a veil of dark-
ness. These clouds in the morning seemed to put
that veil again upon her brow, but here the darkness
is vanishing under the touch of God's own sunshine.
See her face now in the full light of day, never fairer
than now. This is the celestial wedding of the dear
old town.
Turn now from the face of nature to the field
of history, and there, too, there is much to command
our respect, and to win our sympathy. This town
has been memorable for its learned and patriotic
men from the beginning, and we may judge well of
what the people at large were from the character
of the persons whom they produced or sought out
and honored. Bancroft speaks of Fairfield when
it was burned, as a model New England village, and
certainly before and since that time her citizens
have made their mark, not only upon this neigh-
borhood, but upon the country and the world. It
is worth remembering that five scholars who have
been connected with Fairfield parishes have been
59
called to be presidents of distinguished American
colleges, and others have been appointed to im-
portant professorships, where they have won high
honors and done good and even great work. We
have had our share of soldiers, statesmen and jurists,
and in the late war for the nation, our people
have proved their patriotism by sending their pro-
portion of money and men to stand by the fiag
against its assailants. We have had merchants, too,
who have done us honor, by making wealth the
means of beneficence instead of the measure of
pride, and who have raised at Yale, Princeton and
New York institutions of learning, taste, piety and
charity that not only bless those communities, but
consecrate the soil, home and blood that bore them.
Good teachers we have had who have won worthy
scholars to their instruction, and here and elsewhere
given good proof that the schoolmaster is still abroad.
Honor to those of them who filially remember this
mother town, and whose faces and good works we
see to day. The churches have not been backward
in their work, and here to-day the pastor of the Prime
Ancient Parish unites with the Rector of St. Paul's
Church, in presence of brethren of various Christian
names, and on this occasion repeats the old benedic-
tion, " Grace be to all of them who love the Lord
Jesus Christ in sincerity."
So history answers with her voice to the face of na-
ture, and both call us together in common fellowship
to-day. What more shall I say, or is this enough with-
6o
out touching upon the painful associations of this com-
memoration ? No ! Let us speak out and have the
whole heart of the time with us, not doubting that
in this as in all other historical events, the shading is
needed to bring out the light, and we must bear the
cross, if we would wear the crown. Beauty is said to
be a fatal gift, and however this may be as a general
truth, it is quite sure that this fair town has had its
share in the interpretation. The loveliness of this
place had probably something to do with attracting
its destroyers. Like old Jerusalem this sweet little
Zion was assailed and destroyed, and in all the bright-
ness of her restored beauty we see the traces of that
sadness, and a certain pathos shades the bloom of
her cheek and moistens the light of her eyes. We
may as well own it, that a certain disappointment has
gone with this town. Since that act, not of war, but
of barbarism, that destroyed the houses and stores
and churches of this unarmed place, the best hopes
of its prosperity have never been fulfilled. It was
once as thrifty and ambitious as New Haven, and as
likely from its wealth and culture and situation to be
a great university town, but New Haven carried the
day, and our chief marshal and his associates prove
their mind and their muscle there under the elms of
College Green instead of finding academic halls here
under the brow of Greenfield hill. It is hard to be-
lieve it, but it is true that the men of Fairfield, under
stout Roger Ludlow, thought of punishing the Dutch
settlement of New Amsterdam, and rated Fairfield
6i
as the equal of the future New York in prosperity.
But New York has beat us, and here to-day her news-
paper press may be learning for the first time what
great expectations were once cherished in this quiet
place. We must confess it. We have been cut out
by neighbors far and near Bridgeport was the last
to get the better of us, and after taking our fine
harbor of Black Rock she is waitina for our timid
people to ask her to take all the rest of the town
under her wing, and perhaps has sent her police to-
day to spy out the riches of our domain.
Yes, we have been disappointed, but we are not cast
down nor in despair. Our town probably never felt
her dignity more than to-day; never was so happy in her
people and her guests. Never has the scenery looked
fairer than now, and we mean to add careful science
to choice tastes in bringing health with beauty to
crown our prosperous hours. The marshes shall be
drained, all unwholesome elements shall be checked
or removed, our roads shall be extended and improv-
ed. The groves shall again adorn and refresh our hills,
our shores shall be opened to travel, and a charming
water side avenue shall join Sea Side Park to Sasco hill,
and win admiration and company from hosts of resi-
dents and visitors as to one of the choice attractions
of the land.
Our libraries shall increase, our schools and churches
shall prosper. The new population will do their part
and are doing it by industry, thrift, sobriety and rev-
erence, and the laboring class are setting a good ex-
62
ample by earning homes and lands for themselves,
sending their children to school, and attending church
with a constancy and zeal that may well be a lesson
to some persons who are tempted to look down upon
them. We have no destructive socialism here, and
the laborer who owns his cottage and acre is as far
from the tramp or the anarchist as the merchant in
his mansion with his servants and horses and broad
fields and fine lawns.
(^ We mean to remember the old days and worthies,
and restore whatever has been lost, by careful record
\ and faithful service. We do not expect great increase
or startling prosperity, yet we have good expectations.
These lovely hills must some day win residents and
homes, and on either side, population must flow from
the commercial and manufacturing cities to add to
our numbers and to help us in our taste and aspiration.
Especially do we insist upon keeping up the great
heart that founded and has enobled this place and upon
measuring life by itself and not by material things,
caring more for the soul than the body, and finding
the eternal spirit in all that is good, true and fair.
In this faith let us interpret the history and cheer
the prospect of our town, remembering sacredly that
the influence of the outrage upon our people here,
and their great suffering, did much to nerve the whole
country in the final struggle for liberty, and not for-
getting that the service to culture and religion which
has been rendered here by scholars, jurists and theo-
logians, has given this quiet village a place in history
63
beyond that which is held by many a field of battle
with its memorial of cruelty. The town was burned
but not destroyed. It lived and lives now, and its
record is part of the history of the nation. In a
true sense, the success of our thrifty neighbors is our
success, and already the work done and the wealth
won and the thought spoken in the communities
that live within the old limits, are beyond the fondest
dreams of the ancient founders or of the new pat-
riots of a hundred years ago. As a summer resident
here for thirty summers of health and privilege, I
give thanks with you in the favored experience and
good hope.
Let us this day lift up our banner and declare our
platform. This is Fairfield, this is Connecticut, this
is New E norland and we are Americans. So too we
are men and we give and take the great blessing of
our human kind. No hate now to England, and our
united flags speak the blessings of the child to the
mother. Would that some great English men of the
stamp of Arthur P. Stanley and William E. Glad-
stone, who have been such noble friends to us, could
answer to this sentiment here and make the English
speaking race feel its brotherhood of liberty and
love to-day.
Even broader than that is our fellowship. Fair-
field says here her own name in benediction. Fair-
field let there be everywhere on earth, and Fair Play
for all men, by justice, liberty, kindness and good
64
works between all nations in the brotherhood of the
race and under the Providence and Grace of God.
After an elaborate piece of music by the band,
Dr. Osgood introduced His Excellency, Governor
Andrews, with expressing his great pleasure in wel-
coming the chief magistrate of Connecticut alike
from respect to him personally and from reverence
for the noble line of Governors that had presented
such famous names as John Winthrop, the Puritan
statesman, and Jonathan Trumbull, the friend of
Washington, who was Governor a hundred years
ago.
GOVERNOR ANDREWS' ADDRESS.
In the name of the State of Connecticut, whose
servant I am, I greet this day. Such days as these
should be commemorated and should be more gen-
erally observed. Any day in which our patriotism
and the patriotism of the younger generations may
be strengthened should receive attention. By this, I
do not mean to infer that your patriotism is deficient ;
the heartiness of this commemorative service proves
the contrary. I come, as the representative of the
State, to give character to this duty of observing
these days with patriotic devotion. When I awoke
this morning and heard the rain pattering upon the
roof, I thought if General Tryon could not find a
better day than this to burn a town, he had better
not burn it at all. It has been a mystery why Sir
65
Henry Clinton sent that expedition up Long Island
sound to ravage these towns. His object, it seems
to me, was to suppress the onslaught made upon the
supplies which he sent out for his army. The orator
of this morning struck the right key to its solution
when he said Fairfield's privateers and others of the
coast towns cut off these supplies. But the object
of the expedition failed, for a voice of horror went
up from the whole civilized world at the atrocities
perpetrated, so that he failed to receive the benefits
which he had hoped from the campaign, and the re-
capture of Stony Point by Mad Anthony Wayne
soon after, was in some sense a retribution for the
burning of Fairfield. But I did not intend to make
a speech. I desire only to call your attention to
these historic facts. I come to represent those of
the state who are not here, and in their names I greet
you, and bend in homage toward the memory of
those patriots whose names we honor to-day.
Dr. Osgood then announced that a telegram had
been received from the President of the United
States, whom all Americans honor in his office, and
who regretted his inability to be present. He also
read a telegram from George William Curtis, ex-
pressing his regret at his necessary absence. Many
letters from distinguished men, such as Robert C.
Winthrop, Bishop Williams and President Porter
had been received, and would be published in the
pamphlet which is to contain the proceedings of the
day.
66
THE CENTENNIAL HYMN.
BY JOHN G. WHITTIER.
Our fathers' God ! from out whose hand
The centuries fall like grains of sand,
We meet to-day, united, free,
And loyal to our land and Thee,
To thank Thee for the era done.
And trust Thee for the opening one.
Here where of old, by Thy design,
The fathers spake that word of Thine,
Whose echo is the glad refrain
Of rended bolt and falling chain,
To grace our festal time, from all
The zones of earth our guests we call.
Be with us while the New World greets
The Old World, thronging all its streets,
Unveiling all the triumphs won
By art or toil beneath the sun;
And unto common good ordain
This rivalship of hand and brain.
Thou who hast here in concord furled
The war flags of a gathered world,
Beneath our western skies fulfill,
The Orient's mission of good will.
And, freighted with Love's golden fleece,
Send back the Argonauts of peace.
For art and labor met in truce,
For beauty made the bride of use.
We thank Thee, while withal we crave
The austere virtues strong to save,
The honor proof to place or gold,
The manhood never bought nor sold !
Oh ! make Thou us, through centuries long.
In peace secure, and justice strong;
Around our gift of freedom draw
The safeguards of Thy righteous law,
And, cast in some diviner mould.
Let the new cycle shame the old !
6;
Dr. Osgood then spoke of Rev. Augustus F.
Hewit, D.D., as a distinguished scholar and preacher
whom Amherst College, his alma mater, had con-
spicuously honored, and who was a native of Fairfield,
and son of an eminent pastor here. He regretted
that Dr. Hewit could not fulfill the hope which his
pleasant letter in reply to the invitation to speak had
given. The Rev. Dr. E. P. Rogers, of New York,
a former resident and always welcome guest, was
next called upon, and he responded in some very
pleasant remarks and reminiscences.
He began his address by relating the story of an
old minister who always had one formula to open all
his sermons. This was, after announcing the text, to
say, " My subject naturally divides itself into three
parts." Taking as his text one time, "Adam, where
art thou," he divided it as follows : " Man is generally
somewhere ; he is usually where he had no business
to be ; and thirdly, if he did not look out he would
find himself where he would not want to be." He
had found himself where he did not want to be,
called upon to make a speech. He spoke touchingly
of his early residence in the town, of the impressions
which he had received in his youth, of the old church,
the old academy, the noble history, and the hallowed
associations which clustered about the old town. He
recalled the great advance that had been made during
the past one hundred years, in everything that exalts
and educates a people, and said he was thankful
to be present as one of the old Fairfield boys, and
68
tender his congratulations to the ten thousand
friends around him upon the history of the town.
He closed with a strong appeal for protection and
devotion to the cause of liberty and human rights,
adding, " May God bless this town forever, and may
the principles of Its fathers, be the principles of their
children."
Stirring music was then given by the band, after
which Dr. Osgood introduced the Rev. Horatio N.
Powers, D. D., of Bridgeport, as the next speaker, and
upon a topic congenial with him as the friend of Bry-
ant, and the author of successful books of thought and
sentiment in prose and poetry. It is to be hoped he
said, that orood would come from urelnof the Im-
provement of country towns, and that a new and
charming avenue may be opened along our shore
from Sea Side Park to Sasco Hill.
DR. POWERS ON PUBLIC SPIRIT IN OLD RURAL TOWNS.
A genuine public spirit is as desirable and becom-
ing in old country towns as In more populous com-
munities, and one expression of it is a cultivated
taste that concerns itself In the appropriate orna-
mentation of a place. Philip Gilbert Hamerton,
that accomplished Englishman to whom the art of
the present in both hemispheres is so much indebted,
reports a curious but actual conversation that he had
once while engaged In sketching In a wild region in
Scotland with a British nobleman, who was there fish-
ing for trout. His lordship who was a pious person,
expressed his utter contempt for all art as sinful folly,
69
and his belief that those who encrao-ed in such vani-
o o
ties were in danger of Hell fire. " Hell is real, sir,"
he exclaimed, "there it is gaping before us." This
anxious nobleman finished his edifying exhortation
to the artist by singing an air from the opera of the
Traviata and taking a good drink of whiskey. The
same kind of consisteitcy has sometimes been observed
among our own people in days gone by. New
England has produced persons, — I suppose the
race is dying out — who could manage to tolerate for
a few days flowers on apple trees — (I don't know
whether they could detect the odor of cider in the
blossoms) — and flowers on the clover and the potato
vines, and possibly a few sunflowers with a view to
the seed, but who would have no such trifles as flow-
ers about the house for ornament ; indeed, they
gravely doubted the piety of any who took a real
delight in such things as roses and carnations.
These characters would give abundant attention to
the cattle pen, but precious little to the door-yard ;
they admired the friskiness of young lambs, but kept
the little children awfully quiet. Their parlors were
not particularly inspiring to cheerfulness, but then
they were seldom open except for funerals ! I do not
suppose that we ought to infer that a decadence of
religion is going on just because this spirit is not
peculiar to the present generation. The fact is we
have witnessed a great improvement in the ornamen-
tation of our county towns in the last two or three
decades which is as creditable to the character of
their inhabitants, as it is to their advantage in many
M'^ays. I am not advocating the use of ornament to
the neglect of the practical economies. To pet a
curious plant and neglect a household duty is no
compliment to the aesthetic spirit. To decorate the
piazza and leave the back-yard a maze of ugly litter
and unwholesome fixtures is as repugnant to a right
moral sense as to good taste. Judicious ornament
can and should go along with industrial improvement
and sanitary precautions. It is plain that the more
conspicuous the beauty of a village, other things
being equal, the higher it will stand in the general
esteem, and the more eagerly it will be sought by
those who long for rural repose. Wide streets with
abundant shade, suitable sidewalks, an open gener-
ous green or park, tasty dwellings with well-kept
lawns and a variety of shrubbery and flowers, at-
tractive school houses and churches, the cemeteries
properly located and embellished, good drives and
good drainage — all these are important features of a
pleasant and prosperous country town, and should
enlist the general attention. The example of a few
energetic citizens like the distinguished president of
this occasion, in this direction will have a wholesome
effect upon the public mind. I am acquainted with
no place that illustrates more fully what good taste
can do than the village of Fairfield, which is con-
spicuous among New England towns for its rare and
engaging beauty. There are special reasons, it is
true, why it should be superior in this regard. But
71
our inland towns, however remote, will find it to
their advantage to cultivate their rural charms. Some
of them are already reaping the rewards of such com-
mendable endeavor. Beauty has a powerful and
gracious ministry, and no utilities of industry need
be dwarfed or paralyzed by its presence.
One of the most encouraging evidences of an en-
lightened public spirit in a country town, is a due
regard to its sanitary interests ; but I must leave this
point with the simple assertion of their vast impor-
tance — an importance which is assuming something
like its proper proportions in the minds of educated
citizens.
Another expression of this desirable public spirit
is an active, social element. The days of husking
and apple-paring bees, quiltings and old-fashioned
sinofingf schools are about over. Sittino- around the
bar-room stove and lounging on dry goods boxes and
grocery counters, is hardly to be accepted as proof of
eminent enterprise or sociability. Where good books
are read, where schools are influential, where religion
is more than a mechanical routine, there will be a
tendency among the people towards intercommunion.
Conversation will be something more than twaddle
and gossip. There will be neighborly kindness, an
interest in the higher questions of life, sympathies
that bring citizens into pleasant and helpful inter-
course. There is danger in our country towns, that
this cordial social spirit be allowed to languish, or
rather, that it fail to have adequate expression.
72
There is often a great deal of kind feeling, hearty
good will among people that is not sufficiently
demonstrative. Visiting should be kept up among
neighbors. Practical benevolence should be culti-
vated. Social gatherings should be encouraged, and
intellectual and spiritual interests should be suppor-
ted by the contact of mind with mind and heart with
heart. People don't know how rich their stores of
enjoyment and improvement are until they get into
intimate relations.
Finally, every town almost has a history which the
pride of its inhabitants ought to keep in lively remem-
brance. There are enough who will preserve the tra-
ditions of horrors and follies, comic extravagances, ill-
odored scandal. But the men who have Pfone forth to
act noble parts in life should not be forgotten. The
significance of important local events should be per-
petuated. That is a sad state of the popular mind
where there is no spirit that appreciates and honors
what is creditable and venerable in the annals of
the town. Suitable commemorations tend to keep
alive in the common heart a sense of obliofation to
the past ; they stimulate the best mind of the present
with examples of noble citizenship and foster the
reverence that should be paid to the illustrious dead,
This phrase of public spirit cannot be too much com-
mended. For one I heartily rejoice in such a becom-
ing and inspiring illustration of it as that which
signalizes this occasion. May Fairfield forever be an
example of what a rural town ought to be.
1Z
After Hail Columbia by the band, the President
referred to the welcome presence of our own towns-
people from Greenfield and Southport, and called
upon Rev. Edward H. Wells of Southport, whose
delicate health did not allow him to speak at length.
Remarks of Rev. Edward H. Wells :
He spoke for Southport and for good neighbor-
hood, also for the whole Union. He rejoiced he
said, with Gov. Hampton, whom he had heard say he
"was glad that the war of 1861 turned out as it did ;
that the Union ought never to have been touched."
This occasion he said was a national one, and he, a
southerner, rejoiced with the people of Fairfield. He
was proud of Connecticut, and there was not a state
in the Union but what had felt its power and influ-
ence. He quoted the late John C. Calhoun, as say-
ing he owed to New England all the might and power
he possessed. He hoped that the people of the
north and of the south would present such a solid
front for the perpetuity of the Union that no hand
would dare to again assail its flag or tamper with its
constitution. " God bless you all here to-day, God
bless Connecticut, God bless my Country."
After this " Columbia the Gem of the Ocean "
was sung by the united Choirs.
Then Dr. Osgood said that the next speaker had
been brought by express, a fifteen hours journey to
meet this occasion, and alike as an old Fairfield resi-
dent and representative, and as a typical American,
he belonged here now. It had been his task to give
74
our people innocent recreation — to make Americans
laugh without being foolish. His motto had been
"laugh and be wise" by amusement without impro-
priety or excess. He had reason to thank Mr. Bar-
num for the finest music he had ever had, and for
allowing the American people to hear Jenny Lind
sing " I know that my Redeemer liveth." Mr. Bar-
num will now speak upon " Self control essential in
a Republic."
MR. BARNUM ON SELF CONTROL IN REPUBLICS.
Mr. Barnum said he supposed he should have to
make a spread-eagle speech, but he thought it would
be hard to squeeze the eagle into five minutes ; it
generally took orators an hour and a half. " In 1844
I was present in Glasgow, Scotland, when the free-
dom of the city was presented to Lord John Russell.
His lordship in the course of his reply to the " Ad-
dress "-said, "Great Britain clothes America and I
am willing that America should continue in part to
feed Great Britain."
In those days we imported most of our cloth and
other manufactures from England. But if Gen.
Tryon could see the progress which we have made as
a nation in one hundred years, his government would
hesitate before they again let him " try on " the firing
of our towns and cities. The World's Fairs of Lon-
don, Paris, Vienna and Philadelphia have opened the
eyes of the old world. We supply them with our
agricultural implements, sewing machines and watch-
es, our muslins and calicos are selling in Manchester,
75
and our cutlery is competing in Sheffield with the
manufacturers of that city. Our inventions and
"Yankee Notions," are spread all over the civilized
world, the ocean is covered with ships carrying to
Europe our grain, beef, horses, cattle, cheese, and
even fresh oysters, lobsters, peaches and melons.
England, which for scores of years has boasted
of her high bred race horses sees the prizes carried
off by Mr. Lorillard's Parole — and although she still
sings " Britannia rules the waves," and glories in her
annual Oxford and Cambridge boat races, Hanlan
goes across the water and with his scull and oars
whips them all out of their boots. England sends
her " walkist " to America and takes the "belt" but
scarcely has he touched the British shores before our
American Weston triumphantly captures it again.
No nation on earth has progressed in material and
other respects as has this nation since the beautiful
town of Fairfield was burned by the British one
hundred years ago to-day. '
No nation on the face of the earth to-day is so
happy and prosperous as ours, and no nation pos-
sesses the same elements of future greatness — of
peace and plenty.
But " eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," es-
pecially under a Republican government. A govern-
ment of the people by the people, must be charac-
terized by honesty, wisdom and justice. The wise
man truly said : " Righteousness exalteth a nation."
Rome was a great and proud Republic, but her
wickedness and folly brought her to the dust.
76
No republic can live, nor had ought to live, whose
laws are made under the influence of hatred, selfish-
ness or bad whiskey. The rum traffic and rum-
drinking habits exercise an almost omnipotent power
and influence over our political elections. This giant
evil of our land concentrates and combines the crim-
inal and vicious classes, and delivers the government
of our cities into their hands. Consequently many
members of city " Common Councils," and even of
Legislatures and of Congress, elected by the vile
votes of the rum power, would be a disgrace to a
government of African savages. The vot^s of
American citizens are counted and not weighed ;
the ballot of the poor drunkard in the ditch, bought
with a pint of whiskey, counts as much as the vote
of His Excellency, our worthy Governor, hence if
we would live as a Republic we must reform, re-
fine and elevate the poor victims of the rum delu-
sion. The whole essence of the Gospel and the
Christian religion consists of love to God and to
man ; and on these two commandments our Sa-
viour said hung " rt:// the law and the prophets." As
American citizens then, if we would guard and pre-
serve our liberties, our happiness and our true great-
ness, we miLst work for public good. Not only our
churches and schools must correctly teach total ab-
stinence from all that intoxicates, but our personal
efforts must be devoted to educating the people, en-
couraging them to honor and practice labor, to deal
with each other as brethren of one great family, and
to instill into the minds of the rising generation the
great truth that the human bj^ain (which gives us
reason and distinguishes us from the brute creation
whose instinct only guides them) must be kept clear,
and tinmicddled, if we aspire to be a great noble free
people governing onrsehes. Business success comes
from three things, industry, perseverance, and a clear
intellect to lay plans and to execute them. To pre-
serve this great nation we must continually work and
act and do. It is a glorious practice to celebrate such
days as this and our national birth-day, for it keeps
up our enthusiasm for self government, but talk
without labor will set the nation asleep and betray
her into the hands of the enemy. It is very nice to
run up our flags and bunting, to play Hail Columbia
and Yankee Doodle, but to make our liberties and
national happiness permanent, Yankee Doodle is
not enough, it must be Yankee DoodXe-do.
The band then played the old Yankee tune with
remarkable spirit, and the President introduced Pro-
fessor Dwight, of Yale College, grandson of the
celebrated President Dwight, who for years taught
and preached in Greenfield Hill, and who wrote the
poem of that name.
Professor Dwight sooke in substance as follows :
The People, said he, believed in self-government
but had been unable to exercise it or he should not
be there to make a speech. He said that the only
two poems President Dwight had written were
" Greenfield Hill" and the " Road to Canaan." What-
78
ever attribute had been transmitted to the speaker it
had not been the poetic. The speaker said he had
endeavored in his humble way to teach men that they
might lead men to Canaan. An able New Haven
clergyman once, preaching upon the character of
Peter, remarked that he received his remarkable
energy from his mother. When the members of the
congregation returned home they referred to their
Bibles and found that Peter's remarkable energy came
from his wife's mother, and so he had come and had
received energy to make a speech from his wife's
mother, a very pleasant relation, however.
The President then referred to the close relation
existing between Fairfield and Green's Farms, once
called the West Parish of Fairfield, and sufferingr with
this town in the raid of Tryon. Rev. B. J. Relyea
of Green's Farms responded :
He said that he thought it was the glory of those
who repelled the British that they had such worthy
descendants. It would not be to their credit if there
were none who esteemed their valor and patriotism
enough to commemorate their brave deeds. People
ofo to Rome and Athens, not to see what has been
accomplished in modern times, but to see what the
fathers did. He was glad General Tryon had not
left any old ruins to be gazed at in Fairfield. He
spoke a word for the brave women of 1779, who,
when the men were away fighting, dared to face the
enemy at home.
79
The President showed a cannon ball that had been
fired from the American guns upon the British from the
hills and said that was a sugar plum for Tryon's men
that was well deserved. Sweeter missiles were now
interchanged, and our programme indicates our spirit
now towards England as Sir Edward Thornton's kind
letter indicates Englands' sentiment towards America
There is to be held, August i ith, at Guild Hall, Lon-
don, an International Code Congress to which some
persons present, like himself, had been invited, under
the presidency of the Chief Justice of England.
This day's proceedings might tell a little upon the
future law and policy of Nations.
Rev. John A. Buckingham, of Massachusetts, was
next introduced as from the noble old Bay State, and
as the son of the once famous Boston editor, Joseph
T. Buckingham : Mr. Buckingham made the last
speech and spoke of the connections of his ancestors
with the State and its achievements.
The President then announced that the time had
arrived for closing this stirring meeting, and that
after the hymn " America" had been sung by the cho-
rus and the people, the procession would form to
escort the Governor to the station. The hymn was
sung with enthusiasm, and with three cheers from the
great assembly of guests and hosts for the success
of the occasion, and for the future good feeling of
neighbors and countrymen, and especially for the
ladies who had spread the tables with plenty, the
8o
procession was formed. The band, with the police,
led the way. Then came the Governor and other
officers of the day in a barouch drawn by four horses,
with a long line of carriages and people on foot.
The procession passed down Beach Lane into Main
Street by the old historical sites, and reached the
station in time for the train to Bridgeport at half
past four.
Thus closed a day unprecedented in the annals of
this quiet old town, and full of enjoyment and in-
struction. A large number of our people by their
contributions of money and provisions helped on the
hospitality of the occasion, and the great assembly
of guests received the hospitality shown them in a
courtesy both honorable to them and acceptable to
us.
How many persons were present, we cannot say
with certainty, but the number rose into the thous-
ands, and, whilst cautious observers were content to
say that three thousand persons were in sight at one
time on the Green, more enthusiastic spectators
claim that in the course of the day Fairfield showed
ten thousand people and one thousand vehicles in the
streets.
The old times and the new met together, especial-
ly when the President of the day drank the health
of the Governor and the ladies, in the silver tankard
that belonged to the Rev. Andrew Eliot, in 1779.
CORRESPONDENCE.
We publish such portion of our correspondence
as is Hkely most to interest readers and to add to
the historical value of this record.
[Besides sending a telegram, President Hayes
honored the occasion by the following official letter :]
From President Hayes :
Executive Mansion,
Washington, July 7, 1879.
Dear Sir : — I am directed by the President, to acknowledge
Avith thanks, the receipt of your favor of the 27th ultimo, and to
express his regret that he will be unable to attend the Centennial
Commemoration of the Burning of Fairfield
Very truly yours,
W. K. ROGERS,
Private Secretary.
Mr. Wm. a. Beers,
Secretary, 6^^.,
Fairfield, Conn.
From Govertior Andrews:
Executive Department,
Hartford, Conn,
Litchfield, yuly i, 1879.
Wm. a. Beers :
My Dear Sir ; — I propose to come down by the first train from
here in the morning, which will bring me to Bridgeport at about 10
o'clock, A. M. I do not know how long it will take to come over
to Fairfield — I shall come by the first train.
Perhaps you can write me what train I had best take ; I desire
to suit your convenience.
Yours very truly,
CHARLES B. ANDREWS.
82
From Sir Edward Thornton :
British Legation,
Newburyport, Mass., July 3, 1879.
Sir : — I am much obliged to you for the kind invitation which
you have forwarded me, to be present at the ceremony which is
to take place at Fairfield on the 8th inst. I regret, however, that
previous engagements will prevent my availing myself of it. I,
at the same time, beg to assure you of the high appreciation
which I entertain of the good-will shown towards the country
which I have the honor to represent, and to express my hope that
the friendship which now exists between the two countries may
never be interrupted.
I remain. Sir, truly yours,
EDWD. THORNTON.
Wm. a. Beers,
Secretary, 6^^.,
Fairfield, Comi.
From the Right Rev. John Williams :
Middletown, yuly 2, 1879.
My Dear Dr. Osgood : — I very much regret that an impera-
tive engagement will deprive me of the pleasure of being at Fair-
field on the 8th. With every good wish for the success — of which
there can be no doubt — of the celebration,
I am, faithfully yours,
J. WILLIAMS.
From the Right Rev. Bishop Potter :
Rye Beach, N. H., July 8, 1879.
Dear Dr. Osgood : — I thank you very much for your kindness
in sending me a card of invitation to the Fairfield Centennial.
It was a pleasant conception and your proceedings are nicely
arranged.
Your card came to me only this morning ; therefore, as to an
appearance at Fairfield, you must accept the will for the deed.
I am, affectionately yours,
H. POTTER.
The Rev. Dr. Osgood.
83
Frotn President Noah Porter :
Yale College,
New Haven, Conn., /u/y 3, 1879.
Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D., President, ar^e. :
My Dear Sir : — It would give me especial pleasure to be
present at the Centennial Commemoration of the Burning of
Fairfield, which event, for special reasons, took strong hold of
my youthful imagination, but a previous engagement makes this
impossible. With sincere regard and thanks
I am, very truly yours,
N. PORTER.
From the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop :
Brookline, Mass., /u/j 4, 1879.
My Dear Dr. Osgood : — Your programme for the Centennial
at Fairfield is most tempting, and your invitation is most kind.
My ancestral ties to Connecticut are hardly less strong than those
to Massachusetts, and I would gladly unite in such a commemo-
ration. It would be a peculiar pleasure to me to listen to your
own address, as well as to the historic discourse of Dr. Rankin.
And then to spend a day or two at Greenfield Hill, and enjoy its
inspiring charms, would fill up the measure of a delightful occa-
sion, which I am deeply sorry to miss. But I must deny myself.
Neither engagements nor health will allow me to adventure on
such an excursion.
Pray present my most grateful acknowledgments to your com-
mittee, and accept my best thanks for yourself.
Ever faithfully, your friend and serv't,
ROB'T C. WINTHROP.
Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D.
From the Rev. Dr. Lyman Atwater :
College of New Jersey,
Princeton, /u/y i, 1879.
My Dear Dr. Osgood : — I deeply regret that prior engage-
ments will prevent my acceptance of the kind invitation to be
present at the Centennial Commemoration of the Burning of
Fairfield by the British a century ago. It would give me
great pleasure to attend the exercises on that occasion, so inter-
84
esting in itself, while it is made doubly so to me, both by manifold
associations and memories, and by the prominent part which
friends so valued by me, and so competent for the task, are to
take in its exercises.
These have a sad aspect if we look only at the savage burning
of the beautiful village in violation of all the rules of civilized
warfare, which, in a day, made houseless and homeless a body of
people as elevated as ever dwelt in like habitations. But it has a
joyous and exultant side. The patriotism, valor, and self-sacrifice
of our ancestors were only more fully proved and invigorated by
these prodigious sufferings which were the price of the liberty
and independence of themselves and their children. In these we
joy and glory. These and the victories achieved by them, should
be celebrated and perpetuated in honorable remembrance by be-
coming festivities-
It was my privilege during my early ministry in Fairfield to
know and commune with some of those noble men, and "honor-
able women, not a few," who shared in these privations, conflicts,
and triumphs.
Although in person necessarily absent, in heart I shall be with
you in the approaching celebration.
Yours very truly,
LYMAN H. ATWATER.
p. S. — It may or may not fall in your way to note — what you
doubtless are aware of — the close and honorable connection of
the town of Fairfield with the higher institutions of learning in
the country. Not only were sons of the earlier ministers of
Fairfield leading members of the Corporation of Yale College,
but, near the beginning of this century. Dr. Timothy Dwight was
called from Greenfield Church to the Presidency, and Prof. Ben-
jamin Silliman, son of General Silliman of Holland Hill, promi-
nent in the revolutionary war, was called to a Professorship in
Yale College, positions which they so adorned, as to contribute
more to the advancement of that college than any other two men
in its whole history. Rev. Aaron Burr, father of Aaron Burr,
Vice-President of the United States, and son-in-law of President
Edwards, was the first President of Princeton College after it was
organized as a College, and successful and honored administrator
of its affairs. Dr. Heman Humphries, pastor of the old First
Church of Fairfield, became President of Amherst College about
a half century ago, and it had a rapid growth under his adminis-
tration. The town has furnished students, not only for Yale, but
for Harvard, Princeton, Williams, Amherst, and other Colleges,
some of whom have done honor to their alma mater, and their
native town.
From the Rev. Dr. E. P. Humphrey :
Louisville, Kv., July 3, 1879.
Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D., President^ d^e.
William A. Beers, Secretary, c^c.
My Dear Sirs : — I am honored by your invitation to be pres-
•ent at the approaching Centennial Commemoration to be held in
Fairfield. I regret that I cannot go thither at that time.
It is my happiness to be recognized in this invitation, as a
native-born Fairfield man. I have been unable to visit the town,
except at long intervals, since my boyhood ; but I am of opinion
that no true man will allow absence, or the lapse of time to defeat
his birth-rights in our dear old " Half-shire."
I indulge myself in the pleasant thought that I sustain a certain
near relation to the people whose property was destroyed. My
honored father, the Rev. Dr. Heman Humphrey, became the
■minister of Fairfield in 1806, only twenty-seven years after the
burning. We may assume that not a few of his parishioners
were among the sufferers. The names of the principal families
of the town were always household words in our house ; and our
parents taught their children to hold these people in honor and
love. You say well, that among them were some of the best
■"men and women of the land."
You will be interested in a graphic description of Fairfield in
1806, which I find in my father's auto-biography. Here it is:
"Fairfield was then a considerable village, and the half-shire,
town of the county; but very plain in its external appearance
Not more than four or five of the houses, I believe had ever been
painted, and these were now so weather-beaten that the signs of
paint had well nigh disappeared. Fairfield had been burnt during
the revolution. By this calamity the inhabitants were very much
impoverished, and were obliged to rebuild in as plain a style as
was consistent with the comfort of their families."
"Some had more property and intelligence than others; but
while none were rich, few were very poor. And there was a free-
86
dom and cordiality in social intercourse which was delightful
Whole neighborhoods lived together like one great family of many
branches. This was ascribed to the fellowship of suffering pro-
duced by the calamities of war." Thus far the old-time minister
of our native town.
And now, may that Great Being, the God of our Fathers, who
bore the generation of 1639 across the seas, and who sustained
the generation of 1779 amidst the flames — may He be the
dwelling place of their children in all generations !
Very respectfully yours,
EDWARD P. HUMPHREY.
Fro7n the Rev. Augustine F. Hew it, D.D. :
Paulist Covnent,
59th Street and 9th Avenue,
New York, June 28, 1879.
Rev. and Dear Sir : — I have the pleasure of acknowledging^
the receipt of your kind note, and also of the Secretary's official
invitation to the Commemoration at Fairfield on the 8th of July,-
which arrived only this morning.
If I find it convenient to come up on that day, I will very
gladly comply with your request, by making a short speech if
time permits, and the addresses are not too numerous and long
for the good humor of the audience.
The occasion is an interesting one, and all the circumstances
of place and time are favorable for such a celebration, if only the
elements are propitious. I trust you may have a bright, cool day,,
with a friendly cloud to veil the mid-day sun, and no rain to in-
terrupt the enjoyment of the occasion. I have no doubt all pres-
ent will be disposed to offer up, sincerely, the prayer of the
soldier's little boy, " Oh ! Lord, let there be no more wars."
I remain, yours truly,
AUGUSTINE F. HEWIT.
Rev. Dr. Osgood,
Fairfield, Conn.
87
From the Hon. Solomon Lincoln :
HiNGHAM, /uly 2, 1879.
Rev. Samuel Osgood, President.
Dear Sir : — I have received your circular inviting me to be
present at the Centennial Commemoration of the Burning of
Fairfield, in 1779. I regret that the state of my health is such
that it will preclude my acceptonce of your courteous invitation.
With great respect,
I am, your ob't serv't,
SOLOMON LINCOLN.
From George Dimon^ Esq. :
Milan, O., Jutie 30, 1879.
Gentlemen : — Your circular-letter inviting me to be present
at a Centennial Commemoration of the anniversary of the burn-
ing of the houses, stores and churches in old Fairfield, by the
British troops, was received by due course of mail.
I feel flattered to know that I was remembered — but, yet, I
may have some claims to notice on such an occasion, as I am the
oldest male descendent of my Grandfather, William Dimon, whose
house and buildings were burned — and, also, of my Grandfather,
John Andrews, who served his country as a soldier seven years
in the war of the revolution, and who lived his last days in Green's
Farms. I well remember the many stories he told of hardship
and suffering during that time, and, although I have now connec-
tions in England, I feel a little guilty when I think of the red-
coats of that day — and now, after thirty-four years residence in
the land we once called New Connecticut, my feelings of attach-
ment to my native land are as strong as ever. Mill River, South-
port, and Fairfield will always seem pleasant and homelike.
As a boy, and young man, I knew personally all the leading
men of Fairfield and vicinity, and we looked up to them with
veneration and respect, feeling that they were very great men.
There was Gen. Burr, Col. Burr, Sam'l Rowland, Sheriff Dimon,
Doctor Hull, Deacon Judson, our Pastor, Rev. Humphrey, Roger
M. Sherman, Judge Sturges, Capt. Gould Jennings, Capt. A. Ben-
son, Lothrop Lewis, Gould Allen, James Knapp, Jeremiah Jen-
nings, and old uncle Anse Trubee, and his flock of sheep. All
of these men and many others I remember, and now, in passing
through the town, it seems as if I ought to see some of them^
but we pass away and everything changes. I find now but few
88
of the landmarks of other days, notably two that don't change ;
one, Hyde's Pond, another, the old academy, where, in my go-
to-school days, Murray's English, Virgil's Latin and Homer's
Greek, were themes of much hard study by very many young men
fitting themselves for a college course.
I regret exceedingly that circumstances prevent my being with
you on this occasion. It would be a treat, indeed, to see and
meet so many of your people, and help commemorate the day.
Hoping you may have a pleasant day, and have very many with
you, and that your historic speaker will tell to them a good
story, while
I remain, yours very respectfully,
George Dimon.
Rev, Sam'l Osgood, D. D., Fresidentj
Wm. a. Beers, Secretary,
Fairfield Commemoration,
Fairfield, Ct.
From the Rev. Edward E. Beardsley, D. D., L. L. D.
New Haven, Conn., Jidy 5th, 1879.
Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D., L. L. D., President.
My Dear Doctor : — I have been favored with an invitation
to be present the 8th inst. at the Centennial Commemoration of
the Burning of Fairfield. It would afford me much pleasure to
witness the exercises, but my engagements at home will not
permit me to leave on that day.
These Centennials bring out the history, so far as it has been
preserved, of some of the more important local events of the
Revolution, but they have no power to reproduce the scenes of
suffering and of terror through which our forefathers were com-
pelled to pass. We cannot, by stepping back a century, measure
the degree of excitement and feeling which prevailed among both
the adherents of the crown and the supporters of independence.
They shared alike in the devastations of the invading army, and
my historical researches have led me to believe that in the heats
and passions of the revolution, scant justice was sometimes done
to those who could not in their consciences favor the war, yet
stoutly opposed taxation without representation, and preferred to
vindicate their rights as British subjects within the colonies.
This was eminently the case with Dr. Wm. Sam'l Johnson, of
89
Stratford, a statesman whom Connecticut honored by appointing
him one of the delegates to the convention which framed the
Federal constitution, and by subsequently choosing him her first
Senator in Congress.
The clergy and members of the Church of England in the
colonies, were for the most part loyal to the King, but the Tories^
as they were stigmatized, were not all of that religious faith.
Here, in New Haven, the same expedition which invaded and
burnt Fairfield, met with sympathizers who belonged to the Stand-
ing Order, and one of the most conspicuous and wealthy among
them — a distinguished lawyer who had been for nearly a score of
years a communicant member of the First Congregational Church
— accepted for himself and his family the protection of Governor
Tryon, and left with the troops when they re-embarked and sailed
away to apply the torch to your defenceless town. With the
destruction of the stores and houses in Fairfield went the Episco-
pal Church, and, at a later date, two others were burnt in the
Colony by the very invaders whose cause they were supposed to
maintain.
We must allow what has passed into history to stand, but it is
well in these days to recognize the fact that, in the descendants
of the participants of the Revolutionary War, on both sides, has
flowed some of the best blood of Connecticut. From Patriot and
Tory families have come those who have contributed to the honor
and prosperity of the State and the nation, and made names for
themselves which will live in literature, science, and religion, when
generation after generation has passed away.
Thanking you for the invitation,
I remain, very truly yours,
E. E. BEARDSLEY.
From the Rev. Dr. T. IV. Coit :
MiDDLETOWN, CoNN.
Wm. a. Beers, Esq.
Dear Sir : — Many thanks for an invitation to the Centennial
Commemoration at Fairfield. I should like to witness it ; but
since the death of my oldest son, I have avoided publicity as
much as possible.
Yours very respectfully,
T. W. Coit.
W. A. Beers, Esq.,
Secretary., ^'c.
90
From the Rev. George P. Fisher., D. D., L. L. D. :
New Haven, //i/y 7, 1879.
Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D.
My Dear Sir : — I regret that I am prevented from accepting
the invitation with which I have been honored, to attend the
Commemoration of the sufferings and self-sacrifice of the inhabi-
tants of Fairfield which is to be held to-morrow.
With sincere thanks to the Committee for the favor of an invi-
tation,
Believe me, Dear Sir,
Yours faithfully,
GEORGE P. FISHER.
Rev. Dr. Osgood.
From the Rev. J. T. Headley :
Newburgh, yi/Zy 5, 1879.
My Dear Sir : — I regret that my engagements will prevent
me from accepting your polite invitation to be present at the
Centennial Commemoration of the Burning of Fairfield, on the
8th inst. I take a great interest in all these centennial celebra-
tions of the important events of our revolution. They are oc-
curring at the right time, and tend to rekindle the interest in that
unparalelled struggle for freedom that the stirring events of our
late civil war had well nigh extinguished.
Very sincerely yours,
J. T. HEADLEY.
Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D.
From the Hon. Dwight Morris :
Bridgeport, /i/ne 30, 1879.
My Dear Sir: — Your kind invitation to attend the Centennial
Celebration of the Burning of Fairfield, is received.
It will afford me great pleasure to attend, and join with you all,
but do not call on me to speak. The names on the programme
who make addresses are too far ahead of me to permit it.
Very truly yours,
DWIGHT MORRIS.
Rev. Samuel Osgood, D. D.
91
From Colonel Robei-t C. Wet 7710 re :
Orange Valley,
New Jersey, yuly 3, 1879,
Rev. and Dear Sir: — Your very kind and flattering re-
membrance of myself in your Secretary's transmitted invita-
tion, for my presence at your Centennial Commemoration of the
Burning of Fairfield by the British troops, July the 8th, 1779, is.
duly received.
If a descendant of one of Fairfield's most fearless defenders
(Quartermaster Richard Hubbell), during that perilous period of
its history, which your proposed celebration is to recall, then I
am indeed worthy of the distinction your invitation confers.
You will readily believe I am deeply grieved that my connec-
tion with the celebration of the 4th instant, deprives me of the
pleasure of again meeting cherished friends upon that venerated
old " Green," and from adding some, perhaps, interesting his-
torical reminiscences of past generations, who were wont to-
assemble there in council.
With very high respect, &c,,
Robert C. Wetmore,
To Samuel Osgood, D. D., To the manor born.
President, os^c.
From the Mayor of New Haven :
City Clerk's Office, No. 7 City Hall,.
New Haven, /uly 7, 1879.
Dear Sirs : — Your kind invitation to participate in your Cen-
tennial was duly received, but owing to the excitement and rush
attendant on our own celebration, I have not been able to give
an earlier answer. Personally, if possible, I shall be present.
As to the Aldermen and Councilmen, they have held no meeting
since the arrival of your invitation. The Aldermen meet this
evening, when I shall lay the matter before them.
Hoping that your celebration may be as successful as ours has
been, I remain.
Yours respectfully,
H. B. Bigelow, Mayor.
Com. on Centennial Celebration,
Fairfield, Conn.
92
From A. Foote, Clerk of Selectmen of New Haven :
Office of Selectmen and Town Agent,
No. 2 City Hall,
New Haven, Ct., fi/ly 7, 1879.
Wm. a. Beers, Esq.
Sec'y on the Committee on Centennial Commemoration.
Dear Sir : — Your invitation to the New Haven Board of select-
men to be present and participate in the exercises on the occasion
of the Centennial Commemoration of the invasion of the town of
Fairfield by the British troops, has been duly received and ordered
placed on file.
In reply I am instructed by the Board to say to you, that this
occasion, occuring so soon after a like occasion in our own town
and city, and the usual press of business in consequence of semi-
annual adjustments necessitates, with regret, a declination of your
very kind and cordial invitation.
Very respectfully yours, *
A. FOOTE,
Clerk Board of Selectmen.
George N. French, Esq., Chairman of Common Council of Bridgeport.
Bridgeport, July, 4th, 1879.
W. A. Beers, Secretary,
Dear Sir : — The Common Council having voted to accept your
very kind invitation to participate with you in the commemoration
services, and having appointed the undersigned chairman of a
Committee to make the necessary arrangements to this end, I would
be pleased to hear from you in reference to your plans, and as to
the time you wish the Council to arrive at your place and as to
whether you are to have a parade. Any information in regard to
the matter will aid the Committee very much in the discharge of
their duty. Would you prefer to have us come by cars or in
carriages ?
Very truly yours,
GEORGE N. FRENCH,
Chairman of Committee.
From P. T. Barnum Esq.:
Montpelier, Vt., July, 5th, 1879.
Mv Dear Dr. Osgood : — Yours of yesterday arrived on this, my
69th birthday. You say I have made the nation laugh and be
93
wise. Yet I have tried to have them laugh without doing it
through bad whiskey. I have not taught them to laugh at vulgar-
ity, obscenity nor profanity.
As the French poet did not care who made the laws, if he
might write the ballads of a nation, so I have felt in a degree in
relation to the amusements of a nation. The people will have
recreation — their natures need and demand it — he who will
provide it, freed from all poisons, is in some regard a public bene-
factor. My chief object in conthmtng a public menagerie is to
elevate and refine such popular amusements as are found under
traveling tents.
I shall be tired after my fifteen hours railroad journey, reaching
Bridgeport at 10.05 Tuesday, A. M. I shall then see, I hope, by
the Bridgeport newspapers at what hour the Fairfield proceedings
take place, and try to be on hand. I have no idea what I can say^
but will try and think, and keep within the ten minutes.
Truly yours,
P. T. BARNUM.
From T. P. Handy ^ Esq.:
Cleveland, O., July, 3d, 1879.
Wm. a. Beers, Secretary
My Dear Sir : — Please accept my thanks for the honor of your
kind invitation for the 8th inst. at the Centennial Commemoration
in the old town of Fairfield, with my regrets that I shall be unable
to be present or to participate in the services of the day.
I esteem it a pleasure that I was once a resident of that beautiful
town and enjoyed the society of some of its esteemed and valued
citizens.
I shall always cherish those pleasant memories, and rejoice in
its continued attractions and prosperity.
Thanking you again for the extended invitation, and trusting that
the occasion will be a pleasant one to all,
I remain, with much esteem,
Your sincere friend,
T. P. HANDY.
From Airs. E. H, Schenck :
Southport Conn., June, 26th, 1879.
My Dear Dr. Osgood : — Since I saw you this afternoon I have
thought of a few things in our family history which you may
94
perhaps like to know about, and which are interesting in the
history of our town, and they are these :
My father's grandfather, Nathan Godfrey, was one of the
earhest settlers of Greens Farm's, and was also one of fourteen
to build the First CongregationaX " meeting /louse" at that place,
of which the Rev. Mr. Relyea speaks in his centennial history of
the settlement of Green's Farms.
My father represents the third generation of his family, and
was named after his father, Jonathan Godfrey, the son of Nathan
Godfrey.
My brother being dead, I, as the oldest of the family represent
the fourth generation, and Charles Godfrey, (my nephew and the
son of my eldest brother) represents the fifth generation of our
family who have lived in this town, in this county, for over two
hundred years.
Then, again, my mother's family were the old Hubbell family at
Greenfield, who also date back to the settlement of Greenfield,
My mother's mother was a Jennings of the old Jennings family
that first settled Fairfield. And as my father's grandfather mar-
ried a Jennings, no less than three of the early settlers head our
family tree. In fact four families head our family tree, for my
father's mother, who was a Whitehead, dates back to the first set-
tlement of Green's Farms.
It cannot be often said that a family have lived so continuously
in one place.
The old Bulkley family, of which mention is made in the history
of the burning of Fairfield, are not the Bulkley family of Southport,
but the one at Green's Farms of which Abraham Bulkley and
Joel B. Bulkley are the descendants, I notice this because the
Bulkleys of this place are confused with this family at Green's
Farms. It was Abraham Bulkley, who opened his house to our
church of England families after the little church ?iear Mrs.
Rowland's, was burned by the British, which house still stands on
the East side of the Green, at Fairfield. Do you not think that
this Joel B. Bulkley, who is now over eighty, should be invited to
represent so loyal a family in church and state in the history of our
town. They are highly respectable farmers. My mother has often
told me that Abraham Bulkley, of revolutionary remembrance, was
a man of education, and a gentleman in every way. A son of this
Joel Bulkley often sings in our church at Fairfield with Mrs. Lom-
bard.
95
Please pardon my long note, allowing me to say one thing more
about my own family, which' is that they were of French and
English origin, our family motto being ^' Dens et libertas" or God
and liberty— God and freedom, GODFREE— GODFREY.
Believe me,
Truly yours,
Mrs. E. H. Schenck.
Joel B. Bulkey's address would be at Southport, as he li\es on
the border line at Sasco.
From Captain Isaac Jennings :
Captain Jennings sent us the following account of a Fairfield
lady, who made the first American flag of the present pattern.
Death of Mrs. Captain Reid.
We regret to announce the demise, at Wheeling, Virginia, on
Sunday morning, the 19th inst., of Mrs. Reid, wife of Captain
Samuel C. Reid, so distinguished in our naval records for his de-
fence of the brig General Armstrong against the English squadron,
at the port of Fayal, in 1814. Mrs. Reid was the daughter of
Captain Nathan Jennings, of Fairfield, Connecticut, who shared
the fatigues and glory of Trenton in the Continental Army, under
George Washington.
Mrs. Reid was early distinguished for beauty and talent ; and
when her husband's glory made her house the centre of much
literary and patriotic attraction, her clear intellect and domestic
virtues shed a charm and a grace worthy alike of her enviable
position and that of her visitors, among whom were some of the
most distinguished persons of the day, including Gov. Clinton,
Gov. Tompkins, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, Dr. Sam Mitchell,
Judge Johnson, of the Supreme Court, with the Tones, Emmetts
and McNevins, Dr. Francis, and others among the oldest of our
citizens. In her devotion to a large family of children Mrs. Reid
was unrivaled, and in her patriotic ardor she was alike worthy of
her husband and her father. In 1818, with the assistance of some
young ladies, she made the first flag of the Union, as adopted by
the Congress of the United States in that year, and which was the
design of Captain Reid. On the admission of Indiana into the
Union, in 1816, the Hon. P. H. Wendover, of New York, sug-
gested to Congress the expediency of altering the then flag.
96
Captain Reid undertook it, and on the 4th of April, 181 8, a bill
was passed "to establish the flag of the United States." The fol-
lowing letter chronicles the date of its hoisting, and makes hon-
orable mention of the deceased lady.
Washington, April 13, 1818.
Dear Sir : I have just arrived in time to inform you that the new flag of
Congress Hall arrived here per mail this day, and was hoisted to replace the
old one, at 2 o'clock, and has given much satisfaction to all that have seen it, as
far as I have heard. I am pleased with its form, and have no doubt it will sat-
isfy the public mind.
Mr. Clay (who was then speaker of the House), says it is wrong that there
should be no charge in your bill for making the flag. If pay for that will be
acceptable, on being informed, I will procure it. Do not understand me as in-
tending to wound the feelings of Mrs. Reid, nor others who may have given aid
in the business, and please accept my thanks to her and them and accept the
same for yourself.
Yours in haste, with esteem, P. H. WENDOVER.
Mrs. Reid's name and those of the young ladies who assisted her
were worked on this flag. The deceased was in the sixty-second
year of her age, and had been on a visit to one of her sons in the
West, whence she lately had gone to Wheeling, to superintend the
erection of a monument over the grave of her eldest son there. "
The deceased leaves a devoted family and a large circle of person-
al freinds in this city, by whom she was deeply beloved.
We close this correspondence with communica-
tions from Rev. Drs. Rankin and Osgood, one
relating to the remuneration of the families who
suffered loss by the burning of the town — the other
giving important notes of its church history.
97
A list of the persons who suffered by the enemy in
burning the town of Fairfield, on the 7th and 8th
days of July, 1779, and had their taxes abated by
the Committee appointed by the General Assembly
for that purpose :
Anthony Annibil,
David Annibil,
Elijah Abel,
George Allen, -
David Allen,
Eben Bartram,
John Allen,
Nehemiah Buddington,
Andrew Bulkley,
James Bulkley,
Walter Buddington,
Peter Burr,
Samuel Beers,
Joseph Beers, -
Abigail Burr,
David Burr,
William Buddington, -
David Burr,
Wakeman Burr, -
Samuel Burr,
Job Bartram,
Priscilla Burr,
Thaddeus Burr, -
David Beers,
Ann Dimon,
William Dimon,
Elizabeth Gold, -
Peter Wendzich,
David Jennings, -
Isaac Jarvis, -
Moses Jennings,
List, 1781. List, 1782.
;^2o. ^20. 7. 6
18. 34-12. o
30.12. 28.11. 6
- is- 7- 6 28.11. 6
56. 8. 3 77. 2. 6
- 44.11 42.15
18. 6. 6.18
- 23. 21.
20. 29.
20. 21.
23- 5- 24.15
76. I. 6 81. 7
55. 2. 6 60. 8. 6
- 3I-I9- 37-I9- o
3.12. 3. 8.
22.10. 28. 6
21. 21.
4. 4.
25. 21.
42.17. 6 44-I7- 6
II. 12. 7 6. II. 19
24. o. 6 32. 6. 6
145. I. 4 167.16. 6
55. 2. 6 62. 2. 6
26.19. 25.
51. 6. 60. 2.
48. 8. 9 39. I. 6
22. 8. 27. 8.
39. 6. 51.18.
43. 9. 22. 66.
70. 5. 62.18. 6
98
Abigail Jennings,
Stephen Jennings,
Jeremiah Jennings, -
Lathrop Lewis, -
Sturges Lewis,
Jonathan Lewis, -
Hezekiah Nicholls, -
Thos. T. Nicholls,
Eleazer Osborn, Jr.,
Marble Osborn, -
Daniel Osborn,
John Parsons,
Nathaniel Parsons,
John Parritt,
Samuel Penfield,
John Robertson,
Samuel Rowland,
Andrew Rowland,
Samuel Squier,
John Smedley,
Seth Sturges, - - -
Joseph Squier, -
Thomas Staples,
Ebenezer Sturges,
John Squier, Jr.,
Judson Sturges, -
Joseph Sturges (children),
Jonathan Sturges,
Samuel Squier,
Hezekiah Sturges,
Samuel Sturges,
Samuel Smedley,
Joseph Smith,
Eliphalet Thorp,
Ansel Truby, -
Isaac Tucker,
Stephen Thorp,
John Turney,
Eben Wakeman,
List, 1781. List, 1782.
- £^- ^2.14. 9
76. 2. 96.06.
- 40- 5- 56-10.
40.10. 48.10.
- 72.19 .6 73. 7. 6
130.19. 6 132.12. 6
54.19. 6 60.11.
20.15. 19. 3. 6
- 12. 5
30. 6. 6. 20. 2. 2
96. 5. 9. 74. o. 6
18. 21.
19. 5 J- 5
24. 23.
52. 8. 3. 54. 8. 3
26. 39.
35. 13. 59.16. 3
48. 3. 91.16. 7
18. 21.
87.12 87.12.
44- 7- 6 51.10. 6
2SI4- 35- I-
74.16. 66. 4.
24.16.
37. 5. 6 38.17
dZ. I. 71. 2
31. 16.6 35.13. 6
99. 2. r37.18.11
85. 4.6 85.18.6
157. 4. 142. 5.
- 13. 4. 12. 6.
13.19. 13.19.
40.14.6 40. 5. 6
30. 4. 31.14.
19.10. 28. o. I
18.
30. 4. 3I-I4-
61. 1.6 58. 2. 6
99.18. 67. 8. 6
99
List, 1 78 1.
List, 178;
2.
Andrew Wakeman,
^124 17.
^116. 4.
6
Jabez Thorp,
- 52-I3-6
60. 8.
6
Isaac Turney,
34. 8.
37- 8.
Reuben Burr,
27. 2,
31- 3-
9
Wakeman Burrittt
85.11.
John Williams, Jr.,
I. 4.
27- 5-
Wright White, -
4-
31-
John Mason,
25.10.
28. 8.
Thos. H. Wakeman, -
-
6.17.
6
GREEN'S
FARMS.
Sarah Andrews, -
£ «-io-
£ 7-14-
Abraham Andrews,
72. 0. 6
69. 0.
3
George Patterson
21.
21.
Walter Carson,
9-
13.18.
I
Nathan Godfrey,
62. 8.6
9315-
3
Ebenezer Jessup, -
- 141- 3-
101.19.
9
Moss Kent,
161.
105. 8.
Eunice Morehouse,
- 95- 6. 6
84.
Eben Morehouse,
III 6. 6
91.17.
3
Gruman Morehouse,
21.14.
43-
Samuel Smith, - - -
21.
27. 2.
6
Gideon Morehouse,
- 45-66.
35-i6.
6
Jesup Wakeman,
32. 5- 9
John Morehouse, -
- 57-14-
64.18.
r ^ oS«.T7
6
in
year 1781. The sum of ^4,088.12 to be apportioned to the
sufferers of said town.
FroTH Rev. Dr. Osgood :
ECCLESIASTICAL NOTES.
There are good materials for a history of the
Church and Clergy of Eairfield, but these materials are
very fragmentary, and they have never been brought
together. Chief among the historical discourses are
those by the Rev. Dr. Atwater, on Thanksgiving
Day, November 28, 1839, ^^'^^ ^Y the Rev. Dr. Ran-
kin, on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1870, and
by the Rev. N. E. Cornwall, on August 10, 1851. The
Rev. B. J. Relyea, on the 26th of October, 1865,
gave a valuable discourse upon the history of the
Green's Farm Congregational Church, which seceeded
from the old Fairfield Parish in 1715, and the Rev.
Henry B. Smith delivered an elaborate historical
sermon in 1876, on the 150th anniversary of the
Greenfield Hill Congregational Church, which was
founded in i 726.
Dr. Atwater gives a careful account of the pastors
of the old Church until his own ministry, who had
then been eight in number, beginning with the Rev.
John Jones, the minister who 'brought an Oxford
education to this frontier settlement, and who had
tried to find a home in Concord, Mass., but left that
place for Fairfield with a considerable part of his
congregation, on account of "the poverty and mean-
ness of Concord, together with the badness and
wetness of the meadows." His successors were as
follows, after his death in 1664 :
I02
Rev. Samuel Wakeman,
Rev. Joseph Webb,
Rev, Noah Hobart,
Rev. Andrew Eliot,
Rev. Heman Humphrey,
Rev. Dr. Hewit,
Rev. Mr. Hunter, .
1665-1692
1692-1732
1732-1773
I 774-1805
1807-1817
1818-1827
1828-1833
Since Dr. Atwater's removal to Princeton, the old
parish has had the services of Dr. Willis Lord, Rev.
Alexander McLean and Rev. Dr. Rankin, whose
coming retirement from his post is to take place in
October.
The Episcopal Church in Fairfield has an honor-
able history since the consecration of its first edifice,
Nov. 10, 1725, with a discourse by the famous Dr.
Samuel Johnson, afterwards President of King's
College, New York City. In 1827, the Rev. Henry
Caner was appointed missionary to Fairfield, and
remained here till 1747, when he went to King's
Chapel, Boston, where he was rector in 1776, when,
with the British army, he left his post for Halifax, at
the time of the evacuation of Boston. The second
Episcopal Church edifice was burned in 1779, as
stated by Dr. Rankin, and the third edifice that was
built on Mill Plain in 1790, stood until the transfer
of the services to the new Trinity Church edifice at
Southport, where regular worship was begun by Rev.
William Shelton in 1828. St. Paul's Church, now in
Fairfield, began as a distinct parish in 1854, and it
163
Is not the successor, except in its Episcopal order,
of the old Trinity parish of 1725.
The ministers of St. Paul's Church have been the
Rev. Messrs. Leffingwell, Stimson, Hyde, Mackie,
and Rev. James K. Lombard, the present rector.
It is interesting- to remember, that the Rev. Philo
Shelton began his services as lay reader in Trinity
Church, Fairfield, in 1779, and had been rector for
forty years at the time of his death, February 27,
1825, aged seventy-one. He was ordained by Bishop
Seabury, at Middletown, August 3, 1785, at the first
ordination ever held by an American bishop. He
was succeeded by his son, the Rev. William Shelton,
who went to St. Paul's Church, Buffalo, 1829, where
he Is still rector. Thus it appears, as an intelligent
lady remarked, that the Episcopal Church in America
has been served one hundred years by father and son
from the honored Shelton family.
It is worthy of note that there was close connection
in early times between our Fairfield Churches and
Boston and Cambridge culture. Several Fairfield
ministers were graduates of Cambridge before and
after Yale Callege came into being, and the brilliant
Dr. Horace Holley, who made such a figure as
the minister of Hollis Street Church, Boston, was
for three years the eloquent and successful pastor of
the Greenfield Hill Parish, from which he went to
Boston in 1809, and was afterwards, for nine years,
till 1827, President of Transylvania University,
Kentucky.
104
It is a fact worth recording, that the first meeting
of the old Congregational Parish, the Prime Ancient
Society of Fairfield, distinct from town meeting, was
held, according to the record, on December 19, 1727.
The Roman Catholic Church of St. Thomas, was
consecrated about 25 years ago, under charge of
Rev. Thomas J. Synnot, of Bridgeport, and it has
been a distinct parish about three years.
THE LAST WORD.
There is good hope of the awakening of public
spirit in Fairfield as the consequence of the late
Memorial occasions. The celebration of 1876 was
followed by the establishment of the Fairfield Mem-
orial Library, and this Commemoration has led to
the formation of the Fairfield Village Improvement
Society, for the health, ornament and general wel-
fare of the charming old town.
University of
Connecticut
Libraries
