THE CHURCH IN NEW BRITAIN

HISTORY

There were three Churchmen living in New Britain, in 1772, according to Andrews' History of the First Church, (Congregational,) but who they were is not stated. We have no prior record of any Churchmen living within the limits of present New Britain. Daniel Luddington married in New Britain, April 16, 1773, and resided here until his death in 1820. He was active in the parish of Christ Church, Worthington, for the first four years of its existence, and had probably been a Churchman at Wallingford, where he lived before coming to New Britain. We are inclined to think that he was one of the three Churchmen mentioned by Andrews, but whether he resided here before 1773 or not, the latter date makes him the first Churchman to reside in New Britain that we can mention by name.

Our next record is that of the temporary residence here of the Rev. John Sayre, of Fairfield, as before noted.

Benjamin Slater who formerly owned the Slater woods, where we still frequently go for Christmas greens, was prehaps the next Churchman to come to New Britain. Some of his children were baptized at St. Andrew's Church in Bloomfield and he was living there as late as April, 1786, but removed to New Britain before 1798.

Between 1797 and 1826, sixteen persons, who were heads of families residing in New Britain, are identified by the records of Christ Church, as members of that parish. Their names are as follows:

In addition to the above:

Hezekiah Atkins.

Asahel Deming.

Roger Francis and
Elijah Whaples.

all residents of New Britain, each subscribed something in 1797, towards building the church, but we do not know whether they ever belonged to the society or not.

Six of the sixteen persons identified with the parish of Christ Church were residing in New Britain in the year 1800. Every one of these six either died, removed, or withdrew, before 1826, so that not one of them remained in the Church on that date. The other ten were not members until after 1800. One of these later members died before 1826, leaving nine persons belonging to the parish who were residing in New Britain in 1826. At no one time prior to the organization of St. Mark's, 1836, can we count more than nine Church families in New Britain, although probably others resided here of whom we have no record. In 1836, the remnant of the old Church residing in New Britain consisted of David Steele (formerly David Jr.), Luther Weldon and Joseph Wright. In Newington there were Elizur Deming Jr., Roger Deming and Oliver Richards. In Worthington, Nathaniel Dickinson, Ralph Dickinson, Andrew Norton and Sheldon Steele; and in Kensington Theodore Ellsworth. Of these remnants, David Steele of New Britain, Ralph Dickinson of Worthington, and Theodore Ellsworth of Kensington, are the only persons whose names can be found in the early records of St. Mark's Church. Mrs. Nathaniel Dickinson is in the first list of communicants and we may presume that her aged husband was a member of the parish of St. Mark's, although he died about seven months after its organization.

On Dec. 5, 1824, Mr. George Francis of New Britain married Elizabeth Parker of Lenox, Mass., an ardent Episcopalian, through whose efforts, more than those of any other one person, the Church people of this section were reorganized into the present St. Mark's Church. Cyrus Booth of New Britain married his second wife, Myrta Loper, July 1, 1825. The baptism in private of a child of Cyrus Booth, of New Britain, May 14, 1826, is given in Dr. Russell's history of Christ Church,

Hartford. From this record we infer that Mrs. Booth No. 2 was an Episcopalian. About two years later, Nov. 3, 1828, Mr. Lorenzo P. Lee, of New Britain, married Jennette Todd Hills, of Hartford. She was baptized at Christ Church, Hartford, by the Rev. N. S. Wheaton, Feb. 24, 1828, and upon her marriage and removal to New Britain another Church woman was added to the few already here.

In the list of communicants of Christ Church, Hartford, prepared by the Rev. Philander Chase before he left there in 1817, is the name of Hezekiah Seymour. Mr. Seymour was brought up as a Congregationalist, but walking up Main Street one Sunday when the doors of Christ Church were wide open, he was attracted by hearing the Commandments read and so tarried through the service. The reading of the Commandments in public service was a novelty to him and he was so surprised to find it to be a regular custom that he afterwards frequented the Church until he became an ardent Churchman. On Aug. 24, 1829, he married Elizabeth Hinsdale Burritt of New Britain, who was at one time a member of the Congregational Church but afterwards became a communicant in the Episcopal Church. A son of theirs was baptized at Christ Church, Hartford, Sept. 2, 1832, their residence being given in Dr. Russell's History as Little Britain. We presume this was intended for New Britain, and that Mr. Seymour removed from Hartford to New Britain before 1832, thus adding two more persons to the Church people of this place. After the abandonment of the old church at Worthington about 1820, to the organization of St. Mark's, 1836, Christ Church of Hartford was the Church Home for the Churchmen of New Britain, although the distance was such that we could not expect them to regularly attend service there. But Hezekiah Seymour was such a devout and zealous Churchmen that he regularly walked to Hartford to attend service on Sundays when the weather would permit. In later years, the fact that Mr. Seymour considered the services of the Church worth walking to Hartford for, led Dr. S. W. Hart to believe that there must be something unusually attractive in the services of the Church, and he decided to study the matter. The result was that Dr. Hart also became an ardent Churchman.