Litchfield enquirer., 1868-02-06
Notes from Washington Church Re cords. No 2,

0AANSoNS 
 Notes from Washington Church Re- cords. No 2. The names of the following persons, with dates, are among those admitted by letter to the Church in Judea, during MT. Brins- mades pastorate, including the place from which they came:
 "175l, Jan 9th, Enos Mitchell Wood bury.
 "l752, Aug. 23, John Mason, Litchfield. Dec. 17th, John Woodruff, N. Milford.
 MT. W. moved into the southwestern part of the town, having originally come from Pennington into New Milford. ] "1753, July 18th, Capt Ebenezer Clark and Anne his Wife, Middletown. | "1754. Jan. 18th, Mrs. Rhoda, Wife to Rev. Daniel Brinsmade, N. Haven.
 G April 18th, John Loggin and Margaret his Wife, Plainfeld. ! l762, Aug. 29th, Jonathan Hine and his Wife, Milford
 "1763. April 18th, Ebenezer Calhoun, Southbury
 "l775, Feb. 26th, John Smith and Mary his Wife, Milford.
 C April 3Oth, Thomas Garfield and Martha his Wife, Milford''
 In all, seventy-two persons were admit ted by letter, from 174S to 177S, and fifty eight on profession of their faith. Marriages in Judea, with date and money given in by ye Bridegroom to me. !" The dates range from 1749 to 1791, with 6 vacancy in the record from Feb. 2Oth, 1766 to April 2Oth, l771. The number re- corded is one hundred and sixty-two, and the whole number during the whole thirty years must have been more than 2OO His fees range from 99--twice given--to Is. 6d Once he received pair of shoes. Dec 9th, 1779, he married three couples Dea- cons sons went in as dead heads "Dec. l4th, l757, Abisha Mosely with Miss Dutton, both of Judea. Money re- fused because his father was Deacon"
 "June 23d, 1762, ETHAN ALLEN with Mary Brownson of Roxbury." It is little singular that he did not re- cord the residence of Allen as we'll as that of his bride, as he invariably has in every other instance. The Old Continental does not seem to have been very flush with money, as his gift to Mir. B. was -four sAa- ings.
 "Children baptized since March 1st, l748 in Judea, and other places by Mir. Brinsmade."
 The number in Judea is four hundred and six. Other places, seventy. Girls names present quite contrast to those of to-day. Besides Bible names, we have Sybil, Philatha, Jedidah, Currants, Si- lence, Patience by the Score. Temperance, Prudence, Desire. Delight, Charity, Hope, Experience, Freelove, Thankful, Mind we'll and Submit
 Here is @ record which will require an as- trologer to explain:
 "Feb. 23d, l775 Then baptized my own son, Daniel Sherman Brinsmade, who was born Jan. 11th day, l755, on Saturday about 12 o'clock in the day. On ye same day there was tedious storm of rain and snow, and the day before went around of ye planets, which was not until the 21st of ye same month"
 A very interesting feature of these bap- tisms, is the large number of children composing the families of 8 century ago. Thomas Durkee had ten children baptized, Thomas Hazen ten, eight being boys; Da- vid Calhoun ten, and James Calhoun nine. There are forty families who had six and over. In many cases, six were baptized at a time. Where is there minister of to- day that can show such record? Then, six, eight, and ten children in family was the rule Now, there can hardly be found two families of six, outside of foreign de- scent in town. About one third of native families are childless, and half the remain der have only one or two. One hundred years ago, women would raise ten, twelve, and even fourteen children, and live to four-score. Now, they bear child or two,