Litchfield enquirer., 1869-01-21
MoRRIs, Jan. 12th, 1869.

MORRIS, Jall lztn, lSOJ.
 AIR. EDITOR YLe Churcl of Morris cpmmcal-
 oFatedt the one hundrctIth year of existence, ! oil December 22d-Forcfathers day. Tho morll-
 ing of the day was bright and pleasant and wit
 messed the assembling the people of Morris, al-
 so several from the adjoining towns. We were | happy to meet a delegation from the Mother
 Church of Litehfola. ZiE bIeH u.E
 We were in the morning services, after prayer h tiv ft,v. Mr fyaln; permitted to listen to an
 Historical Discourse from our Pastor, the Rev. D. D. T. mcLaughlin. on the Church and Society,
 from their commencement and this we hone,
 will soon be published,
 Our first School House was built in 1747 near
 thc House of MT. David Benton on tho Woodbury
 road. It was subsequently, drawn from there a
 little westerly of tho late residence of Ebcnezer
 bates t2O was given from the Town Treasury for | building tho house. ',-'.'' r=''" Ill l747, libcrty'was granted by the town to the inhabitants of South Farms to have one fourth ( f
 an acre of ground laid out by tho Sclectmen for T Burial Ground. This piece of land, the East Bll-
 rial Ground, Was taken from the highway. The first person buried in this ground was In March,
 l749, viz: GIr. James stoddard he was killed at
 the raising of a dwelling-house on the ground
 where Mr. Nettleton now lives. The first Socety's
 meeting was on the 23d of November, 174s. In
 17o1, tho General Assembly resolved, that the in habitants of South Farms ' be allowed to have the
 Gospel preached to them four months in the win
 tex seaaop, and shall have liberty to buill meet Ting house.'S In 1764 they vototlto build house,
 ''provied that Justus Gibbs will do it for f7O 10
 shillings" The house was built about 20 rods cast
 Of the present house of worship, and is still in ex- istence. On tho, 12th of July, 17GS, tho Church was organized by thirteen male members -how many females does not appear. In 1785 the Soci- ety built new Church in what was then consid. cred modern style. Our first settled minister was the. Rev. G. Beckwith, in lT67 As the Historical Discourse will soon be pubished,lt is not ncces- sary for us now to speak on that head.
 On tho afternoon of the same day, the meeting was called to order by the Pastor, and Brother Frederick Whttlesey was appointed Chairman, and W. M Ensign, Scribe. And. here let mo. remark, that the Chairman occupied chair over one hun dred years old. We were very much pleased, after listening5 to our Chairman, whojis venerable in years, and who has vivid recollection of the | scenes of hs youth, in being permitted to hear from tho delegates from Litchfeld, the Rev. Mr. | Vaill, Rev. Mir. Clark, and Deacon c. Adams. Father Vaill's memory seemed to be well stored with remembrances of the past in Old South Farms. We also were permitted to hear from Deacon Bird of Bethlehem, also from Mir. w. Ames of Morris, giving history of our incorpo- 'atioli as 8 town. We wero- delighted to take by 'he hand our beloved friend and former Pastor, he Rev, Henry Robinson of Guilford, Conn, who vas settled with, us in 1923. He was our Pastor or sixtyears and half,l and was obliged to leave 'n account of his health. He is now i1 his s1st ear. The afternoon of the following Sabbath, he he from m Act xvI1, IL, Yho centennial will ons be remembered by this Church and people. The Choir furnished us with some fine music in he hymn One Hundred Years Ago and One Hundred Years to Como e':-a also in a hymn compos- d tor tho occasion by our Pastor, that, we trust, Till soon be published. }7JI1 MORRIS. z a4s4 gar -LLIa -G4.4. -I A--e.4iL Ll-- node It