The Newtown bee., 1880-07-21

Jnt fesslupTcS 1t MT. Wliiitin IlOJ. II may be of interest to note that this i'm Iportant event in the history of our town,
 this ecclesiastical declaration of Inde.
 pendence from what was then the state
 church, occurred the year Washington
 was born. The two societies appear t
 have ucted in harmony afterward, as wei
 as at the time of separation; we find tha'
 in 1734 q tax was laid by vote of both so
 cieties of -four pence, half-penny, half
 farthing upon all valuable estates to pay the two ministers their salary for theil
 good services during the year." for s<
 the record reads) It had been previous
 ly agreed i've may remark in passing
 that if the salary were paid in other things
 than money, walnut wood should be con
 sIdered worth 4s. Cd per load oak wooe
 3s. GL. per load, days work Is. Sd.
 wheat Is. per bushsl, Indian corn Pod per bushel. The two societies seemed tt
 have adopted these rates. While this
 division must have greatly weakened this
 church there k no evidence that ther,
 was any quarroliug or heart burning. Il |
 as we'll as for those who remained to sun
 der their church relations, but the breach
 was not wide enough to prevent Christian
 and fraternal intercourse Those who participated in the controversi As of 173l and parted company then are united now. Their bodies sleep together in yondel church yard, their spirits are in the same home-"the house not made with hands they belong to the same church now, and perchance they are looking down up on Us, their successors, who belong to these two churches, saying: Let bloth- 1 honor prcferring one another" 1 believe our brothers and sisters across the way will reciprocate this sentiment, and as 1 this mother church (for we are the moth CT church in q sense) extends her hand to the daughter who has grown up at her side and has now the larger family of the two, I believe it is taken and held in to- keE of good feeling; nay more, of Chris tian love and friendship. I have been furnished with a list of the reCtors of the Episcopal Church in this place from the days of Rev. Mir. Beach to the pres ent time, but have no time or spacesfor any extended notice of each or for the many historical facts of interest which mi Int be narrated in this connection:
 Rev. John Beach was rector from l732 to l7S2, $50 years.) Rev. Philo Per ry from 1797 to 1795. Rev. Daniel Bur hans, D. D., from 1799 to 1880. Rev. Samuel C. Stratton from 1851 to 1639 Rev. $, Stcbbins Stocking from 1S41 to l84S. Rev. Wm. M. Carmichael from 1850 to 1852. Rev. Benj w. Stone D. D., from 1852 to 1856. Rev. Newton l.. Mar ble, D. D., from 1857 to 1879. Rev. Thos w. .Haskins from 1879 to. the present time.
 The first church edilice was erected by the Episcopal society in 1733; it stood in the road nearly opposite Dicks Hotel the second in l746, the third in 1793, the present building, one of the finest coun- try churches in New England, ill 1870. The chapel in Sandy Hook, built ill 1869, was connected with the parish until 1880.
 In 1735, soon after the erection of the
 
 al society, stimulated perhaps to such ex- by the growth of tho other society, added to their church six fash 1 lonable pews;" fashionable being spelG l on the records "fntionable," and adioin- ing "agining" showing not the ignor- ance of our ancestors, but the unsettled | state Of English orthoyraphy before the | Jays of WeDSter) The other seats were merely rough benches and were probably | un- "'fationable." Before this iuXurious(Y | addition to the church edifce had been made, the society had called another minister in the person of Rev. Elisha Kent.
 PAsToRATE OF REV. ELISHA KENT, l733-1740.
 The vote was taken Jan. 30, 1732, and $ signed by GA males, all apparently ac- i've members of the society, showing hat notwithstanding the withdrawal Of ir. Beach and his party, the society was rigorous, large and strong; this is fur her shown by the fact that Mr. Rents salary in 1740 was g20O and his success ,r's in TIA E300, or about S1 ,500, arge sum for those days. even if paid in what were called bills of credit" The society, 1t appears, also gave Mr Kent 04 acres i'll settlement provided (and Ter, quote from the record) "that Mr. Elisha Kent shail give good security that he shall sec cause to alter his princi- 'lcs from ye foundation on which he shall xyi al, hu- erian party ye sum of four hundred 'ouuds lawful money" or about 2,000 lou will observe that those shrewd men lid not intend to lose their minister again without making him pay roundly for the rouble he would cause them. But they lid not foresee the trouble he would make in another direction. About ten ears after his settlement certain char ,es were alleged against him; there was !. long and tedious investigation on the 'art of the church and association, and le finally was dismissed. The documents elating to the trial and to the man are 'ery voluminouS, and after d somewhat arefui perusal 1 am in doubt (and it eems to me that his associates were ill louht as to his innocence or guilt. apnot but think that he was harshly udged and so misiud9ed. He appears o have lived useful life ever after, and vas much esteefAsd by his church in 'outh East, N. Y.. where Ee dled July IT. 776. He was tho grandfather of Chief ustice and Chancellor Kent, one of the nost eminent men of his day, and great rand-father of Elisha Kent Kane, the enowned Arctic explorer.
 PAsroRArE OF REV DAVID HUDSON. 1743-177e.