The Newtown bee., 1880-07-21

l nlIe acIlOn was Ittk.H titti Iile cluitH Sosei 1 returned to the orthodox faith. BIT. JGd- son died. after Il long ministry of tiirty- three years. Sept. 2i, 1776, aged G2, of a
 disease caught, as it is said, while visit
 ing the American camp i'll the Revolution-
 ary war. His grave is in olr cemetery :;
 a cypress. evidently self-sown, grows out
 of the heart as if tc keep his memory
 green. There is among the records of
 the church Il time-stained and faded, but
 very valuable recard of the births, mar
 riages and deaths for a quarte: of u cen-
 tury, in MT. Judson's handwriting; the
 last entry is that of sMf Judsohs own 1 death made by somc friendly hand.
 The following summary of Mr. Judson's $
 ministry may be of interest; it was com
 piled iron, the ancient record referred
 to-
 Ministry from l743 to 1776, 8 years.
 Marriages, 1743 to 177G, 226, or yearly z,
 Deaths, 1756 to 1'16, 378, or yearly l9.
 Baptisms, l744 to 1776, 3S7, Gneludlng
 I3 slave children owned by seven mas
 ters, )and eight adalts-only eight--show- |
 was at that time. Average number of
 children baptized yearly in this church
 was 27.
 Received into tho church: la) On own | ing tie covenant, from 1743 to 1776, 90 i; 1 (b) by letter, 1757 to 1776 5; Co by profess
 sion, 1757 to 1776, I69, tor yearly 8. To-
 tel additions in B years, 264.
 | There were probably 150 families con-
 Eected with this congregation aS that | time, and over 200 members. All the S79
 children whose baptism is recorded hy MT. Judson are now dead; the last survi-
 vor was MT. Lampson Birch, who w;ls hap l tized Oct. q, TIT. (His widow reached
 the advanced aga Of 1G2 and died in 1879.) ) In the year 1753 jthe record continues)
 there were 34 deaths, nearly double the
 usual number; ol these, one was a child of Lieut.. Winton, "whieh waded into Taunton Pond and was drowned aged years. Another, 8 son of Alexander Bryon, who died ir the Revolutionary ar- my; and alOtEel, fs son of William Nor throp, about 20 years old, "who was lost in the arnlie by the sword of the eneine in September" This was the year of the capture Of Louisburg and of the expedi- ton against TicoEdeSoga and Crown Point
 In the church in ttat yearG778)" )"Watts' Psalms were adopted to be used altogeth- CT iii public worship, and Dea. Northrop read the psalms anC Ebenezer Ford and James Biackman tuned them"
 Among the 5aptisms recorded is this "Verus. negro child belonging to Abner Booth, baptized Oct. 26 1743"
 Among the marriages this; Peter Ne gre and Ginny Negro, (Negro being used as che family name, servants to Matthew Curtis, were married April 3, 1752."
 Negro slavery in Newborn! How strange this reads at the present day when not :. slave exists in the United States.
 There is also in this record a long list of deaths with the diseases which ended l:fe-a list enumerating all the ills to which flesh is heir. If should read the l list many, perhaps most of the present | native Inhabitants of this town would | learn when, where, and of what th cir an- cestor5 died, for there is scarcely ialn1- ly name in NewtOwn but IS included ill l this list. This Is ona.thihg that ought to | unite all the residents of tLis town in their interest i'll and affection for this charch; i'll this church your ancestors were baptized and 0y its ministers they were married and buried This churchis the ecclesiastical homestead of all Newtown. Let me suggest that measures be taken to copy and preserve this old record io is becoming more and more illegible eve every year. I have deposited it for safe keeping ill the town. clerk $ office
 It is supposed that the church edifice ,f tho Congregational society was occu- 'ied by troops during the war of the Rev button. and the vane now on the steeple pears the marks of bullets then fred This town was intensely loyal to the loving and loved Sovereign Lord, King SeorSe," as he was styled, and in l775 presented all able protest to the state leg 9AhIaiO aSdtHSl Lue scl-OE OI congress. See town records, Vol. ". pages 30-34 The town, however, furnished it's ou1ta This society at the close of tne Revolu- lonary war Was ill d low condition, on account of the loss in men and means oc- asioned by the war, and the parsonage, vaIcE must have stcoa cn CT near the site . # the present Episcopal Church edifice, vas sold to Day its debts,
 PAsroRATE OF REV E. H. SMITH, I795-I79s. {
 Zepheniah Il. Smith was the next min ster. He, as well as ali his predecess- ITS, and most of his successors, was a l ,raduatc of Yale College. His pastorate 'egaE in 1763. A tax of one penny on ev- ( ny pound was assessed in order to pro t idle hlm d settlement. 4 house ou the ( nain street was also built for him in Y 766. (the same now owned by Mr. George I tualt,) but he made the society poor eturn for their generosity. The records how that he tried to break up the church y rganiZation and to sorn. a s5;lndenlanian l 'hurch upon it's ruins. He caused those Fho opposed him to be excom municased, I nd finally abandoned his charge without | eing dismissed, leaving the church al- : aost q wreck, floating upon the troubled z ca without ;s pilot and almost without a rew. But few faithful souls remained ( . the ship and although discouraged :, hey nobiy stood at their post and rescued a he Zion they loved from utter destruc- i ioD Mr Smith removed to Glastouhury T ! this state, became |. lawyer and died n T 1886, aged Y. His daughters still re- u ide there and nave become known to 6