The Newtown bee., 1900-12-07
TowN ToP1cs. A HISTORICAL ADDRESS.

l OWN | OP1CS.
 X HISTORICAL ADDRESS,
 ON THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THI
 DEDICATION OF THE MRr8ODIsT EPIs
 COPAL CHURCH IN SANDY HOOK, CONN. II sEPrEMBRR 25. 19OO.-BY JOSEPH O. | MUNsON
 In answer to the question, Why should
 I be chosen to speak on this occasionl ] |suppose the thought in the minds ot
 your committee was this, thatI was hv. ing in this village at the time of the dedi. |cation of this church and was personally
 cogniSant of the events which led to the
 establishment of this Methodist church, give you . personal reminiscence of the
 dedication sermon by Dr Kennedy. He
 was one of the most eloquent preachers in Methodism and can recall the ex. preesions of admiration given by the
 happy sermon tasters, who enjoyed that wonderful discourse. How did fail to
 hear him? We'll 1t came about in this
 way. was little lad 10 years old. Our house was filled with friends from
 stable and the yard. So my father, who was . trustee whose official duties obliged him to be present, said ''you can go to church if you like, but someone ought to look after those horses. If you will stay at home and water the horses you can have all the peaches you want to eat." Two bushels of beautiful peaches were in the kitchen. Ihad never before had my fill of peaches. To . boy of 10 Ecision? can think just how those peaches tasted even now.
 But claim to have had . hand in building this church. One day when they were preparing to lay the stones which form the steps in front of this edi. ice, my father who was overseeing the work said, ''This trench must be filled with cobble stones. Suppose you pick up the little stones you can fird by the roadside and dump them in here". So patiently I picked up in . small wheel was filled. Those stones are there yet-- but out of sight like good deal of tn work we have to do in this world.
 ( l85O-1900 By these dates I am remind ed that this memorial day celebrates the centennial of Methodism in this town as we'll as the jubilee of the little church in Sandy Hook. In the year 1900 there was little society of Aethodism who held their meeting in the schoolhouse on Georges Hill in the adjoining town of Southbury. They were blest with a all the population of that locality while converts from Woodbury, Middlebury, Monroe and Newtown became firebrands of gospel light. have eften heard the old members in Southbury tell of the great meetings they had on that hill top and the long line of horses fastened to the trees on quarterly meeting occasions.
 But though the place was difficult of access, over roads which needed 8 sure footed mountain pony to travel them, 1t was the seat of pentecostal power. Among those who found peace and joy in the Holy Ghost in that blessed revi- val in 1900, was Sally Curtis of Zoar, and her sister Mrs Clark. They were the first Methodists in Newtown. Other members of her family and some of their neighbors soon began to attend the class 1t Georges hill.
 Very soon after this beginning Metho- diem invaded NeWtown from another point. John R. Wheeler, who was a in Bedding moved into Newtown Street and lived in house located where Trim ity (EpiscopaD church now stands. He threw open his house for Methodist meetings and some of his neighbors were converted under the earnest exhortations of local preachers from Southbury and Redding' About 1904, Isaac Sanford, Wheeler's br0ther-in-laW, was awakened and after days of distress and struggle he found peace while on his knees In prayer beside huge rock on Walnut Tree hill.
 This marks the entrance of an agres- sive personality into the history of New town Methodiem. The first Methodist preachi ng in Sandy Hook was by Samuel Merwin father of the late John B. Mer- win of the New York East C0nfe renee, while he travelled the Reddipg circuit in 1905. He preached in the ball room of Stephen Crofut's house which stood near ly opposite this church cn the grounds of the estate of the late Hobart Warner. Brotber Merwin appointed Isaac Sanford ella sS leader with ten members; during the year five more were added to the number.
 Ieaac Sanford lived in the first house east of the Methodist parsonage, and there he had preaching in the kitchen and class meeting in the front room. Those early Methodists shouted and sang and prayed with all their heart and all their might, 90 that their neighb0 rs became disturbed and on one oCcasien certain rude fellows burst the door open to see what all the noise was about. The Sandy Hook claes numbered 21 in 1911. Meanwhile the indefatigsble leader had f. rme d other classes at Flat Swamp at Hattertown and in the district bordering on Brookf1eld. There were scattered Methodists in Zoar along the bank of the HouRat0nic river.
 CONCLUDED IN NEXT WEEKS ISSUE.