The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-02-10
BROAD SPANS OF SERVICE.
CoNGREGATIoNAL MINISTER'S,
 LONG RECORDS

A"e" Or' bufuett Hart Heads the Y,fat
 longest Continuous Record Held
 by Dr. Rurr-Rev F. A. Avery a Close Second--Other Lives of Lona FaithfuIness.
 "Of old time the incumbent of a Con-
 gregational pulpit in Connecticut was
 there installed by an ecclesiastical council for life. Many an old tombstone
 will tell the story of life spent in self-denying toll within the parish
 where that monument may be found
 rms IS the statement made recently
 py the Rev. Joel s. Ives secretary of
 the Missionary Society of Connecticut
 m commenting on the long pastorates
 n the Congregational denomination.
 From back in the fast receding, past of
 colonial times the CongregationaA
 church in Connecticut has been cele-
 brated in history. The clergyrnen have
 been noted for their long service in the
 pulpit, The celebrating not long ago
 m Hartford of the forty-sixth anni-
 Versary of the pastorate of the Rev.
 pr. E. F. Parker in the South church
 of that city emphasizes most emphatic ally the tendency of the Congrega-
 tional clergymen to retain his pulpit. But the average pastorate in all de-
 nominations is comparatively short. and the number of pastors settled bv council decreases, while it is also true that the ''ecclesiastical society" as such
 is passing away in favor Of the incor- porated church.
 Long lives of ministerial service
 may be found. It may be of interest to read the list of those who are still serving our Congregational churches. and whose date of ordination reaches
 back as far as 1865. Rev. pr. Burdett Hart heads the list, being ordained in @lS46 as pastor of the First church of Fair Haven, now called the Grand Avenue church, where he remained un- LII l860, when failing health demanded his dismission, but he was re-engased ln 1873. He remained as pastor until 1889, whenhe was made pastor emeritus. which office he still holds, though re- siding in Philadelphia
 The record of the longest continuous service in one parish in Connecticut is held by Rev. Dr. Enoch F, Burr. who began in Hamburg, town of Lyme. in lS4S, was ordained pastor in 1850. and still is the active pastor of the church. Dr. Burr has the idea that what he could do fifty years ago he should be just as well able to do to-day, and at last accounts he makes nothing of the five miles from his home to Old Lynne, or of lifting es hog Ii iced from his wagon. He is no less facfle when he is discoursng.
 A close second is the Rev, Frederick A, Avery, who was ordained pastor of the Columbia church and remained it's active pastor until 1895, when he was lovingly made its pastor emeritus His present address is East Hartford.
 Rev. Oliver Brown was ordained in 1860, and is now serving the church in Lisbon; Rev. Austin Gardner in the same year, who is still in the ministry at Willington, the larger part of his ministry having been in Connecticut.
 Rev. Dr. Charles Ray Palmer was in 1860 and installed pastor of the First church, Bridgeport, in 1872. After a service of twenty-five years he was made pastor emeritus, and now resides in New Haven, being an active member of the corporation of Yale uri- versity. Dr. Edwin P. Parker's record las just been referred to in come1nnaor- ation of his seventieth birthday and he completion of forty-six years in the South church. Dr. Burr, it will be not- ed, is the only pastor in the state. who las had longer pastorate in single ,hurch.
 Rev. Dr William s. Palmer and Rev. Joseph Kyte were each ordained in 1862. Ind both are still serving two churches. he one in Abingdon and the other in 3ozrah. In the year 1883 there were ordained Rev. Joseph B. Little of did- llebury, Rev. Thomas K Noble, pastor emeritus of the Norwalk church, but 'esiding in Washington, D. C., Rev. AureHan H, Post, of New Preston, and Rev. Joseph H. TwiclrelL whose life Is z very part of the Asylum Hill church tt Hartford, and whose praise is ii he hearts of all. Like Dr. Palmer. he Rev. Joseph H. Twichell is mems Ter of the Yale corporation.
 Five of the Connecticut pastors were rdained in 1864, Rev. John 0. Barrows f the Stonington First, Rev. Marcus Burr of the Goshen parish in Leban- n, Rev. John B. Doelittle, of West 'uff1eld, Rev. Dr. Llewellyn Pratt of Broadway church, Norwich, and Rev. ohm F. Graf of the German church, Ansonia. Four also, were ordained in S65, Rev. Arthur Goodenough, who has cen in Winchester since 1870, Rev, )r. Samuel H. Howe who has begun is twenty-first year at the Park hurch, Norwich, Rev. George A. Pel- on, of Centerbrook, and Rev. Cyrus I. Perry of Bolton.
 The record is quickly told, but only ternity can tell what is written in the ,amb's Book of Life.