The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-12

Episcopalians in Stratford, and a few years later there were known to be fff- teen families of that communion there.
 So large number of Episcopalians in Puritan Connecticut, at that early day,
 was unusual in any portion of New England. Many of the families which
 settled in Stratford, toward the end of
 the seventeenth century, came there
 directly from England, instead of frcm other towns in New Eng
 land, and they were Epis-
 copalians who came to America to better their temporal condition and not to be rid of persecution, as was the case of the Puritans
 Lay services were held in the differ ent homes of the churchmen of Strat- ford till TOP, when they felt they
 were of sufficient strength 10 help sup port missionary, so application was made to the bishop of London for missionary. Although they strongly emphasized the fact that their condi ton, without a minister or a teacher
 was sad one, for some unknown req son the bishop did not send them any one. But they were in earnest, and, as they could not have a minister of their own, they concluded to try to
 borrow one for special occasions. With this idea in mind in 17O5 they asked Rev. William Vesey, rector of Trinity church in New York, to come to Strat- ford to baptize candidates, to admin ister communion and to preach to them. But the long journey on horse back through an almost trackless for est was more than he could undertake so he referred them to Rev. George Muirson, the missionary of the parish at Rye, N. Y. It was not, how- ever, till a year later that MT. Muir son went to Stratford, where The preached to large congregation and baptized twenty-four persons" many persons coming to hear him from scattered hamlets and settlements that were a days horseback ride distant
 Dangerous to be Churchman."
 With Mr. Muirson was Colonel Caleb Heathcote, fully armed" the old re- cords and letters tell us, for it was dangerous to be Churchman and to talk Episcopaey in Puritan Connecti- cut of those days. Colonel Heathcote was one of the most prominent men in the Province of New York and the richest man in Westchester county, his manor including nearly the whole of the parish at Rye. He was how evnr raora Y,otoIlo for bir oLo ,,,,.;.,, ship of Episcopacy than for his so- cial and civil prominence or for his wealth. He was one of the parishion- CTS of Trinity parish in New York city and gave generously toward erect ing the church edifice, and many of the parishes in Westchester county, N. r., owe their beginning to him. Says a writer of Episcopal church history in that county: ITO Colonel Heathcotes influence, cordial cooperation and per- sonal participation in his labors did Mir. Muirson owe. under God, the suc- cess he met with in Connecticut
 Colonel Heathcote's habit of carry ing arms while travelling as leader of the church militant" proved an ex- cellent habit on this visit, for he and MT. Muirson were stopped on the way and threatened With rough handling and Imprisonment if Mir Muirson preached. Notwithstanding which MT. Muirson preached to "a large con- gregation' He was in Stratford again two or three times, and on one occasion Rev. Evan Evans of Philadel- phia, Pa, accompanied him.
 The month of April, 17O7, is a mem orabe month to all Connecticut churchmen, for it was early in April of that year that the happy, earnest ly desired event took place for which those few, faithful, patient churchmen had been hoping and praying-the or ganization of Christ church and par ish. No great imagination is required for one to hear, coming down through the two centuries, the faint echo of the exultant voices of those Yankee and of their wives and | their children as they sang the "Venite l exultemus Domino" and the Te Deum | on that joyous occasion But tt was many bitter, sorrowful, soul-trying years Gin fact, not till after the Revo- lution) that they could utter those words from the Benedictus: That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear"
 On the second Sunday that MT. Murson was to preach in Stratford, 1ne of the town officials, supported by l considerable number of the inhabit- ants, stood in the public road and warned all Episeopalians to keep away rom the service on pain of having to pay fine of five pounds, should any ,f them disobey this order.
 A Fine Roll of Honor.
 Not all the names of those first churchmen are known, but a ew have been preserved on the peti- ion to the bishop of London in l7O2