The morning journal-courier., 1908-12-26
NOTED PASTORS IN BOLTON CHURCH Jonathan Edwards First of Long List in Little House of Wor-
 ship Now Nearly 200
 Years Old,
MANY WERE YALE GRADS
One of Them, Rev. Jared Andrus, Set tied the Question of OcCupa- ton by Casting
 Lots.

The Congregational churches in Windham county which antedate the ancient church In Bolton are located in Mansfield, Hebron and Columbia Generally the church In Holland Is placed in the list, having been founded in l72S, Jonathan Edwards preached In Bolton in lI22, and was called to the pastorate In that year, He placed his consent in the town records Nov. II, l723 This arrangement was chang ed and he became a tutor at Yale a short tome afterwards The building of a meeting house by the Bolton people was begun in 1722, year in advance of the founding of the church in Tol- land, but it was not finished until l7i6
 In May, l725, the general court au- Ithorzed the settlement of an ortho- dox minister by the Bolton church. Thomas White of Hatfield Mass, who graduated In 1120 in the class Of Jon athan Edwards at Yale was ordained and settled october 2, l125. This has been made the formal date of the churchs organization in Bolton Mir. White remained pastor until his death February 22. l763 There were sev- enteen members at the beginning and during Mir. Whites pastoratc of 3S years 2l5 were added tO the church on profession of faith and 95 by letter He baptized qli
 George Colton of West Hartford who grauated from Yale in l156, succeeded MT White He was settled November 9, l163, and died In the pastorate, June 27. 1872 During this period q were added to tho church hy letter. oS5 on profess sion Of faith. The Rev Philander Par mele of Killingworth Yale lSO9 was the third pastor He was settled Nov. & lSlj and died December 27. 1899. from 1 typhoid fever, which lie contracted while caring for a cassmate, the Rev. Asahel Nettleton, who das down with the disease at the parsonage Mrs Par mele outlived her husband 53 years. She died October 25 1879. in her s9th year Tho church additions under MT. Parmcle were l2S on profession and nine by lettcr The three pastorates covered a period of 100 years.
 The Rev Taviug Hyde of Franklin succeeded MT parmalcc and remained with the church until April 1890. He was man of large attainments The returned missionary from the sand wich Islands, the Rev James Ely 0r Lyme, who had lahored In that field for Ave years from 1929, was settled at Bolton September 25, ls3o and con tinucd as pastor until May 1Ss Tn ' iA9, while the church was wlthou, q pastor, the meeting house which has stood Sl years was suppanted hy the present structurc The dedication took place, November i4, lSiS The
 Rev Lavius Hyde began his second pastorate of the church in December, lSi9 and concluded his work January i ], 1880 Mrs Mary Gleason Sumner. mother Of Treasurer Frank C. sumner Of the Hartford Trust company. was member of the church choir under i NIT Hyde 56 years ago and her bus band the late John w sumner whu represented the town of Bolton in the
 legislature of ISIS, was the choir mas ter Mrs Sumner of that old time choir will be "a years old in January 1 Before she sang In tho Bolton church ] she was a member of the choir in tho church at Buckingham across the line ] from Bolton in the town of Glaston i bury
 ] In March, lS5i, Parson Hyde ascct- | taincd that there were 122 families Tn | the town and that the population was ] a16 Ninety-four of the families were occupied with farming, sixty-four of ] the families were Congregatonaists i SS of them being in the church Fam 1 lily worship had fallen to low ebb i The quarries, which furnished flag stone for city pavoments, occupied much attention and charcoal burning l was an important industry But farm i ing was the chief occupation, The ser vices in the church, Sundays com | prised preaching morning and after noon with Sunday school midway. Ar ! ter the completion of MT Hydc's pas ! toral labors, the Rev William Howe
 WhittcmOre, Yale 1895, the Rev Fred erick w. Chapman class of 1928 at
 Yale, and the Rev, Ezra D. Kinney i served brief terms in charge of the i church
 The Rev. William E. B. Moore was settled as pastor May 20, 1868. anC
 remained with the church ten years 1 During this time the town was send.
 ing able men to the legislature anC
 was one of the most influential of the small towns represented in that body | The Sumner, Steele and White faml- l lies were leaders in the social politi cal and church interests Of the com, munity. parson Moore was an earnest
 preacher and took much interest in tho
 history of the old church. He pre-,
 pared the roll of membership, covering
 a long period He was succeeded lr
 the pastorate by the Rev, Luther II
 Barber, who was settled in June lS1S
 and concluded his pulpit ministrations
 in March, 1889, The Rev Willis M
 Cleveland was settled, october 1, lSS, and continued as pastor until Septem.
 ber ,, 1891 The Rev. Henry C. Rob
 inson succeeded him, beginning his
 pastoral work in April, 1892 Tn,
 pastor at present Is the Rev. C. M
 Perry, who began his work October
 i, 1888 He was ordained in 1865
 The church Is valued at $3OO0 and tn,
 parsonage at $l, 400. There were 4
 families in the parish January |, l9OS
 sixteen ministers of the gospel have
 grown up in the Bolton church dur
 ing its history Most of. them were
 college trained. Yale, Williams anc
 Dartmouth, sending them out for tn,
 work of the church at large The
 first of these ministers raised in the
 Bolton church was the Rev, Joseph 1 l.athrop, He graduated at Yale iI l754 and was settled in West Spring
 field, Mass, August 20, lI56. He re
 mained there until his death, Decem