The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-24
A~AM:
Fairfield Historical
 Society In Session
Interesting Letter Read by Their President Rev. Frank s. Child Annual Report Shows That Society is in Flourishing Con- ditiOn
Especial to The Farmer.)

Fairfield, Oct. 24-The Fairfield His toricaI Society held their annual meet ing. last evening, at the Memorial Lii brary hall. The meeting was called to order at o'clock by the president, Rev. Frank s. Child. Dr. Child said that the annual meeting was one in which ali of the society gathered to meet each other and hear the reports from the officers. Secretary and Treasurer Rev. Allen B. Beeman read the report for the year, which show ed the society to be in good order. added to the grand list in the past year. He also announced that Rob- ert Peale Wakeman, author of the Wakeman Genealogy and an indefat- igable worker in this line of research. has presented to the society his man. uscript containing the inscriptions on all the tombstones of the town. There are 13.0oo inscriptions in the town. There have been many gifts present ed to the society, but as the room Is so small, there Is no place at the present time to put them. There was a present on hand fast evening which attracted much attention during the course of the evening. This was a three dollar bill which was presented by winthrop Perry of Southport. This bill is a rare piece of money and was on the Southpart bank, dated in the early part of the eighteenth century. It is signed by F. ID. Perry, cashier of the bank at that time, and J. AL vord. president.
 F. Wells Smith. president of the Ills torical Society in Greenfield, Mass, at this meeting to deliver an address to the members, but she was taken i'll a few days ago and was unable to at- tend. Rev. Beeman then introdrced Rev Dr. Child, who spoke on "A Day With Dr. Dwight on Greenfield Hiu,- 17eO' Dr. Child said:
 It was @ happy decision by the Gen. eral Association of this Colony when June was chosen as the month for their annual fellowship. Greenfield Hin in the year 1790 has been etched by the poet:
 "As. round me here I gaze. what pros
 poets rise?
 Etheria1. matchless.
 Fair verna, loveliest village of the
 west.
 or every. joy and every charm pos
 sessed-"
 and pleasure. place of .scheerful lawEs" and sweet "bird carols'', home of industry and glowing faith, was a parish set off from the Prime Ancient Society of Fairfield in 1725, said to contain nearly fourteen hun dred inhabitants, mostly farmers. When the new pastor moved into the parish (this was in the year 178O his people pledged him a settlement sum of three hundred pounds sterling, a parsonage lot Of six acres and annual firewood supply of twenty cords, one of the largest, stipends paid in the State. At this time the population of New Haven exceeded that of the town of Fairfield by two or three hundred people A beautiful country district, well titled and prosperous. It was an ideal parish of ''ye olden times"
 This flair verna" welcomed fifteen parsons who came on horses (periiaps one or two of them in chaises) from . diverse parts of the State. There was Nathaniel Taylor, tall and erect, great rature suffusing his countenance. He came across the country from New Milford. A man of excellent business habits, exact and methodical. a trus- tee of Yale college, he was chosen moderator. In the stress of the Rev olution he had remitted to his parish an entire years salary.
 Well versed in the lore of fruit trees as well as theology, he combined in- door and outdoor study, vigor of body and mind attesting the fact of his happy union A worthy descendant was another Nathaniel, remembered as a captain of theological host marshaled on the training field of the Divinity Institution at New Haven.
 The association appointed MT. Ben jamin Trumbull scribe. This interest ing gentleman was one of the chap lains in the war of thes Revolution whose patriotism would not be re- stricted to clerical offices. He ham, <l> ~-I-sI1 L his adventures It was he and Col Tallmadge who were left in the river Bronx by a horse frightened into riot ous activity because of a double bur- den on it's back. Mir. Trumbull was remarkable for his agility. His work men in the field found it no easy task to keep abreast of him as he swung the scythe. lae M
 Let us remark how this meeting of the association 121 years ago. which we are by courtesy of remembrance attending called to mind that the .as- sociation had sometime since ''desired MT. Benjamin TrumbuH to write a religious history of the American Rev. olution and as he hath expressed his wishes that the association would ap- point a committee to inspect said tis- tory and report their opinion concern ing it to this body to the next Gen. eral Association Voted to the Rev. and Drs. Goodrich and Dwight and John Trumbull, Esq, be committee for that purpose" The religious his tory was never written, but the thought and desire of these men was perfectly manifest in this urgent re- quest for Mir Trumbull to put on rec ord the splendid, undertaking patriot ism of these Congregational leaders as opposed 70 the Toryism and hostility of numerous other preachers in Con- necticut. The history written by is a treasury of riches upon which all ly if not gratefully.
 Large is the debt we owe him for the literary service rendered through his long period of research and labor. '.He brought me in manuscript" says Professor Silliman, "all elegantly written out in his most beautiful chi rography. the entire second volume of his History of Connecticut"
 Robert Ross, writer of school books and lover of freedom, rode over from Newfield, the thriving village on the Pequonnock. Six feet in height, and with ample proportion, dressed in his wig, cooked hat, ruffled shiyt, black coat, while topped boots, light vest and brooches, he was typical digni- lied scholar.
 Rufus Hawley whose pastorate ex- tended over fifty-one years in West Avon, was present. John Foot, forty six years pastor in Cheshire; Aaron Church, who served in the East Hartford church for forty-two years, end Ebenezer Kellogg. pastor in North