Norwich bulletin., 1912-08-26

Willinnantic, Danielson and Putnam $


EHnuHHBHaRaBEREIHEnnHB nnHBnHhHaHAsHanAhunbAA 1 for the long planned event and enter ! into the spirit of the Old Home week with a zeal which assures the success of the double anniversary.
 The First Congregational church was taxed for room to accommodate those who desired to attend the service Sun
 day morning, Rev. D. F. Dodd offered prayer and the scripture reading was 1 by Rev. H. M. Bartlett, the sermon Life in the Old Church from the text Ps lxxvii. 10-12. He was heard with | deep interest as he reviewed the his tory of the aged church and its work in the community. There was ser
 vice of worship and praise in the | evening. Rev. Sherrod Soule, super l intendent of missions in Connecticut, gave stereopticon lecture following on Congregationalism in Connecticut. | In the afternoon at the lake a sacred | concert was given at which there was very large attendance.
 l The Congregational church, the First church of Coventry" was organ
 ized, so far as. actual dates are con- | cerned, about 1712 or 1713, as it was | in the former year that the petition was made to the general court for the | right to lay tax for the support of the | church. But there are some who be- | lieve that minister was stationed in l Coventry at least two years previous. | The first pastor was Rev. Joseph 1 Meacham, who was in charge of the | church for 40 years. His wife was l Esther Williams, daughter of the fla
 nous Rev. John Williams of Deerfield,
 Mass. In the village cemetery there is 8 stone erected which tells of her experience when a young girl. When | 12 years old and residing in Deerfield
 she was captured by the Indians in
 the road on that place in 1704 and | carried off to Canada where. she lived | the life of the Indians for 10 years, but
 managed to make escape. and shortly after married Rev Joseph Meacham. I In May, 1776, petition was sent i from the people of Coventry to the court in Windham asking that a site
 be selected for aa new meeting house
 to meet the demands of the increasing
 population. A committee was appoint ed by the court, but the site selected Twas not agreeable to the church peo-
 pie. who the following year potitoned I the general court of the state to
 change the location to one opposite the
 green, as site more commodisous and
 elegant" The latter petition was
 granted and the church was built, oct
 cupying the same until Jan, 21, 1897,
 when it was burned.
 
 and the building of mills along the
 stream, the population of the town be-
 gan to shift, and the more thi cbly set
 tied portion became what is now
 known as the village of South, Coven-
 try Many of the residents WihO were
 then living in the village. finding that
 the old church was not large enough
 favored the erection of a eW one
 This was opposed by some of the
 older people and resulted in a split
 and services were held in the village
 in 1S4S. and the church built and dedi-
 cated in 1849. The Village church. as
 it was then known, became tthe most
 largely attended but services were
 still held in the old church until May 2 1886. when it was practically discOn- tinued. But it was not untin some 2C years afterwards that the records o1 the reuniting and the turning over ot the papers and money from the ole church to the Village church and de- claring it the First Congregations church of Coventry was perfected. The town of Coventry was included in the territory given by Joshua, sa chem of the Mohegans, to Ia Hartford men, who in turn conveyed 6heir righ 1. to William Pitkin, Joseph, Talcotl William Whiting, Richard Lord anC Nathaniel Rust. 1t was on May g 5 1706, that these men. were appointed :. committee by the general court to la, . out the town into lots. The origina
 map showing the manner in which thi - was done is in the town building il s the village. It shows that they wer
 generous in their highways. as tn ,. princinal road was 20 rods wide bu . has shrunlz until today it is little bet y ter than the required 40 feet.
 Even at that time they found on = lone pioneer who had cleared the flores > and had commenced farming on tn d south shore of the lake Samuel Bur
 chart was his name, and he umdOubt edly was the first settler of the towT h It was not however, until Oct Il a I'll. that the general court accepte k the layout and decided to call@the plac It Coventry.
 8 This name was chosen. traditio d says. because of the similaritv of tn = location of the land to that of Coven n try, England. if lying in q hollow muc
 the same as that of the town frOI
 which fl was supposed to have take fl it's name. At the same session a -' which the town was named n4ermissi0 D. was given for the settling of a minis '. ter. and the right given to lay a ta- . The first record of a town meeting ap @ pears as held on June 2, 1712.
 'i Today there will he a general, socis time in the homes of the people of tn
 town. In the evening at the Secon Il Congregational church. North Coven e' try the cantata The Lawmakers wi be presented hv local talent under th U direction of Charles w. Lee of Gov Il entry. There are many people wh
 will take nart in that and they hay
 been working hard for a long tim gettine ready for it. Much is expect ls cd of the entertainment and it will b l' repeated in South Coventry Thursda N' nieht