New Britain herald., 1915-06-28

! ment was then taken to January l5, 1889. -5.t l At the adjourned meeting thirty-one
 men were present, twenty five voted I for and six against the resoution- 1 That the meeting house to be erect l ed by this society shall be located be- tween the dwelling house of William A. Ives (where Deacon E.. A. Free l man now resides) and the canal upon 1 the most favorable and suitable ] ground to be decided by the building committee" *4 Messrs. Stanley and Whiting, Rufus CowEes, Eli Barnes and Lucas H. Car 1 ter were appointed to solicit subscrip- 1 tions.
 On the 22nd Of January, it was pro- ] posed to build, at an expense to be | determined "By the amount of money already raised and that can be raised hereafter The resolution to that end
 was tabled and the former vote con corning location and committees re- scinded In substitution, E. H. Writ Ting and w. A. Ives were appointed to solicit subscriptions and it was de- cided to leave the matter of location to,tas to the county court fa Hartford
 On January "A, the second Mon- day in October in each yeas, and se- lected as the date for annual meet ihgs, and Messrs. Stanley, Whiting, Ives, Hills and Cowles were named as new committee to contract for and build meeting house at an expense equal to the amount subscribed, which then aggregated $1,274 in money and labor. rss
 On March 26, MT. Stanley's diary records the fact that on that day he went to Hartford to petition the court x ito locate the meeting house. Noth- ing came of this action as on April 23 the society voted to rescind it's former vote concerning location.
 It has doubtless been observed that the meetings thus far held were meet ings of the society. The church had not at that time been organized
 With meeting house in prospect, the desire for a local church organiza- tion quickly took form and on Feb ruary 27, 1S40, we find Roderick Stan ley in Pennington with a petition, signed by eighteen men and women residents of Plainville-and members of the Farmington Congregational church, Praying to be set off as a church of Christ" and to be known as "The Second Congregational church of Farmington.'
 This petition was acted upon March 5, and while grave doubts were expressed as to the wisdom of so do- ing, favorable answer was returned and on March 16, 1840, council was convened at the home of Rufus Cowles Gater the home of R. A. Barnes) on North Washington street. Of this council the Rev. Noah Porter was moderator, the Rev. Elisha Jones, scribe. The petition, a confession of faith and a form of covenant, written by Roderick Stanley, were by him pre- scented and the, council organized by the new church under the name of 'The Second Congregational church of Pennington.
 The newly organized church as- sembled at the school house with Rufus Cowles as moderator and Jehial C.. Hart, clerk. Twenty -ore persons were there received into mem bership by letter from the Pennington church and adjournment was taken to March IT, on which date, Rufus Cowles and Roderick Stanley were elected the first deacons, Jehial c. Hart was made treasurer and rules relating to membership were adopted. The first communion service was held at the school house April 12, 1S40.s
 Thus the Congregational church and society in Plainville came into be- ing.
 With organization perfected, the next business was to secure pastor, provide a meeting house and arrange for the support of both.
 As we have already seen, there was difference of opinion as to the loca- tion of the meeting house and uncer- , tainty as to it's cost. In view of this it appears that William A. Ives, Rod- erick Stanley, Lucas H. Car ter, Chauncey Morse and Rufus Cowles, wisely took matters into their own hands erected a meeting house at their own expense, on the lot now owned by James A. Eaton, at the cor- ner of Main and Canal streets and of fered the use of it to the church free, upon condition, that the society must agree to keep the building in good re- pair and Provide minister of the Congregational or Presbyterian de- nomination of Christians, in good standing with pastors and churches of his own denomination"
 Deacon Sledded Stone.
 From Deacon Stanley's diary we read that on March 23, 1s40, he was sledding stone for the new building, that on March 28 the frame was raised by Elias Hills, Bryan Churchill and Timothy Porter, the contractor. This plain, one, story building with a cupola and bell weighing 150 pounds. brought from New Haven by Captain Romance Neal on his canal boat, was practically finished by the 1st of Jone and on the 9th of that month Hiram Camp, in behalf of the society, entered into an agreement with the owners, whereby the. new "Cnoference House, as the structure