New Britain herald., 1915-12-11

| | the Soldiers monument, which we are l all so proud of he gave liberally and
 1t has been said, when ever the church was in need of funds all the commit
 tee had to do, was to present the case 1 to J. T. Hart and he always helped | them out During his short sickness
 Knowing he had only a little time to
 live, he put his earthly house in order.
 He did not forget the church on the
 hill He died June "A, 1884. The fol- lowing is an extract from a letter 1 received from a friend who knew MT. i Hart intimately. He seemed to me 1 to live a very active, Christian life.
 His death was a great loss to kens- 1 ington and the church.
 The exercises closed with bened1ction 1 and prayer led by the pastor, Rev. | Carleton Hazen.
 | History of the Church. l The Ministerial society of the Great | Swamn was organized in 1705 by an act of the general assembly. This was known as the Second society of Farmington, and included Berlin and New Britain. Rev. William Burn ham was the first pastor. The first m meeting house was on Christian Lane on the spot marked by the granite monument, which was placed there by Ruth Hart chapter, D. A. R., of Meriden a few years ago. It was built in 1712. Rev. MT. Burnham was ordained on December 12 of that year and labored among the parish toners until his death in l75o, per- forming marriages, conducting funer- als and acting in the capacity of sptri- tual adviser.
 1yy "a the church until 1733, when a new one was built on Pennington Road. diagonally opposite the Fair grounds. A committee from the general assem- bly, fixed this location as the parish was divided on the matter. Twenty. one years later in 1754, the parish was divided and the First Church of Christ. of New Britain was organized in 175S.
 Things went along smoothly then until 1772, when further differences arose. The parish was then divided by a line running north and south. the side to the east being composed of the worthington district and KensinS- ton at the west. In 1775 each so- ciety erected church h''1"'"" '" places being designated by the gen" eral assembly, The Kensinst"n church was built on the spot of cho present edifice, in fact a part or tho present edifice is from the original building. Rev. Samuel Clark was then pastor.
 During the Revolution.
 In 1775 and the following year 'he church sent forth practically all Of it's able bodied men to fight ir the Revolutionary war. The church In those days was the main portion of the church of today. There were no parlors or towers. There was a door on either side and the pulpit was high up opposite the door, which led from the road. The pews were of the box type. The tower of the church was built in 1887 and in 1852 the bell was hung. The present parlors of the church were added in 1902 and special service consecrat ing them to the church was held un June 4. When the tower was built many changes were made in the ar rangement of the interior of the build ing. This was made possible by a gift of $500 from Mrs. Ruth Hart Mrs Hart was the widow of Selah Hart of revolutionary war fame and she lived to be the oldest person in Berlin of whom there is any record, passing away after she was two months beyond the century milestone.
 Civil War Days.
 During the Civil war the church members went away" to fight for the preservation of the nation. On April 30. 1861, Rev. Elias Hillard, then pastor was standing in the door. l way waiting for service time, when | Postmaster Upson informed him that 1 Fort Sumter had been fired upon. The laid aside his prepared ser. mon for the day and made an extem- poraneous address on Patriotism" So powerful was this sermon that many of the men enlisted and fought Tor the four years that followed. The also had effect on the women of the church, for the following week they met and hand-sewed Q flag which hung in the belfry' throu ghout -he war. This flag is now placed in he church parlors. Two years later lnder the direction of Rev. MT TIil- ard the first soldiers monument vas erected and it still stands on the green in the rear of the church. The chapel at Upson's corner was added 0 the property of the church in 1883, being paid for by popular subscrip- ion and it's title was vested ill the 1eacons and their successors.
 List of Ministers.
 Following is the list of ministers md their dates:
 Rev. William Burnham, 1712 to .750.
 Rev. Samuel Clark, 1756 to 1775.
 Rev. Bemoni Upson, 1916 to 1859.
 Rev. Royal Robbins, 1916 to 1859.
 Rev. Elias D. Hillard, 1860 to 1887.
 Rev. Abraham C. Baldwin, 1863 to .Ses
 Rev. Alfred T. Waterman, 1869 to s74
 Rev. James B. Cleveland, 1875 to