New Britain herald., 1922-03-10
Highly Club Hears Inter- esting History of Life of Moses Dunbar, Royalist Recruiting Officer.

| weekly lncotlng ana supper nt The r. M c, A. last evening As his rub icct, he chose n story of a Tory hero of the Revolution.
 Hanged By State.
 He said that all people know of Nathan Hale, the great hero of Con- necticut, but not many know much of another great man who also fought in that war, with the same work, and who suffered the same fate. Moses Dunbar, a Bristol man. Hale was Continental soldier, Dunbar was Il Tory: Hale was hanged as spy by the British government. Dunbar was for the same reason.
 Until about 20 years ago practically no one knew about Dunbar. There was an old house in Harwington which had nearly fallen down with age, and it was thought best to tear it down. While pulling apart some old blanks, a man discovered some old pieces of paper. From these pieces of paper most of the present knowl- edge of Dunbar's early life was drawn, at least they brought Moses Dunbar and his story into the minds of people again.
 1 About 15 years ago MT. Peck be- came interested in the story of this man, he said, and searched pretty thoroughly all old records pertaining ro him.
 One of 18 Children.
 Moses Dunbar was born in Walling- ford in 1746, the second of a family of 16. When he was very young his parents moved to the village of East 1 Church, small town near Bristol. At the age of IS, he married Bristol girl, Phoebe Jerome. member of an Episcopalian family. Dunbar changed to the Episcopal faith, whereupon his father disowned him, his own family being Congregationalists.
 At this point, MT. Peck explained religious conditions in Connecticut at this time He said that practically every village was a Congregational parish, the Congregational church be- ing the established one at that time in Connecticut. |. The first outsiders to come in were Baptists and the Episcopalians, all though very few Baptists came at this time. The state was thus divided. Congregationalists against Episcopal ians, at the time of the Revolution.
 AS the Puritans would not tolerate those who did not accept their ideas, it can be readily seen that the Epis- copalians did not have a very easy road to travel. For instance. when the members of the Church of Eng land settled in Connecticut towns > they were forced to pay taxes for the support of the Congregational church. Naturally, they objected very strenuousy to these laws. They thought it unfair that they should, besides paying for the support of their own parishes, pay for the sup port of others.
 However, they felt that the great Church of England was the dominant church and that the time would come when, that church would make itself felt here. The parishes were conduct de by missionaries, young men, who were very enthusiastic and who were very much against the Congregation alists, the speaker explained.
 Revolutionary Changes.
 At last, a fairly harmonious state of affairs came into existence. Dur ing the Revolution things changed greatly. The Episcopalians felt tha' if the colonists won the rebellion England would become cut OH rom the Americans and the Church ol England would perish in America That is the reason why practically all the members of the Episcopal church became Loyalists, or Tories,
 During the Revolution one great noint of difficulty was found in the Episcopal service. In the prayer DOCK used at that time was prayer TOT ; the king and the royal family Tn which was expressed the hope that , the king might triumph over all his enemies.
 This was very embarrassing , clause at that time and, at last, a convention of Episcopal ministers was held in order to find way out of the difficulty. Some of the more timid ones voted to do away with the services until the trouble with the mother country should blow over At that time they thought that the | trouble would pc Gllueu III d ItW months at the most.
 One Minister Persists.
 But one old man, Rev. John Beach was very emphatic in his desire for the services to continue: he continued the services and even read the prayer every Sunday during the war.
 When Moses Dunbar changed tc the Episcopal church, he not only be came an Episcopaiian, but he als' became a Loyalist, as were abou half of the Jerome family, said tht speaker
 Family Was Divided.
 As viewed by MT. Peck, the history of the Jerome family is very Inter esting one, Half of the family work cd with all their might for the col onies and the other half worked jus as hard for the king. There were number Of extremely active Ioyalist' in the family and some of the g1rl' married well known Tory leaders,
 This family lived in a section com posed almost entirely of Episcopal ians. thus making it a hot-bed fol Tories, and place Tor many secret meetings. one of the inter esting places near Bristol which was probably used by them is the Tor. Den" a cave where the Tories could hide should there be need for 1t.
 Dunbar Opposed War. Dunbar did not sympathize with the