New Milford. A Memorial Discourse, Delivered in the Congregational Church, New Milford, Conn., Sunday, July 9, 1876

New Milford. A Memorial Discourse. 1876

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NEW MILFORD.

A
Memorial Discourse,

DELIVERED IN THE
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,
NEW MILFORD, CONN.,

Sunday, July 9, 1876.

BY
JAMES B. BONAR, Pastor.

PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.

1876.
M. L. DELAVAN, Printer.
New Milford, Ct.

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HISTORY Town and Church of New Milford, Conn. MEMORIAL SERMON

“One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.” — Ps. 145: 4.

The past is full of interest and instruction, so that all concede the value of history. Its importance is manifest from the fact that about two-thirds of God’s Holy Word is historical.

The history of any and every part of the earth is interesting; but our own Country and State, the town in which we reside, the Church to which we belong, and the family whose name we bear, are to us of the greatest interest. To-day, therefore, we turn our attention to the history of this Church, Society and town.

The sources of information on these subjects, though bulky, are meagre and imperfect. We have

1. Minutes of the Proprietor’s Meetings from 1706 to 1801.

2. Records of Town Meetings from 1713.

3. Minutes of the meetings of the First Ecclesiastical Society, from December, 1753.

4. Ecclesiastical Society’s Treasurer’s books from 1802.

5. Church Records from December 27th, 1727. These are not complete; the book kept by Mr. Rood is missing.

6. MSS. Notes of Rev. W. H. Moore.

7. Records of Baptist and Methodist Churches.

8. Memoir of Mrs. Mary A. Boardman, by Rev. Dr. Schroeder.

9. And the memory of persons still living.

In 1703, Col. Robert Treat and others representing 111 persons, all of Milford, obtained a patent to a certain tract of land in New Haven County, formerly called Weantinogue. This tract contained 84 square miles, embracing what is now known as the towns of New Milford, and Bridgewater, with parts of Brookfield and New Preston. It cost the Proprietors about 8 mills an acre. The first settler, though not a Proprietor, was John Noble, who came here from Massachusetts, in 1707. The Indians were then and long afterwards numerous, but seem always to have been on friendly terms with the settlers. The Proprietors held their meetings at Milford until 1715. The first Town Meeting seems to have been held in 1713. The town was first represented in the Legislature in 1725. The first record of freemen was made in 1744. The town belonged to New Haven Colony until the incorporation of Litchfield County, in 1751. The first bridge over the Housatonic, between the sea and its source, was built here in 1737. The first school in the town was opened in 1721, and was taught 4 months in the year, the town paying half the expense.

In 1707 two persons came into New Milford.

In 1712 there were here 12 families or between 60 and 70 persons. A census, taken in 1756, reports 1137 in the town; another taken in 1774, reported 2776, while in 1800, after parts of the town had been ceded to Brookfield and Washington, the population was 3198. The census of 1870, gives the population of the present New Milford, as 3586, while Bridgewater, formerly a part of this town, has 877 inhabitants.

New Milford has always been loyal to the cause of freedom. In 1779 the town voted 4 bushels of wheat a month to every man who volunteered for six months, and three bushels a month to the militia men who marched when ordered; but, if they failed to report within eight days after marching orders, they forfeited this premium. The town also supported the families of men while absent in the Continental army. In 1778 the Articles of Confederacy proposed by Congress, styled “The United States of North America,” were adopted in town meeting, except part of the 5th article, which respects the mode of choosing Delegates to Congress. It was “Voted that the Freemen will always hold the prerogative and sole power of choosing our Delegates in Congress by vote.” Subsequently, “said Articles of Confederacy were adopted in full by the meeting without a dissenting voice.” In 1783 it was voted, and a Committee was appointed to enforce the resolution, that all refugees, or “skedaddlers,” as they would now be termed, as well as all who had voluntarily gone over to the enemy during the war, should be prohibited from returning and settling in the town. The Adjutant-General of Connecticut, reports the names of 222 men from the town of New Milford as having served in the armies of the United States during the Civil War of 1861-65. This does not include the 37 who deserted nor the one who was dishonorably discharged.

The town, as such, has always upheld the cause of morality and good order. In 1787 certain persons were fined “for bringing into the town and entertaining unwholesome inhabitants.” So early as 1729 it was voted in town meeting that “James Hine have oversight of the female sex during exercises” in Church. And so late as 1821 a certain person was fined $1.67 for “breach of the Sabbath,” but this fine was remitted.

The way in which they cared for the poor and guarded the interests of the town, appears from the vote of 1771 — “That a black bonnet, a red woman’s cloak, and a worsted gown be kept for the daughter of Hannah Beeman; if she die under age, the town to have them.”

The first sermon was preached here by Col. John Reid, who had studied for the ministry in his youth. Mr. Daniel Boardman, a preacher of the Gospel, came here in 1712. The next year it was voted that the inhabitants should pay all the expense that had been incurred in obtaining a minister, also to lay out a pastor’s lot, to dig and stone up a well for Mr. Daniel Boardman, if he became a settled minister in New Milford. Meanwhile, the town allowed 5s. 6d. a week for the minister’s board. In 1715 the town agreed to petition the General Court to “attain liberty for the settlement of the worship and ordinances of God among us.” This was the subject that then came up at every meeting of the inhabitants. It was not until 1716 that they made arrangements for laying out a burying ground of two acres; but for four years before that they had been contriving and planning for the religious instruction of themselves and families. The poverty of the people appears in the resolution adopted as to Mr. Boardman’s salary, one third of which was to be paid in grain, two-thirds in labor, linen, or pork; the established price of wheat was then 4s. a bushel, rye, 2s. 8d., corn 2s. and oats 1s.; part of the agreement being that Mr. Boardman should sell the grain which he had to spare at the same prices to the inhabitants. In accordance with a vote of the town, Mr. Boardman was ordained November 21st, 1716.

So far as the records show, there was then entire unanimity of religious belief and opinion among the people. The Ecclesiastical Society and the Town were practically one and the same. Everything regarding the building and finances of the Society was determined in Town Meeting. The first division occurred in 1731-2, when 20 persons withdrew to form a Quaker Society. They built a house in 1742 and have continued their worship from that time until the present, though at this date there is but one family of them residing in the town.

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