First Church of Windsor

The First Church in Windsor

The First Church in Windsor, Connecticut is the oldest Congregational church in Connecticut. Its beginning dates to 1630 in Plymouth, England, when 140 men and women sailed on the Mary & John, the first of 17 ships of the so-called Winthrop Fleet bound for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Hearing from the Indians of the fertile land along the Connecticut River in what is now called the Connecticut River Valley, a small contingent of settlers headed southwest, establishing the first Connecticut town settlement at Windsor in 1633. Word soon spread that Windsor was a good place to settle, and in 1635 the congregation of the First Church ventured forth from their homes in Dorchester, Massachusetts to relocate to Connecticut.

History

Rachel Stiles is credited with being the first settler to set foot on Windsor, an unusual distinction for a woman of the time.citation needed The Windsor colony succeeded due to the leadership of Rev. John Warham, who led the first congregation and owned the first gristmill in Connecticut. Warham was called "the principal pillar and father of the colony" by Cotton Mather.

The original site of the First Church of Windsor was a meetinghouse built under the direction of Ephraim Huit, a town leader and teacher now buried in the Palisado Cemetery. The building stood at the center of the Palisado Green and was enclosed in a stockade (palisado) for protection against Indians, wolves, and other intruders. The church was covered by a thatched roof with a cupola in the center. A platform was later added to the cupola for convenience of beating drums to notify residents of Sunday services and to warn of attack. The Church operated as the political and religious center of the early town.

The First Church of Windsor is the site at which suspected witches were first put to death in the New World, including Alse Young (or Alice Young – for whom a judicial room is now named in Town Hall) and Lydia Gilbert. This began a trend which culminated in the infamous witch trials at Salem in Salem, Massachusetts.

Around 1668, a schism in the church resulted in the formation of a Presbyterian Party of Windsor that ordained their first minister in 1669 and held services in the town house while First Church continued as Congregationalist and occupied the meetinghouse.

Several attempts occurred at reconciliation during the next 10 years, but it appears that the First Church congregation would only readmit former congregation members after unconditional surrender. It remained for Samuel Mather, cousin of Cotton Mather, to accomplish this reconciliation. With regards to the reaction of the local people toward this policy, it is recorded in Stiles’ History of Ancient Windsor that during Mr. Mather’s ministry [1684-1728] “not a shadow of complaint seemed to have darkened his or their pathways.”

By 1711, a separate ecclesiastical society had been established in each Connecticut town, including the First Church in Windsor. Near the end of the 18th Century, care of local cemeteries and public education was transferred to the newly organized First School Society. In time, education became the province of Windsor community government, but First School Society still administers the Palisado and Riverside cemeteries.

The location of the meetinghouse near where the Connecticut River and the Farmington River converge created challenges for congregation members trying to attend services during flooding. Additionally, when a fire destroyed the meetinghouse in 1754, parishioners decided to build two meetinghouses, one on each side of the river. The Rev. William Russell, and later the Rev. David Rowland, ministered to the First Ecclesiastical Society on the south side of the river, and the Rev. Theodore Hinsdale ministered to the parishioners on the north side. Two years later, the present meetinghouse was erected on the north side of the river and a covered bridge built spanning the river to accommodate parishioners from the south end of town. The school was built on the south side of the river shortly thereafter.

Major changes in the meetinghouse were undertaken in 1844, 50 years after its construction. A Greek-Revival portico replaced the tower with its tall steeple, box pews were removed and today’s “slips” substituted. The high pulpit and stairs were taken out and the present pulpit installed. A Sunday School room was built at the rear of the meetinghouse in 1890; it now serves as rehearsal space for the church choirs.

In the 1950s, Windsor experienced major population growth. The First Church acquired additional property in 1953—the neighboring Pierson and Russell houses—and in 1955 broke ground for a new Parish House. In 1961, First Church voted to become a member congregation of the recently formed United Church of Christ, a 1957 merger of the Congregational and Evangelical & Reformed churches.

Today, a Long-Range Planning Committee is at work looking at the spiritual mission of the church as it relates to worship, music, youth, and the attraction of new members.

Notable members

Notable members over the years include Oliver Ellsworth (1745-1807), the third chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He served as a senator in the newly formed Congress (1789-1796). Ellsworth is primarily remembered for his contribution to the formation of the U.S. Constitution and for drafting the Judiciary Act of 1789, which provided for a strong federal judiciary system and created the U.S. Supreme Court. Ellsworth is buried at Old Cemetery, now known as Palisado Cemetery, behind the First Church. Joseph H. Rainey (1832-1877) was the first African American person to serve in the United States House of Representatives and the second African American person to serve in the United States Congress. The Rainey family was active in the First Church of Windsor, and in 1876 Rainey spoke at the town's observance of the American Centennial celebration.

See also

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