CHAPTER X.
1721.
1721. Feb. 26, Sunday.—The Quakers at Meeting made a great disturbance; especially Sarah Bolles.—Hempstead Diary.
Mr. Hempstead, in his usual brief style of chronicle, gives no further light upon this matter. By the records of the County Court, in the following June, it is shown that the Quakers referred to in the Diary were John Bolles, his wife Sarah and John Waterhouse, and that the impelling reason for this countermove was because John Waterhouse had been seized and maltreated for baptizing Joseph Bolles, eldest son of John and Sarah, now twenty years of age, who, on entering upon a religious life, had, with the approval of his father and mother and the rest of the Society to which his whole family belonged, selected this young leader to baptize him.
Had any Rogerene been selected to perform this baptism other than the “dutiful” son who had recently left the Congregational church to join the nonconformists, it is probable there would have been no such unusual interference; since such baptisms have been constantly taking place for years, and there is no record of any other disturbance of this character.
Extensive improvements have now been completed in the Congregational meeting-house, almost equivalent to a rebuilding of that edifice. From the Rogerenes has been taken the usual unreasonable amount of property on this account; in the case of John Rogers, three of his best fat cattle together with shoes that, sold cheap at an “outcry,” brought 30s. It seems high time, after so many years of exorbitant tribute to a ministry of which these people have no approbation, that some more effectual effort should be made than the simple refusal to pay such taxes, which has practically greatly increased their loss, by leaving them utterly at the mercy of the collectors.
A plan is now devised to fit this emergency, yet one much less aggressive than the ordinary countermove and indicative of a spirit of compromise on the part of the Rogerenes, despite the fact that one of their recent baptisms has been so seriously interfered with and their friends concerned therein are to be tried at the next sitting of the County Court. A representative number of them will appear at noontime in the meeting-house, which they have been forced to assist in rebuilding, and endeavor to hold a meeting of their own between the regular services. Undoubtedly, they expect to be prevented from entering the church at all; but the appeal for their rights in the premises will be made none the less evident and eloquent by such prevention. If they do succeed in entering, the familiar riot will ensue, occasioned by putting them out in a violent manner, carrying them to prison, etc. In that case, they will be fined “for making a riot,” and tried and sentenced for the same; but their cause will be all the better advertised, at home and abroad.
April 23, 1721, Sacrament Day.—John Rogers came into the meeting-house and preached between meetings, his crew with him.—Hempstead Diary.
By this, it is shown that the first attempt at this new style of countermove was on the above day, and, by the absence of any court record regarding this occurrence, it further appears that, either because it was “sacrament day,” or because the governor was out of town, or from both causes, no resistance was made to this noon entry or to the preaching by John Rogers that followed, each of the Rogerenes occupying his or her own seat as set off in the meeting-house.
Upon the next Sunday, they appear in like manner,[[138]] just as the Congregational service is breaking up. As Mr. Adams and the others come out, they politely state their purpose of holding another meeting of their own between the Congregational services. No objection being made, they enter and take their places in the seats assigned them. The governor is surely at hand on this occasion, and none can be more expectant of dire consequences to the offenders than are the heroic band themselves. But even Governor Saltonstall cannot well proceed without the issue of a warrant, which he must hasten to procure. In these critical circumstances, the dauntless leader proceeds to expound certain Scriptures to his little audience of twelve Rogerenes, with, doubtless, some curious spectators also.
A constable soon appears upon the scene, and the excitable and riotous portion of the church party are now at liberty to make an uproar and assist in the seizure and abuse. John Bolles is carried out and to jail by the arms and legs, face downward. His wife Sarah and one of the Rogerene men, Josiah Gates, hasten to the house of the governor, near by, where they remind him of his public promise (Chapter IX.) not to break up their meetings provided they do not disturb the Congregational church services, and Mrs. Bolles begs that her husband may not be thus abused.
Considering the towering rage of the governor over this strategic move on the part of the nonconformists, and the plea of the petitioners regarding non-disturbance of Congregational services, the box on the ear which Josiah Gates receives from the hand of the governor and the summary turning of the two petitioners out of doors is a natural sequence.
The next day, the governor binds John Rogers and John Bolles over to the June court.
By the records of the County Court in June, we find John Rogers and John Bolles called to answer “for unlawful and riotous entrance into the meeting-house on April 30, with other persons to the number of twelve.” They plead “not guilty” (viz.: to any riotous entering or to any guilt in entering). The court finds both guilty; John Bolles is to pay a fine of £5, and cost of prosecution £3. John Rogers, having taken the precaution to demand trial by jury, is to pay a fine of only 10s., and cost of prosecution £1 18s., which gives us the popular verdict in the case. Yet for this fine the sheriff took ten sheep and a milch cow. In this way, the executives got the better of a sympathetic jury.
At this June court, John Bolles and his wife are arraigned for having disturbed the congregation “in February last” (upon occasion of the Congregational interference with the baptism of their son Joseph by John Waterhouse). The court, “having heard what each has to offer and the evidence against them, adjudge each to pay a fine of £20 and costs of prosecution £1.”
As for John Waterhouse, he is first tried for having disturbed the Congregational meeting (after the church interference with said baptism, February 26) and is to pay same fine and charges as John Bolles and wife for this offense. Accordingly the cost of Joseph’s baptism reaches £65. No wonder that Joseph Bolles is to become a leader among the Rogerenes and eventually prominent in a great countermove that is to shake the Congregational church of New London.
John Waterhouse is also tried for “assuming a pretended administration of the ordinance of baptism to one Joseph Bolles of New London” and “that in time thereof he made use of these words: ‘I baptize thee into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.’” “The matter of fact against him being fully proven” and “he having been imprisoned” (apparently until the sitting of this court), he is now sentenced to be whipped ten stripes on the naked body for having performed this baptism.
It is well for the Rogerene Society that so courageous and talented a man as John Waterhouse has given himself to the Christian service in this contest for religious liberty. The days of their great leader are now numbered, although he is still, at seventy-three years of age, in full health and vigor, despite his fifteen years of imprisonment during the last forty-six years, and many other trials and sufferings induced by merciless punishments.
Prominent among the noticeable facts in this man’s history is his faithful Christian ministry, a ministry copied closely from New Testament precept and example. Here is a pastor who in obedience to the command to visit the sick has been ever ready to hasten fearlessly to the bedsides of victims of the most dreaded contagion, to render aid temporal or spiritual; although not himself an immune, unless God so decree. He could be called upon in any circumstance of misfortune, wherever a friend was needed, to serve, to comfort, or advise. He has assisted the poor from the earnings of his own hands. He has visited the widows and the fatherless and those in prison. He has been at all the charges of his own ministry, by the fruits of his own industry. Since it has been claimed by him and his followers, on Scriptural authority, that faith and prayer are more efficacious in the healing of the sick than are the advice and prescriptions of earthly physicians, how often for this purpose must his prayers have been required.
A few months later than the events narrated in previous portions of this chapter, occurs the great smallpox pestilence in Boston. At this time, John Rogers is having published in that city his book entitled “A Midnight Cry,” and also his “Answer to R. Wadsworth.” If he has need to go to Boston, on business connected with these publications, it is certain, by the character of the man, that he will not hesitate, but rather hasten, that he may, in the general panic there, render some assistance. Even if he has no business occasion for such a visit, it will not matter, provided he judges the Master’s command to visit the sick calls him to Boston. Since his conversion in 1674, he has made a practice of visiting those afflicted with this contagion so shunned by others, yet has never been attacked by the disease. He believes the promise that God will preserve His faithful children to the full age of threescore years and ten unless called to offer up their lives in martyrdom, and that when, at last, in His good pleasure, He shall call them, it matters not by what disease or what accident He takes them hence. Surely death could come in no better way than in some especial obedience to His command.[[139]]
If after an immunity of more than forty years, not only to himself but to his household, he takes cheery leave of family and friends, ere mounting his horse for the long journey, it is no wonder, nor if they take a like cheerful view of his departure. The Lord may bring him safely back, as so often before, even though his seventieth year is past. Yet—it may be that this call of the Master is to prove his faithfulness unto death.
His horse stands saddled by the roadside, with portmanteau packed for a brave and kindly stay, God willing, with the suffering and the forsaken. He is ready even to his jackboots, and his faithful watch tells him it is time for the start.[[140]] We look for no tremor here, even when he speaks the last farewell, but for the cheery word, the tender glance, the fervent grasp of the hand, the committal to God of those he holds dearest on earth, the agile spring to the saddle, and a still erect and manly figure vanishing at the turn of the road. It is not unlikely that a cavalcade of brethren accompany him some miles on his way.
On and on, from the health-giving breezes of Mamacock, towards the plague-stricken city. Once there,—would we might follow him in his ministrations, even to that day when he remounts his horse for the homeward journey. Has the contagion so abated by the middle of October that he is no longer needed, or can he indeed be aware that he himself is attacked by the disease? Would it be possible for a man, after he had become sensible that the malady was upon him, to take the journey on horseback from Boston to New London? All that is known for a certainty is that after he reaches home the disease has developed. It seems probable that he was permitted to complete his mission in Boston and to leave there unconscious of the insidious attack awaiting him. Why was he stricken down at the close of this faithful effort to obey the command of the Master in the face of scorn and peril? One important result is to ensue. The unfaltering trust of the Rogerenes in an all-powerful and all-loving God is to be shown remaining as firm as though John Rogers had returned to them unscathed, and this unswerving trust in God’s promises, under circumstances calculated to shake such a trust to the uttermost, is to be attested over and over by the records of Connecticut.
Fast and far is spread the alarm that John Rogers, just returned from his foolhardy visit to Boston, is prostrated at Mamacock with the dread contagion. There are in the house, including himself, thirteen persons. Adding the servants who live in separate houses on the place, it is easy to swell the number to “upwards of twenty.” The large farm, spreading upon both sides of the road, is itself a place of isolation. On the east is a broad river, separating it from the uninhabited Groton bank. On the north is wooded, uninhabited, Scotch Cap.[[141]] There is possibly a dwelling within half a mile at the northwest. A half-mile to the south is the house of John Bolles. What few other neighbors there may be, are well removed, and there are dwellings enough on the farm to shelter all not required for nursing the sick. To what degree the family might take the usual precautions, if left to themselves, or how efficacious might be their scriptural methods, can never be known; since the authorities take the matter in hand at the start.
Had this illness occurred in the very heart of a crowded city, greater alarm or more stringent measures could not have ensued. There is a special meeting of Governor and Council at New Haven, October 14, on receipt of the news that John Rogers is ill at Mamacock with the smallpox, and that “on account of the size of the family, upwards of twenty persons, and the great danger of many persons going thither and other managements” (doubtless referring to scriptural methods of restoration and precaution) “there is great liability of the spread of the infection in that neighborhood.” It is enacted that “effectual care be taken to prevent any intercourse between members of the family and other persons, also that three or four persons be impressed to care for the sick.”
There are a number of meetings of the Governor and Council over this matter (for full accounts of which see the published records of the General Court of Connecticut). Were it not for the court records, coming generations would be at loss to know whether the members of the family themselves, also John Bolles, John Waterhouse, John Culver and their wives, and others of the Rogerenes held firmly to their principles in this crisis, or whether they stood willingly and fearfully aloof, not daring to put their faith and theory to so dangerous and unpopular a test. Fortunately for Rogerene history, the testimony furnished by records of the special sittings of the Governor and Council on this occasion, fully establishes not only the fidelity of the Rogerenes to New Testament teachings, but also their attachment and loyalty to their leader.
Three days after the official order that every relative and friend be banished from his bedside, and so with no one near him but the immunes pressed into the service, John Rogers yields up his life unto Him whom he has faithfully striven to obey, fearing not what man or any earthly chance might do to him. Thus dies John, the beloved and trusted son of James Rogers, and the last of that family.
John Rogers departed this life October 17th, the anniversary day of his marriage to Elizabeth Griswold. She cannot fail to note that fact, when the news reaches her. She is less than woman if, in the hour of that discovery, she does not go aside to weep.
The day after this death, at another special meeting of Governor and Council, it is enacted that “constant watch be kept about the house, to seize and imprison all persons who may attempt to hold any intercourse with the quarantined family.” Little do those who have been forced to take charge at Mamacock and to punish all friendly “intruders about the premises” appreciate the deep sorrow and sympathy of these long-time neighbors and friends, who desire to hear the particulars, to show respect for the departed and to render aid to the family. Rudely rebuked, no doubt, are the most reasonable efforts on the part of these friends, to prove their love and fellowship in grief, although as yet no one else has the contagion and all thoughts are centred on this one great bereavement.
When shortly Bathsheba, wife of John Rogers (now 2d) and their eldest son, John, are stricken, the dark shadows deepen over Mamacock, and friends of the family would fain show some sign of fearless fidelity, not only to those afflicted, but to the teachings of the New Testament and the Old, in regard to the power and good will of God to hold even the direst pestilence in His hand. Much of the endeavor on the part of these friends appears to be to provide the family with such necessaries for their comfort as have not yet been supplied by the authorities.
John Waterhouse and John Culver come over from Groton to secure news regarding the sick and bring something likely to be needed in the quarantine. The slightest attempt at such friendly aid excites indignation and terror on the part of the authorities.
At one of the special meetings of Governor and Council (October 31)
“action is taken regarding the fact that several of the followers of John Rogers have, contrary to express orders to the contrary, presumed to go into the company of some that live in the Rogers house, and further express orders are issued to these obdurate persons, particularly John Culver and wife, John Waterhouse and wife of Groton, Josiah Gates and wife of Colchester and John Bolles and wife.”
That friends of the family have endeavored to supply them with necessaries, on account of very tardy red tape regarding such provision by the authorities, is strongly suggested by an order accompanying the above, commencing: “Whereas it appears that a meeting of the selectmen is necessary in order to their taking care of the sick family,” it is hereby ordered “that notice shall be given the selectmen to meet and consider what is fit to be done for such as are confined in said families.” Yet it is not until the next special meeting, over three weeks later (November 24), that it is ordered that two suitable persons shall be constantly in attendance “to lodge at the house of Jonas Hamilton or John Bolles” and “by relieving each other, watch and ward night and day to understand the state of the sick there and give information of what is needed.” After this order, although other meetings are held by the Governor and Council on the same account, there is no mention of any further endeavors on the part of friends of the family to hold communication with them.
Two more of the family die of the disease, Bathsheba, wife of John Rogers, 2d, and John, their son. When all is over, John Rogers, 2d, is called upon to pay the expenses of official nurses, guards, provisions and medicines, a large bill, on which he is allowed no reduction.
John Rogers having died intestate, his son John is appointed administrator. The only heirs allowed by the court are the widow, John Rogers, 2d, and Elizabeth Prentice, “only son” and “only daughter,” among whom the estate is divided by due course of law. When this form is ended, John Rogers, 2d, ignoring the fact that he, as only son under the law, has “a double portion,” and Gershom and Mary, the two children by Mary, are awarded nothing of this estate, pays to each of these a liberal sum out of his own portion for “share in” their “father’s estate” (as is still to be seen on the town records). Well may Mary, if living, forgive this honorable man for some things that displeased her in the past. He claims her children as his father’s before the world; he claims them as brother and sister of his own. He afterwards buys of them land at Mamacock, which was given them by their father, Gershom’s land “having a house thereon.”
To the ecclesiastic view, John Rogers has fallen, as to that view he has lived, a fanatic, striving for such an impracticable end as to resurrect the first Christian era into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. But the friends and followers of this leader are sure that a Christian hero has passed from their midst, in no ignoble way.
Here was a man who, had he chosen to fight worldly battles, in forum or in field, might well have made a mark that all men had acknowledged; but who, for the truth that is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, elected to lead through life a forlorn hope, humanly speaking, as of one against a thousand or a score against a host. It matters not that he but voiced the sentiments of a large number of his own day (and a multitude of ours); it is a silent minority, that dare not even to applaud a man who speaks their views, while the popular leadership and power are on the other side.
Mamacock farm has been much enlarged since, by that name; it was the old Blinman farm, and as such given to Elizabeth Griswold; it has taken in lands to the north, south and west (across the Norwich road). In a southeast corner of its present (1721) boundaries, close by the river bank, are three graves that mark the earthly loss to family and friends of that fearless visit to Boston. The sentiments of the Rogerenes who view those mounds are: “The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” They gather closer to fill this great vacancy in their ranks and press on under the same banner. If John Rogers, 2d, be not the next leader-in-chief (as perchance he is) that banner will never falter in his hands. John Waterhouse, as a preacher of rare eloquence and power, wears the mantle well. John Bolles is in the prime of life, being but forty-four years of age at the time of the death of his chief. He will labor in this cause for many a year to come, with ready voice and pen. Under his training and that of his wife Sarah, a bevy of bright and energetic boys are growing up strong in the faith, to join hands with the sons of John Rogers, 2d. Young Joseph Bolles is soon to come to the front. Shortly another elder and preacher rises, in the person of Andrew Davis. Here are enough to hold the present band together and labor for its enlargement. The authorities cannot take much encouragement, after the fall of the great leader. He has builded for time to come.
In 1722 is passed an act directing dissenters to qualify under the law of 1708, and such persons as neglect the public worship of God in some lawful congregation, and form themselves into separate companies in private houses, are to forfeit the sum of 40s. A fine of £10 and a whipping to any person not a minister who shall dare to administer the sacraments.
However this may be aimed at the Rogerenes, it evidently does not reach them. If the authorities should endeavor to strictly enforce this law in New London, there would undoubtedly be court records in plenty regarding countermoves, and an overflowing prison, as will be seen during a later attempt (1764-6) to enforce arbitrary laws of this kind. For more than forty years previous to 1722 the Rogerenes have ignored similar laws, and will continue the same course to the end.
CHAPTER XI.
YEARS OF TRUCE.
For some years after the death of John Rogers, no serious interference with the customs of the Rogerenes is recorded. The countermoves directly preceding that death should, by all precedents, be sufficient to secure them from molestation for a considerable time to come.
September, 1724, occurs the sudden death of Governor Saltonstall, by apoplexy. His family continue to reside in New London and to form an important part of the leading membership of the Congregational church.
Under the ministry of Mr. Saltonstall the half-way covenant was in full force,[[142]] and under his administration as governor this policy was applied to the colony at large.
For forty years after the death of Governor Saltonstall, nothing regarding the Rogerenes appears on the records of either of the three courts. Yet there is abundant evidence that these people are steadfastly continuing in the faith and practices of their sect, holding their own meetings, in New London, Groton and elsewhere, preaching their purely scriptural doctrines, and publishing books in defense of their principles. Although not presented before the County Court in this period, they are (as shown by the writings of John Rogers, 2d, and John Bolles) frequently disturbed by the town magistrates, who deal with them “at their own discretion.” That entrance into the meeting-house was a last resort is shown by its extreme infrequency as compared with the more or less constant and severe aggravations to which they are subjected. The only evidence of virulent measures in this period is the pitiless scourging inflicted by Norwich authorities (1725) upon the Sunday party on their way to Lebanon. (See Part I., Chapter [I.]) The officers and others concerned in this proceeding appear to have been members of the Norwich church, from which, as has been seen, were wont to issue pursuers of the Rogerenes.[[143]]
The following from the “Hempstead Diary” shows an imprisonment of one or more Rogerenes at this period, and, in consequence, a Rogerene attendance in Congregational church. The speaking appears to have been so timid as not to disturb the services.
1725. Sunday, Oct. 31.—Walter and John Waterus spake aloud att ye Same Instant and said you Blaspheme the name of Christ or to that effect. Jno. Rogers and Bolles and his wife sd Nothing till meeting was over and yn complained much of the french barber striking over one of their crew at the prison and brot the stick wch he sd he Struck him with.
The offenses for which the Rogerenes are most liable to magisterial punishment at this time appear to be travelling upon Sunday, when they have occasion to attend a distant meeting, and performing sufficient observable labor upon that day to assure their opponents that they continue to deny its sanctity; although they take a suitable portion of it for religious services. From them are regularly collected fines for not training. These fines being demanded by Cæsar (the purely civil government) are probably paid without protest.[[144]] The church rates they never pay, no matter how many fold more than the amount due is collected by execution on their property, and still, as heretofore, they never appeal to the court on account of the surplus retained.
A considerable number of Rogerenes are located in the northeastern part of Groton, among whom John Waterhouse and John Culver are leaders. This is a sparsely populated district, where the nonconformists are less exposed to such molestation and extortions as assail those of New London. These Groton Rogerenes have Baptists for their nearest neighbors, a sect agreeing with them in certain particulars, but equally with the ruling order holding to the observance of a “holy Sabbath.” It is certain that the Groton Rogerenes have, sooner or later, some grievance against these Baptists, evidently in connection with the question of Sunday sanctity.
In 1728, John Bolles issues his “Application to the General Court of Connecticut,” “in all the honor and submissive obedience that God requires me to show to you,”—in which he states that he discovers in the “Confession of Faith” which this court has established, “principles that seem not to be proven by the Scriptures there quoted,” and that he has drawn up some objections thereto which he desires to be considered and “reply to be returned,” also that he has “taken a journey for no other end but to deliver these objections to one of the elders in each county in the colony.” As he afterwards expresses it, “they disregarded my request.” In this pamphlet he mentions various instances of cruel persecution to which he and his friends have been subjected, and ends with these words:—
But we, on our parts, have had the witness of a good conscience towards God in all our sufferings and loss of all these things, and do make it our care to live inoffensively towards all men, except in the case of Daniel, Chap. 6, Verse 5.[[145]] And whether this be not oppressing and afflicting them that have no power to help themselves for conscience’s sake,[[146]] let God be judge. Pray peruse what is above written, and let it have a due sense upon your minds; and so act and do in all the particulars above mentioned, as you may have confidence and boldness to hold up your heads before the great and terrible and righteous judge of all the earth, when He shall come with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That the religious standard of some of the principal members of the Congregational church has not advanced since the time of Governor Saltonstall is indicated by the following, from the “Hempstead Diary”:—
1734. Sunday, Sept. 29. The late Gov. Saltonstall’s Pew stove down the Door and 2 Pannels, it seems to be the effects of a Contention between the two Brothers wives which of ye females shall have the upper hand.[[147]]
It is not surprising that an aristocracy so autocratic as to contend with near relatives for supremacy of this kind should be bitterly antagonistic to the Rogerenes, who not only shun worldly position for themselves but refuse to be subject to its rule in all matters pertaining to the Christian religion. Youth of the Congregational church, who are to grow up under influences of the above description, are destined, thirty years from this date, to be church members themselves and to take part with their elders, as advocates of a “holy Sabbath,” in a movement against the Rogerenes which is to result in the great countermove of 1764-66, and the retaliatory measures adopted in that contest.
We find in the “Hempstead Diary”:—“July 17, 1743, Hannah Plumb,[[148]] a young woman, was baptized in ye river at ye town beach by Samuel son of John Rogers.” This not only shows Samuel Rogers (son of John, 2d) to be a leading Rogerene, but is one of the proofs that some of the Plumb family, the elder members of which are prominent in the town and Congregational church, are of Rogerene persuasion; also that the Rogerenes have got beyond the Mill Cove for baptisms.
About 1735, John Culver and wife, with their sons and families, together with other Rogerenes of Groton, emigrated to New Jersey, where they founded a Rogerene settlement. (The cause of this removal is unknown. The theory that it was to escape persecution is weakened, not only by proof that the Culvers had proven themselves of heroic mould in this struggle, but by the fact that there was a cessation of virulent persecution at this time.) In the course of a few years, they are found, with quite a following, at Waretown[[149]] (in the southern part of what is now Ocean County), holding their meetings in a schoolhouse. A man by the name of Weair, the founder of Waretown, is one of their Society; an enterprising business man, who is described as a most worthy Christian.[[150]]
The location of this little Rogerene community is about one hundred and forty miles from Ephrata, Pa., where is a Society of Dunkers, among whom are certain brethren who dwell apart from the secular portion of the community, in a cloister. This Society observe the seventh day as a Sabbath, and hold closely to New Testament teaching and example, not discarding healing by faith and prayer and the anointing with oil. The brethren of the cloister appear to believe in direct enlightenment being accorded to such as lead devout lives. They have acquired the name and fame of “holy men.” John Culver has visited these brethren of the cloister, and a mutual friendship and interest have resulted.
In 1744, a number of these Ephrata brethren, being on a pilgrimage in the vicinity of the New Jersey Rogerenes, pay them a visit. The reputation of these “holy men,” in regard to healing by prayer, and also the fidelity of the Rogerenes to this scriptural mode, is shown by the fact, recorded by the Pilgrims, that the New Jersey Rogerenes brought their sick to them, in the hope that they might be restored to health.[[151]]
The Culvers urge the Pilgrims to visit the Rogerenes of New London, and with such effect that the brethren embark for Connecticut. They land at Blackpoint, where they are received by a Rogerene of that vicinity, who later escorts them to Bolles Hill, where they make their headquarters at the house of John Bolles. They speak, in their journal, of the Rogerenes as leading “a quiet life apart,” in the country, and state that they had with them a “most peaceful visit.” From the country they are escorted into the town, where they are entertained at the house of Ebenezer Bolles (son of John), whom they describe in their journal as “a blessed virtuous man.” They advise him not to marry, not knowing that he is engaged to Mary, the seventeen-year-old daughter of John Rogers, 2d, and has made his house ready for the bride who is very shortly to occupy it.
Notwithstanding the fact that the town, by description of the tourists, is in a state of agitation and excitement, on account of rumors of war with Spain and the religious differences and public disputes occasioned by the presence and preaching of the New Light evangelists, the citizens vie with the Rogerenes in kindly and interested attentions to the strangers, who speak highly of the hospitality of the people and describe New London as “a fruitful garden of God.” When the day for their departure arrives, the Rogerenes provide passage for them to New York, to which “gifts” of some kind are added, by reason of which the Pilgrims state that they took away with them more than they brought. There is mention of these strangers in the “Hempstead Diary,” under date of October 10, 1744, where they are described as men with beards eight or nine inches long, without hats and dressed in white. By their own description, a crowd followed them in New London wherever they went.
No mention is made by the Pilgrims of any unpleasantness between the Rogerenes and their neighbors, unless the “quiet life apart” of the former can be thus construed. That the Rogerenes sympathize with the New Lights to a considerable degree is more than probable; yet they seem to go their own way, undisturbed and unexcited by the surrounding ferment.[[152]]
New ecclesiastical laws have recently been enacted, largely on account of the advent of the New Lights, and old laws are to be more strictly enforced. The rulers are tightening the reins, and the Rogerenes with other nonconformists are likely to receive a cut of the lash. In 1745, Joshua Hempstead writes in his Diary:—
Sunday, June 16.—John Rogers and Bolles and Waterus and Adrw Daviss and about 20 more of their Gang, came Down into Town with a cart and oxen and were taken up by the officers and Committed to Prison, also 4 Women of their Company Came to ye Meetinghouse and began to preach and were taken away to Prison also.
No clew is given to the cause of this move. A phalanx of Rogerenes passing, on Sunday, slowly along the principal street of the town in a cart drawn by oxen, each one of these non-combatants calmly and cheerfully prepared to pay for their spectacular move by seizure, imprisonment and fines, is fully as comical as it is tragic. Though some of the spectators are in a rage, others must be overcome with laughter, while sympathizers too politic to laugh outright smile in their sleeves. The after-appearance, at or in the neighborhood of the meeting-house, of four Rogerene women, fluent in Gospel “testimony” regarding the unchristian proceedings of the “authority,” is a fitting climax to this non-resistant menace.
No wonder that for nine years to come the entries in the “Hempstead Diary” will contain no hint of any collision with the Rogerenes.
The generally tolerant spirit towards the Rogerenes during the last twenty years is largely to be attributed to the conciliatory character of the Rev. Mr. Adams, who, although he may not have felt himself in a position to oppose the autocratic policy of Governor Saltonstall, appears never to have instigated any attack upon the nonconformists or taken an observable part in any such move. Nor, on the other hand, do we find indication of any hard feeling towards this minister on the part of the Rogerenes.
Who, it may be asked, are the Rogerenes of this period? Foremost among the leaders on the New London side are John Rogers, 2d, and John Bolles. There is a considerable following of families and individuals in the town and vicinity, in no way allied to these by relationship. The region about Mamacock and districts farther north have, within the century, become largely occupied by families from Rhode Island, who, being of Quaker and Baptist sympathies, are well fitted for affiliation with the Rogerenes. It is not unlikely that many of them have been attracted hither by that sect. Among these are descendants of some who, having been persecuted by the ruling church of Massachusetts, had retreated to Rhode Island for security. Such would be nothing loath to aid in the bold stand so well instituted in Connecticut. There are Rogerenes in Groton, Montville, Colchester, Lebanon and Saybrook.[[153]] How many more converts are at this date “scattered throughout New England” none could tell so well as John Bolles, who has travelled extensively over the country selling Rogerene books and expounding Rogerene doctrines. But the solid nucleus of this Society is in the neighborhood of Mamacock and just north of there, where the John Rogers and John Bolles families and their neighboring followers are as a phalanx. They are, in the main, a people of broad acres and ample means, industrious and energetic; their young women are sought in marriage by promising youth of other denominations, and their young men, evidently with full parental consent, improve opportunities to take wives from some of the best families in New London of wholly different persuasions from their own. James, son of John Rogers, 2d, a young Rogerene of great business ability, marries a daughter of Mr. Joseph Harris, and permits his wife to have her child baptized in the Congregational church,[[154]] of which she is a member. Evidently, the New London Rogerenes agree with St. Paul in this regard. 1 Cor. vii, 14. About 1740, Capt. Benjamin Greene, of Rhode Island—a younger brother of Gov. William Greene—established a home farm near Mamacock, at the point called “Scotch Cap.” He is not only a shipmaster but the owner of several vessels and their cargoes. His brother, the governor, is a frequent visitor at Scotch Cap. The wife of Captain Greene is of the Angell family of Rhode Island. Delight, daughter of Capt. Benjamin Greene, marries John, son of John Rogers, 2d. The Greenes are of both Quaker and Baptist sympathies. Samuel Rogers, son of John, 2d, marries a daughter of Stephen Gardner, from Rhode Island, whose family are of Quaker origin. The other marriageable son of this date weds a daughter of Mr. John Savol (or Saville), a prominent member of the Congregational church, afterwards of Norwich. One daughter of John Rogers, 2d, marries a son of John Bolles; another marries a young man of Groton whose father is an enterprising business man from Rhode Island; the other four daughters marry sons of members of the Congregational church (New London and elsewhere), of high standing and ample means.
The sons of John Bolles have not all taken wives from among the Rogerenes, but are less allied to those of Congregational persuasion; outside of their own sect they have most favored Baptist women. The second wife of John Rogers, 2d, appears not to have been a Rogerene before marriage, and the same may be said of the second wife of John Bolles. If such facts are true of the chief leaders and their children, we may easily judge of the alliances of their followers with persons of other denominations, in this comparatively quiet interval.
The above particulars are important as showing the social status of the leading New London Rogerenes in the middle of the eighteenth century, and proving that, although holding strictly to their own opinions and customs, they are not only accounted honorable and esteemed members of the community, but are so liberally inclined as to be in a large degree connected with liberal members of other sects. John Rogers, 2d, has said: “I abhor the abusing of any sect.”—Answer to Peter Pratt. It appears likely that he also abhors the isolation of any sect, believing men and women can differ on certain religious points, and yet be friends and even partners for life.
This ready association of the New London Rogerenes with friendly people of other denominations, is but one of many evidences that the chief contention of these people has not been regarding minor matters of church government and customs, nor even so much in regard to baptism and hireling ministers; but that the great struggle, from first to last, has been for religious liberty; in asserting which liberty they must oppose those who institute, enforce or uphold laws inimical to free expression of religious belief, or individual liberty in the form of worship. Having the high ground of apostolic doctrines and usages upon which to found a strong opposition to ecclesiastical tyranny, they have fought the good fight upon that sacred foundation.
The indications are strong that by the middle of the eighteenth century there is not so much friction between the Rogerenes and the authorities in regard to the gathering of rates for the Congregational ministry, but that the old, exorbitant methods of seizure have declined to less grievous proportions. Nor does there appear to be serious interference with Sunday labor or travelling, which argues that the Rogerenes are not driven, by close watch and frequent arrests, to any extraordinary demonstrations of their disapproval of governmental meddling in matters of conscience. It appears to be the policy at this period to let them alone on these sensitive points, in consequence of which toleration they do not consider it necessary to make their differences of belief so distinctly prominent. Evidently, a large measure of the freedom for which this sect has contended is already accorded; certain ecclesiastical laws, not yet erased from the statute book, are becoming, in the neighborhood of the Rogerenes at least, of the dead letter order, which is the case with many other laws still upon that book.
In June, 1753, occurs the death of John Rogers, 2d, in his eightieth year. He has made a long and heroic stand, since at the age of seventeen years he joined his father in this contest. To him is largely due the size and strength of a sect that has called for the bravest of the brave—and found them.
Fifteen children gather at Mamacock, to follow the remains of this honored and beloved father to the grave, eight sons and seven daughters, of the average age of thirty-four years, the eldest (son) being fifty-two and the youngest (son) fourteen years of age. Besides these, with their families, and the widow in her prime, is the large gathering of Bolleses and other friends and followers in the locality, also those of Groton and doubtless many from other places.
They lay the form of this patriarch beside his father, his wife Bathsheba and the children gone before, in the ground he has set apart, in the southeast corner of his farm, as a perpetual burial place for his descendants, close by the beautiful river that washes Mamacock. They mark his grave, like the others in this new ground, by two rough stones, from nature’s wealth of granite in this locality, whose only tracery shall be the lichen’s mossy green or tender mould.[[155]]
John Rogers, 2d, was a man of remarkable thrift and enterprise as well as of high moral and religious character.[[156]] His inventory is the largest of his time in New London and vicinity, and double that of many accounted rich, consisting mainly of a number of valuable farms on both sides of the Norwich road, including the enlarged Mamacock farm, the central part of which (Mamacock proper), his home farm, is shown by the inventory to be under a high state of cultivation and richly stocked with horses, cattle and sheep. His children had received liberal gifts from him in his lifetime.
Four of the eight sons of John Rogers, 2d, are now in the prime of life, and not only landed proprietors but men of excellent business ability. John, the youngest of the four, now in his thirtieth year, is appointed administrator of his father’s estate and guardian of his two minor brothers. James, the eldest, is a very enterprising business man. That his coopering establishment is a large plant is shown by the fact that he is, immediately after the death of his father, the richest man in New London, his estate being nearly equal to that left by his father.[[157]] The preamble of his will proved in 1754, shows him to have been a Christian of no ordinary stamp. Thus soon, after the death of John Rogers, 2d, this worthy and capable son, who must have been a man of large influence in the Society, is removed. For some time previous to his death, he occupied, as a home farm, the southern third of the enlarged Mamacock[[158]]—which fell to him later by his father’s will—upon which was a “mansion house” said to have been built of materials brought from Europe. His brother Samuel has inherited the northern third of the enlarged Mamacock, upon which he resided for some time previous to the death of his father. His brother John has inherited the central part, or Mamacock proper, which his father reserved for his own use.
All the sons of John Rogers have been well educated; John has marked literary talent; his brother Alexander appears to be a schoolmaster of uncommon ability, although farmer and shoemaker as well.[[159]]
The eight sons of John Bolles are among the wealthiest and most enterprising citizens of New London; several own valuable lands in the very heart of the town, as well as farms outside; they are business men as well as farmers. Ebenezer Bolles is one of the richest merchants in New London. The moral character of these sons of John Rogers and John Bolles is without reproach. They are professing Christians of the most evangelical stamp. Their sisters are wives of thrifty and upright men.
These people and their adherents are not only a strong business element in this community, but they are a strong moral and religious element. If the present policy of non-enforcement in regard to this sect of the ecclesiastical laws which they are bound to resist should be continued, there is every reason to expect that in another generation they will mingle with the rest of the community in so friendly a manner as to be willing to compromise regarding such minor differences as the observance or non-observance of days.
In 1754, John Bolles issued in pamphlet form “A Message to the General Court in Boston,” in behalf of the principles of religious liberty. In a volume in which this pamphlet was republished are two other publications of this author, one of which (apparently written about this time) is the tract entitled “True Liberty of Conscience is in Bondage to no Flesh.” In this tract, among accounts of persecution inflicted on the Rogerenes, is the following (also noted in Part I.):—
“To my knowledge was taken from a man, only for the cost of a justice’s court and court charge for whipping him for breach of Sabbath (so called) a mare worth a hundred pounds, and nothing returned; and this is known by us yet living, to have been the general practice in Connecticut.”
The “by us yet living” and “to have been” indicate that it was at a time considerably previous to this writing that such great cruelty and extortions were in vogue. Yet it also shows how easily, with no such publicity as would be incurred by presentation before the County Court, great persecutions could be carried on by town magistracy, a possibility always existing under the ecclesiastical laws relative to Sunday observances.
John Bolles took his “Message to the General Court” to Boston for presentation, in 1754, making the journey of two hundred miles on horseback, in his seventy-seventh year. (See [Part I., Chap. VII.])
In the previous year—October, 1753—close following the death of John Rogers, 2d, had occurred the death of Rev. Eliphalet Adams, after a pastorate of over forty years in New London. It has been seen that since the death of Governor Saltonstall no virulent persecution of the Rogerenes has occurred, and that the character and policy of Mr. Adams have been favorable to compromise and conciliation. But very soon after the death of Mr. Adams there appear signs of a grievance on the part of the Rogerenes of a character to call forth one of their old-time warnings. Proof of this appears in the “Hempstead Diary”:—
March 17, 1754. John Waterhouse of Groton and John Bolles and his sons and a company of Rogerenes came to meeting late in the forenoon service, and tarried and held their meeting after our meeting was over, and left off without any disorder before our afternoon meeting began.
It is thirty-three years since Mr. Hempstead has had occasion to note such a noon meeting on the part of the Rogerenes. By what official move this warning has been induced does not appear. Evidently no violence was offered the Rogerenes. This meeting will be a sufficient check for some time upon whatever attempts are on foot to disturb them.
Two years later, J. Hempstead writes in his Diary: “1756, May 30. John Waterhouse and a company came to our meeting.”
There is evidently some call for another warning. The Congregational pulpit is, at this date, filled with temporary supply.
In this evident crisis, it is probable that none await the action of the Congregational church in their choice of a minister with more interest than do the Rogerenes. Upon the views and temper of Mr. Adam’s successor will largely depend the continuance or discontinuance of the generally pacific attitude on both sides, which has continued for so many years. In the Congregational church membership are town officials as well as those in still more influential positions.
CHAPTER XII.
THE GRAND COUNTERMOVE (1764-1766).
It is not until 1757 that a new minister is installed over the Congregational church, in the person of Mr. Mather Byles, Jr., a talented and very resolute young man, twenty-three years of age.[[160]]
This youth is of such character and persuasion as to resemble, in this particular community, a firebrand in the neighborhood of a quantity of gunpowder. (After the gunpowder has exploded and Mr. Byles determines to remain no longer in this vicinity, in taking leave of the Congregational church he says: “If I have not the Sabbath, what have I? ’Tis the sweetest enjoyment of my whole life.”)
This young man, whose “sweetest enjoyment” is the Puritan Sabbath so reprobated by the Rogerenes, naturally looks over the field to see how he can best distinguish himself as a zealous minister of the ruling order. He observes a large portion of this community taking sufficient pains to demonstrate to all beholders that they are pledged to follow no laws or customs, regarding religious affairs, other than those instituted by the Lord Jesus Christ and His inspired apostles, and that they are particularly called to bear witness against that so-called “holy day” first instituted by the emperor Constantine, which has, in an extreme form, been forced upon the people of New England as a necessary adjunct to the worship of God.
This zealous young minister appears to consider it his plain duty to stem this awful tide of anarchy as best he may, lest it become a torrent in New England that no man can stay. Thus he may distinguish himself in a pulpit once occupied by the famous Governor Saltonstall and succeed where even that dignitary failed. He will endeavor to bring such new odium and wrath upon this obstinate sect as shall effectually annihilate their Society.
Among the first efforts of Mr. Byles are sermons regarding the sanctity of the Sabbath, accompanied by other attempts to arouse his own people and the rest of the community (outside the Rogerene Society) to the duty and necessity of putting a stop to any desecration whatever of the “sacred” day.[[161]]
The Rogerenes soon find themselves not only preached to and against, but seriously meddled with by the town authorities in ways for a long time neglected. It is now again as in the days of John Rogers, when he stated that “the priests stirred up the people and the mob” against his Society.
The Rogerene countermove is almost unknown to this generation of rulers; as for traditions concerning it, or the mild warnings of 1745 and 1754, perchance certain officials would be nothing loath to see if they could not, by the trial of a more vigorous policy, succeed better than did their predecessors in such contests, nor would such officials be likely to anticipate lack of general public sympathy in such an effort. It is as important to the Baptist church as to the Congregational that Sunday should be accounted a sacred day; let it be accounted otherwise, where would be attendants on “divine worship”? Surely the young people would go to places of amusement or of mischief, rather than to meeting-houses. The object lesson presented by these upright and deeply religious Rogerenes, whose youth are among the most exemplary and godly in the land, is naturally lost upon a people who cannot trust the Lord himself to furnish sufficient guidance for His church.
Joseph Bolles (born 1701), eldest son of John Bolles, is a leader among the Rogerenes, standing shoulder to shoulder with his father and John Waterhouse. He is a talented man, holding, like his father, “the pen of a ready writer,” and is clerk of the Rogerene Society. John Bolles being now over eighty years of age, this son largely takes his place in the active work of the Society, on the New London side. Yet the grand old patriarch, still vigorous in mind, sits prominent in the councils, giving these active men and youth the benefit of his experience, wisdom and piety, combined with an enthusiasm as ardent as that of the youngest of them all.
The more the magistrates, inspired by Mr. Byles, re-enforce his sermons by strict and unusual measures, the more do the Rogerenes, following their olden policy in such emergencies, add to their Sunday labors in the endeavor to fully convince their opponents that they are not to be coerced in this matter.
Ere long, the Rogerenes are severely fined, and in lieu of payment of such fines, which never have been voluntarily paid, are imprisoned, sometimes twenty at a time, many of them being kept in durance for a period of seven months. Their goods and the best of their cattle and horses are seized, to be sold at auction and nothing returned. Those having no such seizable property, are imprisoned for non-payment of minister’s rates. In the midst of this strenuous attack, Mr. Byles preaches an elaborate sermon, to be published and circulated, in answer to what he calls the “Challenge” of the Rogerenes, viz., their reiterated requests that the besieging party will show them any Scriptural authority for the so-called religious observance of the first day of the week, or for any required “holy Sabbath” under the new dispensation. In this sermon he calls the Rogerenes “blind, deluded, obstinate,” which terms are quite as applicable to the church party, from the Rogerene point of view. The onset continues, with added determination on the attacking side and no show of weakening on that of the defense.
Since the pen is mightier than the sword, it may do good service in such a time of peril as threatens the very existence of this devoted sect. Joseph Bolles, sitting by his father’s side, sharpens his quill to a fine point,[[162]] and the tremulous but earnest voice of the faithful patriarch not only aids the theme, but speaks words of comfort and of cheer; for is not this the cause of the Lord himself?
There is another, John Rogers (3d), who, like his father and grandfather before him, holds the pen of a ready writer. He was born in 1724, three years after the death of his illustrious grandfather. With the rapt attention, the retentive memory and the plastic mind of youth, he has received from his father’s lips accounts of the thrilling experiences of the past; as a young man, he has followed the teachings and emulated the deeds of his people. He, too, will sharpen a quill ere long.
[Particular attention is here called to the following reference to Mr. Byles, in the “Reply of Joseph Bolles.” See Appendix for full connection. “It is this sort of ministers that preach to the General Court to suppress or persecute them that walk by the apostle’s doctrine, for not observing this Sabbath which he” (Byles) “says the apostles ‘left to after discoveries.’” It is certain that the Rogerenes are under no difficulty in discerning from whence emanates the influence that has set this new persecution on foot and is continuing it to a crisis.]
The first efforts at repression proving ineffectual, severer measures are adopted by the attacking party. Yet there are several years more of patient endurance and forbearance on the part of the Rogerenes before they resolve to turn upon their foes the sole effectual means of defense at their command in times like these.
Among legal weapons available to the church party are four ecclesiastical laws, the strict application of which—as regards the Rogerenes, at least—have fallen into disuse, viz.: the law against Sunday labor, that against going from one’s house on Sunday except to and from authorized meetings, the law against unauthorized meetings and those holding or attending such meetings, and the law by which any one not attending meetings of the ruling order or the services of some authorized Society of which he is a member, in a regular meeting-house on Sunday, can be fined for every such absence.[[163]] (Besides these are the large fines for baptizing and administering the Lord’s Supper on the part of unauthorized persons.)
It is optional with the town magistrates to present persons guilty of breaking any of the above laws before the next County Court or to deal with such “at their own discretion,” a discretion which in a number of instances has taken the form of lynch law, by giving the offenders over to a mischievous mob. It is not the policy at this time to present the Rogerenes before the County Court; not only would such publicity be liable to create outside sympathy with the Rogerenes, but the fines of this court for such offenses are limited to an inconsiderable amount, expressed in shillings, while the “discretion” of the town magistrates allows of serious fines, expressed in pounds, as well as imprisonment, stocks and stripes. The damaging effect of a friendly jury is also to be avoided. (But one reference to the Rogerenes is to be found on the records of the County Court during the more or less turbulent period between 1758 and 1766; this reference occurs in regard to the barring of the doors of the New London prison by the prisoners, for which the penalty is conspicuously slight.—See end of this Chapter.)
While this persecution, the most virulent that has ever been visited upon the Rogerenes as a Society, is nearing a crisis, occurs the death of Ebenezer Bolles, June 24, 1762, at the age of fifty-four, through contact with “poisonous wood.”[[164]] An obituary notice, in the next issue of the Connecticut Gazette, attests to the wealth, integrity, hospitality and general worthiness of this New London merchant, and also states that no physician or medicines were allowed in his sickness,[[165]] he “belonging to the Society of Rogerenes.”
The account of this death, as of that of John Rogers in 1721, is important; since it affords proof, more than forty years after the latter event, that this Society are as unswerving as ever in their adherence to Scriptural methods. How much reason has John Bolles, now in his 86th year, to discard this faith, even in the day of his great bereavement? He has still twelve children in health and vigor, between the ages of 60 and 20, eight of whom are destined to live to the following ages: 94, 91, 85, 84, 83, 82, 78, 75, and the other four beyond middle life. In the Rogers and other leading Rogerene families there appears a like flourishing condition.
After more than five year’s continuance of aggravations instituted and continued under the leadership of Mr. Byles, which have finally reached a stage past endurance, the Rogerenes, on both sides of the river, are gathering in council about a common campfire, to consider the move that must be made, a countermove beside which the entrance of John Rogers and his wheelbarrow into the meeting-house in 1694 shall pale to insignificance.[[166]] The plan concluded upon bears the stamp of such veterans in the cause as John Bolles and John Waterhouse, as well as of keen young wits besides. They will give their enemies all the attendance upon meetings in “lawful assemblies” on their part, that these enemies will be likely to invite for some time to come; they will enter into those assemblies, and, if necessary, there will they testify against this “holy Sabbath,” for the non-observance of which they are again so bitterly persecuted, and against such other features of the worship of their enemies as are opposed to the teachings of the New Testament. So long as the ecclesiastical laws which forced their sect into existence are executed against them, so long will they enter into those assemblies thus to testify. The unscriptural features against which they will testify are easily set forth, and to these the testimony shall be strictly confined, with no mention of themselves or their wrongs. For whatever comes of this testimony, made in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in accordance with His teachings, and after the example of His apostles, they are prepared, even though it be martyrdom. The first attempt shall be of a tacit nature; if that avail as a warning, well and good; they will not disturb the meetings unless compelled to such extremity.
Mild indeed seems that first countermove (1685) when Capt. James Rogers, by the commotion which his “testimony” called forth in the meeting-house caused “some women to swound,” in comparison with that of the Sunday, June 10, 1764, when a procession of Rogerenes from Quaker Hill, re-enforced by friends from Groton, and including men, women, and children, wends its solemn and portentous way into the town, to enter into the midst of their persecutors.
Upon reaching the meeting-house, a number quietly enter, others remain outside. The men who enter keep on their hats, in token of dissent to the doctrines of this church. If some of these hats chance to be broad-brimmed, so much the better. Wonderingly and fearfully must the larger part of the congregation behold this entrance and the quick-rising ire on the faces of such church members as are most responsible for its occurrence. As for Mr. Byles, his sensations may be imagined. He is in the midst of his usual long prayer[[167]] containing copious information to the Creator of the Universe, together with thanks and commendation to the same Almighty Power, for many circumstances which have been brought about by men in direct disobedience to His revealed Word; also petitions for the forgiveness of the sins of this congregation, some of the most serious of which—as persecution of their neighbors—they fully intend to commit over and over again. In all probability some portion of this prayer is aimed directly at the Rogerenes, in regard to keeping “holy” the Sabbath day.
Some commotion, caused by the entrance of the Rogerenes, compels Mr. Byles to open his eyes before this long prayer is at an end. When he does open them, he beholds these men with their hats on and these women engaged in knitting, or some small sewing, in token that they, too, are Rogerenes.
How long certain officials, and other church members, restrain themselves is uncertain, even if they restrain themselves at all from vengeance dire; but before the prayer is regularly ended, the Rogerenes are fallen upon and driven out of the meeting-house with great violence and fury, while those in waiting outside are attacked with like rage, prominent church members and officials kicking and beating unresisting men, women and children and driving them to prison.
This treatment but deepens the determination of the Rogerenes. It is evident that merely keeping on their hats and doing a little knitting or sewing will not answer for an emergency like this. It must be no fault of theirs if this effort in the Master’s cause shall fail. They now enter the assembly of their persecutors to declare, by word of mouth and with no lack of distinctness, against the false doctrines of this persecuting church. This testimony will they add to the silent mode of disapproval until these enemies desist from their unendurable attempts at coercion, and from these furious beatings, kickings, drivings, imprisonments, etc.
The party who renewed this almost forgotten contest, under the leadership of Mr. Byles and his friends, with the intention of making the position of the Rogerenes untenable, having brought affairs to this crisis, are resolved to conquer. They proceed in the line of violence which they have inaugurated, and in their rage even demand of these devoted people that—to escape torture—they recant their testimony against the doctrines and practices of this church. Their testimony being of a purely Scriptural character, how can they recant, even if they would, except by denying the truth of those declarations from the New Testament which they have proclaimed in the presence of their persecutors? The zeal of the Rogerenes is only redoubled. It is now a question whether they will obey men rather than God, for fear of what men may do to them. Yet, in their strict fidelity to the teachings of Christ, they make no resistance to the redoubled efforts of their enemies. Though their old men are scourged to the verge of death and their women insulted; though their brethren are suspended by the thumbs to be mercilessly whipped on the bare skin; though warm tar is poured on their heads; though men and women are driven through the streets more brutally than any cattle, to be thrown into the river; though they are given over to mobs of heartless children and youth to be whipped with thorny sticks and otherwise abused, not the smallest or weakest of their persecutors need fear the slightest violence in return.
With every attempt at a fresh testimony, the brutality of their enemies is increased and the terms of imprisonment doubled, until the prison is filled to suffocation and some of those within venture to bar the doors against the incarceration of fresh victims. It being impossible to further punish the offenders already in prison, other than through presentation to the County Court, those who have barred the door are presented at that court, probably on their own confession, by reason of which there is one court record, relating to this otherwise lawless contest of a year and a half in duration, which is to the following effect:—
“Samuel Rogers, John Rogers, Alexander Rogers, Nathaniel Rogers” (all sons of John Rogers, 2d) “and Joseph Bolles, of New London, Samuel Smith of Groton” (grandson of Bathsheba) “Timothy Waterhouse” (son of John of Groton) “bound over to the County Court to answer complaint of Christopher Christophers” (son of Chris. Chris.) “sheriff of New London, for that said persons, with sundry other persons, on Sunday, Aug. 12th, 1764, did, in a very high-handed, tumultuous manner, being in N. L. prison, bar up the doors of said prison on the justice, so that said sheriff and officers were denied and prevented admission into and possession of said prison, and made a most tumultuous noise and uproar &c. as pr. writ.”
The sentence of the court is a fine of 40s. each and costs of prosecution, £2 each, which indicates more sympathy than severity on the part of this court.
[Since the early and the latter scenes of this long contest are shown to have been marked by unflinching endurance, unswerving courage and strategic measures on the part of the defence, it may be judged that during the entire period of unrelenting endeavors to continue to a successful issue the policy instigated by Mr. Byles, the assailants of the Rogerenes were encouraged by no signs of weakening on the part of the sufferers, while much discouraged by the disgrace attached to their church and the disapprobation of not a few of its own members, on account of the unprecedentedly severe policy that had brought on this countermove and the startlingly barbarous punishments for the same.]
After nearly two year’s continuance of such heroic measures, under leadership of Mr. Byles and his friends, the Rogerenes, while many of their heads of families are in prison, institute a new kind of tactics, striking more directly at the very root of the matter, viz., at Mr. Byles. The plan is to have some of their people besiege Mr. Byles, at every conceivable opportunity, with attempts to converse with him in regard to the teachings of the New Testament, and to reason with him concerning the cruelties practised upon the Rogerenes. They are also to go to the meeting-house on Sunday and sit directly in his sight, and they are to linger in the neighborhood of his house or the meeting-house, where he may know of their vicinity and expect them to walk with him and talk to him “of the things of God,” whenever he ventures outside.
Victory is now near at hand. Mr. Byles is driven nearly frantic. His tormentors are thrown into prison for declining to give bonds or to pay fines for attempts to approach this gentleman and converse with him. In this serio-comic crisis, parties of Rogerenes enter the meeting-house on Sunday and sit where Mr. Byles cannot fail to observe their grave, earnest and otherwise expressive faces, telling volumes at a glance, of inexpressible sufferings and losses, endured through tedious months and wasting years, of children left fatherless and motherless at home or wandering the streets tearful and hungry, and of many a bitter thing well known to Mr. Byles. But, most eloquent of all to him and most impressive, is the fixed determination in their faces to continue in his sight at every opportunity. Even a cat may look at a king without fear of consequences, and so do the Rogerenes look at Mr. Byles. Here is something that has been left out of the law books.
Ere long, the able-bodied men and women not in prison may attend to business and family duties, while a few old people, principally women, go on Sunday to sit in the meeting-house, or stand outside before and after meeting. Also on week days they sit or stand in the vicinity of Mr. Byle’s house, until he will not venture out, if but one such person is near. Nor will he go to the church on Sunday, even if there are but two or three Rogerene women outside, until some official drives them away and escorts him to the meeting-house. The bell is sometimes kept tolling a full hour, until it is time the long service should be well under way, before the minister makes his appearance; he has been waiting for some one to drive these women away.
For the whole time—more than two months—that the men who have attempted to converse with Mr. Byles are kept in prison, these faithful women keep the watch on Mr. Byles. When the men are at length released, they renew their endeavors to talk with Mr. Byles. It is now not long before Mr. Byles has had more than enough opportunity to distinguish himself in an endeavor to extinguish the Rogerenes. He is determined not only to leave New London but to desert the Congregational ministry and denomination, and lays all the blame of his failure to conquer these people upon lack of execution of the ecclesiastical laws!!![[168]] His determination is sudden, so far as the knowledge of his parishioners is concerned, and his exit speedy in the extreme. (For particulars regarding his resignation, see extract from “Debate, etc.,” in Appendix.)
The Rogerenes may now rest on their laurels. With Mr. Byles out of the way, we hear no more of harsh measures being employed against this sect. They may now attend their own meetings upon Sunday instead of those of their opponents, never neglecting, however, to give sufficient evidence that this is to them a holiday and not a “holy day.”
John Bolles lived to praise God that He had granted His servants strength to continue faithful to the end and given them so signal a victory. This devout and heroic Christian was called to his reward in his ninetieth year, January 7, 1767.
In another decade, is heard the trumpet call of the Revolution. It is more than probable that a people of such courage and love of liberty have some difficulty at this time in keeping their sentiments within scriptural limits, and still more difficulty in holding back their youth from the fray. Not a few grandsons of John Rogers, 2d, and John Bolles, as well as other Rogerene youth, break away. One of them crosses the Delaware with Washington, and another is in the body-guard of the great general. The young volunteers of this blood and training fight bravely on land and sea. Some of them die on the field and some in loathsome prison ships.[[169]] Outside of the John Rogers descent, many are the descendants of James Rogers, 1st, that join the Continental army and navy. Yet, for the most part, the Rogerene youth hold firmly to the doctrine of non-resistance as set forth in the New Testament. Many of them are among the first to note the inconsistency between the sentence in the Declaration of Independence regarding the equal rights of all men and the clause in the Constitution countenancing slavery. As for the torch of religious liberty which this sect held aloft in the darkness, through many a weary contest,—a few years more, and the flame that it has helped to kindle leaps high, in the dim dawn of that day whose sun shall yet flood the heavens.
[For further elucidation of the events set forth in this chapter, there is presented in the Appendix an extract from the pamphlet published about 1759 by Joseph Bolles, describing some of the opening events of this persecution under the leadership of Mr. Byles, also several extracts from the pamphlet written by John Rogers, 3d, giving particulars of the merciless punishments inflicted upon those who took part in the countermove of 1764-66. This pamphlet is entitled “A Looking Glass for the Presbyterians of New London.” The limits of this chapter have allowed of very brief presentation of those cruelties, expressed in general terms. Still other extracts from the pamphlet by John Rogers, 3d, may be found in the “History of New London”; but only a perusal of the whole work could give an adequate idea of the barbarous cruelties practised upon the Rogerenes in this contest, during the whole of which not one of the victims was charged with returning a single blow or making any resistance to the attacks of the lynching parties. There is also presented in the Appendix, in connection with this chapter, quotations from a pamphlet which appeared shortly after the resignation of Mr. Byles, under the auspices of the Congregational church, entitled A Debate between Rev. Mr. Byles and the Brethren, which portion relates to Mr. Byle’s determination to leave that church and ministry, and shows his aversion to the Rogerenes who were his victors. It will be seen that from the three above-mentioned sources has been drawn the information contained in this chapter.]
CHAPTER XIII.
QUAKERTOWN.
In the new century, ecclesiastical persecutions are scarcely more than a tradition, save to the aged men and women still living who took part in their youth in the great countermove, the sufferings attendant upon which are now, even to them, as a nightmare dream. The laws that nerved to heroic protest a people resolved to obey no dictation of man in regard to the worship of God lie dead upon the statute book—although as yet not buried. The Rogerenes are taking all needful rest on Sunday, the day set apart for their meetings. Many of those on the New London side mingle as interested listeners in the various orthodox congregations. They walk where they please on Sunday, and are no longer molested. The merciless intolerance that brought this sect into existence being no longer itself tolerated, the chief mission of the Rogerenes is well nigh accomplished. The children may soon enter into that full Christian liberty, in the cause of which their fathers suffered and withstood, during the dark era of ecclesiastical despotism in New England.
After the last veterans in this cause have been gathered to their rest, the past is more and more crowded out by the busy present. Most of the male descendants of the New London Rogerenes remove to other parts. Many of them are among the hardiest and most enterprising of the western pioneers. From homes in New York and Pennsylvania they move farther and farther west, until no State but has a strain from Bolles and Quaker Hill. Descendants who remain in New London, lacking a leader of their own sect in this generation, join in a friendly manner with other denominations, affiliating most readily with the Baptists and being least associated with the still dominant church. In Groton, however, despite some emigration, is still to be found an unbroken band of Rogerenes, and a remnant upon Quaker Hill continues in fellowship with those of Groton.
As the region occupied by John Rogers, John Bolles and their neighborhood of followers received the name of Quaker Hill, so that district in Groton occupied chiefly by Rogerenes received the name of Quakertown.
We find no written account or authenticated tradition regarding the beginnings of Quakertown, save that here was the home of the Groton leader, John Waterhouse. Given a man of this stamp as resident for half a century, and we have abundant cause for the founding in this place of a community of Rogerenes as compact as that at Quaker Hill.
Quakertown occupies a district about two miles square in the southeastern part of the present town of Ledyard. It was formerly a part of Groton. Among the early Rogerenes of this vicinity was John Culver. Besides gifts of land from his father, John Culver had received a gift of land from Major John Pynchon of Springfield, Mass., in recognition of the “care, pains and service” of his father (John Culver, Sr.) in the division of Mr. Pynchon’s lands (Groton Records) formerly owned in partnership with James Rogers. John Culver, Jr., did not, however, depend upon farming, being a “panel maker” by trade. As has been seen, John Culver and his family removed to New Jersey about 1735, there to found a Rogerene settlement. (See Chapter XII.) His daughter Esther, however, remained in Groton, as the wife of John Waterhouse.
Among other early Groton residents was Samuel Whipple from Providence, both of whose grandfathers were nonconformists who had removed to Rhode Island to escape persecution in Massachusetts. About 1712 this enterprising man purchased a large amount of land (said to be 1,000 acres) about eight miles from the present Quakertown locality, in or near the present village of Poquetannoc. Upon a stream belonging to this property, he built iron-works and a saw-mill. It is said that the product of the iron-works was of a superior quality, and that anchors and iron portions of some of the ships built in New London were made at these works.[[170]] Samuel Whipple’s son Zacharia married a daughter (Elizabeth) of John Rogers, 2d; a grandson (Noah) of his son Samuel married a granddaughter (Hope Whipple) of the same leader, and a daughter (Anne) of his son Daniel married a grandson (William Rogers) of the same; while a daughter (Content) of his son Zachariah married Timothy Waterhouse, son of John Waterhouse. Yet it was not until early in the nineteenth century that descendants of Samuel Whipple in the male line became residents of Quakertown.[[171]] That the early affiliations of the Whipple family with the Rogerenes had fitted their descendants for close union with the native residents of the place is indicated by the prominent position accorded the Whipples in this community.
Other families of Groton and its neighborhood affiliated and intermarried with Rogerenes early in the nineteenth century. William Crouch of Groton married a daughter of John Bolles. This couple are ancestors of many of the later day Rogerenes of Quakertown. Two sons and two grandsons of Timothy Watrous married daughters of Alexander Rogers of Quaker Hill (one of the younger sons of John, 2d). Although there was a proportion of Rogers and Bolles lineage in this community at an early date, there was not one of the Rogers or Bolles name. Later, a son of Alexander Rogers, 2d, married in Quakertown and settled there; but this is not a representative name in that locality, while Watrous, Whipple and Crouch are to be distinctly classed as such.
As for other families who joined the founders of Quakertown or became associated with their descendants, it is safe to say that men and women who, on account of strict adherence to apostolic teachings, relinquished all hope of worldly pleasures and successes, to join the devoted people of this isolated district, were of a most religious and conscientious character.
Generally speaking, the New London descendants in the nineteenth century are a not uncompromising leaven, scattered far and wide among many people and congregations whose religious traditions and predilections are, unlike their own, of an ecclesiastical type. Every radical leaven of a truly Christian character is destined to have beneficial uses, for which reason it cannot so much be regretted that the fate of the New London community was to be broken up and widely disseminated.
While the New London Rogerenes were, through the mollifying influences of a liberal public opinion, as well as by a wide emigration and lack of a leader fitted to the emergency, slowly but surely blending with the world around them, quite a different policy was crystallizing upon the Groton side. That the Rogerene sect should continue and remain a separate people was undoubtedly the intention of John Rogers, John Rogers, 2d, John Bolles and their immediate followers; aye, a separate people until that day, should such day ever arrive, when there should be a general acceptance of the law of love instituted by Christ, in place of the old law of force and retaliation. Yet not only had these early leaders more than enough upon them in their desperate struggle for religious liberty, but they could not sufficiently foresee conditions ahead of their times, in order to establish their sect for a different era.
It was by the instinct of self-preservation combined with conscious inability to secure any adequate outside footing in the new state of affairs, that the small but compact band at Quakertown, beholding with dismay and disapproval the breaking up of the main body on the New London side, resolved to prevent such a disbanding of their own Society, by carefully bringing up their children in the faith and as carefully avoiding contact with other denominations. It was a heroic purpose, the more so because such a policy of isolation was so evidently perilous to the race. Not so evident was the fact that such exclusiveness must eventually destroy the sect which they so earnestly desired to preserve. Such, as has been seen, was not the policy of that founder whose flock were “scattered throughout New England,” and some of the most efficient of whose co-workers were drawn from the midst of an antagonistic denomination; neither was it the policy of him who carried his Petition not only to the General Court of Connecticut, but to that of Massachusetts. Yet it was no ordinary man who carried out the policy above outlined, with a straightforward purpose and vigorous leadership, in the person of elder Zephania Watrous, a grandson of John Waterhouse.
John Waterhouse was living in 1773, at which date he was eighty-three years of age.[[172]] Considerably previous to that time he must have been succeeded by some younger man.
Elder Timothy Watrous, the Groton leader, who next appears to view, was a son of John Waterhouse, born in 1740. He is said to have been an able preacher and a man of the highest degree of probity.
Supposing John Waterhouse to have been in active service to his seventy-fifth year, Timothy could have succeeded him at the age of twenty-four, at which age the latter took part in the great countermove of 1764-66. His experience in this conflict is given in his own words:—
In the fore part of my life, the principal religion of the country was strongly defended by the civil power and many articles of the established worship were in opposition to the religion of Jesus Christ. Therefore I could not conform to them with a clear conscience. So I became a sufferer. I endured many sore imprisonments and cruel whippings. Once I received forty stripes save one with an instrument of prim[prim], consisting of rods about three and a half feet long, with snags an inch long to tear the flesh. Once I was taken and my head and face covered with warm pitch, which filled my eyes and put me in great torment, and in that situation was turned out in the night and had two miles to go without the assistance of any person and but little help of my eyes. And many other things I have suffered, as spoiling of goods, mockings, etc. etc. But I do not pretend to relate particularly what I have suffered; for it would take a large book to contain it. But in these afflictions I have seen the hand of God in holding me up; and I have had a particular love to my persecutors at times, which so convicted them that they confessed that I was assisted with the spirit of Christ. But although I had so tender a feeling towards them that I could freely do them all the good in my power; yet the truth of my cause would not suffer me to conform to their worship, or flinch at their cruelty one jot, though my life was at stake; for many times they threatened to kill me. But, through the mercy of God, I have been kept alive to this day and am seventy years of age; and I am as strong in the defense of the truth as I was when I suffered. But my persecutors are all dead; there is not one of them left.
This extract is from a book entitled “The Battle Axe,” written by the above Timothy, Sr., and his sons Timothy and Zacharia. Timothy, Jr., succeeded his father as leader and preacher in this Society. Zacharia was a schoolmaster of considerable note, and at one time taught school at “the head of the river.” He invented the coffee mill so generally in use, which important invention, his widow, being ignorant of its worth, sold for forty dollars. Having discovered some copper ore in the vicinity of his house, he smelted it and made a kettle. After a vain search to find a printer willing to publish “The Battle Axe,” he made a printing-press, by means of which, after his death, his brother Timothy published the book. Thus “The Battle Axe,” even aside from its subject-matter, was a book of no ordinary description. At a later date it was reprinted by the ordinary means. Copies of the first edition are now exceedingly rare, and held at a high price. There is a copy of this edition in the Smithsonian Institute. We present an extract from the body of this work in the Appendix, but no adequate knowledge of the book can be obtained from so limited a space. Men who could venture to decry war in the very height of public exaltation over the success of the struggle for independence were too far ahead of their age, in this regard, to attract other than unfriendly attention.[[173]]
The first proof discovered, that the Rogerenes have conscientious scruples in regard to paying the military fine,[[174]] is a printed Petition issued by Alexander Rogers, one of the younger sons of John, 2d, of Quaker Hill, a thorough Rogerene, and, as has been seen, closely allied with those of Quakertown. This Petition is dated 1810, at which time Alexander Rogers was eighty-two years of age; his children, however, were comparatively young. The fine was for not allowing his son to enter the train-band. (This Petition will be found in Appendix.) It proves that, even at so late a date as this, the authorities were seizing Rogerene property in the same way as of old, taking in this instance for a fine of a few shillings the only cow in the possession of the family, and making no return. As of old, no attempt is made to sue for the amount taken over and above the legal fine, but this Petition is printed and probably well circulated in protest.[[175]]
Soon after the death of Timothy Watrous, Sr., and that of his son Zachariah, occurred the death of Timothy, Jr., in 1814. The latter was succeeded in leadership of the Society by his youngest brother, Zephania, then about thirty years of age.
By this time, the Quakertown Society had become so large that there was need of better accommodations for their meetings than could be afforded in an ordinary house. In 1815 the Quakertown meeting-house was built, that picturesque and not inartistic house of many gables, the first floor of which was for the occupation of the elder and his family, while the unpartitioned second story was for Rogerene meetings.
Materials and labor for the building of this meeting-house were furnished by members of the Society. The timber is said to have been supplied from a forest felled by the September gale of 1815, and sawed in a saw-mill owned by Rogerenes. The same gale had unroofed the old Watrous (John Waterhouse) dwelling which stood near the site of the meeting-house.[[176]]
The Quakertown people had a schoolhouse of their own as well as a meeting-house, and thus fully controlled the training of their youth and preserved them from outside influence. About the middle of the century, a regular meeting-house was built. The old meeting-house was turned entirely into a dwelling. The newer meeting-house resembles a schoolhouse.
Zephania Watrous was the last of the prominent leaders in this community. He was not only gifted as a religious teacher, but possessed much mechanical genius. By an ingenious device, water from a large spring was conducted into the cellar of the meeting-house and made to run the spinning-wheels in the living-room above, where were made linen thread and fine table linen, in handsome patterns. A daughter of this preacher (a sweet old lady, still living in this house in 1900) stated that she used often in her youth to spin sixty knots of thread a day.
It is alleged in Quakertown that Rogerenes were the first to decry slavery. This claim is not without foundation. Some of the Quakers censured this practice as early as 1750, although many of them held slaves for a considerable time after that date. Slavery was not publicly denounced in their Society until 1760. It was before 1730 that John Bolles came to the conclusion that slavery was not in accordance with the teachings of the New Testament. Copies of the papers by which he freed his slaves, bearing the above date, may be seen among the New London town records. His resolve to keep no more slaves and his reasons for it are among the traditions cherished by his descendants. Attention has previously been called to the evident aversion on the part of James Rogers and his son John to the practice of keeping slaves in life bondage. There is no indication that John Rogers, Sr., ever kept a slave, and many indications to the contrary. His son John, however, kept slaves to some extent, some of whom at least he freed for “faithful service” (New London Records). Two able-bodied “servants,” are found in his inventory.[[177]] His son James mentions a servant, “Rose,” in his will of 1754. His son John, however, never kept a slave, and his family were greatly opposed to that practice, by force of early teaching. With the exceptions here noted, no proof appears of the keeping of slaves among the early Rogerenes, although many of them were in circumstances to indulge in that practice, which was prevalent in their neighborhood. The date at which slavery was denounced by the Rogerene Society does not appear.
It is certain that the Rogerenes of Quakertown were not only among the first to declare against the brutality of war and the sanction it received from ministers and church members, but among the foremost in the denunciation of slavery. Nor were there those lacking on the New London side to join hands with their Groton friends on these grounds. The churches of New London, in common with others, would not listen to any meddling with slavery, partisanship on which question would surely have divided those churches. The Rogerenes saw no justifiable evasion, for Christians, of the rule to love God and your fellowmen, to serve God and not Mammon, and to leave the consequences with Him who gave the command.
At the period of the antislavery agitation, some of the descendants of John Rogers and John Bolles on the New London side (no longer called by the name of Rogerenes), and other sympathizers with those of Quakertown, attended meetings in the upper chamber of the house of many gables, and joined with them in antislavery and other Rogerene sentiments, declarations and endeavors. Among these visitors was William Bolles,[[178]] the enterprising book publisher of New London ([Part I., Chapter VII.]), who had become an attendant upon the services of the Baptist church of New London; but who withdrew from such attendance after discovery that the minister and leading members of that church expected those opposed to slavery to maintain silence upon that subject. He published a paper in this cause, in 1838, called The Ultimatum, with the following heading:—
ULTIMATUM.
THE PRESS MUZZLED: PULPIT GAGGED: LIBERTY OF SPEECH DESTROYED; THE CONSTITUTION TRAMPLED UNDER FOOT; MOBS TRIUMPHANT, AND CITIZENS BUTCHERED: OR, SLAVERY ABOLISHED—THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE.—FELLOW CITIZENS, MAKE YOUR ELECTION.
A few disconnected sentences (by way of brevity) selected from one of the editorial columns of this sheet, will give some idea of its style:—
It is with pleasure we make our second appearance before our fellow citizens, especially when we remember the avidity with which our first number was read, so that we were obliged to print a second edition. Our sheet is the organ of no association of men or body of men, but it is the friend of the oppressed and the uncompromising enemy of all abuses in Church and State. Our friends S. and J. must not be surprised that their communications are not admitted—the language is too harsh, and partakes a little too much of the denunciatory spirit for us. We care not how severely sin is rebuked, but we would remind them that a rebuke is severe in proportion as the spirit is kind and the language courteous—our object is to conciliate and reform, not to exasperate.
About the year 1850, several noted abolitionists came to New London to hold a meeting. Rogerenes from Quakertown gathered with others to hear the speeches. When the time for the meeting arrived, the use of the court-house, which had previously been promised them, was refused. In this dilemma, Mr. Bolles told the speakers they could go to the burying-ground and there speak, standing upon his mother’s grave. The meeting took place, but during its continuance the speakers were pelted with rotten eggs.[[179]]
Mr. Bolles often entertained at his house speakers in the abolition cause. Such speakers were also entertained at Quakertown, where they frequently held meetings when not allowed to speak elsewhere in the region. The Rogerenes of this place also assisted in the escape of fugitive slaves, Quakertown being, between 1830 and 1850, one of the stations of the Underground Railroad. Fugitive slaves were brought here, under cover of darkness, concealed in the meeting-house and forwarded by night to the next station. For these daring deeds, the Quakertown people were repeatedly mobbed and suffered losses.
Rogerenes were also among the first in the cause of temperance, nor did they confine their temperance principles to the use of tobacco and intoxicating liquors, but advocated temperance in eating as well. Although never observing the fast days appointed by ecclesiastical law, they made use of fasting with prayer, and fasted for their physical as well as spiritual good, judging the highest degree of mental or spiritual power not to be obtained by persons who indulged in “fullness of bread.” (See “Answer to Mr. Byles,” by Joseph Bolles, in Appendix.) The Rogerenes of Quakertown have been and still are earnest advocates of temperance principles.
The isolation and exclusiveness of the Quakertown community in the nineteenth century has already been noted as a distinct departure from the liberal and outreaching policy of the early Rogerenes. There was yet another departure, in regard to freedom of speech, which culminated, about the middle of the nineteenth century, in a division of this community into two opposing parties. At this date, Elder Zephania Watrous was advanced in years; but he had been, and still was, a man of great force of character, and was accounted a rigid disciplinarian. Only a man of such type could have held this community to its strictly exclusive policy for so long a period.
Free inquiry, with expression of individual views, was favored by the Rogerenes from the first, and formed an important feature of their meetings for study and exposition of gospel truths. Largely by this very means were their youth trained to interest in, and knowledge of, the Scriptures. Such freedom had been instituted by the founder of the sect, with no restrictions save the boundary line between liberty and license.[[180]]
The elder did not favor free speech in the meetings of the Society; he undoubtedly judged that such freedom would tend to disorder and division. The sequel, however, proved that a Society which could be held firmly together, for more than a hundred years, under a remarkably liberal policy in this regard, could be seriously divided under the policy of repression.
The feeling upon this point became so intense that public meetings were held in Quakertown for full discussion of the subject pro and con. These meetings excited wide interest, and were attended by many persons from adjoining towns. The party for free speech won the victory; but the division tended to weaken the little church, the decline of which is said to date from that period.[[181]]
For nearly two hundred years, New Testament doctrines as expounded by John Rogers (in his writings) have been taught in Quakertown, and the Bible studied and restudied anew, with no evasion or explaining away of its apparent meanings. Morality has been taught not as a separate code, but as a principal part of the religion of Jesus Christ. Great prominence has been given to non-resistance and all forms of application of the law of love.
Women were from the first encouraged to speak in Rogerene meetings, the meetings referred to being those for exhortation, prayer and praise. It will be seen (Appendix) that John Bolles wrote a treatise in favor of allowing women to speak in such meetings. Mr. Bownas also quotes John Rogers as saying that women were admitted to speak in Rogerene meetings, “some of them being qualified by the gift of the Spirit.”
Among the principles rigidly insisted upon in Quakertown are that persons shall not be esteemed on account of wealth, learning or position, but only for moral and religious characteristics; strict following of the Golden Rule by governments as well as by individuals, hence no going to war, or retaliatory punishments (correction should be kindly and beneficent); no profane language, or the taking of an oath under any circumstances; no voting for any man having principles contrary to the teachings of the New Testament; no set prayers in meetings, but dependence on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; no divorce except for fornication; to suffer rather than to cause suffering. There has always been great disapprobation of “hireling ministers.” None of the Rogerene elders ever received payment for preaching or for pastoral work.
A gentleman who has been prominent in the Quakertown Society being questioned, some years since, in regard to the lack of sympathy between the Rogerenes and other denominations, gave the following reasons for a state of feeling on both sides which is not wholly absent even at the present day.
“The other churches considered cessation of work on Sunday to be a part of the Christian religion, and to be forced upon all as such. Many of their preachers were led into the ministry as a learned and lucrative profession, with no spiritual call to preach, being educated by men for that purpose. In many instances these preachers were worldly-minded to a great extent. The churches believed in war and in training men to kill their fellowmen. Ministers and church members used liquor freely. Church members held slaves, and ministers upheld the practice. For a long time the Rogerenes were compelled to assist in the support of the Congregational church, to which of all churches they were most opposed, on account of its assumption of authority over others in the matter of religion. The Rogerenes were fined for not attending the regular meetings, and cruelly persecuted for not keeping sacred the ‘idol Sabbath’ so strictly observed by other denominations. Although persecution has ceased, prejudice still remains on both sides, partly inherited, as it were, and partly the result of continued differences of opinion.”
At the present day, meetings in Quakertown are similar to Baptist or Methodist conference meetings. The Lord’s Supper is observed once a quarter. In the old times the Rogerenes held a feast once a year, in imitation of the last passover with the disciples, at which time a lamb was killed and eaten with unleavened bread. The Sunday service consisted of preaching and exposition of Scripture, while prayers, singing of hymns, relation of experience, etc., were reserved for the evening meetings of the Society. The latter were meetings for the professing Christians, while the Sunday meetings were public meetings, where all were welcomed. It will be observed that this was according to the apostolic practice, and not materially different from the practice of other denominations at the present day.
If there was so decided an aversion to physicians on the part of the early Rogerenes as has been represented, it has not come down to the present time among the people of Quakertown, as have most of the oldtime sentiments and customs; yet evidence is not lacking to prove that their predecessors made use of faith and prayer in the healing of disease, and that there have been cases of such healing in this Society. One of the latter, within the memory of persons yet living, was recounted to us by the gentleman to whom we have referred, upon our inquiring of him if he had ever heard of any cures of this kind in Quakertown. Pointing to a portrait on the wall, he said, “That man was cured in a remarkable manner.” He then stated the circumstances as follows:—
“He had been sick with dysentery, and was so low that his death was momentarily expected; his wife had even taken out the clothes she wished placed upon him after death. While he lay in this seemingly last stage of the disease, he suddenly became able to speak, and said, in a natural tone, to his wife: ‘Bring me my clothes.’ She told him he was very ill and must not try to exert himself; but he continued so urgent that, to pacify him, she brought the clothes he usually wore. He at once arose, dressed himself and was apparently well, and so continued. He said that, while he lay there in that weak condition, he suddenly felt an invisible hand placed upon his head and heard a voice saying: ‘Arise, my son, you are healed,’ upon which he immediately felt a complete change, from extreme illness and weakness to health and strength; hence his request to his wife.”
There are numerous traditions regarding the offering of prayers for recovery by the bedsides of the sick, on the part of the early elders of this community, who were sometimes desired to render this service outside of their own Society, and readily complied.
That the founders of this community, both men and women, were persons of no ordinary mental and physical vigor, is attested by the excellent mental and physical condition of their descendants, after generations of intermarriage within their own borders. At the present day, it would puzzle an expert to calculate their complicated relationships. In a visit to this locality, some years since, we met two of the handsomest, brightest and sweetest old ladies we ever beheld, each of whom had passed her eightieth year, and each of whom bore the name of Esther (as did the wife of John Waterhouse). Both were descendants of John Rogers, and of the first settlers of Quakertown, several times over.[[182]] One of them told us that her grandmother took a cap-border to meeting to hem in the time of the great countermove, at which time and for which cause she was whipped at the New London whipping-post; also that for chopping a few sticks of wood in his back yard, on Sunday, a Quakertown man was “dragged to New London prison.” This is but a hint of the traditions that linger in this community regarding the days of persecution. The other lady, a daughter of Elder Zephania Watrous, lived in the old meeting-house, where she was born. In the room with this gentle and comely old lady were five generations of the Watrous family, herself the eldest, and a child of four or five years the youngest, all fair representatives of Quakertown people; healthy, intelligent and good-looking.
To a stranger in these parts, it is a wonder how the inhabitants have maintained themselves in such an apparently sterile and rocky region.[[183]] In fact, these people did not depend upon agriculture for a livelihood. Although thus isolated, they were from the first thrifty, ingenious and enterprising. The property of the first settlers having been divided and subdivided among large families, it was not long before their descendants must either desert their own community or invent methods of bringing into Quakertown adequate profits from without. Consequently, we find them, early in the nineteenth century, selling, in neighboring towns, cloths, threads, yarn and other commodities of their own manufacture. A large proportion of the men learned trades and worked away from home during the week. Many of them were stone-masons, a trade easily learned in this rocky region, and one in which they became experts. In later times, we find some of them extensively engaged in raising small fruits, especially strawberries.
Although, with the decline of persecution, no new leader arose to rank with those of the past, bright minds have not been lacking in later days in this fast thinning community, which, like other remote country places, has suffered by the emigration of its youth to more promising fields of action.
Timothy Watrous, 2d, invented the first machine for cutting cold iron into nails. He also made an entire dock himself.
Samuel Chapman, a descendant of John Rogers and John Waterhouse, is said to have made and sailed the first steamship on the Mississippi. He founded large iron-works in New Orleans. His son Nathan was one of the founders of the Standard Iron Works of Mystic.
Jonathan Whipple, a descendant of John Rogers, having a deaf and dumb son, conceived the idea of teaching him to speak and to understand by the motion of the lips, by which method he soon spoke sonorously and distinctly, and became a man of integrity and cultivation. Zerah C. Whipple, a grandson of Jonathan, becoming interested in this discovery, resolved to devote his life to its perfection. He invented the Whipple Natural Alphabet, and with the aid of his grandfather, Jonathan, founded The Home School for the deaf and dumb, at Mystic.
Julia Crouch, author of “Three Successful Girls” (a descendant of John Rogers and John Bolles), was a Rogerene of Quakertown.
Ida Whipple Benham, a well-known poet, and for many years an efficient member of the Peace Society, was of Quakertown origin.[[184]]
In recent years, the Rogerenes of Quakertown have given much attention to the cause of peace and arbitration. The Universal Peace Union having been established by the Quakers, soon after the rebellion, the people of Quakertown invited members of that Society to join them in holding a Peace Convention near Mystic, the most suitable available point in the vicinity of Quakertown. Accordingly, in August, 1868, the first of an unbroken series of yearly Peace Meetings was held in an attractive grove on a hill by the Mystic River. Including the invited guests, there were present forty-three persons. The second meeting, in September, 1869, showed such an increase of interest and attendance that the Connecticut Peace Society was organized, as a branch of The Universal Peace Union, and Jonathan Whipple of Quakertown was elected president. This venerable man (to whom we have before referred), besides publishing and circulating The Bond of Peace (a paper advocating peace principles), had long been active as a speaker and correspondent in the cause so dear to his heart.
In 1871, James E. Whipple, of Quakertown, a young man of high moral character, having refused from conscientious scruples to pay the military tax imposed upon him, was arrested by the town authorities of Ledyard and confined in the Norwich jail, where he remained several weeks.
About the same time, Zerah C. Whipple, being called upon to pay a military tax, refused to thus assist in upholding a system which he believed to be anti-Christian and a relic of barbarous ages. He was threatened with imprisonment; but some kindly disposed person, interfering without his knowledge, paid the tax.
In 1872 a petition, signed by members of the Peace Society, was presented to the legislature of Connecticut praying that body to make such changes in the laws of the State as should be necessary to secure the petitioners in the exercise of their conscientious convictions in this regard. The petition was not granted; but the subject excited no little interest and sympathy among some of the legislators.
In the summer of 1874, Zerah C. Whipple, still refusing to do what his conscience forbade, was taken from his home by the tax collector of Ledyard and placed in the New London jail. His arrest produced a profound impression, he being widely known as the principal of the school for teaching the dumb to speak, and also as a very honest, high-souled man.
During his six week’s imprisonment, the young man appealed to the prisoners to reform their modes of life, reproved them for vulgarity and profanity, furnished them books to read, and began teaching English to a Portuguese confined there. The jailer himself said, to the commissioner, that although he regretted Mr. Whipple’s confinement in jail on his own account, he should be sorry to have him leave, as the men had been more quiet and easy to manage since he had been with them. On the evening of the sixth day, an entire stranger called at the jail and desired to know the amount of the tax and costs, which he paid, saying he knew the worth of Mr. Whipple, that his family for generations back had never paid the military tax, and he wished to save the State the disgrace of imprisoning a person guilty of no crime. This man was not a member of the Peace Society. Mr. Whipple afterwards learned that his arrest was illegal, the laws of the State providing that where property is tendered, or can be found, the person shall be unmolested. The authorities of Groton did not compel the payment of this tax by persons conscientiously opposed to it.
In 1872, The Bond of Peace was removed to Quakertown and its name changed to The Voice of Peace. Zerah C. Whipple undertook its publication and continued it until 1874, when it was transferred to a committee of The Universal Peace Union. It is now published in Philadelphia as the official organ of that Society, under the title of The Peacemaker.
The call of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe for a woman’s Peace Society was heartily responded to by the Connecticut Peace Society, and the 2d of June was for years celebrated, by appropriate exercises, as Mother’s Day.
The annual grove meeting increased rapidly in attendance and interest. The number present at the tenth meeting was estimated at 2,500. In 1875, it was decided to prolong the time of the convention to a second day’s session, and the two day’s session was attended with unabated interest.
Jonathan Whipple, first president of the Connecticut Peace Society, died in March, 1875. Shortly before the end, he was heard to say: “Blessed are the peacemakers; but there has been no blessing promised to warriors.”
The grove meeting is now held three days annually. It is the largest gathering of the kind in the world. The large tent used at first was replaced some years since by a commodious wooden structure, which is the property of the Universal Peace Union.
From the first, some of the most noted speakers on peace and kindred topics have occupied the platform, among them Belva Lockwood, Mary A. Livermore, Julia Ward Howe, Aaron M. Powell, Rowland B. Howard, Robert T. Paine, Delia S. Parnell, George T. Angell, H. L. Hastings, William Lloyd Garrison, etc. The Hutchinson family used frequently to sing at these meetings. The only one now remaining of that gifted choir, a gentleman as venerably beautiful as any bard of ancient times, has, in recent summers, favored the audience in the grove with several sweet songs appropriate to the occasion.
It is said that the winding road leading about Quakertown is in the shape of a horseshoe. May this be an omen of honors yet to come to this little battlefield, where an isolated, despised, yet all-devoted band have striven for nearly two centuries to be true to the pure and simple precepts of the New Testament as taught them by sufferers for obedience to those truths, beside many a fireside where tales of woes for past endeavors, mingled with prayers for future victories, have nerved young hearts to the old-time endurance, for His name’s sake.
Many are the noble men and women who, from first to last, have been content to live and die in this obscure locality, unhonored by the world and sharing not its luxuries or pleasures, consoled by the promises of the New Testament: promises which are not to the rich and honored (as such), but chiefly to those who for obedience to the teachings of this Word are outcast and despised, poor and unlearned, and even, if need be, persecuted and slain.
Not because that good man, Jonathan Whipple, was more conscientious or talented than many another of the Rogerenes of this locality, but because he was a good specimen of the kind of men that have from time to time been reared in this Society, there is given in the following note[[185]] an abstract from a published account of his life, a copy of which was forwarded to us by his daughter, Mrs. Whaley, in 1893. In the letter containing this enclosure she said: “I hope that justice will at length be done our so long misunderstood and misrepresented people.”
Presentation of facts belongs to the historian; but the effect and uses of the information thus afforded is for the reader. We have collected and set in order such attested facts as we have been able to discover relative to the history of the Rogerenes, of which sect the people of Quakertown are the only distinct representatives of the present day.
If at the end of this history it should be asked: “How can the Rogerene sect be described in briefest terms?” we reply:—
“The doctrines and customs of this sect were patterned as closely as possible after the early church of the Gentiles, instituted under apostolic effort and direction; hence it included the evangelical portions and excluded the unevangelical portions of the doctrines and customs of every sect known to Christendom. Should a new sect be brought into existence on strictly evangelical lines, it would, to all intents and purposes, be the same as the Rogerene Society.” It is evident, however, that a marked feature of the Rogerene sect would be lacking to such a church in modern times, viz., the constant need of withstanding ecclesiastical laws whose unimpeded sway would have prevented the existence of any truly evangelical church. It is easy to perceive that the growth of such a spirit of close adherence to New Testament teachings as animated the Rogerenes would tend to the obliteration of sects.
Should the churches of Christendom ever awake to the fact that not one of them but has made and countenanced signal departures from the teachings of Christ and his apostles, both in principles and modes, and that their differences one from the other are founded upon variations from the first divinely instituted church, and should they, on thus awakening, join hands, in council assembled, with the purpose of uniting in one church of the apostolic model, fully devoted to the cause of peace on earth and good will to men, then would dawn the millennium.
It is plain that John Rogers had faith in the people at large for the realization of such a church universal, could adequate leadership be procured. He believed that of existing societies of the evangelical order having in his day a fair start, that of the Quakers (by its peace principles and dependence on the Holy Spirit) was best fitted to take the lead. For such an end he had urged upon that Society the instituting among them the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which they had rejected, and he expressed his opinion forcibly when he said to Mr. Bownas in 1703 that if the Quakers would take those two ordinances they could “carry all before them.” (As quoted by Mr. Bownas.)
CHAPTER XIV.
DRAGON’S TEETH.
Mr. J. R. Bolles has aptly compared the falsehoods sown by the author of “The Prey Taken from the Strong,” to dragon’s teeth constantly springing up anew ([Part I, Chapter I]). When Peter Pratt wrote the book thus entitled, he was evidently stimulated and encouraged by the ecclesiastical demand for such a publication, and trusted that lack of correct information on the part of the general public would secure credence for it. The falsities evident in the work, through its contradictions in one part of statements made in another, must have been due either to lack of careful observation on the part of the writer or to his confidence of such lack on the part of the public to whom it was addressed.
There was an evident personal object in this deliberate attempt to malign the character of John Rogers three years after his death; by statements which Peter Pratt of all men knew to be false; he having himself been a Rogerene, closely allied and attached to one of the leaders of that Society. Having since become a prominent member of the ruling church, and intimate with leading ecclesiastics of that church, in what better way could he prove to his influential friends his regret at having been associated with the hated nonconformist than by lending himself to the ruling order in their endeavors to stamp out whatever respect for and interest in the Rogerenes and their cause had found lodgement in the minds of the public?
On the ecclesiastical side, who could address the public with better chance of being heard and credited than a popular lawyer, known to have had intimate acquaintance with the obnoxious sect? For despite the blunder in regard to computation of longitude ([Part I, Chapter IV]), Peter Pratt was a man of considerable note in Connecticut, both as a lawyer and speaker, at the time he wrote this singular book. Joshua Hempstead says in his Diary: “Nov. 25, 1730. Melancholy news of the death of Mr. Peter Pratt of ys Town,[[186]] Attorney at Law, is confirmed, who died at Hartford on Saturday last,—the finest Orator in the Colony of his Profession.”
The literary ability of this man is shown to be far below that ascribed to his oratory, the style of this sole book of his authorship being very ordinary; while the reply of his half-brother John Rogers, 2d, as well as other works of that author, will bear comparison with some of the best works of his time, for clear, vigorous logic and expression, enlivened by sparkles of wit and acumen, which qualifies are not observable in the literary effort of this other son of his mother.
The principal point to be secured being an impeachment of the character of John Rogers, free use is made by Peter Pratt of the accusation presented by the Griswolds in the petition for divorce, by way of declaring that the separation of John Rogers from his wife and children was on account of certain immoralities charged against him, which pretended immoralities Peter Pratt names, on no other authority than the entirely ambiguous statements of the records of the General Court regarding the Petition of Elizabeth in 1675, which Petition (according to said records) distinctly stated that the chief reason of her plea did not relate to breach of the marriage covenant, of which she admitted that she had small reason to complain.
The exact charges manufactured by the Griswolds under the head of “Breach of Covenant” may be found in the bill of damages still to be seen in the Connecticut State Library (see Chapter II), which bill was brought against John Rogers by Matthew Griswold during the trial for divorce, and in which is no imputation regarding the moral character of John Rogers. Peter Pratt, although avowing familiarity with these records, declares a serious breach of the marriage covenant to be one of the chief causes for this separation; while he does not in any sort intimate to the reader that the charge brought forward for the divorce related—as he well knew—to a period before marriage, and to some fault known only to John Rogers himself, until he divulged the same to his wife.
Peter Pratt also states that John Rogers owned out of court to the charge against him, and that the person intrusted with that confidence gave this evidence against him, for proof of which statement the reader is referred to files of the General Court. Evidently Peter Pratt did not expect any of his readers to consult said files; for although it is to this day on the files of that court that John Rogers was said to have owned out of court to the charge against him, it is stated in the same connection that the man who avowed this confidence on the part of John Rogers, upon being asked the time and place of the confession, gave such reply that John Rogers was able to prove an alibi.
The one other opportunity improved by Peter Pratt for an attack upon the moral character of John Rogers, is in regard to his marriage with Mary Ransford, twenty-five years after the charge made for the purpose of obtaining the divorce. In his account of this marriage, he not only falsifies and vulgarizes the circumstances in a very singular manner, but, while in one place he represents the marriage to Mary to have been less of choice than necessity, in another place he avers that he himself was, at the very time of this marriage, on friendly and intimate terms with John Rogers, and so continued, to the extreme of actual discipleship, for years after that marriage.
It would seem that any careful and intelligent reader of “The Prey Taken from the Strong,” however prejudiced, could but note this singular inconsistency,—that Peter Pratt, while knowing to any such irregularity as he claims on the part of John Rogers, should, at that very time, have taken him as a spiritual guide, and continued, for years after, under his leadership. The readers of that day, in that locality, must have known that Peter Pratt’s connection with the Rogerene Society was at a date following the marriage to Mary Ransford, which latter occurred in 1699, while his own declaration that when he was imprisoned with other Rogerenes in that cause he had a young wife at home, fixes the date of this imprisonment as late as 1709, which was the year of his marriage.
In order to appear to substantiate his calumnious intimations, Peter Pratt states that, to the best of his recollection, the first child of Mary Ransford was born “three or four months” after the ceremony before the County Court. He also states that she was complained of by the court on the birth of this child. As a lawyer in this town, he dwelt, so to speak, among the court records, and could easily have found the date of this child’s birth, had he intended to make a truthful statement. The County Court record still remains distinct and easily to be found, which says that this child was born in January, 1700, exactly seven months after the marriage of John Rogers to Mary Ransford, and, as stated by John Rogers, 2d, “within the time allowed by law.” It was born at the date at which John Rogers, 2d, brought his bride to Mamacock, to the great annoyance and irritation of Mary. It is well known that less disturbances than this have often hastened the birth of a child. Proof is evident that neither John Bolles, nor any other of the highly honorable friends and neighbors of John Rogers, who had the very best opportunity of knowing the facts of the case, showed the slightest diminution of allegiance to him at this date, and quite as evident that Peter Pratt himself continued right on to full discipleship.
The two chief calumnies in this work of Peter Pratt having been presented, attention is now called to two of a different character.
I saw him once brought into court,—he had contrived the matter so as to be just without the door when he was called to answer. His features and gestures expressed more fury than I ever saw in a distracted person of any sort, and I soberly think that if a legion of devils had pushed him in headlong, his entrance had not been more horrid and ghastly, nor have seemed more preternatural.
John Roger’s declaration that the indictment was a lie is brought out in similar style, also the exclamations of other Rogerenes present in the court-room.
This plainly refers to the trial before the County Court in November, 1719, when John Rogers is said (by court records) to have come into court “in a violent manner,” etc., and, when the indictment was read, to have exclaimed that it was “a devilish ly” (see Chapter IX), for which contempt of court he was fined only twenty shillings, which nominal sum was never collected. Taking into consideration the evident sympathy of the jury on this occasion of “violent entrance,” etc., and the great ease with which Peter Pratt is proven capable of misstating and exaggerating facts, the reader will admit the probability that this entrance of John Rogers into the court-room, and his words there spoken, together with those of his followers, were neither more nor less than impassioned expressions of indignation and protest regarding the terrible cruelty to which the wife of John Bolles was then being subjected. She was, as will be remembered, at that moment lying in a critical condition in New London prison, where the death of her child had just occurred. Peter Pratt, then present in that court-room, by his own avowal, knew all of these facts, and knew also that the life of this woman was saved only by such determined efforts at full publicity on the part of the Rogerenes and their sympathizers. Yet he utterly conceals these circumstances from the reader, while he exaggerates the Rogerene protests, and represents them as being simply senseless and grotesque.
It is from this description by Peter Pratt that historians have borrowed their statements regarding the loud voice of John Rogers, and that Rogerenes were accustomed to charge dignitaries with lying, etc.[[187]]
The singularly false and indecent statements made by Peter Pratt—in regard to the divorce of John Rogers and the marriage to Mary Ransford—and his exaggerated description of the scene in the court-room, form almost the entire portion of the account of the Rogerenes contained in Trumbull’s “History of Connecticut,” which is the standard history (first published, 1818) from which, as has been said, later historians have derived their ideas and representations in regard to this sect.
Of the many lesser aspersions cast by Peter Pratt upon the character and teachings of John Rogers, one of the most astonishing (seeing that Peter Pratt himself refutes it) is to the effect that John Rogers held that “a man dies even as a dog.” In another place he says John Rogers “held both to the resurrection and the day of judgment, although doubted whether the body to be raised would be the same that fell, yet owned it would have the same consciousness.”
The author guilty of the above (and many another) self-contradiction, says of the writings of John Rogers: “For that they are so perplexed and ambiguous, that he that will attend the rules of reason and speech can prove scarcely anything of the chief articles of his faith by his books.”
Careful perusal of the many extant writings of John Rogers will prove to any candid person that they are written in the clearest manner, having in them nothing which cannot be understood by the most ordinary reader. Peter Pratt, being unable to quote from these writings anything that could substantiate his statements concerning them, had need to manufacture some excuse for such omission of evidence.
It would be exceedingly difficult, if not wholly impossible, to find another book from which historians have condescended to quote which contains so many contradictions in itself, so many utterly and needlessly vulgar expressions, and so many easily proven falsehoods, as does this calumnious work of Peter Pratt. The favor it received in ecclesiastical quarters is proof that there was almost no device, however underhanded, of which the enemies of the Rogerenes would not stoop to avail themselves in branding this daring opponent of ecclesiastical rule.
Yet Peter Pratt’s baldly dishonest account is not the only source of Rogerene calumny.
Backus, among others, in his “History of the Baptists,” makes the statement that the Rogerenes were a sect whose practice it was to take work into meeting-houses. The Rogerenes were a sect nearly a century before 1764, when they first took work into a meeting-house, and have been a sect more than one hundred years since 1766, when they ceased to take work into a meeting-house, making in reality less than two years, of their more than two hundred years of existence, in which they (their women), in defence of their Society, took work into a meeting-house.
The same historian asserts that it was their regular practice to enter the churches and interrupt the ministers, although it would have been evident, upon careful examination of the case, that they never entered any church in this manner except under stress of bitter persecution, and that, as a non-resistant people, they had in such emergencies no other efficient means of defence.
Historians have generally stated that the Rogerenes imitated the Quakers in dress and speech, apparently on no further evidence than that the name of Quakers had become attached to them.
That the Rogerenes did not imitate the Quakers in speech is shown by the testimony of those of their descendants most likely to be well informed in regard to the early customs of their people. That they did not imitate the Quakers in dress is proven by their inventories, which show the usual style of dress, wherever the wardrobe is itemized.
In the countermove of 1764-66, the men kept on their hats in the Congregational meeting-house. John Crandall and other early members of the First Baptist church in Newport had no affinity or sympathy with the Quakers; yet, when attending service in a Congregational church, they kept on their hats, in token of dissent.
Historians inform us that the Rogerenes did not employ physicians, surgeons, or midwives, or make use of remedies in sickness, depending wholly upon the prayer of faith. As has been fully shown, the Rogerenes did not feel authorized to neglect any New Testament injunction; they undoubtedly believed in healing by the prayer of faith; yet, being a logical and discriminating people, they perceived that the prayer of faith is often a remedy most difficult to procure at a moment’s notice, and that other modes of relief obtainable, in absence of this superior agency, are not to be despised. As opposed to statements that the Rogerenes had nothing to do with remedies, we have evidence that they were very attentive to the sick, which presumes aid of various kinds. They appear not to have disapproved of natural, ordinary means of restoration and alleviation. A striking proof is furnished in the description given by John Rogers of his illness, through cold and neglect, in the inner prison. On this occasion, we do not find his son standing by the prison window praying, though this son is a Rogerene of the Rogerenes; but we find him running out into the streets, crying loudly for help, and when help comes, in the form of hot stones, wine and cordial, as well as speedy removal to warm quarters, there is no indication of any lack of ready acceptance of these means of restoration. We find afterwards a grateful acknowledgment by John Rogers himself to Mr. Adams and wife for the wine and cordial.
Remarkable cases of divine healing appear to have occurred in this Society at an early date. The account given of the healing of a later day Rogerene in Quakertown (Chapter XIII) indicates that this was a result of faith, through teachings and experiences that had been in operation long before this man’s day, descending from the first headers through intervening generations. The bringing of their sick, by the Rogerenes of New Jersey, to the “holy men” from Ephrata, to be healed, is also indicative of former experiences that had strengthened their faith even to a point like this.
As for surgery, there is no reason to suppose that the Rogerenes did not use the ordinary methods for a cut finger and for more serious wounds. These people must have had broken bones, yet we hear of none lame among them, except one who was “born lame.” They had no New Testament directions regarding surgical cases. As for midwives, the size of their families of children by one mother prove that, whatever their mode, mothers and babes thrived to a very uncommon degree. We hear nothing of the prayer of faith in such cases, except in unauthenticated statements of “historians.” There is abundance of traditional evidence that the Rogerenes were trained in the care of the sick, not only that they need not call for aid from without, but that they might assist in ministering to others.
The fact that it is appointed to all men once to die, of itself precludes the possibility of continual and invariable healing, even by the prayer of faith. But to suppose that such prayer is not as efficient as human remedies, is to declare incredible certain passages of Scripture which are as authentic as any other portion of the New Testament. Thus reasoned the Rogerenes.
While referring to Backus, we will note a statement made by him to the effect that some of the Rogerene youth having put an end to their own lives, this was a cause of the decline of their Society. Here is a curious dragon’s tooth, and it is difficult to see how it was manufactured. Suffice it to say that, in extensive historical and genealogical researches for the purposes of this history (and in researches by the authors of the Rogers and the Bolles Genealogies, both of which works largely include allied families), there has been found but one instance of suicide among the Rogerenes, and this was that of a young man who took his own life while under the influence of melancholia which came upon him during a period of religious revival. This young man was not of Rogers descent. There was, however, in New London, at a somewhat later date, a young man of Rogers and Rogerene descent, who became hopelessly insane. Because of the devotion of his mother to a church in New London he was brought up in that church. It is said that he was a very bright and promising youth, and that no cause could be assigned to his derangement other than excitement induced by a revival in that church. This is mentioned to show that such instances are not confined to any denomination.
Backus also says that “as late as 1763” some Rogerenes “clapped shingles and pieces of wood together around the meeting-house” in Norwich. Since he gives no authority for this statement, it is likely to be one of the many fabrications imposed upon the public as “history.” If any such thing occurred, it was doubtless a Rogerene warning to that church to desist certain meddling or persecutions. It will not only be remembered that the date given is during the height of the persecution that induced the great countermove, but that from the Norwich church had issued those who apprehended and scourged the party of Rogerenes on their way to Lebanon.[[188]] Mr. Backus, with the real or assumed lack of perception common to ecclesiastical historians when treating upon the Rogerenes, adds that “the rulers having learned so much wisdom as only to remove these people from disturbing others, without fines or corporeal punishment,” they had ceased from such things in a great measure. It would have been contrary to the inclination of such writers to perceive that the Rogerenes disturbed no one but in defense of the truth for which they stood, and that when persecution on account of their own religion ceased, they had no further need to disturb the religious observances of others.
Barber, in his “Historical Collections of New Jersey,” states that there is a tradition to the effect that, about eighty years before the date of the writing (which would give us the date of the great countermove at New London), some of the Rogerenes of Schooley’s Mountain came into a neighboring meeting-house, bringing work and interrupting the minister. The latter statement is couched in the very words used by Miss Caulkins concerning the New London countermove of 1764-66, indicating the exact origin of this New Jersey “tradition,” which is simply in line with the erroneous accounts of historians in general—derived from repetitions and alterations of statements concerning the New London movement—which represent the Rogerenes as always and everywhere taking work into meeting-houses and interrupting the ministers.
Could any such disturbance be proven in regard to the Rogerenes of New Jersey, it would show—as a known effect of a certain cause—that they had been subjected to unbearable annoyances from members of that church, on account of their own religious persuasion, and took that method to check their enemies. But no proof of any such New Jersey molestation or defense has been presented.
Rev. Mr. Field, in his “Bi-centennial Discourse,” says the Rogerenes did not believe in the Sabbath “nor in public worship,” whereas, from the first they held as regular public meetings as any of their neighbors. Their meetings were open to friends and enemies alike, even to Mr. Saltonstall and his fellow-conspirators. They had, moreover, a regular organization with record books and clerk, proof of which is still extant in Quakertown, by a book of records written by said clerk. This erroneous statement regarding public meetings is doubtless derived from the fact that the Rogerenes, in opposition to the ecclesiastical law against meetings in private houses, persisted in holding meetings in such houses, and also to the fact that the Rogerenes held evening meetings for prayer, praise, and testimony, which were particularly for believers.[[189]]
There remain but two more principal fangs to be dealt with. One of these is a fossil which was recently revived by Mr. Blake, minister of the “First Church of Christ, of New London;” while the other is quite a new production, which the same estimable gentleman himself manufactured and circulated, through a natural desire not to be behind other ministers and historians of that church, in endeavoring to perpetuate the odium cast upon those who are reputed to have suffered strange things from some of its members in times past.
The first of these statements is that it was the custom of the Rogerenes to marry without a lawful ceremony, upon which Mr. Blake undertakes to give a description of their manner of marrying, which description is modelled after a familiar anecdote,—combined with a current statement founded on the same anecdote, to the effect that the marriage of John Rogers to Mary Ransford was a ceremony invented for the Rogerene sect by its leader, regardless of the known fact (“History of New London”) that upon his third marriage the intentions were regularly published in New London and the ceremony performed by a justice in Rhode Island. It may be seen by New London records that his son John, two years after the death of his father, was married by the Rev. Mr. Woodbridge, pastor of the Congregational church of Groton. Mr. John Bolles, the noted Rogerene leader, was married to his second wife, in 1736, by Mr. Joshua Hempstead, justice of the peace, John Rogers, 2d, taking Mr. Hempstead and Mr. Bolles over the river for that purpose. (“Hempstead Diary.”)
The New London town and church records and the “Hempstead Diary” bear full evidence that the Rogerenes of New London were married by the regular ministers or by justices of the peace, after a regular publication.
At a comparatively late date it appears that some of the Rogerenes prefer to have their marriages solemnized in their own public religious meetings on Sunday, in Quaker fashion, a form allowable by law, under condition that the marriage intentions be regularly published. The first marriage of this kind which has been discovered was recorded in 1764, by Joseph Bolles, clerk of the Rogerene Society, in a church book.
By the will of Joseph Bolles (1785), it is shown that he left a chest of Rogerene books and papers to Timothy Waterhouse of Groton. The latter probably succeeded Joseph Bolles as clerk of the Society; hence a remnant of this church book is in the Watrous family, and from it was copied the following:—
At our public meeting in New London the 17th of the 6th month, 1764, Joseph Bolles was appointed clerk for our Society, to write, etc.
This may certify all persons whom it may concern, that I, Timothy Walterhouse[[190]], do take thee, Content Whipple, to be my lawful, wedded wife, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, and I promise to perform to thee all the duties of a husband according to the Scriptures, while death shall separate us.
And I, Content Whipple, do take thee, Timothy Walterhouse, to be my lawful, wedded husband, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, and I promise to perform to thee all the duties of a wife according to the Scriptures, while death shall separate us.
Timothy Walterhouse.
Content Walterhouse.
The above named couple have been lawfully published, and now at our public meeting in New London, the seventeenth day of the sixth month, 1764, they both acknowledged and signed this paper, after they heard it read. Thus they are man and wife, married, according to the laws of God, in our presence.
John Walterhouse.
Joseph Bolles.
Samuel Rogers.
John Rogers (3d).
Among the various marriages in this church book are two well-known New London Rogerenes,—Thomas Turner and Enoch Bolles (son of John). Both of these are second marriages and the brides of Quakertown affinity, one of them (bride of Thomas Turner) being widow of John Waterhouse, 2d. John Waterhouse, 2d, lived in New London at, or near, Quaker Hill.
By 1811, we find the paper to be signed reading as follows:—
Groton, August 4, 1811.
These lines certify all people whom they may concern that I, William Waterous, and I, Clarissa Cushman, both of said Groton, are joined together in a lawful covenant of marriage, not to be separated until God who hath joined us together shall separate us by death, and furthermore it is enjoined on us that we perform the duty due to each other as the Scripture doth teach.
William Watrous.
Clarissa Waterous.
In presence of
Amos Waterhouse.
Samuel Chapman.
Copies of these and other records were furnished us by Mr. Jabez Watrous of Quakertown.
These marriages were, with the exceptions noted, of Rogerenes on the Groton side, although the public meetings in which the earlier ones were solemnized were held in New London, and most of the witnesses were of New London. The New London Rogerenes continued to be married by regular ministers or justices of the peace. Thus early, we find an exclusiveness on the part of the Groton Rogerenes not discoverable among those of New London. Yet all of the Rogerenes considered marriage a strictly religious ceremony, consisting of vows taken before God and not to be annulled save for the one cause stated in the New Testament, while all know for how comparatively slight causes marriages in other denominations have been set aside. By the Quakertown method, the parties took each other for husband and wife in the presence of their “elder” and the assembled congregation; the elder did not pronounce them man and wife, they having taken each other before God; but the marriage was recorded in the church book, with names of several witnesses attached. We find certificates of these marriages both on the New London and Groton town records, further showing their legal character. Among them the following:—
Groton, July 29, 1821.
Personally appeared John Crouch and Rachel Watrous, both of Groton, and were married in presence of me
Zephania Watrous.
Where the antique marriage anecdote to which reference has been made originated, or to what persons it was first applied, is a matter of uncertainty; but, as it has frequently been attached to others besides Rogerenes, it is likely to have originated in quite different quarters. It appears to have become attached to the Rogerenes through the fallacious notions previously mentioned. Even the talented and scholarly author of the Bolles Genealogy (Gen. J. A. Bolles) was misled by this anecdote, together with the current statement in regard to lack of marriage ceremony among the Rogerenes, and also by his failure to find a record of the marriage of Joseph Bolles.[[191]]
Marriage publications were not entered upon New London records; but the publication of Joseph Bolles and Martha Lewis, in the Congregational church, in 1731, is plainly recorded in the “Hempstead Diary.” Mr. J. A. Bolles had no knowledge of the existence of this Diary.
The anecdote which Mr. J. A. Bolles judged too good to be spoiled for the sake of relationship, yet of which he said: “The story has been told of so many that I doubt its authenticity,” has had so many versions, even as attached to the Rogerenes, that it cannot well be presented in this connection without laying before the reader several of the Rogerene versions that have become current. Space is given for these the more readily, because this is a good illustration of the scurrilous stories that have been told regarding this greatly abused sect.
ANECDOTE.
Version No. I. (From the Half-Century Sermon of Rev. Abel M. McEwen, 1857.)
Among the idols which it was the mission of these fanatics to demolish, was the Congregational ceremony of marriage. One of their sturdy zealots, a widower of middle age, announced his intention to take for his wife, without any formality of marriage, a widow in the neighborhood. Mr. Saltonstall remonstrated against the design of the man, but he stoutly maintained and declared his purpose. The clergyman, seeing him enter the house of his intended, also went in that he might see them together. “You, sir,” said he to the man, “will not disgrace yourself and the neighborhood by taking this woman for your wife without marriage?” “Yes,” he replied, “I will.” “But you, madam,” said the wily watchman, “will not consent to become his wife in this improper manner?” “Yes,” said she, “I do.” “Then,” said he, “I pronounce you husband and wife; and I shall record your marriage in the records of the church.”
The marriage records of the Congregational church, all of which are extant, give no record of any such Rogerene widower and widow. Any marriage of an irregular nature in those times, and to a much later date, would have been proven until this day by record of presentment at the County Court of the woman upon the birth of every child, with attendant fine or whipping. Since not a single such presentment in the case of a Rogerene (with the exception of Mary Ransford) is to be found on the court records, the opening statement of Mr. McEwen is even by that one evidence disproved.
Version No. II. (From Bi-Centennial Discourse (1870) by Rev. Mr. Field, successor to Mr. McEwen.)
Mr. Field tells above story in substantially the same manner, but causes the Rogerene to say, at the close: “Ah, Gurdon, thou art a cunning creature!” Mr. Field adds, in a footnote to the printed Discourse, that “there can be no authority for the story except tradition,” but that it bears “so many marks of probability that there can be no reason to doubt its correctness.” Doubtless it was such “marks of probability” that induced Mr. Field to credit the story that the Rogerenes entered the churches unclothed, which he incorporated among the various erroneous statements relating to these people contained in this Discourse, although he had abundant means of knowing of its absence from all New London history or tradition.
Version No. III. (From Bolles Genealogy, 1865—concerning Joseph Bolles, son of John Bolles, proof of whose marriage has been given.)
There is a tradition in the family that Governor Saltonstall, who had a high regard for Mr. and Mrs. Bolles, contrived to marry them without their suspecting it. It is said that after Mr. and Mrs. Bolles had had one or two children, and been threatened by “some rude fellows of the baser sort” with prosecution, the Governor one day invited himself to dine with friends Joseph and Martha. As the dinner went on, friend Gurdon, in easy conversation, very adroitly led both Mr. and Mrs. Bolles severally to declare that they had taken each other as man and wife in a lifelong union, and regarded themselves bound by the marriage covenant before God and man. As Mrs. Bolles assented to her husband’s declaration, with her smiling “Yea, yea,” the Governor rose to his feet and spreading out his hands exclaimed: “By virtue of my office as civil magistrate, and as a minister of God, I declare you lawful husband and wife.” “Ah, Gurdon,” said Joseph, “thou art a cunning creature!”
It is strange that so intellectual and scholarly a man as Mr. John A. Bolles did not perceive that the best part of this joke was in the extreme friendship displayed between the ardent Rogerene leader, Joseph Bolles, and Governor Saltonstall, as well as in the fact that the governor must have risen from the dead to marry Joseph Bolles, the marriage of the latter having occurred seven years after the death of Governor Saltonstall; also that had there been a child born to such a couple in those days, no “fellows of the baser sort” of any less consequence than the regular town authorities would have needed to take them in hand.
Version No. IV. (From an article regarding the Rogerenes, by a talented historian of New London of the present date, which was published several years since in a New York paper.)
There was incessant war between John Rogers and the town because his wife had been divorced from him. Though she was twice married, he attempted to capture her by force, but finally married himself to his bond-servant Mary Ransford. This scandalized the community, and the pair were hauled before the several courts. No persuasion would induce them to be legally united, and almost in despair Gurdon Saltonstall, then minister, sent for the pair. “Do you really, John,” said he, “take this woman, your bond-servant, bought with your money, for your wife?”
“Yes,” said Rogers defiantly, “I do.”
“Is it possible, Mary, that you take this man, so much older than yourself, for your husband?”
“Yes,” said she doggedly, “I do.”
“Then,” said the minister solemnly, “I pronounce you, according to the law of this colony, man and wife.”
“Ah, Gurdon,” said Rogers, “thou art a cunning creature!”
Had this historian never read the famous history of the place in which she dwells, written by Miss Caulkins, wherein is proof absolute that John Rogers and Mary Ransford had not the honor of being married by Governor Saltonstall? Although Miss Caulkins herself gives a version of this story (History of New London), she calls attention to the fact that it could not be true, as proven by court records.
Version No. V. (In one of the editions of Barber’s “Historical Collections of Connecticut.”)
It is here stated that “one day as Gov. Saltonstall was sitting in his room, smoking his pipe,” a man by the name of Gorton came in with a woman, and announced that he had taken her for his wife without any ceremony, upon which the governor, “taking his pipe from his mouth,” went through the usual form in these anecdotes, whereupon Gorton exclaimed: “Thou art a cunning creature!” Barber gives this anecdote among his various false statements regarding the Rogerenes.
Version No. VI. (A solitary anecdote found in the Chicago Tribune of April, 1897, showing how dragon’s teeth will spring up again and again, in one form or another.)
Alexander Bolles, one of the early itinerant preachers, who preached in three States among the Alleghany Mountains, says the Argonaut, was much tormented by the influence of one John Rogers, a Jerseyman, who openly taught atheism and the abolishment of marriage. On one occasion, while holding a meeting in the woods of Virginia, a young man and woman pushed their way up to the stump which served as a pulpit. The man, interrupting the sermon [of course], said defiantly:—
“I’d like you to know that we are Rogerenes.” The old man looked at him over his spectacles and waited. “We don’t believe in God, nor in marriage. This is my wife because I choose her to be; but I’ll have no preacher nor squire meddling with us.”
“Do you mean to tell me,” thundered Father Bolles, “that you have taken this girl home as your wife?”
“Yes, I do,” said the fellow doggedly.
“And have you gone willingly to live with him as your husband?”
“Yes,” said the frightened girl.
“Then I pronounce you man and wife, and whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder. Be off with you. You are married now according to the law and the gospel.”
This rehash of several aspersions, spiced by newspaper humor, has, as is perceived, for the best part of its joke (to those better informed than its writer) several amusing paradoxes; viz., that the opposing preacher should bear the name of Bolles; that John Rogers, instead of dying in New London a so-called religious fanatic, had a Rip Van Winkle sleep in New Jersey where he awoke an atheist and at the same time a Rogerene.
The dragon’s tooth which Mr. Blake appears to have manufactured himself, with no assistance whatever, for his “History of the First Church of Christ, of New London,” is of a more serious character than even such anecdotes as these. This new production is to the effect that the General Court (1684) granted Matthew Griswold and his daughter Elizabeth further guardianship of John Rogers, Jr., “on account Of the continuance of his father in immoral practices.”
The manner in which Mr. Blake so easily manufactured a statement never before made by any historian in regard to John Rogers, is by having (doubtless inadvertently) placed together as contexts two court records which have no relation to each other. The continuance of John Rogers, Jr., in the custody of Matthew Griswold and Elizabeth, granted in 1784, because John Rogers was “continuing in his evil practices,” etc., referred, as observed by previous historians, to the giving the two children into the mother’s charge in 1677, on account (as distinctly stated in the records) of John Rogers “being so hettridox in his opinion and practice,” even to breaking the holy Sabbath, etc. Mr. Blake went back of this the true context, to the alleged cause of the divorce suit in 1675, which cause was not so much as referred to by the court when the children were assigned to the care of the mother and grandfather, which assignment was wholly on the ground of the father’s “hettridoxy.” To have given the children to the care of the mother and grandfather on account of a charge against John Rogers of which he had been acquitted by the grand jury, would have been an impossible proceeding. His transgression of the ecclesiastical laws and usages were “evil practices” to the view of Matthew Griswold, Elizabeth, and the General Court.
There has now been demonstrated the unreliable character of the main charges that have been brought against John Rogers and the Rogerenes, to be repeated by succeeding “historians” and added to not infrequently, through prejudice, humor, or lack of examination into the facts. It is trusted that the evidence given in this present work will sufficiently prove it the result of painstaking research and studious investigation, with no worse bias than that in favor of the undoing of falsehood and misapprehension and the righting of grievous wrongs.
Is it too much to ask that every person who presents so-called history to the public shall be expected to present as clear evidence in support of his statements and assertions, as is demanded of a witness in a court-room, or forfeit the reputation of a reliable author? Only by such reasonable demand, on the part of readers, can past history be sifted of its chaff and future history deserve the name.
Times have changed since John Rogers, Jr., went “up and down the colony” selling his little book; but a public at large, to which this youth trusted for a fair hearing and for sympathy, still exists,—a public which, as a whole, is never deaf to a call for justice. In the hands of this court, of highest as of safest appeal, is left the “History of the Rogerenes.”