“...Religious matters, during our beginnings, did not run very smoothly. The desire for greater religious freedom caused a considerable falling away of sundry church members to Quakerism in 1731 and 1732. There were also families who had come into the town, and brought with them an affection for their old Church in England; and, as the English Church had been established in Stratford in 1707, and in Newtown in 1732, only fifteen miles away, the influence of this Church began to exert itself here. When the Rev. John Beach ... established the services of the Church of England in Newtown, the Churchmen of New Milford journeyed on Saturdays to Newtown, carrying their own provisions, and the Churchmen there gave them their lodgings. He baptized their children, and came here to officiate at a marriage in 1739. He began services here about 1742. He sent Mr. Barzilla Dean here as a lay reader, services being rendered in one of the houses of a Church family.
“It is stated that certain Churchmen in New Milford were fined for refusing to attend the meetings of the Established Church. These fines were, by recommendation of the Rev. Mr. Beach, paid, and copies of the proceedings taken to be forwarded to the King and Council. The fact becoming known, the authorities refunded the money, and granted permission to build a church which before had been refused.... In 1745-6 materials were gathered, and the English Church in New Milford erected.
“Let us glance for a few moments at the village street at this time. The early settlers had laid out their town plot, because of a beautiful spring of water, at the head of the street, nearly in front of Ingleside School, and about under the present sidewalk. The water from this spring meandered its way down through the village street, bowing from the spring to the south end of the street, where it formed a small pond, which was called ‘The Goose Pond.’ This accounts for the east side of Main Street bowing, while the west side is straight, and the street opening out considerably wider at the south end, on account of ‘The Goose Pond.’ This spring was there in my boyhood days, although an open ditch had been constructed through the middle of ‘The Green,’ in which the stream flowed. Since the construction of the water works, however, and the laying of pipes through the street, both the spring and the stream have disappeared.
“The First Established Church stood near the head of Main Street, near the spring, and the land granted for the Church of England was in the street, east of Mr. Samuel Prindle’s house, near where the old pound used to stand, at the south end of Main Street, therefore, and in the middle of the street. Here they built the first Church of England in New Milford.... It was a frame building, forty feet by thirty. It had two rows of windows, one above the other, and presented the appearance of a two-story house, and the door was in the side. It was surmounted by a turret in the center of the building, and stood ends to the east and west. The door was on the south side, and within, on the north side, stood the pulpit. It was not until 1756 that the building was finished, when, upon the building of the second meeting-house, it was voted to give three-quarters of the body seats and two pews in the old meeting-house to the Church of England. Then, the church was furnished with the square box seats, and the pulpit stood aloft, beneath which was the reading desk for the prayers, and, beneath that, the pew for the clerk, to lead in the responses, and to tune the Psalms. A curtain across the corner, served as a robing-room for the vesting of the clergymen, and, around little tables which were placed in the middle of the square box seats, gathered the families of the Churchmen of that early time. And on account of the love and affection they bore to the Rev. John Beach, of Newtown, who first planted the church in their midst, they named it ‘Saint John’s Church’; and it has borne that name ever since.
“The Rev. Solomon Palmer, a Congregational minister of Cornwall, dissatisfied with his orders, conformed to the Church, and went to England for ordination. After that, he returned here, and became the first Church of England minister who resided here, from 1754 to 1760.... He was succeeded by the Rev. Thomas Davies in 1761. He was a missionary sent by the ‘Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.’ ... a graduate of Yale College, a man who had become a minister of the church, from conviction, a gentleman and a scholar, a reader of the service, and preacher of the highest order.... Under this man of God the Church outgrew its small building, and entered upon the construction of a new, more commodious, and churchly edifice.
“I have a copy of the diary of the Rev. Thomas Davies, containing most of his ministerial acts, and some of these shed considerable light on the old times. He records, on November 15, 1764: ‘On St. Pumpion’s (Pumpkin’s) Day, I baptized at Ethel Stone’s, Martha, Ester and Edmond, children of Ethel Stone, Hannah of Gad Sperry, Joseph and Hulda of Samuel Peet, and David Smith of David Smith.’
“He alludes to St. Pumpion’s Day in other records, which leads us to suppose that this was a colloquial term in those days for designating the annual New England Thanksgiving, which was celebrated by an abundance of pumpkin pies.
“I have a manuscript sermon of the Rev. Thomas Davies, preached at New Milford, written in the finest hand, showing clearness of thought, a fine choice of language, and rising to eloquence, in pressing home to the hearts of his hearers the word of God.
“The Rev. Mr. Davies was succeeded by the Rev. Richard Clark from Milford, who remained here until 1787. He was here during the Revolution. The church begun by Mr. Davies was completed sufficiently to begin services therein, and the old church was sold to the town for a town house. This was removed to the head of Main Street and used for several years.
“The second Church of England, begun under Rev. Mr. Davies, had Partridge Thatcher for its architect, but was modeled after the church at Stratford, but somewhat plainer in its ornamentation.