First Church in Windsor - Windsor, Connecticut - Wikipedia Entries on Waymarking.com

"First Church in Windsor, Connecticut is the oldest Congregational church in Connecticut, tracing its beginnings to 1630 in Plymouth, England, where 140 men and women sailed on the Mary & John, the first of 17 ships of the so-called Winthrop Fleet bound for the colony of Massachusetts. Hearing from the Indians of the fertile land along the Connecticut River in what is now called the Connecticut River Valley, a small contingent of settlers headed southwest, establishing the first Connecticut town settlement at Windsor in 1633. Word soon spread that Windsor was a good place to settle, and in 1635 the First Church congregation ventured forth from their homes in Dorchester, Massachusetts to answer the beckoning call of a new life in Connecticut.

Lest anyone doubt the fortitude of the womenfolk in those days, it was Rachel Stiles who is credited with being the first of the settlers to set her foot upon the soil of Windsor. The Windsor colony succeeded in no small part due to the Rev. John Warham, who led the first congregation and owned the first gristmill in Connecticut. Wareham was called "the principal pillar and father of the colony" by Cotton Mather.

While the First Church of Windsor was at the center of life in the town both politically and religiously, and offered strength an encouragement to the fledgling community, its past is not without its dark times. Long before the witch trials at Salem that took so many innocent lives, Windsor had the dubious distinction of having put to death the first witches in the New World which included Alse Young (or Alice Young - for whom a judicial room is now named in Town Hall) and Lydia Gilbert.

The original site of the First Church was a meetinghouse built under the direction of Ephraim Huit, a town leader and teacher who is buried in the Palisado Cemetery. This square building stood in the middle of the Palisado Green, and was enclosed in a stockade (palisado), as protection against Indians, wolves and other such intruders. It was covered with a thatched roof, with a cupola in the center; a platform was later added to the cupola for the convenience of the man who beat the drums to warn residents of impending Sunday services—and perhaps threats of attack.

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

There were several attempts at reconciliation during the next 10 years, but it appears that the First Church congregation would take the others back only on unconditional surrender. It remained for Samuel Mather, cousin of Cotton Mather, to accomplish this reconciliation. That must have been the right decision, for it is recorded in Stiles’ History of Ancient Windsor that during Mr. Mather’s ministry [1684-1728] “not a shadow of complaint seemed to have darkened his or their pathways.”

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

The location of the meetinghouse, near where the Connecticut River and the Farmington River converge, often made it difficult during flood times for many of the congregation to attend services. So, when in 1754 a fire leveled the meetinghouse, parishioners decided they would build two meetinghouses: one on either side of the river. The Rev. William Russell, and later the Rev. David Rowland, ministered to the First Ecclesiastical Society on the south side of the river, and the Rev. Theodore Hinsdale ministered to the dissidents on the north side. Two years later the present meetinghouse was erected on the north side of the river and a covered bridge built spanning the river to accommodate the comings and goings of parishioners from the south end of town. The school was built on the south side of the river shortly thereafter.

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

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

Today the First Church continues to be a driving force in the community. The new millennium has seen a Long-Range Planning Committee at work looking at the spiritual mission of the church as it relates to worship, music, youth and the attraction of new members.

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

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