Bristol, Hartford Co., CT - Congregational Church Membership ca. 1830
Extracted from
Bristol, Connecticut
("In the Olden Time New Cambridge"
Which Includes Forestville)
Hartford, Conn., City Printing Company, 1907
Pages 179-180
The following is the detail of the Congregational Church Dignification* of about the year 1830 [exact date not known]. The spelling of the original has been followed. In the case of many of the women's names, it is impossible to tell if the title is Wid. (widow) or Mrs. Each group of names represents the occupants of one pew or seat as indicated.
No. 1. N. of the Pulpit. Wid. MUNSON, Wid. MUZZY, Wid. Hulda CHURCHILL, Wid. Sarah NEWELL
No. 1. S of the Pulpit. Rev. Jona. CONE, Dea. Ira HOOKER, Dea. Bryan HOOKER
No. 1. N of the Alley. James LEE, Eli LEWIS, Reuben IVES, Thomas BARNS, Hubbell STEPHENS, Mrs. Rachel GAYLORD
No. 1. S of the Alley, wife of Abel LEWIS, Wm. LEE, Asa UPSON, Isaac NORTON, Lament PECK.
No. 2 North, Aron NORTON, Wid. Mary PIERCE, Eleazer NORTON, Enos IVES, Esq.
No. 2 South, James STEELE, Joel NORTON, Abel ALLEN, James HOLT, Mrs. Martha LEWIS, Mrs. Philene WILCOX, Mary BECKWITH.
No. 3 North, Oliver GRIDLEY, Roger LEWIS, Wm. JERROME, Wid. ADAMS, Wid. LOMIS
No. 3 South, Luke ADAMS, James FRANCES, Bezaliel BOWIN, Jesse GAYLORD, Mrs. ROOT
No. 4 North, Abel FRISBI, Benj. HART, Ithural HART, Lydia CHURCHILL, Stephen ROWE.
No. 4 South, Thomas BARNS Jr., Elijah MANROSS, Ebenezer DARROW, Jabez ROBERTS, Wid. of I. YALE
No. 5 North, Noah BYINGTON, Dr. Titus MERRIMAN, Lazarus HARD, Solomon PAYNE, Mrs. Sarah LEE
No. 5 South, Ira CHURCHILL, Betsey GRIDLEY, George UPSON, Seth HART, Wid. JEMIMA PECK
No. 6 North, Asahel COWLES, Wid. TUTTLE, Selab RICHARDS, James HADSELL, Wid. Eunice BECKWITH, Wid. Rhoda RUSSELL
No. 6 South, Seth RICHARDS, Sam'l GAYLORD, Wid. WOODARD, Martin BYINGTON, [illegible]
No. 7 North, Asahel CLARKE, Wid. Sarah GAYLORD, Sam'l BROOKS, Noah LEWIS, Wid. BOARDMAN
No. 7 South, Samuel PECK, Elisha GRIDLEY, Calvin HART, Elizabeth JOHNSON, Naomi ROYCE, Joel BALDWIN, Wid. Hanna MIX
No. 8 North, Asa BARTHOLOMEW, Nath'nl W. BISHOP, Seth BARNES, Abel YALE, Azariah JOHNSON
No. 8 South, This is evidently omitted, probably stairs, a stove, or something took its place. It may have been a "free seat".
No. 9 North, Eli LEWIS, Jr., Luman CARRINGTON, Jonathan POND, Roxana LEWIS, Mrs. Mary NEWELL
No. 9 South, Thomas BOTSFORD, Eli PARSONS, Reuben IVES, Jun., Dodd HUNGERFORD.
No. 10 North, Ira IVES, Philo PIERCE, David NORTON, Hannah BRADLEY, Chauncy HOOKER
No. 10 South, Sam'll MACKIE, Wm. TORP, Damaris LEWIS, Miles LEWIS, Joseph BYINGTON.
No. 11 North, Silas GRIDLEY, Arron NORTON, Mrs. Fanny NEWELL, Dea. Chas. G. IVES, Ephram CULVER.
No. 11 South, Elisha STEPHENS, Joseph IVES, Sybel STEEL, Wife of Asabel NORTON, Joel NORTON, Jr., David ROOT.
No. 12 North, Isaiah NORTON, Sheldon RICH, Roger NORTON, Mark NORTON, Sam'l BENHAM.
No. 12 South, John CASE, Wm. LEE Jun., D.R. WOLCOTT, Seth GAYLORD, Martin HART, John BIRGE, Wife of Lemuel W. PARKER.
No. 13 North, Clark CARRINGTON, Elisha HORTON, Shadrach PIERCE, Wife of Lot NEWELL, Dan HILL, Rosannah BRADLEY, Levina LEWIS.
No. 13 South, Chester LEWIS, Tracy PECK, Alva GRIDLEY, John BRADLEY, Sally PECK.
No. 14 North, Sam'l BOTSFORD, Truman LARCUM, Cyrus LEWIS, James HART, Horace ADAMS, Betsey BRADLEY
No. 14 South, Richard PECK, Benj. H. RICH, Alonzo THOMPSON, Chauncy BOARDMAN, Lurena BROWN
No. 15 North, Theodore LEWIS, Reuben HOUGH, Jeremiah ROYCE, Newell BYINGTON, Geo. BUCKLEY
No. 15 South, Russell RICHARDS, Wells R. BYINGTON, Roswell BRAINARD, Chauncey IVES, Jerusha JOHNSON
No. 16 North, Danna CARRINGTON, Orrin HART, Chauncy F. ANDREWS, Wm. RICH, Dennis RICH
No. 16 South, John COWLES, Dill DARROW, James ADAMS, Barnabas CHURCHILL, Emily HINSDALE
No. 17 North, Major CHURCHILL, Norman LEWIS, Joel ROOT, Asahul HOOKER, Bryan RICHARDS
No. 17 South, Eber. HART, Elisha BREWSTER, Charles SAGE, Wm. DARROW, Ephraim WILCOX
No. 18 North, Dr. PARDY, Wife of Alonzo HART [ there is a word here that appears to be "& ots" - and others?], David MUNSON, Sheldon LEWIS, Philip BARNS.
No. 18 South, Wm. HUBBELL, Dana BECKWITH, Asa THOMPSON, Titus M. ROBERTS.
No. 19 North, Nehemiah PECK, Sylvester PECK, Asahel MIX, Alpheus BRADLEY, Major S. WILSON, Bryan CHURCHILL, Benona THOMPSON
No. 19 South, Allen BIRGE, Geo. HOOKER, Harry HENDERSON, John BACON, Theoph'ls SMITH, Angustus HART
* "One important function of the old church that has been entirely dropped in our modern democratic days was the dignification of the meeting-house, and the seating based on that dignification. The committee to dignify the meeting-house was appointed as soon as the building was complete and annually reappointed. The determined the relative dignity of each pew; and then the seating committee had the infinitely more delciate task of determining the dignity of each family, or rather of each adult person, for the entire family did not sit together, and of assigning the most worthy person to the most worthy pew, and so on in regular order down to the pews under the stairs, which were the lowest in rank." p. 177