dom has any pastor so entirely possessed the confidence and love of an entire church and society as has our present Pastor, and it is with deep regret that we now come to the painful conclusion that we must give him up and dissolve the interesting relation of Pastor and People. Such, however, seems to be the orderings of our Heavenly Father, and we would cheerfully submit. We shall follow our Pastor with great interest and solicitude, and our earnest prayers, wherever his lot may be cast, and shall feel that, that church which shall secure his stated labors among them will be peculiarly favored of Heaven."

Rev. Charles Little, upon invitation, begun to supply the pulpit in the summer of 1865. He remained with the church without installation, but with the approval of the Consociation, about two years, and did a good, an earnest, and a faithful work. Thirty persons were added to the church, and two deacons were ordained during his ministrations; Philo M. Trowbridge, Nov. 3, 1865, and James H. Linsley, Aug. 31, 1866.

Mr. Little had spent most of his professional life in the missionary field. After serving the church faithfully, till the fall of 1867, he removed to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he is still engaged in his holy calling. On parting with him, the church passed the following unanimous vote, Sept. 22, 1867:

Whereas, Rev. Charles Little has faithfully labored with us for the past two years, and his labors have been greatly blessed by a good Providence, therefore

Resolved, That we take pleasure in testifying to our high appreciation of, and full confidence in the character of Mr. Little, both as a man and a minister of the Gospel, and that our best wishes and heartfelt sympathies will follow him wherever he may go to labor, in the wide harvest-field of the Lord."

Oct. 13, 1867, both the First and North Congregational churches being without a settled pastor, the church

"Voted, That we will unite with the North church and also the Methodist church, in extending an invitation to Rev. Mr. Potter, to labor with us during the first week in December."

Revivalist "

Mr. Potter came at the time stated. He is a preacher, who does not settle over any church, but goes wherever

he deems the "Lord calls him," to evangelize the people. Great good followed his labors here. As a result of it, about twenty numbers were added to this church, and various members to all the other churches, making the total not less than seventy-five.

The church gave a call, January 16, 1868, to Rev. Horace Winslow, then of Newington, Conn., to settle in the work of the ministry. There were various negotiations in regard to the matter, which resulted in engaging his services for a year. He did a very acceptable work, and twenty-four members were added to the church. So great was the desire of the people to retain him, at the end of the year, that almost the entire congregation (every one found at home by the canvassers) signed an earnest request that he would remain among them. But believing a wider field of usefulness opened to him at Willimantic, Conn., he reluctantly concluded to settle there, where he still remains. He has, however, spent his vacations here, so that the people have not entirely lost the benefit of his counsel and his services.

Mr. Winslow was born, May 18, 1814, at Enfield, Mass., to John H. Winslow and wife, Elizabeth (Mills), graduated at Hamilton College, N. Y.; studied theology at Union Seminary, New York city; settled first at Lansingburg, N. Y.; second, at Rock ville, Conn., Oct, 1845, and dismissed, Nov., 1852; third, at New Britain, Conn., Dec., 1852, dismissed Dec., 1857; fourth, installed at Great Barrington, Mass., in 1858; and in 1862, he accepted an appointment as chaplain to the 5th Conn. Vols., under the command of Gen. Banks, at Virginia. After serving several months as Chaplain, he resigned, and was installed, Dec, 1, 1863, at Binghampton, N. Y.; preached next at Newington, Conn., then at Woodbury, as before stated; and then settled in Willimantic, Conn., where he at present resides.

He married Charlotte H., daughter of Capt. Jonathan Pettibone, of Simsbury, born, July 23d, 1824, and married 8th May, 1850. They have children, as follows:-Fanny Hamilton, b. Oct. 25, 1851; Lillian, b. 25th July, 1854, and Mary, b. 1861.

1

Rev. Gurdon W. Noyes, of Fair Haven, was called by the church, Oct., 1869, to settle, and was installed over the church, Dec. 8, 1869, and still continues his ministrations, to the acceptance and profit of the people. Fifteen members have been added to the chureh under his administration.

1 Andrews' Hist, of New Britain, Conn.

Mr. Noyes was born in Stonington, Conn., Aug. 13, 1818, being the 12th son of his father, and one of 17 children. He is a great grandson of Rev. James Noyes, of Stonington, who was Moderator of Synod at the formation of the Saybrook Platform, and one of the first donors to the foundation of Yale College. The latter was son of Rev. James Noyes, who came from England in 1634, and is the ancestor of the Noyes family in Connecticut. He was born in 1608, in Choulderton, Wiltshire, England. His father was a very learned man. He came to this country because he could not comply with the ceremonies of the Church of England. He was married to Miss Sarah Brown, not long before he came to this country. He preached in Mystic, Conn., and Newbury Mass.

The family of Noyes is one of Norman descent, and originated in England with William de Noyes, one of the followers of the Duke of Normandy in his conquest of England, in 1006. The family settled in Cornwall, Eng., in the reign of Charles I. William de Noyes, of St. Barian, was Attorney General, and his son, Humphrey, was a Colonel in the Royal army, and married the heiress of Lord Sandys.

Gurdon W. Noyes was graduated at Amherst College, Mass, in 1846, and at the Union Theological Seminary, N. Y, in 1849. He was settled over the Presbyterian church in Porthmouth, Va., Dec. 19th 1849; over the Cong. church, at Cornwall, Vermont, in 1852; over the South Cong. Church, in New Haven, Conn., in 1853; over the Second Cong. Church in Fair Haven, Aug. 1861; and over the First Church of Woodbury, in 1869, as seen in the preceding pages.

This old pioneer church has received into its membership since. its origin, 1,535. Within its folds, 3,010 have been baptized, and twenty-three deacons have been ordained, only three of whom survive, viz: Eli Summers, who has held the office forty-two years, Philo M. Trowbridge and James H. Linsley. Its present membership is 186, 58 males, and 130 females. The oldest living members, by date of admission, are Mrs. Julia Blackman, admitted in 1813, Mrs. Truman Orton and Mrs. James Preston, 1814. The oldest male members are Stoddard Strong, 1821, and Deacon Summers, 1822. Edmund Trawbridge, aged 85, is the oldest in years. Forty seven persons were admitted in 1850, of whom only seven have died—a small per centage for twenty-one years.

At the date of the writing of the former edition of this work, Rev. Samuel R. Andrew, one of the four most revered and suc

cessful ministers of this church, was still living, and it was scarcely time to pronounce fully upon his life and character. Since then, May 26, 1858, he has passed hence to a bright re-union with "his Father and his God," to whom he had rendered a life-long and filial service. Few men have lived whose memory is so embalmed in the hearts of surviving parishioners and friends. The following notice of him, which appeared in the "New York Observer," after his death, will give an idea of his life and character:

"Died, at New Haven, Conn., May 26th, Rev. Samuel R. Andrew, aged 71 years. Mr. Andrew was long the honored pastor of the First Congregational church in Woodbury, Conn. For the last twelve years he has resided in New Haven, and for some eleven years he has been the Secretary to the corporation of Yale College. His intellect was strong, clear, comprehensive and discriminating. His judgment was pre-eminently sound and wise. His taste was pure and classical. His style in writing and in conversation, was lucid, chaste, and often elegant. His sensibilities were exquisitely susceptible to beauty in nature, in literature, and in character. His thoughts were always just, and often rich and original. They were never tame and commonplace; and yet the movements of his intellect were so harmonious, and its structure so symmetrical, that superficial observers failed to do justice to its strength and superiority.

"This was conspicuous in the circle of clergymen of which he was one of the brightest ornaments, when he was in his prime; in ecclesiastical councils, where his opinions never failed to be weighty and wise; in brief conversations on important themes, in respect. to which he would sum up all that needed to be said in a few brief but pithy sentences; in his written reviews and essays, of which many were given to the public, and all, whether printed or not, were carefully elaborated and chastely expressed; and in the thoughtful and elevated sermons, by which he moulded his people by a constantly refining influence, and impressed them with a wellfounded respect for his intellect, and an unchanging confidence in his wisdom.

"He was a laborious student, and a close and comprehensive thinker. He pc.dered the Scriptures well and interpreted them. with an enlightened but believing spirit. He was an independent thinker in theology. The opinions which he held, he boldly but quietly declared and defended. Every man who knew him felt

that he believed what he spoke. For partizans and bigots he had little sympathy and less respect. His respect for truth was literally awful, to hot-headed and self-confident sciolists, however holy were their pretensions. He was long a member of the South Association of Litchfield County, in which Beecher and Tyler and Luther Hart were so conspicuous, and in which his own influence was eminently useful and important. Few men were more revered through the whole State of Connecticut than he.

"His sensibilities were as tender as his intellect was strong. He sympathized with all that is excellent and noble. His heart was warm to the sufferer and the sorrowing. He was true to his friends and loved them warmly and well. His eye would fill and his lips would quiver with unfeigned and irrepressible emotion at the recital of the afflictions of those whom he loved, but his sensitive decorum would never yield to an outbreak of grief. It was rare, in the last years of his life, that he listened to a sermon or even a brief conversation on any Christian theme, and was not strongly and deeply moved.

"His piety was the very beauty of holiness, it was so unaffected, so symmetrical, so honest, and so tender. He was strong in faith, giving glory to God.' When dreadful waves of sorrow broke over him, he cast himself upon the promise of his covenant God with the simplicity and confidence of a child. When oppressed by sad forebodings, he pensively bowed his head in prayer. In the experience and conduct of ordinary life, he trusted in God as his Father and Guide. He was humble, true-hearted, ever trusting, ever thankful, in the varied experiences of a life not exempt from the cares and fears that were especially fitted to annoy and depress a spirit so gentle and sensitive.

"He died as few men die. He had arranged to make a halffriendly, half-pastoral visit to his old friends and charge at Woodbury, and had despatched a letter written in a more than usually cheerful tone to an intimate and beloved parishioner and friend. That letter was received after he had been some hours dead. On the morning of Wednesday he woke at his usual hour, and apparently in his usual health. He spoke of being slightly chilled, adjusted the covering of his bed, breathed twice audibly, and in an instant was gone. Such a death had been pronounced by him to be beautiful and desirable, and his thought was fulfilled. 'Mortality was swallowed up of life.' 'He was not so much unclothed as clothed upon.' 'He walked with God, and he was not, for God

took him.'"