186. Solomon
Churchill was born on Jul 29 1764 in Newington, CT.
NOTE:Born in Newington, July 29, 1764, and spent his life there. He was a farmer,
a man of excellent character and standing in the community. Though he did not
make profession of religion until late in life, he was of undoubted piety and
especially strict in his regard for the Sabbath. It is said that he forbade
even "the cracking of nuts" on the Lord's day, and a grove of butternut trees
near his house gives a touch of probability to the tradition. With him in regular
attendance on divine worship was one of the chief concerns of life, and he would
face the fiercest snow storms of the winter, which blocked in even good Parson
Belden, who, on one occasion, discovered mr. Churchill in front of the parsonage
on horseback, floundering in the snow-drifts, and shouted the question, "Where
are you going, Mr. Churchill?" "To meeting," replied the sturdy parishioner.
"Well, come in here, then," answered the parson, "as I am not going out in this
storm." His grandson Leonard Churchill Hubbard, in 1903, describes him thus,
as he appeared about 1820; "He was of medium height, a rather stocky-looking
man, round face, kind-spoken, and jovial for one of his years." He died June
16, 1842. Married 1st, Oct 28, 1789, Lucretia Marsh, daughter of Job, of New
Hartford. She died Nov. 2, 1811, aged forty-eight years, and he married 2d,
Chloe Deming, a maiden lady of fifty years.
He was married
to Lucretia Marsh on Oct 28 1789. Lucretia
Marsh was born about 1763. She died on Nov 2 1811 in Newington Parish, CT.
NOTE:Of New Hartford. Solomon Churchill and Lucretia Marsh had the following
children:
448 i. Julia Churchill was
born on May 31 1792 in Newington Parish, CT. She died on Sep 16 1822.
NOTE:This woman deserves more than the notice of birth and death. In the family
she was long ago canonized as its saint. Every family tradition testifies to
her pure piety and her fortitude in affliction, as she was a life-long invalid.
Her voluminous journal, running through many years, records her gentle and pious
character. It holds little except her account of the sermons, heard from Sunday
to Sunday, and her own religious experiences. Some valuable references occur
here and there, like her statement as to the beginning of the Newington Sunday
School, on June 20, 1819, at which time she writes; "Attended church in the
daytime and in the evening. This day hath been solemn. A Sabbath-school was
established in this place. Four little children were committed to my care to
instruct on the Sabbath. O Lord, help me to do my duty toward them, and wilt
thou touch their young and tender minds by the influences of thy Spirit!" In
August, the same year, she writes that her class has increased to seven, and
notes in her prayer that they are only four and five years old. Nov. 4, 1819,
she writes; "The Sunday-school is now out, and this day the scholars received
their premiums. I commit my little class to thee, O Lord. Bless them, I pray
thee, O Lord; prepare them for Heaven."
These brief extracts, Mr. Seymour says, are a fair sample of the journal of
this devout and devoted woman and illustrate the spirit which animated her,
and probably the other founders of the Sunday-school. She has been described
as "fervently prayerful." She also wrote verses addressed to different members
of the family, and elegies lamenting the death of local worthies. The making
of verses, indeed, seems to have been characteristic of the Newington Churchills
of this generation, and, apparently, was one of the few diversions allowed by
tthe stern Calvinism of the times. A pamphlet of the semi-centennial celebration
of the Wethersfield and Berlin Sunday-school Union states that, "The Sunday-school
in Newington, in its beginning, was the voluntary enterprise of some young ladies
of the church."
+449 ii. Nancy
Churchill.
+450 iii. Chester
Churchill.
+451 iv. Cynthia
Churchill.
452 v. Jemima Churchill was
born on Nov 19 1805 in Newington Parish, CT. She died on Jun 9 1899 in New Britain,
CT.
NOTE:Born in New Britian, Conn., Nov. 19, 1805, and died unmarried June 9, 1899,
while on a visit to her niece, Mrs. Francis. She was born in the "Great House"
built by her grandfather, Capt. Charles Churchill, and had many stories of the
old days. She lived a useful life spent mostly in the families of her sisters.
Mr. Seymour remembers her as "a very smart" old lady, erect in carriage, prim
without severity, scrupulous as to the details of her old-fashioned dress, and
pleasant-spoken. Like her father, she set great store on divine worship, and
rarely failed to go to meeting to the end of her days.
