Litchfield County, CT history
The Clergy of Litchfield County
by Arthur Goodenough (1909)
We are happy to announce the republication of this long out-of-print volume
of local history and biography.
We have compiled a new index of names, places, and institutions (there was no index in
the original book) and supplemented the book and index with many photos,
both old and current, of Litchfield County churches from our collection.
Also included are some ephemera of religious life in Litchfield County, such
as the May, 1901 Litchfield Archdeaconry Record. The Record is
of particular interest for the detailed, point in time reports about the following Episcopal parishes:
- St. Marks Bridgewater;
- Christ Church Canaan;
- St. Andrew's Kent;
- Trinity Lime Rock;
- St. Michael's Litchfield;
- All Saints Memorial New Milford
- Christ Church Roxbury
- Trinity, Thomaston
- Trinity, Torrington
- Christ Church Watertown
- St. Paul's Woodbury
Finally, we have included two articles from
the Connecticut Quarterly about the ancestry of Litchfield County's
best-known preacher, the Rev. Jonathan Edwards.
Just what is in Clergy of Litchfield County?
The book itself consists of around 245 pages of text and provides an insider's view of church history
(Goodenough was a Congregational clergyman), largely of the Congregational Church, in Litchfield County since its
beginnings. The author's vantage point, early in the 20th Century, is
close enough to the early days to be able to capture what life must have been
like back then, yet is also far enough from today to
represent a point in time that is long gone.
Clergy of Litchfield County is NOT a religious tract.
Although Goodenough was a clergyman, for the most part he seems to have been
quite able to step aside from the pulpit and see religion in Litchfield
County in a historical perspective. The author clearly
does have a high opinion of those who pursued his profession, particularly those
it in the Congregational Church. Those
Congregational clergy who happened to see fine points of doctrine more or less
the same way he did get the most coverage; others receive less.
The author is quite discreet with regard to deficiencies other clergy
may have had. As well as many detailed biographies, he includes a 38 page appendix listing chronologically the
Congregational clergy in each church, as well as "ministers raised up" -- or
clergy who were seen as having come from that church.
He (wisely) hands over 43 pages to an Episcopal clergyman for a
discussion of the Episcopal Church in Litchfield County. This is a strong
chapter, with a summary history of the Episcopal Church followed
by histories of all the Episcopal parishes in the county at
that time. The parish histories include names and dates for rectors and
priests-in-charge, and considerable added information for some parishes.
Other religions do not fare as well. The Baptists get six pages, the Methodists nine
(including a multi-page list of circuit riders, settled clergy, and Presiding
Elders). Other denominations, such as Adventists and the Salvation Army, are included only via occasional mention in the text.
The author's consignment of Roman Catholics -- probably 40% of the population of Litchfield
County in the early 1900s -- to the "all others" category is probably the most
serious defect of the book. As well, there is only limited coverage of the
foreign-language Congregational churches, a feature of that time in Litchfield
County as immigrant workers founded congregations near the factories that
employed them.
We have compiled a 30 page index of the book, as there was no index in the
original.
What else is included on this CD-ROM?
- Many photographs (both old and new) and postcards showing churches in
Litchfield County, from our collection. Churches shown include both
those mentioned in the text and others.
- The Archdeaconry Record, a publication of the Episcopal Church in
Litchfield County for May 1901 (see above).
- Two articles about the ancestry of Rev. Jonathan Edwards from the
Connecticut Quarterly. Rev. Edwards spent five years as pastor in
Colebrook.
For ordering information, please
 .
Who needs this CD-ROM?
The book contains many names, but for the most part these
are people who were either clergy of some denomination or their family members.
If you are seeking genealogical information about a clergy family from Litchfield County,
you need this CD. If you already have the book and you refer
to it more than rarely, you will still benefit from the new index we have
compiled.
to view a list of names of the people and places in Clergy of Litchfield County
that appear in this book. It's
abstracted from our new index.
If you are a member, lay or ordained, of a church of any denomination in Litchfield County today,
you will probably want this CD for information about your own institution as it
was in the first decade of the last century -- and
about churches in your area, particularly if your own church is not one mentioned.
The CD also makes a nice gift for a parishioner
or clergyperson of any Litchfield County church.
If you are trying to understand the way Connecticut works today, understanding
the past of the Established Church and the "other churches" (particularly Episcopal, Baptist
and Methodist) -- as well as the prevailing attitudes a century ago about "everybody
else" -- this book and the other material on the CD may provide you with insights you are unlikely to get elsewhere.
If you represent a library in Litchfield County, or a historical society, or a school,
you may already have Clergy of Litchfield County in your collection, but
you will still want to order the CD for three reasons:
- The all new and comprehensive index included on the CD makes the book far more useful
and accessible.
The original book was not indexed.
- The pictures and other material on the CD are probably not in your
collection and will be of interest to people interested in Litchfield County
history in general.
- Clergy of Litchfield County was published in 1909. That means
your copy will likely not tolerate many more trips to the Xerox machine given the
near-century it has been in existence.
How do I order Clergy of Litchfield County on CD-ROM?
The CD is now ready, priced at $15.00.
for ordering information.
to go to our Home Page
to see other Connecticut items we offer and have underway
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