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 historic Litchfield County churches from our collection.

In addition to the complete contents of the book, also included on the CD-ROM are some ephemera of historical 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, most of which still exist today:

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 historical 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 is a history of religion in Litchfield County, Connecticut, consisting of around 245 pages of text and provides an insider's view of church history (Goodenough was a Congregational clergyman), with emphasis on 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 who pursued it in the Congregational Church. Those historical 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 historical 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 particular church.

He (wisely) hands over 43 pages to an Episcopal clergyman for a discussion of the history 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, as well as considerable added historical information for some parishes.

Other religions sadly 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 a work of history. As well, there is only limited coverage of the foreign-language Congregational churches, a feature of that historical period in Litchfield County as immigrant workers founded congregations near the factories that employed them.

We have compiled a 30 page index of Clergy of Litchfield County, as there was no index in the original.

What else is included on this historical 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 church 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 who is interested in history.

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 historical 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 century it has been in existence.