FROM THE HISTORIAN’S DESK, April 2004 – Carol Ganz.
For the March meeting of Women’s Fellowship, I told a few stories of women in the history of our church. I’d like to share these with the rest of you, and will do so in installments.
As many of you know, we do not have the records of the early church in Ledyard. For years we did not have the early Ecclesiastical Society records either, but in the 1950’s those records, complete back to 1726, surfaced at a book dealer’s. We were fortunate to obtain them with the help of the Connecticut State Library, where they are now housed.
These records fill in much early history for us, but they seldom mention women. Society members were men and the business of hiring a minister, building a meeting house and collecting taxes, or “rates,” to pay for them, was all taken care of by the men. Any mention of a woman’s name usually involved excusing a widow from paying rates. Church records would probably tell us more about the role of women, as well as many other things.
We do know that many of the early members were women, based on a transcription of the Groton First Church records in a “Record of all those who were in full Communion in the Church of Christ, before the ordination [of Rev. John Owen] Nov. 22, 1727.” On the third page of this list, there is a notation – “Those in the North Society.” The names that follow seem to be those expected to become our North Society congregation, which was in the process of getting established and obtaining a settled minister. The list begins:
Luke Perkins and his wife
The widow Davis
The Wife of Nathaniel Williams
The Wife of Christopher Avery, Jr.
Thomas Bailey…
As you may have noted, the women were not listed by their own name, even if their husband was not on the list. The only two women listed under their own names, Ruth Morgan and Mary Morgan, were very likely unmarried. There were twelve couples, but many more individual women, in fact there were 14 men and 27 women listed in all. Perhaps the husbands were “half-way members,” who attended, and accepted the church covenant, but were restricted from participating in communion due to a lack of the verified religious “experience” necessary for full membership. The church records would probably make this much clearer (so if anyone has the church records before 1810 in their attic, please bring them forward!)
A question has sometimes come up: did the men sit on one side of the meetinghouse and the women on the other? I think it is clear from society records that, at the very least, this was not always the case. My guess is that it was not the usual arrangement, but may have been in certain periods of time or for specific events, or perhaps even during a particular pastorate. This is first mentioned in the Nov. 8, 1729 minutes of a meeting which voted to call Rev. Punderson, already preaching since the summer, and made plans for his ordination. “Att ye same meeting voated that the Weomen Shall Sit on ye East Side the meeting hous.” All other business concerned the call and ordination. Was the seating plan just for the formal ordination? We’ll never know for sure, but if this was already the practice, why vote on it?
Minutes of later meetings that dealt with the building of the pews (probably the most common topic of business over the next few years), seem to argue against any division by gender. The March 19, 1733 minutes say “on the following condition…that each…doth well & truly build his pew and Seall up the wall against his pew…in twelve months time…& likewise he and his wife be seated there in…” This phrase repeats often and there is never a mention of building men’s pews and women’s pews. In June 1734 “Mrs. Mary Morgan, widow, and Mr. Theophilus Avery” are assigned a pew location. But just in case this seems pretty clear, the 1741 minutes make reference to “ye weomen side” and the “men side.” I wonder if Rev. Croswell had instituted a change when he came, or if there is another explanation. Next month we’ll move to a period where we have a bit more information, the re-organized church of 1810.