first church

First Church in Windsor (Windsor, Conn.) Records

Windsor Historical Society

96 Palisado Avenue, Windsor, CT 06095

Creator: First Church in Windsor (Windsor, Conn.)

Dates: 1843-1969

Extent: 2 linear feet (4 manuscript boxes, 7 bound volumes)

Accession #: 2003.37 and unidentified sources

Location: Document Storage 2C

Church History

First Church in Windsor considers itself the oldest continuous Congregational Society in America. It was organized by 140 Congregationalists who split with the Church of England and formed their own church. They sailed to the new world in the Mary and John and landed in Dorchester, Mass. in 1630. Five years later half the congregation came to Windsor, Connecticut with the Rev. John Warham.

The log and thatch church of the First Ecclesiastical Society was built inside the stockade center of the Palisado in 1639. A second meetinghouse built on the same site in 1684 was destroyed by fire. In 1754 the congregation split into two factions over the location of a new building, and both the North and South Societies constructed their own churches. Thirty years later, a bridge was built over the Farmington River as part of a compromise towards reuniting the congregations. A new church building was built at the center of the reunited parish on the present site at 107 Palisado Ave. The fourth and present meetinghouse was completed in 1794. It has undergone several remodelings including the addition of a Greek style portico. A new parish house and educational building was constructed in 1956 to meet post-war needs of a growing membership; the Fellowship Hall was named for Roscoe Nelson in honor of his 40 years service to church.

First Church in Windsor joined the United Church of Christ in 1961.

Scope and Contents

The collection of First Church in Windsor materials includes parish records, vital records, receipts, warnings and minutes, church manuals, pew seating records, various church histories, and guest registers. Women’s Missionary Society, Women’s Club, and Sunday School secretary and treasurer’s books span much of the early 20th century. There are scattered holdings of bulletins for worship services and special programs and two short series of letters by ministers Rev. Henry Rowland and Rev. Roscoe Nelson. Stereoscopic, postcard, and photographic images complete the archival collection. In addition, there are two pulpit Bibles, a variety of hymnals, and a cookbook published in 1983 for the 350th anniversary of the town of Windsor. Several folders of similar materials (programs, church histories, and photos) from the Society’s subject files have been housed with this collection.

Arrangement Each series is arranged chronologically.

Series I. Church Records

Subseries A. Photostatic copies of church records at Connecticut State Library

Subseries B. Clerk’s books and parish records

Subseries C. Church manuals

Subseries D. Receipts

Subseries E. Worship bulletins and programs

Series II. Historical sketches and Tercentenary Celebration 1930

Series III. Women’s Missionary Society and Women’s Club

Series IV. Sunday School and Young People’s Society

Series V. Correspondence

Series VI. Photographic images and views

Series VII. Bibles and Hymnals

Box and Folder Lists

Series I. Church Records

Box 1

1.1 Temporary receipts for church records at Connecticut State Library, 1932-33, 1942-43 (photocopies) and complete list of the records on deposit

1.2 Parish records (1889-1932). Clerk’s book. 1 volume

1.3 Parish records (1932-1969). Clerk’s book. 1 volume

1.4 Tercentenary guest book, 1930. 1 volume

Guest register, Dec. 1948-June 1964. 1 volume

Box 2

2.1 Warnings (warrants) for parish meetings 1790, 1802, 1803, 1812

2.2 Diagram of church seating, 1824 (partial chart, replica)

2.3 Diagram of church seating, 1832 with minutes of Society meeting and pew rents on verso

2.4 Record of sale of slips in the First Congregational Church, 1856

2.5 Church manuals:

1843 (3 copies)

1863

1880 (3 copies)

1893

1922 (2 copies, 1 with ms. notations)

2.6 Receipts, 1845-1860. First Ecclesiastical Society. (17 documents)

2.7 Accounts/receipts for parsonage, 1852. (7 documents)

2.8 Worship bulletins and programs

1894 Dec. 21 (Centennial of Meetinghouse)

1928-1932 (scattered holdings)

1941 Dec. 21

1945 Jan 7 (Sesquicentennial of Meetinghouse – includes 1830’s woodcut by John Warner Barber)

2.9 Worship bulletins and programs, 1872-1997 (scattered holdings)

2.10 Invitation to “Quarter Millennial Celebration,” March 30, 1880. (printed card)

2.11 “Special Services in the Parish House,” Feb. 1904

2.12 Tercentenary Celebration programs, 1930

2.13 150^th Anniversary of the Meetinghouse program, Jan. 1945

Series II. Historical sketches and Tercentenary Celebration 1930

2.14 “Matthew Grant’s Book” of historical records (manuscript and printed). J.H. Hayden hand copied old records, newspaper clippings in scrapbook. 1 volume

2.15 “Some Church History of First Church in Windsor, Copied from One of the Old Books, March 1909.” (13 p.)

2.16 “Notes Regarding the Union of First and Fourth Churches of Windsor …” (incomplete, 2 p. typescript)

2.17 Tercentenary Celebration, 1930 pageant script (12 p., carbon copy of typescript)

2.18 Historical sketches and timelines, undated (c1930), 1969, 1972, 2001

Series III. Women’s Missionary Society and Women’s Club

Women’s Missionary Society

2.19 Records, 1876-1882. 1 volume

Records, 1882-1902. 1 volume

Records, 1908-1933, with Treasurer’s Records, 1908-1922. 1 volume

2.20 Loose papers removed back of 1882-1902 treasurers’ volume

2.21 Women’s Missionary Society (5th Missionary Circle) Annual Report, Nov. 1881

Box 3

Women’s Club

3.1 Records, 1932-1943. 1 volume

3.2 Records, 1943-1951. 1 volume

Treasurer’s Records, 1932-1940. 1 volume (on shelf, not in box)

3.3 Loose papers removed from back of 1932-1940 volume

3.4 First Church Fare cookbook issued for 350^th anniversary, 1983

Series IV. Sunday School and Young People’s Society

3.5 The Shorter Catechism … belonging to Edith Allen, 1856

3.6 Sunday School Library. Catalogues, 1887 and 1893.

Young People’s Society of Christian Endeavor. Constitution and By-laws.

3.7 Sunday School. Secretary’s and Treasurer’s Records, 1898-1933. 1 volume

Series V. Correspondence

3.8 Correspondence. Rev. Henry Rowland to First Ecclesiastical Society, 1800-1803. (3 documents)

3.9 Correspondence. Rev. Roscoe Nelson to Evelyn Smith, 1955-1961. (Includes a reminiscence of Dwight L. Moody). (5 documents)

Series VI. Photographic images and views

Box 4

4.1 Stereographs by E.P. & Wm. Kellogg (Hartford), 1880, showing church interior decorated for the 250th anniversary of the Church. (Gallery and Organ, Center aisle and chancel, Pulpit)

4.2 Cabinet Card (photographer unidentified), c1895. Composite of vignette views of Church exterior, interior, parsonage, and portrait of Roscoe Nelson.

4.3 Colored postcard view of Church (Albertype Co., Brooklyn, N.Y.), c1910. View signed in print: W.H.H. Mason.

Same, with wrought iron nail attached, and with ms. legend around left, top, and right borders: “This nail, made by convicts in Newgate Prison, Granby, Conn. Was used in building this Church1794.” (2 specimens)

4.4 Sepia-toned postcard view of Church exterior by W.H.H. Mason, printed by Taylor & Greenough (Hartford), with nail attached and printed legend reading as above.

4.5 Sepia-toned postcard view of Church exterior, by Rotograph Co., N.Y., N.Y., c1923. (lower right corner of view broken off, but present in folder)

4.6 Photographs and some negatives of Church interior, ground breaking ceremony for parish house (1955), former parish house at153 Broad St. (1902), and Rev. Roscoe Nelson (1951)

4.7 Photographs of Church exterior, interior, former parish house, and Barber woodcut image transferred from library subject files

Custodial history

In 1932, 1933, and 1942, pursuant to initiatives from the Connecticut State Library, seventeen volumes of the records of the First Church in Windsor, Conn. were placed on permanent deposit at the Connecticut State Library. The records, dated 1632-1932, consisted of minutes of parish meetings, vital records, and church history. In return, photostatic copies of the records, in six physical volumes, were made by the State Library and placed back in the parish archives. In the summer of 2003, the archives of First Church were inventoried, and the six volumes of photostats, together with additional original records which remained in the parish archives, were given as a collection to the Windsor Historical Society.

Related Materials

Rev. Roscoe Nelson Collection

Jabez Hayden Collection

Subject files:

Churches – First Church

Churches – First Church – Tercentenary

Subject Terms

First Ecclesiastical Society of Windsor, Conn.

First Congregational Church (Windsor, Conn.)

First Church of Christ (Windsor, Conn.) – History

First Church in Windsor (Windsor, Conn.) – History

First Church in Windsor (Windsor, Conn.) – Views

First Church in Windsor (Windsor, Conn.) – Centennial celebrations, etc.

Church anniversaries

Sunday schools – Connecticut – Windsor

Women – Societies and clubs– Connecticut – Windsor

Missions – Societies, etc.

Nelson, Roscoe, 1861-1961

Rowland, Henry A. (Henry Augustus), 1764-1835

Moody, Dwight Lyman, 1837-1899

Hayden, Jabez Haskell, 1811-1902

Barber, John Warner, 1798-1885

E.P. & Wm. Kellogg (Hartford, Conn.)

Administrative history

Collection processed and finding aid compiled by Gary Wait, 2004

Revised by Barbara Goodwin, March 2005