Reverend ROGER NEWTON 1620-1683
by Joseph B. Barnes, Esq.
Roger Newton was born possibly as early as 1607 but most
likely about 1620 in a town in eastern England
likely Bourne, Lincolnshire, England.
A number of Newtons arrived in America
and Canada in
the 1600s but some say he was the first of his family to do so landing at Boston
about the year 1638, Coincidentally the same year Davenport
and Prudden arrived with the future Milford Settlers.
He was the son of Samuel Newton, of the same family as Sir
Isaac Newton (1642-1726).
Samuel's parents (Roger's grandparents) are believed to have
been John Newton born on April 1, 1565
in Bourne, Lincolnshire and Alice
Hales.
Young Roger Newton enrolled in 1636 in
Cambridge
University [
England].
In the
Alumni Cantabrigienses which provides a record of students
enrolled between 1261-1900 his entry reads:
"NEWTON, ROGER. Matriculated as a
"sizar" [a student receiving financial help from the college while having
menial duties in return] from
King's, Easter, 1636…
He migrated to Boston
in New England where he studied theology at Harvard. There
is no record of his graduation possibly as the early Harvard records were
accidentally burned. Rev. Cotton Mather speaks of him as one of the young
students who came from England
to finish their education in America.
A puritan superstar of the time, Rev. Thomas Hooker moved to
Hartford from Boston
in 1636, he returned to Boston several
times, and it is said that "crowds rushed to hear him." In 1639,
Thomas Hooker and Governor Haynes remained in Boston
nearly a month, and one of Hooker's sermons delivered in Cambridge
at that time, was two hours in length. It is presumed that Hooker and Newton
made their acquaintance at Harvard at this time
In 1640, Roger traveled on foot from Cambridge,
MA to Hartford,
CT to study for the ministry under Rev. Thomas
Hooker at his home. It is possible that Rev.
Hooker may have known grandfather, Rev. John Newton of Bourn, while studying at
Cambridge University.
Cambridge University
assigned John as minister to the church in Bourne. If so, then Roger Newton and
Thomas Hooker may have had ties predating Harvard.
Roger married Hooker's eldest daughter, Mary Hooker at
Hartford in 1644 (winter of 1645 in the old Julian calendar as new year then was
March 25). Mary Hooker, as a child, had walked the long miles through the Massachusetts
wilderness beside the litter which carried her invalid mother, Susannah Hooker;
her journey was commemorated in marble on the front of the Capitol in Hartford.
"Susannah Hooker was a lady of culture, and worthy to be the companion of
such a man as Thomas Hooker." They had once lived in Holland
where many strong Calvinists, like the Pilgrims, had fled to avoid the Church
of England's dictates.
The Hartford
home of Thomas Hooker was a large two story house close by that of Governor
Haynes, corner lot on the streets now named Arch and Prospect then called,
"Meeting House Alley," connecting the parsonage and the meeting
house. When choosing a place for a home, water supply and boat access to other
settlements especially for escape from Indians, so it was prudently set few dozen
feet north of the Little River, (now Park
River).
The Farmington area
was settled in 1640 in an area called Tunxis after the friendly Indians there. The
Tunxis tribe had welcomed the white men as a protection against the Mohawks. Farmington
was incorporated in 1645. Newton
became their first minister serving from the "church Covenant" in 1652
to 1657. It is listed that Newton
was an original settler and a "Founder" of Farmington.
This may be because, in the early days, a town really didn't exist until the
church was created, since he was clearly still in Hartford
when the area was first settled. The Congregational custom was to choose seven
men called the Seven Pillars who covenanted with each other, then others joined
the fellowship. At Farmington He was one of the Seven in 1652. Fourteen men and
their families constituted the church at the close of
the year 1652. Roger Newton did missionary work among the Indians, "civilizing"
and Christianizing them, receiving a large class for instruction, of whom a few
gathered into the church and became voters in affairs of the new town.
In 1657 some Indians (likely not the Tunxis) became very "troublesome."
They cruelly murdered Mr. Scott, one of the seven Pillars and burned the house
of John Hart, who with his family perished in the flames. Roger Newton soon
after left Farmington with his
family for Boston. In October, 1658
he engaged passage for England.
Bad weather with strong winds hindered the departure for several days. This
apparently was a bad "omen" to the superstitious sailors. While Newton
was conducting services in Boston, the captain of the ship, decided in his own
mind that young minister Newton, like the biblical Jonah,
was jinxed by not following God's
will to stay in country, so he sailed away without him.
The timing, and the captain's fears, proved good for Newton
and Milford. Milford,
after the death of Rev. Peter Prudden, was without a minister so the church sent
Elder Thomas Buckingham to Boston
to find one but he died soon after his arrival, June 16, 1657. The choosing of a minister was an
important matter in those early days, as it was often a relationship for the
duration of the clergyman's life. With the failure of the Buckingham mission, the
position remained open until 1660 when Roger Newton's talents came to the
attention of the Milford folk for
consideration as new Pastor.
He removed to Milford, Conn.,
with Mary Hooker, his wife, and their family of six children, and was received
into the church as a member July 29,
1660, elected pastor on August 22 and ordained with prayer and
fasting September 9th. His second ordination (after Farmington) was not by a
council of neighboring ministers as was the custom, but by the laying on of
hands of members of the Milford church: Elder Zachariah Whitman, Deacon John
Fletcher and Mr. (eventually Governor and MHOF inductee) Robert Treat,
Magistrate.
With his young family it was necessary that he should
immediately have a dwelling, so the town conveyed to him "the house and
home lot beyond Dreadful Bridge,
fourteen acres of meadow and as much upland as he should want." Later he
had other grants of land. Property so given to a minister, became his alone,
and the church or town had no further claim upon it. The parsonage of Peter
Prudden, his predecessor, on the other side of the Wepowage
River, was inherited by his
children, so was no longer town/church property for Newton's
use.
There is some confusion that his "home-lot" was "beyond
Dreadful Bridge."
The ford at today's West Main Street
was crossed by the "Meetinghouse
Bridge" constructed in 1641.
Perhaps the bridge had become "dreadful" by 1660? Not likely; the inhabited
land within the stockade was well laid out and distributed. In the North
Street area, where his home was, no substantial
acreage was available in 1660 within the timber walled town. More likely said
bridge linked the "piece of upland beyond Dreadful
Bridge" given to him outside
the palisades. This was at "Dreadful
Swamp" (An vast area from
today's Ford Street area
and I-95 almost to Beaverbrook), therefore beyond "dreadful Bridge."
The Regicide judges, Whalley and Goffe, hid out for two
years from August 19, 1661,
in a cellar very near Newton's
parsonage. A historical paper said "The presence of the Regicides was
known to Governor Treat and to Rev. Roger Newton; they often walked in a grove
back of the house where they were living." Newton
was for God, but as to the King? seemingly, not so much.
Under Newton, his
church received 164 persons. At the time of his death, it numbered about 200. That
did not mean just anyone could join. He was deemed a "judicious
pastor." Some cared nothing for church but desired admission for its
worldly advantages. Others, not full church members, just sought baptism for
their children. Newton was against any
half way measures. Among the last of the puritans, a Christian to him was all
in or all out. It was a losing fight as the public became increasing less
religiously strict. Though "Old School" in this, his was not an
ill-informed position. Newton was
one of the most educated of ministers in all of New England.
The library of Roger Newton was a marvel for his time. In an age when a Bible
and catechism was an ordinary library and a score of books a clergyman's, he
had more than two hundred volumes in all.
As Thomas Hooker, had done for him, Newton
received young men in his household to educate them, including Abraham Pierson,
first President of Yale College. Newton's
successor Rev. Andrew (MHOF Inductee: 2009) would serve and host the nascent Yale
College itself at the church in Milford.
At the beginning of his last illness in 1683, Roger Newton
made his will. Newton had a huge estate
for those times, valued at £683. In addition to 150 acres in Farmington, it
included much Milford "land in Dreadful Swamp," "land at the
West Noockes;" "land near a place commonly called 'Deere's Delight'"
"land by the 'two mile brook;' " "the land between the two
crooks in the Elder's Meadow;" "the new meadow playne;"
"land by the path that goeth over the round meadow brook;" "the
new fields by the river;" and "land at a place commonly called
'Bohemia.'" Experts in Milford
historical topography take note!
Rev Newton Died June
7, 1683 having served the Church
of Christ for 22 years and about
six months. Mary predeceased him on February
4, 1676, his greatest loss in life.
Of their eight children, locally, Samuel married Martha
Fenn, ca. 1666, John married Lydia Ford, April l1, 1680, Sarah was married a month
after her father's death, July 4, 1883,
to her relative, John Wilson. Others moved out of town. Newton's
Milford Descendant families include Allen, Anderson,
Andrew, Baird, Beard, Baldwin, Bishop, Bradley, Butler,
Carrington, Clark, Church, Fenn, Gillette, Gunn,
Kilbourn, Lovejoy, Merwin, Morris, Newton,
Platt, Shove, Stanley, Stow,
Wait, Ward and others.
A Brass Tablet, set in a polished Belgian black marble
background was dedicated to Newton
as part of Milford's 250th
anniversary in 1889. It now hangs on the wall of the First Chuch:
ROGER NEWTON
Born in England
Pupil and Son-in-law
of Thomas Hooker of Hartford.
One of the Founders
and
the first Pastors of
the Church in
Farmington
1645-1657.
Installed Pastor of
this Church
August 22, 1660 and so continued
until his Decease June 7, 1683.
A good Minister of
Christ Jesus
nourished in the
Words of the Faith
and of the good
Doctrine.
