Jun 12 at 12:00 PM - Sale 2708 -
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Sale 2708 - Lot 83

Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
(CONNECTICUT.) Samuel Nott. Record book kept for 70 years as pastor of the Congregational Church of Franklin. 327 pages, irregularly paginated with a few blanks. 4to, 11½ x 7¼ inches, original ½ calf, quite worn with crude early stitched repairs; 13 leaves detached with substantial edge wear and text loss, remainder of the contents with only minor wear; modern collector's inked stamp on one page. Laid in are 3 very worn copies of the printed pamphlet "Constitution of the Consociation of the Churches of New-London County" (2 of the 1814 edition and one of the 1834). Norwich / Franklin, CT, 1782-1852
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Samuel Nott (1754–1852) graduated from Yale in 1780, and became the pastor of the Second Congregational Church of Norwich in 1782, in the West Farms neighborhood which became the town of Franklin in 1786. He remained as pastor of the church for a remarkable seventy years, until a house fire caused his death at age 98.

Rev. Nott used this record book for a variety of purposes throughout his long pastorate: a short list of members as of 1782, a list of members received through 1852 (pages 5-30); baptisms (pages 31-60); an account of votes of church meetings, often on matters of discipline (pages 60-100, 153-291, and 303); an account of public confessions (pages 101-110, 327-328); marriages (pages 111-140); and deaths (pages 141-152, 304-313).

At a church meeting on 10 March 1784, Nott recorded an excommunication of Captain Jacob Hayzen, listing a number of charges against him, including "unreasonably whipping a Nigro in Chelsea, which belonged to another man, which was contrary to the gospel." Hayzen "readily acknowledged the charge, but pled" that the victim "justly deserved chastisement & that those who were spectators . . . applauded. But the Church judged that it was contrary to the divine rule & was taking that way to redress an injury that was unbecoming the Christian character."

In an entry from 8 September 1820, Eliza Crandall concludes her public confession by noting that, "with respect to the last & truly distressing article of charge, . . . that I have by imprudence been the occasion of the death of my child! I did give it an emetic, without the advice of a Physician! After the child was dead, I found that I had injured it! When I was questioned about my procedure, I fell into the sin that easily besetteth me, & violated the truth."

In a meeting on 2 July 1802, a member is found "guilty of a breach of the 6th commandment, so far as to make an attempt to take away his own life, by tying a handkerchief around his neck, intending as he said to choke himself in that way, & likewise by calling for a quart of rum to drink using language expressive of a willingness & determination to take away his life."

The latest entry is for Rev. Nott's own death on page 313: "He rests from his labours & his works follow him."

Some of the genealogical content in this record book was published in a 1938 publication, "Records of the Congregational Church, Franklin, Connecticut, 1718-1860." Their ultimate authority was "a photostatic copy at the Connecticut State Library of a manuscript transcript, made about 1860, of the original records which are now missing." These are the missing records, a rich mine of local history for the genealogist and the social historian alike. Provenance: purchased by the consignor from the late Dan Siegel of M&S Rare Books of Providence, RI.

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