The Rogerenes_Chapter XIII

"Many are the noble men and women who, from first to last, have been content to live and die in this obscure locality, unhonored by the world and sharing not its luxuries or pleasures, consoled by the promises of the New Testament: promises which are not to the rich and honored (as such), but chiefly to those who for obedience to the teachings of this Word are outcast and despised, poor and unlearned, and even, if need be, persecuted and slain."

From: Anna B. Williams. The Rogerenes, Part II, History of the Rogerenes. Boston: Stanhope Press, 1904.

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CHAPTER XIII.

Quakertown.

In the new century, ecclesiastical persecutions are scarcely more than a tradition, save to the aged men and women still living who took part in their youth in the great countermove, the sufferings attendant upon which are now, even to them, as a nightmare dream. The laws that nerved to heroic protest a people resolved to obey no dictation of man in regard to the worship of God lie dead upon the statute book -although as yet not buried. The Rogerenes are taking all needful rest on Sunday, the day set apart for their meetings. Many of those on the New London side mingle as interested listeners in the various orthodox congregations. They walk where they please on Sunday, and are no longer molested. The merciless intolerance that brought this sect into existence being no longer itself tolerated, the chief mission of the Rogerenes is well nigh accomplished. The children may soon enter into that full Christian liberty in the cause of which their fathers suffered and withstood, during the dark era of ecclesiastical despotism in New England.

After the last veterans in this cause have been gathered to their rest, the past is more and more crowded out by the busy present. Most of the male descendants of the New London Rogerenes remove to other parts. Many of them are among the hardiest and most enterprising of the western pioneers. From homes in New York and Pennsylvania they move farther and farther west, until no State but has a strain from Bolles and Quaker Hill. Descendants who remain in New London, lacking a leader of their own sect in this generation, join in a friendly manner with other denominations, affiliating most readily with the Baptists and being least associated with the still dominant church. In Groton, however, despite some emigration, is still to be found an unbroken band of

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Rogerenes, and a remnant upon Quaker Hill continues in fellowship with those of Groton.

As the region occupied by John Rogers, John Bolles and their neighborhood of followers received the name of Quaker Hill, so that district in Groton occupied chiefly by Rogerenes received the name of Quakertown.

We find no written account or authenticated tradition regarding the beginnings of Quakertown, save that here was the home of the Groton leader, John Waterhouse. Given a man of this stamp as resident for half a century, and we have abundant cause for the founding in this place of a community of Rogerenes as compact as that at Quaker Hill.

Quakertown occupies a district about two miles square in the southeastern part of the present town of Ledyard. It was formerly a part of Groton. Among the early Rogerenes of this vicinity was John Culver. Besides gifts of land from his father, John Culver had received a gift of land from Major John Pynchon of Springfield, Mass.; in recognition of" the " care, pains and service " of his father (John Culver, Sr.) ‘in the division of Mr. Pynchon’s lands (Groton Records) formerly owned in partnership with James Rogers. John Culver, Jr., did not, however, depend upon farming, being a "panel maker" by trade. As has been seen, John Culver and his family removed to New Jersey about 1735, there to found a Rogerene settlement. (See Chapter XII.) His daughter Esther, however, remained in Groton, as the wife of John Waterhouse.

Among other early Groton residents was Samuel Whipple from Providence, both of whose grandfathers were nonconformists who had removed to Rhode Island to escape persecution in Massachusetts. About 1712 this enterprising man purchased a large amount of land (said to be 1,000 acres) about eight miles from the present Quakertown locality, in or near the present village of Poquetannoc. Upon a stream belonging to this property, he built ironworks and a saw-mill. It is said that the product of the ironworks was of a superior quality, and that anchors and iron portions

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of some of the ships built in New London were made at these works.¹ Samuel Whipple’s son Zacharia married a daughter (Elizabeth) of John Rogers, 2d; a grandson (Noah) of his son Samuel married a granddaughter (Hope Whipple) of the same leader, and a daughter (Anne) of his son Daniel married a grandson (William Rogers) of the same; while a daughter (Content) of his son Zachariah married Timothy Waterhouse, son of John Waterhouse. Yet it was not until early in the nineteenth century that descendants of Samuel Whipple in the male line became residents of Quakertown.² That the early affiliations of the Whipple family with the Rogerenes had fitted their descendants for close union with the native residents of the place is indicated by the prominent position accorded the Whipples in this community.

Other families of Groton and its neighborhood affiliated and intermarried with Rogerenes early in the nineteenth century. William Crouch of Groton married a daughter of John Bolles. This couple are ancestors of many of the later day Rogerenes of Quakertown. Two sons and two grandsons of Timothy Watrous married daughters of Alexander Rogers of Quaker Hill (one of the younger sons of John, 2d). Although there was a proportion of Rogers and Bolles lineage in this community at an early date, there was not one of the Rogers or Bolles name. Later, a son of Alexander Rogers, 2d, married in Quakertown and settled there; but this is not a representative name in that locality , while Watrous, Whipple and Crouch are to be distinctly classed as such.

As for other families who joined the founders of Quakertown or became associated with their descendants, it is safe to say that men and women who, on account of strict adherence to apostolic teachings, relinquished all hope of worldly pleasures and successes,

¹ In his will, dated 1727, Samuel Whipple left the iron-works and saw-mill to his son Daniel; his lands with buildings to be divided between his sons Samuel, Zacharia and Zephania, The portion of Zacharia sold in 1734 for £1,000.

² The first of the name who came to Quakertown was Samuel Whipple (son of above Noah and Hope), born in 1766, a man of most estimable character and devotedly attached to peace principles. His brother Silas also settled in Quakertown. Samuel is ancestor of those of the name now resident in that locality.

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to join the devoted people of this isolated district, were of a most religious and conscientious character .

Generally speaking, the New London descendants in the nineteenth century are a not uncompromising leaven, scattered far and wide among many people and congregations whose religious traditions and predilections are, unlike their own, of an ecclesiastical type. Every radical leaven of a truly Christian character is destined to have beneficial uses, for which reason it cannot so much be regretted that the fate of the New London community was to be broken up and widely disseminated.

While the New London Rogerenes were, through the mollifying influences of a liberal public opinion, as well as by a wide emigration and lack of a leader fitted to the emergency, slowly but surely blending with the world around them, quite a different policy was crystallizing upon the Groton side. That the Rogerene sect should continue and remain a separate people was undoubtedly the intention of John Rogers, John Rogers, 2d, John Bolles and their immediate followers; aye, a separate people until that day, should such day ever arrive, when there should be a general acceptance of the law of love instituted by Christ, in place of the old law of force and retaliation. Yet not only had these early leaders more than enough upon them in their desperate struggle for religious liberty, but they could not sufficiently foresee conditions ahead of their times, in order to establish their sect for a different era.

It was by the instinct of self-preservation combined with conscious inability to secure any adequate outside footing in the new state of affairs, that the small but compact band at Quakertown, beholding with dismay and disapproval the breaking up of the main body on the New London side, resolved to prevent such a disbanding of their own Society, by carefully bringing up their children in the faith and as carefully avoiding contact with other denominations. It was a heroic purpose, the more so because such a policy of isolation was so evidently perilous to the race. Not so evident was the fact that such exclusiveness must eventually destroy the sect which they so earnestly desired to preserve. Such,

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as has been seen, was not the policy of that founder whose flock were "scattered throughout New England," and some of the most efficient of whose co-workers were drawn from the midst of an antagonistic denomination; neither was it the policy of him who carried his Petition not only to the General Court of Connecticut, but to that of Massachusetts. Yet it was no ordinary man who carried out the policy above outlined, with a straightforward purpose and vigorous leadership; in the person of elder Zephania Watrous, a grandson of John Waterhouse.

John Waterhouse was living in 1773, at which date he was eighty-three years of age.¹ Considerably previous to that time he must have been succeeded by some younger man.

Elder Timothy Watrous, the Groton leader, who next appears to view, was a son of John Waterhouse, born in 1740. He is said to have been an able preacher and a man of the highest degree of probity.

Supposing John Waterhouse to have been in active service to his seventy-fifth year, Timothy could have succeeded him at the age of twenty-four, at which age the latter took part in the great countermove of 1764-66. His experience in this conflict is given in his own words: -

In the fore part of my life, the principal religion of the country was strongly defended by the civil power and many articles of the established worship were in opposition to the religion of Jesus Christ. Therefore I could not conform to them with a clear conscience. So I became a sufferer. I endured many sore imprisonments and cruel whippings. Once I received forty stripes save one with an instrument of prim, consisting of rods about three and a half feet long, with snags an inch long to tear the flesh. Once I was taken and my head and face covered with warm pitch, which filled my eyes and put me in great torment, and in that situation was turned out in the night and had two miles to go without the assistance of any person and but little help of my eyes. And many other things I have suffered, as spoiling of goods, mockings, etc. etc. But I do not pretend to relate particularly what I have suffered; for it would take a large book to contain it. But in these afflictions I have

¹ At the same date, Andrew Davis must also have been advanced in years

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seen the hand of God in holding me up; and I have had a particular love to my persecutors at times, which so convicted them that they confessed that I was assisted with the spirit of Christ. But alt4ough I had so tender a feeling towards them that I could freely do them all the good in my power; yet the truth of my cause would not suffer me to conform to their worship, or flinch at their cruelty one jot, though my life was at stake; for many times they threatened to kill me. But, through the mercy of God, I have been kept alive to this day and am seventy years of age; and I am as strong in the defense of the truth as I was when I suffered. But my persecutors are all dead; there is not one of them left.

This extract is from a book entitled "The Battle Axe," written by the above Timothy, Sr., and his sons Timothy and Zacharia. Timothy, Jr., succeeded his father as leader and preacher in this Society. Zacharia was a schoolmaster of considerable note, and at one time taught school at "the head of the river." He invented the coffee mill so generally in use, which important invention, his widow, being ignorant of its worth, sold for forty dollars. Having discovered some copper ore in the vicinity of his house, he smelted it and made a kettle. After a vain search to find a printer willing to publish " The Battle Axe," he made a printing-press, by means of which, after his death, his brother Timothy published the book. Thus "The Battle Axe," even aside from its subject-matter, was a book of no ordinary description. At a later date it was reprinted by the ordinary means. Copies of the first edition are now exceedingly rare, arid held at a high price. There is a copy of this edition in the Smithsonian Institute. We present an extract from the body of this work in the Appendix, but no adequate knowledge of the book can be obtained from so limited a space. Men who could venture to decry war in the very height of public exaltation over the success of the struggle for independence were too far ahead of their age, in this regard, to attract other than unfriendly attention.¹

The first proof discovered, that the Rogerenes have conscientious

¹ The tone and style of this work as a whole are in marked contrast to the works of John Rogers, 1^st, John Rogers, 2d, and John Bolles, whose writings, although earnest, are of a very dispassionate character.

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scruples in regard to paying the military fine,¹ is a printed Petition issued by Alexander Rogers, one of the younger sons of John, 2d, of Quaker Hill, a thorough Rogerene, and, as has been seen, closely allied with those of Quakertown. This Petition is dated 1810, at which time Alexander Rogers was eighty-two years of age; his children, however, were comparatively young. The fine was for not allowing his son to enter the train-band. (This Petition will be found in Appendix.) It proves that, even at so late a date as this, the authorities were seizing Rogerene property in the same way as of old, taking in this instance for a fine of a few shillings the only cow in the possession of the family, and making no return. As of old, no attempt is made to sue for the amount taken over and above the legal fine, but this Petition is printed and probably well circulated in protest.²

Soon after the death of Timothy Watrous, Sr., and that of his son Zachariah, occurred the death of Timothy, Jr., in 1814. The latter was succeeded in leadership of the Society by his youngest brother, Zephania, then about thirty years of age.

By this time, the Quakertown Society had become so large that there was need of better accommodations for their meetings than could be afforded in an ordinary house. In 1815 the Quakertown meeting-house was built, that picturesque and not inartistic house of many gables, the first floor of which was for the occupation of the elder and his family, while the unpartitioned second story was for Rogerene meetings.

Materials and labor for the building of this meeting-house were furnished by members of the Society. The timber is said to have been supplied from a forest felled by the September gale of 1815, and sawed in a saw-mill owned by Rogerenes. The same gale had unroofed the old Watrous (John Waterhouse ) dwelling which stood near the site of the meeting-house.³

¹ It is very possible that this Society refused to pay military fines from the first; but no record of such refusal has been found.

² An original printed copy of this Petition is extant in Quakertown.

³ The old meeting-house is upon land which was part of the farm occupied by John Waterhouse, and afterwards by his son Timothy.

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The Quakertown people had a schoolhouse of their own as well as a meeting-house, and thus fully controlled the training of their youth and preserved them from outside influence. About the middle of the century, a regular meeting-house was built. The old meeting-house was turned entirely into a dwelling. The newer meeting-house resembles a schoolhouse.

Zephania Watrous was the last of the prominent leaders in this community. He was not only gifted as a religious teacher, but possessed much mechanical genius. By an ingenious device, water from a large spring was conducted into the cellar of the meeting-house and made to run the spinning-wheels in the living-room above, where were made linen thread and fine table linen, in handsome patterns. A daughter of this preacher ( a sweet old lady, still living in this house in 1900) stated that she used often in her youth to spin sixty knots of thread a day.

It is alleged in Quakertown that Rogerenes were the first to decry slavery. This claim is not without foundation. Some of the Quakers censured this practice as early as 1750, although many of them held slaves for a considerable time after that date. Slavery was not publicly denounced in their Society until 1760. It was before 1730 that John Bolles came to the conclusion that slavery was not in accordance with the teachings of the New Testament. Copies of the papers by which he freed his slaves, bearing the above date, may be seen among the New London town records. His resolve to keep no more slaves and his reasons for it are among the traditions cherished by his descendants. Attention has previously been called to the evident aversion on the part of James Rogers and his son John to the practice of keeping slaves in life bondage. There is no indication that John Rogers, Sr., ever kept a slave, and many indications to the contrary. His son John, however, kept slaves to some extent, some of whom at least he freed for "faithful service" (New London Records). Two able-bodied "servants," are found in his inventory.^l His son James mentions

¹ Town records reveal one of these as a freeman, years after, in a neighboring town, a respected colored man, with an exceptionally likely family of children.

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a servant, "Rose," in his will of 1754. His son John, however, never kept a slave, and his family were greatly opposed to that practice, by force of early teaching. With the exceptions here noted, no proof appears of the keeping of slaves among the early Rogerenes, although many of them were in circumstances to indulge in that practice, which was prevalent in their neighborhood. The date at which slavery was denounced by the Rogerene Society does not appear.

It is certain that the Rogerenes of Quakertown were not only among the first to declare against the brutality of war and the sanction it received from ministers and church members, but among the foremost in the denunciation of slavery. Nor were there those lacking on the New London side to join hands with their Groton friends on these grounds. The churches of New London, in common with others, would not listen to any meddling with slavery, partisanship on which question would surely have divided those churches. The Rogerenes saw no justifiable evasion, for Christians, of the rule to love God and your fellowmen, to serve God and not Mammon, and to leave the consequences with Him who gave the command. At the period of the antislavery agitation, some of the descendants of John Rogers and John Bolles on the New London side (no longer called by the name of Rogerenes), and other sympathizers with those of Quakertown, attended meetings in the upper chamber of the house of many gables, and joined with them in antislavery and other Rogerene sentiments, declarations and endeavors. Among these visitors was William Bolles,^l the enterprising book publisher of New London (Part I., Chapter VII. ), who had become an attendant upon the services of the Baptist church of New London; but who withdrew from such attendance after discovery that the minister and leading members of that church expected those opposed to slavery to maintain silence upon that subject. He published a paper in this cause, in 1838, called The Ultimatum, with the following heading: -

¹ Great-grandson of John Rogers, 2d, and of John Bolles.

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ULTIMATUM.

THE PRESS MUZZLED; PULPIT GAGGED; LIBERTY OF SPEECH DESTROYED; THE CONSTITUTION TRAMPLED UNDER FOOT; MOBS TRIUMPHANT, AND CITIZENS BUTCHERED; OR, SLAVERY ABOLISHED-THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE.-FELLOW CITIZENS, MAKE YOUR ELECTION.

A few disconnected sentences (by way of brevity) selected from one of the editorial columns of this sheet, will give some idea of its style: -

It is with pleasure we make our second appearance before our fellow citizens, especially when we remember the avidity with which our first number was read, so that we were obliged to print a second edition. Our sheet is the organ of no association of men or body of men, but it is the friend of the oppressed and the uncompromising enemy of all abuses in Church and State. Our friends S. and J. must not be surprised that their communications are not admitted - the language is too harsh, and partakes a little too much of the denunciatory spirit for us. We care not how severely sin is rebuked, but we would remind them that a rebuke is severe in proportion as the spirit is kind and the language courteous - our object is to conciliate and reform, not to exasperate.

About the year 1850, several noted abolitionists came to New London to hold a meeting. Rogerenes from Quakertown gathered with others to hear the speeches. When the time for the meeting arrived, the use of the court-house, which had previously been promised them, was refused. In this dilemma, Mr. Bolles told the speakers they could go to the burying-ground and there speak, standing upon his mother’s grave. The meeting took place, but during its continuance the speakers were pelted with rotten eggs.¹

Mr. Bolles often entertained at his house speakers in the abolition cause. Such speakers were also entertained at Quakertown,

¹ This information was furnished by a native of Quakertown who attended this meeting -Mr. Ira Whipple, afterwards of Westerly.

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where they frequently held meetings when not allowed to speak elsewhere in the region. The Rogerenes of this place also assisted in the escape of fugitive slaves, Quakertown being, between 1830 and 1850, one "of the stations of the Underground Railroad. Fugitive slaves were brought here, under cover of darkness, concealed in the meeting-house and forwarded by night to the next station. For these daring deeds, the Quakertown people were repeatedly mobbed and suffered losses.

Rogerenes were also among the first in the cause of temperance, nor did they confine their temperance principles to the use of tobacco and intoxicating liquors, but advocated temperance in eating as well. Although never observing the fast days appointed by ecclesiastical law, they made use of fasting with prayer, and fasted for their physical as well as spiritual good, judging the highest degree of mental or spiritual power not to be obtained by persons who indulged in "fullness of bread." (See "Answer to Mr. Byles," by Joseph Bolles, in Appendix.) The Rogerenes of Quakertown have been and still are earnest advocates of temperance principles.

The isolation and exclusiveness of the Quakertown community in the nineteenth century has already been noted as a distinct departure from the liberal and outreaching policy of the early Rogerenes. There was yet another departure, in regard to freedom of speech, which culminated, about the middle of the nineteenth century , in a division of this community into two opposing parties. At this date, Elder Zephania Watrous was advanced in years; but he had been, and still was, a man of great force of character, and was accounted a rigid disciplinarian. Only a man of such type could have held this community to its strictly exclusive policy for so long a period.

Free inquiry, with expression of individual views, was favored by the Rogerenes from the first, and formed an important feature of their meetings for study and exposition of gospel truths. Largely by this very means were their youth trained to interest in, and knowledge of, the Scriptures. Such freedom had been instituted

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by the founder of the sect, with no restrictions save the boundary line between liberty and license.¹

The elder did not favor free speech in the meetings of the Society; he undoubtedly judged. that such freedom would tend to disorder and division. The sequel, however, proved that a Society which could be held firmly together, for more than a hundred years, under a remarkably liberal policy in this regard, could be seriously divided under the policy of repression.

The feeling upon this point became so intense that public meetings were held in Quakertown for full discussion of the subject pro and con. These meetings excited wide interest, and were attended by many persons from adjoining towns. The party for free speech won the victory ; but the division tended to weaken the little church, the decline of which is said to date from that period.²

For nearly two hundred years, New Testament doctrines as expounded by John Rogers (in his writings) have been taught in Quakertown, and the Bible studied and restudied anew, with no evasion or explaining away of its apparent meanings. Morality has been taught not as a separate code, but as a principal part of the religion of J Jesus Christ. Great prominence has been given to non-resistance and all forms of application of the law of love.

Women were from the first encouraged to speak in Rogerene meetings, the meetings referred to being those for exhortation, prayer and praise. It will be seen (Appendix) that John Bolles wrote a treatise in favor of allowing women to speak in such meetings. Mr. Bownas also quotes John Rogers as saying that

¹ In Mr. Bownas’ account of his conversation with John Rogers (1703) he states that John Rogers said his Society " admitted anyone who wanted information concerning the meaning of any text to put the question, and it was then expounded and spoken to as they understood it; and one being admitted to show his dissent with his reasons for it: ‘Thus,’ said he, ‘we improve our youth in Scriptural knowledge.’ I asked him if they did not sometimes carry their differences in sentiment too far, to their hurt? He acknowledged there was danger in doing so, but they guarded against it as much as they could."

² In his last sickness, Elder Zephania Watrous sent for the leader of the party which had opposed his conservative views and asked forgiveness for anything on his own part that might have seemed unfriendly to his opponent.

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women were admitted to speak in Rogerene meetings, "some of them being qualified by the gift of the Spirit."

Among the principles rigidly insisted upon in Quakertown are that persons shall not be esteemed on account of wealth, learning or position, but only for moral and religious characteristics; strict following of the Golden Rule by governments as well as by individuals, hence no going to war, or retaliatory punishments (correction should be kindly and beneficent) ; no profane language, or the taking of an oath under any circumstances; no voting for any man having principles contrary to the teachings of the New Testament; no set prayers in meetings, but dependence on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; no divorce except for fornication; to suffer rather than to cause suffering. There has always been great disapprobation of "hireling ministers." None of the Rogerene elders ever received payment for preaching or for pastoral work.

A gentleman who has been prominent in the Quakertown Society being questioned, some years since, in regard to the lack of sympathy between the Rogerenes and other denominations, gave the following reasons for a state of feeling on both sides which is not wholly absent even at the present day.

"The other churches considered cessation of work on Sunday to be a part of the Christian religion, and to be forced upon all as such. Many of their preachers were led into the ministry as a learned and lucrative profession, with no spiritual call to preach, being educated by men for that purpose. In many instances these preachers were worldly-minded to a great extent. The churches believed in war and in training men to kill their fellowmen. Ministers and church members used liquor freely. Church members held slaves, and ministers upheld the practice. For a long time the Rogerenes were compelled to assist in the support of the Congregational church, to which of all churches they were most opposed, on account of its assumption of authority over others in the matter of religion. The Rogerenes were fined for not attending the regular meetings, and cruelly persecuted for not keeping sacred

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the ‘idol Sabbath’ so strictly observed by other denominations. Although persecution has ceased, prejudice still remains on both sides, partly inherited, as it were, and partly the result of continued differences of opinion."

At the present day, meetings in Quakertown are similar to Baptist or Methodist conference meetings. The Lord’s Supper is observed once a quarter. In the old times the Rogerenes held a feast once a year, in imitation of the last passover with the disciples, at which time a lamb was killed and eaten with unleavened bread. The Sunday service consisted of preaching and exposition of Scripture, while prayers, singing of hymns, relation of experience, etc., were reserved for the evening meetings of the Society . The latter were meetings for the professing Christians, while the Sunday meetings were public meetings, where all were welcomed. It will be observed that this was according to the apostolic practice, and not materially different from the practice of other denominations at the present day.

If there was so decided an aversion to physicians on the part of the early Rogerenes as has been represented, it has not come down to the present time among the people of Quakertown, as have most of the oldtime sentiments and customs; yet evidence is not lacking to prove that their predecessors made use of faith and prayer in the healing of disease, and that there have been cases of such healing in this Society. One of the latter, within the memory of persons yet living, was recounted to us by the gentleman to whom we have referred, upon .our inquiring of him if he had ever heard of any cures of this kind in Quakertown. Pointing to a portrait on the wall, he said, II That man was cured in a remarkable manner." He then stated the circumstances as follows: -

"He had been sick with dysentery , and was so low that his death was momentarily expected; his wife had even taken out the clothes she wished placed upon him after death. While he lay in this seemingly last stage of the disease, he suddenly became able to speak, and said, in a natural tone, to his wife: ‘Bring me my clothes.’ She told him he was very ill and must not try to exert

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himself; but he continued so urgent that, to pacify him, she brought the clothes he usually wore. He at once arose, dressed himself and was apparently well, and so continued. He said that, while he lay there in that weak condition, he suddenly felt an invisible hand placed upon his head and heard a voice saying: ‘Arise, my son, you are healed,’ upon which he immediately felt a complete change, from extreme illness and weakness to health and strength; hence his request to his wife."

There are numerous traditions regarding the offering, of prayers for recovery by the bedsides of the sick, on the part of the early elders of this community, who were sometimes desired to render this service outside of their own Society, and readily complied.

That the founders of this community, both men and women, were persons of no ordinary mental and physical vigor, is attested by the excellent mental and physical condition of their descendants, after generations of intermarriage within their own borders. At the present day, it would puzzle an expert to calculate their complicated relationships. In a visit to this locality , some years since, we met two of the handsomest, brightest and sweetest old ladies we ever beheld, each of whom had passed her eightieth year, and each of whom bore the name of Esther (as did the wife of John Waterhouse). Both were descendants of John Rogers, and of the first settlers of Quakertown, several times over.¹ One of them told us that her grandmother took a cap-border to meeting to hem in the time of the great countermove, at which time and for which cause she was whipped at the New London whipping-post; also that for chopping a few sticks of wood in his back yard, on Sunday, a Quakertown man was " dragged to New London prison." This is but a hint of the traditions that linger in this community regarding the days of persecution. The other lady, a daughter of Elder Zephania Watrous, lived in the old meeting-house, where she was born. In the room with this gentle and comely old lady

¹ It is not to be inferred that no new families have come into Quakertown, or that none of the people have married outside. Accessions to this community have been not infrequent, both by marriage and otherwise.

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were five generations of the Watrous family, herself the eldest, and a child of four or five years the youngest, all fair representatives of Quakertown people; healthy, intelligent and good-looking.

To a stranger in these parts, it is a wonder how the inhabitants have maintained themselves in such an apparently sterile and rocky region.¹ In fact, these people did not depend upon agriculture for a livelihood. Although thus isolated, they were from the first thrifty, ingenious and enterprising. The property of the first settlers having been divided and subdivided among large families, it was not long before their descendants must either desert their own community or invent methods of bringing into Quakertown adequate profits from without. Consequently, we find them, early in the nineteenth century , selling, in neighboring towns, cloths, threads, yarn and other commodities of their own manufacture. A large proportion of the men learned trades and worked away from home during the week. Many of them were stone-masons, a trade easily learned in this rocky region, and one in which they became experts. In later times, we find some of them. extensively engaged in raising small fruits, especially strawberries.

Although, with the decline of persecution, no new leader arose to rank with those of the past, bright minds have not been lacking in later days in this fast thinning community, which, like other remote country places, has suffered by the emigration of its youth to more promising fields of action.

Timothy Watrous, 2d, invented the first machine for cutting cold iron into nails. He also made an entire clock himself.

Samuel Chapman, a descendant of John Rogers and John Waterhouse, is said to have made and sailed the first steamship on the . Mississippi. He founded large iron-works in New Orleans. His son Nathan was one of the founders of the Standard Iron Works of Mystic.

Jonathan Whipple, a descendant of John Rogers, having a deaf

¹ Quakertown is said not to be so rocky and sterile as it appears to a person riding over the road, but to have a considerable amount of good farming-land.

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and dumb son, conceived the idea of teaching him to speak and to understand by the motion of the lips, by which method he soon spoke sonorously and distinctly, and became a man of integrity and cultivation. Zerah C. Whipple, a grandson of Jonathan, becoming interested in this discovery, resolved to devote his life to its perfection. He invented the Whipple Natural Alphabet, and with the aid of his grandfather, Jonathan, founded The Home School for the deaf and dumb, at Mystic.

Julia Crouch, author of "Three Successful Girls" (a descendant of John Rogers and John Bolles), was a Rogerene of Quakertown.

Ida Whipple Benham, a well-known poet, and for many years an efficient member of the Peace Society, was of Quakertown origin.¹

In recent years, the Rogerenes of Quakertown have given much attention to the cause of peace and arbitration. The Universal Peace Union having been established by the Quakers, soon after

¹ The following is from a poem by Mrs. Benham, entitled "Peace."

Where is the nation brave enough to say,
"I have no need of sword, or shield. or gun;
I will disarm before the world this day;
I will stand free, though lonely, ‘neath the sun.

" I fear no foe, since I am friend to all;
I fear no evil, since I wish no harm;
I will not keep my soldier sons in thrall;
They shall be slaves no more -let them disarm!"

That State will stand upon the heights of time
Foremost in honor, bravest of the brave;
Girded with glory, radiant. sublime.
This shall her title be, "The strong to save!"

While other nations boast of arms or art,
She, ‘lone of earth shall stand, the truly great!
Brave in forbearance, loftiness of heart.
The world shall see, in her, a Christian State.

Boast not your bravery, O, ye fearful ones,
Ye trembling nations armed with coward steel,
Who hide yourselves behind your conscript sons
And trample freedom with an iron heel!

Vaunt not your righteousness, nor dare to call
Yourselves by His high name, the Prince of Peace.
The holy Christ of God, Who died for all,
That love might reign and sin and sorrow cease.

My country! O, my country! strong and free,
Dare thou the godlike deed that waits thy hand.
Within thy walls wed Peace to Liberty-
Say to thy soldier sons, "Disarm! Disband!"

Set thou the step for Freedom’s stately march;
The Old World after thee shall fall in line.
Follow the pole star crowning heaven’s high arch,
The Star of Peace with radiance divine.

" All men are equal!" graved in lines of light,
Through storm and stress this motto doth not fail;
All men are brothers! set thy virgin might
To prove man’s brotherhood; thou shalt prevail.

Thou shalt prevail, my country, in the strength
Of Him who guides the spheres and lights the sun;
And joy shall reign through all thy breadth and length,
And thou shalt hear the gracious voice, "Well done!"

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the rebellion, the people of Quakertown invited members of that Society to join them in holding a Peace Convention near Mystic, the most suitable available point in the vicinity of Quakertown. Accordingly, in August, 1868, the first of an unbroken series of yearly Peace Meetings was held in an attractive grove on a hill by the Mystic River. Including the invited guests, there were present forty-three persons. The second meeting, in September, 1869, showed such an increase of interest and attendance that the Connecticut Peace Society was organized, as a branch of The Universal Peace Union, and Jonathan Whipple of Quakertown was elected president. This venerable man (to whom we have before referred), besides publishing and circulating The Bond of Peace (a paper advocating peace principles), had long beep active as a speaker and correspondent in the cause so dear to his heart.

In 1871, James E. Whipple, of Quakertown, a young man of high moral character, having refused from conscientious scruples to pay the military tax imposed upon him, was arrested by the town authorities of Ledyard and confined in the Norwich jail, where he remained several weeks.

About the same time, Zerah C. Whipple, being called upon to pay a military tax, refused to thus assist in upholding a system which he believed to be anti-Christian and a relic of barbarous ages. He was threatened with imprisonment; but some kindly disposed person, interfering without his knowledge, paid the tax.

In 1872 a petition, signed by members of the Peace Society, was presented to the legislature of Connecticut praying that body to make such "changes in the laws of the State as should be necessary to secure the petitioners in the exercise of their conscientious convictions in this regard. The petition was not granted ; but the subject excited no little interest and sympathy among some of the legislators.

In the summer of 1874, Zerah C. Whipple, still refusing to do what his conscience forbade, was taken from his home by the tax collector of Ledyard and placed in the New London jail. His arrest produced a profound impression, he being widely known as

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the principal of the school for teaching the dumb to speak, and also as a very honest, high-souled man.

During his six weeks’ imprisonment, the young man appealed to the prisoners to reform their modes of life, reproved them for vulgarity and profanity, furnished them books to read, and began teaching English to a Portuguese confined there. The jailer himself said, to the commissioner, that although he regretted Mr. Whipple’s confinement. in jail on his own account, he should be sorry to have him leave, as the men had been more quiet and easy to manage since he had been with them. On the evening of the sixth day, an entire stranger called at the jail and desired to know the amount of the tax and costs, which he paid, saying he knew the worth of Mr. Whipple, that his family for generations back had never paid the military tax, and he wished to save the State the disgrace of imprisoning a person guilty of no crime. This man was not a member of the Peace Society. Mr. Whipple afterwards learned that his arrest was illegal, the laws of the State providing that where property is tendered, or can be found, the person shall be unmolested. The authorities of Groton did not compel the payment of this tax by persons conscientiously opposed to it.

In 1872, The Bond of Peace was removed to Quakertown and its name changed to The Voice of Peace. Zerah C. Whipple undertook its publication and continued it until 1874, when it was transferred to a committee of The Universal Peace Union. It is now published in Philadelphia as the official organ of that society , under the title of The Peacemaker.

The call of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe for a woman’s Peace Society was heartily responded to by the Connecticut Peace Society, and the 2d of J June was for years celebrated, by appropriate exercises, as Mother’s Day.

The annual grove meeting increased rapidly in attendance and interest. The number present at the tenth meeting was estimated at 2,500. In 1875, it was decided to prolong the time of the convention to a second day’s session, and the two days’ session was attended with unabated interest.

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Jonathan Whipple, first president of the Connecticut Peace Society, died in March, 1875. Shortly before the end, he was heard to say: "Blessed are the peacemakers; but there has been no blessing promised to warriors."

The grove meeting is now held three days annually. It is the largest gathering of the kind in the world. The large tent used at first was replaced some years since by a commodious wooden structure, which is the property of the Universal Peace Union.

From the first, some of the most noted speakers on peace and kindred topics have occupied the platform, among them Belva Lockwood, Mary A. Livermore, Julia Ward Howe, Aaron M. Powell, Rowland B. Howard, Robert T. Paine, Delia S. Parnell, George T. Angell, H. L. Hastings, William Lloyd Garrison, etc. The Hutchinson family used frequently to sing at these meetings. The only one now remaining of that gifted choir, a gentleman as venerably beautiful as any bard of ancient times, has, in recent summers, favored the audience in the grove with several sweet songs appropriate to the occasion.

It is said that the winding road leading about Quakertown is in the "shape of a horseshoe. May this be an omen of honors yet to come to this little battlefield, where an isolated, despised, yet all-devoted band have striven for nearly two centuries to be true to the pure and simple precepts of the New Testament as taught them by sufferers for obedience to those truths, beside many a fireside where tales of woes for past endeavors, mingled with prayers for future victories, have nerved young hearts to the old-time endurance, for His name’s sake.

Many are the noble men and women who, from first to last, have been content to live and die in this obscure locality, unhonored by the world and sharing not its luxuries or pleasures, consoled by the promises of the New Testament: promises which are not to the rich and honored (as such), but chiefly to those who for obedience to the teachings of this Word are outcast and despised, poor and unlearned, and even, if need be, persecuted and slain.

Not because that good man, Jonathan Whipple, was more con-

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scientious or talented than many another of the Rogerenes of this locality, but because he was a good specimen of the kind of men that have from time to time been reared in this Society, there is given in the following note¹ an abstract from a published account

¹ Jonathan Whipple was born in 1794. He never attended school, but it was not from lack of inclination, for he most ardently desired an education. The reader from which his mother taught him his letters he learned so thoroughly that he could repeat it verbatim. In arithmetic he had no instruction further than the fundamental rules, but while he was yet a boy he learned enough of numbers to answer for ordinary occasions. His father set him his first copies in writing, but he improved so rapidly that he soon needed better instruction and got neighboring school-teachers to write copies for him. Ere many years had elapsed, he had no need of copies, since he ranked in penmanship among the first.

Although Mr. Whipple was a hard-working mason, he so much felt the need of more education than he possessed, that, after he had married and settled down in life, he set about informing himself more thoroughly than his previous opportunities had allowed. He so far qualified himself, that he was employed several terms to teach a school of over seventy pupils. In point of discipline and promptness of recitation his school ranked first in town.

He contributed many articles to various papers, touching On the great topics before the public. The temperance cause received his hearty support, for he was a total abstinence man, at a time when even the most respectable men regularly took their " grog."

He was an abolitionist of the most radical type long before the names of Garrison and Phillips were known in the land.

As an advocate for universal peace, he was found among the pioneers in the cause. ID short. he was a philanthropist in the broadest and truest sense of the word he labored all his life for the good of his fellow-creatures. He was kind and generous; was never engaged in a law-suit in his life, and spent more time with the sick than any other non-professional man of our acquaintance. ID the summer of 1820 the typhoid fever raged in his neighborhood; he spent his. whole time, without a thought of reward, among the sufferers.

His blameless and useful life made him respected and beloved wherever he was known.

The fame, however, that he acquired was chiefly due to his remarkable success in teaching the deaf to talk.

When the youngest of his five children was old enough to walk, he noticed that, although the boy seemed active and intelligent, he made no effort to speak. The discovery that his little Enoch was actually deaf, was a trial which seemed greater than he could endure. To think that this (his youngest) son must be forever shut out of the world of sound and doomed to endless silence was unendurable. After many fruitless trials to make the boy hear and repeat what he heard, the father gave it up as useless.

Mr. Whipple had never heard of the schools in Europe where the deaf are taught articulation and lip-reading; but, at length, noticing that Enoch would sometimes attempt to repeat a word, if he was looking directly at the speaker’s mouth, the thought occurred to the father that perhaps every word had a shape, and that by learning the shape of each letter, as moulded by the mouth, the boy might be taught to imitate it. The task was begun. Every moment Mr. Whipple could spare, - for he was a poor man, and besides his own family there were some orphan children depending upon him, - he devoted to teaching his little son. It was astonishing what progress was made. Other members of the family also acted as teachers, and as Enoch grew towards manhood, he was not merely on par with his associates, but acknowledged by all to be a superior youth. He could read, could write a nice hand, and for deciphering poor penmanship there was scarcely his equal for miles around. He could also talk. To such perfection was his instruction carried by his energetic father that this deaf man has done business with strangers, bought goods of merchants, etc., and has gone away without leaving a suspicion of his infirmity.

As has been seen, the efforts of Mr. Whipple did not end with teaching his own son. He made many successful experiments with other deaf mutes, which led to the founding of The Home School for the deaf at Mystic.

After Jonathan Whipple had passed his seventieth year, his faculties remained unimpaired, and he was as indefatigable in his efforts to improve the condition of the afflicted as when his theory was first put in practice. His life was a useful and beautiful one; not a struggle to gain wealth or to win fame; but simply to do good. His declining years were cheered by the knowledge that he had wronged none and bettered many. -- Abstract from Life of Jonathan Whipple in "Men of Mark."

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of his life, a copy of which was forwarded to us by his daughter, Mrs. Whaley, in 1893. In the letter containing this enclosure she said: "I hope that justice will at length be done our so long misunderstood and misrepresented people."

Presentation of facts belongs to the historian j but the effect and uses of the information thus afforded is for the reader. We have collected and set in order such attested facts as we have been able to discover relative to the history of the Rogerenes, of which sect the people of Quakertown are the only distinct representatives of the present day.

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If at the end of this history it should be asked: "How can the Rogerene sect be described in briefest terms?" we reply: -

"The doctrines and customs of this sect were patterned as

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closely as possible after the early church of the Gentiles, instituted under apostolic effort and direction; hence it included the evangelical portions and excluded the unevangelical portions of the doctrines and customs of every sect known to Christendom. Should a new sect be brought into existence on strictly evangelical lines, it would, to all intents and purposes, be the same as the Rogerene Society." It is evident, however, that a marked feature of the Rogerene sect would be lacking to such a church in modem times, viz., the constant need of withstanding ecclesiastical laws whose unimpeded sway would have prevented the existence of any truly evangelical church. It is easy to perceive that the growth of such a spirit of close adherence to New Testament teachings as animated the Rogerenes would tend to the obliteration of sects.

Should the churches of Christendom ever awake to the fact that not one of them but has made and countenanced signal departures from the teachings of Christ and his apostles, both in principles and modes, and that their differences one from the other are founded upon variations from the first divinely instituted church, and should they, on thus awakening, join hands, in council assembled, with the purpose of uniting in one church of the apostolic model, fully devoted to the cause of peace on earth and good will to men, then would dawn the millennium.

It is plain that John Rogers had faith in the people at large for the realization of such a church universal, could adequate leadership be procured. He believed that of existing societies of the evangelical order having in his day a fair start, that of the Quakers (by its peace principles and dependence on the Holy Spirit) was best fitted to take the lead. For such an end he had urged upon that Society the instituting among them the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which they had rejected, and he expressed his opinion forcibly when he said to Mr. Bownas in 1703 that if the Quakers would take those two ordinances they could "carry all before them." (As quoted by Mr. Bownas.)

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