GIFT OF
1 HQMAS RUTHERFORD BACON
MEMORIAL LIBRARY
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Rev. David Bacon
Rev. LEONARD BACON, D. D.
Reprint from the Congregational Quarterly, 1S76.
BOSTON:
CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY.
1876.
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PRINTED BY
ALFRED MUDGE & SON,
34 School Street, Boston.
DAVID BACON.
In the North Cemetery at Hartford, Conn , a simple head-
stone bears this inscription : —
&o % mernorg of
The Rev. DAVID BACON,
A HUMBLE MISSIONARY OF THE CROSS,
who, having passed through
many scenes of suffering
in his efforts to extend
The Redeemer's Kingdom,
entered into his rest
August 27th, A. D. 1817,
in the 46th Year of his Age.
Few and far advanced in life are those who can have any
personal memory of a man who rested from his labors almost
sixty years ago. The name inscribed on that marble is not
found in Sprague's " Annals of the American Pulpit," nor was
it ever the theme of biography in a religious magazine ; yet
in various places, and especially in one town and church of
northern Ohio, a tradition of the name, and of what the man
was who bore it, lives, and is beginning to be invested with
mythical associations. I have hoped that, in my old age, I
might find time to write out my recollections of him, with what
I have learned about him from authentic sources, so that my
children, and theirs after them, may share in the benefit of his
example, as well as in God's answer to his prayers. But my
267979
old age has, thus far, brought me so little leisure that perhaps
that work of filial piety and of paternal forethought would
never have been begun, and certainly nothing of it would have
been given to the public, had not the editor of the Congrega-
tional Quarterly invited me to make this beginning.
The records of the First Church in Woodstock, Conn., show,
in the fair handwriting of Abiel Leonard, then pastor of that
church, that on the 9th of August, 1764, "Joseph Bacon of
Stoughton, Mass., and Abigail Holmes, of Woodstock," were
married. Stoughton was originally a part of Dedham ; and
Michael Bacon, of whom Joseph is known to have been a de-
scendant, was among the planters of that town, his name appear-
ing on the records there as early as 1640. By what ordering of
the Divine Providence it was that Joseph Bacon, of Stoughton,
found a wife sixty miles away, at Woodstock, I do not know ;
for, though there had been Bacons in Woodstock ever since
the first settlers came from what was once Roxbury, but is
now Boston Highlands, our Joseph was not of their kindred.
Not to encumber these pages with particulars of family his-
tory, uninteresting to the public and unnecessary to the
completeness of my story, I may say that the earliest years of
Joseph and Abigail's married life were passed in Stoughton or
Dedham ; that their second child, the eldest son, born there,
was named Leonard, in affectionate remembrance of the
Woodstock pastor ; and that after a few years they dwelt for
a while at Woodstock, where their third son (the fifth of their
children) was born in 1771, and was baptized on the 15 th of
September by the name of David.
When I was a little child living at home, I heard, of course,
many incidents of my father's early life ; but having neglected
to correct and confirm my imperfect memory of them while
there were survivors to whom I could appeal, I dare not now
attempt to tell the story of how he was brought up, and of
the various influences and experiences under which his char-
acter was formed. His mother died when he had not yet
completed his eighth year ; but the reverent and most loving
remembrance of her among her children assures me that from
her they inherited much that was better than riches, and that,
though she left them early, her faithful care and love had
wrought effectually for their spiritual welfare. Of her six
children who lived to maturity, every one, I believe, made
profession of a personal faith and hope in Christ ; and of those
whom I knew, others besides the subject of this memoir were
eminently characterized by the old Puritan godliness.
Joseph Bacon, the father of those children, and of other sons
and daughters, the offspring of a later marriage, was of the
same type. He seems to have been ingenious and enter-
prising, but never in any high degree successful. I remember
the story (told by his eldest son) that at one time, when the
War of Independence had made the importation of foreign
goods impracticable, he invented and undertook a method of
printing (in imitation of calico) the home-made linen of which
every farmer's house had its store. His process was like that
by which I have seen paper-hangings printed without
machinery. With his own hands he cut the figures on blocks
of wood, and printed the white linen with such colors as he
could obtain from native dye-stuffs like the yellow blossoms of
the golden-rod. After several emigrations to places in Massa-
chusetts, — Amherst, Sterling, and Holden, — he removed
with all the family save Leonard and David to the northern
part of Vermont, where he died at Cambridge in January,
1803. " Blessed be God," wrote one of his sons to another, on
receiving the intelligence of that event, " we have reason to
believe that our dear father has been convoyed by angels from
this vale of tears to the mansions of glory. I join with you in
praying that we may imitate him in his simple and unaffected
piety towards God and in his benevolence to man, by which
he was distinguished from most, if not all, among whom he
lived, and by which he shone as a light in the world."
David Bacon had all his father's mechanical ingenuity and
dexterity. I have no means of knowing how early he left his
home, or from whom he received the instruction which pre-
pared him for teaching a school. His first serious enterprise
for himself seems to have been a short-lived partnership with
his stepmother's son by her former husband, in the manu-
facture and sale of spinning-wheels at Troy, N. Y., when
Troy had just begun to be. I remember having heard him
speak of being under the ministry of Dr. Jonas Coe, the first
pastor of the Presbyterian Church in that place. About that
time (probably after the failure of hi9 business enterprise) he
found employment for a season as a teacher somewhere in
Washington County, N. Y. For all that portion of his
life there is no sort of record, therefore I cannot tell when
or where it was that he began to be conscious of peace with
God through Jesus Christ ; but well do I remember that, in
one of his long and earnest talks with me about my own salva-
tion, while I was a boy of less than thirteen years, he told me
something of his early religious experience, — how sweetly,
after long anxiety and fear, the sense of God's love came to
him with the submission of himself to God's will, and how, in
the silence and solitude of night, he could not refrain from
repeating the psalm, —
" Sweet is the work, my God, my King,"
singing it in a murmur (though he was never musical) to the
old tune of Bridgewater. Mere poetry had for him, I think,
no great fascination ; but devotional poetry, that of our best
psalms and hymns, was often an inspiration to him. The
psalm,
" Early, my God, without delay,"
sung in public worship, would sometimes fill his eyes with
tears. That grand lyric,
" Father, how wide thy glories shine,"
was a delight to him. Nor can I ever read
" The deluge, at the Almighty's call,"
without seeming to catch an echo of his voice reading it in the
family, full two thirds of ja. century ago.
In my childhood I received from him an impression con-
cerning the " Life of David Brainerd," as if it were not very far
below the level of the canonical Scriptures. His reading of
that book must have been connected in some way with his
own experience of conversion. Probably its influence on his
theory of Christian experience was not, in every respect, the
best that could be ; but from the beginning of his own new
life his soul was fired by the example of Brainerd's self-conse-
cration and self-sacrifice. He felt that to labor, like Brainerd,
in the service of the gospel among the most benighted of his
fellow-men, was the highest vocation to which he could aspire.
He determined that, if it were possible, he would be a mis-
sionary to the Indians. But how could he realize such an
aspiration ? He was already too old to think of college and of
entering the ministry through that gate ; nor was there, as
yet, any missionary institution to send him forth into the
wilderness.
From his sojourn in the State of New York he returned to
Connecticut, and in 1799, perhaps earlier, he was at Mansfield,
where his eldest brother had established himself as a physician.
He taught a school, I believe, and was at the same time learn-
ing, under the instruction of Rev. John Sherman, who was
then the young and zealous pastor there, and under whose
ministry (though he afterwards lapsed from the communion of
the Connecticut churches) that parish, so long taught and
guarded by Dr. Richard Salter, had its share in the religious
awakening which marks the transition from the eighteenth
century to the nineteenth. The records of the Mansfield
church show that David Bacon was one of its members, and
that he was received by dismission from some other church not
named.
At that time the " Associated Pastors " of Connecticut were
just completing their organization as a missionary society.
Their earliest efforts for evangelization beyond the limits of
the State were made in some of the local or district " associ-
ations," one of the pastors going on horseback with his saddle-
bags to perform a few weeks of itinerant labor in " the new
settlements " of Vermont, his pulpit, meanwhile, being supplied
by his associated brethren. After two or three years of such
effort, the work was undertaken on a somewhat larger scale
by the " General Association," representing all the u Associ-
ated Pastors " in the State. Emigration from Connecticut was
beginning to spread over the great West, which is now known
as Central and Northern New York, and each " new settle-
ment" in the wilderness needed for a while, till it should have
its own church and pastor, the frequent visits of a missionary.
The desultory labors of such pastors as could be spared, each
8
for a brief " mission," were inadequate to a work which was
becoming so wide and so distant. Competent ministers, with
no pastoral charge at home, must be sent forth to itinerate in
the new settlements, and must be sustained by the liberality
of good people in old Connecticut. In 1798 the General Asso-
ciation constituted itself " The Missionary Society of Connec-
ticut," and in that character was incorporated by the legislature
four years later. The old relations between the churches and
the State had not been entirely dissolved, and therefore, to
provide a revenue for the Missionary Society, the governor
was authorized to issue a " brief," year by year, calling for a
contribution on the first Sabbath in May from each Congrega-
tional parish in the State. 1
It would have been strange if the Associated Pastors of
Connecticut, when they constituted their Missionary Society,
had made no reference to the Indians. The work begun in
the seventeenth century by Eliot, Pierson, and the Mayhews
had been continued by the Brainerds (David and John), by Jon-
athan Edwards for a time, and by John Sergeant and others ;
but from the beginning it had been sustained largely by con-
tributions from England and Scotland. One consequence of
the Revolution by which these English colonies had become an
independent nation was that the Indian tribes, within the limits
conceded to the United States, being no longer related in any
way to the British Empire, the work of spreading the gospel
among them was not only to be performed as before by Amer-
ican missionaries, but was also to be sustained thenceforth by
American contributions. The Missionary Society of Connec-
ticut, therefore, proposed to care for the heathen tribes of the
wilderness as well as for those adventurers into the wilder-
ness who were in danger of becoming heathen. It was in
June, 1798, that the Constitution of the Society was adopted at
Hebron, with the express announcement, " The object of the
1 The "brief " or proclamation from the governor enabled the minister to call
for a contribution without asking leave from the church or the society. It car-
ried no coercion with it. Where the minister had no sympathy with the cause or
was afraid of possible opposition among his people, the brief would pass without
notice. As the usage is now not only obsolete but almost forgotten, the writer
may add that it did not cease till after the commencement of his pastorate. The
last proclamation of that sort was issued by Gov. Wolcott in 1826.
Society is to christianize the heathen in North America, and
to support and promote Christian knowledge in the new set-
tlements within the United States." Whether, at that time,
the subject of this memoir had already been in communication
with any of the pastors who formed the Society and denned
its object, I do not know ; but I find him very soon afterward
preparing himself for a mission to the Indians.
As the founding of the Missionary Society at London, in
1793, had been followed by the establishment of an " Evangel-
ical Magazine," which, being conducted in the interest of
evangelical Calvinism, became a medium of communication
between the Missionary Society and its supporters, so the
" Connecticut Evangelical Magazine " came into being, not as
an official organ, but rather as an auxiliary institution, co-oper-
ating with the Missionary Society of Connecticut, though not
in any way controlled by it. l Its first issue, bearing date
July, 1800, contained an official announcement from the
Trustees of the Missionary Society of Connecticut " relative
to a mission among the Indians." They had determined at a
late meeting " that a discreet man, animated by the love of
God and souls, of a good common education, who can be
obtained for a moderate compensation, be sought for to travel
among the Indian tribes south and west of Lake Erie, to
explore their situation, and learn their feelings with respect to
Christianity, and, so far as he has opportunity, to teach them
its doctrines and duties." They had also determined "that
said missionary, with the advice of the Rev. Mr. Sergeant of
New Stockbridge, obtain from among his Indians a pious
guide and interpreter to accompany him in his travels." So
far had the plan been matured that " a system of instructions "
for the missionary, and a "message" or "talk" five columns
in length, introducing the missionary " to the Indian tribes
bordering on Lake Erie," and explaining the views and hopes
1 The Trustees of the Missionary Society were " six civilians and six clergy-
men." Five of the six clergymen were also among the fifteen editors of the
Magazine. The word " civilian," I think, was not used as exactly synonymous
with " layman," but rather as implying civil office, or some eminence in civil as
distinguished from ecclesiastical affairs. Through a long series of years, the six
civilians in the Board of Trustees were always designated as " Honorable," being
members of the Council or " Upper House."
2
IO
of the good people who were sending him on so benevolent
an errand, were published in connection with the official
announcement. The name of the "discreet man, animated by
the love of God and souls, and of a good common education,"
who would require only " a moderate compensation," was not
given at that time to the public ; but evidently the Trustees
were already in communication with him.
While these good men, the Trustees and others, had been
deliberating about an Indian Mission, and contriving to make
it inexpensive to the contributors, the future missionary had
been preparing himself for the work. Probably his study of
theology was not very extensive, but it was according to the
fashion of those times when there were no theological semi-
naries. His principal teacher was the Rev. Levi Hart, of
Preston ; but he seems to have studied also with Rev. Samuel
Nott, of Franklin, and with Rev. Zebulon Ely, of Lebanon. 1
The late Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely, of Philadelphia, writing to me in
1849, sa id incidentally, " I have a fresh remembrance of your
father, in his black deer-skin breeches, when he studied theol-
ogy with my father in my chamber."
Lebanon had a special attraction for the missionary student
of theology. The first number of the " Evangelical Magazine,"
which has been mentioned as announcing the plan of a mis-
sion to the Indians, contained also " A Letter from a Young
Woman to her Pastor, giving some Account of the Exercises of
her Mind," and subscribed, " Your inexperienced Eliza." A
manuscript copy of that letter, worn and yellow, in I know not
whose handwriting, is in my possession. It is identical with
the printed copy, save in the name subscribed, which is " Your
inexperienced Alice." The "pastor" was pastor of the
church in Lebanon, and the letter, dated March 1, 1800, was
written by Alice Parks, a young parishioner of his, who, on the
twenty-seventh of the following month, was received, with
others, to the communion of that church. "Alice," as I heard
1 Dr. Hart's study, like that of Dr. Backus in Somers, was one of the Divinity-
Schools which Connecticut had in those days. Dr. Nott's son, Samuel Nott, Jr.,
was one of the first company of missionaries sent to India some twelve years later
by the American Board of Commissioners. Mr. Ely was pastor in Lebanon from
the time when the humble edifice which, when Jonathan Trumbull was a mer-
chant, had been his place of business, was the " war office " for Connecticut.
Messrs. Hart and Ely were among the editors of the " Evangelical Magazine."
' II
Mr. Ely call her twenty years afterward, was a favorite with
him ; and so long as she lived, she retained among the treas-
ured relics of her girlhood some of her pastor's letters to her
written about that time, and now valued by her children's chil-
dren not only as testimonies of his esteem for her, but also as
evidence that the diligent pastor was availing himself of her
religious influence among her youthful friends. To him, the
letter, written at his request to describe the mental conflicts
through which she had passed, and which had ended in a con-
sciousness of peace with God through Christ, seemed an
exceptionally valuable record of Christian experience. Copies
of it appear to have been made for some of his friends ; and
either the original or the copy now in my possession came into
the hands of Mr. Bacon. He had never seen the writer, but he
could say to her, " I have in some measure become acquainted
with you by means of our worthy and honored friend, the Rev.
Mr. Ely," and with that reference he introduced himself to her
in a simply fraternal letter of counsel to a beginner in the
Christian life. The correspondence led to personal acquaint-
ance, and the acquaintance had become mutual affection and
engagement before that " Letter from a Young Woman to her
Pastor " had been sent to the printer by some officious friend. 1
The second issue of the Magazine, only two or three weeks
after the first, 2 gave no additional information about the
1 Alice Parks, who became the wife of the Rev. David Bacon, was a daughter of
Elijah Parks and his wife, Anna Beaumont. She was born at Bethlehem, Conn.,
February, 1783. At the death of her father, when she was only seven years of
age, she was taken by her grandfather, William Beaumont, to his home in
Lebanon, and by him and his wife, Sarah Everett, she was brought up as their
child. The little girl became the darling of the aged pair, whose own children
(of whom four sons were soldiers of the Revolution) had gone forth from
beneath their roof, one son only remaining in Lebanon, and building his house
near theirs, that he might help them in their declining years. " Alice " seems to
have been a favorite, not only with the good pastor, but with all who knew her.
Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely, in the letter above quoted, records his " lively recollection "
{forty-nine years later) of the day when, as he said, " Your mother, Alice, stood
beside me, and we together professed faith in Christ, in the old, large frame
meeting-house in Lebanon." The Beaumont farm was three miles distant from
the meeting-house ; but every Sabbath morning the old couple mounted their
horses and rode to church, the granddaughter riding on a pillion behind the
grandfather.
2 " The present number was delayed to give opportunity for the return of sub-
scription bills, but in future a fresh number will be ready for delivery the first
Monday in every month." — Connecticut Evangelical Magazine i, 40.
12
Indian Mission. The third number, issued on the first Mon-
day in September, made another announcement: —
" On Friday, the 8th of August, Mr. David Bacon left Hartford with a
view of visiting the Indian tribes bordering on Lake Erie, according to a
resolve of the Trustees of the Missionary Society of Connecticut, noticed
in our magazine for July. Previous to his departure he was examined by
the Committee of Missions, who, highly approving of him as qualified for
such a mission, unanimously appointed him to that service, and by
prayer commended him to the Divine blessing. It is expected that he
will obtain a guide and interpreter at New Stockbridge, or somewhere in
that neighborhood, and then proceed on to the southwest part of Lake
Erie, and visit the Indian tribes in that quarter. It is presumed he will
have the prayers of all good people for a blessing on his labors."
A letter dated Aug. 7, from the missionary to his brother
at Mansfield, gives some additional details : —
" I fell in company with two gentlemen, who brought me comfortably to
Hartford by about five o'clock, free from expenses. I travelled but about
two miles afoot.
" I passed my examination yesterday. 1 The result of the Committee, in
their own words, was as follows : ' The Committee, having examined
him with respect to his knowledge of the doctrines of Christianity and
his experimental acquaintance with the truth, were fully satisfied with his
answers, and highly approved of him as qualified for a missionary to the
Indians. Whereupon, Voted that the said, &c. ' be appointed a missionary
to the Indians in the vicinity of Sandusky Bay, or to some of the tribes
1 That was a second examination. From the records of the Committee it ap-
pears that Mr. Bacon's formal introduction to them was on the 27th of June, at
which time they "examined him as to his doctrinal and experimental acquaintance
with the truth, and were fully satisfied with his answers." Learning that he was
embarrassed in his worldly circumstances, they kindly undertook to mediate be-
tween him and his creditors, but assumed no responsibility for his debts. Those
debts could not have been very large, as it was evidently expected that he would
be able to pay them out of the salary of " one hundred and ten cents a day." In
explanation of the letter above, I copy the following from a rough draught pre-
served in the archives of the Society : —
" Hartford, July 23, 1800.
" Sir, — There was yesterday a meeting of the Trustees of the Missionary Society
of Connecticut ; at which meeting much was said respecting the proposed mission
to the Indians ; in consequence of which the Committee of Missions are to meet
on the 6th of August at 10 o'clock, at Mr. Strong's ; at which time and place the
Committee earnestly wish you to attend. Tho' you are not absolutely appointed
by the Board to go as a missionary, yet if without inconvenience to yourself you
can come prepared to go immediately on to the westward, you are advised to do'it.
" Yours with esteem, A. Flint, Secretary.
"Mr. David Bacon."
13
south and west of Lake Erie, for a term not exceeding six months, to be
computed from the time of his leaving Hartford.' My wages are one
hundred and ten cents per day. They have left it to my discretion to
choose and agree with an interpreter, only I must not overgo a certain
sum, which is nearly double what I expect to give. They have paid me
one hundred dollars in money, and one hundred in negotiable orders on
the Secretary. . . . The writings are all completed, and I expect to
set out to-morrow. I have received a small Bible, which cost 12s. gd.
[$2.12^], with some other small articles, as a present from the Society.