River Congregational Association. At the first meeting it was unanimously voted that "all persons, before uniting with the church, should sign a pledge of total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks as a beverage." Under date of August 11, 1837, there is found the following entry: "The resolution touching the slavery question being agitated, it was resolved that for the present the subject be postponed, to receive the attention and action of the church at some future time." No other record upon this subject, however, has been found.

Rev. John Morrill was the first pastor. Very little is known of him previous to his removal to the west. He had come in a farm wagon from New York as a home missionary to this county, where his brother had previously settled. Mr. Morrill served as pastor one year from May, 1837. He officiated at the organization of the Presbyterian church in Belvidere, March 17, 1839, and was its stated supply until March of the following year. The late Mrs. Eunice Brown Lyon is authority for the statement that Mr. Morrill received no formal call to the pastorate of the Congregational church. He was the leading spirit in its organization, and he may have assumed the work with the understanding, explicit or implied, that he should serve as its pastor for a time. Mrs. Brown also says that the brethren were somewhat slack in paying the pastor's salary. This delinquency, however, was redeemed by the ladies, who secured pledges for a goodly sum. Mr. Morrill was a devout man, who labored for the spiritual growth of the people. He placed emphasis upon pecuniary reward only so far as it was necessary for his support. This pioneer minister died at Pecatonica February 16, 1874.

Soon after its organization the church held services in the "stage barn," built by Daniel S. Haight, near the intersection of State and Third streets. Only a few years ago this structure was standing on the farm of Isaac Rowley, near the city. In the summer of 1838 the trustees began the erection of a frame structure on the west side of North First street, on a site near the residence of Irving French. When the building had been enclosed and shingled it was learned that Messrs. Kent and Brinckerhoff had obtained about eight hundred dollars from friends in New York, for a church. Instead of turning over this money to the society to complete the church, these gentlemen built an edifice on their own side of the river. This building was raised in the summer of 1838, and enclosed the same sea

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PUBLICLIRI

ASTOR, LENCX AND TILDEN FOUNDAT ONS.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Built in 1838 by Germanicus Kent and George W. Brinckerhoff, on the southwest corner of Church and Green streets. The building was used as a place of worship by the Second Congregational church from 1849 to 1858

son.

THE FIRST CHURCH EDIFICE.

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When it was completed they turned it over to the society for worship, but retained their nominal title. At that time they possessed no legal title to the land from the government. Those eastern friends knew but little of the power for good of this beautiful little church, in laying the foundations of a prosperous Christian community. The unfinished building on North First street was abandoned, and was never afterward used by this church as a house of worship. It was, however, devoted to other purposes, which will be noted in subsequent chapters.

The building erected by Kent and Brinckerhoff was the first church edifice in Rockford. It stood on the southwest corner of Church and Green streets. It was a frame structure, clapboarded, in Doric style, forty-five feet square inside, and stood on a foundation of blocks of trees cut in the adjoining grove, with sills resting upon them about three feet above the ground. In fact, the greater portion of the building material was obtained from adjacent lots. The building fronted to the east, and had three windows on each side. A porch about ten feet wide extended across the front, covered by an extension of the roof, which was supported by four fluted wooden columns. On the east end of the roof stood a cupola, or belfry, about eight feet square, ten feet high, and covered by a hip roof. This cupola had a bell, whose tones seemed sweeter to the worshipers on a quiet Sabbath morning than any other which they have heard in Rockford since that time. This bell was taken away by the owner, Rev. Cyrus L. Watson, upon the close of his pastorate. The building was plastered, and painted white inside. Two doors led to the sanctuary from the front; two aisles extended from these, which made four rows of pews. The pulpit at the west end was large, high, and enclosed by panel work, and withal was capable of withstanding a siege. The singers' gallery was formed by raised pews at the eastern end of the auditorium. This structure was plain, but neat and substantial, and its pure white exterior, with a background of oak trees in the surrounding forest, made it beautiful for situation, and the joy of its friends. This sylvan sanctuary was occupied by the First church about six years.

The Ladies' Foreign Missionary Society was organized in 1838, just one year after the founding of the church. The originators of this movement, like the founders of the church, were largely from New England, who had been interested in foreign missions and education in their eastern homes, and who had

not left their zeal behind them, although they might properly have considered themselves on home missionary ground. The object of the society is briefly stated in its preamble: "In view of the deplorable condition of millions in this and foreign lands, who are destitute of the word of life, and esteeming it a duty and privilege to aid by prayer, contribution and influence the great work of evangelizing the world, we, the ladies of Rockford, feeling that united influence is far the most powerful, agree to form ourselves into a society for the promotion of this object." The first year there were thirty-six contributors. In May, 1838, the society made its first appropriation to a girls' school in Dindegal, in southern India. All sectarian feeling was merged in a common desire to fulfill the great commission. Episcopalians, Baptists and Unitarians were among its early members. As near as can be ascertained, a Sunday-school was organized in the spring of 1839.

The second pastor was Rev. Cyrus L. Watson, who served the church from November, 1838, to May, 1841. He was a genial, social, elderly gentleman, a good pastor, and he was highly esteemed. His death occurred at Battle Creek, Michigan. Rev. William S. Curtis, D. D., supplied the pulpit from November, 1841, to August, 1842. Dr. Curtis subsequently became pastor of the Westminster Presbyterian church. His death occurred in 1885, and his funeral was held June 1st, from the Westminster church. Dr. Curtis' son, Edward L. Curtis, is a professor in the Yale divinity school. Prof. Curtis married a sister of Rev. B. E. S. Ely, pastor of the First Presbyterian church. The senior Curtis was succeeded by Rev. Oliver W. Norton, who was pastor from September, 1842, until some time in the following year. He possessed that argumentative type of mind which was common among the clergymen of the old school. Rev. Lansing Porter served a brief pastorate from February, 1844, to April, 1846.

In the spring of 1846 the church dedicated a new house of worship on the East side. It was a brick structure, and stood on the northeast corner of South First and Walnut streets, on the site of the engine house. Its dimensions were forty by sixty feet; the walls were twenty feet high. A projection at the rear formed a recess for the pulpit. The roof was one-quarter pitch, with a square tower on the center of the front, rising about twenty feet. From this tower a bell called the people to their public devotions. The bell belonged to Rev. Norton, and he