Adonijah Bidwell was the first minister of Housatonic Township No. 1. He played a large role in the formation and upkeep of the

Monterey, Massachusetts Monterey is a small town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,095 at the 2020 census. History Prior to settlement by European-America ...

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non- professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

. Classically educated at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, he participated in the victorious

Louisbourg, Nova Scotia Louisbourg is an unincorporated community and former town in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. History The French military founded the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1713 and its fortified seaport on the southwest part of the harbour, ...

expedition during the third

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

. He is known today in part because his sermons and diary were preserved and give detailed insight into his life.

Early life

Adonijah Bidwell was born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1716. His father was Thomas Bidwell, a wealthy merchant and store owner involved in the

triangular trade Triangular trade or triangle trade is trade between three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It has been used to offset ...

. His mother was Prudence Scott, the daughter of Edward Scott of New Haven.Franklin B. Dexter
Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Yale College
(New York, 1885), pp. 639-640 The year of Bidwell's birth in 1716, Thomas Bidwell was lost at sea. Adonijah had a comfortable childhood. As a young adult, Adonijah Bidwell attended Yale College and graduated in 1740. He was intermittently a teacher, a chaplain for the British and colonial expeditions to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

and, finally, a full-time minister for Township No. 1 in

. He was said to be ordained in 1744.

Career beginnings

In 1745 he was the chaplain on the

William Pepperrell Sir William Pepperrell, 1st Baronet (27 June 1696 – 6 July 1759) was a merchant and soldier in colonial Massachusetts. He is widely remembered for organizing, financing, and leading the 1745 expedition that captured the French fort ...

expedition to Louisbourg during

King George's War King George's War (1744–1748) is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in t ...

and served on the ship, ''Defense'' in 1747. He chaplained other expeditions and ships between 1744 and 1747, and in 1748, accepted an offer to become the first minister of Township No. 1. He also taught at schools during this time; in 1746 at Wintonbury, in 1747 in Simsbury, and in 1747-1748 in West Hartford. He also preached, from 1747-1750 in West Simsbury (now Canton, Connecticut) and in 1749 in Kinderhook, New York. His house, finished in 1750, was located north of the Township No. 1 Meeting House. The property was known as Deepwood Manse. The church formed on September 25, 1750 and he was installed pastor on October 3.

Family life

In 1752, Adonijah Bidwell married Theodosia Colton of

Suffield, Connecticut Suffield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It was once within the boundaries of Massachusetts. The town is located in the Connecticut River Valley with the town of Enfield neighboring to the east. As of the 2020 census, t ...

, a poet and the daughter of his former tutor. It was a childless marriage, and lasted until Theodosia's death in 1759 of unknown causes. A year after Theodosia died, he married Jemima Devotion of

West Hartford, Connecticut West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census. The town's popular downtown area is colloquially known as "West Hartford Center," or simply "The ...

, his second wife and a first cousin of Theodosia. They had four children: Adonijah the Younger,

Barnabas Bidwell Barnabas Bidwell (August 23, 1763 – July 27, 1833) was an author, teacher and politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, active in Massachusetts and Upper Canada (now Ontario). Educated at Yale, he practised law in western Massachus ...

, Jemima Bidwell, and Theodosia Bidwell. Adonijah the Younger inherited the family farm, while Barnabas Bidwell became a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

. He was later accused of embezzling money and fled to Canada. Jemima Devotion died in 1771. One year later, Reverend Bidwell married

Ruth Kent Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Arka ...

of Suffield, Connecticut to take care of his four children. Ruth outlived the Reverend. After Adonijah's death, she married a Jonathan Judd, a second widower who was also a minister in Great Barrington. Upon his death in 1815, she lived with her brother and died at the age of 85.

Church life and business

Bidwell's sermons were written by himself in shorthand and later preserved. As the minister of Housatonic Township No. 1, Bidwell would have been expected to write two sermons each week. Members of the church would congregate in the morning before taking a short break for midday meal. Those close enough would travel back to their houses for dinner, however, most would bring along lunch pails. The second sermon began around 1:00 p.m. and stretched late into the afternoon. Reverend Bidwell's sermons often dealt with love or forgiveness, however, his

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''st ...

code is too complex to gain more than the basic feel of a sermon. The meetinghouse, badly constructed and only half finished when Adonijah arrived, was a poor place to hold service and

town meetings Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast wit ...

. The space leaked and was bitterly cold in the wintertime. Eventually, it fell into an increasing state of disrepair and then burned down. All that remains are two foundation stones and the stone steps leading to the church. As the church slowly decayed, it is likely that Adonijah Bidwell would have held sermons in his own house, utilizing the 48 chairs listed in his

death inventory Inventory (American English) or stock (British English) refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate goal of resale, production or utilisation. Inventory management is a discipline primarily about specifying the sha ...

. The Reverend had five punch bowls listed in this inventory. His large home may have accommodated travellers passing through Tyringham on the

Boston–Albany Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into one of the first major highways in the United States. The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road (now U.S. Ro ...

which was located near the Meeting House.

Bidwell the patriot

As tensions between the colonies and Britain escalated, Reverend Bidwell took the side of the patriots. He also often centered his sermons around freedom, penning them in a cryptographic code to disguise the language to potential readers. In 1776, Adonijah Bidwell bore his "full proportion toward... the War" for Independence at age 62. He sold beef to the troops, gave up his salary for four years so they could be paid, and loaned the town an additional £60 to pay the soldiers. The debt was never repaid. Despite his fervent patriotism, Adonijah Bidwell hung several portraits of the king in his house. Messengers and soldiers under the king's command would have often stopped by frontier outposts, therefore, pictures were needed to suggest loyalty to the king. Following the American victory, Adonijah died June 2, 1784Joseph Edward Adams Smith, Thomas Cushing. Smith, Joseph Edward Adams, and Thomas Cushing, eds
History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts: With Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men. Vol. 2.
JB Beers & Company, 1885. p611Dooley, John
History of the First Congregational Society in Monterey, Mass: With Brief History of the Town and Account of the Anniversary Exercises October 10 and 11, 1900, p 14-15
Courier Book and Job Press, 1900 (Monterey, MA) p611 at age 68, leaving the farm and 1/3 of his possessions to his eldest son, Adonijah the Younger, as well as 1/3 of his worldly possessions to both Barnabas and widow Ruth.

Museum

In 1990, the former home of Adonijah Bidwell was made into a museum furnished with 18th century furnishings which matched his 1784 death inventory. Historian

John Demos John Putnam Demos is an American author and historian. He has written two books that discuss witch hunts and has discovered that one of his ancestors was John Putnam Senior, a member of the Putnam family that was prominent in the Salem witch trials ...

has researched Bidwell and presented on his life in talks at the Museum.

Writings

* Bidwell, Adonijah.
Expedition to Cape Breton. Journal of the Rev. Adonijah Bidwell, Chaplain of the Fleet.
New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 27 (April 1873), pp. 153–160.The War of American Independence, Select Bibliography, Colonial Wars: King George's War 1739-1748, history.army.mi

/ref>
Adonijah Bidwell sermon booklets
circa 1754-1781. available at Congregational Library & Archives, Boston, MA, in two files
here
an
here

References

External links

Home page of the Bidwell House Museum, located in the former home of Adonijah Bidwell
* Tyringham Massachusetts, 1890, in Nason and Varney's Massachusetts Gazetteer, 1890, p647-64

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bidwell, Adonijah People of colonial Massachusetts 1716 births 1784 deaths Yale College alumni Religious leaders from Hartford, Connecticut People from Berkshire County, Massachusetts