Person:Jacob Hemingway (1)

Rev. Jacob Hemingway; First Student of Yale College and First Minister of East Haven

Jacob Heminway was born December 6, 1683, one of twin sons, the youngest children of Samuel Heminway, from Roxbury, Massachusetts, an early settler in East Haven village, in New Haven, where he married Sarah, daughter of John Cooper (one of the leading men of the village), and where his children were born.

The East Haven families belonged to the parish of the Rev. James Pierpont, the chief father of the Collegiate School; and it was probably through his influence that the first student in the College was Jacob Heminway, a New Haven boy. President Stiles has recorded, from Mr. Heminway's own mouth, that he began to study under Rector Pierson in March, 1702, 'and solus was all the College the first half-year.'

At the time of his graduation, his father was one of the wealthiest and most influential citizens in East Haven. A petition was presented to the General Court in May, of this year, asking that the village be constituted a distinct society and have liberty to call and settle a minister. The petition was laid on the table till the October session, and was then refused; it was, however, presented again, by a committee of which Jacob Heminway's father was chairman, in October, 1705, and was then successful. Meantime, the villagers were looking about for a minister; and at a meeting held November 20, 1704, it was 'voted

1. To seek to Sir Heminway that he would give them a taste of his gifts, in order to settlement in the work of the ministry.

And

2. Voted to desire John Potter, Sen., Caleb Chidsey, and Ebenezer Chidsey, to treat with Sir Heminway, to get him if they could, to give them a taste of his gifts, in preaching the word.'

At another meeting of the village a month later (December 19), 'They having had some taste of Sir Heminway in preaching the word, did declare their desire to have him go on in the work of the ministry amongst us, in order to settlement; and towards his encouragement they engage to allow him after the rate of £40 by the year in pay.' To the desire thus expressed Mr. Heminway acceded; and by a later arrangement, made the next month, his annual salary was fixed at £50. The experiment was so successful that in June, 1706 (the earlier services having been held in the school-house or in private dwellings), a vote was passed by the villagers to build a meeting-house twenty feet long and sixteen feet wide, across the end of the schoolhouse. We hear of no further events, until December 2, 1706, when a committee was appointed, at a meeting of the village, 'to treat with Sir Jacob Heminway, to see whether he will go on in the work of the ministry amongst us.' And the same day Mr. Heminway's answer was given, as follows:-

'Gentlemen, whereas you have given me notice by two men, that you desire me to carry on the work of the ministry in order to settlement among you, I do, therefore, hereby give you notice that so far as God shall enable me thereunto, I am heartily ready and willing to gratify these your desires upon these conditions:-1. That you give me £50 yearly, and my wood. 2. That you build me a good convenient dwelling-house, within two years time, or give me money sufficient to do the same, one half this year ensuing, and one half the next. 3. That when it is in your power, you give me a good and sufficient portion of land.

From my study, 2d December, 1706.

Yours to serve,

Jacob Heminway.'

The terms proposed were accepted, and a house was built within a few months.

In May, 1707, the village received a quasi-recognition from the General Assembly as a separate township, and in May, 1709, liberty was given them to 'embody themselves into church estate.' It was not, however, until October 8, 1711, that the church was gathered and Mr. Heminway ordained pastor. President Stiles in his Itinerary (iii, 143) preserves the fact that the charge on this occasion was given by the Rev. Samuel Andrew, of Milford. In 1714 it was voted to build a new meeting-house, thirty by forty feet; it was not, however, begun until 1718, and was first occupied in October, 1719.

Mr. Heminway continued sole pastor of the church until his death, in East Haven, October 7, 1754, in his 71st year. He preached the annual Election Sermon, at Hartford, May 8, 1740, and it was published (N. London, 1740. 16mo. pp. 32) with the title, 'The Favour of God the best Security of a People, and a Concern to Please Him, Urged' (from Proverbs xvi, 7). The tone of the sermon is one of admonition, induced by the military preparations which the colony was forced into by the expedition just ordered against the Spanish West Indies. It is plain, solid, and practical, without any attempt at striking effect. [Copies in Harvard and Yale Libraries.]

In 1743 he was the Moderator of the General Association at its annual meeting, and in February, 1745, he joined with other members of the New Haven County Association in its printed 'Declaration concerning the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield.' The 'Great Awakening' of 1740, and the revival measures which Whitefield and his friends prosecuted, found no favor with the 'Old-Light' minister of East Haven.

He married, May 3, 1712, Lydia, daughter of Captain Alling Ball, Jr., of East Haven. She died March 6, 1738, aged 57 years. His second wife, Sarah, survived him. His only child (by his first marriage) was a daughter, Lydia, who married Hezekiah, the youngest son of the Rev. James Pierpont, of New Haven; after her first husband's early death she was again married to Theophilus Morgan, of Killingworth.

In Mr. Heminway's will, dated April 21, 1746, he bequeathes £20 to the church in East Haven 'for the support of the Lord's Table among them,' and £5 to his daughter; the rest of his estate is given to his wife, with a reversion of the real estate to his grandchildren by his daughter's first marriage. The reason of this somewhat singular testament, is reputed by family tradition to be the fact that his daughter's second husband was a member of the Church of England. The estate was valued at £6556; it is remarkable that no books are mentioned in the inventory.

At the time of his death there were but two ministers in Connecticut who could look back on a longer term of pastoral service,-Timothy Edwards, of Windsor, and Anthony Stoddard, of Woodbury.

Authorities. Dodd, E. Haven Register, pp. 62-66, 104, 124, 126, 167. Havens, Centennial Discourse at East Haven, 15,16. Savage Geneal. Dict, ii, 401. R. D. Smyth, College Courant, July 18, 1868, 36. Pres. Stiles MS. note on Triennial Catalogue, of 1784."^[2]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Hemingway, in Jacobus, Donald Lines. Families of Ancient New Haven. (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1974)
   III:732.

   Jacob Hemingway, b 6 Dec 1683 (New Haven Vital Records), bp 6 Sep 1685 (church record, First Congregational Society, New Haven), d 7 Oct 1754 (East Haven Vital Records), æ. 71 (gravestone, Old graveyard, East Haven); Rev.

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College With Annals of the College History. (New York / New Haven: Holt / Yale University Press, 1885-1912)
   I:19, 22-26.
3. ↑ Rev Jacob Hemingway, in Find A Grave.