The History of an Abolitionist Church: Bristol Hill Congregational UCC
Primary tabs
Bristol Hill Congregational United Church of Christ – Volney, NY
original article here: https://exploringtheburnedoverdistrict.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/bristol-hill-congregational-united-church-of-christ-volney-ny/
Bristol Hill Congregational United Church of Christ
Chris and I get all sorts of excited when we learn of a new place to see or possibly a free tour of some giant ball of yarn. We consider it a win win if we learn of a free church tour because then we just look to see what else there is to see around the church and go and make a day of it. Believe it or not, we do learn of free church tours every so often, but it is a rare gift when an entire county opens its doors for free tours. This is exactly what happened a few weeks ago in Oswego County, but let me explain a bit. Not every single place in the county was open for a free tour; instead a list of designated places was available for tours and was spread across several small towns within the county. Chris had called a representative from Oswego County and had the list mailed to us several weeks in advance and we narrowed down our list of things to see to make it more manageable. The one site that stood out more than any other was the Bristol Hill Congregational United Church of Christ (hereby referred to as Bristol Hill Church for short), located in the small Town of Volney, NY.
Bristol Hill Congregational United Church of Christ
What sets Bristol Hill Church apart from any other church in the area is that it is listed on New York State’s Underground Railroad Heritage Trail, and is also on the New York State and the National Register of Historic Places. The Bristol Hill Church congregation dates its creation to 1812 and the current church was completed and dedicated in 1835. The church is built on the highest point in the Town of Volney and is sometimes referred to as the ‘Church on the Hill.’ Except for the loss of its original bell, the church stands virtually the same as when it was built in its original Federal-style to reflect its New England origins. While there were originally homes surrounding the church, today the Oswego County landfill encroaches 200 feet to the rear of the church (I will return to discussing the proximity of this dump in more detail later).
The free tours for the day started at 1:00 pm, so Chris and I got to Bristol Hill Church around 12:45 pm. Seeing that someone was already inside the church, we walked in and were greeted by Jim Hinman, who we eventually found out was the former Pastor and whose son is now the current Pastor of Bristol Hill Church. Jim introduced himself to us and we did the same (surprisingly not spending too much time on the fact that we write a blog). There were several placards posted up around the church explaining much of the church’s history and Chris and I began to walk around and explore. The interior of the church is very traditional, with individuals entering from the rear and walking down the center aisle of pews to the front platform where the altar is. There is also a continuous balcony above that can be entered through a staircase from the narthex. However, since Chris and I were the only ones in the church (which was our plan and why we got there early), we had Jim’s undivided attention and proceeded to bombard him with relentless questioning…but Jim seemed to love it! As we made our way from the back to the front of the church, one placard in particular caught our attention, which had two portraits of two men on it; one being an old white guy named Hiram Gilbert and another of a younger looking black guy named James Watkins Seward.
Interior of Bristol Hill Congregational United Church of Christ
Portrait of James Watkins Seward
(I apologize for the glares)
On the very same day of May 15, 1831, Hiram Gilbert and his wife became members of Bristol Hill Church at the same time that a man named Amos Mason and his step-son James Seward did as well. The Gilberts came to Bristol Hill Church as staunch abolitionists and the Mason-Seward family were actually one of three African-American families. Over the next several years, a large, well organized abolitionist movement emerged at the Bristol Hill Church as newer members continued to join and support the cause. The first story of note started in the year of 1839, when James Seward made the decision to travel to Cincinnati. It is important to know that James Seward was born a free man in 1813 and had never known what being a slave was like. When he decided to go to Cincinnati in order to help educate other blacks, James Seward was explicitly told to reconsider since he was going dangerously close to a slave state. However, despite the warnings, James Seward decided to go and was not heard from again until 1840. Fortunately, James Seward did in fact find employment, just not as a teacher but instead as a steward on a Mississippi steamboat. At some point, the steamboat docked in New Orleans and James Seward disembarked and nearly made it back on board. However, before this occurred, James Seward was arrested and placed in jail as a fugitive slave. Even though dozens of white people came to James Seward’s aid, he was thrown into prison, onto a chain gang during the day and was threatened to be sold into slavery.
Portrait of Hiram Gilbert
(I apologize about the glare)
Eventually the Oswego County abolitionists at Bristol Hill Church found out about James Seward’s situation and went into action. Dozens upon dozens of wealthy influential white people were sought out and several petitions were signed, plus eventually the support of Governor William Henry Seward (no relation) himself also came to fruition. These abolitionist protests eventually did lead to the successful release of James Seward in the year 1840. However, this is not the end of the story. James Seward was next heard of on July 9, 1841 when he was executed by hanging in St. Louis, Missouri as a result of being charged with arson and murder. To this day, according to our guide Jim Hinman, the evidence of James Seward’s guilt was shaky at best, but needless to say, James Seward became lured by people whom he thought were respectable and was at the most, peripherally involved in a bank robbery where two individuals were murdered. Jim shared with us that after the extensive reading he has done about James Seward that he feels James Seward could not be capable of committing such a crime due to Seward’s extensive education and his position in the African-American community, not too mention the lack of evidence linking him to the crime and that it’s much more likely that James Seward was simply implicated and/or coerced into a confession due to being black. Also attached to the placard we were reading about this story was a copy of an original advertisement selling tickets for $1.50 for a ferry ride to Duncan Island in the Mississippi River to watch James Seward and the other men hang on July 9, 1841, which reportedly thousands attended. While I can neither confirm nor deny the validity of whether James Seward actually committed a crime or not, Chris and I agree that the story of James Seward is fascinating and one that we certainly want to learn more about.
Two years after James Seward’s death in 1843, back at Bristol Hill Church in Volney, NY, Hiram Gilbert and the abolitionist congregation wrote and published an anti-slavery resolution which consisted of a preamble and seven resolutions that addressed the “sin of slavery.” Jim explained to Chris and I that while not the first and only church in the U.S. to be so against slavery, this seven point anti-slavery resolution literally put the Bristol Hill Church “on the map” and easily established Bristol Hill Church as one of the leading abolitionist churches in the country. Jim began to show us a copy of the original anti-slavery resolution, but we interrupted him and asked if he knew where the original copy was. Jim looked surprised at this question, but he quickly agreed to show us the original and to follow him. Jim then took us to the rectory of the church (which is a new addition to the original church), where a very large and old safe is located. After searching around inside the safe for a minute, Jim then brought out a very old book that was nearly falling apart. Jim carefully went page by page through this original Deacon’s book and there in its original writing from 1843 was the anti-slavery resolution. Chris and I felt like we were looking at the Declaration of Independence and were awestruck to be able to actually look and even touch something so old and something with such historical significance. It was incredible!
Original book containing the anti-slavery resolution from 1843
In addition to this anti-slavery resolution, many of the personal homes of the members of Bristol Hill Church were active “stations” on the Underground Railroad, including the home of Hiram Gilbert. In addition, church members signed at least one anti-slavery petition in 1837, passed the anti-slavery resolution mentioned above, were a large voting block for the Liberty Party in the 1844 elections, and also worked to free William Chaplin arrested in 1850 for trying to free enslaved people in Washington, D.C. After Jim completely blew us away by showing us this original book, he then told us that most of the history that I just wrote here and shared, the Bristol Hill Church did not even know about themselves until recently, around the year 2000. Jim explained that there was nothing that set the names apart in the registry of church members that could differentiate the white and black members and none of the history was well documented. It was only when one member of the church actively began to do some research that the history of Bristol Hill Church and its involvement in the abolitionist movement came to light.
Old camera inside the bell tower
Eventually a few other people began to trickle into the church and not wanting to overwhelm Jim too much, we then went back to looking around on our own, however not before asking Jim if we could go check out the bell tower. Jim told us that the balcony was open for viewing and that we could go ahead and look at the bell tower. Before I could say, “Okay Jim, thanks,” Chris was already upstairs poking around. Once upstairs we became a bit confused. See, when you tell Chris and me that we can do something, we take it literally. But the thing is, the bell tower at Bristol Hill Church does not seem like it is very accessible and to actually see the bell, you have to climb a ladder that does not seem anyone has climbed for decades. Chris asked me if I thought Jim meant we could climb the ladder and my response was that “he didn’t say we couldn’t.” However, after thinking about it some more and assessing the safety of the ladder and whether Jim actually meant we could go all the way up, we actually made the rare decision to air on the side of caution and we did not make the climb. Instead, we proceeded to repeatedly ring the bell and annoy everyone else now in the church.
We made our way back downstairs and I began to poke around in some of the literature Jim had on display on some tables. On one of the tables was a poster board with a large newspaper article glued to it that reported a charity organization for local cancer victims that also included a picture of Jim on it. We asked Jim what the charity organization was for and Jim hesitated a bit, but then told us that the Bristol Hill Church is now surrounded by the Oswego County landfill and that over the last few decades, the landfill has done nothing but continue to grow and get bigger. It suddenly occurred to me what the charity was for and I asked Jim if he was saying that because of the landfill people were being diagnosed with cancer. Jim shared that he cannot really “prove it,” but more and more individuals have been diagnosed with cancers ever since the landfill has been there and continues to grow. In response to the landfill, Jim has now erected a very large cement-walled cross in the property to the right of the Bristol Hill Church to memorialize those who have lost their lives due to cancer because of the landfill. Chris and I were very surprised, but almost upset to learn of this news. Due to more and more people coming in to the church, we eventually lost touch with Jim for a few minutes so Chris and I proceeded to walk outside and look at the giant cross in the yard.
Cross in the lawn which commemorates those who have been diagnosed with cancer possibly due to the nearby landfill
Once outside, Chris and I noticed that the church property is walled in by a line of trees on all three sides of its property, with the street on the fourth side. Literally on the other side of this line of trees is a landfill…a very large one. While I cannot speak to the politics surrounding the County of Oswego’s decision to locate this landfill where they have, Chris and I were reminded that yet again, not only are the congregations of many churches getting smaller, older and dying off, but in the case of Bristol Hill Church, a culturally significant and historical landmark, the congregation may be literally dying off prematurely. Chris and I took many pictures from the outside, but then eventually went back inside to say goodbye to Jim. Once goodbyes were said, Chris and I then set off to see the rest of the sites on our list in Oswego County.
