South Congregational Church history and catalogue, 1852–1865 · scan page 153

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THE  EX-PARTE  COUNCIL.  143
five  who  had  united  with  other  Churches, — certainly  there
were  not  more  than  six,)  and  it  leaves  50  male  members  at
the  date  of  the  memorial.  Of  these  they  claim  26,— the
least  possible  majority, — including  six  si/mpathiscrs.  These
sympathisers,  we  suspect,  are  a  very  uncertain  reliance ;
for,  if  it  had  been  possible  by  solicitations  and  entreaties  to
get  their  names  upon  the  memorial,  we  need  not  say  that
it  would  have  been  done.  Now,  if  a  single  individual  of
the  six  claimed  as  sympathisers,  is  not  so  in  fact,  then,
according  to  their  own  showing,  after  correcting  a  single
blunder  as  above,  (which  they  cannot  and  will  not  deny  to
bo  such,)  they  have  not  a  majority  of  the  brethren,  and  do
not  even  repkese.nt  a  majority.  Observe  further,  that
among  the  signers  and  sympathisers  are  included  six  who
had  been  dismissed  from  the  Church  by  general  letter.
Deduct  these  from  the  whole  numl)er  of  male  members  (50)
as  above,  at  the  date  of  the  memorial,  and  also  from  the  26
claimed  by  the  petitioners,  and  it  leaves  20  signers  and
sympathisers,  out  of  a  total  of  44  male  members  ;  being
three  less  than  a  majority.  We  have  thus  carried  out  the
calculation  of  the  petitioners,  after  making  the  single  cor-
rection above  mentioned — from  which  it  appears  that  in  or-
der to  show  even  the  smallest  possible  majority,  they  are
obliged  to  assume :  1st,  That  tliere  were  only  44  male
members  on  the  1st  of  January,  1863,  which  is  contrary  to
the  fact.  2d,  That  members  dismissed  by  general  letter
are  still  members  in  full,  and  entitled  to  the  privilege  of
voting;  which  is  contrary  to  the  fact,  at  least  in  the  South
Church.  3d,  That  six  members  sympathize  with  the  peti-
tioners who  cannot  be  induced  to  sign  their  paper.  4th,  In
order  to  make  these  assumptions  available  to  their  purpose,
they  are  obliged  further  to  assume  that  only  male  members
have  a  right  to  vote ;  which  is  contrary  to  the  fact,  at  least
in  the  South  Church.  Upon  the  validity  of  these  assump-
tions, all  of  which  are  fallacious,  rests  the  only  shadow  of  a
claim  which  the  petitioners  had,  to  represent  the  South
Church  before  the  Council.
A  careful  examination  of  the  records  shows  that  instead
of  44  male  members  on  the  1st  of  January,  1S63,  as
reported  by  Deacon  Minor  to  Mr.  Carroll,  and  by  the  latter  to
the  General  Association  of  Connecticut,  there  were  in  fact

Cite this page

Silent Grounds Collective, Church Burial & Death Records, CH-P004-0153. South Congregational Church history and catalogue, 1852–1865, printed page not verified, PDF page 153. Hallock, Gerard, 1800-1866; digitized copy contributed by University of California Libraries https://archive.org/details/historyofsouthco00hall/page/n157/mode/1up Accessed September 8, 2026.

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