The Colonial Experience
1707-1775

The history of Christ Church is tied closely to the history of the United States and to the establishment of the Episcopal Church. This congregation mirrors our nation’s history. Its early struggles in the face of a Puritan theocracy, participation in both popular and unpopular wars, and stands on a variety of issues of the day all reflect our national past and present.

When the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) sent its first missionary to Connecticut, the colony had no Anglican church, no Anglican ministers, 35 communicants, 50 “frequenters,” and a population of 35,000. Half of the one percent of the colony were Anglicans, and most of them probably lived in Stratford. Though Puritans held a firm grip on the Connecticut colony, that “half of one percent” in Stratford stood their ground. In 1707 a vestry was elected, making Christ Church the first Anglican church in Connecticut. A simple wooden structure was dedicated at Christmas, 1724, with Rev. Samuel Johnson as the first resident priest. A Yale graduate and former Congregationalist minister, he shepherded the growing flock for 39 years, the longest tenure of any priest in our 300-year history.

Talented, tireless, and determined, he ministered to small Anglican groups from Norwalk to New London. He also educated candidates for the clergy (one of whom was his son William Samuel Johnson), corresponded with Philadelphia’s Ben Franklin who published his philosophical writings, and oversaw the building of a new second church in 1743. A rooster weather vane made in 1719 was placed atop its steeple. The church bell from this second church continues to call the faithful today.

In 1754 he accepted the offer to be President of King’s College (now Columbia) in New York. After nine years there, he returned to Stratford and his beloved Christ Church. With assistance, he continued to minister to the flock until his death in 1772. He lies buried in our cemetery.

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