Notes on Two Hundred Years (and More)
by Douglas H. Parkhurst
Notes on 200 Years… articles of January 2023 and February and March 2025 identified sources used in preparation of this history-themed series begun in 2022, the year the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Danbury (UUCD) celebrated its two hundredth anniversary. Periodic review and updates of such sources can be helpful to present-day readers looking for additional information on a topic, as well as to future readers and researchers. While I use explanatory footnotes I have mostly resisted naming sources with each article. This is to both save space and make the pieces reader-friendly. As in prior years a variety of sources were used in preparing Notes… articles in 2025.
The primary resource always consulted is UUCD archives. These include meeting minutes starting in 1850 to the present. Unfortunately, no minutes have been found for the almost three decades before 1850, and there are many gaps in those that do exist. Membership and financial records are available though these, too, are incomplete. Some local Young People’s Christian Union (YPCU) records also exist. The YPCU was a Universalist denominational youth and young adult group, with the Danbury chapter active from 1891 to about 1950. The archives also contain miscellaneous printed, typed, and hand-written items, copies of newspaper clippings, some old Comment newsletters, and the like.
An important resource is The Story of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Northern Fairfield County 1822-1995 (1998) by Reverdy Whitlock. This book was prepared to help mark the congregation’s 175th anniversary in 1997. It is especially valuable in its descriptions of the first twenty-five years, starting in 1970, of the group’s church home and activities at 9 Picketts Ridge Road in West Redding. Copies are available at the UUCD.
The book From Heresy Toward Truth (1971) by Donald Watt details the history of Universalism in Hartford and West Hartford from 1821 to 1971. It also contains information about the growth of Universalism in Connecticut.
Many local Unitarian Universalist groups have their own websites and often include historical information. These were especially helpful in researching church names. A valuable database is Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography, found at uudb.org. A variety of books and digital records relating to denominational history are identified in the January 2023 Notes… article and I will not repeat those here.
The Rev. George H. Deere was ordained in Danbury and pastored the local Universalists from 1849 to 1851. He married a Danbury girl, Louisa Downing. Rev. Deere went on to a long and successful career in the Universalist ministry. His Autobiography (1908) includes three chapters telling of his time in Danbury.
Danbury histories include The History of Danbury, Conn. 1684-1896 (1896) by James M. Bailey and Susan B. Hill and Danbury’s Third Century (2013) by William E. Devlin and Herbert F. Janick. Richly illustrated works are As We Were (1977) edited by Evelyn Durgy and We Crown Them All (1984) by William E. Devlin. The History of Fairfield County, Connecticut (1881) compiled by D. Hamilton Hurd, contains much about Danbury, including early church and Civil War information. Albert E. Van Dusen’s Connecticut (1961) surveys all of Connecticut’s history from the beginning. The Bailey book, Devlin’s We Crown Them All,and the Danbury section of the Hurd book can be seen in digital form at danburymuseum.org. History of the Hatting Trade in Danbury, Conn. (1860) by W.H. Francis is available on-line.
The Danbury Museum and Historical Society has a microfilm collection (formerly housed in the Danbury Library) of Danbury newspapers. It also has a Universalist Church file. The Museum has a growing collection of digital files, including local Civil War era and Grand Army of the Republic information. Late nineteenth century Danbury City Directories and five Danbury Tricentennial booklets/pamphlets prepared in the mid-1980s can also be accessed at danburymuseum.org. Danbury Museum resources are Courtesy of the Archival Collection of the Danbury Museum & Historical Society Authority. Brigid Guertin is Executive Director and Patrick Wells is Research Specialist. Telephone is 203-743-5200.
Information about Emma and John Rawlins and Ulysses and Julia Grant can be found in the books General John A. Rawlins (2021) by Allen J. Ottens; American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant (2016) by Ronald C. White; and The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant (1975) edited by John Y. Simon.
The following websites are most helpful to researchers of family and local history: ancestry.com; americanancestors.org; familysearch.org; myheritage.com; fold3.com (military records); newspapers.com; and findagrave.com. They have been essential to me.
Finally, I had the good fortune of being born into and raised in the Danbury Universalist Church during the 1950s and 60s. Many of the people I mention in Notes… articles about that era, while gone now, are real faces and voices to me, and live on in my memory. They are not just names on a page.