There were at least three meetings in February, and there’s some overlap in descriptions of what happened at these meetings. It also appears that the second meeting, on February 6, was an adjourned meeting from the February 3 meeting. The sources for these three meeting are the church’s historians, and the only contemporary reference to the meetings comes from a Courant article published on February 12, 1864.
The record of this comes from the church’s historians, but they don’t offer any details beyond that all of the churches contacted offered their support or that all except North Congregational did. It would be interesting not only to see the responses from the other churches but also to pin down the processes by which they arrived at their positions on a new church on Asylum Hill.
Aside from settling the date on which the site was selected, it would be interesting to learn about any discussions about various locations that were had. Atwood Collins noted that the members of this committee “represented different sections of the Hill in residents and property interests,” and their differing perspectives would illuminate how they viewed Asylum Hill and possibly its future development.
So far, I haven’t found their names.
This decision fits with the construction of other churches, as it allowed the congregation to begin worshipping at their new church before the church building itself was completed. Still, it would be interesting to determine whether this was standard among Congregational churches in Hartford or if it was a decision specific to AHCC.
The Courant reported three times (that I’ve found) on the progress being made on the construction of AHCC, but in only one of those reports did the Courant describe the work then underway. A more detailed account of the construction schedule might clear up who was supervising the construction (Sam Coit or Franklin Smith), why it wasn’t the architect, whether any changes to Keely’s plans were made (Coit may have made a few), and who else worked on the construction (only Andrew Brabason has so far been identified).
There’s a big gap in the record, between the committee’s formation on November 2, 1864 and Joseph Twichell’s acceptance letter on August 8, 1865. During that period of time, Horace Bushnell likely suggested Twichell to the committee, and there are some accounts that the committee didn’t consider any candidates other than Twichell. Also, it isn’t at all clear when Francis Gillette joined this committee and then became its chair, but based on Twichell’s August 1864 letter both events had already occurred.
Mostly an effort to verify the Courant’s September 1865 report that Twichell was due to be installed by November 2, but as he was apparently already in Hartford as of August 1865, it is curious that he wasn’t installed until December.
The relationship between Asylum Hill Congregational Church and North Congregational Church