Giving to the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM)

by Jeffrey Bingham Mead
Greenwich Time. Looking Back: January 5, 1997

Second Congregational Church, early 19th century, Mary Mason (1801-1833),
Watercolor - Greenwich Historical Society

If you are among those who peruse the obituaries in this newspaper or the probated wills at Town Hall, you will find that many local individuals have made generous gifts out of their estates. Among enterprises supported in this way has been the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The cause of foreign missions was a popular one in Greenwich during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

I found this out, here in Hawaii, while reading numerous editions of The Missionary Herald, a monthly news magazine published by the foreign missions board since 1815. Between 1850 and 1904, 15 residents gave posthumous monetary gifts. Their names were published along with the amounts donated.

A clear majority of these legacies, as they were called back then, were made by local women. Twelve in all made bequests in this way. The sentiment perhaps was best expressed by Sarah Lewis in 1823 when she wrote,

"Other hearts will rejoice in the success of the cause in which we are engaged, and other efforts will aide in its advancement. What we do for the dissemination of divine truth must be done quickly. Opportunities are now presented, the means are within our reach, the path of duty is both plain and delightful and, to those who pursue it with faithfulness, the reward is certain."

The gravestone of Sarah Lewis. Lewis Family Cemetery off Lafayette Place, Greenwich. 

Sarah Lewis was the daughter of the Rev. Isaac Lewis of the Second Congregational Church and his wife, Catherine Evertson. Miss Lewis served continuously as secretary of the Female Foreign Mission Society from 1815 until her death in 1861. She was an enthusiastic proponent of many Congregational Church causes – she left the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions $1000, a tidy sum in those days.

Seven years after Lewis' death, her cousin, Mary E. Mason, made a bequest of $500 from her estate. But $30 was removed for the payment of taxes. Yes, even in those days people had to pay taxes.

The earliest posthumous gift from a Greenwich resident came from the estate of Esther Howe, a daughter of Isaac and Lucy Mead Howe. She died on Dec. 17, 1849, bequeathing $50 to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Another contributor was a Eliza Clark, who died in 1881. Her executors, Lyman Mead and Daniel Smith Mead, Jr., paid out $2,507.38 to the American Board, according to the May 1881 issue of The Missionary Herald.

Solomon Stoddard Mead. 

Then there was Solomon Stoddard Mead of North Greenwich, a venerated, generous man in the local Congregational Church who was born and died at his family's farm at the corner of Riversville and Cliffdale roads. His generosity was expressed to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions with a hefty bequest of $39,281.57 in September 1902.

In total, more than $54,000 was donated from the estates of Greenwich residents to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. This tradition of voluntary generosity to a variety of crusades, organizations and causes continues today by many Greenwich residents.

Jeffrey Bingham Mead is a free-lance writer and direct descendant of one of the town's founding families. He grew up in backcountry Greenwich.