Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

daily walk and habits of life. His conception of
the high calling of a minister of God was that
true Christianity was not a matter of doctrine or
dogma, but a recognition of One God, and the
same privileges of service to all. He will be
missed in all his many fields of friends.
After the reading of the message reso-
lutions were adopted by the State Senate
Whereas, the Senate has learned with deep re-
gret of the death of its chaplain, Rev. Dr. W. G.
Fennell, now therefore,
Be it Resolved by the Senate: That a commit-
tee of three senators be appointed by the presi-
dent pro tempore to draft resolutions of respect
to his memory, and with the President of the
Senate to attend his funeral.
And be it further Resolved : That, in respect
to his memory, the Senate do now adjourn.
The following is a tribute from a friend,
published in papers after Dr. Fennell's
death
:
He found happiness in the simple things of life,
the commonplace, which to him was never com-
monplace. His garden was a source of great delight
to him and in his garden, working among
his vegetables and flowers, he found strength and
spiritual lessons to bring to his people.
The Federation of Churches in Hart-
ford, Connecticut, passed the following
resolutions on the death of Dr. Fennell
Resolved :
That
:
i:\CYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
in the sudden death of the
Rev. William G. Fennell, D. D., Pastor of the
Asylum Avenue Baptist Church, our whole fra-
ternity of churches loses one of its noblest friends
and leaders. The same qualities of brain and
heart which endeared him to the church of which
he was the devoted and successful pastor gained
for him a large place in the wider circles of our
civic and religious life. His trained and scholarly
judgment was animated by a kindling zeal for
righteousness in every relation of life, and his
brotherly democratic spirit made him the friend
and helper of all men, and vitally interested in
all that concerned the welfare of his neighbors
and fellowmen. Few among us possessed the
rare balance that made him the valued champion
of every good cause, and the ideal comrade in
every advance movement of the Kingdom of God.
Possessing a personal experience of God that
was the keynote of his life, he was generously
sympathetic with every sincere attempt to make
the world a cleaner, better place, and he ever
urged us forward, in his suburb leadership, to the
sanest and most Christlike aims in our federated
life.
He was a brother beloved and trusted—a cheery,
eager, wise, methodical, balanced, forceful man,
whose saintly spirit and manly powers touched
with sure and effective strokes the noble enter-
prises to which he gave himself so sacrificingly.
In him we saw revealed the indwelling Christ.
His life challenges all who would evade social
responsibility. He lived upon the faith that
Christ and his ideals are not only possible, but the
only wise and satisfactory way of life. His
memory calls us to-day to the great unfinished
task of our Lord's divine task for the world.
' Watchman-Examiner
The following tribute is from the
:"
We think of him proudly as a son of Connec-
ticut, when we remember the exemplary line of
constructive leaders who, arising from humble
rural stations, have beneficently linked that State
with the vital beginnings of higher life and prog-
ress in all our country and the world. His well-
timed position as Chaplain of the Senate, by a fitting
coincidence, brings the whole civil commonwealth
into the procession of his mourners. That
Dr. Fennell adorned the strong and creative Con-
necticut spirit in the high sphere of the Christian
ministry, until he became in a large way a prince
among his fellows, is our reason for honoring
him as an ornament to his church and as a potent
factor in that church's work of uplifting humanity
I cannot say and I will not say,
That he is dead; he is just away.
With a cheery smile and a wave of the hand
He has wandered into an unknown land,
And left us dreaming how very fair
It needs must be since he lingers there.
And you, O !
you
who the wildest yearn
For the old-time step and the glad return :
Think of him faring on as dear
In the love of Him there as the love of here;
Think of him still as the same, I say,
He is not dead, he is just away.
— James Whitcomb Riley
ATCHISON, Frederick Hart,
Merchant.
The Atchison family, of which Fred-
erick Hart Atchison, of Hartford, is the
present representative, is of Irish origin,
and came to this country in the person of