USA > Connecticut > Some old time meeting houses of the Connecticut Valley > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
Northampton, Mass., January 6, 1911. My Dear Mr. Wight :
I have your letter of the 5th and would say in regard to the First Church building destroyed by fire in 1876, that it had a most beautiful interior con- struction. The fine pulpit was of the high old fashion-
23
1
ed sort with steps ascending to it on both sides curving from the platform where the communion table stood. The galleries were extended on both sides of the church from the organ gallery, with three rows of pews and seats, and gave ample room with the large body pews for the seating of about seventeen hundred persons. It was the largest church at the time in the state. The columns that supported the galleries were beautifully carved, and the ceiling was very ornate in construction, rising almost like a dome from sides to the center, from which a large and beautiful chandelier was hung.
This church up to 1826 was the only one in the town, and the first church to be built after that year was the Second Congregational (Unitarian), which was also destroyed by fire a few years ago.
You speak of Jenny Lind coming to sing in Northampton. I was the man who brought her here, guaranteeing with two other persons $3,000, in order to secure the engagement. She sang in the First Church the evening of July 3, 1851, the sale of tickets amounting to $4,500. In the spring of 1852 she gave a second concert at the Town Hall in Northampton for the benefit of the Young Men's Institute and local charity. Soon after her first concert in Northampton she married Otto Goldschmidt, her piano accompanist, and they resided on Round Hill, Northampton, until the spring of 1852, when they returned to Germany.
In regard to the Court House, it was built of brick and had a small bell tower, and a bell that was rung for many years to call the court together.
Very truly, Christopher Clarke.
Rev. Henry T. Rose, D. D., the present pastor of the First Church, in reply to a letter of inquiry from
24
THE ROSE OF
INTERIOR OF OLD FIRST CHURCH SOMETIME BEFORE IT WAS BURNT
٢
the writer, says: "I am happy to give attention to the questions in your letter of January 5th in regard to Northampton meeting houses.
It is a historic fact that the gallery fell in the second meeting house, during a sermon by Mr. Edwards. The date was a Sunday in March, 1737. Edwards had just 'laid down his doctrine' from the text, 'Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish,'when the front gallery fell. Something like two hundred and fifty persons were seated in the gallery, or under it, but by a special providence, it seemed to Edwards, no one was killed, or even had a bone broken, and only ten were hurt, 'so as to make any great matter of it'. The catastrophe hastened the completion of the new meeting house, the third already underway.
George Whitefield visited Northampton in October, 1740. 'He preached here,' says Mr. Edwards, 'four sermons in the meeting house (besides a private lecture in my house), one on Friday, another on Saturday, and two on the Sabbath. The congregation was extra- ordinarily melted by every sermon, almost the whole assembly being in tears for a great part of sermon time'. It is improbable that David Brainerd ever preached here. If he ever did it was during the absence of Mr. Edwards. For in his funeral sermon, published in his works, Vol. III, 'True Saints, when absent from the body, are present with the Lord,'-preached October 12, 1747, he says of Brainerd, 'He had extraordinary gifts for the pulpit. I never had opportunity to hear him preach, but have often heard him pray'. It is not likely that Brainerd was strong enough to preach after reaching Northampton, for Edwards says, 'When Mr. Brainerd came hither, he had so much strength as to be able from day to day to ride out two or three miles and to return, and sometimes to pray in the family; but from this time he gradually but quickly
25
decayed and became weaker and weaker.' Edwards says, 'His funeral was attended by eight of the neighboring ministers and seventeen other gentle- men of liberal education, and a great concourse of people '".
The Marquis Lafayette, when in Northampton in 1825, was taken to the meeting house of the First Church and introduced to a large company of ladies. Henry Clay, who visited Northampton in 1833, attended worship in the church. In 1852 the Hungarian orator and patriot, Louis Kossuth, addressed a great concourse of people in the church.
The present handsome brown stone structure was erected immediately after the burning of the fourth meeting house in 1876. Its ivy covered walls are one of the beautiful sights of Northampton in the summer season.
The Second Congregational Church (Unitarian), sometimes called in former times "The Church of the Three Judges", was formed from a liberal element in the First Church, February 22, 1825, and a house of worship built and dedicated that year. The church was composed of such leading citizens of Northampton as Judge Joseph Lyman, Judge Samuel Howe, head of the law school, Judge Samuel Hinckly, Judge Samuel F. Lyman, Judge Charles E. Forbes, George Bancroft, the historian, Judge Charles P. Huntington, Samuel Clarke, Christopher Clarke, father of the present Christopher Clarke, and their families. The first boy baptized in the church was Christopher Clarke now in the eighty fifth year of his age.
The loss of so many of the leading members of its only church stirred the town to the depths.
The covenant under which the church was organ- ized in 1825, is quite unique and strictly Congrega- tional in its simplicity. It is worded as follows:
26
ELM SET OUT BY JONATHAN EDWARDS IN 1730
UNITARIAN CHURCH, NORTHAMPTON, MASS.
"We disciples of Jesus Christ, having a firm belief in his religion, and desiring to receive the benefit of its ordinances, do hereby engage to walk together as a Christian Church in the faith and order of the Gospel; praying that we may be able to strengthen the bonds of mutual love and Christian fellowship; to animate one another in the path of duty; to become confirmed in the knowledge and practice of the truth; and in the fear and love of God to seek the pardon of our sins, and the gift of eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen".
The first house of worship built by the Unitarian society was of wood and was destroyed by fire June 7, 1903. The present brick structure was designed by Kirkham and Parlett, of Springfield, Massachusetts, and is of the same general style as the former house. The interior is marvelously beautiful, being of the Roman and Grecian ornate style of architecture, the most perfect example of its class in the state. The exterior with its plain but dignified appearance is an appropriate symbol of the simplicity of the church's covenant of faith.
The minister of the church, Rev. Henry G. Smith, D. D., writes; "The interior of the church is finished harmoniously in the classic style, with pilasters and cornice. At the pulpit end, columns, with composite capitals, emphasize the character of the architecture, and at the gallery end of the church the organ frame carries out the general architectural scheme very sym- metrically. The pulpit is of graceful outline with the double stairway. Four memorial windows of ex- ceptional beauty are prominent on the sides. The lighting of the church is mainly by the indirect method, the electric lights being hidden behind the cornice and illuminating from the cove".
27
In 1833 the Old First saw a considerable number of persons, described as "an element more demonstra- tive in its religious zeal than the majority of the members", withdraw from its membership and, adopting for their "banner of conservatism the celebra- ted name of Jonathan Edwards", organize the Edwards Congregational church. The first pastor of the Edwards church was Rev. John Todd, famous as the author of the "Student's Manual".
Referring to the halftone of Edwards which ac- companies this sketch, it is to be said that the original picture was painted at Boston about 1740 by John Smybert, an artist of reputation, who came to America with Bishop Berkley in 1728. In 1828 Rembrandt Peale, of Philadelphia, copied this portrait. The halftone is from a photographic copy of an engraving of the Peale painting made by Emily Sartain of Philadelphia. The picture is believed to be a good likeness of Edwards.
President Dwight, in his "Travels in New England and New York," writing of his visit to Northampton, says: "Probably no people were ever more punctual in their attendance on public worship than they were for one hundred and thirty years from the first settle- ment. Fourteen hundred and sixty persons were once counted in the church on a Sabbath afternoon, amounting to five sixths of the inhabitants."
28
-
-- --
THE COLRAIN PULPIT. 1795
The Colrain Pulpit
I N a letter addressed to the writer, dated January 20, 1911, Mr. Lorenzo Griswold of Griswoldville, Massachusetts, gives the following information about the old pulpit an illustration of which appears with this sketch: "The meeting house in which our beautiful Colonial pulpit was built was erected in 1795. The pulpit was made, we suppose, at that time, and is consequently, one hundred and sixteen years old. It was made by Mr. Jesse Lyons, of Colrain, who died in 1830. The church in which this pulpit stood was built on the west side of North River, about half a mile north west of 'Colrain City,' as it is called. The pulpit is now in the brick Congregational Church at Colrain City, built in 1834. The old church was taken down at that time and some of its timbers used in the new building. The old pulpit was used in the Town Hall, in the lower story of the church, for seventy years as the moderator's desk, but in 1904 it was taken up stairs into the audience room, repainted white and rededicated. It is wholly as it was when it was made, no change having been made. There was simply a replacing of posts broken or decayed. From this pulpit 'Priest Taggart' delivered a eulogy on George Washington immediately after his death, and all the boys of the town marched to the church with black feathers in their caps." Mr. Griswold modestly refrains from stating that it was through his interest in the old pulpit and his generosity that it was repaired in 1904 and placed in its present home. Roswell F. Putman, Northampton, Massachusetts, was the architect who reinstated some of the old lines and lost parts of the pulpit.
29
FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 1819
The First Church of Christ Springfield, Massachusetts
T HE following lines were written by Miss I. F. Farrar, of Springfield, and express the feelings of a great multitude of people who have known and loved the old First Church :
"How dear to our hearts is the scene of our church home, When fond recollection presents it to view; The white pillared entrance, the greensward before it, And all the fine elms which our infancy knew. The court house beside it, the city hall nigh it; The bright sparkling stream flowing swiftly so near ; The sound old First church with a fair record held fast, The dear old First church-many years may she last.
How dear to our hearts is the old First church rooster, When near or when far he's presented to view; For years he has stood there with never a murmur, And never a whisper of tales that he knew; How much he has seen from the top of the steeple, So true to his post as the seer of the church ;
The bright shining rooster, the patient old rooster, The dear faithful rooster that ne'er leaves his perch".
No one who has looked with care about Springfield in the last ninety years has failed to observe the fine Colonial house of worship, standing just west of Court Square in the heart of the city. It is an impressive monument to its builders, the men and women who belonged to the First Church a century ago, and reflects great credit upon the architect, Isaac Damon, whose design was followed in its construction. At present it is an object of love and admiration to multitudes of people living in and about Springfield. It is the hope of the writer that if modern improvements encroach upon the land now occupied by the old church some pro-
31
vision may be made for its preservation. It seems easier to be worshipful in such a home with its associ- ations than in some of our modern churches.
"Wee intend, by God's grace, as soon as we can, with all convenient speede, to procure some Godly and faithfull minister, with whome we purpose to joyne in church covenant to walk in all the ways of Christ". These words, the first article of an agreement, bearing date May 14, 1636, made by the first settlers of Springfield, are an eloquent expression of the spirit of the men whom William Pynchon, the friend of John Winthrop, led through the wilderness from Roxbury to establish a new plantation in the fertile valley of the Connecticut river.
The first meeting house in Springfield was erected in 1645 and stood near the south east corner of Court Square.
The Honorable Henry Morris, describing the structure in an address delivered in Springfield, June 22, 1875, said : "This meeting house was forty feet long and twenty five feet wide, and faced south, on the one rod road, leading to the training field and burial ground, since made wider and called Elm street. It had two large windows on each side, and one smaller one at each end; it had a shingled roof-a rare thing in that day-and two turrets, one designed for a bell, the other for a watch tower".
For a little more than three decades this building stood as a witness to the zeal of the first settlers of the town for the public worship of God. Among the worshipers in this house was Deacon Samuel Chapin, whose heroic figure in bronze, representing the Puritan character, stands in the heart of the city which he helped to found.
On the terrible day in 1675 when the Indians attacked the settlement and destroyed many houses
32
1645
THE FIRST MEETING HOUSE.
and much property, the meeting house, which was fortified, narrowly escaped destruction. In 1677 it was taken down and the second house of worship erected near the south west angle of Court Square. This was a much larger and more commodious building than the first. Rev. Robert Breck, over whose settlement as pastor there was a long and bitter controversy, but whose pastorate extended over a period of forty nine years, or until his death, preached in this second house of worship for the first seventeen years of his ministry.
It was not until after seventy five years of service that this second meeting house gave place in 1752 to the third structure, the immediate predecessor of the present beautiful house of worship. The third house stood directly east of the ground occupied by the pre- sent building and was more pretentious than its prede- cessors, being sixty feet long, forty six feet wide, and twenty six feet high between joints. The main entrance was on the east side, but there was also an entrance through the tower. It had a high pulpit and square pews. In the tower was a clock and the tapering spire was surmounted by the copper weathercock, which in the present day looks down from its elevated perch upon the busy scenes in the streets below.
In an article printed in a local paper many years ago the following sketch of the third meeting house was given : "Beyond the sheds (standing partly on Elm street and partly on the south west corner of the present Court square) stood the church, holding on the finger of its steeple the same golden rooster that to-day wags his thin tail in all weathers. The church, at this time, some 25 years old, was 60 feet by 46, with a tower on the lane, but the main entrance toward the east. The seats were square, and the pulpit high, extending over the deacon seats, which faced the con-
33
gregation. Above was a ponderous sounding board, and nervous people used to fear, during sermon time, that the sounding board would fall into the pulpit, and that on to the deacons below. The deacon's hat is spoken of by old people as a peculiar insignia of office, which, with powdered hair, made them look venerable enough. The broad galleries held as many as the body seats, and in a back and high corner, nearest the shingles, the colored people took their religion, which may suggest the origin of our 'nigger heaven.' Twenty five years before, the Chinese wall through the congregation, dividing males and females, was broken down, but it took all the wisdom the selectmen and deacons could command to assign the seats 'either higher or lower as they should judge most mete.' The meeting house was not warmed in those days, and the preacher often pointed to the ceiling with his big worsted mitten, while the women used foot stones and everybody else knocked heel against heel."
The building of this third house of worship was an important event in the ministry of Mr. Breck, who preached from its pulpit until his death in 1784. It was while the congregation was worshiping in this house that the Rev. Samuel Osgood, began his pastor- ate of forty five years of active service and almost a decade more of pastoral relation.
The beautiful Colonial structure, which now stands west of Court Square, was erected in 1819. Isaac Damon, the builder of bridges, who had a few years before designed and built in Northampton the largest and most elaborate church in western Massachusetts, was engaged as architect of the new house in Springfield. The writer has been unable to ascertain where Damon obtained his design for the Springfield church. The exterior is very unlike that of the church he built in Northampton, but bears
34
THIRD MEETING HOUSE. 1752
a striking resemblance to certain old houses of worship, which were standing at the time in eastern Massachusetts, and also to St. Michael's church, Charleston, South Carolina, which was built in 1761.
The interior of the church was patterned after the interior of the Northampton house. Doubtless Damon looked about and followed other designs, with modifications of his own devising. It may be seen from the accompanying illustration that the house is a fine example of the Colonial building. It is well proportioned, a fact not true of the church in Charleston, South Carolina, which Damon may have had in mind. The portico, with its Ionic columns and other orna- mentations, is very beautiful, especially when seen in the moonlight. The tower with its several forms is of right proportions and makes an impressive appearance. It would be more effective as a work of architecture if it were more highly ornamented. A well known architect recently said to the writer, "I never see the tower of the First Church without wishing that they would allow me to finish it." The implied criticism is just. An examination of the spire of St. Michael's church in Charleston, South Carolina, made by the writer, shows how the spire of the First Church might have been greatly improved in appearance. Probably the people at the time did not have sufficient means to carry out the architect's ideas. Damon certainly knew how to make his churches most elaborate and beautiful. A glance at the picture of the church he built in Northampton furnishes proof of this.
Some inquiries regarding the interior features of the First Church meeting house called forth the following response from Rev. Henry M. Parsons, D. D., Toronto, Canada, who was pastor of the church from 1854 to 1870: "The rumor concerning Jenny Lind, who sang in the church at her concert in the city, is
.35
doubtless true. She said after her concert, that the auditorium for its acoustic properties, was the finest she had used in all her concerts in America. The highest note and the lowest whisper can be heard with equal clearness in every part of the room.
The dimensions of the room and the concave ceiling contribute to this result. The room is seventy feet square, and the concave circular ceiling is seven and a half feet deep in the,center. The ceiling is sus- tained by pickets from the framework, fastened to the rafters of the roof above. Where Mr. Damon obtained his patterns for the church and why his plan differed from that of the Northampton house, I do not know. The weathercock on the top of the spire was un- doubtedly to remind the church of Peter's warning and constitute a call to repentance."
The gallery, which extends around three sides of the church, is very spacious and is supported by eighteen beautiful Ionic columns. On the platform in front of the pulpit is a beautiful communion table, purchased in Boston about 1818; also a fine old chair, known as the Osgood chair, in use before Dr. Osgood began his pastorate in 1809. The church has some rare old communion pieces, which are kept in a safe place and are highly prized.
Miss I. F. Farrar has written of the First Church rooster: "The city's oldest inhabitant is probably the First Church rooster. He arrived in town over 150 years ago. He is a much larger bird than one would think at first sight, measuring four feet from tail to beak and weighing 49 pounds. A few papers and records are stored with him for safe keeping.
If he would only speak, many a tale would he have to tell. He watched the first President roll up the river road in his coach and four and enter Parson's tavern, now no more. He saw the troops form which
36
ROOSTER AND OSGOOD CHAIR
should represent Springfield in the Revolutionary war, the war of 1812, the Civil war and the Spanish war. He watched the steamboats ply between Hartford and Springfield when there were no falls to bar the way. He saw the ferries move slowly from the Agawam to the Springfield meadows, conveying the people to church, the only church for miles around. He heard the long discussions over the feasibility of building a bridge over the Connecticut, when the old men shook their heads and said: 'You might as well try to bridge the Atlantic ocean !' He sighs over the change from the six-horse coaches rolling in from Albany and Boston, discharging their loads of gentles and ladies in wigs and ruffles and buckles, to the automobiles of today, whizzing by with their occupants so disguised in goggles, linen dusters and rubber suits that he sometimes wonders what those creatures are! He has gazed calmly down on all sorts of doings on Court square, from the whipping-post of early days to the popcorn venders of the last band concert. He guarded the body of John Quincy Adams, lying in state in the church below him; he listened to the silvery notes of Jenny Lind in the same church. He saw Charles Dickens sail down our river.
Not only could he tell tales of our own fair city, but he is a traveled rooster, having crossed the water from his home in England in company with two others who have kept the faith on the Old South in Boston and the First church in Newburyport.
In spite of his great age (for he alighted on the grandfather of the present edifice) our friend keeps perennially young. Years ago he found the fountain of youth, which early explorers sought for long in vain, and by an occasional dip in that fountain is as fresh as he appeared in 1750."
37
Rev. F. L. Goodspeed, D. D., kindly sent the follow- ing letter to the writer :
January 27, 1911.
My dear Mr. Wight :
I am glad you are writing up the old churches. They are worthy of it. The old First Church of Springfield ought to be of imperishable interest to the community, but I fear it must soon give way to the modern craze of newness and commercialism.
I suppose you have recorded in your book the memorable scenes which the old building has witness- ed. On March 9, 1848, the body of John Quincy Adams lay in state there. On July 1, 1851, it was crowded to hear Jenny Lind sing, accompanied by Mr. Goldschmidt, who later became her husband. You will find an account of it all in the Republican for July 2, 1851. Saturday, April 24, 1854, Louis Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, delivered a long speech from that pulpit. You will find a full account in the Republican of the time. I venture to say you have all this and much more; John Brown also, and all the rest.
To me, who put in fourteen of the best years of my life there, of course the place is hallowed forever. The faces of men like William H. Haile seem to look out from the walls. It is well you are putting its history and description into permanent form, for the church itself will soon be gone. It was a pleasant audience room, with good lines, and the acoustic properties were perfect. How some of the older ones mourned when the "ginger cookies" in the decoration gave way to the new ceiling now there! What memo- ries cluster about the place from foundation stones up to the historic rooster at the apex of the spire !
Cordially yours,
F. L. Goodspeed.
38
The "ginger cookies" referred to in Dr. Goodspeed's letter, an illustration of which accompanies this sketch, constituted the decoration that formerly extended around the circumference of the concave ceiling. The illustration was made from a photograph of a model still preserved in the tower of the church. The deco- ration of the main portion of the ceiling was a clouded sky with stars shining through the interstices. To the front of the gallery opposite the pulpit platform is attached a fine old circular clock, bearing on its dial the inscription, "A bequest to the First Parish in Springfield by Edward Pynchon, Esq., 1830."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.