USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Beverly > First Parish Church, Unitarian, Beverly, Mass. a vol. of historical interest pub. in honor of the 275th anniversary of the founding of the church on Sept. 20, 1667 > Part 1
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Gc 974.402 B467fi 1951912
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01095 4037
74 35
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THE FIRST PARISH CHURCH
Unitarian Beverly, Massachusetts
1667
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74=
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A volume of historical interest published in honor of the two hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the church on Sept. 20, 1667.
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THE FIRST PARISH CHURCH Unitarian Beverly, Massachusetts
TIONAL GENEALOGICAL
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SOCIETY
LIBRARY WAS c.
VGTON, DE
A volume of historical interest published in honor of the two hundred and seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the church on Sept. 20, 1667.
Issued in September 1942, by the Committee on Publications of the General Anniversary Committee:
Bernard S. Leslie, Chairman Charles E. Ober Robert L. Spiller
with the Church History Committee and the Minister collaborating.
1951912
Front cover etching by Henry Jacobson. Photographs by Ernest S. Tucker. Printed on the press of the Beverly Evening Times.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Ministers of the First Parish in Beverly (1667-1942) 1
Meeting-Houses 3
Rev. Christopher T. Thayer's Address at the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Parish, Oct. 2, 1867 5
Notes on the Two Hundredth Anniversary and More Recent Events 75
A Summary of the Recorded Bequests and Gifts to the First Parish Church in Beverly from the Year 1716, by Calvin P. Pierce, with Sketches of the Benefactors of the Parish 79
Interesting and Curious Items of Antiquity 99
Parish Organization, 1942 106
Two Hundred and Seventy-fifth Anniversary Committees 109
Two Hundred and Seventy-fifth Anniversary Service 111
Chronology of the First Parish, 1649-1942. 113
Index
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YSTE DE COJUBIL
IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION
of the members, past and present, of the First Parish and Church in Beverly, Massachusetts, who, in their country's hour of need, answered her call to arms in defense of freedom, justice and the American way of life.
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HE RIST PAARH CHURCH IN BEVERLY, MASS,
MINISTERS First Parish in Beverly Organized September 20 1667
JOHN HALE 1667-1700 THOMAS BLOWERS 1701-1729 JOSEPH CHAMPNEY 1729-1773 JOSEPH WILLARD 1772-1781 Resigned to become President of Harvard College Dec. 19 1781-Sept. 25 1804 JOSEPH MCKEEN 1785-1802
Resigned to become first President of Bowdoin College Sept. 2 1802-July 15 1807 ABIEL ABBOT 1803-1828 CHRISTOPHER TOPPAN THAYER 1830-1858 JOHN CALVIN KIMBALL 1859-1870
ELLERY CHANNING BUTLER 1872-1894 WILLIAM BERNARD GEOGHEGAN 1894-1896 BENJAMIN REYNOLDS BULKELEY 1897-1915 PEMBERTON HALE CRESSEY 1916-1920 HOWARD CHARLES GALE 1921-1924 FRED RINALDO LEWIS 1925 - 1941 WILLIAM HERMAN GYSAN 1942
Ministerial Tablet On the Northeast Wall
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MINISTERS OF THE FIRST PARISH CHURCH IN BEVERLY, MASS. Organized Sept. 20, 1667
JOHN HALE 1667-1700
THOMAS BLOWERS 1701-1729
JOSEPH CHAMPNEY 1729-1773 JOSEPH WILLARD 1772-1781 Resigned to become President of Harvard College Dec. 19, 1781-Sept. 25, 1804
JOSEPH MCKEEN 1785-1802 Resigned to become first President of Bowdoin College Sept. 2, 1802-July 15, 1807 ABIEL ABBOT 1803-1828
CHRISTOPHER TOPPAN THAYER 1830-1858
JOHN CALVIN KIMBALL 1849-1870
ELLERY CHANNING BUTLER 1872-1894 WILLIAM BERNARD GEOGHEGAN 1894-1896 BENJAMIN REYNOLDS BULKELEY 1897-1915 PEMBERTON HALE CRESSEY 1916-1920 HOWARD CHARLES GALE 1921-1924 FRED RINALDO LEWIS 1925-1941 WILLIAM HERMAN GYSAN 1942-
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HOSUHO HEINAS TECH SHT IN REAESTA WY22'
MEETING-HOUSES
1656 First House erected-before the Church was separated from the mother church in Salem-approximately on the site of the small building on Hale Street, formerly the Parish Vestry, now owned by the Salvation Army. It was in gen- eral Municipal use, not only for church purposes, but also for Town-meetings, schools etc., and also as a powder-house for the reason that there was no heat in the building.
1682 Second House erected on the present site. The terms of con- tract for building were "£370 in silver, the one half to be paid at the raising, and the other half at the delivery of the key; otherwise £550, the one half in Indian corn, and the other half in pork at prices current, the one half to be paid at the next May day, and the other at Michelmas".
1770 Third House erected, and forms frame-work of the building now in use.
1795 House enlarged.
1822 Meeting-House first warmed-by two stoves.
1835 House remodelled, and organ installed.
1842 House frescoed inside and out.
1844 North side of roof injured by fire.
1867 House remodelled.
1880 House altered and new organ installed.
1902 House completely refurnished and new windows installed ; addition made to the organ and the rear room.
1910 Tablet unveiled in memory of Joanna B. Prince and Hannah Hill, founders of the Sunday School in 1810.
1917 Tablet dedicated in memory of Rev. Ellery Channing Butler.
1931 The "Max Lovell Butler" Chimes installed.
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Bust of Rev. Christopher T. Thayer Seventh Pastor, 1830 - 1858 Northeast Corner
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AN ADDRESS
DELIVERED IN THE
FIRST PARISH, BEVERLY
OCTOBER 2, 1867,
ON THE TWO-HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF ITS FORMATION.
BY
CHRISTOPHER T. THAYER
PUBLISHED BY REQUEST OF THE PARISH IN 1868
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MR. THAYER'S CENTENNIAL ADDRESS:
MY RESPECTED FRIENDS AND AUDITORS OF THIS NUMEROUS ASSEMBLY,-As I saw this bright and genial October sun rise from its ocean bed yonder, my thoughts being occupied with preparation for these anniversary services, I was ready to recognize it as imaging Heaven's smile upon them. I could easily fancy it, in relation to them and their objects, illuming and bearing a benediction from the past, shedding a brilliant radiance on the present, and casting cheering beams into the future. And though here and there, even in the ef- fulgence of this morning's rays, as in all human experiences and an- ticipations,-
"A cloud I might behold,
Hope played on its edges and tinged them with gold."
On this beautiful and chosen day we have met, to exchange mutual congratulations, and to indulge meditations on the past, the present, and the future, which may befit the introduction of a new century,- the advent of the third century in the life of this parish. That the occasion is one of no common interest, is attested by the large audience before me, composed not only of the parishioners and those more im- mediately concerned, but of others far and near who have afforded their countenance and sympathy. The mother church, the first in Salem, has here her representation, headed by one of her most able ministers, who at the same time is to be regarded as among her chief lay supporters and pillars, and whom I am most happy to regard as the friend of my youth, my life-long friend. The eldest daughter of this church, now more than a century and a half in age, the second in Beverly, is represented by various members, and especially by one with whom, as its pastor, I was for many years in public and private very cordially and agreeably associated. Representatives from all the other churches of the town the loving, and we trust beloved, mother hails at this time, and would gather them under her wings. One sadly I miss, -the lately deceased pastor of the Dane-street Church, the theologian, the scholar, the Christian gentleman, bearing a name and title familiar and dear in this parish, and in a much wider circle,-Dr. Abbot, with whom for more than twenty years I was intimately and happily con- nected in social intercourse, and in educational, reformatory, and other
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public concerns ; and whose heart, however he might differ from us in faith or mode, I am sure would have been, rather I would say may be, with you and me to-day.
I could have wished that it might have been committed to some one abler and worthier to meet the demands of this occasion. The invitation to do so came to me when not quite in my usual health and strength, and when other engagements left me but brief space for com- plying with it. But coming as it did, with the unanimous vote of the parish to which I had so long, and so pleasantly to myself at least, sustained the pastoral relation, and accompanied with the expressed wish of the present pastor, it had to me the force of a mandate which I could not hesitate to obey. I confess also the desire to lay one more offering, humble though it be, on this altar, at which my early fresh- ness and vigor were consecrated to the service of this ancient and honorable religious society.
I call it ancient, though we well know that is a comparative term. When we look at the peoples, nations, institutions, structures of the old, and even of the new world; when we see the splendid cathedrals in which our ancestors worshipped before they left their dear native land, and in which their forefathers for centuries had worshipped ; when, as I have seen, plants and flowers are gathered from walls, such as those of the cathedral at Cologne, that for hundred of years have been in building and not yet completed,-plants nourished and caused to flourish and bud and bloom by literally the dust of ages ; when at St. Peter's in Rome we go down to the base, and explore the foundations on which a former temple had long rested, before the present, the most magnificent of modern times, was erected upon them; and when, further on, we gaze at the wonderful ruins of Pæstum, standing in solitary grandeur and massive proportions, yet steadily crumbling under the inevitable touch of decay,-we are reminded at once of the period when time had a beginning, and of that when it shall be no more: from such instances alone, we feel how comparatively brief are two centuries, even though they do cover the lives of six generations of men. But when we consider what is included in these last two,- those who have lived and acted therein, their institutions, revolutions, works, whether for good or evil; and how in this region the small seed here sown has grown and fructified, and that the little one has become thousands and millions, and before this century closes may be an hundred millions,-we realize, it may be imperfectly, that as-
"One glorious hour of crowded life Is worth an age without a name,"-
so it is grand and glorious to live within a space, longer or shorter be
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it rated, in which so much has been dared, experienced, and ac- complished. And as wisdom consisteth not in length of days or years, so it is not the dim, hoar-frosted, irrevocable past, but the ages in which the greatest advances have been made in physical, social, in- tellectual, moral, and religious culture, by which true and real an- tiquity is to be measured.
THE FOUNDERS OF THE PARISH
I have termed our society honorable, as well as ancient. Such indeed I regard it. When I think of the noble character of the men and women by whom it was formed and has been sustained, my heart swells with veneration and gratitude toward them; and I could hardly say which of the emotions predominates. Its founders, so far as I can learn from its records and from contemporaneous history, were all honorable men. The two who took the lead in its formation were cast in no common mould, were of nature's nobility. These were Roger Conant and Thomas Lothrop,-the former styled, in the language of their day, "a prudent, pious, and worthy gentleman ;" and the latter, "a godly and courageous commander." Conant may in truth be considered the patriarch, not only of this parish, but of this region and the whole Massachusetts colony. Born in England, he came over, in the prime of his manhood, to then infant settlement at Plymouth, entirely willing to carry on the "wilderness work" which had there been commenced,-fully prepared to share the privation, trials, and struggles that attended its beginning. Soon, finding, how- ever, that he differed in important respects, or at least those so deemed, from the Plymouth colonists, he resolved on a change of residence. The main point of difference was, that, while they were Separatists,- determined to wholly separate from the English Church, even to abolishing the celebration of Christmas,-he was bent on freeing it of existing errors and corruptions, and adhering to its support. The element of his character thus revealed,-that of mingled conservatism and liberality,-let me say by the way, runs as a gold thread, and vibrates like a delicate, melodious string, through the entire history of this parish. That such should have been the case, it is not un- reasonable to ascribe in no small measure to the spirit by which its chief founder was distinguished and actuated, and which would seem to have left its impress on his own and many succeeding generations. From Plymouth he went to Nantasket, now Hull, in Boston Bay ; but, after a brief stay there, he was appointed to act as governor of a station established by an English company at Gloucester harbor, Cape Ann, for fishing and trade. While discharging faithfully the duties
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of this office, he evinced singular wisdom and power of conciliation in the adjustment of difficulties that had arisen between some of his own company and another party headed by the celebrated warrior, Miles Standish, and which seriously threatened to terminate in bloodshed. Meanwhile he had coasted up and down the beautiful south shore of the Cape; agreeing, no doubt, with Captain John Smith of Virginia memory, that it was the "paradise of all these parts." It has indeed been justly compared to some of the fine points on the Mediterranean. The view from the height above Mingo's beach bears a striking re- semblance to that from Cicero's villa on the sea at Mola di Gaeta. Smith's first impression certainly receives a full indorsement from the prevailing current of taste and fashion.
Having met with some disasters, and regarding his position as one of temporary and commercial expediency, Conant decided to locate farther up the bay. The location on which he fixed is the neck of land on the south-west point of Beverly Harbor. To this he was in- duced, perhaps, by the considerations which are said to have influenced the first settlers of Boston,-that being peninsular, and connected with the mainland by a narrow isthmus, they might be the better protected from bears, wolves, and mosquitoes. And yet even now bears of some sort invade State Street, and exult or moan, as their case may be; and wolves, though possibly in sheep's clothing, may be found in Beacon Street,-and fortunate are the inhabitants who are exempt from the buzz and sting of the insects last named. In the autumn of 1626, he, with his little band, numbering not more than thirty in all, came, land- ing (tradition has it) on the rock west of the southerly end of Essex Bridge. Geologists term the stone "metamorphic" and find on it the marks of no less than eleven volcanic eruptions. Well-and with no irreverence surely-might we wish that the almighty Being, who in his wonder-working caused them, had, as a twelfth signature of his divine power, affixed the very footprints of the worthy company that first stepped on that rock, to make here their permanent abode. The rock of Plymouth, on which the forefathers landed, must ever retain its prominence, be,-as it were, the corner-stone of New England. It has been facetiously called our Blarney-stone. But for ever holy and hallowed will be the spot where first the Pilgrim fathers trod. Do not both that I have named, the one on the south and the other on the north shore of Massachusetts Bay, alike typify the solid foundations of learning, religion, and character, on which our Commonwealth is built ? Literally, as well as metaphorically, may it be said to have been founded on a rock. Conant's principal companions in thus establishing
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himself were John Woodberry, John Balch, and Peter Palfrey. I take great pleasure in recognizing in the last name that of an ancestor of John G. Palfrey, who, by his efforts in Congress and his writings, did so much to expose, cripple, and eventually destroy the "slave-power," and by his literary and professional career, and especially his History of New England, has so illustrated and adorned her historic annals. As the acknowledged leader in this new enterprise, Conant immediately and with characteristic energy set about organizing his little colony. Scarcely, however, was this arduous labor begun, when an unexpected and trying emergency arose. An Episcopalian clergyman, Lyford, who had ministered to the settlers at Cape Ann, and afterwards, on the breaking-up of that settlement, to those of them whom he accompanied hither, having received a pressing invitation to remove to Virginia, decided on himself accepting it, and also strongly urged all the other colonists at Naumkeag, as this region was then called, to join him in so doing, which would have involved the entire uprooting of the settle- ment here commenced. Some, a few only, influenced largely by sever- ity of climate, by dread of Indian hostility, of famine, and many and
ROGER CONANT'S DETERMINATION AND VISION
great privations, yielded to his persuasions. But on Conant (says Phippen's interesting and able sketch of him and his associates, styled "Old Planters," in the publications of the Essex Institute) they fell powerless, like arrows on a rock. It was then, indeed, that he assumed the attitude and bearing of a Christian hero; saying in substance, if not in so many terms, "Go every one of you that will. Though all else forsake, I will not forsake. Here is my foot planted ; and here, God willing, it shall remain. Pleasant are the places on which our lines have fallen. Desert though they now be, yet shall they rejoice and blossom as the rose. Here, on this spot, will I watch and wait; assured that if you, one and all, depart, a larger and goodlier company will be gathered on these shores. Equally sure am I, that here the true and everlasting gospel shall be preached and propagated, and a pure and living church established; that here shall be founded an asylum for the persecuted and oppressed everywhere; here the seeds of civil and religious liberty be sown, to spring up and flourish in rich luxuriance ; and here a way be opened for the advent of a great, free prosperous, and happy people."
Toward the end of the summer of 1628, John Endicott arrived with what, in that day of small things, seemed a numerous company, and which, together with the previous residents, swelled the whole population to upwards of a hundred persons. Timely and valuable
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as was this acquisition of numbers, character, and resources, Conant immediately found himself involved in further and serious difficulties. With the new-comers came the intelligence that he was required by the proprietors in England, who had shortly before been re-organized, to relinquish his office into other hands. On this being announced, a storm of indignation burst forth that shook to its base the colony, still unsettled and insecure, struggling for mere existence, in dubious in- fancy that might result in life or death. His old companions and fol- lowers were reluctant, nay totally unwilling, to have their tried, trusted, and beloved leader thus summarily superseded. For a long time the controversy between the respective parties was warm and violent, so that Endicott was not, till nine months after his arrival, inaugurated as governor. That it did not proceed further, and reach extremes, is to be ascribed to the intelligence and high worth of their
CONANT'S PACIFIC TEMPER
heads. Especially was it owing to the practical good sense, the mild temper, and genuine magnanimity of Conant, that an amicable ad- justment was effected, and graver consequences were averted. And, as a memorial of this happy and auspicious result, at the suggestion, it is supposed, of the revered and sainted Francis Higginson, the Hebrew name Salem, signifying "City of Peace," was given to the place, now become historical, being well known in this and other countries, and counting by scores its namesakes scattered over all parts of our land.
Active and efficient as he was in securing this desirable consumma- tion, he was not less so in supporting the new government. The "frame- house" he had built at Gloucester was, we may presume with his con- sent and co-operation, taken down, and carried to Salem, for the gubernatorial residence, a portion of which is still standing on the north-east corner of Washington and Church Streets. Waiving his Episcopalian partialities, if such yet remained, he, with others who joined him in forming this parish, was prominent among the founders of the First in Salem,-the first Independent Congregational Church gathered in America; that of Plymouth having been organized on the other side of the ocean. He joined with Endicott in extending a cordial welcome to Governor John Winthrop, when, in the summer of 1630, he arrived with his numerous fleet, bringing a large accession to the population of the province, and having with him the London Company's charter, with full power to administer it; that being thus transferred to our own shore, planted on our soil, and destined to undergo various modifications, till it should grow into the magnificent tree of liberty, from which have been and are to be gathered so rich
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fruits, and whose leaves shall be for the healing, peace, joy of all nations. Under Winthrop's and succeeding administrations, Conant held several offices of trust and importance,-such as deputy to the first General Court in 1634, and long afterward a member of the Land Board and justice of the Quarter Court,-besides taking a deep and active interest, individually and officially, in town and ecclesiastical affairs.
It was in 1630 that he and a few others passed over to form a permanent settlement on this-then known as Bass River-side; which they did on a line extending from the inner harbor to the cove next below, and in the very years in which the metropolis of our Common- wealth and of New England was founded. Associated with him in this undertaking were John Balch, John and William Woodberry, by the last of whom he was joined, nearly forty years later, in rearing this Christian church. The two brothers of the name of Woodberry have ever since been numerously and honorably represented by their descendants here and elsewhere. Having, with four other original settlers, received from the town of Salem a grant of two hundred acres of land each at the head of Bass River, Conant soon removed thither, and there passed the remainder of his protracted life, being engaged in agricultural pursuits when not occupied with public duties. His last appearance in public was at the head of a petition for a change of the name of this town, when he was more than eighty years of age. It is given in full in Stone's valuable History of Beverly, and is, in view of his advanced age, and the scenes through which he had passed, peculiarly touching. Its date is May 28, 1671, less than three years after the town was incorporated and named. He addressed it "to the honored General Court, consisting of Magistrates and Deputies," commencing with an affecting allusion to his early experience as a colonist, thus :-
"The humble petition of Roger Conant, of Bass River alias Bev- erly, who hath bin a planter in New England fortie years and upwards, being one of the first, if not the very first, that resolved and made good my settlement under in matter of plantation with my family in this colony of the Massachusetts Bay, and have bin instrumental both for the founding and carriing on of the same; and when in the infancy thereof it was in great hazard of being deserted, I was a means, through grace assisting me, to stop the flight of those few that then were heere with me, and that by my utter deniall to goe away with them, who would have gone either for England, or most for Virginia, but there- upon stayed to the hazard of our lives."
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His first reason for a change of name is "the great dislike and discontent of many of our people for this name of Beverly, because (we being but a small place) it hath caused on us a constant nickname of Beggarly ;" which sounds singularly enough to such as, having had opportunity for judging, believe with me that no population of equal numbers and duration has enjoyed a larger share of substantial com- fort and prosperity than has fallen to the lot of them who, from the millionnaire to those of humblest means, here were born or have lived. His second ground for the alteration he petitioned for was, that all of the first settlers then surviving having come "from the western part of England, desire this western name of Budleigh, a market town in Devonshire, and neere unto the sea as we are here in this place, and where myself was born."
I will not forbear quoting one further sentence from the petition, as true as it was creditable to him :--
"I never yet made sute or request unto the Generall Court for the least matter, tho' I think I might as well have done, as many others have, who have obtained much without hazard of life, or preferring the public good before their own interest, which, I praise God, I have done."
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