USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Norwell > First Parish Church of Norwell, Massachusetts, 275th anniversary, 1642-1917, Sun. Aug. 19, 1917 > Part 1
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Gc 974. 402 N831n 1904878
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01145 6628
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/firstparishchurc1642unse
First
Parish Church of Formell
Massachusetts Mma Mountrey and Gebenty- Fifth Ammibregaty 1642-1917
3
1904878
Compliments of the First Panele Church of Nowwell . Mass .
Fifth House of dalorship ERECTED 1830
Our Faith
The Fatherhood of God. The Brotherhood of Man. The Leadership of Jesus. Salbation by Character. The Progress of Mankind Onward and Upward foreber.
Ministers of the Church
WILLIAM WITHERELL
1645-1684
THOMAS MIGHILL .
1680-1689
DEODATE LAWSON .
1694-1698
NATHANIEL EELLS
1704-1750
JONATHAN DORBY .
1751-1754
DAVID BARNES
1754-1811
SAMUEL DEANE
1810-1834
SAMUEL JOSEPH MAY
1836-1842
WILLIAM OXNARD MOSELEY
1843-1847
CALEB STETSON
1848-1858
WILLIAM A. FULLER
1859-1864
WILLIAM H. FISH .
1865-1885
JOHN TUNIS
1886-1889
WILLIAM H. SPENCER
1890-1891
THOMAS THOMPSON 1891-1901
HORATIO EDWARD LATHAM
.
1902-1905
CHESTER ARTHUR DRUMMOND 1906-1908
WILLIAM E. ENNIS
1908-1911
EDWARD L. HOUGHTON
1911-1916
HOWARD CHARLES GALE . . .
1916-
.
.
.
.
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The Order for the Day 9 O'clock - Toly Communion
Celebrated by the present Minister, the Reverend Howard Charles Gale, S.T.B. Sung by the Parish Choir ORGAN PRELUDE -" If with All Your Hearts " . Mendelssohn Mrs. EMMA TORREY BATES, Organist INTROIT -" Sicut Patribus Sit Deus Nobis " Foote Communion Service - the Hymn and Tune Book, Page 35
OPENING SENTENCES - the congregation seated THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
THE EPISTLE AND GOSPEL
HYMN 485, " Hollingside "- Choir and people, standing EXHORTATION
Dykes
PRAYER
"SANCTUS "- sung by the Choir Tallis
WORDS OF CONSECRATION
HYMN 502, " Dundee,"- unannounced, the people seated Scottish Psalter.
POST-COMMUNION PRAYER Mason THE LORD'S PRAYER -sung
"GLORIA IN EXCELSIS," 556- Choir and people, standing Traditional
BENEDICTION
" NUNC DEMITTIS "- the people seated Barnby ORGAN POSTLUDE-" Communion " Clarke
11 O'clock - Dedication of a Bowlder and Addresses
On the Site of the First Meeting-House, at Wilson Hill ANTHEM -" Hail ! Glorious Morn" THE SCHUBERT QUARTETTE
Dow
PRAYER
RESPONSE-" God is Our Refuge ". Potter
PRESENTATION OF THE DEED by Mr. Elmer E. Carr ADDRESS AND DEDICATION OF THE BOWLDER by Mr. Horace T. Fogg, Chairman of the Parish Committee
HYMN, "Old Hundredth "- sung by all Genevan Psalter ADDRESS by the Reverend Paul Revere Frothingham, D.D. ANTHEM -" Remember Now thy Creator" Rhode
ADDRESS by Mr. Francis Lynde Stetson
ANTHEM -" Comrades in Arms " Adam BENEDICTION
2.15 O'clock -Pilgrimage to the Parish Burping-Ground
Mr. George C. Turner and Mrs. Mary L. F. Power of the Parish, and Mr. David W. Tinsley of Fitchburg speaking
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3.15 O'clock - Anniversary Service At the Church
The Reverend Howard Charles Gale, the Parish Minister, assisted by the Reverend Chester Arthur Drummond, Minister 1906-08
ORGAN PRELUDE -" Elevation " Batisti
MR. JOHN H. GUTTERSON
Service of Commemoration -the Hymn and Tune Book
Page 32
OPENING SENTENCES - All standing
EXHORTATION
PRAYER - Minister and people, seated
LITANY
LORD'S PRAYER
VERSICLES - the people responding
ANTHEM -" Rejoice the Heart " THE SCHUBERT QUARTETTE
Southard
PSALTER for the Service of Commemoration, page 33
GLORIA -- sung by Choir and people
ANTHEM -"They that Wait on the Lord"
·
Trowbridge
THE LESSONS from Holy Scripture
VERSICLES with Choir responses
PRAYER
CHOIR RESPONSE -" Galilee " Arranged HYMN 506, "All Saints, New"-Choir and people, standing Cutler OCCASIONAL SERMON-"The Pilgrim Spirit in the Twentieth Century," the Reverend Earl M. Wilbur, A.M., D.D., Presi- dent of the Pacific Unitarian School for the Ministry
OFFERTORY ANTHEM -" At the Close of the Day" Nevin
AT THE PRESENTATION of the Offering, 547, Choir and people Beethoven
REMINISCENCES by Mr. Henry A. Turner, Superintendent of the Sunday-School for Sixty Years HYMN 401, "Saint Catherine "- Choir and people, standing Hemy BENEDICTION ORGAN POSTLUDE Tours
The Parish Choir
Mrs. J. Lyman Wadsworth, Soprano Miss Miriam F. Ford, Alto Mr. Jerome F. Wadsworth, Tenor Mr. Henry C. Ford, Bass
Ashers for the Day
Descendants of the First Minister of the Parish
Mr. Horace T. Fogg
Mr. E. Clifford Bates
Mr. Herbert E. Robbins Mr. Harry T. Fogg
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Covenant of 1642
Renewal of Covenant by the Church of Christ in Scituate, "dis- tinct from that of which Mr. Chauncy is Pastor."
FEBRUARY 2D, 1642
" Wheras in former tyme, whilst Mr. Lothrop was at Scituate, Mr. William Vassall, Thomas King, Thomas Lapham, Judith Vassall, Suza King, Anna Stockbridge, together with many more, were together in Covenant in one Church, and that many of them, with Mr. Lothrop our Pastor, departed and went to live at Barn- stable, and did leave one part of the Church at Scituate, who by consent of all the Church, became a Church, remaining at Scitu- ate, and admitted into their fellowship John Twisden and many more, and so continued in one Church some tyme till part of this Church called Mr. Chauncey to be their Pastor, which William Vassall, Thomas King, John Twisden, Thomas Lapham, Suza King, Judith White and Anna Stockbridge refused to do : and that since Mr. Chauncey was called to be their Pastor, the said Mr. Chauncey and that parte of the Church that called him, have renounced their Church standing whereon we stood a Church to- gether, and will be a Church together by some other standing, and so refuse us to be parte of their Church, except we will enter into a new Covenant with them, which for diverse reasons we find we may not do, but remaining still together in a Church state, and knowing that being forsaken by them, we remain a Church, yet forasmuch as some are not clearly satisfied that we are a Church - therefore -
"We do here now further Covenant, and renew that Covenant that we were formerly in together as a Church, that as a Church of Christ, we, by the gracious assistance of Christ, will walke in all the ways of God that are and shall be revealed to us out of his word, to be his ways, so farr as God shall enable us. And to this end, we will do our best to procure and maintaine all such officers as are needful, whereby we may enjoy all his ordinances, for the good of the souls of us and ours : and we shall not refuse into our society such of God's people, whose hearts God shall incline to joyne themselves unto us, for the good of their souls."
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historical Sketch
BY MARY L. F. POWER
HE Puritan, or Non- Conformist Party in England, was made up of two branches; Presbyterian, believ- ing in an established church, and Independent or Con- gregational, which was self-governing. To this latter group belonged the followers of John Robinson. After their emigration to Holland, the Puritan principles gained many followers from the clergy of the Church of England. One of these converts was Reverend Henry Jacob, who collected the scattered members of Robinson's congregation in 1616-17, and organized at Southwark the first regularly gathered Congrega- tional Church in England, now known as the "Church of the Pilgrim Fathers, " on the plan of that of Mr. Robinson's at Leyden.
Mr. John Lothrop was a minister of the Church of England at Egerton in Kent. Renouncing his orders in 1623, he went to London, where he found that Mr. Jacob was making arrange- ments to remove to Virginia. On his removal in 1624, Mr. Lothrop became his successor. This congregation met privately for some years, but in 1632 they were discovered. Forty-two of their number were apprehended, among them Rev. Mr. Lothrop, while eighteen escaped. After an imprisonment of two years, they were allowed their liberty provided they would leave the kingdom. With thirty of his Church, Mr. Lothrop sailed for Bos- ton in the ship "Griffin," reaching there September 18, 1634. The twenty-seventh of the same month, they set out for Scituate, where they found Kentish friends awaiting them, and desirous to form a Church with Mr. Lothrop as their pastor. On January 18, 1634, Old Style, that is, the January following their arrival, a Church was regularly gathered in a meeting-house previously erected by the " Men of Kent," and " exercised in " without a settled minister, for several years. Mr. Lothrop was ordained by the Elders of his own Church, in accordance with the principles of Congregationalism.
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The Scituate Church was not a united one from the first. Mr. Lothrop's church in England had divided over the question of mode of baptism, and a portion had withdrawn, and had estab- lished the first Baptist church in England, in 1633. Coming to Scituate, he found the same difference of opinion among the Church-members. Mr. Lothrop belonged to the liberal party, and wearying of the controversy, together with another, respect- ing the location of a new meeting-house, he, with the greater part of his Church, removed to Barnstable in 1639.
In 1641, the Scituate church settled as its pastor, Mr. Charles Chauncey, a man of most distinguished talents, a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, England, Professor of Hebrew, and later of Greek at that college. He became a very popular preacher at Marston and at Ware. Possessed of an ardent tem- per, and impatient of opposition, he thought that his own talents should be enough in themselves to overcome any opposition to his views. He soon found himself in trouble with the authorities in England, and finding no security there, he fled to the new world, reaching Plymouth in 1637.
The Scituate church had strong leaders of the opposing par- ties in Timothy Hatherly and William Vassall. Mr. Vassall was one of the most distinguished men to come to the colony. In 1628, he was one of Craddock's Assistants, and in that capacity was sent to Massachusetts Bay Colony, as referee to settle the complaints against Mr. Endicott, the Acting-Governor of the Province. He was a highly educated and cultivated man, and quite the equal of Mr. Chauncey in argument. He soon drew to his opinions many of the Church-members, said to have been the majority of those left in Scituate, after the exodus to Barnstable, and a strong following of the settlers "up the North River" who desired church privileges nearer home. Had Mr. Chauncey's course been more conciliatory, it is probable that Mr. Hatherly's influence with that of other of Mr. Chauncey's adherents, would have delayed the formation of another church for some years, or until the settlers up the river had become more numerous. Per- severing in the face of all opposition, to the immersion of infants as well as adults, at all seasons of the year, Mr. Chauncey prac- tised upon two of his own in very cold weather, so unfortunately that parents began to take their children elsewhere for baptism.
Attention of the Elders of the Colony were early called to the state of affairs in the Scituate church. Those of the Plymouth Colony where Mr. Hatherly's influence was great, advised them to use more caution, and less resistance ; while those of Massa- chusetts Bay, after vainly trying to reconcile the two parties, advised them to form a new church, and if possible, to divide the Town. In the year following the settlement of Mr. Chauncey,
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a group of his opponents, led by William Vassall, Thomas King, John Twisden, Thomas Lapham, Suza King, Judith White, and Anna Stockbridge, who were denied communion with the rest of the Church by Mr. Chauncey, because they were opposed to his settlement, and had vigorously protested against it, renewed their Covenant, and organized another Church. This meeting on Feb- ruary 2, 1642, was probably held at the home of Vassall at Belle House Neck, afterward known as the home of the Cushing family, the famous " Family of Judges," which gave to Massa- chusetts a long line of Colonial judges, ending with Chief Justice William, the most noted member of the family.
Seeking a man with liberal views, who would be acceptable to the members of the newly formed society, there was found living in Duxbury, a Grammar School teacher by profession, who had previously lived in Charlestown and Cambridge, William Witherell by name. Some doubt has been expressed regarding Mr. Witherell having been in the ministry previous to this time, although Cotton Mather placed him on the list of those who had been preaching in England. A letter from the Reverend John Eliot of Roxbury to Mr. Vassall seems to contradict such a statement. He was a highly educated and worthy man, and made himself very acceptable to Mr. Vassall and to other members of the Second Church. The Church at Duxbury at first refused to dismiss him to the new Church at Scituate, expressing in this manner their protest against following the advice of the Elders of the Massachusetts Bay churches. In August, 1645, the Second Church, by the hands of William Vassall and William Hatch, wrote the Duxbury and Marshfield churches that it was proposed to call Mr. Witherell, even in the face of the opposition of the Elders of Plymouth. The second day of September, 1645, was set for the ordination, at the house of William Hatch, which was on Kent Street on the first lot south of Greenfield Lane.
Mr. Witherell was ordained by the laying on of hands of the Presiding Elder, William Hatch, who had previously been chosen to that office, and those of other members of the Church.
A small meeting-house with a thatched roof was built that same year, upon what has been known for nearly two hundred years, as Wilson Hill. Its approximate location is marked by the boulder soon to be unveiled. This structure was used by the Society during the whole of Mr. Witherell's ministry, which cov- ered the period of 1645 to 1680. The Witherell home, situated a few rods south-east of the meeting-house was never owned by the Society, but may have been occupied by his assistant and successor for a few years, from 1680 to 1684, when upon the death of Mr. Witherell, the parish provided themselves with a parsonage for his accommodation.
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Mr. Witherell's record of baptisms begins in September, 1645, with that of one of his own children, " Anno 1645 Sarah, ye daughter of Wm. Wetherell, Septbre 7." This record, number- ing 608 baptisms, appears in his own handwriting until 1674, when a paralytic affliction compelled him to employ assistance in such work. From that time the records were entered in the hand of Mr. Mighill, who evidently copied those of the six years pre- ceding his coming to Scituate.
This large number of baptisms during the thirty-nine years of Mr. Witherell's ministry, large indeed for a country church in a sparsely settled district, in those early days, is evidence in itself that ministers of Mr. Witherell's popularity because of the broad- ness of his views regarding church membership, as well as that of infant sprinkling, was an uncommon one. Parents brought their children to him for baptism from the neighboring towns, and in one instance, that of Kenelm Winslow, nephew of Governor Edward, from Yarmouth on the Cape. Mr. Witherell's long and useful life came to its close on April 9, 1684. He lived to see the lingering Indian troubles brought to a close by the death of Philip, and a happy reconciliation of the two churches, together with the settlement of the long dispute regarding the dividing line between the two parishes.
The familiarity of address, and manner of conducting his ser- vices, said to have been the prevailing manner of the times, is illustrated by a tradition. John Bryant, who settled on the Sec- ond Herring Brook was his son-in-law. Entering the meeting- house after the service had begun, at the close of the prayer, his father-in-law thus admonished him: "Neighbor Bryant, it is to your reproach that you have disturbed the worship by entering late, living as you do within a mile of this place, and especially so, since here is goody Barstow, who has milked seven cows, made a cheese, and walked five miles to the house of God in good season." This close relation between pastor and people enabled him to reconcile many differences that might have made contention be- tween the differing parties.
In 1680, Mr. Witherell's infirmities made an assistant neces- sary. The services of Mr. Thomas Mighill were secured in Sep- tember of that year, and it was then voted " to allow £60 a year for a minister, and £10 for our pastor Mr. Witherell." To the sum of £60 were added house and firewood. The first parsonage of the parish was either purchased or built in 1684, and stood on the location of the home of the late Mrs. Maria Gaffield. In 1727 this house was found to be so defective that it was not worth re- pairing, after a period of less than fifty years, consequently it seems probable that this first parsonage was purchased by the Society in 1684, and was built at an earlier date. A few of Mr.
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Witherell's descendents remain in this locality. Among them are Horace T. Fogg, Mrs. Helen H. Torrey, Mrs. Emma H. Bates, Edwin B. Torrey, George W. and Herbert E. Robbins.
Mr. Mighill was a native of Rowley, and received his degree at Harvard College in 1663. He had been a preacher for some time before coming to Scituate at the age of forty-one. He de- clined ordination here until after the death of Mr. Witherell in April, 1684, and was ordained the following October. His min- istry in the Church was a short one, for he died August 26, 1689, according to the journal of the Reverend Peter Hobart of Hing- ham. No mention of his death is found on our records, and no stone marks his grave in the old churchyard.
In 1690 and 91, Mr. John Cotton of Plymouth preached to the Society for several months. With this exception, the Church was without a minister until November, 1694, when Mr. Deodate Lawson was ordained. His ministry lasted two years, for in September, 1698, we find the Society making complaint of his "long and continued absence." The Elders of the neighboring churches offered their opinion regarding the situation on being asked for advice by the Church, as follows: "That a Pastor, without express consent of his people, desisting of the duty of his charge and function, merely for secular advantages, and tak- ing no heed to the ministry which he hath received of the Lord, to fulfill it, nor to the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made him overseer, to feed the flocke of God, &c., for two years to-gether delaying his return, notwithstanding many faire advan- tages offered him for the same, and signifying unto his people neither any justifiable reason of his absence, nor any resolved in- tention of speedy return, is faulty before God ; and his people are not to blame if they use all Evangelical endeavors to settle them- selves with another Pastor, more spiritually and more fixedly disposed. "
The advice of the Elders was accepted, and two months later a committee was chosen by the Church to secure a new minister. It was not, however, until 1703, that Reverend Nathaniel Eells was invited to become its Pastor. He was ordained in June, 1704. In 1680, the first small meeting-house was found to be all too small for the growing congregations, and a second meeting-house was built on Timothy Foster's land a half mile or more above the first house on Wilson's Hill. This spot is marked by the old burial-ground east of the Union Bridge road. This second house was not large, and was itself outgrown by the date of Mr. Eells' ordination. The third meeting-house of the Soci- ety was built between 1706 and 1708, on the sandy hill, now largely removed, adjoining the enclosed tomb-yard south of the present house.
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On coming to Scituate, Mr. Eells resided in the old parsonage for a few years. Before 1715, he purchased the large house of Joseph Henchman at Henchman's Corner. Its location in the fields west of the Nathan Cushing homestead is marked by an old pear-tree that was planted there by Mr. Eells. His pastorate extending over a period of forty-six years, marked the beginning of a more liberal Christianity even in this Church that had stood for liberality since its foundation. The mild Calvinism of the period was tempered with a liberality that was a generation ahead of the times. Of this Mr. Eells himself seemed to be unaware. Reverend Lemuel Bryant of the Quincy church, son of Thomas Bryant of Scituate, who was a pronounced liberal, preached one day for Mr. Eells towards the close of his long pastorate. His sermon caused Mr. Eells to say, " Alas Sir ! you have undone to- day all that I have been doing for forty years. " Bryant replied : "Sir, you do me too much honor in saying that I could undo in one sermon the labors of your long and useful life." It is said that Mr. Eells attempted a series of sermons to correct Mr. Bryant's errors, but at their conclusion little difference in the doctrines of the two preachers were noted. The Society con- tinued to make a steady growth during the near half-century of Nathaniel Eells' pastorate, and as early as 1728 a movement was under consideration to enlarge the meeting-house. The matter was brought before the Parish at various times, but was not un- dertaken until 1768.
Mr. Eells' manner was dignified and commanding, and he ex- ercised a wonderful degree of authority among his people. Not- withstanding this dignity he was greatly loved by them, and he was considered to have been a leader among the neighboring clergy.
The meeting-house built in 1706 was fifty feet long by forty wide and twenty feet between joints, with a flat roof of ten feet rise, and with no turret for a bell. Before the house was built the Town voted to sell two hundred ten-acre lots of their common lands at £3 per lot, and divide the money to the two Churches and Societies for the purpose of building a meeting-house for each. In consequence of this vote, as the Society had been at no expense in building the meeting-house, the Parish voted in July, 1708, as follows : " Chose Mr. Eells, Deacon Thomas King, Dea. James Torrey, Capt. John Cushing, Lieut. Stephen Clap, and Job Randall to be a committee of Seaters, to appoint persons in which seat he or they shall sit in at the said Meetinghouse . .. the Church and Society reserving that privilege in and to said pews, that no person shall have liberty to give or sell or dispose of their pews to any person, without the consent of the Society ; and that the above Seaters and their successors in said office,
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shall have liberty to appoint suitable persons to sit with the own- ers of said pews, in case they be not conveniently filled up from time to time, by the owners thereof."
Mr. Eells performed all his pastoral duties until his death on August 25, 1750, at the age of seventy-two years. This day was observed by his people as a day of fasting and prayer in token of their respect and love.
The next settled minister came from the Cushing family con- nection. Mary, the daughter of Judge John Cushing, 1st, married Capt. Eleazer Dorby of Boston. Their son, Jonathan Dorby, after his graduation from Harvard College, came to Scituate in 1751 to visit his grandparents. The Second Church, without a Pastor for nearly a year, in July of that year, invited him to settle with them, and he was ordained November 12, 1751. Being a young and unmarried man, he made his home with his grandfa- ther's family at Belle House Neck. His manner was pleasing, and he won the love of his parishioners in the short years of his pastorate. On April 13, 1754, two and a half years after his or- dination, bans were published for his marriage to his cousin Mary Cushing, daughter of John 1st. The following week he went to Hingham, to exchange pulpits with Reverend Mr. Gay, at whose house he died five days later, from a fever, at the early age of twenty-eight years. His remains were buried in the Cushing fam- ily lot at Belle House Neck.
The Church was one hundred and twelve years old when another young man was called to give a life service to the Society. David Barnes was the son of a Marlborough farmer. He gradu- ated from Harvard College in 1752, and began preaching very soon after graduation. The following year he was invited to become the pastor of the Quincy church, the successor of the Reverend Lemuel Bryant, who had lately deceased in his father's home at Scituate. He preached his first sermon in June, 1754, and on the following August 15 was given a unanimous call to settle, with a salary of "£80, and the use of the parsonage as long as he shall continue in the ministry of this place." He accepted, and was or- dained November 27, 1754. Two years later he married Rachel Leonard of Norton, whose mother was Rachel Clap, a daughter of Deacon Stephen of White Oak Plain, Scituate, and a sister of Thomas Clap, one of the most distinguished men of his day - President of Yale College from 1740 to 1764. Their first home was in the old parsonage house, which was refitted for their use. This was their home until 1770, when they purchased lands on the west of Herring Brook Hill from the guardian of "Little John Turner." The house built by them is now the home of Horace T. Fogg, who has also acquired most of the lands that were inclu- ded in the original purchase.
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