USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Leominster > Historical address commemorating the semi-centenial anniversary, of the dedication of the 1st Congregational Meeting-house, in Leominster, 1874 > Part 1
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AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
COMMEMORATING THE
SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY,
OF THE
DEDICATION OF THE
Ist Congregational Meeting-House,
IN LEOMINSTER.
DELIVERED WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15th, 1873, BY
E. A. HORTON,
Pastor of the First Congregational (Unitarian) Society.
.
PUBLISHED BY VOTE OF THE PARISH.
" ENTERPRISE OFFICE," LEOMINSTER, MASS. 1874.
An Historical Address Commemorating The Semi-Centennial Anniversary Of the 1st Congregational Meeting-House, in Leominster. Delivered Wednesday, October 15, 1873, By E. A. Horton, Pastor of the First Congregational (Unitarian) Society.
... ..
AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
COMMEMORATING
THE
SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY,
OF THE
DEDICATION OF THE
Ist Congregational Meeting-House,
IN LEOMINSTER.
DELIVERED WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15th, 1873, BY
E. A. HORTON
Pastor of the First Congregational (Unitarian) Society.
PUBLISHED BY VOTE OF THE PARISH.
"ENTERPRISE OFFICE," LEOMINSTER, MASS. 1874.
To the Reader.
Appended to the main address are notes which pro- vide the details of some transactions necessarily treated with brevity in the historical sketch. They are referred to by numbers in the text. Some portions omitteil in the delivery of the address are now inserted. The work of preparing this brief record of a part of our religious past has been a labor of love. I offer it to my parishioners as an affectionate though slight expression of my interest in all things which pertain to them as individuals, or as a society. It was written at their request, and now ap- pears in this form by their wish.
E. A. H.
ADDRESS. (1)
We are met to commemorate an event of no slight importance,
By nature man loves ancestral spots and historic scenes ; he loves them though remote personages and indistinct deeds have contributed to their fame. How much warmer is his regard, then, for that which has been identified with his fathers, now asleep, and bound up with their declining and his opening course.
Time dims much to the heart, and quenches the light of many memories, but I have yet to find that person who lost, in advancing years, his esteem for the old sanctuary wherein worship first educated him; or who never desired again, when youth was past, to visit the sanctuary of his fathers. No ! peculiar and tenacious is that tie. Those whose eyes have in manhood's prime beheld massive cathedrals, whose feet have later trod the aisles of gorgeous mosques, maintained unweakened firm allegiance to the homely aisles, the ,unpretending walls, of some modest church, nestled in a New England valley. For its associations and import no dazzling tabernacle
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could compensate. Time's hand has rolled the years in swift succession, since this meeting-house first echoed with praise and prayer. A little more than half a cen- tury ago the timbers of this building rose, sprung to their places by stalwart men. Fifty years ago, this day, a happy multitude gathered within these walls to dedicate them to the worship of a God of Love, The scene how changed ! Scarcely any feature of the locality remains the same. Nothing indeed but the self-same sky, starry and sheltering. The ground abides, and nature's general aspects. The same strong beams exist, a semblance to the . original framework survives in the structure. Yes ! the same bell that rang fifty years ago, calling the town's people together, has summoned our glad steps. Not much more numerous are the links abiding among the present audience and that collected here in 1823. The men who toiled to make this goodly house have gone. Read their names on tablets in yonder resting-place. Here and there among you are those who were young men and young women, boys and girls, at that time. The actors in that scene half a century ago have vanished. Why do I re- call time's innovations? Surely not for sadness. To bet- ter esteem the dead. In honoring them we do invest ourselves with honor. They have their reward. We can- not do better than remember that they labored well when living, and we, to be worthy of their spirit and deeds, must ourselves be emulous and noble. That is the main lesson of this evening hour. I am to speak to you this
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evening, as briefly as may be consistent with the subject, of our meeting-house. Not of the church as a body of communicants, not of the parish proper, not of doctrine, not of the birth and infancy of the society; our exercises centre around the existence of this sanctuary as a place of divine worship.
Yet it may be well to quickly trace up the historic line, of which this is the continuation, preceding the. erection of this edifice. In doing this entire work, at your committee's request, I ask you to walk with me as one goes over a dusty road, relieved now and then by green spots of shade and beauty. We are to deal with statistics and unvarnished truth.
The earliest records of this town, that we possess, begin in 1740; on the first pages is the account of a meeting held by the scanty inhabitants, when the subject of a "meeting-house" was agitated. (2) On Dec. 15, 1740, it was voted to build said meeting-house 50 feet in length, 40 feet in width, 23 feet in hight. These dimensions were afterwards curtailed by a succeeding vote at another meeting, and economy cut five feet from the length, five feet from the breadth, one foot from the hight.
This building was located on the north-west corner of what is now the old burying-ground. A rough, un- painted, windowless structure, with no pews in it for many years. Town meetings were held there. This house the inhabitants of Leominster used for worship until 1775, when it became the property of a Baptist
society in Harvard, who took it to pieces and recon- structed it in Still River. There it sheltered a congre- gation for a long time. In 1850 it was transformed into a parsonage, and remains yet a useful member of society. In 1773, when the storm of the revolution was thundering in the distance, Leominster voted to build a larger meeting-house. An acre and a little more of land was bought for the purpose, situated where now the com- mon is, of Rufus Houghton. The dimensions of this structure were sixty feet in length by fifty in breadth. Its portals looked toward the rising sun. Eighteen square pews,-deep, broad, generous pews,-filled the body of the church, and thirty more ranged around the walls. Such was the edifice existing in 1816. It was situated on the spot where the flag-staff of the common stands. No fence ran around the spot. Scarcely any houses existed in the neighborhood. A modest building, it was desig- nated when completed as an elegant meeting-house.
Usages peculiar to the ancient time prevailed in its service, - the lining of hymns, the rising at prayers, and clapping of the seats, - the deacons in their wigs sat beneath the pulpit on a bench named from them,- children rolled on the floor, hid from sight by the towering pews, -aged people stole naps in sermon time, en- couraged by the protecting seats, - no fire broke the wintry chill, - the black man had his place assigned in a gallery corner, - the minister preached in a costume consisting of a large wig and high-topped boots, and
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above his head was a large sounding-board. Here and there watchful guardians of order moved about the con- gregation checking mirth, and subduing noise. No bell pealed the Sunday call; no clock told the swift hours. Let us sec whose voices had spoken from the pulpit up to that time.
The Rev. John Rogers, the first minister of this society, was then dead. His embittered career ended. A character of no little originality, - with " an inquisitive spirit," said Dr. Bancroft of him,-honest and blunt, he is pictured to us as a man who suffered as those suffer who are placed by circumstances in a crisis, and map out new courses. He was cast out. He was ordained and installed Sept. 14th, 1743, (O. S.) (3) Mr. Rogers died Oct. 6, 1789, aged 78 years.
Succeeding Mr. Rogers came Rev. Francis Gardner, who enjoyed a long, calm pastorate of useful labor. He was a scholar, sought most. the enforcement of plain, Christian truth, and gave but little attention to innovating ideas. His ordination and installation occurred Dec. 22, 1762.(4) Mr. Gardner died suddenly June 2, 1814, aged 79 years. He was lamented by all; at his funeral, as an eye witness informs me, the procession extended from the parsonage, standing where now the Salisbury house is, to the church, six deep, every one walking in close ranks.
We are thus brought down to the Rev. William Bascom, whose settlement took place May 10th, 1815. (5)
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It was during Mr. Bascom's stormy pastorate, in May 1816, when a committee appointed for the purpose, reported to the town on the advisability of altering and enlarging the old meeting-house. Mr. Bascom was a man of progress, a liberal mind. He did not please all. His sermons were characterized as weak, his prayers able. He withdrew from his position in 1820, and died in 1845.
I have thus brought you down to the time embracing the preliminaries attending the building of this sanctuary. I will quote the words of the committee, to whom was referred the subject of a new house of worship. "Com- paring" they say, "the great and increasing number of the inhabitants with the comparitive small size of the Meeting-House, and that although a large proportion of the people are well accommodated with seats, yet your committee view with regret that from want of sufficient room, there are a considerable number who are obliged to pay a price for their accommodations far beyond what either reason or former example would justify, whilst an- other part of the inhabitants cannot be accommodated with seats at any price, and considering that those two last classes of citizens, -the first from becoming weary of paying an exorbitant price for their seats, and the other from being unable to procure any, -may be induced to abandon the place of public worship in this town and to seek one elsewhere, where they may be accommodated on reasonable terms. For these and other considerations, your committee are unanimous in opinion that the Meet-
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ing-House, in its present state, is insufficient for the town. Your committee find on examination that the frame of the Meeting-House is in every part sound and good, and is capable of being enlarged in such a manner as to be a handsome and convenient house. They therefore recommend that the present Meeting-House be enlarged to sixty feet by seventy, with a belfry in front, which your committee believe will afford ample accommodations for the inhabitants." They then add, "It is our opinion that if the town see fit to enlarge the present Meeting- House, it would be better to remove it from its present situation, as an enlargement where it now stands would occupy too much of the common ground, now too small."
Two locations presented themselves favorably, so the report continues, which I must abridge. One being that owned by Capt. Hale, about an acre of land filled at this day by Mr. J. C. Allen's residence and store. It
was purchasable for $200. The other was land owned by the heirs of Metaphor Chase, being that territory now occupied by this house, the Town Hall, Baptist Church, and some adjacent ground, then tenanted only by a house once used as an inn, and some stables. Its area was two acres and fifty rods; this was available at the price of $2000. The committee warmly urged the purchase of the second lot of land. Subdivisions for sale, eligibility of location, disposal of buildings then on it for good prices, sheltered site in winter, -these inducements they pre- sented strongly and wound up with this glowing sentence,
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that "such a choice would add greatly to the beauty, elegance, and respectability of the town." Signed by Abraham Haskell, Chairman. This report was recom- mitted with instructions to consider the expediency of building a new Meeting-House entirely, and six individuals were added to the committee.
In August 1816, this land was purchased of the heirs of Metaphor Chase, at the price of $2000. At the meeting of May 5th, 1817, another report was submitted as follows : "It is unanimously deemed expedient by the committee that the town should build a new Meeting- House, to be completed for public worship in three years from that time." This was accepted by 66 votes for, and 32 against it.
Whether brick or wood should be employed as ma- terial in the construction of the house was considered ; wood was chosen for its cheapness. The building com- mittee was chosen Dec. 24, 1821, and general instructions given to them by the town. Their names are as fol- lows : Solomon Strong, Jonas Kendall, Joel Crosby, Be-
zaleel Lawrence, William Burrage, Rufus Kendall, Israel Nichols, William Carter, Charles Hills. These were elected on one ballot. By a succeeding vote, Abel Carter and John Taylor were added. Additional committees were afterwards chosen for different purpose; they consisted of Joseph G. Kendall, William Perry, Levi Nichols, Abraham Haskell, Jr., John Buss, Jr., Jonathan Merriam and David Wilder. The final vote to build this Meeting-
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House was fifty-nine to forty-one, and then by rallying voters the list stood 'eighty-three affirmative and forty- nine negative.
In January, 1822, the appointed committee reported their plan. The structure was to be 75 feet long, 62 feet wide, and, as they stated it, -the end to be in front - the pulpit at the opposite end; 10 feet of the front to be made into a porch; three doors from porch into interior. Colonnade 32 feet high, above it a belfry, above the belfry a spire ; 88 pews were to fill the body of the house and 48 the galleries, making in all 136. The cost really exceeded the estimate by only four hun- dred dollars.
The discussion on the exact location of the building, how it should stand to the compass, was sharp. One vote was passed by fifty-eight to fifty-seven; this was reconsidered, and after much battling, that point, seem- ingly smaller than much else, was settled. It is always thus in human affairs, transient contests are the fiercest.
The Aurora Lodge of free and accepted masons, then located here, now at Fitchburg, was invited to lay the corner stone according to immemorial usage. The invi- tation was accepted, and preparations made for the event, the Lodge suggesting a particular day. (6) The suggestions of the Lodge did not prevail. No doubt many were opposed to the whole matter and their influence carried the point for selecting the 10th of June, as the day. Upon this the Masons by another vote in May asked.
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for release from their promise and declared it impossible . to prepare properly for the occasion as soon as that day. Therefore we may conclude that the corner stone was laid on the 10th of June, according to the town's decision, but with what, if any ceremonies, I am not able to learn.
The day of raising the frame was a memorable one. It was in the pleasant month of June. Many are now living who vividly recall that occasion. Each timber was in readiness; selected men awaited orders, and a guarding rope kept back the crowd. £ Capt. Legate was there, his sea-faring skill having marked him as the one to direct the affair.
All went well. Ropes creaked beneath the unusual burden and the sound of the hammer resounded contin- ually. Pails of grog were emptied by the heated work- men, for in those days liquor was all too freely used. Everything seemed prosperous until on the second day an impending disaster hung for a moment over the work. Staunch ropes, pulled by strong men, were elevating the belfry to its place. Slowly it rose to an upright posi- tion ; hundreds of eyes were on it; gradually it reached the position destined for it when to the dismay of all it sank back and threatened to fall. A feeling of fear, a
sinking at the heart filled all. But the voice of Capt. Legate was heard. "Bring it up men, bring it up to its place ;" and that man who had used the trumpet on many a stormy deck, spake then, and the belfry rose again until it poised its base firmly on the colonnade. A
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cheer went up, loud and long, from the spectators. An eye witness informs me of one other threatened accident which was happily averted. John C. Kendall was on the edge of the belfry after it had been raised, pounding the beams into better places with his sledge hammer, when he struck his body against a man, Joel Dresser, passing behind, and losing his balance, was just falling over to the ground, to meet a sure death, when the person against whom he struck seized his clothing and held him. It was a narrow escape. Upon being urged to go down, young Kendall declared that he was not frightened and should stay as long as the rest stayed.
The contractor for this edifice was Mr. Cutting. The Meeting-Houses in Templeton and Northborough are also testimonies to his thorough workmanship. Enter the upper part of this building and you will find great tim- bers and sound timbers; this structure is strong in its half-century age. Mr. Cutting was an honest contractor, which is more than we can say of many in this day.
During 1823, before the building was completed, Joel Crosby, Esq., presented the town with a bell and Capt. Barker transported it free of charge from Boston, which in those days was no trivial kindness. This pleasant bell now strikes the hours for us daily, and calls us to our Sunday worship. An inscription was placed upon it acknowledging the giver, and he was asked by vote of the town to select whatever pew he wished in the new Meeting-House, at the appraisal, before any had been
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sold at auction. This Mr. Crosby did and took pew number 4.
Eight thousand dollars were assessed on the pews, to be raised by their sale. The day of their disposal came in September, 1823. Work was finished; it was now one year and a half since the inaugural digging was commenced. The auctioneer was instructed to receive no bids for a pew under twenty-five cents. No person should purchase more than one pew for himself. Brisk and successful was the sale. Sixteen hundred dollars above the fixed sum was realized. At the conclusion only one pew, number 16, remained unbought. So need- ful was the town of church accommodations that in Oc- tober of the same year additional pews were made.
And now approached the day of dedication. The Rev. Abel Conant, then minister of the town, was requested to preach a sermon on Sunday . afternoon, October 12th, on leaving the old Meeting-House, and one on Wednes- day afternoon succeeding, October 15th, to dedicate the new Meeting-House.
Rev. Mr. Conant followed Mr. Bascom. He was a writer of excellent sermons, of good character, but not animated in the pulpit. I myself have read some of his discourses, feeling that for expression and graceful style, they compare well with modern ones. To him also the sports of the wood and . field were agreeable. His hand was acquainted with the gun, and his pliant rod often landed the trout upon the brook's bank. His ordination and installation occurred January 24th, 1821.(7)
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The dedication day was pleasant. A throng attended. It was of universal interest. Each sermon, the one on leaving the old, the one on entering the new Meeting- House, was afterwards printed. They survive in many homes. Appended to the dedication is a note of the services written by one present. The introductory prayer was made by Rev. Mr. Damon of Lunenburg, the dedi- catory prayer by Rev. Dr. Thayer of Lancaster, the con- cluding prayer by Rev. Mr. Osgood of Sterling. Mr.
Conant's sermon was from the text, "And the disciples
were called Christians first in Antioch." Acts XI-26. His text for the farewell sermon in the old Meeting- House on the common, was this; "And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed." Numbers IX-17. We can imagine the bass viol sending forth its most sonor- ous tones, and the pitch pipe of the chorister giving the key. Perhaps the bass singer was there who had sung
so long in the old church. Of him it was said, so good and devout a man was he, that whenever he reached a word in the hymn especially pious, he hung to it so long that he madediscord. It was said, at least by a mem- ber present at the time, and recorded, that several pieces of sacred music were sung in a style which did credit to the choir of singers in Leominster. The wigs of the deacons were well powdered that day ; alert were the men who watched for noisy boys, and the maidens had. on their best and fairest attire.
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It was a solemn time also. Out of the old sanctu- ary they had gone, rich in memories, dear by associations. The novelty of the new could not obliterate the attach- ments to the old. It had been their religious home for nearly fifty years; now they were to say farewell to its walls forever. Change was to seize it, and the place where it had stood should know its presence no longer.
Established and at rest from their labors, the society now entered upon the enjoyment of their unwonted priv- ileges. In April of the next year, the committee made a final report, submitting all the summings-up and total results, and concluded in these words : "Your committee knowing that the erection of a new Meeting-House was a great undertaking, but considering what our fathers have done for us and the benefit it would be to the rising generation and society, they proceeded, and by the blessing of a kind Providence prospered in the work of the house of the Lord. The liberality of great numbers in contributing labor in wharfing up the foundations of the Meeting-House, the union that prevailed in disposing of the seats, the prospect of the flourishing state of the society, and the zeal to support public worship afford your committee full satisfaction for their time and labor. Therefore your committee do not charge for their services."
The old Meeting-House was appraised by disinterested parties at four hundred and sixty-six dollars, including foundations, which was cheap enough, we may judge. It was taken to pieces and the most of its material used
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in constructing a Town House. This afterward became Gardner Hall, and served for school wants until 1869, when it was burned to the ground. Nothing now remains of that structure.
How to warm this house seemed to perplex the worthy people. In 1823 and '4 committee after committee was chosen, and every one resigned. The members of one, however, consulted and reported that they could not decide on any method. There must have been a strong admiration at that time for religion under difficulties. A native of this town has related to me his experience as a boy, of carrying a large box of coals up the broad aisle every Sunday morning for his grandmother's feet. How he dreaded it, and felt ashamed.
I find that in 1828 the town voted to rent the cellar beneath the audience room, and curious to know how much of an income this transaction furnished the society, I discovered the following entry: "Received of Solon Carter, Esq., for rent of cellar one year, $1.62 1-2 !" Eight years after the erection of the building, examina- tion was made to ascertain the cost of necessary repairs. So carefully and judiciously had the occupants treated it, that the report called for only ten dollars to cover main
expenses. .But four years after that satisfactory statement it was deemed necessary to pass a town vote creating a committee to watch "idle and mischievous boys who were defacing and destroying the public buildings."
The years rolled by; the town grew. That part of
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the Puritan's plan which looked to the identification of Church and State gave way in Leominster, having grown weak by degrees for twenty years. The act which set this parish apart from the town, and gave it functions wholly its own, occurred on the fourth of May 1835. Only one of the petitioners is now living who applied for the right of incorporation ; that surviving one is Ward M. Cotton. (8)
In 1837 several important events transpired affecting the Meeting-House and its people. Rev. Abel Conant died on the 6th of December, 1836, 43 years old. To his labors succeeded Rufus P. Stebbins, then fresh from the Divinity School. His installation was observed Sept. 20th, 1837.(9) About the time of his settlement a clock was placed in the belfry of the Meeting-House, a hand- some pulpit Bible was presented by Mr. James G. Carter, and a clock for the interior was set up in front of the gallery, a gift from Mr. Joseph Woodward. The belfry clock, upon whose dials we now daily look, was partly and mostly a gift by the will of the late Joel Crosby, Esq., whose generous present of a bell had preceded his death.
Changes upon the pulpit were made not far from this time; the circular staircases were supplanted by di- rect ones. An additional pew was thus created on each side of the stairs Not without interest to us, who decorously observe the service of Sunday, is the record of a vote by the parish selecting Mr. Solon Carter
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Emory Burrage and Gen. A. S. Gibbs, a committee to preserve order during divine worship. It is noticeable that two of these gentlemen sat in the singers' seats. In 1842 their duties must have increased, for three more were added, but in 1857 it was not deemed necessary to have but three and they were appointed to watch the galleries. Blinds were deemed advisable for the win- dows, provided they could be put on without any cost to the parish.
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