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HISTORY OF ST. JOHN'S METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN WATERTOWN
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01822 9739
GENEALOGY 974.402 W31MI
HISTORY OF ST. JOHN'S METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN WATERTOWN
1836- 1936
....
THE CHURCH IN 1847
COMPILED BY ELINORE HUSE MIDDLETON
1
THE MURRAY PRINTING COMPANY CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
FOREWORD
IT was nearly one hundred years ago that the Rev. Daniel Richards, an early pastor of the Watertown Methodist Episcopal Church, started a record book for his charges. His quaint and sincere chronicle, running back to October 4, 1836, began with a spirited appeal that we will pass on to all readers:
NOTICE!
To my honorable Successors: Reverend and Erudite Sirs:
Please continue the history I have commenced of the Watertown Methodist Episcopal Church.
Please keep the records with great care!
Please excuse, dear Sirs, the Liberty I have taken to address you; and recording the hope that you may have great success in preaching the Gospel, I remain yours respectfully,
D. Richards
Mr. Richards' successors kept the baptism and membership records well, but soon after his time it was the secretary of the Trustees, the secretary of the Official Board, and the compiler of voluminous Quarterly Conference reports, who took over the task of making church history.
From hundreds of pages of closely written records, many of them on yellowed paper in faded ink, has been taken the informa- tion now presented to a greater Methodist Episcopal Church in Watertown.
ELINORE HUSE MIDDLETON.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Pastoral Message
9
Chapter I. Early History, 1836-1847
II
Chapter II. Background of the Early Church I4
Chapter III. Greater Responsibilities, 1847-1857 18 26
Chapter IV. The Civil War Period, 1857-1867
Chapter V. After the Civil War, 1867-1877 .
29
Chapter VI.
Records from 1877 to 1887 .
36
Chapter VII. The Decade 1887-1897
44
Chapter VIII.
The Decade 1897-1907
56
Chapter IX. The Decade 1907-1917
65
Chapter X. The Decade 1917-1927
76
Chapter XI. The Decade 1927-1936
95
APPENDIX
The Choir
IO6
The Organ
108
St. John's Chime .
109
Memorial Windows and Tablets
IIO
St. John's Men in the Service of Their Country, 1917-1918 and Following II2
The Ladies' Aid Society
II3
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society
I18
Woman's Home Missionary Society
I20
The Philathea Class
I24
Junior Philathea Class
I26
Membership List .
I27
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Methodist Episcopal Church on Main Street, 1847 . Title page Facing page
Sylvester Priest and Leonard Whitney, Founders . ·
·
I2
First Horse Car to Run Through Watertown Square, 1857 . 24
When Schooners Sailed the Charles, 1870
24
Watertown Square, Looking West, Before 1860
28
Water Tower on Whitney (Palfrey) Hill, 1884
32
Watertown Square, Looking East, 1860 . 32
George E. Priest and Leonard Whitney, Jr., Early Trustees 36
Interior of the Old Church on Main Street, 1885 . 40
L. Sidney Cleveland, Trustee, and Rev. William G. Richardson, Former Pastor 44
The "Old Parsonage"
52
New Methodist Episcopal Church, 1895 .
54
Frederick A. Whitney and Bartlett M. Shaw . 78 St. John's Church, Looking East, 1936 86
St. John's Church, Parish House and Parsonage, 1936
.
96
Interior of St. John's Church, 1936 .
90
Rev. Francis D. Taylor, D.D., and Mrs. Taylor IO2 Watertown Square, 1936 I26
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PASTORAL MESSAGE
"Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."
IN that spirit we come to the hundredth anniversary of St. John's. Looking at the beginning, we have only words of praise for the first members and friends of the Church. That little group richly deserve our appreciation. They were a "peculiar people." Having little, they possessed much. Without a church building they were a real fellowship. Having no minister they themselves were leaders. Before raising a budget they began a bold adventure. Having no organization or societies, they set out to do, under the banner of Methodism, what they thought ought to be done in the community of Watertown. They owned and accomplished every- thing then that is now St. John's. Without them we could not be what we are. "They labored and we are entered into their labors." Looking across the hundred years of our history we have only praise and appreciation for the heroic and faithful men and women who have made St. John's a vital and constant force for righteous- ness in the community. Their labors have been continuously fruit- ful and abiding. Their records from year to year tell the story of steady and increasing growth. Throughout its entire history this Church has maintained the spirit of democracy, tolerance, coöper- ation, and Christian devotion. Every interest of Methodism has been generously supported and aid has been given freely and eagerly to numerous enterprises outside our own denomination.
We proudly observe our hundredth anniversary - resolved to match our courage and consecration with that of all those who have left us this goodly inheritance which we affectionately know as "St. John's in Watertown."
The Parsonage Watertown, Massachusetts
FRANCIS D. TAYLOR.
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CHAPTER I EARLY HISTORY, 1836-1847
MR. AND MRS. LEONARD WHITNEY of Sudbury, Massachusetts, were the first to become interested in forming a Methodist Epis- copal society in Watertown. Mr. and Mrs. Whitney moved to Watertown about 1830, and finding no Methodist group in the town, they started interesting their neighbors in one. Only four members made up the earliest class: Mr. and Mrs. Whitney, John Devoll, and Joshua Rhodes. After a few years they were materially helped by Rev. C. S. Macreading, pastor of the Newton Upper Falls Methodist Church. With his aid eight new members were added at the now famous "Founders' Meeting" of October 4, 1836, held at the home of Mr. Whitney, which stood opposite the present Baptist Church on Mt. Auburn Street. These new members were Sylvester and Cynthia Priest, George and Grace Bigelow, Thomas and Eden Campbell, Dorcas A. Sifford, and Eliza Whitaker. Simul- taneously a Sabbath School was begun, George Bigelow, superin- tendent.
The new society needed outside help in order to grow, and thus, early the next year (1837), application was made for mission- ary help from the New England Conference. Rev. George Picker- ing was appointed to the mission, and the next year a Waltham society was also added to his charge. The Watertown meetings continued to be held every week at the Whitney home, but as the group increased, more and more the hope grew that a real place of worship could be afforded. For these first years the leading men were the Messrs. Leonard Whitney, George Bigelow, Joshua Rhodes, John Devoll, Sylvester Priest, and Rev. Pickering, and together these men now looked for a suitable meeting place. On the wooded hill beyond Watertown village on Main Street stood a little old one-storied academy building (opposite the present Grant School of Saltonstall Park). With some misgivings because of the large amount involved, these first Stewards purchased the
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academy property for four hundred dollars - a truly large sum for village folk in those days - and the building was dedicated in the early summer (1837). Trustees were immediately appointed to have the responsibility of the property, and of course the well- known names again appear: Sylvester Priest, Leonard Whitney, George Bigelow, John Devoll, and Daniel Pillsbury. All of these men sacrificed a great deal in trying to meet the church expenses, and it is said that John Devoll gave every cent he earned to the Church that first year.
For ten years, 1837-47, Watertown and Waltham were united in this one missionary circuit, and heroic were the struggles of both villages to keep the church bills paid. In 1838 the budget had been $1,196.18, and total receipts only $733. The balance still due, $463.18, worried the Stewards a great deal, but the records never show how this debt was discharged, nor if the pastor's salary ever was brought up to date. In February, 1839, Waltham mem- bers brought to the Quarterly Conference the itemized list of what they contributed to the minister's support. "House rent: $75; Table expenses : $200; Fuel: $40; Traveling expenses : $25; Quarter- age: $200." The Watertown Estimating Committee followed with a smaller amount: "Board: $156; Fuel: $20; Traveling expenses: $20; Quarterage: $100." Both reports were accepted, and these several amounts constituted the minister's salary for the year. At this time the Waltham mission had eighty members, and the Water- town society thirty-seven, with combined Sabbath Schools of ninety-two members, plus eight male and nine female teachers.
The Broomfield Church of Boston and the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church helped the new groups as much as they could, and it is frequently recorded up until 1840 that $100 from first one source and then the other would bring the smaller societies' budgets more nearly to balancing. Both Watertown and Waltham were most anxious to have a married minister assigned to them, but were warned by the presiding elder that their quarter- age (salary) was altogether too small to allow the Conference to grant this request.
But meanwhile the smaller Watertown church was growing, and in 1841 reported to the Fourth Quarterly Conference, held at the house of Brother Pierce, in Waltham, that it had an independ- ent Sunday School of thirty members, a library of one hundred fifty books, a group of eighteen new church members received on
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SYLVESTER PRIEST FOUNDER
LEONARD WHITNEY FOUNDER
probation, a total church membership of sixty, an average class meeting attendance of thirty, and a special missionary offering of six dollars.
Sylvester Priest and Leonard Whitney continued to be great supporters of the society, and in the back of one old record book Rev. Mosely Dwight wrote a short biography of Mr. Priest that we will copy here word for word, it being such a characteristic example of the lives of these early sincere Methodists.
"Sylvester Priest is one of our oldest members. Born June 30, 1782, in Harvard, Worcester County, Mass. Baptized in infancy. Converted under the ministry of Jefferson Hascall, D.D., and moved to Watertown about 1834. He has not laid up a dollar of his earnings for 37 years. All given to the church and charity. $200 a year for 22 years - $4400. ... Cost in 77 years only 10 cents for tobacco! Bro. P. came up in Rum times - seen it carried around at funerals - to all mourners and bearers. When Bro. Warren Fay was ordained in Harvard, paid 15 dollars for rum - paid by the parish. After 28 years of age, Bro. P. not drink - never used but little any time - came all through those times of Rum unharmed.
When Jesus took two children up to Heaven, took his with them, and it been there ever since."
A summary of the ministers for the Watertown Methodist Church in its first ten years is as follows: 1836, Rev. Charles Mac- reading of Newton; 1837, 1838 and part of 1839, Rev. George Pickering; 1839, Rev. Franklin Fisk; 1840, Rev. D. Webb; 1841-43, Rev. George W. Frost; 1843-45, Rev. Thomas W. Tucker; 1846, Rev. William R. Stone, Watertown now associated with the Ded- ham church, but with Rev. Frost preaching here; 1847, Rev. Daniel Richards, Watertown made a separate parish and new church built.
Thus in 1847 the ten year period of uncertainty ended, and the untiring work of the founders was rewarded. Watertown no longer was associated with either Waltham or Dedham as a "Mis- sion," but became a full-fledged church of the New England Con- ference, with a greater membership, a finer church building, and missionary responsibilities of its own.
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CHAPTER II BACKGROUND OF THE EARLY CHURCH
BEFORE continuing with the next division in the growth of the Methodist Church, we should devote a short space to the back- ground of the early church. Watertown has changed so completely in the last sixty years that many of its present inhabitants have never heard of the little country village of Watertown, as it existed in 1840 and the following decades. It was, until after the Civil War, a beautiful village of less than two thousand people and of an area of twice its present size, taking in Belmont and a part of Cambridge. Just before 1830, "Stone's Woods," in the extreme east of the town, a popular picnic resort, had been sold to the Mass- achusetts Horticultural Society for six thousand dollars, and they were considering the enclosure of a new type of garden cemetery there, to be the first of its kind in America, called "Mt. Auburn."
Between "Mt. Auburn" (Stone's Woods) and Fresh Pond were rich garden lands, tilled by descendants of early settlers: the Stones, Wellingtons, Coolidges, Livermores, Barnards, and Chen- erys. Mr. Winthrop W. Chenery is said to have been the first to import Holstein cattle to America (1855). West of the farms were the estates of the wealthier men. These families were not really interested in the life of the village folk, and drove back and forth to the Boston society functions in their handsome carriages. But the estates should be enumerated, as they gave employment to many of the village people in various capacities. On the slope west of School Street stood beautiful "Fountain Hill," originally owned by Charles Davenport, but sold in 1860 to Alvin Adams (Adams Express Company), who enlarged his property until it included all the land south of Mt. Auburn Street from Spruce Street to Boyl- ston Street East, as well as all the tract bounded by School, Bel- mont, Mt. Auburn Streets and Hillside Road.
Other important estates were Oakley, Belmont, the Chris- topher Gore House, and the Nathaniel Whiting House. Oakley
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(now the Oakley Country Club, one of the very oldest golf courses in America) has survived with almost all its land. The Governor Christopher Gore estate, with its beautiful deer park, became the Waltham Country Club, and last year (1935) was taken over by the Gore Place Society, a new historical society which will develop it into a national shrine. Across "Back Street" (now Belmont Street), Mr. John P. Cushing built his elegant estate "Belmont" from the fortune he made in China, and later both the street and the town took their name from this estate. A splendid Georgian house was built on a commanding site overlooking the Charles River by William Hunt, but was later torn down to make room for the Perkins Institution buildings. In 1845 Nathaniel Whiting bought the land between Mt. Auburn Street and wooded Whitney Hill ("Palfrey Hill") and built a large mansion at the present junction of Marshall and Church Streets. He spent a fortune land- scaping the grounds and planting rare European and Asiatic trees, some of which still survive. In this house Charles Dickens, the author, was entertained on his second tour of the United States.
The village centre was a humble place, boasting of only three brick buildings, the Spring Hotel (still standing and housing Butler's Pharmacy, the Atlantic and Pacific store, and a rooming house), the Dana Block and Abel Hunt's store. The rest of the buildings were pitch-roofed stores and stables, and nearly all have long since been replaced. The streets of the centre, or "Square," and the outlying roads were the alternately dusty or muddy paths of all country villages. In 1847 the streets were named for the first time, and in 1853 the first sidewalks provided.
Other miscellaneous facts which serve to provide a background for our early Methodists follow: The total town expenses in the 1830-40 decade ran to about $3,750 a year, including the minister's salary (the townsfolk were taxed until long after 1800 to pay the minister of "The First Parish Church") and the entire support of four district schools! The population (1830) was 1,843 persons, and the school enrollment was 240. Herds of cattle often interrupted all business as they were driven through Watertown to the Brighton market. In 1872 a "Union Market" for cattle was built on Walnut Street adjoining the railroad tracks, and a new bank was formed the next year to serve this business, and was named for the market. This large tract of land remained enclosed until after 1920, and was used during the World War to harbor the huge shipments of
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horses from Canada and the West, to be sent later on to France, but is now occupied by houses at the northern end, and by manu- facturing companies over the rest of the area.
There were a few manufacturing enterprises in Watertown, operated, of course, by water power, in the first half of the century. These were the Bemis Mills for manufacturing paper and sail cloth, a lace mill on the south bank of the Charles River, three soap and candle manufactories, the paper mill of Leonard Whitney, the dyehouse (later called Lewandos), the foundry of Miles Pratt (later the Walker and Pratt Manufacturing Company, 1855), and the Arsenal. Practically all those who worked in these establishments lived in the town, for it was not until 1857 that the first horse cars were run out from Boston and Cambridge. But after 1857 the town began to grow more rapidly, and it is with this growing town that the newly erected Methodist Episcopal Church of 1847 was soon to deal .*
The largest Watertown church at this time was "The First Parish Church," now called the Unitarian, the descendant, of course, of the first Puritan village church, formed in 1630. The church building for this society had been located at the corner of Common and Mt. Auburn streets since 1755, and was used con- stantly for town and state (Massachusetts Bay Colony) purposes all through the Revolutionary War, and as a meeting place of the legislature (General Court) in 1788, during the smallpox epidemic in Boston. All town meetings were also held there, for in the early days the town and the "parish" were a co-partnership, the min- ister being called "the minister of the town." An inhabitant belonged to the parish, whether he would or no, and a taxpayer, it is said, "might abstain from its teachings, but there were only two ways of escape from contributing to its support - either to move away, or die, before the first of May."+ After various modi- fications, the law finally exempted all from taxation for religious purposes in 1847. The First Parish Church moved to its present location in 1836.
The Baptist Society was formed even before the Methodist, and represented the first division from the town, or parish church, in 1827. In 1830 their first house of worship was erected on Mt.
* Information in this chapter to this point taken from "Great Little Watertown, 1630-1930," Chapter IX; by G. Frederick Robinson and Ruth Robinson Wheeler. t Joshua Coolidge in "History of Middlesex County," page 334.
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Auburn Street, approximately where the post office block of stores is now, near the railroad tracks and station (which were not there then, of course).
St. Patrick's Church, the first of the Roman Catholic churches to be formed in Watertown, began its existence as a part of a "mission" serving Watertown, Waltham, Newton, Weston, and Concord in 1830. However, this mission was located in Waltham, and it was not until the little church burned there, in 1846, that Rev. P. Flood, then in charge, deemed it best to meet in Water- town, since the majority of the worshippers came from here. The little congregation first met in the "Whig Reading Room" in Watertown Square, and then in the little academy building which had been the first Methodist Episcopal Church (till 1847). But a rapid increase in membership about this time necessitated larger quarters, and in the same year the corner stone was laid of the present St. Patrick's Church, a brick structure having sittings for more than eight hundred people.
The Phillips Church and Society was formed in 1855, and is technically called the Orthodox Congregational. The Orthodox Congregational people believe that they are, in spirit, truer descend- ants of the Puritan church than are the liberal Unitarians. At first they held their services in the Town Hall. Later, the large "Organization Council," which legally organized their church on April 17, 1855, was held in the "new" Methodist Episcopal Church on Main Street. Their first church edifice was dedicated in 1857 on the site of the present one.
The Episcopal Church is the youngest of the Protestant churches, having been formed in 1883. The Society met in Grand Army Hall until 1888, when it was able to build on the land pur- chased at the corner of Russell Avenue and Mt. Auburn Streets. The town was very proud of this "Church of the Good Shepherd," it being the first stone church (Protestant) in town, and a charm- ingly dignified example of English rural church architecture - and certainly Watertown was still a village in those days.
Thus in about fifty years time there had come about the com- plete separation of "church and state" in Watertown, as elsewhere all over the country. Watertown now boasted, besides the First Parish, or Unitarian, Church, the Baptist, Methodist, Roman Catholic, Congregational, and Episcopal societies. It was indeed a time of increased religious interest and devotion.
CHAPTER III
GREATER RESPONSIBILITIES, 1847-1857
AFTER the New England Methodist Conference session of May, 1847, and the appointment of Rev. Daniel Richards as pastor, the Watertown Church busied itself in the construction of the new building on Main Street which was to serve the people for forty-eight years. The Stewards found an enthusiastic and com- petent leader in their pastor, Mr. Richards, and could announce that the consecration services for the new edifice would take place on October 20.
As soon as plans for this new church had been made in the spring of 1847, a committee had been appointed to try to sell the "academy" property which the Methodist society then occupied. An auction was held and a man from Boston, unknown to anyone present, purchased the building, he said, for a bonnet factory. Knowing as we do the peculiar feeling which existed between the Roman Catholic and Protestant societies of the Christian Church in those narrow days, one can imagine the consternation which reigned among the older Methodist members when it was discovered that this "manufacturer" had purchased the academy for the diocese of the Catholic Church. Of course the feeling of having been duped might have passed away more quickly had the com- mittee of our own men in charge of the sale not given possession too soon, and the necessity of meeting in the Town Hall for two months previous to the new church's completion (August 1) galled righteous Trustees and Stewards even more.
Thus, after many tribulations, the new Methodist Episcopal Church in Watertown was dedicated on October 20, 1847, with a very large congregation present. Mr. Richards had arranged for the Rev. Charles H. True, A.M., a popular preacher from Lowell, to give the sermon, and for a great number of other well-known ministers and town celebrities to attend. It was a beautiful day, all diverging opinions and petty animosities were put aside, and
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as the record says, "The Society looked forward to respectability, prosperity, and usefulness."
With the acquiring of a full-time minister, a new church - and, incidentally, a mortgage - the Methodist Discipline required a more careful organization to be built up to be responsible for the property, minister, and debt. The Trustees sworn in for 1847 were: Sylvester Priest, chairman, Leonard Whitney, John Devaul (or Devoll), Jonus Phelps, Samuel Leonard, 2d, Nathaniel Ayers, Jr., and Ezra Wing, secretary for the Board. Isaac Robbins was the justice of the peace who tended to the legal affairs of the organization.
The proud new church of which the Trustees now took finan- cial charge stood on a most eligible site in the centre of Watertown village, where the Main Fire Station is located at present. Main Street was, of course, far narrower then than now. As has been previously mentioned, there were no horse car tracks or sidewalks in front of the Church for a decade, so Ezra Wing was appointed a committee to level the dirt round the church and to build a fence to separate church land from the road. Brother Frost was chosen a committee to take up subscriptions for a bell, but he feared the people would not help him because they had already been asked for so much, and he resigned. He was, therefore, succeeded by the more courageous Ezra Wing, who managed to extract money for the bell, though this sum later had to be used for other purposes, and money for a splendid oil lamp chandelier in the center of the ceiling before the year 1847 had closed.
The Church was a pretty wooden structure, painted white, with a tall graceful steeple surmounting the belfry in the centre front. A gilded cock weather vane (made in the shop of the copper- smith Revere, father of Paul Revere) topped the steeple, and it is said that this vane was the only thing preserved at the demolition of the old First Parish Church (Common and Mt. Auburn Streets), and is now in safe keeping at the Main Library. A flight of about ten steps just inside the church doors led up into a spacious vesti- bule running across the entire front of the building. Beyond this vestibule was the church auditorium, with pews painted white and walls tinted green. The pews were cushioned (though not in the beginning), and the aisles carpeted. The first organ was a small pedal, or parlor, organ, but a larger one, requiring two men to pump it, was given by Mr. Leonard Whitney, Jr., in later years.
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