USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Berkley > History of the town of Berkley, Mass. : including sketches of the lives of the two first ministers, Rev. Samuel Tobey, and Rev. Thomas Andros, whose united ministry continued ninety-one years > Part 1
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M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01095 4102
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HISTORY
OF THE TOWN OF
BERKLEY, MASS.,
INCLUDING SKETCHES OF THE LIVES OF THE TWO FIRST MINISTERS,
REV. SAMUEL TOBEY AND REV. THOMAS ANDBORSTARY
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WHOSE UNITED MINISTRY CONTINUED NINETY-ONE YEARS.
BY
REV. ENOCH SANFORD, M. A.,
Author of "History of the First Church and Society in Raynham ;" "Genealogy of the King Family ;" "History of the Town of Raynham ;" "Sketches of the Pilgrims, " etc.
NEW YORK : KILBOURNE TOMPKINS, PRINTER.
1872.
TROTZIH
£
FC.04.0695.78
1774675
All those things which are now held to be of the greatest antiquity were at one time new : and what, we, to-day, hold up by example, will rank hereafter as a precedent.
-Tacitus.
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NOTE.
The writer, having a personal acquaintance with the inhabitants of the town of Berkley, and its affairs, continuing for a period ofymore than three- quarters of a century, at the request of friends, has prepared the following pages.
In their preparation he has sought to chronicle matters of merely local value, in a style and phraseology in accord with the importance of the topics discussed.
The Manse, Raynham, Ms.
October 26th, A. D., 1871.
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HISTORY.
Anno Regni Regis Georgii Secundi Octavo. Eighth year of the reign of King George II.
A N ACT for dividing Towns of Tannton and Dighton, erecting a new town there by the name of Berkley.
Whereas the southerly part of Taunton and the northerly part of Dighton, on the east side of the great river, is compe- tently filled with inhabitants who labor under difficulties by reason of the remoteness from the places of publie meetings in the said towns, and have thereupon made application to this Court that they may be set off a different and separate parish, and be vested with all the powers and privileges that other towns in this Province are vested with,
Be it therefore enacted by his Excellency the Governor, Council, and Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, that the southerly part of Taun- ton and northerly part of Dighton, on the east side of the great river as hereafter bounded be, and hereby are, set off, constitu- ted and erected into a separate and distinct township by the name of Berkley. (Then the bounds are given.) And the inhabitants thereof be, and hereby are, vested and endowed with equal powers and privileges and immunities that the inhabi- tants of any of the towns within this Province are by law ves- ted with.
Only it is to be understood, and the inhabitants of the town of Berkley are hereby requested, within the space of two years from the publication of this act, to procure and settle a learned and orthodox minister, of good conversation, and make provis- ion for his comfortable and honorable support, and also ereet
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and finish a suitable and convenient house for the public Wor- ship of God, in said town.
Another proviso in the Act is, that the town shall from time to time pay towards the repairs of Weir bridge their propor- tion with Taunton, and all arrears of debts.
April the 18th, 1735. This Bill having been read three sev- eral times in the House of Representatives passed to be enacted. J. QUINCY, Speaker.
April 18th, 1735. This bill having been read three several times in Council, passed to be enacted.
T. MASON, Dep. Sec' y.
By his Excellency the Governor :-
I consent to the enacting this Bill.
J. BELCITER.
This town was named after Bishop Berkeley who resided at Newport, R. I., in 1729-31 and died 1753, and was famous for the evangelie benevolence of his character and the acuteness of his genius. His mind was ever full of projects for increasing the vir- tue and happiness of his fellow creatures. One was the establish- ment of a missionary college in the Bermudas. For that pur- pose he came to America and consulted with many of the principal men respecting his enterprise. He was Bishop of Cloyne in Ireland, and presents one of the rare instances of a prelate obstinately refusing any further promotion out of pure love to his flock. He was the author of the Minute Philoso- pher, and other works and poems, among them that well known ode, the last stanza of which begins-
" Westward the course of empire takes its way."
When he heard that this town had taken his name he dona- ted a church organ to it and sent it to Newport. But certain of the inhabitants were opposed to instrumental music in churches, and money could not be raised to pay the freight, and there it remained till some persons claimed it in payment of storage. Many years afterwards there were some who would
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not tolerate musical instruments in the choir. When the bass viol first began to be played only in the last singing, Mr. Abner Burt, a prominent man, would rise and, slamming the pew door after him, leave the church, and when asked why he did so, said he would not hear that bull roar. There is no record as alleged that the town voted not to receive Bishop Berkeley's gift for the reason that it was an invention of the devil to catch men's souls.
The first town meeting in Berkley was held May 13th, 1735, at Elkanah Babbitt's house. Gershon Crane was chosen Mod- erator, and Abel Burt, Town Clerk. Joseph Burt, John Paul, Benaiah Babbit, Selectmen. These and other officers, it was voted, should serve without compensation for their labors. Two tithing men were chosen.
At the second town meeting, legally called Oct. 6th, 1735, the town voted to hire a "scholar" to preach in the town a quarter of a year, and fifty pounds were voted to be raised for his support and other purposes, and it was voted to employ no sehoolmaster at present.
At an adjourned meeting, Oct. 20th, 1735, voted to send for Mr. Tobey to come and preach one quarter of a year, and John Burt to take the contribution money towards supplying the scholar, i. e. minister.
Voted to build a meeting house forty feet long and thirty-four feet wide and eighteen feet stud, and that the work of getting timber and building be divided among the inhabitants equally, and each man be allowed four shillings a day, and boys pro- portionally.
At a meeting of the town, Feb., 1735, voted to continue Mr. Tobey in the work of the ministry. Voted to send to the Gen- cral Court requesting them to appoint a committee to come and locate the meeting house ; but thirty-one persons protested against this and it was not done. Aug., 1736, voted to call Mr. Tobey to the work of the ministry, on a salary of one hundred pounds a year, paper money, and two hundred pounds settle- ment. Voted, 1737, to assess £250 to enable Samuel Mirick to finish the meeting house.
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ORGANIZING THE CHURCH.
This was done Nov. 2d, 1737, twenty-one days before the ordination of their pastor, by Rev. Nathaniel Fisher, Rev. Ben- jamin Ruggles, probably of Rochester, and Rev. Thomas Clapp of Taunton, with their delegates, The church consisted of the following members :
Rev. Samuel Tobey, Elkanalr Babbit, Ebenezer Hathaway, Gersham Crane, John French, Ebenezer Philips, John Briggs, Ephraim Allen. Benjamin Leonard, John Hudson, Josiah Bab- bit, Benjamin Babbit, George Babbit, Daniel Axtel, Abigail Burt, Mary Philips, Mary Jones, Hopestill Harvey, Hannah French, Experience Myrick, Hopestill Woods, Elizabeth Hath- away, Merey Babbit, Sarah Briggs, Abigail Babbit, Dorcas Jones, Hopestill Philips, Zippora Allen, Elizabeth Paul, Dor- cas Babbit, Witstill Axtell, Phebe Reed, Jemima Hathaway, Abigail Burt 2d.
These thirty four members had belonged to the church in Digliton and in Taunton. They had been residing for some years in this new settlement, and to enjoy the privileges of publie worship had been in the habit of crossing the river by ferry boat to Dighton, or going five miles to Taunton. "They would now have no such lengths to go to wander far abroad." On the same day were united with the church fifteen more by profession, making the members forty-nine, twenty-five males and twenty-four females.
THE FIRST MINISTER.
Rev. Samuel Tobey was a native of Sandwich, a graduate of Harvard College, 1733, in the twenty-second year of his age. August 3, 1736, the people gave him a call to settle with them, a young man having scarcely finished his preparatory studies for his profession, commencing the duties of it in a new settle- ment, among a farming people scattered over a large territory. But the people required a minister to instruct them and their children. Though their houses are rudely built, the roads rough and unfenced, their fields half broken up and yielding them barely a living, they cannot enjoy the Sabbath or their
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homes without a man of God among them. How welcome he was may be seen by their offering, in their penury, two hundred pounds for his settlement and a hundred for his salary per year. This he accepted upon their adding the contribution which it was usual to take every Sabbath, and stating his salary at twen- ty-six shillings per ounce of silver.
Thus the people determined to give him a liberal support, that he might devote himself to his work for their benefit; set- tled him for life, that he might never wish to change his place, and that he might have time, free from care, to improve in all useful knowledge.
Nov. 23, 1737. The ministers officiating in the ordination services were the following :- Rev. Mr. Billings, Rev. Mr. Fisher of Dighton, Rev. Mr. Fessenden, probably of Sandwich, and Rev. John Wales of Raynham, Mr. Wales offered prayer, Mr. Fessenden preached an excellent sermon from the words in Col. 2:5. "Joying and beholding your order." After which Mr. Billings gave the charge, Mr. Fisher the right hand of fel- lowship, and all was performed, says the brief record, to good acceptance. What a simple but noble beginning was this for the establishing of divine ordinances where a few years before beasts of the wilderness and savages held sway.
Rev. Mr. Tobey was married to Bathsheba Crocker, Sep. 6, 1738, and Oct. 31 they moved into his house, and he writes, " Will God speak well of the house of his servant for a long time to come, and as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." They were blessed with twelve children, some of whom I shall describe further on. The two youngest were twins-Paul and Silas.
The parsonage which he owned stood a little east of the Park, facing the south, two stories in front and one in the rear, the north roof sloping quite low. This was the style of the best houses of that day. President John Adams occupied such an one in Quincy before he was President. Mr. Tobey owned also a farm of twenty-five or thirty acres which was a great help to him and his family. His house was the resort of eleri-
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cal friends, his doors were open to visitors and strangers and his hospitality always manifest and unstinted.
As a preacher, he was not brilliant but grave and honest in declaring what he believed true and essential. I have seen sev . eral who long sat under his preaching. As a " master of assem- blies," he was firm and impartial. Ile was of a full counte- nance and uncommonly engaging in his person and manners. All revered him as a man of eminent abilities and of great common sense and unaffected appearance. The children not only revered but loved him, especially when he came into the schools and talked to them as a father. He seemed to regard all the people not only as his flock but as his children.
The structure of his sermons was formal, according to the manner of ministers of that time, who made many divisions of their subjects and rarely went to the opposite extreme now practiced. His style was open and so plain the unlearned could understand and remember the truths uttered.
In his devotional exercises in the pulpit he was somewhat formal, using nearly the same expressions in many of his prayers. That he was edifying and attractive to the common people is evident from the fact that he was highly esteemed in his deportment and public services for nearly three generations, and the older he grew the more he was valued. Hle usually rode on horseback, and by some accident he fell and was so injured that he lived but a short time after, and died Feb. 13, 1781.
Mr. Tobey was the eighth child of Samuel Tobey and Abia, his wife ; born May 8th, 1715. Samuel was the son of Thomas, and grandson of Thomas Tobey, senior, the first of that name in Sandwich.
In 1784, Rev. Daniel Tomlinson was invited to become the pastor. The town voted to coneur with the church and settle him on £150 salary. In 1785, Rev. Amos Chase was called by the church, and the town conenrred, and offered to build him a two story dwelling house, and give him ES5 a year. Both declined, probably on account of the small salary.
After a vacancy of six years Rev. Thomas Andros was invi-
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ted to preach in this town. April 17, 1787, he came and preached four sabbaths. In June following he came again and tarried four sabbaths more, and received a call to settle, but did not, through distrust of his health, venture to give an answer until Feb., 1788, which he then did in the affirmative. He was ordained 19th March following. "Bishops of the ordaining council" were, Rev. Levi Hart of Preston, Conn., Rev. Dr. Joel Benedict of Plainfield, Conn., Rev: Solomon Morgan of Can- terbury, Ct., Rev. Ephraim Judson, Taunton, and Rev. John Smith, Dighton. Rev. Joel Benedict preached from I.Cor. 4:9.
THE SECOND MINISTER, REV. THOMAS ANDROS,
was a native of Norwich, Conn., born May 1, 1754. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the army of the Revolution, was a soldier and musician more than two years, was captured and contined in the prison ship which lay near Brooklyn, with hun- dreds of others who were treated with great cruelty. By some fortunate incident he escaped to Long Island, travelled on foot the length of it, and then escaped to Connecticut. The perils and sufferings of this imprisonment and escape he has described in a little book entitled " The Old Jersey Captive," which is now out of print, and ought to be republished.
After recovering his health, he devoted himself to study two or three years with Rev. Joel Benedict, in preparation for the ministry. By a happy Providence, he was led to this part of Massachusetts, and was called to the pastorate of the church and society, and was settled on the salary of ESO, which was, perhaps, worth $400, the usual salary of village pastors. But afterwards, as paper money greatly depreciated, it was in- ereased, though a great portion of it was paid in produce at market prices. Under his ministration, the population and church increased. The people, by the war of the Revolution, were much impoverished ; there were no manufactures, except what families carried on for themselves, and farming was al- most the only resort.
Mr. Andros, purchased a house and a few acres near the meeting house, where he lived about twenty years. His first
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wife was Miss Abigail Cutler. of Killingly, Ct. Here she died. leaving him with nine children, the youngest being an infant of a few months. While the funeral services were being performed, the cries of the infant were heard, and melted the large as. sembly to tears. He occupied his pulpit while his wife's re- mains were at his home laid out for burial, and afterwards preached her funeral sermon, which was printed. In due time he looked around to find a mother for his children. To find another to fill the vacant place caused him much anxiety and prayer. He at length married Sophia, third daughter of Cap- tain John Sanford, and Sarah Deane, his wife. From her father, who died before her birth, she inherited a farm situated two miles south from the meeting house, on the Freetown Road. She was of amiable character, attractive figure, and better educated than most women at that day. She proved well qualified for the important station she was to fill.
From this marriage there were born to them eight children, which made a numerous family ; all of them arriving at adult age. Soon after his second marriage, he sold his residence near the meeting house and moved to his wife's farm, the pro- duets of which were of great assistance in the support of his family. The one-story house was raised to two stories. His health, usually feeble, was recruited by morning and evening farm exercise. His children were tanght to be industrious, and were early qualified for active business abroad. Their success I shall describe in this history.
When Mr. Andros first settled in Berkley, he had pursued classical studies only to a limited extent. In a few years he acquired such knowledge of the learned languages and of the general sciences as to enable him to instruct young men in their preparation for college. His clear and comprehensive views of the doctrines of the Gospel were appreciated by neigh- boring pastors and churches. His style in composition, if it had not the polish of later years, showed strong intellectual powers, and a vigor and strength of reasoning scarcely sur- passed by any. He had not only studied the best models, but by his own genius, as if aided by inspiration, he laid open
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the great truths of the Gospel to the apprehension of his hearers.
The influence he exerted, during a ministry of nearly half a century, in raising the standard of education has been acknow- ledged by the people. He spent much time, though without pecuniary reward, in visiting the several schools, examining teachers and addressing the children, who always regarded him with much reverence, and perhaps some fear, for ministers and learned men were not at that day very accessible to the young.
Ilis published discourses were quite numerous ; the funeral sermon on the death of his wife and the " Old Jersey Captive" have been mentioned. He published a sermon on the death of Capt. John Crane, in 1795; one delivered at the funeral of Ilon. Samuel Tobey, in 1823; one on the death of Caleb Hathaway ; one on Prayer, in 1808; one preached before the Association, entitled " The Church Increased by its own Ener- gies." He published, in 1818, a pamphlet in answer to Rev. Noah Worcester's " Bible News," which was republished some time afterwards by Santiel T. Armstrong; another pamphlet against Rev. Jacob Norton, of Weymouth, who wrote against " Human Creeds." He published a small work on "Divine Agency," in 1820, against those who appear to be verging towards fatal- ism ; also four " Discourses on the Prophecies," preached Fast days; and a sermon at the ordination of Rev. Benjamin Whitmore, Tiverton, R. I. Besides these he published a small volume of six sermons, a sermon on Temperance, one on False Philosophy, in 1819, and several controversial pamphlets.
As a speaker or pulpit orator, he was not superior. But as a thinking and reading people consider more what is spoken, than who it is that speaks or in what manner it is spoken, so he attracted his hearers by the weighty things he uttered. His voice was on a high key, and so piercing it would fill the largest auditorim. He usually preached from notes; but when his mind was roused, he could not be confined to them, but spoke in what Dr. Campbell calls the " vehement" manner.
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THE CHARACTER OF HIS PREACHING.
The improvements and modifications in many points of or- thodoxy during the seventeenth century received his approba. tion, and seemed to emanate from his own mind, as may be discovered from his writings, He coincided with the late prin- cipal divines of New England, but adhered, as he often said, to what he called the Doctrines of the Reformation. He never preached that Christ made atonement by his death for the elect only, and not for all mankind; or that justifying faith consists in one's believing that his sins are forgiven, and that he is one of the saved; or that man, in regeneration, is as passive as a child in being born into the world; or that man is unable to repent, or that no mere man, since the fall, is able perfectly to keep the divine commands .. He is remembered never to have believed or preached that the sin of the first man is imputed to all his posterity, and that in him all sinned, and that each brings sin enough into the world to subject him to the loss of heaven. Neither did he preach that Christ's righteousness is made over or transferred to believers, but rather that he teaches us how we may acquire the righteousness which is acceptable by faith and good works. He strenuously enforced that men have the power of choice, are responsible for their moral aets, that no divine ageney operates in men to harden or tempt them to sin, but rather to restrain them from it.
Much of the force of his preaching consisted in the logical order of the main points of his discourse. His thoughts were consecutive, and the force of the argument increased as he pro- ceeded from one point to another. This method, with the plainness of his style, made it easy for every attentive hearer to understand him. The last parts of his discourse were always the most striking, as they were in the direet and not the ob- Tique style, and not made to apply to people anywhere, but to those present before him, Hence, he said, in preparing his discourses, he considered the wants of those to whom they were to be addressed.
He preached once on "Keeping the heart," in which he showed what is meant by it, and by what means it may be
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kept, and when he appeared to have exhausted the subject he said he would add one thing more, that in order to keep the heart we must give it to God, as Hle requires; then, for five minutes, he pressed this duty so carnestly the audience were profoundly silent and attentive, and on going out one said, and he doubtless spoke the feeling of others, he could have sat there till sundown. Though his appearance in the pulpit was far from imposing at the first view, yet his freedom and earnestness soon appeared as he proceeded. He soon sur- mounted all apparent diffidenee. So full of thought and truth were his discourses, that they seemed to take the hearers, in- stead of the hearers taking them. They were elaborated with mneh care, revised, and many words and sentences struck out before he was satisfied with them. Ilis sermons during fifty years were numerous, embracing all the doctrines and duties of religion, His attainments in this long period were continually increasing, and I have heard him say that his early sermons appeared taine and tasteless.
The chief quality of his style was a singular power of thought and appropriate diection, of which he did not seemn con- scions. No subject seemed new to him or difficult to ex- plain, and he seemed to manage all subjects with equal ease. A learned scholar who often called on him said he appeared to have just been investigating the subject of conversation intro- duced. He made difficult subjects so plain and easy that an ordinary preacher might think he could do the same, but in attempting would fail. His sermons had no gloss of embellish- ments, nor any profusion of images, nor melody of periods which might charm an audience. Nor did he seek to add weight to them by learned quotations from popular writers. HIe had not room for them, so great was the flow of weighty thoughts from his own mind.
The plainness of his style was remarkable, for he used pure English, never sought for ornaments or metaphors for their own sake, and when he used comparisons they were brief and not run out into simple parallelisms. He was never known to employ witticisms in his discourses, and nothing that ap-
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proached vulgarity ; nothing that had not the stamp of popular use, or the authority of sound writers; nothing unfamiliar to the common car.
During the latter part of his long ministry, the pulpit had less of a metaphysical character than formerly. Sermons of a controversial kind have been fewer, and greater attention given to Bible studies. Volumes of sermons have been supplanted by a greater number of tracts. Mr. Andros always co-operated with the rising benevolent societies of the day, which have tended greatly to remove the prejudices that formerly kept the evangelical denominations too much apart from each other, ITis charitable spirit got the better of his former distrust of those whom he once regarded as schismatical and heretical.
Though his manner was ungraceful and his pronunciation not always precise, his impassioned earnestness overcame these defects, and enabled him to impress his audience with the emotions which thrilled his own bosom. Thus he shone, not as a star of the first magnitude, but as a luminary imparting ity light to many orbs which shone around him.
As he composed his sermons with rapidity, his handwriting was scarcely legible; but the characteristics of his style were vigor and animation, There was a condensation of thought and terseness of expression which were unabating. Those who attended his preaching understood better than others the pro- gress of his reasoning. His manner of handling subjects was familiar to them. They readily perceived the working of his mind. He never indulged in diffuseness nor in husbanding his subject, as it is called, but went directly into it, and made it Iuminous as he advanced. When he was told of some one who believed he had heard voices or received messages from departed friends, he preached a sermon on the calling up of Samuel by the witch of Endor, in which he refuted the whole theory of communing with spirits, and boldly asserted that no one ever returned from the invisible world but Jesus Christ, and that all statements of receiving messages from departed friends are fallacious.
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