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AHA BARUM A DOUALA.
A MEMORIAL HISTORY
OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH Watertown, Massachusetts
1830 - 193
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Gc 974.402 W31n 1925512
M. L
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
1
1
LABS.
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00084 6110
A MEMORIAL HISTORY of the FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
REV. JAMES E. NORCROSS Historian
A MEMORIAL HISTORY
of the
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS
1830 -1930
By REV. JAMES E. NORCROSS one of her sons
HAMPSHIRE PRESS CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
CONTENTS
I. Watertown at the Dawn of the Nineteenth Century.
II. The Birth of the Church.
III. The Early Prophets.
IV. One Hundred Years of Music.
V. The Later Prophets.
VI. The Contribution of the Church to the Cen- tury.
VII. Some Moulders of Life in the Century.
VIII. The Church Facing the Future.
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INTRODUCTION
It is of more than passing interest that the One Hundredth Anniversary of the organization of the First Baptist Church of Watertown should coincide in time with the Tercentenary of the founding of the town. The First Parish Church was instituted very early in the history of the settlement under a covenant still preserved, and has continued as an organization until this day. For two hundred years, it held high the banner of evangelical Christianity. When, in the course of events it laid that banner down, the First Baptist Church was organized to lift again the symbol of the older faith, which it believed to be the hope of the world. How the church then founded has carried on, and how it has maintained the principles of its founders, is brilliantly set out in this memorial history. In the Chapter on Contributions to the Century, the author has given brief but unique biographical sketches of those who, nurtured in the First Baptist Church of Watertown, have attained some eminence in their various walks of life. But he has omitted from the number one who should be in the very first rank. Those who know him well know that he just could not say much about himself. It would be contrary to his nature, his training and his life. Nevertheless, he belongs in the midst of the people and of the events he describes for he was a part of them.
James Edward Norcross was born in Watertown, and was the son of James Henry and Elizabeth (Bon- ney) Norcross, who, for many years, were residents of the town. The writer remembers them well, for, when as a boy in 1870, he joined the Baptist Sunday School, James H. Norcross was the teacher of the class to which he was assigned. Truly, to both of these sainted
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persons the Bible was indeed the Word of God and the rule of life. There was no one round about more familiar with the scriptures, or who could use them more readily and aptly than Elizabeth Norcross.
James E. Norcross attended the public schools of Watertown, graduating from the High School with honor. He immediately entered business, and for half a score of years was attached to one of the large whole- sale houses of Boston, and represented the firm in sev- eral states. But business did not satisfy a man of his principles, background and energy. Other work of a higher kind irresistibly called him. He became, first, a secretary of the Y. M. C. A. with success, and was soon called to be assistant to Rev. Edward A. Capen, pastor of his home church, a prophet with honor among his neighbors and friends. Mr. Capen alluding to his assistant, said that the prominent quality in his makeup was enthusiasm, and his enthusiasm has never waned in the work of his life. He attacked the prepara- tion of this book with the full enthusiasm of his youth.
During this period, he studied at Newton Theologi- cal Institution, graduating in 1897. While there, he aided in the formation of the Waverly Baptist Church and preached at the Mount Auburn Mission, which, later became the Belmont Street Baptist Church. From 1897 to 1929, he served in five Baptist Churches in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and, for some time, was acting pastor of a Congregational Church in Lawrence. In all of these churches, he was successful, both as a preacher and pastor.
Mr. Norcross also served the Baptist denomination for twelve years as district secretary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, district secretary of the American Baptist Publication Society, and field secre- tary of the General Board of Promotion.
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As a member of the Mountaineers of Seattle, the Adirondack Club of New York and the Appalachian Club of Boston he has shown a keen interest in outdoor life and has a long list of ascents of peaks in the Sierra, Rocky and Appalachian ranges of mountains.
In 1888 he was married to Mary Ella Sherman of Watertown, who has proved an indefatigable partner, in every test and triumph and will share in the well- earned rest. Their only daughter, Mildred, is instruc- tor in the Department of Speech, Mt. Holyoke Col- lege, her alma mater.
Their only son, Arthur, a lad of rare promise, died in 1902, but "though dead yet speaks". As a beautiful tribute to his memory Mr. and Mrs. Norcross have contributed to the college expenses of sixteen students in the parishes they have served. Law - medicine - pedagogy - business and the ministry have thus been enriched by consecrated investment in promising youth.
By vote of the Trinity Baptist Church of Arlington, his last pastorate, Mr. Norcross was made pastor emer- itus, the duties of which position he performs with earnestness and great discretion.
Another characteristic of Mr. Norcross is his love of friends. During the many years of his business and his ministerial life, he has made hundreds of friends; he has never lost one.
Now, in these later years, he has come back to Watertown, the home of his ancestors, and the place of his nativity, and settled among his old friends and many new neighbors, for his home is beautifully situated in one of the newer parts of the town. A long and happy evening to the life of him and his beloved wife is the wish of everyone.
FRED E. CRAWFORD, Chairman, Tercentenary Committee of Watertown.
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To the Men and Women Whose Courage, Cooperation, and Con- secration Made Effective the Min- istry of One Hundred Years, This Book is Affectionately Dedicated.
PREFACE
"It is a sublime declaration of the Sacred Scriptures that: The righteous shall be had in everlasting re- membrance. Earth, it is true, loses their memory, but heaven retains it. Their sepulchres may become unknown. The letters on their headstones may be obliterated by the hand of time. Their names may pass into oblivion among men. But on the "hills of im- mortality" they are known, and loved, and talked of, and the history of God's dealings towards them is cele- brated with ever fresh delight.
"It becomes us, however, to preserve on earth, as far as possible, the memory of those whom God loves. The example of their piety, faith, and patience, their labors and their zeal, is a precious legacy, worthy of a lively and a lasting remembrance."
Where could we find better language in which to de- scribe the "raison d'etre" of this Centennial Volume?
They are the thought-provoking sentences with which Rev. S. F. Smith, D.D., author of America, be- gins the life story of Rev. Joseph Grafton, his honored and revered predecessor in the pastoral leadership of an historic church. Joseph Grafton and Samuel Smith knew intimately, loved devotedly and helped in many ways the early Baptists of Watertown. In a large sense the church on the bank of the Charles is the foster child of the church near Newton Hill.
As legatees of a goodly heritage we have sought to collect and combine facts that will arrest forgetfulness ; to revive and reanimate incidents that time and space have removed from our sight. To challenge modern
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devotion by listing the names, virtues, and achieve- ments of the founders and promoters of the First Bap- tist Church in this historic town.
THEY DESERVE SPECIAL IMMORTALITY.
It is our earnest hope that each new generation of worshippers will review the story with perennial in- terest and will thank God afresh for the noble souls, who: "Through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises and out of weakness were made strong."
It is gratifying that our own One Hundredth Anni- versary celebration, synchronizes with the Tercenten- ary observance of the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
JAMES EDWARD NORCROSS.
Standish Road, Watertown, Mass.
February, 1930.
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AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The historian records his deep indebtedness to all who have aided in the conscious and unconscious preparation of this Memorial Volume.
To Newton Theological Library for the loan of biog- raphy and pamphlets and for historical data.
To the New England Baptist Library for the gener- ous use of records entrusted to its care.
To the Office of the Town Clerk, Watertown, for kindly assistance in the verification of important dates.
To Herbert F. Bent and Fred E. Crawford for their guiding historical sketches prepared for previous an- niversaries.
To former members of the church, residing in other states, for their enriching correspondence and expres- sions of good will.
To Mr. E. Kingsbury Bacon, the Church Clerk, for the loan of valuable written records covering one hun- dred years of church activity and for calendars, pro- grams and clippings announcing Red Letter events.
To the Special Committee of the Men's Class whose underwriting, promotion and publication make pos- sible the placing of a treasure trove of historic informa- tion within inspirational reach of Twentieth Century Baptists and Friends.
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CHAPTER I
Watertown at the Dawn of the Nineteenth Century
T HE Nineteenth Century had just made its formal bow to our Western Republic when, in 1801, Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, was inaugurated Third President of these United States. Some outstanding facts of the twenty-five years that follow will furnish an interesting background for the story of Baptist beginnings in Watertown.
THE YOUNG REPUBLIC WAS LIMITED IN POPULATION
The second census, taken in 1800, showed a popu- lation of but 5,308,483, one-fifth of whom were negroes. The center of this population was just west of Balti- more, Maryland. 97.1% of the people lived in the country, and there were only six cities of 8,000 inhabi- tants. The principal commercial centers were Phila- delphia, 31,000; New York, 23,000; Boston, 15,000, and Baltimore 13,000 - none of them as large as the present town of Watertown.
THE PERPETUITY OF THE YOUNG REPUBLIC WAS IN THE BALANCE
There were many intelligent people, both in Europe and America, who doubted whether the Federal Union could survive its early tests. In pregnant phrases, Daniel Webster described this period as marked by: "Disordered finance, prostrate commerce and ruined credit."
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A Memorial History of the
THE YOUNG REPUBLIC WAS HARASSED BY FURTHER WAR.
The Surrender of Cornwallis in 1781 and the "Treaty of Peace," at Paris, in 1783, did not usher in permanent good will - there were too many foes with- out and within. In 1798 we faced open hostilities with France. 1801 found America at war with Tripoli and the Barbary States. In 1812 we turned our guns against England on sea and land and our frontiers were rimmed with the smoke of battle.
English warships kept our seaboard in a state of terror and English forces finally entered Washington and burned the Capitol and most of the Public Build- ings. It was during this double attack on Washing- ton and Baltimore that Francis Scott Key wrote the "Star-Spangled Banner."
Conflicts with the Creeks in Alabama in 1814, and the Seminoles in Florida in 1818, added their deso- lating total of misery and distress to the national cup of woe.
The War of 1812 has fitly been called the "Second War for Independence." In the Revolution Americans fought for independence of England; in the War of 1812 they fought for independence of Europe.
THE YOUNG REPUBLIC WAS HAMPERED BY SLOW COMMUNICATION.
There were no railroads when the Nineteenth Cen- tury dawned. The Stage Coach was the mode of travel on long and short hauls and the Boston Direc- tory gave two and one-half pages to a list of these
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Watertown Baptist Church
horse-drawn vehicles. In 1807 Robert Fulton suc- ceeded in applying steam to boats as a motive power, to the wonder and profit of the travelling public. The Erie Canal, in 1825, reduced the cost of transportation. Before the canal was in use, ten dollars was paid for carrying, by wagon, a barrel of flour from Buffalo to Albany. By canal-boat the expense was reduced to thirty cents per barrel. In 1828 the first passenger rail- road in the United States was begun at Baltimore. It extended westward about thirteen miles and its cars were at first drawn by horses. The electric telegraph did not come into practical use until 1844, and the historian was a shipping clerk in a Boston Store when the telephone first became man's warmest friend.
Because of slow communication the bloodiest battle of the war with England was fought, the battle of New Orleans. In this conflict the British lost twenty-six hundred men killed and wounded, one-fifth of its army.
Because there was no rapid way of sending messages, this battle was fought two weeks after the Treaty of Peace had been signed by England and the United States.
Local conditions during this national period of un- certainty and change show sympathetic reactions. The population of Watertown in 1800 was not so large as the present accredited parish of the First Baptist Church. The area of the town had not been pruned by legislative enactment and its western boundary ex- tended to the Concord line.
Located on the banks of a navigable river and along the line of direct travel between Boston and sections west, the town was favored with a large degree of pros-
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A Memorial History of the
perity. "The river abounded in fish and the seine was drawn daily by Tom Trull, a fat fisherman, who paid the town for the exclusive privilege and reaped a good income for himself." The Spring Hotel, still stand- ing, and other lesser taverns furnished food and lodg- ings for travellers and an abundant supply of old- fashioned stimulants, including Medford rum.
The local stage charged two and three pence from Watertown to Boston and those who chose to walk paid toll on crossing the bridge to the city.
According to reliable records: "It was not an un- usual thing for the young people to perform the early housework, do the Monday washing, walk to Boston, do their shopping, walk home in the afternoon, take in the clothes and get ready for Tuesday's ironing.
The town had one school, one dry goods store, two West India goods and grocery stores, one tobacco store, one paint store [not a Beauty Shoppe], one grain store, one colored barber shop, one wheelwright shop, one fish market, one paper mill, one planing mill, one grist mill and one sash factory.
Most of these buildings were grouped along Main and Pleasant Streets and about the old town pump.
This village asset with its much used handle and generous trough was an ever-inviting spectacle for man and beast.
Ox teams of one, two and three pairs were seen daily on our streets hauling wood, grain, etc., to market.
The only church of the village was located on the present site of the Common Street Cemetery. Here for two hundred years it upheld the strict orthodox
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Watertown Baptist Church
faith; but, with the dawn of the Third Century of town life, it was drifting rapidly toward the Unitarian view of truth.
Religious life and thought were given large consid- eration by the business men of those early days. The preacher with his white stock and tie was revered as the leader in shaping the mental, moral and spiritual tone of the community and was received on the street with old-time courtesy.
The other professional men, two doctors and one lawyer, were always busy, while one apothecary, one constable, and a part-time undertaker responded to emergency calls and ministered to the sombre and tragic sides of life.
Books and magazines were in little demand as the people had scant leisure for reading.
Boston papers appeared only occasionally; the cur- few bell was more welcome than late news dispatches.
Money was scarce and its channels of circulation were circumscribed. A man was rich who was worth ten thousand dollars. Millionaires dwelt only in dream- land.
Labor was honorable; idleness was a sin; wages and hours of labor were not collectively controlled. In the field of daily activity every man was a law unto himself and prospered accordingly and only shirkers were tripped and tagged by the devil.
As in many other towns the grist mill was then a center of civic activities as it became fifty years later a center of political effort.
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A Memorial History of the
Men came with their grist to the mill and while the grain was being ground, or perchance their horses or oxen shod, there was an opportunity to talk over af- fairs of public interest.
At such times Josiah Stone, John Coolidge, George Lawton and others met at the store of Jesse Wheeler and discussed the trend away from evangelical faith, the growth of the little Sunday School started in 1827, and the need of a church home for themselves and families nearer than Newton Centre and what is now Central Square, Cambridge.
It has been said that: "Achievements are born of visions; visions are born of the Spirit of God; a man to be spiritual must be practical."
So, in time, these devoted Baptists, dominated by a superb ideal, decided to change an intangible dream into a vivid reality.
In November, 1829, eight months before a church was formed, John Coolidge purchased of Isaac Patten the greater portion of the lot upon which the first meeting house was afterwards built.
This deed contained a restriction that no building should be placed upon the grantor's adjoining land within twenty feet of the dividing line, "this restriction to cease when the granted premises ceased to be oc- cupied for a meeting house," showing clearly the pur- pose for which the land was to be used.
In March, 1830, the balance of the land was pur- chased from the trustees of the Ministerial Fund.
The lot then had a frontage on Mt. Auburn Street, extending from Patten's land, later the railroad, to
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THE DART STUDIO
THE PRESENT EDIFICE, ERECTED 1900
Watertown Baptist Church
within twelve feet of the "brick school house," later taken down - about two hundred and twenty feet. On Summer Street, from the brick school house to the brook; on Spring Street, from Patten's land to land late of Bent, about thirty feet; and on what is now the railroad about two hundred and sixty feet."
The first church building was begun immediately. John Coolidge, with his men and ox teams, drew the stone for the foundations. Others gave freely of their labor and largely of their substance.
The work progressed during the spring and summer oi 1830 and when, in God's fullness of time, a Baptist church was formally constituted, the living faith of these devoted, grist mill visionaries had laid upon God's altar a white meeting-house, ready for public dedication, in this ancient village by the River Charles.
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CHAPTER II The Birth of the Church
GREAT BEGINNINGS ARE ALWAYS HAPPENING.
I N the year 1000 A. D., Leif the Lucky, son of Eric the Red, with a crew of Norse Vik- ings, sailed across the stormy Atlantic and founded the city of Norumbega in the Land of Vines. This was the first recorded discovery of America.
According to Prof. Horsford, the site of Norumbega was on the River Charles, at Watertown, and we have read a tablet bearing the inscription : "Site of the old Norse City of Norumbega."
On the concrete bridge at Watertown are two tab- lets and these are the legends they bear: "This river called the Massachusetts by Captain John Smith, A. D. 1614, was named the Charles by Prince Charles, A. D. 1618." "A bridge crossed near here as early as A. D. 1641. Here, by the mill, bridges were built A. D. 1647, 1667, and 1719."
Watertown was settled A. D., 1630, an historic be- ginning. From A. D., 1630, Watertown had but a single church and for the first two centuries it held high the evangelical faith in this community. The char- acter of the early settlers and residents, speaks volumes for their village cooperation and religious training.
In the Wars of Independence from the Mother Country and Independence from European domina- tion A. D., 1775 - 1815, religion as well as government was compelled to pass through a crucible of national unrest and reconstruction. In that testing period both
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organization and creed underwent radical reactions. The parish was separated from the town; the church from the state; while a quarter of a century of warm, religious discussion and debate led to this dramatic decision : The church that had shaped the religious life of two centuries voted to place itself in the ranks of the great Unitarian denomination.
But this decision, as subsequent history has so clearly revealed, did not usher in the millenium for reorgan- ized christianity in Watertown. Neither did it change the attitude of those to whom evangelical truth was a trust to be kept inviolate.
In the old church, and out of it, there were those who clung steadfastly to the belief that Jesus Christ is a person and not a picture, a moving force in the world and not an historic memory. Among them were some who were already Baptists, and others, evangelical in belief, who were quite ready to join in any movement to the end that evangelical faith might be preserved and promoted in town.
This called for another beginning and it is a matter of honest pride that when the old First Church laid down its two century trust, we, in the Providence of God, were the ones to take it up.
This volume is a moving picture recital of our Evan- gelical Experiment.
In the summer and fall of 1827, within a stone's cast of the bridge and its tablets, another great begin- ning was inaugurated.
The Misses Eliza Tucker, Martha Tucker and Eunice Brigham, who lived near Main Street, Water-
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A Memorial History of the
town, and who were regular attendants upon the preaching of Rev. Joseph Grafton at Newton Centre, united in gathering together some of the children of the village, on the Lord's Day, to teach them passages of Scripture and to encourage them to observe properly the day set apart for rest.
Miss Brigham was a teacher in the town school, a woman of marked character and ability: her two asso- ciates were members of that sturdy Tucker family whose christian piety and uprightness of living were a religious asset of the town.
The adventure of this devoted trio prospered from the start and, in the following year, 1828, a Baptist Sunday School was organized, the Newton Theologi- cal Seminary promising assistance with its students.
Josiah Lawrence and William Hague, who after- wards became a distinguished Baptist author, educator and divine, were elected joint superintendents.
Josiah Stone, Mr. and Mrs. Elijah Pratt, Eliza and Martha Tucker, Eunice Brigham and Eveline A. Wheeler [afterwards Mrs. Luther Bent] were ap- pointed teachers. Including officers and teachers, the school numbered about thirty-five, a leaven whose in- fluence was soon felt. The sessions were held in an up- stairs room of an old building, corner of Main and Galen Streets. This building, with others, was de- stroyed by the town in order to make possible the pres- ent, artistic civic centre of which Watertown is justly proud.
The school met at eight-thirty in the morning and closed at nine-thirty so as to allow the teachers and
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others to walk the three and one-half miles to attend morning worship in Father Grafton's church at New- ton Centre. Luncheon was carried and all remained over the noon hour to attend the afternoon service. A second walk of three and one-half miles brought them home to the Evening Preaching Service in Sunday School hall, led by a professor and students from New- ton.
Twentieth Century Baptists may smile at the full Sunday program of our early Baptist fathers, but the weekly walks, lunches, sermons and fellowship seem to have issued in history worth recording. It has been aptly remarked: "Who shall say that the walk to Emmaus was not duplicated weekly in the walks to the old church at Newton Centre?"
The Sunday School text books were the Bible and Catechism, with a few notes and lesson helps, and the Sunday School Library consisted of Pilgrim's Prog- ress, Baxter's Saints' Rest, Fox's Book of Martyrs, and the Works of Wilberforce. The teaching was doc- trinal as well as emotional in those early days and, as the Baptists were very pronounced in their faith, there were no lapses in its propagation.
The growth and influence of this Sunday School fin- ally alarmed some who were antagonistic to Baptist doctrine and, one Lord's Day morning, the owner of the building refused the teachers and scholars admit- tance to the room. But, "God was keeping watch above His own." Elijah and Mrs. Pratt, ever friends in need, opened their home, at the corner of Spring and Summer Streets, for the sessions of the school, but the quarters proved too small for the growing enterprise.
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