USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > North Middleborough > The history of the Church of North Middleborough, Massachusetts : in six discourses > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8
102
505
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01145 6883
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyofchurcho00emer
4711
THE HISTORY
-OF-
THE CHURCH
-OF-
North Middleborough,
MASSACHUSETTS.
IN SIX DISCOURSES, PREACHED BY ITS ACTING PASTOR,
S. HOPKINS EMERY,
Author of "The Ministry of Taunton."
"Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations." Moses, in Deuteronomy XXXII : 7.
Published by request of the Church and Congregation.
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY CHICAGO
MIDDLEBOROUGH: HARLOW & THATCHER, STEAM BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS. 1876.
1:
1
D 2844635 .3 V Emery, Samuel; Hopkins, 1815-1901.
The history of the church of North Middleborone !. Massachusetts. In six discourses preached by its aet. pastor, S. Hopkins Emery ... Pub. by-request of th. church and congregation. Thatcher, printers, 1876. 106 p. 19€™.
Middleborough, Harlow &
BIELY CANO
1. North Middleboro, Mass. Congregational church. 2. Titicut Pr.
cinct, 'Mass.
3012
6-42561
Library of Congress F74. N83E5
D2844635.3
CORRESPONDENCE.
North Middleborough, Mass. 1st October, 1875.
Rev. S. HOPKINS EMERY :
Dear Sir-At a recent meeting of the Congregational Church and congregation in this place, the undersigned were appoint- ed a committee to request the publication of your historical discourses, recently delivered, and to make all the necessary arrangements for the same.
Yours, very truly,
HOLDEN W. KEITH. ELIJAH E. PERKINS. SOLOMON WHITE.
THE PARSONAGE. North Middleborough, Mass. 5th October, 1875.
DEAR BRETHREN :
Your note is received, acquainting me with the action of the Church and congregation to whom I minister. Please ac- cept and express my thanks for the kind consideration of the people, and inform them that the discourses requested for publication are at their service.
Yours, in the loye of the Gospel we preach, dear to us, we hope, as to our fathers, 1
S. HOPKINS EMERY. Deacons KEITH, PERKINS and WHITE.
3012 20
TO THE CHURCH AND SOCIETY OF THE "JOINING BORDERS OF BRIDGEWATER AND MIDDLEBOROUGH," THIS HISTORY OF THEIR BEGINNING AND GROWTH, AT THEIR REQUEST PUBLISHED, IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED BY THEIR. FRIEND AND PASTOR.
THE HISTORY
OF THE
Church of North Middleborough.
For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children. That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children. That they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep His commandments .- Psalm LXXVIII : 5, 6, 7.
The successive generations of men, as they come and go, are charged with certain grave responsibilities, suggested in the text, which they are not at liberty to ignore or neglect. It is something more than the treasuring up and faithful trans- mission of material wealth, of houses and lands, of silver and gold, and such like perishable substance-the corruptible riches-it is the better birthright of "the law and the testi- mony," which come from God and which stand for what are sometimes called "the oracles of God "-God's teaching and His truth, in whatever form and by whatever messenger He may be pleased to make them known. Alas! We fail to suit- ably realize the solemn trust committed to us. If, by my humble endeavor of to-day, I may quicken the sense of the sacredness of this trust and call to the remembrance of the . men of this generation the work and labor of love of the gen- erations gone before, in all the way the Lord was pleased to lead them, then will my service and ministry of love not have been in vain, in the Lord.
€
6
'CHURCH OF NORTH MIDDLEBOROUGH.
In giving you the history of this Church of Christ, I should regard the account incomplete if I did not take you back to a time prior to any settlement of whites in the town of Mid- dleborough, when the territory was occupied by Indians and was known as Namasket. The Indians were called Namas- cheucks. They led, of course, a somewhat roving life, but selected the most romantic spots, bordering upon the water, as their headquarters; covering them over with little huts, which became, for the time being, their homes. Such settlements were near the ponds in what is now called Lakeville, on the Namasket river, southeast of the First Parish Meeting-house, and in this part of Middleborough, on the Cohannet or Titi- cut, Taunton, river. They occupied the high ground on both sides of the river in Titicut, but the hill this side of the river, west of the church, used to be called an Indian fort, and that part of the river was known as the Old Indian Weir. It was in the summer of 1621, only a few months after the Landing at Plymouth, that "it seemed good " unto the little band of Pilgrims, writes * one of their number, "to send to Massa- soit, the greatest commander amongst the savages, partly to know where to find them, if occasion served, as also to see their strength, discover the country, prevent abuses in their disorderly coming unto us, make satisfaction for some con- ceived injuries supposed to be done on our part, and to con- tinue the league of peace and friendship between them and us." It was Tuesday, the. 10th of June, 1621, about nine o'clock in the morning, when Stephen Hopkins and Edward Winslow started off on their journey, led by a friendly Indian, Tisquantum. About three o'clock they reached the first In- dian settlement in Middleborough on the Namasket river, where they were entertained and fed on "a kind of bread called maizium, the spawn of shads, which were abundant, and boiled musty acorns." Tisquantum told them to go "a few miles further," where they " should find more store and better victuals." "We went and came thither at sunsetting," writes Winslow, "where we found many of the Namascheucks
* Edward Winslow, probably-afterward Governor.
7
WINSLOW AND HOPKINS AT TITICUT.
fishing upon a weir, which they had made on a river, which belonged to them, where they caught abundance of bass. These welcomed us also, and gave us of their fish, and we them of our victuals." This was on the hill west, not far from this church, where they also spent the night. Winslow adds : "The ground is very good on both sides of the river, it being for the most part cleared. Thousands of men have lived there, which died in a great plague not long since, and pity it was and is to see so many goodly fields and so well seated without man to dress and work the same."
At this place six Indians joined Tisquantum as an escort to Winslow and Hopkins, on their way to Mount Hope Bay. After a pleasant visit to Massasoit, spending Wednesday night, Thursday and Thursday night, carly Friday they commenced their return to Plymouth and again spent a night at this place, reaching Plymouth on Saturday, in time to keep the Sabbath. Titicut-variously spelt Teticut, Tettiquet, and Teightaquid- is said to have been a favorite resort for Massasoit, Wamsutta, Philip, and Chikataubut, the last named, chieftain of the Massa- chusetts Indians, and "the greatest Sagamore in the country." His favorite domain at Titicut, comprising as it is termed "three miles on each side of the river," was granted by his son, Josiah Wampatuck, to the Titicut Indians, so called, be- fore August, 1644. The Titicut purchase or plantation was carefully guarded ever after in all grants of lands, 'by tlie General Court, in this part of the Colony. The grantees were instructed not to encroach on the Indian settlement nor to "molest the Indians." Pomponoho, alias Peter, in 1672, 20th November, deeded all the land north of the river, with certain expressed exceptions, to Nicholas Byram, Samuel Edson and William Brett, in behalf of the town of Bridgewater. Pur- chases at different times were effected on the south side of the river of Josiah Wampatuck and Tispacan, the Black Sachem, as he was called, so that by 1669 there were sufficient white settlers to secure an act of incorporation as the town of Mid- dleborough. In all these purchases and grants it was under- stood that the Indians still remaining were not to be molested. There were Indians in Middleborough as in Natick and on.
8
CHURCH OF NORTH MIDDLEBOROUGH.
Martha's Vineyard, and many other places, who, under the teaching of Eliot and other like-minded, good men, had be- «come praying Indians. They were so called. They had felt the good influence of Christianity, and had been organ- ized into Christian churches. There were three such churches in this town at the commencement of the Indian war in 1675, one at Namasket, one at 'Sowampset, one at Titicut-that is, one at each Indian settlement. There were ninety members of the three churches. The names of some of the teachers or preachers of the Indian church in this part of Middleborough have come down to us : Nehemiah, Abel, Thomas Sekins, Thomas Felix and John Symons .* " When I came into the place in 1747," writes Rev. Mr. Backus, "John Symons was the minister of the Indian church and continued so for near ten years," when the In- dians had for the most part disappeared. Their last land was sold in 1760. Beside John Eliot of Roxbury and John Cotton of Plymouth, Richard Bourne of Sandwich was a devoted laborer among the Indians. He used to visit the churches in Middleborough. The first of the seventh month, 1674, he thus writes : +
"There is good hopes of diverse of them. Some of them being lately dead, having given a good testimony of their being in the faith, and so lifting up their souls to Christ as their Saviour and their All in All, as diverse of the well affected English know, and have been present among some of them that departed this life. I was with one of them, the last summer, that had been sick for a long time, and I staid with him near one whole day, and there came from him very heavenly and savory expressions. One passage I will make bold to insert, the which is this : That he, being very sick, not expecting the continuance of his life, told me that his wife did much solicit him to forsake God and live, forasmuch as many that were not praying Indians were not so afflicted as he was. But he, using those words in Job II : 9, 10, gave her this answer: That he would cleave to God, altho' he died, rather than live and forsake Him."
·
I have thought it due to the memory of the aboriginal
* Collections of Mass. Hist. Society. 1st series, Vol. III, p. 148.
t Collections of Mass. Hist. Society. 1st series, Vol. I, p. 196.
9
PETITION FOR A DISTINCT PRECINCT.
1
tribes and first occupants of this soil to take thus much no- tice of them, especially as I shall have occasion to show you hereafter they were not indifferent to the interests of the whites, and bore no mean part in the early history of this church and parish. Tradition locates their place of re- ligious meeting somewhere on Pleasant Street, and not very far from the present centre of the parish. They did not long continue a separate meeting after the whites set up a meeting, but the few of them who were left fell into their meeting, though I am sorry to be obliged to record it con- cerning these early settlers, that that they had a distinct pew, one side, out of the way, high up over the stairs, for the colored people-both Indian and Negro-as was the custom in most places. as if God had not made of one blood all nations ; and the wonder is that any of them ever at- tended church. But such was the usage of the times, and the Negro pew has passed away with many another barba- rism.
It is time to call your attention to the first act, on the part of the white settlers in this place, towards a distinct parish or precinct and a church meeting. The Petition was as follows :
Province of the Massachusetts Bay. To His Excellen- cy, the Governour, the Honourable Council and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, May 25th, 1743. The Memorial of us. the subscribers. inhabitants part of Bridgewater and part of Middleborough, humbly sheweth, That we being voted off from said towns in order for a distinct Township, did at your Session in May last past, petition for the establishment thereof, our petition be- ing lodged in council, as we are informed, and not acted up- on. We do therefore pray that our said petition may be re- vived and that if your Excellency and Honours do not see meet to set us off a Township that you would establish us a distinct Precinct, according to the bounds of the votes of the towns herewith exhibited, that being our present request unto you. That so we may enjoy the Gospel privileges among . ourselves. That so we may worship God, so as to bring a Blessing on ourselves and children. And that your Excellency and Honours would remember and act for us, we, your humble petitioners, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.
I will now read the names of the subscribers to this :
2
10
CHURCH OF NORTH MIDDLEBOROUGH.
.
Petition. Some of you may recognize among them your own ancestry : Benjamin Shaw; Joseph Leach, Henry Rich- mond, Francis Eaton .. William Hooper, Nathaniel Hooper. Amos Keith, Joseph Crossman, David Shaw, Ezra Wash- burn. Daniel Casewall, Nehemiah Washburn, Joshua Fobes. Benjamin Washburn, William Bryant, Benjamin Leach. Jr., Ebenezer Shaw, Joseph Harvey, Samuel Keith, Jr., Jabez Cowins, William Aldrich, Israel Washburn, Timothy Leach, David Casewall, Abiezer Edson, Joshua Fobes, Jr., Solomon Perkins, Henry Washburn, Benjamin Washburn, John Keith, Jr., Simeon Leonard, Timothy Bryant, Nehemiah Bryant, James Keith, Samuel Thurston, Lemuel Bryant. " "Thirty-seven," they say, "in all," but I fail to make more than thirty-six. Of these, six bear the name of Washburn ; four that of Bryant, and four that of Keith; three that of Leach, and three that of Shaw; two that of Hooper, Case- wall and Fobes. each-twenty-six; ten others, Richmond, Eaton, Crossman, Harvey, Cowins, Aldrich, Edson. Per- kins, Leonard, Thurston, occur but once. I dwell upon these names with some partienlarity. for doubtless among them and their families are to be found the original members of this Church, of which, singularly enough, no record * has come down to us. The Petition of these thirty-six per- sons was granted. They were set off by the General Court as a distinct precinct or parish. 25th February, 1743, O. S., t and held their first meeting for business on Wednesday, the 21st day of March, 1743 or '44, at ten o'clock in the morn- ing, at the dwelling-house of Nehemiah Washburn, in Bridgewater. He was appointed moderator of the meeting
* Since preaching this discourse the record has been found, and of the ten foundation male members in the Church three names are found here, Joseph Harvey, William Hooper and Israel Washburn.
tO. S .- The Old Style in the New England Calendar continued till by act of Parliament in 1752, it was changed in New as well as Old England. Till then the year began the 25th of March. So that events which transpired between the 1st of January and the 25th of March are in one or another year, according as you reckon in the Old or New Style. This will explain the apparent discrepancy of dates in the Petition to General Court, dated May 25, 1743, and the answer to the Petition, the 25th of February, 1743. It was the February following May, and according to the old calendar the same year, but 1744 we should call it now.
PRECINCT VOTES CONCERNING PREACHING. 11
and afterward treasurer for the precinct. Amos Keith was appointed clerk. There were also assessors, collectors and precinct committee appointed. They were not yet. pre- pared to " hire preaching," so.the records say. "The 25th day of Jannary. 1744, the precinct voted to raise fifteen [i.e., pounds ] old tenor. by way of tax. for the support of the minister." The regular precinct meeting was held on the 7th of March, 1744, at the house of Abiezer Edson, when officers were chosen. "The 4th of February, 1745, thirty pounds old tenor " were voted for preaching. At the regu- lar meeting, 31st of March, officers were chosen. Voted. "to have preaching, and to have Mr. Tucker to preach if he may be obtained, and that Abiezer Edson shall board him." This is the first recorded vote as to preaching and a preach- er. It is not likely that Mr. Tucker could " be obtained." Nothing more is heard of him. Indeed, in 1746 we find them still at work trying "to gather the forty-five pounds old tenor, formerly voted." And yet they had occasional preaching and supplies during these years. Beside Mr. Tucker we learn the name of Eliab Byram,* who preached in this place about fourteen months, with great success. in 1741-42, and the people were hoping to secure him as their minister, but before the act of incorporation was obtained. setting them off as a separate parish, he had gone to New Jersey and was there settled. After him. Silas Brett,. Solo- mon Reed-who afterwards became their pastor-and John Wadsworth preached. but without making any permanent arrangement. Indeed. so far as we can learn from any record, there was as yet no place other than a dwelling- "house, or possibly a school-house, in which to hold meet- ings. In 1747, the 29th of March, the annual meeting being held at the house of James Keith, it was voted, " to provide materials to enclose and cover the meeting-house"; also. "to see if an answer has been made to a Petition presented to the Great and General Court for the confirmation of a grant of lands given to the precinct by the Indians." The
* Life and Times of Isaac Backus, by Prof. Hovey, p. 68.
12
CHURCH OF NORTH MIDDLEBOROUGH.
subject of a meeting-house had been agitated the preceding year, and it seems that "Indians"-we conclude some of the "praying Indians"-had already "given lands," al- though all the steps had not been taken or confirmed, which would make the title to them certain. I have taken consid- erable pains to learn the exact facts concerning these gifts of the Indians to this Precinct. having made a journey to Plymouth to examine the records there for this purpose. I found the recorded deeds of three Indians, who about the same time donated lands to this parish. I made an exact copy of each deed, and it may be of interest to this people to listen to the reading of one of them :
Know all men by these Presents, that I, James Thomas, of Titicut, in the Township of Middleborough, in the County of Plymouth, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England, Indian man, yeoman, minding to encourage the interest and prosperity of Titicut Precinct, (so called,) which consists partly of said Middleborough and partly of Bridgewater, in said County, by giving a certain piece of land to said Precinct for a Meeting House to stand on, for a Burying Place, and for a Training Field, and having ob- tained liberty and power of the Great and General Court of said Province therefor, have therefore, by virtue of said power and by the consent and advice of my Guardians here- to testified, given and granted, and by these presents do fully. freely, clearly and absolutely give and grant unto the inhabitants of said Precinct, forever, Five acres of land in said Titicut, whereon the Meeting House now stands, bounded as followeth: Beginning at a stake and stones, about eight or nine rods from the northwest corner of said meeting house, from thence running south seventeen de- grees east, forty-five rods to a stake and stones near a white oak tree, marked ; from thence east seventeen degrees north, eighteen rods to a stake and stones, and from thence north seventeen degrees
Awest, forty-five rods to a stake and stones; from thence west seventeen degrees south, to the bounds first mentioned, together with all the privileges and appurtenances thereof. To have and to hold unto the said inhabitants as free inheri- tance in fee simple for the uses aforesaid, forever, free and clear from me, my heirs, executors and administrators ..
. In witness whereof, I, the said James Thomas; have hereunto set my hand and seal, this fifteenth day of August, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and fifty, and in the twenty-fourth year of His Majesty's Reign.
DONATIONS FROM INDIANS TO PRECINCT. 13
Memorandum .- The interlining between the twenty-first and twenty-second lines was made before signing and seal- ing, &c.
JAMES THOMAS .. [Seal.]
Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of EDWARD RICHMOND. JAMES KEITH.
The Guardians aforesaid, in testimony of their advice and consent to the above granted premises by the said James Thomas to said Precinct, have hereunto subscribed their names.
JOHN CUSHING. JOSIAH EDSON, Jr.
Plymouth, ss .- June 27, 1754.
The above named James Thomas personally appeared and acknowledged the foregoing instrument to be his act and deed. Before me,
And Recorded-
JOSIAH EDSON, Jr., Just. Pacis. Per JOHN COTTON, Register.
Received May 17, 1757.
This deed was copied from Plymouth Registry of Deeds No. 44, pp. 98 and 99.
The other two deeds are in the exact terms of the one read, only the one * from Job Ahanton, which donates fif- teen acres, declares it to be "for the use of such a Gospel ministry as is established by the laws of this Province, minding to encourage the settlement of a Gospel ministry," and these acres are carefully bounded and described. Also, Stephen David donates eighteen acres and three-quarters, in lieu of fifteen acres before pledged, and which it is more convenient to retain, but these donated acres are expressly declared to be "for the encouragement of settling and main- taining the Gospel ministry in said precinct, agreeable to the good laws of this Province established," and so the
* The original of this deed has come to light. I had the pleasure of ex- hibiting it to the people on the delivery of a subsequent discourse. It is in the keeping of Mrs. Williams Keith, having come down to her from her father, Mr. Ebenezer Shaw. The land was given in 1750, but the deed was not acknowledged and recorded till 1757.
14
CHURCHI OF NORTH MIDDLEBOROUGHI.
acres are carefully bounded and described. I learn from one of our oldest men, Mr. Joshua Fobes, a member of this Church, that one, at least, of these three Indians lies buried in your village cemetery. He remembers that the spot was once pointed out to him. He also remembers, when a boy, to have seen this Indian at his father's house. I refer to James Thomas, the one who donated the land-five acres- a part of which is occupied by the meeting house and the parsonage, a part used as a burial place, and a part as this beautiful open space in the centre of the village, so useful and ornamental, called in the deed of the land a "Training Field." I am sure it needs only to be suggested as a thing most suitable and proper, and there are some who hear me who will consider it a privilege to contribute toward a me- morial stone * of some kind, either in the burial ground or
* I have been requested to prepare an inscription for such a stone, and there is no doubt'in due time it will be erected, "sacred to the memory" of these friendly Indians. In anticipation of such an event Mrs. Eleanor S. Deane of Taunton has kindly written, at my request, the following verses, which I am permitted to publish :
ON THE OCCASION OF ERECTING A MONUMENT TO THE THREE INDIANS.
Three hundred years ago the soil we tread- The pleasant field, the orchard, meadow, street, This place wherein we lay our honored dead, Was trodden only by the red men's feet.
Here rose their villages among the trees; In sunny hollows here their councils met ; . And, noiselessly as steals the evening breeze, Their swift canoes shot down the Tetiquet.
No wrong forgave they, no good deed forgot- This, between man and man, their simple code; While, with forgotten, cruel rites, they sought To win the favor of an unknown God.
Then, rumors reached them of another race, Rearing strange piles for homes, wherein to dwell; Few, fearless and yet friendly, pale of face, And using speech their wise ones could not tell.
And they were visited by two of these, Pausing among them at the eventide, Who with them ate, and smoked the pipe of peace, And at the dawn passed onward with their guide.
And they became, as their slow years went by, Familiar with the white men and their speech ; Ileeded their counsel given, and willingly Listened to one who came of God to teach.
MEMORIAL STONE TO THREE INDIANS.
on the public green, which shall record the names of these three Indians-James Thomas, Job Ahanton and Stephen David-who together contributed thirty-eight and three- quarters acres of land to this parish in the very beginning of its existence; which land includes the present site of this sanctuary, the location of the parsonage, the public green, and the still more sacred ground where rest your dead .. The grant of these lands must have been made several years before it was confirmed by the General Court. or made a matter of record as I have read to you. The frame of a meeting house, or of some building deemed suitable for a meeting house, appears to have been in existence . near the house of Mr. Abraham Barden," which the proprietors. for a consideration, quit claim to Benjamin White of Middlebo- rough and Benjamin Washburn of Bridgewater, a commit- tee chosen to act in behalf of the precinct. This probably is the frame, which, removed to about the present site of the church edifice, in 1747 " it was voted to enclose and cover." When enclosed and covered it still remained unpainted. It had no spire. no tower, no bell. no place for a bell. It was
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.