USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Leicester > Brief history of Leicester, Massachusetts > Part 6
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CHRIST CHURCH, ROCHDALE .- The fiftieth anni- versary of Christ Church in Rochdale was celebrated July 4, 1873. The sermon of the rector, Rev. B. F. Cooley, preached on that occasion, gives the history of the church to that date. " Divine service, accord- ing to the Liturgy of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was performed for the first time in Leicester, Mass., and for the first time, it is believed. in Wor- cester County, on the sixth day of July, 1823." The
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church owed its origin to Mrs. Ann Wilby, an Eng- lish lady who came to Leicester in 1822. She was buried under her pew in the church in 1826. Her family, with that of Mr. James Anderton, were the only Episcopalians in town. Services were for some time held in the hall of Hezekiah Stone's tavern.
The church building was erected in 1824, first oc- cupied on Easter Sunday, April 18, and consecrated May 26 by Right Rev. Alexander V. Griswold, D.D. Rev. Joseph Muenscher, D.D., became minister of the parish March 14, 1824. He resigned the cure March 10, 1827. He was also the village school- teacher. He was born in Providence, R. I., Decem- ber 21, 1798, and graduated from Brown University in 1821, and Andover Theological Seminary in 1825. His marriage to Ruth, daughter of Joseph Wash- burn, was the first solemnized in a church, according to the Episcopal form, in Worcester County. Among the positions afterwards held by him was that of Pro- fessor of Sacred Literature, and later, Instructor in Hebrew in the Episcopal Theological Seminary, Gambier, Ohio. He was succeeded by Rev. Wil- liam Horton, D.D. Rev. Lot Jones became rec- tor in June, 1827. Ile was afterwards rector of the Church of the Epiphany in New York. He died in Philadelphia in 1865, while in attendauce upon the General Convention, in consequence of a fall upon the steps of St. Luke's Church. Rev. C. Millett became minister in 1833. He was afterwards rector of the parish in Beloit, Wis. In August, 1834, Rev. Henry Blackaller became rector. He resigned in the spring of 1838. He died June 21, 1862, at the age of sixty-nine. Rev. Eleazer A. Greenleaf im- mediately succeeded him, remaining one year. Rev. John T. Sabine was minister one year, beginning in 1839. He died March 15, 1851, aged sixty-one. Rev. William Withington became minister in February, 1840, and remained one year. He was succeeded for one year by Rev. Fernando C. Putnam. From 1842 to 1844 the church had no rector, but was under the missionary charge of Rev. Orange Clark, D.D., who also ministered to the churches in Hopkinton and Montague. This was a period of great depression, but the church was " saved from utter ruiu by the occasional missionary services of Dr. Clark and a few staunch churchmen on the spot." Rev. James L. Scott became minister in October, 1845, being or- dained to the deaconate and priesthood here, after acting as lay reader for nearly fourteen months. He retired in April, 1849. Rev. J. Hill Rowse was rector from June 10, 1849, until his death, July, 1870. Dur- ing his absence of three years as chaplain in the army, Rev. William B. Colburn and Rev. R. S. Paine officiated.
Rev. B. F. Cooley, his successor, resigned October 1, 1875. Rev. S. R. Bailey followed in the autumn of the same year, and retired October 1, 1879. Rev. Thomas W. Nickerson came to the church February 8, 1880, and is still its minister, his rectorship being
the longest in the history of the church, with the cx- ception of that of Rev. Mr. Rowse.
Rev. Mr. Rowse was chaplain in the Foster Gen- eral Hospital, in Newbern, N. C. He was in that city in September, 1864, when it was visited with yellow fever. Says Captain J. W. Denny, then in command of the Twenty-fifth Regiment, "We met Chaplain Rowsc, a faithful, earnest chaplain among the soldiers; he looked worn out. Ile said he had buried thirteen soldiers that forenoon, and as many waited his offices. We said to him, 'Chaplain, yon are not able to do this work ; you look worn out, and ought to leave immediately in order to save your own life.' 'No,' replied the chaplain, 'I am sick and weary. Some one may be called upon to bury me next, but I must not leave these soldiers; if I must die, I will die at my post of duty.'"1 HIe had the fever, but recovered.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH .- In the fall of 1842 a series of meetings, continuing eight weeks, was held in the town hall, under direction of Rev. Horace Moulton, of Oxford. In these services he was assisted by his wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Moulton, a woman of great religious fervor and zcal.
As the result of these efforts, a Methodist Episcopal Church was organized October 15, 1844. The first minister of this church was Rev. William C. Clark.
In 1845, in consequence of differences of opinion with reference to the Episcopal mode of church administration, and the duty of the church in relation to slavery and temperance, the church was divided, and a Wesleyan Methodist Church was organized. The Methodist Episcopal Church then removed to Cherry Valley, and a house of worship was erected for it in 1846. The funds for building were sub- scribed by persons of different denominations, who recognized the need of religious services in Cherry Valley, and the control of the church was committed to trustees. It was stipulated in the compact that it was to be " a house of religious worship for the use of the ministers and members of, and the friends of, the Methodist Episcopal Church in said Leicester, according to the rules and discipline of said Church in the United States of America, except the First Calvinistic Congregational Church of said Leicester, or the Episcopalians of Cherry Valley, shall wish to occupy every other Sunday night for a third reli- gious service, in which case they shall have the right."
This house was burned in February, 1856, and re- built by the trustees.
The appointments for the ministry of this church have been-Revs. George Dunbar, J. T. Pettel, George F. Pool, T. W. Lewis, D. Z. Kilgore, W. B. Olds, Daniel Atkins, G. E. Chapman, J. W. P. Jor- dan, Albert Gould, from 1859 to '60; W. F. La- comb, from 1861 to '62, who enlisted as a member of
1 Wearing the Blue in th Miss. Vol. Inf., p. 298.
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the Forty-second Regiment; W. W. Colburn, from 1863 to '64; George Lewis, 1865; George F. Eaton, 1866 to '67 ; Charles H. Hanniford, 1868; Burtis Judd, 1869; J. B. Treadwell, 1870 to '71 ; A. Cald- well, 1872; N. Bemis, 1873 to '74; F. M. Miller, 1875 to '76; J. . W. Fulton, 1877 to '79; W. A. Braman. 1880; W. N. Groome, 1881 to '82; W. E. Dwight, 1883; S. H. Noon, 1884 to '86; J. A. Mesler, 1887 to 88.
In 1867 a Methodist Episcopal Church was formed in the Centre, worshipping in the Wesleyan Methodist Church. This church continued to hold services and receive ministers appointed by the Conference for a few years, when it was merged in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Cherry Valley, the appointec of that church preaching at the Centre Sunday after- noons. The ministers have been Revs. Mr. Chase, Frederick M. Miller, L. P. Causey, Samuel F. Fuller, Eratus Burlingham and II. D. Weston.
WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH .- After the sep- aration in 1845, those who objected to the Episco- pacy, and the position of the Methodist Episcopal Church on the subject of slavery and temperance, organized themselves into a Wesleyan Methodist Church, March 1, 1845. The pastor, Rev. Wm. C. Clark, remained with this church, and, indeed, was the active agent in securing its organization. His successors were Rev. Messrs. Christopher C. Mason, David Mason, Simeon E. Pike, J. A. Gibson, Thomas Williams and Benjamin N. Bullock.
The house of worship on Pleasant Street was dedi- cated July 15, 1846. The services were entirely sus- pended in 1861.
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH .- The first Roman Catholic Church in town was St. Polycarp's, and was erected in 1854, half a mile east of Strawberry Hill. The corner stone of the present church, St. Joseph's, was laid on the same site, September 1, 1867, Rev. Robert W. Brady, president of Holy Cross College, officiating. The church was dedicated January 2, 1870, Right Rev. John J. Williams, present Arch- bishop of Boston, officiating. The old church was taken down and moved to Rochdale during 1869, and was dedicated as St. Aloysius' Church. Novem- ber 21st of the same year, Right Rev. John J. Wil- liams officiating There was no resident pastor of the parish until August 1, 1880. The two churches were attended by the Jesuit Fathers from Holy Cross College, Worcester, in the following order: January, 1854, Rev. Peter Kroes ; August, 1856, Rev. J. C. Moore, S. J .; August, 1857, Rev. P. M. Jolehi, S. J .; January, 1858, Rev. Eugene Veterneli ; Octo- ber, 1859, Rev. A. F. Ciampi, S. J .; August, 1861, Rev. J. B. Gatney, S. J .; January, 1864, Rev. J. B. O'Hagan, S. J .; August, 1864, Rev. Charles Kelly, S. J .; August, 1867, Rev. P. V. McDermott, S. J .; June, 1869, Rev. J. B. O'Hagan, S. J .; September, 1870, Rev. A. J. Ciampi, S. J .; January, 1871, Rev. Albert Peters, S. J. ; August, 1872, Rev. W. F. Ham-
ilton, S. J .; August, 1873, Rev. P. J. Blenkinsop, S. J. These clergymen were generally educated in Eu- rope, as they were Jesuit Fathers and professors at the college. Some of them were men of eminent scholarship.
Rev. D. F. McGrath became the priest of the par- ish August 1, 1880. He was born in Milford, Mass., August 15, 1848 ; graduated from Holy Cross College in 1870, and from Grand Seminary, in Montreal, in 1873. When he came to the parish it was incum- bered with a debt of six thousand five hundred dol- lars, which was increased to fourteen thousand five hundred dollars in remodeling and repairing the church, building a fine parsonage and by accompany- ing expenses. This was the amount of indebtedness January 1, 1884. By February 1, 1888, this debt was entirely paid, and all the parish property, including eighteen acres of land, is held free of indebtedness.
According to a census taken in January, 1888, by Father MeGrath and his assistant, Father Kenney, there were in town three hundred and twelve Roman Catholic families, with a total of one thousand five hundred and thirty-six persons attached to St. Joseph's and St. Aloysius' Parishes.
ST. THOMAS CHURCH. - In the year 1873 the Rev. B. F. Cooley, rector of Christ Church, Rochdale, commenced service in the Methodist Church in Cherry Valley, on Sunday afternoons. These services were continued for several years by him and his successor, Rev. S. R. Bailey. The first service and also later services on week-days were held in the house of Mr. Cheney Barton, in which the Rev. HI. Blackaller had held similar services more than thirty- five years before. The church was afterward made a mission of St. Matthew's Church, Worcester, which relation it s'ill holds, although it has been self-sup- porting since 1886.
Rev. E. Osgood took charge, probably in the autumn of 1878, and continued until early in the year 1881. The Rev. Julius Waterberry was in charge from 1881 to 1882. He was a beautiful singer, a man of culture, of wide information, and pleasing and refined manners. He died in Boston, on Good Fri- day, 1882, and his memory is cherished with affection by the members of his charge. It was while he was connected with the church that "Shamrock Hall" began to be used as the place of worship.
He was succeeded by Rev. H. Ilaguc, the present incumbent, who assumed charge on the first Sunday of August, 1882.
The church was built in 1884, and consecrated February 14, 1885, by Bishop W. R. Huntington, D.D., of Grace Church, New York. Since that time a pipe-organ has been placed in the church. The church contains five memorial windows, one of them in memory of Rev. Julius H. Waterberry.
The mission was first named "The House of Prayer," but in 1884 it was changed to "St. Thomas' Church."
THE LOPEZ HOUSE, FIRST ACADEMY BUILDING, 1784-1806.
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CHAPTER V. LEICESTER-(Continued.)
SCHOOL,S.
First Town Action-Schoolmasters-School-houses-Town Fined-District System-Amount Raised for Schools -Districts Abolished-High School- Leicester Academy-Founding-Buildings-Teachers-Funds-Military -Reorganization-Centennial Anniversary.
ALTHOUGH in the original legislative title of the town provision was made for school-houses, no action appears to have been taken upon the subject till the last day of the year 1731. It was then voted "to choose a committee of three to provide a school- master ; and that the said committee agree with a man to keep school for three months, and no longer; and that the school be kept in three parts of the town, so as may be most for the convenieney of the inhabitants' children going to school." The sum of $8.75 was appropriated to meet the expense. He was to teach the children to " reed and wright." His own eduea- tion, such as it was, must have been acquired with- out much help from teachers, as he probably came to town where there were no schools, when less than ten years of age. This provision was for the whole of Leicester and Spencer. The next year there was no school, and the town was called to account before the Quarter Sessions. The sum of $17.50 was appropriated the next winter, and after a delay of nearly a year, the same teacher was employed, and taught three months at $3.75 per month in the house of Mr. Jonathan Sar- gent, opposite the spot where the Catholic Church now stands. The next winter Mr. Lynde taught in three different places, one month in each place. "If the town employed him any more, they was to come to new tarms."
In 1736 the town "voted to build a school-house sixteen feet in width, twenty feet in length and six and a half feet between joynts; and that it be set in the north side of the meeting-house, about ten rods, in the most convenientest place." It is described by one who remembered it as " an old shell of a build- ing."
The next school-house was built as early as 1772, where Sargent's brick factory now stands. Another school-house in the eentre was built in 1791.
In 1736 the town was again presented before the Quarter Sessions for failing to provide a school, and fined £4 12s. The next year John Lynde taught school one month and Jo-hua Nichols ten days. The school-house was probably built in 1738. Its cost was $4 7,84. Mr. Samuel Coolidge taught the school in 1739 six months, at $1.32 per week. In 1742 the school was taught by John Gibbons through the year, in the four quarters of the town, " so as to have the remote ends of the town have some benefit of the same." In 1742 it was taught in six places by Mr. Adam Bullard. The amount expended for schools
the next twenty years was on an average $133.33 per year. In 1765 the town voted to raise £120 to build five school-houses in the East, Southeast, Northwest, and Northeast Districts.
The school-houses were all completed in 1767. The amount assessed in each distriet was finally appropri- ated to its own school-house. This was the beginning of the "district system" in town, which continued until April, 1869, when it was annulled in accordance with the statute of the State.
"Schooling mistresses " were first employed in 1766. In 1774 the number of districts was increased to nine, and on April 15, 1776, the nine distriets were officially defined, and the different families assigned to their respective districts, and thus recorded. Notwith- standing the heavy burdens of the Revolutionary War, when a proposition was made in town-mecting to suspend the schools, it was promptly voted down.
A "town " or high school was organized in 1856, of which Mr. C. S. Knight was the first teacher. For several years it was migratory, being held one term each year at the Centre Village, Clappville and Cherry Valley. It was permanently located at the Centre in 1859. In 1867 an arrangement was made by which it was combined with the Academy, and this union has been continued to the present time, with the ex- eeption of four years, during which the Academy was temporarily suspended. All the advantages of that institution are now open to the children of the town who are qualified to enter upon a high school course.
The annual amount raised by the town for schools at the close of the last century was $300. In 1850 it was $1,200. The appropriation for 1888 was $7,500.
LEICESTER ACADEMY .- Leicester Academy had its origin in the intelligent forethought and unselfish enterprise of its founders, Col. Ebenezer Crafts, of Sturbridge, and Col. Jacob Davis, of Charlton. They were publie-spirited, patriotie men. They clearly saw that Christian education was essential to the success and perpetuity of those free institutions which had been won at such a cost. There was no academy in Central or Western Massachusetts, and the provision for general education was exceedingly meagre. Col. Crafts was a liberally educated man, graduated from Yale College in 1759. He was an ardent patriot, and marched to Cambridge at the first call to arms, with a company of cavalry which he had already organized. He also commanded a company of one hundred men under Gen. Lincoln, for the suppression of the Shays' Rebellion. After the close of the war he appears first to have conceived the idea of establishing in Wor- eester County a school for classical and English edu- eation. Hle interested in the undertaking Col. Davis, who had also been a soldier in the Revolution, and was a man of wealth and broad public spirit.
While they were considering the matter circum- stanees dirccted their attention to Leicester as a de- sirable location for such an institution. Upon the departure of the Jews, the store of Mr. Lopez, with
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the land, was advertised for sale at auction as "a large, commodious double mansion, and a noted place for trade." There was one acre of land. It was, as nearly as can be aseertaincd, upon the original lot No. 1. It had been successively owned by John Stebbins, Rev. Joseph Roberts, Rev. Benjamin Conk- lin; the western half by Benjamin Fosgate, who built on it a small store about the year 1770; by Joseph Allen and Henry Bass. In 1777 Mr. Lopez added to the western half-acre a half-acre purchased of Mr. Conklin, and built upon it "the splendid mansion " how offered for sale.
Col. Crafts, watchful for opportunities to carry out his purpose, was at the sale. While there he con- ferred with his associates and decided to make the purchase, and the place was "bid off" to them for £515. It was deeded May 7, 1783, to Col. Crafts, Col. Davis and Asa Sprague, of Spencer, who soon after- ward transferred his interest to Col. Crafts. Col. Crafts thien addressed a petition to the Legislature for an act of incorporation, stating that a "large and commodious building, with about one acre of land," had been secured "with intent and design to pro- mote the public benefit in the education of youth, as said buildings are exceedingly well calculated for an academy." lle asked for an act similar to that re- lating to Andover, "whereby the same may be made respectable ; whereby the advantages of education of youth may be promoted ; whereby advantages may arise not only to the individuals, but to the public in general, and prove a blessing to our land of liberty."
The petition appropriately bears date of July 4, 1783. The petition was presented to the Legislature by Col. Seth Washburn, February 7, 1784. Final action was deferred until the sum of £1000 should be raised for the academy in addition to the real estate. There were then only one hundred and fifty families in town, and a population of about a thousand. They were impoverished by the war, but they came to the rescue in a spirit of noble generosity ; and within seven weeks more than the required amount was raised, as stated in the Spy, " by the town of Leicester, and a few gentlemen of that and this place." The town appropriated £500; citizens of Leicester con- tributed £367; and the amount was raised by Judge Gill, of Princeton, and others to £1355. The aet of ineorporation was passed March 23, 1784. It was signed by John Hancock, Governor, and Samuel Adams, President of the Senate.' The property was deeded to the trustees in May, 1784.
In May the trustees made provision for subscrip- tions through the selectmen of the several towns of the county for the institution. It "is devoutly hoped," they say, " that it will not be suffered to wither and decay, or, for want of nourishment, to be removed to some more fertile soil." Clergymen were also appealed to, and Rev. Joseph Buckingham, in his Thanksgiving Sermon that year, made an appeal for aid. Isaiah Thomas interested himself at once
in the movement, and iu November the Spy stated that "there would soon be opened at Leicester an Academy, for the purpose of promoting the sciences, &c.," and " the people of this large county " were " urged to exert themselves to second the endeavors of those gentlemen who have laid this generous and laudable plan of another channel for public cduca- tion."
Dr. John Pierce, who came as assistant preceptor in 1793, describes this "mansion " as "an oblong, barrack-looking building." The rooms were about seven and a half feet in height. The southwest "parlor " was the school-room of the principal pre- ceptor, and the southeast that of the English pre- ceptor. The central front room was used as a dining and rhetorical hall, while the three rooms in the rear were used by the stewards. The southwest chamber was occupied by the two preceptors, who sometimes took a visiting friend as a third occupant of their bed. The other chambers were for students, who were at times crowded six and cven eight in a room. There was on the roof a small cupola, with a bell, the gift of Mr. Thomas Stickney.
The meeting-house stood west of the academy. In the rear were the grave-yard and the training- field.
The first meeting of the trustees was held April 7, 1784. They moved in a body to the meeting-house, where publie services were held. The Rev. Mr. Con- klin preached a sermon from Proverbs 11: 25, and the Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty offered prayer. The trustees then partook of an "elegant repast," in "Commons Hall." Hon. Moses Gill, of Princeton, was elected president, Rev. Benjamin Conklin vice- president, Rev. Joseph Pope (of Spencer) secretary, Joseph Allen, Esq., treasurer, and Colonel Crafts "steward aud butler." Committees were chosen to select teachers, and prepare to open the school "with all convenient speed."
Benjamin Stone, a native of Shrewsbury, a grad- uate of Harvard in 1776, was engaged as principal preceptor, at a salary of sixty pounds a year, after- wards raised to eighty-five pounds. He left in 1787, and was afterward preceptor of Westford Academy. He died in Shrewsbury in 1832, at the age of seventy- six. He was a well-qualified and faithful teacher, and always retained a deep interest in the academy. The school opened with three pupils,-Samuel C. Crafts, son of the founder; Ephraim Allen, of Stur- bridge; and Samuel Swan, of Leicester, then six years of age. They were all graduated afterward at Harvard College. Mr. Crafts removed to Vermont, was a member of the first Constitutional Convention of that State, chief justice of the County Court, Representative and Senator to Congress and Governor of the State.
Mr. Allen became an eminent physician in Salem, N. Y., and Mr. Swan was established as a lawyer in Hubbardston. He was a valuable friend of the in-
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SECOND ACADEMY BUILDING, 1806-1832.
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stitution, and a contributor to its funds. Eli Whit- ney, of Westboro', inventor of the cotton-gin, en- tered the school soon after. Such was the quality of the first pupils in Leicester Aeademy.
The number rosc to twenty before the close of the term. In the autumn term Thomas Payson was en- gagcd as English preceptor, and the number of pu- pils was between seventy and eighty.
At the time of the next annual meeting of the trustees, July 4, 1785, "the youth of that seminary entertained a large and respectable audience with specimens of their literary improvements." Dra- matic entertainments continued for many years to be given by the school, sometimes occupying the morning, afternoon and evening. They were held in the meeting house, which was erowded to its fullest eapacity, the people coming from all the surrounding towns. On one of these occasions a Congregational minister of the county played, behind the scenes, the bass viol accompaniment to the "Scolding Wife." "Colloquy," "Poem," " Dialogue," " Greek Oration," "Farce," "Greek Dialogue," "Comedy," the entire (Addison's) "Tragedy of Cato," "Latin Dialogue," " Description of a Mighty Good Man " and " Descrip- tion of a Mighty Good Woman " are among the parts which appear on the programmes of these eutertain- ments.
The exhibitions, from time to time, were subjects of action by the trustees, in the way of provision and limitation. In 1796 provision was made for examin- ation by the trustees. In 1840 the custom was intro- duced of inviting some former member of the institu- tion to deliver an address in connection with the anniversary exercises. A statement of Dr. Pierce illustrates the style and dignity of the instructors. " According to the custom of the times, I then wore a cocked, or three-coruered hat. My hair was queued with a ribbon half-way down my back. I had silver . knee-buckles at my knees; my plated shoe-buckles covered more than half my insteps."
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