USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > Canton Baptist memorial : being a historical discourse delivered before the Baptist Church in Canton, Mass., at the celebration of their fiftieth anniversary, Wednesday, June 22, 1864 > Part 2
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 (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10
Through the summer and fall, the small but growing company
* Canton Town Records, vol. i. pp. 229, 248-9. Tax-payers, joining the Baptist and other churches differing from the standing order, were obliged, until 1833, to give a cer- tificate of their membership to the town-clerk, or they were still held liable to the ministerial tax.
1
E Lincoln.
9
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1813.]
Old North School-House.
Ensign Lincoln.
of "New-Light " believers enjoyed a frequent repetition of baptismal seasons, the ordinance being administered sometimes by one and sometimes by another of the neighboring ministers, at the Ponkapog and Reservoir Ponds, and at Houghton's Pond in Milton, until a goodly number had united with the church in Randolph, and others stood in readiness to erect the standard of the cause upon the soil of Canton. During the year 1813, Mr. Ensign Lincoln of Boston, father of Mr. Joshua Lincoln, of the present firm of Gould & Lincoln, preached once a month in the old north school-house, now the little brown
-
dwelling-house that stands beside the new school-house at Ponkapog.
. ENSIGN LINCOLN was born in Hingham, Mass., Jan. 8, 1779, and bred to the trade of a printer. At the age of nine- teen, he was converted under the preaching of Dr. Baldwin, and baptized by that good man into the fellowship of his church. He commenced business in Boston as a publisher in 1800, and was licensed to preach in 1811, but followed his secular calling till his death, Dec. 2, 1832. He was suo- cessful in business, an able and faithful evangelist, and a zealous Christian. For many years both before and after the building of the first meeting-house, he came frequently to Canton to preach on the Sabbath. His son Joshua relates that he used sometimes to drive the horse on those itinerations, while his father studied his sermons by the way. Mr. Lin-
3
-
-
10
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1814.
Preliminaries of the Formation of the Church.
coln's first issue as a publisher was an edition of Cowper's works, the first in this country .*
Before the close of this year, the little assembly of believers in Canton was re-enforced by several conversions in the south of Milton, where the work of the Holy Spirit had been felt; and, during the spring of 1814, the desire to form a Baptist Church eventuated in a resolution to call a council for this purpose.
In the house of Brother Ezra Tilden (the old one), then standing near the north-east shore of Reservoir Pond, was planted the germ of the Canton Baptist Church. Through various fortunes, God, we believe, has since owned it as an offshoot of the True Vine. There in the square front room, on the afternoon of the 20th of May, 1814, a goodly number of brethren and sisters of the same mind met to ask counsel of God, and advise with one another for their immediate em- bodiment into a church. Elder Elisha Williams of Boston was present, and acted as moderator and general adviser. It was voted to call a council on the 22d of the following month ; and brethren Nathan Tucker, Ezra Tilden, and Friend Crane, were chosen a committee to invite the churches.
On Wednesday, the 22d of June, at eleven o'clock, A.M., pre- cisely fifty years ago this hour, the pastors and delegates, or elders and messengers as they were then called, assembled, pursuant to invitation, in the east room of the house of Mr. -
Samuel Blackman (still standing, and inhabited by his son * Cyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, art. " E. Lincoln."
01
11
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1814.]
The Constituting Council.
The Dinner.
Winthrop) to assist in organizing the new church and to ex- tend to it the right hand of ecclesiastical and Christian fellow- ship.
The following composed the council : -
Elder Elisha Williams, who was chosen Moderator; Elder Thomas Baldwin, of the Second Baptist (now Baldwin Place) Church in Boston, with delegates J. C. Ransford, Jacob Hilar, and Thomas Badger; Elder Joel Briggs, from the First Ran- dolph (now East Stoughton) Baptist Church, with delegates Benjamin Mann and Jonathan Wales ; Elder Daniel Sharp, from the Third Baptist (now Charles St.) Church, Boston, with delegates Thomas Kendall and Ensign Lincoln, who was chosen clerk ; Elder William Gammell, from the Medfield Baptist Church, with delegates Benjamin Colburn and Abijah Fisher ; and from the Baptist Church in Newton, Elder Joseph Graf- ton, with brethren Noah King, Elijah Corey, and Caleb Hobart. Elder Henry Kendall, of Maine, was also present. After the letters of the candidates who had previously been in church- fellowship * had been read, and the experiences of all had been related, the council heard and approved the Articles of Faith, and voted to adopt the thirty-five brethren and sisters, whose names were appended to it, into the fraternity of Baptist churches ; whereupon a programme of exercises for the after- . noon was immediately agreed upon, and the meeting ad- journed.
After dinner, - and at that dinner the "fatted calf" was served : that first entertainment of the Canton Baptist Church at the house of Mr. Blackman, for many years well known as a Baptist tavern, has been surpassed in generous good cheer by few if any of its later commemorative ban- quets, or feasts of tabernacles, during the last fifty years, t- after dinner, the Church and Council removed to a pine-grove on the east side of the present Boston Road, a furlong or more south of Mr. Blackman's house, and about a hundred and
* At Randolph.
f Survivors of that day who assisted in serving the tables on that occasion agree in te-tifying that the guests (about three hundred in number) had before them, in course, two calves, the hams of two hogs, a bushel of shelled green peas, and between thirty and forty minee and custard pies, with the (then no less essential) accompaniment of a barrel of " old October."
12
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1814.
Dr. Baldwin: His Sermon.
Hand of Fellowship.
twenty rods north-east from the Unitarian meeting-house. A large auditory had already assembled, and at about two o'clock the religious services were opened with prayer by El- der Joseph Grafton. After singing, Elder Thomas Baldwin preached the sermon from the First Epistle of John, fourth chapter, and seventh verse. " Beloved, let us love one another ; for love is of God ; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." The theme could not have been more happily chosen, nor could any have treated it with great- er ability and effect than the preacher.
Those who knew Dr. Baldwin, and loved him for his genial ways in social intercourse,* speak no less of his subduing power in the pulpit. On the rude platform in Spurr's Grove, those who remember tell us how his earnestness and pathos that day, as he urged upon his hearers the example and pre- cept of the beloved disciple, moved their hearts, and impressed them into silent attention. After the sermon, Dr. Sharp pre- sented the fellowship of the churches, Brother Oliver Houghton, the oldest member in the newly adopted flock, standing up to receive the right hand; and Elder William Gammell closed the services with prayer. A note of the occa- sion made soon after by the church-clerk says, " The assembly was large, the day pleasant, and the season joyfull'
The fine trees of the old grove have been cut down for tim- ber; and the spot where those holy men stood and spoke their hearty God-speed to our infant church is grown up to shrub- oaks and brambles: but they, the sturdy fathers whose delight
* In private, Dr. Baldwin was not wanting in pleasant tales and sprightly sallies. On his arrival at the grove, while he was seeking for a good place to deposit his hat, hic looked overhead, into the trees, and remarked to Elder Gammell, " I hope there are no monkeys up there," alluding to the then familiar school-book story of the traveller with the twelve red caps, cleven of which were stolen by monkeys while he was asleep in a for- est. The good man's sociability did not waste itself, however, in mere pleasantries. He was full of anecdotes that had a moral to them. One aged lady, whose recollections of that day are quite vivid, tells us that he related the following incident at the house: It was in February (he said), 1805, at Sedgewick Me., when Elder Daniel Merrill with his wife and sixty-five members of his church, turned Baptists; and he was baptizing the candidates, assisted by Elder Elisha Williams. As one of the candidates was going down into the water, his faithful dog waded in behind him. " You may think the move- ment would provoke a laugh," said Elder Baldwin; " but it made an impression on me of' a very different sort. I wished " - and his voice faltered with emotion - " that 1 could be as ready to follow my Master always as that dog was to follow his."
,
13
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1814.]
Evening Service.
Articles of Faith.
was in the law of the Lord, now sit under the shadow of the Tree of Life, that shall never be hewn down.
In the evening, an interesting service was held at the house of Mr. Blackman,# when Elder Gammell preached to the new- ly constituted church with old-fashioned aptness from Canticles : iv. 16 : " Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south ; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my Beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits." In the years that followed, that summons did not wholly lack its answer.
The Articles of Faith and Order subscribed to in the morn- ing of that day by fourteen brethren and twenty-one sisters are as follows, with preamble and covenant : -
A S we have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, upon a profession of our faith, and are desir- ous of being embodied into a church of our Lord Jesus Christ; so we do now make a declaration of the doctrines and practice which we believe, and prom- ise to maintain.
FIRST.
We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the word of God and the only rule of faith and practice.
SECOND.
That they contain and reveal the doctrine of the adorable Trinity in one God.
THIRD.
That they reveal the doctrine of particular election and redemption.
FOURTH.
That Adam was created in the image of God, holy, innocent, and happy.
FIFTH.
That all mankind are affected by his apostasy ; are depraved, and in a ruined condition, from which there is no deliverance but by Jesus Christ.
* Mr. Blackman made himself memorable in the early history of the Baptists in Can- ton, not only by his unvarying hospitality to all who were identified with the cause, but by his habit of serving Baptist ministers gratis in the line of his trade. He was a blacksmith, and for many years shod the horses of all the Baptist preachers who came into the town, without charge. He was even known to sharpen the ploughshares of Bap- tist clerical farmers from neighboring towns, and bid them welcome to the work.
14
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1814.
Church Creed and Covenant.
SIXTII.
That Jesus Christ was constituted from everlasting as the Covenant Head and Surety of his people.
SEVENTII.
That regeneration and sanctification are wrought in the soul by divine and efficacious grace.
EIGIITII.
That our justification in the sight of God is, by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, received by faith alone.
NINTH.
That all who have been born again, and are real saints, will persevere in grace to glory.
TENTII.
That there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the righteous and the wicked, who shall be rewarded according to their works ; and the sentence then passed will be eternal.
ELEVENTII.
That Baptism and the Lord's Supper are standing ordinances of the gos- pel; and that none have a right to the Lord's table but professing and bap- tized believers.
Besides the belief of these doctrines, we likewise promise, as God shall ena- ble us, to walk in the duties of this Covenant by which as a church we unite : that is to say, we will endeavor to order our conversation in the church and in the world as becometh the gospel of Christ ; that we esteem it our duty to walk together in Christian affection with humility and watch- fulness; that we will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together; we will watch over and admonish our brethren in love as the case and duty may require ; we will not neglect the duty of prayer for ourselves and for all Christians, and for all mankind ; we will sympathize with our brethren in their affliction and distress.
.
In the presence of God, angels, and this assembly, we do now assent to these doctrines and to this Covenant.
In witness whereof, we hereunto set our hands this twenty-second day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fourteen .*
NATHAN TUCKER. FRIEND CRANE.
EZRA TILDEN, Jr. OLIVER HOUGHTON.
JASON HOUGHTON.
BENJAMIN GILL, 2d.
LEMUEL FULLER, Jr. ANDREW FADDEN.
ELIJAH HAWES.
WALES WITHINGTON.
ABNER TILDEN.
ENOS UPHAM.
NATHANIEL TUCKER DAVIS.
SAMUEL TUCKER, Jr.
* See Appendix, p. 1.
15
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1814.]
Names of Members: their Family Connection.
JANE WENTWORTH.
ABIGAIL GILL.
HANNAH TUCKER.
BATHSHEBA FULLER.
CATY TUCKER.
BETHIAH TILDEN.
ABIGAIL HILL.
MARY MORSE.
ABIGAIL BIRD.
REBECCA CRANE.
RUTH M'KENDRY. CATY HOUGHTON.
RUTH HOUGIITON.
LUCINDA GILL.
LUCY ALLEN.
MARY HOUGHTON.
MILLA TUCKER.
OLIVE TUCKER.
ELIPHIAL WHEELER.
ELIZA TUCKER.
RUTH BUSS.
To sketch the individual history of these first members of the Canton Baptist Church would take us beyond the limits of our present design. But it will not be out of place to identify the families to which they belonged. NATHAN TUCKER was the father of Brethren Nathan and Isaac Tucker, now members of the Harvard-street Church, Boston, and Rev. George Tucker of Maine. His only surviving daughter, the widow of the late Rev. Bradley Miner of Providence, now resides here, a member of this church. HANNAH TUCKER was the wife of Nathan Tucker. She still survives, and is here to-day, in her eighty-sixth year, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the church which she aided in establishing. EZRA TILDEN was the father of Mrs. Andrew Lopez and Mrs. John Fisher, both now sisters in the Church. BETHIAH TILDEN was the wife of Ezra Tilden. FRIEND CRANE was the father of Mrs. Jephthah Crane, and the grandfather of Mrs. George Ames, both members of the church. His great grandson is here to-day, six years old, a son of Mrs. Ames.
REBECCA CRANE was the wife of Friend Crane.
OLIVER HOUGHTON had no children. MARY HOUGHTON Was his wife ; and JASON HOUGHTON was his cousin, and the father of Messrs. George and Charles Houghton, formerly members with us, but now resident in the State of New York. Another son was Mr. Ralph Houghton, who died long since, and whose daughter, Mrs. Elias Tucker, resides here, and is a member of the church. CATY HOUGHTON was the wife of Jason. The Houghtons all lived in Milton.
BENJAMIN GILL still survives, at the age of seventy-five.
16
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1814.
Constituent Members: their Family Connection.
and is here to-day in comfortable health, though unable to hear much that I say.
LEMUEL FULLER was the father of Mr. Daniel Fuller of this town, and grandfather of Rev. Oliver S. Fuller of Centre- ville, R.I., once a member of this church. BATHSHEBA FUL- . LER was the wife of Lemuel. ELIJAH HAWES has connections residing at Tucker Hill. One of them, Alpheus Hawes, is his nephew. Bro. Hawes removed to Ohio, where it is sup- posed he still survives, as he was living at last accounts, and in good health. ANDREW FADDEN was a cousin of Mr. Na- thaniel Wentworth of this town, a son of his father's sister. WALES WITHINGTON was a cousin of Brother Enos Withing. ton of this church. He removed to Maine. His daughter, Mrs. Edmund Low, lives in town; he has also a son in Stoughton. ABNER TILDEN resided in South Street, or the old " Indian Lane." * He was the father of Sisters Julia and Mary Tilden, t and Sister Hiram Johnson, all members of this church. His widow, Mrs. Catharine Tilden, is also a member of the church : she is now residing on his homestead. ENOS UPHAM, brother to Mrs. Friend Crane, was the father of Mr. Abner Upham of this town. His five daughters, Rebecca, Sarah, Mary, Lorra Ann, and Clara, were all members of this church till death or removal from the village severed the fellowship of all but the last. NATHANIEL TUCKER DAVIS belonged in Milton. He removed to Hingham in 1827, and none of his relatives are found in this vicinity. SAMUEL TUCKER was the father of Messrs. Elias, Gerry, and Aaron Tucker of this town, the last a member of the church. Mrs. Ellis Ames and Sister Eunice Tucker are his daughters. CATY TUCKER Was the wife of Samuel Tucker, and survived him until the 29th of April, 1863. JANE WENTWORTH was the mother of Mr. Seth Wentworth at "the Farms." ABIGAIL GILL was the mother of Bethiah Tilden, Ezra Tilden's wife. ABIGAIL HILL . was a servant-girl. Her connections belonged elsewhere, and none of them are found in this vicinity. MARY MORSE has no
* So called from the Ponkapog Indians. In that street still lives Daniel Croud, a member of this church, and still a stalwart man at seventy-three, who carries in his veins the last blood of that ancient tribe.
t Now Mary Kimball.
-
17
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1814.]
Constituent Members.
Their Family Connection.
relatives here : she married a Pike, and removed to Athol in 1831. ABIGAIL BIRD belonged in Stoughton, where her sur- viving relatives still reside. RUTH M'KENDRY was sister to Mrs. Caty Tucker, and also to Messrs. William and John M'Kendry, and Mrs. Clifford Belcher, sen., all now living in Canton ; the last a member of the church. RUTH HOUGHTON* was the daughter of Jason Houghton. LUCINDA GILL was a sister of Benjamin Gill, and subsequently became the wife of Francis Mason, now Dr. Mason, of Toungoo, Burmah. LUCY ALLEN was an old lady at the time of the constitution of the church, and died May 12, 1816, being the first of the constit- uent members who departed this life in the communion, as Sister Caty Tucker, it is believed, was the latest. The relatives of Lucy Allen are found in the Tucker families who live at "the Farms." MILLA TUCKER lived in York Street. She went by the name of " Aunt Milly," and was ever a true friend to the cause to which she here subscribed, though obliged for certain reasons to serve the church by stealth. Contributions from Canton to Baptist Missions, and other interests connect- ed with the denomination, appear on record from the very. birth of the church, credited to " A Friend; " and it is said by those acquainted with the facts, that these anonymous chari- ties were hers. Isaac Fenno, and Mrs. Vernon Messenger, of Boston ; and Miss Ellen French, of the Dudley-street Baptist Church, Roxbury, - are grandchildren of " Aunt Milly."
OLIVE TUCKER was a sister of Samuel Tucker.
ELIPHAL WHEELER was the daughter-in-law of Mr. Samuel Wheeler who many years ago made a liberal donation to the church (Unitarian) at Canton Corner. The Tuckers at "the Farms " are her connections. ELIZA TUCKER was Mrs. Wheel- er's sister. She died single, July 29, 1834, leaving her prop- erty to the Baptist cause.+ RUTH Buss, written afterwards in the records as Sally Buss, was sister to Mr. Peter Crane,
* Since Mrs. Ruth Clapp. She is still living with her husband in Franklindale, N.Y., aged about 75, and this summer (1865), made a visit with him to her friends in this neighborhood.
t " Like a good steward, what the Lord gave her she left in the bosom of the Church, $1,200." - Epitaph on her Tombstone.
4
18
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1814.
First Regular Meetings.
Elder Kendall.
the maternal grandfather of the celebrated Margaret Fuller, and of Chaplain Fuller," of Waltham, who fell on the Rapidan.
This little company, now united under one covenant,t began more or less regularly to observe the Christian ordi- nances, holding their meetings mostly in the school-house at Blue Hill. (18) Their Sabbath supplies were various, the settlement of a pastor being, of course, out of the ques- tion at that early day, when the church, like its Master, had not where to lay its head; but Elder HENRY KENDALL was of all the preachers the best beloved, and to this day is of all the most vividly remembered by the few surviving members who were then in active service. He came to Canton a stranger at the time of the constitution of the church, having first been providentially led to this part of the country through his appointment as a member of the General Court from the Dis- trict of Maine ; but he soon made the acquaintance of the brethren here: and, though at first engaged for the greater part of the time in a neighboring field, he nevertheless so completely won their hearts by his gifts and his Christian simplicity, that, for years after he went back to his native State, they could not wean themselves from him.
On the first of July, 1814, he presided at the first busi- ness meeting of the church, where a vote was passed to raise five dollars " to purchase the elements for the use of the church for the ensuing year; " and Brother Jason Houghton was chosen Senior Deacon; Brother Ezra Tilden, Junior Dea- con and Treasurer ; and Brother Friend Crane, Clerk. (15)
* Life of Chaplain Fuller, p. 12 ( Walker and Wise).
t Although the " Baptist Society " still existed, and continued in town affairs, and doubtless in the common talk of the towns-people, to be confounded with this church, yet the members of that organization, as such, never had any voice in the meetings of the Baptists after the formation of the church, or kept any records, or had any thing to do with the progress of the Baptist cause in Canton. The members of that body combined together simply for purposes of expediency, and continued to receive acces- sions for many years, of persons who wished to be exempted from paying the minis- terial tax, but of whose names the records of this church are entirely ignorant. They are found upon the records of the town. The withdrawals from the old order became so minierons as to embarrass the parish in the maintenance of their minister. In 1:20, Mr. Ritchie was, on this account, constrained to accept a considerable reduction of his salary. - Old Parish Records, vol. ii. p. 6.
1
:
81
Henry Kendall
19
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
1814.]
Elder Kendall.
More Baptisms.
In December (the 18th) also of the same year, he is men- tioned in the records as moderator of a church-meeting ; (16) and he was evidently here at different times during 1815 and 1816, perhaps 1817. His last visit to Canton was made in October, 1836, when the people heard once more his apos- tolic voice, and received his final benediction .*
Henry Kendall was born in Sanford, Me., July 3, 1774. His public studies were limited to three weeks' schooling, while apprenticed to the tanner's trade. He was converted in 1798, and, after working at his trade nearly three years, was licensed by the Baptist Church in Meredith, N.H., in the month of April, 1802. He received ordination at Mt. Ver- non, Me., on the 5th of June, 1805, and labored as an itiner- ant preacher in his native State until 1812, when he was elected representative from Litchfield to the General Court at Boston. From an acquaintance formed with him then in that city, a liberal-minded Christian sister was induced to send for him two years afterwards, to labor at her expense in Sharon, where there had never been a revival of religion, and few or none were found to hold up the standard of evangelical Christianity. He complied with her request, and became, under God's blessing, the founder of the Baptist Church there. It was during his labors in Sharon, and a short time after, that he preached here: since then he has employed himself as an evangelist in different parishes of Maine, until, about ten years ago, an affection of the head unfitted him for labor. He still survives in China, of his native State, having extended his life into the last decade of a century.t.
In September, 1814, the church received two by baptism, and adopted the following Constitution as a guide in the future transaction of business, and as a basis of discipline : - W E, having found it to be our duty to give ourselves to one another in church fellowship, esteem it further to be our duty to govern ourselves by the rules given by the great Head of the Church ; and that good order,
* Records Ladies' Benevolent Society, vol. i. p. 6.
f Life of Elder Henry Kendall, by himself ( Brown &' Thurston, Portland, 1859). He died in China, Me., Aug. 15, 1864.
20
CANTON BAPTIST MEMORIAL.
[1814.
Church Constitution, or Rules of Order.
peace and harmony may be maintained among us, we agree to the following articles ; viz. : -
I. In all meetings of the church, the highest officer present shall preside ; and if none be present, then one shall be chosen for the time being.
II. All church meetings shall be notified by the Moderator, with the ad- vice of his brethren.
III. No complaint shall be brought into the church against any member, without the lower steps of labor first being taken, as described by our Saviour in Matthew, 18th chapter, 15th, 16th, and 17th verses; except the crime be of such a heinous nature as to demand the immediate exclusion of the mem- ber.
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.