USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Mendon > Centurial history of the Mendon association of Congregational ministers, with the Centennial address, delivered at Franklin, Mass., Nov. 19, l851, and biographical sketches of the members and licentiates > Part 16
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* Col. J. Cram married Miss Mary Cram. They had seven children : 1. Rev. Jacob, the present subject. 2. Jonathan, of Marietta, O. 3. Benjamin, of Pittsfield, N. H. 4. Lois, married to Rev. John Web- ber, of Sandown, N. H., who afterwards went to the West. 5. Mary, married to Joseph Ware. 6. Eunice, and 7. Martha, also married. t Letter of Rev. J. S. Clark, D. D., Sec. M. H. M. S.
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Mr. Cram married Miss Mary Poor of Exeter, daughter of General Poor, of Revolutionary fame, a truly excellent and pious man ; but who was drawn into a duel with a French officer, and was killed. Her mother's name was Osgood, of Andover, where General Poor also belonged. Mrs. Poor was opposed to the union, on account of Mr. Cram's eccentricities ; but the daughter, like her mother before her, had her own way, and was privately married at the house of a neighbor, 13 Sept., 1804. She died 19 July, 1848, aged 79, having been born in 1769, and married at the age of 35, when Mr. Cram was 41. Their only child was Martha, who, at 18, became the third wife of a Col. Rogers, and was the mother of two sons, Jacob and Charles, still living. She died at an early age.
Mrs. Cram was a woman of distinguished excellence. Her piety was profound, vital, strict. She had some peculi- arities. It was because of her strict injunctions, that no tombstones mark the grave of either her husband, her mother, or herself. They all lie buried together undistinguished and undistinguishable, in an old cemetery near the railway station at Exeter. .
Rev. Mr. Cram appears, by current traditions, to have been an original in very earnest. His besetting sin, or infirmity, as you please, has been alluded to. It obtained, in the course of his life, to some very instructive developments. If his history could be fully written, it would prove a curious episode in the common run of these brief and barren sketches.
He was naturally and from the beginning very eccentric, and of strong passions ; and his ruling propensity, penu- riousness, early gained a decided visibility. His patrimony, by most solicitous protection and increase, rose at one time to about ten thousand dollars. But it proved to be another illustration of Solomon's class of riches, "kept for the owners thereof to their hurt," developing miserly habits and ques-
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tionable deeds. He took great pains to conceal his property, to avoid paying taxes. He once owned the tract of land on which the city of Utica, N. Y., now stands. But it was sold at auction, under execution, to pay the taxes which he begrudged.
His ruling feature, so carefully cultivated and indulged, very early shaded off into a downright but very subtle and peculiar derangement, involving the stability of his other mental attributes. Yet so peculiar and subtile was it, as to leave a wide debatable space for locating the line of respon- sibility.
He had, in his later days, frequent paroxysms of the mis- sionary spirit, when he would visit the towns in the vicinage, carrying books, and preaching as he could get an audience. He then insisted upon the utmost deference to his ministerial office, and was most sensitive to any the least apparent slights. Wherever he tarried, he insisted upon conducting family prayers, saying grace at the table, and would often awake early in the morning and lie in bed, singing most lustily, Old Windham, and similar tunes, to the annoyance or diversion of the aroused inmates of the house.
Anon, this impulse would pass away, and he would oscillate to the laical extreme, and dressed in leather apron and cast-off garments, teach contempt for appearances, after the manner of Socrates. Again, a passion for military display ruled the hour. Through the influence of his son-in-law, Col. Rogers, he had been appointed chaplain of the militia regiment. He appeared regularly upon the muster-field for many years, with three-cornered hat and flowing sash, and often paraded in the streets, at other times, clothed in regi- mentals, and unabashed by the public gaze.
The erection of a Universalist meeting-house in Exeter grievously annoyed him. As the only available off-set, he determined to anticipate its owners, and stamp an orthodox dedication upon it. Watching his opportunity, when the
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house was nearly completed and the workmen were at dinner, he gathered in a few boys, and, with their help in singing, though with many drawbacks in the way of noise and giggling on their part, he performed a species of dedicatory service, which he boasted of for weeks afterwards, as a most shrewd triumph. But, whether through the influence of the dedication, or the subsequent preaching, or from some other cause, the building is now used as a billiard-room !
Mr. Cram's habit was to dress very slightly in winter. In this way he contracted a cold which terminated his days.
Although he was not an attractive preacher, he was much of a scholar, and exhibited in his selection of a library, which was sold after his widow's death, an uncommon appreciation of sterling works. His own manuscripts were all committed to the flames. No printed work of his is known, other than a fragment, somewhere existent, entitled, "Conference with Red-Jacket," in which the white man is Mr. Cram .*
16. REV. SOLOMON AIKEN
Was born in Hardwick, 15 July, 1758. He was the second son of John and Jerusha Aiken, whose parents migrated from Scotland. At the age of 18, he enlisted in the Revolutionary army, served two years, and was honorably discharged. During this time, he indulged a hope of con- version, and immediately after his discharge commenced his studies. He graduated at Dartmouth College, 1786, and A. M .; studied theology with Rev. E. Fish, of Upton.
He was settled in Dracut, 4 June, 1788, dismissed 4 June, 1812, and entered the U. S. Army, as chaplain. He was stationed on Fort Independence in Boston harbor. At the end of the war, he returned to Dracut, and resided there, preaching occasionally until 1818, when he removed with his
* Letter of Rev. R. D. Hitchcock, Exeter, N. H.
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family to Hardwick, Vt., where he died, 1 June, 1833, aged 75 years.
His stone bears the following inscription : -
THE GRAVE OF
REV. SOLOMON AIKEN. BORN JULY 15, 1758. DIED JUNE 1, 1833. In youth, a Soldier of the Revolution; in age, the Christian Pastor;
And through life, the firm and inflexible Friend of CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY.
Mr. Aiken married Mary, daughter of Capt. Daniel War- ner, of Hardwick, Mass. She died at Hardwick, Vt., Oct., 1820, deeply lamented as a devoted Christian. They left 9 children, - 4 sons and 5 daughters, viz : Solomon, Justus Warner, Daniel, and Samuel Adams, all living. The latter, S. A. Aiken, is well known as Professor of Penmanship. The eldest daughter, Mrs. Sophia Spalding, died in 1849. The youngest, Selina, wife of Dea. G. H. Cook, died in Portland, in 1850. Alma, the second daughter, is in Boston. The other daughters, with the sons above mentioned, reside in Hardwick, Vt.
Mr. Aiken enjoyed uncommon health and vigor. He never took a particle of medicine, or lost a relish for food, until his final and brief sickness, - a pleurisy fever.
He possessed peculiar power as a logician, and was very popular as a preacher. He was kind-hearted and benevolent, almost to a fault.
But it is chiefly as a political writer that Mr. Aiken is remembered. He was sent as representative two years, by the town of Dracut. He published several sermons and pamphlets, chiefly upon political themes, which excited much attention in their season. Among them are, 2 Sermons at Dracut, 1809 ; Letter to Dr. Samuel Spring, of Newbury-
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port, in Answer to a Review of the Sermon ; Fast Sermon, 1812; Sermon on the Rise and Progress of Religious Dis- sention in the United States ; Ordination Sermon of Rev. S. T. Barton, Tewksbury, 1792.
17. REV. ENOCH POND
Was the eldest son of Dea. Jacob Pond,* of Wrentham, where he was born, 27 April, 1756. He graduated at Brown University in 1777, and A. M .; and entered the American Army for one year. He served as Ensign in Col. William R. Lee's regiment, to which office he was appointed 4 June, 1777. On the expiration of his time of enlistment, he was employed for some years as school-teacher in Boston, where he was much admired. He studied theology with Rev. Dr. Emmons, and in 1789 was ordained over the church in Ash- ford, Ct., where he continued until his death, 6 Aug., 1807, in the 52d year of his age. His disease was consumption.
Mr. Pond married, first, Miss Margaret Smith, daughter of Col. John Smith, of Wrentham, by whom he had nine children. She died in 1800, and on the Sabbath following, while her remains awaited interment, Mr. Pond preached to his people. Dr. Welch calls her, in her funeral sermon, - " a prudent, discreet, and faithful wife, a kind and tender mother, an affectionate sister, a benevolent neighbor, a faith- ful friend." His second wife was Mrs. Mary Baker, of Roxbury, who survived him.
* His emigrant ancestor, Ephraim Pond, came from England, and was one of the first settlers of Wrentham. He had a son Ephraim, who was father of Dea. Jacob Pond, sen., and grand-father of Dea. Jacob Pond, jr. Dea. Pond, jr., died 1815, aged 86, and was the father of Rev. Enoch, above, - his eldest son. His youngest son was Dea. Elijah Pond, who died, 1847, aged 82, and who was the father of Rev. Enoch Pond, D. D., of Bangor, and also of Gen. Preston Pond, who is in turn the father of Rev. Preston Pond, jr., of Boston ; - a clerical family !
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Mr. Pond's ministry was marked by several powerful revivals of religion. One in 1798 resulted in the addition of 80 members to the church.
" He was peculiarly tender and affectionate in his family. He was never idle. He was a peacemaker in the neighbor- ing churches, and universally beloved. He fitted many scholars for the university, and some for the Gospel ministry. As a preacher, he was plain, practical, and persuasive. He had a readiness of utterance, a force and fluency of expres- sion, which are possessed by few. His performances during the latter part of his life were chiefly extemporaneous. The ease and pertinence with which he could express his ideas with little premeditation, led him on some occasions to neg- lect, perhaps to a fault, a preparation for the pulpit. He was, in short, an amiable companion, and a man of modest, unassum- ing worth. By means of his councils, instructions, and pray- ers, Ashford rose from a state of comparative rudeness to be one of the most flourishing inland towns of Connecticut."
He was particularly celebrated as a skilful singer.
The following lines, prepared by one of his neighboring brethren in the ministry, to be recorded upon his tombstone, are considered a just tribute to his memory : -
GENEROUS IN TEMPER; Correct in Science, and Liberal in Sentiment;
The Gentleman, the Scholar, and the Minister of the Sanctuary,
APPEARED WITH ADVANTAGE IN MR. POND. The Church and Society in Ashford were favored with his GOSPEL MINISTRY EIGHTEEN YEARS.
In yonder sacred house he spent his breath. Now silent, senseless here he lies in death. These lips again shall wake, and then declare A loud Amen to truths they published there .*
* See obituary in Panoplist and Magazine, XIV., 315.
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REV. WALTER HARRIS, D. D.
18. REV. WALTER HARRIS, D. D.
Was born in Lebanon, Ct., 8 June, 1761. His parents were Nathaniel and Grace Harris, of whose five children, - two sons and three daughters, - he was the youngest. He graduated at Dartmouth College, 1787, and A. M .; whence he also received a Doctorate in 1826. He studied theology with Rev. Dr. Emmons, and was ordained the first pastor of the church in Dunbarton, N. H., 26 Aug., 1789. After forty years' labor, his health became impaired, and he asked and received a dismission, 7 July, 1830. He died 25 Dec., 1843, aged 82.
Such are the chief statistics of Dr. Harris's life. But his whole history deserves a minute study. A condensed brevity alone is here allowable.
The father of Dr. Harris died shortly before his birth, and he was deprived of his mother before he was sixteen. The three daughters were provided for in other families, and Walter and his brother Nathaniel, two years his senior, were left, without parent or guardian, and with a mere pittance of property, to provide for themselves. They enlisted into the Continental Army in May, 1777. In the same year, Nathaniel fell in battle at Philadelphia, and Walter was frequently in jeopardy. But he served out his term of three years' enlistment, as fifer, and was honorably discharged, May, 1790, then not quite nineteen.
With his scanty wages and patrimony, he migrated to Lebanon, N. H., purchased a tract of wild land near Dart- mouth College, and went alone with his axe into the forest to spend the winter. But the young pioneer was soon sur_ rounded by the thrilling scenes of a powerful revival of religion in the town. And a sermon he heard in the neigh- borhood, awakened him to his own actual destitutions.
The struggle was long, obstinate, and characteristic of the
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future man. Wearied with his anxious searchings, and crushed with his increasing convictions, and with his pro- tracted fastings, he resolved, in despair, in the midst of winter, to cast himself down upon the snow in the bleakest place in his field, and there remain in prayer till he perished with cold or found relief. He chose a position on the north side of a stump, near an opening among the trees, where the cold winter's blasts rushed through with unendurable keen- ness, and fell upon his knees, determined never to leave the spot till he should hear the voice of mercy. He remained but a short time before he seemed to hear, in reality, a voice, saying in wrath, -" What, rebel ! seek to limit the Holy One of Israel ! Arise ! and flee for thy life, - or thou art a dead man !" He fled to the house in horror at his guilt.
After passing through what seemed to him a foretaste of the pains of hell, he fell submissively, cordially, upon the sovereign, electing love of God in Christ for salvation. His experience imparted a peculiar thoroughness and fidelity to his subsequent preaching.
His mind was from this moment directed to the Gospel ministry, as the chosen avocation of his heart. And although without even a common school education, and encumbered with his farm, yet he resolved, after prayerfully weighing the solicitations of friends, that he would 'go to college.' With him, this was almost tantamount to execution.
He first attended a common school ; then began the study of the languages with a private teacher, and finally completed his preparation in Moore's Charity School, on Dartmouth plain. At his graduation from college, his commencement exercise was delivered in Hebrew.
This testimony is given of his college career by one of his instructors : - " Rarely have I met with a man more decided and unequivocal, more upright and downright than he. He had a mind of uncommon strength, and unusually patient of
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labor. He was most distinguished in the solid and useful branches of study."
After his graduation, he taught a Latin school six months in Boscawen. It was here that an occasional sermon of Dr. Emmons fell into his hands. Having perused it with deep interest, he laid it down, and said, with emphasis, " I will study divinity with the author of that sermon, if I can find him." 'He did find him; and never fit teacher had a fitter learner .*
* It is his creed that was, by vote, copied into the Records, and became the theological basis, of the Mendon Association. It is here inserted : -
" I believe that there is one, and but one, true God; who created, upholds, and governs all things in the universe ; and who is possessed of all natural and moral perfections. That the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the word of God ; that they were written by men Divinely inspired ; that they exhibit a perfect rule of conduct, which we are bound to follow ; and that they contain all knowledge requisite to eternal salvation. That the Deity subsists in three distinct persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; that these three are perfectly equal in all Divine perfections and excellence. That God, from all eternity, has fore-ordained and perfectly seen through all events, which ever have, or ever will, take place, both in the natural and moral world. That God made the first man perfectly holy, and set him as a public head or representative of his posterity; and that he sinned against God, and fell from Him ; and in consequence of his fall, all his descendants now come into the world sinners, totally depraved, and under Divine condemnation. That Jesus Christ, being God and man, in one person, has wrought out a complete righteousness by his obedience, sufferings, and deatlı, and made an atonement suffi- cient for all the human race. That God has, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, whom he will, by his special and sovereign grace, bring to the acceptance of Jesus Christ, while he leaves others to -. neglect him, to their own eternal destruction. That it is wholly through the righteousness and atonement of Christ, that we are accepted and justified in the sight of God. That a man must be regenerated, or renewed in the disposition of his mind, in order to see the kingdom of God; and that faith and all holy exercises are wrought by the effica-
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After approbation, he preached at Canterbury, Dunbarton, and Royalton, Vt., and again at Dunbarton, where he receiv- ed a call to settle amongst them. He accepted conditionally, returned to Franklin and studied three months longer with Dr. Emmons, and then was ordained.
The church had been organized on the 18th of June pre- ceding.
Arminianism and lax discipline prevailed extensively in the town; but the faithful doctrinal preaching and earnest prayers of Dr. Harris, and his near brethren, Rev. Moses Bradford of Francestown, Rev. Reed Paige of Hancock, and Dr. Wood of Boscawen, effected, under God, an entire revo- lution in the sentiments and practice of the churches through- out the then large county of Hillsboro'.
A powerful revival followed soon after the settlement of Dr. Harris, and brought most of the principal men under its power. He enjoyed four or five other seasons of refreshing during his ministry. The feeble church of his early labors in his later days became marked for its intelligent, discrim- inating piety, -" a city set on an hill."
The following are some of the features of his character, set forth in a discourse on occasion of his death .* " He was an instructive preacher. His words were well chosen ;
cious power of the Holy Ghost. That the saints shall persevere in holiness, and be kept by the mighty power of God, through faith, unto eternal salvation. That it is the duty of professors to give up their infant offspring to God in baptism. That none but those who can give sufficient evidence that they are born again, and are the true friends of Christ, ought to be admitted to partake of the Lord's Supper. That God has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world by Jesus Christ; when he will receive the righteous into life eternal, and send away the wicked into everlasting punishment."
* See Commemorative Discourse before Hopkinton Association, 14 May, 1844, by Rev. A. Burnham, Pembroke, N. H. Also, Hop. Mag., Vol. IV. p. 573. Fun. Sermon, by Rev. E. P. Bradford, New Boston, N. H., and Fun. Sermon, by Rev. J. M. Putnam, Dunbarton.
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REV. REED PAIGE.
his language, remarkably plain ; his method, natural and lucid. But what contributed most to make his preaching in- structive, was the prominence he gave to the doctrines of grace, and, the happy connection he maintained between doc- trine and practice. He followed, very closely, his theological teacher's method of sermonizing, as well as, entirely, his sys- tem of theology. He was a plain, direct, experimental, searching preacher. The Sabbath after his ordination, he specified the principal doctrines he should preach, and the course he should follow ; and then added, with his peculiar emphasis : 'These doctrines I shall preach, and this course I shall pursue, if you stone me out of the pulpit.' He had the faculty and the disposition to tell the truth, in the most sin- cere, simple, and plain manner. The doctrines of the Gospel were preached, explained, enforced, and repeated, plainly and fully, till they were understood, not only by the church, but speculatively by the whole society. Hence converts had no difficulty in deciding what are the truths of the Bible. He has left his mark deep upon the people who enjoyed his ministrations ; and so, he 'being dead, yet speaketh.' His published discourses were fourteen, all occasional sermons.
Dr. Harris's first wife was Jemima Fisher, daughter of Na- thaniel Fisher, and sister of the late Lewis Fisher, Esq., of Franklin, by whom he had seven children. After her de- cease, he married the widow of Rev. John Cleaveland, of North Wrentham. And his third and last wife was Mrs. Jane Aiken, relict of Mr. James Aiken.
19. REV. REED PAIGE
Was born in Hardwick, 30 Aug., 1764. He was the son of Col. Timothy Paige. He was graduated at Dartmouth Coll., 1806, and A. M. in course ; studied Theology with Rev. Dr. Emmons, and was ordained the first minister of the church
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in Hancock, N. H., 21 Sept., 1791, where he continued to labor until his death, 22 July, 1816, at the age of 52.
Mr. Paige married Miss Hannah Paige of Bedford, who survived him, and by whom he had seven children. Six of them reached maturity. Their residences are unusually sep- arated from each other.
Of his two daughters - both married - the elder lives in Peterboro', N. H .; the younger, in Oswego, N. Y. His third child, and oldest son, David Paige, settled in La Port, Indiana. The second, Timothy, in Detroit, Mich. George Reed Paige was in Illinois, and the youngest, William, in St. Louis.
Rev. Mr. Paige was an excellent scholar. He was esteemed by his brethren in the ministry, and by his people, as a man of strong mind and a good preacher. He was highly respect- able as a divine, sound in religious sentiment, and correct in moral practice. It is enough to say that he was the warm coadjutor of such men as Dr. Harris of Dunbarton, and Dr. Wood of Boscawen.
In the latter part of his life, Mr. Paige entered deeply in- to politics, and represented the town of Hancock, in the State legislature, for seven years, from 1809 to 1814, and again in 1816. He died while in the office of Representative.
His publications were : Ordination Sermon of Rev. Jabez P. Fisher, 1796 ; a 4th of July Oration; Election Sermon, 1805; Fast Sermon, 1812; and an occasional Sermon at Lyndboro', 1815.
20. REV. ELIAS DUDLEY
Was born in Saybrook, Ct., 12 Aug., 1761, but subse- quently removed, with his parents, to Newport, N. H .* He
* He was the son of Daniel and Susanna Dudley, who had four children, viz .: Josiah, Daniel, Elias, and John. The father died at New- port, N. H., 1 Feb., 1811, aged 92. The mother d. 6 Aug., 1791, aged 67 .- Rev. H. Cummings, Newport, N. H.
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REV. ELIAS DUDLEY.
graduated at Dartmouth, 1788, and A. M., and studied The- ology with Rev. Dr. Emmons. He was ordained the third pastor of the church in Oxford, 13 Apl., 1791. Dr. Em- mons preached the sermon. His salary was £75, with a set- tlement of £150, in three annual instalments. He was dis- missed at his own request, by the advice of physicians, 6 March, 1799, and removed, the same year, to Newburyport, where he went into business.
While here, he took several short voyages, in a fishing vessel, to Labrador, for the benefit of his health. About 1805, he removed, with his family, to Prospect, Me., where he died, 25 Jan., 1808, of consumption, at the early age of 47 years.
Mr. Dudley married, 22 Oct., 1793, Miss Mary Spring, daughter of John Spring of Northbridge. She returned to Uxbridge, after her husband's death, and there died. They had three children while living in Oxford, and four more subsequently - three sons and four daughters, viz.
1. Hannah, b. 19 Nov., 1794, m. Luther Bullard, of Ux- bridge, and died 7 June, 1845. Their son, Charles H., is in the ministry, at Rockville, Ct.
2. Otis, b. 14 Nov., 1796, lives at Williamsburgh, O. Has 5 children.
3. John Spring, b. 19 July, 1798, and d. at Millbury, 23 Aug., 1816.
4. Daughter, died in infancy.
5. Elias, lives at Cincinnati, O.
6. Mary, died in Uxbridge, 1 Aug., 1837, aet. 32.
7. Daughter, died young.
Mr. Dudley is represented as a man of excellent character, and a faithful and efficient preacher of the Gospel. He was much interested in education and the moral culture of youth, and acted as private instructor to many of the young, who frequented his house. His talents as a teacher are still spoken of by his surviving pupils with great interest and high commendation. But he was of melancholic tempera-
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