USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Contributions to the ecclesiastical history of Essex County, Mass., 1865 > Part 17
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In June, 1826, he made a public profession of religion, and united with the First Pres. Church in Newburyport. In the autumn of the same year, Mr. March entered the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J. Early in 1829, he received' license as a preacher from the Pres- bytery of New Brunswick, and in September following, he graduated. His first engagement to preach was at Maysville, Ky. Here he re- mained three months or more. But the evils of slavery, as witnessed in that region, pressed heavily on his mind, and discouraged him not a little as to the success of his ministerial efforts. In the following spring he re- turned to New-England. Early in January, 1831, Mr. March was in- vited to aid the Rev. James Miltimore in his labors at Belleville.
In January, 1832, he received an invitation to take charge of that people, as a colleague pastor with Mr. Miltimore, whose growing infirm- ities compelled him to withdraw from the active duties of his office.
This call was given with great unanimity, and was unhesitatingly ac- cepted. His ordination took place March 1, 1832.
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April 23, 1832, Mr. March was married at Belleville to Miss Alice Little Hale, daughter of Thomas and Alice (Little) Hale, of Belleville. Newbury, now Newburyport.
The names of their children were, -
1. James White Hale, b. Sept. 5, 1834, in Newbury, now Newbury- port ; d. Oct. 27, 1838.
2. Sarah Hale, b. Dec. 19, 1836, in Newbury, now Newburyport : d. Oct. 8, 1837.
In the year 1840, Mr. March's health being somewhat impaired by study and pastoral labors, his friends proposed to him a voyage to Eu- rope ; and he embarked at Alexandria, D. C., on the first of May, 1840. Having been absent about four months, he returned with his health greatly improved, arriving in New York on the fourteenth of September. With the exception of a fortnight in Paris, Mr. March spent his time while absent in England. After a very useful and successful ministry of fourteen years, he died on Saturday, the 26th of September, 1846, near five o'clock in the afternoon.
A memoir of his life, together with four of his sermons and the sermon . preached at his funeral by his valued friend, Rev. Daniel Dana, D. D., of Newburyport, was published in 1847.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS EDGELL,
Was born in Westminster, Vt., Aug. 15, 1802, and was the son of Abel and Susannah (Holden) Edgell. He was baptized when about ten years of age. In his preparation for college he was first at Peacham, Vt., and afterwards at Thetford, Vt., leaving the latter place in the summer of 1824. He graduated at Vermont University, Aug. 8, 1827 ; and at the Theological Seminary, Andover, Sept. 28, 1831. He was approbated by the Andover Association April 20, 1831, and was ordained at West Newbury, Second Parish, Sept. 19, 1832. His salary was $600 annual- ly, and the use of the parsonage land. He was dismissed Oct. 27, 1853, and has acted since as Agent and Assistant Secretary of the Society for Promoting Collegiate and Theological Education at the West.
Mr. Edgell was married at Andover, Nov. 7, 1832, to Harriet Han- nah Adams, third daughter of John Adams, LL. D., and Elizabeth Rip- ley.
The names of their children are, -
1. Susan Elizabeth, b. April 11, 1834; died Sept. 11, 1839.
2. John Adams, b. Nov. 13, 1835 ; died July 28, 1839.
3. George Cowles, b. Aug. 8, 1840 ; died March 17, 1851.
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HISTORY OF ESSEX NORTH ASSOCIATION.
.4. Harriet Elizabeth, b. Oct. 19, 1847. All their children were born in West Newbury.
The following answer was returned by Mr. Edgell to the request that he would furnish a brief sketch of his
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.
" In giving you some account of my religious change, you will allow me to be quite brief. At the time of my baptism on a communion Sab- bath at Westminster West, Vt., by the Rev. Timothy Field, I was pecu- liarly excited with inquiries what it was all for ? and what it meant? and have no recollection, prior to this Sabbath, of the Lord's Supper and its significance. At the age of twelve years, my father moved his family to Lyndon, Vt., where there was no Congregational church. and preaching very rarely by Congregationalists ; Methodists and Free Will Baptists being prevalent, held many meetings in the neighborhood, and often of an exciting character.
" When about fourteen years old, I attended a preparatory lecture preached in a neighboring school-house, by a Congregational missionary, Rev. M. Goddard. Many boys of my age and acquaintances were pres- ent, and we boys did not enter the house till the meeting commenced. And then they devolved it on me to lead the way. As we entered, there were no seats but a slab-bench, stretching from the minister's knees towards the door. I was crowded along on the seat till I was near the minister, and the long bench was full of boys. In the conclusion of his sermon, the preacher addressed the long row of boys. It was new and very impressive. I remembered for some years all he said. I was very seriously impressed by his words. and ever after was anxious to attend religious meetings, to learn all I could about religion.
" I attended a meeting where Clarissa Danforth was allowed to preach. The solemnity of her theme, the tender expostulation with sinners, delivered with fine and natural tones of voice, aroused in me the deepest sensibility. I felt constrained to resolve at once to seek the Lord. Often, till I was sixteen years old, was I made deeply conscious what a sinner I was, and alarmed about my soul as out of Christ. I sought to live a Christian life by prayer and the habit of reading the Bible. I attended Methodist class meetings, and answered all their questions about resolutions to serve God. My mother was faithful to instruct me about the nature of a holy life, and what I was to pray for. On several occa- sions of secret prayer I was the subject of new emotions towards Christ as a Saviour, that comforted my mourning soul, and awakened the hope gradually that I could yield up all to Christ and follow him. But there
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was nothing overwhelming in my experience; nothing so marked that I could declare the time of my change. I gathered it up slowly and doubt- fully, during many months. I had many interviews with Methodist min- isters, who encouraged me to hope and to exercise myself in public devo- tions in their meetings, and to exhort others. And some were anxious to have me commissioned to ride the circuit as a licensed exhorter.
" I attended my mother to the Congregational church, worshipping at Lyndon Corner, Vt., about five miles from my mother's house ; and Dea- con R. Stone was faithful to inquire all about my state of mind, and to enlighten me in regard to a genuine Christian experience, setting forth its evidence. He soon encouraged me to believe that it was my duty to make a public profession of my faith, and to join the church. I did so at sixteen years of age, after many months of reflection and self-examina- tion, with the belief that I did love the Saviour. From and after this, I commenced an English course of study preparatory to teaching school, working summers on my father's farm, and teaching winters, till I was near my nineteenth year. I then began my preparatory course of study for college at Peacham and Thetford Academies, Vt., entering college just after I reached the year of my majority.
" Greatly was I benefited by the preaching of Drs. Worcester and Bur- ton, and I learned every year to place less and less dependence on past experience as ground of hope. From all that I know of myself, I should as soon conclude that I was regenerated in my baptism as at any after period. For I have had many changes, and some so great to me even while in college and the Theol. Seminary, that all the former seemed as nothing. In some of the blessed revivals in West Newbury, I was the subject of new experiences, revealing to me more and more the sinful- ness of sin, and the utter wickedness of my heart; that Christ was the only dependence, and faith in him as an atoning Saviour the only way to be saved ; that eclipsed all the past, and sometimes it seemed as if all that .I had known before was no evidence of a new birth at all. But now I believe in many conversions and but one regeneration, and the hope I now have is an entirely different thing from all that I had in my youth.
" Yours truly, " J. Q. A. EDGELL.
" ANDOVER, Nov. 15, 1860."
ABIJAH CROSS.
The following is a copy of a letter from Mr. Cross to Rev. Wm. Cogs- well, D. D.
.
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" HAVERHILL, Oct. 23, 1840.
" REV. AND DEAR SIR, - I was born in Methuen, Oet. 25, 1793. My parents were Abijah Cross of Methuen, and Elizabeth Parker of Dracut. My grandparents on my father's side were William Cross of Methuen, and Mary Corliss of Salem, N. H. My maternal grandparents lived and died in Draeut, and that is about all I know of my ancestry on my mother's side. In the line of my father I am a German of the fifth generation. I was bred a farmer, and remained in that employment until more than twenty years of age. In the spring of 1814, I commen- ced the study of Latin at Bradford, under Daniel Noyes, with a view to the profession of medicine. At the request, and by the aid. of my father, I commenced the study of medicine with Ralph Harris of Methuen. where I remained somewhat more than a year. With new views on the subject of religion, and a determination to enter the gospel ministry, I resumed the study of Latin and Greek in the summer of 1816, and pre- pared for college. I was three months at Andover under Mr. Adams, and three months at Bradford under Mr. Greenleaf. From this time I . received no further pecuniary aid from my father, but found a friend in the American Education Society. In the month of February, 1817, I became a member of the Freshman class in Middlebury College, where I remained only three months. and then was obliged to return to my fa- ther's in Methuen, on account of ill health. Having spent the summer at home on the farm, I entered the Sophomore class at Dartmouth in the fall of 1818. I taught school every winter, from the time I first com- menced study in the spring of 1814, till I graduated in 1821. I was now in debt some $250. This and my age, twenty-eight, determined me not to go through a regular course of study at Andover. My first object was to owe no man any thing. Accordingly I took charge of the Sanborn Academy in Ashfield, Mass., where I remained one year and three months with a salary of $300 and board. About the middle of the first term God blessed my scholars with a spirit of solemn inquiry which resulted in the hopeful conversion of twenty-two of them in less than six months. Four of these have since been through a regular course in college, and at Andover, and are now pastors of churches ; - three of them in this State, and one in the city of New York. The revival continued through the year, there being twelve hopeful conversions the second term, and some five or six in each of the last terms I was there. On leaving Ashfield free of debt, I became a member of the Theological Seminary in An- dover in Dec., 1822, where I remained about four months. I then left and studied with Rev. E. L. Parker of Derry, and Rev. Daniel Dana, D. D., of Londonderry. I was licensed by the Haverhill Association, August 12, 1823. I was ordained at Salisbury, N. H., March 24, 1824 ; dismissed April 1, 1829."
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After this, Mr. Cross came to West Haverhill, and preached for two years as a stated supply. He was installed there May 18, 1831, and was dismissed Jan. 26, 1853. He then removed to the centre of the town, where he continued to reside until his death, April 14, 1856, æ. 62.
He married June 22, 1824, in Methuen, Pamelia Swan, daughter of Dea. William and Jane (Dinsmore) Swan.
Their children are, -
1. William Francis, born in Salisbury, N. H., June 3, 1825 ; d. Oct. 19, 1827.
2. Pamelia Jane, b. in Salisbury, N. H., May 1, 1828 ; married Eben Webster, Haverhill.
3. Francis Baxter, b. in Haverhill, Jan. 31, 1831 ; mar. Eliza Blod- gett in Haverhill ; d. Oct. 31, 1859.
From the N. E. Puritan.
. ' The writer of this notice became acquainted with the subject of it about twenty years since, and, from that first acquaintance, was on terms of intimacy with him as a neighbor and a minister of Christ, and he gladly takes this opportunity to bear his testimony to the excellent character and the faithful, successful ministry of one who has so unex- pectedły finished his earthly course. As a man and a Christian, the de- parted brother was above reproach or suspicion. As a minister, he was serious, earnest, discriminating, faithful, and affectionate. He did not aim at display, but, in imitation of the Great Apostle to the Gentiles, he preached plainly, and as though he felt the importance of his message. His mind was clear, and his thoughts were frequently highly original. In seasons of religious interest, he was listened to with marked attention, as one whose instructions met the wants of inquiring minds. His ser- mons before the Association of Ministers to which he belonged, were al- ways regarded with much favor by his brethren. But this good man is gone. Both he and his companion, so recently with us, are now removed forever from our sight; or, rather, we shall see them no more in the flesh. Suddenly their change came ; they had finished their work, and now they rest from their labors. In the great day, many, as we cannot doubt, will rise up and call them blessed.
"NATHAN MUNROE."
JOSEPH WHITTLESEY,
Was born in Washington (New Preston Soc.), Litchfield Co., Conn., Dec. 8, 1797. He was the son of Joseph and Mary (Camp) Whittlesey,
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and was baptized in infancy. July 7, 1816. he united with the Cong. church in New Preston, with forty-seven others, after a season of very extensive religious interest. He prepared for college in the Academy at New Preston, graduated at Y. C. in 1825, and studied theology in the Yale Theological department, where he graduated in 1829. He was approbated Aug., 1828, by the New Haven West Association. The day of the month cannot be known, as the records of the Association, from 1814 to 1832, are lost.
Mr. Whittlesey was ordained pastor of the First Church in Stoning- ton, Conn., May 27, 1830. and dismissed Dec. 4, 1832 ; installed pastor of the Centre Church, Haverhill, Aug. 28, 1833; dismissed April 18, 1838 ; installed pastor of what is now the Second Church in Berlin, Conn., May 8, 1838 ; dismissed Aug. 9, 1841, on account of the loss of health ; after he had partially recovered this, he engaged in teaching.
The clerk of the First Church in Stonington (R. A. W.) says, " The Council for the dismission of Mr. Whittlesey was convened at his own request. His ministry here was eminently successful. I notice by the · records that one hundred and eight persons were admitted to the church during his short stay."
Mr. Whittlesey was married at New London, Conn., Oct. 10, 1831, to Maria Arnold Chappell, daugh. of Ezra and Wealthy (Arnold) Chap- pell. She died Nov. 10, 1846.
The names of their children are, -
1. Ezra Chappell, b. at Stonington, Ct., Aug. 18, 1832.
2. Charles Boardman, b. at Ilaverhill, Dec. 4, 1834 ; graduated at Y. C. in 1858.
2. George William, b. at Haverhill, Aug. 7, 1836.
I add, E. C. W. is married ; has an infant daughter, Maria Chappell ; is a member of the First Cong. church, and a member of the City Coun- eil, New London.
C. B. W. is on a farm in Huron Co., Ohio ; not a member of any church, but I hope not without reason for good.
G. W. W. is a member of the Broadway Church, Norwich; was at Bull Run, among the three months' men, is now an officer in 13th Reg. C. V., enlisted for the war.
Few young men have so rich an inheritance, as these three sons. A mother's prayers - such as few mothers ever offered - will keep bless- ings distilling upon them, till all shall meet in the world of praise.
Mr. Whittlesey published a Discourse preached at the Funeral of Mrs. Sarah Palmer, Stonington, Ct., 1830; an Address at the laying of the Corner Stone of the Centre Church, Haverhill, June 28, 1834; also, a Sermon preached at the Dedication of the Church in Haverhill, Dec. 17, 1834.
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HENRY DURANT,
Was born in Acton, Middlesex Co., Mass., June 18, 1802, and was the son of Henry and Lucy (Hunt) Durant. His grandparents were members of the church; and his mother, who was baptized in infancy, became a devoted Christian some time subsequent to his birth. Her son was not baptized until he united with the church in the Theological Semi- nary at Andover, while a member of Phillip's Academy in 1820. He was there engaged in his studies preparatory to entering college, from 1819 to 1823. He graduated at Y. C. in 1827. After which he taught the Garrison Forest Academy, Baltimore Co., Maryland, for two years, when he was appointed tutor in Y. C. He continued in that office four years, and in the mean time studied theology in the Divinity Depart- ment.
He was approbated April 9, 1833, by " The Association of the West- ern District of New Haven county, Ct.," now known as the New Ha- ven West.
He was ordained pastor of the church in Byfield Parish, Newbury, Dec. 25, 1833. In April, 1847, he was invited by the trustees of Dum- mer Academy, to take charge of that institution. He accepted the po- sition, and although he offered his resignation to the church on the 15th of the following September, he was not dismissed until the 31st of March, 1849, two councils having been called before the church was willing to give him up.
In May, in 1853, he went to California, and in June immediately fol- lowing, he commenced the school in Oakland, Cal., which has since be- come " The College of California." Of this enterprise Mr. Durant says : " I began this school with three pupils. My house-rent (the lowest rate at that time for tolerable accommodations) was one hundred and fifty dollars per month, payable in advance. For two domestics, a man and his wife, to do the work prospectively, I paid seventy-five dollars each, per month, the common price for such service at that time. Mr. Durant is now professor in that college, "of the Greek Language and Literature, and of their relations to Civilization and Christianity."
Mr. Durant was married in Stanwich, Ct .. Dec. 10, 1833, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Buffett, daughter of the Rev. Platt Buffett of Stanwich, Ct., and Mrs. Hannah (Lewis) Buffett, daughter of the Rev. Isaac Lewis, D. D., of Greenwich, Ct.
They have had one daughter, -
Sarah Lewis, b. Oct. 29, 1835, and who died June 18, 1843,- a child of precious memory, not only as a being naturally brilliant and lovely, but a hopeful subject of Divine grace.
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Of his religious life, Mr. Durant has written as follows, -
" I first became interested, as I trust savingly, in religion, when a boy, while living in the family of that most excellent man, and whole- hearted Christian brother, the Honorable STEVENS HAYWARD, of Acton, Mass. He had resided in Harvard, where he and Mrs. Hay- ward became members of the orthodox church, and earnest Christians. The death of his father - my step-father - occasioned his removal from Harvard, to his parental estate. in Acton, and thus my residence in his family. To the influence of this family. I may attribute the beginning of my religious experience, and my subsequent course of life. In this family religion appeared in a new light - nay, it was itself a new light. shining suddenly in a place where all had been darkness. There was a religion in the town - (there had been from the beginning) a town relig- ion, which like the town school, the town common, and the town pound, was a mere municipal institution. The minister and the members of the church were the 'Priest and the Levites.' to operate its ceremonies ; and the town, which maintained the operation, appropriated its results, as it did the other revenues, to the common good. No one thought of put- ting his religion. or the benefits of it, to his own personal uses. How it should subserve the public weal, I know not. Whether its forms were so many pins, or braces in the structure of society, to keep it together, or only so many breaks on its motive machinery, to save it from precipitation, might be a question ; and possibly not the right one either. Nobody ever asked any question about it ; I never heard it discussed ; its agency, . whatever was thought of it, if any thing, was a very passive one. It was a body, without a soul. Religion as a power, and a life, was never taught nor thought of. With the coming of Mr. Hayward's family to Acton, commenced in that town a series of religious events, which ought to become a part of the Written History of the Christian Church, illus- trating in these latter days the same simple, yet mighty principles of the gospel, which, in primitive times. were shown in " The Acts of the Apos- tles." In that family seemed to exist the spirit of the Apostolic Church. It was here that I learned the nature, and the power of the gospel ; and here, in consequence of the change which I had experienced, that the idea was suggested and encouraged of my preparing for the Christian ministry. To me, there are many circumstances profoundly interesting and instructive, interwoven with the greater facts of this new era in the town, and those belonging more properly to public history, which I must not mention here. I only regret, that what was perhaps intended for my private knowledge, and my personal use, has not been brought out more evidently, in the way of my greater fidelity and usefulness.
"Of my pastorate in Byfield, I cannot trust myself to write. It was
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my first, and my last. I had labors in it, and experiences in it, which I am sure will not be without their fruits ; bitter ones, some of them, and some of them, I hope, otherwise. My dearest friends, and the hap- piest moments of my life, are associated with it. Ties, which neither time nor distance can sever, hold my affections still to the place and the people of my early, and my only pastoral charge. I would be glad to hope, that many, very many of my beloved flock, shall have been so much instructed and edified by what was most sincerely intended for their good, as I have been humbled by what I have seen and felt to have been defective and wrong in my ministrations.
" That the blessing of God may still rest on that people and their ministers, and on all the ministers, and churches, and congregations of our beloved ' Essex North,' is the prayer of your companion still, as he trusts, in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.
" HENRY DURANT."
BENJAMIN OBER,
Was born in Beverly, April 4, 1805, and was the son of Samuel and Mary (Ray) Ober. He was baptized in infancy, and united with the Tabernacle Church, Salem, Oct. 2, 1825. "I was awakened," he says, "to a sense of my sinfulness, by a sermon preached by Eleazer Brain- ard, missionary from Charleston, S. C., from the text, 'Be ye reconciled to God.' After some weeks, I found peace in believing in Jesus Christ, and have found peace, joy, and comfort in Him ever since. One of the causes that brought me into the ministry, was a sermon by Samuel Wor- cester, the missionary to the Indians."
Mr. Ober graduated at A. C., 1829, and at the Theological Seminary, Andover, in 1833. He was approbated by the Essex South Association, Sept. 3, 1833. He was ordained pastor of the Second Church in New- bury, now First Church in West Newbury, January 1, 1834; dismissed Dec. 25, 1835. Mr. Ober supplied at West Attleboro two years and six months ; installed at West Woodstock, Ct., Dec. 5, 1839 ; dismissed, on account of ill health, March 25, 1846. He has since preached in Holland, Mass., Alstead, N. H., Saxton's River, Vt., and is now at Wards- boro, Vt. For six years he was laid aside from the active duties of his profession by a diseased throat.
Mr. Ober has published, -
1. Two Sermons, printed at Newburyport, 1836.
2. A Lyceum Lecture, printed at Pawtucket, R. I., in 1838.
Mr. Ober was married in Wrentham, Mass., July 19, 1836, to Miss Nancy Everett Hawes, daughter of George and Nancy (Ware) Hawes.
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The names of their children are, -
1. Anna Maria, b. Apr. 22, 1837, in Attleboro, Mass .; now a Teacher.
2. Israel Hawes, b. July 5, 1839, in Beverly, Mass .; merchant in Boston.
3. George Hawes, b. Oct. 2, 1841, in Woodstock, Ct.
4. Abby Kallock,
5. Mary Ray, Twins, b. April 7, 1844, in Woodstock, Ct.
6. Horace Benjamin, b. Feb. 23, 1849, in Holland, Mass.
JOSEPH HARDY TOWNE.
Of the personal history of Mr. Towne we are able to give but few items.
He graduated at Y. C. in 1827 ; was ordained pastor of the Pleasant Street Church in Portsmouth, N. H., June 13, 1832 ; dis. Nov. 7, 1833 ; installed pastor at Amesbury Mills, March 5, 1834; dis. Oct. 30, 1836 ; installed pastor of the Salem Church, Boston, June 2, 1837 ; dis. Dec. 27, 1843 ; installed pastor of the High St. Church, Lowell, Dec. 16, 1847 ; dis. May 22, 1854; installed pastor of the First Church in Bridgeport, Ct., June 14, 1854 ; dis. June 29, 1858 ; installed pastor of the First Presby- terian Church in Milwaukic, Wis., Dec. 4, 1861.
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