USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Medway > Fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the Village Congregational Church, Medway, Mass., Friday, Sept. 7, 1888 > Part 2
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"This engraving shows the appearance of Medway Fac- tory Village as it is entered from the east upon the Medfield road. The spire seen on the right is that of the Congrega- tional church. The building on the left with a small low spire is a four-story cotton factory standing on Charles River. This village consists of thirty-seven dwelling houses, three stores, three cotton and one woolen factories, and the boot and shoe business is carried on to a considerable extent in West Medway and Medway Village. The town is gradually improving in appearance, wealth, and population. There are in the limits of the town five churches - three Congregational, one Baptist, and one Unitarian."
2I
VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
The schools at this time were in a flourishing condition. The village school-house had been enlarged in 1830, and the next year Mr. Abijah R. Baker had opened a classical school for instruction in languages and the higher English studies, which attracted large numbers from other towns and stimu- lated an increasing interest both in education and religion.
An increasing interest in the growth and prosperity of the village incited its prominent men to consider the advan- tages of public worship and a permanent and commodious meeting house. It so happened that Mr. David Whiting, a native of the village, was here on a visit from New York, and was induced to offer the lot of land upon which this house now stands for such a purpose. A deed "in trust " was im- mediately executed to Mr. Comfort Walker and dated April 21, 1836, and subsequently deeded by Mr. Walker to the " proprietors." The deed contained the following clause :
"The above described land is hereby conveyed for the sole purpose of building, erecting, and maintaining on the premises a meeting house, in which public worship of the Evangelical Congregational order and sentiment shall be preached and supported forever."
Some desired another location; Milton H. Sanford, then a young man, was very anxious that it should be built where Thompson and Clark's store now stands, and said he would give the land or $500 if this location was accepted. When asked where he would get the money he said, " With my two hands," a reply characteristic of the public spirit and energy which followed him through life.
It was finally decided to accept Mr. Whiting's offer, and a number of leading citizens agreed to erect the church and take their pay in pews; and young Mr. Sanford gave his $500 against his own preference as to location. The Uni- versalists, who had commenced to hold meetings in the school- house about 1834, generously gave way, and Rev. Dr. Ide, whose church most of the village citizens attended, acquiesced in the new plan and was always a firm friend of the new church.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
A subscription paper was circulated, and $4,650 pledged by sixteen persons, only two of whom were members of any Christian church, but at least four more became such ; now all but two or three are dead.
COPY OF THE ORIGINAL SUBSCRIPTION.
We the subscribers severally promise to pay the sum placed against our names for the purpose of erecting a meet- ing house for Evangelical Congregational worship, on land recently procured of David Whiting for that purpose, westerly of James B. Wilson's dwelling house, with the understanding that when said house is completed, said sums to be refunded in pews.
Medway, May 5th, 1836.
James B. Wilson,
$750.00
Charles Wheeler, $100.00
Luther Metcalf,
500.00
Wyman Adams, 100.00
M. H. Sanford,
500.00
William Fuller, 100.00
Titus Bullard,
150.00
A. G. Cheever, 100.00
Orion Mason,
500.00
J. O. Pond, 100.00
Comfort Walker,
750.00
Green and Hathon, 100.00
G. S. Cheever,
100.00
William White,
500.00
Alex. L. B. Monroe,
300.00
Total, $4,650.00
Luther Metcalf, James B. Wilson, Wyman Adams, Wil- liam White, and Milton H. Sanford were chosen a building committee, and authorized to contract for and borrow money to pay for the meeting house, and subscribers signed a bond to indemnify the committee for all expenses incurred, and to equalize the final cost to all, in proportion to the amount of their original subscription.
September 5, 1836, a contract was made with James Pur- rington, a practical church builder, to do all carpenter work, masonry, painting, and glazing, and furnish all materials. The plan adopted was the plain rectangular structure familiar to New England, copied from the old Anglo-Saxon church. As to the origin of this style of church building Chambers says :
VILLAGE CHURCH, MEDWAY.
VE!
٠ ٢٠١٠٢٧٩١
M.H. Sanford.
23
VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
"It is well known that the heathen structures from which the early Christians borrowed the form of their churches were not copied from the heathen or Jewish temples as might have been anticipated, but from that pecul- iar combination of the hall of justice and market-place called by the ancients basilica. The reason of this selection is to be found in the different conceptions which they formed of the character and objects of public worship. The rites of heathendom were performed exclusively by the priest, the people remaining without the temple; and the temple itself, which was lighted only from the door or by the few lamps which burned around the image of God, was regarded not as a receptacle for worshipers, but as the abode of Deity. The dark, mysterious character, which thus belonged to it, ren- dered it equally unsuitable for the performance of liturgical services, in which the people were to participate, and for the delivery of those public addresses, which from the beginning were employed as a means of Christian teaching and exhorta- tion. To such purposes the basilica was readily adapted. It was for the most part a parallelogram, at one of the ends of which, opposite to the entrance, there was a raised plat- form for the accommodation of those dispensing justice. This part of the building was the prototype of the rounded choir or recess which is seen in many of our churches. For the prætor's chair, which was placed in the center of this semi- circular space, the altar was substituted."
When the "cross" became a distinctive emblem of Christianity, Christians, desiring to follow forms, changed the style of this church edifice by building on each side, near the center of the rectangular structure, the wing or transept, thus forming a cross. This form was followed in the cathedrals and churches of Continental Europe, and with various changes is seen in modern churches.
The manner in which the various parts of this church were to be finished was defined by reference to the same parts in either the Unionville Church, at Hopkinton, or the Orthodox Meeting House, at Westboro'. Only the gallery at
24
SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
the south end of the church was built at this time. Work was to be completed June 15, 1837, but on account of the financial failure of the contractor it was much delayed. Mr. William Page, of West Medway, put in the stone work, his contract calling for the same quality of hammered work as on the stone posts in front of James B. Wilson's residence (now Mrs. Wilder's). Some items connected with the building and furnishing may be interesting, and among the bills for extras I find the following :
Collins Hathon for refreshments at raising :
To 54 dinners @ 372 c.
· $20.25
5 gallons wine
. 5.00
2 collations . . . 3.00
lemons, sugar, etc.
3.00
Theron Metcalf, legal services (2 bills)
6.00
$37.25
One extra in this list would today indeed be extraordi- nary. At that time to furnish fermented liquors only to working men was a great advance in temperance over the custom existing at the installation of Dr. Ide and other min- isters, of furnishing all sorts of "hard liquors " to the clergy.
The bell was from the justly celebrated Holbrook foundry at East Medway. The elder Holbrook was an apprentice of the Revolutionary hero, Paul Revere, and really succeeded to his business, and for a few years the Medway foundry was the only one in America. These bells were denominated, by flattering testimonials from the American Institute, New York, and the grand gold medal of honor, the standard bells of America. The bell was hung June 13, 1838, but was not paid for till February 12, 1842, when $90.20 interest was added.
A stove was purchased by a subscription of twenty-eight men for $75.50; a carpet by five men giving $38.00, and a grand total by the ladies of $62.50, making the sum of $ 100.50.
The church, exclusive of the furniture and fixtures, cost
25
VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
about $6,000, and was not only Puritanic in the simplicity of its structure, but in all its surroundings.
On the east stood a venerable oak tree. Two more stood in front and one on the west near the turn of the road to Holliston. These were all remnants of the primeval forest that skirted the old Boston and Hartford road. The latter tree for many years bore for the weary traveler the following legend :
The shortest run to Holliston. Come on Daddy Niles, 'Tis only five miles.
On the same sign-board there was a picture of a man on horseback galloping at full speed toward Holliston. This bit of waggery is attributed to Samuel Allen, a worthy citizen and afterward one of the first deacons of the new church. With the exception of a semi-circular row of stone posts in front of the entrance, and these trees, all was sandy gravel and stunted grass.
We now come, two years and eleven days after the gift of land by Mr. Whiting, to the formal organization of the society. The warrant was issued by Hon. Warren Lovering, as justice of the peace, on the petition of twenty-one legal voters. The meeting was held in the village school-house at five o'clock on Friday, May 25, 1838. Milton H. Sanford was elected clerk and took the requisite oath.
The further record of this meeting by the clerk is much abbreviated, but the following is doubtless a correct inter- pretation : The name of moderator not given. A nominating committee was chosen as follows : Orion Mason, Luther Met- calf, Clark Partridge, Benjamin Smith, and Milton H. San- ford; and the following officers elected :
Parish Committee. Luther Metcalf, James B. Wilson, Orion Mason, Clark Partridge, William White.
Assessors. William Fuller, A. L. B. Monroe, Benjamin Smith.
26
SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
Treasurer. Comfort Walker.
Collector. Charles Wheeler.
It was voted to leave to the Parish Committee the arrangement of the house and the procuring of a minister. A committee of three, A. L. B. Monroe, Samuel Allen, and Charles Wheeler, was chosen to prepare by-laws; they then adjourned to May 31, when they met and voted to adopt the preamble and the by-laws, and that the Parish Committee invite individuals to become members.
ARTICLES FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE EVANGELICAL
CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY.
As it was the original intention of the donor of the land on which the meeting house stands to have public worship supported there of the Evangelical Congregational order, and Comfort Walker, Luther Metcalf, William White, Alexander L. B. Monroe, Orion Mason, Francis Hapgood, Jemotis Pond, Jr., Benjamin F. Cummings, Wyman Adams, Benjamin Smith, James Bickford, William Richardson, William Fuller, M. H. Sanford, James B. Wilson, Clark Partridge, Charles Wheeler, Samuel Allen, Stephen J. Metcalf, Olney Corey, Preston Ware, and Charles Macker, Jr., having founded a religious society and taken the name of the Evangelical Con- gregational Society, do for themselves and their associates adopt the following rules and regulations for the government of said society :
Article I. The preaching to be supported by said so- ciety shall always be of the Evangelical Congregational order.
Article 2. Any person who shall adopt these rules and regulations may become a member of said society on applica- tion to the Parish Committee, and by said committee record- ing his name in a book to be kept for that purpose.
Article 3. The members of said society shall hold a meeting annually for the choice of officers and such other business as parishes may legally transact, on the second Monday in March, at such place in the village, and hour, as
27
VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
may be made by the Parish Committee, for the time being, in this warrant for calling said meeting.
Article 4. The annual and all other meetings of said society shall be notified by the collector of the society, by posting up a copy of the warrant from the Parish Committee, calling said meeting, in the entry of the meeting house two Sabbaths at least before the time of said meeting.
Article 5. At the annual meeting all officers shall be chosen that parishes are by law empowered to choose, which officers shall perform all the legal duties of their respective offices.
Article 6. All money shall be raised for the support of public worship by subscription until otherwise ordered.
The only changes of any note are, that the annual meet- ing now comes on the last Monday of March, and the pews are taxed for support of worship, and that the Parish Com- mittee shall have charge of the house and of all property of the society, and generally perform all duties not specially assigned to any other officer or agent.
The names of the original twenty-one signers to these articles are in small capitals, followed by those who have since joined the society. The star designates the members that have died, and the dagger those that have moved out of the parish.
*COMFORT WALKER.
*LUTHER METCALF.
*ALEXANDER L. B. MONROE.
*ORION MASON.
+FRANCIS HAPGOOD.
*JEMOTIS POND, JR.
*BENJAMIN F. CUMMINGS.
*WYMAN ADAMS.
*BENJAMIN SMITH.
*JAMES BICKFORD.
*MILTON H. SANFORD.
*JAMES B. WILSON.
*CLARK PARTRIDGE.
CHARLES WHEELER.
*SAMUEL ALLEN.
*STEPHEN METCALF.
*OLNEY COREY.
*PRESTON WARE.
*CHARLES MACKER, JR.
*WILLIAM FULLER.
*WILLIAM RICHARDS.
*Eleazer Partridge.
*Simeon Ellis.
*Oliver Ellis.
*Nathan Bullard.
*Amos Fisher.
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
*Stephen B. Fuller. John W. Richardson. Stephen W. Richardson.
*William Adams.
*Sewell Clark.
*Eleazer Morse. Charles W. Seavey.
*George W. Hunt. *Nathaniel Clark.
*Frank S. Grant.
*James Walker.
*Aner Bullard. Asa Williams.
*H. W. Simpson. T. F. Mahr. Silas O. Mahr.
*Luther Henderson.
George A. Abbe.
+William C. Marple. M. M. Fisher.
R. B. McElory. James M. Grant.
*Charles E. Hart.
*Joel P. Adams.
+Lewis Hill.
*Joel W. Whiting.
*Preston Ware.
*Elijah Partridge.
*Abiather L. Shaw.
*William S. Mitchell.
*William N. Haskell. David Daniels.
*Francis P. Daniels.
*Shepard Wiggin.
*William Henderson.
*Elias Metcalf.
E. Fisher Richardson.
*Stephen Salisbury.
*Caleb Kimball. *Samuel Force. +George J. Baldwin. *A. L. White.
*O. A. Mason. *G. S. Bancroft.
tJames Cole.
*Luther H. Metcalf.
*C. B. Whitney. *John Cole. Harlan P. Sanford.
C. E. Le B. Whitney. *Rice O. Dain.
tJames H. Heaton. Samuel B. Cary.
William H. Cary, Jr.
¡George C. Garland. Lucius H. Taylor.
* Allen Partridge.
*William R. Parsons. John A. Bullard. John H. Crimmings.
*Charles F. Daniels. Francis W. Cummings.
*A. P. Phillips. James T. Adams. *T. R. Fairbanks. *Jesse K. Snow. James F. Adams. 1L. T. Bradstreet.
+Lowell A. Mann. ¡Frank N. Adams.
H. E. Mason. ¿George W. Lawrence.
*George W. Ray. E. C. Wilson. Jason E. Wilson.
*Edward Eaton.
+Otis Springer. Edmund I. Sanford.
29
VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
Daniel Rockwood.
George A. Kingsbury.
tJohn H. Curtis.
A. E. Clough.
+George L. Boos.
Samuel Hodgson.
Frederick L. Fisher.
+J. R. Thompson.
J. P. Plummer.
¡Eleazer Thompson.
¡George E. Sanderson.
S. G. Clark.
¡George W. Whiting.
W. W. Clough.
¡Charles S. Philbrick.
A. H. Ramsdell.
J. B. Hopkins.
S. H. Clark.
*A. W. Whitney.
J. A. Crooks.
M. E. Thompson.
J. W. Thompson.
*O. R. Kelsey.
G. C. Crosman.
The present officers of the society are :
Parish Committee and Assessors. F. W. Cummings, J. B. Hopkins, J. P. Plummer.
Treasurer and Collector. F. W. Cummings.
Clerk and Auditor. F. L. Fisher.
On May 14, 1838, Luther Metcalf, by request of the proprietors now virtually constituting the society, invited Rev. Joel Hawes, D.D., of Hartford, and a native of this vil- lage, to preach the dedication sermon on Thursday, the 14th of June following. But owing to an engagement to preach an ordination sermon on the 12th of June, he could not reach here to preach before Friday, the 15th. The express trains of today would accomplish in two or three hours the distance for which the good doctor then required two days.
You will notice that our society was organized on Friday, this church dedicated on Friday, and our semi-centennial is on this crisp, autumnal Friday. An unlucky day, do you say ? I trust that the history of this society and church as it is unfolded today will convince you that for enlisting in a righteous cause, at least, Friday is no blacker than any other day.
On June 23, 1838, agreeable to the terms of original sub-
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SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
scription, the pews were sold at auction, the highest bidder taking first choice ; and the amount thus bid for choice added to the appraised value. The appraisal of the sixty pews amounted to $6,330. The highest amount bid for choice was $40, by Luther Metcalf.
Comfort Walker bought ten pews, Orion Mason and J. B. Wilson six each, Milton H. Sanford five, Luther Metcalf four, William White three, Dr. Monroe two, William Fuller, Titus Bullard, David Whiting, Collins Hathon, Jemotis Pond, Wyman Adams, and Charles Wheeler one each ; forty in all, netting $5,197.
The proprietors paid the bills as fast as they made col- lections, and gave notes for the larger balances. Matters hung in this way for seven years, when, on May 10, 1845, it was voted to sell at auction the remaining pews, and on August 4 the accounts of the proprietors showed a deficiency of $749.02. To meet this, and to bring matters to a final settlement, the proprietors made an assessment of twenty- three and eight one hundredths per cent of the amount orig- inally subscribed by each, except that J. B. Wilson was as- sessed on $500 instead of $750.
In 1846 the question of enlarging the meeting house was discussed, and, recommended by a committee, the side gal- leries were built and the interior of the church repainted. The galleries cost $547, and the pews sold for $585 ; a profit of $38.
The original land given for the meeting house being a quarter of an acre only, and its longest lines not at right angles with the main street, more room was needed for car- riage accommodation. The adjoining land upon the west was sold at auction in 1845, and bought by two members of the society for church purposes, and chiefly for the erection of horse sheds. A difference of opinion as to what portion should be used for that purpose seemed likely to disturb the harmony of the society.
Deacon M. M. Fisher made a plan of the lands (virtually the same as now laid out) which seemed to be satisfactory to
31
VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
all interested. The lands north of Church Street were sold at auction at a profit of $175, which was used for the im- provement of land on the south side of the street. This lot, afterwards known as the " common," was sold to the society for $300. The sale also included a small parcel of land just north of the church.
At this time the east line was also changed by mutual agreement, without passing deeds, Captain Partridge receiv- ing front land while the society widened its lot in the rear. Subsequently the society bought another corner of land from John W. Hodges, and sold to David H. Daniels (then owning the house just north of the church) a lot for a door yard.
Land was afterwards bought for horse sheds in the rear of Mr. Charles Seavey, and Peach Street laid out to make them accessible. It was never used, however, and finally was sold to Messrs. Harding & Bassett for an enlargement of their straw works.
In 1850, the growth of the village continuing, the old school-house was given over to business, and its hall not furnishing accommodation for lectures and meetings too secular for the meeting house, it was voted to finish the vestry of the church at an estimated cost of $500, the actual cost of which was $498. While the subscription by the men was only $352, the ladies (as usual) came to the rescue, and made up the deficiency. The vestry was used for town meetings every third year until the Sanford Hall was built in 1872.
Up to 1854 the salary of our pastor, $600 (the same as paid to most pastors in this vicinity), had been raised by subscription. It was, however, understood from the first, that donations from the farmers and others should be made in money or in value of $100, annually at a donation party.
Of the $600 Luther Metcalf and Orion Mason had agreed upon the start to pay $50 each, and the former added two cords of wood to the pastor's woodpile every year. Others were not wanting to meet the pastor's needs. Milton H. San- ford, though living at New York, or elsewhere, considered himself a member of the society, for financial purposes at
32
SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
least, and in emergencies always came to the pastor's relief. Dr. James H. Sargent, after making his home here, annually remembered his pastor by a check of $100, which his daugh- ter, Mrs. John A. Bullard, continued in some form after her father's death till the death of the pastor. (The following letter from her pastor is a beautiful testimony to the mutual esteem of each for the other:)
TUESDAY P. M., January 6, 1874.
MRS. BULLARD :
Dear Madam: I know not how to express my feelings of gratitude for your letter and its contents, this afternoon. Your benefactions had been so munificent and so various for the good of this people during the year, that it seemed to me you would hardly think best to add another generous gift to myself personally at the opening of the year. I can assure you it is doubly welcome, as it meets ordinary wants and also those created by the results of the panic, and thus cutting off some resources on which I de- pended to meet the current expenses of the year. The Lord reward you a hundred fold for this, and for all the many past kindnesses to myself and mine. The remembrance of these comes up every day, calling for devout gratitude to our Heavenly Father, and with earnest prayer for blessings upon your- self and yours,
Very truly yours, D. SANFORD.
The act of the legislature passed in 1854, providing for support of public worship by taxing the pews, was adopted by this society. Most of the pews in the church were voluntarily surrendered by the owners to the society, some were bought at an appraisal, and eight pews are still held by the owners.
Since this plan was adopted the pews have been annually rented, upon the tax basis, at auction, Fast Day evening. From non-rentals or non-payments in some years there has been a deficiency, but always provided for at each annual meeting, and no debt has ever been allowed to remain.
For a number of years before his death Mr. Edward
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VILLAGE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MEDWAY, MASS.
Eaton, after the reading of the treasurer's report at the annual meeting, would challenge Captain Partridge to pay, each, one half the debt. If accepted, the matter was settled at once; if not, he would pay half, if others would pay the balance within thirty days.
In 1861 a small addition was built on the north end of the church to receive a new organ, the gift of Mr. Milton H. Sanford. The high pulpit was taken down and a small plat- form substituted. The organ cost $1,000, the alterations about $550, which was made up by subscription.
In 1870 new windows were put in, the bell re-hung, and various other improvements and repairs made at a cost of $1,985, raised by subscription.
Monday, October 30, 1871, a very important meeting of the society was held, to consider first, a communication from their devoted pastor, who, after nearly thirty-three years of active service, asked to be relieved on account of advancing years and declining strength, and that a successor and associate might be secured.
The church had previously acted upon this matter and extended a call to Rev. R. K. Harlow, then preaching in Belfast, Maine. The society unanimously confirmed the action of the church and voted to offer to Mr. Harlow a salary of $1,500, a vacation of two (and afterwards made four) Sundays in each year, and the use of a suitable dwelling house whenever it became necessary. These terms he accepted, but to general regret has failed to require a " suita- ble dwelling house."
Through the liberal aid of Dr. Oliver Dean a library had been founded, and the need of larger accommodations and a suitable room for lectures and public meetings was felt in the community.
The young ladies, by a series of fairs and entertainments, had raised the sum of $500 toward this object, and a public hall was now projected.
Mrs. Edena H. Sanford was interested, and had aided the young ladies in procuring funds. Her son Milton, ever
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