USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lowell > Fortieth anniversary, Lowell, Mass., May 9th and 11th, 1879 > Part 4
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
37
church, in Dracut. In January, 1831, soon after the organization of Appleton Street Church, -now the Eliot Church, - which was organized by a colony of volunteers from the First Church, in 1830, he became a member, as one of the volunteers, of that church. In 1839, with others from the Appleton Street Church, and from the First Church, he again colonized, and assisted in organizing our own, the John Street Church, of which he became a member.
Many years before his death, he was in trade as a grocer. He repeatedly served as a member of our municipal government. He was twice married, and his second wife is still with us, and a member of our church and school. Deacon Bancroft passed among us as an eminently pious and holy man ; one who adorned, by a godly and devout life, the office of deacon. He was a man of good mental capacity ; intelligent and earnest in the discharge of Christian duty ; and during his whole life in Lowell, exerted a wide influence in support of the church and Christian institutions. In the early history of our city, he was a prominent man, and in the church and municipal affairs, was a leader in all that makes a city peacealle, orderly, and strong.
Artemas L. Brooks, our second superintendent, was a native of the town of Groton, in the County of Grafton, in the State of New Hampshire, where he was born Sept. 20, 1803, just two years before Deacon Bancroft. He was of stock that originally went from Mas- sachusetts, and from our own Middlesex County. He was educated in the schools of his native town, and for a short time attended Pembroke Academy. He came to Lowell in 1832, and for a while worked as a carpenter, but afterwards entered into the business of manufacturing and selling lumber, which grew into a very large and extensive business, and so continued until his death.
His parents were Christian people, and gave him a religious training, but he was not personally a religious man until about the time of joining the Appleton Street Church, in 1836. He remained in the Appleton Street Church until 1842, when he transferred his membership to this church, in which he continued until his death. Ile first had his attention drawn to the necessity of a personal submission to God, by the Rev. Mr. Burnap of the Appleton Street Church. He was a teacher in the Sabbath school at Appleton Street; and afterwards in this school, all the time when not superintendent, until his final sickness. For twenty-five years or more, he was at the head of a large and prosperous class, composed
38
of active young men - the leading class of young men in the school. In this sphere of work, he took wonderful delight; and in it he has had few superiors. His manly, noble presence; his brave, honest, generous heart, full of all manly, high, holy, and honorable aspira- tions ; his ever-abounding hope and implicit faith in the final triumph of truth and justice; his rugged training, and wonderful success in business, which carried him on from the beginning of a journeyman carpenter, dependent upon his daily earnings, to the position of a leading business man in our city, - all combined to fit him for a teacher and leader of young men. No young man ever came in contact with him, whom he did not lift and encourage, and who did not learn to respect and love him. The work of his life was ex- cessive, and told upon him, by a partial paralysis of the brain, for some months before his death. He filled many offices in the city, and was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for two years. He was a good, brave, noble, generous man, and will long be remembered among us for his good deeds and charity, which still linger behind him. He died in Lowell, July 3, 1878.
Deacon Allen was born in Mansfield, Mass., Nov. 19, 1810. He received his education in the schools of his native town, and in Wrentham. Ile came to Lowell in September, 1832, at the age of twenty-two years. He was engaged in mercantile business, in which he continued until the close of life. He died Aug. 29, 1862. Upon coming to Lowell in 1832, he became a member of the First Church, of which Dr. Amos Blanchard was then pastor. He came into this church, as one of the volunteers at its organization, and at the first session of the Sabbath school in the old city hall, he was one of the teachers, and so continued, when he was not superintendent, until his last sickness. He was the first treasurer of the church, and one of the first prudential committee, and took a leading part in its organization.
The John Street Sabbath school was not the first one of which he had charge. When not more than sixteen years of age, he became much interested in the neglected condition of the children whose parents were operatives in a factory near his home. Though not himself a Christian at that time, he pitied them, and gathered them into a Sabbath school, which, with the assistance of his younger sisters, he carried on for some time. All who knew Deacon Allen will see in this remarkably noble, manly act of the boy of sixteen, the type of the man as he was in Lowell, during his entire life among us.
39
In 1877, the school received a legacy from Mrs. Sarah C. Kershaw, of two hundred dollars -its first and only donation. This legacy has been duly invested, and will permanently remain as an investment, and be called " The Kershaw Fund," the income of which will be appropriated to the use of the school. The character and noble generosity of Mrs. Kershaw are such as to demand a sketch of her life, to be preserved, which is herewith given.
Mrs. Sarah C. Kershaw was born in Campton, N. H., Aug. 24 1828. She was the daughter of Pelatiah C. and Lois Blaisdell. Her father was a farmer. At the age of sixteen she left her home to work, manifesting a strong desire to be self-dependent and earn her own living. Suitable and profitable employment was not easily obtained by a young woman in the vicinity of her home. She had heard of Lowell, its mills, and of the wages which industrious young women could there earn. In 1845, she came .to Lowell, entered the mill, and from that time until a few weeks before her death, June 26, 1877, with the exception of short occasional inter- vals taken for rest, she led the life of a Lowell factory-girl, which apparently constituted her earthly experience to the end of life. But in all her years of hard labor and unceasing toil, she possessed a character marked by great independence, perseverance, self-control, and devotion to duty. In 1855, she married Royal A. Bennett. He was then in failing health, and in a short time his health became so feeble, that she had the entire responsibility of supporting herself by daily toil, and nursing him, and providing him with medicine and medical attendance. He died, and she then found herself in debt largely, and in feeble health. As soon as health permitted, she returned again to life in the mill, and toiled on to lift the load of debt, and obtain daily support. Through long years she never faltered, wavered, or complained. Her faith in God taught her that everything was ordered for the best. In 1865, she married James. W. Kershaw, but only a second time to nurse a sick and dying husband through months, until she laid him in the grave, in 1866. After the death of her second husband, she continued her labor in the mill, pursued the strictest economy, and seems, solemnly and deliberately, to have dedicated her entire earnings, as they should accumulate, dollar by dollar, to the building up of God's kingdom. For about eleven years more she toiled, and, in 1877, upon her death, a will was found, by which she gave liberally to her friends, bequeathed two hundred dollars to our Sabbath school,
40
three hundred dollars to our church, and six hundred dollars to the Home Missionary Society; bequeathing in all more than fifteen hundred dollars. This is the first donation of which our school has been the recipient.
Her life teaches us that true heroism is by our own firesides ; that it is the offspring of Christianity. This fund should be a memorial fund, to be forever kept as precious as if cach dollar of it were the price of blood. Fact is stranger than fiction. Can any romance teach us a lesson like the life of Sarah C. Kershaw ?
The date of the commencement of the Sabbath school library is uncertain, but it was in existence previous to 1844, and has been ever since maintained, the church annually appropriating funds for its support. Since 1875, the school has freely supplied money for its maintenance, and it has much improved in the number and character of the books. It now numbers more than seven hundred volumes.
In 1862, a secretary of the school was appointed, since which time, a careful record of the proceedings and attendance of the school has been kept and preserved. The secretaries have been Daniel C. Eaton, David Chase, George H. Richardson and Miss Carrie Morey. The conductors of the juvenile department have been Philena Farr, Ezra B. Adams, Dea. George C. Osgood, George H. Richardson and Artemas B. Woodworth.
The missionary work among the poor has been, during the entire history of the school, prosecuted to a greater or less extent. In 1868, the school voted to employ a woman to devote her entire time to the work, who was to receive a fixed salary for her services. Under this arrangement, Miss Lowric, now Mrs. Dea. George C. Osgood, was employed for about two years. Upon her resignation, .Miss Harriet Gray, now Mrs. Barnes, was appointed to the place, and continued the work for nearly two years more. This work was highly successful. Many were added to our numbers, and whole families were brought to attend church.
During the entire history of the school, it has been largely com- posed of adults, and has always had a fair proportion of the older members of the congregation. On an average, about two-thirds of the attendance has been in the adult department. The leading members of the church have always been active members of the Sabbath school.
41
Singing by the children was introduced in 1842, by the Rev. Stedman W. Hanks, then pastor of the church, who was ever active in the school, and especially devoted to the training of the children. Juvenile singing-books were provided, and have since ever been kept in the school, and songs by the children have ever been one of its most interesting and profitable exercises.
Penny collections on each Sabbath were commenced in 1861, and have been continued since. Monthly concerts were established at the very beginning of the school in 1839, and have ever formed a prominent means of retaining an interest in the school, and of in- struction to the children. Teachers' meetings have been held inter- mittently, and during a large portion of the time.
The adult department has always held its sessions, since the erection of the church building, in the large vestry ; the juvenile in the smaller vestry, and the Bible class in the audience-room up- stairs. In 1879, the large vestry was divided by a sliding partition, the adult department taking the northerly division, and the juvenile the southerly.
The teachers of the Bible class have been Dea. Seth Chellis, Homer Bartlett, Joseph White, Daniel P. Galloupe and Elbridge G. Richardson.
Our Sabbath school has marched pari passu with the church, under its watchful care and control, and in all times of revivals has yielded a rich harvest to be garnered in the church. It has been rich in active, religious, earnest men and women, as has been the especial method by which the church has instructed its own mem- bers and trained its children. The pastors have ever been its best friends and most earnest supporters.
It is within the limits of truth to say that for the forty years of its existence it has instructed four thousand persons, and had more or less influence in moulding their characters and destinies. Its influence has always been in favor of thorough Biblical instruction, and of what is known as evangelical doctrine. Its founders were strong men, and gave it in its origin a right direction, from which it has not swerved.
6
LETTERS.
FROM REV. DR. BUDINGTON.
BROOKLYN, N. Y., May 7, 1879. REVEREND AND DEAR SIR :-
Your courteous and interesting letter of the 5th inst. reached me yesterday, and filled me with strong desires to accept your invi- tation, and be present with you on the approaching anniversary.
I can not realize that forty years have elapsed since I ministered to the congregation assembling in the City Hall, and beginning the history of the John Street Congregational Church; but the lapse of time has not effaced from my mind the memory of the noble men and women who began that hopeful and Christian enterprise, nor the sympathizing pastors of the older churches, who welcomed the new organization.
How gladly I should meet those who remain, to talk over those early days, and make mention of the goodness of God in subse- quent days!
I find, however, that it will not be in my power to leave home at present, and I must therefore decline the cordial invitation you have extended to me, with many thanks that you have thus remem bered me, and with the expression of the hope that the Great Head of the church may preside at your expected gatherings, and leave a rich blessing in all your hearts.
Accept, also, my own best wishes for you personally, that God may long preserve and bless you in the ministry of His grace among the people of your ordination vows. Present my Christian saluta- tions to the pastor and the officers of the church, and believe me,
Fraternally yours,
WILLIAM IVES BUDINGTON.
THE REV. J. B. SEABURY.
FROM REV. A. P. FOSTER.
JERSEY CITY, N. J., April 9, 1879.
MY DEAR BROTHER SEABURY : --
Many thanks for your kind invitation to be present at the fortieth anniversary of the organization of John Street Church. It would give me great pleasure to accept the invitation. I shall ever have a tender love for the church of which I was permitted to become a member, in those early days when I first tremblingly hoped I had found my Lord. And, since those happy days of boy- hood, when John Street brethren like Mr. Brooks and William Col- cord, now both gone to their rest, and Judge Stevens, still, happily, a pillar in the church, were my teachers in the Sabbath school, I have been grateful for influences on my mind and heart, which I hope abide with me still.
Nor ean I ever forget the constant kindness of the John Street people to my father, -that they welcomed him to them a second time, that, in his feebleness of health, they gave him long and re- peated vacations, and that, when it finally became evident he could . no longer serve them as their pastor, they voted so heartily, and with such appreciative words, to continue him as pastor emeritus.
I love John Street Church, and I would gladly be with them on the occasion referred to; other duties, however, prevent, and I must therefore decline your kind invitation.
Please present my heartiest congratulations to the church on the . completion of forty years of so much blessing to others, and credit to themselves. As ever,
Yours sincerely,
ADDISON P. FOSTER.
5
45
FROM REV. B. F. DOE.
RIPON, WIS., April 14, 1879.
TO THE JOHN ST. CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, Lowell, Mass.,
Greeting : Dearly Beloved-It would give me great pleasure to be present with you, and to share in the commemorative services of your fortieth anniversary ; but this is quite impossible. I gladly avail myself of the next best thing, and send you a few written words of salutation and reminiscence, and shall certainly be with you in spirit.
A local church of Christ has a kind of sacred personality, an or- ganic life and history, a name and a place, and is entrusted with solemn responsibilities.
We look upon the infant child with tender compassion because of its weakness, but put upon it infinite value because of what it may yet become, its capacity for growth and immortal life.
And so we look upon the young church in its pioneer struggles, but we think. of what she may yet become, not only strong in numbers and wealth, but the embodiment of great moral power, Christian influences, divine experiences, and human helps ; a Christian school for training the young for responsible positions in life, and a Christian home for the nurture of all good faith, and love, and beauty of spirit, and heavenly graces; an earnest and pledge of the blessed and glorious home above.
My first introduction to John Street Church I now regard as the turning point of my life. Coming from a Vermont farm, young, inexperienced, a stranger in a strange city, I needed the kind word and helping hand of some trustworthy friend. In due time I found such, a member of John Street Church. He knew I was on a dangerous.track, having been lured with many other young men to an attractive place of infidel teachings. By kind invitation and urgency even, I agreed to meet him the next Sabbath morning at the corner of Merrimack and John Streets, to attend church with him. I was entirely unacquainted with that establishment, did not even know the minister by sight. But the turning of that corner held in it vastly more than I then knew.
I sat in pew No. 11. This must have been thirty-five years ago, or more. I was in doubt whether I should be caught there again, as I had contracted a dislike to an Orthodox, or as we young fellows called it, a hell-fire church. But the minister somehow knew that I
46
was there, and looked me up during the week, coming to my place of labor on the Wentworth building, to my great surprise. We had a pleasant talk together. He tried his hand at my work, but unfortunately struck the wrong nail, and said he believed he could preach better than he could lath. I wondered how such a thin-faced man could keep from swearing, as the blood ran freely. Said he hoped to see me at church next Sunday, and wished that I would go into the Sunday school.
After he left, my private meditation was, if an Orthodox preacher cares enough about me to visit me during the week at my place of labor, I will go on Sunday where he performs, but won't try my hand at preaching.
I went, sat in the same pew, went into the Sunday school (Dea. Selwin Bancroft was the dignified superintendent at that time), was put into Deacon Lovejoy's Bible class for young men, in the corner, had a hard tussle with him over something in the book of Romans, but as I thought I beat, I was quite satisfied, and regarded him as a capital teacher.
Not long after, I united with the church, in 1845, perhaps. I acted as sexton two years, while fitting for college, entered Amherst College in 1847, graduated in 1851, and from Bangor Seminary in 1854, teaching meantime two terms in Litchfield Academy, Me., where Rev. Smith Baker was then an obedient pupil. I was married the next day after graduating, and went directly to Lan- caster, where I was pastor four years, and then to Appleton, Wis., where I was pastor ten years, and have been Superintendent of Ilome Missions for Wisconsin eleven years, and have not been out of employ a single Sabbath, these twenty-five years.
Entering upon the duties of door-keeper in the house of the Lord was a marked event. I have no idea that General Grant, entering the White House as President, had such an awful sense of respon- sibility as I had entering upon the sextonship, and all for ninety dollars a year. When I walked those solemn aisles, and carried the notices to the minister in that lofty pulpit, - well, there is no use in trying to describe the fearfulness of that hour. But the work at length became my delight and pride, and gave me confidence to look people in the face. At the first union service the house was very full, and I was doing my best; I beckoned to two young ladies at the door to follow me, and with stately tread I made for the front pew in the centre aisle, and turning around with a graceful bow, behold, nobody ! I went back with feelings not altogether
-------
47
gracious, Homer Bartlett, Mr. Tripp and a host of others shaking their sides at my expense, while Deacon Wetherbee turned his gentle eye of compassion upon me and smiled my wrath and con- fusion away.
Whatever snecess I have had in my ministry, in reading human nature, and tact in managing it, is due in no small degree to that sextonship, the best two years of my life in practical training.
If a man needs confirmation in the doctrine of total depravity, let him act as sexton two years in a city church. If he would learn the difference between good and ill manners, between mere eti- quette and Christian kindness, let him fill that position. I have always been on good terms with my sextons.
Let me note one more fact, that I became a teacher of the class of old ladies in the Sabbath school, and on this wise :- The old ladies had their theological opinions well settled, and the teacher, Dr. Mansfield, had his, and this sometimes made bloody work, so the class decided to have a young man without established opinions. They told me, the first Sabbath, that all they wanted of me was to ask the questions in the question-book, and they would be respon- sible for the answers : fortunate for me! Mrs. Sargent, of blessed memory, was one of the class, who is still living, watching and waiting.
I remember well the prayer-meetings, and am thankful that I was encouraged to take an active part. I remember with a kind of ven- eration the good deacons, and the pastor, of course, who was a very practical man, and never seemed to me vain of his beauty. I caught his anti-slavery spirit, though it was smothered for a time, and fought the same battles in Wisconsin till victory came.
I have not forgotten those Christian women in that dear church. "Greet Mary, who bestowed much labor on us"; " salute Tryphena, and Tryphosa, and the beloved Persis."
But I must close. Permit me to express the hope that this will ever be a faithful, loving, working, sympathetic and missionary church, a household of faith indeed.
John Street Church will ever be dear to me. Nearly all of those whom I knew so well have passed away. We are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses from our beloved Zion. Let the memory of their Christian lives, their patient endurance, their heroic faith and deeds, animate and stimulate us to follow them as they followed Christ, looking into Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
48
Not many of us will be here to celebrate the eightieth anniver- sary, though we may come unseen by mortal eyes; but the Lord Jesus will be here, and we will celebrate His love evermore, and bless Ilim for His abounding grace to the Jolm Street Church in the past, and beseech Him to dwell in this Zion in all time to come. " Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces."
My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.
Your brother in Christ, and in the fellowship of the Congrega- tional Churches,
FRANKLIN B. DOE.
SUPPLEMENTARY MEETING.
UPON rare anniversary occasions, it very often happens that the amount of historical matter accumulated is largely disproportionate to the time allotted for its presentation. This was true of our Fortieth Anniversary. In order to give opportunity to hear the reading of one paper crowded out at that time, and of another paper prepared since that day, a meeting was held June Sth, when they were presented.
Mr. Samuel Fay, one of the original members of our church, was, prior to connection with us, a member of the " Third Congregational Church." In consideration of its relation to the Jolm Street Church, he gave an historical sketch of its origin and brief career. The movement began with the First Church. The first meeting was held in June, 1832, to consider " the subject of enlarging the facilities for attending Congregational worship, in order to accom- modate the increasing numbers in this place, whose views of religious truth and order correspond with our own." Immediate measures were taken to form a church, which was publicly organ- ized July 2, 1832, consisting of eighty-three members. Sixteen of this number came from the Appleton Street Church, and a large majority from the First Church. The first house of worship was a building on the corner of Market (then Lowell) and Suffolk Streets. In October, 1833, Rev. Giles Pease was installed as pastor. In the words of Mr. Fay : " There were activity and harmony apparent in the labors of pastor and people, a large congregation at the church every Sabbath, and everything indi- cated prosperity until a very few months later, when the person who was treasurer of the church and one of the proprietors of the building failed in business, and it was found that he had appro- priated their funds to his private use and was unable to replace them. They were then obliged to give up their house and imme- diately hired the town hall, which was then in the present City
1
Y
Y
50
Government Building, for Sabbath services, and a school-house near the mills of the Lawrence Company for weekly evening meetings. Services were continued in these places until the fall of 1835, or early in the following winter." Subsequently another building was secured, which was situated on Market Street, a few rods west of Worthen Street. It was accessible from Merrimack Street through Maiden Lane. The building was known as "the theatre." Some aid was furnished by those who had no personal interest in the church, but who desired to rescue the house from its theatrical associations.
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.