USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > Gathered in 1707 : a history of the First Congregational Church, Braintree, Massachusetts, 1707-1957 > Part 5
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"Two very memorable and interesting programs happened in 1930 near the end of my pastorate. The first was the pilgrimage of 1,200 British Congregationalists to the United States to hold a service and place a wreath on Plymouth Rock. For a lot of these people, this was the one trip of their lives. They landed in Boston on the "Adriatic" on a Sunday morning in springtime. They were met and welcomed by representatives of the Boston Congregational Club and taken to Con- gregational Churches for services and given Sunday dinner by members of the various Churches they had attended. Their program included an evening service in Park St. Church, invitations to homes in and around Boston for night's lodging; a bus trip about the city on Monday, a meeting in the State House where the Log of the 'Mayflower' was read; a church service in the evening at which Dr. Eaton of Beloit College was the speaker and a trip to Plymouth Rock where they were to have their own service and then depart by special train for New York.
"When this program was announced at the Boston Club and a call was given for Churches to volunteer to entertain, I jumped to my feet and said the First Church in Braintree would take forty of them. On the way home I wondered whether or not I could find homes to entertain that number but the people were so enthusiastic that I could have found entertainment for double that number.
"Some very humorous things happened in this episode. Mr. and Mrs. E. Stanwood Hollis volunteered to take four, preferably with a Welch background to please Mrs. Hollis' mother. I found a Minister and his wife and two of their friends, all Welch, and brought them to the Hollis home where they were heartily greeted in Welch. Later in the evening, after all had gone to bed, Mr. Hollis walked up through the hall-ways, and lo and behold! outside each guest's door were shoes put out to be shined, after the British custom. Not wanting to call his maids to do the job, Mr. Hollis gathered up the shoes and polished them himself. His close friends joked him for many a day, asking if he made his money blacking boots.
"Another part of the 1930 Puritan celebration was the Puritan Colonial service we held in the sanctuary, in connection with the display of material brought together by our new Historical Society and exhib- ited in the upper Parish House. We had a dinner in the lower hall and the requirement was that each person must come in old fashioned costume and pay a price large enough to cover the dinner and the rented Puritan costumes used in the Church service to follow.
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"When the hour arrived, Puritans, in military costume, led the people to Church. We had Mr. Blunt to line out the hymns; there were two tithing men with their proper equipment to keep order. Mr. Henry Chrystie was a special tithing man to keep the Puritan boys quiet who were sitting up front. There were some Quakers present, led by Mrs. Blunt and at one point they disturbed the meeting. There were also a few Indians. I preached the sermon and Rev. John Poland (of the Epis- copal Church) acted as Associate Minister. Everything that was said or done followed the usual Colonial Church. The sermon, "The Sov- reignty of God' had been preached in a Puritan pulpit, leading up to the peroration of Jonathan Edwards' sermon 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God in which he pictures God holding a sinner over the pit of a burning Hell as one might hold a loathsome spider over a cauldron of fire. I proclaimed the peroration as though I really meant every word and when I finished there was silence for a moment and then the congregation burst into laughter. Mr. Poland closed the service dramatically by saying that the Puritan government in England had fallen and Charles II had been placed on the throne of Britain. All was consternation as he told what that might mean to the Massachusetts Colony.
"Preaching and leading a congregation in spiritual ideals during the period called "The Roaring Twenties' was a difficult task, more difficult than in the forty-four years of my active ministry. Something of moral fiber and spiritual faith seemed to have dropped out of life during the War. The automobile, radios, new gadgets and other pleasures constantly attracted more people and the attendance dropped. It was inspiring therefore to watch First Church grow and to receive groups of over fifty into the Church, the largest group being sixty-four. As time went on, great numbers of men were playing the Stock Market on a seventy-five percent margin, people were buying more than they could afford on the installment plan, and finally the bubble burst in November, 1929.
"I left Braintree in less than a year after the great financial crash, and the new situation began to bring economic extravagances and cheap and false ideas about the Church down to earth. The time had come when I must decide whether to stay in Braintree for a longer pastorate or to seek another Church. To try to finish my ministry in Braintree seemed unfair to those who might wish a change and perhaps not the best thing for myself. I had worked hard in a commuter's suburb, con- stantly following the moving van in and out; so I decided to accept a
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call to a fine Church in a small city (Newburyport). The people of both these Churches in which I spent nearly forty years of my ministry, mean to myself and wife more than we can ever express.
"When we left First Church, I said to several that if we were just coming to the Church for a new pastorate, I would feel that it was the greatest opportunity on the South Shore. Now it has a membership of more than twice the membership of 1930. We con- gratulate the First Church and its splendid Minister on the celebration of the 250th Anniversary of this great Church."
The Church register records that 550 people joined the Church between 1912 and Mr. Grimes' resignation in 1930, an average of about 30 members a year. This growth foreshadowed the rapid expan- sion of the 1940's when greater numbers moved to the suburbs and all towns around Boston were growing rapidly.
REV. WINFIELD SCOTT HOLLAND 1931 - 1934
Born in Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 11, 1878; son of Alexander and Mary Peterson Holland. Graduated from Bucknell University and Crozer Theological Seminary; ordained to the ministry in 1903. Served Churches in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Livermore Falls, Me., and Westboro, Somerville and Adams, Mass., before coming to Braintree in 1931. Member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and active in Masonic Order. Married Miss Rose F. Stifler, daugh- ter of Rev. J. S. Stifler of the Crozer Theological Seminary faculty. Four children: Jean F., Richard P., James, and Winfield S., Jr. Resigned on May 20, 1934; died June 18, 1934, after an illness of four months with a heart condition. Buried in historic cemetery where rest three of his predecessors: Rev. Weld, Rev. Niles and Dr. Storrs.
Brief as Rev. Holland's pastorate was, he made a deep and lasting impression on the people of the Church because of his sincerity and deep religious faith. His service to the Church came at a very difficult time because of the depression. He gave generously of his time and strength to develop a continuing program of assistance to those who were in need of food and clothing in and outside of the Parish and was instru- mental in setting up a definite program of regular contributions of the necessities of life at Sunday morning services, called "Pantry" and "Wardrobe" Sundays.
Just as he had served in each of the churches and communities, before coming to Braintree, Rev. Holland was a loyal and helpful worker in social, civic and inter-church relations. He had a very
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agreeable and pleasing manner and disposition and proved himself to be a tireless worker and an able administrator, diligent in giving faithful and sympathetic care to the sick and aged. He was especially successful in his work with the young people.
On the occasion of the celebration of the 225th anniversary of the Church's organization, Mr. Holland served as general chairman of the Church's observance and prepared and published in the "Braintree Observer" an interesting, condensed history of the Church requiring a great deal of research. In his annual report in January 1933, Mr. Holland wrote: "Of all that we enjoyed through those weeks of our celebration, our speakers, the anniversary hymn, the anniversary ban- quet, the historical exhibit, the service of commemoration in the First Parish Cemetery, it would be difficult to say which was the highest of the high lights of the observance. The memorial tablet which graces the auditorium of our church, and the deposit of inspiring memories in all our hearts, are ties which bind us to a noble past. As we face a new year of service in the church, there is an even greater need than the fact of wide-spread poverty may indicate. There are needs in the hearts and lives of us all. Our deeper need is for faith, courage and steadfast- ness. We need especially those values and realities with which the church deals. May we all seek to go forward with a prayer that we be drawn nearer to the Master of us all, and that we may feel increasingly His strong presence in our work."
In his annual message to the Church, dated January 25, 1934, only a few months before his death, he wrote:
"The First Congregational Church of Braintree has ministered to generation after generation of people in this town ... children have been trained in the teachings of the Christian Religion, souls have been quickened, lives have been changed and men and women have devoted themselves to the service of God and of their fellowmen because this Church has been here through the years. I ask your loyalty to me as your pastor; your support of your pastor's services and of his endeavors. Pastors, however, come and they go. And so my request is something more than a selfish, personal one. What I ask tonight and ask urgently, having in mind what this Church has done in the past, and the larger things it may easily do in the future if the spirit of the Church is right; what I ask is your loyalty to Christ and his Church,
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your support of this Church, your personal, willing and glad cooperation in its work for God."
The resignation of Mr. Holland from the pastorate and notice of his temporary retirement from the Congregational ministry were re- ceived with deep regret by members of the Church. Although he had been ill for some months, it was hoped that an extended rest would make it possible for him to return to his pulpit. The following para- graphs were a portion of his letter of resignation and give an insight into his character and are, in a way, his message for all future genera- tions of Church members:
"To dissolve the bands uniting pastor and people is never an easy matter. To remove one's self entirely from the active ministry after over thirty years in the service of Christ and the Church arouses deep personal emotions. It is not easy to estimate the results of a sermon, of a prayer, of a life. I do hope and pray that this pastorate of mine, short though it has been, may have meant for many of you an enrichment of life, and an encouragement and an inspiration always to seek the highest and the best.
"I have been with you, some of you, in those moments of life when sorrow is the deepest or joy supreme; I have baptized children, joined young people in marriage; I have been with you in sickness and in health; I have laid your loved ones away to rest; I have rejoiced to receive people into the fellowship of our Church membership. I have carried aid and relief from the Church and from you to the poor in their sore need. And thus it is that my brief pastorate has been spent.
"As I so reluctantly go from you, regretting all that I must leave behind, it is with the earnest hope that my place may soon be filled by another, about whom you will rally, and with whom you will go forward to great things. In those days soon to come, you and your pastor will have my interest and my prayers. I hope that rarest blessings may be yours."
Mr. Holland died June 18, 1934, and his funeral services were held at the Church and were conducted by Rev. Dr. Asa Parker of Boston. Interment was in the historic North cemetery, across from the Church.
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REV. WINFIELD SCOTT HOLLAND, 1931 - 1934
REV. DR. JOSEPH LYLE MCCORISON, JR., 1934 - 1940 (OIL PAINTING BY MISS JEAN DAY, 1940)
REV. DR. JOSEPH LYLE McCORISON, JR. 1934 - 1940
Born in Ashland, Wisconsin, March 7, 1900; graduated from Northland College, Ashland, Wis., and Ripon College, Ripon, Wis., receiving B.S. from both colleges; later studied at graduate school at University of Wisconsin, Madison. One summer during college spent in missionary work in North Dakota. Won a var- sity letter in football. Taught science and served as principal of a high school for three years; 1926, ordained in the Christian min- istry at Humeston, Iowa, where he had served as lay preacher. Churches: Nashua, Iowa, and the "Little Brown Church in the Vale" (Congregational) for three years; Riverside Memorial Congregational Church, Haverhill, Mass., 1929-34; received de- gree of Bachelor of Theology in 1932 from Harvard Divinity School; has done graduate work at Harvard and Andover Theo- logical Seminary where he received a degree of Master of Theol- ogy (majoring in field of church history). President, Yankton College, Yankton, South Dakota, 1940-1943; Regional Director, National Conference of Christians and Jews, 1943-1947; minister, First Congregational Church, Westfield, N. J., since 1947. Mar- ried Dec. 25, 1924, Ruth Eleanor Mink; children: Marcus, born in 1926, and Virginia (Mrs. John McConnell) born in 1928. Honorary degrees: D.D., Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio, 1941; D.D., Ripon College, Ripon, Wis., 1941; S.T.D., Northland Col- lege, Ashland, Wis., 1941.
Dr. McCorison has written, for this history, the following account of his six years' ministry in Braintree which, being in his own words, will be of special interest to his former parishioners who can recall the many personal experiences he refers to so vividly.
"In the spring of 1934, while serving as pastor of the Riverside Memorial Church in Haverhill, Mass., I was waited upon by a committee from the First Congregational Church of Braintree, led by Raymond P. Palmer and including Mrs. Arthur W. Cass, Mrs. Arnold Hopkins, Miss S. Emma Keith, Mrs. Austin R. Larrabee, Mrs. William E. Noyes, Miss Barbara Pierce, James Reid, Fred K. Simon, Henry T. Smith and John J. Wishart. On two occasions these strangers and others not members of the committee were observed in the congregation at River- side, but it was not until late summer while vacationing in the Middle West that I was invited to Braintree as a candidate. Later I received a unanimous call to become your minister and teacher and a successor in a long tradition of pastors, several of whom were of great distinction in the religious history of New England. On Wednesday, November 14, 1934, we arrived at 84 Hollis Avenue to occupy the Parsonage at
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the foot of 'Christian Hill.' The following Sunday, I began my preaching ministry and we were off to six years of happy, exhilarating and reward- ing work.
"The depression was still with us and the migration to the further reaches of 'Suburbia' had not yet begun. Church budgets were modest of necessity; Church organization was relatively simple and direct; Church calendars were comparatively uncluttered. There was no Church office; no Church secretary; and in more ways than one, the pastor was 'it' so far as the work of the Church went. This very fact of placing him at the center had great and positive advantages. He came in touch with everyone; he was known by everyone; and he, in turn, came to know everyone even the children in the Church School.
"Braintree was then, as it had been for a long time past, a quiet place; and, despite its proximity to Boston, preserved much of the charm and spirit of the ancient New England village it was. Braintree was fortunate in situation, the Blue Hills stood as a barrier against the city and offered seclusion from its pressures, as well as quiet thinking places. It was a delightful parish of friendly, dedicated people who were eager to be helpful in every concern of the Church and its witness. And now after nearly a quarter of a century only the pleasantest memories of people and place remain. We love both still. What abiding and cherished friendships have blessed us! And what a host of men, women, young people and children made those years memorable. They press in upon the memory in such numbers that it would be hazardous to attempt to name any for fear of omitting some to whom at that time we stood in closest relationship. But these were they who with warm- hearted friendship, good counsel and generous encouragement and sup- port made easy the increasingly heavy parish work as town and Church felt the first impact of rapid change.
"What happened during those happy years? No one could come to Braintree without an immediate awareness of the distinction of its long history and the vitality of its present life. The old Storrs Parson- age, then still standing at the corner of Elm and Washington Streets, was a daily witness to the vigorous influence of Richard Salter Storrs whose preaching and presence more than that of any other man had shaped the tradition of town and Church, and remained after 60 years a potent force. To walk through the old Burying Ground was again to be confronted by those 'Village-Hampdens' who in another genera- tion had proved themselves dauntless in things of the spirit and civil state. Near at hand were the Adams houses and associations, and those
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reminders of John Hancock and of Josiah Quincy, making history vibrant, quicking contemporary pride and zeal.
"It was in such a town where challenging forces of past and present met, where old and new opinions clashed, and where old loyalties lingered that I began, in the autumn of 1934, a ministry of reconciliation. I had never met the Reverend Mr. Holland, my imme- diate predecessor. He had died before the full impact of his splendid ministry was felt; yet what he did with such patient devotion made easier my coming and enriched the subsequent years in Braintree. On the other hand, I had known the Reverend Harry Grimes for some time and was acquainted with his work as pastor of this Church which had extended over a period of eighteen years. It was probably due to his personal friendship and encouragement that the Braintree Committee first became interested in me as a candidate and then ultimately recom- mended me to the Church as its pastor.
"My first duty was to unite the people of this old Church, with its great and inspiring past, in a resolute purpose for present usefulness. To that end I gave long hours of persistent calling upon every home in every part of the parish. That concern for people is what I recall most vividly about my ministry in Braintree. Surely it was that experi- ence out of which the content of that ministry took form.
"The next decisive experience was the Great Depression. It is only a memory now, but then it was a bitterly sombre fact. Those were not easy years in Braintree. There was want among many of its people - real, palpable, physical want; there was also tragedy, and keenly felt reversals of fortune. Pride had been humbled. People had been hurt; and these, for whom there was admiration and great personal affection, had to be encouraged to bind up past wounds and with hope in the future make a new life for themselves.
"Beyond the pulpit ministry and parish calling, the Church School engaged our immediate attention. Irving Holbrook had for many years been the lay leader in this enterprise. Rarely could one find a more dedicated person than he was and had been. Newer materials and newer approaches to Christian education had become a clear and present need and Mr. Holbrook generously assisted in making these changes possible. The School was growing more rapidly than conservative projections had anticipated and people began to be concerned with ways and means of providing adequate space for these and other activities of the Church, though it was to take a decade before this concern eventuated in action.
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"In addition to the Church School, the Church gave enthusiastic sponsorship to a Boy Scout program with a long record of excellence in Scouting and for its participation in the old Colony Council, Boy Scouts of America. There were also Girl Scout Troops and Brownie Packs which benefitted from the intelligent leadership of Margaret Ellis, Mrs. J. Davis Shuster and many others. The Church was no less fortunate in its youth and in the verve these young people in turn gave to its fellowship. They were magnificent, comprising a group whose imagination was equalled by its physical endurance, enthusiasm and willingness to work, and whose loyalty is felt in the Church today.
"The Youth work was at that time organized as Christian Endeavor Societies, with Junior, Intermediate and Senior units. Nationally and locally, this organization was undergoing marked change and newer denominational agencies such as the Pilgrim Fellowship were emerging. A transition from the older organization to the new was effected over a period of several years, though the old name of Christian Endeavor, cherished by nearly three generations of young people, was retained until it finally passed into disuse.
"A program for younger married people and young adults took form in a Sunday Evening Forum which presented lectures and dis- cussions, including a famous Science Series directed by Kirtley Mather and several other members of the faculty of Harvard University. There were discussions on 'Religious Education in the Home' and 'History of the English Bible.' Mrs. Stephen P. Hurd conducted highly competent and stimulating courses on current events. Religious drama was ser- iously undertaken and a standing committee to integrate the program was voted by the Church in annual meeting.
"To give coherent unity to our Youth program, Mr. Clinton Kew of the Harvard Divinity School was called in September 1935, as an assistant to the minister and charged with this responsibility. Mr. Kew remained for one year and later went on to complete his theological training at the General Theological Seminary, New York and to take a doctorate in psychology at Columbia University. The men of the Church were actively identified with the All Soul's Men's Club and the women of the parish were organized in the Ladies' Aid Society, the Co-Workers, and the Sodalitas Club. To these organizations another was added - it was called the Young Women's Club and was intended to serve a substantial number of women between 20-35 years of age who were not being served by any of the existing groups. The first
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observance in Braintree of the World Day of Prayer, an interdenomi- national undertaking, was led by Mrs. McCorison in which women from every Protestant Church in town took part and which became the pattern for subsequent annual services.
"There were many other happenings of greater or less importance to the history of the Church during those 6 brief years of my ministry. No one who experienced it can ever forget the famous hurricane of 1938 that paralyzed most of southern New England and blew down a mag- nificent black walnut tree upon the Parsonage garage in which the minister only a short time before had parked the family Ford to protect it against the storm. In 1936, there was the Sheldon bequest, including the former home of Deacon and Mrs. Sheldon on Hollis Avenue and a fund of approximately $10,000, which never materialized because of the complicated conditions of the will. Hymnals were purchased in 1937 by personal gifts from members of the Church including one gift of 50 Hymnals from Mrs. Francis Robinson in memory of her husband. About this time, Mrs. E. Sanwood Hollis presented the leaded glass lunettes which were installed in the doors leading into the sanc- tuary. These lunettes replaced panes of clear glass, and embodied a cross, each of a different pattern, designed by Mr. Charles Connick of Boston. Miss S. Emma Keith was instrumental in securing the lighted cross now hanging in the Chancel, a gift of Mrs. Abbie M. Our in memory of her husband and daughter.
"If during these years under review nothing spectacular took place, it would be a mistake to infer that the Church was enjoying a long rest. There was much purposeful activity going on all of the time. Centrally located, the Church was the spiritual center of Braintree. Leadership was expected of it and it never failed to respond to every demand made upon it. Its participation in our Christian World Mission grew from year to year. It sought in every way to strengthen the fellowship of the Churches through the Pilgrim Association, the Massa- chusetts Congregational Conference, the Boston Seaman's Friend Society, the City Missionary Society and the Council for Social Action. The calendars of the period indicate the breadth and depth of its witness. The time had not yet come to expand or to rebuild either the Meeting- House or the Parish House, and though the need for such additional facilities was beginning to be felt these changes were for the future.
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