USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Georgetown > Georgetown: story of one hundred years, 1838-1938 > Part 7
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At this same meeting the committee reported that to change the Brick Schoolhouse into a Town Hall would not be feasible. The Finance Committee recommended that the old Library building be adapted and made suitable for Town Hall purposes. But the Library question, even though the building was practically ready for occupancy, would not down. At a special Town Meeting on November 25, 1907, when John F. Jackson tried for a vote that the trustees be empowered to take possession of the building, Mr. Bray moved a set of instructions to be carried out by the board, relating to the cost of grading, water supply, bookstacks, condition of drainage, cost of lighting, janitor and librarian service, and the deed of the lot. Mixed up with Library matters was that of a water supply which was reported on adversely at the annual Town Meeting of March 2, 1908.
SETTLING THE LIBRARY QUESTION
The Library question slumbered for a year and in the meantime the new building remained idle. At the annual Town Meeting, March 1, 1909, it was voted to settle the book- stack suit on the best terms possible and to open the building after the suit was settled. Three months later, at a special meeting, the trustees reported that the stacks had been paid for, $1050; the architects had been paid the balance due, $355.54; Attorney Joseph A. Dennison, $122.50 and that the only unpaid claim against the building fund was that of John J. Winus for legal service, $274. The cost of the furniture was $550; lighting system, $175; toilet, $150; grading, $300; cost of moving books, $50; librarian's salary, $250; janitor, $150; fuel, $100; lights, $25; repairs on books, $50. The income of book and expense fund was placed at $700.
The committee elected to settle the bookstack case reported the Ohio Company's bill with interest at $2000. The company settled for $1050, plus interest at $309. Counsel's fees were $394 and the balance was $865. The committee urged that statements and com- munications relative to the matter be spread upon the town records, namely a copy of their
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report, a copy of the investigating committee's report, the architect's letter to Mr. Hood of the Art Metal Construction Company, Mr. Hood's letter to the town and the report of the expert who had examined the stacks. The report was signed by William Bray, John F. Jackson, Frank A. Palmer, Charles E. Tyler and Horace E. Harriman. The town voted that the report be accepted and the motion adopted. The architects were Cooper & Bailey.
With the Library and School questions out of the way, and both buildings in opera- tion, the town turned its attention to the questions of an electric lighting system, a new Town Hall and a public water system. A committee comprising George W. Noyes, Albert C. Reed, Robert F. Metcalf, George H. Pingree and James Watson were named to investi- gate the Town Hall question and the disposition of the old Library building and the selectmen were instructed to investigate in regard to an electric lighting system. Messrs. Asa F. Howe, Henry Hilliard, Lawrence L. Chaplin and C. A. Holmes were named to act with the selectmen.
Electric lights went over rapidly in 1912, for on January 3, the town had accepted the committee's report that a system could be installed for $10,000, and voted to take the step by a vote of 132 to 7. At another town meeting it was voted to issue bonds of $20,000 and a committee was named, comprising William Bray, A. Baker Hull, Fred W. Baker and Edward A. Chaplin, to go ahead. One year later, at the annual Town Meeting, March 13, 1913, the electric lighting committee made its report, having installed the system with ten miles of primary wire and a fireproof house, within its appropriation of $20,000.
A year later the town asked the selectmen to apply to the Legislature for the priv- ilege of installing a public water system. Two years elapsed before action was taken on a Town Hall, the object being to utilize the Memorial Church property, if feasible, or build on that site when a quit claim deed could be secured. It was reported that the Church building could be remodeled for $15,000 and perhaps less. The plans were shown on a screen.
The question of utilization of the Memorial Church property for town purposes was debated with intensity and there was much correspondence and numerous conferences between town officials and the Peabody trustees. The trustees appeared willing to transfer the property under certain conditions. Finally, at a special Town Meeting, February 4, 1915, the town voted to accept as a gift a quit claim deed of the property, including the parsonage, under the following conditions: That the town will remodel the church into a suitable Town Hall or erect a new building of brick and suitable design, the building in either case to be ready for occupancy within three years from the transfer of the deed, and shall be known as the Peabody Memorial Hall, such hall to be devoted to municipal and such other uses as are customary at the present time in Massachusetts, the town to place a tablet on the building as may be agreed upon.
It was certainly a highly debatable question whether the town should go ahead on such conditions. And it did not go ahead for about three years. A special Town Meeting was called for March 24, 1919 to listen to reports. Mr. Bray, chairman of the Town Hall committee, read proposals for altering the building and for construction of a new building. The figures ranged from $20,992 to $27,711. Prospectives were shown. William H. Brainard of the firm of Brainard & Leeds, of Boston, had been selected by the Boston Society of Architects to judge the plans, open the bids and answer any questions. It was his opinion that the old building, if altered, would stand with good care perhaps 75 or 100 years, but
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would be a constant source of expense. It would not be safe to leave the tower standing. He doubted the wisdom of spending money to fix over the church as the cost would be nearly as much as to build new. Despite that report, Mr. Bray moved to remodel. The motion was lost. His motion to build a new building was withdrawn. On motion by C. A. Holmes, that the town proceed with construction on the bid of the W. Fillmore Company, the town voted in favor, 54 to 29.
Only a week elapsed before the voters, as in many other cases, were called into special Town Meeting again, at which time the opponents succeeded in rescinding the con- struction vote on the ground that more time should be given to seek expert advice. The project had been lost forever, but of course nobody realized it at the time. At an April meeting the committee reported the cost of fitting up the basement of the church for town purposes at $2540 and it was voted to do so. In October 1920 the building burned.
Four years later, after repeated conversations, the town accepted the lot with the agreement to make use of it as a park or on which to erect a Town Hall in which there must be certain tablets, the hall to bear the name of the Peabody Memorial Hall. A later agreement gave the town authority to retain the tower, which many citizens wished to save from the ruins, but the lot was cleared and is in readiness for a Town Hall at any time.
Old Spofford-Noyes House
Probably the oldest structures on Spofford's Hill, reminiscent of the earliest days when the Spoffords were numerous there.
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CHURCH LIFE VIGOROUS
I NFUSED into the Church, fraternity and intellectual life of Georgetown were many and diverse elements in former days. This was indicated by the tracing of the so-called West Parish Church. For long and short periods these influences retained their func- tual and emotional relationship with the environment of the community. Our forbears set up no defence worthwhile against the forces of change. The various pictures of men and women attempting to find their way in both thought and action are not over-colored or over-dramatic as records and traditions paint them.
It may be logical to trace some of the religious and mental upheavals to Mr. White- field whose eloquence captured the countryside on his visits to Newburyport and vicinity. Whitefield spoke in the Old South Meeting House after it had been opened a few weeks. He may have been here on another occasion. One Timothy Symmes, in February, 1754, led in openly denouncing Rev. Mr. Chandler. Mr. Chandler replied in brimstone lan- guage, but he could not completely stem the rising tide against his doctrines. Such families as Brocklebank, Plumer, Adams and Boynton headed the seditious element, hold- ing meetings frequently, and finally withdrawing from the established church and calling themselves Separatists.
Rev. Hezekiah Smith, pastor in Haverhill, was the first minister to be interested in the New Rowley dissenters. He finally organized twenty-eight members as a mission of his church. It was not easy to go to Haverhill for worship, so after a few years the New Rowley Baptists bought the little meeting-house that the Congregationalists had vacated in 1769, took it down and rebuilt it at Quaker Hale Corner. Though at that time they still called themselves Separatists, they soon embraced the doctrines of the Baptist Church. The first minister to receive money for his services was Rev. William Emery, who began his work May 7, 1785, and retired September 5, 1789.
The remote location soon proved too far from the centre of the village and in 1782, despite much opposition from the Byfield and Groveland members, the building was again dismantled and moved to the parsonage farm opposite the home of the late Stephen S. Hardy, corner of North and Mill Streets. This farm of sixty acres, extending from Mill Street to what is now Dummer Avenue, was the gift of Elder Harriman and Samuel and Benjamin Plumer for the support of a "Calvinistic Baptist Gospel Ministry." The par- sonage was on Gospel Lane and is still standing.
On May 21, 1789, Rev. Abishai Crossman of Chelmsford was called and became pastor the following year, to be dismissed in 1793. In that year forty members withdrew to join a newly-organized Danversport Church. Until 1797 the Baptists had no settled pastor. Finally, a young preacher, Rev. Shubael Lovell of Barnstable, was obtained and the society prospered. On June 21, 1811, the society was incorporated with forty-eight mem- bers as the First Baptist Religious Society in Rowley. Rev. Josiah Converse was the pastor from June 28, 1810, until September 3, 1818.
The pastorate of Rev. Simeon Chamberlain was followed by that of Rev. Ezra Wilmarth, who served until February 12, 1834, when he was dismissed after a protracted Council session of two days and a half. Until 1827 the church belonged to the Boston association; the change was to the Salem association.
On April 7, 1828, the society voted to build a new house of worship. It was erected on the Parsonage grounds, North Street, and is the present structure. The town was growing fast and the majority membership desired to be in the centre of affairs. Rev. John Burden proposed new articles of faith, which were accepted. The phrase, "Open Communion," was abandoned. Mr. Burden's ministry during 1837, 1838 and 1839 was highly successful, the church adding more members than during any other similar period in its history.
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During the next pastorate, that of Rev. Lewis E. Caswell, though of only six months, in 1843, certain members defrayed the cost of an addition to the church and provided a bell. During the next pastorate, that of Rev. Joseph Hartshorn, in 1844, the temperance movement had gained much momentum. An organization called Moral Reform for Women, founded in 1835, was largely under the auspices of the Baptists. In 1848, under Rev. A. M. Swain, the ladies finished a vestry, and in 1850, under the pastorate of Rev. Paul S. Adams, the meeting-house was repaired. Three years later, on request of Samuel Little, land was contributed to aid in the laying-out of Pleasant Street.
Strong pastors followed in Rev. William Reed, 1855-57, Rev. Joseph H. Seaver in 1858, Rev. J. M. Burt in 1862, Rev. R. G. Farley in 1870, Rev. E. T. Lyford until 1878, Rev. N. B. Wilson until September, 1879, and Rev. Mr. Burt again. From 1881 to 1885 the church was supplied by students from the Newton Theological Institute.
Then came Robert McDonald of pleasing memory. He was a student and was ordained June 1, 1885, remaining two years. A young man of vigorous personality, he made friends in all circles. The church was usually filled to the doors when he preached. He was succeeded by Rev. A. J. Hopkins, father of the President of Dartmouth College. During that period Elmer E. Scates, a native of the town, became a member of the church, later to be ordained in the ministry for highly successful service.
Other pastors have been Rev. Byron U; Hatfield, 1892-95; Rev. Edward D. Mason; Rev. J. H. Davis until 1904; Rev. C. Lewis Fowler; Rev. Elwyn O. Taylor, installed in 1907 and remaining ten years; Rev. Benjamin F. Lindsay, Rev. Frederick L. Brooks, who came in 1920; Rev. Thomas P. Evans in 1922; Rev. Albert G. Warner in 1929; John Walter Sillen in 1934, and the present pastor, Rev. George W. Smart.
Like the original church in Georgetown, the Baptists have struggled through years of alternating hope and despair, never losing faith in their great objectives and working harder and harder as difficulties arose.
ST. MARY'S CHURCH
The beautiful church home and rectory of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Central Street, was the fruition of long years of eager anticipation. It was made possible during the pastorate of Rev. Lawrence W. Slattery, but had been seriously considered many years before his advent. The church was dedicated June 2, 1907, by Rt. Rev. John Brady, auxiliary Bishop of Boston.
It is accepted as a fact that the first mass in Georgetown was sung in 1848 in the house owned by Nathaniel Nelson, Andover Street, later the home of Jeremiah P. Jones. Rev. Fr. Lannen of Newburyport officiated. The house was then occupied by James McLean, who later lived on West Street.
ยท From 1840 to 1850 Mr. Nelson employed several laborers of Irish birth, but there was no appreciable increase in Roman Catholic population until the work of building the railroad through the town was started. At that time Michael and Dennis Buckley, three brothers by the name of Molloy, the families of Hughes, Haley, Barry, McGauley, O'Doyle, and Monaghan appeared, most of whom remained as permanent residents. Several younger men, such as Donoghue, Moan, Kane, also came.
A hall in the Boynton building, which was burned in the fire of 1874, and an upper room in the Masonic Building, were first used for Roman Catholic services. Later masses were sung in Town Hall. The Haverhill parish was formed in 1850 by Bishop Fitzpatrick and Rev. John T. McDonnell, the first pastor, had in his charge the Catholic flocks of Groveland, Georgetown, West Newbury, as well as Haverhill. He died Decem- ber 7, 1886, while pastor of St. Mary's Church, Rochester, N. H.
Rev. Richard Cummins succeeded Father McDonnell in July, 1872, assisted by his uncle, Rev. John Cummins. The pastor succumbed to overwork and died October 4, 1873.
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Rev. John Cummins continued as assistant for a time during Rev. William J. Daly's pastorate, and when St. Mary's parish was established in 1874, comprising the towns of Georgetown, Groveland and West Newbury, Father Cummins became pastor. He lived, first in the family of Dennis Donoghue and afterwards in the house at the head of Clark Street. It was under his direction that St. Patrick's Church, South Groveland, was built. He died at the Carney Hospital, Boston.
The chapel of the Old South Society, vacated in 1870, was purchased by the Catholics and dedicated by Archbishop Williams in October, 1870. From that time until the present there has been a steady growth in Catholic population. Rev. Thomas O'Brien came to Georgetown in 1876 and lived in a house on Monroe Street, now owned by John Wiley. In two years, on Father O'Brien's promotion, Rev. Edward L. McClure was appointed pastor. He did much for the benefit of the parish during his ten years of service. St. Patrick's Church, South Groveland, was extensively improved and St. Anne's Church, West Newbury, was erected and dedicated in 1879. The Monroe Street cottage was first used by Father McClure, and later a house on Moulton Street. In 1880 the present rectory was purchased from Mrs. G. W. Boynton and a room set aside for an oratory, in which, on account of the inconvenient location of the church on Elm Street, the daily masses were celebrated.
Father McClure was a man of broad scholarship and a linguist of no mean ability. He frequently gave sermons in French as well as English as a number of French Catho- lics had come into the parish. On his transfer to St. Patrick's, Brockton, in 1887, where he died in 1902, he expressed his love for Georgetown and its people and announced that he was leaving with sincere regret.
The next pastor, Rev. Edward J. Murphy, died in 1891, his funeral taking place in St. Mary's Church. He was succeeded by Rev. Richard L. Walsh, who was in poor health as his predecessor had been, and died during his pastorate. It was at this time that the West Newbury Church was detached from the parish and with Merrimac formed into a new parish.
Rev. Michael J. Phelan, who came to the pastorate in 1895, soon suffered ill health and was obliged to have an assistant, Rev. Fr. Joseph E. Keyes. Father Phelan resigned and was followed by Rev. Patrick J. Halley, who remained only a year, having been promoted to St. Anthony's, Allston. But Father Halley came to the Georgetown pastorate again, in August, 1914, serving until May, 1915. He was succeeded by Rev. Lawrence W. Slattery, of a distinguished Boston family.
Father Slattery began his work October 1, 1898. He was a strong, vigorous man, scholarly, companionable and eager for work. He was greatly beloved by the people of all classes. Especially was his work effective among the young people. He was interested in all phases of town affairs and his advice was frequently sought by people outside his own parish. He was an active member of the Peabody Library board during the sensation over the erection of the present building. He considered Georgetown one of the loveliest towns he had ever known and was very happy in his work. It was he who carried out the long-deferred plans for a new church building. In May, 1908, he was promoted to the pastorate of the new parish, St. Patrick's, Cambridge, where he built a church and rectory. Later, he was transferred to a permanent pastorate in Newton.
Rev. Francis A. Cunningham, another scholarly man, though remaining but a year, reduced the church debt and made improvements. Rev. Michael P. Mahon, also a man of great ability, cleared the church debt. On his promotion in 1914 to St. Bernard's Church, Concord, Father Halley's second pastorate began. Rev. Patrick J. Durcan's pastorate was marked by continued high enthusiasm in the parish. His ministrations were not bound by parish lines and he became very popular. He was promoted to St. Joseph's,
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Ipswich, in 1920 and was succeeded by Rev. John McGrath of Merrimac, who died in Georgetown, August 11, 1930. He was succeeded by Rev. James Hurley. The next pastor was Rev. John W. Spencer, a man of scholarship and a great lover of the town.
The church was newly decorated last year and it was a matter of great pride in the parish that such extensive improvements could be made in time for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ordination of the present pastor, Rev. Stephen J. O'Brien, who suc- ceeded Father Spencer.
BYFIELD PARISH
To speak of the Byfield parish is to refer again to Georgetown's first settler, John Spofford, and to bring to mind the fact that he made that settlement three years before the Byfield church was organized. On its opening he went there to church, more than four miles away. The other settlers in the lower part of the town also went to Byfield. We are greatly indebted to Rev. Mr. Ewell for his comprehensive history of this parish.
In 1701 seventeen persons in Rowley and fifteen in Newbury had half of their ministry rate abated that they might attend services in this new parish organized in 1702. On November 17, 1706, Rev. Moses Hale was ordained, and it is probable that the church was organized the same day. From Rowley there went Samuel Brocklebank, Jonathan Wheeler, Benjamin Plumer, Nathan Wheeler, John Brown, Andrew Stickney and Colin Frazer, with their wives, also Mary Chute and Elizabeth Look.
The parish was incorporated October 30, 1710, as "the Parish or Precinct upon Newbury Falls, commonly called Byfield," and from that time Byfield may be regarded as its legal title.
Rev. Mr. Hale belonged to one of the original families of the Newbury settlement, a graduate of Harvard of the Class of 1699 and was twenty-four years old when he began to preach in Byfield and twenty-eight when ordained. When the Georgetown church was organized October 4, 1732, the Byfield church gave a flagon and six cups. Ensign Coleman and Gershom Frazier of Byfield each gave a communion platter and the Byfield pastor gave his daughter Mary to be the bride of Rev. Mr. Chandler.
Rev. Mr. Hale died January 16, 1744, and "a great multitude from this and the neighboring Parishes did him Funeral Honour and his grateful Flock handsomely con- tributed to the Charges of it," according to an obituary notice, perhaps written by Governor Dummer.
The second pastor was Rev. Moses Parsons, 1744-1783, a native of Gloucester, and twenty-eight years old when he assumed charge. He was graduated from Harvard in 1736. He had hardly become settled before his troubles with the Whitefield movement began. In 1746 a new meetinghouse was built. The educational event of extraordinary interest was the founding of Dummer Academy, 1763. Nine years later Mr. Parsons was chosen to preach the election sermon, a very high honor, and one which, because of its plain talk, Governor Hutchinson could not have relished. Before the close of the Revolution, Deacon Benjamin Coleman's celebrated controversy with the pastor began. This was the outgrowth of the deacon's outspoken hostility to slavery in general. In 1780 Mr. Parsons and Deacon Coleman brought public charges against each other which were an open sore in the church for nearly five years.
On September 3, 1787, Mr. Elijah Parish, a graduate of Dartmouth College, was called. As was the case with Mr. Braman of the Old South Church, there was severe opposition to Mr. Parish's ordination and people were kept in suspense two days as the
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Council deliberated. He was twenty-five years old and it was said that "never was a young candidate settled under greater opposition." Malcontents turned in various directions after the settlement, some to the new Baptist Church in New Rowley and others to the Presbyterian Church and to the Episcopal Church in Newburyport. The alienation reached its extreme point in 1797.
Dr. Parish's political position brought him into connection with the history of the nation. He believed the accession of the Democratic party to power a great national calamity and that Mr. Jefferson was unfit to be president. So prominent had he become as a preacher that he had the honor of preaching the election sermon of 1810.
The next period in the church was that of 1825 to 1863, the pastorates being held by Rev. Isaac R. Barbour, Rev. Henry Durant, LL.D., Rev. Francis V. Tenney and Rev. Charles Brooks.
The year 1833 was a memorable one for Byfield, with a meetinghouse burned, a meetinghouse built, a minister dismissed and a minister installed. Religious taxation came to an end that year. After Mr. Brook's dismission there was no settled pastor for almost twelve years. Rev. James H. Childs was the eighth settled pastor, a graduate of Amherst and Andover, installed in 1875. Rev. George L. Gleason was the ninth, a graduate of Dartmouth and Andover, installed in 1882. On June 1, 1892, Rev. David C. Torrey, a graduate of Harvard, was installed as tenth pastor. He served until 1902 when Rev. Her- bert Edwin Lombard was installed as eleventh pastor.
The other pastors have been Rev. Nathan T. Dyer, 1911-16; Rev. George Bushee, 1917-19; Rev. Hubert C. Townley, 1920-21; Rev. C. L. D. Younken, 1921-24; Rev. James F. Scott, 1925-31; Rev. Henry R. McCartney, 1931-34; Rev. Samuel M. Le Page, 1934- .
ALL SAINTS, EPISCOPAL
All Saints Episcopal Church was opened as a mission in the old brick schoolhouse on Easter Sunday, 1916, in charge of Rev. Glenn Tilley Morse, rector of All Saints, West Newbury. The school building was erected in 1854 to take the place of the old school on West Main Street, nearly opposite the old Clark house, which was finally considered too far from the centre. This school house set back two hundred feet from the road. When abandoned it was purchased by Darius Hull, moved nearer the street and sold to his daughter, Mrs. Emily A. Wadleigh, as a dwelling. It was occupied by her during her long life.
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