USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Brimfield > Historical celebration of the town of Brimfield, Hampden County, Mass > Part 10
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 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
Charles MeEwen Hyde was born in New York city, June 8. 1832. His father was Joseph Hyde, son of Rev. Dr. Alvan Hyde, of Lee, Mass. His mother was Catha- rine M. MeEwen, daughter of Judge Charles McEwen, of New York. He graduated at Williams College in 1852, and at Princeton Theological Seminary, 1859. Previous to coming to Brimfield, he had preached for a year at Goshen, Conn. In 1872. he received the degree of D. D. from Williams College. After leaving Brimfield he was in- stalled pastor of the Center Church. Haverhill, November 15. 1870. He resigned his pastorate, and closed his work there January 1, 1876, and January 24, 1877, was ap- pointed to take charge of the Theological Seminary at Honolulu, under the care of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions.
1865, October 10, Rev. C. M. Hyde was married to Miss Mary T. Knight, youngest daughter of the late
116
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Dr. Ebenezer Knight, of Brimfield. Their two children are Henry Knight Hyde and Charles Knight Hyde.
XII. 1870-1872. Rey. Moses Bradford Boardman was the next pastor, installed 1870, December 1. He was born. 1833. May 25, at Francestown, N. H., where his mother's father, Rev. Moses Bradford, was long the pastor. Graduating at Amherst College, 1860, he studied two years at Union Theological Seminary, graduating at An- dover Theological Seminary, 1863. He was ordained and installed pastor of the church at Lynnfield Centre, Mass., 1863, October 1; dismissed 1870, November 1. His health failed in the autumn of 1872; the church and par- ish voted him leave of absence, with continuance of his salary. A voyage to Europe failed to effect any recovery. After repeatedly baffled attempts to perform the duties of the pastoral office, he resigned, and was dismissed 1873, November 1. He continued to reside at Brimfield till the spring of 1875, when he removed to Harwinton, Conn. He had married, 1863, September 17, Miss Ellen E. Bar- ber, of Harwinton. Conn., and had four children : Francis Barber, Henry Bradford, Sarah Bradford, William Brad- ford.
XIII. 1872. The present pastor, Rev. Webster K. Pierce, was installed April 30, 1874. Rev. Dr. Perkins, of Ware, was Moderator of the Council ; Rev. B. M. Ful- lerton, of Palmer, Scribe ; Rev. H. N. Shorey. of Spencer, preached the sermon. Mr. Pierce was born in Winter- port, Me .; graduated at Bangor Theological Seminary. He married June 1, 1875, Miss Etta F. Lincoln, youngest daughter of Capt. F. D. Lincoln, of Brimfield. They have one child, Frank Lincoln, b. May 12, 1876.
The first meeting-house was erected in the year 1722, on the spot where the present edifice now stands. It was a framed building, forty-five feet long, forty feet hroad. The frame stood a whole year exposed to the weather.
4
117
MEETING-HOUSES.
The commotions of Indian wars, added to the poverty of the first settlers, protracted their efforts for the comple- tion of their house of worship. Some of the Committee appointed to lay out the town, in order to secure their rights as proprietors, had become responsible for nails, £25 from Capt. George Colton and Thomas Ingersoll, for glass, 025, from Mr. Pelatiah Glover. 1731, Novem- ber 9, the town voted " that Concern of the nails to finish the meeting house which the Court ordered Capt. Colton to provide according to the Court be left with the Select- men of Brimfield chose for the year 1731 to manage that affare and See that the nails are provided. Voted, that the floor of the meeting house be Laid and the body of Seats be maid and all So the gice of the gallarys put in as soon as may be and all so bords to Lay on the gice be procured and all so matereals sutable to make the pulpit be provided bords and slet worke sutable for the same." 1731, December 28, it was " Voted that ye Pews be built upon the town's Cost. Voted, that there be fifty pounds raised for finishing the Meeting house." Nails, all ham- mered out on the anvil, were not easily procured in quantity. Nor was it much easier to get lumber, when roads were not much better than bridle-paths, and saw- mills were few and rude. Other votes about the same time indicate the probable style of architecture. 1732, October 6, Voted that " a Pulpit and ministry Pew, and deacons' Seate be built when the Bodeys of Seates are Built." 1733, March 12, " that the gallery seates be raised as much as shall be needfull." " That there be no alley made through the middle of ye meeting house."
The house was a plain, barn-like building, with no chimneys, and no tower or steeple. It was marked as a building for worship, rather than for a home or a garner, by its numerous windows, five above and four below, and by its doors in the middle of three sides, East, South,
118
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
West. The upper windows were probably wooden shut- ters, as was the custom at this period, and the lower win- dows diamond-paned, or with glass inserted. They were hung upon hinges, according to a vote passed 1749, July 14.
"No steeple graced its homely roof With upward pointing spire. Our villagers were much too meek A steeple to desire. And never did the welcome tones Of Sabbath morning bell, Our humble village worshipers The hour of worship tell."
The pulpit was on the north side. 1754. July 10, the town voted to mend and Repair the Meeting house Glass and make new Casements, Soe far as is Needfull, and " to make two Sash windows on the back side of the pulpit, one on each side the post there." The repairs do not seem to have been very thorough, for 1759. July 17, it was voted "to board up some of the windows of the meeting-house for the present."
The seats in the center of the house were long benches, perhaps without even any support for the back, but sim- ply slabs with pins driven in as in the common milking- stool. The deacons' seat was in front of and beneath the high pulpit, its occupants facing the congregation, but unable to look at the preacher. Square pews were built by vote of June 8, 1733, along the walls; alleys leading from the three doors and between these wall pews and the body seats. The stairs to the galleries were in the south-west and south-east corners. A lock and key, of the usual mammoth proportions, were provided, 1739, March 12, at a cost of seven shillings. The pulpit was provided with " a cushoon." whether for the Bible or the preacher I cannot determine. This was voted 1733. June S, but not paid for till 1736, December 27th, when an ap-
119
MEETING-HOUSES.
propriation for it was made, £2, 11s., 6d. Not till 1735, May 23, were the galleries made ready for occupants, when the town voted . ESO to finish the pews, and make y" stairs up into the Gallery, and to finish ye Seats in the Gallery." 1748, May 3, £200 were appropriated to lath and plaster the meeting house " from the pews on y" sides upwards and overhead on yo jice."
1749, March 13, James Thompson and several others, (young, unmarried men, probably, ) petitioned for " a lib- erty to build a Pew over the Stairs in ye meeting as we Goe up the Gallery." It was granted "provided it be built over the Stairs on the men's Side." 1753, March 13, other young men petitioned for a pew in the front gallery, and were authorized to build " on the men's side, to take two hind seats there, and to Do it and Maintain it on their own Charge." The spirit of improvement thus manifested was not confined to the men. When was the gentler sex ever left in the march of progress ? At the same meeting, a petition was presented from Mary Russell and seven others of the sisterhood : Abigail Sher- man, Mary Morgan. Lucy Hoar, Abigail Russell, Sarah Burt, Lois Warriner, and Marcy Warriner, and they se- cured the coveted distinction of a big pew.
Other distinctions besides pews and seats were charac- teristic of these times of patriarchal simplicity, as we often call them. 1731, December 28, a vote was passed, " that the women sit In the Wast End of the meeting- house." The separation of the sexes was the fashion throughout the colonial period. Another custom of those primitive times showed how strong was the influence socially of inherited English snobbery, or rather how hu- man nature, in all ages, covets the distinctions aristocratic pretentiousness loves to make. The early settlers were no more in favor of democratic promiscuousness and indis- criminate social equality, than they were in favor of uni-
120
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
versal suffrage, and a numerical political equality. Though every person resident in the town, whether he paid a tax, or not, was entitled to a seat in the meeting-house, the custom was to assign seats, according to some ac- cepted standard of social rank. In order to settle the question of social position, it was necessary also to " dig- nify the seats," arranging them in some order of relative prominence. These duties were assigned to a committee, appointed 1746, March 16, who were instructed in as- signing seats, "to have Regard to age and estate." In one instance I have found recorded in another town, the standard was laid down with mathematical exactness, 40 shillings on the list to be taken as equivalent to one year of age. The committee of 1749 were instructed to seat none under twenty-one years of age, and " to seat the Widows and Deacons' wives." Other wives occupied on the west side the seats corresponding to those assigned their husbands on the east side. The deacon's seat had no equivalent position of honor for the deaconess; hence, the special need there was of such assignment by the committee. The relative rank of the seats was changed from time to time, and this public allotment of one's so- cial position, was a continual source of vexation and fault finding. 1757, the committee were instructed " to seate men and their wives together in the Pews." Their re- port is printed in the appendix, containing as it does a full list of all the inhabitants that attended worship at the center, and giving some approximate statement of their relative social position. The galleries and gallery stairs, or even the pulpit stairs, were occupied by the young folks or poor folks, who had no place assigned.
When the house had stood forty years, the question was raised, 1761, March 16, whether it should not be removed to the geographical center. It was decided in the negative, and thus began and ended the only agita-
*
121
MEETING-IIOUSES.
tion in this town, so far as appears from our records. of a question that has disturbed the peace of other communi- ties for years. So fittingly located is the house of wor- ship, that the first judgment of every beholder is, "This is just the place for it. Nature seems to have designed the location for this purpose." 1761, November 16, it was voted " to color the outside of the meeting-house, and to raise £8 to do the Same." Painting was the excep- tion, rather than the rule, throughout the colonial period. Not till after the Revolution were such outlays commonly made. Another indication of growing social prosperity, was the vote, 1763, March 14, to take up four seats, build pews instead, and make an alley up to the pulpit. This alteration was modified by vote, 1764, October 23, “ to take up two seats on each side in the Alley, in the meet- house, and build 4 pews instead thereof, and To raise the fore-seat as high as the pews and make Bannisters there- to." 1774, October 5, eight young men had leave " to Build a pew over the Women's Stairs." 1788, Septem- ber 29, the question was raised, whether "the town will order Pews to be built in the back Seats in the Gallery, and purchase 2 corner pews in the galary;" on which no action is recorded.
It was evident, however, that the days of the old meet- ing-house were numbered, and its demolition, in order to make way for a better building, a subject often discussed, before any decision was reached. 1792, March 12, there was an article in the warrant, "to see if the town will enter into a free conversation, relative to building a new meeting-house ;" but no practical result was reached. Five years later, 1797, March 13, no decision appears to have been made on the question, whether the town would begin to make preparation for a new meeting-house. The old building must have been a tottering frame, for one item in the treasurer's account, 1799, March 11, is
16
122
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
for " sweeping, repairing, and propping the meeting- house." 1804. April 2, the town voted to build a meet- ing-house by the sale of pews, as far as they will go towards that object. 1805, March IS, a contract was made with Mr. Elias Carter, of Brimfield, to build the house for $6,666.67, after a plan submitted by a commit- tee of those who had bought pews. The old meeting- house was sold for $100.00, to various parties, by whom it was to be taken down before May 1. Some of the panel work is still to be seen in the rear part of the old Bliss tavern, now belonging to the Wales estate.
The raising was a town affair, for which alone $500 was voted. People came from far and near, and most elaborate preparation was made for the wonderful under- taking. Each distriet was to furnish a specified number of timbers fourteen inches square, and twenty-six feet long. Spikes were purchased, and after the raising given to the several districts, according to the amount severally con- tributed. Ropes were hired, and men also, from out of town. Meals for the day were furnished at the town's expense. These, and " keeping the horses," cost $343. The raising of the ponderous frame was successfully ac- complished. One whole side was raised at a time, the west side first; Mr. Carter going up with it, standing on the gallery girth. Only one man, Ezra Hitchcock, fell, or was injured in any way. He petitioned the town for relief or compensation, but the common opinion seems to have been that if he had not been somewhat elevated, more than sober people usually are, he would not have fallen. The bill for liquor furnished on the occasion, " Rum, Sugar, Brandy, Lemmons and Wine for raising the Meeting house," was $121.22. The committee who prepared the ground for the underpinning, laid in "rum and sugar " to the amount of $3.50. A Mr. Hanks, who may have acted as superintendent, had for his inner man
123
MEETING-HOUSES.
" 1} mug Brdy tody " at twenty-seven cents. The last of the pews, ten in all, were sold at publie vendue June. 1814. But Mr. Carter was paid in full in 1808.
Dr. Vaill, in his sermon of 1821, speaks of this second building as a " commodious and beautiful house." It was. as he described it in his sermon of 1864, " rather imposing, having columns in front, a very respectable looking stee- ple, and the entrances all at one end as now. It fronted to the south, as the first one fronted." It was of a style of architecture common at this period, of which there are many specimens extant now. A curious custom in those days was that of deaf persons sitting in the pulpit by the side of the minister. Many will remember the inscrip- tion over the pulpit : " My father's house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." Mrs. Knight has in her house, in use now, parts of the crimson silk hangings that decorated the wall back of the pulpit. The original pulpit Bible was deposited in the pastoral library, when Dr. Hyde was installed pastor. The sittings were arranged in square pews, so that,about one-third of the audience could not face the speaker. 1806, December 29, "Voted that no person be allowed to get upon the top of the pews during any town meeting, nor to transact any private conearns in the place of meeting. That all addresses be made to the Moderator, and that no person while speak- ing be interrupted by another except to be called to order, that no person be allowed to go into the pulpit at any town meeting, and that this article of regulation be read by the Clerk at the opening of every town meeting." Same date voted, "That it be recommended to the pro- prietors of pews, to procure sand boxes for their pews." The pews at first had neither carpets nor cushions. There was no stove in the first meeting-house. The only provis- ion for warming the body was by dint of vigorous stamp- ing between the parts of the service, or by the use of a
124
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
foot-stove, a chafing dish of coals in a perforated tin box. The town refused 1519. November 1, to procure a stove for the meeting-house, but ordered two doors to be hung on the stairs to keep the cold from the galleries. Liberty was given to individuals who might contribute toward the expense, to put up a stove .* The lightning rod, put up in 1805. indicates a belief in the use of means, as well as in the power of prayer, to avert possible danger. There is a bill of money paid for a new bell rope, and for the frame and yoke, November, 1806. There was no bell on the first meeting-house, and one was probably provided for the new house under the contract for building. This bell was soon cracked, for in June, 1807, a second bell was hung in the belfry. In 1819, this was exchanged for another. This remained in use till the house was burned in 1847. Mr. S. A. Hitchcock took the melted metal and furnished a new bell weighing thirteen hundred pounds. 1855 this cracked, and was exchanged for another, which hangs in the belfry of the present house. It is daily rung now, as it was fifty years ago, at, the noon-day hour and nine o'clock bed-time, except that Saturday evening is shortened to eight o'clock. The bell-ringer also tolls the age in case of any person's death in town reported to him ; and the bell is tolled while the funeral procession enters the village on its way to the cemetery.
During the first year of Dr. Vaill's second pastorate, 1838, the meeting-house, which, up to that time, had no lower rooms, was remodeled at an expense of $1,600. The pews were appraised by a committee appointed un- der provision of the Statutes, and the parish took posses- sion at their valuation, $1,091. This complete reversal of the plan by which the house was built, in 1805, by the
* In canvassing for subscriptions, one person when called upon declined to con- tribute, giving as a reason, the preaching was hot enough without resort to artificial means.
125
THE PARISHI.
sale of pews, gave offence to some who could not be rec- onciled to the new order. It was re-dedicated 1839, Jan- uary 10. At this time a Bible for the pulpit was pre- sented to the Society by Edwin J. Brown, Marquis L. Converse, Charles E. Converse, Bartholomew Brown, Ezra Perry, Jr., William H. Wyles, and James J. Warren, young men, natives of Brimfield, then residing in New York City. But on a cold Sunday, February 21, 1847, catching fire from an over-heated stove-pipe, it was burned to the ground. The present house was erected immediately. and was dedicated 1848, January 19. The church being at that time destitute of a pastor, as they were when the second meeting-house was built, Rev. Charles Smith, of Warren, preached the dedication sermon. The cost of the building was reported to be $6,265.77, including $3.000 received from the insurance companies.
During Dr. Hyde's pastorate, it was twice remodeled. The first time, 1863-4, the upper audience room was altered to its present condition. The stove-pipes that once ran the whole length of the audience room, no longer vex the eye with their uneven blackness, nor disfigure the carpet with pyroligneous drippings. Two portable furnaces in the lower room heat the whole building in ordinary winter weather. The singers' gallery, midway to the ceiling, and very close to it, has given place to the present platform for a choir ; though, if congregational singing is to be adopted, there is ample room either side of the pulpit for organ and leader. The arrangement of the sittings circularly makes every pew well adapted for convenient hearing and seeing, the two chief requisites in a house for Christian worship. The walls and ceilings were neatly frescoed. A new carpet covering the whole floor was purchased by the ladies, who also paid a part of the cost for new cushions for every pew. Mr. Wyles paid $200 towards this, and also paid $225 towards the fresco-
126
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
ing, in addition to what he had subscribed towards the general expense. The whole expense was about $3.100. The services of rededication were held January 24, 1864. The lower room was first fitted up for use as Town Hall and Parish Hall, and furnished with settees made of pine boards. in 1839, when an effort was made by some to have the town build a public hall. At that time the parish offered it to the town for free use, in accordance with the terms of the subscription for the remodeling of the meeting-house. A new agreement was made with the town, when the present house was built in 1848, with upper and lower rooms adapted to church and public use.
In 1868-9, the lower room was improved in form and appearance. The floor was lowered by the removal of gravel from beneath, and a height of twelve feet thus secured. The north end was separated by a movable par- tition, affording a room of convenient size for smaller social meetings, and for that indispensable adjunct of nineteenth century Christianity, a church kitchen. The whole was tastefully frescoed. The total expense was $1,579.46. Modern settees were purchased, 1872.
1832, April 20, a petition of sixteen of the citizens se- cured a warrant for calling a meeting to organize a parish under the provisions of the statutes, so that, in accordance with recent changes, the management of ecclesiastical affairs should be the business of a parish meeting, not a town meeting, as was the custom previously. The neces- sity for such an organization was urged by many long be- fore this time, but the State laws were such that no such action was considered advisable till the laws had been changed, giving to this newly organized parish the con- trol of the meeting-house. The membership at one time numbered over one hundred ; but by deaths, removals and withdrawals, it is now reduced to twenty-two. Since 1838 the ordinary parish expenses have been met, in part, by
127
CHURCHI MUSIC.
the annual rental of pews, to which must be added also the premium paid in some years for choice money. The experiment of having free seats and meeting the annual expenses by subscription, was tried in 1874. The whole amount, in addition to the annual rentals, that has been raised by taxation for alterations and deficiencies since 1838. is $6,935.65, an average per year of $203.98. By subscription, for similar purposes, during the same time, $8,694.50; average per year, $297.27.
In 1859, when there was some fear of losing the pastor, Rev. Mr. Morse, to whom application had been made to take charge of an important church in a western city, a fund of $1,000 was subscribed for the purchase and main- tenance of a pastoral library. The subscriptions were made payable in five years, though the whole amount was paid in 1863. One-half was spent in the purchase of books; the remaining $500 constituted a permanent fund, the annual income only to be expended by the pas- tor for buying such books as he may choose. There are now six hundred and forty-eight volumes in the library, though the investment in railroad bonds is not now pro- ductive. In June, 1866, S. A. Hitchcock, Esq., gave the parish $5,000 to constitute a fund, the income of which is to be applied to " the support of an Evangelical Or- thodox Trinitarian Congregational Minister," and stipu- lating that a central pew should be assigned for the free use of the teachers of the Hitchcock school. May 1, 1869. Hon. John Wyles gave the parish a fund of $5,000, two-thirds of the income to be applied to parish expenses in such way as shall most effectually reduce the amount charged for pew-rent; the other third to be applied spe- cially to defraying the annual expense for music. The parish also received. 1871, May 1, a legacy of $50 from the estate of Miss Elvira Stebbins, which was added to Mr. Hitchcock's Ministerial Fund.
128
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
The common method of conducting the service of song was congregational, until 1786. One of the deacons read a line at a time. Lining a hymn, or deaconing it, was the common name given to this fashion. 1781. October 19, the church voted that an advisory address be pre- sented to the singers, the purport of which is " that the Psalm to be sung be read, line by line, in the forenoon, but not in the afternoon : and that no repeating tune be sung in the forenoon, but may be in the afternoon, Pro- vided no part be repeated over more than is necessary." The congregation sang one of the five tunes commonly known: York, Hackney, Windsor, St. Mary's, Martyrs. 1785, September 1, the church voted to use Doctor Watts' psalms and hymns. This continued to be used till Lowell Mason's " Church Psalmody," was substituted for it. This in turn was supplanted, 1861, by the " Sab- bath Hymn Book," for which, in 1875, was substituted " Hymns and Songs of Praise," by Hitchcock, Eddy & Schaff.
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.