USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lowell > Historical sketch of Saint Anne's Church, Lowell, Mass > Part 3
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April 6, 1822, ground was broken for the foundation of the first Merrimack Mill.
An extract from a letter printed in the Essex Register of Au- gust 13, 1825, will show how the village impressed a traveller at that time.
"As we ascended the high grounds which lie on this side the Merrimack, the beautiful valley which has been chosen for the site of the Manufacturing Establishments, opened upon our view.
"It is indeed a fairy scene. Here we behold an extensive city, busy, noisy and thriving, with immense prospects of increasing extent and boundless wealth. Everything is fresh and green with the vigor of youth, yet perfect in all the strength of manhood.
"On the banks of the Merrimack are already erected five su- perb factories, and two immense piles of brick buildings occupied for calico printing. In front of these, and on the banks of the Factory Canal, which is fenced in, and ornamented with a row of elms, are situated the houses for the accommodation of those employed in the Factories. The houses are double, two stories high, and separated from each other by wide avenues. They are handsomely and uniformly painted, and are beautifully ornamen- ted with little flower gardens in front. There is a beautiful Gothic Stone Church (St. Anne's) opposite the dwelling houses, and a Parsonage house (of stone) is erected near the Church."
"The whole ground is scattered over with lumber and other materials for six other Factories which are erecting on the other side of the Canal."
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CHAPTER II.
THEODORE EDSON
Such was the incipient Lowell, and into the midst of this bustling activity came Theodore Edson to commence the tireless labor which continued for sixty years, his strength and zeal seemingly nourished by the spirited enterprise and industry manifest in all his surroundings. "Devoting himself in perfect consecration to his Master's service, he left behind the record of a life woven into the very texture of the events which gave per- manence of character to the community in which he lived."
It was not many years before "the fame of Lowell as a theatre of Cotton Manufacture had extended throughout Christendom. The solid Englishman, the impressible Frenchman, the phleg- matic Dutchman, thought the tour of the United States incom- plete until he had visited Lowell," the City of Spindles.
The city was visited by President Andrew Jackson, Vice President Van Buren and the Cabinet, Henry Clay, Abraham Lincoln in 1848, Presidents Tyler, Polk, and J. Q. Adams, Rufus Choate, Webster, Edward Everett, Kossuth and many other noted men. Charles Dickens came and contrasted the whole- somne conditions here with "the haunts of desperate misery" in English manufacturing centres at that time.
It is reported of Longfellow that, when one of his children asked, "What is an autobiography?" he replied, "It is what a biography ought to be." Dr. Edson has left us what might be considered an autobiography, a voluminous diary, containing for the most part his daily routine with an occasional record of the thoughts of his heart from which one may get an excellent idea of what his busy life was in its unceasing round of daily duties consisting of constant visiting and "fireside preaching" among his parishioners of all sorts and conditions, weekday and Sunday services in the church, the management and instruction of the day school and of the two Sunday schools, inspecting and advising the public schools, the tutoring of young men, home
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duties including the entertainment of social callers and of visitors from a distance, friends, relations, bishops and clergymen, and meeting constant demands upon his time by many callers seeking advice or pecuniary assistance. There were also his confirma- tion classes and meetings of the various parochial organizations, the Orphanage, the Home, the Sponsors' Association, and other societies. Added to this was his extensive correspondence, the writing and preaching of thousands of sermons, the preparing of addresses, the weddings, baptisms, funerals, and the adminis- tering of the Communion to the sick. There was travelling to Baltimore, New York and Boston, to General and Diocesan conventions and to Bridgewater, Lawrence, Andover, Haverhill, Salem and many other places in exchange with other clergymen. There were duties involved in his various trusteeships and in his connection with the General Theological Seminary, the Eastern District Missionary Association, and his presidency of the Lowell Institution for Savings. Besides his diary, there are several short, printed sketches of his life and of the Church in the Con- tributions to the Old Residents' Historical Association, and also the Anniversary sermons and addresses by himself and others.
The family of Ead acquired distinction in Britain for military prowess in the King's service and were of high rank, bearing armour with armorial ensigns. The Edson coat of arms is "azure, a chevron engrailed between three leopards' faces argent." Azure is said to signify courtesy and discretion; argent, chastity, charity and a clear conscience; leopards' faces, courage; and the chevron, military service, being saddle-shaped.
The ancestry of Theodore Edson has been traced in the paternal line back to Thomas, born probably at Adderbury, Oxfordshire, England, about 1480; married Juliana, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Fox) Bustard of Adderbury. His great great grandson, Samuel, was baptized Sept. 5, 1613; married Susanna Orcutt in 1638, in Warwickshire, and brought his young bride to Salem, Massachusetts, where he was residing in 1639. He moved to Bridgewater about 1650, where he died July 19, 1692, and his widow died there about seven years later. Both of them were buried in the old town burying ground where their monumental stone is still to be seen. He built the first corn-mill in Bridge-
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water, held responsible town offices, and acquired a large estate He was a man of no ordinary character and ability. His wife was fully his equal and worthy of him. He was a member of the Council of War (1666-1676) and represented the town at the General Court at Plymouth in 1676.
Benjamin, great great grandson of Samuel and Susanna, married Deborah, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Pratt) Perkins. They were buried with numerous others of their family in Trinity churchyard, Bridgewater.
Their children were: Hannah, John, Benjamin, Allen, Theodore, born August 24, 1793 and William Perkins.
The year of Theodore Edson's birth was the first of George Washington's second term as President of the United States. The conditions of the country were almost primitive. None of the modern methods of abbreviating time and space had been invented, a few rough country roads led through almost unbroken forests, stage coaches were just being introduced. Ox teams carried most of the freight and produce. Horse wagons were just coming into use. There were no cities such as we have today. Boston had about 20,000 inhabitants. There were no great manufacturing centres. Lowell was not dreamed of. A con- tract for digging the Pawtucket Canal had been made that year. The Middlesex Canal from Chelmsford to Boston Harbor was a project to be realized ten years later. It was about forty years before the Boston and Lowell Railroad was constructed, fifty before the telegraph, and ninety before the telephone came into practical use. Oil paintings, ivory miniatures and silhouettes were the means of portraying the human form and features, and open fireplaces and brick ovens the common means of heating houses and baking food which was cooked in a kettle hanging on a crane or trammel over the fire.
John Edson, to whom his brother Theodore was much indebted for his subsequent career, while serving his apprenticeship with a millwright, was privileged a candle at night, and being inclined at the close of each day's work to withdraw himself from his associates, he commonly spent the hours before bedtime in reading and studying, and as a consequence gained a knowledge of many things that were of great advantage to him, so that he was better educated than many other young men of his age who had more time and means for acquiring an education. As a millwright his reputation gained for him a wide field of employ-
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ment, and for a number of years he was occupied in superin- tending the construction of mills in the middle and southern states, and in South America as well as in New England, and in fitting them with the most improved machinery of the period. His extensive reading obtained for him an acquaintance with the works of the most distinguished English writers, and his theo- logical knowledge was, it is said, equal to that of many clergymen of his day. His younger brothers were assisted financially by him.
In 1804 Theodore Edson was apprenticed, as was the general custom at that time, to Mr. Benjamin Willis.
In 1815 he taught in the school in Bridgewater where they held services in the school house. John and sometimes he him- self read the prayers, and he catechized the pupils. In March he and his brother built a staging to shingle the old church and otherwise repair it, while services were continued in the school house. The parish had not yet recovered from the effects of the Revolutionary War. John Edson was largely responsible for these repairs, as well as for the enterprise by which a new church was built soon afterwards and consecrated in June, 1816, by Bishop Griswold. They spent the summer of 1815 at Taunton and were working there when they heard the news of the battle of Waterloo. In May, 1816, Theodore attended the Diocesan Convention as a lay delegate from the parish at Bridgewater.
In September he began the study of Latin and Greek at the Academy, and the next month he went to Boston and made successful application to the American Education Society for small loans of money to be repaid within one year after entering his profession and in a few weeks he went to Andover to fit him- self for college.
He notes that the summer of 1816 was a cold summer. It was known as the starving year. In parts of New England there was frost every month so that not enough seed was raised for the next year's planting. Many persons emigrated to the West. Among these was Elisha Huntington who went on horse- back to Marietta, Ohio, where he taught school, and later came to Lowell to practice medicine and to become prominent in St. Anne's.
After two years at Andover Academy, Theodore, in 1818, wrote to Bishop Griswold asking his advice as to whether he could or should be ordained without receiving a full college course.
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He had presented some reasons why he thought he might be allowed to be ordained without it. The Bishop replied, in a letter extant, that it was the unanimous opinion of all the clergy to whom he had stated the case that he should go through a regular collegiate education.
The Bishop further says: "I acknowledge that to myself it is not so clear a case. The reasons you notice, and others which may be added, merit consideration. Though it is of vast impor- tance that the clergy be a learned body, it is by no means neces- sary, if at all desirable, that every individual should pretend to be a general scholar, and to investigate all the ramifications of science. He who is learned in his profession is practically, and therefore truly, a learned man. Experience, too, has shown that those ministers of Christ who have confined their studies chiefly to theology and what is more necessarily connected with it, are not, generally speaking, the least useful in the Church. And what has more weight with me on this side of the question, than all other considerations, is the destitute state of our churches, and the great want of immediate laborers."
The Bishop advises him "to fulfil the wishes of your benefact- ors," probably the Educational Society, and take the regular course. The Bishop preferred to have him go to the college in Providence rather than to Cambridge, and to enter a year in advance, present himself as a Candidate for Orders a year before graduation, turning his attention to Divinity, and "thus in three years from next September, you may be prepared to receive orders; and the weighty objection of a long delay be in a great degree obviated."
But Mr. Edson, took the full course at Harvard, entering in August, 1818, and was president's freshman under President Kirkland. The next summer he was asked to officiate as lay- reader at South Boston, which he frequently did while at Cam- bridge, walking there and back a distance of six or eight miles each way. His name first appears on the Church records, June 20, 1819, and the last service performed there by him was on February 22, 1824. Between those dates he officiated at St. Matthew's on 113 Sundays, and the latter portion of that period also at the House of Industry then located in South Boston.
In the Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Massa- chusetts Episcopal Missionary Society for the year 1823 it is stated that the Church at South Boston is not among those which
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at present require missionary aid, because it has been and is supplied by a lay-reader, Mr. Theodore Edson. After being admitted to his first degree (Bachelor of Arts) he took up his residence in South Boston for the more effectual performance of his duties. The Board regretted that they could not extend any assistance to Mr. Edson, in consequence of some doubt whether by the terms of the act of incorporation any part of the Society's funds might be appropriated to the support of a lay-reader. "The society will doubtless be ready, and we hope will be able to appropriate a sum towards his support, as soon as he shall receive Deacon's orders." In the meantime a number of ladies in Bos- ton generously added to the scanty sum which Mr. Edson re- ceived from those who worshiped there, enough to make up the amount to $300 per annum.
During his last winter at college he taught school at Groton, Mass. His college themes and exercises have been preserved. He took part in the spring exhibition as one of five in mathe- matical and astronomical exercises. As president's freshman he was known to the Faculty who ranked him fourth in the class, and gave him part accordingly at the Commencement. The subject assigned him was a forensic disputation with another graduate (Bradford), "Whether excessive attachment to ancient usages be a greater evil than excessive fondness for innovation." To those who remember his conservatism there will be little doubt as to which side he took in the debate.
He was graduated from Harvard in August, 1822, and received his Master's degree in 1825. Hobart gave him the degree of Doctor of Sacred Theology, in 1847.
His application to study and teaching resulted in an illness of several weeks at the close of 1822.
Still continuing as lay-reader at South Boston, he began his more immediate preparation for Holy Orders. At Cambridge, Feb. 20, 1820, he wrote: "Resolved, that in all my researches after knowledge, the cultivation of pious and devout feelings shall be my ultimate object." This was a solemn pledge which he kept truly in the years to come. His academic and collegiate years had laid the foundation of his learning and scholarship. From these he gained mental discipline and methodical habits of study. He had been born and reared in a devout and churchly environment. "But," says Dr. Bolles, in his memorial sermon on the death of Dr. Edson, "his distinguished acquirements as
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THEODORE EDSON From a Miniature on Ivory Made in His Earlier Years
THE REV. THEODORE EDSON. D. D. From a portrait by Alexander, 1839
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a churchman began under the instructions of the Rev. Samuel Farmer Jarvis, D.D., LL.D. (the first rector of St. Paul's , Boston), who prepared him for the ministry, and who was then the most accomplished theologian in the American Church, and whose magnificent expositions and defences of Church doctrine, discipline and worship, are now the very highest authority, especially in matters of Church history, chronology and Biblical interpretation. The celebrated Missionary Sermon of the Rev. Dr. Jarvis on the conversion of the world as dependent on the unity of the Church, according to our Saviour's prayer, made a deep and lasting impression on Dr. Edson's mind nor did he ever cease to labor and pray for that unity. 'That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me.' No young man of Dr. Edson's openness of mind and love of learning could possibly have lived under the tuition of such a teacher without imbibing the deepest reverence for the Catholic faith; nor without understanding the principles of that faith as distinguished from all sectarian errors and delusions." The controversy between the Unitarians and Orthodox Congre- gationalists, which had its influence in determining the Merri- mack Directors to adopt the Episcopal form of worship, as well as the indirect effect of the Oxford Movement served to confirm Dr. Edson's doctrinal convictions.
The Rev. Edward Cowley, D.D., says: "Next to the influence of Dr. Jarvis, probably no man's influence over him during the earlier years of his ministry was equal to that of the Rev. Dr. J. S. J. Gardiner of Trinity Church, Boston. It was Dr. Gardiner who recommended him to Mr. Boott for clerical work here. It was Dr. Gardiner who introduced him to the daughter of Bishop Parker, and afterwards married him to her. It was Dr. Gardiner who first preached in Lowell in exchange with him." "Of his own proposing," Dr. Edson says, "he exchanged with me repeatedly during the first summer, and his expressions of good will and approval were very encouraging to me." It was largely from the example of Dr. Gardiner that he learned to read the liturgy with naturalness, with grace and dignity, and with de- votional fervor such as few can command. As men said of the Rev. Charles Kingsley, he prayed the prayers.
In the latter part of January, 1823, he visited his friend, the Rev. B. C. Cutler at Quincy, recently ordained deacon, in whose
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family he found hospitality, friendship, intelligence and re- ligion, which led him to write a page of very sensible observations upon the desirability of the marriage state for a clergyman. He ends by saying that the unmarried man may exult in his freedom, but cannot escape a wild, lonely uneasiness, a weariness of selfish concern, which all his boasted freedom can never counterbalance.
In 1823 he passed the requisite examinations before Dr. Gardi- ner, and in July he applied to the Standing Committee of the Diocese for testimonials to the Bishop, from whom he hoped to receive Orders. He says, "I look forward to the event as one of the principal events of my life, as one of unspeakable interest to myself, and I pray that God would prepare me to enter upon the responsibilities of the sacred character with proper feelings and views, and enable me to perform its duties to His glory, and with a constant reference to the solemnities of a future day of account."
Mr. Edson was ordained Deacon by Bishop Griswold in St. Paul's Church, Boston. William T. Potter was also admitted to the diaconate at the same time.
Dr. Edson records in his diary :
"1823, Sept. 11, Thursday. This is the day which has been appointed by Bishop Griswold for my ordination. I thank God for His goodness towards me in bringing me to see this day, which has been the object of my hopes and anxieties for seven years last past. May He grant me needed grace, for His mercies' sake.
"Sunday, Sept. 14. I was last Thursday set apart to the great work of the Gospel Ministry, and this day entered upon the duties of it by preaching once at the House of Industry at 814 o'clock in the morning, and twice in St. Matthew's, So. Boston, and also reading service in the evening. O God, grant me needed grace."
After his ordination he took charge of St. Matthew's, South Boston, preaching every Sunday and performing such duties as lie within the province of a deacon.
Dr. Edson says in his 50th Anniversary Sermon: "In the month of February, 1824, two gentlemen called at my lodgings at South Boston. I was residing there for the supplying of St. Matthew's Church. On the morning of the day referred to, footsteps were heard ascending the narrow staircase leading to the room which I was occupying as a study. At the same time was heard the voice of my landlady at the foot of the stairs giving directions to turn to the door on the right. On opening
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the door I was met by Mr. William Appleton (grandfather of Bishop Lawrence), whom I knew, one of the original Board of Directors of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, who intro- duced Mr. Boott, the Agent of the Company.
"Mr. Boott said he came at the recommendation of the Rev. Dr. Gardiner, (Rector of Trinity Church, Boston), that the Merrimack Company had been getting their first mill in opera- tion, now about three months, and were going on with the erec- tion of other mills, which must eventually bring together a large population; that as yet there had been no public worship-indeed there was no suitable place where the people could be assembled; that the Directors had decided to provide for public worship for the people in their employ. On the question as to what sort of worship it should be, they wished it to be acceptable to the greatest number, and thought the Church might compre- hend as many who (if they did not prefer it) would be satisfied with it as any other one sort; at any rate, they would make the experiment; that for himself and his family he could wish it to be successful, but it was necessary that the mode of worship should be such as a reasonable number would attend; that they were putting up a building intended for a schoolhouse, the upper story of which would be prepared for a temporary place of worship. He said that I had been recommended to him by Doct. Gardiner for the purpose, and he came to see whether I would engage to hold the first service, and to supply for a few Sundays. To which I agreed, and he was to give me notice as soon as he could fix upon the time when they could get the room and other things in readiness.
"In the meantime a Religious Society was organized under the general statute of the Commonwealth, and singers of both sexes associated for the practice of the needful supply of music. Accord- ingly I received in due time notice from Mr. Boott that his chaise· would call for me at 10 o'clock on Saturday, 6th March, to take me to his mother's house in Boston (later, the site of the Revere House, Bowdoin Square, demolished in 1923), there to be joined with himself on the way to East Chelmsford. Conversation, as we drove on together, was easy, various and unconstrained."
In a note book kept by Dr. Edson is this entry: "Christ Church at Clappville, Leicester, was consecrated in 1824, six miles south- west of Worcester." This will throw some light on one of the following entries in the Journal kept by Kirk Boott.
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"1823. Oct. 31. Moody's house raised.
"1824. Feb. 22. Dr. Gardiner recommended a young man of the name of Edson, at present at Leicester, would be disengaged in a fortnight.
"Feb. 28. J. W. Boott sent some Lehigh coal; tried it immedi- ately. It was soon a red heat and heated the room several degrees higher than it has been this winter.
"March 5. Went with William Appleton to call on Mr. Edson at South Boston; he engaged to accompany me to Chelms- ford on Saturday; bought 50 Prayer Books of Williams and one for the desk.
"March 6. Saturday. Sent a chaise for Mr. Edson, and we set off soon after 12 o'clock, dining at Billerica; reached home before 5. Unsuccessful in finding a person to officiate as Clerk. We had a few of the oldest and most sober men in the evening who conversed some time with Mr. Edson and were willing to do anything that did not appear against their consciences.
"March 7. Sunday. Had service for the first time and finding no one willing to officiate as Clerk, took that office upon myself. The service was well performed, the people very atten- tive, and the sermon an excellent one. Upon the whole, the impression was decidedly favorable. The room was respectably filled. Mr. Edson met them again and explained the sermon between times. In the afternoon the room was much fuller and nothing appeared to be lost.
"1824, April 28. Moody came up with his family for good. "1824, May 20. Nichols laid the first stone of the church."
The following items are from the diary of Theodore Edson.
"1824, March 6, Saturday. Came up to Chelmsford the first time for the purpose of supplying the people in the Merri- mack Manufacturing Corporation with preaching and divine service. Rode up with Mr. Boott and was hospitably enter- tained at his house.
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