USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Watertown > Historical sketch of Watertown, in Massachusetts, from the first settlement of the town to the close of its second century > Part 6
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* For the occasion of this sickness see Hutchinson, Vol. II. p. 71.
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East part of the town ; and those who belonged to the new place of worship were left to seek another clergyman. From Mr. Gibbs's general character, and from the caution manifested in his conduct, it is to be presumed that he acted from a sense of duty in this case.
Measures were soon taken to procure a minister for the new meeting-house. The church gave notice to the Selectmen, that having met for that purpose on the 28th of August, 1696, and having chosen the Rev. Samuel Angier for their pastor, they requested a meet- ing of the town for concurrence. A meeting was holden September 28th, and the town voted to co-op- erate in giving a call to Mr. Angier to the work of the ministry among them .* Previously to this, on the 21st of September, there had been a meeting for debate and compromise. Persons had been appointed by the East end, and by the Middle part of the town, respectively, to discuss their interests, and reconcile, if possible, their contending claims. Proposals were made by each party ; but they were uniformly rejected by their opponents. They parted, each more strongly convinced than ever, of the injustice of the claims of the other.
Mr. Angier accepted the invitation, and was inducted into office May 25th, 1697. The Rev. Mr. Easterbrook of Concord had been chosen by the church " to give the pastoral charge, and to be the mouth and moderator of the church in the publick
* Here for the first time in our records the church is mentioned as acting separately from the town in the preliminaries to the settlement of a minister. This practice was not always adhered to after this time in Watertown. At the present day it is, in many places, entirely abandoned, the whole society acting as one body in giving a call. And that the usage of ancient times was not always in favor of the distinct and separate power of the church in this affair, is evident from the state- ment of Mather, that "many people would not allow the church any privilege to go before them in the choice of a pastor. The clamour is, we must maintain him." Ratio Disciplina, p. 16. The clamour, as Mather calls it, was not very unreasonable, one would think.
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management of the whole affair." A committee had been appointed to treat with other ministers "for their assistance in the settlement of Mr. Angier ; " but a provision was made, that if their assistance could not be obtained, the church would proceed without it. It was not obtained ; and Mr. Easterbrook was the only clergyman, who appeared at the ceremony of Mr. Angier's settlement. He presided in the business of the occasion; "with much gravity and seriousness gave a most solemn and Scriptural charge to Mr. Samuel Angier, and concluded by recommending the whole to the favour and blessing of God." The pub- lic exercises of prayer and preaching were performed by Mr. Angier .* For what reasons the ministers who were invited refused to attend, we cannot now discov- er ; but probably they either judged the proceedings of the Middle part of the town to be improper, or they were unwilling to have any concern in a transac- tion which had been preceded by so much dissension. Mr. Angier had been ordained before, and settled in another place ; and in proceeding to his installation without the assistance of other churches, which, as a matter of custom and Christian friendship, had been solicited, and refused, his church manifested an inde- pendence worthy of praise, and in conformity with the provisions of the Cambridge Platform.
At this time, Mr. Gibbs had not been ordained ; so that Mr. Angier was the only regularly settled cler- gyman in the town. An attempt was made to unite them in the work of the ministry. July 2d, 1697, a meeting of " the two precincts "t was held, at which
* These particulars are taken from a book of records kept at that time by the church at the new meeting-house. This book was com- mitted to the Rev. Warham Williams, Mr. Angier's successor, by his son, the Rev. John Angier of Bridgewater, and is now in the hands of the Rev. Mr. Ripley of Waltham, as constituting a part of the records of his church. It contains little, except the particulars about the call and settlement of Mr. Angier.
+ This term, used to designate the different parts of the town, here occurs for the first time in the records.
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Mr. Gibbs was invited to become an assistant to Mr. Angier in the new place of worship. Of this proposal Mr. Angier expressed in writing his entire approbation. No answer to the application on the part of Mr. Gibbs is on record. It is to be presumed, that he refused to concur in the proposed measure.
In the mean time, the inhabitants of that section of Watertown, which was afterward called Weston, appear to have had a separate interest of their own in ecclesiastical matters. October 2d, 1694, a vote was passed as follows : " Our neighbours, the Farmers, being upon endeavours to have a meeting-house among themselves, the town consents that they may come as far as Beaver Brook* upon the county road leading to Sudbury," &c. Nothing however seems to have been done at that time in consequence of this vote. Feb- ruary 1st, 1697, " the Farmers" were by vote released from all obligations to pay ministerial rates in the town, " any further " (as it is expressed) " than by way of contribution when and so often as they come to hear the word preached ; because they live so remote that they cannot come without much difficulty to the meet- ing-house in the town, but do commonly at present go to other towns which are nearer, and do contribute there towards the support of the ministry where they go to hear the word." It is also mentioned as a reason for the exemption, that they would probably soon have a house of worship and a minister of their own. That part of Watertown had indeed now become, in every thing but legal form, a distinct precinct, and orders were passed from time to time in public meetings for settling its boundaries. On the 16th of March, 1698, a tax of two hundred and ninety-five pounds, to defray the expenses of the meeting-house recently erected in
* The name of this brook is still retained, and familiarly known. It was given by Gov. Winthrop and his attendants, " because the beavers had shorn down divers great trees there, and made divers dams across the brook." At the same time Master's Brook and Mount Feake were named. See Winthrop, Vol. I. p. 68.
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the Middle part, was assessed upon all the inhabitants, " the Farmers only excepted, because they have built a meeting-house more convenient for themselves." The house here referred to was then in progress, but was not sufficiently finished to be used for religious ser- vices till March, 1700. In the interval, the people in this part of Watertown had chosen their officers, and acted as a distinct parish. Mr. Thomas Symms, Mr. Joseph Mors, Mr. Nathaniel Gookin, Mr. Thomas Tufts, and Mr. William Williams were successively called to the work of the ministry among them, before they were entirely separated from Watertown. In January, 1713, this precinct was in due form incor- porated, as a distinct town, by the name of Weston .* The people of Watertown consented to this separation on certain specified conditions, one of which was, that " the Farmers" should still be bound, as before, to pay their proportion in the expense of repairing or rebuild- ing the bridge over Charles River.
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To return to the ecclesiastical affairs of the two societies in Watertown. The attempt to unite them was, as we have seen, ineffectual. The East part now took measures to have their clergyman formally and permanently inducted into the pastoral office. In Judge Sewall's manuscripts,t the following record, relating to this subject, is found : " October 6, 1697. A church is gathered at Watertown East End, and Mr. Gibbs ordained. Mr. Fox ordains, Mr. Sherman gives the Right Hand of Fellowship. This was done in the afternoon in the open aer, tho' a cold day.
* For some remarks on the precise date of this incorporation, and for the history of Weston subsequently, see Dr. Kendal's Century Sermon, January 12, 1813.
+ Chief Justice Sewall, here and before mentioned, was a man of high reputation, and is said to have been an intimate friend of the Rev. Mr. Gibbs. He was great-grandfather of the late Chief Justice Sewall of Massachusetts, and died January 1st, 1730, aged 78. The manuscripts, from which extracts are often taken, were journals of such occurrences in his times as seemed to him worthy of notice, and frequently afford valuable information.
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The Western party, having the Select-Men on their side, got possession of the Meeting-house, and would not suffer the assembly to enter there. The Lord be mercifull to his people, pardon our sins, and heal our gaping Wounds !" Of the disorderly conduct here alluded to, one of the effects of the lamentable strife which had prevailed, I find no other notice.
Difficulties soon arose concerning the support of public worship. In 1700, the government of the pro- vince, probably in consequence of some petition, inter- posed, and passed a resolve on the subject. In 1712, . the town was assembled to hear the. advice of the General Court, which was issued on the 4th of Novem- ber in that year; and they then expressed their desire to maintain the public worship of God according to the rules of the court in 1700, but said nothing about the advice of 1712. At another meeting on the 4th of May, 1713, they determined that it was improper for the town, as such, to act upon the advice and direction of the Court, but that each congregation must act upon it separately. Soon after, however, there was a vote, at a general meeting of the town, to submit to the ad- vice of the Court. Still an attempt was made to dis- turb the arrangement, which had thus been agreed upon, and the East precinct entered on record an ear- nest protest against any such attempt. It was long before the strife, awakened by this subject, was entire- ly appeased. The salaries of Mr. Angier and Mr. Gibbs, it appears, were both paid from the common treasury. Although an effort was made by the East congregation to effect a division into two distinct town- ships, it was unsuccessful, and the two parts continued, as before, one town .*
The foot bridge, which had for many years been the only one over Charles River in Watertown, having gone to decay so much as to give occasion for complaints against the town, a question arose at a public meeting
* See Appendix H.
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on the 5th of September, 1718, whether it were better to repair the old bridge, or to build a new one in the same or another place. A committee was appointed to con- sider the question. They reported, that " to repair the old bridge or build another in the same place will be labour lost, or money sent down stream in a very little time." They then advised to build one at a place somewhat further up the river. This report was ac- cepted ; and furthermore the town voted, that they were desirous that the proposed bridge " should be a good and sufficient cart bridge for the accommodating the public, and especially some particular towns." This however was considered so great an enterprise, that - they would not consent to undertake it without the assurance of assistance from the public ; " the charge thereof being," as they express it, " unavoidably great, far greater than Watertown and Weston can bear of themselves." They applied to the General Court for help in the affair, with what success does not appear. In January, 1719, the town entered into contract with Mr. Thomas Learned and Capt. Thomas Prentice to build the proposed bridge under the superintendence of a committee appointed for that purpose, and voted to give them £160 for it. Besides this, they were to have what they could obtain from the other towns that were interested in the undertaking. This bridge seems to have been regarded as the common cause of nearly all the towns west of Watertown, and with some reason, for a very great proportion of the people from that quarter passed the river at this point, and went to Boston over Roxbury Neck. Capt. Prentice and Mr. Learned built the bridge faithfully, according to the terms of their contract, and at the same place where our bridge is at present. But when they had finished their engagement, they found themselves losers by it, and petitioned the town, through the Selectmen, for compensation or relief. In this petition, dated November 6th, 1721, they acknowledged, that the money promised
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by stipulation had been honestly paid," but complained that " the bounty from other towns was far less than what they might reasonably expect, considering the great benefit they receive thereby." The considera- tion of their petition was deferred, in order that they might bring in an exact account of their expenses and receipts. Such an account they presented, by which it appeared that the bridge had cost £309. 17s. 11d., and that they had received from Watertown, Weston, and some other towns and private persons, the sum of £184. 15s. 11d., leaving the amount of their loss £125. 2s. At the next town meeting, the petition was again taken up, and again deferred, and finally appears not to have been acted upon at all. Thus was completed the first bridge for wheel-carriages in the town about 110 years ago. The place of the bridge, it is believed, has remained the same from that time to this. Within the memory of some now living, the bridge was so nar- row that only one carriage could pass at a time. When we consider how common and trifling an affair it is deemed to build such a bridge now, we are amused to see how great and even perilous an enterprise it was thought to be when first undertaken. But it should be remembered, that the contrast between their ability for such a work, and ours, is at least equally striking.
The Rev. Samuel Angier died on the 21st of January, 1719, aged 64, and was buried in a grave-yard now belonging to Waltham. He was the son of Edmund Angier of Cambridge, and was born in that town March 17th, 1655. He was a descendant, on the ma- ternal side, from the celebrated Dr. William Ames of England, author of "Medulla Theologia." He was graduated at Harvard College in 1673, and was or- dained at Rehoboth, October 19th, 1679. From this place he was dismissed. and afterward settled in Water- town as before mentioned. Of his character and ability as a clergyman, I know not that any account is to be found. There are however many evidences, that he was
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highly esteemed by the people of his charge. During his ministry in Watertown, which lasted nearly twen- ty-two years, he received into the church 95 members, and baptized 706 persons. He has very often, but er- · roneously, been considered as minister of Waltham .* The mistake will be obvious, if we remember that Waltham was not incorporated till nearly twenty years after his death ; although when it was incorporated, it included most of the society over which he had been settled. His son, the Rev. John Angier, was the first minister of the East parish in Bridgewater; and a daughter of his was married to the Rev. John Shaw, minister of the South parish in Bridgewater.
The efforts made to compose the difficulties existing in the town seem, for the most part, to have resulted in mutual complaints, rather than in any approximation to a good understanding. May 13th, 1715, it was voted to build a " new meeting-house in some convenient place, where it may accommodate the inhabitants of the most westerly part of the town better than either of the other meeting-houses do that are already erected" ; and the next year a committee was chosen to fix upon a spot for that purpose. This was after the incorpo- ration of Weston ; of course, " the westerly part," here spoken of, must mean what is now Waltham. The
inhabitants of this part, it would seem, might have been well accommodated at the new meeting-house already erected in the middle of the town, which was much nearer to them than the old one; and as the town had now two places of worship, the support of which was the cause of much trouble, if not burdensome, it is not easily to be explained why they should wish for a third.
* Thus Mr. Farmer, in his valuable "Genealogical Register," says, that Mr. Angier was " installed at Waltham," and in the Index to the 2d Series of Hist. Coll. he is referred to as minister of Waltham. The place where Mr. Angier's meeting-house stood is even now (after the separa- tion of Waltham) within the bounds of Watertown. The house, in which he lived, is said to have been that now occupied by Mr. James Gillpatrick, opposite the widow Harrington's.
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The plan, however, was not carried into effect for sev- eral years ; indeed never in its original form.
After the death of Mr. Angier, the western congre- gation continued to maintain preaching, and employed several individuals at different times to supply their pulpit. Among these are mentioned the names of Mr. Timothy Minut, Mr. Gibson, and Mr. Robert Sturgeon.
A definite division between the eastern and west- ern parts of the town was, at length, found necessa- ry. November 19th, 1720, the General Court, on application from the inhabitants of Watertown, ap- pointed a committee* to run a dividing line between the two precincts, and to decide on the expediency of removing either or both of the meeting-houses to such places, I suppose, as should be more central to their respective congregations, when the proposed boundaries should be fixed. This committee made a report the next month, which was accepted. Samuel Thaxter, Esq. was directed by an order of the Court, in con- formity with the report, to run the line between the two precincts. This he did, and a notice of his doings was entered in the town records. The line is described as beginning on Charles River, proceeding " on a north course forty-nine degrees east," and terminating at the southwestern bounds of that part of Cambridge which is now called West Cambridge. The committee like- wise decided, that within two years the new or west meeting-house should be removed to a rising ground near the house of Nathaniel Livermore, which, I believe, was in the vicinity of the place where the Rev. Mr. Rip- ley's meeting-house in Waltham now stands, and that within ten years, the old, or east meeting-house should be removed to an eminence called School-house Hill ; +-
* This committee was composed of Isaac Winslow, John Cushing, and Samuel Thaxter, of the Council; and John Clark, William Dudley, John Chandler, and William Throop, of the House of Representatives. t The hill here mentioned bore this name for a long time. It is now called Meeting-house Hill, and is immediately behind our present place of worship. It is the highest point of land within the limits of Water- town.
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or, that in each of the places thus designated a new house of worship should be erected. With the order of the General Court, issued in consequence of this report, the town voted to comply. But, from the doings of " the easterly congregation," which were placed on record by their request, it would seem that they entertained suspicions of some collusion on the part of their western neighbours, or of a disposition to thwart the course of proceeding recommended in the report.
Nothing of this kind, however, was attempted. Ec- clesiastical councils were called, and gave their advice on the occasion ; and both parts of the town soon took measures to accomplish the object designated in the order of the Court. Besides granting money, to be raised by a levy, they appropriated to this purpose the town's proportion of the 50,000 pounds of bills of credit. issued by the government.' The western precinct made proposals for the new meeting-house (that, in which Mr. Angier had officiated,) in order to remove it to the spot which they were directed to occupy ; but they could not obtain it. They next appointed a com- mittee to treat for the purchase of the Newton meet- ing-house, which was then to be sold. This purchase was effected, for not more than eighty pounds. The materials of the building were transported to the ap- pointed place, and there set up anew. This was in 1721. On the 14th of August in the next year, this part of the town invited Mr. William Welsteed to be their minister. But he declined the invitation, and was afterward settled at the Old North Church in Bos- ton. They next applied (December 18th, 1722) to Mr. Warham Williams, who accepted their call, and was ordained June 11th, 1723. He was a son of the Rev. John Williams of Deerfield, Mass., and in his
* The Act for this purpose was passed in 1720. See " Acts and Laws of the General Court and Assembly of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, &c. Anno Regis Georgii Septimo."
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childhood was, with the rest of his father's family, in captivity among the Indians in Canada for two or three years .* He died June 22d, 1751, aged 52.
The eastern precinct likewise proceeded, on their part, to comply with the direction of the Court. Sev- eral meetings were held, in which it was determined to erect a house for public worship on the height of land, which(as before observed) was then called School-house Hill ; and measures were adopted accordingly. This part of the town, as well as the western part, endeav- oured to purchase the new or middle meeting-house, choosing rather to remove this, if it could be had, than to build a new one : but their proposal for this purpose, like the other, failed of success. Accordingly, on the 14th of January, 1723, they voted to build a new house for worship on the hill before specified, leaving the dimen- sions of the building to be settled by a committee, pro- viding only that it should not be less than 50 feet long and 40 feet wide. The object of this vote was to be effected within twelve months; and though no notice is taken of the completion of the work, yet doubtless it was finished within that time. It appears, that in consequence of the extraordinary expense, which the town was now obliged to incur, the minister of the eastern parish, Mr.Gibbs, relinquished a certain amount of the salary which was due to him.
Watertown was now regularly divided into two dis- tinct parishes, the eastern and the western, each of which had erected a new meeting-house. This was a preliminary step to the final separation of the two par- ishes into distinct towns ; for several years, however, they remained together, as one town. In what man- ner the society, to which Mr. Angier had ministered, disposed of their meeting-house, we are not informed. They had refused to sell it to either of the two pre- cincts when application was made for it. The society,
* An account of this captivity, in detail, may be found in " The Re- deemed Captive returning to Zion."
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it is probable, finding themselves too feeble to exist separately, were gradually dispersed and joined them- selves to the other two parishes. Their meeting-house béing abandoned was, we may presume, in the course of a few years demolished. It appears, however, that for some time they acted as a distinct church and so- ciety, and that their proceedings were thought to be irregular and censurable. That this was the fact, I infer from a vote recorded by Mr. Gibbs's successor concerning a Mr. Daniel Whitney, in which it is men- tioned, as an offence, that he " owned the covenant among and submitted himself to the watch and disci- pline of those who acted as a third church in Water- town, and that he had a child baptized by Mr. Robert Sturgeon after the result of the council of churches met at Watertown on May 1st, 1722." *
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The Rev. Henry Gibbs died on the 21st of October, 1723, having just entered on the 56th year of his age, and the 27th year of his ministry, reckoned from the date of his ordination. He was buried on the 24th of October, in the old grave-yard in Watertown. His father was Mr. Robert Gibbs,t a merchant of Boston, whose family was of Dorsetshire, England. Mr. Henry
* Of the Council here mentioned I find no other notice. Mr. Sturgeon was (as before noticed) one of those who supplied the pulpit after Mr. Angier's death. Persons are living, who remember to have heard him spoken of as having been one of the clergymen in the town.
+ Mr. Robert Gibbs was a gentleman of large property, and of con- siderable distinction, in Boston. His house is mentioned by Josselyn, who, describing Boston in 1663, says : " The buildings are handsome, joining one to another as in London, with many large streets, most of them paved with pebble stone : in the high street towards the Common there are fair buildings, some of stone, and at the east end of the town one among the rest, built by the shore, by Mr. Gibbs, a merchant, being a stately edifice, which it is thought will stand him in little less than £3000 before it be fully finished." New England's Rarities Discovered, p. 1 & 2. In the time of Sir Edmund Andros, this house was once oc- cupied by soldiers, according to Judge Sewall, who records as follows : " 1686, Dec. 24. About 60 Red-Coats are brought to town, landed at Mr. Pool's wharf, where drew up, and so marched to Mr. Gibbs's house at Fort Hill." There was a wharf called by Mr. Gibbs's name in that part of Boston where he lived.
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