USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Watertown > Historical sketches of Watertown, Massachusetts > Part 4
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have a statue erected to his memory in the town to preached at Watertown as assistant to Mr. Phillips which he gave his life.
It was the custom of early New England for each church to have two ministers-one as pastor and the was held under a tree in the open air. Several clergy- other as teacher.
Until 1639 Mr. Phillips was sole minister. In that year Mr. John Knowles, "a godiy man and a prime learning and good judgment.
Soon after this he removed to New Haven, and was invited to settle in that region. Declining to do so, he was chosen as one of the magistrates of the Colony ; common usage of pastor and teacher, the church put but being invited to return to Watertown to take the its theory of independency into practice, and, by or- , place left vacant by the death of Mr. Phillips, he laid down his office and came back to the banks of the
daining a man who had never been a minister, or- daining him by their own act, without notice given | Charles.
Here he fully justified the high reputation he had made before his departure. He was chosen fellow of they took their Christian liberty in sober, practical . Harvard College, and besides the services rendered to earnest. Mr. Knowles seems to have been a man of that institution in his official capacity, he continued very liberal views; in church government an inde- , for thirty years to give fortnightly lectures, which pendent, and in his broad charity of doctrine a man to delight " that good Knight, Sir Richard Saltonstall."
were attended by the students, who walked from Cam- bridge to Watertown to hear him. His reputation for scholarship extended far and wide. A "skill in tou ques and arts," says Mather, "beyond the common enfe adorned him."
His favorite studies were, however, mathematical and astronomical, and in these departments he had no peer in the western world.
In his leisure he made almanacs, in which he set His style of discourse is said to have been full and freely and accurately without the help of manuscript
In private he was sparing of speech. In council he was clear and weighty. In all relations of life dignified and courteous. His last discourse was marked by a richness of thought and energy of lan- guage that filled his hearers with admiration. He was seized with his last illness at Sudbury, where he had gone to preach, but rallied sufficiently to be able to reach his own house in Watertown, where he died on the 8th of August, 1685, at the age of seventy-two.
Mr. Sherman was twice married-six children were born to him in his first marriage, and twenty in his second.
On the 24th of August, 1685, a little more than two weeks after the death of Mr. Sherman, a committee was chosen at a town-meeting to treat with "Mr. Bailey, the elder," on the subject of settling in the ministry at Watertown. Mr. Bailey was at that time residing in Boston, and a committee was sent to him
As he was then not more than twenty years of age, requesting him to meet the assembled people and his behavior revealed not only an early maturity of , give them an opportunity " to discourse a little with thought, but an equal development of honesty. and him." At a conference held in accordance with this proposal, he expressed himself willing to become their minister " if peace and love should continue amongst them, and they would make his life com- fortable." self-respect. He acted with like decision when it came to the choice of his theatre of action in life, for when he was but twenty-one years old we find him in New England. That was in 1634. In that year he
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to the magistrates, without co-operation or consent ot : any minister save their own, the people declared that
In 1642 he went with Mr. Thompson, of Braintree, on a missionary voyage to Virginia, but, finding things there in no condition to warrant much hope of good, he presently returned to Watertown and re- sumed his pastoral relation with the church.
This relation he retained for six years after Mr. Phillips' death, when in 1650 he returned to England. Making his home in London, he continued to preach , down moral and religious maxims good for all meri- in spite of persecutions until he died at a very ad- dians and all years. vanced age in 1685.
According to Dr. Francis, " Mr. Phillips' successor rich. His mind was his library, and he could speak in the ministry at Watertown was the Rev. John Sherman." By some Mr. Sherman is said to have or even the briefest notes. begun his pastoral work in 1647, but there is no cer- | tain proof from the records of his having been in office before 1648. His relation to Mr. Knowles, who was here until 1650, is not definitely settled.
Mr. Sherman was born December 26, 1613, in Ded- ham, in the county of E-sex, England. In his home, and under the preaching of the celebrated John Rog- ers, the friend and counselor of George Phillips, he received deep and permanent religions impressions. In school he was studions and dutiful-once only he was chastised, on which occasion his offence was that he gave "the heads of sermons to his idle schoolmates, when an account thereof was demanded from them "- an offence which no modern boy could well be guilty of.
In due time he became a student at Emanuel Col- lege, Cambridge, but failed to receive his degree be- cause he refused to make the required subscription.
for a few weeks. Mather informs us that his first dis- course was on a Thanksgiving Day, when a meeting
men who were present "wondered exceedingly " when they heard so young a man speak with such
scholar," arrived in New England, and on the 19th of December he was ordained second pastor, in con- nection with Mr. Phillips. By departing from the
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
In August, 1636, " at a general town-meeting," a call was issued in due form. This call Mr. Bailey ac- cepted, and on the 6th of October he was " solemnly set apart for pastoral work at Watertown, without the imposition of hands."
John Bailey was boru near Blackburn, in Lanca- shire, England, on the 24th of February, 1644. His mother was a woman of deep and earnest religious spirit, and under her induence the boy became early imbued with " a serious sense of God and religion." His father was a man of licentious habits, and in his absence the young John conducted the devotions of the family, until his example so admonished and af- fected his parent that he broke off his evil ways and became an exemplary Christian.
Having received a good education, young Bailey began to preach at the age of twenty-two. His first charge was at Che-ter. The principal field of his labor in the old country was, however, in Limerick, Ireland, where he was preacher in the Abbey Church. He devoted himself to his work with such zeal and constancy that at the end of his fourteen years of ser- vice his health was seriously broken. This result was, probably, hastened by the vexation and impris- onment that he suffered for his non-conformity in church matters. He had shown himself to have the qualities of influence and leadership to such a degree that he was worth winning over to the Estab- lishment, and before attempting to silence him, the Lord Lieutenant attempted to buy him with promises of preferment. But Bailey was not for sale, and so went to prison. He was liberated, after something like a year, on his promise to go beyond seas. In fulfilment of this agreement, he came to Boston, and was for a time assistant minister at the Old South Church.
In the old book in which he kept a record of his ministry in Limerick. he gives an account of the last Sacrament which he observed there with his . friends, under date of January 13, 1683-84. Imme- diately beneath this entry, and under date of October 6, 1686, is a brief account of his settlement in Water- town. Here he remained until 1692, doing his work with a zeal and fidelity that sorely overtaxed his fail- ing strength. For a short time he had as colleague his brother, Mr. Thomas Bailey, an amiable and ex- cellent man, who died in January, 1688, aged thirty- five years and was interred in the old burying-ground. In 1691 Mr. Bailey was deeply afflicted by the death of his wife, and with this event his work as minister in Watertown was virtually ended. A single entry in his book records a baptism on May 31, 1691, about a month after the death of his wife, and with this his quaint farewell to his people and the town that had been his home. The diary of a brother minister hints at the reason for his removal in these words-" Then, being very melancholy and having the gout, he moved to Boston."
"The distinguished traits of Mr. Bailey's character,"
says Dr. Francis, " were ardent piety, great tender- ness of conscience, and an absorbing interest in the spiritual welfare of his fellow-men." The records he has left show that he was much given to melancholy, and to the sort of severe self-judgment to which the religion of the time inclined men. " If he had been at any time," says Mather, "innocently cheerful in the company of his friends, it cost him afterward abundance of s'ul reflection." Judging from the specimens left in his book, his sermons must have been addressed to the feelings, rather than to the in- telleets of his audiences. Ile was evidently a pleasing and popular preacher, for he records that on the 20th of November, 1687, there were in the church many "from Dedham, Wooburn, Barnstable, Cambridge, Old Church in Boston, & Ye New Church in Boston, Cambridge Village, Concord, Dorchester, Roxbury, Newbury, Charlestown, Weymouth, etc. Ye text was in Col ii : 11."
Mr. Bailey was much sought for as a preacher in the adjoining towns, and one of his hearers who once heard him in Boston, has left on record his impres- sion in the words, "I thought he spake like an angel."
After his return to Boston, Mr. Bailey acted as as- sistant minister in the First Church, when he was not too ill for work, holding his office until December 12, 1697, when he died in the fifty-fourth year of his age.
In his record-book, under date of April 27, 1690, Mr. Bailey writes: " I admitted " (to the church) " Mr. Henry Gibbs, who has sometimes preached for me, and now this quarter of a year has lived with me." On the 14th of October, in the same year, the town voted " to make choice of a help to carry on the work of the ministry amongst us, in this our great need." At the same meeting it was voted " to treat with Mr. Henry Gibbs," and to give him forty pounds. These measures indicate that Mr. Gibbs was at this time engaged to act as Mr. Bailey's assistant, the latter be- ing unable, on account of ill-health, to attend regu- larly to his duties. To this position the young man was most heartily welcomed by his elder, who enter- tained for him a very tender regard. When Mr. Bailey removed to Boston, Mr. Gibbs was left the only minister in the town. He had not been ordained, but continued to aet as minister to the society, his engage- ment being renewed from time to time. During the larger part of his life, the town was greatly disturbed and divided by the controversy that arose over the question of locating the meeting-house in such a way as to accommodate the people. For a time a second society existed, haviog a minister of its own, and a meeting-house in which services were held. It being found impossible to harmonize the discordant ele- ments, Mr. Gibbs was finally ordained, October 6, 1697. "This was done in the afternoon in the open air, though a cold day. The Western party, having the selectmen on their side, got possession of the meeting-house, and would not suffer the assembly to
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enter there." In 1719, the Rev. Samuel Angier, min- ister of " the Western Party," died, and after several years more of controversy, a part of his constituency were set off to form the town of Waltham, and the rest gradually became identified either with the old or the new town.
The Rev. Henry Gibbs was born in Boston, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1685. His father, Mr. Robert Gibbs, was a Boston merchant, of large property, and of considerable distinction. The position of minister in Watertown during the years of controversy must have been one to tax both the wisdom and the patience of the incumbent, but Mr. Gibbs seems to have met the demands of the time with singular firmness, prudence and good sense, and to have been held in high respect by all the inhabit- ants of the town. This fact alone is eloquent in his praise. Many a man who has gone to the stake with unshaken courage, would have broken down under the strain of twenty-seven years of angry debate and petty neighborhood jealousies. That Mr. Gibbs was able to bear such a trial, and all the while to " do justly and love mercy," entitles him to rank with Job on the roll of the world's worthies.
His power to keep his head in a time of general madness finds another illustration in the fact that he seems to have stood aloof from the mob that hounded the Salem witches to their miserable fate. Under date of May 31, 1692, he records the fact that he was in Saiem, observing the trials, and he says : " Wondered at what I saw, but how to judge and con- clude I was at a loss ; to affect my heart, and to induce me to more care and concernedness about myself and others is the use I should make of it."
"Mr. Gibbs," says Francis, " was a benefactor both to his church and to the college. In his will, which was proved November 11, 1723, he made the following bequest, part of which still constitutes a portion of what is called The Ministerial Fund : 'I do give and bequeath to the Eastern Church of Christ in Water- town, to which I have borne a pastoral relation, for the encouragement of the gospel ministry there, my four acres of pasture land and three acres of marsh, situate in the East end of said town, for the use of the said church forever. And I do give to said church my silver bowl with a foot.'
"His bequest to the college he devised in the fol- lowing terms: 'And further it is my will, that within ten years after my youngest child comes of age, an hundred pounds be paid by my heirs for the use of the Harvard College, forty pounds thereof by my son, and twenty pounds apiece by my daughters; the yearly interests to be exhibited to such members of the college as need it, firstly to my children's posterity if they desire it.'"
As a writer, Mr. Gibbs was natural and direct. His words were those of an honest man, who desired to do good. He died on the 21st day of October, 1723, in the fifty-sixth year of his age and the
twenty-seventh year of his ministry. He was buried in the old grave-yard at Watertown.
Mr. Gibbs was succeeded in the ministry of the Eastern Parish by the Rev. Seth Storer, who was or- dained July 22, 1724. There is no record of the pro- - ceedings that attended his settlement on the books of the to wn, since the transactionconcerned only the East- ern Precinct. In fact, there is not, so far as is known, any record in existence of the particulars of his life or ministry. He inherited the controversy that began in the time of Mr. Gibbs, between "The Western party " and the old parish, and experienced, doubt- !less, his share of the discomfort arising during its pro- gress and settlement.
There were many other distracting incidents aris- ing during the growth of the town, and out of its re- lations to the authorities in Boston, but it is believed that the minister of the First Parish bore his part in these matters with patience and wisdom. His term of service was the longest in the history of the town- over fifty years. He died on the 27th day of Novem- ber, 1774, in the seventy-third year of his age. He was a native of Saco, Maine, where he was born May 27, 1702. He graduated at Harvard College in 1720, at the age of eighteen. His father was Colonel Joseph Storer, of Wells, Maine, a man who won considerable distinction in the Indian wars. As indicating the conditions amid which his childhood was passed, we may note the fact that he had a sister Mary, who was carried away by the Indians as a captive, and was brought up near Montreal. Dr. Francis relates that in his time there were still living a few who could remember Mr. Storer in his old age, and they reported that he was much loved by young people and children. This fact he justly regards as an evidence of the simplicity and goodness of his character. He never, as far as is known, published any production of his pen. He took no part in the theological strife of his time, but lived the friend and helper of his neighbors and died lamented by those who had known him to love and respect him.
For three years after the death of Mr. Storer the pulpit of the First Parish Church remained unoccu- pied by a settled minister. This was probably owing to the excitement and confusion of the time which saw the opening of the Revolutionary War. The pulpit was filled by temporary supply, as circum- stances and the inclinations of the people directed. There was use for the church, however, at this time, not contemplated by those who built it, though it was precisely such use as was forecast by the action of George Phillips and Richard Browne, in 1631. The Second Provincial Congress was suddenly summoned to meet at Concord, April 22, 1775, but immediately adjourned to meet at Watertown. Here the Congress assembled, during the remainder of the session, in the meeting-house. John Hancock having been chosen delegate to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, Joseph Warren presided over the deliberations. The
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
third and last Provincial Congress also met at Water- town on May 31st. The sessions were held in the meeting-house as before. Joseph Warren was again chosen president, and Samuel Freeman, Jr., secretary. The Rev. Dr. Langdon, president of Harvard College, preached a sermon before the body. The session lasted until the 19th of July. On the 26th of July the meeting-house was again in use for the assem- bling of the General Court of the Colony. Subse- quently the Boston town-meetings were held here, and in 1776 the anniversary of the 5th of March was observed by the people of Boston in the meeting- house in Watertown.
It was not till November, 1777, that any movement was made toward the settlement of a minister. At that time it was voted unanimously to conenr with the town in the choice of Mr. Daniel Adams. He ae- cepted the invitation to the pastorate, and was or- dained on the 29th of April, 1776. The Rev. Mr. Prentiss, of Medfield, preached the ordination ser- mon, and the Rev. Dr. Appleton, of Cambridge, delivered the charge.
The settlement of Mr. Adams was regarded by the people as adequate cause for rejoicing, and the bright- est anticipations were apparently about to berealized, when the town was plunged in grief by the sudden death of its chosen leader. In the August following his ordination Mr. Adams was seized with a violent illness, and, after lingering for six weeks, expired on the 16th of September, in the thirty-third year of his age.
He was the son of Elisha Adams, of Medway, where he was born in 1746. His ancestor, Henry Adams, came from Devonshire, England, and settled in Brain- tree (now Quincy) in 1630. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1774, and immediately began the study of theology under the tuition of approved schol- ars and preachers, as the custom then was.
As a preacher he was received with marked favor, and his services were desired by several churches. In the brief term of his pastorate in Watertown he won the respect of his people by the virtues of his charac- ter, and commanded their admiration as a preacher.
After the death of Mr. Adams the pulpit was filled by various preachers, employed for various terms of service, by a committee of the church, until the 13th of March, 1780, when a meeting was called to con- sider the calling of a pastor. Mr. Richard Rosewell Eliot, who had preached for the society during the preceding winter, was chosen by a unanimous vote. He accepted the invitation, and was ordained June 21, 1780. Dr. Francis records the fact that the town appropriated £1600 to defray the expenses of the ordination. What sort of festivities were indulged in is not matter of record. We may infer the condi- tion of the. currency, however, from the sum named.
The period covered by the pastorate of Mr. Eliot saw the successful termination of the National strug- gle for independence, and the exciting and critical
debates that resulted in the adoption of the Constitu- tion. It was a time of hardship and of trial. The financial and industrial confusion of one great war were soon succeeded hy the business stagnation inci- dent to another, and there are indications that the Watertown parish and its minister had their share in the troubles and depressions of the time.
Mr. Eliot died on the 21st of October, 1818. He was sixty-six years old and had been for more than thirty-eight years the minister of the First Parish. He was descended in direct line from John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, and was born at New Haven, Connecticut, October 8, 1752. He was graduated at Harvard in 1774, and was a class-mate of Mr. Adams, his predecessor in Watertown. In his early manhood he gained much reputation as an orator, but for the larger part of his life his health was poor and his strength was inadequate to the full exercise of his na- tive gifts. As a preacher, he was graceful and pleas- ing in manner, and his doctrinal views were of the milder and more benevolent type. Ilis virtues were such as fitted him to shine in the quiet walks of a life of piety and beneficence.
SUPPLEMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FIRST PARISH.1 -Rev. Mr. Eliot's successor was Dr. Convers Francis, the last minister hired by the town. He had preached occasionally during the winter after the death of Mr. Eliot, and on the 12th of April following (1819), the town concurred with the church in the invitation, and offered him a salary of one thousand dollars and a settlement of the same sum. The ordination took place on the 23d of June, in the old meeting-house, a plan of which we give later, that stood near the corner of MIt. Auburn and Common Streets, in what ix now the cemetery, and where his remains and those of his wife now rest.
Dr. Osgood presided at the council, and one might expect some disputation at this time, when the doc- trines which were soon developed by the Unitarian controversy began to be differentiated; " but every- thing went off without an infraction of the peace." Rev. Mr. Lowell made the first prayer, Dr. Osgood preached the sermon, President Kirkland made the consecrating prayer, Dr. Ripley, of Concord, gave the charge, Rev. Mr. Palfrey gave the right hand of fel- lowship, and the Rev. Mr. Ripley, of Waltham, made the concluding prayer : "God grant that my ministry in this town may be a long, a happy and a useful one, and that many may have reason to bless the day when my union with this people was formed." The ministry was a long, and, in many respects, a happy and a useful one. There are those still living whose childhood reaches back to that time.
Converse Francis was devoted to the ministry to which he was called. " But his record upon earth is biotted with the clouds of his humility and self- depreciation. There never was a man of such various
1 By Solon F. Whitney.
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learning, delightful converse and refined philosophy. so absolutely unconeious of a personality. It seems at first as if more self-esteem would have enhanced his powers." In 1821 he says in a little diary, "God forgive me that, when speaking on the most import- ant subjects, I am so cold and indifferent." "My mind is filled and pressed with anxious thoughts." He felt depressed that he could not lift the people to the level of his glowing thought. His quiet life in Watertown was made eventful by thoughts and book -. He wrote the life of Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, for Sparks' " American Biography." A thousand or more of his manuscript sermons, now in the Public Library of this town, testify to his industry and his interest in his people. The classie writers of Greece and Rome were often in his hands. The literature of France and Germany presented no barriers by their strange tongues. His library, a part of which is now the property of the town, gathered from all nations, shows his omnivorous reading. He was especially interested in the history of the past, the history of his own town and parish, as his history of Watertown and his historical addresses testify. He was an active member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and, by his collections of materials and his substantial contributions, showed that not only in the Bible, and in Bible history, but in all history he believed the thought of God could be traced dealings with his people.
He was something of a seer. When Emerson was covered with a cloud of obloquy, and even he could not agree with his remarks on some points, he says, "The more I see of this beautiful spirit, the more ] revere and love him; such a calm, steady, simple soul, always looking for truth and living in wisdom and in love for man and goodness." Plato was also a bond between them.
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