USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Billerica > History of Billerica, Massachusetts, with a Genealogical register > Part 28
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It may be doubted whether the doctrinal discussions and ecclesi- astical separations had as much to do with terminating Mr. Whitman's pastorate ; but they form a vital part of the history of that period. Here, too, Dr. Cumings' position, while he lived, held the restless spirit somewhat in check which broke forth so soon after. The questions concerning the trinity, and the divinity of Christ, the nature and results of sin, and the way of salvation, were discussed with great feeling and often with bitterness. Good men sometimes forgot the possible honesty of those who held opinions differing from their own and the charity to which they were entitled, and neighbors were at times estranged. The friends of the old order could not appreciate the force of the convictions which sought change, and those who were striving for change were not always considerate of the feelings or the reasons of those who wished to perpetuate the order of things they had inherited, and which had worked so satisfactorily for almost two centuries. The efforts to establish another church in the town were met by a protest, which Mr. Whitman embodied in a fast-day sermon, which was printed, and must win respect and sympathy for its author even from those who are not fully persuaded by its argument. He was contending with the inevitable; and, had he now the opportunity, he would not probably desire to replace the ecclesiastical order, which was giving way around him, to his discomfort and alarm.
Among the complaints which were made against Mr. Whitman, one was that he would not exchange with neighboring Universalist ministers ; and in his farewell sermon he defended the propriety of his course, expressing his willingness to exchange with ministers who were in sympathy with the covenant of his church, and quoting from that covenant language which those who approved the doctrine of non-retribution could not accept. This covenant affirmed their faith, " "particularly in the great doctrines of our Fall in Adam and recovery by Jesus Christ, of the pardon of sin, and salvation on condition of Faith and Repentance, and of the influence and aid of Divine Grace, promised to those who ask; * of the Resurrection
3 I am indebted to Mr. F. P. Hill for a Ms. sketch of Mr. Whitman, from which I have drawn freely.
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BAPTIST CHURCH.
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RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
of the dead, a final Judgment, and of a future state of Retribu- tions." Ministers whose preaching was in direct opposition to this covenant he could not consistently permit to occupy his pulpit.
Mr. Whitman was dismissed. 1835, March 30. and was succeeded by Rev. William E. Abbot, who was ordained, 1837, February 8. and dismissed, 1839, February 10. Mr. Abbot was graduated at Bowdoin College, 1830, and at Harvard Theological School. in 1833. The next pastor was Rev. Theodore Haskell Dorr, a graduate of Harvard College, in 1835, and Theological School, in 1838. He was ordained, 1839, May 28, and dismissed, 1843. May 28. Succeeding ministers have with one exception received no formal installation. Their names and dates of service are as follows : James Thurston. 1844, November 15-1850, May 15. Samuel Pettes, 1850, June 16- 1855, May 14. Nathaniel O. Chaffin, 1855, June 17-1857, May 10. Norwood Damon, 1857-60. Livingston Stone, 1861-62. James Gallaway, installed, 1863, January 28-1865. Christopher Coffin Hussey, 1866, October 1, who is still in charge.
In 1844 the meeting-house was moved, and turned half around to face the east ; but it was allowed to retain its primitive structure and graceful spire, which form a landmark visible from afar. The longer ministry of Mr. Hussey has witnessed improvement in several directions. In 1879 a fund of $10,000 was contributed by several members of the society, the interest of which only can be used to support preaching. The conditions of the gift are that the minister's salary be kept at a specified rate. and that the preaching be distinct- ively Unitarian. In 1881 a house was bought for a parsonage, and so fully repaired as to make it substantially a new. as well as pleasant and convenient, home for the minister. It stands on the east side of the street, one door north of Andover Street, having been the home of Mr. W. H. Blanchard and previously of Marshall Preston.
THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH was the earliest separate organiza- tion, after the First Church had for one hundred and sixty-five years existed alone in the town. There were Baptists here at an early day, William Hamlet at least and probably George Farley ; and a letter from Hamlet relating to the carly troubles is published by Backus. the Baptist historian. . But the number did not increase until after the Revolution, when the tendency to resist payment of " minister's rates" had influence in increasing the number of Baptists. Not long after the death of Dr. Cumings, they had become numerous and strong enough for organization. Meetings were first held in the
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HISTORY OF BILLERICA.
school-house near the Fordway, in the spring of 1828. A church was organized, 1828, September 30, and recognized by Council, October 9. It consisted of twenty members, of whom thirteen were dismissed from the South Chelmsford Church. The first deacons were Joseph Dows and Amos Spaulding. Their successors have been Edward Spaulding, George C. Gilman, John C. Hobbs, and Francis E. Manley.
The list of its ministers is as follows, omitting students and others who served for shorter periods :-
Otis Wing. 1829, March, to 1830, March.
Jedediah W. Sargent, ordained, 1835, January 14, to 1837, January.
Jonathan E. Forbush, 1837, March- 1838, August.
Warren Cooper, 1838, October-1839, October.
George W. Randall, ordained, 1841, February 18-1842, May.
Benjamin Knight, 1842, May-1849, April; and 1857, Feb. - 1860. Jan.
Benjamin Putnam, 1845, June; died, 1850. December 21. aged 62.
Zenas P. Wilde, 1851, April-1853, April.
Homer Sears, 1854, January-1856, January.
Thomas C. Russell, 1860, August- 1863, March.
John D. Sweet, ordained, 1863, October 21-1868, March.
Clifton Fletcher, 1869, February- 1875, July.
William HI. Fish. ordained, 1875. December 30-1877, June.
Robert M. Neil, (alias O'Neil or McNeil), 1877, October-1878, July. "Dis- missed from the fellowship of the church and ministry." Edward T. Lyford, 1879, May.
The first meeting-house stood on the east side of Concord River, very near the middle bridge. The frame was raised, 1830, Novem- ber 30, and the house was dedicated, 1831, September 14. It was fifty feet long, forty feet wide, had forty-eight pews, and would seat three hundred people. In the spring of 1844 it was removed to its present location in the village, on Bedford Street, A bell was pro- cured in 1872, and in 1877 it received an addition of a convenient chapel, as appears in the illustration. 1
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH was organized, 1829, April 30, a society having been formed, January 17. This was a more direct result of the theological controversy, and of the ecclesiastical sepa- rations, which were still agitating the Massachusetts churches ; and the presence of Dr. Lyman Beecher, as Moderator of the Council which organized the church, was a significant expression of the
4 A Semi-Centennial Address, by Rev. Clifton Fletcher, has been published, giving full and interesting details of the history of this church.
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
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RELIGIOUS HISTORY.
general interest in this and similar movements. The unity and strength of the First Church was, however, less affected by the separation, in Billerica, than in many towns. The number of its members who did not sympathize with, or yield to, the Unitarian position of the church was small. Two women, Huldah Blake and Martha Bowers, entered a protest, 1820, October 8. They affirm their belief in the true and proper deity of Jesus Christ, in the atonement, in the entire depravity of unregenerate men, and their need of supernatural grace to fit them for the happiness of heaven : and generally in the doctrines of the Westminster Confession and Catechism. With these views they believed their pastor and many of their brethren in the church did not agree ; and they therefore asked the favor of a regular dismission. This the church, affirming the right and duty of each individual to be guided by his own con- science, granted. No other dismissions for this reason are recorded, and not more than four or five members of the First Church ever joined the new Congregational Church, which began with twenty-five members. The meeting-house, on Andover Street, 60×40 feet, was raised, October 28, and dedicated, 1830, January 13. The record of its ministers has been as follows : -
John Starkweather, ordained, 1830, April 22; dismissed, 1831, August 2. Isaac Jones, acting pastor, 1832, July-1834, April.
Joseph Haven, installed, 1836, June 8; dismissed, 1840, September 27.
Benjamin Ela, ordained, 1841, April 29; dismissed. 1842, May.
Jesse G. D. Stearns, ordained, 1843, May 29; dismissed, 1867, May 8. John P. Cleaveland, D. D., acting pastor, 1867-70.
Evarts B. Kent, acting pastor, 1870-71.
John M. Lord, acting pastor, 1871-72.
Henry A. Hazen, installed, 1874, May 21; dismissed, 1879, May 4.
John Haskell, acting pastor, 1879, May -1881, October.
Charles C. Torrey, acting pastor, 1881, November.
The long and faithful pastorate of Mr. Stearns deserves especial recognition. Record of his descent from Billerica ancestry may be found elsewhere, (see STEARNS, 8). A scholar of exceptional diligence and culture, modest and devout, and active in every good word and work, he commended himself to the citizens of the town as well as to his own charge. As teacher of a useful private school, and superintendent of the schools of the town, he exerted no little influence, and represented the town in the Legislature.
The deacons of this church have been William Gleason, Aaron Patten, Edward Wright, Samuel H. King, and Moses P. Greenwood.
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HISTORY OF BILLERICA.
A UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY was formed, 1842, January 10, and a meeting-house erected the same year. It stood on the north side of West Street, where the school-house now stands. In 1868 it was sold to the Roman Catholics and removed to North Billerica, where it is still in use by that society. The ministers of this church were Rev. Varnum Lincoln, ordained, 1843, September 8; Rev. L. P. Landers, of West Cambridge, 1845-47; Rev. George Proctor, 1847-53, and again, 1855-63 ; Rev. P. Hersey, 1853-55 ; and Rev. R. M. Byram.
A ROMAN CATHOLIC SOCIETY was organized and purchased the Universalist Church in 1868. It has prospered and the number of its communicants is large. The priests who have been in charge come from Lowell, and no record of their names or dates of service has been furnished.
The youngest church in the town is the Baptist Church, at North Billerica, which was organized, 1869, May 14, receiving twenty-two members from the Centre Church. Its pleasant meeting-house was a gift from the Hon. Thomas Talbot ; built in 1870, and dedicated, 1871, January 19. Its pastors have been William M. Ross, 1869, June 2; Nathaniel L. Colby, ordained, 1872, July 2; and William A. Farren, ordained, 1879, September 24.
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BAPTIST CHURCH. NORTH BILLERICA.
CHAPTER XVI.
CANAL, TURNPIKE, AND RAILROADS.
THE early roads were often called paths, and the name describes them. Carts could pass over the better roads, but many were pass- able only on horseback or on foot. Wagons were unknown. The earliest chaise was owned in town not much, if any, before 1800, and marked the aristocracy of the few who could afford such luxury. 1 The first great improvement in the means of transportation was the Middlesex Canal. This first important canal in America passed through Billerica, and its path is still to be seen at many points. The company was incorporated in June, 1793, to connect the Merri- mack with the Mystic and Charles rivers, and save the trade of New Hampshire to Boston. The preliminary surveys consumed more than a year, and ground was first broken at Billerica "Mills" in the spring of 1795. At this point the Concord River is one hundred and nine feet above tide-water in Boston Harbor and twenty-five feet above the Merrimack, which the canal reached at its most southerly bend, about a mile above Pawtucket Falls. The canal was 27 miles long, 30 feet wide, and 3 feet deep. It was navigable to the Charles River, in 1803 ; but its income was absorbed for years in alterations and repairs, and no dividend was declared until 1819. One hundred assessments were laid upon stockholders, and the cost of shares, including interest, was $1455.25; the total cost of the canal being $1,164,200. From 1819 to 1843, dividends were paid, amounting to $504 per share. The receipts then fell below the expenses ; in 1851 the charter was surrendered, and in 1852 the canal was sold in sections, owners of adjoining lands being generally the purchasers. The charter was farther declared forfeited in 1859. The proprietors complained that the railroad had been permitted to damage their
1 Sec Lowell Contributions, etc. Vol. I, p. 254.
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HISTORY OF BILLERICA.
chartered rights without indemnity, but they had no redress. The chief design of the canal was to carry freight, but a packet-boat for passengers was run daily, at a speed of four miles per hour, the fare from Lowell to Boston being fifty cents. That the canal did not very essentially affect the life of the town is shown by the fact that all its carrying from Boston to Billerica did not exceed $200 per year.
The Middlesex Turnpike was an enterprise of significance in its day. It was chartered in June, 1805. Ebenezer Bridge and James Abbot being among its corporators. Its route extended from Tyngs- borough to Medford and Cambridge. The line at first was to pass Billerica meeting-house ; but, in 1806, the route was changed, by permission of the General Court, from a point in Bedford, crossing Nutting's Pond, to Buisket bridge in Tyngsborough. Some lack of friendly co-operation in Billerica may have influenced this change, and the managers were ambitious to make their great road as near an air-line as possible. Hills and ponds must not stand in their way, and they accordingly followed a route straight through the town, crossing Concord River a mile above the centre bridge, and leaving the village as far one side. This line would attract very little local travel and support, and experience soon proved that the visions of a great through travel and traffic were delusive. The canal and the railroad left little for the turnpike, and its charter was repealed in 1841. The unfortunate proprietors of the Middlesex Turnpike were not without some very sound reasons for their faith. Those were the days of teams and stages, and the business which they brought through this town was a notable feature of its life. Much of the traffic, of western New Hampshire and Vermont with Salem and Boston passed through Billerica. The teaming was of two kinds. There was a class of professional teamsters, who drove large wagons, drawn by four, six, or eight horses, serving the merchants of the up- country. The memory of some of these men, like Thomas Dutton, of Hartford, Vermont, whose team always rested on the Sabbath, still lingers along the route. Wool, butter, cheese, and whatever sought the market would furnish the loads, while salt, molasses, dry goods, rum, and all the varieties kept by the miscellaneous " country store" were taken on the return. Another class of teams probably more numerous, though smaller, was driven by farmers, who took a trip or two yearly to market, carrying their own produce, beef, pork, or whatever they had to sell, and returning with articles for home consumption or for the merchants.
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CANAL, TURNPIKE, AND RAILROADS.
The stages also entered largely into the life of that period. " The first stage-coach passed through Billerica about 1795. It was a two-horse, covered vehicle, owned and driven by Mr. Joseph Wheat, and ran from Amherst, N. H., to Boston and back again, once a week. It stopped at Billerica over night, making the trip in about four days. The same team performed all the journey."2 The business increased. In 1803 the stage from Boston to Amherst set off from King's Inn every Wednesday and Saturday, leaving at 5 A. M. and arriving at 7 P. M., returning Mondays and Thursdays at the same hours. For several years before the opening of the Boston and Lowell Railroad from twelve to sixteen stages passed daily through Billerica, Sundays excepted. After work was begun on the new mills at East Chelmsford, in 1821, Mr. Richardson, who kept a hotel at the "Corner," sent a hack Mondays and Saturdays to accommodate gentlemen who wished to connect with the Amherst stage at that point. Lowell could hardly be served in that way now ! All this staging and teaming made a demand for taverns, which were numerous and busy. There were two, and sometimes three, in the village : one or two at the Corner, and the Manning Tavern on the Chelmsford Road ; and these were not all. Men and beasts must be provided for, and this provision often suggests Falstaff's "intolerable deal of sack," as one reads the items in old ledgers.
But canal and turnpike gave way to a more revolutionary im- provement. The Granite Railway to Quincy was chartered in 1826, and did its first work in 1827 in carrying granite for Bunker Hill Monument. The sagacious men who were laying the foundations of Lowell saw that the railway was what their enterprise needed, and the Boston and Lowell Railroad was chartered in June, 1830. The railroads to Worcester and Providence were chartered soon after, and were opened to Newton in April and to Readville in June, 1834. A year later, 1835, June 25, the Boston and Lowell Railroad was opened. Two days after, its first advertisement appears, as follows :
"The Cars will continue to run till farther notice as at present. viz. : Leave Lowell at 6 A. M. & 25 P.M. Leave Boston at 9 A. M. & 5} P. M. No baggage can be taken, except what belongs to passengers. Allowance to each, 40 pounds. As soon as Burthen cars can be provided, notice will be given for the transportation of merchandise. Tickets may be had at the depot, corner Leverett and Brighton streets. Price, $1.00.
"GEORGE M. DEXTER, Agent."
2 Bi-Centennial, p. 152, (note).
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HISTORY OF BILLERICA.
The contrast is great between the four trains of 1835 and the twenty-five passenger trains of 1882, with almost as many more for freight. Then they must start from Lowell; now they may come from San Francisco. But the benefit which the railroad brought to Billerica has been much less than it would have been if it had followed a more direct line, through Woburn, and passing between the village and Fox Hill. Such a route would have made the pleasant, high lands on which the village is located a very accessible and attractive suburb of Boston, and with the growth of both Lowell and Boston, Billerica might have shared. But some feared and repelled the railroad ; others, more sagacious, saw its benefits and sought its location on a more northerly route ; and the growth of the village has been hindered by its distance from the stations. Relief for this difficulty has been sought in various directions, and once it seemed to be secured; in fact it was secured for a few months, until a hopeful enterprise ended in disastrous failure. The story of the Billerica and Bedford Narrow-Gauge Railroad is not a pleasant one, but must be here briefly told.
In 1875, George E. Mansfield, of Boston, came to Billerica with plans and proposals for building a railroad, of a two-foot gauge, from Bedford to North Billerica. A road of fourteen miles' length in Wales, The Festiniog, had shown the practicability of a line so narrow, but none had ever been built in this country. Discussion resulted in a charter, and a company was organized, 1876, May 10, Capt. Charles A. Ranlett being its president. Subscriptions and surveys required some months, and ground was broken, with much enthusiasm, September 6. The construction of the line took more than a year, and it was opened in the autumn of 1877. Its equipment consisted of two locomotives, " Ariel" and "Puck," two passenger cars, two "excursion" cars, and a few others. The novelty of its narrow track and cheap construction attracted much attention. People came to see its working, and the "Scientific American" published, 1878, March 16, an article describing its construction, with an illustration of its engines. For a few months the village enjoyed railroad facilities, and so far as the feasibility of the working experiment went, the road was a success. Its failure came from financial causes. The estimated cost was $50,000, or $8000 per mile ; but, in the "Scientific American" article, its projector puts its cost when completed at over $60,000. On the other hand, a portion of its subscription proved unsound or fraudulent and the road
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CANAL, TURNPIKE, AND RAILROADS.
began operations under a heavy burden of debt. Starting in this unfortunate condition, and hardly at the outset earning its running expenses, the directors were unable to finish its connections and equipment, or, by patient and successful running, win the confidence of the public and test the question, in which some of them never lost faith, whether such a road could become pecuniarily profitable. Under its burden of debt, the road was thrown into bankruptcy and assignees took possession, the personal property being sold. 1878, June 6, for $9000. The town, which had subscribed originally and paid $12,000, was urged to aid farther, but declined to do so; and individuals were not ready to undertake the financial experiment. Meanwhile, the Sandy River Railroad, in Maine, had built a similar line, north from Farmington. This company purchased the equip- ments of the Billerica and Bedford Railroad; and there they are still in use with more success. Time is rapidly obliterating the roadway through the town, and the children of coming generations may listen with some doubt to the story, that their fathers did once have such a railroad and regular trains running from Billerica to Bedford ; and that merry school-children went shouting on excursions over the route. That such was the fact the historian can testify, with emotions in which amusement, chagrin, and regret are mingled.
CHAPTER XVII.
MILLS. - MANUFACTURES.
IN 1659, November, William Sheldon received the grant of a lot on condition of building a mill, to grind corn, within two years. (see under SHELDON). This grant was declared forfeit, and John Parker received "the mill lot," 1663-64, January 25, with an eight-acre right, for £55, paid for the town.1 The house-lot was to be near the great bridge. No condition of building a mill is connected with the grant, and it is doubtful if there was any mill at North Billerica before the grant to Osgood, in 1708. But a "corne mill" was built as early as 1683, on Vine Brook, by John Wilson, (see WILSON), who had a saw-mill there in 1680; and Thomas Patten had a mill at Pattenville as early, (see PATTEN). But John Parker owned, by grant and purchase, at least two large lots at this place ; and a mill-pond is mentioned there in 1664. Probably therefore the first mill in town was built by Mr. Parker and about 1660, on Content Brook, and not on Concord River. Bacon's mill, at the falls of the Shawshin, is mentioned in 1707 and perhaps was built earlier. Benjamin Fitch afterwards owned it, and it was long known as "Fitch's mill."
The grant from which all subsequent owners have held the water power and mill privilege at North Billerica was made, as follows :-
"At a General Town Meeting, octob. 4, 1708, Granted to Christopher Osgood, Jun., of Andouer, all that neck of land on the West of Concord Riuer, lying between said Riuer and the pathway leading to broad meadow, with the stream at the falls, Reseruing ten pole from the fordway doun said Riuer, and from the foot of the Hill going doun into broad meadow; provided, the said Christopher Osgood do, within two years next ensuing the date hereof, Erect and maintain a good grist mill upon said Riuer, at the falls ouer against sam" Rogers his house lot, and the said Osgood doth
1 Records, Vol. I, p. 49; and same, Reverse, p. 26.
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FAULKNER MILL.
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MILLS .- MANUFACTURES.
Engage to secure and defend the Town of Billerica from any trouble and charge that may arise for damage that may be don to the meadows of the Towns aboue us by said mill-dam; the said land is given & granted to the said Christopher Osgood and his heirs (by the Town of Billerica) so long as he and they shall maintain a good grist mill at said place, and when said mill ceases. the said land shall Return to the said town of Billerica."
The following action has interest in this connection : -
"March 27, 1710. It was voted, that the Town of Billerica will defend Mr. Christopher Osgood from bearing any charge of the damage in flowing Dr. Toothacher's medow by his mill-dam, said Osgood engaging for him- self & his sucksessors that the said stream that was granted to him shall return with the land to the said Town of Billerica, when the said mill ceaseth, which he holds said land and stream by : passed in the affirmative. Jonathan Bacon. JJosiah Bacon, & Josiah Fassett entered their desent against ye uoat aboue written."
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