History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 159

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818

USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 159

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" But, my friends, while we turn with pride to the high and honorable record of this town in its early heroic days, and remember with pride the battle-fields of the Revolution, we are filled with the tenderest emotions as we rehearse the gallant deeds performed by our sons and brothers in defense of the flag during the trials and hardships of the great civil war. The events of this imposing chapter in our national his- tory have passed before our very eyes. We heard the gun which was fired on Sumter; we knew the boys who fell at Baltimore ; we sat down with Grant before Vicksburg, and followed him in his weary and bloody march through the Wilderness; from our firesides went forth the men who swept through the valley with Sheridan, and traversed the victorious highway from Atlanta to the sea with Sherman, and ascended Lookout Mountain with Hooker, and sailed with Farragut and Winslow. The tears shed over the suf- ferings at Andersonville and Salisbury and the Libby are not yet dry. The widows are not gone; the or- phans yet remain ; the wounded soldier still walks our streets. Around the memory of many who are gone, and around the lives of many who are still with us cluster all the glories of that conflict, all its vic- tories and defeats, all its joys and sorrows, all its gloomy morning hours, all the brilliant achievements for freedom which mark its close, and all the gentle associations which soften the savagery of war, and which especially belong to this great conflict for human right. History has immortalized the generous and self-sacrificing deed of Sir Philip Sidney, as he stayed the hand which would moisten his own parched and dying lip until the agony of his expiring com- rade had been relieved. Shall not history also tell of him whose last words were, ' Write to mother, and tell her I behaved well ;' of him whose glazed eye was turned upon the picture of his child so far away, held

there in his stiffening grasp; of him who, defiant of wounds, rushed on to battle still, and who fell at last with this message on his lips, 'Tell my father I was dressing my line when I was hit ;' of him who clasped to his heart in its last throb the written words of her whom he loved ; of him who rejoiced in death, and only asked that he might be buried in his native town ; of him who preferred death on the picket-line to a surrender; of the thousands who, we are told, rose superior to the agony of the hospital and declared, as the holy light irradiated their pale faces, that they could die without regret in the great and good canse ! " Shall not all this be told of the heavenly voice uttered by Christian heroes bearing to the battle-field all the moral obligations, the kind affections, the pious sentiment, the intelligent devotion of free and edu- cated Christian heroes from their Christian homes ?

"I congratulate this town upon the part it per- formed in the great drama of this continent, perhaps of this age. It is the same story, I know, repeated so often in the thousands of towns throughout the North, but none the less admirable and instructive.

" Yon who sit here have not forgotten the prompt and ready response from those men who enrolled themselves for active service almost before the sun which rose on the first day of the conflict had reached midheaven ; those who started forth without count- ing the cost, obedient to a proud sense of patriotic duty, unmindful of doubt and hesitation, and forget- ful of danger and death ; those men who first taught foreign and domestic foes that the Union had its de- fenders, and who saved the capital of our country until the great armies of the war could be brought into the field.

"Year after year the call was made on you, and year after year the same response was given. A hundred and thirty-four of your men were enrolled in the army and navy. Large sums were expended in bounties to the soldiers, partly contributed by pri- vate liberality and partly drawn from the treasury of the town. Your charities were large. Individuals and associated effort was unremitting in smoothing the rugged pathway of the soldier, in providing for those whom he had left behind, and in alleviating his toil on the field and his sufferings in hospital and camp. From your firesides to every battle-field was stretched the silver cord of affection and solicitude, bringing home close to your hearts the great events of the war, and binding your familiar and household names to every far-off spot in our land which the war clothed with immortal renown, for your sons were on every field, your blood was spilled in almost every conflict.

"The sacrifices which you made were great. Of those who went forth twenty laid down their lives in their country's service, defending her flag on many a hard-fought field, and filled by your public declara- tions with the loftiest principles.

" Of this chapter of heroism what an impressive

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beginning, what a radiant close ! Far back through the generations I see them now, those earnest and manly sons of Puritan warriors and teachers, who had filled the pulpits and town-houses and armies of our land during a century of protest and trial and self- sacrifice and defiance, rising higher and higher in their indignant sense of duty as the fierce periods of our popular Declaration were launched forth upon an approving American mind. And can you not feel with them the hot blood of the early pioneers cours- ing through their veins as the ardent appeals went on? The memory of long and weary trials in the cause of civilization there in the wilderness, of the precepts of those old teachers who were gone, of the bloody seas through which they had been brought to their great assertions of the wrongs of the past, this, and their glowing understanding of the promise of the present hour and of the future, all inspired their minds with wisdom and their hearts with courage for the oc- casion. From their humble homes they had stepped forth, not to follow but to lead, not to listen alone but to speak, not only to be taught but to teach mankind to be true to the highest demands of a free and inde- pendent spirit. It was to the voice of the popular assemblies like these that our fathers of the Revolu- tion listened. It was the wisdom of such assemblies that guided their councils and gave the American people their greatness. It was this spirit that made Swansea heroic when the first shot was fired at Lex- ington, and true and patriotic when the first gun was aimed at Sumter.

" And now, my fellow-citizens, this brief and im- perfect story of the piety and heroism of your town for two centuries is told. I have not explored the deepest recesses of your annals for marks of your eccentricity, or for those personal details which, while they amuse for the hour, make no appeal to those sentiments of pride and satisfaction which should fill the breast of every man who muses by the graves and studies the high qualities of his an- cestors.

"I have not forgotten the errors here, the local controversies, the short-comings, the temporary irri- tations ; but I have passed them by, and have en- deavored so to deal with your history as to fill your minds with respect for your ancestors, and with a determination to transmit in more radiant form the blessed institutions which you have inherited to those whose duty it shall be to preserve them, and to cele- brate them at the next centennial anniversary of the tragic period in the history of this town."

CHAPTER LV. SWANSEA .- ( Continued.)

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

The First Baptist Church-The Non-Sectarian Christian Church- Christ Church, Swansea Village-The Six-Principle Baptist Church-The Universalist Church.

The First Baptist Church in Massachusetts was constituted at Rehoboth, Bristol County, in the year 1663, in the house of John Butterworth. The names of its constituent members were John Myles, pastor ; James Brown, Nicholas Tanner, Joseph Carpenter, John Butterworth, Eldad Kingsley, and Benjamin Alby.

As this is the first Baptist Church formed in this State, and as its origin was peculiar, had the events of its early history been preserved, it would have been a matter of unusual interest to the Baptists of the present time. Hitherto churches of this order had been kept out of every New England colony except Rhode Island. An attempt was made to form one in 1639 in the town of Weymouth, but it was defeated by the magistrates, and those concerned in it were scattered. After this no further effort seems to have been made for more than twenty years.

The history of this church possesses more than a local and temporary interest, as it relates to the reli- gious and secular interests of all this region of country for a period of more than two centuries. Indeed, its history, with that of some of its pastors, connects it with some of the most important movements in the early annals of these colonies. Several of the con- tiguous towns, including Warren and Barrington, now in Rhode Island, and Somerset in this State, formed a part of Swansea, and the people were generally in- terested in the church, many of them as members, and most of them as adherents and coadjutors. Lib- eral measures were provided for the education of the young, and for the accommodation of all the people with the means of religious instruction and worship. Among the most active of the men thus employed was Mr. Myles and Capt. Thomas Willett, the latter, who at a later period of life became the first English mayor of New York on its cession from the Dutch. Happy would it have been for the social, educational, and moral prosperity of the town of Swansea if the same principles could have been carried to their maturity which were so nobly acted on in the first period of its history.

It will be seen that the church was, in a manner, the reorganization of an exiled church driven from Swansea, in Wales; it will therefore be necessary to go to the history of that church. It is known that from the earliest times there were many friends of Christ in that country, who were greatly multiplied after the Reformation. A little more than two hun- dred years ago a number of men of great power were raised who preached with much success, and many

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people were turned to the Lord. Among these men was Rev. John Myles, the founder of this church. He began his ministry in South Wales about the year 1645, and was instrumental in raising a church in Swansea in 1649. This was the first year of the Pro- tectorate of Oliver Cromwell, under whose govern- ment the Dissenters were indulged with greater lib- erty than before, the result of which greatly tended to the prevalence of religion. This church was greatly prospered, so that in ten or twelve years between two and three hundred were added to it. Mr. Myles seems to have accepted a support from the government, and his place was registered as thus supported.

After the death of Cromwell, Charles II. came into power, and the "Act of Uniformity" was passed in 1662, by which two thousand of the best ministers were ejected from their places because they refused to conform to the Church of England. Among these non-conformist ministers was Mr. Myles. This act, and afterwards the Conventicle Act and the Oxford Act, in effect, silenced these men. This was a time of terror, and it is said that eight thousand persons were imprisoned and reduced to want, and many to the grave. In this state of things Mr. Myles emigrated to this country ; whether he was accompanied by any members of the church besides Nicholas Tanner is uncertain. By whom and for what reason the records of that church were brought here, as also the circum- stances of his departure from Wales, and his arrival in this country, are matters to us unknown. The first knowledge we gain of him in this country is that he was in Rehoboth in 1663, when this church, now known as the "First Baptist Church in Swansea," was organized.

As soon as the fact of its organization and that it was maintaining the institutions of Christianity be- came known, the orthodox churches of the colony solicited the court to interpose its influence against it. This movement was probably led on by the same per- sons who instigated proceedings against Holmes, Clark, and Crandal, by which they were imprisoned, scourged, and fined in 1651 for holding public wor- ship in the town of Lynn. The same sleepless vigi- lance which had followed them pursued this little church, and each of its members were fined five pounds for setting up a public meeting without the knowledge and approbation of the court, to the disturbance of the peace of the place. They were ordered to desist from their meetings for the space of a month, and ad- vised to remove their meeting to some other place where they might not prejudice any other church. Upon this order and advice Mr. Myles and his church removed from Rehoboth to New Meadow Neck, a place south of Rehoboth, which is now Barrington, R. I. Then it was not embraced in any town. They appear to have erected a house for worship soon after their removal beyond the bounds of Rehoboth. This house seems to have been about two and a half miles from the present house, west.

In 1667 the Plymouth Court granted to this church, with others, a grant of a town to be called Swansea. The grant of this town, that the Baptists might have a resting-place, shows that the Plymouth Colony was much more tolerant than the Massachusetts Colony. We now find our fathers of this church, with their pastor, free from oppression. On the incorporation of the town the church entered into covenant with each other, as appears by the covenant itself on record. Whether they had a covenant before is not known ; neither have we any means of knowing whether the church increased, diminished, or remained stationary.

In 1675 the Indian war commenced, under King Philip, of Mount Hope. This town and this church first felt the calamities of that war, which spread such devastation over much of New England. Here it first began. While this church was engaged in public worship, the Indians were preparing to attack the people of this new and unprotected town on their re- turn home. They killed one and wounded others. Here its effects fell with great severity, as it is said one-half of Swansea was burned. The house of Mr. Myles was made into a garrison. As to the state and progress of the church, we have nothing to enlighten us. From the nature of the case all must have been gloomy.

Mr. Myles preached much of three years in Boston, previous to 1679, and whether this church was supplied during his absence is doubtful. About this time the town voted to remove the meeting-house to the lower end of New Meadow Neck. It seems this idea was abandoned, and it was voted and ordered, Sept. 30, 1679, "that a meeting-house of forty feet in length and twenty-two in breadth and sixteen feet between joints be forthwith built." From the above and other records it appears the place of meeting was changed, and that the minister went there also.

Feb. 3, 1683, Mr. Myles closed his labors on earth, having been in the ministry about thirty-eight years. His age and the place of his burial are unknown, but he left a character behind that will be honored as long as Palmer's River shall run. He was succceded by Capt. Samuel Luther, who was ordained July 22, 1685, by Elders Emblen and Hull, of Boston. He was a man of character and talents, and discharged with exemplary fidelity the duties of his office for nearly thirty-two years. He died Dec. 20, 1716, and was buried at Kickamuit. During his ministry, probably about 1700, the meeting-house was removed to near Myles' Bridge. Perhaps this might have had some connection with the separation of Barrington from Swansea, and its formation into a separate town. The church seems to have prospered to a considerable ex- tent during the whole of Elder Luther's ministry. We cannot say how large it was with certainty, prob- ably about two hundred, scattered in Rehoboth, Mid- dleborough, Bellingham, Haverhill, Taunton, and what is now Warren and Somerset.

In 1704, Mr. Ephraim Wheaton became associate

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with Elder Luther, and at his death sole pastor. In 1718 the church records seem to begin. Mr. Wheaton appears to have been a man who exerted a great and good influence on the church, and on others also. His ministry was eminently successful, and the church was highly prosperous. According to the records we have, about one hundred were added to the church. He died April 26, 1734, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and was buried in Rehoboth.

In 1733, April 18th, Mr. Samuel Maxwell was or- dained associate with Mr. Wheaton, and at his death became sole pastor. He continued till April 15, 1739, when he was dismissed. About fifty were added to the church during his ministry.

For two or three years the church was without a pastor, after the dismissal of their former one, when the labors of Elder Benjamin Harrington was ob- tained, and he was installed pastor Aug. 15, 1742. He was dismissed May 3, 1750.

In 1748, Mr. Jabez Wood, of Middleborough, a member of this church, was requested to supply the pulpit. Accordingly he supplied three years and a half, and was ordained pastor Sept. 5, 1751.

At the time Mr. Wood was ordained the church was without deacons. Benjamin Cole died in 1748, and Jonathan Kingsley in 1750. These men served in this office from 1725 till they died in old age, having executed important trusts for the church in their day. The first notice we find of deacons in the records is that John Thomas, Nathaniel Luther, and Richard Harding were ordained deacons in 1718, that the two first named died in the discharge of their holy trust, but when they died we cannot say. To supply the deficiency of these necessary officers, Rob- ert Wheaton and Thomas Peck were chosen Aug. 6, 1752. Deacon Peck served about seven years till the time of his death, in 1770. He was a useful man. His place was supplied by Nicholas Thomas till 1771, when he was removed from his sphere of usefulness on earth to rest with God. At the death of Deacon Thomas, David Kingsley was elected clerk, and served forty-five years. In 1776 he was also chosen to the office of deacon, and served more than fifty years. He died Oct. 25, 1830, aged ninety-two. Thomas Kingsley was chosen deacon in 1771, and served till his death in 1809, aged eighty-three. The two Deacons Kingsley, David and Thomas, were men unusually free from fault, and good men, but not very efficient. Deacon Wheaton lived to a great age, and was highly esteemed. He was the son of Elder Wheaton, and died Nov. 22, 1780, aged ninety-two years.

The interests of the body seemed to droop and de- cline for a length of time, when Elder Wood vacated his office in 1778 or 1779, the precise date not being on record. The state of the church was now de- pressed and low. The number of members when he left is not known, as no list of members had ever been kept, and the alterations, except by baptism,

were not kept with accuracy. The whole country was now in perilous circumstances, being involved in the Revolutionary war. Those nearest the sea-shore suffered the most, and this people was not exempt. On the 25th of May, 1778, the Baptist meeting-house and parsonage in Warren were burned by British troops, and Mr. Thompson, the pastor, taken prisoner. In this afflicted, depressed, and scattered state, the church was unable to sustain public worship. It was proposed to return to the maternal bosom, till they might be able to return to Warren as before. This proposal was accepted, and the brethren in that manner joined this church. Mr. Thompson became the pastor, and settled with the people, Oct. 7, 1779.

The settlement of a minister so deservedly emi- nent, and the accession of help from Warren, seemed to put new life into this body. The Lord evidently came with the new pastor, as he baptized one only three days after his election, and two more before the 1st of January, 1780. During that winter fol- lowing there was a great revival of religion, not only in this church but throughout the country. This has been called tlie year of the great revival. The num- ber baptized here was sixty-seven, in 1781 five more, making seventy-five since Mr. Thompson became pastor. About this time the remains of the Oak Swamp Church joined here in the same manner the Warren brethren had done. These accessions ren- dered this church large, and in some respects strong, though there is no means of knowing the exact number. There is probability that it was nearly or quite two hundred.

In 1786 the Warren brethren went back, were re- organized, built a house of worship, and again had the institutions of the gospel at home. The num- ber who returned was twenty-eight.

In 1789 the Lord was pleased to appear again to build up Zion, and fifty-four were baptized, which greatly encouraged the hearts of both pastor and people. This was a very interesting revival, and greatly added to the strength of the church.

In 1801 the Lord again visited his people, and twenty-six were baptized. The last baptism in this place by Mr. Thompson occurred Sept. 5, 1802; with the year he closed his pastoral relation, after hav- ing served with ability, fidelity, and success, a little more than twenty-three years. During his ministry one hundred and seventy-six were baptized by him and added to the church. The first seven pastors occupied a term of one hundred and forty years, averaging twenty years to each. Perhaps this pe- riod of the existence of the church is by far the most important, not only for its general historical interest, but for the influence of the church upon all the surrounding community.

Mr. Thompson was succeeded by Rev. William Northrup, probably in the spring of 1804. He con- tinued four years, and baptized twenty-nine and received eight others, in all thirty-seven.

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He was followed by Rev. William Barton, who preached two years but without success. He was dismissed at his own request in the spring of 1810.

In 1811, Rev. Abner Lewis became a member and the pastor of this church, and preached here till April, 1819, when he was dismissed. He departed this life July 7, 1826, aged eighty-one, and is in- terred in the burial-ground connected with this house.

After his dismissal the church was supplied by Elder Benjamin Taylor, a preacher of the Christian Connection, who continued for a part of two years, when he closed in the spring of 1821.

The next minister was Rev. B. Pease, until 1823; Rev. Luther Baker, from 1824 to 1832; Jesse Briggs, two and a half years ; O. J. Fisk, from Oct. 1, 1835, to April 1, 1836; Abiel Fisher, from 1836 to 1846; J. J. Thacher, 1846 to 1854; Silas Hall, 1854 to 1857 ; J. W. Horton, 1857 to 1864; Rev. A. W. Ash- ley settled as pastor July, 1864, closed his labors Oc- tober, 1867 ; Rev. J. A. Baskwell, settled May, 1868; closed his pastorate September, 1870; January, 1871, called Rev. C. Bray to the pastorate, he closed his labors May, 1874; the church was supplied by R. E. Barrows and others until April, 1876, when Rev. J. W. Horton was settled for the second time; he closed his labors about the 1st of January, 1882.

The present pastor, Rev. G. W. Bixby, commenced liis labors in February, 1882.

Up to 1846 this church occupied, probably, the oldest church in this county, and the oldest Baptist house in America. Tradition says it was built the year after Elder Luther's death, -- that is, in 1717, and in 1723 an order was passed by the church for raising money to complete the payment for building the meeting-house. It was forty-one and a half feet long and thirty-three feet wide, about twenty-two feet be- tween joints, unplastered, and open to the roof till 1802. It will thus be seen that this church, the first Baptist Church in Massachusetts and the fourth in America, has maintained its visibility over two hun- dred years. Four churches have been formed from this.

The church is now in a low state, having been re- duced by deaths, removals, and exclusions, numbering now about fifty. Most of these are elderly persons, invalids, or on the retired list, unable to do much for the church or cause of Christ. The senior deacon, who for many years had been the leading spirit in the church, died Nov. 29, 1882, at the age of ninety-two.

The Non-Sectarian Christian Church.1-Swansea was settled by men who believed in liberty of con- science. Probably it was the only town within the territorial jurisdiction of the Pilgrims, which recog- nized the right of free thought. While all desired freedom for themselves, nearly all in that age would "use the sword of the civil magistrate to open the

understandings of heretics, or cut them off from the State, that they might not infect the church or injure the public peace."

John Myles, the first minister of the town, while exposed to persecution in his native land, had learned the lesson of tolerance. Not only did the town in its organic capacity concede freedom of religious opinion, but the church of which he was pastor, although composed of Baptists, admitted to communion all persons who (the original covenant declared), "by a judgment of charity, we conceive to be fellow-mem- bers with us in our head, Christ Jesus, although dif- fering from us in such controversial points as are not absolutely and essentially necessary to salvation." The successors of Mr. Myles were Calvinistic' Baptists, and the church covenant was changed to harmonize with their views. That church (now under the pas- toral care of the Rev. Mr. Bixby) is the oldest con- gregation of the Baptist denomination in the State of Massachusetts.

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History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 159

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1818

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818