USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > History of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1630-1913 > Part 10
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to sea again may he exhibit a bright example of every virtue, and be a pleasure to his Friends, and diffuse happiness as far as his Influence extends. .
"I believe you are tired so I shall conclude, with love from all friends, and my regards to Mr. James Fireside, and am with the truest affection and esteem ever yours,
M. Mascarene."
As this letter shows, the disaster proved a blessing in disguise. The loss roused the generous zeal of the friends of the College. The General Court restored the building-erecting the present Harvard Hall on the old site, and numerous benefactors endeavored to make good the loss of books and instruments. After Dr. Holyoke's death Rev. Samuel Locke of Sherborn had a brief and troubled presidency, and was succeeded in 1744 by Dr. Samuel Langdon of Portsmouth, N.H., who had been but six months in office when the storm of revolutionary war broke upon the community.
The story of the Cambridge Church runs parallel to that of the College, and the threads are often interwoven. The fifth minister of the Church was William Brattle, who was born in Boston in 1662, and graduated at Harvard in 1680. He served as tutor and Fellow of the College for many years and supplied the pulpit of the church occasionally after Mr. Gookin's death. From the time of his pas- torate a regular church record was made, which has been preserved in good condition. At the beginning of this record, Mr. Brattle says he "succeeded the Rev. Nathaniel Gookin, and was ordained a minister of Jesus Christ and a pastor to the flock at Cambridge, Nov. 25, 1696, per the Rev. Mr. Inc. Mather. The Rev. Mr. Morton, Mr. Allin, and Mr. Willard laid on hands. The Rev. Mr. Sam. Willard gave the right hand of fellowship. Deo sit gloria. Amen."
The connection of Mr. Brattle with the church for more than twenty years was peaceful and prosperous. He continued to teach in the College. After the death of his brother, Thomas Brattle, he acted as Treasurer of the College for about two years. His scholarship was recognized by his election to the Royal
Society,-an honor conferred on very few Americans. After "a languishing distemper which he bore with great patience and resig- nation," he "died with peace and an extra- ordinary serenity of mind," Febuary 15, 1716- 17, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. Mr. Brattle's son, William Brattle, Jr., was a con- spicuous leader in Cambridge for fifty years. He graduated at the College in 1722 and, married the daughter of Governor Gordon Saltonstall. He built the house at the eastern end of Brattle Street which, with its gardens running down to the river at the back, made the handsomest estate in the town. General Brattle was selectman for twenty-one years, representative for ten years, councillor for seventeen years, and major-general of the Provincial militia. In his old age he adhered to the Tory party, and died in exile in 1776.
It was during Mr. Brattle's pastorate that the meeting-house which had stood somewhat more than fifty years, became dilapidated and the town voted on July 12, 1703, that it was "necessary at this time to proceed to the build- ing of a new meeting-house, and in order there- unto, there was then chosen Capt. Andrew Belcher, Esq., Thomas Brattle, Esq., John Leverett, Esq., Col. Francis Foxcroft, Esq., Deacon Walter Hastings, Capt. Thomas Oliver, and Mr. William Russell, a committee to advise and consider of the model and charge of build- ing said meeting-house, and to make report of the same to said inhabitants." On Decem- ber 6, 1705, it was further "voted that the sum of two hundred and eighty pounds be levied on said inhabitants, toward the building of a new meeting-house amongst them." On the 28th of September, 1703, the College granted sixty pounds "out of the College Treasury towards the building a new meeting-house;" and, August 6, 1706, "voted that Mr. Leverett with the Treasurer take care for the building of a pew for the President's family in the meeting-house now a building, and about the students' seats in the said meeting-house; the charge of the pew to be defrayed out of the College Treasury." This third house stood on or very near the spot occupied by the second, and seems to have been opened for public worship on October 13, 1706.
In most New England country towns we
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expect to find a graveyard situated near the meeting-house; but in Cambridge there was no such connection. The enclosure at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Garden Street, if not the first burial ground, was cer- tainly used very nearly for that purpose. In the Town Records of January 4, 1635-6, we read that it was "ordered that the burying- place shall be paled in." This continued to be the only public place of burial in Cambridge for many years; and in spite of the fence it seems not to have been very carefully guarded. As late as the year 1702 the graveyard was leased as a pasture for sheep, as appears from the following record:
"At a meeting of the selectmen, 10th March, 1700-1, Lieut. Aaron Boardman requesting that he might have the improvement of the Burying-yard (to keep sheep in), the selectmen did consent that he should have the improve- ment of said yard (for the use above mentioned) for one year next ensuing, provided he would cut the gate of said yard asunder, and hang the same with suitable hooks and hinges, also fix a stub-post in the ground, and a rail from post to post cross the gates, for them to shut against; all to be done in good workmanlike order; which the said Boardman promised to do."
The funeral customs were as simple as the graveyard. When a Cambridge man came to be buried he went to his grave with the same simple solemnity which had marked his life. He had sought in his thought and habit an uncompromising reality and he wanted nothing else at death. Lechford's account of the funeral customs fits in brevity and dignity the occasion which it describes: "At burials nothing is read, nor any funeral sermon made; but all the neighborhood, or a good company of them, come together by tolling of the bell, and carry the dead solemnly to his grave and there stand by him while he is buried."
One hundred years after the burial-place was ordered to be " paled in," the town directed it to be enclosed by a substantial stone wall in place of the pales and wooden fence; and it will be seen that the College, having a com- mon interest in the spot, contributed one sixth part of the expense of the work. This is shown from their record of the President and Fellows, under the date of October 20, 1735:
"Whereas, there is a good stone wall erected and erecting round the burying-place in Cambridge, which will come to about £150; and whereas, there has been a considerable regard had to the College in building so good and handsome a wall in the front; and the College has used, and expects to make use of the burying-place as Providence gives occasion for it; therefore, voted, that as soon as the said stone wall shall be completed, the treasurer pay the sum of twenty-five pounds to Samuel Danforth, William Brattle, and Andrew Board- man, Esq., a committee for the town to take care of the said fence."
In this graveyard lie the early presidents of the College, Dunster, Chauncy, Oakes, Leverett, Wadsworth, Holyoke, Willard and Webber; the ministers, Shepard, Mitchell, Gookin, Brattle and Appleton; the early settlers, Roger Harlakenden, Stephen Day, Elijah Corlett; and the later generations, Danforths, Gookins, Boardmans, Belchers, Lees, Danas and many more.
Immediately after the death of Mr. Brattle a meeting of the church was held to consider the calling of a new minister, and its proceedings were minutely recorded by President Leverett, in his Diary, which is in the College Library. As this meeting resulted in the settlement of a pastor who served the church for nearly sixty- seven years, almost as long as the combined ministry of his five predecessors, this record is worthy of preservation: "Friday, April the 19th, 1717. At a meeting of the Church of Christ in Cambridge. 1. The President being desired by the deacons and brethren opened the meeting with prayer. 2. The deacons proposed that a moderator might be chosen for the ordering and directing the meeting. 3. Voted, that the President be moderator of this meeting. He submitted to the vote of the brethren of the Church, and, opening the design and intention of the meeting, earnestly desired that every body would freely discover their minds and declare what measures they thought proper, and what steps they would take in order to a settlement of the ministry in this place. After a due time of silence Mr. Justice Remington expressed himself, that the nomination of some suitable persons seemed to be the first step to be taken. Some others
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COLONIAL CLUB HOUSE.
NEWTOWNE CLUB HOUSE.
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spake to the same effect. No opposition being expressed, a vote was called and it was voted. 4. Voted, that the brethren express their minds as to nomination in writing, and the three persons that shall have the most votes shall be the persons nominated, out of which an election shall be made of one, in order to be settled in the pastoral office in this church. Pursuant to this vote, the brethren were desired by the moderators to write and bring in their votes, which they did; and upon the view, numbering and declaring the vote, Mr. Henry Flint, Mr. Jabez Fitch, and Mr. Nathaniel Appleton were the three persons agreed to be nominated, out of which the brethren should proceed to an election. Accordingly the moderator desired the brethren of the Church to bring in their votes for the choice of a person to settle in the ministry in this place, viz. one of three before nominated persons. Pursuant hereto the church brought in their votes in writing. 5. Upon sorting and numbering the votes, Mr. Nathaniel Appleton was by the church elected to the work of the ministry, in order to the taking upon him the pastoral office as God shall open the way thereunto. This was by a great majority; the votes for Mr. Appleton being 38, and the votes for Mr. Flint but 8. The moderator declared to the church their election of Mr. Appleton as afore- said. 6. It was proposed that those that had not voted for Mr. Appleton in writing might have the opportunity to manifest their satis- faction with the vote that had passed, that the brethren would manifest that they chose him as aforesaid by lifting up their hands, which was complied with, and it is said that there were but two that had acted in the foregoing votes that did not hold up their hands."
After appointing a committee to ask the concurrence of the town with the church in their choice, "the moderator concluded the meeting with returning thanks to God for the peaceable and comfortable management of the affairs of the church. Laus Deo." The town concurred, and Mr. Appleton was or- dained October 9, 1717. Dr. Increase Mather preached and gave the charge; Dr. Cotton Mather gave the right hand of Fellowship; and they, together with Rev. Messrs. John Rogers,
of Ipswich, and Samuel Angier, of Watertown, imposed hands.
The Parsonage built in 1670 had now become dilapidated, and the town voted, August 1, 1718, "that the sum of two hundred and fifty pounds be granted for the building a new Parsonage-house, provided the sum of one hundred and thirty pounds of the said money be procured by the sale of town, propriety, or ministry lands in said town, as may be thought most proper to be disposed of for said use." The records do not distinctly indicate whether the Parsonage was wholly or only partly rebuilt, but apparently only the front was changed, for Dr. Holmes, writing in 1800, says, "All the ministers, since Mr. Mitchell, have resided at the Parsonage. The front part of the present house was built in 1720."
The chief event of Dr. Appleton's long pastorate before the stirring days of the Revo- lution was the excitement caused by the religious revival which followed the coming of the Rev. George Whitefield. The extraordi- nary preaching gifts of this young exhorter produced a remarkable effect upon the minds and hearts of the outwardly decorous but in- wardly emotional New Englanders. At the beginning the excitement was deemed inspira- tion; and it was not until the first fever had passed off, that it was discovered that the revival was not always followed by hallow- ing influences. There was no suspicion, how- ever, in the beginning, of the want of genuine- ness in any of the numerous conversions; and the Overseers of the College even passed a vote, "earnestly recommending it to the President, Tutors, Professors, and Instructors, by personal application to the students under impressions of a religious nature, and by all other means, to encourage and promote this good work." No wonder that Whitefield, who was only twenty-six years old at the time of his first visit, should have come to think himself a divine instrument, and should have sincerely believed that he spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost. His denuncia- tions of the colleges and the churches were altogether more violent than the facts war- ranted. "As to the Universities," he said, "I believe it may be said that their light has become darkness-darkness that may be felt,
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and is complained of by the most godly min- isters." "Tutors neglect to pray with and examine the hearts of their pupils. Discipline is at too low an ebb." "Tillotson and Clarke are read, instead of Shepard and Stoddard, and such like evangelical writers."
The faculty of the College joined in a protest against Whitefield's reckless statements, deny- ing their truth, and exposing their want of evidence, and their "uncharitable," "censo- rious," and "slanderous" character. White- field replied, and Dr. Wigglesworth, the Hollis Professor of Divinity, responded to his pam- phlet by another, in which he wrote with a degree of severity to which his gentle nature could have been roused only by extreme prov- ocation.
President Holyoke also entered the lists in defence of the College, and added an appendix to Dr. Wigglesworth's pamphlet, which closed a controversy that exhibited the ability with which the affairs of the College were managed. If there were really any design of " discouraging benefactors, injuring the seminary in estate as well as name, and preventing pious parents from sending their children to us for education," the attempt failed in the most satisfactory manner.
Dr. Appleton and the people of the Cam- bridge Church shared the feelings of their neighbors. In the Boston Evening Post, of January 7, 1745, we read the following record of a gathering held at "Cambridge, Jan. 1, 1744-5. At a meeting of the Association of this and the neighboring towns, present, the Reverend Messieurs John Hancock of Lex- ington, William Williams of Weston, John Cotton of Newton, Nath. Appleton of Cam- bridge, Warham Williams of Waltham, Seth Storer of Watertown, Eben. Turell of Medford, Nicholas Bowes of Bedford, Samuel Cook of Cambridge. The Rev. Mr. Appleton having applied to his brethren of said association for our advice, relating to a request which hath been made to him by a number of his church and congregation, that he would invite the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield to preach in Cambridge; after supplications to God and mature consideration of the case proposed, and the several pleas made in favor of said request, and the state of the town, as also the
many weighty objections which lie against the said Mr. Whitefield, with respect to his principles, expressions, and conduct, which are not yet answered, nor has any Christian satisfaction been given by him for them; con- sidering also how much the order, peace and edification of the churches of this land are endangered, together with the unhappy, divided state of many of them; It was unanimously voted, that it was not advisable, under the present situation of things, that the Rev. Mr. Appleton should invite the Rev. Mr. White- field to preach in Cambridge. And they accordingly declared, each of them for them- selves respectively, that they would not invite the said gentleman into their pulpits. The above advice was signed by each member of the association."
Another article relative to the same subject appeared in the Boston Weekly News Letter, of June 27, 1745: "Whereas it is reported in the Gazette or Journal of this week, that the Rev. Mr. Whitefield preached last Saturday at Cambridge, to prevent misapprehension and some ill consequences which may arise from thence, you are desired to give your readers notice that he preached on the Common and not in the Pulpit; and that he did it, not only without the consent, but contrary to the mind, of the Rev. Mr. Appleton the minister of the place."
It should be added that Whitefield himself came to a better understanding as he grew older. At the time of his later visit he said: "I certainly did drop some unguarded expres- sions in the heat of less experienced youth, and was too precipitate in hearkening to and publishing private information." He assured the faculty of the College of his "sorrow that he had published private informations ... to the world." Twenty years later, after the College library had been burned, he gave to the College his "Journal and a collection of books; and also by his influence he procured a large number of valuable books from several parts of Great Britain."
In 1753 the Parish resolved to again build a new meeting-house, and this purpose was encouraged by the President and Fellows of the College who voted to pay "one seventh part of the charge of said house," provided
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the students should have the use of the whole front gallery, and "at least the third or fourth pew as to the choice" be set apart for "the President for the time being and his family." The erection of the house was delayed about three years. It was raised on November 17, 1756, and public worship was first held in it on July 24, 1757. In this building all the College commencements and inaugurations, during more than seventy years, were cele- brated; and no building in Massachusetts could compare with it in the number of dis- tinguished men who at different times were assembled within its walls. The first and second Provincial Congresses, under the presi- dencies of Joseph Warren and John Hancock, met there. Washington worshiped there during the siege of Boston. In 1779, the dele- gates from the towns of Massachusetts there met and framed the Constitution of the Com- monwealth, which the people of that state ratified in 1780. There Lafayette, on his triumphal visit to the United States, in 1824, was eloquently welcomed.
This fourth meeting-house, which housed the congregation until 1833, was the center of the village. It stood on the site of the two former houses, very nearly where Dane Hall now stands, opposite the head of Dunster Street. At the western end a substantial tower, springing from the ground and pro- jecting from the main building, was surmounted by a belfry and a graceful spire capped with the customary gilt weathercock. The prin- cipal entrance was on the south, facing the pulpit. The house was nearly square and galleries ran around three sides. The eastern gallery was allotted to the students and teachers of the College; the west gallery was free; that on the south was occupied by the choir. The ground floor was divided into square pews, having seats which could be raised on hinges to afford standing-room during prayer. When the prayer ended they were let down with a slam which marked with portentous emphasis that stage in the services. Organ there was none; the music was supplied by a redoubtable bass-viol, supplemented by some wind instru- ments and a volunteer choir.
The list of the subscribers for the building of this meeting-house sets forth the names of
all the chief inhabitants of Cambridge in 1756. The largest subscriber was Lieutenant-Gov- ernor Phips who gave 40 pds. President Holyoke, Professor John Winthrop, General William Brattle, Judge Edmund Trowbridge, Colonel Henry Vassall, and Deacon Jonathan Hastings gave 20 pds. or more. Andrew Boardman, Francis Foxcroft, Ebenezer Bradish, Samuel Danforth, Richard Gardner, Ebenezer Stedman, Professor Edward Wigglesworth, Dr. Appleton, and Richard Dana were among the larger givers; and there also appear on the list the representatives of such reliable Cam- bridge family stocks as Wyeth, Warland, Hicks, Whittemore, Read, Prentice, Tufts, Thatcher, Angier, Kidder, Morse, Richardson and Spar- hawk.
The seating plan of the meeting-house still exists. It was the custom to assign the seats in order of dignity. The best pews were those at the right and left of the door against the wall facing the pulpit. These were assigned to Lieutenant-Governor Phips, General Brattle, President Holyoke, Colonel Vassall, Professor Winthrop, Deacon Sparhawk and the minister's family. The other wall pews were occupied by the Wigglesworths, Board- mans, Danas, Hastings, Trowbridges, Gardners, Bradishes and Foxcrofts.
Some of the names connected with the build- ing of this meeting-house indicate that a new element had come into the life of Cambridge with the advent of a number of families of wealth and social standing who elected to make their homes in the village. The first of these was the family of Spencer Phips, who was colonel of the militia, a councillor, and from 1732 to 1757 Lieutenant-Governor. He was the son of Dr. David Bennett of Rowley, and was at an early age adopted by Sir William Phips, the bluff, illiterate Governor of the Province, whose wife was the sister of Mrs. Bennett. Young Bennett took the name of Phips, graduated at Harvard in 1703, and in- herited the Governor's ample estate. In 1706 he bought a tract of three hundred acres cover- ing almost all of what is now East Cambridge and developed there a large farm. In 1714 he bought the fine place at the eastern end of Cambridge village which had been General Gookin's homestead and more lately had been
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the residence of Dr. James Oliver. The house is still standing at Arrow and Bow Streets, names which not only describe the position of the streets toward each other, but also recall the fact that the gate to Governor Phips's estate was guarded by the wooden figures of two Indians which were a source of wonder and sometimes of terror to the village children. Spencer Phips died in 1757, and the estate came to his son, David Phips, who was colonel of the militia and for ten years High Sheriff of Middlesex. The four daughters of Spencer
properties on Brattle Street which continue to be known by the Vassall name, but which are more closely identified with the brother and the son, Henry Vassall and John Vassall the younger, than with the original purchaser who died in 1747. Mary Phips in 1754 married Richard Lechmere, and the next year the youngest daughter, Rebecca Phips, married Joseph Lee. The Lechmeres acquired the estate which is now the Brewster place at the corner of Brattle and Sparks Streets, and the Lees established themselves just beyond
MEETING-HOUSE IN COLLEGE YARD 1756-1833 HARVARD SQUARE IN 1830
Phips married men of high standing and abundant means, and all of them continued to live in Cambridge. Sarah, the eldest, married, in 1731, Andrew Boardman, who was, as we have seen, for twenty-two years the representative of the town in the General Court, and for seventeen years a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. They lived in the Boardman homestead on the south side of Harvard Square. Elizabeth married Colonel John Vassall, in 1734, and they bought the
in the fine old mansion which is still standing. Henry Vassall was the brother of the elder John Vassall and bought of him the mansion still standing on the south side of Brattle Street near Ash Street. He married the daughter of Colonel Isaac Royall, who, like the father of the two Vassalls, made a fortune in the West Indies, and then came to live in New Eng- land, and to educate his children there. John Vassall, the younger, built the stately house on the north side of Brattle Street, which,
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with the exception of Mount Vernon, is the most famous dwelling house in America, for it was Washington's headquarters and after- wards the home of Henry Wadsworth Long- fellow.
These families were, for the most part, members of the Church of England, and to provide for them a spiritual home, an Episcopal church was organized in 1759, and Christ Church built. The plans were furnished by Peter Harrison of Newport, R.I., the architect of the Redwood Library of that city, and of King's Chapel in Boston; and, despite the material used, it was deemed "a model of beauty of proportion." It was opened for worship on October 15th, 1761, and for thirteen or fourteen years its straight-back, square pews were occupied by the loyal wealth and aristocracy of Cambridge. The rector ex- pounded the doctrines of Church and State to his flock from a cumbrous wineglass pulpit, which then stood in front of the chancel and at the head of the middle aisle; and the ward- ens sat at the other end of the church, their rods of office warning unruly attendants to beware of constituted authority; while an excellent London organ, built by Snetzler, gave forth chant and anthem from the loft overhead.
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