USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Chelmsford > History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts > Part 71
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1792, March 11, Mr. Jacob Coggin preached the last two Sundays and received £2.
Mr. Bridge died Oct. 1 of that year and the Town chose a committee "to hier preetching for the futer." Among those thus engaged were Daniel Marrett, Alden Bradford, Mr. Kimball, and John Tappen.
1793. The Town voted not to hang the old bell in the new meeting house, and £110 was appropriated to "purtich" an English bell of seven hundred weight and hang the "saim."
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The Town voted not to abate the taxes made against the Baptists for building the new meeting house.
May 13, 1793, the Town invited Hezekiah Packard to become pastor of the church. In his letter of acceptance, which was read to the church and congregation by the Rev. Caleb Blake of Westford, he says: "The kindness, hospitality and friendship which I have so largely experienced excite and deserve unfeigned gratitude, and your invitation presented me by the committee of Church and Town I think it my duty to accept. And may he who presides over the assembly of the first-born pour upon us his richest blessings, under the cultivation of divine grace may we enjoy the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
Mr. Packard was ordained Oct. 16, 1793, with £200 settlement and £100 a year.
In preparation for the ordination, a committee was appointed by the Town to take proper measures that order be kept in the meeting house on the day of ordination and that the meeting house be secured against "ingury." It was propped.
It was ordered by the selectmen that Oliver Barron, Town Treasurer, should receive out of that part of the Town's money that was raised for the support of the Gospel ministry the following sums, viz. for two barrels of Cyder he provided for the use of the Council at the ordination [of Mr. Packard]. . £0:15:0:0
1796. To Isaac Chamberlain for iron and labour he did in fixing waits on the meetinghouse bell. 2: 0:0:0
and for making a fraim to set the crisning bason in ... 0:16:0:0
1797. The Town appropriated $400 for the support of the Gospel ministry. In 1815, the amount was $500.
The Town voted to give consent to have the meeting house bell rung at twelve of the clock in the day, and at nine in the evening, at the expense of those who desired it.
In 1800, the Town voted not to hier a singing school-master. An article was read to see if the Town will give any encouragement to those persons that are disposed to learn the art of singing, that the singing may be carried on in good order in the meeting house. At the next meeting $40 was appropriated: the Baptists to draw their equal proportion. At that period the singing was congrega- tional, and was often very poor and tended not to edification.
Mr. Packard resigned July 5, 1802, and preached his valedic- tory sermon, August 1, from Rom. 15: 1, 2, 3; after that the following ministers preached: Perez Lincoln, Elisha Clapp, Samuel Veazie, Mr. Stone, Joseph Kidder, Messrs. Sawyer, Mellen, Blood, Thompson, Ballard and Richardson.
Rev. James Thompson declined the Town's invitation to become pastor.
The Rev. Wilkes Allen accepted a call. The Town gave him $333.33 settlement and $500 a year.
He was ordained Nov. 16, 1803, and his pastorate closed the third Sunday in October, 1832.
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HISTORY OF CHELMSFORD
A committee consisting of Mr. Saml. Howard, Genl. Ebenezer Bridge and Capt. Jonas Pierce was chosen to confer with Mr. Allen about the time of his ordination.
Another committee consisting of Capt. Josiah Fletcher, Wm. Adams, Esq., Capt. John Butterfield, Ichabod Gibson and Capt. Jonas Pierce was chosen to cause provision to be made for that event, and to prop and secure the meeting house.
Another committee was chosen consisting of Mr. Azariah Spaulding, Lt. Daniel Procter, Mr. Josiah Parkhurst, Lt. Jonathan Snow, Capt. Saml. Stevens, Mr. Joseph Spaulding, Lt. Joseph Parker, Adt. William Bridge, and Mr. Joseph Warren, Jr., to attend the doors of the meeting house and keep order on ordination day. Mr. Owen Emerson and Mr. Isaiah Parker were added to this committee.
In 1806, it was voted to enlarge the singers' pew, "so as to convenience the instruments." The meeting house was painted and new pews built.
1814. Upon the recommendation of the General Court, a resolution was adopted in Town Meeting that all good citizens exert themselves to cause all persons to conform to the laws of this Commonwealth providing for the due observation of the Lord's Day.
1816. $100 was appropriated for the purpose of singing.
1818. Major Josiah Fletcher and others requested that a meeting house be built in the easterly part of the Town. A meeting was appointed to consider it, but only two persons attended.
STOVES.
1819. Cyrus Baldwin and others desired to have one or more stoves with funnels set up in the meeting house at the Centre. The article was dismissed. The next year, at the request of Moses Hale and others, liberty was granted to place a stove in the meeting house in the middle of the Town, under the direction of the selectmen as to the place where it should stand, on the condition that it be no expense to the Town. In 1822, a stove was bought by the Town for the Centre meeting house, and one for that at Middlesex Village. Prior to this, footstoves and live dogs were used to mitigate the cold in the pews.
1819. The Town opposed the petition of Phineas Whiting and others to be set off to the West Congregational Society of Dracut, but the next year it was allowed. [See page 475.] 1820. Horse-sheds, as at present, were built on the site of old ones.
In 1826 the Town appropriated $150 for a singing school for the benefit of the three religious societies: the First Parish and the Baptists, and the Second Parish at Middlesex Village.
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1828. The First Congregational Society changed Watts' Hymns for Dabney's Collection. The former were used part of the time for a year, and then laid entirely aside.
The Town consented to the request of Maj. Joseph Fletcher and others to allow the Rev. Wilkes Allen to preach in the northerly part of the Town one Sabbath in three, provided he consents thereto.
1829. James Pitts and others put an article in the Town Warrant to see if the Rev. Wilkes Allen would exchange with ministers of other denominations. The First Congregational Society expressed themselves as well satisfied with the course of Mr. Allen as to exchange of ministerial labors.
1830. The Town voted that Mr. Allen be given six Sundays off instead of two which he had never taken, but had statedly supplied the pulpit for twenty-five years with great fidelity and in a manner highly satisfactory to the Society. The Universalists were allowed to use the meeting house on these six Sundays-the fourth of every other month.
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND TOWN.
1830. The money granted by the Town for the support of the Gospel Ministry in the First Congregational Society was now to be assessed on members of that Society only. This marks the separation of Church and Town. The latter soon ceased to have any concern in the support of religion.
Each religious society took care of its own affairs.
March 1, 1831, the Parish voted to choose all necessary or Society officers distinct from the Town officers and that hereafter this society will transact its business in parish or Society meetings.
They declined to accede to the request of the First Universalist Society "that they may occupy the meeting house a portion of the time on the Sabbath for public worship."
The next year they were allowed to use it two Sundays in each month.
Dr. John C. Dalton was chosen clerk; Capts. Otis Adams, Caleb Abbott and Alpheus Spaulding were chosen assessors; Benjamin Chamberlain was chosen treasurer; Joel Adams, Esq., Capt. Caleb Abbott and Maj. Joseph Manning were chosen a standing committee.
Sept. 26, 1831, the Rev. Wilkes Allen declared himself satisfied with his last year's salary, $400, and was willing to accept whatever the parish felt able to give for the coming year, and would make no demands on the parish for Arrearages.
At a parish meeting, Sept. 22, 1832, the Rev. Wilkes Allen, requested that the civil contract existing between him and the Society be dissolved. The following letter was read:
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HISTORY OF CHELMSFORD
"Chelmsford, Aug. 20th, 1832.
To Joel Adams Esq., Caleb Abbott, Esq., Majr. Joseph Manning, Gentlemen :
I have received your note of the first of Augt. informing me that you have given permission to the Universalist Society to occupy my meeting house the 2d. Sabbath in every month till next March to the interruption of the regular worship of our society. I improve this occasion to communicate to you, and through you to the Congregational Society the result of my long and solemn deliberations upon the various circumstances and subjects connected with my relations to them as their pastor.
I duly appreciate the many and unequivocal proofs of kindness and attachment to me, which the society have manifested through a course of nearly thirty years. I also approve and applaud their firm and persevering support of public instructions of religion thro the many painful changes which have taken place in the Town during that period & under many disheartening circum- stances in which the Society has been often placed! And nothing but the hope and confident belief that some other person will better unite and be more useful among them could induce me to meditate a separation from them. I reflect with pleasure on the regular & direct course you have pursued in asserting and maintaining the great object of Christianity & on the good spirit of forbearance & love & Candor, which has marked all your transactions, & I devoutly hope that brotherly love & Christian sympathy will be continued among you, & unity of sentiment & feeling which have uniformly existed between us will remain with us through life, as the pledge & earnest of a better inheritance beyond the grave."
He then refers to his relinquishment of part of his salary and to his being called on to pay taxes contrary to agreement, and says some consideration should be made, because of his giving up his salary and the use of the parish lands, to which he had a legal claim for life. The parish agreed to pay him $500, i. e., the proceeds of the ministerial lands for three years, and the remainder at the expiration of that time. The parish expressed regret at his leaving, and resolved that the manner in which he had discharged his ministerial labors and duties had been highly satisfactory.
THE GLEBE SOLD.
March 1, 1834. Voted to sell the Ministerial land.
Mr. Hayward was to pay $70, one year's rent, for the Ministerial land. This land was sold at public auction in April, 1834, in four parcels.
To Wm. Fletcher & Son one parcel
$408.57
Amos Carlton 66
$401.05
Benj. T. Obear
$161.30
Azariah Proctor
$ 89.30
$1,060.22
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RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
Rev. Messrs. Hildreth, Eeles and John Lewis Russell sup- plied the pulpit. The latter declined a call. The Rev. Wm. Andrews of Salem accepted Feb. 17, 1836. He died in 1838.
Rev. J. J. Twiss says in his sermon of Dec. 30, 1877:
For several years previous to 1844, there had been in existence * * the Universalist Society. And although this (the First Congregational Society) was a Unitarian Congregational church, like Unitarian churches of fifty years ago, it had but little sympathy of feeling or sentiment with the Universalists, and so the churches of these denominations did not affiliate. Indeed, most of the early Unitarian ministers believed and taught the doctrine of eternal punishment of the finally impenitent; and many of the early Universalist ministers believed and taught the doctrines of the Trinity and Vicarious Atonement-the difference between them and the Calvinists being this: the Universalists believed that Christ's Atonement would be universal; while the Calvinists believed it would be but partial. The difference between the Unitarians and Calvinists was this: Unitarians rejected the doctrines of the Trinity and Vicarious Atonement, but agreed with the Calvinists upon the doctrine of the eternity of punishment. * * *
The two denominations could not conscientiously worship together, but after the burning of the meeting house in 1842, the two united in building the new meeting house. The Universalists held their services for a time in the Academy building.
There were at this time included in the First Congregational parish: the First Congregational Church, the Proprietors of the Chelmsford Centre Meeting House, the First Congregational Society and the Union Parish.
On the evening of the 14th of March, 1842, the meeting house was discovered to be on fire, and so far had the flames progressed that all attempts to save it were hopeless. The house with all its contents, Sunday School library, folio Bible, psalm books and bass viol were destroyed, and the bell melted by the intensity of the heat. It was beyond question the work of an incendiary. The neighboring buildings were saved with great difficulty.
1842. When the present meeting house was erected, the Town built a basement of brick, above ground, which was used as a Town Hall until the present building was erected in 1879. The basement cost $1,426.06. This was used also for public meetings of various kinds and social gatherings. It was heated by a large stove. When there was a dance there, the fire was allowed to die down, and, with two sticks of cordwood under the stove, four men would solemnly march out with it, while the orchestra played the Dead March in Saul.
At Town Meeting, the room was often so full that the men had to adjourn to the common in order to poll the house, the ayes standing on one side and the noes on the other.
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HISTORY OF CHELMSFORD
The new house was dedicated April 19, 1843. The Rev. Henry A. Miles of Lowell preached the sermon.
The Proprietors of the Chelmsford Centre Meeting House (Eli F. Webster, Amos Carlton, John C. Bartlett and their associates), were incorporated in 1843.
March 21, 1876, the steeple blew down, and was restored at considerable expense. A few years ago the steeple was struck by lightning, which followed the chain and weight of the clock on the interior of one of the columns, which it slightly damaged.
In 1878, the Union Parish was dissolved-and all its assets, claims and liabilities were transferred to the First Congregational Society.
Jan. 16, 1881, the 225th Anniversary of the establishment of the First Parish was celebrated. Rev. A. M. Sherman, acting pastor, delivered an historical address.
In 1888, the meeting house was renovated and rededicated. In 1903, the Rev. C. A. Allen, grandson of Wilkes Allen, preached on the 100th Anniversary of the Ordination of the latter.
In 1915, the interior was made over in colonial style.
Otis Adams was clerk of the parish from 1833 to 1870, when he was succeeded by Edwin H. Warren, who resigned in 1885. The latter was treasurer from 1870 until 1895. Since 1887, Joseph E. Warren has been clerk, and treasurer since 1895.
Miss Sarah L. Putnam was for thirty-one years treasurer of the Ladies' Sewing Circle.
Since the Rev. Wilkes Allen's time, the pastors have been: Rev. William Andrews 1836-1838
Rev. John L. Russell
1840-1842
Rev. Darius Forbes
1844-1845
Rev. Frederick F. Thayer
1845-1847
Rev. Charles W. Mellen
1849-1853
Rev. William Morse
1854-1856
Rev. Russell A. Ballou
1856-1858
Rev. H. W. Morse
1860-1867
Rev. Fiske Barrett
1867-1869
Rev. Frederick W. Webber
1870-1872
Rev. D. V. Bowen
1872-1874
Rev. Ezekiel Fitzgerald
1874-1876
Rev. J. J. Twiss
1876-1879
Rev. A. M. Sherman
1879-1881
Rev. Daniel F. Goddard
1882-1883
Rev. Joseph A. Chase .
1883-1891
Rev. Granville Pierce
1892-1901
Rev. A. D. K. Shurtleff
1901-1907
Rev. L. L. Greene
1907-
In an address at Dedham, in 1888, George E. Ellis said that the theory and practise of Congregationalism, by which the churches of Massachusetts were planted, as distinguished from Episcopacy or Presbyterianism, was the full and perfect right,
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RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
under the New Testament pattern (as they understood it) for each company of convenient size, covenanted together, to choose, institute, and ordain all officers, pastors, teachers, ruling elders and deacons needed by them in a congregation or church for teaching and ordinances. The parish was the town. The church was composed only of members in full communion, and became an imperium in imperio. It was not incorporate.
When the revolt came against the Calvinistic doctrines preached in these churches, the year 1815 is a convenient date to assign to the separation of the conservative and liberal elements in the churches. Channing's declaration of Unitarian principles in Baltimore in 1819 was epoch making. From 1817 to 1840, the separation went on in local churches.
In 1818, occurred the famous Dedham case. A majority of the church members were Orthodox. The Society-the legal voters of the First Parish of Dedham-were, by a large majority, Unitarian, and called a Unitarian minister. The Orthodox majority of the church withdrew. The question was as to which party would hold the property. The Supreme Judicial Court decided in 1820 that a church exists only in connection with a Society, and in case of a division in the church, only that faction which remains in the Society has a right to the use of the property. Thus, many of the old meeting houses came into the hands of the Unitarians. In some cases, as in the First Parish of Chelmsford, the process was slow and the theological transition was scarcely perceived by the members.
The Rev. J. A. Chase, minister of the First Parish, 1883-1891, says: "Theologically the parish has experienced no abrupt or violent transitions. Liberal from the first, several at least, of its first pastors are supposed to have been 'substantially Unitarian' in doctrine,* while with the succession to the pastorate of Rev. William Andrews, in 1836 (if not some years prior to that date), the parish soon became pronouncedly liberal and Unitarian. The present parish (1890) embraces a varied constituency, that may be roughly classified as Unitarian, Universalist, Materialist, Spiritualist, and Agnostic, but, amid all this contrariety of opinions, there has been a marked growth of unity and organiza- tion."
THE BELL.
Feb 1 1680-81
In town meeting Ther was a voatt past that ther shold bee a bell bought for the Towns use and that ther shold bee so much lands sould out of the Comon as will purchas the bell and hange him in the metting hous that is to say if the towns stock in hand will not doe it then to sell land.
In 1716, the Town voted to pay £7 for building and finishing a house for the hanging of the bell 12 feet square and 14 feet stud, a good lock and door, and a rope to ring the bell withal. This * This statement has been questioned.
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HISTORY OF CHELMSFORD
was to have been similar to the bell house at Lexington, but was never built. On consultation with Mr. Snow, of Woburn, a carpenter, the plan was changed, and in 1719 it was voted to build a "terit" on the meeting house, "with a handsome weather cock on sd. terit and a rope to ring the bell withall." £23:3:7 is the sum paid to Lt. Jonathan Richardson and John Richardson for building the turret with the weather cock; also an "addition to building the belfree, 0:3:0."
The first bell bore the inscription, "1682." This bell served in the first and second meeting houses. When the third was built, the bell was considered too small, and in 1800 it was bought by Cyrus Baldwin, Esq., who sold it for the use of a school in Tyngs- borough. The new bell weighed 7 cwt. and cost £100. [Allen.] In 1793, £110 was voted for a new bell and hanging it, for which service Ebenezer Gould received the next year £4:16:00. When the meeting house burned in 1842, the bell was melted by the heat, and a number of small hand bells were made of the metal, some of which are still treasured in Chelmsford families.
The Baptist bell has a low, mellow tone.
THE BELLS OF OLD CHELMSFORD.
Deep, and then high !- high, and then deep! The bells of old Chelmsford melody keep.
Deep, and then high-high, and then deep!
In turn, and in tune, they rejoice and they leap.
High, and then deep !- deep, and then high!
As if they were angels, out of the sky --
High, and then deep !- deep, and then high!
Now, far away off, and now, heavenly nigh.
Deep, and then high !- high, and then deep! The bells of old Chelmsford solemnly sweep. Deep, and then high !- high, and then deep! The Kingdom a-come to the Sabbath-day's sleep.
High, and then deep !- deep, and then high! As tho' to the hearts of men they did cry,- High, and then deep !- deep, and then high! "Hope away! 'twill be better than this, bye and bye!"
Deep, and then high !- high, and then deep! The bells of old Chelmsford harmony keep. Deep, and then high !- high, and then deep! It's joy that they sow, and it's joy that they reap.
High, and then deep !- deep, and then high! O, bells from two steeples, in one divine tie! High, and then deep !- deep, and then high! O, bells of old Chelmsford, never to die!
REV. E. FITZ GERALD.
HOUSE BUILT BY THE REV. HEZEKIAH PACKARD, CHELMSFORD CENTRE
No. 41 SOUTH VIEW OF THE TOWN FARM, CHELMSFORD CENTRE
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DESCRIPTION OF MEETING HOUSE.
The meeting house which burned in 1842 had three large porches, on the south, east and west. These had staircases to reach the gallery, which went round on three sides, and above this gallery were wall pews. The pulpit was on the north side and the singing seats were opposite this. The first row was for the men and women singers. There was a men's door and a women's door, and the men and women probably sat on opposite sides. Next above the singers were the men with fiddles of various sizes, clarionets and other instruments, but the fife was not allowed. The minister in the pulpit was on a level with the galleries, and the sounding board, which was shaped like an inverted umbrella, was over his head. There were eight steps to the pulpit, which was handsomely furnished with crimson satin damask. A window behind it had beautiful curtains. Below the pulpit sat the deacons. About 1830, these were Joel Adams, Noah Spalding (who always sat in the middle), and Owen Emerson. The stove stood in front of the pulpit, and there were two funnels which went round the room. The minister was perhaps as much too warm as the people were too cold.
[This information is from a letter of Mrs. Luther Faulkner to H. S. Perham.]
The four meeting houses were all built on nearly the same site.
Three types of meeting house were erected in New England. The first were square log houses, with clay-filled chinks, steep thatched roofs, and the beaten earth for floors. Wooden floors and lath and plaster were luxuries. We read later of some which were "lathed on the inside, and so daubed and whitened over workmanlike."
The second type was a square wooden building, perhaps unpainted, with a pyramidal roof, sometimes having a belfry on the top, like that at Hingham.
The third type was that fashioned after the style which bears the name of Sir Christopher Wren, and which was the prevailing type in meeting houses after the early part of the 18th century. The Chelmsford meeting houses of 1792 and 1842 were built in this style.
The earliest meeting houses, as well as dwelling houses, had no glass, but oiled paper, in the windows to admit light. By the time that Chelmsford was settled, glass was not uncommon. In 1661 was levied "a Toune rate for glass and other dues from ye toune £15-01-08."
In 1699, "To the Glasiers for Glass for the meeting house £0-1-8."
Cotton Mather "found no just ground in Scripture to apply such a trope as church to a house for public assembly." Nor did he call the Lord's Day Sunday, but Sabbath.
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HISTORY OF CHELMSFORD
This holy day began at sunset on Saturday and ended at the same time on Sunday, according to the ancient rule, e. g., the eves of holy days-Christmas eve.
It is, perhaps, a little difficult to understand today the intense antipathy of the Puritans against the customs of the Church of England, unless one can realize the cruelties which religious enthusiasts of almost every name practiced upon those who differed from them.
The Puritans persecuted Baptists, Quakers, English Church- men, and others. They came to New England not to establish religious freedom as we understand it, but to find a place where they themselves might worship as they pleased, to the exclusion of all who differed from them. So they banished or imprisoned and persecuted, in much the same way in which they had been treated in England.
But they remembered their own sufferings and the cause for which they suffered, which was to rid the Church of England (which, when they left England, they could still call their dear Mother) of all which they called error and superstition.
So, instead of "church," they said "meeting house"; instead of "Sunday," they said "Sabbath." In the Chelmsford parish records, the meeting house began to be called the church in 1853.
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