USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Chelmsford > History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts > Part 84
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July 3. [His good friend & benefactor Col. John Cummings of Concord died at Mr. Bridge's house, aged 60.]
1789. March 27, Madam Margaret Stoddard, widow of Col. Sampson Stoddard, died at Lancaster, March 25 and was buried this day in Chelmsford, age 79. (Brought to Mr. Bridge's house at his desire.) Her "paul holders" were Col. Thompson, Oliver Barron, Esq., Capt. Stevens, Deacon Goold, Deacon Chamberlain & Mr. Saml. Pitts.] "Very decent funeral-a great many pple."
Aug. 8. When I went to bed, was taken, up stairs, with some sort of fit, & fell down & broke my collar-bone, right side & was insensible for a while.
9. Lord's day. Very ill & in pain.
16. Lord's day. Obliged to keep house-in much pain.
23. Was enabled to go to meeting & preach all day.
Sept. 15. Town meeting to settle ye affair of building a meeting house. 1790. Jan. 30. Dorothy Williams died, aged 100, wanting 10 or 20 : days.
July 17. P. M. a great storm, rain & hail, thunder & lightning. Wind. Which did a great deal of damage-but thro Divine goodness, the lives of pple. preserved. The hail ye biggest yt I ever saw. My windows with those of others greatly broken. Rie & Corn & trees & other things greatly damaged.
Nov. 7. Lord's Day. Unwell. Could not go out. No pub. meeting here nor in several of ye neighboring towns.
28. Lord's Day stormy, cold blustering, meeting house windows broken much. I did not go out-so there was no meeting.
Dec. 7. Very cold yet.
12. Lord's Day. Very stormy, rainy day. Meeting house very wett. No public meeting.
16. Very snowy, stormy day & cold.
[This continued through the month, and he was unwell.]
1791. Jan. 25. Taken very ill.
26. Dr. Harrington blooded me.
30. Lord's day. Kept house, ill-no pub. meeting.
[He prayed in his own house at funerals. No public meeting for several Sundays. Then Mr. Goggin preached: and Mr. Lawrence.]
April 10. Preached all day.
May. 15. Pulpit wet: omitted reading.
June 15. Isaac Chamberlain's blacksmith shop burned.
16. Had a fall.
17. Lord's day. Omitted reading: pulpit wett & damp.
July 2. In a very poor. indifferent frame.
Aug. 19. Rev. Mr. Cotton lodged here.
21. Rev Mr. Cotton preached for me.
Oct. 16. I went to meeting. Sang and prayed & sang again, but was afraid to stay to preach, the pulpit being so wett & damp by reason of rain. 18. Military muster here. A great deal of Company & confusion.
19. Company who tarried with us last night to ye number of half a dozen, went off before dinner, which caused me to be very thankful.
23. Lord's day. No pub. meeting here, meeting house so wett cold & damp.
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Nov. 7. Town voted to build a meeting house.
Dec. 11. Preached with difficulty. My eyesight failing me.
1792. Jan 19. A very great snow storm.
23. Excessive cold weather.
March 30. Went out a little while to see ye workman on ye timber for ye new meeting house.
April 2. Voted in town meeting for Mr. Hancock for Governor & Sam Adams for Lieut. Governor.
3. The carpenters began to pull down ye old meeting house. Worked all day.
7. Finished ye pulling down of ye old meeting house without hurt or damage.
8. Lord's day. I preached all day in Esq. Barron's chamber.
15. No meeting, unwell, much in pain.
20. Very ill. Had a fall after prayer in ye evening.
22. Preached all day.
May 21. A good deal troubled with family dissensions & difficulties. 30. Thoughts were a good deal upon old times.
June 3. All ye week in confusion on acct. of ye Raising a New Meet- ing House. It was begun on Wednesday, but not finished before Saturday, p. m. Overrun with company by day & by night.
Lord's day. Ill.
25. Nothing but illness & weakness.
26. ditto.
27.
28. the same.
29.
30.
No preaching all this month. Visited by children & others but confined in bed.
Aug. 12. Mr. Coggin preached.
19. Rev. Mr. Cummings preached in exchange with Mr. Coggin.
The Rev. Ebenezer Bridge died Oct. 1, 1792, in his 77th year.
THE REV. HEZEKIAH PACKARD.
Allen says: The third house of Worship, begun in 1792, was nearly finished; but there was none to minister at its altar. Divine Providence prepared them a man after his own heart, and sent him unto them in the fulness of the blessings of the gospel of peace.
The Rev. Hezekiah Packard was ordained pastor of the Church in Chelmsford, Oct. 16, 1793, having accepted the invitation given by the Town and Church. He was given £200 as a settlement and £100 annually.
Dr. Cushing of Waltham delivered the charge.
Joseph Willard, President of Harvard University preached the ordination sermon, which was printed.
His own Thanksgiving sermon, "A Plea of Patriotism," preached at Chelmsford, 1795, and two discourses on Federal Republicanism, preached at Chelmsford and Concord in 1799 were printed.
He was born Dec. 6, 1761, at North Bridgewater, Mass., the son of Jacob, son of Solomon, son of Zaccheus, son of Samuel, who came from Wymondham, Norfolk County, England. Nov. 23, 1796, he married Mary, daughter of the Rev. Alpheus Spring. He died in Salem, April 25, 1849.
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The battle of Bunker Hill greatly excited his patriotic feel- ings, and although only thirteen and a half years old, (but large for his age) was appointed fifer by the captain of the militia. The captain soon enlisted and the young fifer went with him to Boston. He was in the battle of Harlem Heights, where his brother Asa was wounded, and was for some time sick in the hos- pital. He saw General Washington take command of the Army, under the elm tree in Cambridge, and was so stricken with awe at the sight of the General, that he forgot to take off his hat. An extended account of his experiences may be found in "Recollec- ions of a Long Life," by Joseph Packard, D. D.
The official record of his services is as follows:
Packard, Hezekiah, Bridgewater. Private, Capt. John Porter's co., Col. Paul Dudley Sargent's regt .; Company return dated Camp before Boston, Oct. 6, 1775; reported enlisted into another company; also, Fifer, Capt. Edward Cobb's co., Col. Titcomb's regt .; service 2 mos. 4} days (also given 2 mos.); Company marched from Bridgewater and Abington to Bristol, R. I., April 21, 1777; also list of men mustered in Plymouth Co. by James Hatch, Muster Master, to serve until Jan. 1, 1779; Capt. Nathan Packard's co .; residence, Bridgewater; engaged for town of Bridgewater; also, Fifer, Capt. Joseph Cole's co., Col. John Jacob's regt .; engaged June 6, 1778; service 6 mos., 27 days, at Rhode Island; engagement to expire Jan. 1, 1779; also 10th co., Plymouth Co. regt .; list of men who performed tours of duty; said Packard credited with 5 mos. service at Cambridge; also with 12 mos. service at York.
For a time he cultivated his farm, after his father's death in 1777. He entered Harvard College in 1783, and had as class- mates Samuel Putnam, later a Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, and John Quincy Adams, who frequently mentions Packard in his Diary ("Life in a New England Town"). Adams writes of him in 1787: "He has a good share of original wit; but his genius is not uncommon; his improvements are greater than those of the students in general, but not such as to place him in the first rank of scholars. As a speaker he is too much addicted to a monotony, whatever his declamations are. His disposition is good, and his moral character is unimpeachable." He gradu- ated in 1787; was principal of a grammar school in Cambridge. He was tutor in Mathematics at Harvard for four years from 1789. His pastorate in Chelmsford closed July 29, 1802, when he went to Wicasset, Maine, and was pastor there until 1830. He then came to Middlesex Village where he remained pastor until 1836. For seventeen years he was a trustee of Bowdoin College, and for ten years Vice President. He originated the Bible Society in Lincoln, Maine, and the Evangelical Society. He published the Christian's Manual in 1801. After leaving Middlesex Village he resided with his children at Saco and Brunswick, Maine, and Salem, in this State.
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For five years Dr. Packard rented a part of Samuel Page Hadley's house in Middlesex Village, and lived there with his daughter Sarah and Lukey Dixon, a servant, who died in 1832. Judge Hadley says: A great sorrow fell upon him while he resided under our roof, and this was the death (by consumption) of his youngest son, William, a youth of seventeen years, a member of the Sophomore class in Bowdoin College, a child of rare promise. I have often heard him speak with deep emotion of the loss of this dear son, and in his visits to our home it was his invariable custom, once at least, during his stay, to enter alone the room in which William had died, close the door, and engage in long and earnest prayer. To him this room, as he assured us, seemed a "sacred and hallowed place." (Address at the Centennial Cele- bration of the Chelmsford Social Library, 1894.) Dr. Packard was a scholar and a gentleman of refined manners and high char- acter, a fine type of the clergyman of his day. Tall and erect, of commanding figure, with black eyes, strong and benevolent features, dignified and courteous in manner, he was of striking personality. His conversation was full of anecdote, interesting and delightful, with a playful humor. He was very fond of chil- dren.
Mr. Packard loved good books and delighted in their refining and improving companionship, and himself embodied the grace and culture created and fostered by good literature. In 1794 he was instrumental in establishing the Chelmsford Social Library. "Having communicated his intention and obtained a sufficient number of subscribers, on the 6th of January, 1794, a meeting was called and the society was organized." The library was incorpo- rated in Jan., 1812 under the name "Proprietors of the Social Library, in the Town of Chelmsford." Allen estimated its value at about one thousand dollars, and says it contained three hun- dred and fifty books, including "Rees's Cyclopædia, the most valuable and expensive work ever printed in this country." There were then about eighty members, and the shares were worth three dollars and fifty cents.
For nearly one hundred years the books were kept at the houses of the successive librarians, then they found a place in the Town Hall until the Adams Library was built, when they became a part of the public institution.
The Social Library organized at Billerica in 1772 was the first of its kind in Massachusetts.
Mr. Packard built and occupied the residence long known as the David A. Bussell house.
In 1798, Mr. Packard requested the Town to make up the depreciation which had taken place in his salary since his settle- ment. This request when it came before the Town was dismissed without much discussion and without even referring it to a com- mittee to consider and report thereon. At a subsequent Town meeting in December, 1798 it was voted to add £20 to Mr.
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Packard's salary yearly, for six years; but at the next meeting in March, 1799, it was voted to reconsider the grant of £20; which therefore was not assessed, until it was found to be recoverable by a suit at law. In 1802 an arrangement was made for Mr. Packard's dismission. It was agreed to allow him for the depre- ciations of his salary and betterments made on the ministerial land over and above the receipts, and July 5, 1802, his ministerial relation was dissolved. His valedictory sermon was preached Aug. 1, 1802, from Romans XV., 1, 2, 3. [Allen.]
Mr. Packard's letters to his former parishioners are full of deep, earnest and wise counsel, are expressive of a broad, catholic spirit, and breathe love to God and man. Intimacy with him elevated and ennobled. He passed the six years at Middlesex pleasantly, and decided to resign on account of infirm health. Oct. 31, 1836 he wrote: Yesterday I took leave of the Church at the table of Communion and at the throne of heavenly grace. There was quite a respectable assembly. The choir performed quite unexpectedly "Alps" from the Boston Academy, beginning "Once more before we part." I was gratified and grateful.
At Wiscasset he was principal of an academy. He says: For many years at Wiscasset, I performed double duty as much as one man could, and was up early and late and ate the bread of care- fulness (Graham was not at that time known) and broke in upon a good constitution. In 1839, he walked some and sawed wood daily.
Mr. Packard was one of those strong men who, to quote his own words, "occupied the middle grounds which are situated in the temperate zone of theology and who do not feel themselves pledged to any party." His son, Professor A. S. Packard says (Sprague's Annals, Am. Pulpit): He was in full sympathy with nearly every feature of what is commonly called the Evangelical system. He halted at the commonly received doctrine of the Trinity, and did not like to employ the expressions "Co- equal" and "Co-eternal," or to speak of the Son as really and truly God, but spoke of Him as "The Almighty Saviour," and "Emman- uel, God with us."
In a sermon preached in the Unitarian Church, Dec. 30, 1877, the Rev. J. J. Twiss, acting pastor, said: When the church in Middlesex Village was formed, it was understood to be a Liberal Christian Church, and Rev. Mr. Packard, its first minister, was supposed to be a representative of that denomination, or to be substantially a Unitarian in his religious convictions. But after his installation as pastor, his sympathies and inclinations developed in an opposite direction, and he became fully identified with the Orthodox Congregationalists.
He much disliked religious controversy, and quotes Arch- bishop Wake: "In religious disputes every good man would desire the office of a peacemaker rather than of a litigant & account it a greater honor, as well as happiness, upon any reasonable terms to put an end to a debate, than to obtain a victory. For victory,
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whatever other circumstances it might have to recommend it, would want this, without which all the rest would be of little value, that the breach continues; the brother is not gained; & so religion suffers, tho' the particular matter in dispute should never be clearly & solidly prov'd or determined."
He wrote at Wiscasset in 1829: "I consider myself a Bible Christian & hold middle ground between the fires of controversy. It is I think my prayerful aim to preach Christ & him crucified."
Towards the end of his life he returned more and more to what is called the orthodox theology. He disliked "the extrava- gances of the liberals" and he thought the publications of the Calvinists "teemed with misrepresentations & errours."
He deprecated revivals as tending to make the stated and ordinary means of religion less effectual, and leading people to consider religion a possession which may be obtained at once and separate from the feelings, affections and pursuits of domestic and social life.
He was not at all inclined towards Universalism.
Oct. 26, 1830, at Middlesex he wrote: "Since I have been here I took a ride with a friend to call on Mr. Allen, my successor in the old parish, and we found him engaged in funeral solemnities. He was in the pulpit, when we entered the sanctuary, reading to his mourning friends and their sympathizing neighbors on the Resurrection. I soon found the person deceased was an old parishioner. I joined the procession with my friend and it did seem like a dream that I should walk through the passes in the same burying ground as I did 30 years ago, marking inscriptions in memory of some who were then in full health and vigor. The scene was impressive and led me to reflexions adapted to quicken me in my labors and urge me to work while it is day."
He took great satisfaction in recalling the fact that his old classmate, President Adams, used to take his arm and walk with him in the procession of Alumni at the Harvard Commencement.
His wife was a lovable, Christian woman, who for thirty-five years made him a good helpmate.
His last days were peaceful and beautiful. He was buried at Wicasset.
The Assembly's Catechism had fallen into disuse in Mr. Packard's time, and he published one of his own in 1706, recom- mended by several neighboring ministers for "one obvious excel- lence," that "it meets all denominations on harmonious ground," and "is calculated to promote union." To this was appended "a part of Dean Swift's sermon on Sleeping at Church, with some alterations." Besides the Catechism and Manual already mentioned Dr. Packard's publications were:
A Thanksgiving Sermon on Federal Republicanism, preached at Chelmsford in 1795.
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A Sermon at the Ordination of Andrew Beattie, a native of Chelmsford, (Harvard, 1795) who was ordained over the Church in Salisbury, June 28, 1797.
Two Fast Sermons, preached at Chelmsford and Concord in 1799.
A Sermon on the Interment of Mrs. Betsy Wood.
A Sermon at the Ordination of Thomas Cochran at Camden, Maine, in 1805.
Two Sermons on Infant Baptism, at Wiscasset in 1815.
Dedicatory Address at the Opening of the Female Academy of Augusta, in 1816.
He received his A. B. and A. M. degrees at Harvard, the latter in course. He received the degree of S.T.D. at the Harvard Divinity School. In 1818 he received from Harvard the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity.
Hezekiah and Mary Packard had eight children:
1798. Alpheus Spring, Professor of Greek and Acting-President of Bowdoin College, and the author of numerous books. He was born in Chelms- ford. Longfellow, who was his pupil, tenderly alludes to him in "Morituri Salutamus.'
1801. Charles, a teacher and lawyer in Brunswick, Maine. He was a Congregational minister in Ohio, in Lancaster, Mass., and Biddeford, Maine. 1803. George, a successful physician, afterwards ordained in the Epis- copal Church, and was for thirty years Rector of Grace Church, Lawrence.
Hezekiah, studied medicine and became a teacher in Portland, Maine. He was later connected with educational interests in New York.
1812. Joseph, an Episcopal clergyman, for nearly sixty years connected with the Theological seminary at Alexandria, Virginia, as Professor and Dean of that institution. He was one of the American Committee on the revision of the Bible, 1872-1884.
1816. William, who died a sophomore in college, a young man of high character and a religious mind. His grave is in Forefathers' Cemetery.
Their daughters, who came between Hezekiah and Joseph, were:
Sarah S., who on her mother's death in 1829, took charge of her father's family, and later that of her brother Alpheus.
Mary, Mrs. Jonathan Tucker of Salem.
THE REV. WILKES ALLEN.
"The Rev. Wilkes Allen was the son of 4Elnathan, son of 3Israel, son of 2Elnathan, son of 1Elnathan, all of Shrewsbury. He was born July 10, 1775, the youngest but one of twelve chil- dren; the exception being a brother named Liberty. John Wilkes was a prominent member of the English Parliament, and a zealous friend of the Colonies during the Revolutionary struggle. "Wilkes and liberty" was a favorite political cry on both sides of the Atlantic, and the enthusiastic father perpetuated it by thus naming his boys.
Wilkes learned the carpenter's trade, and then fitted for col- lege at Phillips Academy. He entered Harvard in 1797, aged twenty-two. During his vacations he taught school, and gradu- ated in 1801, on which occasion he delivered a poem. He had previously composed others. He played the base viol, and taught
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singing in his schools. He studied divinity with Dr. Increase Sumner, his pastor in Shrewsbury, who preached his ordination sermon in Chelmsford, Nov. 16, 1803, which was printed. He also studied with the Rev. Dr. Harris of Dorchester.
Nov. 13, 1805, he married Mary Morrill, daughter of Deacon James Morrill of Boston. She died in 1864. Their chil- dren who reached maturity were: James Morrill, Charles Hastings, Wilkes, John Clark, and Nathaniel Glover. The latter became an Episcopal clergyman who frequently officiated in All Saints' parish, Chelmsford, and presented the church with a silver plated communion service in memory of his father and mother. He died in 1889. Their children, Israel, Mary and Sarah died in infancy.
Mr. Allen was short in stature, rather thick set and in this latter years was bald. "He was grave and dignified," says his grandson, "as was usual with persons of such authority as the country parson of those days. I have been told that he was a rather dull preacher; but I suspect that this also was usual, when ministers were settled for life, and in the lack of books and intel- lectual society and the pressure of many cares and duties, were likely to become intellectually rusty." "During the week he toiled on the 'ministerial lands' to eke out his small salary of $500 and during part of the year he taught a private school in his own house, in which he fitted boys for college. It was prob- ably at the time of his marriage that he bought the house the Rev. Mr. Packard, his predecessor, had built." He was active on the Town School Committee.
Mr. Allen slowly modified the Calvanistic and Trinitarian theology which he accepted when he entered the ministry. He went perhaps a step further than his predecessor. In the early days the leaders of the liberal wing of the Congregationalists were conservative, or would be so considered today. They made the inevitable protest against the Calvinistic teaching. Many of the "liberals," like Dr. Dalton in Chelmsford, could say they believed the Apostles' Creed, believed in Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and accepted Christ as the Saviour, but stumbled at the doctrine of the Trinity as commonly presented.
Mr. Allen was conservative in temper, but sympathized with the new theology of his time. About the middle period of his ministry here the break came between the liberals and conserva- tives among the Congregationalists, and Mr. Allen took the liberal side and kept most of his people with him. He was what was then called a "high Arian," that is, he did not hold to the Athanasian dogma of the equality, in all respects, of Christ with the Father, and yet regarded Christ as a being who was above all other created beings.
The writer was once shown a Prayer Book catechism by one of Mr. Allen's old parishioners, which she said he used in instructing the children.
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He was a zealous and honored Mason, and attained the highest honors of the craft.
July 1, 1806, he was commissioned Chaplain of the Third Regiment, Second Brigade, Third Division, and was honorably discharged August 8, 1814.
September 8, 1823, a sermon was preached by Wilkes Allen, A. M., at the interment of the Rev. Henry Cummings, D. D., of Billerica, of which two editions were printed. A Thanksgiving sermon by him on Divine Favors Gratefully Recollected, preached in 1810, was printed.
In 1820 four hundred copies of Mr. Allen's History of Chelms- ford were printed at the expense of the Town. It is an octavo volume of 192 pages, and has the distinction, aside from its value as a record, of being the first town history of the dignity of a "volume" to be printed in this country. Farmer's Memoirs of Billerica, a pamphlet of thirty-six pages was printed in 1816. Allen was considerably indebted to Farmer in the preparation of the Chelmsford history.
He records in 1813, that Mrs. Baldwin, Rhoda Parker and others gave $49 to pay for new furnishings for the pulpit, etc., and also $27 for the purchase of a new suit of clothes, presumedly for himself.
When he left Chelmsford, his wife had inherited considerable property, and he bought a pleasant estate in what is now North Andover where he spent the remaining twelve years of his life, doing some farming and actively interested in local affairs. He was fond of singing and organized a "Hallelujah Club," for the practice of Church music.
He died at North Andover, December 2, 1845, in consequence of injuries caused by a fall in his barn. He is buried in the old burying ground at Chelmsford, with his wife and several children.
His grandson, Rev. Charles A. Allen, preached a memorial sermon at Chelmsford, on the one hundredth anniversary of his grandfather's ordination.
PHYSICIANS AND LAWYERS.
In the following notices of the early physicians and lawyers of Chelmsford, Allen's list has been used and also that of H. S. Perham in Hurd's County History, to which has been added such other information as could be obtained and briefly stated.
In the early days, Samuel Adams and the Rev. John Fiske employed their knowledge of the therapeutic art in the relief of their neighbors, but for nearly a century there is no record of a regular physician practicing in Chelmsford.
In 1674, a Doctor Read is named in a deposition relating to his agreement to cure Hannah, daughter of Solomon Keyes. "He looked on her" and said "he well knew what she ailed, and
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he said further he would cure her for four shillings and six pence in money, if her father would bring her to his house to help his wife in nursing three or four weeks."
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