USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Deerfield > History of Deerfield, Massachusetts: the times when the people by whom it was settled, unsettled and resettled, vol 2 > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
DEERFIELD Dec 18, 1786
To the Ch" of Christ and to the Congregation in Deerfield-
Friends and Bretheren. Since you presented me with your request to Settle with you in the work of the Ministry; I have taken it into consideration, and I hope have considered it with that Seriousness which is becoming so important a concern, both for the Chh the con-
776
MINISTERIAL AND MUNICIPAL.
gregation and myself. I have taken a proper time for Considera- tion, have advised with most of the Ministers in the vicinity-have attended to your long destitution, and the difficulty you have met with in gaining an unity. I have considered the necessity you stand in of a resettled Minister, that you may have the regular administra- tion of Ordinances. I have attended also to your present unity, and the agreable consequences naturally resulting from such a happy union. I have also with pain considered the present situation of our political matters, the Embarrassments upon the regular adminis- tration of Law and Justice, the General Confusion of the Common- wealth, together with the deep rooted prejudices in ye minds of many against the Constitution, and the higher officers of the Gov ernment. I have been and am still full of the most alarming appre- hensions with regard to the disturbances which have taken place, and which appear still to be increasing .* What the future Conse- quences of these things will be is known only to an overruling God.
Finally Bretheren, the time has now come in which I am to give you an answer to your request, and after having considered the greatness of the work and the above observations in connection with the encouragement you have given and after having taken the ad- vice which so great an undertaking demanded, I find it my duty to answer you in the affirmative.
Provided that the Town shall furnish me as many cords of wood yearly at one Dollar per cord as shall be called for-and may the Lord grant that the union between us may be productive of the hap- piest effects, and last as life, and that time may serve to unite us still more in affections and Spiritual interests, And that we may ever have reason to give Glory to God. These from your Pastor Elect JOHN TAYLOR.
Mr. Taylor was the thirteenth child of Eldad of Westfield, who was the fourteenth child of Edward, the first minister of that town. He was born Dec. 23d, 1762, just one hundred and twenty years after the birth of his grandfather; was a graduate of Yale 1784, and was ordained at Deerfield, Feb. 14th, 1787.
The division between Whig and Tory of the Revolution was fast dying out. The advent of Mr. Taylor brought an era of union and peace, at least to the north part of the town. The Constitution of the State had been put to the test and proved good. The great mass of the people were satisfied with it. The impractical followers of Shays had seen their weakness, wickedness and folly. The Constitution of the new nation was in practical operation. The yeomen of Deer- field, almost to a man, stood by both. The times were hard
* Shays Rebellion had rapidly spread since his invitation from the church, and had reached its height; and, in',point of fact, it had received its death blow at Springfield, three weeks before the date of this letter.
777
DEATH OF WASHINGTON.
indeed, but the people gradually softened them by adopting and practicing upon the key-note of the convention held here in September, 1783, that " Industry and frugality were the most hopeful means of relief."
The settlement of Mr. Taylor again brought to the front the question of a division of the town. Joseph Sanderson petitioned to be allowed to go, but April 2d, 1787, the town voted not to consent that he should be set off to Whately. A vote to the same effect was passed in December. Julius Allis, failing as we have seen to get relief through town ac- tion, applied to the General Court, and June 17th, 1791, an act was passed setting him off with his farm to Conway. In 1792 his delinquent ministerial taxes were all abated by Deerfield. The Bloody Brook people continued to agitate the matter of a separate fund to be at their own disposal. The trouble lay in the distance and not in the theology. April 23d, 1792, Nathan Frary and fourteen others petitioned for a town meeting :-
To see if the town will relinquish the Ministerial charges of a cer- tain number of inhabitants of the South part of the town, and let them have the privilige to lay out, or expend the same where they can be best accommodated for preaching the ensuing year.
This effort failed, and during Mr. Taylor's ministry no further attempt in this direction was made to disturb the town or church relations.
Mr. Taylor was interested in literature and historic re- search, and doubtless did his part in developing a taste for those things for which Deerfield was somewhat noted in the half century following. He was also interested in the affairs of the town and the policy of the nation. He and his fellows looked upon Washington as the beacon by whose light all might be guided into a safe harbor. Deerfield men were not unknown to this great leader. One of her citizens had been urged by him to accept a commission in the army of the United States.
The sorrowful news of Washington's sudden death was sad- dening and stunning. Here as everywhere a great shadow of gloom darkened the land, and stately obsequies gave expres- sion to the universal mourning. A fragmentary account of their celebration here has been found, which is as follows :-
778
MINISTERIAL AND MUNICIPAL.
1799, Dec. 29. The Citizens met at the Academy to make ar- rangements for 'Commemorating the Death of his Excellency Gen1 George Washington.'
Voted unanimously to invite Mr. Claudius Herrick to deliver a funeral oration adapted to that day
Voted That Dr. William S. Williams, Lieut Eps Hoyt, Colº Dick- inson, Capt Hoyt & Colº Stebbins, be a Committee to make such ar- rangements and regulations for the proceeding on said Day as to them shall appear most suitable for the occasion
Voted That the Musical Society be requested to make preperations for singing on said Day an Anthem, or other Music, adapted to the Occasion :
Thursday, Jan. 9th, was set apart for the Commemoration, and there was a great gathering from all the towns about here. The militia were out in force, including the artillery compa- ny from Greenfield. The following report was made by the secretary, Dr. Wm. S. Williams :-
On Thursday, the ninth instant, the inhabitants of Deerfield and the neighboring towns assembled to pay a mournful tribute of re- spect to the man of the Age, the ever to be lamented Gen' George Washington.
While Freedom lives his memory shall be dear, And reap fresh honors each returning year. Nations preserved shall yield immortal fame, And endless ages bless his glorious name!
The morning opened with the tolling of the bell for one hour. At eleven o'clock the citizens and military assembled at the Academy Square and formed in procession in the following order:
Music of Col. Dickinsons Regt with Drums Muffled Officer Coulors half staff Officer
Officer fringed with Black Officer
Officer & the initials G. W. ) Officer
Officers of the Continental Army Military officers Civil Magistrates Orator of the Day and Clergy Selectmen Citizens.
The procession then marched towards the meetinghouse, music playing a dead march, troops in platoons, with arms reversed. When arrived at the meetinghouse, the troops formed in line and stood leaning on their arms reversed, while the procession passed them into the house. The pulpit was shrouded in black exhibiting the following inscription, 'His memory shall while freedom lives be the-' [illegible ].
EXERCISES.
The Presidents Proclamation / read by the Rev'd The late Presidents Valedictory Address f Mr [John] Taylor Prayer by the Rev. Mr. [Roger] Newton
779
MR. TAYLOR'S MISSIONARY TRIP.
Oration by Mr. Herrick, Preceptor of the Academy. An Anthem from 2 Sam. I Chap. 'The beauty of Israel is slain upon the high places. How are the mighty fallen.'
A Dirge
Prayer by the Rev. Mr. Taylor.
The procession formed as before and returned to the Academy. Minute guns were fired by Capt Smead's artillery while the proces- sion was moving. Three volleys, fired by Capt. Nims's company, closed the proceedings.
1801. March 2d, the town voted to make "a grant of one hundred and twenty-five dollars to the Revd Mr John Taylor, in addition to his salary."
1802. March Ist, a committee of the town reports that " M' Taylor has no objections to preaching 3 or 4 Sabaths in the year, at Muddy Brook if this Town are wanting it."
July 12th, Samuel Childs and nine others petition the se- lectmen to call a town meeting " To see it the Town will con- cent that the Revª John Taylor shall go on a Mission to the Westward agreable to a request of the Missionary Society in the Co. of Hampshire." No record of any action on this petition is found. It may have been concluded all round that no formal action was necessary. He is soon after found on his field of labor in the far west. He made a three months' missionary tour to New York, visiting many settlements on the Mohawk and Black rivers. He went on horseback, trav- eling nearly one thousand miles, speaking five or six times a week, organizing churches, ordaining deacons, visiting schools, the sick and dying. With all this, he found time to visit noted historical places and natural curiosities, which he described ; of some, drawings were made, notably, the ruins of ancient forts or mounds on the Sandy Creek, near Lake Ontario. A journal of this tour was published in the Doc- umentary History of New York.
1803. March 7th, the town " Voted to make an addition of one hundred Dollars per Annum to M' Taylors Salary during his Ministry here." These repeated donations to Mr. Taylor not only show a great affection for him, but also a prosperous community. In 1804 his voice failed. It is probable that the fatigue and hardships of Mr. Taylor's missionary tour, with the rough roads and bad weather, and with the scanty accom- modations, or none at all, for suitable rest, together with the constant mental strain, made a serious inroad upon his con-
780
MINISTERIAL AND MUNICIPAL.
stitution. His health gave out. "Debility of the lungs
* * effects caused by public speaking," he gives as a reason for being obliged to ask a dismissal.
The following item shows that the women of his flock gave practical tokens of their sympathy with the loved pastor in his misfortune, and also that the character of Deerfield wom- en for "female benevolence" has not been changed by the decades that have passed since then. The Gasette, in its is- sue of April 17th. 1806, as an editorial personal,-a rare thing in those days,-tells how the ladies of Deerfield,-
Convened and presented to the wife of Mr. Taylor, with 96 runs of linen yarn. such examples of female benevolence, and such to- kens of friendship towards the teachers of religion, we shall always notice with pleasure.
1806. June 9th, the church met at Mr. Taylor's house, and he made a formal request for a dismissal. This was accepted, and a committee chosen to ask the concurrence of the town in the dissolution of the ministerial connection ; and ask also a grant of money for Mr. Taylor. June 16th, the town chose a committee of twelve,-
To wait upon Mr. Taylor and receive from him reasons for mak- ing him a grant, and also to report to this meeting what it will be proper to grant him. Who report the following, viz:
To the Inhabitants of the town of Deerfield-
Gentlemen As I have requested you to make me a grant, pre- viously, to the disolution of my ministerial connection with you, I would observe as reasons why I have entered a petition of this kind, first, unless I am assisted, I shall be in a state of trouble and dis- tress soon after my Salary ceases; and shall be under a necessity of disposing of some part of the little landed property I possess, to sat- isfy demands now against me, which demands, as near as I am able to calculate amount to between three and four hundred dollars. 2, I am so reduced in health as to be unable to attend to any business, and I have a large family to support, and at present know of no way by which they can be supported.
For these reasons I have felt myself constrained to ask for your kind assistance
My friends, I do not wish to trouble you with a long statement of my unhappy condition-nor with many remarks, nor, indeed will my feelings admit of it, under such heavy frowns of Providence : you will readily conceive, that a man with a large family, who has passed the meridion of life-with a debilitated constitution-and unqualified for any new course of life-and not knowing what course to pursue for a livlihood-must experience the most painful sensations, how- ever firm his reliance on a kind providence-And, on an occasion
781
DISMISSAL OF MR. TAYLOR.
like the present, when gloomy prospects, indeed, are before me, your generosity will be duly appreciated.
Yours affectionately JOHN TAYLOR.
Deerfield June 16th 1806.
Voted to make a grant of six hundred and sixty two dollars to Mr. Taylor * * * provided he relinquish all claim to any salary from the present time.
A committee was chosen "to supply the Desk until the next December Meeting."
June 17th, the church met again and made arrangements for an ecclesiastical council to dissolve the connection be- tween the church and its pastor. Aug. 6th, the council, con- sisting of Dr. Newton of Greenfield, Dr. Lyman of Hatfield, Emerson of Conway, Wells of Whately, and Packard of Shel- burne, met and went through the ceremony, and Deerfield was again without a minister. His farewell sermon was read, I think, by Rev. James Taylor of Sunderland.
Mr. Taylor advertises for sale his "homestead 9 acres 26 acres pasture & arable land adjoining, 26 or 27 acres adjoin- ing said pasture, of wood land * also 21 acres i mile north & pasture & wood." On leaving Deerfield, Mr. Taylor engaged in farming in Enfield, Conn., and became a leading man; was often elected Representative, and several times Speaker of the House. In 1817, he removed to Mendon, N. Y., and acted as a missionary. In 1822, he was settled as minister at Bruce, Mich. He was an ardent Abolitionist and established here a station on the " under ground rail-road " to Canada. Here he died, Dec. 20th, 1840. He married, June 14th, 1788, Elizabeth Terry of Enfield. Of his ten children seven, between the ages of seven and seventeen, were living when he left Deerfield. His published works that I have met with are :-
An Appendix to the Redeemed Captive, 1793. Oration at Deerfield, July 4th, 1796.
Thanksgiving Sermon at Deerfield, 1798. Journal of a Missionary Tour in New York, 1802. Centennial Sermon at Deerfield, Feb. 28th, 1804. Farewell Sermon, Aug. 6th, 1806.
During the closing years of Mr. Taylor's pastorate the dys- entery, as an epidemic, raged fearfully in this and neighbor- ing towns. Almost every family in which there were young children lost a member. From Mr. Taylor's imperfect bills of mortality for Deerfield, the following table is compiled :-
782
MINISTERIAL AND MUNICIPAL.
Year. Total deaths.
By dysentery. S
1802
19
1803
65
40
I SO4
15
ISO5
17
I
During the same period Mr. Taylor records ten deaths by "old age." The average age of these ten was 85.3 years.
During the summer of 1806, Samuel Porter Williams preached here acceptably as a candidate, and Nov. 6th, 1806, a special town meeting was called, "To see if they will con- cur with the church in Said Town in giving Mr Samuel Wil- liams an invitation to Settle in the work of the Gospel Minis- try." "The town Concured with the church, and offered a Salary of $666.66, to be paid June Ist of every year as Mr Taylors was." It had been understood that Mr. Williams would accept the call, and great was the disappointment when a long letter was received from him, giving the reasons why he must decline the invitation. He writes, Dec. 15th, 1806 :-
I considered the church in Deerfield well united in the faith and order of the Gospel & not therefore necessarily liable to be divided or disturbed by disappointment. The Town populous & Wealthy, Respectable & Respected & of consequence pecuniarily inviting; & Capable of commanding a pastor after their own Heart, on the other hand I behold the church & people of Mansfield, long broken & di- vided, wandering & prone to wander 'as sheep without a shepherd' yet eagerly & unanimously looking to me, as the only Instrument of future union, peace & Happiness. I viewed them with mingled emotions of gratitude, sympathy, & regard; & could a Christian do less? * * * You cannot but be sensible a great and Singular Sacrifice, both as respects my personal support, & the Education & welfare of my family.
The only comment found on this flattering but manly let- ter, on the conclusion of its reading in town meeting is :- "Voted to dissolve the meeting."
Mr. Williams was of good Connecticut valley stock, being descended from Rev. William Williams of Hatfield, and Rev. Solomon Stoddard of Northampton. He was born at Weth- ersfield, Ct., Feb. 22, 1779; was a graduate of Yale when seven- teen. In 1805 he had a call to settle as colleague with Dr. Howard, but declined. He was ordained at Mansfield, Jan. Ist, 1807 ; he left there after about ten years ; was settled pastor of the first Presbyterian church in Newburyport, Feb. 8th, 1821 ; died there Dec. 23d, 1826.
783
INTELLECTUAL AND MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT.
The condition of things in Deerfield as pictured by Mr. Williams was doubtless a correct one. The last decade of the 18th century had been marked by unusual mental and physical activity, as was indeed the whole period of Mr. Tay- lor's ministry. The Deerfield Academy had been established by the energy and generosity of its citizens. Men and women of high character presided over it, who responded heartily to the demands of the town, making the interests of society their own. The young men and women who attended the Academy were the pick of the best families in the county of Hampshire. Libraries and literary societies were in full oper- ation. Military art was studied as a science, in connection with the great wars of Europe, and the subject was taught by a professor in the Academy and illustrated in the field ; books on the subject were here written and published. Here was an active centre of operations for internal improvements ; new roads were laid out and bridges built; the earliest canals in the country found here projectors, stout defenders and actual builders; manufactures were fostered and new avenues of trade opened. Men who had weathered the tempest of the Revolution were at the fore,-men of brain and brawn,-they were mostly farmers, cultivating their own broad acres, and thereby growing wealthy - as wealth was then reckoned. The philosophical reason of all this intellectual and material activity is not far to seek. Two distinct causes were in oper- ation to bring it about. One was the natural rebound from Colonial vassalage and ministerial domination. The people were free. Along with liberty of political action came re- sponsibilities which they were required to meet, and which they did meet, wisely and well, with clearer intellects and broadened views. But underlying all this and pervading everything, lay the second cause. It was the spirit of self- reliance, the habit of self-denial and self-control, the habit of industry, of frugality and economy, engendered by the hard- ness and suffering of the Seven Years War. A generation grew up with these cardinal virtues, under the teaching of stern necessity, when every man must stand or fall by him- self ; when the bare necessities of life were indeed hard earned, and the idler could not be tolerated ; when every man, woman and child was enrolled in the service of productive industry. This generation was now in its prime. Their ed-
784
MINISTERIAL AND MUNICIPAL.
ucation had brought them safely through the danger of the formative period following the war. Their minds as well as their bodies had become emancipated from the traditions of authority, and the vigor and success with which they em- braced their new opportunity, met and overcame difficulties, opened up new avenues for thought and business, was but the natural outcome of the circumstances. And if they made the wilderness blossom as the rose, they also set free thought in the high places among them, and set adrift on the sunless sea of oblivion, barks freighted with the enfeebling supersti- tions and harassing fears which had been their heritage ; and the eternal backward set of the current carried these away forever.
The next minister of Deerfield was Samuel Willard. The settlement of Mr. Willard was such an important chapter in the theological history of the Connecticut Valley as to re- quire more than a mere statistical notice.
When the ministers of the neighboring churches found out that the views of Mr. Willard differed from the hide-bound and musty theology handed down with little or no change from the Puritans, the alarm was at once sounded and means taken to suppress the threatened danger. Those men feared that the wedge of a more liberal belief once entered in the ministry of Mr. Willard, the breach would grow wider and wider, and the Pope-like dominion of the clergy grow weaker and weaker. They were wise in their day and generation, and the event proved they were true prophets. While in many churches hereabouts, the name and the creed, it may be, remain unchanged, the spirit and the life are changed utterly; and the old power of the priesthood is gone forever. Many of the churches whose pastors persecuted Mr. Willard, refusing him Christian fellowship and communion as a here- tic, would to-day welcome him with open arms to their pul- pits. There is a spirit of freedom and liberality of thought, as the term is now understood, which can recognize the ear- nest seeker after truth, although he may not be able to sub- scribe to every particular in their antiquated creeds. That this condition of things came about when it did and where it did, is owing largely to the advent of Mr. Willard in the Con- necticut Valley in 1807. For a clear understanding of this movement, the actors and the motives must be made to ap- pear as well as the results.
785
THE ADVENT OF SAMUEL WILLARD.
It would be folly to say that Mr. Willard made converts of his congregation in the few sermons he preached before his call. The field was ripe for the harvest, and his coming was timely. The spirit of free thought was abroad and recog- nized its champion. To be sure his settlement was the first important breach in the "Standing Order," his the first dis- tinctive, out-spoken Unitarian church in the state, and here the first break in the fellowship of the Congregational body. But the distinctive dogma of the Unity was held to be of so little importance that some of his closest friends and support- ers were Trinitarians to the day of their death.
Mr. Willard preached his first sermon here March 15th, 1807. May 18th, the church gave him a call to settle, by a vote of twenty-two yeas and one nay, while two wished to hear the candidate longer and one was not ready to act. At a town meeting called June 4th, 1807,“ To determine wheth- er they will concur with the Church in Said Town in giving the Revd Samitel Willard an invitation to settle in the work of the Gospel Ministry in the Town," "Voted in the Affirm- ative, Mem. Con." The salary was fixed at $666.66. July 6th he sends the church a letter of acceptance, and it is laid before the town the same day.
Rev. Samuel Willard's letter of acceptance ;--
To the Church and to the People of the Town of Deerfield.
Respected Fathers, Brothers & Friends The vote of the Church, which was given on the 18th of May last, inviting me to labor stead- ily in this part of God's vineyard, & the concurring vote of the Town given on the 4th of June, together with the vote of the same date making provision for my support in case of an affirmative answer & settlement among you, were duly made known to me by your respec- tive committees.
The subject is undoubtedly a very important one, and deserved the most attentive and mature consideration. It is the more impor- tant because the connection between a minister & people is in a measure indissoluble. It is true the great Head of the Church may in various ways dissolve the sacred bond. But 'What God has joined let no man put asunder.'
Considering the lasting effects of my present determination, 1 have enquired whether this be the most suitable place for the exer- cise of my humble talents; whether I might here do most for the aid and comfort of my fellow men & for the honor of Him whom we are all bound to 'glorify in our bodies and in our spirits.' Connected with this is the question whether I might here expect to live in har- mony and contentment.
I have now, my friends, come to a decision, which has I hope been
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.