History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 154

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 154

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promiscuous array of drawings, mouldings, castings and patterns of great variety, he beguiled in such studies or pursuits as these whatever hours he could snatch from his busy and stirring life in the world without. In such, as in so many other ways, he ad- vanced the chief business of the town and wrought for the general good.

It has always and justly been said of him by those who knew him that he was one of the most public- spirited of men, and he was not less disinterested and benevolent in motive and feeling than he was honest and upright in thought, word and decd. His worldly possessions might have been abundant, indeed, had he not given himself so constantly and freely to the service of others. He was the helper and not the hinderer of men around him, and many were those, in Danvers and elsewhere, to whom he gave a good start in life, or whom he assisted in their worthy struggles by generous advances of money, or by other not less valuable forms of encouragement and aid. He was a prodigious worker himself, and he had a decided liking for men who had in them the very spirit of work, who were industrious and virtuous, and showed signs of thriftiness and prudent living, and it was a gennine pleasure to him to extend to them his sympathy and support whenever they chanced to get into a hard place and needed a friendly hand. In other words, he was ever quick to help those who tried to help themselves, and also those who were helpless, indeed, yet were really deserving. He had small patience with the lazy and shiftless ones, even as the vain, the double-minded and the false-hearted found him an uncongenial presence. It was pleasant to see what a wide reputation he had in Essex County for wisdom, goodness and rectitude, and in what varied and numerous ways the feeling of absolute trust, on the part of families or private in- dividuals in the region round about, was wont to manifest itself. He was constantly called upon to arbitrate between contentious parties, to compose difficulties, to give advice, to settle estates, to read- just boundary lines and to be himself a sort of sav- ings-bank for widows and orphans and others at a time when no legally incorporated institution of the kind existed in the town. Such depositors felt that their little all, principal and interest both, was safe for them beyond all question in the hands of "Squire Lias," as he was popularly called, and so it was. It was often at no little inconvenience and sacrifice that he ren- dered these different kinds of service to strangers and acquaintance alike, but he never declined the request if it was in his power to fulfil it, and so to di-charge an act of kindness. We can hardly refrain from quoting once more from the simple and heartfelt tribute of Mr. Silvester,-" His personal character," he says, "was the noblest." He was frank and gen- erous, sincere in all he said and did, scorned a trick or an unworthy act, and was incapable of either, and he bore about with him wherever he went that

alfred P. Putuario

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DANVERS.

deportment and dignity which secured for him the perfect confidence of every man with whom he came in contact. He was one of those who believe that there is a pleasure beyond that of benefiting one's self-the pleasure of doing good to others, and this he practiced. Selfishness was the last trait which the spirit of truth and goodness could have imputed to him."

Iu person he was tall, large and well proportioned of stature, was of reddish brown hair and fair florid complexion, with full blue expressive eyes, and was of great physical strength and of remarkably good health through all his life until his last, lingering and fatal sickness. He was generally of grave aspect, yet was not without a native element of humor and not seldom indulged in more hearty sportive moods, was marked by a certain puritan simplicity of man- ner, and was plain in his dress and frugal in his habits. He was a member of one of the earliest temperance societies in Essex County, and was a total abstinence man all his life, even at a time when it was well nigh a universal custom to make use, in some form or another, of spirituous liquors. He was an early riser, and was early to bed, filling the waking hours with incessant work, and while he was so faith- ful to all the many interests which we have enumer- ated he had a supreme and loving care of home and kindred.

After months of severe suffering, occasioned by a wrench or a strain of the side, which finally proved the cause of his death, he passed peacefully away, July 8, 1847, at his village home and in the pres- ence of his family and other loving friends. The trustees, or directors, and officers, of the various in- stitutions with which he had been prominently con- nected, such as the village bank, the Essex Railroad Company and the Walnut Grove Cemetery corpora- tion at once met, passed resolutions expressive of their respect for the memory of their deceased asso- ciate, and of their deep sense of the great worth of his character and services, and of their own private as well as of the public loss, and voted to attend, each board as a body, his funeral obsequies. The local and other papers contained just tributes in his honor, voicing the general sorrow of the hour and the senti- ments of high esteem and grateful regard entertained towards him by all who had known him. We copy from one or two of these journals the following extracts. Said the Salem Gazette, of July 12, 1847, - "It is with sincere regret that we are called upon to chronicle the decease of the Hon. Elias Putnam, of North Danvers, a gentleman of great worth, and a highly influential and useful member of the community where he dwelt. Mr. Putnam was much respected wherever he was known. Enterprising, sagacious, of comprehensive views and upright action he was foremost in all schemes for the promotion of the general good with- in the sphere where his influence could be felt, and filled many offices of public trust, from a State

Senator to those more immediately local, with un- swerving fidelity and acknowledged usefulness. His death cannot but be regarded as a public loss by his own community, and he will be sincerely mourned by a very large circle of neighbors and friends." And the Danvers Courier, of July 10th, said,-" For many years he has been looked to as the counsellor and friend of all around him. Ever ready to lend his aid to all who asked it, ever cool and considerate in his judgment,-the want of his judicious advice will be deeply felt in the circle in which he moved. For the last thirty years he had been repeatedly called to the discharge of duties of trust and confidence hy his fellow-citizens, and uniformly met them to their entire satisfaction. He never sought office, but never refused it when he thought he could be useful in the fulfilment of its duties. There are none among us who have done more to promote the prosperity of the town than Mr. Putnam. Discriminating in his judgment, persevering in his industry and efficient in his operations, the influence of his example will long be remembered with admiration."

The funeral services were held at his residence, July 10, and were attended by a large assemblage of people, and the burial took place on the same day at the grounds which he had been so much interested in having set apart and consecrated as a receptacle of the dead. Shortly after, Rev. Mr. Hanson, the pastor of the Universalist Church, preached an elo- quent sermon in which he bore touching testimony to the virtues and usefulness of his departed friend and parishioner, and to the conspicuous exemplification which his life and character had given of the value and power of the faith he had cherished.

Mrs. Putnam survived her hushand twenty-six years. Of their eleven children, seven are still living. Of the other four, Emily died in 1843, and Elias Endicott, Israel Alden and Louisa Jane, in 1848.

REV. ALFRED P. PUTNAM, D.D.

Alfred Porter Putnam, the eighth child of Elias and Eunice (Ross) Putnam, was born January 10, 1827, in Danvers, Mass., in the house in which also his father was horn thirty-eight years before. He was the lineal descendant of the famous John Putnam, who immigrated to this country in 1634, and whose death, eighteen years later, simultaneous with the appearance of a great comet, was publicly pro- claimed, by the clergymen of the time, as affording this " very signal testimony that God had then re- moved a bright star and shining light out of the heaven of his church here into celestial glory above."1 In the female line he traces his pedigree to some of the ablest founders of our New England civilization, such as Governor John Endicott, Francis Peabody and William Hawthorne, men who have made their

'See Morton's " Memorial," pp. 251, 252.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

impress on every succeeding generation in Essex County to the present day. Educated in the common schools of his native town, he first turned his atten- tion to mercantile pursuits. After a short appren- ticeship in the village bank of which his father was president, and, subsequently, a year's study at the Literary Institute at Pembroke, N. H. he entered, as book-keeper, a dry goods establishment in Boston, where he at once discovered an uncommon aptitude for a business career. The intellectual and reforma- tory movements of the time, however, soon engrossed his attention ; and seeking a wider field and a higher aim for his life work, he determined to fit himself for college, and thus acquire a mental equipment with which, in the mighty contests then impending, he might do some service in behalf of his fellow-men.

Accordingly, in 1848, at the age of twenty-one, he began his preparatory studies at an academy in Ver- mont, and the next year entered Dartmouth College. Attracted by the new elective system under President Wayland at Brown University, Providence, he trans- ferred his membership to that institution in 1850, where he was graduated with high honors in 1852, delivering, at the spring exhibition, the valedictory oration of his class on "Religion and Art." Thus, in the brief period of four years after leaving his desk in Boston, he had won his A. B.

During the following autumn, as in the preceding winters, be was engaged in teaching, and then he en- tered the Divinity School at Cambridge, under Drs. Noyes and Francis. Approbated in due time to preach by the Boston Association of Unitarian Min- isters, he delivered his first sermon in the Unitarian Church at Sterling, Mass., December 17, 1854. The next year, and while yet a student he received unani- mous calls to settle at Sterling, Bridgewater, Water- town and Roxbury, the latter of which he accepted. He was graduated at the Divinity School July 17, 1855, and was ordained to the ministry and installed as pastor of the Mount Pleasant Congregational (Unitarian) Church, Roxbury, December 19th, Rev. Dr. George W. Briggs, of Salem, preaching the ser- mon.

His ministrations at Roxbury continued, to the great acceptance of his people, nearly nine years, in- terrupted only by a visit to Europe, Egypt and the Holy Land in 1862-63. Perhaps the most notable incident, connected with his travels abroad, was the speech made by him at the dinner of Americans in London, on the Fourth of July, 1862. It was at one of the darkest periods of the Civil War. Banks' campaign in the valley of the Shenandoah had just culminated in disaster, and the Army of the Potomac, the focus of every loyal heart, seemed to hang on the perilous edge of annihilation, between the Chicka- hominy and the James. Under these disheartening circumstances and in the midst of a people flaming with prejudices, the assemblage of Americans to cel- ebrate the anniversary of their national independence

was an event that gained wide publicity on both sides of the Atlantic. Called upon to respond to the toast, " The Constitution of the United States," Dr. Put- nam rose to the full height of the occasion. It was a speech long to be remembered by those who heard it. Of commanding form and with a voice of extraordi- nary richness and power, he roused his audience to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. The following ex- tract (which we copy from a London journal), refer- ring to our flag, may afford some conception of the speech and the effect it produced at that critical junc- ture of our affairs :

" And then, sir, that old flag of the Union which so fittingly symbol- izes what the constitution makes a reality-that, too, chall go down to those who are to come aftor us, more precious far than ever it has been before-more significantin its meaning-glowing with brighter radiance -not a single star erased from its field of blue-a thing of. beanty and a joy forever. Baptized anew into ten thousand deaths, that azure field takes on a deeper blue for the faithfulness unto tho end of all who have fallen martyrs to the righteous canse-those crimson stains weur an in- tenser red for the blood that has been shed so freely in onr behalf-and every line and star of light upon that banner of our lovs is whiter still for the purity of the souls that have mounted from the battle fields of the Union up to God. Oh ! within these few past months, how many brave men has that national emblem made braver I How many a strug- gling host it has inspired and led on to victory ] How many a noble fellow has been called upon to sleep his last sleep, enwrapped iu its sa- cred folds ! How many of our Southern brethren have wept like chil- dren as they have canght once more a glimpse of its stars and stripes 1 And what a promise it seems to give us of the hour when the great de- liverance shall come to us all, freeing us not only from the hand that has been lifted up against our country, but also from that ovil and scourge of our land which is the source of all our woe. Yes, sir, it is the flag of our pride and our affections, growing richer in associations and more terrible in might with every passing day. As new Stars shall be added to its already splendid constellation, it shall continus its mis- sion of beneficence and power. It shall mean peace and love forever to all who befriend it-defiance and war to those only who insult it."

Returning home in 1863, Dr. Putnam delivered be- fore various Lyceums lectures on "The Nile," the " World's Indebtedness to Egypt," and other topics suggested by his tour abroad, all of which added to his reputation and enlarged the sphere of his useful- ness.

From time to time, while in Roxbury, urgent calls came to him to settle elsewhere,-from Salem, Boston and Chicago churches,-all of which, however, were declined. In the spring of 1864 the First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn, N. Y., presented a strong claim for his services. This was everywhere recognized as one of the most important posts in the denomination. To hold its ground in the City of Churches, it needed an exceptionally able and vigorous champion of the faith it professed. Considerations of duty, strongly urged npon him by leading men of the denomination, finally induced Dr. Putnam to sunder the peculiarly tender and affectionate ties that bound him to the hearts of his people in Roxbury. He accepted the call, and on the 28th of September following he was installed as pastor, Rev. E. S. Gannett, D.D., of Bos- ton, preaching the sermon.

In the long and eventful pastorate that ensued, Dr. Putnam made his pulpit a centre of wide influence in the city.

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DANVERS.

His own society testified their appreciation of his pastoral work by the erection, in 1866, of a beautiful chapel for the use of its Sunday-school, and, at the same time, responded generously to his appeals for the religious instruction of the children of the poor, so many of whom he had observed spending the sa- cred hours idly in the streets and alley-ways of the crowded city.

For this class, accordingly, a Sunday-school was immediately opened iu a room over the Wall Street Ferry-house, and after a time passed under the su- perintendency of Mr. A. T. White an active member and efficient co-worker in ,Dr. Putnam's Church. Six children only attended the first session, but by the persistent and indefatigable exertions of the founder and his willing assistants, the numbers rap- idly increased, until now [1887], it is a large and flourishing institution, with a fiue, commodious chap- el, erected for its use, a permanently settled mission- ary to carry on its beneficent work, and a coustituen- cy of about a hundred families to share its blessings and send down the stream of its influence, it is to be hoped, to many succeeding generations.

Another philanthropic enterprise, to which Dr. Putuam directed his attention at this time, was the founding of the Union for Christian work, since he- come one of the most important and influential char- ities of Brooklyn. The first conferences of the pro- jectors were held in his study. At a subsequent meeting, already large and enthusiastic, he presented the report, as chairman of the committee on consti- tution and by-laws, which was adopted, and, by re- quest, delivered an address on the love, pursuit and practice of truth, striking the key-note of the organi- zation and enlisting still broader sympathy in its he- half. From these beginnings, the Union has grown to be a recognized power in the community. Nobly endowed and established in a beautiful edifice of its own, with its library, reading and lecture rooms, its labor bureau and schools of industrial art, it stands to-day a worthy monument to those who, in the prov- idence of God, laid its foundations deep in human brotherhood and love.

In 1867 Dr. Putnam again signalized his pastorate hy the establishment of the Third Unitarian Church, in the suburbs of the city. The rapid growth of Brooklyn toward the East, which he foresaw, has abundantly justified the wisdom of the movement, though, at the time it was undertaken, there were not wanting among well-tried friends some misgivings of the result. Sunday services were opened at first in a small hall over a fish-market, and conducted there regularly, with ever deepening interest, for about a year, when Dr. Putnam, appealing to his people, se- cured the sum of ten thousand dollars for a house of worship. The building was dedicated December 9, 1868, Dr. Putnam preaching a powerful sermon on the " Freedom and Largeness of the Christian Faith." Latterly the society has again out-grown its accom-

modations, and has purchased and fitted up anew the ample and attractive structure it now occupies. Professor Foster, in his published sketch of the new church, thus testifies to its paternity : " Above all other human sympathy and aid, does it cherish the friendship and services of Rev. Alfred P. Putnam. It is simply just to affirm that the Third Unitarian Society of Brooklyn is the offspring of his hope and zeal."

During his ministry in Brooklyn Dr. Putnam de- livered, from time to time, to his people courses of lectures on a variety of important subjects, such as the Great Religions of the World, the History of the Bible, the History of Sacred Song, the Doctrines of Liberal Christianity, the History of Unitarianism, the History of Universalism, the Religious Aspects of Europe, and on Egypt, Sinai and Palestine.

Two of these courses, on the Great Religions and the History of Sacred Song, were subsequently re- peated to the students of the Meadville (Pa.) Theo- logical School. Out of the latter series grew Dr. Putnam's "Singers and Songs of the Liberal Faith," a work which required the finest taste and most ex- tensive research, and which gives biographical sketches of nearly one hundred Unitarian hymn- writers, with selections from each, and copious illus- trative notes. This work was published in 1874, and received with high encomiums by the press, religious and secular, and by critics and reviewers of every sect. The late Dr. Ezra Abbott said of it : " It seems to me in every respect admirably edited. I find un- expected richness in the book every time I open it." Indeed, that a work like this, avowedly denomina- tional in its scope, should yet, by the sweetness of its tone and the catholicity of its spirit, win universal praise, is almost without a parallel in our litera- ture.

The terrible conflagration at the Brooklyn Theatre December 5; 1876, was an event that called forth the profoundest sympathies of every class in the commu- nity. In obedience to a common impulse, the citi- zens at large promptly organized a Relief Association for the benefit of the surviving sufferers and the fam- ilies of the deceased. From this was formed an ex- ecutive committee, and Dr. Putnam, who had deliv- ered the address at the burial, in one common grave, at Greenwood Cemetery, of the unrecognized dead, was appointed a member to represent the churches and charities of the city. His capacity for hard work, combined with a practical knowledge of affairs, brought him at once to the front. The special dis- bursement of the fund among the beneficiaries for whom it was intended largely devolved upon him. The burden was cheerfully and faithfully borne. It may afford some conception of the extent of his labors in this cause, if it be stated that the sums disbursed, mostly in small checks about once a week and cover- ing a period of two years, amounted to nearly fifty thousand dollars, and that the families receiving aid,

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all of whom required personal visitation, numbered one hundred and eighty-eight. At the close of the trust, Dr. Putnam was requested by his associates to draw up the final report. This he did ; and its pub- lication in the daily papers and in pamphlet form was followed by a popular verdict of approval as spontancous and hearty as it was well-deserved.

One of the most interesting events of his life in Brooklyn was the celebration of the centennial anni- versary of Dr. Channing's birth, April 7, 1880. It may well be deemed a landmark in the history of the Christian Church in America. Representatives of every denomination took part in its impressive cere- monies. To Dr. Putnam, who conceived, and, as chairman of the committee, carried out the novel ar- rangements for the occasion, it was truly a labor of love, for Channing's spirit and teachings were greatly instrumental in leading him into the ministry and are still very dear to his heart.

A memorial service in the evening, at the Academy of Music, presided over by Mr. A. A. Low, brought the exercises to a fitting close. It was a brilliant as- semblage. Five thousand people, including men eminent in every walk of life, filled the auditorium. Henry Ward Beecher, George William Curtis, Rufus Ellis, Robert Collyer and others made addresses, in which the dawn of a new and better era of Christian fellowship was confidently proclaimed. Dr. Putnam published the unique proceedings in a volume, entitled " The Brooklyn Channing Celebration," containing the addresses and letters of sympathy from distin- guished theologians aud publicists in all parts of the world.

He has also published during his ministry a con- siderable number of his sermons in pamphlet form, such as those on the " Death of Rev. George Brad- ford," 1859; the "Life to Come," delivered in 1865 at the Cooper Institute in New York and afterwards printed as a tract by the American Unitarian Asso- ciation ; "Edward Everett," 1865; the "Freedom and Largeness of the Christian Faith," 1869; " Uni- tarianism in Brooklyn," a historical address, preached on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the dedication of the First Church edifice, 1869; the " Unitarian De- nomination, Past and Present," 1870; " Broken Pil- lars," 1873; "Christianity, the Law of the Land," 1876 ; a "Tribute to the Memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Frothingham," 1877; "William Lloyd Garrison," 1879; "The Whole Family of God," 1884. Also biographical memorials of Mrs. Josiah O. Low and Mr. Ethelbert M. Low, 1884; and of Mr. and Mrs. Ephraim Buttrick, 1885.

For many years, and until he removed from Brook- lyn, Dr. Putnam was a director of the Long Island Historical Society, and much of the time chairman of its executive committee, writing its annual reports for publication during the period of 1876-81, and giving to its interests, at all times and in full measure, a firm and loving support. He was also correspond-

ing secretary and member of the invitation commit- tee of the Brooklyn New England Society from the date of its organization, and at one of the annual dinners he gave an account of a visit made by him, in 1883, to Scrooby, the original seat of the Pilgrims in England.

In the line of historical investigation, which he pursued in intervals of leisure, con amore, we owe to his fruitful pen, strong articles, published in denom- inational and other magazines, on "Hosea Ballou," "A Visit to Haworth," "The Origin of Hymns," " Helen Maria Williams," " A Story of Some French Liberal Protestants," and "Paul's Four Great Epis- tles and his Visits to Jerusalem," etc. He also con- tributed one of the chapters in Judge Neilson's vol- ume, " Memories of Rufus Choate."

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 154

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1538

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538