USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Hardwick > History of Hardwick, Massachusetts, with a genealogical register > Part 22
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
" Permit me to acknowledge with thankfulness the peculiar af- fection, kindness, and generosity, of numbers, manifested by sub- scription, for the purpose of furnishing a great domestic conven- ience and defence against the uncomfortable effects of inclement seasons.
" Men, Brethren, and Fathers, I request an interest in your prayers, that I may be furnished abundantly to the great and im- portant work of the evangelical ministry ; that I may be made a faithful, zealous, and successful minister of the gospel; that I may be made an eminent and lasting blessing to this church and people ; that I may be a son of consolation to the humble broken- hearted penitent, and a son of thunder to the careless impenitent sinner ; that my ministration may become a savour of life unto life to immortal souls, and not a savour of death unto death ; and that many souls may be given to me for my crown of rejoicing in the day of Jesus Christ. 'Let brotherly love continue. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.' Let peace, harmony, unanimity, and affection, abound among you. 'Finally, breth-
!
199
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
ren, be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you.' I am, friends and brethren, yours in the Gospel of Christ. THOMAS HOLT, Hardwick, May 23ª, 1789."
Rev. Mr. Holt was ordained 1 June 25, 1789, and for several years the church had peace. Up to this time the records of the church had been kept on loose sheets of paper, so folded that each sheet would make sixteen pages, the larger part of which, though never bound, remain until the present time, but some- what mutilated. Immediately after Mr. White's decease, the church met, January 15, 1784, and " chose a committee to search the Church Records, viz., Joseph Allen, William Paige, and Nathaniel Paige ; also voted, to purchase a church bound book containing two quire of paper." The book was bought but not used until Mr. Holt became pastor of the church. From the old loose records he transferred into the new volume what related to the gathering of the church and the ordination of Mr. White, and entered at full length his own letter of acceptance of his call to the pastorship. Then he inserted, in his remarkably distinct and legible chirography, " The Church's Confession of Faith " and " Covenant." Whether these had been in use from the time when the church was organized, or whether they had been adopted at a more recent period, I am unable to determine ; but as they exhibit the form of doctrine professed by the church in 1789, I insert them in full : -
" THE CHURCH'S CONFESSION OF FAITH.
" We believe that there is one true and living God, who is over all blessed forever, who is the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the Universe. We believe that in the unity of the Godhead there are three distinct Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, each possessed of all divine perfections. We believe that God made Adam, the first man, in his own holy image, con- sisting in knowledge and true holiness, giving him a law for a rule of his obedience, and entering into a covenant with him,
1 The services at Mr. Holt's ordination were as follows: Introductory prayer, Rev. Charles $Backus, Somers, Conn. ; sermon, Rev. Benjamin Trumbull, North Haven, Conn .; consecrating prayer, Rev. Josiah Dana, Barre, Mass .; charge, Rev. Nathan Fiske, Brookfield, Mass. ; fellow- ship, Rev. Daniel Foster, New Braintree,
Mass. ; concluding prayer, Rev. Joseph Appleton, Brookfield, Mass.
Rev. Daniel Tomlinson, Oakham, Mass., Rev. John Willard, Jr., Meriden, Conn., and Rev. Joseph Blodgett, Green- wich, Mass., were also members of the ordaining council. Rev. Mr. Fiske was moderator, and Rev. Mr. Foster, scribe.
200
HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
promising life to him and all his posterity in case of perfect obe- dience, but threatening death in case of disobedience ; that Adam broke covenant with God by eating the forbidden fruit, and sub- jected himself and all his posterity to the wrath and curse of God ; so that every man comes into the world in a state of entire alienation from God. We believe that from all eternity God designed to glorify the riches of his grace in the salvation of an elect number of the fallen children of Adam, through the media- tion of Jesus Christ. To effect this purpose, we believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, and offered himself a sacrifice on the cross, to reconcile the Elect to God; and as he was delivered for their offences, so he was raised for their justi- fication, and ascended into heaven to make intercession for them. We believe that it is the peculiar office of the Holy Spirit to ap- ply the benefits of Christ's Redemption to the souls of men, and that he does this by working faith in them, and thereby uniting them to Christ in their effectual calling. We believe that fallen man has lost all power to do that which is spiritually good, and is not able to convert and turn himself to God; and therefore that effectual calling is the special and almighty work of the Spirit of God in and upon the hearts of sinners, whereby, if un- willing, they are made willing in the day of his power to go to Christ for life. We believe that those who are effectually called are justified through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, imputed to them, and received by faith alone. We believe that those who are justified are also sanctified ; and that the work of sanctification will be carried on, and they will be enabled to per- severe in grace and holiness to the end of their lives. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are a Revela- tion from God, that they are a plain, perfect, and unerring rule of life, and that we ought to believe all their doctrines and obey all their precepts. We believe that God has appointed his ordi- nances for the spiritual good of his people, for the improvement of grace and holiness in them. We believe that at death the souls of the righteous are made perfect in holiness, and do imme- diately pass into glory and happiness, but the souls of the wicked into torment and misery. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come a second time, to raise the dead and judge the world ; then shall the wicked, in their raised bodies, go away into a state of endless misery ; but the righteous into life eternal.
201
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
" THE COVENANT.
" And now, in a serious and humble sense of our indispensable duty to answer the call of Christ in the gospel, who, notwith- standing our miserable and lost condition by nature and practice, is still inviting us to partake of all the blessings of the Covenant of Grace, as we have obtained help, we do now, in the presence of God, angels, and this assembly, avouch the Lord Jehovah, the only true and living God, to be our God, giving up ourselves to God, the Father, as our Creator, to God, the Son, as our Re- deemer, to God, the Holy Ghost, as our Sanctifier, in the way and on the terms of the Covenant of Grace, and in our place, we do engage to bear witness against sin, and, by the assistance of divine grace, to walk in a holy obedience to all the laws and ordinances of Christ, upholding the worship of God in this place, and submitting ourselves to the discipline of Christ, according to his word, contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- ments, which we receive as the only Rule of Faith and Manners."
In the interregnum preceding Mr. Holt's ordination, the church met, May 12, 1785, and elected two additional deacons, - Ebenezer Willis and Nathaniel Paige; 1 so that there were then four officers of that grade. But the number was soon diminished. Deacon Joseph Allen died August 18, 1793, aged 84, after active service as a church officer for the extraordinary period of more than fifty-six years; during the larger portion of which time, according to ancient tradition, he was the leading spirit in the church. He was also the last survivor of those who organ- ized the church in 1736.2 Some of his manuscripts, both in prose and rhyme, were published at Brookfield, 1795, in a pamphlet containing 51 pages, octavo, entitled, "The Last Ad- vice and Farewell of Deacon Joseph Allen to the Church and Congregation of Hardwick."
The pastorate of Mr. Holt was uneventful. He zealously
1 Nathaniel Paige was son of Christo- I mentioned in the year 1781, there were pher Paige, the first deacon of the church, and brother of William Paige, who was elected deacon November 9, 1769, and died February 14, 1790. The two broth- ers were colleagues in office nearly five years.
2 " July, 1791. It may be remembered
two males and three females living, who were members of the church when first gathered. I would now observe that since the beginning of 1789, there bas none survived except myself." Last Ad- vice, etc., p. 19.
202
HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
preached that form of Calvinism which was then styled Hopkin- sianism, as set forth in the "System of Doctrines " arranged by Samuel Hopkins, D. D., and insisted on the most rigid observ- ance of all the forms and ceremonies prescribed by the Puritan Church. Perhaps the same lack of variety in his discourses which afterwards caused dissatisfaction at Essex, may have pre- vented any signal success here. For some reason no extraordi- nary interest or activity was developed in the church or congrega- tion. The additions to the church averaged only a fraction more than four per annum, namely, forty-six by profession, and nine- teen by letter, sixty-five in all, during the sixteen years of his ministry ; being less than half the average number admitted by his predecessor, the Rev. Mr. White. Few cases of discipline occurred in the church, at this period, and none which resulted in
excommunication.1 Gradually the tie which united the pastor and people was weakened, until at length it was sundered, ap- parently on account of his inability to subsist upon his salary and their unwillingness to increase it; but there must have been some other reason on their part; for immediately after his dis- mission, they readily granted a much larger salary to his suc- cessor. Mr. Holt's salary was three hundred dollars. Finding this sum, and the income of a small farm which he owned and cultivated, insufficient to supply his wants, after previous in- effectual appeals for relief, he presented to the town a character- istic address at a meeting held March 4, 1805, "to hear a statement or proposition from the Rev. Thomas Holt, and to act thereon as they in their wisdom shall think fit or proper." I quote the record in full :-
" The Rev. Mr. Holt attended and made the following com- munication. - The inhabitants of the town of Hardwick, as- sembled in town-meeting, March the 4th, A. D. 1805: Gentle- men, The committee appointed by the town, the last spring, to confer with the undersigned, appeared fully sensible, after conference, that his salary was by no means competent to meet his necessary annual expenditures. Through the medium of the same committee, by their advice, he made a communication to the town, May the 30th, A. D. 1804, respecting the incompetency
1 The record of one such case exhibits the pastor's formality of speech and skill in amplification. The charge, entered on the church record, was that the offending member was guilty of "uttering a pro- fane curse, in imprecating damnation in
the name of God upon a fellow-creature." Probably the " profane curse " contained three short words. The culprit made a satisfactory explanation, and was for- given.
203
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
of his salary. He has never been informed that the town, generally speaking, are not fully sensible that his salary was as inadequate as he represented ; yet no means of relief was granted. This inadequacy is not considered as arising from a defect in the sum stipulated in the original contract, but from a depreciation in the comparative value of the circulating medium with the necessaries of life, since : - which, for several years has been esti- mated, it is conceived, at one third. The following statement of the prices current of some of the principal articles of support about the year 1789, and the present prices current of the same articles, may show the justness of the estimation above suggested, and illustrate the great diminution of the present salary of the undersigned, and its consequent inadequacy for a support.
" 12 Bushels of Wheat, at 68 pr. B. $12.00
25 B. of Rye, at 48 pr. B. 16.67
50 B. of Indian Corn, at 38 pr. B. 25.00
600 wt. of Beef, at 208 pr. Ct. 20.00
500 wt. of Pork, at 258 pr. Ct. 20.83
300 wt. of Cheese, at 5ª pr. 1b. 20.83
100 wt. of Butter, at 8ª pr. 1b. 11.11
A man's labor 6 months,
40.00 == 166.44
Add one third, 83.22
249.66
" Prices of the same articles current in the years 1804 and 1805 :
" 12 Bushels of Wheat, at 10ª pr. B. $20.00 25 B. of Rye, at 68 pr. B. 25.00
50 B. of Indian Corn, at 58 pr. B. 41.67
600 wt. of Beef, at 308 pr. Ct. 30.00
500 wt. of Pork, at 36ª pr. Ct. 30.00
300 wt. of Cheese, at 548 pr. Ct. 27.00
100 wt. of Butter, at 20 cents pr. lb. 20.00
A man's labor 6 months,
74.00 = 267.67
Compare the old prices, } added, 249.66
Reduced $18.01 more than one third, 18.01
" The above statement is the result of consulting men of good information, and examining merchant's books, with reference to the different periods above stated ; and it is believed that the dif- ference in the prices current of the articles above specified is not exaggerated. From this it appears that the sum stipulated as a salary for the undersigned will procure scarcely so much, by one
204
HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
third, of the articles essential to a support as it would in the year in which he was ordained. The estimate is made on the princi- pal articles from which the inhabitants procure the means of pay- ing their minister's salary. The consequence then appears to be that the nominal sum stipulated for a salary does not at present require hardly two thirds so much property in value as it did in the year 1789, when the contract was established ; the whole of the depreciation in the value of the circulating medium must con- sequently fall on the undersigned, and render his salary greatly below a competency for a support. Hence he cannot suppose it beyond what was mutually expected from the contracting parties at the time of forming the contract, for the town to grant a pe- cuniary consideration sufficient to make his salary competent for a support.
" It is his request, therefore, that they would grant him a con- sideration adequate to this purpose. But if the town should judge it unreasonable to grant such pecuniary consideration, yet they surely will not suppose it reasonable that he should be con- fined to labor in their employment, the remainder of his life, for a stipend so materially inadequate to his necessary expenditures, and so much less in value than what his contract appears orig- inally to have comprised ; and it may be added so much less than what has universally been judged no more than adequate to a minister's support in all those towns in this vicinity, nay in the Commonwealth, where ministers have been ordained within six or eight years, 'and numbers of others where people have granted their ministers a consideration for the present deprecia- tion in the value of their stipulated salaries. Although it is the heart's desire of the undersigned not to leave the town, but to live and die with the people of his charge, with whom he has been connected by a solemn and responsible relation for almost sixteen years, yet the inconveniences necessarily resulting from a salary so much diminished from its original value, and so incompetent to a decent support, compel him, if the town should not alleviate his burdens, to seek a degree of relief by a regular dismission. If the town then prefer a dissolution of the existing connection to a grant of a consideration for the present reduced state of his sal- ary, then his request is that they would by vote give their con- sent that he may take a dismission in the common form, by the advice and consent of an Ecclesiastical Council to be called for that purpose by the Pastor and Church. - Gentlemen, with due consideration, yours in the Gospel of Christ, THOMAS HOLT. Hardwick, March 4th, 1805.
İ
1 1
1
205
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
" The town took the foregoing communication into considera- tion, and on motion, - will the town grant any additional sum to the Rev. Thomas Holt for his support ? it passed in the negative : on motion, - will the town consent that the church join with their Rev. Pastor in calling an Ecclesiastical Council, for his reg- ular dismission ? it passed in the affirmative."1 The Council granted an honorable dismission March 27, 1805.
April 1, 1805. " Voted, to make a present of seventy-five dol- lars to the Rev. Thomas Holt. Voted, that the Rev. Mr. Holt be requested to preach to us on the approaching Fast-day ; Mr. Holt consented to supply the pulpit on said day, by himself or an- other."
After his dismission, Mr. Holt preached occasionally, as oppor- tunity offered, until January 25, 1809, when he was installed as pastor of the church in that part of Ipswich which afterwards be- came the town of Essex. This new home was not permanent. He " was esteemed a sound, scriptural preacher ; but after hear- ing him two or three years, his parishioners began to complain of a sufficient variety in his discourses, which they first imputed to his not writing them. They therefore chose a committee to wait on him and request him to write his sermons. With this he com- plied ; but as the evil, in their judgment, was not removed, they respectfully requested him to resign. With this also he complied, and on the 20th of April, 1813, he was honorably dismissed by a Council. The parish gave him a hundred dollars to defray the expense of his removal, and he returned to his farm in Hard- wick." 2
During the remainder of his life, Mr. Holt cultivated his farm and preached occasionally. He had no other pastorate, but performed some missionary labor, of which he preserved an exact account from day to day, and the sum total at the end of each engagement, in what he styled his "Missionary Journal." I have three of those Journals before me, describing labors at Paris, Me., from July 26, 1816, to February 26, 1817 ; at Lovell and Albany, Me., from March 5 to September 3, 1819; and at Springfield, Wendell, and Goshen, N. H., from November 25, 1819, to June 5, 1820. The summary of his services in the first
1 It was a tradition in my younger days that both of these votes passed with- out opposition, so that Mr. Holt united the whole town twice, - both his call and his dismission being determined by unan- imous vote. It was also said that this re-
sult was utterly unexpected by Mr. Holt, and that he subsequently expressed re- gret that he had presented the alternative to the town.
2 Crowell's History of Essex, p. 269.
206
HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
of these missions may serve as a fair specimen of the whole : - " During seven months of missionary labor, I have made 10 school-visits; 1 18 visits to the sick and afflicted ; attended one funeral ; admitted, by vote of churches, 10 persons as members in full communion ; baptized 20 adults and children ; adminis- tered the Lord's Supper 4 times ; preached 145 sermons; and made 434 family visits."
Rev. Thomas Holt, son of Daniel and Mary Holt, was born at Meriden, Conn., November 9, 1762, grad. Y. C. 1784, married Sarah, daughter of Rev. Ebenezer Chaplin of Sutton, May 5, 1796, had seven children, named in the Genealogies, and died February 21, 1836. He was buried in that part of the new cemetery which was formerly a portion of his homestead. Dur- ing his ministry here, he admitted 65 persons into the church, baptized 191, including adults, and married 177 couples.
The successor of Mr. Holt was Rev. William Brigham Wesson, who was born in Hopkinton, May 29, 1777, but in early life was carried to Athol by his parents, William and Mary Wesson. Chiefly if not entirely by his own exertions, he defrayed the expense of a liberal education at Williams College, and graduated in 1802, thus early displaying that energy of character which distinguished him through life. The town concurred with the church, August 7, 1805, in calling him to become their pastor, and voted to fix his salary at five hundred dollars per annum ; but added a proviso, apparently designed to guard against a repetition of embarrassments previously encountered : - " Pro- vided, nevertheless, that if three fourths of the qualified voters in the Society should think proper, at any time, to dismiss the said Mr. Wesson, it shall be in their power; and also the said Mr. Wesson shall be at liberty to dismiss himself when he thinks proper. Either party is to give one year's previous notice. . . . Chose Capt. Daniel Warner, Doct. William Cutler, and Timothy Paige, Esq., a committee to wait on Mr. Wesson, and inform him of the doings of the town." Without unnecessary delay, Mr. Wesson gave an answer, characteristically different from that of his predecessor, before quoted : -
"To the church and congregation of the town of Hardwick. - Brethren and Friends : The time has come at which you have
1 His " school-visits " were not a mere order; heard the children and youth spell form, as is manifest from his Journal under date of December 31, 1816:
" Visited a school; found it in decent
and read, inspected their writing and arithmetic, heard a grammar-class parse, addressed the school, and prayed."
------
207
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
reason to expect an answer to the call which you have presented me, to settle with you in the work of the gospel ministry. Hav- ing had the subject under serious and prayerful consideration I have come to the following conclusion, - to answer in the affirm- ative. Sincerely wishing grace, mercy, and peace, through our common Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, may be multiplied, WILLIAM B. WESSON. - To Messrs. Warner, Cutler, and Paige, Committee in behalf of said church and congregation. Hard- wick, Sep. 21, 1805."
Mr. Wesson was ordained October 20, 1805,1 and for several years the harmony between the pastor and the flock was undis- turbed. In the pulpit, his stately form and magnificent voice gave full effect to his discourses ; while in private life, his affa- bility of manners and buoyancy of spirit attracted a multitude of friends. In 1810, sixty-five persons became members of the church, precisely the same number which were admitted by his predecessor, during his entire pastorate ; and in 1820 there was a further addition of one hundred and fourteen members; a larger number than were ever before or since admitted in any one year. So far, his ministry must be regarded as successful. But about the year 1815 the Trinitarian and Unitarian contro- versy became public, and it was prosecuted very vigorously, not to say furiously, until it resulted in a widespread breaking up of churches and parishes. Mr. Wesson did not become an active partisan on either side. Avoiding this exciting topic in his pub- lic discourses, and discussing chiefly such subjects as might pro- mote peace and mutual edification, he preserved comparative harmony in the parish, and secured the rich harvest of 1820 to the church. Unfortunately for him, however, Hardwick was em- braced within the limits of the Brookfield Association,2 which was largely composed of stern and resolute champions of Trinitarian- ism, who could not endure opposition, or even neutrality, on the
vices were as follows : -
Introductory prayer, Rev. Daniel Tom- linson, Oakham, Mass .; sermon, Rev. Joseph Lee, Royalston, Mass .; conse- crating prayer, Rev. Joseph Pope, Spen- cer, Mass .; charge, Rev. Ephraim Ward, Brookfield, Mass .; fellowship, Rev. Thomas Mason, Northfield, Mass. ; con- cluding prayer, Rev. Joseph Blodgett, Greenwich, Mass.
Rev. Joshua Crosby, Greenwich, (now Enfield), Rev. Ezekiel L. Bascom, Gerry,
1 At Mr. Wesson's ordination the ser- (now Phillipston), Rev. John Fiske, New Braintree, and Rev. Thomas Snell, Brookfield, were also members of the ordaining council. Rev. Mr. Ward was moderator, and Rev. Mr. Snell, scribe.
2 Had his lot been cast in the adjoining Association, which contained some of his most intimate clerical associates, such as Rev. Messrs. James Thompson, of Barre; Festus Foster, of Petersham; Ezekiel L. Bascom, of Phillipston; and Alpheus Harding, of New Salem ; the result might have been very different.
208
HISTORY OF HARDWICK.
part of their associates. Suspecting Mr. Wesson's soundness in the faith, after ineffectual attempts to enlist him under their own banner, they assumed a hostile attitude, and persevered until they succeeded in alienating from him the confidence and Chris- tian sympathy of a majority of his church. A majority of the parish adhered to him, and at a meeting, May 26, 1823, " to see whether the Congregational Society in Hardwick are acquainted with any facts relating to the previous conduct of the Rev. Wil- liam B. Wesson, which would induce them to desire his dismis- sion," it was " voted, to choose a committee of three to request the Rev. William B. Wesson to come and read the communica- tion from the Brookfield Association ; Voted, and chose Elijah Amidon, Samuel Billings, and Stephen K. Wardwell, a com- mittee for that purpose; Voted, to divide the house, and it was counted ; there was one hundred and five in favor of the Rev. William B. Wesson, and none against him." During the next year, the condition of affairs " bettered nothing, but rather grew worse." Apparently despairing of a restoration of peace and harmony, Mr. Wesson at length addressed to the selectmen a communication which is preserved in the Hardwick Archives : " To the Selectmen of the town of Hardwick. - Gentlemen, Having had occasion to notice, within a few days, that the ' fire ' of opposition 'is not quenched,' and having come to the con- clusion that my continuance in the ministry will neither promote my own happiness, nor, under existing circumstances, be so use- ful to the people as I could wish, I have therefore thought proper to request you to issue your warrant to notify a legal meeting of the inhabitants of Hardwick, and especially those belonging to the Congregational Society in said town, to meet in town-meeting, to act on the following question, to wit : - whether they will consent that the contract existing between us be dis- solved at my request. By complying with this request you will confer a favor on your friend and Pastor, WILLIAM B. WESSON. Hardwick, May 29, 1824." A meeting was accordingly held June 14, 1824, at which it was "voted unanimously, that the contract existing between the Rev. William B. Wesson and said Society be dissolved at his request." These proceedings were ratified and confirmed by an Ecclesiastical Council, June 30, 1824.1 During his ministry Mr. Wesson admitted 232 persons
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.