History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 120

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 120

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The subsequent history of this church furnishes material enough for a volume, instead of the sketch now proposed. We can only give a brief account of its general character and standing, its pastors, its houses of worship, and its colonies.

So far as known to the writer, the church has never swerved from its original foundation. While many other churches, organized both before and after the date of its existence, have departed from the old confession of faith, this, through all changes and down through all the years of its history, has steadfastly adhered to the essential faith of the original members. It has had some seasons of trial, and one, perhaps two, when there was protracted and deplorable lack of unity and harmony. But, for many years, it has been one of the largest and most prosperous of the churches of New England. Its history has been marked by fre- quent revivals of religion, some of which were of great power and most valuable results. That which began in 1826 and continued uninterruptedly through more than two years, was by far the most remarkable. In its extent, its noiseless power, its duration and its wide-spread and far-reaching effects, it was wholly unprecedented in Woburn, and rarely, if ever, equaled in the country. During the years 1827-28 nearly 300 persons in the town, then having less than 1900 population, were admitted to membership in the church. Nearly all of this large number are now gone, but the very few who yet remain cherish the memory of those days with the deepest interest as without a parallel in their observation.

THE PASTORS OF THE CHURCH .- Rev. Thomas Carter, the first pastor, was born in England in 1610, probably at Hertfordshire, at or near St. Albans. He was matriculated at St. John's College, University of

1 Sewall's "History," p. 21. . Johnson's " Wonder-Working Provi- dence," book ii., chap. 22, pp. 175-178.

2 Winthrop's " Hist. of New England," vol. iif., p. 110. 3" W. W. Providence."

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Cambridge, April 1, 1626, and took his degree of Bachelor of Arts in January, 1630, and that of Master of Arts in 1633. In April, 1635, when still "a young man," he embarked with forty others for New Eng- land. Soon after his arrival he became a citizen of Dedham, taking the freeman's oath, March 9, 1637. He removed thence to Watertown, where he became an elder in the church.1 He had a place assigned him by Mather in what is called the "Second Classis" of ministers.2

When he was first invited to preach in Woburn, November 3, 1641, he was a member of the church in Watertown, as well as an office-bearer, and doubt was expressed abont the willingness of that church to part with him.3 By special invitation, he preached for the first time, December 4, 1641, his text being the 22d chapter of Genesis and his subject, " Encourage- ment to trust in the Lord for the means." This sermon seems to have encouraged the people to press their snit more urgently than ever, though he then and for several months subsequently, declined to ac- cept their call. He, however, at length yielded to the strong persuasion of the Woburn Church, and ac- cepted the position of minister with a salary of £80 per annum, which, in 1674, was increased by the ad- dition of twenty cords of wood delivered annnally at his door.4

The circumstances of Mr. Carter's ordination have already been narrated and need not be here repeated. Of his long ministry of nearly forty-two years, mnch might be written. The highest testimony to its excel- lence has been given by various writers. Johnson, in his history, describes him as a "reverend, Godly man, apt to teach the sound and wholesome truths of Christ," and "much increased with the increasings of Christ Jesus."5 Mr. Chickering, in his Dedica- tion Sermon, says of him, " During his ministry there appears to have been the greatest harmony between him and the Society." 6 And Mr. Sewall says, "There is abundant evidence that Mr. Carter was a very pious, exemplary man, an able and sonnd preacher of the Gospel and one whom God honored and prospered in his work. Under his ministrations the Church was greatly enlarged and built up, and the town flourished and was for the most part in peace.1 7

Before his settlement in Woburn, Mr. Carter had married Mary Dalton, of Watertown, where he owned a homestead and a farm. His well-known home in Woburn was on Pleasant Street, facing the southern portion of the old " Common " or Square. His house, built for him and presented to him by the town,

stood where the old Coolidge house, lately known as the Sylvanus Wood house, now stands. It is said that the original timbers of hewn oak that were in the honse built in 1642 still remain in place as when first laid.

Mr. Carter had eight children, of whom Samnel and Judith were born in Watertown, and Theophilus, Mary, Abigail, Deborah, Timothy and Thomas in Woburn. Theophilus and Deborah died young. Samuel, the eldest of the eight, born Aug. 8, 1640, graduated from Harvard College in 1660, and was set- tled, for a short time, as pastor of the church in Gro- ton. For some reason, not now fully known, he re- tired early from the ministry, and, besides being, at dif- erent seasons, a teacher, he sustained various offices in the government of the town. In 1672 he married Eunice Brooks and had eight children. He died in the autumn of 1693.8

Of the other children of Rev. Thomas Carter, Judith married, first, Samuel, son of Edward Con- verse, and, second, Giles Fifield, and died 1676. Mary married first, John Wyman, Jr. about 1671, who, being killed by the Indians at the Swamp Fight, December, 19, 1675, she married, second, Nathaniel Bachelor, of Hampton, N. H., in 1676, and died 1678. Abigail married John Smith, 1674, and died prior to 1684. Timothy married Anna Fisk, of Cambridge, 1680, and died 1727. Thomas married Margery Whitmore, of Cambridge, 1682, and died 1734. 9

Rev. Thomas Carter died September 5, 1684. His wife, Mary (Dalton) Carter, did not long survive him. She died March 28, 1687.

Rev. Jabez Fox, son of Thomas Fox, of Concord, was born in that town in 1647, but, at a very early age, removed with the family to Cambridge, his father being as early as 1652, and repeatedly after that year, on the Cambridge Board of Selectmen. Here he lived in the historic house known in later years as the "Holmes Place," and here he died April 25, 1693. According to a tradition in the family, he was a lineal descendant from Rev. John Fox, the martyrologist.

Jabez Fox was educated at Cambridge, graduating from the college in 1665. On taking his second degree there, three years later, his public address con- sisted of a few lines of Latin verse. 10. Made a free- man in 1667, he entered upon the work of the minis- try and married. While yet at Cambridge, he was invited, in 1678, to serve as an assistant of Mr. Carter for one year. This invitation he accepted, but, before the year had expired, he received a unanimous call to continne his labors with an ulti- mate settlement in view. On the 5th of November, 1679, the parish voted to give him a call "to be their minister for his life-time." He was accordingly

1 Samuel R Carter's Address at the Carter Reunion, p. 19. ,

2 Mather's " Magualia," vol. i., p. 216.

3 " American Qy. Register, vol. xi., p. 187.

4 S. R. Carter's Address, pp. 20, 21.

6 " Wouder-Working Providenco," pp. 177-181.

6 Dedication Sermon, p. 16.

7 " History of Woburn," p. 125.

8 S. R. Carter's Address, p. 29.

" Sewall's "History," p. 127 ; S. R. Carter's Address, p. 30.

10 Sibley's " Harvard Graduates," vol. ii., pp. 196-19S.

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WOBURN.

ordained soon after this date, probably in the same month. The town agreed, November 10th, of the same year, to build him "a dwelling-house, twenty- foure feet in length, eaighteene feet wide, and thirteene feet stud, a stack of three brick chimneys, a cellar under it, and a leantwo at the chimney end, and so to finish the said hous and give it him."

December 8th, "The Town did agree, upon Mr. Fox's desire, to build the said hous fourty feet long. Mr. Fox being willing to allow toward the worke twenty and five pounds and five pounds more in case that it be not sufficient for what is expended for the making the said house sixteene feet longer than was agreed of by the Towne in the first place." 1

This house, situated on Pleasant Street, near the site of the Public Library, was occupied by Mr. Fox and his son and successor about seventy-six years.

Mr. Fox appears to have had the confidence and affection of the great body of his parishioners through life, though they sometimes occasioned him disquie- tude by allowing his salary to fall in arrears. At one time about seventy ponnds were thus due to him, some of which was not paid till after his death. Doubtless, however, this seeming neglect was due to the extraordinary pressure of the times and other causes not specifically named. 2

Mr. Fox died in Boston, of the small-pox, in the forenoon of the Lord's Day, February 26, 1702-3, but was buried in Woburn, where, in the oldest burying- ground, his grave-stone bears the following inscrip- tion :

" Memento Mori

Fngit Hora.

Here lyes ye Body of Ye Reverend Mr Jabez Fox, Pastonr of Ye Church of Christ in Wobourn 23 years, & Aged 56 years, Decesed Febr. Ye 28th 1702-3."

Mr. Fox married Judith, daughter of Rev. John Reyner, of Plymouth, 1636-54, and of Dover, N. H., 1655-60.3 After his death she became the wife of Colonel Jonathan Tyng, of Boston, who subsequently lived in Woburn, where he died January 19, 1724. His widow died June 5, 1736. The inscription on her monumental stone in the old burying-place on Park Street, is as follows :

" Here lyes Buried ye Body of MIRS. JUDITH TYNG, wife lo Col. Jonathan Tyng, formerly wife to ye Revd. Mr. Jabez Fox, who Dy'd June 5th Anno Doni 1736, in ye 99th year of her Age : A woman of Most Exemplary Vertue & Piety ; Rich in Grace, Ripe for Glory."

It is not known that any sermons or other writings of Mr. Fox were published, though there are still ex- isting skeletons of two or more sermons preached in

Cambridge, which were committed to paper by friends, probably at the time of, or immediately after, their delivery. One was preached July 28, 1678, from 2 Timothy 2: 19. Another May 11, 1673, was based upon Ephesians 5 : 16.4

Rev. Jabez and Judith (Reyner) Fox had five children : 1. John, born at Cambridge, May 10, 1678, his father's successor; 2. Thomas, born at Woburn, July 6, 1680, died July 10, 1680 ; 3. Thomas, born at Woburn, November 13, 1681; 4. Jabez, born at Woburn, December 2, 1684; 5. Judith, born at Woburn, June 19, 1690, and died the same year.

Rev. John Fox, son and successor of Rev. Jabez Fox, was born at Cambridge, May 10, 1678, and graduated from Harvard College in 1698. After serv- ing as master of the Grammar School in Woburn from 1700 about two years and a half, until his father's death, February 28, 1703, he was invited to become the pastor of the church. He had already been, for several months, an assistant of Rev. Samuel Whiting, of Billerica, who was in enfeebled health.5 Ordained as pastor at Woburn, October 4, 1703, he retained his office and position tiil his death, December 12, 1756, but by his greatly impaired health he was often un- able to preach. For fifteen years before his death he was totally blind. He, however, preached occasion - ally, notwithstanding these obstacles, and often " catecised " and instructed the youth who were accustomed to meet him at his house.

Rev. Edward Jackson was his colleague for many years, and died in office more than two years before the death of Mr. Fox. Rev. Josiah Sherman was also settled as his colleague nearly one year before the decease of the senior pastor.

Mr. Fox had sore trials beside those of personal infirmities. The lack of harmony between his first colleague and himself from the beginning of their connection, and the consequent unsettled and divided condition of the people, resulting at length in the organization of a new church, must have greatly saddened his last years. Yet there are not wanting decisive indications that his ministry was a useful one, and, for many years before the settlement of a colleague and the loss of his health and sight, one of marked success.

Mr. Fox married Mary Tyng, daughter of Honora- ble Edward Tyng, who died in France. She sur- vived her husband several years, dying in February, 1764. There are still extant two sermons of Mr. Fox occasioned by the great earthquake of October 29, 1727, and founded on 1 Samuel 14 : 15.6 Another sermon is extant on " time and the end of time."

Rev. John and Mary (Tyng) Fox were the parents of seven children, who, according to Sewall, were :-

1 Sibley's " Harvard Graduates," vol. ii., pp. 196-198.

2 Sibley's " Harvard Graduates," vul. ii., pp. 196-198.

Lawrence's " N. H. Churchos," p. 320.

4 Alden's " Am. Epitaphs," vol. i., pp. 225-226 ; Sewall's " History," pp. 143-145.

5 Sibley's " Harvard Graduates," vol. i., p. 365.

" Alden's "Am. Epitaphs, vol. i., pp. 220-231 ; Sewall's "History," pp. 331-332 ; Am. Qy. Register, vol. xi., p. 188.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

1. John, born February 13, 1704, " who, in early life, went to Ireland to live with a wealthy relative."

2. Jabez, born May 25, 1705. Alden, in his epitaphs mentioned him as " Hon. Jabez Fox, Esq.," as found in his monumental inscription. His first wife, who lived but a short time after her marriage, was from Boston. He married, second, Ann, widow of Phineas Jones, who died June 9, 1768. Mr. Fox graduated from Harvard College 1727, studied theology and entered upon the work of preaching, but was soon obliged by failing health to relinquish the profession. He removed to Falmouth (now Portland), Maine, where he spent an honorable and useful life, and was for several years a member of the Provincial Coun- cil of Massachusetts.

3. Mary, born October 26, 1706, married Rev. He- bijah Weld, of Attleborough, October 17, 1728.

4. Edward, born October 26, 1708, lost at sea on his passage to England.

5. Thomas, born April 7, 1711, a goldsmith at Boston.

6. Judith, born August 10, 1712, married Rev. Nathan Stone, of Southborough, October 31, 1734.

7. Jonathan, born March 26, 1716, married Ruth Carter, August 17, 1737; lived and died in Woburn. 1

Rev. Edward Jackson was the son of Deacon Ed- ward Jackson, of Newton, and a grandson of Edward Jackson who came to New England about 1642, was made freeman in 1645 and settled in Newton, then a part of Cambridge, between 1642 and 1645. 2

The sources of information in regard to Mr. Jack- son are more limited than in the case of most of the pastors. Mr. Sewall seems to have exhausted them with comparatively small results. Born at Newton, April 3, 1700, and a graduate from Harvard College, 1719, he was ordained in Woburn, as colleague of Rev. John Fox, August 1, 1729, but died before the decease of the senior pastor, September 24, 1754, after a ministry of more than twenty-five years. He was never married.

It is not easy, after the lapse of more than 134 years, and with somewhat conflicting accounts of Mr. Jackson's ministry, to form an estimate of Mr. Jackson as a man which is entirely satisfactory, in any sense. Mr. Sewall says of him, " he was sound in doctrine, correct in morals, and his public labors and services were acceptable to his people, though he left nothing in print by which the style, matter and manner of his preaching can now be estimated." 3 That, during a considerable part of his ministry, there were strifes and humiliating criminations, cannot be questioned. But the exact measure of blame which should be attached to the one or the other man or party, we may not now be able to determine. We

can only regret that any hearts and any homes were, even for a limited time, overshadowed by a cloud that was so ominously threatening. +

Rev. Josiah Sherman 7 (William 6, Joseph 5, Captain John 4, John 3, Henry 2, Henry 1) was born in Water- town, April 29, 1729. His great-grandfather, Cap- tain John Sherman, came from Dedham, England, in 1634, and was an early settler in Watertown during that year. Rev. Nathaniel Sherman, of Bedford, William Sherman, Esq., of New Milford, Connecti- cut, and Hon. Roger Sherman, of New Haven, Con- necticut, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, were his brothers. He graduated from Nassau Hall, New Jersey, 1754, and received, during the same year, a degree from Yale College, and one from Cambridge in 1758.5

After studying theology with Rev. Dr. Bellamy, of Bethlehem, Connecticut, and Rev. Mr. Graham, of Southbury, in the same State, Mr. Sherman was ordained at Woburn, January 28, 1756, as colleague of Rev. John Fox, whose death occurred in a little less than one year afterward, Mr. Sherman thence- forward, till his dismission, April 11, 1775, being the sole pastor.

Mr. Sherman was a man of rare ability. He found the people in a broken and unhappy condition, occa- sioned by the alienations and divisions during the ministry of his predecessor as colleague, but his elo- quence and wondrons power soon drew all hearts to- gether and the recently organized Third Church back into the old fold. History and tradition alike repre- sent him as a master of eloquence that, in his time and neighborhood, had no equal. The house of wor- ship, though considerably enlarged after his settle- ment, was crowded, and even the aisles and pulpit- stairs were thronged from Sabbath to Sabbath. 6 Whenever he preached in Charlestown, as he occa- sionally did, there, too, he was sure to have a crowd of hearers so great as to suggest some extraordinary occasion. An old tradition, well remembered by some still, used to say that, on one occasion, a neigh- boring minister, less popular than himself, asked him why it was, that wherever and whatever he preached, he always so deeply moved the people, while he him- self, though preaching the same gospel, could elicit next to no interest at all. Mr. Sherman replied by making this offer : " I will preach one of your ser- mons to your people and yon shall preach one of mine to my people." The offer was accepted. And the result was that Mr. Sherman's people, ignorant of the arrangement, listened to what, as usual, when they heard the same preacher, they thought a dull

1 Alden" "Am. Epitaphs," vol. ii., pp. 90-92 ; Sewall's " History," p. 332.

2 Sewall's " Hist.," p. 325.

y " History of Woburn," p. 326.

4 " History of Woburn," pp. 325-326 ; Am. Qy. Register, vol. xi., p. 188.

6 Shattuck's "History of Concord," pp. 265-266; The Sherman Fam- ily in " New Eng. Hist. und Gen. Register," vol. xxiv., p. 158 ; Letter of Rev. Charles S. Sherman, 1889.

" Chickering's "Dedication Discourse," p. 19.

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WOBURN.

sermon, while his neighbor's people, also ignorant, were charmed with an extraordinary one.

Such being the character of the man and the elo- quence of the preacher, it is not strange that the people of Woburn parted with him with great re- luctance. But finding himself unable to support his family without a considerable addition to his salary a small increase having been repeatedly inadequate he requested a dismission, which request he repeated and urged before it was finally granted. And even after his dismission, an unsuccessful effort was made to induce him to return and be settled again.

Mr. Sherman, while in Woburn, lived in the large and still remembered house that stood on the east side of Main Street, near the present residence of the widow of the late Lewis Shaw. On leaving Woburn he re- moved to Milford, Connecticut, where he was for some time pastor of the Second Church. He thence removed to Goshen, in the same State, where he was also a pastor, and finally removed to Woodbridge, near New Haven, where he preached during the re- mainder of his life and now sleeps in death. 1

The inscription ou the monumental stone at Wood- bridge is as follows :

" In Memory of The REV. JOSIAH SUERMAN, Minister of the Gospel, Oht. Nov. 24th, A.D. 1789. E. 60. " The learned Scholar, the eloquent Orator, the accomplished Gentleman, the faithful Pastor, the kind Husband and Parent, and the humble follower of Jesus Christ. Piety adorned his useful life, aud in the moment of his painful Death, enahled him to triumph in the Hope of Heaven.

" Much impressed himself, as conscious of his awful charge,"-" by him the violated law spoke out its thunders, and by him in strains as sweet as Angels use, the Gospel whispered Peace." 2

It is not definitely known how many sermons or other addresses Mr. Sherman published. Three are extant. One was addressed to infidels. Others were on "The Redemption by Jesus Christ," and the "History of Melchisedec." In 1770, while at Woburn, he preached the Artillery Election Sermon from Ps. 149: 6.3 It is not known that this was published.

Mr. Sherman married, January 26, 1757, Martha, daughter of Hon. James and Elizabeth (Merrick) Minott, of Concord. They had six children, of whom the four oldest were daughters and the two youngest sons, all born in Woburn,-

1. Martha, born December 8, 1758, married, first, Rev. Justin Mitchell, of New Canaan, Conn., and second, Jo- seph Bartlett, of Albany, N. Y. (she was the grand-

mother of the Hon. Chauncey Mitchell Depew, of New York); 2. Elizabeth, born March 26, 1761, married John Mitchell, of Woodbury, Conn .; 3. Mary, born February 3, 1763, married Joseph Ives, of Conn .; 4. Su- sanna, born April 7, 1765, married John Baldwin, of Bloomfield, N. J. ; 5. Josiah, born - 1770, married Hannah Jones, of Hartford, Conn., and settled in Al- bany, N. Y., where he was a highly esteemed mer- chant and an elder in the Presbyterian Church. He was the father of Rev. Charles S. Sherman, who, after graduating from Yale College in 1835, and from Ando- ver Theological Seminary in 1838, was ordained as a missionary in Woburn, November 30, 1838. He was for some time a missionary in Jerusalem, Pales- tine, and is now living in Manchester, Conn. Two other sons of Josiah Sherman, Henry and Epaphras, after leaving Yale College, entered the profession of law. The former practiced in Hartford, Conn., in New York and in Washington, D. C., where he died March 24, 1879. The younger practiced chiefly in New York until his death there, January, 1886. 6. Roger Minott, born May 22, 1773, married Elizabeth Gould, of New Haven, Conn., December 13, 1796. At the age of sixteen he entered the Sophomore Class in Yale College, six weeks before the death of his father. By the aid of his uncle, Hon. Roger Sherman, of New Haven, who received him into his family, and by his own exertions in teaching, he was enabled to meet his college expenses and graduated, in 1792, with a high standing as a scholar. He immediately took an academy in Windsor and; at the same time, com- menced the study of law under the Hon. Oliver Ells- worth. Subsequently he took a school in Litchfield, where he continued the study of law under the Hon. Tapping Reeve. In March, 1795, he was appointed a tutor in Yale College. He was admitted to the bar in New Haven, May, 1796. After practicing in Nor- walk several years, he removed to Fairfield in 1807, where he resided nearly forty years, till his death, December 30, 1844. As a man, as a Christian, as a scholar, as a lawyer and a judge of the Supreme Court, he stood pre-eminent in his State, and was very highly esteemed wherever known.“

Rev. Samuel Sargeant .- After the dismission of Mr. Sherman the church was, for nearly ten years, with- out a pastor. This destitution, together with the still remembered popularity of Mr. Sherman, made it ex- ceedingly difficult for the people to agree upon a successor, and equally difficult for any man to fill the vacancy. Among the many who preached as candidates, at least four received a call to settle, but, in each case the candidate, evidently fearing to incur the risk, in the circumstances, of an affirmative an- swer, declined acceptance and settled elsewhere. In their sadly disheartening condition, the parish finally extended a call to Rev. Samuel Sargeant. This call,

1 Rev. Dr. Atwater's Discourse at the funeral of Hon. Roger M. Sher- man, p. 0.

2 Rev. Charles S. Sherman's letter.

3 Sewall's " History," pp. 356-357.

4 Dr. Atwater's Funeral Discourse, pp. 9-11; Letter of Rev. Charles S. Sherman.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

though not unanimous, was voted December 8, 1784, and it was not till January 24, 1785, that it was an- swered affirmatively. The ordination seems to have taken place March 14, 1785. Few pastors, at the out- set of their ministry, have ever had a more unpromising outlook into the future. The people were divided, uneasy, discouraged and dissatisfied. If the minister had been the best in the country, he could hardly have expected or achieved success. And it was not necessarily to the discredit of Mr. Sargeant that he failed. So far as appears, he tried to do his duty and earnestly desired the welfare of the people. But he had scarcely entered upon his work before a series of agitations respecting him began which continued till its close, nearly fourteen years later. The wonder is that he remained so long, though it should not be for- gotten that, in his day, there prevailed, in regard to the length of pastorates, ideas very different from those prevalent to-day.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 120

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034