History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 124

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 124

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Mr. Anderson continued in the pastoral office till July 2, 1888, when, at his own request, and amid the regrets of the church and society he had served so long and so successfully, he was dismissed, it being. his intention to assume the duties of a professorship in Robert College, near Constantinople, to which he had been called. In this institution he had spent several years as tutor before his ordination as pastor in Woburn.

Rev. Charles Anderson, son of Rev. Charles Ander- son, of Sennett, N. Y., was born in that place April 4, 1847 ; graduated from Hamilton College, 1869, and studied theology at Auburn, N. Y., and at Andover. He married Abbie F. Hamlin, a daughter of Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D.D., for many years a missionary in Turkey, and the first president of Robert College. Their children are: 1. Elizabeth Clary, born October 24, 1874, died August 21, 1875; 2. Arthur Hamlin, born August 7, 1876, died September 27, 1876; 3. Robert Harlow, born October 2, 1877; 4. Catharine Roberts, born September 25, 1879; 5. Sarah Whit- ing, born July 18, 1883; 6. Roger Hamlin, born Juue 5,1886.

Mr. Anderson was succeeded by Rev. Charles H. Washburn, lately pastor of the Congregational Church in Berlin, Mass. He has not been formally settled as pastor, but entered upon his work as acting pastor, November 2, 1888.

Since the date of the organization of the church,

November 22, 1849, down to April 1, 1889, there have been, including the forty original members, 253 ad- missions to membership.1

The First Baptist Church .- The First Baptist Church of Woburn originated in that part of Cambridge for- merly known as West Cambridge and now as Arling- ton. A meeting of persous interested, to consider, and, if deemed advisable, to complete an organization, was held as early as June 16, 1781. Having adopted a Declaration of Faith and invoked the blessing of God, they proceeded to organize a church embracing twelve men and twenty-three women, in all thirty- five members. A council composed of the First and Second Baptist Churches in Boston and the Baptist Church in Newton was called, and assembled July 5, 1781. At their meeting, after having examined aud approved the Articles of the Confession of Faith, they recognized the new church as regularly constituted. Rev. Samuel Stillman, of Boston, preached an appro- priate sermon from Isaiah 22 : 24; Rev. Isaac Skil- man, of Boston, extended the right hand of fellowship on behalf of the churches represented, and Rev. Caleb Blood, of Newton, offered the conclu- ding prayer.

The church had no settled pastor until November 17, 1783, when Rev. Thomas Green was ordained and installed in that office, Rev. Thomas Gair preaching the sermon. Six years later-November 29, 1789- Thaddeus Davis and Daniel Brooks were publicly set apart as the first deacons. Meanwhile, in 1786, a number of persons claiming to be Baptists, but at- tendants on the ministry of Rev. Samuel Sargeant in the Congregational Church at Woburn, and disať- fected toward him, seceded and began to attend the Baptist meetings in West Cambridge. In 1790 the number had increased to twentytwo, a majority of whom were ere long hopefully converted, aud, in due time, notwithstanding the strong opposition then un- happily common in such cases, were baptized by Elder Green and welcomed into the fellowship of his church.

The number of persons residing in Woburn, but connected with the church in West Cambridge, having, in 1791, become so large, it was thought best that the pastor should preach in Woburn one Lord's Day in each month. This was at length accomplished in 1793, the first meeting in Woburn being at the resi- dence of Josiah Converse April 3d of that year.

Mr. Green, after a ministry of ten years, was dis- missed at his own request. in 1793, and removed to Danyers.

On the 29th of August of this eventful year it was voted that " hereafter half of the Church shall be in Cambridge and half in Woburn, and that the

1 The materials for the foregoing sketch of the church in North Wo- burn are from church, parish and private records from town records of marriages, births and deaths, and from Triennial Catalogues of var- ions colleges and seminaries.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

pastor, whoever he may be, shall divide his labors equally between the two places." Doubtless the real meaning of this vote was, that in each place half of the church services should be held, and not, as the words seem to imply, that the church should be liter- ally divided into two halves, each place to have one. However this may be, this was the turning point for the Woburn branch of the church. From this time there was a rapid increase in Woburn and as rapid decrease in Cambridge. After a supply of the pulpit by Elder Simon Snow for about one year a call was extended to Rev. John Peak, of Windsor, Vt., to settle. He accepted, and entered upon his work in 1794. It was stipulated that he should preach alter- nately in Woburn and in Newtown, N. H., two weeks successively in each town. Notwithstanding this arrangement, his ministry was a successful one. Through his influence a society was organ- ized and a beginning made in the erection of a house of worship. A revival of religion resulted in an addition of thirty-five persons to the church, there being also a branch of the church in Reading which shared in the blessing. Meanwhile the people held their meetings in a chamber of the house of Benjamin Edgell, near Central Square. The whole of the second story was one unfinished room, furnished with plain benches and reached by a narrow stairway in the rear of the house.1 Not waiting for the completion and furnishing of the meeting-house, the almost impatient people first opened it for worship July 20, 1794. This well-remembered house stood on the east side of Main Street, near where the residences of the late Colonel William and Timothy Winn now stand. It was 40 feet by 30 feet in dimensions. Five or six years after it was first opened for worship it was greatly improved by thirty-five square pews, a sounding-board over the pulpit, and the usual "deacons' seats" in front and below it. This once honored building still exists, and is used for secular purposes a few rods north of its original location.

About 1797 the church voted to hold their services wholly in Woburn, aud assumed the name of the "First Baptist Church of Woburn." Elder Peak having, in October, 1795, closed his labors in Woburn, removed to Newtown, N. H., where he devoted him- self exclusively to the church in that place. The va- cancy in Woburn was not filled till November, 1798, when Elder Elias Smith, a man of great eccentricity and, as the sequel proved, given to change, became the pastor. He remained only about two years, and withdrew both from the position and from the de- nomination.

Mr. Smith was succeeded by Elder Ebenezer Nelson, who, though not settled as a pastor, preached

from 1802 to 1804. After his retirement the Church had for a part of one year the services of Elder Isaiah Stone. Meanwhile, in 1804, there was an interesting revival of religion, largely under the ministrations of Rev. Thomas Paul, acting as an evangelist. Though belonging to the despised race of colored men, he was a man of rare excellence and marked success, and subsequently was a highly useful pastor of an African church in Boston. Thirty persons, the fruits of the work in 1804, were baptized and received to the fel- lowship of the church. Some, who subsequently united with the Congregational Church, were also the fruits of Mr. Paul's faithful labor.

In August, 1808, an invitation was extended to the Rev. Samuel Wydown, who, at the time, was preach- ing in one of the Southern States, to make them a visit. Thoughi not able to come immediately, he came in the following spring, with recommendations from Dr. Rippon, of London, and Rev. Lewis Rich- ards, of Virginia. After preaching for a short time on probation, he accepted a call to settle, and entered upon his work as a pastor, though without the usual formalities of an installation. Mr. Wydown was greatly esteemed as a man and a preacher, but during his short ministry of about two years there existed difficulties in the church which rendered him less happy and less useful than he might and doubtless would otherwise have been.

In the spring of 1811 Rev. Thomas Waterman took the pastoral charge. Educated in an English college, he held a high rank as a man of learning and culture among ministers who are often deficient in both. He had been the first pastor of the First Baptist Church of Charlestown, and came to the church in Woburn in the midst of their troubles. But he entered upon and prosecuted his work, cheered by the esteem and sympatby of his people and respected by all who knew him. Had he not, in addition to his pastoral work, been worn with the care of a select school for young men, there is reason to believe that his ministry would have been richer in results. As it was, it was useful, and the influence of his work for three years- till his sudden and greatly lamented death, March 23, 1814- was highly and thoroughly beneficial. He was buried in Woburn, and his memory has ever been cherished-both in and out of his own society-as pre- cious. After Mr. Waterman's death the church was, during two years, without a pastor. In May, 1817, Rev. Herbert Marshall was ordained as Mr. Water- man's successor. His ministry was short, but greatly blessed, the Spirit being poured out in a wonderful manner upon the church and congregation, and sev- enty persons being added to the church in one year. It is a singular fact that. during this prosperous year, November 16, 1817, eleven members were dismissed for the purpose of organizing a church in West Cam- bridge (Arlington), where the Woburn church itself was organized.

1 In his book of accounts, Capt. Benjamin Edgell says: "The Society met at my house, 1792, April to December, two Sabbaths cach month ; from April, 1702, to April, 1794, two Sabbaths each month, total, 44 Sab- baths."

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WOBURN.

Mr. Marshall being dismissed iu 1818, Rev. George Paippen, from Lynn, was called to succeed him, and was installed September 16th of that year. He was dismissed September 5, 1820. But little can be said of his ministry. During the year of his dismissal he published a sermon delivered at Woburn, May 17, 1820, before the "Female Missionary and Female Charitable Societies." This sermon-from Matt. 10 : 8 -is still extant.

From the close of Mr. Phippen's labors, in Septem- ber, 1820, to July, 1821, the church depended upon transient supplies from Andover and elsewhere. In July, 1821, Rev. Adoniram Judson, of Nobleboro', Me.,-the father of the distinguished missionary of the same name,-became the pastor. He was a most excellent man and highly esteemed, but, by some un- foreseen providence, apparently, his pastorate was very short, it being only nine months.

Mr. Judson was soon followed in 1823-by Rev. James A. Seaman, of Greenfield, N. Y. His ministry, too, was short, it being but a little over two years. At his own request he was dismissed and became the pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Providence, R. I. It is not improbable that his departure was hastened-if not occasioned-by an unhappy division in the church, which continued for some time subse- quently.

Rev. Samuel S. Mallory, from the State of New York, was, in March, 1826, called to the vacant pulpit. Very soon after his coming the threatening clouds began to disperse, peace and harmony were restored, and the congregation considerably enlarged. Near the close of the year a work of great power began and continued through the year following, extending to every part of the town. Seventy-one persons were added to the church, and among them were some of the most valuable members the church ever had, the whole number being at this time over two hundred. A spiritof entire harmony prevailed during all these months of joy, and the whole church was pervaded by a deep religious interest. This was the more re- markable, since the prosperity soon rendered the old house of worship so inadequate to the wants of the society as to make it necessary to consider-and soon to enter upon-the work of erecting a new sanctuary in a new and more central locality. This house, beguo in 1827, was finished early in the following year, and dedicated May 21, 1828. Facing the Com- mon, at the corner of the present Park Street, it was far more commodious and comfortable than its pre- decessor, the dimensions being 58 feet by 60 feet, with a vestibule six feet in width iu front. Mr. Mal- lory preached the dedication sermon from Haggai 2 : 9, " The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts." The house, containing eighty-eight pews on the main floor and twenty in the galleries, was built at a cost-in- cluding $1100 for the lot-of about $8000. Twenty- three male members of the church had assumed all

pecuniary responsibility, resolved to trust God for the result, and the house was dedicated free from incum- brauce.

But the successful pastorate of a man, houored and loved as few have been, was, like that of others be- fore him, soon, and reluctantly on the part of the church, brought to a close. A few restless persons, as often occurs, made Mr. Mallory so uncomfortable that he insisted on closing his labors, after a ministry of three years, March 1, 1829.

On the 10th of December, of the same year, Rev. Benjamin C. Wade became Mr. Mallory's successor, remaining in the pastorate four years and two months. The religious interest during Mr. Mallory's ministry still, in some measure, continued, and with very grat- ifying, though, in the end, somewhat qualified results. Of one hundred persons admitted to the church, a very considerable number were ultimately cut off from membership, and another season of trial was introduced. After being destitute of a pastor seven months, the church, anxious to secure a man of ripe experience and unblemished character, extended a call to Rev. Thomas B. Ripley, who was settled November 5, 1834. Mr. Ripley was a good and faith- ful man, and earnestly labored for the highest good of the people. But his usefulness seems to have been embarrassed by circumstances which he did not fore- see and which he could not control. The church diminished in numbers, and he was dismissed March 16, 1836. From this time until August 31, 1837, there was again no pastor. At the time just men- tioned Mr. Noah Hooper, a student in the Theologi- cal Institution at Newton, was ordained and entered upon his work. It was a time, as he soon found, of great trial. The discordant elements of the previous. two years became more and more discordant. Various qeustions of public morals and interest were agitated and charges of a departure from the old faith of the churches were made, all which resulted at length in the dismission of forty-nine members, who, in 1838, conssituted themselves the "Independent Baptist Church." In these circumstances the faith and pa- tience and wisdom of the young pastor were sorely tested. But both he and the church passed the crisis safely and soon welcomed the dawn of a brighter day. Some of those who had left them, dearly beloved members of the old church, ultimately, from time to time, returned, and were welcomed back to the old fellowship.

The church, again harmonious and prosperous, soon enjoyed a season of special religious interest, resulting in the admission to their fellowship of forty- six persons, thus more than supplying the vacancy occasioned by the dismissal of forty-five two years previous.

At his own request, Mr. Hooper, after a pastorate of a little more than three years, was dismissed Oc- tober 6, 1840.

Rev. Silas P. Randall was settled May 20, 1841, as

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Mr. Hooper's successor. His ministry of six years and four months was a faithful one and fruitful in good results, thirty-five persons being baptized by him and received into the church. He, however, resigned his office as pastor, and closed his labors September 1, 1847.

The church next invited Rev. John C. Stockbridge, of Waterville, Me., to supply the vacant pulpit, and, accepting at length a unanimous call, he was installed in January, 1848. During his ministry of four years and eight months the church was greatly prospered and strengthened, forty-four being added to their number. And it was with profound regret and great surprise that they were asked to release him from service. He closed his labors October 3, 1852.

Rev. Joseph Ricker succeeded Mr. Stockbridge in January, 1853. He, too, was a man of great excel- ence, and a delightful harmony was enjoyed through- out his ministry of more than five years. His suc- cess, however, was not so apparent in the numbers added to the church, as in the development of spirit- ual life and the general uplifting of the standard of the Christian profession.

During Mr. Ricker's ministry, the sanctuary was enlarged by the addition of seventeen feet to its length and thirty-eight pews to its seating capacity.

Mr. Ricker was dismissed April 1, 1858, and on June Ist of the same year he was succeeded by Rev. Benjamin F. Bronson, of Methuen, without any for- mal act of installation. During his ministry of nearly four years the debt incurred in the enlarge- ment of the house of worship was liquidated, and fifty-three persons, by baptism and by letter, were added to the church, the whole number rising to 289. There was also a large increase in contributions to various benevolent objects.

Mr. Bronson, closing his labors with the church, April 27, 1862, was followed, on the 5th of October of the same year, by Rev. Joseph Spencer Kennard, of Washington, D. C., who was publicly recognized on the 31st of that month. He was an earnest and successful laborer, never sparing his own strength in his efforts to benefit others. As the result of an inter- esting work, he baptized sixty-two persons, raising the total membership to 347. In the mean time an addition was made to the rear end of the house for the purpose of securing room for a new baptistery.

Mr. Kennard closed his ministry in Woburn De- cember 17, 1865, and removed to Albany, New York, and June 24, 1866, Rev. Hugh C. Townley, from New York, accepted an invitation to succeed him, and was accordingly settled in July following. Mr. Townley was a very active, energetic, popular and useful man. As a member of the School Committee he was useful in a sphere outside his domain as a pastor. But he was ever alive, as he was able, in his more appropri- ate work, and, as a result, sixty-nine persons were by him added to the church. He was dismissed after a pastorate of five years and nine months, April 23, 1872.

Rev. William Young, D.D., from Oil City, Penn- sylvania, entered upon his work, as Mr. Townley's successor, November 17, 1872, and was installed Jan- uary 2, 1873. Dr. Young was impulsive, frank, gen- erous, and had a high ideal of what every church ought to be. For two years he sought to do his duty manfully and faithfully. And he did not labor with- ont some measure of success, though his usefulness was largely, it may be, out of the usual line of the preacher's work. He closed his labors November 22, 1874, going hence to Meadville, Pennsylvania, and thence to the far West, where, in 1881, he suddenly closed his life.

In March, 1875, Rev. Edward Mills, from Rutland, Vermont, entered upon his work as Dr. Young's suc- cessor, and continued it till 1881. During the six years of his pastorate a debt of $3500 was removed, the sanctuary, at a cost of $22,000, was remodeled, benevolent contributions averaged $4500 each year, and, better than all, there was a degree of spiritual prosperity which resulted in the addition to the church of more than ninety new members.

Mr. Mills closed his labors in 1881, and was suc- ceeded, in 1882, by Rev. George A. Simonson, who, though in enfeebled health, labored faithfully and was highly respected by all who knew him. Obliged by increasing illness, he retired from his work in the autumn of 1883 and was dismissed in January, 1884, Rev. Daniel D. Winn supplying the vacant pulpit. Nr. Simonson removed to New Jersey, where he died in 1884. After his death Rev. Daniel D .. Winn, a native of Woburn, and a son of the church, assumed the pastoral charge, which he still and successfully retains in 1889. 1

Independent Baptist Church .- In the historical no- tice of the First Baptist Church is an allusion to the dismission, June 22, 1838, of forty-five members, un- der circumstances of sore trial. The dismissed mem- bers embraced some of the old and most valued brethren and sisters of the church, and, doubtless, they were believed to be as sincere in their views at the time as were those whom they left behind. It was a time of much excitement and much heated discussion far and wide. The subject of temperance and the question of American slavery greatly agitated the whole community, and, naturally, the excitement invaded the churches even more seriously than it did, or could, the outside world, which was supposed to be less sensitive on moral questions. As the contro- versy waxed warmer, there was more or less of dis- cussion of, and pointed allusion to, the evils in ques- tion in the pulpits. To this the pulpit of the Baptist Church was not an exception. And, as usual, the members of the congregation ranged themselves on the one side or the other of the subjects discussed.

1 For most of the material of the foregoing sketch, the writer is in- debted to a private record of his friend, Alfred A. Newhall, formerly clerk of the Baptist Church, and to an historical discourse preached hy Rev. Edward Mills. L. T.

WOBURN

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Some thought that such questions could not be brought into the pulpit or the church-meeting without a de- parture from the simplicity of the gospel, and from a paramount adherence to the old and distinctive faith of the church. At this distance of time we may charitably believe they were honest. And we may, with equal, if not even greater, charity, believe that it never entered into the thought of the majority of the members that they were guilty of any departure whatever from the Gospel. On the contrary, they honestly believed that a due consideration of great moral questions necessarily grew out of a genuine fi- delity to the Gospel. But, at such seasons of deep and excited emotion, it is of but little use to attempt argument. And so, trying as it was, the request of forty-five members for dismission from the church was granted to each petitioner separately, the letter including a recommendation to "any church of the same faith and order."

The persons thus dismissed did not think it neces- sary to effect a new and separate organization, but, by mutual consent, regarded themselves as already organized by virtue of their previous relations to the old church. By the courtesy of the old church, they were allowed, at a merely nominal rent, to worship in their former and their abandoned meeting-house, at the corner of Main and Church Streets. Iu July, 1849, Sarah Winn Converse died and left a will, made seven years before, in which she bequeathed certain real estate " to the Independent Baptist Church, to be holden and enjoyed by them so long as they shall maintain their present religious belief and faith and shall continue a Church." This bequest led to the erection of the chapel or church on Main Street, just north of the Central House, where they thence- forward worshiped until 1861, under the ministry of men of their own choice. Since 1861 their meet- ings have been only occasional. A recent writer in one of our local papers1 says that services are held, generally, on the first Sabbath in each month, and are conducted by Elder Campbell. For the purpose of preaching on these occasions to an audience of from four to six or eight persons, the elder comes on Saturday from another State.

The property is held by trustees, B. F. Flagg, H. Campbell and John B. Horn being a standing com- mittee.

The Unitarian Church.2-The history of liberal re- ligion in Woburn in its organized form properly be- gins with the formation of the "First Universalist Society in Woburn," which took place in the spring of the year 1827. Previous to this, meetings, with preaching by Universalist clergymen, had been held from time to time, the first of these of which we have record being in 1817, held in the hall of a dwelling- house at North Woburn, said to have been built by Colonel Baldwin in expectation that it would be oc-

cupied by Count Rumford, should he ever return from his long exile abroad. The preacher was Rev. Edward Turner, of Portsmouth, N. H., who preached by invitation of several citizens, Mr. Samuel Con- verse being of the number.

Some time after this, in what is still spoken of by the older citizens as "Parson Bennett's time," tbere was inaugurated in the Congregational Church at the Centre an old-fashioned "revival " of a very stirring kind, in which preachers reveled and rioted in visions of fiery pits and lost souls, frightening the timid into confession of sins of which they were not guilty. Against the violent measures of this cam- paign many of the more calm and thoughtful citizens revolted, and to voice their protest they engaged Universalist ministers, who came from Sunday to Sunday and preached in a school-house. In this place appeared some of the greatest preachers the Universalist Church has ever had,-Thomas Whitte- more, Walter Balfour (author of several works that have become standards in Universalist literature), Se- bastian Streeter and Hosea Ballou. In one of the vigorous sermons which Father Ballou gave to this band of Protestants he said to them : "If you want to keep the bell a-ringing you must keep the tongue a-thumping." And they kept the tongue "a-thump- ing" in the school-house till a society was formed, and the number who wished to hear "the Word " became so great that they were forced to seek more ample accommodations, which they found in a meet- ing-house that the Baptists had deserted. The forma- tion of this society was regarded by the defenders of Calvinism as the work of Satan himself, and was ac- cordingly duly preached against and condemned. And the young society found no slight element of growth in the opposition which it received. It flourished so abundantly that in the spring of the year 1829 it took measures to have a pastor of its own. The Rev. Otis A. Skinner was called, and, by accepting the invita- tion, became the first settled Liberal preacher in Woburn. On the first Sunday in April, 1829, he preached his first sermon as pastor of the society. By those still living who remember well the feeling that existed against the society at the time, the writer has been told that on the following Sunday " Parson Bennett" took for his text 1 Peter v : 8: "Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour," remarking that this Scripture was now being literally fulfilled, for he had himself, during the past week, seen the devil upon the streets of Woburn, referring to the pastor of the Universalist Society. It was a time of fierce conten- tion, and the preachers of the new faith, like in- spired war-horses, scented the battle afar off, and they always had their quivers full of Scripture proof-texts ready for the fray. Mr. Skinner was a young man of much power, and soon became a recog- nized leader of thought in his denomination, and the society soon found it necessary to have a meet-

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 124

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