History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 148

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 148

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1889. The warrant for the annual meeting con- tained fifty-one articles. The vote on license stood 905 to 645 against granting licenses, being a majority of 260. James McManns was re-elected town clerk by 707 votes, and Edward Clark, treasurer, by 1746 votes. For water commissioner for three years Francis Bigelow was elected, while the Board of Health was composed of Dr. W. H. Sylvester, Dr. William Richards and Isaac R. S. Randall. Among the ap- propriations were "For enforcing the Liquor Laws $1000, lighting streets $3500, sidewalks and crossings of concrete $1500, the abnttors to pay one-half of the expense for the concrete sidewalks," while $300 were appropriated to publish a pamphlet setting forth the advantages of Natick as a place of residence and for conducting a remunerative business. The grantsand appropriations amonnted to $88,270. The selectmen appointed Lyman A. Spooner superintendent of streets with a salary of $1000. John J. Oakes was appointed one of the registrars of voters.

On the proposed amendment of the Constitution, to prohibit the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors to be used as a beverage, the vote of the town, which was cast April 22, 1889, stood for the amend- ment, 619; against the same, 786. Precinct No. 1 gave for it 592 votes to 595 against it, and Precinct No. 2 gave 27 for it and 191 against it.

May 1, 1889, the valuation of the town was

$5,314,900, viz. : Personal estate, $1,096,750; real es- tate, $4,317,550-a gain within the year of abont $125,000. Number of polls, 2627; tax, $77,940; rate per thousand, $16.80.

REPRESENTATIVES IN THE GENERAL COURT .- As already noticed, the voters of Natick, for a long course of years, declined to be represented in the Legislature.

Before 1856 Samnel Morse, Moses Fisk, Abel Perry, William Farris, Chester Adams, Steadman Hartwell, Aaron Sanford, Nathaniel Clark, Henry Wilson, John Travis, John Kimball and Nathaniel Smith appear to have served the town as Represen- tatives. Of these, Nathaniel Clark (who is now liv- ing) was repeatedly called to fill this office. Since 1876 the Representatives have been : 1876, Warren A. Bird ; 1877, Noah L. Hardy ; 187S and 1879, Francis Bigelow; 1880, Edward McManus; 1881, Daniel Dorchester, D.D .; 1882, Warren A. Bird; 1883 and 1884, Alexander Blaney; 1885 and 1886, Justin Perry ; 1887, David H. Clark; 1888, Albert Mead.

The dates here given refer to the time of election ; the service in each case was one year later.

SELECTMEN BEGINNING WITH 1879.

1879, Calvin H. Perry, Josiah A. Bean, Alexander Blaney; 1880, the same board was elected ; 1881, Daniel A. Mahony, James W. Valen- tine, William Nntt; 1882, Daniel A. Mahony, James W. Valentine, Aaron Wheeler ; 1883, Warren A. Bird, Alexander Blaney, Joshua A. Bean ; 1884, the same board was elected ; 1885, Warren A. Bird, Al- bert Mead, Reuben lInnting ; 1886, Gustavns Smith, Daniel A. Mahony, Albert Mead ; 1887, Daniel A. Mahony, Alhert Mead, Edgar S. Dodge ; 1SSS, Samuel W. Mann, Edgar S. Dodge, Patrick F. Hallinan ; 1889, Samuel W. Mann, Arthur F. Atwood, Frank B. Tilton.

The assessors of the town since 1879 have been as follows :

1879, Reuben Hunting, Edward McManus and Royal E. Farwell ; 1880, Royal E. Farwell, Edward McManus, Reuben Hunting; 1881, Royal E. Farwell, Reuben Hunting, Patrick Pettee ; 1882, the same board was elected ; 1883, Renben Hunting, Willard W. Wight, Patrick Pettee; 1884, Patrick Pettee, James W. Valentine, William J. Cronin ; 1885, Patrick Pettce, James W. Valentine, Amos P. Cheney ; 1886, James W. Valentine, Willard W. Wight, David Finn, Jr. ; 1887 and 1888, the same ; 1889, Davin Finn, Willard W. Wight, Daniel Cole- man.

SENATORS, FOURTH MIDDLESEX DISTRICT.

Charles Q. Tirrell in 1880 and 1881; Walter N. Mason, in 1882 and 1883; Francis Bigelow, in 1SS4 and 1885.

In 1888 Charles Q. Tirroll was chosen one of the Presidential electors, and cast his votes for Benjamin Harrison as President, and Levi P. Morton as Vico-President, of the United States.

In examining the entire records of the town, leaf by leaf, including the Indian, for the purpose of discov- ering the historical information given ahove, the work of the compiler has been greatly facilitated by the convenient arrangement in making entries adopted by all the town clerks of later years.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

NATICK-(Continued).

ECCLESIASTICAL.

Organization of the Indian Church-Eliot's Translation of the Bible-The Printing and Distribution of the Same-Mr. Eliot's Death-Memorial Win- dows to Perpetuate his Memory - Pastor Tukuwambait-Rev. Messrs. Pea- body and Badger Missionaries to the Natick Indians-Organization of the Congregational Church in the Centre of the Town-Sketches of its Pastors -The Baptist Church-The Methodist Episcopal Church-St. Paul's Episcopal Church- The Roman Catholic Churches-The Unitarian or Eliot Church-The John Eliot Church-The Universalist Church.

THE first minister of the Gospel who preached in Natick was Rev. John Eliot, who, we are assured, often prayed for divine direction, as he rode through the forests of this region in search of the best location for a new Indian settlement; and whoever stands on one of the hills that overlook the part of the valley of the Charles River where is now the pleasant vil- lage of South Natick, must be convinced that the prayers of the anxious man were answered. For in all this region, where excellent sites for villages abound, hardly another place combining so many advantages for the successful prosecution of his ex- periment, and at the same time so attractive and beau- tiful, could have been discovered.

The earliest gathering in Natick for religious pur- poses was doubtless in 1650, for during that year the site for the plantation was selected, the Indian title to the land secured, and the work of laying the founda- tions for the new settlement begun. But few, if any, of the Indian families that a little later built their wigwams and constituted the Indian community here, came to the place before 1651, but during the preced- ing year Indian men, in considerable numbers, were felling the trees and doing other preparatory work upon the Plantation. To these men, gathered together under the shade of the famous "Eliot Oak," Mr. Eliot doubtless preached the first Gospel sermon that was ever listened to in Natick. His hearers were not only respectful, but thoughtful, for, coming at the preacher's invitation from the Indian settlements, where he had occasionally held religious services, and especially from Nonantum, they were the most enlight- tened and religiously inclined of all the Indian popula- tion of the region, and for four years some of them had been under his instruction. That his preaching and other religious services had not been in vain Mr. Eliot was thoroughly convinced months before the Natick Plantation was founded, for many of his hearers at Nonantum ahandoned their wicked habits and heathenish customs and became thoughtful, sober- minded and conscientious. Among these the chief Waban, and his son, Waban, Jr., were conspicuous.

After the removal of the Indians to Natick and the establishment of regular religious services here, the fruits of Mr. Eliot's labor for the spiritual welfare of the Indians became more and more apparent. In a considerable number of instances the reformation

seemed real as tested by time, and thoroughly pro- nounced ; but though for many months Mr. Eliot had regarded a number of the Indians as true converts to Christianity, with characteristic prudence he had postponed the organization of a Christian Church.

But in 1652 he believed that the time liad arrived to take at least the preliminary steps for such an or- ganization. October 13th of that year a large company met in this place for the purpose of listening to the statements and confessions of such of the Indians as might be deemed candidates for church membership. Among the visitors were a number of the pastors and lay messengers from the churches in Boston and vicin- ity and some of the best educated and promising from other settlements of the Praying Indians.

The early morning was spent in prayer and listen- ing to discourses by Mr. Eliot and two of the Indian exhorters. Quite a number were ready to relate their Christian experience, but as they were slow of speech and Mr. Eliot wished to make a full record of their statements, the work of examination could not pro- ceed rapidly. Night approached before the fifth of the candidates-the schoolmaster-could finish his confession, and it was deemed best to adjourn the meeting. The statements made on this occasion by the Indians were soon published in London, and pro- duced a profound impression upon many of the lead- ing philanthropists and Christians of England.

The adjourned meeting for the examination of can- didates for church membership did not take place till 1654. This was held in Roxbury, and, it is supposed, in Mr. Eliot's meeting-house, July 13, 1654, and was, in most respects, similar to the former gathering in Natick. But while the examinations seemed satis- factory, Mr. Eliot advised further delay, and so great was his prudence that it was not till 1660, or eight years after the first meeting for examining candidates, that the Indian church was organized at Natick. No records are known to exist respecting the exact date of this proceeding or of the number received at that time into church fellowship. Indeed, the entire rec- ords of the Indian church of 1660 have doubtless per- ished. We have every reason to suppose that all the transactions just named were recorded, as well as the important matters appertaining to the growth and condition of the church during the life of Mr. Eliot, at the least ; but his books of records were kept in Roxbury, and some years elapsed before any one else served as clerk of the church in Natick. All the pre- served records of the Plantation during the seven- teenth century are upon a few loose pieces of paper, and upon these a considerable part of the entries were made in the Indian language.

We come now to the great work in the life of the Indian apostle and first minister of the Gospel in Na- tick. Reference is here made to his translation of the entire Bible into the Indian language, and the printing and distribution of the same among the Indians.

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NATICK.

From bis preaching and other religious instruction Mr. Eliot hoped for good results, but for a number of years the conviction had been growing upon him that the Indians must have the written Word as well as the spoken, if permanent results were to be expected. In his preaching services only fragments of the Bible could be read or recited, while the children in the school and all the families in their wigwams necded the entire word of God before their eyes fromn day to day before the Gospel could be expected to control the hearts and lives of any considerable number of the population. In other words, his views upon this matter coincided exactly with those of the most in- telligent of the Christian missionaries to the heathen at the present day. It was a formidable undertak- ing which he proposed, sufficiently so to require in- domitable courage, for the difficulties to be encoun- tered were such as probably no mortal before him had been called to meet.

The Indians had absolutely no literature, not even a scrap of a printed book or paper of any sort. The philologists of the present day, even when studying languages that have not been spoken for ages, have well-stored libraries at their command, but Mr. Eliot had nothing to begin with but the indis- tinctly spoken and very common words of the In- dians in their ordinary conversation. And those words were of a formidable character, some of them containing between forty and fifty letters, and all bearing no conceivable analogy to the words of any. other known language.

Moreover, the Indians knew nothing of the nice shades of meaning that are to be found so often in the Hebrew Bible, and in many of the modern translations thereof.

That Mr. Eliot appreciated the difficulties he would encounter when he entered upon his prepa- ration for this work is hardly probable. But as early as 1649, a year before he selected Natick for his Indian plantation, he expressed in letters bis ar- dent desire to translate some part of the Bible into the Indian tongue; and, two years later, he referred in a letter to his Indian assistant in the work of transla- tion as making some progress in the undertaking, which he had no hope, he said, to see completed in his day.

With his other labors he early found that he must have assistance, if any considerable progress should be made in the translation ; but this he could not ob- tain through lack of funds, as he had a family of five sons and one daughter to support. To what extent the English Society for Propagating the Gospel among the American Indians aided him in this emer- gency we know not, but certain it is that the funds for printing the New Testament in the Indian language came from that quarter. This printing was accom- plished in September, 1661, and twenty copies of this part of the Bible were soon sent to England, one of which was destined for the King, Charles II., whose |

"royal favor and assistance" were craved for carry- ing the Old Testament through the press. This last was an undertaking that required two additional years, but in 1663 it was accomplished, and, as it would appear, without any aid from the royal purse. The two Testaments were then bound together, and to the whole Bible thus completed were added a cate- chism and the Psalms of David in Indian verse.

This was the first Bible that was printed in New England.

What the edition cost cannot be ascertained. When it was about half done there had been paid out as one item " two hundred and thirty-seven pounds and five shillings," and it was estimated that two hundred pounds more would be needed. The press and types, with all the other necessary materials for the work, were sent over from England, and the printing was done by Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson. How large this edition was is uncertain, but it prob- ably consisted of fifteen hundred copies. When the New Testament had been completed, the Indians were at once supplied with two hundred copies strongly bound in leather.

About twenty years later Mr. Eliot had the satis- faction of seeing a second edition of his great work, the New Testament portion of which was printed at Cambridge in 1680, and the Old Testament at the same place in 1685, by Samuel Green. Whether al- terations and improvements had been made for this second edition we know not, but the supposition that this was the case is not improbable. To this edition belongs the Indian Bible which is kept in the safe of the town of Natick, in the town clerk's office. The rare book belongs to this town. It is, perhaps, about eight inches long, five inches wide and two or a little more inches in thickness. This Bible is a treasure, but it is supposed that no living man is able to read it. This great work of his eventful life having been accomplished, the first Gospel minister of Natick died at Roxbury, May 20, 1690, at the age of eighty- six years. He was buried in the ministers' tomb in that place, where a monument was erected to his memory. In October, 1847, a few of the citizens of Natick erected a monument to commemorate Mr. Eliot's life and work, at South Natick. It is a neat sandstone shaft, costing between two and three hun- dred dollars.

The Eliot Church and Society of Newton (the an- cient Nonantum) have just erected and dedicated one of the most convenient and elegant church edi- fices in New England. This church has perpetuated in its name the memory of the apostle to the Indians as well as that of one of his sons, John Eliot, Jr., who, after assisting his father greatly in his missionary work for a considerable period, became pastor at Newton (then called Cambridge Village), more than two hundred years ago. There have been placed in the new church edifice at Newton ten memorial windows, among which one in the nave is very con-

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

spicuous. It represents, with singular appropriate- ness, Rev. John Eliot preaching to the Indians. John Eliot, Jr., is said to have been an excellent pas- tor and preacher, but died when comparatively young, in 1668.

Among the memorial windows just placed in Me- morial Hall, Harvard University, are two (the gift of the class of 1878), in which appear, in full size and side by side, the figures of Warren and Eliot, the one in the act of presenting a musket and the other offer- ing a Bible. Under the figure of Warren is a small panel representing him as a statesman, while under that of Eliot we see the man of God offering the Gos- pel to the savages.

The Natick historian, Oliver N. Bacon, has pre- served for us the following extract from the speech of Hon. Edward Everett, delivered at Bloody Brook : "Since the death of Paul a nobler, truer and warmer spirit than John Eliot never lived. And taking the state of the country, the narrowness of the means, the rudeness of the age, into consideration, the his- tory of the Christian Church does not contain an ex- ample of resolute, untiring, successful labor, superior to that of translating the entire Scriptures into the language of the native tribes of Massachusetts-a labor performed, not in the flush of youth, nor amid the luxurious abodes of academic lore, but under the constant burden of his labors as a minister and preacher, and at a time of life when the spirits begin to flag."

When he was eighty three years of age Mr. Eliot preached to his Indian friends as often as once in two months, and as long as he was able to give them this amount of service they were adverse to any movement respecting the choice and ordination of his successor. But the matter assumed a new aspect when the aged man found the journey from and to Roxbury weari- some

When the election of a new pastor at length took place, the choice fell upon Daniel Takawambpait, who, without doubt, was also the first choice of Mr. Eliot. He was an Indian. His name is variously spelled in the records of that time, and sometimes certainly he, himself, omitted the "b" in giving his signature, while, perhaps oftener than otherwise, he called himself simply Daniel, the name by which he was most generally known.

Takawambpait appears to have been one of the earliest converts to Christianity and to have enjoyed the confidence of Mr. Eliot and all the better class of the Indians, while his scholarship was so good that for years he taught the Indian School at Natick. Two of the pastors of neighboring churches, after having made the tour of the Indian settlement in 1698, reported thus: "At Natick we find a small church consisting of seven men and three women. Their pastor (ordained by that reverend and holy man of God, Mr. John Eliot, deceased) is Daniel Takawambpait, and is a person of good knowledge.

Here are fifty-seven men, fifty-one women and seventy children under 16 years of age. We find no schoolmaster here and but one child that can read." 1 This report indicates a waning interest in the religious concerns of the Natick Indians after the death of Mr. Eliot, and this impression is confirmed by a state- ment in Mather's " Magnalia," under date of 1693 : "The Indian Church in Natick (which was the first Indian church in America) is, since blessed Eliot's death, much diminished and dwindled away. But Mr. Daniel Gookin has bestowed his pious care upon it." Mr. Gookin was a son of the Indian superin- tendent, Daniel Gookin, of Cambridge, and pastor at Sherborn. This was during the pastorate of Taka- wambpait, and from this reference to Mr. Gookin's preaching to the Natick Indians and from the interest they took in his services as indicated by a vote they passed, respecting his labors about the same time, it is plain that what he did for their spiritual good was done during some temporary illness or absence of their pastor.

This Indian minister, Takawambpait, died Septem- ber 17, 1716, and his tomb-stone stands in the inner line of the sidewalk, nearly in front of the Unitarian Church in South Natick.

It should be stated in this place that the house erected by the Indians for school and religious purposes, under the superintendence of Mr. Eliot, had become very poor and unfit for use by or before the year 1698. So May 21, 1699, the Indians sent to the Governor and General Court of the Province a petition for the privilege of selling " unto John Coller, Jr., carpenter, a small nook of our Plantation," to re- munerate him for building for them a new meeting- house. In this petition they speak of thirty families on the plantation, and "that we are now greatly dimin- ished and impoverished," that "our meeting-house where we were wont constantly to meet Sabbath days and lecture days to worship God is fallen down and we are not able to build us another." And later, 1702, June 3d, the General Court received a statement from this John Coller, in which he says, "I, John Coller, have built and erected a Meeting-house for the Public worship of God amongst ye Indians of Natic, accord- ing to agreement with ye town of said Natic and also the advice and direction of the Hon'ble Lt .- Governor and ye hon'ble Mr. Danforth." The land was granted, not exceeding 200 acres, to Mr. Coller June 5, 1702. This house stood upon the site of the one erected in 1651; Daniel Takawambpait preached in this, the second meeting-house, probably twelve or thirteen years.

That another Indian, John Neesmumin, next preached to the Indian congregation at Natick we infer from the fact that at a general meeting of all the freeholders and voters of the plantation May 11, 1719, at which a list was adopted of the real pro-

1 Biglow's " History."

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NATICK.

prietors of Natick, the name of this Indian appears as the last on the list and against it is written, " If he shall live and die in the work of the Gospel ministry in Natick." Of his qualifications for and success as a preacher we know nothing. He may have died soon, for the next year this record appears, "The town of Natick had agreed with Josiah Shonks to imply him of preaching at Natick for six months and begin said work 19th of December, 1720, for five pounds."

The ministry of this Indian must have been short, for during the following year other and more definite arrangements were made for the religious instruction of the Indians.

About this time, 1721, another meeting-house was erected for the Indians, on the spot where the school and meeting-house was built in 1651. A part of the funds required for this purpose may have come from England.

The Board of Commissioners for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians of America took measures in the year 1721 for supplying the Natick Plantation with a better and more permanent ministry.

Oliver Peabody, who graduated at Harvard College in 1721, was requested by the Board above-named to go at once to Natick, as a missionary to the Indians. Probably without any extensive theological educa- tion, but with a good mind and a warm and devoted Christian heart, Mr. Peabody obeyed this summons, and is said to have preached his first sermon in Natick, August 6, 1721. He found, we are told, but two white families in the place, and, later, committed to writing this statement : "After my most diligent inquiry and search, I can find no records of anything referring to the former church in Natick, nor who were members of it or baptized, till my coming to town." Mr. Peabody seems to have labored faith- fully in this field before he was ordained or a new church organized, for the space of eight years. "June 24, 1728, Voted that Rev. Mr. Peabody, dur- ing his continuance in the work of the ministry in Natick, have the sole use and improvement of the Ministerial Lot," of which more hereafter. And Nov. 25, 1728, " Voted that there be a contribution for ye Rev. Mr. Peabody the last Sabbath of every month, and Lieut. Wamsquam to hold the box." Of course this was an Indian provision for the support of their ministers. And the Indian Proprietors' Records show that grants of land were made to their minister by the Indians in 1729, 1730, 1732, 1733 and 1734. The lots given to him were often of considerable size, making in the aggregate two hundred and eleven acres, but probably not very valuable, as much of the common and undivided land conveyed by the Indians in those years covered the poorer portions of Natick. But certainly his parishioners showed their good will by these gifts to their pastor. A considerable portion. of Rev. Mr. Pcabody's salary doubtless came from the English friends of this enterprise, just as they had

furnished the funds for printing Rev. Mr. Eliot's In- dian Bible.

A committee of the Board of Commissioners visited Natick October 21, 1729, to consider particularly the religious concerns of the plantation, and by their advice a new church was organized, consisting of three Indian and five white male members. This organization took place December 3, 1729, Rev. Mr. Baxter, of Medfield, preaching the sermon. On the 17th of the same month Mr. Peabody was ordained at Cambridge, and he was permitted to report to a con- vention of ministers in Boston July 7, 1743, that " there have been added to our church of such as I hope shall be saved-about fifty persons of different nations-during the past two years, whose lives wit- ness in general to the sincerity of their profession."

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 148

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