History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 52

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III > Part 52

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"Sixty Pounds upon Sundries .- Sheep's wool at 10s. per lh. ; flax, 38. 6d. ; shoes, 30s. per pair ; labor at £60 per year ; butter, 28. 6d. per Ib.

To estimate the salary annually upon such a basis must have been rather perplexing, and in 1767 the district abandoned the plan, and voted to give Mr. Emerson £73 68. 8d. annually, computing silver at 68. per dollar, and 6s. 8d. per ounce. Upon this change Mr. Emerson remarks :

" I heartily rejoice that you have seen fit to set aside the old contract, which hath been the occasion of so much trouble. As to the sum you offer me instead of it, I thankfully accept of it. All things con- sidered, it is honorable and kind, and is a token that, after so many years, my labors are yet acceptable amoug you. I hope, through divine grace, to go on with more cheerfulness in the work of the ministry, aod while I am partaking of your carnal things, that the Lord may abundantly shower down spiritual blessings, is the sincere prayer of your affectionate pastor. 1 desire this may be recorded in the parish book."

Mr. Emerson's farm of " forty acres of land within a mile of the meeting-house" was located on Elm and Townsend Street, including the lands now owned by William Kendall, Miss Freeman, and others. It also extended easterly on Elm Streets, comprising the whole area from the " common " to Green's Brook, and as far east as the land of Mrs. D. B. Sibley. His house was where the "Shipley " house now stands. The large flat stone which served as the door-step of his study, still remains in its old position.

In 1767, the parish having outgrown, in more senses than one, the old meeting-house, preparations were commenced for the building of a new one. The sum of eighty pounds was voted to be raised for the pur- pose. It was also voted "that the house be built workman-like." A vote was also passed that, " con- sidering we are engaged in the important affair of building a new house for the worship of God, voted to set apart Thursday as a day of fasting aud prayer, to confess our manifold sins, whereby we have pro- voked our God to frown upon us in our public affairs, and earnestly implore the return of his favor, and par- ticularly to humble ourselves before God for our un- profitableness under the means of grace we have en- joyed in the old meeting-house, and entreat his guid- ance in erecting a new one." This new house was built in 1769, on the site of the old one, which the building contractor, Cornet Simon Gilson, took in part payment for his contract, and removed to his farm (now J. M. Belcher's) where he converted it into a barn, probably without much change. In 1830 it was destroyed by the act of an incendiary. In March, 1870, the new meeting-house was dedicated with ap- propriate religious services, on which occasion Mr. Emerson preached a sermon from this text: "Then Samuel took a stone, and set it up between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying,

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Hitherto has the Lord helped ns." In this discourse Mr. Emerson enumerated many reasons why the peo- ple of Pepperell should follow the example of the prophet-the preservation of the church when threat- ened with destruction ; the increase of population since his settlement from seventy-two to one hundred and fifty-two families, and a proportional increase in their substance, so that they had been able to pay the charges of their becoming a parish and then a dis- trict, and of building a house for worship ; their preservation from savage enemies when they were under the necessity of taking their firearms with them to meeting, as they had done since his settle- ment." He exhorted them "to acknowledge with gratitude that they had been preserved while erect- ing the second meeting-house, not a life having been lost or a bone broken while providing the timber, raising the frame and finishing the house," and in con- clusion he said that he himself would on that occasion set up his Ebenezer, it being the twenty-third anni- versary of his ordination, and acknowledged that hitherto the Lord had helped him, both in temporal and spiritual matters. In building this second meet- ing-house the people appear to have acted in har- meny, the only question of difference being in regard to a steeple, which, as they had no bell, was finally de. cided in the negative. Subsequently, however, a steeple was built of the height of one hundred feet and a bell placed therein. The house was sixty feet long and forty-five feet wide, and was built in the style of architecture common to the New England churches of the time-a plain, yellow building with a belfry and two porches, a deep gallery along three sides of the interior, and a high pulpit on the fourth side, with the deacons' seat below and the queer sounding. board above. The ground floor was filled with high, square pews, intersected by rectangular aisles. The noon-house, or Sabbath-day house, as it was often called, was a building especially adapted to the times. It usually consisted of a single room with a fire-place, and was furnished with a table and seats. It was owned by one or more of the prominent men of a neighborhood remote from the meeting-house. Thither the owners, with their families and friends, would re- pair during the intermission between the forenoon and afternoon services, to refresh themselves with a picnic dinner, and spend an hour of social intercourse. The idea of heating the meeting-house was not even tolerated in those days, and in winter the blazing fire in the noon-house was a real comfort to the worship- pers ; and from the glowing embers the women re- plenished their foot-stoves for the afternoon meeting. There were eight of these houses situated in different directions and within a radius of twenty rods from the meeting-house. They continued in nse until stoves were introduced, although with much opposition, into the meeting-house about the year 1826, after which time they one by one disappeared.

Mr. Emerson was not permitted to enjoy the priv-

ileges of the new sanctuary many years. In the sum- mer of 1775 he went to Cambridge to visit his numer- ons parishioners, serving under Colonel Prescott in the Continental Army, there assembled. Tradition says he there offered the first public prayer in the American camp. While ministering to the temporal, as well as spiritual, needs of the soldiers, he took a cold from exposure, which resulted in a fever, termin- ating his life on the 29th of October, 1775, at the age of fifty-one years. He died an early martyr to the cause of that liberty whose principles he had so zeal- ously and practically instilled into the minds of his people. The following incident, as related by Colonel William Prescott, forcibly illustrates the peculiar blending of conservatism and radicalism in his char- acter. Previous to the battle of Bunker Hill, secret meetings of the Committee of Safety were frequently held in the town. On a Saturday evening one of these meetings was held in the tavern which stood on the present site of the church of the Second Parish. Mr. Emerson had been present during the early part of this meeting, but had returned home. After mid- night, as from the window of his study he looked across the Common and saw the lights still burning in the committee-room, indicating that the session was not yet closed, he hastened to the tavern, and, ad- monishing the committee that the Sabbath had come, insisted on an immediate adjournment. During the twenty-nine years of Mr. Emerson's ministry he bap- tized 807 persons, and admitted 196 into the church. Eight deacons, elected by the church, were ordained by him, viz .: Jeremiah Lawrence, John Spafford, January 11, 1747-48; Josiah Fisk, January 18, 1754; Peleg Lawrence, August 21, 1754 ; Thomas Laughton, August 3, 1759 ; David Blood, April 9, 1762; Daniel Fiske, April 23, 1773; Edmund Parker, October 8, 1773. It was customary for one chosen deacon to sig- nify his consent by a formal letter of acceptance, when he was inducted into office by a solemn charge from the minister, and thereafter was privileged to sit in the " deacon's seat."

The form used by Mr. Emerson on these occasions was as follows :

" Dear brother :- We congratulate you upon the hooor which the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, hath Leeo pleased to confer upon yon ; for we doubt not that you had a call to this office, which under the influence of his spirit, as we trust, you have accepted ; that Spirit, which Christ hath purchased aod promised to send down, not only to convince and convert the sioner, but also as a guide and teacher to his people, and hath assured us that he should lead us ioto all truth. You Bre sensible there is a work as well as an honor attending the office, which you must see to it that you fulfil. I would therefore charge you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who eball judge both the quick and the dead, another day, before the elect angels and thia assembly, that you faithfully discharge the duties of your station, that you fulfil the ministry you have received. See to it, that you answer the charac- ter of the deacons in the word of God. 'Be grave, not double-tongued, not giveu to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre, hold the mystery of the faith io a pure conscience.' See to it, that you govern your children and household well, 'be hlameless, be an example to believers them- selves ; let your cooversatioo be as becometh godliness, watch and pray contionally, that those who seek occasion to speak evil of you, may find ooDe; live always as uoder the eye of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will

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shortly call you to give an account of your stewardship.' If you thus behave and do, 'you will purchase to yourself a good degree' of favor with God and good men, and great boldness in the faith which is in Jesus Christ. And let me put you in mind, that as the Lord Jesus and this his people, expect more from you in this relation than ever, so there is strength enough in Christ for you, and he will not leave you if you do not first forsake him. O, then, repair to him by a lively faith. Go out of yourself, trust wholly in bim ; so shall you fulfil your course at length with joy, and your Lord will say to you, ' Well done, good and faithful servant : as you have been faithful over a few things, 1 will make you ruler over many things; enter into the joy of your Lord.' May this at last be your and our portion, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory in the church, world without end. Anien."

Mr. Emerson's virtues are thus enumerated upon the tablet, which the town erected over his tomb :

"Steadfast in the Faith once delivered to the Saints. Fixed and laborious in the cause of Christ and precious souls. Exemplary in vis iting and sympathizing with his Flock. Diligent in improving his Tal- ents. A Kind Husband ; a tender Parent ; A Faithful reprover ; a con- stant Friend ; and a true Patriot. Having ceased from bis Labors, bis works follow bim."

Amid the anxieties and distresses of the Revolu- tionary War four years elapsed before a successor to Mr. Emerson was decided upon. Regular preaching was, however, maintained the greater part of the time. Mr. Joseph Emerson, a son of the late pastor, sup- plied the pulpit during the year 1776. His promise of a useful life was soon blighted by an early death. In 1778 Mr. Jonathan Allen received a call to become the minister of the parish, which he declined.

Mr. John Bullard, of Medway, a graduate of Har- vard University, of the class of 1776, was ordained October 18, 1779. His ministry comprised a period of almost forty-two years, which were prosperous and happy. Warm in his sympathies and genial in his conversation and habits, he is spoken of by a contem- porary as "of that almost peculiar urbanity which led him to treat all men of learning and fair moral char- acter as friends and companions." Although, appar- ently, more of " a man of the world" than his prede- cessor, he possessed none the less the virtues and excellencies of a true Christian minister. He was mueh interested in the cause of education ; was one of the founders of the Groton Academy, and a trustee of that institution during his life. Three of his four sons were educated there preparatory to their enter- ing college. The Sunday-school was instituted in 1819, by the efforts of Mrs. Nebemiah Cutter and some other ladies, who were greatly assisted and en- couraged in this work by their pastor. Mr. Bullard died September 18, 1821, aged sixty-five years, univer- sally heloved and lameuted. During his ministry he baptized 556 persons, and admitted 156 members to his church. Four deacons were elected-Nathaniel Hutchinson and Nathaniel Lakin, April 23, 1789; Joseph Parker and Edmund Jewett, August 15, 1805.

Rev. James Howe, of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, a graduate of Dartmouth and of Andover, was ordained October 16, 1822. For several years the relations be- tween pastor and people were harmonious; but at length dissatisfaction began to be expressed by cer- tain of the more liberally-inclined in regard to ex-

changes ; the complaint being that Mr. Howe was too exclusive in that matter. After several ineffectual attempts, the town finally passed a vote in May, 1831 : "To exeuse Rev. James Howe from preaching six Sabbaths in the course of the ensuing year, and per- mit the pulpit to be supplied on those Sabbaths by ministers of other denominations." The enforcement of this vote by its advocates Mr. Howe regarded as an expulsion from his pulpit. Accordingly, he, with nearly the entire church and a large majority of the congregation, peaceably withdrew and formed a sep- arate religious society under the title of " The Evan- gelical Congregational Society of Pepperell," to which the church allied itself, and of which Mr. Howe was recognized as pastor, by a council called for that pur- pose, February 1, 1832. Thus the town was divided into two parishes and two churches ; each church, however, claiming to be the original " First Church of Pepperell."

The First Parish, which now ineluded all the legal voters that had not "signed off," and the remnant of a church which still adhered to it, was left without a minister or even a deacon. But it retained several of the wealthiest and most influential families of the town and a legal possession of the real estate and per- sonal property of the original parish. With a zeal stimulated by the sharp controversy, the remaining members of the parish immediately proceeded to reor- ganize by the election of necessary officers, and chose a " Committee to hire preaching." Dr. John Walton and Mr. Benjamin IIale were chosen deacons.

After having heard several candidates preach during the year, a decision was made in favor of Rev. Charles Babbidge, of Salem, a Harvard graduate- class of 1828-and he was ordained and settled February 13, 1833. " A gentleman and a scholar" in the fullest import of the phrase, courteous and affable to all, without distinction of sect or party, he soon gained the esteem and affection of his people. He married, January 21, 1839, Miss Eliza Ann Ban- croft, daughter of one of his parishioners, Luther Bancroft, Esq .; he bought a farm, built a house, and so fully identified himself with the people of Pepper- ell and their interests, that he repeatedly refused calls to much larger congregations and more eligible pulpits. He was a member of the School Board for forty years ; and in 1859 he represented his distriet in the Legislature. At the commencement of the late war he was chaplain of the Sixth Regiment, and the first minister in the country to enlist ; thus giving to l'epperell the honor of furnishing the first chaplain for the War of the Rebellion as well as of the Revo- lution. Having served through the three months' campaign of the Sixth, he received, in November, ISGI, a commission as chaplain of the Twenty-sixth Massachusetts Regiment, in which he served three years. Upon his discharge from the service, Novem- ber 7, 1864, he returned to the peaceful pursuits of his professional life, and to his people, who gladly

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welcomed him home. During the greater part of Mr. Babbidge's absence Rev. John Buckingham officiated as pastor in charge.

February 13, 1883, the semi-centennial anniversary of Mr. Babbidge's ordination was celebrated with ap- propriate religious exercises and social festivities, in which several of his classmates in college and the Divinity School participated. The Rev. A. P. Pea- body, D.D., in his congratulatory speech on the oc- casion thus addressed Mr. Babbidge :

" I do not forget that you have been wanted elsewhere, that wistful eyes were ofteu turoed hitherward from our metropolis on the statement ot the eminent historian who used to pass bis summers here, that the best preaching he heard was in Pepperell. Nor can I forget that when the trustees of the Meadville Divinity School sought a wise man of the East to hold office in it, they found you at the bottom of your well, and having read io their childhood that truth had such a home, they were all the more earnest to capture for their service tho transparent truth aod genuine Christian manhood, which they heard as they talked with you over the well-curb, and saw in you when you emerged into the light of day."

Rev. Joshua Young, pastor of the First Church in Groton, who followed, in an address of fellowship, said :

"You loved, rather, the simple life, the simple manners, the simple folk of the country. You loved the scented fields, the deep and shady woods, the hills and the rocks;

' Their colors and their forms were to you an appetite, A feeling and a love.'

And so it was pleasant to you to unite with an intellectual and sacred calling the cultivation of the seed-receiving soil, and, methinks, that every time you went forth frumu the study to the farm, it was to touch the ground Aotaus like and receive new strength from Mother Earth ; and, therefore, we see you to-day, after an active and interrupted min- istry of fifty years, at the age of seventy and six-almost four-score- still at your post, your eye not dim, nor your natural force abated, wear- ing gracefully the marks of a well-spent life 'of virtue, truth, well- tried and wise experience;' in green old age, like an oak worn, but still steady amidst the elements, while younger trees-so many of them- are fallen."

The following summer Mr. Babbidge was honored by Harvard University with the degree of D.D. In February, 1886, in the eightieth year of his life, he resigned his charge of the church and society of which he had been pastor fifty-three years, although he is still a constant attendant at the Sabbath ser- vices.

Mr. Walter C. Moore, from the Meadville Divinity School, was ordained and settled over the parish Sep- tember 7, 1887.

The old meeting-house, having become antiquated and much out of repair, was, in the year 1836, com- pletely remodeled and rebuilt in modern style; and re-dedicated October 27th of that year.

The Second Parish, immediately upon its organiza- tion under the name of "The Evangelical Congrega- tional Society of Pepperell," commenced to build a commodious house of worship, which was dedicated October 31, 1832. . Previous to this time their public services had been held in an unfinished hall over the store where the town-house now stands.

Mr. Howe, with an hereditary predisposition to pulmonary disease, found his health and strength 15-iii

gradually failing under the work and excitement of the new parish, until he was obliged to ask for a col- leagne to assist him in his labors. From among sev- eral candidates, the choice fell upon Mr. David An- drews, a graduate of Amherst and of Andover, and he was ordained January 29, 1840. Mr. Howe died the following summer, July 19, 1840, at the age of forty- four years. He was a man of unusual sagacity and foresight, with remarkable tact as well as judgment. His administrative abilities were of a high order. Very few ministers could have led off so successfully, and withal so peaceably, as he, a large majority of the church and congregation. There was no legal controversy, no actual quarrel. A spirit of bitterness, however, was developed among the people, and the town was divided into two politico-theological parties, which existed for many years. But the ministers of the opposing sects, although they could not meet in theological fellowship, always met each other as gen- tlemen on the common ground of Christian courtesy. Mr. Babbidge, in his discourse at his semi-centennial anniversary, said of Mr. Howe:

" The incidents of his ministry, his pure life and early death, are mat. ters that have fallen within the personal knowledge of many of you who bear me, and need no words from me. I feel, however, that I may on this occasion bear my humble tribute to the memory of one who, whether he erred in judgment or action, gave auiple evidence of his wish to serve God conscientiously and faithfully. Becoming, as I did, his successor in the pastoral office, and also his fellow-townsman, it was my lot to coore freqneatly iuto communication with him, and I cherish with great satisfaction the pleasant intimacy that sprang np between us, and continued unbroken to the end of his life."

Mr. Andrews, who became sole pastor on Mr. Howe's decease, was, in many respects, quite different from his predecessor. Though a thorough scholar and a forcible writer, he was no orator. A perfect gentleman at heart, kind and sympathizing, yet he was externally cold and uncongenial, and in manner awkward and constrained. He had no policy, no finesse, but in everything pursued a straightforward, outspoken course. Ile preached the Gospel as he be- lieved it, plainly and with a directness that was often more pungent than agreeable to his hearers, many of whom began to grow dissatisfied, and demand a more entertaining, if not a more liberal style of preaching. He labored faithfully and conscientiously more than ten years of the best part of his life for this church and parish, only to feel at last that he was unappreci- ated. He tendered his resignation April 2, 1850. He afterwards preached several years at Tiverton, R. I., and then settled in Winona, Minn., where he died in 1870.

The 29th day of January, 1847, being an anniver- sary of Mr. Andrews' ordination, and without due cor- rection for change of style, the centennial of the founding of the First Church in Pepperell, was cele- brated by the Evangelical Congregational Society, on which occasion the pastor delivered a discourse containing an interesting account of the settlement of the parish and its ecclesiastical history during the one hundred years of its existence,

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But the church and society of the First Parish, claiming, at least, an equal right to the title of " First Church in Pepperell," and feeling somewhat indig- nant at having been totally ignored in the whole matter of the celebration, made arrangements for a true centennial celebration, which took place on the 6th day of February, 1847, exactly one hundred years after the organization of the church.

Mr. Babbidge delivered a polemical address per- tinent to the occasion, in which he strongly pro- tested against the action of the other church and society, because he " thought it due to the church connected with the ancient religious society, to the officers and members of this church and to society at large." Ile concluded thus: "We of this town are an excitable people. The inhabitants of Pep- perell have always been so. There is something in the atmosphere upon our hills that infuses a mer- eurial, a sensitive principle into onr blood. We are great sticklers for equal rights and popular liberty. The very name of 'Bunker Hill' stirs our hearts as the sound of the trumpet does the war-horse. Being aware of this common characteristic of ours, let us beware how we give each other occasion for offence. Let us live together peaceably, in that spirit which hecometh the followers of the Son of God."

Rev. Lyman Cutler, of Dorchester, a graduate of Dartmouth and of Andover, was ordained January 22, 1851. He was a fine classical scholar, and was ambitious for literary distinction. He was gifted with a ready command of language and a nervous style of thought and delivery that thrilled his hearers to their fingers' ends. Open-hearted and free from guile, he counted upon the same traits in all men, and although greatly admired by his people, he was not looked up to as a safe adviser and guide in temporal matters. Ile was unsuited to the parochial duties of a country parish, and his request for a dismissal was granted iu November, 1853. The following year he was settled in Newton, where, after a brilliant but brief career, he died May 2, 1855.

Rev. Thomas Morong, a graduate of Amherst and of Andover, was ordained April 12, 1854, and dis- missed November 4, 1855.

June 11, 1856, Rev. Edward P. Smith was ordained pastor of the church. He was graduated from Yale and Andover. On his first visit to Pepperell, to preach as a candidate, he lost his valise, which contained his sermons and a change of raiment. Nothing daunted, however, he went into the pulpit in his traveling suit, and preached an extempore ser- mon, so fraught with freedom, fervency and zeal that he aroused the enthusiasm of the congregation, and received a call from them directly. He was a man of remarkable executive ability; with him to think was to aet ; so much so that he was liable to hastily fol- low his first impulse, rather than wait for the sober second thought. In bis preaching and his whole life

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 52

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278