History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 53

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

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-pastoral, eivil and political-this characteristic was prominent. At the beginning of the War of the Rebel- lion he took an active part in arousing the people and procuring enlistments. Having obtained a month's leave of absence in January, 1863, he attached him- self to the United States Christian Commission, and went to the front. The month's absence was ex- tended indefinitely. At length his repeated request for a dismissal was granted December 7, 1864, his people being satisfied that he could never be con- tented to settle down again to the quiet lite and eir- cumscribed sphere of Pepperell. He became general agent of the Commission, with full charge of the field work.

At the close of the war he engaged with his characteristic ardor in the cause of the freedmen, and held a prominent position in the American Mission- ary Association. Ile was afterwards appointed (by President Grant) commissioner of Indian affairs. While holding this latter office he exposed some of the malfeasance connected with this department, and thereby aroused a political excitement and opposition that led to his resignation. In 1875 he was elected President of the Howard University, Washington, D. C., and went to Africa to become more intimately acquainted with the needs of the negro race, and the most feasible methods of missionary work among the native tribes. While on this mission he died of African l'ever, on board the United States vessel "Ambrig", in the Gulf of Guinea, June 15, 1876, aged forty-nine years. One of his co-laborers thus writes of him : " lle was noted for his love of children, his mirthfulness, his generosity, his strong attachments, and his advocacy of the cause of the oppressed. Doing good in forgetfulness of self was his business, and he pursued it to the end."

In July, 1859, the meeting-house was destroyed by fire, together with Mr. Luther Tarbell's tavern and store building, in which the fire originated. The house had just been repaired, and the basement finished into a convenient vestry, which the congre- gation were expecting to use for the first time on the ensuing Sabbath. Instead of which, they met, on that Sabbath, in the Unitarian house, whose use for the afternoons had been cordially tendered, and listened to an impressive discourse by Mr. Smith, from the text, "Our holy and our beautiful house where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up by fire." (Psa. Ixiv. 11.) After considerable delay, occasioned by a want of unanimity on the question of location, the present commodious and well- arranged house was erected on the site of the old one, and dedicated January 29, 1860.

The same council that concurred in the dismissal of Mr. Smith installed Rev. S. L. Blake, a graduate of Middlebury and of Andover. Having preached acceptably to the people four years, he asked for a dismission December 28, 1868, in order to accept a call from the Old South Church, in Concord, N. H.

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His successor was Rev. Horace Parker, an Amherst graduate, who was installed March 17, 1870, and dismissed September 16, 1873, on account of ill health. By means of his earnest and persevering efforts a debt of nearly $3000, which had been grad- nally accumulating, was canceled, and two hundred dollars additional raised for repairs on the meeting- house. A parsonage was also bought during his pastorate.

Rev. George F. Swain was ordained March 12, 1875. He entered the ministry, not through the ordinary course of college and seminary, but from a business education and experience ; therefore he was more inclined to disregard the conventionalities and technicalities of clerical speech and deportment than was agreeable to many of his parishioners. His connection with the church and society was lissolved in Dec., 1879, and he returned to a business life.

Mr. Swain was succeeded by Rev. William G. Shoppe, from Bangor Theological Seminary, who was ordained November 11, 1880. A man of native sim- plicity and purity of character combined with great personal dignity, he commanded the love and respect of his people. His resignation, that he might accept a call to a church in Neponset, was reluctantly grant- ed, November, 1887.

Rev. Charles L. Tomblen, a graduate of Amherst, and of Andover, is at present the pastor in charge.

The first serious endeavor to introduce the services of Methodism in Pepperell was made during the fall and winter of 1855, by Oscar F. French, who formed a " class " at the North Village School-house. With occasional assistance from Revs. A. D. Merrill and M. M. Parkhurst, his efforts were so successful that, the following spring, Rev. G. Adams was sent from the New England Conference as the first pastor of a church, which was organized May, 1866.

For several years the Sabbath services were held in Parker's Hall, at Nissittisset Square; but, in 1873, through the zealons and untiring labors of Rev. A. W. Baird, a fund was raised sufficient to build a plain, convenient chapel in Babbitasset Village. The so- ciety increased and prospered. In 1885 a commodi- ous parsonage was built, and three years later the interior of the chapel was tastefully decorated and refurnished. The succession of ministers since Rev. G. Adams has been : 1867, Rev. M. R. Barry ; 1869, Rev. Asa Barnes ; 1871, Rev. A. W. Baird ; 1874, Rev. J. H. Emerson ; 1875, Rev. J. R. Cushing ; 1877, Rev. Alfred Noon ; 1880, Rev. W. D. Bridge; 1881, Rev. Daniel Atkins; 1883, Rev. Phineas C. Sloper; 1884, Rev. L. A. Bosworth, who was obliged, on account of ill health, to relinquish his charge in the fall of the same year. Mr. Sloper returned and completed the year, and continned as pastor for the next two years.

In 1887 he was succeeded by Rev. James Mudge, the present incumbent.

A Catholic mission was established at the Depot

Village in 1871, and a small chapel was erected, iu which services were held fortnightly by the priest from Ayer. In 1881 the chapel was enlarged and rebuilt into a new and attractive church. In 1884 a fine parochial house was built; and the following year Rev. Henry J. Madden was appointed pastor of the parish, which was then instituted, and which now numbers about nine hundred communicants.

CHAPTER Xx.

PEPPERELL-(Continued).

MUNICIPAL AND MILITANT.

ON the 12th day of April, 1753, by act of the Gen- eral Court, Groton West Parish, upon petition by its inhabitants, was made a district, and named Pepper- ell, in honor of Sir William Pepperell, the hero of the memorable capture of Louisbourg, in 1745. Rev. Mr. Emerson, who had been a chaplain in that expedi- tion, probably suggested the name of his old con- mander as appropriate for the new district. Sir William acknowledged the compliment by the cus- tomary present of a bell, which, however, was never received by those for whom it was intended. It was cast in England, and bore the inscription of the donor's name and the legend :

" I to the church the living call, And to the grave I summon all."

It was shipped to Boston and there stored. Its future history is chiefly conjectural. One tradition is that it was destroyed by the British soldiers during their occupancy of Boston in 1775, some twenty years after, which is hardly probable. Another story, equally apocryphal, is that the people of Pepperell, being earnestly engaged in the great struggle for in- dependence, neglected to send for the bell, until it had been confiscated and sold to pay the expenses of storage, etc. The tale that it was purchased by the Old South Church in Boston, and placed in their belfry, has been disproved by actual investigations made by the late Samuel Chase, the antiquarian of Pepperell, who made a personal inspection of every church bell in the city of Boston. Still another ver- sion is that a committee of three, afterwards reduced to one, was chosen by the town to go to Boston and get the bell ; that he went, sold the bell, put the pro- ceeds into his pocket, and returning, reported the bell " non inventus." But no record of any such committee or mention of the bell can be found in the town records. Mr. Chase, however, believed the last story to be mainly true ; he even claimed to know that the bell was sold to a society in New Hampshire, and that the church on which it was placed was afterwards burned to the ground ; but " for the credit of all par- ties," as he used to say, he always positively refused

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to testify further in the case. At all events, one thing is certain, the people of Pepperell never got that bell. Sir William always spelled his name with two "r's," and for many years the name of the town was so spelled.

As a district the inhabitants were entitled to all the rights and privileges of a town, except that of sending a representative to the General Court. They still continued to be represented by the member from Groton. In 1786, by act of the Legislature, all dis- tricts that had been incorporated previous to 1777 were made towns. Pepperell, however, from and after 1775, appears to have sent to the General Court her representative, who was received and recognized as such, but by what authority it is not known ; proba- bly by " right of revolution." Although the town of Groton, in its earlier history, had suffered severely from Indian raids, the people of Pepperell, for reasons already stated, were generally exempt from any serious attacks. Yet the knowledge of the characteristic treachery and vindictiveness of the Indian kept the settlers in a state of constant anxiety. Mr. Emerson makes the statement, in one of his discourses, that for several years after his settlement the men were ac- customed to carry their guns to meeting. Many are still living who can recall the thrilling tales told by the grandames of a century ago about Lovewell's fight and Chamberlain and Paugus; of Indian cunning and white man's circumspection, as received from their grandmothers, whose husbands, fathers or brothers were the heroes of the story. There was, however, very little actual warfare within the limits of the settlement. As far as can be ascertained, only one white man was killed within the territory of Groton West Parish. In July, 1724, John Ames, who lived in a garrison-house, on the intervale west of the Nashua River, about half a mile below Hollinsworth's mills, was surprised and shot in his door-yard by one of five Indians, who had been lurking about the place for several days. His son Jacob avenged the death of his father by shooting the Indian from the house with his father's guu. Midway between the " Munger corner "-so called-and the river, the spot where Mr. Ames' house stood is still indicated by the par- tially filled-in cellar. In 1744 hostilities were re- newed between England and France, and the Colo- nists were again involved in a war with the French and their Indian allies. But Pepperell was no longer a frontier town, and the theatre of war was removed farther to the northward. We have no record of the participation of any of the inhabitants of the district in the Old French War except that of Simon Green, who died in the army in 1748.

In what is called the French and Indian War, however, which commenced in 1756, Pepperell was called upon to furnish its quota of troops for the prosecution of the war, and promptly responded to the call. Mr. Emerson's previous experience and martial proclivities led him to take an active interest in mili-

tary matters; to his influence and encouragement, undoubtedly, was due much of that military and patriotic spirit which has always characterized the inhabitants of Pepperell, and has furnished so many brave officers and soldiers from among her citizens. In the spring of 1758 a company from Pepperell and its vicinity was enlisted for the French and Indian War, under the command of Capt. Thomas Lawrence. Previous to their departure to join the army, Mr. Emerson preached a sermon appropriate to the occa- sion, in which he addressed them thus :

" My friends ond brethren : 'Tis a matter of rejoicing to me that so many of you have engaged in this affair with so much cheerfulness, and proffered your services for your country ; and some of you, I hope, have entered upon it with becoming seriousness. If the present expe- dition should go forward according to our present expectation -- wbich God grant it may !- and nut be stigmatized, as some former ones have been, by the name of a mock expedition, whereby we have become the shame of our friends and the contempt of our enemies. I say, if the army should proceed, you will, doubtless, be called into action, and must expect to jeopardize your life in the high places of the field. Fix then this in your minds, that danger you must encounter ; imagine not that you are going out against a weak and effeminate enemy, who will be af- frighted as soon as they hear of your approach, or be intimidated by the very sound of your drums, and run away as soon as you charge them, and you have nothing to do but fall upon the prey and loud yourselves with the spoils. Far from this ; you are going against an enemy who are far from being dastardly ; an enemy flushed with various and repeat- ed successes. And as you are designed by the present concerted scheme of operation to enter the very heart of the enemy's country, you may well expect that they will not tamely resign their possessions into your bands. I say not these things to discourage you, but rather to animate yon to set out with greater resolution and courage. If you alight upon dangers, this will not make them heavier when they come, and it may serve something to lighten them when they come. You are to fight ; you are enlisted to this end ; you are paid for this purpose. Boldly theu advance into the heart of the enemy's country. Fear them not ; let it never be said of a New England soldier-let it never be said of a Pepper- ell soldier that he was afraid to face his enemies, or that he ever turned his back on them and cowardly deserted the cause of his conntry."

Capt. Lawrence was not disobedient unto the min- isterial injunction. He was a man of extraordinary size and strength ; resolute and daring, and experi- enced in Indian warfare. Holding in contempt the valor of the savages, he was accustomed to boast that he would never run from the Indians, nor be taken alive by them, which assertion he was destined to verify. In July, 1758, while out in command of a scouting-party, at Half-way Brook, near Lake George, he was suddenly surprised by the Indians, and, with the exception of a few who fled at the first fire, the whole party were killed, the gallant captain being the last to fall. His body, when found, bore witness to the desperation with which he had fought. The following men from Pepperell are reported as having lost their lives in this war: William Blood, John Parker, James Coburn, Jr., John Kemp, Oliver Kemp, Jabez Kemp, Samuel Fisk, Jr., Capt. Thomas Lawrence, David Shattnek, Jr., Stephen Kemp, Ephraim Hall, Nathaniel Green, John Avery and Charles Barron.

Trained in such a school, and inspired by so zealous an apostle of liberty as Mr. Emerson, the people of Pepperell were all prepared to enter with ardor into the contention between Parliament and Provinces, which led to the Revolutionary War. They were

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among the first to notice and protest against the arbi- trary acts of the British Ministry, and among the first to sustain that protest by active and forcible measures.

The district voted, on October 25, 1765, to give the following instructions to their representative in the General Conrt :

" To Abel Lawrence, Esq .: Taking into consideration the measures that bave been adopted by the British ministry, and acts of Parliament muade, which press hard upon our Invaluable rights and privileges, by the royal charter granted to the first settlers of this province, the power of making laws and levying taxes invested in the General Assembly. It is certain we were not represented in Parliament, neither were the re monstraocee sent by this province admitted there when the late act, call ed the stamp act, by which an insupportable and uncoustitutional tax is laid on the Colonies, was made. We, therefore, think it onr indispen- Bable duty to desire yon, by no means, to join in any measures for conn- tenancing or assisting in the execution of the said stamp act. Further- more, ae the trade of this province is greatly obstructed, and the people labor under an almost insupportable debt, we expect you will use your utmost endeavors, in the General Assembly, that the monies of the prov- ince drawn from the individuals, may not be applied to any other nses, under any pretence whatever, than what is evidently intended in the act for supplying the province treasury."

Mr. Emerson preached a Thanksgiving Sermon January 24, 1766, on the repeal of the Stamp Act, which was printed for general circulation. The text was from Ezra 9, the latter clause of the 13th and first part of the 14th verses-" hast given ns such deliver- ance as this : Should we again break thy command- ments." Mr. Emerson spoke of the repeal of the Stamp Act as one of the great deliverances in Eng- lish history ; he expressed the hope that the oppres- sion of Great Britain was over; and exhorted the people to humble and hearty thanksgiving therefor. A few extracts from his sermon will show the feeling of the colonists towards the mother-country at this time :

" Let us cultivate in our own minde and in the minds of our children an affection for our mother country, and a love and respect for those who have signalized themselves in our behalf. There is such a connection between Great Britain and her American colonies, and such their mu- tual dependence, that they must stand and fall together. We should always look upon her friends as our friends, her enemies as our enemies. When this deliverance was granted us there was universal joy among onr brethren at home, among all who wished well to the true interests and sought the true honor of the nation. Let us seek their welfare to our utmost, promoting their interests, remembering them at the throne of Grace. Of Great Britain will we say, ' Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces.'" . . . " Let us have reverence for and be duly subject to lawful authority. Government is drawn from God, thongh the practical form of it is left to the prudence and discretion of man." . . "Anarchy la, in some respects, worse than tyranny." . . "We have a king who ie well worthy of our affection aod obedience. We have the greatest assurance that he will not iofringe upon our liberties ; let him have our most dutiful submission. We have subordinate rulers and ex- cellent laws ; let us see to it, that we lead quiet and peaceful lives in all godliness and honesty."

This does not sound like rebellion ! But all these sanguine hopes were doomed to disappointment. It soon became apparent that in the repeal of the Stamp Act the British Ministry were actuated by motives of policy rather than a sense of justice. The colonists soon found that although the Act had been repealed, the spirit which instigated it still survived to be manifested in more odious forms of taxation. Re- peated acts of oppression at length convinced both

pastor and people that their expressions of loyalty to the "mother-country " were of no avail, and that obedience to the injunction "Honor the King " was no longer a Christian duty.

In 1772 the following article was inserted in a war- rant for a district meeting :

" To see if the district are so generally inspired with true patriotic spirit, se to propose aoy method in order to retrieve and recover the con- stitutional liberties that have been extorted from na, contrary to the royal charter, and in order to prevent any further unjust taxes, ton- nage, ponadage and the like, and act thereon as shall be thought proper, and most conducive to the happiness of all true sons of liberty, and to American subjects in general."

At a district meeting held January 15, 1773, a com- mittee of nine men was chosen "to consider what is proper for this district to do, at this alarming time, respecting the encroachiments that have been made upon our civil privilege." This committee reported the following communication to the Committee of Cor- respondence, and also a letter of instructions to their representative, both of which follow :

" To the Committee of Correspondence, Boston :

"GENTLEMEN, -You will be so good as to inform the town of Borton that we have received their kind letter, together with the pamphlet set- ting forth our liberties as men, as Christians, ae subjecte, with the in- fringements which have been made upon them. Desire tbem to accept our hearty acknowledgemente for their vigilance over our common interests, and remitting to n8 80 particular accounts of the innovations made upon our charter privileges. Assure them that we are greatly alarmed at the large etrides which have been made by the enemies of our excellent constitution towards enslaving a people. We of this place are unani- mous ; no less than one hundred have signed a request to the selectnien to call a meeting, though we count but one hundred and sixty families ; and when met the fullest meeting that was ever known on any occasion, and not a dissenting vote or voice. We feel for ourselves, we feel for our posterity, we feel for our brethren through the continent. We tremble at the thought of slavery, either civil or ecclesiastical, and are fully seosible of the near connection there is between civil and religions liberty. If we lose the former the latter will not remain ; our resent- muent (not to say our indigoatioo) rises against them, let them be in whatsoever relation they may, who would dare invade our natural or constitutional rights. Tell onr brethren at Boston, that we entirely agree with them in their seotiments transmitted to us, both with respect to what are our rights, and those infringements which have been made upon them ; and etand ready to co-operate with them in all measures warranted by them and the constitution, and the law of nature, for the recovery of those privileges which have been unreasonably and uncon- stitutionally wrested from us, and for the establishment and security of those we do enjoy. Offering up our unfeigned desires to the all-wise God that he would, in thie day of darkness, be a larup to our feet, a light to our path and gracionaly direct to those measures which may be effect- nal for this purpose."

" To James Prescott, representative of the town of Groton, and the districts of Pepperell and Shirley :

"Sia,-We, his majesty's most loyal and dutiful subjects, the free- holders and other iohabitante of the district of Pepperell, legally assem- bled, July 18, 1773, being ever ready to give due assistance aod encour- agement to government in a constitutional way, at the same time great- ly concerned that the rights and privileges of British subjects (our birth- right and the richest inheritance left us by our fathers) may be securely enjoyed by us and tranemitted entire to our posterity, cannot but be greatly affected at the frequent innovatione which have been made upon our happy constitution ; the particulars of the encroachmente innde on our liberties we shall not at this time enumerate, but referring yon to a pamphlet sent from Boston to every town in the province, which we think very justly states our rights, and the encroachments made npon them ; we, therefore, who are no small part of your constituents, du desire and expect that you exert yourself in the Great aod General AG- sembly to the utmost of your ability, for the regaloing of anch privi- leges as have been unjustly wrested from us, and establishing those we do enjoy. We trust that you will ever be watchful, that you be not

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ndnced by any means to couseot to any vote or vutes, in the Great and General Assembly, that may have a tendency to weaken our constitu- tional rights and privileges, or ever in a like case to be made a prece- dent of, to the disadvantage of us and our posterity. Presenting the above instructiona to your wise consideration, we wish that you and all true friends to the English constitution may be under the divine direc- tion, that you may be led into the pathe of truth, and never be driven aside from seeking the welfare of your country."

The district unanimously accepted this report and chose a committee to transmit the communications to the parties to whom they were addressed.

"In February, 1773, the district voted to add two casks of powder, and lead answerable, to their stock of ammunition."

June 27, 1774, the district passed the following preamble and resolutions, and voted to send a copy of the same to Boston :

" Under a deep sense of the distressing and very extraordinary cir- cumstances we of this land are uohappily brought into, by-as we think- a bad ministry in our parent country, by the innovations already made ju our civil liberties, and what seems to be further threatened, we are with concern of opinion, that it behooves us and all this province, and all North America, to set up a general correspondence and to cultivate har- mony, that there may he a united voice with resolution throughout this land, that we may make a proper stand, and lift up our united prayers, to Almighty Gud to pity ne, and vouchsafe to us his gracious protection, and direct us into such measures as he will please to prosper and succeed for our deliverance from the great difficulties and embarrassments we are uoder, and secure and save us from impending ruin, with which we are further threatened by some in power, who carry on their wicked designe as if by magic art assisted. We seriously recommend to all amongst ns and the whole of North America to lay aside all contentions, broila, and even small quarrels, and to omit the practice of everything that tends to disunite na as brethren, as neighbors, as countrymen, that are interested in one aod the same canee, And mmet stand or fall togeth- er. Therefore, resolved,

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 53

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