History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 78

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 78

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In the old book in which he kept a record of his ministry in Limerick, he gives an account of the last Sacrament which he observed there with his friends, under date of January 13, 1683-84. Imme- diately beneath this entry, and under date of October 6, 16s6, is a brief account of his settlement in Water- town. Ilere he remained until 1692, doing his work with a zeal and fidelity that sorely overtaxed his fail- ing strength. For a short time he had as colleague his brother, Mr. Thomas Bailey, an amiable and ex- cellent man, who died in January, 1688, aged thirty- tive years and was interred in the old burying-ground. In 1691 Mr. Bailey was deeply afflicted by the death of his wife, and with this event his work as minister in Watertown way virtually ended. A single entry in his book records a baptism on May 31, 1691, about a month after the death of his wife, and with this his quaint farewell to his people and the town that had been his home. The diary of a brother minister hints at the reason for his removal in these words-" Then, being very melancholy and having the gout, he moved to Boston."

" The distinguished traits of Mr. Bailey's character,"

says Dr. Francis, " were ardent piety, great tender- ness of conscience, and an absorbing interest in the spiritual welfare of his fellow-men." The records he has left show that he was much given to melancholy, and to the sort of severe self-judgment to which the religion of the time inclined men. " If he had been at any time," says Matber, "inuocently cheerful in the company of his friends, it cost him afterward abundance of sad reflection." Judging from the specimens left in his book, his sermons must have been addressed to the feelings, rather than to the in- tellects of his audiences. He was evidently a pleasing and popular preacher, for he records that on the 20th of November, 1687, there were in the church many " from Dedham, Wooburn, Barnstable, Cambridge, Old Church in Boston, & Yo New Church in Boston, Cambridge Village, Concord, Dorchester, Roxbury, Newbury, Charlestown, Weymouth, etc. Ye text was in Col ii : 11."

Mr. Bailey was much sought for as a preacher in the adjoining towns, and one of his bearers who once heard him in Boston, has left on record his impres- sion in the words, "I thought he spake like an angel."

After his return to Boston, Mr. Bailey acted as as- sistant minister in the First Church, when he was not too ill for work, holding his office until December 12, 1697, when he died in the fifty-fourth year of his age.

In his record-book, under date of April 27, 1690, Mr. Bailey writes: "I admitted " (to the church) " Mr. Henry Gibbs, who has sometimes preached for me, and now this quarter of a year has lived with me." On the 14th of October, in the same year, the town voted " to make choice of a help to carry on the work of the ministry amongst us, in this our great need." At the same meeting it was voted " to treat with Mr. llenry Gibbs," and to give him forty pounds. These measures indicate that Mr. Gibbs was at this time engaged to act as Mr. Bailey's assistant, the latter be- ing unable, on account of ill-health, to attend regu- larly to his duties. To this position the young man was most heartily welcomed by his elder, who enter- tained for him a very tender regard. When Mr. Bailey removed to Boston, Mr. Gibbs was left the only minister in the town. He had not been ordained, but continued to act as minister to the society, his engage- ment being renewed from time to time. During the larger part of his life, the town was greatly disturbed and divided by the controversy that arose over the question of locating the meeting-house in such a way as to accommodate the people. For a time a second society existed, having a minister of its own, and a meeting-house in which services were held. It being found impossible to harmonize the discordant ole- ments, Mr. Gibbs was finally ordained, October 6, 1697. "This was done in the afternoon in the open air, though a cold day. The Western party, having the selectmen on their side, got possession of the meeting-bouse, and would not suffer the assembly to

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enter there." In 1719, the Rev. Samuel Angier, min- ister of " the Western Party," died, and after several years more of controversy, a part of his constituency were set off to form the town of Waltham, and the . rest gradually became identified either with the old or the new town.

The Rev. Ilenry Gibbs was born in Boston, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1685. His father, Mr. Robert Gibbs, was a Boston merchant, of large property, and of considerable distinction. The position of minister in Watertown during the years of controversy must have been one to tax both the wisdom and the patience of the incumbent, but Mr. Gibbs seems to have met the demands of the time with singular firmness, prudence and good sense, and to have been held in high respect by all the inhabit- ants of the town. This fact alone is eloquent in his praise. Many a man who has gone to the stake with unshaken courage, would have broken down under the strain of twenty-seven years of angry debate and petty neighborhood jealonsies. That Mr. Gibbs was able to bear such a trial, and all the while to " do justly and love mercy," entitles him to rank with Job on the roll of the world's worthies.

His power to keep his head in a time of general madness finds another illustration in the fact that he seems to have stood aloof from the mob that hounded the Salem witches to their miserable fate. Under date of May 31, 1692, he records the fact that he was in Salem, observing the trials, and he says : "Wondered at what I saw, but how to judge and con- clude I was at a loss ; to affect my heart, and to induce me to more care and concernedness about myself and others is the use I should make of it."

"Mr. Gibbs," says Francis, " was a benefactor both to his church and to the college. In his will, which was proved November 11, 1723, he made the following bequest, part of which still constitutes a portion of what is called The Ministerial Fund : 'I do give and bequeath to the Eastern Church of Christ in Water- town, to which I have borne a pastoral relation, for the encouragement of the gospel ministry there, my four acres of pasture land and three acres of marsh, situate in the East end of said town, for the use of the said church forever. And I do give to said church my silver bowl with a foot.'

" His bequest to the college he devised in the fol- lowing terms: 'And further it is my will, that within ten years after my youngest child comes of age, an hundred pounds be paid by my heirs for the use of the Harvard College, forty pounds thereof by my son, and twenty pounds apiece by my danghters ; the yearly interests to be exhibited to such members of the college as need it, firstly to my children's posterity if they desire it.' "

As a writer, Mr. Gibbs was natural and direct. His words were those of an honest man, who desired to do good. He died on the 21st day of October, 1723, in the fifty-sixth year of his age and the

twenty-seventh year of his ministry. He was buried in the old grave-yard at Watertown.

Mr. Gibbs was succeeded in the ministry of the Eastern Parish by the Rev. Seth Storer, who was or- dained July 22, 1724. There is no record of the pro- ceedings that attended his settlement on the books of the to wn, since the transactionconcerned only the East- ern Precinct. In fact, there is not, so far as is known, any record in existence of the particulars of his life or ministry. He inherited the controversy that began in the time of Mr. Gibbs, between "The Western party " and the old parish, and experienced, doubt- less, his share of the discomfort arising during its pro- gress and settlement.

There were many other distracting incidents aris- ing during the growth of the town, and out of its re- lations to the authorities in Boston, but it is believed that the minister of the First Parish bore his part in these matters with patience and wisdom. His term of service was the longest in the history of the town- over fifty years. He died on the 27th day of Novem- ber, 1774, in the seventy-third year of his age. He was a native of Saco, Maine, where he was born May 27, 1702. He graduated at Harvard College in 1720, at the age of eighteen. His father was Colonel Joseph Storer, of Wells, Maine, a man who won considerable distinction in the Indian wars. As indicating the conditions amid which his childhood was passed, we may note the fact that he had a sister Mary, who was carried away by the Indians as a captive, and was 'brought up near Montreal. Dr. Francis relates that in his time there were still living a few who could remember Mr. Storer in his old age, and they reported that he was much loved by young people and children. This fact he justly regards as an evidence of the simplicity and goodness of his character. He never, as far as is known, published any production of his pen. He took no part in the theological strife of his time, but lived the friend and helper of his neighbors and died lamented by those who had known him to love and respect him.

For three years after the death of Mr. Storer the pulpit of the First Parish Church remained unoccu- pied by a settled minister. This was probably owing to the excitement and confusion of the time which saw the opening of the Revolutionary War. The pulpit was filled by temporary supply, as circun- stances and the inclinations of the people directed. There was use for the church, however, at this time, not contemplated by those who built it, though it was precisely such use as was forecast by the action of George Phillips and Richard Browne, in 1631. The Second Provincial Congress was suddenly summoned to meet at Concord, April 22, 1775, but immediately adjourned to meet at Watertown. 1Iere the Congress assembled, during the remainder of the session, in the meeting-house. John Hancock having been chosen delegate to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, Joseph Warren presided over the deliberations. The

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

third and last Provincial Congress also met at Water- | debates that resulted in the adoption of the Constitu- town on May 31st. The sessions were held in the tion. It was a time of hardship and of trial. The meeting-house as before. Joseph Warren was again ; financial and industrial confusion of one great war chosen president, and Samuel Freeman, Jr., secretary. were soon succeeded hy the business stagnation inei- dent to another, and there are indications that the Watertown parish and its minister had their share in the troubles and depressions of the time. The Rev. Dr Langdon, president of Harvard College. preached a sermon before the body. The session lasted until the 19th of July. On the 26th of July the meeting-house was again in use for the assem- bling of the General Court of the Colony. Suhse- ynently the Boston town-meetings were held here, and in 1776 the anniversary of the 5th of March was observed by the people of Boston in the meeting- house in Watertown.

It was not till November, 1777, that any movement was made toward the settlement of a minister. At that time it was voted unanimously to concur with the town in the choice of Mr. Daniel Adams. He ac- cepted the invitation to the pastorate, and was or- dained on the 29th of April, 1778. The Rev. Mr. Prentiss, of Medtiekl, preached the ordination ser- mon, and the Rev. Dr. Appleton, of Cambridge, delivered the charge.

The settlement of Mr. Adams was regarded by the people as adequate canse for rejoicing, and the bright- est anticipations were apparently abont to berealized, when the town was plunged in grief by the sudden death of its chosen leader. In the August following his ordination Mr. Adams was seized with a violent illness, and, after lingering for six weeks, expired on the 16th of September, in the thirty-third year of his age.

He was the son of Elisha Adams, of Medway, where he was born in 1746. His ancestor, Henry Adams, came from Devonshire, England, and settled in Brain- tree (now Quincy) in 1630. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1774, and immediately began the study of theology under the tuition of approved schol- ars and preachers, as the custom then was.

As a preacher he was received with marked favor, and his services were desired by several churches. In the brief term of his pastorate in Watertown he won the respect of his people by the virtues of his charac- ter, and commanded their admiration as a preacher.

After the death of Mr. Adams the pulpit was filled by various preachers, employed for various terms of service, by a committee of the church, until the 13th of March, 1780, when a meeting was called to con- wider the calling of a pastor. Mr. Richard Rosewell Eliot who had preached for the society during the preceding winter, was chosen by a unanimous vote. He accepted the invitation and was ordained June 21. 1780. Dr. Francis records the fact that the town appropriated "1600 to defray the expenses of the ordination. What sort of festivities were indulged 'n 14 not matter of record. We may inter the condi- tion of the currency, however, from the som named.

The period covered by the pastorate of Mr. Eliot Naw the successful termination of the National strug- gle tor independence, and the exciting and critical

Mr. Eliot died on the 21st of October, 1818. He was sixty-six years old and had been for more than thirty-eight years the minister of the First Parish. He was descended in direct line from John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, and was born at New Haven, Connecticut, October 8, 1752. He was graduated at Harvard in 1774, and was a class-mate of Mr. Adams, his predecessor in Watertown. In his early manhood he gained much reputation as an orator, but for the larger part of his life his health was poor and his strength was inadequate to the full exercise of his na- tive gifts. As a preacher, he was graceful and pleas- ing in manner, and his doctrinal views were of the milder and more benevolent type. His virtues were such as fitted him to shine in the quiet walks of a life of piety and beneficence.

SUPPLEMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FIRST PARISII.1 -Rev. Mr. Eliot's successor was Dr. Convers Francis, the last minister hired by the town. He had preached occasionally during the winter after the death of Mr. Eliot, and on the 12th of April following (1819), the town conenrred with the church in the invitation, and offered him a salary of one thousand dollars and a settlement of the same sum. The ordination took place on the 23d of June, in the old meeting-house, a plan of which we give later, that stood near the corner of Mt. Auburn and Common Streets, in what is now the cemetery, and where his remains and those of his wife now rest.

Dr. Osgood presided at the council, and one might expect some disputation at this time, when the doc- trines which were soon developed by the Unitarian controversy began to be differentiated ; "but every- thing went off without an infraction of the peace." Rev. Mr. Lowell made the first prayer, Dr. Osgood preached the sermon, President Kirkland made the consecrating prayer, Dr. Ripley, of Concord, gave the charge, Rev. Mr. Palfrey gave the right hand of fel- lowship, and the Rev. Mr. Ripley, of Waltham, made the concluding prayer : " God grant that my ministry in this town may be a long, a happy and a useful one, and that many may have reason to bless the day when my union with this people was formed." The ministry was a long, and, in many respects, a happy and a useful one. There are those still living whose childhood reaches back to that time.

Converse Francis was devoted to the ministry to which he was called. " But his record upon earth is biotted with the clouds of his humility and self- depreciation. There never was a man of such various

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WATERTOWN.

learning, delightful converse and refined philosophy, so absolutely unconcions of a personality. It seems at first as if more self-esteem would have enhanced his powers." In 1821 he says in a little diary, "God forgive me that, when speaking on the most import- ant subjects, I am so cold and indifferent." "My mind is filled and pressed with anxious thoughts." Ile felt depressed that he could not lift the people to the level of his glowing thought. His quiet life in Watertown was made eventful by thoughts and books. He wrote the life of Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, for Sparks' " American Biography." A thousand or more of his manuscript sermons, now in the Public Library of this town, testify to his industry and his interest in his people. The classic writers of Greece and Rome were often in his hands. The literature of France and Germany presented no barriers by their strange tongnes. His library, a part of which is now the property of the town, gathered from all nations, shows his omnivorous reading. He was especially interested in the history of the past, the history of his own town and parish, as his history of Watertown and his historical addresses testify. He was an active member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and, by his collections of materials and his substantial contributions, showed that not only in the Bible, and in Bible history, but in all history he believed the thought of God could be traced dealings with his people.

He was something of a seer. When Emerson was covered with a cloud of obloquy, and even he could not agree with his remarks on some points, he says, " The more I see of this beautiful spirit, the more I revere and love him; such a calm, steady, simple soul, always looking for truth and living in wisdom and in love for man and goodness." Plato was also a bond between them.

He made (March 28, 1837) some remarks on art, in speaking of the destruction of his old church : "In passing the site of our old meeting-house, I observed that to-day the last remains had been leveled with the ground. The old spire came down, the cock bowed his head to the dust" (it is now perched on the Methodist spire in the village) "after having stood manfully up amidst the winds of heaven. There is an interest attached to the humblest forms in which the genius of man makes itself apparent in outward shapes, however rude. Every church, every dwelling-house, every utensil we use in domestic life, every garment we wear, is a fragment in the great world of art, which has been building up ever since Adam. The individual forms and manifestations vanish, but art is ever reappearing. I believe, after all, I can never love my new church as I did the old one; it had been consecrated by years of prayer and instruction ; generations had come and gone, and had sought God and truth within its walls; old men were there, with their gray hairs, whose infant fronts had

been touched with the water of baptism at that altar."

This is not the place to present his peculiar doc- trines, or to present arguments in favor of his sound- ness in wisdom, or his success in reaching the truth.

The times were fertile in ideas and new organiza- tions. New England was in labor. Whether the off- spring of that day will help to bring on the millen- nium or not it is not the province of the historian to discuss. That the asperity of the controversies which began in those times is somewhat changed for the better, and that it found no occasion for being in Doctor Francis' mild, quiet, studious, loving life, there are many yet to testify.

There is in the Public Library a delightful portrait of Doctor Francis in middle life, painted by Alexan- der, a noted Boston artist, and given by his daughter Abby a few months before her last sickness, the same time as when she entrusted to the same keeping the collection of his written sermons, that they might be near where they were produced, and perhaps where they would find the children of those to whom they were preached, who might, for their fathers' and mothers' sakes, like sometimes to test the earnestness and purity of heart with which they were written.

Whether the people of the town would be better served, would be more highiy blessed, by the minis- trations of the church, if all the differences of opinion and of sentiment that now divides it into so many societies, with such sharp lines of doctrine, could be obliterated and all return into one fold, with one shepherd, as under the former ministers in the town church, or not, we will not attempt to answer.

As this period of Dr. Francis' long ministry (twen- ty-three years), which ended only with his accept- ance of the important Professorship of Pulpit Elo- quence in the Divinity School of Harvard University, in the summer of 1842, was the last one in which the town was united, we may find it pleasant to stop a moment to look it over.

We hoped to present an elevation of the old meet- ing-house, which was built, in 1755, enlarged in 1819, and demolished in 1836. We must be content with a plan of the seating of the church as it is remem- bered by some of the old people who are still living.

This plan was drawn by Charles Brigham, archi- tect, at the suggestion of Dr. Alfred losmer, presi- dent of the Historical Society of Watertown, and is the result of a large amount of labor and careful comparison of testimony. Here in the building thus represented were held all town-meetings.

The second Provincial Congress having assembled in Concord, on the 22d of April, 1775, adjourned to this house the same day ; the third Provincial Con- gress assembled here May 3Ist, and remained in ses- sion until July 19, 1775.

This house was immediately occupied by the Gen- ral Court, or Assembly of the Colony, until they ad- journed to the State-House, in Boston. It was again

234

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

occupied by the General Court, in 1788, during the | taxation for religious purposes. This was the final sundering of church and state in Massachusetts.

prevalence of small-pox in Boston.

This drawing shows a plan of the old meeting- house as it was when last used as a place of worship, in 1836. It stood in what is now a burial-ground, on the corner of Mt. Auburn and Common Streets. The names are of persons who are now known to have been pew-holders, or to have had sittings.

We wish the time and space allowed us would now allow us to give a short historical sketch of each per- son whose name is included in this significant plan. We cannot do better than present some reminiscences, from a member of the Historical Society, of

THE OLD MEETING-HOUSE. - The old meeting -. house, so truthfully sketched by Mr. Brigham, la- a greater interest for the towns-man of to- day than could possibly belong to any church edifice of the present time, similarly reproduced a rentury or two hence. The modern structure would only represent the particular occupants thereof, and their peculiar traits whereas the one now under consideration has a secular, as well as a religious history. Throughout its entire existence it was the only place where the town-meetings were held, and that elliptically enclosed space below the pulpit, de signed for the dispensation of church ordinances, was also the forum where the edicts of the town were uttered and recorded.

In this place the moderator rehearsed the usual " Articles " of the " Warrant " in their order with the conventionally reiterated phrases of "To see," " To know" and " Act thereon," so familiar to everybody nowadays. The people have not always received a printed copy of this document at their doors-a written copy was posted in a glass-covered case at the front door of the meeting-house, for the prescribed number of days. And where also every man, young or old, before he could take to his home, in lawful wedlock, the partner of his bosom, must have his intentions to do so, " published " over the signature of the town clerk during three successive Sundays. The town-reports also were not published, and could be constilted only by a resort to the records of the town clerk.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 78

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