History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 79

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 79

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In the carlier days of the old meeting-house the town and the parish were an involuntary co-partner- ship the minister was called the "minister of the town." An inhabitant belonged to the parish, nolens volens and in a more chattel sense than was agreeable to an inconsiderable minority of persons. A tax payer might abstain from its teachings, but there were only two ways of escape from contributing to its support-either to move away, or die, before the Ist day of May. Afterward the law was so modified that scruples could be relieved by " signing off'" (as it was called/ 1- some other specified parish. And still later on. all persons were exempted from involuntary

Selfish ends have been attained often by shrewd foresight and sharp practice. The clustering mem- ories of the old meeting-house call up a transaction which, in the attending squabble, and the eminent counsel engaged, had at the time all the importance of a " eause celèbre."

Property belonging to the town had been set apart, by an act of incorporation, for the support of the "Minister of the Town."

About fifty years ago, when the population had in- creased, and new parishes had been formed, a major- ity of the inhabitants petitioned the Legislature that the act of incorporation might be so changed that the income of the " ministerial fund," so-called, would re- vert to the treasury of the town.

The contention then was that, as the ministry of the town had become a subdivided function, the town provender should be correspondingìy distributed, or else remain in the granary. Moreover, the "Minister of the Town," municipally, no longer existed-and casnists queried whether the " ministerial fund," also, had not lapsed with the beneficiary. The petition was argued, pro and con, by eminent counsel, before a committee of the Legislature, who reported leave to withdraw, on account, as was said, of the troublesome precedent of disturbing old vested rights and inter- ests-some captious persons have pretended to descry a similar paradox in this case to that of the old jack- knife that claimed identity with one that had a new blade, and a new handle.

The particular topic to which my random recollec- tions were invited was a Sunday in the old " Meet- ing-house." I have made a prelude of its week-day history, which in its entirety would comprise a his- tory of town affairs for a century, the later years of which will not much longer be rehearsed by cye-wit- nesses. My own experience in the Sunday services of the old meeting-house occurred in its latter days, now more than three-score years ago, when, and where, for a short time, in my early 'teens, I took part in the instrumental accompaniment to the church choir. The associations and personal friendships of those days have been unavoidably interrupted, but they will be remembered as long as the faculty for so doing remains.

The especial object of interest in the Sunday ser- vice is the occupant of the pulpit, and to which ob- ject all other arrangements are incidental and tribu- tary. The incumbent under our notice, the late Rev. Couvers Francis, D.D., was a man of medium height and stocky build, made apparently more so when in the pulpit, by the ample folds of his silken robe. Under the canopy of the great broad sounding-board, which, by its seemingly slender hanging, menanced whoever stood beneath it with probable destruction, he unaffectedly delivered his always carefully written sermons, a large collection, of which, in their origi-

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nal manuscript, are in the custody of the Free Public Library.

It seemed strange that one so amply endowed with exuberance of thought and fluency of speech never indulged in extemporaneous discourse in the pulpit. He could "reason of fate, foreknowledge and free- will," " from rosy morn till dewy eve," without note or break, and for conversation needed only a listener to make the onflow continuons. He did not affect those graces of oratory that are exemplied by gestic- ulation, his emotion never found vent through his arms, nor did he ever attempt to make a point clearer by laying one fore-finger upon the other. His con- victions might have been shaken by argument, but they could not have been burned out of him with fire. His contempt for all 'isms and 'ologies other than his own was never disguised by any blandish- ments of demeanor.

Ile was equally vigorous in body and mind-books were as essential to his existence as bread, and were he required to dispense with either, he would have experimented up to the starvation point, at least, upon a diet of books alone. Many of those he read became much enlarged by his annotations upon the fly-leaves and margins-sentences would be under- lined-exclamation and interrogation points sprin- kled in -- and iu the margins would be found the " pshaws," or " bahs," or " boshes," or other forcible expressions, according to the intensity of his agree- ment or dissent. A great university of learning, to him, was more worthy of reverence than almost any other human achievement. He made frequent visits on foot to Cambridge, where he was ultimately called to a professorship. This was his Mecca, and before whose shrine he passed the remainder of his days. I occasionally met him in the vicinity of the college, when he always stopped for a friendly chat about affairs in Watertown, and the current topics of the day-especially of the anti-slavery movement, which was then at full tide-in which he took a deep. inter- est, and for the noted advocates of which he had great admiration. The conservatism of his former years had melted away, and a wider field had been opened to his views and his desires. Mr. Brigham has given us a sketch of the pews and the names of their occu- pants also, with all the correctness of a sun-picture; but the history of a "Sunday service " would be lack- ing without the mention of an occurrence which was frequently repeated, and which in any worshipping assembly of to-day would be a startling shock to the prevailing sense of propriety.

It was the custom to turn up the hinged seats in the pews in order to make room. At the close of the standing services they would come down with a whang and a clatter closely resembling the report of a vol- ley of musketry by an undrilled company of militia; yet the devotional demeanor of the occasion was not disturbed, either in the pulpit or in the pews. In our sketch personal allusions are precluded through

fears hoth of forgetfulness and seeming invidiousness. But there was one more, at least, who was part and parcel of our theme. He had a place in the front centre of the singing-gallery, where he accompanied the choir upon the 'cello. The sexton and the bell were no more punctually present in their vocation than was Col. Thomas Learned. He lived in a house, the site of which is now occupied by the house of Mr. Charles Q. Pierce-from which, twice every Sun- day, he could be seen with his instrument of music under his arm, wending his way to the church. And during the tolling of the " last bell " he was occupied with "tuning up," and the mingling of the soft con- cordant sounds were a more fitting and pleasurable prelude to the succeeding exercises than the preten- tious hullabaloo now sometimes inflicted as a "vol- untary." He was also self-appointing tithingman whenever the need existed-sometimes he would pro- ceed to the vicinity of a group of disorderly boys in the " free-seats," and either push them apart and seat himself among them or else take the biggest rogue by the collar and lead him back to his own seat in the choir.

The attraction as well as the edifying influences of the singing service were as well understood and appre- ciated in those days as at present. If there were per- sons who were indifferent, to say the least, to their own spiritual welfare, might they not be "moved by the concord of sweet sounds," and thereby be brought within reach of the more salutary influences of the pulpit? Therefore, preparatory measures must be kept in operation for the replenishment of this branch of the service. Music was not a part of the town-school curriculum-the average scholar came out of it, finally, with as little ability (gained therein) to read a staff of printed music, as he had to compre- hend the geometrical intricacies of the differential calculus. Now, "we have changed all that."

This want was supplied by the village singing- school. It never attempted to exemplify "High Art," nor to produce extraordinary individual pro- ficiency ; it did not aim at the training of profes- sional " stars," but of a company of supernumeraries that would be available for the Sunday service of song. Other objects and influences incidentally grew out of and into it-the social element became prom- iuent ; it afforded remarkably congenial conditions for the development of the " tender passion ;" conjugal affinities were brought within that sphere of mutual attraction where, " like kindred drops, they mingled into one ;" and many a fragrant flower there found recognition, which otherwise might have "wasted its sweetness on the desert air."

The village singing-school passed away with the demise of our sturdy townsmen and intimate friends, Messrs, Joseph and Horace Bird. They rendered cf- fectual voluntary aid to the singing services of the "old meeting-house " for a considerable time, mean- while qualifying themselves, by study and practice

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under higher professional sources, to become teachers of this particular science, in which capacity they were widely known and esteemed, during forty years in our own and many neighboring towns, where they successfully practiced their special vocation. They never needed importunity to take part in any move- ment that had in view the public welfare or the re- lieť of private want.

Of the male members of the singing choir during my own sojourn, whose names and faces are still vivilly in mund, there is not one now to be found. Of those in the same department, who, in the familiar- ity of youthful intimacy, were called " the girls," but two can be recalled, who would hear the sound of the old church-bell could it again peal forth from the newly reproduced steeple. And the occupants of the pews, excepting those who were then in early child- hood, can now be counted upon the fingers - and some of these, although living in their original homes, are residents of another town. And many of the family names borne by those who congregated in the old meeting-house, have become extinct, or are tend- ing in that direction.

The losses we have enumerated were in the order of Providence, and therefore could not have been averted others may have occurred through negli- gence. The associations connected with the history of the old meeting-house were of sufficient interest to have induced, if possible, its further preservation-and it would have seemed proper action on the part of the town to have determined by examination and discus- sion, whether the "sentence " of demolition should not have been commuted. But fate decreed otherwise. And the structure that sheltered the l'rovincial Con- gress while in direful circumstances, passed away, "unwept, unhonored and unsung," and the green lawn upon which it stood was transformed into a final resting-place for the descendants of those who reared and occupied it.

Our readers will certainly pardon the wide range which memory of a place occupied for so diverse pur- poses as the town meeting-house calls up in the charming sketch which we have inserted without change or suggestion.

That the town, the modern New England town, the unit which is everywhere repeated, although in various combinations, in the organization of the State and the nation, had its origin in the parish, we perhaps have here one of the last chances to see. Originally an ne clesinstienl organization, growing ont of the demo- vrativ origin of the Christian church, the idea of the public good has in time come to be larger than the idea of kings or of any privileged class. In the history of this church, this town, we see the municipal order separating from any att all churches, and launching ont upon the independent, the broad and generalized idea of existence for the publie good, and henceforth meeting (from 1847/ in a town-house constructed for thepurpose, wholly freed from ecclesiastical questions,

determining, it must be confessed, sometimes in a most tumultuous fashion, what shall be done for the re- straining of criminals, the preservation of property, the education of the young, the care of the poor, and all those various concerns suggested by the common convenience.

This is rather suggested by considering the history of the town thau of the church. But so far they were inseparable.

Rev. John Weiss was ordained October 25, 1843. He resigned October 3, 1845, because of his strong auti-slavery convictions, but resumed his pastorate on invitation of the parish in 1846, and continued till his resignation in November, 1847, when he was in- stalled as pastor of the First Congregational Society in New Bedford.

Rev. Hasbrouck Davis was ordained March 28, 1849. He resigned May 11, 1853.

Rev. George Bradford was ordained November 6, 1856. He died February 17, 1859, after a brief but useful ministry.

Rev. Arthur B. Fuller became pastor March 1, 1860, and resigned in 1862, and enlisted with Com- pany K, (?) receiving the appointment of chaplain of the regiment. He was shot in the streets of Freder- icksburg, having volunteered to go over the river to the attack.

In June of this year Rev. John Weiss returned by invitation and preached for the society until 1869.

Of Mr. Weiss, the first minister ordained after the society was wholly separated from the town govern- ment, and serving long after all of the present churches-but one, the Episcopal-were established, much might be said. The time is too recent, although his service began nearly fifty years ago, and feelings are still too unsettled, the perspective too short, for a clear and impartial statement of the value of his labors. His services in the work of the public schools and in the establishment of the Free Public Library were of inestimable worth to the town. As time passes they will rise higher in the regard of his fel- lows. Mr. Weiss was born in Boston in June, 1818, and died there March 9, 1879. He went to the Chauney Ilall School for a while and afterwards to the Framingham Academy, from whence he went to Harvard College in 1833, graduating in the class of 1837, taught for a time at Jamaica Plain, entered Harvard Divinity School in 1840, spent the winter of 1842-43 at Heidelberg University in Germany, and on his return to this country was ordained, as we have stated, in 1843, over this old parish church.

Looking back over his whole service, his brilliant preaching, his interest in all forms of education, his cheerful and playful manners, his wit, and yet his earnestness, we are glad to take refuge in the appre- ciative words of O. B. Frothingham, a classmate and life-long friend, who says of him, in the course of quite a long article :

" This man was a flame of fire. lle was genius,

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unalloyed by terrestrial considerations ; a spirit- lamp, always burning. He had an overflow of nervous vitality, an excess of spiritual life that could not find vents enough for its discharge. As his figure comes before me, it seems that of one who is more than half transfigured. His large head ; his ample brow ; his great, dark eyes ; his 'sable-silvered' beard and full moustache ; his gray hair, thick and close on top, with the strange line of black beneath it like a fillet of jet ; his thin, piping, penetrating, tenuous voice, that trembled as it conveyed the torrent of thought ; the rapid, sudden manner, suggesting some- times the lark and sometimes the eagle ; the small but sinewy body ; the delicate hands and feet ; the sensi- tive touch, all indicated a half-disembodied soul."

Soon after he graduated " he read a sermon on the supremacy of the spiritual element in character, which impressed me as few pulpit utterances ever did, so fine was it ; so subtle, yet so massive in conviction." Afterwards in New Bedford, he gave a discourse on materialism, which " derived force from the intense earnestness of its delivery, as by one who could look into the invisible world, and could speak no light word or consult transient effects. Many years later, I listened in New York, to his lectures on Greek ideas, the keenest interpretation of the ancient myths, the most profound, luminous, sympathetic. Ile had the faculty of reading between the lines, of apprehending the hidden meaning, of setting the old stories in the light of universal ideas, of lighting up allusions.

" His genius was eminently religious. Not, indeed, in any customary fashion, nor after any usual way. He belonged to the Rationalists, was a Protestant of an extreme type, an avowed adherent of the most 'advanced' views. His was a purely natural, scien- titie, spiritual faith, unorthodox to the last degree, logically, historically, critically, sentimentally so.

" Ile had an agonized impatience to know what- ever was to be known, to get at the ultimate. Evi- dence that to most minds seemed fatal to belief was, in his sight, conformity of it, as rendering its need more clear and more imperious. ' We need be afraid of nothing in heaven or earth, whether dreamt of or not in our philosophy.'"

He was a more subtle and more brilliant thinker for being also a poet. Dr. Orestes Browuson, no mean judge on such matters, spoke of him as the most promising philosophical mind in the country. To a native talent for metaphysics his early studies at Heidelberg probably contributed congenial training. His knowledge of German philosophy may well have been stimulated and matured by his residence in that centre of active thought ; while his intimacy, on his return, with the keenest intellects in this country may well have sharpened his original predilection for abstract speculation. However this may have been, the tendency of his genius was decidedly towards metaphysical problems and the interpretation of the 22-jii

human consciousness. This he erected as a barrier against materialism. His volume on " American Religion " was full of nice discriminations; so was his volume on the "Immortal Life; " so were his articles and lectures. His " Life of Theodore Parker " abounded in curious learning as well as in vigorous thinking. He could not rest in sentiment, must have demonstration, and never stopped till he reached the ultimate ground of truth as he regarded it.

He was a man of undaunted courage. He believ- ed, with all his heart, in the doctrines he had arrived at. Ile was an anti-slavery man from the beginning. At a large meeting in Waltham in 1845, to protest against the admission of Texas, Mr. Weiss, then minister at Watertown, delivered a speech, in which he said, "onr Northern apathy heated the iron, forged tbe manacles, and built the pillory."

To his unflinching devotion to free thought in religion he owed something of his unpopularity with the masses of the people. "There is dignity in dust that reaches any form, because it eventually betrays a forming power, and ceases to be dust in sharing it." " It is a wonder to me that scholars and clergymen are so skilled about scientific facts."

"We owe a debt to the scientific man who can show how many moral customs result from local and ethnic experiences, and how the conscience is every- where capable of inheritance and education. He cannot bring too many facts of this description, because we have one fact too much for him ; namely, a latent tendency of conscience to repudiate inherit- ance and every experience of utility." John Weiss was essentially a poet. His pages are saturated with poetry. His arguments are expressed in poetic imagery,

" What a religious ecstasy is health ! Its free step claims every meadow that is glad with flowers; its bubbling spirits fill the cup of wide horizons, and drip down their brims ; its thankfulness is the prayer that takes possession of the sun by day, and the stars by night. Every dancing member of the body whirls off the soul to tread the measures of great feelings, aud God hears people saying : 'How precious also are thy thoughts, how great is the sum of them ! When I awake I am still with thee.' Yes, 'when I awake,' but not before."

John W. Chadwick said of him, " It is hard to think of Weiss as dead, and the more I think of it, the more I am persuaded that he is not."

After Mr. Weiss resigned, the society spent some time in hearing candidates, but in 1870 Mr. James T. Bixby was installed, and he preached until 1873, showing those scholarly traits that have made him so famous as a writer since.

Joseph H. Lovering preached from 1875 to 1878; Arthur May Knapp, preached from 1880 to 1887; and William II. Savage has preached from 1887.

The society seemed to take a new start under Mr. Knapp, and has fairly roused into something of its old activity under Mr, Savage.

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Within the last few years a new building has been erected for Sunday-school work and for social pur- poses, which has proved an aid in religious and social ways. The Unitarian Club, of this church, the first to be established in any society, has proved of help to its members in leading to new interest and participa- tion, in church activities, and has been followed in its form of organization by many new clubs in various parts of the country.

THE BAPTIST CHURCH AND SABBATH-SCHOOL. 1 -- During the summer and fall of 1827, Miss Eliza Tucker, Miss Martha Tucker and Miss E. Brigham united in gathering some of the children of the vil- lage together, Sabbath mornings, to teach them verses of Scripture and poetry, and also to properly observe the Sabbath.

They were successful, and the movement found favor with the people, especially the mothers, who were glad to have their children properly cared for on the Lord's day.

Miss Brigham was a teacher in the Town School, which gave her special opportunity with the children for good.

They held their gatherings in the house of Deacon John Tucker (the building lately occupied by Otis Bros.), but their numbers increased so they had to seek a larger place, and in the fall of 1827 they hired the hall in the brick building now occupied by S. S. Gleason and others.

In this hall the Sabbath-school was held at 9.30 A.M., and preaching service at 10.30 A.M., every Sah- bath. In April, 1828, the school was organized, with a membership of thirty-five, including officers and teachers. William Hague, superintendent ; Josiah Law, vice-superintendent ; Deacon Josiah Stone, Elijah Pratt, Mrs. Pratt, Misses Eliza Tucker, Mar- tha Tucker, E. Brigham and E. A. Wheeler were ap- pointed teachers.

They occupied this hall until the fall of 1828, when they were obliged to move to a larger hall; they found such a hall in the building opposite Market and Arsenal Streets, where they remained until they moved into the vestry of the new church, in August, 1830, the same year the church was organized, com - posed of members of the Sabbath-school and others, which was July 18, 1830, with forty-six members.

The first house of worship was completed the same year and occupied the lot on which the present house stands.

In 1857 the old house was removed and the new house was built upon the same foundation, with a few alterations. This was dedicated in 1859. During the sixty years, the church has had ten pastors, whose names and terms of service are as follows : (1) Rev. Peter Chave, served 1 year and 1 month; (2) Nicho- las Medbery, served 10 years and 10 months; (3) F. D. Very, served I year and 1 month ; (4) C. K.

Colver, served 4 years and I month; (5) B. A. Ed- wards, served 3 years and 5 months ; (6) William L. Brown, served 5 years and 3 months; (7) A. S. Pat- ton, served 3 years and 2 months; (8) William F. Stubberts, served 2 years and 10 months ; (9) G. S. Abbott, served 7 years; (10) E. A. Capen (present pastor), nearly 13 years.

The present number of members is 335. The whole number that have united during the sixty years is 1003, of whom about 230 have died.

The membership of the Sabbath-school is 350. Thus, from the small beginning, both church and school have become a power for good.

PHILLIPS CHURCH AND SOCIETY.2-During the spring and summer of 1854 a pious and devoted lady, who was engaged in missionary labors in the town, became aware of the fact that many residents of the town were members of Congregational Orthodox churches in the neighboring towns and cities. A careful estimate gave from thirty to forty families. With these were connected many single individuals and a large number of children, who preferred to at- tend Orthodox Congregational preaching. Some of these had found a temporary religious home in the other churches of the town. But they had long felt that their own usefulness and growth in grace were in a great measure dependent upon church privileges, in accordance with their belief and convictions. For this they had anxiously waited and devoutly prayed. It seemed to them that now "the set time to favour Sion had come," and, acting in accor- dance with this, and believing that God was ready whenever the instrument by which His work is carried on is ready, a meeting of all those known to be in favor ofsuch an object was called. The first meeting was held at the house of David F. Bradlee, on Main Street, in the latter part of January, 1855. The meeting was ad- journed one week in order to invite some brethren from the Eliot Church, Newton, to advise in the matter. At a subsequent meeting the subject was duly considered. The church was named after George Phillips, the first pastor of Watertown, and a committee chosen to procure a preacher. This committee were providentially directed to Dr. Lyman Beecher, the father of Mrs. Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher, who, after hearing some facts in relation to religious affairs in Watertown, said : " I will come and preach for you." He came, and his services were secured until a pastor was obtained.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 79

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