USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Needham > History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911 : including West Needham, now the town of Wellesley, to its separation from Needham in 1881, with some reference to its affairs to 1911 > Part 19
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Wellesley > History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911 : including West Needham, now the town of Wellesley, to its separation from Needham in 1881, with some reference to its affairs to 1911 > Part 19
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CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN WEST NEEDHAM
The Congregational Church in West Needham was or- ganized on September 6, 1798, with ten members, seven men and three women, of whom six had been members of the First Church. Before the end of 1798 eight more persons joined with them, and that year the meeting-house, begun in 1774, was completed at a cost of about £1345. In 1834 it was replaced by another, which was dedicated January I, 1835. The contract price of the new meeting-house was $2750 with the old one. A portion of the latter, including a porch, is now a part of the house of George H. Rollins of Needham. There were other expenses connected with the new meeting-house, which in its turn was superseded by the Third Meeting-house, which was dedicated July 11, 1872, and which cost upward of $28,000. The Second Meeting- house was moved, and is now the main building of Dana
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THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
Hall. The original amount of land with the Church was only half an acre, bought for £2, but other land was acquired later. In 1816 extensive repairs were made on the meeting- house. In 1824 it was heated, in 1857 coal was first used there, and in 1869 a furnace was obtained. The Precinct bought a hearse in 1805, a bass viol in 1838, and its first organ in 1856 for $650. Their first Church Manual was printed in 1828 and the second one in 1859. In 1869 a parsonage was built. Their earliest communion set was bought in 1798 for $18.25. The second one was purchased in 1851, and was the result of a gift of $190.79 in 1833 by Mrs. Persis Ware, who was also the benefactress of the First Church. It consists of two tankards, two plates and six cups. In 1812 this Church began to use the "fourth book of hymns", prepared by the Rev. Stephen Palmer of the First Church, and in 1861 voted to hire a "Seraphine" for the choir. In 1864 the name of this Church was changed to "The Wellesley Congregational Church". Classes for re- ligious instruction were formed in 1806, and in 1828 the Church took charge of the Sunday School, which had existed for some years. The School of the First Church in Needham dates from 1826, and it is a question which was the pioneer Sunday School in town.
In 1776 Mr. Brooks and Mr. Adams preached accept- ably in the unfinished West Meeting-house, and boarded with Jonathan Deming. Later the Rev. Daniel Oliver and Jonathan Whitaker, A.M., supplied.
The Ministers of this Church to 1881 have been :-
Rev. Thomas Noyes, A.M., 1799-1833, Harvard 1795, Brown, honorary, 1817.
Rev. Joseph Washburn Sessions, A.M., 1833-42, Bowdoin 1829, Andover Theological Seminary 1832.
Rev. Harvey Newcomb, 1842-6.
Rev. Andrew Bigelow, 1846-53, Amherst 1838.
Rev. Abijah Richardson Baker, D.D., 1854-61, Amherst 1830, A.M. 1833, Andover Theological Seminary 1835.
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Rev. George Gardner Phipps, 1868-78, Amherst 1862, Andover Theological Seminary 1865.
Rev. Perez Dickinson Cowan, 1878- , Amherst 1866, Union Theological Seminary 1869.
DEACONS
Joseph Daniell, 1799-1805. William Bigelow, 1799-1812.
Asa Kingsbury, 1805-49. Hezekiah Fuller, 1812-49.
William Flagg, 1849-61. Augustus Fuller, 1849-85.
Daniel Morse, 1861-70.
Whitman S. Winsor, 1870-86.
The valuable history of the Wellesley Congregational Church, by Rev. Edward Herrick Chandler, 1898, contains portraits of its ministers and views of the successive meeting- houses, and renders unnecessary further details as to this Church, which is no longer within the limits of Needham.
ANTIPEDOBAPTISTS
On August 24, 1774, the town clerk recorded a list which was certified by certain men "being Chofen a Committee by the Society of the people Called Antipedobaptists, who meet together for Religious worfhip on the Lords Day in Needham" that Isaac Mills, John Edes, John Smith, Amos Mills, Nathaniel Tolman and Martha Dewing "Do Fre- quently and Ufually when able attend with us in Our Meeting for Religeous worfhip on the Lords Day, and we Do Verily belive are, with Refpect to the Ordinance of Baptifm of the Same Religious Sentiments with us.
Jonathan Smith - Committee."
Samuel Greenwood Oliver Haftings
On March II, 1750/1, the town had chosen Capt. Robert Fuller and Dea. Josiah Newell, to go to the General Court "to get a Refolve on the Law Respecting Anabaptifts
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THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
Paying Rates to the Minifter where they dwel for their Servants or Sons under age".
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH IN NEEDHAM
The Baptists organized a Church in Needham in 1780. Ten years later there were fifteen members, and the Rev. Noah Baker, an itinerant minister, was the pastor. A foot-note in The Annual Register of the Baptist Denomination, published by John Asplund, records under date of January 9, 1790, "No fellowship hardly with other churches". The Universal Register of the Baptist Denomination in North- America for 1790-3, and for a part of 1794, omits Needham, and in a foot-note says that the Rev. Mr. Baker, then at Chelmsford, was "Formerly Paftor of Needham Church (now diffolved)". The History of the Baptists, Vol. II, by Backus, states that the Rev. Mr. Baker was the minister at Needham in 1784. It is evident that he preached for some years in Needham, where there was a Baptist Church. The Rev. Caleb Blood, minister of the Baptist Church in Newton in 1781-8, baptized people in Needham, and presumably preached here. The last persons baptized by him in this town were two girls, or women, and the immersion was in Amos Fuller's sawmill pond. That this Church had ceased to exist by 1795 is stated by another authority. The Rev. Joseph Grafton, whose active life ended about 1830, left a list of the towns in Massachusetts where he had preached, and in it mentions Needham. He preached on the first Sun- day in January, 1830, a sermon in which he gave a history of the Baptist Church in Newton Centre, and in which he said "in the town of Needham, adjoining Newton, there were a number who embraced the Baptist sentiments. Among others, the two deacons of the Congregational Church, then under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Townsend, viz. Timothy and Eleazer Kingsbury. They united with the second Baptist church in Boston (now Warren Ave.). Sev- eral of their descendants are members with us (i. e. Newton
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Centre)." The certificates filed from 1805 to 1820 with the town clerk, in order to escape taxation for the support of the dominant Church, are evidence that there were upward of twenty families in Needham who worshipped as Baptists, the majority of them in Medfield or Newton. Investiga- tions of the Church in Medfield indicate a larger number of Baptists resident in Needham than do these certificates.
From 1835 to 1837 Baptists living in Needham, Dover and Natick held meetings in the house of Dea. Calvin French, who lived on the Dea. John Fisher place, which is near the river on the Needham side. On October 3, 1837, a Council was called to consider establishing a Church, and decided that the request for one was premature. On June 20, of the next year, however, a Council gave consent, and the Needham and Dover Baptist Church was formed, with a small meeting-house erected in Dover, on land given by Deacon French. Until 1860 this Church stood near the large oak, on the east side of the road, a short distance beyond Fisher's Bridge. In 1860 the Church was moved to the hill east of what is now Springvale Park, and is since known as the Springvale Baptist Church, although services have rarely been held there in recent years. The History of Dover, by Frank Smith, contains a picture of this Church.
In September, 1854, a subscription was circulated in Needham to build a Baptist Church on the Great Plain, and was signed by thirty-three persons, including two brothers who gave jointly. George Howland headed the list with $500, and three women contributed. The signers were not all Baptists, as several men interested in the de- velopment of the town gave $100 each, with the result that on September 17 $900 had been pledged, and was soon increased to $2000. Dea. George Howland engaged at his own expense the Rev. Amos Webster to preach in the Great Plain school-house, and the first services were held there on Sunday, September 24, with an attendance of fifty-six in
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the morning and seventy-four in the afternoon. The sub- scribers to the building fund met on October 16, and voted to form the First Baptist Society. The signers of these Resolutions were: Messrs. Whitaker, Howland, Burnham, Avery, Morton, Charles Fuller, George W. Palmer, William O. Swan and James D. Robinson. A building committee was appointed, consisting of George Howland, Jonathan Avery, Edgar K. Whitaker, John Burnham and Stephen F. Harvey. Mr. Harvey declined to serve, and Charles B. Morton was chosen in his place. On November 6 the build- ing plans were adopted, and on the 15th an informal ad- visory council gave encouragement by a favorable report. On April 27, 1856, twenty-seven persons voted in favor of a Church organization, which was formed on May 26. The Rev. Allen Eleazer Battell 1 was chosen moderator, and Charles M. Dinsmoor clerk. Letters were read dismissing twenty persons from other Churches to form the new one, eight, including Dea. John Howland and family, were from Newton Upper Falls, of the two from Newton Centre, one was Miss Jane G. Avery, now Mrs. William Carter, the only constituent member of the Church who is still a member in 1911, five came from the First Baptist Church in Cambridge, two, Deacon Burnham and his wife, from the Baptist Bethel in Boston, one was from the Union Baptist Church in Boston, and two, Charles Fuller and his wife, from the Needham and Dover Baptist Church. The Articles of Faith and the Covenant of the First Baptist Church in Charlestown were adopted. The Church was named the Needham Plain Baptist Church, and Charles M. Dinsmoor was chosen church clerk.
On June 1, 1856, five persons were received as members, and they are counted as constituent members, as the Recog- nition Council was not held till June II, on which day there were appropriate services in which the Rev. Dr. Samuel F.
1 The Rev. Mr. Battell was a native of Dover. A sketch of his life in the Mas- sachusetts Baptist Anniversaries, 1896, gives his middle name as Elihu.
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Smith and others took part. On June 22 four members of the Sunday School were baptized by the Rev. Allen E. Battell in the pond near Isaac H. Greenwood's blacksmith's shop. Mr. Battell had preached an impressive discourse in the morning, and the Rev. Joseph W. Parker, D.D., made an address at the pond. This was the first baptism in a pond since the Rev. Mr. Blood had officiated.
The Sunday School was formed in May, 1855, and began with four teachers and twelve scholars, but within a few months had eight classes with an average attendance of forty, or more. The fiftieth anniversary of the Sunday School was observed in June, 1905. The first letter from the Church in Needham to the Boston South Baptist Association was written in 1856, and stated that the Sunday School numbered ten teachers and sixty-six pupils, and that Charles M. Dinsmoor was the superintendent.
The first services in the new Church were held in June, 1855, in the vestry, for the upper audience room was not finished till 1872, although in 1856 $4200 had already been expended on the building. In 1871 the debt was reduced $700, and by a great effort $4154 were soon obtained, the debt was extinguished, and the Church building completed and furnished. The Rev. Dr. Smith had raised $1000 outside of the town for this Society. The Church was dedicated on June 5, 1872, when a sermon was preached by the Rev. William Lamson of Dedham, and an original hymn was sung, which the Rev. Dr. Smith had written for this occasion. In June, 1884, it was voted to have a baptistery in the Church, and the first baptism in it was on March 29, 1885. In 1889 a parsonage was finished, and in 1896 the Church was raised, and a cellar made under it. In 1901 an addition was built on the rear to give room for a new organ.
The land on which the Church stands formerly belonged to the Edgar K. Whitaker estate, a portion of which is now owned by John J. Morgan, and earlier was a part of the Dea. Timothy Kingsbery farm, which in old times extended
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for more than a mile. The land was sold for $350 by two trustees to George Howland on February 18, 1853. By a deed dated December 1, 1854, George H. Howland conveyed this land to his father, Dea. George Howland, and others as trustees for the Society. Several more deeds were neces- sary to perfect the title, including releases from Mr. Whit- aker and Henry Safford, which were obtained in 1870. The Church lot contains 40,600 square feet. The building com- mittee consisted of the five men chosen on October 16, 1854, and the contract was made on December 8, 1854, and is recorded at Dedham in the Registry of Deeds (Lib. 237, fol. 24).
The bell was bought by subscription in August, 1876, and cost upward of $100. "The Bell we will have and the Clock we hope to have" was a watchword for a year or two, but the latter, which cost $785, including some alterations in the Church which it involved, was not obtained until the new century. At one of the festivals to raise money for the bell and clock an appropriate poem by George Avery was dis- tributed. The seats in the Church were made free in 1880. For the year ending November 1, 1861, the Rev. Frederick Augustus Willard received as pastor only his house rent and $216.49, including $65 from the Baptist State Conven- tion. From 1862 to the present time this Church has been designated officially as "The First Baptist Church in Need- ham", ignoring the name adopted in 1856. To the year 1872 the Society had nominally existed in addition to the Church, but at the dedication Deacon Howland in behalf of the trustees of the Society transferred to Dea. William Moseley, representing the Church, the land on which the edifice stands. This land, according to the deed of the gift, was to become the property of the Church if a house of worship was finished and its congregation maintained Bap- tist principles. A constitution and by-laws were adopted by this Church on January 20, 1875, and these have been but little changed. On November 30, 1888, it was voted
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that the Church should be organized as a legal corporation, and that the deacons should convey to it the property of the Church.
This Church has steadfastly maintained the doctrines of the Baptist faith as understood by its founders. Covenant meetings were formerly held in the daytime on week days, and were largely attended. In the spring of 1857 in addi- tion to the weekly prayer meetings there were gatherings of the young people at dwelling houses for religious study, and these were rarely omitted on the designated dates, the attendance being from twenty to forty. The annual re- unions of the Church date from 1887. The interest in mis- sionary work dates as far back as 1856, and was stimulated by the Rev. Dr. Samuel F. Smith's visit in 1880 to the mission fields in Europe and Asia. On August 29, 1880, a farewell service was held in the Church, which testified to the esteem in which Dr. Smith was held by the Baptists of Needham, and on his return two years later he spoke one Sunday even- ing in this Church. Home and Foreign missions have been liberally sustained, and no less than twenty-four good causes have engaged the attention of the people of this First Baptist Church, the contributions averaging $150 per year for fifty years, which is most creditable in view of the slender resources for many years. The Ladies' Circle and the Further Lights Society have done much for the missions. The former organization was formed on March 15, 1855, and the latter on December 29, 1897. The Senior Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor dates from July 27, 1887, and the Junior Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor from February 3, 1900, the former having forty members in 1906, and the latter forty-seven. The Men's League was organized under the auspices of this Society on March 16, 1898, and numbers about eighty. It meets in the vestry on a Monday evening once a month, during eight months of the year, when, after brief religious services, some practical subject is presented by a speaker, often a
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man of note from out of town. The meeting is followed by a social gathering and simple refreshments. The League is entirely nonsectarian, and has Catholic members, as well as Protestants of different denominations. The Boys' League dates from December 17, 1899, and for two years used the vestry, but a gymnasium was provided for them in the rear of the cellar, and they met there for the first time on December 5, 1901.
On Sunday, June 10, 1906, "The Jubilee Anniversary" of The First Baptist Church in Needham, was commemo- rated by appropriate services. Monday evening was "De- nominational Night", when there were distinguished speak- ers from out of town, all of them ministers. Tuesday after- noon was "Woman's Session", and there were addresses by women noted in missionary fields. Tuesday evening was de- voted to a reunion, at which letters were read from former pastors and members, and of the ministers the Rev. Messrs. Read, Clark and Webb were present and gave addresses. The observances of the anniversary concluded Wednesday evening, which was designated "Fellowship". Dea. Thomas Sutton presided, the Unitarian, Orthodox and Episcopal ministers spoke briefly, and George Kuhn Clarke gave an historical address, which presented phases of the early religious history of Needham. On all of these occasions there was excellent music.
At the completion of fifty years there were two hundred and forty-two members of this Church, of which forty-six had been received within one year, and the total number of members during the half century was five hundred and five, of whom two hundred and fifty-two had been received by baptism, two hundred and twenty-five by letter and twenty- eight by experience.
Mrs. Jane G. A. Carter wrote a poem for the anniversary, which referred to the successive pastorates. Mrs. Carter's father, Jonathan Avery, had been an original contributor for the building of the Church, and subscribed $100.
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In 1876 there were seventy-seven members of this Church, and the Sunday School had ten teachers and eighty-five pupils, John Moseley, superintendent. He was also the treasurer of the Church, and Thomas Sutton was the clerk.
The Pastors of the First Baptist Church in Needham have been as follows: -
Rev. Amos Webster, D.D., from 1854 to October, 1855; graduated at New Hampton Literary and Theological In- stitution in 1848, received the degree of A.M. from Colby University in 1867, and the same year that of D.D. from Columbian College. He edited the Christian Era from 1855 to 1875. Needham was his only pastorate, although he was a well-known preacher for more than thirty years. Died in Hyde Park February 14, 1894, aged nearly seventy-seven years.
Rev. Frederick Augustus Willard, A.M., accepted a call to Needham on December 7, 1856, and preached his farewell sermon there on November 12, 1865. He graduated at Amherst in 1826, and at the Newton Theological Institu- tion in 1830, where he had studied for three years. Died in Philadelphia March 17, 1866, aged fifty-nine years.
Rev. Samuel Francis Smith, D.D., the noted divine, and author of "America," preached at Needham from 1866 to 1873, and from 1877 to 1880. He graduated at Harvard in 1829, at Andover Theological Seminary in 1832, A.M. Harvard, D.D. (S.T.D.) Colby University 1853. Died November 16, 1895, aged eighty-seven years.
Rev. Stephen Gano Abbott, A.M., accepted the call to Needham on December 21, 1873, and resigned on June 4, 1876. He studied at the Hancock (N. H.) Literary and Scientific Institution, graduated at New Hampton (N. H.) Literary and Theological Institution in 1848, honorary A.M. from Bates College 1867. Mr. Abbott was chaplain of the First New, Hampshire Regiment in the Civil War, was at one time a member of the Vermont Legislature, and later chaplain of the New Hampshire House of Representa-
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tives; also a trustee of New London Seminary, and moder- ator of the Dublin, N. H., Association 1888-91. Died Feb- ruary 9, 1901, aged eighty-two years.
Rev. Edward Andrew Read, A.M., elected pastor on Jan- uary 6, 1881, accepted on the 12th, began his services at Needham on the 19th, and his resignation was accepted on March 23, 1883. He graduated at Colby in 1875, and at the Newton Theological Institution in 1878.
Rev. William Herman Clark, A.M., elected on December 19, 1883, resigned on January 9, 1887, and his resignation was accepted on the 17th, as he was in ill health. He was of the class of 1864 at Hebron Academy, Me., graduated at Colby in 1867, and was made A.M. in 1871.
Rev. Nathan Smith Burton, D.D., elected on June 13, 1887, commenced his pastorate on September I, and resigned on September 1, 1893. He graduated at Western Reserve College in 1846, then studied theology there for one year, thence to Newton Theological Institution for his second year, returned to Western Reserve College and graduated there in Theology in 1850. He was made a Doctor of Divinity by Denison University in 1863.
Rev. Robert Lee Webb, Ph.D., called on October 31, 1893, accepted on November 8, ordained on the 27th, resigned on July 24, 1904, Ph.D. Columbian, now George Washington University, D. C., Newton Theological Institution in 1893. He also studied elsewhere for the degree of Ph.D.
Rev. Charles Edward Sawtelle, called on October 3, 1904, accepted on the 16th, commenced his pastorate on the 23d, ordained on November 30th. He graduated at Colby in 1896, and at the Newton Theological Institution in 1904.
The Deacons of this Church have been as follows :-
George Howland
May 26, 1856, resigned on Octo- ber 24, 1863, and removed from town.
John Burnham
May 26, 1856, died September 4, 1869.
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Charles Fuller
October 24, 1863, removed from town in 1867, or 1868.
William Moseley
December 5, 1869, elected for life on December 4, 1901, died Sep- tember 13, 1909.
Levi E. Day
Edward J. Chadbourne
December 5, 1869, resigned April 23, 187I. January 1, 1875, removed from town prior to May 1, 1878.
Robert W. Ames
December 18, 1878, died Septem- ber 18, 1888. December 15, 1886-
Thomas Sutton John Moseley
December 15, 1886- , elected for life on December 4, 1901. He has been treasurer of the Church since December 15, 1875.
George V. Richardson
December 4, 1901, for life, died July 24, 1902. December 4, 1901-
Richard Henry Bond
Robert Burns Walker
December 4, 1901-
Thomas James Crossman December 7, 1904- Albert Edward Brownville December 1, 1909-
The First Baptist Church in Needham has never lacked unselfish workers, and the spirit of helpfulness has led them to strive with courage, and self-sacrifice, to bring people without a Church home under the influences of their Church, to instruct neglected children, and to do their best to uplift the community. In the early days their numbers were small, but a group of earnest people by constant faithful service kept this Church from closing its doors and gave a considerable portion of their resources to its work. This was true as late as 1869, when a loyal few faced a difficult financial situation.
Of the ministers of this Baptist Church it may justly be said that they have not only possessed ability and high
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character, but that in their deportment and their dress they have ever been consistent with their calling. The list of deacons is a roll of good men, and zealous Christians, recog- nized as including in their number some of the most influ- ential men of this town. No Church ever had more loyal sons than Deacons William Moseley and John Moseley, and the former in the early seventies, when some people thought that the Church must be given up, served at one time as deacon, church clerk, treasurer, Sunday School superintend- ent and janitor. Of those worthy of mention in connection with the first years of this Church is Gustavus Fellowes de Lesdernier, who was the clerk, and who died October 15, 1869. His son of the same name is identified with this Church, and a regular attendant at its services in 1911.
There are five memorial windows in this Church. The three on the west side are in memory of Annie Moseley, of Ann Hills Sutton, and of the Rev. Amos F. Spalding, the first on the east side is in memory of Alonzo M. Mace, and the second of Dea. John Burnham, and of his wife, Martha M. Burnham.
METHODISTS
In 1792 the noted Jesse Lee preached in the West Church, and many who were weary of the old theology heard him gladly, including a number who had become Antipedobap- tists, and for many years the Methodists of the Needham Circuit were much in earnest. In 1796 the Rev. George Pick- ering, an able man, had charge of this circuit, and a few years later the first Methodist Meeting-house in Needham was built on land granted to Edward Hawes in 1661.1 The
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