USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > History of Newton, Massachusetts : town and city, from its earliest settlement to the present time, 1630-1880 > Part 42
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We have welcomed to membership in the church two hundred and sixteen by profession and two hundred and thirty-two by letter; in all four hundred and forty-eight. Dividing the thirty years into periods of five years, we re- ceived by profession in the first period thirteen; in the second, twenty-five; in the third, thirty-five ; in the fourth, forty-six ; in the fifth, thirty-two, and in the sixth, sixty-five. This is a regular increase in the number received, except in the fifth period, which includes the year of my absence for foreign travel, and of the interruption of public worship by the enlarging of the meeting- house. The first period also shows a smaller number received than might have been expected under a new minister ; but this period also was broken by the illness of the pastor and his absence from the pulpit a year and four months at one time. The last period has been the most encouraging of all, including as it does the last winter's work under the stimulating influence of Mr. Moody's labors in Boston, and the awakening of interest that occurred here four years ago.
The church thirty years ago numbered about one hundred; at present two hundred and eighty-five. In 1852, after the first five years, it was one hun- dred and thirty ; in 1857, after the second five years, it was one hundred and forty-two; in 1862, one hundred and seventy-one; in 1867, two hundred and fifteen; in 1872 two hundred and nine; in 1877, two hundred and eighty-five.
433
FIRST PARISH SABBATH SCHOOL.
No record of our benevolent contributions for the first nine years of my ministry has been preserved; but in the twenty years succeeding, and ending with December, 1876, they amounted to about $45,000.
·
Let the thirty years which we now review be compared with the thirty that preceded them in the history of this church. Let us look back from 1847 to 1817. We shall then include the revival period by which this church was so greatly blessed between 1827 and'1833. That was the time of protracted meetings when the most pungent preachers were employed, and crowded meetings kept up for several successive days. Such men as Dr. Lyman Beecher and Dr. Wisner preached here at that time, and produced powerful impressions; seventy were received into the church in one year, and seventy-six in another. If you count all the names upon our catalogue from 1817 to 1847, you will find only 331, whereas from 1847 to 1877 there are 448. This statement is not completely satisfactory, because I do not know the number of new converts as compared with the whole number received. Newton Centre is growing faster now than it was then, and it is probable that we receive more by letter and less by profession than were received forty or fifty years ago. But we have received one hundred and seventeen more in the same length of time than were then received, without any help from revivalists or from protracted meetings.
FIRST PARISH SABBATH SCHOOL.
The Sabbath School of the First Parish of Newton was com- menced in the summer of 1816 by Miss Mary Clark, who was occasionally assisted by Mrs. Dr. Homer. The books used in the school were the Bible and the Assembly's Catechism. Deacon E. F. Woodward was the first male teacher, and, for a time, the only one ; and, excepting one year, he was the only Superintendent, from the commencement of the school till his death.
Early in the summer of 1817, Miss A. Haven, then teacher of the public school at Newton Centre, and Miss S. Mitchell, who resided in the vicinity, undertook to classify and teach the girls who attended the school, and were much encouraged.in their work by the growth of numbers and interest. The boys were taught by Deacon Woodward. Clothing was procured for some indigent children, to enable and induce them to attend.
The school, at first, was held only in the summer. The studies in 1817 were "Cummings' Questions," catechisms and hymns, and the older scholars studied "Watts on the Improvement of the Mind." At the close of the school this year, several Bibles and other books were distributed as rewards of merit among the scholars.
28
434
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
In 1818 the school was still larger. The public mind had grown into the plan, since universal, of having small classes and more teachers.
CHURCH EDIFICES OF THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
No. 1, built in 1660, used as a place of worship 38 years.
No. 2, 1698,
66
23 “
No. 3, “ 1721,
66
66
84 "
No. 4,
1805,
42 “
No. 5,
1847.
PASTORS.
1. Rev. John Eliot, jr., ordained July 20, 1664, died Oct. 11, 1668, aged 33.
2. Rev. Nehemiah Hobart, ordained Dec. 23, 1674, died Aug. 25, 1712, aged 64.
3. Rev. John Cotton, ordained Nov. 3, 1714, died May 17, 1757, aged 64.
4. Rev. Jonas Meriam, ordained March 22, 1758, died Aug. 13, 1780, aged 50.
5. Rev. Jonathan Homer, D. D., ordained Feb. 13, 1782, died Aug. 11, 1843, aged 84.
6. Rev. James Bates (colleague), ordained Nov. 14, 1827, resigned April 17, 1839.
7. Rev. William Bushnell, installed May 24, 1842, resigned Dec. 13, 1846.
8. Rev. Daniel L. Furber, D. D., ordained Dec. 1, 1847.
DEACONS.
ELECTED.
DATE OF DEATH.
AGE.
Thomas Wiswall, Ruling Elder,
1664
1683
-
John Jackson, sen.,
1664
1674
Samuel Hyde, sen.,
1664
1689
79
Isaac Williams,
1707
69
James Trowbridge,
1707
1727
75
Thomas Oliver,
1707
1715
70
Richard Ward,
1739
73
John Staples,
1740
82
William Trowbridge,
1744
60
Ebenezer Stone,
1754
92
John Stone,
1769
76
John Clark,
1773
-
Ephraim Ward,
1772
69
Thomas Greenwood,
1774
78
John Woodward,
1801
76
David Stone,
1804
82
Ebenezer Woodward,
1806
49
Samuel Murdock,
Sept. 21, 1798
1836
76
Ebenezer White,
June 11, 1815
1853
87
Elijah F. Woodward,
June 11, 1815
1846
60
William Jackson,
Feb. 15, 1828
1855
71
Luther Paul,
Aug. 24, 1845
1863
70
Asa Cook,
June 10, 1846
1872
75
Albert Little,
Dec. 20, 1860
resigned in 1865
Silas C. Stone,
Oct. 13, 1865
€6
1866
J. Evarts Cornelius,
Oct. 20, 1865
1870
Charles S. Davis,
Oct. 20, 1865
1870
John Ward,
Oct. 19, 1866
Erastus Blakeslee,
Dec. 29, 1870
66
1876
James F. C. Hyde,
Dec. 29, 1870
1872
Bartholomew Wood,
June 28, 1872
1875
George P. Davis,
Jan. 16, 1873
1877
Edward W. Noyes,
1876
1879
Wilson J. Welch,
1876
Nelson Curtis,
1878
1814
62
Jeremiah Wiswall,
1802
74
Jonas Stone,
1717
81
Edward Jackson, jr.,
435
STATISTICS.
SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE SABBATH SCHOOL.
Dea. Elijah F. Woodward,
Roswell W. Turner, Luther Paul, Bartholomew Wood,
-
John Ward, Albert Little,
-
Charles S. Davis, Edward W. Noyes, Nelson Curtis.
ADMISSIONS TO THE CHURCH PREVIOUS TO 1773-203. FROM 1773 TO 1812 AND NOW DECEASED.
1773
-
8 | 1790
3
1802
6.
1774
6
1791
1
1803
20
1777
1
1792
1
1805
3
1781
1
1793
3
1806
2
1782
14
1794
4
1807
1
1783
22
1795
6
1808
5
1784
5
1796
1
1809
8
1785
3
1797
1
1810
4
1786
3
1798
1
1811
12
1787
5
1799
1
1789
6
1800
3
160
ADMITTED SINCE 1812.
1813
-
.
2
1836
-
-
3
1862
-
17
1814
2
1838
-
12
1863
16
1815
3
1840
18
1864
26
1816
6
1841
2
1865
19
1817
1
1842
2
1866
21
1818
3
1843
6
1867
19
1819
4
1844
7
1868
20
1820
3
1846
2
1869
- 21
1821
6
1847
3
1870
-
10
1822
7
1848
15
1871
-
14
1823
3
1850
1824
1
1851
1873
33
1826
1
1852
2
1874
11
1827
71
1853
3
1875
17
1828
32
1854
6
1876
27
1829
9
1855
27
1877
42
1830
4
1856
11
1878
12
1831
24
1857
4
1879
10
1832
76
1858
25
1833
14
1859
6
Total
812
1834
5
1860
3
1835
15
1861
5
71
1872
-
15
James F. C. Hyde,
Isaac F. Kingsbury,
CHAPTER XXXIV.
EDUCATION IN NEWTON AFTER 1800 .- SCHOOL WARDS .- SCHOOLS AT THE UPPER FALLS .- SCHOOL REGULATIONS .- APPROPRIA- TIONS .- HIGH SCHOOLS .- NEW SCHOOL-HOUSES .- HIGH SCHOOL AT NEWTONVILLE .- GRADUATES .- ART MUSEUM .- SCHOOL- HOUSE PROPERTY.
IN a former chapter we surveyed the history of education down to the year 1800 (pp. 235-249).
, At a town meeting held May 6, 1805, a committee appointed to prepare a general plan of school-houses and schooling, presented a report which was accepted by the town, closing with the follow- ing words :
We believe it will be for the interest of the town very soon to add at least two school-houses to our number, with other necessary alterations ; since, in a government like ours, it is of the utmost consequence that the youth are, in our opinion, accommodated and instructed in the best manner that can be consistently.
At a town meeting held April 7, 1806, being an adjournment from March 8, 1806,-
VOTED, to choose a committee of seven persons, to propose such a general plan of school-houses and schooling, as they shall think will be most for the interest of the town to adopt, and lay the same before the town at the adjourn- ment of this meeting in the month of May next.
May 12, 1806 .- "The committee reported that it is their opinion that the town erect, as soon as convenient, six school-houses, exclusive of that at the Lower Falls, which is to remain at present where it now is ;- the other five to be sold,- and that a new one be erected the present year in the west dis- trict, near the house of Amasa Park; another," etc.
Mr. Davis gives the following recollections of one of these school-houses :
436
437
SCHOOL WARDS.
The school-house was built, thirty by thirty-six, in 1806, on the westerly side of the road, about two hundred and twenty-five feet a little southwesterly of my dwelling-house, and there remained about twenty-one years. The same was removed by me to the corner, on the old Sherburne road, and occu- pied by Mr. M. Rutter, John Mead (as a grocery store), and others.
The old school-house was sold to Benjamin Jenison. It stood on the west side of the Sherburne road, on the spot where Mr. Wentworth and others resided in a low-studded, one-story house in 1828. Mr. Jenison's father gave him an acre of land, to which his son Benjamin removed the old school-house, and he lived in the same, being enlarged, during life.
The citizens were evidently feeling their way to a better state of things. They moved slowly and cautiously ; often, as it seems to us, without sufficient energy, but making fewer mistakes than have been made in later times. The education for which they provided was not broad or showy ; but on its foundations many a child was built up into an honored and useful citizen, a blessing to his coun- try and his race.
In 1808 the town was divided into "School Wards " by a com- mittee appointed for that purpose, the town accepting their report, which is as follows :
We the subscribers being chosen a committee at the Annual Meeting, March 14, 1808, for the purpose of dividing the town into seven school wards, and proportioning the sum of eight hundred dollars to the several schools, report that we have attended to said business, and have divided the town into the seven following wards, viz. :
WEST SCHOOL WARD .- Beginning at Robinson's Bridge, so called, and following the road to Sherburne road, near Ephraim Jackson's house, includ- ing said Jackson's house; thence, down said Sherburne road to Durant's corner, including the inhabitants living on said road; from thence running a straight line to Charles River, between the houses of Thomas Pollock and Henry Crafts, including all the inhabitants living within said lines.
NORTH SCHOOL WARD .- Beginning where the line of the West Ward ends on Charles River; thence running on Charles River to Watertown line; thence on said line to Brighton line; thence on Brighton line to the road near the house of Jonathan Hunnewell; thence on a line running so as to include the houses of Samuel Hyde, Samuel Nutting, and the new house of Samuel Trowbridge, jr., to Durant's Corner; thence on the line of the West Ward to Charles River, including the inhabitants living within said lines.
EAST SCHOOL WARD .- Beginning at Brighton line, near Jonathan Hun- newell's house, and running on said line to Brookline line, and on said line to Worcester Turnpike [Boylston Street], and from thence running on a line west of the houses of John Thwing, Thomas Harback and Charles Coolidge to the bounds first mentioned, including all the inhabitants within said lines.
.
438
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
SOUTH SCHOOL WARD .- Beginning at Brookline line on Worcester Turn- pike [Boylston Street], and running north of the houses of Jeremiah Rich- ardson and Benjamin Richardson, and between the houses of Joseph Parker and John Ward to Charles River, including all the inhabitants within said lines.
SOUTHWEST SCHOOL WARD .- Beginning at the South Ward line on Charles River, thence running down said river to land of Matthias Collins; thence running to the house of Mr. McNoah, including said house; thence running north of Norman Clark and Aaron Richards to Brookline line on Worcester Turnpike; thence on South Ward line to Charles River, including all the inhabitants within said lines.
FALLS SCHOOL WARD .- Beginning at the Southwest Ward line on Charles River, and running down to Robinson's Bridge; thence on the West Ward line to Ephraim Jackson's house ; thence running east of the house of Samuel Stimson and south of the house of John King to the house of Mr. McNoah; thence on Southwest Ward line to Charles River, including all the inhabi- tants within said line. .
CENTRE SCHOOL WARD .- This includes all the inhabitants not included in the lines limiting the other wards.
This year (1808) the committee "proportioned " the sum of eight hundred dollars to the schools in the several Wards in the manner following :
West Ward,
$126
Southwest Ward, $107
North
126
Falls Ward, 100
East
105
Centre 110
South 66
126
In 1819 a Northwest district was formed, and in 1824 an Upper Falls district.
" The children from the Upper Falls and vicinity," says Mr. Pettee, "attended school in the Southwest district ; but as the busi- ness increased and the village became more populous, it was nec- essary to divide the district and establish what was called the Upper Falls district, and a school-house was built in the year 1818 on the turnpike, just below the residence of Mr. Luther Ray- mond.
" In the year 1811, a new school-house was built southeast of the residence of Deacon Cook, on the west side of the road lead- ing to Newton Centre, to take the place of the old brick building in the Southwest district, which had become untenantable.
" The old school-house by the Post-office at the Upper Falls being very much out of repair and insufficient in size, a new house was built with two stories and all modern improvements, on what
439
SCHOOL REGULATIONS.
was known as the frog pond lot, and was occupied for school pur- poses until the abolishment of the district system by the town. The new and large house which now stands in the rear of the present one, was built in 1853, when the old houses in the village and southwest districts were abandoned.
" The village house was sold at auction to Mr. Marcy, and occu- pied by Messrs. Howe and Colburn, for stores. The southwest house was more recently sold to Mr. Davis C. Mills, and removed to the village, and occupied as tin shop, etc."
Notwithstanding the error of the townsmen in changing nearly the entire Board of the School Committee every year, they seemed to act wisely in promoting the cause of education. The annual grant for the support of teachers which had been £50 annually for many years previously, was raised in 1774 to £60, in 1786 to £80, in 1790 to £85, in 1791 to £100, in 1795 to £130, in 1796 to $500, in 1800 to $600, in 1806 to $800, in 1813 to $1,000, in 1816 to $1,200.
March 13, 1817, a committee was chosen to " endeavor to form some plan for the better regulation and government of the schools." This committee consisted of the Rev. Messrs. William Greenough, Joseph Grafton and Dr. Homer, and one from each school district,- Messrs. Ephraim Jackson, John Kenrick, Caleb Kenrick, Elijah F. Woodward, Joseph Jackson, William Trow- bridge and Obadiah Thayer.
On the 12th of May following, this committee brought in a report which, as it was mainly adopted by the town, shows the state of the public mind at that date, and indicates the opinions then prevalent as to the requisites of a good school.
Your committee, appointed to determine some regulations for the schools in Newton, have attended to that service, and report as follows :
1. For the purpose of exciting in the minds of the scholars a reverence for the Word of God, and of aiding them in reading it with propriety, it is recommended that a portion of it be publicly and daily read in the morning in each school by the Preceptor or Preceptress, and that the scholars shall read the same after him or her.
2. That whereas there has been long and frequent complaint of great deficiency of books among the scholars in several of the schools, it is earn- estly recommended that all parents and guardians procure suitable books for each of the children or youth under their care, and that the Selectmen be requested by the committee-man of the district to furnish books at the expense of the town for those scholars whose parents or guardians, in his opinion, are unable to purchase them.
440
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
3. That the New Testament be one of the standard reading-books in all the schools in this town. And your committee do in a special manner recom- mend Cummings' New Testament, designed for schools, with Maps of the Countries and Places mentioned in the Scriptures, and Explanatory Notes.
4. That Murray's English Reader or Lyman's American Reader be recom- mended for instruction in reading in the schools of this town.
5. That whereas it appears upon inquiry that Walker's Dictionary has become a growing and general standard for pronunciation in the colleges of this State, and in the colleges and academies of the United States, your com- mittee recommend Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary as, in the general tenor of the work, the best standard to be used by instructors in the public schools ; and that the scholars of the first class be provided with the small edition of this Dictionary.
Your committee, however, in recommending Walker's Dictionary, would be understood as having reference principally to the accent, and not as decid- ing on the propriety or impropriety of his mode of pronouncing virtue, nature, creature,- virtshu, natshure, cretshure,- and a few other words.
6. That the town recommend to every religious teacher of the schools to open and close them daily by prayer.
7. That every master be desired to comply with the laws of the Com- monwealth, which require him to give moral and religious instruction to his pupils.
8. As most of your committee have been called frequently to visit the schools in this town, and have been satisfied that the number of children in several of them is greater than can be taught or governed to advantage, they earnestly recommend as an essential and important aid in instructing and governing the public schools, that no children shall be admitted into the winter schools until the complete age of seven years.
9. It is recommended to the town that a fourth part of the moneys annually granted for the support of public schools, be devoted to the support of summer schools.
10. That the Town Clerk be requested by the town annually to furnish, at the town's expense, copies of these votes to each school committee-man.
11. We recommend renewed attention on the part of the town to a former vote of the town, relative to the committee-men of the several schools acting in concert, not separately, in employing instructors.
The Town Clerk records this vote :
VOTED, to accept the foregoing report, with the exception of the eighth article, which, of course, was rejected.
The Town Clerk, Joseph Jackson, Esq., by the insertion of the words "of course," takes occasion to give a gratuitous expression of his own opinion.
In May, 1821, the town voted that "the several school districts be allowed and empowered to apply their proportion of school
441
SCHOOL APPROPRIATIONS.
money for schooling as they may think best, and to manage their schools in their own way." This was evidently a plan either to relieve the superintending School Committee of responsibility, or to satisfy neighborhoods disposed to complain of the management of such committee. The vote was reaffirmed in 1823. Some of the duties properly belonging to the School Committee seem to have been assumed by the town. For example, in 1828 the town voted their approbation of the Pupil's Arithmetic by Mr. Seth Davis, " now used in our public schools, as a book well calculated to aid our youth in acquiring a knowledge of this science."
Previous to 1825 most of the country school-houses were built from twenty-five to forty feet square, one story high, with rows of benches on either side of a wide alley, through the middle, and a box stove in the middle, or an open fire at one end of the alley, around which the scholars were permitted to gather in cold days to warm themselves. There was an entry across one end to hang garments in. These country school-houses probably cost from $300 to $1,000 each, according to size. Many of them were painted red.
The grants of money for the support of schools in successive periods are interesting and instructive. For many years preced- ing 1774, the amount appropriated was £50 annually ; in succes- sive years it was raised four times, till in 1795 it reached £130. The amount subsequently, in successive years, was, from
1796-1799,
$500
1852,
-
$6,000
1800-1805,
-
600
1853,
-
- 7,000
1806-1812,
-
800
1854,
-
8,800
1813-1815,
1,000
1855-1856,
-
-
11,000
1816-1819,
1,200
1857-1858,
. 12,000
1820,
1,000
1859,
- 13,000
1821,
-
1,100
1860,
14,000
1822-1823,
1,200
1861,
-
-
12,000
1824,
1,300
1862,
-
-
15,000
1825,
1,400
1863,
- 16,000
1826-1832,
1,600
1864,
19,500
1833-1834,
-
1,800
1865,
-
-
- 26,000
1835-1836,
2,000
1866,
-
- 31,500
1837-1840,
-
2,500
1867,
41,500
1842,
2,500
1869,
-
-
49,000
1843,
2,000
1870,
-
- 54,000
1844-1847,
3,125
1871,
-
- 54,000
1848,
.
4,000
1872,
-
-
- 59,000
1849,
4,500
1873,
-
73,000
1850-1851,
5,000
-
-
44,000
1841,
-
2,000
1868,
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
442
. HISTORY OF NEWTON.
In 1835 the town voted that a terrestrial globe be purchased for each of the District Schools, and that the committee in each dis- trict provide a box for its safe keeping.
As the population and prosperity of the town advanced, the question of school accommodations became one of increasing impor- tance. The villages of the town required more room for scholars, higher instruction, and consequently larger outlays of money. With the general advancement of intelligence and culture in the community, the interests of the town demanded more liberal views and more generous provision. The time was now evidently draw- ing near when the old district system was destined to wane, and when Newton, like the neighboring city of Boston, must have its graded schools, for the sake of a more orderly and perfect system of teaching, and its high school and grammar school, to prepare boys for college, and to give a broader education to those who were ambitious of more generous culture, but whose aim was only to be fitted for business and public life, that they might stand, without a consciousness of inferiority, among the cultivated men and women of the age. And thus the subject of schools, which in earlier days had absorbed little attention, gradually came to fill a larger space in the Records of the town meetings. District lines, the forming of new districts, the erection of new school-houses, the equitable distribution of school funds, the increase of the grant of money for the support of education,-all foreshadow the period since inaugurated, which has made Newton "a name and a praise," to the department of education, on both sides of the Atlantic.
In March, 1838, a committee was appointed to consider the expediency of establishing one or more free High Schools in Newton. In May following, their report was ordered to be print- ed, and a copy placed in every family in the town. But the time evidently had not yet come.
In April, 1845, a vote of the town was passed, authorizing each school district to employ a teacher of music, the expense to be de- frayed from the school funds.
On the 31st of December, 1849, a committee on High School education in Newton, of which the Hon. William Jackson was chairman, made the following report to the town, the recommen- dations of which were adopted by the meeting.
443
REPORT ON HIGH SCHOOLS.
The committee to whom was referred the subject relative to a High School in Newton have attended to the same and report, --
That the law requires every town having four thousand inhabitants to establish such a school for the benefit of all the inhabitants, to be taught by a Master competent to instruct in the Latin and Greek languages ; and to be kept, at least ten months in a year, in such place or places in the town as the inhabitants shall at their annual meeting determine.
The penalty for neglecting compliance with this law is a sum equal to twice the highest sum which has ever before been voted for the support of schools in the town, to be paid into the County Treasury,-one-fourth of which shall be for the use of the county ; the remaining three-fourths, for school purposes in the town.
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