History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 171

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 171

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The subject of building a new meeting-house was soon agitated, and some mischievous person, probably desiring to facilitate the matter, set fire to the old one. It was soon discovered and extinguished after some damage to one of the rear corners.

May 16, 1804, it was voted to build a new meet- ing-house on the site of the old one.

This, however, was found to be impracticable for various reasons, and the vote was reconsidered. On the 5th of September of the same year it was voted to build the meeting-house on the spot occupied by the present house.

In April, 1805, the corner-stone was laid.

The frame was raised by the help of machinery in a few days. The architect and master-builder was Mr. Peter Banner, an Englishman. This man settled in Brookline, and for many years after his death his widow occupied the house in Aspinwall Avenue, until recently occupied by Mr. Melcher.

The new meeting-house stood fronting the street, with a grass-plat in front of it.

It was sixty- eight feet long and sixty-four feet wide, with a porch nineteen feet long and thirty-eight feet wide. There were lobbies or anterooms each side of the porch, eleven feet square. There was no cellar under the building, it being a rocky foundation, and the house was raised up a little from the ground, and openings on either side in the underpinning af- forded space for ventilation.

The height of the house was thirty-five feet and six inches from the foundation to the eaves. The spire measured one hundred and thirty-seven feet from the ground.

There were seventy-four pews on the floor and four- teen in the gallery. Afterwards, during Dr. Pierce's ministry, some improvements were added. No pro- vision was ever made for warming the old church, and the women carried foot-stoves with them. The new church was warmed by two square-box stoves in which wood was burned. The pulpit and the caps of the pews were made of Southern cherry-wood, contrib- uted by Stephen Higginson, Jr.

The bell, which was cast in London and weighed one thousand pounds, was given by Hon. Stephen Higginson, father of the above.

Mr. John Lucas, who lived nearly opposite the Reservoir, gave four hundred dollars, out of which was purchased a clock.

Richard Sullivan, Esq., who lived on the place now owned by Mrs. Bowditch, gave a hundred and fifty dollars for the stone steps.

Mr. Thomas Walley gave an elegant pulpit Bible valued at thirty-six dollars.

Mr. David Hyslop gave a baptismal basin, which cost forty-seven dollars.

The whole cost of the house was eighteen thousand and eighty-three dollars. Some additional expenses (of furnishing probably) brought the amount up to twenty thousand one hundred and ninety-three dol- lars, and the whole was apportioned on the pews, which were sold at auction.

No pew on the first floor was priced at less than one hundred and sixty dollars, and none in the gallery at less than one hundred and ten dollars. The highest cost of a pew, including a bonus paid for a choice, was five hundred and twenty-five dollars.

Dr. Pierce preached a valedictory sermon on leav- ing the old house, June 8, 1806.

The valedictory sermon was from the text, "Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honor dwelleth."

The dedication sermon, June 11, 1806, was from the words, " In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee and I will bless thee."

The next day the work of demolishing the old church commenced. The ancient pulpit, which had been faith- fully pounded and belabored by the fists of the ener- getic Mr. Jackson, was denuded of its upholstery, and carried into the parsonage attic, where it served as a play house for the pastor's children for many years. The hour-glass, whose sands had run through many a tedious hour for the unfed souls in the old house, or had needed turning only too quickly for the more devotional, now served its time in fleeting minutes among the attic treasures of the little ones. The ancient pewter christening basin, from which Mr. Jackson had bathed the infant brow of many a now gray-haired father and mother of the town, was turned to domestic uses in the pastor's house.

The ancient church for many years, instead of hav- ing a sexton, was taken care of by a slave belonging to the Sewall family, as Henry Sewall's bill against the town for the services of his " slave Felix" in that capacity is still in existence.

The first white sexton of whom we can gather any

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

account was a man named Blanchard, who lived in a | little house on the Aspinwall estate, close to Wash- ington Street. He was succeeded, if we are correctly informed, by Capt. Benjamin Bradley, who served for many years in that capacity after the second meeting- house was built.

In 1829 or 1830, Mr. Elisha Stone succeeded Capt. Bradley as sexton of the church, which office he filled for thirty years. He was a plodding but faithful cit- izen in the duties not only of his office as sexton, but was the only undertaker and constable in the town for many years. He lived to lay away all but two of his own large family in the cemetery whither he had car- ried so many of our townspeople, and where he at last was borne, worn out with the infirmities of age.

Previous to Dr. Pierce's time there had been pre- sented at various times to the First Church four silver tankards. One was the gift of Edward Devotion, in 1744; one the gift of Miss Mary Allen, daughter of the first minister, in 1750; one was given by Miss Ann White, and one by Mrs. Susanna Sharp in 1770. In the same year two silver cups were presented by Thomas and Mary Woodward, and two more were given by William Hyslop in 1792. This ancient sil- ver is still the property of the church, just as it was presented.

In addition to these, two silver cups were presented by Miss Prudence Heath, in 1818, and two by Deacon Robinson and wife the same year.

Third Meeting-House .- The meeting-house and the minister grew old together. There would have been something incongruous in the building of a modern church, with stained glass windows and new and fashionable appointments, while Dr. Pierce was the only minister. The house and the minister were in perfect adaptation to each other. Many regretted that the fine, substantial old edifice should be taken down. It much resembled Dr. Putnam's church, on Roxbury Hill, and might have been as well preserved till the present day ; but there being no cellar under it, furnaces could not be introduced, and it was not thought advisable to refit a building which must be warmed by stoves. It was also difficult for Mr. Knapp to preach in it. In 1848 the new church at present standing was built. The corner-stone for a new church | was laid June 1, 1848. The dedication took place - Dec. 1, 1848. The shrubbery around it was set out by Dr. Charles Wild, in the spring of 1849.

First Church of Brookline .- This church was or- ganized Oct. 26, 1717, and the following covenant was read and adopted :

" We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, apprehending ourselves called of God to join together in church communion,

acknowledging our unworthiness of such a privilege, and our inability to keep covenant with God, unless Christ shall enable us thereto, in humble dependence on free grace for divine as- sistance and acceptance, do in the name of Jesus Christ, freely covenant and bind ourselves to serve the Lord, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, cleaving to him as our chief good; and unto our Lord Jesus as our only Saviour, prophet, priest and king of our souls, avouching the Lord to be our God, and the God of our children, whom we give unto him, counting it a high favour, that the Lord will accept of us, and our children with us to be his people.

" We do also give ourselves unto another in the Lord, cove- nanting to walk together, as a Church of Christ, in all the ways of his worship, according to his word; promising in brotherly Love, to watch over one another's souls, and to sub- mit ourselves to the discipline of Christ in his church, and to attend the seals and censures, or whatever ordinances Christ has commanded to be observed by his people; beseeching the Lord to own us for his people, and to delight to dwell in the midst of us. That we may keep our covenant with God, we desire to deny ourselves, and to depend on the free mercy of God and merits of Christ; and, wherein we fail, to wait on him for pardon, through his name, beseeching the Lord to own us, as a Church of Christ, and to delight to abide in the midst of us."

This covenant was read in public, and the church gathered by the Rev. Ebenezer Thayer, pastor of the Second Church of Christ in Roxbury, Oct. 26, 1717, one hundred and sixty-seven years ago. At that time seventeen males and twenty-two females were united in church fellowship.

List of the original members of the First Church in Brookline, Oct. 26, 1717 :

Males.

James Allen.

Joshua Stedman.

Thomas Gardner.

John Winchester.

Caleb Gardner.

Joseph White. Benjamin White.

Josiah Winchester. Samuel White.

Samuel Sewall. Amos Gates.

William Story.

Ebenezer Kenrick.

Joseph Goddard.

Addington Gardner.

Thomas Stedman.

Females.

Mary Gardner. Sarah Winchester.

Joanna Winchester. Abiel Gardner.

Hannah White. Ann White.

Mary Winchester. Hannah Kenrick.

Mary Boylston. Tryphena Woodwar

Sarah Stedman. Eunice Clark.

Desire Ackers. Mary Gardner.

Hannah Stedman. Susanna Gardner.

Rebecca Sewall. Elizabeth Boylston.

Abigail Story.

Elizabeth Taylor.

Mary Stedman.

Francis Winchester.

The deacons of the First Church in Brookline have been as follows :

Thomas Gardner, clected Dec. 7, 1718.

Benjamin White, elected Dec. 7, 1718; resigned Feb. 12, 1749.

Samuel Clark, resigned Feb. 12, 1749; died May 7, 1766, age 81.

811

BROOKLINE.

Thomas Cotton, dismissed to Pomfret.

Ebenezer Davis, elected Feb. 19, 1749; resigned April 5, 1770 ; died Sept. 30, 1775, age 72.

Joseph White, elected Feb. 19, 1749 ; resigned April 5, 1770; died Aug. 19, 1777, age 75.

Elisha Gardner, elected April 15, 1770 ; resigned Dec. 2, 1792 ; died Jan. 29, 1797, age 70.

William Bowles, elected April 15, 1770 ; dismissed to Newton, Sept. 20, 1772.

Samuel Clark, elected Feb. 27, 1797; died March 29, 1814, age 61.

John Robinson, elected Feb. 27, 1797; died Jan. 13, 1855, age 92.

Joshua Child Clark, elected May 1, 1814 ; died July 4, 1861, age 80.

Abijah Warren Goddard, elected Oct. 17, 1856.

Benjamin B. Davis, elected Oct. 17, 1856; died Aug. 22, 1877.

First Church .- The church having been organized, and the meeting-house completed, the next in order was to choose a minister. On the 23d of July, 1718, a fast was observed in the new church "to seek divine direction in the ordination of a minister." Rev. Dr. Cotton Mather and Rev. Dr. Colman offi- ciated on that occasion.

Dec. 10, 1716, the following vote was passed, viz. :

" Att a meeting of the Inhabitants of Brookline legally warned, chose mr James Allin to be our settled minister in sd Town.

"Voted to give mr Allin 100 pounds gratuity for settlement & 80 pounds Sallary."

On the 18th of February, 1717, the following per- sons were chosen to treat with Mr. James Allen, viz. : Lieut. Thomas Gardner, John Winchester, Joseph White, Ensign Benjamin White, Josiah Winchester, Capt. Samuel Aspinwall, and Erosaman Drew.

Wadsworth, D.D., made the prayers on that occasion ; who had been supplying the pulpit during Mr. Al-

Mr. Allen having accepted the call extended him, he was ordained Nov. 5, 1718, as their first pastor. Rev. Benjamin Colman, D.D., and Rev. Benjamin Rev. Cotton Mather, D.D., gave the charge, Rev. Jeremiah Shepard, of Lynn, gave the right hand of fellowship. Mr. Allen preached his own sermon, as was customary in the early days of the church settle- ments : text, Matthew xxiv. 45, 46, 47: " Who then is a faithful and wise servant ?"

Rev. James Allen was the son of Peter and Mary Allen, born in Roxbury, Mass., June 5, 1692 ; grad- uated at Harvard College, 1710. He was a man of piety and talents. For the greater portion of his ministry he and his people were happily united. Dur- ing the troublous times which deeply agitated the churches in this region just before the middle of the last century, he was active in the new measures which were then pursued. But from certain causes, to such excesses did it lead, that he, who had during its progress considered it as the work of God, in a public

and explicit manner ascribed it to a very different origin. This led many to join a new society, which had for its pastor Mr. Jonathan Hyde, a zealous but illiterate layman from Canterbury, Conn., who was ordained Jan. 17, 1751. Mr. Allen preached in this town for about twenty-eight years. He lived on the south side of Walnut Street, nearly opposite Cypress Street, where he died of a lingering consumption, and was buried in the Brookline Cemetery. The character of Mr. Allen, as given by his contempora- ries and by others who were well acquainted with him, is that of a pious and judicious divine, and the seven publications of his do honor to his head and his heart. He died on the 18th of February, 1747, aged fifty-six.

The printed works of Mr. Allen were :

1. " A Thanksgiving Sermon." Psalms cxvi. 12. Nov. 8, 1722.

2. " The Wheels of the World Governed by a Wise Providence." Ezekiel i. 15-16. 1727.

3. " The Doctrine of Merit Exploded and Humility Recommended." Luke xvii. 10. 1727.

4. " Thunder and Earthquake, a Loud and Awful Call to Reformation." Isaiah xxix. 6. A fast-day sermon occasioned by the earthquake in 1727.

5. " Evangelical Obedience the Way to Eternal life." A sermon to a society of young men in Brook- line. Matthew xix. 16-17. 1731.

6. " The Eternity of God, and the Short Life of Man Considered." A sermon on the death of Samuel Aspinwall, A.M. Psalms cii. 11-12. Aug. 13, 1732. 7. " Magistracy an Institution of Christ upon the Throne." An election sermon. Isaiah vi. 1. May 30, 1744.

After the decease of Mr. Allen, Rev. Mr. Walley,

len's last illness, preached occasionally, and May 13, 1747, the following was the action of the town :

" Voted that the Town Desired to hear some other Ministers besides Mr. Walley

"Voted that the Select Men are to Provide three young Min- isters to preach two Sabbath Days Each Namely Mr. Wally Mr. Checkly and Mr. Hale."

May 18, 1747. " Voted that the Select men are to procure Mr. Stevens and Mr. Harrington to preach two Sabbath Days Each"

Several candidates supplied the pulpit till Feb. 12, 1748, when the town voted as their " choise" Rev. Cotton Brown, of Haverhill, Mass., who was ordained their pastor, Oct. 26, 1748. Rev. Mr. Cotton, of Newton, and Rev. Mr. Walter, of Roxbury, offered prayers ; Dr. Appleton, of Cambridge, gave the charge ; Rev. Mr. Townsend, of Needham, gave the right hand of fellowship ; Rev. Samuel Cook preached

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the sermon from 2 Timothy ii. 2, which was published. So short was his ministry that his people hardly had an opportunity to become acquainted with him before he was summoned to the world of spirits. He died | of a violent fever, April 13, 1751. Rev. Cotton | Brown was the son of Rev. John and Joanna (Cotton) Brown, and grandson of Rev. Rowland Cotton, of Sandwich, Mass., and a lineal descendant of Rev. John Cotton, of Boston, who formerly held a large amount of land in Brookline, among the earliest allot- ments. He was born in Haverhill, Mass., about 1726, | graduated at Harvard College, 1743. He was en- gaged to Mary Allen, a daughter of his predecessor, Mr. Allen, and the house known as the " Walley" house was erected for him to live in. The young lady, however, died in 1750, and he died in 1751, at the early age of twenty-five, having been pastor two years, five months, and eighteen days.

The eminent Dr. Cooper, of Brattle Street Church, spake thus of his character at the time of his decease : " He was a gentleman, who, by the happiness of his genius, his application to study, and taste for polite literature, his piety and prudence, his sweetness of temper and softness of manners, had raised in his friends the fairest hopes, and gave them just reason to expect in him one of the brightest ornaments of society and a peculiar blessing to the church."

Mr. Brown was buried in Brookline Cemetery.

Rev. Samuel Haven, afterwards of Portsmouth, N. H., from 1752 to 1806, was invited to settle as pastor, but did not accept their offer.

Subsequently Rev. Robert Rogerson, a foreigner, received a call from the church and parish, which he accepted. But certain difficulties arising among the people, he was dismissed by a council in 1753. He afterwards became pastor of a church in Rehoboth, Mass., where he passed a long life in the ministry, highly beloved, respected, and eminently useful.

The next clergyman who accepted a call to the Brookline church was Mr. Nathaniel Potter, of Elizabeth, N. J., who was ordained pastor of the church Nov. 19, 1755. He remained in this con- nection three years and a half. He had been hastily called from a distant city, without credentials, and was as hastily settled. Of him Dr. Pierce remarked in an anniversary sermon, that " though professedly ortho- dox in faith, he was destined, during a short ministry, to give woeful emphasis to the apostle's monition, ' Lay hands suddenly on no man.'"

A bill presented to the town by Deacon Elisha Gardner for the expenses of this man's ordination possesses a curious interest when viewed with modern eyes :

" to monney Pad at The ordanation.

old tenor.

£6.0 0 0 0

to Rum ..

£1. 1 4. 0

to Shugar

£1. 1 0. 6

to spice

to turces (turkeys ?).

3 0. 0.

to fouls.

1. 1. 0

to pork ..

3 0 4

to crambres.

0 0 8

to puding pans

0 1 5

£18. 0 2 6"

Of this charge the selectmen ordered the paying of £2 8s. 4d., and probably the society paid the rest.

Ordinations in those days evidently involved the consideration of material as well as spiritual wants for the time being.

Agreeably to his request, he was dismissed June 17, 1759. He delivered a discourse, Jan. 1, 1758, from Jeremiah viii. 20, entitled " A New Year's Gift."

Immediately after the departure of Mr. Potter the church proceeded to select another pastor. They were not long without a regular supply for their pulpit, as on the 24th of December the church and parish were united in their choice of Rev. Joseph Jackson to be their pastor. A call was extended to him, who was then a tutor in Harvard College, where he had often preached. The following is the letter of acceptance of the call :

" Mr. Jacksons Answer

"CAMBRIDGE Feb'y 2 1760 "To the Church & Congregation in Brookline

" My Christian Friends and Bretheren.

" Having by a Committe appointed by you for that purpose received an account of your proceedings with regard to the set- tlement of a Minister, and that the great nead of the Church, has disposed your hearts to make choice of me however un- worthy, to take the pastoral charge over you, and to desire my answer to your kind Invitation

"This is therefore in answer to said invitation to inform you : that being deeply sensible of the difficulty and importance of a right discharge of the Ministerial office, and from such light as I have been able to obtain, I find myself disposd to accept of your invitation, with this Proviso, that it shall pleas'd to engage, in case, that Contribution which was Voted shall in any year fall short of thirteen Pounds, Six Shillings & Eight pence, that you will yearly during the time of my being your Pastor, Make up such deficiency, so as to make a sum equal to thirteen Pounds, Six Shillings & Eight pence ? annum which Sum I have been informed by certain Persons they supposed the condition would amount to.

" I ask this not from any desire of making a large estate or living in extravagance at your expense but on the other hand, that I may be so supported as to give myself wholly to the work of the Ministry without any incumbrance on my worldly Affairs -And also that fixing the said Sum may serve to prevent any future uneasiness, which Tho. I have no reason to expect from you in particular, might Nevertheless possibly happen If I Should hereafter be necessitated to ask it. Your compliance with this alteration in your offers I may rather expect, by being informed in conversation that it was Very likely the Town would comply with it, and also from that kind & generous disposition

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BROOKLINE.

you have already discovered to wards me. Thus my friends, I should choose to Settle among you, to spend & be spent for you, together with my reasons therefor, which I apprehend are no ways inconsistent with that Christian spirit which I desire to exercise to wards you nor with the Character of a Minister of Jesus Christ.

" And now may God so overrule your proceedings as shall most effectually tend to advance his glory & the welfare of your immortal Souls.

" If he should so order it, that I should be your Pastor, may I have grace given me from above so to impart to you in spir- itual things as that you may never have occasion to repent of bestowing on me these that are temporal That the divine bless- ing may always rest upon you, and that you may have direction from Above in all your proceedings, is the earnest Prayer of him who wishes your welfare in this and the coming world " JOSEPH JACKSON"

On the 3d of March, 1760, Moses White, Isaac Winchester, Elisha Gardner, and Joshua Boylston were chosen a " Com'ty to provide for ye Counsel ;- and the sum of Ten pounds to be assessed on the in- habitants to defray the charges of Said Ordination." After the usual preparation, Mr. Jackson was regu- larly ordained on the 9th of April, 1760. The Rev. Seth Storer, of Watertown, and Rev. Dr. Ebenezer Pemberton, of Boston, offered the prayers ; Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Appleton, of Cambridge, gave the charge ; Rev. Samuel Checkley, of Boston, gave the right hand of fellowship; Rev. Dr. Samuel Cooper, of Boston, preached the sermon (from 2 Tim. i. 7), which sermon was published.

Rev. Joseph Jackson was born in Boston about 1734, graduated at Harvard College in 1753 (com- menced preaching soon after), and for several years was tutor in that institution.

" The great Parent of man, and the Supreme Dis- poser of all, was pleased, in his discriminating good- ness, to favor Mr. Jackson with shining mental powers, which under the advantages of a collegiate education, were much enlarged. He was quick of apprehension, clear in perception, and in the compre- hension of his understanding or soundness of judg- ment few excelled him. He was wonderfully endued with talents which qualified him for the important work of the Gospel ministry, and made him a burn- ing and shining light in this part of the vineyard of the Lord,-whose praises is in all our churches."

He ever sustained a fair moral character, worthy of imitation : his regularity and uniform punctuality were remarkable traits in it. Those well acquainted with him must have seen his amiable deportment in the several relations of life,-as a faithful, tender husband, an affectionate father, a just and equal master ; as a friend, true to his professions, safely to be confided in; as a minister, diligent, laborious, | skillful,-aiming, in his discourses, to inform the priations.

mind, affect the heart, and regulate the conduct. Few composed their sermons with so much ease, and yet so pertinently. He was a scriptural, intelligent, and edifying preacher, and judiciously noticed the dispensations of Providence for the instruction and benefit of his hearers. Above all, he was a man of piety and true devotion,-a sincere disciple and ser- vant of Jesus Christ. He was an example in word, in conversation, in charity, in faith, in purity, and in all the virtues which adorn the Christian and minis- terial character. So he lived, and when he died he received the glorious reward of those who are faithful to the end. He died July 22, 1796, in the sixty- second year of his age, and in the thirty-seventh year of his ministry.

Rev. Jacob Cushing, of Waltham, Mass., preached a sermon at his funeral, July 25, 1796, from the text Luke xii. 35-37, which sermon was published.

The proceedings at the ordination of Mr. Jackson were somewhat like his predecessor, and the bill of expenses was more than double the appropriation, as may be seen by the following bill :1

" Brookline, 1760. Elisha Gardner's accompt to providing at the Ordination of mr. Joseph Jackson. old tenor

to cash for Sundries at the ordination £14. 00. 0 to cash for crambres and Ross water 2.00. 0

to cash for butter and Eggs and Pickels 2. 15. 0

to cash for to pay the Cakes. 6. 00. 0

£24. 15.0

Errors Excepted.

Allowed by the Selectmen."

It appears by the above bill that the rum and sugar were omitted in this bill, but probably " Ross water" served the purpose instead.

It seems that the church needed some repairs, and that, as. they were to have a new minister, they must put the building in good order. The following bill was presented two days after the ordination :

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 171

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534