History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 84

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

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I am mindful that your anniversary and the nation's anniversary occur at a season of depression and want; that while commercial gloom settles over our large cities, in the country villages the wheels of manufactories are stopped and labor begs in vain for employment, but we realize to-day how much greater trials our fathers endured and how bravely they en- dured them, and we know that they received their re- ward in blessings that crowned their days. We know that behind the black cloud that overhangs us the imperial sun walks in splendor, and we know that we dwell in a country that has all the elements of success and prosperity, and therefore the future must be se- cure. And over your past it is fitting that you should rejoice ; that you should have accomplished so much ; that such energy has been displayed; that religion and education should have received such generous support from your hands. Splendid promise so often results in splendid failure, that when a great work or a good work is fairly accomplished congratulation is in order, and not till then. And it is said the ancients wisely praised not that ship that started with flying colors from port, but only that brave sailor that came back with torn sheets and battered sides, stripped of her banners, but having outridden the storm. Doubt not that in days of disaster relief is at hand. Judge the future by the past. Distrust not humanity be- cause man is false and shouts for reform while he practices knavery, for if the heart of the people was not right and honest, professions of virtue would not

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be necessary and successful in securing trusts only to betray them.

The season is auspicious for your festivities. The benediction of a summer sky bends above our heads, and the perfection of midsummer splendor lies at our feet. All nature is in harmony with the occasion. Her deep green and rich bloom lend us the choicest decorations. Though one hundred years have gone, we believe that our national life is but just begun ; that the republic shall endure when the very stones over our graves have crumbled to dust ; that the flag that waves above us to-day shall float as long as the earth bears a plant or the sea rolls a wave; and when a century hence the people of this ancient town meet to celebrate their own anniversary, the second centen- nial of the republic, while they proclaim the valor and the patriotism of the fathers of freedom in this land, they will also remember with pride this generation, and your children's children will be cheered and in- spired by your deeds and your memories "as after sunset the dew revives the world."

CHAPTER XXXII.

STOUGHTON-( Continued).

Ecclesiastical History-Universalist Church-Congregational Church-Methodist Episcopal Church-Roman Catholic Church-Methodist Episcopal Church, North Stoughton- Baptist Church, East Stoughton.

Universalist Church.1-There are tablets in the church belonging to the parish in Stoughton, one on either side of the pulpit, which present its history in brief. Perhaps these tablets may be a sufficient his- tory for some; they at least suggest all that need be said in a more extended account as may properly be presented at the beginning of this article. The one on the right of the pulpit reads as follows :

" First Parish. Church organized Aug. 10, A.D. 1744. First Church, completed May 23, A.D. 1745. Second Church, dedicated June 2, A.D. 1808. Altered A.D. 1848. Remodeled and enlarged A.D. 1870."

On the left of the pulpit appears the ministerial succession of the church :

" Pastors. Rev. Jedediah Adams. Ordained Feb. 19, A.D. 1746. Died Feb. 25, A.D. 1799.

I By Rev. C. R. Tenney.

Rev. Edward Richmond, D.D. Ordained Dec. 5, A.D. 1792. Resigned Jan. 15, A.D. 1817. Rev. Ebenezer Gay. Ordained Jan. 7, A.D. 1818. Resigned July 9, A.D. 1822.

Rev. William L. Stearns. Ordained Nov. 21, A.D. 1827. Resigned March 30, A.D. 1831.

Rev. M. B. Ballou. Settled April 17, A.D. 1831. Resigned April 1, A.D. 1853.

Rev. James W. Dennis. Settled April 1, A.D. 1854. Died Dec. 12, A.D. 1863.

Rev. A. St. John Chambre. Installed April 1, A.D. 1864. Resigned April 1, A.D. 1872.

Rev. Joseph K. Mason. Ordained Dec. 10, A.D. 1873. Resigned Dec. 25, A.D. 1875." 2

Rev. H. B. Smith. Settled April 24, A.D. 1876. Resigned Nov. 30, A.D. 1879.

Rev. C. R. Tenney. Settled Sept. 1, A.D. 1882.

The history of the parish antedates that of the church. It begins Nov. 9, 1743, with a petition to " his Excellency, William Shirley, Esq., Capt"-Gen- eral and Governour-in-Chief in and over his Majesty's Province, to the Honorables, his Majesty's Council and Representatives, in General Court assembled," for a division of the First Precinct of the town of Stoughton. This petition was urged by George Talbot, Simon Stearns, and Ralf Pope, the reason for it being, as set forth by the petitioners, "the vast difficulties both with regard to the public worship of God and the management of the affairs of the Precinct to which we belong, on account of the great distance many of us live from the place of public worship, it being almost seven miles." The "place of public worship" here referred to was what is now the Uni- tarian Church at Canton Corner. The prayer of the petitioners was granted on the day on which it was preferred, and thus-what is now Canton being the first, and what is now Sharon being the second-was the Third Precinct in Stoughton incorporated. The first meeting of the new precinct was held Dec. 12, 1843, at the house of Capt. George Talbot. Capt. George Talbot was elected clerk, and he, with Simon Stearns and Ralf Pope, constituted the first prudential committee. At this meeting a vote was passed to raise forty pounds for preaching " the present year and the year ensuing as far as it will go." At a meeting held December 26th it was voted to build a

2 The tablet is not lettered from this point. When complete what follows will be the history.

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meeting-house, forty-five by thirty-five, on land given for the purpose by Daniel Talbot. The church was incorporated Aug. 10, 1744. About a month later a call was extended to Mr. Thomas Jones to become pastor. The precinct seems to have concurred with | God upon himself and people, and the indulgence of the church only so far as to hire Mr. Jones for three months. When the church was completed does not appear, but it was ready for a service of baptism May 23, 1745. On the 6th day of September following it was unanimously voted to call Mr. Jedediah Adams, of Braintree (now Quincy), to the pastorate of the church, three hundred pounds old tenor being al- lowed " for his settling with us, as also for a salary, yearly, of one hundred and eighty pounds." Later twenty cords of wood per year were added to the salary, and it was voted that the pay should vary with variances in the price of corn and meat in the Boston market. Mr. Adams' pastorate began Jan. 5, 1746, though the ordination did not take place until February 19th.

Mr. Edward Richmond a call to the work of the gospel ministry. Mr. Richmond's letter of accept- ance shows him to have been a man of pious senti- ments and feeble health. He invokes the blessing of frequent exchanges in his ministry. The ordination was appointed to take place on the 28th of November. Thanksgiving being appointed on the next day, the ordination was postponed until December 5th, when Rev. Edward Richmond became the colleague of the aged Mr. Adams. Final settlement was not made with Mr. Adams until 1795, when forty pounds were offered him for a discharge in full for his services as a minister. Though the amount due him was much more than this, yet, " consulting ye best interest of ye parish, and wishing to have them in peace and har- mony," he satisfied himself with the offer. Mr. Adams lived, and was practically senior pastor of the parish, until Feb. 25, 1799. Then, in his eighty-ninth year, and the fifty-third of his pastorate, occurred his death. Having received the honors of Harvard University in 1733, and having constantly added by " natural inquis- itiveness" to his store, he must have served his charge with a large knowledge, as well as with a pure char- acter. His colleague wrote of him at the time of his death, " Constitutionally mild and benevolent, he was easily formed to a candid and liberal mode of think- ing. His manners soft, modest, and unassuming, re- ceived the finishing touch of genuine politeness. It may be truly said of him that he was learned without pedantry, polite without affectation, moral without austerity, pious without superstition, and devout with- out enthusiasm."

There is not very much to be noted during the pas- torate of Mr. Adams except the general and very even prosperity of the precinct. In 1765 the Third Precinct became the Second, the Second having be- come a separate town-Sharon. At a meeting held April 10, 1782, move was made for another division of the town, and Thomas Crane, Maj. Robert Sevan, Capt. Jedediah Southworth, Capt. Peter Talbot, and Capt. James Pope were appointed a committee to consult as to the necessary measures to be taken. By their recommendations petitions were presented to the town and to the General Court, but were refused. At the same meeting a committee was appointed to " in- spect ye conduct of ye people on ye Lord's days, and It is a pity that during the pastorate of Mr. Adams no church record was kept so as to be now available ; only the incorporation of the church, and the first church covenant, the covenant of the Congregational Churches in general, with the names of twenty-four signers, are in the old church book. The church record, as preserved, really begins with the call of Rev. Mr. Richmond, dated May 28, 1792. In 1795 Lieut. Roger Sumner and Lieut. John Holmes were call those by name in time of divine service, that pro- fane the Lord's day." If the precinct could manage the Court it could manage its own members. The money with which the people now had to deal was perplexing to them ; one treasurer's report they were not able to understand until it was translated into silver currency. Then a balance of over twenty-four hundred pounds became only thirty-two pounds, one silver dollar being worth seventy-five of those in circulation. In 1785 the | chosen deacons of the church. In 1799, probably on precinct received a bequest of land, enlarging the | the incorporation of Canton, the second precinct be- came the parish in Stoughton. In 1797 the treas- urer's report is for the first time in dollars and cents. The church is looking after absentees, and clothing those unable suitably to clothe themselves for attend- ance upon divine service. Now denominational difficul- ties begin to arise, the Methodists claiming the money of some taxables in the regular precinct church. A movement is made for the protection of the ancient buttonwood-trees still standing on the church green. church lot from Christopher Wadsworth. At about . this time a committee, consisting of Samuel Talbot, Jedediah Southworth, and Joshua Morse, recom- mended that for the future the town raise all the money for the purpose of schooling and that none be raised by the precinct. It seems that in 1792 Mr. Adams' health began to fail, for it was voted at the March meeting of the precinct "to be in a way to settle a minister." On May 28th it was voted to give

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Thus early the spirit of the "Improvement Society" appears. A church member, Jeremiah Vose, is dealt with mercifully for intoxication and profanity. At the parish meeting a man is chosen " to see that the women stow clost in the seats in the meeting-house on Sunday."

In 1798 and 1799 resort was had to law by other denominations, Methodists and Baptists, to secure the money of some taxes in the parish church. Dr. Peter Adams, Capt. Samuel Talbot, Capt. John | business was to be transacted after divine service. Pope, Mr. Samuel Shephard, and Lieut. John Atherton were chosen to defend the parish. Their defense seems to have been successful, only as much being allowed these other denominations as the com- mittee on public worship was willing to allow. In 1800, Mr. Richmond, reminding the parish of the de- preciation in the value of money since his settlement, asks with manliness and modesty for an increase in his salary. In spite of this request the salary was not permanently advanced until 1816, though from year to year money was voted him in addition to it. In 1801 a new meeting-house began to be talked about. It was difficult for the parish to agree as to the house, and before 1805, when the job was given into the hands of Mr. Richmond, builder, of Middle- borough, the pews were sold three times. The fourth sale stood, and plans were made for a house fifty- eight by fifty-eight feet, to be built at a cost of seven thousand five hundred dollars. A quarter of an acre of land was now given the parish by Mrs. Abigail, widow of Lemuel Drake. Upon this the main body of the church now stands, the most of the former bequest by Lieut. Daniel Talbot being included in the yard in front of the church. The church lot, containing one acre and twenty- three rods, was now complete. In 1802 the sing- ing of the psalm. or hymn, " in separate parts," by the deacon at the service of communion was dis- continued, and the regular singers-the present musical society-were invited to assist at such service. In 1803 the church stopped after sacramental lecture, and received from Mr. Ephraim Copeland, of Boston, " an elegant quarto Bible for the use of the sanctuary. | It was then voted that in future a portion of sacred Scripture be read as a book of publick worship." In 1805 the parish received a farm, the bequest of Lemuel Drake. This property is still held by the society, and is known as the Chemung lot. In 1806, July 2d, 3d, and 4th, the meeting-house was raised. In 1807 the bell and clock were placed, and it was voted that the bell should be rung, as now, at nine o'clock Sunday mornings for regular church services, and tolled on the death of members of the parish. In

1808, Rev. Nehemiah Coye ( Methodist ) demanded the taxes of members of the parish. It was finally voted that the taxes of Stephen Briggs and Jacob Monk be paid over to said Coye, and that the taxes of these gentlemen be remitted, and they be left out of the parish bills in the future so long as they remain steady members of the Methodist society, and help support a regular Methodist minister. In this year the church passed a vote inviting the sisters to stop when any This courtesy seems almost to have been induced by service rendered. The ladies had made a generous contribution toward furnishing and trimming the new pulpit. The church was formally accepted by the parish May 23d, and dedicated June 2d. Before the dedication it was desirable that the green should re- ceive attention. It was voted that the people be notified when to work, that the work be done gratis, and " that the parish be at the cost of their grog." About this time it was voted " to give up the pews over the westerly stairs to the blacks or people of color until March." For several years, now, things go on pleasantly and prosperously. In 1813 a sermon of Mr. Richmond's was asked for publication, and a committee was appointed to ask him not to preach politics in the pulpit either on Sundays or days of thanksgiving or fasting. In 1815 Watts' Hymn- Book was displaced by Belknap's. In 1816 the society seems, for the first time, to have a stove for the church,-a present from William Austin. In December, 1816, difficulties growing beyond hope of adjustment, Mr. Richmond sent in his letter of resig- nation. The reason for this action was, he said, that it had " long been evident that the labors of others were more acceptable." It is doubtless true that some of his parishioners desired a change in the pastorate, yet this desire cannot have been as general as he imagined. But a short time before twenty pounds had been permanently added to his salary, and now his resignation was accepted reluctantly,-at the first vote it was not accepted. Finally a committee, appointed to consult with Mr. Richmond, " with great reluct- ance" advised the acceptance of his resignation, and he was dismissed. The council which was called to ratify his dismission, expressions of the society re- corded and traditionary, together with such works of his as are now available, bear testimony that he was a man of character and ability. Whatever dissatis- faction existed was not on account of these things. Neither was it on account of Mr. Richmond's the- ology, though in the unsettled condition of opinion in those times there may have been some who objected to him on this score. The opposition was chiefly

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political, without doubt, and had been growing since | present Congregationalist society in this town. Mr. the time when he was asked not to preach politics. January 15th Mr. Richmond's pastorate came to an end. In September of the same year, Mr. Ebenezer Gay, of Walpole, was called; after some discussion and variation of the conditions of the case, Mr. Gay accepted it, and was ordained Jan. 7, 1818. The church voted that strangers of regular standing in any denomination be invited to stay to communion. In May, 1819, the church voted it " inexpedient any longer to require of candidates for admission a par- ticular confession of antecedent immoralities." There was an article in the warrant this year to " see if it is the will of the parish that Mr. Thaddeus Pomroy be debarred from preaching again in the meeting-house in Stoughton until he makes acknowledgment for once and again insulting and disturbing the society in said house."

In 1820 dissatisfaction with Rev. Mr. Gay begins to appear. Repeated endeavors were made to have him dismissed until 1822, when conditions were made with him and his pastorate immediately terminated. The reason for dissatisfaction was his strict Calvinism. Opposition to liberal views was carried so far under him that formal complaints were made against those who revealed sympathies for Methodism, and a Uni- versalist, Mr. Samuel Bird, was excommunicated. The church was not used to such severe interpreta- tions and applications of theology. According to those whose opinion is of worth in the matter, it had inherited no such theology from the mother church, now the Unitarian in Canton. The first pastor, a member of the liberal Adams family in Quincy, and predisposed, as Dr. Richmond has shown us from his very make up, " to a candid and liberal mode of thinking," did not certainly cultivate in the church any such views. And Dr. Richmond himself was liberal, becoming afterwards, if he was not now, a pro- fessed Unitarian. The church had not been used to such theology as that presented by Mr. Gay. That was the reason, doubtless, why he was dropped so quickly. And that he was thus dropped is another evidence that the church had not been schooled to such views. In 1821 seventy-eight members were reported as in good and regular standing in the church. On July 3, 1822, nine of these were present at a meeting at which a majority of seven voted to sepa- rate themselves "and hold public worship in such places as Providence may from time to time direct." These, with others who were gathered to them, and led by Rev. Mr. Gay, first held their services in a hall over what is now Swan's store, corner of Washington and Wyman Streets, and were the beginning of the

| Gay carried the church records with him to his new movement. They were recovered some years after- wards by the First Church. It was some time after the separation before the parish settled upon a pastor. There seems to have been a short pastorate, beginning in 1824 and. continuing a little past the annual parish meeting, in 1825, which has found no mention on our tablet. The minister was Mr. Ephraim Randall. During this time some who had gone away showed a disposition to return, and a committee was chosen to confer with them. A vote was passed in 1825 to raise three hundred dollars for the ensuing year, three- fourths to be for Unitarian and one-fourth for Univer- salist preaching. In 1826 it was voted to have eight months Unitarian and four months Universalist preaching. In 1827 it was voted to inform the Uni- tarian association of " the penniless condition of the church," and ask for help. October 8th, Mr. Wm. L. Stearns was invited to settle over the parish for five years, at four hundred and fifty dollars per year. Mr. Stearns accepted the call, and was ordained No- vember 21st. The next year the parish received help to the amount of one hundred and fifty dollars from the Evangelical Missionary Society. For the first time apparently the church was insured this year,- amount, three thousand dollars. On Dec. 13, 1830, a vote was passed to dismiss Rev. Mr. Stearns from the pastorate, " his religious sentiments not agreeing with the majority of the society." Mr. Stearns was Unitarian, the prevailing sentiment was Universalist, and Rev. Massena B. Ballou, who still lives in town, and who had been invited to the pastorate before Mr. Stearns' settlement, was again called, and immediately became pastor. The Unitarians now separated them- selves from the parish, and started a society of their own. It was not long, however, before they were back in the old church. The history of the parish under Mr. Ballou's administration shows steady pros- perity. In 1832 a new bell was purchased, Lemuel Gay, Jonathan Linfield, and Wm. S. Belcher being the committee to obtain it. In 1834, voted that the inhabitants of East Stoughton have their proportion of the preaching. April 23, 1835, a new and dis- tinctively Universalist covenant, or " church agree- ment," was adopted, and shortly after a constitution for the government of the church. Brother Robert Porter, Jr., and Brother Albert Johnson were elected deacons.

In 1830 the church devotes the interest of its funds to the purchase of a Sunday-school library. At this time fifty-three members had joined the church and signed the covenant. In 1840 the church gave

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

its fund of two hundred and forty-four dollars to help not accept it. Even though they buried him before the end of the year, they never accepted his resigna- tion. They hold him among them now, and he works for them, making them better when they think of him. In 1864 Rev. A. St. John Chambré became pastor. In 1865 the afternoon service was dropped pay a little parish debt. In 1841 Deacon Johnson requested dismission from the deaconate, and Thomas Capen was elected in his place. In the next year, on motion of Amasa Southworth, a vote was passed open- ing the house to temperance meetings when it should be sought for them. In 1843 candidates were elected | and the Sunday-school was held at the hour devoted to General Convention, and the church began to feel the strength of membership in a larger organization. In 1848 the parish found itself strong enough to re- model the church, at an expense of fifteen hundred dollars. The upper part was finished off to hold meetings in, and the vestry, called from that time Chemung Hall, was created. This year the pews be- gan to be let at auction. In 1853, as he writes at the time, " after an agreeable and happy connection of twenty-two years," Mr. Ballou closed his pastorate with the parish. The reason for his withdrawal was poor health. The committee appointed to draw up to it. The success of Mr. Chambre's pastorate at this stage appears in the improved state of the finances of the parish. From twelve hundred dollars the first year the minister's salary was easily advanced to two thousand the third, and in the sixth (1870) the par- ish was able to remodel its church at a cost of over eleven thousand dollars. This amount was paid within a little over two thousand dollars when the work was done, and the parish found itself in posses- sion of a most comfortable, appropriate, and beautiful temple of worship. The committee who had this work in charge were composed of the following gen- resolutions in view of Mr. Ballou's resignation bore | tlemen : Luther S. Leach, Horace N. Tucker, Robert | Porter, Jr., James Atherton, J. F. Ellis, Henry Ward, Rev. Mr. Chambre. In 1872, by the death of the clerk, the parish lost its organization, and ap- peal had to be made to a justice before a meeting could be called. Mr. Chambre resigned his pastorate April 1st of this year, after nine years of able and suc- cessful service. In highly eulogistic resolutions the parish has put on record its appreciation of him and his service. In 1873 Joseph K. Masson, while yet a student, was called to the pastorate. No event of par- ticular moment marks the period of his stay. Young, inexperienced as the new minister was, his ability was yet equal to holding the society up to the high stan- dard to which it had been raised, until, in 1875, he was reluctantly surrendered to a persistent society in Connecticut. In April following Rev. H. B. Smith was unanimously invited to the pastorate. With good ability and the hearty co-operation of the people, the promise of Mr. Smith's success seemed bright. By his efforts, apparently, the parish membership was considerably increased. He rendered the society good service in raising the debt of about three thou- sand dollars in 1879. On account of domestic trouble, however, he was obliged to resign in November of this year. The troubles of the minister were the misfor- tune of the society as well, and this, with two years of candidating and the loss of a few strong men by death, materially depleted its strength. With good congregations and a large Sunday-school, it is yet strong, however, and hopes for further growth. The pastor is Rev. C. R. Tenney, settled Sept. 1, 1882.

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 84

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