History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 91

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 91

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Executive and other committees were chosen and set | All this was done in the face of the vigorous opposi- to work. On the following day (December 6th ) a formal tion of the citizens of East Randolph, but they were outvoted, as often before. The hearings before the legislative Committee on Towns were begun on Janu- ary 24th, Mr. Morton, as previously stated, appearing for the petitioners, and the Hon. B. W. Harris (now petition was signed by Mr. E. N. Holbrook and thir- teen others and recorded in the office of the Secretary | of State, and on the 8th it was served upon the town of Randolph by a deputy-sheriff. A second citizens'

428

HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of East Bridgewater) for the remonstrants. Before their close an event occurred which filled the hearts of the people of East Randolph with profound sad- ness. This was the sudden death, on Feb. 5, 1872, of Mr. Elisha Niles Holbrook, the benefactor of the future town. Though a digression from the subject immediately in hand, perhaps no more appropriate place than the present may be found in which to allude to Mr. Holbrook's career.

He was born in East Randolph, Oct. 31, 1800, and was the second son and fifth child of Deacon Elisha and Anna Holbrook, of Randolph. His opportunities for an early education were not limited, judged by the standard in vogue at the period of his birth. For some time he was a pupil of the Rev. Dr. Strong, his first pastor, who, besides the labors of the pulpit and the parish, conducted the studies of many of his youthful parishioners, and fitted numerous young men for college. He was also a pupil in an academy elsewhere. At the age of twenty he entered upon a business career, as a partner in a boot and shoe man- ufacturing firm, with a capital of one thousand dol- lars, and with the world before him. He soon left the firm and conducted business alone, and in his own way. This he did in one form or another for more | than fifty years, to the last four days of his life. With scarcely an exception, every day's toil in that life of fifty years was a success. He gave ten thou- sand dollars toward the Winthrop church edifice (the original building), from whose Sabbath services he | was absent but one day during the last fifteen years of his life. For defraying the current expenses of the society he paid annually from one thousand to thirteen hundred dollars, and during the fifteen years immediately preceding his death he gave away the sum of eighty-five thousand dollars. He intimated a wish to do more, and named the objects on which he expressed a willingness to bestow his benefactions. Had his life been longer spared, or the premonitions of its sudden close been earlier given, unquestionably more would have been done in the execution of pur- poses which he cherished. His generous gift of fifty . thousand dollars to the new town has been already alluded to. The Rev. Ezekiel Russell, D.D., in an appreciative sketch of Mr. Holbrook, says of him, " There was no taint of sloth in his composition. Action, industry, enterprise were his life. . It is conceded that he never failed to fulfill a promise or redeem a pledge, and that he never resorted to un- lawful expedients or doubtful methods for the purpose of adding to his wealth. On the contrary, his career .was ever one of stainless rectitude and honor. . . Like his honored father, Deacon Elisha Holbrook, he

was a liberal supporter of religious institutions. . When a friend or a neighbor was known to succeed and prosper, he was pleased, and never withheld the expression of his satisfaction. No bitter sarcasm ever fell from his lips against a neighbor or an acquaint- ance, or anything that wore the aspect of a calumny or slander. . . He was courteous, refined in his tastes, modesc, unassuming, and never obtrusive in the statement or defense of his opinions. . . . Nature had gifted him with an elegant person, with a pleasing presence, a genial countenance, a black and sparkling eye. ... He was the faithful, the affectionate hus- band, the kind, the tender father, the loving grand- parent, and the sympathizing brother. . . . He was a firm believer in the Christian Scriptures as the in- spired Word of God, and in all the fundamental doc- trines of the living oracles. He kept a copy of them in his counting-room and on his centre-table, and few were the days that were allowed to pass without his perusal of them, either at his fireside or at his place of business."

Though the death of Mr. Holbrook came with a sudden shock to his fellow-townsmen, it was no time for faltering in the prosecution of the work in hand, and the efforts of the advocates of a division of the town were in no respect suffered to abate. On Feb- ruary 8th the Committee on Towns reported in the Senate a bill for the incorporation of the town of Holbrook, two of the House members of the com- mittee alone dissenting. On the following day the bill passed to its second reading, and on the 13th it passed the Senate by a vote of twenty-five to ten. But the decisive battle was to be fought in the House ; and'from that time until the bill reached its debatable stage, on February 19th, both petitioners and remon- strants were unremitting in their efforts to secure leg- islative supporters. On the last-mentioned date a debate of six or seven hours, lasting through that day and the next, resulted in a vote of one hundred and thirteen to ninety-one for the bill. Another contest was waged upon the engrossment of the bill, but an engrossment was ordered on February 24th by eighty- six to seventy-one. Then the sturdy, remonstrants attempted to secure a reconsideration, but in this en- deavor they were unsuccessful, and after passing the several remaining stages the bill received the Gov- ernor's signature on February 29th, and the town of Holbrook became an accomplished fact. Following is a copy of the more important portions of the act of incorporation :

" Be it enacted, etc., as follows :

"SECT. 1. All the territory now within the town of Randolph, in the county of Norfolk, comprised within the following limits,

429

HOLBROOK.

that is to say : beginning at the stone monument in the line be- tween said Randolph and the town of Braintree, on the easterly side of Tumbling Brook ; thence taking a southwesterly course, in a straight line to a point six feet westerly from the north- westerly corner in range of the northerly side of the so-called East Randolph station-house of the Old Colony and Newport Railroad Company ; thence the same or other southwesterly .course to a point on the town line dividing Randolph and Stoughton, one hundred and fourteen rods southeasterly from the town stone monument in said last-mentioned dividing line, at the southerly terminus of Main Street in said Randolph; thence southeasterly, northeasterly, northerly, and westerly as the present dividing line between said Randolph and Stough- ton, North Bridgewater, Abington, Weymouth, and Braintree runs, to the first-mentioned bound, is hereby incorporated into a town by the name of Holbrook; and said town of Holbrook is hereby invested with all the powers, privileges, rights, and im- munities, and is subject to all the duties and requisitions to which other towns are entitled and subjected by the Constitu- tion and laws of this Commonwealth.

"SECT. 2. The inhabitants of said town of Holbrook shall be holden to pay all arrears of taxes which have been legally as- sessed upon them by the town of Randodph, and all taxes here- tofore assessed and not collected shall be collected and paid to the treasurer of the town of Randolph in the same manner as if this act had not been passed; and also their proportion of all county and State taxes that may be assessed upon them pre- viously to the taking of the next State valuation, said propor- tion to be ascertained and determined by the last valuation in the said Randolph.

"SECT. 3. Said towns of Randolph and Holbrook shall be re- spectively liable for the support of all persons who now do or shall hereafter stand in need of relief as paupers, whose settle- ment was gained by or derived from a settlement gained or derived within their respective limits; and the town of Hol- brook shall also pay annually to the town of Randolph one- third part of all costs of the support or relief of those persons who now do or shall hereafter stand in need of relief or support as paupers, and have gained a settlement in said town of Ran- dolph in consequence of the military services of themselves or those through whom they derive their settlement.

"SECT. 4. The corporate property belonging to the town of Randolph at the date of this act, and the public debt of the said town existing at said date, shall be divided between the towns of Randolph and Holbrook according to the valuation of the property within their respective limits as assessed May first, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-one; and said town of Holbrook shall receive from said town of Randolph a propor- tionate part of whatever amount may hereafter be refunded to said town of Randolph from the State or United States to re- imburse said town of Randolph for bounties to soldiers, or State aid paid to soldiers' families after deducting all reasonable ex- penses ; and said town of Holbrook shall bear the expense of making the survey and establishing the line between said towns of Randolph and Holbrook."

[Sections 5, 6, and 7 have no present interest.]

The first town-meeting in Holbrook was held March 11, 1872, "in the East Parish meeting- house." It was called to order by the Hon. Zenas French, and after prayer by the Rev. Ezekiel Russell, D.D., Mr. Lemuel Whitcomb was elected moderator, and the meeting proceeded to the election of town officers. At another meeting, held March 21st of the

same year, various appropriations for town purposes were made, by-laws adopted, etc.

One of the earliest business transactions to demand attention from the officers of the new town was the division of town property. For this purpose the se- lectmen of both Randolph and Holbrook were ap- pointed committees with full powers by their respect- ive towns; and according to a document dated " Randolph, March 19, 1873," and signed by both boards, it was agreed and certified " that there has been paid by the town of Holbrook to the town of Randolph the balance of indebtedness as within stated, amounting to $14,988.94, and interest on the same from Feb. 1 to March 1, 1873, of $74.94, making $15,063.88," etc. In 1873 a town hall was built only a few feet south of the Winthrop Church, on Franklin Street, at an expense of about $35,000. It was of wood, two stories high, with French roof and brick basement, and was ninety by forty-eight feet in dimensions. The public library occupied rooms on the first floor. Early on Christmas morn- ing, 1877, fire broke out in the town hall building, and both it and the church were wholly consumed. After the fire the citizens held their town-meetings in Library Hall, in the rear of the burned structure; but early in 1879 a new brick town hall, with stone trim- mings, was completed on the site of the former one, and was dedicated on the evening of March 26th of that year.

The building is in plan a parallelogram, measuring fifty-three by one hundred feet, with projections forty- four feet wide on front and rear, flanked at the corners on the front with projections thirteen feet wide. It contains four stories-basement, street floor, public hall, and roof story. The former contains the steam and gas apparatus. The street story is thirteen feet in height, containing two stores, apartments for town officers, and commodious quarters for the public library. The main hall, on the second story, is ninety by fifty feet and twenty-five feet in height, and with its paneled walls and ceilings, long arched windows, and tasteful frescoing forms one of the most striking interiors of the kind in the State. It will seat, in- cluding the gallery at the northerly end, nine hundred persons. There is a large stage, with commodious dressing-rooms adjacent. A stone tablet set [in the front of the edifice bears this inscription :

" Holbrook Town Hall. Erected 1878. The Gift of E. N. Holbrook."

430

HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The total cost, including furniture, fixtures, etc., was nearly twenty-eight thousand five hundred dol- lars. On the left of the stage, in the hall, is a finely executed portrait of the late donor of the building ; and in a corresponding position on the right of the platform is a marble slab inscribed as follows :

" Holbrook Town Hall.

Erected 1873. Destroyed by Fire Dec. 25, 1877. Rebuilt, 1878."

The dedicatory exercises consisted of prayer by Rev. Z. T. Sullivan, of Brockton ; song by the Mozart Quartette (male) ; address by Prof. J. B. Sewall, prin- cipal of Thayer Academy, South Braintree ; presenta- tion of the keys of the building by Mr. J. T. South- worth, chairman of the building committee, to Mr. Henry Newcomb, chairman of the board of selectmen, who responded appropriately ; song by the quartette ; remarks by Hon. Seth Turner, of Randolph ; reading of letters, and brief speeches by invited guests from neighboring towns. Dancing closed the festivities of the occasion.

In view of prevalent incendiarism, the following significant vote was passed at a special town-meeting held Nov. 5, 1881 :

" Voted, That the selectmen offer $500 reward each for the arrest and conviction of the party or par- ties who set fire to the barn of S. L. White, house of the late Ebenezer Alden, barn of James Holbrook, barn of Mrs. Prudence D. Holbrook, and $1500 for the arrest and conviction of the party or parties who set fire to the house of the late C. S. Holbrook ; and in no case shall a double reward be paid for the arrest and conviction of any one party."

Ecclesiastical History .- Up to the year 1818 the residents of both the East and West villages of Ran- dolph worshiped in the First Church, which was located in the latter village, and formed one society. In this year, however, the question of repairing the old house or building a new one was raised. The church edifice was then fifty-four years old, it being the second building erected by the society. It having been voted to build rather than repair, most of the residents liv- ing east of the Cochato River petitioned to the Gen- eral Court to be set off as a separate parish. This movement on the part of the citizens of East Ran- dolph excited an opposition which was fully on a par with that created by the proposition to divide the town, made more than half a century later. The petition was granted, however, and the "Second Church in Randolph" was organized Dec. 15, 1818. [It may here be remarked that the action of the Legislature in |

dividing the parish put a quietus for several years upon the project of rebuilding the edifice occupied by the First Church in West Randolph, and it was not until Nov. 2, 1825, that the third meeting-house of that parish was dedicated.]

The original members of the Second Church were as follows :

Deacon William Linfield.

Hannah Linfield.

Deacon Elisha Holbrook. Cassandana White.

Bailey White.

Rachel Wild.

Josoph Holbrook.

Sarah Belcher.

Jacob Whitcomb, Jr.

Lydia Whitcomb.

Samuel Whitcomb.

Phebe Whitcomb.

Abner W. Paine.

Zerniah Faxon.

Benjamin Paine.

Hannah Hobert.

Isaac Whitcomb.

Sally Whitcomb.

Deacon Silas Paine.

Mary Paine.

Caleb White.

Sarah Holbrook.

Col. Simeon White.

Relief White.

Daniel Faxon.

Alse White.

David White.

Abi Newcomb.

Silas Paine, Jr.

Hannah Hunt.

Lucius Paine.

Alse Thayer.

Otis Thayer (2d).

Mary White.

Isaac White.

Mary Whitcomb.

Nathaniel Belcher.

Sarah White.

Lucinda Whitcomb.1

A meeting-house for the Second Church was built immediately after the organization of the parish, and the first pastor, the Rev. David Brigham, was ordained Dec. 29, 1819. He was dismissed Nov. 22, 1836, and was succeeded by the Rev. Dennis Powers, on Dec. 5, 1838. The latter clergyman remained only until April 15, 1841, his successor being the Rev. William A. Peabody, who was settled March 2, 1843, and was dismissed Oct. 2, 1849. The Rev. Ezekiel Russell, D.D., became pastor on May 8, 1850. Six years later dissensions arose in the church, and a division of the society occurred, resulting in the organization, on Dec. 30, 1856, of the Winthrop Church, named in honor of Governor John Winthrop | of colonial fame. The circumstances immediately attending the formation of this society were these: Deacon Elisha Holbrook and fifty-eight others- members of the Second Congregational Church in Randolph-presented a request to the church, at its stated and regular meeting, Dec. 5, 1856, for letters of dismission and recommendation to such ecclesiasti- cal council of sister churches as might be called for the purpose of organizing them into a separate and independent church of Christ. The petition sub- mitted was as follows :

" To the Second Congregational Church in Randolph :

" The undersigned, members of said Second Church, having become unalterably convinced, by a train of circumstances now .

1 The only living member.

431

HOLBROOK.

of long continuance and known to all, that our peace and har- mony as members of the church of Christ require an entire change of our relations, and a new organization into a distinct and separate church, do, therefore, request letters of dismission and recommendation from the said Second Church in Ran- dolph, to such ecclesiastical council from sister churches as may be called to act on their request.

"EAST RANDOLPH, Nov. 28, 1856."

It having been moved and seconded that the above request be granted, the motion was carried by a ma- jority of ten votes. There were five negative votes cast, and five persons did not vote. Letters of dis- mission and recommendation were immediately placed in the hands of, the petitioners, signed in due form by the pastor and clerk of the Second Church in Ran- dolph. The persons who had thus been dismissed met Dec. 18, 1856, in the hall of E. N. Holbrook, Esq., and voted, unanimously, to call a council to act on their request for organization, and adopted, also, a confession of faith and covenant, to be submitted to the council for its approval. The council thus in- vited to convene assembled in conformity with the invitation, and left behind the following record of its doings :

" RANDOLPH, Dec. 30, 1856.

" Pursuant to Letters Missive from Deacon Elisha Holbrook and sixteen others, holding letters of dismission and recommen- dation from the Second Congregational Church in Randolph, and from other churches, to such ecclesiastical council of sister churches as may be called for the purpose of organizing them into a distinct and separate church of Christ, an ecclesiastical council assembled this day in the hall of E. N. Holbrook. The following-named churches were present by their pastors and delegates, viz. :

First Church in Braintree, Rev. R. S. Storrs, D.D., pastor ; Deacon David Hollis, delegate.

Union Church of Braintree and Weymouth, Rev. J. Perkins, pastor ; Deacon J. P. Nash, delegate.

First Church, North Bridgewater, Rev. Paul Couch, pastor ; Brother J. Kingman, delegate.

Trinitarian Congregational Church, Bridgewater, Rev. David Brigham, pastor; Deacon G. N. Holmes, delegate.

" The council was organized by the choice of Rev. R. S. Storrs, D.D., as moderator, and Rev. David Brigham, scribe. After prayer to God for divine wisdom and direction in the business before them, in which the council was led by the moderator, a document, properly authenticated, was laid before them, show- ing that the petitioners referred to in the letters missive had been regularly dismissed and recommended, as therein stated. The moderator here inquired if any persons present had objec- tions against the petitioners being formed, according to their request, into a distinct and separate church of Christ. As no one appeared to offer objections, the council now listened to the confession of faith and covenant adopted by the petitioners, with which they voted entire satisfaction. The petitioners at this point, by request of the council, presented their reasons for withdrawing from the churches with which they had hitherto been connected, and for wishing to be organized into a separate church. After attending to these reasons, the moderator again inquired if any persons present had objections to make, or re- marks to offer upon the document now presented to the council by the petitioners. No one appearing to respond, the council

voted to be by themselves. It was then moved that the prayer of the petitioners be granted, and that we proceed to organize a distinct and separate church of Christ, under the name of the Winthrop Church of Randolph. This motion, after full and free discussion, was unanimously adopted. Arrangements were then made for the public services of the occasion, as follows :

" 1. Sermon, with the Introductory Prayer, Rev. David Brigham.

"2. Reading the Confession of Faith and Covenant, with the Consecrating Prayer, Rev. Jonas Perkins.

"3. Charge to the Church, Rev. Paul Couch.

"4. Right Hand of Fellowship, with Concluding Prayer, Rev. R. S. Storrs, D.D.

" After attending public services as above arranged, council dissolved.

" R. S. STORRS, Moderator. " DAVID BRIGHAM, Scribe.

" A true copy of the doings and result of council.

" Attest :

" D. BRIGHAM, Scribe."

The whole number of members composing the Winthrop Church on the day of its organization was sixty-males, 17 ; females, 43. On the evening of the same day a society in the same place was organ- ized in connection with the church, the legal steps for this purpose having been previously taken. The church, January 8th, and society, Jan. 20, 1857, with entire unanimity, extended an invitation to the Rev. E. Russell to become their pastor, he having already sustained to them this relation nearly seven years, in connection with the Second Church in Ran- dolph. To this invitation a favorable response was promptly made, and the clergyman was dismissed from the Second Church on Feb. 3, 1857, and on the same day he was installed over the Winthrop Church, the sermon on that occasion being preached by the Rev. Dr. Storrs.

The church and society met for the first time for public worship in the hall of E. N. Holbrook, Esq., on the first Sabbath in the year 1857. Here all the assemblies for public and social worship were held till the 17th of January, 1858. The new house of worship being then complete, it was dedicated with the usual solemnities on the 20th, and opened for the first time for public worship on the Sabbath, the 24th of January, 1858. It was of the Romanesque style of architecture, eighty-four feet in length by fifty- three in breadth, and with a spire one hundred and forty-seven feet in height. It contained a bell and an organ, and its interior was tastefully frescoed. The cost of the edifice, including the land, was twenty-two thousand dollars, and its bills were all canceled on the day of its dedication. The names of the twenty-three persons who originally contributed to its erection are as follows : Elisha Holbrook, E. N. Holbrook, C. S. Holbrook, Lewis Whitcomb, Elijah Howard, John Holbrook, Calvin French, Erastus Wales, Apollos

432

HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Wales, Newton White, Edmund White, Simeon Whitcomb, Daniel Faxon, Theophilus Wood, M.D., William W. Linfield, Samuel Baker, Charles French (2d), Zenas French, Stephen Chesman, Nathaniel B. Thayer, David White, Caleb Harris, William E. Linfield.

After the separation of the churches the Second Church had no settled pastor, and relinquished the holding of public services in April, 1864. The church building ultimately became a shoe-factory, for which purpose it is now occupied. Meanwhile, how- ever, the Winthrop society prospered. The Rev. Dr. Russell was dismissed from the pastorate on May 14, 1872, and on Jan. 29, 1874, there was a merging of the old Second society with the Winthrop Church under the name of the Winthrop Congregational Church of Holbrook. Early on Christmas morning, 1877, occurred the disastrous conflagration which destroyed both the new town hall and the Winthrop Church. The edifices stood side by side, and suffi- ciently near together for the flames, which originated in the town hall building, to communicate to and en- velop the church. The latter had been extensively repaired, not long previous to its destruction, at an expense of several thousand dollars.

to $200 each. The family of the late C. S. Holbrook gave a piano for the vestry ; a bequest of $330 from the late E. N. Holbrook was employed in the purchase of pulpit furniture, etc .; the tower-clock was given by Mrs. Mary W. Holbrook, clocks in the main au- ditorium and vestry by Mrs. C. V. Spear, and silver- ware by Mrs. E. Everett Holbrook, who also gave $200 to the Ladies' Sewing Circle.

There was no pastor settled over the church after the discharge of the Rev. Dr. Russell, until May 10, 1881, when the Rev. Herbert A. Loring was settled. During the interim the pulpit was occupied succes- sively by Revs. S. C. Kendall, Albert Bryant, H. C. Crane, George W. Blagden, D.D., D. W. Kilbourn, William Adams, L. H. Angier, and George C. Gor- don. The Rev. Mr. Loring was dismissed Nov. 23, 1882, and on June 19, 1883, the Rev. Oliver S. Dean, the present pastor, was settled.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 91

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