USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Lowell > History of Pawtucket Church and Society : with reminiscences of pastors and founders, sketches of Congregational churches in Lowell, and a brief outline of Congregationalism > Part 7
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The history of the Pawtucket Society furnishes a creditable record of individuals who have rep- resented it on all the great public questions of im- provement and reform, from time to time, in the irresistible march of civilization.
As early as 1832-'33, and even before that time, the earnest and exciting discussions upon the subject of slavery in the United States were well underway and had become quite common. Anti-slavery senti-
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ments had been gaining ground for a number of years, but their advocates were not numerous until about this time, and even then they were regarded as an insignificant and misguided set.
The first abolition society of which we have any record in this country (that of the Pennsylvania) was formed in 1774. Benjamin Franklin was its first president and Benjamin Rush its first secretary, both signers of the Declaration of Independence. The New York Manumission Society was founded in 1785. John Jay was its first president and Alex- ander Hamilton its second. Rhode Island followed with a society of this kind in 1786, Maryland in 1789, Connecticut in 1790, Virginia in 1791, New Jersey in 1792.
These were good beginnings ; and the discovery that such societies were in opposition to the Federal Constitution or with the reciprocal rights and duties of the citizens of the several states, was not made for nearly forty years afterwards ;* but the discovery was made eventually, and insisted upon by all pro- slavery champions.
The Pennsylvania society, and others as individ- uals, memorialized the first Congress, then sitting in Philadelphia, against slavery, asking that body to " be pleased to countenance the restoration to lib- erty to those unhappy men who alone in this land of freedom are degraded to perpetual bondage, and who, amid the general joy of surrounding freemen, are groaning in servile subjection ; that you will devise means for removing this inconsistency of character from the American people," etc.
* American Conflict, by Horace Greeley.
.
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These petitions were courteously received by Congress, which took them calmly into considera- tion, and decided that it had not the power to abolish slavery in the states which, by the authority of their laws, had established it and desired to continue it; but there was no excitement, menace or fury manifested while the subject was under discussion. South Carolina and Georgia opposed the petitions, but everything was done in a parliamentary manner.
The northern states began early to rid them- selves of this great and abominable evil. Vermont in 1777 framed a state constitution containing a " bill of rights," which precluded slavery. Massa- chusetts framed a constitution in 1780 which declared that "all men are born free and equal." The supreme court, upon the first case arising in Worcester County, in 1781, which involved the question, decided that slavery was abolished by the constitution. New Hampshire also abolished slavery by her constitution adopted in 1783. Pennsylvania passed a gradual emancipation act, March 1, 1780. Rhode Island provided, in 1784, that all persons born in that state after March, 1784, should be free. Con- necticut, in 1784, provided for gradual abolition. New York did the same, in 1799. In 1817 an addi- tional law was passed declaring that there should be no slavery in the state after the 4th of July, 1827, and ten thousand slaves were liberated at once by this act. New Jersey, in 1804, passed an act of gradual emancipation, but it was so very gradual that there were six hundred and seventy-four slaves in that state, as shown by the census, in 1840. Southern men frequently asserted that "the north-
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ern men sold their slaves to the south and then abolished slavery," but this was entirely a fabrica- tion and abundantly refuted.
THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.
The general congress which convened at Phila- delphia in 1774, framed articles of association between the colonies, one of which was a solemn agreement " that we will neither import nor purchase any slave imported, after December next." Most of the states accordingly prohibited the slave trade during, or soon after, the Revolution. All through the Revolutionary struggle "the rights of men" were proclaimed as the object of our resistance to the oppression of England, and so late as 1826 the doctrine of " the essential righteousness and benefi- cence of slavery " had not been accepted even in the south. In that year Mr. Edward Everett, then a new and young member of the lower house of Congress, expressed his hostility to all projects of violent abolition, his readiness to shoulder his mus- ket to put down slave insurrections, and his convic- tion "that while it (slavery) subsists where it subsists, its duties are pre-supposed and sanctioned by relig- ion," etc. These sentiments were combatted by slave-holders themselves: Mr. Mitchell, of Tennessee, though himself a slave-holder, pointedly dissented from it. John Randolph, of Virginia, a life-long owner of slaves, replied to Mr. Everett in this scath- ing language : "Sir, I envy neither the head nor
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the heart of that man from the north who rises here to defend slavery upon principle."
As time advanced, however, and the slave-power became domineering, arrogant and overbearing, strong and patriotic men began to take measures for its suppression. In the winter of 1823-'24, a convention was held (the first in this country) to adopt measures for the abolition of slavery.
Benjamin Lundy, born of Quaker parents, in Sussex County, New Jersey, January 4, 1789, de- serves the honor of " ranking as the pioneer of direct and distinctive anti-slavery in America." He organ- ized an anti-slavery association in Ohio in 1815, and enlisted for life in a vigorous warfare against slavery, writing, travelling and lecturing all over the coun- try. William Lloyd Garrison, of Boston, was one of his converts in 1828. Mr. Garrison established " The Liberator," an anti-slavery journal of the rad- ical type, in Boston, in 1830, after some experience with Lundy in editing " The Genius," an ultra anti- slavery paper, in Baltimore. "The Liberator " had for its motto " Our Country is the World, our Coun- trymen are All Mankind." Some years later " No union with slave-holders " was adopted, and also the doctrine, " The (Federal) constitution is a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell."
In 1832-'33 the New England and American anti-slavery societies, respectively, were formed. The churches, as such, took little part, generally, in the exciting discussions upon this subject, although there were some exceptions. Greeley, in his "Amer- ican Conflict," says : " The Congregational, Presby- terian, Baptist, and kindred denominations have no
7
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very distinct or luminous record on this subject." There were individuals representing all these denom- inations, and others, especially in New England, who were untiring in their efforts to spread before the country the enormities of the barbarous institution of slavery.
Connected with the Pawtucket Society, about the year 1834, Dea. Jeremiah Varnum, Oliver P. Varnum and others whose names we are unable to ascertain, held an anti-slavery meeting, to discuss the subject and consider what could be done in aid of the cause. During this meeting those in attend- ance contributed five dollars each to be sent to some anti-slavery society, to print tracts and other docu- ments for distribution among the people, both north and south. We well remember that one of the above-named gentlemen kept himself well supplied with that kind of literature for a number of years, carrying it in his pockets and at all seasonable times presenting it to such persons as he thought could be made to take an interest in the subject. Dea. Sam- uel B. Simonds, now one of the active officers of this church, was present at, and active in getting up, anti-slavery meetings in Lowell in 1834, when George Thompson', the distinguished English philan- thropist, lectured here. A short description of these meetings as substantially related by Z. E. Stone, Esq., in an able paper read before the Old Residents' Historical Association, August 5, 1874,* may be of interest.
October 4, 1834, Mr. Thompson, who had been
* See second volume Old Residents' Historical Association publications.
*
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in this country but a few weeks, spoke in Lowell for the first time. Rev. William Twining, the pastor of what was later known as the Appleton Street Church ; Rev. Giles Pease, pastor of a society worshiping in the Town Hall, and Rev. Asa Rand, took seats on the platform. The lecture was delivered in the Town Hall, by consent of the selectmen.
During the months of November and December, of the same year, there was much excitement in Lowell growing out of Mr. Thompson's second visit. Mr. Thompson came to Lowell on Saturday even- ing, November 30th, by invitation of the board of managers in the anti-slavery interests, and was to lecture Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings fol- lowing. On Sunday his audience was quite large, made up of both sexes. During that evening there was but one disturbance, when a brick was thrown against the sash of a window, but it did no harm. The second evening three missiles were hurled at the building, behind the speaker. One of them-a large brick-bat-came through the window with a startling crash, passed near Mr. Thompson's head and fell upon the floor near where sat Mr. Samuel B. Simonds. The brick was picked up and laid upon the speaker's desk, and was carried by him to Boston, and for a long time exhibited in the rooms of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, with an appro- priate inscription upon it.
Mr. Thompson was not allowed to give his third lecture, on account of the great excitement. Hoot- ings, howlings, hisses, derisive cries, cat-calls, and every infernal noise that an earnest, mischievous, reckless mob is capable of making, came up from
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the black, animated mass that had filled the hall. These miscreants had assembled in response to a call made upon our streets by professedly respectable pro-slavery men. On the morning previous to the time appointed for the third lecture, a placard was posted around town, which read as follows :
Citizens of Lowell, arise ! Look well to your interests ! Will you suffer a question to be discussed in Lowell which will endanger the safety of the Union - a question which we have not by our Constitution any right to meddle with ? Fellow-Citizens, shall Lowell be the first place to suffer an Englishman to disturb the peace and harmony of our country? Do you wish instruction from an Englishman? If you are freeborn sons of America, meet, one and all, at the Town Hall, This Evening, at half-past seven o'clock, and convince your Southern brethren that we will not interfere with their rights.
During the day Mr. Thompson also received the following anonymous letter :
Rev. Dr. Thompson-Dear Sir, I as a friend beg leave to inform you that there is a plot in agitation to immerce you in a vat of Indelable Ink, and I recommend you to take your departure from this part of the Contra as soon as possable or it wil be shurely carried into opperration and that to before you see the light of another Son. Very respecfully yours A citizen of theas United States of America.
Although it was impossible to hold the meeting, as at first appointed, it is gratifying to add that the meeting was held on Wednesday afternoon, the time to which it was adjourned the evening of the dis- turbance. It being daylight, "an unfavorable time for men of bad passions to be abroad," Mr. Thompson was not disturbed.
After more than thirty years, Mr. Thompson again visited this country. It was near the close of the war which had been begun in the interests of slavery ; those who had resorted to the sword had virtually perished by the sword, and their "peculiar institution" had gone down to rise no more.
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A month after Mr. Thompson's third and last visit to Lowell, Richmond was occupied by the Union forces, and Jefferson Davis, the great leader of the rebellion, was shortly afterwards a prisoner at Fort- ress Monroe, the writer having given up casemate No. 2, which he occupied as an office, to make a prison for the distinguished fugitive. On the 15th of March, 1865, George Thompson and William Lloyd Garrison came again to speak in Lowell on behalf of the Lowell Freedmen's Aid Society. Mr. C. C. Coffin ("Carlton," of the Boston Journal), who was present when the Union forces entered Charleston, S. C., and who sent north an auction-block from a slave-mart in that city, was also one of the speakers. This auc-
tion-block was exhibited on the rostrumn. The word " Mart " stood out in bold relief upon it. It had been a conspicuous sign in Chalmers street, desig- nating one of the principal slave-dealing establish- ments in that city. When Mr. Garrison came forward to address the people, he stepped upon this block, and from it congratulated his audience upon "the destruction of the accursed institution of slavery." Mr. Thompson contrasted his first visit with the last and rejoiced in the downfall of slavery.
The mob violence exhibited in Lowell was only one of many instances of the kind in the north dur- ing early anti-slavery movements. Indeed it was wellnigh universal. In New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and other states, most furious and alarming demonstra- tions were made by pro-slavery advocates. In Boston, October 21, 1835, a large and respectable(?) mob, composed largely of merchants, assailed a
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meeting of the Female Anti-Slavery Society, while its president was engaged in prayer, and dispersed it. Mr. Garrison having escaped, was found con- cealed in a cabinet-maker's shop, seized and dragged through the streets with a rope around his body, threatened with tar and feathers, but finally con- ducted to the mayor of the city, who lodged him in jail till the next day, to protect him from further violence. At the earnest request of friends, he left town for awhile. At Concord, N. H., August 10, 1835, a mob demolished an academy because colored boys were admitted as pupils.
At the south there was only one mode of pro- ceedure. Henry A. Wise gave a brief description of it as follows: "Dupont's best (gunpowder) and cold steel." Rev. T. S. Witherspoon, of Alabama, wrote to The Emancipator : "Let your emissa- ries cross the Potomac, and I can promise you that their fate will be no less than Haman's." The Au- gusta (Ga.) Chronicle said-"The cry of the whole south should be death-instant death to the aboli- tionist, wherever he is caught." Many persons were put to death upon suspicion, some with mob-trial, and some without, many of the victims being en- tirely innocent of the charges against them.
It will be hard for those who follow us to realize that such a state of affairs could exist in our own
" Land of the free, and home of the brave."
The war of the rebellion of 1861, waged by the south with a view to perpetuate slavery, failed abso- lutely, and its leaders, although they escaped the halter, sank ignominiously into obscurity. “Whom
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the gods would destroy they first make mad," would seem to apply to these blustering, imperious, tower- ing statesmen, as they voted their respective states out of the Union and inaugurated the wild and wicked scheme which resulted in their own destruction.
As a war measure, in September, 1862, President Lincoln issued an emancipation proclamation, which resulted in the complete and entire overthrow of slavery in the United States and set at liberty more than four millions of slaves.
WAR OF THE REBELLION.
Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came .- Abraham Lincoln, second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.
It is gratifying, as we review the history of the great struggle for the preservation of the Union, during the recent rebellion, to feel that there are those among us, and of us, who either by precept or example, or both, aided to some extent in sustaining the free institutions so wisely established and so beneficently transmitted to us by our fathers.
Nearly all the churches of the north espoused the cause of freedom, lent their efforts to sustain the loyal sentiments of the country, and were earnest in supporting the government. Appeals from the pulpit were constantly made, and contributions were proffered without stint by those who could not bear arms, to supply the soldiers in the field with such comforts and delicacies as the government did not and could not furnish, especially to the sick and wounded, to mitigate as far as possible the inevit-
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able hardships of the soldiers' lot. Many of the young men of this Society bravely volunteered their services and went to the front. Their names we desire to preserve in grateful remembrance. There are those among us, also, to whom much credit is due, who gave to the country their substance, their husbands, sons and brothers, and bore them upon their hearts, cheering and encouraging them upon their perilous mission. One who recorded the facts as they were passing, thus speaks of the great im- portance to the mnen in the field of those who had the interests of the cause at heart, but of necessity had to "remain by the stuff."
Very rarely had the thunders of battle been stilled ere the agents and ambulances of the Sanitary and Christian Commissions were at hand with bounteous provisions of ice, stimulants, delicacies, etc., for the wounded, while every hospital and camp was irradiated by their presence and activity. That thousands of precious lives were thus saved, and the anguish of tens of thousands soothed, is well known; but the source of these rivers of benefi- cence were in the far-distant rural neighborhoods, where a few women and girls gathered weekly to spend some hours in preparing lint, clothing, pre- serves, cordials, etc., for the use of our soldiers in the field. It would be quite within the truth to estimate the aggregate value of freewill offerings in aid of the national cause at five hundred millions of dollars-equal to one hundred dollars for each family inhabiting the loyal states of the Union. The Sanitary and Christian Commissions were chief among the agencies whereby the willing hearts of the nation went forth to succor and save her sons, writhing in agony on battle-fields or tossing on beds of pain in field or camp hospitals. A single fair in New York City, in aid of the Sanitary Commission, realized, mainly through her merchants and other citizens, no less than $1,351,275. Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburg, Albany and most other cities, held similar fairs with correspond- ing results. The Sanitary Commission disbursed $5,000,000 in cash and $9,000,000 in supplies. Those of the Christian Commission amounted to $4,500,000.
So much for the willing hands and sympathizing hearts at home. The Pawtucket Society was credit- ably represented by its soldiers in the army, its nurses in the hospitals and on battle-fields, and by
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its contributions in money and supplies. Many in the following list of names of those in active service were members of this church, but all come under the claim of people within the parish. There may have been others whose names we do not now recall.
Atis E. Ansart,* Sixteenth Massachusetts Infantry, Company I.
Benjamin F. Ansart,* Thirtieth Massachusetts Regiment, Company C. Orford R. Blood, Commissary Sergeant, Sixth Massachusetts Regiment.
Freeman H. Butler, Thirtieth Massachusetts, promoted Lieutenant United States Colored Regiment.
Charles M. Butler,* Sixth Massachusetts, Company G.
Kirk H. Bancroft,* Sixth Massachusetts, also Surgeon in the Navy, ship "Iosco."
Howard Coburn,* Sixth Massachusetts, Company D.
John J. Colton, Major and Paymaster United States Army.
Charles C. Colton,* First Lieutenant United States Colored Troops.
Edmund Coburn, Sixth Massachusetts, wounded while going through Baltimore, April 19, 1861.
Orrin G. Coburn,* Sixth Massachusetts, Company A.
Henry M. Hand, Seventh Massachusetts Battery.
John M. Hodge, Second Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, Company K.
Luther H. Marshall, Sergeant Thirtieth Massachusetts, Company C.
Simeon M. Marshall, Navy, Paymaster's Clerk.
Francis S. Marshall,* Fourteenth Wisconsin Volunteers, promoted Cap- tain Eighty-eighth United States Colored Infantry, Company A.t William E. Short, Massachusetts Battery.
Isaac B. Gould,* Thirtieth Massachusetts, Company C, died in the service at New Orleans, September 9, 1862.
Orrin K. Park,* Sixth Massachusetts, died in service.
Alexander Park,* Sixth Massachusetts.
Peter H. Royal,* Thirty-third Massachusetts, Company A, Sergeant. Joseph A. Stuart, Navy.
A. C. Varnum, Major and Paymaster United States Army.
William Macutchen,* Thirtieth Massachusetts, Company C, killed at Cedar Creek, Va., October 19, 1864.
Benjamin C. Morrison, Berdan Sharpshooters, Company E.
Herbert M. Hall,* Thirty-second Massachusetts, died at National Hos- pital, Augusta, Me., April 19, 1870.
Oscar Coburn,* Second United States Sharpshooters.
* Deceased.
t Captain Marshall was a member of Pawtucket Church, but was not residing here at the time of his enlistment.
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES.
A noble life put fairly on record acts like an inspiration to others. It exhibits what life is capable of being made. It refreshes our spirits, encourages our hopes, gives us new strength and courage and faith-faith in others as well as ourselves. It stimulates our aspirations, rouses us to action, and incites us to become co-partners with them in their work. To live with such men in their biographies and to be inspired by their ex- ample, is to live with the best of men and to mix in the best of company .- Samuel Smiles.
REV. REUBEN SEARS.
Rev. Reuben Sears, the first pastor of the Society after the incorporation, in 1797, was installed Janu- ary 31, 1821. He was born in Ballston, N. Y., and graduated at Union College in 1798. His first settlement was at Hudson, N. Y. No record was made on the church book of the installation services, but the following incidental record appears, dated February 18, 1821 :
" The session [of the Presbytery] met at the house of Parker Varnum. Present, Rev. Reuben Sears, moderator, who on the thirty-first day of January last had been installed pastor of this church."
We also find the following record in regard to his wife :
Thursday, October 18, 1821. The session met, etc. Present, Rev. Reuben Sears, moderator. Mrs. Sally Sears, wife of Rev. Reuben Sears, was received into this church on recommendation from the Presbyterian Church in Balls- ton, N. Y.
After his dismission from this church, August 26, 1827, we are informed that Mr. Sears went west. He died in New York in 1837 or 1838. While they resided in Dracut they had two children baptized,
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viz : Mary Fitch and Reuben. In 1829, January 18th, Mrs. Sears was dismissed from this church, at her own request, and recommended to the church (probably the Presbyterian) in Ballston.
Very little is known of Mr. Sears or his family after they left this place. He is remembered by a few of our oldest people as a man of good ability, of kind and friendly disposition ; although not a Boanerges in the pulpit, yet he was sincere and generally commanded the respect and approbation of the Society.
REV. SYLVESTER G. PIERCE.
Mr. Pierce, the second pastor, was born in Wil- mington, Vt., January 18, 1797, but spent most of the early part of his life in Bolton, N. Y., a town in Warren County, on Schroon River and Lake George, about seventy miles from Albany, where his parents removed in his infancy. His parents died when he was quite young, leaving eight children, two of whom became ministers. He made a profession of religion at the age of fourteen years, and at twenty com- menced a course of study. He entered an academy at Ballston, N. Y., with the purpose of qualifying himself to be a missionary teacher among the Indians. He afterwards entered Union College, at Schenec- tady, in an advanced class, where he was much esteemed by his fellow-students for his social quali- ties and where he was quite distinguished as a speaker.
He left college at the beginning of his senior
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year for the purpose of going to Bombay as a mis- sionary, and came to Massachusetts to confer with a committee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. By their advice, however, he came to Andover to pursue a course of theology. He entered upon his studies at Andover in 1824. In the spring of 1828 he began to supply the Paw- tucket Church, then called the West Parish of Dracut. He was there ordained as an evangelist in June, 1828, and the people were so much pleased with him that they gave him a call to settle. Con- trary to his first intention, he consented to become their pastor, and was installed in April, 1829. A powerful revival began under his preaching, and during his ministry of four years the church was enlarged by the addition of fifty-three members.
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