History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 202

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706

USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 202

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Not to be outdone, the parish caused their candi- date for the ministry to be ordained, the services of which ordination were performed in the meeting-house Oct. 2, 1745, the church, by its committee, offering a strenuous protest against the proceeding. The church and parish, as was remarked, had now a hard business with a new mecting-house to build, the old meeting-house to repair, two ministers and two

churches to sustain, and, more than all, crimination and recriminations and alienations among brethren,- "old lights" and "new lights," the church and the standing party.

Two pamphlets were printed, in which hard names and words were dealt out freely against each other.

A tax made by the parish against the new society as well as the old wellnigh brought on open war, added to which was a lawsuit about the records and the furniture of the Lord's table, and the quarrel was not allayed and difficulties adjusted without an application to and relief from the Colonial Legis- lature.

A law was passed by which those who chose to worship in the new meeting-house might file their names with the clerk of the old society, and thus be- come members of the new, and in 1748 more than two hundred persons availed themselves of the privi- lege thus afforded.

Another law was passed in 1754, by which the societies were reunited. The Rev. Thomas Weld, called by a majority of the parish and sixteen mem- bers of the church, was a resident, if not, indeed, a native, of Boston. He graduated at Harvard College, in 1723. He continued to preach in the old meet- ing-house until Jan. 8, 1749, when the parish voted to dismiss him, and he soon after brought an action for his salary, which put his former people to much trouble and expense.

old meeting-house, exclusive of the pews and pulpit, for the sum of £13 68. 8d.

Concerning the Rev. Sylvanus Conant, the history of this church, published in 1854, furnished the following :

" He was a descendant of the celebrated Roger Conant, who was with the Plymouth Pilgrims in 1623, and removed to Salem. He was born in 1720, and graduated in 1740, at Harvard College. He was a son of Lot Conant, the son of Nathaniel, who came from Beverly, and settled in Bridgewater before 1690. He began his ministry here Sept. 9, 1744 ; was called to be pastor October 1st of the same year, and was ordained March 28, 1745. He continued his ministry, at first at the house of Madame Thatcher, and after the meeting-house was built (which was the same year), in that house till his death, which was of the smallpox, Dec. 8, 1777. He was buried with eight of his parishioners, in a field of one of them."

The following is the inscription on the stone set at the head of his grave :

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IIISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

" Memento Mori." In Memory of REV. SYLVANUS CONANT, Minister of the first church in Middleborough, who died of small pox, Dee. 8, 1777, in the 58th year of his age and 33ª of his ministry.

"So sleep the souls and leave to groan, When sin and death have done their worst ; Christ hath a glory like his Which waits to clothe their wasting dust."

The causes that served for a time to divide this church were not confined in their operations or effects to the town of Middleboro', but spread quite exten- sively throughout the then colony, now State, of Mas- sachusetts, making many divisions in churches, which have never, even to this day, been remedied, causing biekering and strife not yet allayed, and inflicting wounds that never healed ; in short, causing injuries that a century of time, that great pacifier, has been found insufficient to heal.

Why the people of Middleboro' were more for- tunate than those of many other places in the effort to heal differences may have been, in a great degree, owing to the character and conduct of the Rev. Syl- vanus Conant, the pastor retained, who was distin- guished for his urbanity and conciliatory manners, and who succeeded, in a few years, in uniting the people of both parties in his favor. He is repre- sented as having been a lively, animated preacher, and is said to have done all that any man could do under such multiplied difficulties and such perilous eircumstances, being times of war, viz, the French and Indian war and the Revolutionary war. During a portion of the Revolutionary war Mr. Conant, for a time, performed the duties of chaplain to one of the regiments in the patriot service. Had Mr. Conant been a different kind of man, doubtless in Middleboro', as in many other places, the church would have re- mained divided, and instead of again becoming one church, would have continued as two, adhering to those differences in religious sentiment that then divided, and for one hundred and forty years have continued to divide, among the Congregationalists, the Unita- rian from those of the Trinitarian faith and practice.

Soon after the death of Rev. Mr. Conant this church extended an invitation to Mr. Abraham Camp, a graduate of Yale College, to become their pastor, which call he seems to have declined.

The church then invited the Rev. Joseph Barker to become its pastor. Mr. Barker graduated at Yale College in 1771.

The call to Mr. Barker bore date of Aug. 9, 1781, and he was ordained December 5th of the same year.

The history of this church, as published in 1854, contained the following notice of Rev. Joseph Barker:

His ministry continued till his death, July 5, 1815, except while he was in Congress, he having been a member of that body in 1805-8.

In his absence the pulpit was supplied by Rev. Azel Washburn, Rev. Simeon Doggett, and Rev. Mr. Robinson, of Westboro'.

Rev. James Davis was with us in 1807. Mr. Barker preached a century scrmon one hundred years after the organization of the church, in which many of the historical records are taken notice of and the character of our pastors given, which was printed at the time, also a sermon on the death of Deacon B. Thomas, in which his life and character are very graphically drawn.

He was buried in the parish burial-ground.

Mr. Barker was considered an able, sound, and orthodox preacher of the Hopkinson school, and much respected by his people.

Those who had lived under the ministry of Mr. Conant thought there was in Mr. Barker a strong contrast between the two in pastoral visitations and cheerfulness, and condescension out of the pulpit, but there was very little complaint.

His studies were unremitted, and he brought " beaten oil" into the sanctuary.

He was an able sermonizer, of which a volume of his sermons in print gives decisive evidence.

The same authority contains the following eoneern- ing his immediate successor in the ministry in this place :

Rev. Emerson Paine was a graduate of Brown University in 1813, was ordained Feb. 14, 1816, not without mueh opposition, and after a laborious min- istry (the opposition continuing), he was dismissed on his own request by advice of an ecclesiastical council July 4, 1822.

He was afterwards, for a number of years, pastor of the church in Little Compton, R. I., and after- wards preached in Halifax, where he died April 26, 1851, aged sixty-five years.

Rev. William Eaton was the next pastor, of whom the church history, before alluded to, says, " He was installed March 10, 1824, having been previously, for ten years, pastor of the church in Fitchburg, was a graduate of Williams College in 1810, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1813.

He was dismissed at his own request, March 3, 1834, by a council, and was settled in Charlotte, Vt., and afterwards in Hardwick, in this State. He died in West Brookfield, April 12, 1840.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLEBORO'.

The next pastor was Rev. Israel W. Putnam. He was a native of Danvers, Mass. He graduated at Dartmouth College, 1809, and at the Theological Seminary at Andover in 1814. He was settled as pastor of the North Church in Portsmouth, N. H., from March 15, 1815. to March 15, 1835, and was installed pastor of this church Oct. 28, 1835.

Much that has herewith been presented concerning the First Congregational Church and parish in Mid- dleboro' was derived from several historic discourses delivered. in 1845, by Rev. Israel W. Putnam, com- memorative of the completion of one hundred and fifty years since the original gathering and formation of that church.

DEACONS OF THE FIRST CHURCH .-- John Ben- net. the earliest deacon of this church, has already been noticed on a previous page.

Ebenezer Tinkham was deacon at an early date in the history of this church. (See notice of him on a previous page.)

Jonathan Cobb was deacon in 1738; how much earlier not certainly known.

Samuel Barrows was ordained deacon July 25, 1725. He was admitted to membership Feb. 20, 1715. He died Dec. 30, 1755, in his eighty-third year, and must therefore have been born in or near 1673. He was elected a selectman of Middleboro' in 1723, and by successive elections held that office for twelve consecutive years. In 1744 he was again chosen, and held the position one year. He probably acted as deacon for several years before being or- dained as such, as the title is applied to his name in the public records of Middleboro' as early as 1723, and perhaps before. Deacon Samuel Barrows was elected to represent the town of Middleboro' in the General Court that commenced its session in Boston, Wednesday, May 25, 1720, and re-elected to that place in 1730-31 and 1733-34. In the division that occurred in this church immediately after the death of Rev. Peter Thatcher, Deacon Samuel Bar- rows, with sixteen or seventeen male members of the church, together with a majority of the parish, took the side of the " old lights," or " standing party," as sometimes called, which party in many New England churches came finally to represent the Unitarian ele- ment as opposed to the Trinitarian, the intellectual rather than emotional, those of less faith and more knowledge, and who sought to be practically good rather than professionally pious ; who accounted good works as better than good words, and well doing more essential than well saying, in short, who sought to bear the cross themselves rather than get off with the cheap

were the children of this world in their generation, then were those in that generation wiser than the children of light, either new or old ; and singularly enough, in their efforts to cause things to remain in statu quo, those Unitarians have made greater departures from the faith and practices of their fathers, as also as more of them, than the " new lights," whose new-fangled doctrines they could neither tolerate, fellowship, or patiently endure; and thus have both parties practi- cally illustrated the conduct of that son who said he would go and went not, and he who said he would not go and yet went.1

Ephraim Wood was ordained deacon July 25, 1725. He was a son of Samuel Wood, and born in or near the year 1679. Admitted to membership in this church Aug. 22, 1715. He died July 9. 1744, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.

Samuel Wood was chosen deacon Jan. 30, 1735, and ordained to that office March 5, 1737. Deacon Samuel Wood was a son of Samuel Wood, and a brother of Deacon Ephraim Wood. Deacon Samuel Wood was born in or about 1684. He was a select- man of Middleboro' in 1744; representative to the General Court in 1744, and again in 1745. He joined this church March 4, 1718.

- Ebenezer Finney came to Middleboro' from Nor- ton. He united with this church Nov. 3, 1734; was made a deacon in 1737, and died Sept. 21, 1745, in his forty-seventh year ; born in or about 1698.

Benjamin Tucker was chosen deacon in November, 1745. He was admitted to membership March 24, 1729. He died July 9, 1781, in his seventy-sixth year ; born in or near the year 1705; elected a se- lectman of Middleboro' for the years 1748-49, 1750- 51, and 1752. He was town treasurer in 1744, and representative to the General Court in 1746; com- missioned as a coroner for the county of Plymouth Dec. 27, 1734, and that appointment renewed Oct. 10, 1755, and Jan. 28, 1762.

Gershom Cobb was made deacon at the same date as Benjamin Tucker. Dcacon Gershom Cobb was born 1714; admitted to membership in this church July 1, 1739. In his old age he left Middleboro' and removed to Hardwick.

Benjamin Thomas came front Carver. He joined this church Aug. 19, 1742, and was chosen deacon May 23, 1776; died July 9, 1800, aged seventy- eight ; represented Middleboro' in the General Court

1 It is hoped that neither party, Unitarian or Trinitarian, will take offense at the free expressions indulged by the writer, who is an avowed infidel, and well near an Atheist, as it is from excuse that " Jesus paid, it all;" and if such, indeed, I such a stand-point that these matters are viewed.

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in 1776-77, 1779, and 1788. His funeral sermon, preached by Rev. Joseph Barker, was printed.

Ichabod Morton was received into this church May 11, 1760; chosen deaeon Jan. 3, 1782; died May 10, 1809, in the eighty-fifth year of his age, and eon- sequently must have been born in or about 1724.

Abner Bourne joined the church Dee. 1, 1782 ; ehosen deaeon June 8, 1796 ; committed suicide May 25, 1806, being in the fifty-ninth year of his age. He was a selectman of Middleboro' in 1784-86, and 1788-89. Of the second company in the local mi- litia of Middleboro' he was eommissioned ensign, to rank from May 9, 1776 ; promoted to lieutenant April 8, 1778, and to eaptain June 2, 1780. He eom- manded that company on an expedition to Rhode Island in war of American Revolution.

Joshua Eddy united with this church April 9, 1797, and was elected deaeon Oct. 10, 1805. He died May 1, 1833. A very interesting and instruc- tive aeeount of him was published in the July issue of the "New England Historieal and Genealogical Register," in 1854, to which a further allusion may properly be made in the military history of this town.

Perez Thomas joined July 13, 1802, and becanie deaeon May 4, 1803. He died May 21, 1828, aged seventy-scven. He was a representative to the Gen- eral Court in 1787.

Calvin Tillson became a member May 22, 1803, and was chosen deaeon Aug. 13, 1819. He died July 3, 1852, in his eighty-third year.

Samuel Sampson was received into this chureh Aug. 14, 1808 ; ehosen deacon June 30, 1826; died July 30, 1850, aged eighty-six.

James Sprout joined Nov. 17, 1816; ehosen dea- eon Oct. 26, 1834 ; died April 15, 1837, in his sixty- third year. He was by trade a carpenter, and was the arehiteet of the church cdifiee of this ehureh and society, erected in 1828, and dedicated Jan. 1, 1829.

John Freeman became a member July 12, 1807 ; elected deacon Oct. 26, 1834; died Feb. 20, 1847, aged fifty-nine. He had been dismissed to a ehureh at Carver in 1846.

Horatio G. Wood was reecived Aug. 15, 1819; ehosen deaeon Dec. 2, 1842; dismissed to the Cen- tral Congregational Church in Middleboro', 1847, wherein he became a deacon.

Nathaniel Eddy, admitted to membership July 23, 1807 ; made deaeon 1852.

The first meeting-house of this First Congregational Church in Middleboro' is said to have been loeated near the former residenec of the late Dr. Stertevant, and was probably used as a place of public worship during the ministry of Rev. Samuel Fuller, and re-

maining as late as the year 1701, in August of which it was sold at auetion for £5 2s.

The second meeting-house was built on what is known as the lower green, and near where now stands a sehool-house. It was ereeted in 1700. The dimen- sions were thirty-six feet by thirty, and sixteen-foot stud. It at first had two ridge-poles and four gable- ends, but in 1745 this was changed for a pitehed roof, so ealled.

The third house of public worship stood a few rods northeast of the present church edifiee, and was ereeted in 1745. It was raised on the 17th of July in that year. The land on which it stood was pur- chased of Ebenezer Sproutt by deed bearing date June 9, 1745, and eame to be called the upper green.

The fourth house is that still standing, having been ereeted in 1828. The lot was purchased of Zenas Cushman in 1827. The building of this house cost nearly thirteen thousand dollars. Deaeon James Sproutt was the architect. The house was dedieated Jan. 1, 1829. The parsonage house was built in 1832. The land on which it stands was purchased of Hereules Cushman.

THE FUND OF THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH AND SOCIETY .- The house built by Rev. Sylvanus Conant was by his heirs sold to this parish, and was by the parish sold to Rev. Joseph Barker, and the sale-money funded. At a later date Mr. Samuel Tinkham devised the whole of his farm in " the Little Precinet" to this parish, the ineome of which was to be for the support of the minister for the time being. The fund was soon sufficient by its ineome to pay the salary of the pastor, and was so appropriated until the dismissal of Rev. Mr. Eaton. By a proecss that seems not to be wholly understood, and by the ereetion of a parsonage, this fund was diminished from nine thousand dollars to less than three thousand, so that the greater part of the salary had to be raised by subseription.

Mr. Tinkham and wife were exemplary members of the church. The following is the inseription on their monument on " the Hill," where they are buried :

" Erected by the direction of the First Preeinet of Middle- bere' te the memery ef Mr. Samuel Tinkham, whe died March 28th, 1796, aged 72 years and four days.

" When in life he was benevelent to the peer, and in his last will gave all his real estate for the support of the publie wor- ship of God in this precinct.

" Patience, widew of said Samuel, died Nov. 3, 1814, aged 92."

Other Congregational Societies and Churches. -From the date of the ineorporation of the town of Middleboro' until July 19, 1719,-a period of half a eentury,-the geographieal limits of the entire town

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HISTORY OF MIDDLEBORO'.

were embraced in one parish ; that was then divided, of November, 1725, from which time he continued to and thenceforth for a time known as the East and West Precincts. The East Precinct contained the meeting-house and much the largest portion of the members of the church.

The dividing line between the precincts was drawn from a point near the mouth of Fall Brook, and run- ning westerly by the Trout Brook to the line of Taunton.

The West Precinct included what was then the southwest part of Middleboro', since set off and made a new and distinct town, called Lakeville.

The West Precinct also included a part of the then township (now city) of Taunton.

How many members of the First Church were dis- missed to become members of the West Precinct Church, organized Oct. 6, 1725. is not now positively known.

The records of the old and now East Precinct Church show that Ebenezer Richmond and William Strobridge became members of the West Precinct Church. and ou the 24th of March, 1727, Elizabeth Hacket was dismissed to join that church.

From the most reliable evidences now to be obtained (as some parts of the early records are lost) the church of the West Precinct was formed Oct. 6, 1725.

The names of the female members at the date of the formation are not now known, but the male members were as follows : John Thrasher, Ebenezer Richmond, James Reed, Richard Waste, Samuel Hoar, Thomas Pickens, William Hoskins, John Hackett, James Sproutt, Elections Reynolds, Edward Richmond, and William Strobridge. The first or earliest church edi- fice in the West Precinct stood upon the easterly side of the highway, a few rods south of the former resi- dence of the late William Paul, and was erccted in 1724. Rev. Benjamin Ruggles was the first settled minister in this West Precinct or Parish. He ac- cepted the call by letter bearing date of Oct. 25, 1724, which was in reply to a vote of the precinct or parish passed Sept. 8, 1724. It was at first agreed to give Rev. Mr. Ruggles ninety pounds as a settlement, and to pay him at the rate of seventy pounds per year for his services, but the yearly pay was from time to time increased until it reached one hundred pounds, and, perhaps, even more, as shown by the precinct or par- ish records, still well preserved ; but it may have been that the apparent increase in his salary was only ficti- tious, and made to cancel the loss that he would other- wise have sustained from a depreciating currency.

The ordination of Rev. Benjamin Ruggles as pastor of the Congregational Church in the West Precinct or Parish of Middleboro' occurred on the 17th day

labor, with much acceptance and usefulness, till his dismission in December, 1753, or a period of twenty- eight years. His name appears in the history of his time as a friend of revivals, but the loss of the rec- ords of this church prevents the giving of the names of those who were added during his ministry (that covered the period still known as that of the " great awakening" or " great revival" begun in 1741). Rev. Benjamin Ruggles graduated at Yale College in 1721. During the ministry here of Rev. Benjamin Ruggles, Edward Richmond and John Hackett sustained the positions of deacons, both of whom were probably appointed in 1725.

From the close of Mr. Ruggles' ministry for a period of nearly eight years this church was destitute of a regularly-settled pastor, the pulpit being tempo- rarily supplied by seven different ministers, and although this condition of affairs was attended with what was regarded as "spiritual declension," yet during that time (viz., 1759) the old meeting-house was abandoned and its place supplied by the erection of a large, commodious, and comparatively expensive church edificc, that continued to be used as a place of public worship until 1835, or a term of about seventy-six years. The site of that house was a few fcet westerly of the present neat and convenient chapel, that was erected in 1835. The second meeting-house was supplied with galleries upon three sides, and also with a projection over the pulpit, a little higher than the minister's head, which projec- tion was familiarly known as, the " sounding-board," but had no steeple, and appeared upon the outside to have always been free from the adornments of paint. The " spiritual declension" before alluded to, together with the term of nearly eight years suffered to pass in which the church and precinct were destitute of a regularly-settled pastor, being temporarily supplied by seven different ministers, and during which time the second house of worship was erected, doubtless gave rise to the doggerel description, which tradition has preserved of that house and its worshiping congrega- tion, in the censorious words,-

" High house without a steeple, Blind guides and ignorant people."

Rev. Caleb Turner was the second pastor of this church, being ordained to the gospel ministry therein April 16, 1761. He, like the Rev. Mr. Ruggles, was a student of Yale College, where Mr. Turner graduated in 1758. His ministry here was long and happy, or at least reasonably happy, and continued from 1761 until 1801, a period of about forty years.

During the pastorate of Rev. Caleb Turner twenty-

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

four persons were received to membership in this church. He administered the ordinance of baptism to one hundred and eighty, solemnized three hundred and one marriages, and attended about three hundred funerals. His remains and those of his wife were interred in the ancient cemetery near by, and graves of both marked by suitable gravestones bearing in- seriptions.

Job Macomber was appointed a deaeon of this church in 1762, Seth Richmond and Joseph Riel- mond in 1766, George Leonard and Benjamin Dean in 1792, and George Staples in 1799.

Thomas Crafts, the third pastor of this ehureh, was installed as such Nov. 18, 1801. Mr. Crafts gradu- ated at Harvard in 1783. He remained as pastor eighteen years, and died at the age of sixty-one years.

Samuel Staples was appointed deaeon of this church in 1803, John Morton in 1804, and Edward Paul in 1812. During the ministrations of Rev. Mr. Crafts to this people sixty-two persons were admitted to membership (fifty-five by profession and seven by letter). He administered eighty-seven baptisms and solemnized sixty-one marriages. At the eommenee- ment of his labors here the church numbered but about a dozen members, that during his ministry were so increased as to leave forty at its elose.

The fourth pastor was Rev. John Shaw, who was installed July 21, 1819. He was a graduate of Brown University, Providenee, R. I., in 1805. His ministry here continued fifteen years, during which sixty-five persons were admitted to the church by profession and eight by letter, or seventy-three in the whole.

He administered sixty-eight baptisms, and solem- nized one hundred and thirty-three marriages. At the close of his labors here the church consisted of seventy-four members.

Before coming to Middleboro', Rev. John Shaw had been settled in the ministry at Carver, where he was ordained in 1807. Mr. Shaw left Middleboro' in 1834, and for two years this ehureh was without a pastor, and during that time (viz., in 1835) the old meeting-house, erected in 1759, was taken down and a third house of worship erected, which continues to be used for that purpose until the present time.

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 202

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1706

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706