History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 205

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 205

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Names of persons admitted to membership since the organization of the church and the years in which admitted :

1947 .- Mre. Lucy C. Wood, Mrs. Ellen Wood, Mrs. Elizabeth Whitmore.

1×48 .- Mre. Lucy Bourne, Joseph Sampson, Mrs. Harriet Eaton, Mre. Maria L. Harlow.

1849 .- Branch Harlow, Andrew J. Pickens, James M. Pickens, Perry A. Wilbur, Henry D. Bassett, Edward Burt, Mrs. Elizabeth Burt, Henry Arnold, Mrs. Elizabeth Arnold, Miss Sarah Lane.

1850 .- John McCloud, Nathan Dunbar, Mrs. Betsey Dunbar, Miss Eveline H. Wilder, Miss Harriet Rounseville, Mrs. Mary C. Thacher, Miss Lauretta W. Wing, Elijah Burgess, Isaac D. Bump, Mrs. Juliana Bump, Miss Elizabeth Cush- man, Miss Emily F. Perkins, Mrs. Elmira E. Perkins, Mrs. Sarah Tucker, George Back, George Washburn, George H. Shaw, Mrs. Ann Maria A. Shaw, Mrs. Lydia E. Shaw, Foster A. Harlow, Rufus K. Harlow, Mrs. Lurany Harlow, Miss Elizabeth S. Harlow, Miss Harriet Burgess, Noah C. Perkins, Mrs. Mary A. Perkins, John Sidwell, Mrs. Zilpah Ann Rich, Miss Eliza Ann S. Morton, Mrs. Maria A. Davis, Mrs. Harriet N. Deane, Francis F. Eaton, Mrs. Augusta S. Eaton, Mrs. Bulah Ann S. Cole, Fanny D. Lane, Mrs. Susau F. Shaw, Miss Bathsheba L. Wilder, George L. Soule, Preston Soule, Amos Thomas, Henry Dunham, Ann Fitz- patrick, Ebenezer T. Soule, Mrs. Clarissa R. Soule, Mrs. Patia S. Doane.

1851 .- Mrs. Abigail Washburn, Mrs. Sarah A. Jenney, Mrs. Ann M. Gilman, Mrs. Louisa J. Dunham, Mrs. Betsey Harlow, Joshua C. Jenney, Ralph Copeland, Mrs. Nancy C. Copeland, Miss Elizabeth Bryant, Mrs. Lucy M. Pick- ens.

1852 .- Mrs. A. N. Tisdale, Mrs. Hannah Goss, Miss Mary M. Southworth, Abiel Wood, Mrs. Matilda Wood.

Rev. Isaiah C. Thacher, the first pastor of this church, was a graduate of Union College in 1841. He had been settled in the gospel ministry at Matta- poisett before coming to Middleboro'.

The Separatist Church .- As one of the direct results of the preaching of Rev. George Whitefield in this country came a division in the Congregational Church of New England, which separation or divis- ion has widened until it is now principally noticeable in the two sects termed Trinitarian and Unitarian Congregationalists. But all who at that time left the " Old Light" Congregationalists did not go with the other branch of that church, as some became Calvin- istic Baptists, and some stopped a step short of that, calling themselves simply "Separatists" or " Come- outers" from the Congregationalists.

At least one Separatist Church was formed in Mid- dleboro', and remained a distinct religious assembly until the death of its minister, when it ere long be- came merged in the Second Calvinistic Baptist Church, then in Middleboro' (now Lakeville). The place of public worship of that Separatist Church was at " Beech Woods," so called, and they appear to have purchased a church edifice standing in East Freetown, and removed it to Becch Woods, in Mid- dleboro', which house of public worship finally came to be occupied by the Second Calvinistic Baptist Church of Middleboro', and was thus used as a place of public worship until May 19, 1798, when it was accidentally destroyed by fire, that at the same time

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY. ,

burned the parsonage-house of the Calvinistic Baptist Church and Society.

That church edifice burned May 19, 1798, was built near the site of the former residenee of the late Rev. George Tyler, in East Frectown, and removed to Beech Woods, then in Middleboro' (now in Lake- ville), between the years 1746 and 1751. At a sub- sequent date the Calvinistic Baptists put up a mect- ing-house in East Freetown, nearer the line of New Bedford, which came to be called the " Elder Abner Lewis meeting-house," that was long sinee demol- ished, and this explanation is given that the reader may not mistake one for the other, or suppose these church edifices to have been identical.

Of that Separatist Church at Beech Woods Rev. James Mead was ordained pastor Oet. 3, 1751, and he died Oct. 2, 1756. These Separatists joined with the people who sat under the preaching of Rev. Eben- ezer Hinds, and he was ordained the pastor of those united bodies of people Jan. 26, 1758. At a coun- cil held at Titicut May 27, 1752, the Separatist Church at Beech Woods was represented by Rev. James Mead and Deacon William Smith.

The Calvinistic Baptists .- That very prolific writer, Rev. Cotton Mather, of Boston, is our author- ity for saying that many of the first or earliest Euro- pean settlers of Massachusetts were Baptists, and to this he added that " they were as holy, and watchful, and fruitful, and heavenly a people as perhaps any in the world." The position occupied by Rev. Cotton Mather was not at all calculated to prejudice his mind in favor of the Calvinistie Baptists as a religious de- nomination, but, on the contrary, against it ; and henec a compliment of this kind, coming from his pen, may justly be considered as praise of the highest order.

The oldest Baptist Church in America is that in Providenec, R. I., formed in 1639, and the oldest iu Massachusetts is that in Swansea, formed in 1663. The Second Baptist Church of Massachusetts in point of age is at Boston, organized in 1665.

Calvinistie Baptist Churches were formed in differ- ent parts of Massachusetts before the close of the seventeenth century, as follows: Tiverton, then in Massachusetts, but now in Rhode Island, in 1685; Chilmark, in 1693; and a second church at Swansea, in 1693.

The earliest formation of Calvinistie Baptist Churches in Massachusetts in the eighteenth century were the following : South Brimfield, in 1736; Lei- ecster, 1738; Second in Boston, 1743; Bellingham, 1750; Rehoboth, 1753; First in Middleboro', in 1756; Second in Middleboro' (now Lakeville), in 1757; and the third in Middleboro', 1761.

First Baptist Church in Middleboro' .- Concern- ing the gathering and original formation of this church, we learn from the writings of Rev. Isaac Backus, the distinguished historian of the denomination, that " a number of brethren being convinced that though freedom towards all inen ought to be shown as far as it can be in truth, yet truth limits church communion to believers baptized upon a profession of their own faith ; constituted a church at Middleboro' in this way Jan. 16, 1756, and by assistance from Boston and Rehoboth the author was installed their pastor the 23d of July following."

Conecrning the installation, Rev. Isaac Backus, under date of July 23, 1756, entered in his diary :

" I went early to pour out my soul to God, and was enabled to rest all my affairs with him, and especially the work of this day, for none of the elders that were sent for were yet come, and I found a measure of willingness to leave the case with the Lord to send whom he pleased.

"Not long after came Elder Bound and Deacon Collins from the Baptist Church in Boston, and Elder Round and Esquire Bullock and Joshua Briggs, brethren from the Second Baptist Church in Reboboth.

" And they proceeded to read the letters from us and their churches' answer thereto, and embodied into a council and chose Elder Round Moderator, and Elder Bound Clerk; and after inquiring into the principles and standing both of the church and myself, and of our coming together in this relation, they declared themselves satisfied therewith.

"Then we went out before a great congregation of people, and Mr. Bound preached from Dan. xii. 3.

"Then these two elders laid on hands, and Elder Round made the first prayer and gave the charge, and Elder Round gave the Right Hand of Fellowship and made the last prayer.

" And through the whole exercise my soul felt a great solem- nity. We concluded with singing the first part of the 132d Psalm.

" O that that Psalm may ever be fulfilled among us!"

A revival of religion was felt in this first Baptist Church, which began in the latter part of 1778, and immediately preceding which the Rev. Mr. Backus said that for five years " coldness and stupidity had greatly prevailed therein." " That revival," said the same authority, " was at its height in July, 1780." Mr. Backus continued : " The first person added to the church in this revival was on February 28, 1779,' and ere long the number received had inereased to eighty-five, about two-thirds of whom were residents of Bridgewater, and in which town a large Baptis meeting-house was soon after built, and the history of this church is, perhaps, in faet, as much, or ever more, a part of the history of Bridgewater than of Mid dleboro', although those who assembled for worshiy in that large meeting-house became a separate bod; of worshipers, and employed another minister, whil still constituting a branch of this first Calvinisti Baptist Church.

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981

HISTORY OF MIDDLEBORO'.

Of this church, Mr. Backus said that, at its forma- tion. " it was the only Baptist Church in an extent of country of above a hundred miles long,-from Bel- lingham to the end of Cape Cod, and near fifty miles wide between Boston and Rehoboth."

Their number was small for many years, though they had some reviving from time to time, until such a work came on in 1779 as increased their number in three years from fifty-nine to one hundred and thirty- eight. And in forty years they buried thirty-four, dismissed sixty-one, and excluded twelve, while ninety-one members remained.

" Seven members of this church," said Backus, " have been ordained to the work of the gospel min- istry. namely : James Mellen, Abner Lewis, Asa Hunt, Elijah Codding, Job Macomber, Samuel Nel- son, and David Leonard, the last of whom was or- dained as an itinerant, December 17, 1794." Rev. Isaac Backus, the first pastor of this church, died at his post and while still engaged in the work of the gospel ministry, having " never changed or wished to change his place."

His remains rest in the cemetery at North Middle- boro', and his grave is marked by a stone bearing this inscription :

" Here lie deposited the remains of the REV. ISAAC BACKUS, A.M., who departed this life November 20, 1806, aged $2 years and 10 months, in the sixty-first year of his ministry.

" As a Christian and Minister the character of this man was truly conspicnous. As pastor of a church in this town, for fifty- eight years, he was eminently useful and beloved. His domestic and relative duties, as a husband and parent, were discharged with fidelity, tenderness, and affection. His zeal and persever- ing industry in the cause of civil and religion# liberty, through a long laborious life, is still manifest in his writings as an His- torian of the Baptist denomination, and defender of the truths of the doctrine of Christ. Having uniformly borne testimony in his life, conversation, and ministry, of his ardent love to his Divine Master and the doctrine of the Cross, in an advanced age he was called from his beloved charge, and numerous Chris- tian friends and brethren, to sleep in Jesus, and his spirit into the garner of his heavenly Father, as a shock of corn fully ripe.

"God was his portion and his guide through this dark wil- dernesz.

" And now his flesh ie laid aside, his soul has endless rest."

Concerning this First Baptist Church in Middle- boro' the Rev. S. Hopkins Emory, while pastor of the Congregational Church at Titicut, North Middle- boro', remarked,-

" A large number of ministers have gone forth from this, the First Baptist Church of Middleborough, which has well earned the title not only of mother of churches hut of mother of min- ietere; the list being a: follows : James Mellen, Abner Lewis, Ara Hunt, Elijah Codding, Job Macomber, Samuel Nelson,

David Leonard, Zenas Lockwood Leonard, Stephen Smith Nel- son, Lewis Leonard, Silas Hall, Thomas Conant, George Leon- ard, William Harrison Alden, David Weston.

"The last named recently died, having filled with great promise of usefulness and eminence in his profession the office of professor of Ecclesiastical History to Madison University, Hamilton, N. Y., decply lamented by all who had watched his progress, and had such high hopes concerning his future."

An ancient queen when inquired of concerning her jewels is said to have pointed proudly to her children and said, " These are my jewels ;" and in this attempt to write the history of this mother of Calvinistic Baptist Churches, and as Rev. Mr. Emory truthfully adds, the mother also of Calvinistic Baptist ministers, may we not be excused for occupying some space in this publication in giving brief notices of several of these, her children, bright jewels in the crown of her everlasting rejoicing.

James Mellen was for a time a resident in and per- haps a native of Framingham, Mass., and joined the First Baptist Church in Middleboro'.

He was the second pastor of the Baptist Church at Brimfield, which Rev. Isaac Backus informs us was the first or earliest church of this denomination gathered within the limits of Hampshire County, it having been formed Nov. 4, 1736, Rev. Ebenezer Moulton being the same day ordained as its pastor.

James Mellen was the immediate successor of Mr. Moulton in the ministry at Brimfield. Mr. Mellen was ordained pastor of the Brimfield Baptist Church Sept. 11, 1765.

Mr. Backus further wrote concerning Mr. Mellen, " He was a faithful and successful pastor until he finished his course in a joyful manner Aug. 5, 1769.',

Abner Lewis was born in Middleboro', March 16, 1745, and joined the First Baptist Church of this town in 1765, or when he was about twenty years of age, and began to preach in 1770, improving his gifts at East Freetown as early as 1773, his labors there being blessed.

A Calvinistic Baptist Church was formed in East Freetown Sept. 13, 1775, of which Abner Lewis was ordained pastor June 26, 1776. Here his ministerial labors were so successful that four years later this church had increased to one hundred and twenty-cight members, and had erected a church cdifice near what is now known as the " county road," and not far from the line that divides Freetown from New Bedford.

But the Rev. Isaac Backus, in his excellent history, says,-

"' The public difficulties in the country, with the unhappy temper of some of the members of the church, caused Mr. Lewis to ask a dismission from them, which he obtained in August, 1784.

982

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

"' Tho behavior of some in this church has caused a number to ask and receive dismissions from it to other churches, whilo some have died and others removed away, until they have be- como very small,'-and to this testimony of the truthful Backus wo ean now, with equal truth, add that this house, thus ' divided against itself,' so fell that not only was ono stone not left upon another, but in the locality where it once existed and flourished noarly all knowledge of its history is lost in forgetfulness and buried in oblivion. From November, 1789, to September, 1795, Rev. Abner Lewis was pastor of the North Baptist Church in Attleborough. IIo traveled and preached in various places, and for a time filled a pulpit in Harwich, on Cape Cod.

" Asa Hunt was born at Braintree, Mass., in July, 1744. He preached for a time in Raynham, and was ordained pastor of the Third Calvinistic Baptist Church in Middleborough, Oct. 30, 1771. His ordination sermon was preached by Rev. Isaac Backus, from 2 Cor. iii. chap. 6 verse, 'Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit : for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.' The sermon was published under the title of ' Evangelical Ministers described and distinguished from Legalists.' Backus' history informs that the Third Baptist Church in Middleborough gave the Rev. Asa Hunt 'a good place for a settlement, beside the use of the ministerial lot.'

" His preaching was acceptable, . . . and such a work of the Spirit of God began among them in March, 1780, as caused the addition of one hundred and thirteen members to their church by September, 1782, when they had one hundred and ninety- four in all.

" But in time of great changes in our country about money and worldly property, Mr. Hunt entangled himself so much in the affairs of this life as caused much unhappiness, and he in- sisted upon a dismission from his church, which they granted, though with reluctance, in December, 1789.

" He had been on a journey into Virginia (where he preached to good purpose) the year before, and he traveled into New Jer- sey and Pennsylvania after his dismission, but he never removed his family.

" He was called to visit his eldest son, who was sick with the dysentery in the college at Providence, where the father was seized with the same distemper and died there Sept. 20, 1791."

Elijah Codding was the successor of Rev. James Mellen as pastor of the Baptist Church in Brimfield, where he was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry Nov. 11, 1773. Backus says of Rev. Elijah Codding and his ministry, " And though it was a low time with them at South Brimfield for some years, yet such a heavenly shower was granted in 1779 as increased their numbers from twenty-three to two hundred and thirty-six in four years."

Job Macomber was the son of a Congregational deaeon in Middleboro', but he beeame a inember of the First Calvinistic Baptist Church of that town in 1772, and by preaching began to promulgate its doc- trincs and advocate its faith and practices only two years later. Hc preached for a time at New Glouees- ter, in what is now the State of Maine. A Calvin- istic Baptist Church was formed at Bowdoinham, Me., May 24, 1784, of which Mr. Macomber was ordained pastor Aug. 18, 1784.

Samuel Nelson was a son of William Nelson and

wife, Elizabeth Howland, and born in that part of Middleboro' which in 1853 was set off and incorpor- ated as a new town called Lakeville,1 April 6, 1748. His brothers, William Nelson, born July 18, 1741, and Ebenezer Nelson, born Oct. 26, 1753, were also Calvinistic Baptist ministers, and his brother, Amos Nelson, born in 1743, was a deacon. Samuel Nelson was a grandson of Thomas Nelson, who is said to have been the first or earliest resident of Middleboro' who became a Baptist, and joined the church of that denomination in Swansea, many years before any Baptist Church was gathered in Middleboro'. Hope Nelson, the grandmother of Samuel, was also a Bap- tist, and she joined the Baptist Church at Swansea, Aug. 5, 1723, and communed at the Lord's table with the Second Baptist Church in Middleboro' (now Lakeville) when she was more than a hundred years old, and at the date of her death-viz., Dec. 7, 1782 -had attained to the remarkable age of one hundred and five years, six months, and twenty days, her lineal descendants at that time numbering about three hun- dred and thirty-seven persons. A most remarkable " Mother in Israel" was she.

Samuel Nelson was the suceessor of Rev. Asa Hunt in the pastoral office to the Third Calvinistic Baptist Church in Middleboro', where Mr. Nelson eommeneed his labors some time during the month of May, 1793, and of the condition of that church spiritually, and of the community in which it was lo- cated morally, when those labors were commenced, the historian Baekus bore testimony as follows : " The church was in low circumstances, and young people got to be so extravagant in vanity that they could hardly be kept eivil in times of publie worship.

" And in the beginning of the next month such a divine influenee was granted that old Christians bc- eame all alive in religion, and such a concern for the soul and eternity appeared among old and young through all the busiest time in the summer that they had frequent crowded meetings in season and out of season without the least disturbanee from vain per- sons, which before were so troublesome."

Mr. Samuel Nelson was ordained pastor of the Third Calvinistic Baptist Church in Middleboro' Jan. 16, 1794, and within the year following about thirty persons were added to this church. Rev. Samuel Nelson continued to be the minister of this church until his death, that called him from the field of his faithful labors to the place of rewards, Sept. 9,

) Tho logal voters of what is now Lakeville had votod by a docided majority to call thoir town Nelson, but this being dis- couraged by the mombers of that family for whom the honor was intended, it was afterwards changed to the name it now bears.

983

HISTORY OF MIDDLEBORO'.

1822. He was twice married. His first wife was a Haskell. of Rochester. and second wife a Pickens, of Middleboro'.

. David Leonard. About the time of attaining to his majority he took the additional name of Augustus, and was afterwards known as David A. Leonard. He was a son of David Leonard and wife (Mary Hall), and born at Bridgewater, Mass., Sept. 15. 1771. David A. Leonard graduated at Brown University, Providence, R. I., in 1792, and was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry Dec. 17, 1794. The services of his ordination were performed at Bridge- water, where a sermon was preached by Rev. Thomas Baldwin, of Boston, which sermon was printed. The historian Backus says that Mr. Leonard was ordained as an itinerant, and so he seems to have been, as in 1795 we find him pastor of a Baptist Church in Tis- bury. Dukes Co., Mass., and from July 1, 1796, to February. 1797, he was preaching upon the island of Nantucket. That he was a very zealous Christian, and most thorough Baptist, may be inferred from the fact that a seemingly well-authenticated tradition asserts that upon his conversion he was so anxious, yea, impatient, to submit to the ordinance of baptism by immersion that, although it was mid-winter and the streams of New England all frozen, this was to his mind no reasonable excuse or proper hinderance that he should be baptized, and a hole was therefore cut in the ice for and devoted to that purpose.

Rev. David A. Lconard for a time supplied the pulpit of the Gold Street Baptist Church, in the city of New York, and also preached to a Calvinistic Baptist Church then existing in and near Assonet village, in Freetown, Mass. His latter years were principally devoted to literary pursuits, and among the produc- tions of his mind and pen that were printed and pub- lished we find was a piece of poetry concerning the little village of Siasconsett ; a sermon delivered at Holmes' Harbor, Martha's Vineyard, on the death of Mr. John Holmes, Nov. 1, 1795; an oration at Nantucket at a celebration of a festival of St. John, by the Union Lodge, in 1796 ; funeral sermon in Gold Street Church, New York City, Feb. 16, 1800; an oration on the death of Gen. George Washington, de- livered in the First Baptist meeting-house in New York, Feb. 22, 1800; oration at Raynham, Mass., July 5, 1802; oration at Dighton, Mass., July 4, 1803 ; and an oration on the acquisition of Louisiana, delivered at Raynham, May 11, 1804.

In February, 1797, Rev. David A. Leonard was united in marriage with Mary, a daughter of Capt. Job Peirce, of Middleboro' (that part now Lakeville), and in June, 1805, Mr. Leonard removed with his

family to and located in Bristol, R. I., where in Jan- uary, 1806, he received the appointment of post- master, in which position he continued until July, 1817.

While residing in Bristol, Mr. Leonard was secre- tary of the Bristol Insurance Company, editor and proprietor of the Bristol Republican, a newspaper warmly and actively devoted to the party and admin- istration of Thomas Jefferson, who part of that time was President of these United States.

Added to the labors incident to all these positions, Mr. Leonard found time or at any rate took the time -perhaps from the hours in which he should have had rest-to prepare for publication a translation that he made of the New Testament, which last- named labor was all lost, together with about six thou- sand dollars' worth of his property, from the very disastrous effects of the equinoctial storm, Sept. 23, 1815, and till now familiarly referred to as the " great September gale."

To relieve himself from the losses thus occasioned, Mr. Leonard resolved to remove to what was then considered the far West, but now the State of In- diana. He accordingly started with his family and such household goods as could be conveyed with the small conveniences then afforded for transportation, and was proceeding upon the Ohio River, when in the month of December, 1818, his health had become so poor that he was forced to land and take up his abode in what was then a little village, called Laconia, situated about one mile and a half from the Ohio River, in Boone township, Harrison Co., Ind., where on the 22d of July, 1819, he died.

It was his intention to have settled in Vincennes, on the Wabash River, then the most important town in Indiana, but his death frustrated that design, and his widow, with her children, went to Kentucky, where one of the daughters became the wife of Hon. David Merriwether, who subsequently became Governor of New Mexico. Another daughter married Hon. Wil- liam P. Thomasson, a member from Kentucky of the Twenty-cighth and Twenty-ninth Congresses of the nation.

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 205

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