History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 206

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

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A third daughter became the wife of Dr. Charles Hay, and as such she also became the mother of Col. John M. Hay, the poet and journalist, who graduated at Brown University, at Providence, R. I., in 1858, and was assistant secretary to President Lincoln in 1861; aid to Gen. Hunter; secretary of legation at Paris from 1865 to 1867; chargé-d'affaires at Vi- enna from 1867 to 1868; secretary of legation at Madrid from 1869 to 1870; author of " Pike County Ballads" and " Castilian Days."

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

The daughter who married Governor Merriwether beeame the mother of William Merriwether, United States marshal for the district of Kentucky.

The daughter who married Hon. William P. Thomasson was the mother of Charles L. Thomasson, who commanded a Union regiment ealled the " Louis- ville Legion," at the head of which he gave his life a saerifiee in the Union eause at the battle of Chieka- mauga.

Zenas Loekwood Leonard was a deseendant, in the fifth generation, of Solomon Leonard, who emigrated from Holland about 1630, and is believed to have been a member of John Robinson's congregation at Leydeu. He first settled in Duxbury, and afterwards beeame an original proprietor and one of the first settlers of Bridgewater.

Zenas Loekwood Leonard was the second of thir- teen children, being a brother of Rev. David A. Leonard, whose biography has just been given, and was born at Bridgewater, Mass., Jan. 16, 1773.

His early years were passed on his father's farm, where he acquired habits of industry and knowledge of agriculture that he turned to good aeeount in after life.

In March, 1790, when he was about seventeen years of age, his mind first beeame deeply impressed with eternal realities, and about the middle of June following he obtained evidenee, as he believed, of a renovated heart.

For a short time he was somewhat perplexed and agitated on the subject of baptism, but finally beeame satisfied that immersion is the seriptural mode of ad- ministering that ordinanee, and he was aeeordingly baptized in that on the 1st of July following, and immediately after connected himself with the First Baptist Church in Middleboro', then under the pas- toral eare of the Rev. Isaae Baekus, of which his excellent mother had been a member for several years.

Shortly after this he eommeneed a course of study preparatory to entering college. He was assisted partly by his elder brother, David A. Leonard, then a member of Brown University, and partly by the Rev. Dr. Fobes, a professor in the same university, but having his residence and pastoral charge in the adjoining town of Raynham, and during part of the time he studied without an instructor and in eonnee- tion with his labors upon the farm.

In May, 1792, he was admitted to the sophomore elass of Brown University, and during his whole eol- lege eourse was distinguished for diligenee in study, exemplary deportment, and earnest piety. He grad- uated with honor in September, 1794.

logieal study under the direction of the Rev. William Williams, of Wrentham, Mass., but at the urgent re- quest of his friends he began almost immediately to preach, being regularly licensed according to the order of his denomination by the ehureh in Bridgewater.

He spent the next winter in Sandwieli and some of the adjoining plaees, and early in the spring was per- mitted to take part in a powerful revival of religion in Provincetown, a place situated on the extreme north- western point of Cape Cod.

After this he went, by invitation, to Templeton, and remained there about two months, when he deter- mined to proseeute what he had previously meditated, -a tour through the New England States and the State of New York.

He aeeordingly set out ; but on arriving at Stur- bridge, Mass., at the elose of his second day's journey, he was led to abandon the projeet, and aeeept an in- vitation to preach to the Baptist Church in that town. On the 30th of January, 1796, he received a unan- imous eall from the church and society to become their pastor, and, having aeeepted it, he was ordained on the 15th of September following, the Rev. Dr. Baldwin, of Boston, preaching the ordination sermon.

With such zeal and energy did Mr. Leonard now apply himself to the work of the ministry that his health soon began to fail, and in the summer of 1797 he was obliged to suspend his labors for several months, which he spent upon the sea-shore.

In the autumn he was so much improved that he eommeneed a grammar school in the immediate viein- ity of his own dwelling, which he continued, with one or two exceptions, for thirteen successive seasons, and for several years he had in his family a number of young men fitting for college or, more immediately, for some of the higher walks of aetive usefulness.

In the spring of 1798 his health again beeame very feeble, and serious fears were entertained of an incipient disease of the lungs, which might oblige him to desist from publie speaking altogether.

He again availed himself for a while of sea air, but with little or no apparent advantage.

Afterwards he journeyed into the northern part of Vermont, and in the autumn made a visit to Cape Cod ; but his health still continued feeble.

About this time he resumed his early habit of reg- ular labor in the open air, and this was the means of restoring him to a comfortable state of health, which continued till near the elose of his life.

He was aetive in procuring a division of the War ren Baptist Association.

A convention of ministers and private members of

On leaving college he eommeneed a course of theo- the church was held at Sturbridge, Nov. 3, 1801.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLEBORO'.

which resulted in the formation of the Sturbridge Association.

Their first meeting was held at Charlton, Sept. 30, 1802, and for more than a quarter of a century he was one of the leading spirits of that body.

He enlisted with great zeal for the promotion of several of the prominent benevolent objects of the day. particularly the Sabbath-school, the temperance cause. and the cause of African colonization, and was president of the society for Worcester County and vicinity, auxiliary to the Baptist Board of Missions.

It was his often-expressed desire that he might not outlive the period of his usefulness; and it was a mysterious dispensation of Providence that while in the midst of rigorous manhood he was visited with a malady (softening of the brain) which gradually brought a cloud over his intellect.

On the 13th of October, 1832, he was, by his own request, dismissed from the immediate charge of the congregation, which he had ably and faithfully served during a period of thirty-six years

The next year the citizens of the town signified their continued confidence in his fidelity and ability by electing him for the sixth time to represent them in the Council of the State.

For some years he continued a constant attendant in the sanctuary, and occasionally took part in confer- ence and prayer-meetings.

It had been his custom to visit annually his pious mother, and the friends and home of his youth, in the eastern part of the State, and generally in going or returning. to attend commencement at Brown Uni- versity.

His last journey thither was made in 1833. In the autumn of 1835, accompanied by his son, he made a tour through a part of New Hampshire and Vermont, which he seemed greatly to enjoy, but was glad to return home to rest.

He died on the 24th of June 1841, in the sixty- ninth year of his age.

The productions of his pen, that have been printed and published. are circular letters to the Sturbridge Association, for the years 1802, 1810, 1822, and 1825, and an oration delivered on the 4th of July, 1816.

-Stephen Smith Nelson was a son of Thomas Nel- son and wife (Ann Smith), and born in that part of Middleboro' now Lakeville, Oct. 5, 1772.

He made a profession of religion at the age of fourteen years.

When in his sixteenth year he was baptized, by the Rev. William Nelson, and united with the First Cal- vinist Baptist Church of Middleboro'.

He graduated at Brown University, at Providence, R. I., in 1794, and was from 1819 to 1831 a member of the board of trustees of that institution.

On leaving college he studied theology with the Rev. Dr. Stillman, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Boston.

In his twenty-fourth year he was licensed to preach the gospel, and after laboring two years with the church in Hartford, Conn., as a stated supply, he was ordained in 1798 as their pastor, preaching to them at first in " an upper room" in the old court-house.

The church, however, soon secured a convenient place of worship, which, though humble in its ap- pearance and rough in its furniture, was found to be a true Bethel,-the house of God and very gate of heaven.

At this time Mr. Nelson was the only liberally educated Baptist minister in Connecticut, and there is no doubt that his accurate scholarship, courteous manners, and consistent piety served greatly to aid in the establishment and increase of the Baptist Church in Hartford.

He was actively engaged in the remarkable re- vival of religion that occurred about the close of the last century, and which added so many converts to the churches of all denominations in Hartford and elsewhere.

Decided in his peculiar views and usages, as a Baptist he was the cordial friend and brother of all good men.

On that account he was in the most friendly and intimate relations with Doctors Strong and Flint, at that time the only Congregational ministers in Hart- ford, and cheerfully co-operated with them in the cause of Christ.

Though Mr. Nelson's pastoral charge was in Hart- ford, his occasional labors extended to several of the neighboring towns, particularly Middletown, and the First Baptist Church in Upper Middletown (now Cromwell) was established by his efforts.

Mr. Nelson, as well as several other prominent Baptist clergymen of that day, was not only the firm friend but open advocate of civil and religious liberty as the inalienable birthright of the human soul ; and during his residence in Hartford took an active part in preparing and urging upon the public attention the " Baptist Petition," a remonstrance addressed to the Connecticut Legislature complaining of the civil disabilities which " Dissenters" from the "Standing Order" were compelled to suffer, and urging upon them the great doctrine of absolute " soul liberty," in other words, the entire freedom of conscience worship and action in the domain of religion, which petition,

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

constantly pressed by the Baptists and other lovers of liberty who united with them, at last severed in Con- necticut the union of Church and State, by securing that constitution of civil government which in 1818 gave to all equal civil and religious rights.

At the first election of Mr. Jefferson to the Presi- dency of the United States, Mr. Nelson was appointed, with others, by the Danbury (now the Hartford) Baptist Association, in behalf of that body, to pre- pare and forward to him a congratulatory address, recognizing his acknowledged attachment to eivil and religious liberty.

In 1801, Mr. Nelson resigned his charge in Hart- ford, and became for a number of years principal of a large and flourishing academy at Mount Pleasant, now Sing Sing, N. Y., at the same time taking charge of an infant church in that village.

Both the church and academy flourisbed under his care until the war with Great Britain came on, in consequence of which he removed in 1815 to Attle- boro', Mass., where an extensive revival took place under his labors, which brought into the church up- wards of a hundred and fifty persons. After this he had charge for a short time successively of the churches in Plymouth, Mass., and Canton, Conn.

In 1825 he removed to Amherst, Mass., for the purpose of availing himself of the facilities there furnished in the education of his family.

During the first year of his residence there he took charge of the church in Belchertown, but, being unable on account of the distance to perform the duties to his own satisfaction, he resigned it.

The illness of which he died, which was erysipelas in the head, lasted but six days. He died at Am- herst, on the 8th of December, 1853, in the eighty- second year of his age.

For what has been presented concerning the Rev. Zenas Lockwood Leonard and Rev. Stephen Smith Nelson we are indebted to that valuable work entitled " Annals of the American Pulpit."

George Leonard was a son of Eliakim Leonard and wife, Mary Williams, and born at Raynham, Mass., Aug. 17, 1802. In the autumn of 1819 the subject of this sketch commenced study with a view to prepare for college, pursuing the same under the direction of Rev. Silas Hall.

In the carly part of the year 1820 he made a pro- fession of religion, and was admitted to membership in the First Calvinistic Baptist Church of Middle- boro', and entering Brown University the same year, he there graduated in 1824. He was in August, 1826, ordained pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Salem, continuing in that field of labor about two

years and a half. While at Salem, Mr. Leonard filled the office of secretary of the Salem Bible Translation and Foreign Mission Society. Rev. George Leonard was on the 12th of July, 1827, united in marriage with Abigail C. Nelson, a daughter of Rev. Ebenezer Nelson. Rev. George Leonard dicd in Worcester, Mass., Aug. 11, 1831.

The successive pastors of the First Calvinistie Baptist Church in Middleboro' since the decease of Rev. Isaac Backus have been as follows: Ezra Ken- dall, Samuel Abbot, Jeremiah Kelly, Asa Niles, Silas Hall, James Andem, Lorenzo Tandy, Samuel Rich- ardson, Alexander McLean, and Joseph Hutchinson, the last-named of whom dicd deeply lamented, after a ministry to this people .of ten years.

The Second Baptist Church .- The records of this church are said to have been lost. Tradition has preserved a few facts, but for its early history we are mainly indebted to the pen of Rev. Isaac Backus, who thereby informed that the rise of the Second Baptist Church in Middleboro' was as follows :

Mr. Thomas Nelson, who was born in the town June 6, 1676, just before Philip's war broke out, re- moved into that part of it called Assawomsett Neck in 1717, about which time he joined the First Bap- tist Church in Swansea, as his wife also did, Aug. 5, 1723. In 1753 he and his sons, with a few more, set up a meeting at his house, and obtained Mr. Ebenezer Hinds to preach to them.

" Four miles south west ward from thence Mr. James Mead was ordained pastor of a Separate Church in 1751; but he died in 1756, after which the body of his church became Baptists, and Mr. Hinds' hearers joined with them and ordained him their pastor Jan. 26, 1758.

" Mr. Nelson died before this church was formed, in his eightieth year ; but his wife, Mrs. Hope Nel- son, lived to be a member of it and communed with then at the Lord's table after she was a hundred years old.

" She died Dec. 7, 1782," aged one hundred and five years, six months, and twenty days.

Mr. Baekus further informed that Thomas Nelson, who had been a member of the worshiping eongre- gation under the ministry of Rev. Thomas Palmer, discovered in the character and conduct of the latter such evils as eauscd him to examine the Scriptures concerning the principles of the Congregational de- nomination, and failing to find in God's written word what he deemed to be a proper authority for infant baptism, Mr. Nelson became a Baptist, and went and joined the First Baptist Church in Swansea, from which, many years after, he transferred his member-

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HISTORY OF MIDDLEBORO'.

ship to the First Baptist Church in Rehoboth. The history of this Second Baptist Church of Middleboro' furnishes much valuable information ; but as the preached five sermons and baptized six persons. The work increases. I left a number under powerful con- victions. The handful of brethren are joyful and lively, and much encouraged. There is considerable opposition, but some persons of note are brought to favor the work."

entire territory where its members resided (or at least nearly all of them) was more than thirty years since set off from Middleboro', and became the township of Lakeville, it may, with a considerable elaim of pro- priety. be shown that the history of that church ought to be presented in connection with what herein appears pertaining to Lakeville instead of Middleboro'.

The Third Baptist Church .-- This church was formed Aug. 4, 1761, and at first consisted of ten persons. six of whom had been members of the First Baptist Church of Middleboro', and one of the Second Baptist Church, and the other three had not probably before been members of any church.

Mr. Ebenezer Jones preached to this religious body for a time, and on the 28th of October, 1761, was ordained as pastor. Mr. Backus said " a revival of religion came on among them the next spring, which prevailed through the year and spread into many other societies ; the good fruits whereof were long visible.

". Yet some cvil behavior in Mr. Jones' wife, which drew him into a snare, caused a great division in the church and society in 1763, which terminated in his removal from them, and he traveled and preached in various parts of our land until he died in the county of Albany, in September, 1791."

The chief offense of Mrs. Jones appears to have been the spreading of evil reports against the deacon of the church. These coming to light involved the whole church in dissension. Some have charged a part of the blame to other parties than Mrs. Jones and her husband.

The Rev. Isaac Backus, in a letter still preserved, said, concerning this unhappy affair, "Gospel rule was greatly disregarded on both sides ;" and the same authority, writing to a son of Mr. Jones, said, " Your father often confessed his faults. His wife also ap- peared to repent of her faults, and I had hope in her death. I preached at her funeral August 13th, 1766."

The next pastor of this Third Baptist Church in Middleboro' was Rev. Asa Hunt, whose biography has already herein been presented in connection with the history of the First Baptist Church in this town. He was born at Braintree in July, 1744, ordained pastor of this church Oct. 30, 1771. A revival of religion commenced here in March, 1780, that con- tinued until September of that year, thus causing an addition to the church of one hundred and thirteen members. Mr. Hunt's labors were also blessed in ' continued,-

preaching at Marshfield, for, in a letter dated March 5. 1781. he wrote, " At Marshfield, last week, I

Eleven of the constituent members of the Marsh- field Church went from the Third Baptist Church in Middleboro'.

The pastoral relation between Rev. Asa Hunt and this Third Baptist Church was terminated and dis- solved in December, 1789.

Concerning the remarkable work of grace that was felt in Middleboro' under the preaching of Rev. Asa Hunt, the report that this Third Baptist Church made to the Warren Association in September, 1780, bears the following testimony :

" In our letters for several years past we had to lament the sad deeny of religion among us, and the abounding of Iniquity, which in the last year inereased to the greatest degree ever known in this place.

" Men were bold in wicked ways, and all the endeavors of a few faithful ones among us could not prevent it.

"But, blessed he God, things have taken another turn this year, for when sin, the great enemy of mankind, was coming in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord has lifted up a standard against him.

" Ahout the middle of March, on a Lord's day, in the after- noon, there appeared a very visible alteration in the face of the whole assembly ; they were all attention to the Word, and eon - eern was discovered in their countenances, which increased, so that by the beginning of April several seores of persons appeared under deep concern about their souls and eternal salvation.

" And sinee the work hegan we have reason to hope that about one hundred souls have been turned from darkness to light, and eighty-three have been baptized.

" It is very remarkable in our view to see so many suddenly turned from darkness to light, and have such a elear under- standing of the nature of religion, and so ready to praetiee what they know.

" We have been remarkably free from disorders, hy means of which those who appeared to oppose this work (who are chiefly of another denomination), and were waiting to see how things turned out, have seen such things as have greatly stilled and convineed them.

"Thus has it pleased our gracious God to visit a most un- worthy people, and after a dark night of sorrow and mourning to make us glad with his salvation."

Under date of May 31, 1780, Rev. Mr. Hunt, in a letter addressed to Rev. Isaac Backus, the historian of the Baptists, said,-

"God is doing wonders amongst us. We have baptized eleven, and there are not far from thirty more hopefully brought into liberty. The work has inereased from the heginning ; this week has brought forth more than any time before, and yesterday was such a time as I never saw." He doubtless meant to have said such as he never before saw, and under the same date he

988

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

" After the worship was over at the meeting-houso a body of the people repairod to my house, and we bogan to sing and pray. The divine power was like Penteeost, and by sunset six persons obtained liberty, and such rejoicing of saints and cries of sin- ners I never heard."

Under date of July 12, 1780, Rev. Mr. Hunt wrote,-

"We thought about ten or twelve days ago that the work was abated, but sinee that it has revived. Numbers are newly struek under conviction, and seem as powerfully impressed as any we have seen ; and some brought out, and others who have received eomfort understandingly led into baptism, and have cheerfully gone forward in that ordinanee. The number is as follows, viz. : Baptized on May 12th, five; 13th, two; 14th, one; 23d, three; June 14th, seventeen ; 27th, six; July 5th, eleven ; 14th, nine; total, fifty-four. This number have been hopefully converted sinee the middle of Mareh, except four or five. In the num- ber are four boys about twelve years old, three of whom were awakened on the fast day, when you (Mr. Baekus) were with us. I suppose that the whole that have been brought in are just about seventy, in our society only."

Oct. 14, 1780, Rev. Asa Hunt wrote,-

"When I returned from the Association I found about half a dozen young converts brought out clear while I was gone. Six were baptized last week, and last Lord's day another, a young man, who had been very careless, appeared to give as elear, eon- vineing declaration of a work of grace in his soul as any one out of ninety which we have heard among us sinee the work began.

"When I think of these things, together with the favor of God to my own soul, I sometimes conclude myself the happiest man in the world. O for humility and gratitude ! I have preached three sermons lately at Roehestor, and our gracious Lord was with me. Some were prieked in the heart. I believe the Lord has begun there. The work goes on gloriously at the Vineyard."

Rev. Samuel Nelson was the third who filled the place of pastor in the Third Calvinistic Baptist Church of Middleboro'. For his biography and an account of his labors here, together with the very satisfactory results, see sketch in the history of the First Baptist Church in this town.

The pastors of this Third Baptist Church since the days of Rev. Samuel Nelson have been Isaac Kim- ball, William Hubbard, E. C. Messinger, I. W. Horton, Philemon R. Russell, Isaac J. Burgess, Mr. Sweet, and William Weeks, the last-named of whom con- cluded his engagement with this people a short time since, and the pulpit at this time is not regularly sup- plied. This church and society have a neat and com- modious chapel, that was erected but a few years since upon the same lot where stood that church edifice, without a steeple, where the Rev. Samuel Nelson and several of his successors in the ministry preached. There may have been and probably were several short pastorates of persons whose names are not given in the foregoing list of pastors of this Third Calvinistic Baptist Church, whose stay was so brief as hardly

to deserve mentioning. Most of those named filled the pulpit each for several years.

The Fourth Calvinistic Baptist Church .- This appears to have been an offshoot from the Second Baptist Church, and for a time was designated and known as United Brethren. It came, however, to be regarded, as in fact it really was, the Fourth Calvin- istic Baptist Church in Middleboro'.

Their place of public worship was in that part of the town set off in 1853 and incorporated as a new and distinct town, and called Lakeville. The church was formed Aug. 19, 1800. Their meeting-house was crected in or about 1796, and was a very fine building for its time. A branch of this church ap- pears to have existed in Raynham. As the church edifice was located in what is now Lakeville, and many, and indeed the most, of the members resided there, its more minute and particular history has been made to constitute a part of the ecclesiastical history of Lakeville, and this is assigned as the rea- son why this church in its history is disposed of so briefly here. Those readers desiring to see a more prolonged and much fuller account are respectfully referred to the history of Lakeville.

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 206

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