USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > History of Rehoboth, Massachusetts; its history for 275 years, 1643-1918, in which is incorporated the vital parts of the original history of the town > Part 11
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"March 10, 1720. Mr. John Greenwood agreed with the select- men to teach school for the town, six months, for twelve pounds for the first quarter, and the second quarter at the rate of forty- five pounds per year."
He was the son of the Rev. Thomas Greenwood, then their minister; he graduated at Cambridge in 1717, and in 1721 was settled as the minister of the western part of Rehoboth, over the church of which his father had been pastor.
The Rev. Thomas Greenwood died September 8, 1720, at half past 2 o'clock P. M., aged fifty years. He was a native of Wey- mouth, Mass., where his father died, according to minutes made by the Rev. Thomas Greenwood, still extant,1 September 1, 1693, in the evening. Mr. Greenwood graduated at Cambridge in 1690, was married December 28, 1693, and came to reside in Rehoboth the Tuesday following. Mr. Greenwood had six children, viz .: Hannah, born Feb. 5, 1694; John, born May 20, 1697; Noah, born April 20, 1699, and died March 26, 1703; Esther, born August 20, 1791, and died Sept. 14; Elizabeth, born April 5, 1704; and Esther, born Saturday, June 25, 1709. Mrs. Greenwood died at Weymouth, January 24, 1735.
."November 14, 1720. Whereas the church of Christ, in Re- hoboth, having made choice of the Rev. Mr. John Greenwood to preach the gospel amongst us for the present; the question being put, whether the town would concur with the church's choice; it passed in the affirmative." "Voted by the town to raise seventy pounds per annum till we have a minister settled amongst us."
"February 13, 1721. A vote was taken for inviting Mr. Green- wood to become the minister of the west part of the town. One hundred and nineteen voted in favour of the measure and only five against it."
"March 13, 1721. The town voted, that the business of both the religious congregations of the town,-the one in the west part of the town, and the one at Palmer's river, -should be managed
1 These are a book of family and church records, which the Rev. John Greenwood bequeathed to the church, and which are still in the possession of the Congregational Church of Seekonk.
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by the town as the affairs of one church; and that the expenses of each should be borne by the whole town. The town voted also to raise £200 for the settlement of a minister in each of the two meeting-houses; £100 to be appropriated to each."
The meeting-house at Palmer's River was by this time com- pleted, and on the 29th of November, 1721, a church was gathered here, and the Rev. David Turner, of Scituate, ordained their minister.
"July 8, 1723. Josiah Cotton made an agreement with the town to keep the school in Rehoboth for the quantity of one year, for the sum of £45."
"May 8, 1727. The town voted a bounty of 5s. to any one who should kill a wild-cat within the limits of the town, and bring the head to any two of the selectmen."
"April 22, 1728. Voted that the town's proportion of the sixty thousand pounds, that is now in the Province's treasury, should be brought into the town; and Mr. Samuel Bullock, Mr Timothy Walker, and Mr. John Willmarth were chosen trustees, to transact about the money." It was also voted, "that this money be let out to the inhabitants of the town by the trustees; and that none be allowed to have more than ten pounds, nor less than five."
June 10, 1728. The Rev. John Greenwood and the Rev. David Turner presented a petition to the town for an increase of their salaries, stating that their present salaries were inadequate to their comfortable support. The town, in answer to their petition, voted to add to Mr. Greenwood's salary £20, and to Mr. Turner's £30, making the sum of the respective salaries of each £100.
"March 31, 1729. It was proposed for the town's consideration, whether it might not be proper to build a house for the enter- tainment of such poor people as are, or shall be, destitute of a house to dwell in. The town by vote adjourned or deferred the matter till the next general town meeting."
"May 21, 1733. John Pierce of Rehoboth brought a wild-cat's head before the town, and his ears were cut off by Thomas Car- penter, constable, in the presence of one or more of the selectmen of the town of Rehoboth."
In the year 1734, the town expended for the support of schools £60.
During the year 1735, the town obtained leave of the General Court to sell the several small pieces of school land, that lay scattered in different parts of the town, "provided that they pur-
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chased other real estate, in one entire tract, with the proceeds of said sale, to be appropriated for the use of the schools in Rehoboth, and for no other use whatever."
"November 3, 1735. Thirty pounds were voted towards up- holding the grammar school in town." And November 6th, sixty pounds were added to the thirty for the support of schools in town.
"March 29, 1736. Voted to build a work-house for the poor of the town."
"October 22, 1736. Ten pounds were granted towards the sup- port of the gospel in the north-east part of the town."
This was probably granted to a Baptist congregation, though no church was organized (according to Benedict) in this part of the town till 1743, the date of the organization of "Round's church."
"November 15, 1736. The town voted to raise £140 for the sup- port of the ministry, £70 of which were to be paid to the Rev. John Greenwood, and the other £70 to the Rev. David Turner."
"March 28, 1737. Forty pounds were voted towards the salary of a schoolmaster; and what is needed more is to be made up out of the town treasury."
In 1739, £80 were expended for the support of schools. During this year the town voted to give the Rev. John Greenwood and the Rev. David Turner each £200 yearly, in "the present cur- rency." The currency here referred to was probably the bills of credit issued by the General Court of Massachusetts, and which, as appears by the doubling of their salaries, had already depreciated one-half. The town also voted to grant a salary to the elder of the Baptist church in Rehoboth.
"March 31, 1740. Peter Bowen and Ebenezer Cole were chosen to inform of all breaches of an act in addition to an act for the better preservation and increase of deer."
In the year 1741, a highway two rods wide was laid out by the town, "from Pawtucket Falls till it come to the line between Rehoboth and Attleborough, into the county road leading to- wards Mendon, laid out on the 3d or 4th day of October, 1684."
In 1742 the town expended £70 for the support of schools; and in 1743, £90 were appropriated for the same object.
In 1743, the prices of grain, agreed on between the town and the ministers, and at which rates the latter were to receive it in
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the payment of their salaries, were as follows, viz .: wheat at 15s. per bushel, rye 12s., Indian corn 9s., oats 5s., barley 10s.
In 1744, £65 were expended for the support of schools, and in the year following, £125.
The Rev. David Turner, in addition to the duties of a clergy- man, sometimes practised the healing art, to which he appears to have given some attention before studying divinity. In the year 1746, "the Rev. David Turner is allowed £5 for adminis- tering medicine to one of the poor of the town."
In 1746 the town raised for the support of schools £125, in 1747, £170, in 1748, £200, and in 1749, £300.
"May 23, 1749. Voted that the sum of £40 of bills of credit, of the old tenor, be added to the ministerial tax the present year, to make up the deficiency occasioned by what is to be paid out of it to Mr. Checkly, minister of the church of England at Prov- idence."
In 1750, the town raised for the support of schools £30, in 1751, the same sum, and in 1752, £38.
"May 1752. Voted that the meeting-house in the west part of the town be covered with new shingles, and the south side of the said house be repaired with new clapboarding and new win- dows with sash glass."
March 25, 1754. The town voted to build a pound at Palmer's River. This year the town expended for the support of schools £38, in the year following, £30, in 1756, £68, in 1757 and 1758 the same sum.
It appears from a letter addressed to the church by him, that in 1757 Mr. Greenwood was obliged, in consequence of bodily infirmity, to resign his pastoral charge over his church in Reho- both. He also, at the request of the town, relinquished his yearly salary and his claim to the profits of the ministerial lands, on con- dition of the church, or town, or individuals, becoming responsible for the payment of £20 to him yearly during his life. The fol- lowing is a copy of his letter :-
"REHOBOTH, December ye 2d, 1757.
"To the First Church of Christ in Rehoboth, under my pastoral care.
"Bretheren:
"Whereas, by divine Providence, I am rendered unable, through bodily infirmity, to carry on the work of the ministry any longer, after 30 odd years labour therein: and whereas you presented to me the town's resolution, not to grant any support
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for another minister here, except I release my salary, ye minis- tering lands, and quit my pastorial office: although I think not reasonable in the town to defer it; yet for peace's sake, and that the gospel might not be hindered, I release my salary, from the eleventh day of March next and forever after; and I also release the ministry lands in said town from any claime or any improve- ment from me after the first of March next, as aforesaid. And by the advice of some ministers and bretheren, called to advise in the affair, and at the desire of this church, I do likewise prom- ise to ask and to receive of this church a dismission from my pastoral office over them, as soon as a council of churches can conveniently sit for the orderly doing of it; provided the church, particular persons, or the town, or any or all of them, will come under obligation, for my support and maintenance during my natural life, to give me twenty pounds annually, to be paid, one half in money, and the other half in specie equal to money; the first year to be paid, the eleventh day of March, A. D. 1759; and so from year to year, by the eleventh of March successively, during my natural life, as aforesaid, and that I and my estate be not taxed towards public charges.
"JOHN GREENWOOD."
These propositions the church and town readily acceded to, and forty-seven individuals pledged themselves jointly to raise annually the support required, agreeing to give yearly various sums each, from "two pounds" to "two bushels of corn" or "two bushels of rye."
Mr. Greenwood died December 1, 1766, having lived in Reho- both between forty-five and forty-six years. He was born at Re- hoboth, May 20, 1697, graduated at Cambridge in 1717, was married May 25, 1721, and ordained minister of Rehoboth in the same year. Mr. Greenwood had fourteen children, the most of whom died young.
Mr. Greenwood was succeeded in the ministry by the Rev. John Carnes, a native of Boston, and former minister of Stone- ham. He was installed over the first Congregational church in Rehoboth, April 18, 1759, and was dismissed by request Dec. 4, 1764. He graduated at Cambridge in 1742. His wife was Mary, a daughter of Mr. John Lewis of Lynn. He died at Lynn, October 12, 1802, aged 78 years. From the time of the death of the latter Mr. Greenwood, the affairs of the town and the churches became distinct, and will hereafter be so related in our history.
From the following record in the church book it appears that some opposition was made to the settlement of Mr. Carnes :-
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"The council that installed Mr. Carnes was a mutual council, chosen by those who were for his settlement and by those who opposed it. And the votes of the council were unanimous and in favor of pastor and church."
After this the disaffection, instead of abating, grew more pro- nounced, much to the annoyance of the pastor and his friends. "Councils were called and results drawn up" without revealing any serious objections against Mr. Carnes.
It seems to have been a case of personal dislike or prejudice without any good reason for it. After five years, the difficulty still persisting, a council of eight churches was called, to which the trouble was submitted, the "aggrieved brethren," to the num- ber of forty-two, signing an agreement to abide by its decision.
The council, finding nothing inconsistent with either the Chris- tian or ministerial character of Mr. Carnes, commended him and advised his remaining. "The aggrieved," however, instead of quieting down, petitioned the General Court for a committee to investigate the difficulty. A committee of five were sent and ex- amined the conditions. In their report they commended the pas- tor as "blameless, having approved himself a good minister of Jesus Christ; but there appeared an unhappy alienation of af- fection in his people to him and incurable, which was the true cause of our advising to his separation."
In compliance with this advice, and by his own request, Mr. Carnes was dismissed from the pastoral relation to this church, Dec. 4, 1764, by a council which met at his house. So ended this pastorate of four years and eight months, which had been un- comfortable to both parties, and barren of spiritual results.
Mr. Carnes removed to Boston, his native place, whence in 1776 he entered the American Army as chaplain and continued to the close of the war.
He afterwards resided in Lynn, where he was justice of the peace, and for nine years representative to the General Court, and in 1788 he was a member of the convention to ratify the Constitution of the United States.
May 14, 1766, the Rev. Ephraim Hyde was ordained pastor of the First Congregational Church in Rehoboth, in the place of Rev. John Carnes.
Mr. Hyde was a native of Pomfret, Ct., graduated at Yale College in 1758, married, in 1767, Mary Angier, daughter of the
-
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Rev. John Angier, the first minister of the east parish of Bridge- water. They had five children. He was pastor of this church seventeen years, and was much beloved by his people. He died October 11, 1783, aged forty-five years, and was interred in the old burying-ground near his church.
On the death of her husband, Mrs. Hyde, with her children, returned to Bridgewater, where she died in 1788, aged forty-eight.
Mr. Hyde was succeeded by Rev. John Ellis. He was born at Cambridge, Mass., in 1727, and graduated at Cambridge Univer- sity in 1750. He preached at Norwich, Ct., till the commence- ment of the Revolutionary War, when he entered the American Army as chaplain and continued during the whole war. He was installed over this church March 30, 1785, and dismissed, at his own request, in 1796, in consequence of old age and infirmities. He died at Norwich, Ct., in 1805 or 1806 at the age of seventy- eight.
His son, James Ellis, Esq., graduated at Brown University, studied law, and located himself for a while at Rehoboth, whence he removed to Taunton.
During Mr. Ellis's ministry here he was involved in a long series of difficulties which greatly hindered his usefulness and aroused much ill-will and bitter controversy. For this unsavory wrangle among men professedly religious, the precinct system was in part responsible. Owing to changed religious conditions since its adop- tion some thirty years previously, it had become incompetent for its purpose, which was to finance the church.
The Congregationalists who owned the church property, and for whose benefit the system had been devised, were now a minor- ity. To tax the whole precinct for the benefit of the Congrega- tional Church and Society, while not illegal, had come to mean "taxation without representation."
At a meeting legally called, the precinct voted to pay the Rev. John Ellis one hundred pounds a year, to be raised, so far as needful, by a tax on the polls and estates of the inhabitants of the precinct. Although by this action the whole precinct was legally held for the minister's salary, it seemed to create no friction at the time. The pinch was to come later. It should be said that at this period there were several Baptist bodies in town whose ministers were often unlettered men who received little or no compensation for preaching, and who were wont to denounce "hireling priests" and
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an educated ministry, and naturally their people shared these convictions. Backus, the Baptist historian, says with reference to the manner of raising Mr. Ellis's salary, "This sum (100 pounds) was voted by but little more than twenty men, and near three hundred men were taxed to pay for it." Of course the three hun- dred ought to have attended the meeting and voted their con- victions, and saved themselves from the unhappy consequences of their neglect.
However, the vote was not carried into effect, and at the end of four years Mr. Ellis had received no part of his salary. At the earnest solicitation of his friends, a meeting of the precinct was called and assessors chosen to collect money sufficient to discharge the first year's salary. An officer was sent out with the "rate- streaks" and warrant to make the collection, but he encountered strong opposition. The idea of a tax for the minister's support had become odious. The act was declared to be criminal and even the minister was not spared. Little money was collected and Mr. Ellis received nothing. The method had failed and the people were aroused. The precinct determined to stop all collections and to pay no back dues.
At length five years had passed and Mr. Ellis had received very little money except voluntary offerings from his friends. Finding himself in debt and sorely straitened for funds, he sued the pre- cinct for his salary. The suit was tried in the court of common pleas, by a jury, who gave in for the plaintiff. The precinct ap- pealed to the Supreme Judicial Court, where they were again de- feated and Mr. Ellis had judgment in his favor.
Nettled by these decisions, the precinct sought to get rid of the minister. At a meeting held February 7, 1791, it was voted“ that the precinct do not agree that the Rev. John Ellis shall officiate as a minister in said precinct, at the expense of said precinct."
At a meeting lawfully called, and held Sept. 5th of the same year, the precinct made in substance the following proposition :-
That if the society attending on the Rev. Mr. John Ellis's preaching would pay all arrearages in Mr. Ellis's salary, and all the costs and charges of the court in the recent law-suits and guarantee the precinct against any future tax or suit for a like purpose, the precinct would agree to allow the society the interest arising on the precinct's money and the use of the precinct's meeting-house.
The Congregational Society took no notice of this offer, knowing
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that the property belonged to them by the conditions on which it was given.
The precinct's next move was to shut Mr. Ellis and his people from the meeting-house. This they did on Sunday Oct. 24, 1791. Going to church as usual, they found the doors closed and barred and the house guarded and were forced to retire. The next Sunday they found the conditions similiar, but after a time the doors were opened and a Mr. Northrup, a Baptist elder, quickly entered the pulpit. Soon after, Mr. Ellis came in and advanced toward the pulpit, but when he came to the stairs, he was so violently op- posed by two men seated on them for that purpose that he found it impracticable to proceed. The men who were seated on the stairs and made the forcible resistance were afterwards arrested and sentenced to pay the costs of prosecution, amounting to ninety-five pounds, fifteen shillings and eleven pence. "A high price," says the narrator, "for a seat upon the stairs in a decayed meeting-house."
The Sunday following, however, Mr. Ellis found the pulpit stairs doubly guarded and the Rev. Isaac Backus, the Baptist author, in the pulpit.
Mr. Ellis and his people being now convinced that the object of the precinct was to introduce and establish a Baptist denomina- tion, and wholly shut them out of the meeting-house, repaired to Mr. Ellis's house and were compelled, for a while, to worship in private houses.
The precinct appointed a supply committee consisting of Bap- tists, and directed them to hire the Rev. Philip Slade, a Baptist elder, for three months.
Mr. Ellis and his society could see but one way out of the diffi- culty, and that was to petition the General Court for an act of incorporation making them an independent body politic.
The precinct used every means to defeat the purpose of the peti- tioners, but without avail.
The General Court, believing the petitioners to have been in- jured and that their religious rights had been invaded, granted their request and they were incorporated by the name of the Congregational Society of the first precinct of the town of Reho- both, June 23, 1792, at the same time the act of 1762 incorporating the first precinct was repealed.
The trustees of the incorporated society promptly demanded
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of the precinct the meeting-house and also the money which had been entrusted to them for the support of the Congregational minister.
The precinct refused compliance, and continued to hold the meeting-house and to make whatever use of the money they pleased. The incorporated society now invoked the strong arm of the law to secure their rights. Two actions were commenced: one a civil suit for recovery of the fund; the other was brought under the statute of forcible entry and detainer. The Society must prove that the house was forcibly detained from them, by actually attempting to enter and take possession. This resulted in what is known as "The Long Meeting."
Mr. Ellis, on repairing to the church Sunday morning, found the desk occupied by Elder Philip Slade and several others who were determined to monopolize the service. When the trustees demanded the pulpit for their minister, the elder began to read rapidly in a loud voice so as to drown all other voices. After a time one of the trustees rose and commanded silence and urged the right of the Society to occupy the house. But disregarding him, the elder with his assistants were in constant employ, read- ing, singing and exhorting, while the sympathetic hearers re- sponded in loud vociferations. These excercises continued pas- sionately from nine o'clock in the morning till nine o'clock in the evening. Notice was given that Mr. Ellis would lecture the next morning at nine o'clock. Some of both parties remained in the church over night. The following morning, when the trustees tried to get the desk for Mr. Ellis, "clamor, jargon and confusion ensued." And so by changing exhorters the exercises went on through that day and the next and every succeeding day for about two weeks, effectually excluding Mr. Ellis from the pulpit. Finally, both parties, wearied with the strife, withdrew, and under the statute above referred to, the Congregationalists had possession of the meeting-house. The precinct retaliated by procuring a writ of ejectment. This brought the title of the meeting-house squarely in question. After a while the case came to trial and also the action for the recovery of the fund, and in both the Society were successful.
From these decisions the precinct appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court; at Taunton, in the October term, 1794, both cases were tried and determined. Learned counsel were employed on
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both sides, in a hearing which lasted two days and a half, with the result that the juries returned a verdict in favor of the Congre- gational Society, and the controversy was ended.
From this account we suggest the following observations:
1. The precinct system of raising money to pay the minister was but a repetition of the former town system and failed for the same reason, viz .: An increasing population and a changing reli- gious belief.
2. The attempt to tax a community for the support of religion was evidently unsound in principle and offensive in practice.
3. The Congregationalists of the first precinct, knowing that many of the inhabitants were of other sects, should have avoided the issue of a religious tax. The example of the second precinct should have led them to shun this error, as it taxed only those "inhabitants who attend this meeting." In one instance six pounds were refunded to persons who had been unwittingly assessed.
4. Had a majority of the voters of the first precinct done their duty at the polls, they would have avoided a harmful and far- reaching scandal.
Mr. Ellis was succeeded by Rev. John Hill, a native of Lewiston, Delaware. He was born Feb. 11, 1759; was educated at Lewis- ton, and began to preach Nov. 29, 1787. His wife was Miss Roby Bowen, who was born in Coventry, R.I., Nov. 29, 1766. They were married Sep. 1, 1794. They had two children, Sarah and Martha V. Mr. Hill began as an itinerant Methodist, preaching in Lynn, Waltham, Boston, and also in the Southern States, and taught school for eight years in Warren, R.I. He was installed over this church Sept. 22, 1802.
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