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 17
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1One "salt meadow" in Barrington was reserved by each precinct by agree- ment.
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swamp which was sold in three parcels. In all there were 674 acres, which netted each precinct about £600 ($3,000).
Feb. 29, 1759, the precinct united with the church in calling Rev. Robert Rogerson to be their pastor and voted to give him, in addition to a settlement of seventy pounds, sixty pounds for his annual salary.
"It was voted by ye inhabitants of sd Precinct that Fifty two Pounds Lawful money be raised on ye Poles and Estates of ye inhabitants of ye sd Precinct this present year and one half of ye Revenues arising from ye ministerial lands this present year, with ye three Pounds Lawful money to be paid by ye west Precinct maks up sixty pounds Lawful mony which is one years Sallery. Likewise voted to Raise this present year on ye Poles and Es- tates of ye Inhabitants of sd Precinct Twenty three Pounds Six shillings and Eight pence Lawful mony being one third part of ye Settlement agreed upon by ye sd Inhabitants to give the Revrend Mr. Robert Rogerson."
Mr. Rogerson agreed to take one third part of his salary "in the produce of the country provided they bring me such articles as I have occasion for."
In years when the precinct had a larger income than usual they shared the surplus with their pastor, -an example worthy of imitation.
March 18, 1773, the precinct "voted that the old meeting- house should be sold or pulled down provided that a new one can be built upon the plain near Timothy Readway's." The site chosen is now known as the Village Cemetery. This was a part of the common or undivided lands on Readway's plain, used for a training field. A portion was surveyed and set off for a "church, stable and burying-ground" by the Proprietors' Com- mittee, William Bullock, chairman.
The new house, fifty feet by forty, was built the following sum- mer, and the pews were sold at public auction Oct. 25, 1773. They were at first forty in number and brought £462. 10s. Capt. Thomas Carpenter1 was chairman of the building committee, and furnished the plan. This house, known as the "Yellow Meeting House," stood to the east of the graveyard, facing the south.2 Back of it on the north and northwest were horse-sheds. It was without bell or steeple.
1 Also designated as Thomas Carpenter 3d, and after his promotion in 1776, as Colonel Thomas.
2 So stated by William Blanding, now living at 97; also by Dr. D. B. Nichols in a letter to the writer in 1885.
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The high pulpit with its sounding-board overhead was at the north end and was reached by a spiral staircase on either side, with the deacons' seats close down in front, and hidden from the preacher's view. The church had two rows of windows, one above the other on each side, and was entered by three double doors, east, south, and west.1 The pews were square. They were sur- mounted by a railing held in place by turned spokes four to six inches in length. The gallery extended across the front or south end and along the two sides. In the front gallery were the singers' seats after 1818, and back of them, high up in either corner, were seats for the negroes, the men occupying the southwest corner and the women the southeast. There were four rows of pews extending the whole length of the room and a short row each side of the pulpit. There were three aisles, one in the centre and one on each side half-way between the centre and the walls. Stoves were not installed until the winter of 1819, the women bringing hot stones or bricks, or in some cases foot-stoves supplied with hot coals. The whole cost of building the meeting-house was £622. 17s., or $3,114.
In 1776 a valuable legacy, worth perhaps $10,000, was be- queathed to the precinct by Lieut. Ephraim Hunt, by means of which a considerable part of the minister's salary has been paid ever since.
The part of Mr. Hunt's will relating to this legacy reads as fol- lows:
"I do hereby give, alienate and devote all the said home build- ings, homestead lands & in fine all ye residue, remainder & re- mainders of my estate not disposed off, as afforsaid in particular I give & devote towards ye support & maintaining of the publick worship of God to be forever hereafter improved by the in- habitants of the Second Precinct of the said Town of Rehoboth that do & shall hereafter attend the publick worship of God in the church at Palmers River (so called) whereof the Revd. Robert Rogerson is now the pastor & his successors like wise ye same, moreover it is my will & pleasure that the said build- ings & lands so given & devoted be annually leased out by said Prescincts committe that shall or may be chosen to lett out said Prescincts money as by Act of General Court enjoyned and that the yearly income & rents of said houseing & lands shall from year to year forever hereafter be paid by said committe to the minister of the church at Palmers River afforsaid (he being of the Presbiterian
1 Rev. D. B. Nichols, D.D.
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or Congregational persuasion) : towards his support over & above ye interest of the afforsaid sum of one thousand pounds. And I do also hereby nominate, constitute & appoint my beloved wife Rachel & my trusty friend Thomas Carpenter ye 3rd of that name in Rehoboth afforsaid (gentleman) to be my lawfull executors in & to this my last will and testament.
"In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand & seal this 21st day of February A. D. 1774. And in the fourteenth year of his Majistyes Reign George ye 3d King &c.
EPHRAIM HUNT (Seal)"
In the period between 1780 and 1790 the minister's salary was allowed to fall behind hundreds of dollars. In 1783 the Society paid Mr. Rogerson for three years, or up to March, 1782, £57. 6s. for each of the three years. The shortage was due in large part to the depreciation of the paper currency which led the precinct in 1787 to petition the General Court for a lottery. In 1782, out of £1019 belonging to the Society funds, only £592 remained good.
Falling in with the scarcity of "lawful money" was the tendency of the people to rely on the Hunt legacy to meet current expenses, carelessly hoping that the income even from the depreciated fund would satisfy the minister's needs. At length the limit of forbearance was reached, and he pressed for his dues. The final terms of settlement are explained in the following interesting letter of Mr. Rogerson to the precinct:
"December 14, 1789.
"Gentlemen:
"Having seriously further considered the circumstances of the parish, I have finally concluded that on consideration of paying the arrears due to me of my salary in the following manner, viz: one hundred dollars each succeeding year until the whole is paid, without any interest, one half of the payments to be in money and the other half in stock and farm produce, and also that I am paid annually sixty-six pounds to be paid in the spring of each year, half in Lawful Money and half in stock and farm produce for my future salary and the rent of the ministerial farm and also that I have brought to my door in the fall of each year for the future twelve cords of good wood; on complying with these con- ditions, I entirely relinquish my right in all former agreements.
ROBERT ROGERSON."
By levying a tax on "the poles and estates" of the sixty-eight willing members of the Society the sum of $667 was raised to-
12
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ward the arrears in the salary, and the matter was squared in March, 1790.
As the population of the precinct increased, the numbers also increased of those who were not Congregationalists, and the pre- cinct became unwieldy. There were two Baptist churches in South Rehoboth, and besides, a number of families in that part of the town were identified with the First Baptist Church in Swan- sea. Moreover, the Congregationalists had property of their own, mainly the Hunt legacy, in which the precinct as such had no special interest. For these reasons the Congregationalists, eighty- four in number, petitioned the General Court to repeal the pre- cinct act and incorporate them under the name of "The Catholic Congregational Church and Society in the Second Precinct in Rehoboth." This act was passed in 1792. The word "Catholic" has since been stricken out of the title.
Mr. Rogerson continued to be pastor of this people until his death, March 20, 1799, a period of forty years. He was of a respectable English family, born at Portsmouth, England, and was educated at St. Paul's School, London. He came to America at the age of nineteen as an assistant to the Collector of revenue in Virginia, serving in this capacity one year.
After teaching school several years and studying divinity mean- while, he took his degree of M. A. at Harvard in 1765. He preached one year at Brookline, and one year at the First Church in Rehoboth, now East Providence, R.I. While there he mar- ried a daughter of Col. Thomas Bowen, then Mrs. Betsey Sweet, a young widow with one child. He was ordained over "The Palmer's River Church," July 2, 1759.
He had three sons and three daughters. The sons were Robert, an honored physician in Boston; Thomas, a planter in Virginia; and Capt. John Rogerson, who resided on his father's estate, formerly the home of Rev. David Turner, till his death in 1835.
Mr. Rogerson was a man of learning and piety. His long ministry was quiet and conservative, with but thirty-six reported additions to the church.
His remains lie buried in the older part of the Village Cemetery. On his tombstone of blue slate is this inscription:
"In Memory of The Revd. Robert Rogerson, who descended from a respectable
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Family in Great Britain Renouncing the Honors & Emoluments of this world, he devoted himself to the Christian Ministry, from a Conviction of its truth & importance. In a pious, exemplary, & faithful discharge of that office he continued near 40 years, And in the hope of a blessed immortality He departed this life in the 78th year of his Age, March 20th, 1799."
Mr. Rogerson was followed by Rev. Otis Thompson, who was ordained pastor of this church Sept. 24, 1800, and continued in its service twenty-five years. He was the son of Nathaniel Thomp- son and was born at Middleborough, Mass., Sept. 14, 1776, and graduated at Brown University in 1798, where he remained two years as tutor. During this period he applied himself to the study of theology. After preaching a year as candidate, he was unanimously called by the Church and Society and entered upon his pastorate under the most favorable conditions. He had a "hundred pounds settlement" and a salary of three hundred and fifty dollars, which in 1816 was increased to five hundred dollars. The community was at once awakened in religious matters and forty persons were added to the Church the first year of his min- istry. For more than twenty years nothing occurred to interrupt the harmonious relations of pastor and people. Mr. Thompson's century sermon, preached in 1821, states that the number of mem- bers of the Church at that time was fifty-six, and that seventy- seven had been enrolled during his twenty-one years of service; the total enrollment for the century being three hundred and three.
Mr. Thompson was a man of scholarly habits and a writer of ability. He printed numerous funeral and ordination sermons and edited the "Hopkinsian Magazine" for a number of years, making four octavo volumes.
He superintended the theological studies of fifteen students. Among these may be mentioned the brothers Moses Thacher and Tyler Thacher, grandsons of Rev. Peter Thacher, first pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Attleborough. Tyler Thacher married Mr. Thompson's daughter, Fidelia.
Also Elam Smalley, Dr. Emmons's successor in Franklin; Jason Chamberlain, who became a professor in Vermont Univer-
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sity; Josephus Wheaton and Augustus B. Reed, both natives of Rehoboth; and Alvan Cobb.
Mr. Thompson was "an acute metaphysical thinker," rigid and uncompromising in his opinions, with an imperious will which would brook no opposition. He would rule or ruin.
In 1825 a serious difficulty arose which greatly disturbed the harmony of the Church and Society and kept them in a bitter wrangle with the pastor and his friends for months and years.
It grew out of a breach of promise suit brought by Mr. Thompson against a gentleman belonging to one of the foremost families of the Church. At first the people took sides, some for and others against the pastor, and all attempts to reconcile the parties were in vain. Before long, however, Mr. Thompson's arbitrary pro- ceedings alienated nearly all the active members of the Church and Society. To carry his points he depended upon non-residents and minors, and the few members he had rushed into the Church for the occasion.
Many pages of the records are given to this controversy, and a full account is contained in a pamphlet of thirty pages published by the Church in 1826, entitled "A Narrative of the Difficulties in which the Church has been involved and a just Statement of their Proceedings Concerning them."
From a careful study of the documents we gather the following facts: (1), There was antagonism between Reverend Otis Thomp- son and Elijah A. Reed, a prominent member of his Church. (2), A paper was drawn up by the Church urging both parties to drop the whole matter and "let good feeling and brotherly love continue." This paper Mr. Thompson alone refused to sign, and so made a bad matter worse.
To ward off a course of discipline against himself he began such a course against Mr. Reed.
He showed his analytical keenness in drawing up five articles with definite specifications under each: Article I, Slander. Article II, Falsehood. Article III, Neglect of Duty. Article IV, Un- christian Conduct. Article V, Covetous Practices.
In a Church trial lasting several months, these articles were taken up seriatim with witnesses and affidavits on each separate count.
To illustrate the trivial nature of most of these counts, take several under Article V, Covetous Practices:
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1. In demanding and receiving of Deacon Ezra Perry an un- reasonable sum for an injury done to his chaise.
2. In demanding an unreasonable sum of the pastor for a ton of hay.
3. In taking an unreasonable sum of Seth Follet for a second- hand axe.
4. In taking soil from a piece of common land which he had no right to take, etc ..
The result of the trial was that Mr. Thompson excommunicated Mr. Reed and delivered him "over to Satan."
He then proceeded to excommunicate Brother Samuel Smith and Dr. James Bliss, (1) for neglecting family worship. (2) for joining in "irregular and improper measures for the dismission of the pastor."
The progress of events is indicated in the following statements :-
August 15, 1825. At a meeting of the Society a motion to dis- miss Rev. Otis Thompson was lost thirty to twenty-nine.
September 9. A vote for his dismissal was carried.
October 11. An ex-parte Council met and sent a request to Mr. Thompson to unite with the Society in calling a mutual council.
October 27. Mr. Thompson having refused to join in calling a mutual council, the following motion was made in the Society:
"Whereas we consider the usefulness of the Rev. Otis Thompson as a minister of the Gospel very much at an end in this place on account of his conduct, and of consequence that the peace, union and well-being of this Society require it.
"I therefore move that he be dismissed from his ministerial relation to us."
Twenty-seven voted for the motion and none against it.
November 1. A second ecclesiastical council (ex-parte) met and recommended the dissolution of the pastoral relation.
November 23. At a meeting of the Church, Rev. Thomas Williams, moderator, strong resolutions condemning Mr. Thomp- son were passed. "The duty which we owe to God and this Church requires us to dismiss him."
To a committee urging a mutual council, Mr. Thompson re- plied: "Neither the body which you represent nor the council that dismissed me are worthy of my notice."
At this meeting the three "excommunicated" brethren were de-
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clared to be members in good standing. In truth they were brethren highly respected, and later Elijah A. Reed was chosen deacon.
November 29, a third ex-parte council met. The following churches were represented by pastor and delegate: Berkeley, Providence (Beneficent), Attleborough (First), and Bristol. In this council a communication was read from Mr. Thompson. After reviewing the conditions, the council voted unanimously to approve the vote of the Church, dismissing Mr. Thompson.
"There are in our view special reasons for the dismission of the Rev. Otis Thompson founded on his impropriety of conduct: first, his unjustifiable and oppressive manner of conducting church discipline, or lording it over God's heritage. (2) The consequent alienation of a large portion of the Church and Society from him. (3) His repeated refusal of propositions for a mutual council, and, (4) That his usefulness in this place is very greatly dimin- ished if not entirely destroyed.
THOMAS ANDROS, Moderator. JOEL MANN, Scribe."
November 30. Voted that the salary of the Rev. Otis Thompson shall be discontinued from and after this day, he having been dis- missed from his ministerial and pastoral connection with this Society.
Voted to choose a committee of five to take charge of and shut up the meeting-house.
1826, November 14. Christopher Carpenter, Jr., was chosen agent to defend the suit brought against the Society by Rev. Otis Thompson for his salary.
During this year not less than twenty-seven members of the Society, utterly wearied with the strife, requested to have their names dropped; while the Church became weak and inactive. Even Asahel Bliss and his wife left and joined the Church in Attle- borough, although they came back in December of that year (1826), and the following March he was a second time chosen deacon.
1827, July 24. The fourth of a series of ecclesiastical ex-parte councils called by the Catholic Congregational Church and So- ciety met at the house of Capt. Stephen Carpenter. The churches represented were: Berkeley, Norton, Attleborough First, See- konk and Providence. Charges were presented reflecting severely upon the teaching and conduct of Mr. Thompson. In fact the Church and Society turned the tables on him and formulated a
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number of distinct charges against him which were in part as follows :-
1. That of late years he had propagated theological principles subversive of morality and godliness,-e. g., that God by an im- mediate creating power produces all the most vile and bloody crimes and abominations in the hearts of the wicked. That there can be no real piety and goodness in a man unless he is willing to be damned, etc.
2. That by his imprudent and uncandid acts of ministerial conduct he has subjected himself generally to the loss of the fellow- ship of other churches and pastors to the detriment of this Church and Society.
3. That he has subjected certain members of the Society to the loss of Christian character and privilege merely for exercising their right to vote in said Society. Under this charge are five counts.
4. That the said Thompson has been guilty of dishonest prac- tices toward said Society, especially in prosecuting an action against the Society to recover the part of the Hunt legacy which he had relinquished when he agreed upon a stipulated salary.
5. That he had wilfully aggravated difficulties between him- self and members of his Church and Society and "has been guilty of gross indecency, falsehood and immorality in repeatedly charg- ing said persons with want of veracity and other crimes." Under this charge are seven counts.
One copy of these charges was given to Mr. Thompson and one to the council. A protest from Mr. Thompson was read.
The council voted that "several of the charges and specifications have been substantiated and that they can entertain no hope that his ministry will be of any further use to this Congregational Society; They therefore advise to the dissolution of his ministerial connection with them.
PITT CLARK (Norton), Moderator.
JAMES O. BARNEY (Seekonk), Scribe."
From the "Narrative of Difficulties" we learn incidentally that Mr. Thompson sometime during the trouble called a council to suit himself without consulting the Church and Society, but we can find no record of its date or doings.
Knowing that he was settled for life, he had small regard for councils. When the Church was closed against him he continued
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to hold services, one year at Wheaton Hall, then at his home or in the "Old Red" school-house near by (district No. 7), and the Catholic Congregational Church and Society were obliged to pay his salary.
Neither by law nor by persuasion could they move him to a settlement. This condition of strife and bitterness continued year after year until finally by a cash payment of $1,000 he agreed to relinquish all claims upon the Society. And yet, according to Bliss, who was a member of the Church, and whose parents re- sided in Rehoboth at the time, attempts were afterwards made by Mr. Thompson and his friends, but without success, "to revive the old precinct, and wrest from the Church and Society a part or the whole of the funds which are now in their possession." He was dismissed from his pastorate October 30, 1832, after seven years of strife and bitterness, perhaps unparalleled in the church- annals of New England.
We would like to be fair to this keen and learned minister, and we regret that we have no writing which gives his point of view in the sad controversy which did great harm and nearly wrecked a church. That he was headstrong and unyielding no one can doubt. "He is of one mind, who can turn him?"
For several terms he taught a select school at his home, to the great advantage of the young people who attended. We have heard men like William Henry Bowen and his brother George, and John C. Marvel, speak highly of the instruction they received in his school.
Mr. Thompson's first wife was Miss Rachel Chandler of Plymp- ton, Mass., who died Sept. 6, 1827, aged forty-seven, by whom he had four sons and five daughters.
His second wife was Miss Charlotte Fales of Bristol, R.I., to whom he was married Sept. 10, 1828. She died Dec. 12, 1848. Mr. Thompson continued to reside in Rehoboth until 1840. Thence he went to Litchfield, N.Y., and preached there until 1850. In May of that year he married Miss Polly Shaw of North Abington, Mass., where he resided until his death, which occurred June 26, 1859, at the age of eighty-two. His widow died Feb. 3, 1874.
From the receipt of the Hunt legacy in 1776 to the settlement of Rev. Mr. Vernon in 1826 the Church and Society had a yearly income amounting to about $600. A fund of $5,000 was repre-
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sented by numerous individual notes bearing interest. The an- nual sale of wood, timber and hoop-poles brought, on an average, about $250. In 1797 the amount was $596. These products were frequently sold at "vandues" where rum was furnished: e. g., on page 310 of the Precinct record is this item: "Paid Jonathan Wheaton, Jr., rum for vandue, $2.74. (Nov. 28, 1819.) The ministerial farm rented for $100 a year and upwards. The farm- house was built in 1808 for $200. In recent years the Society's annual income from farm and funds has been about $350.
It is worthy of note that Capt. Shubael Goff and "Aunt Sally," his wife, lived on this farm for many years, where they brought up fifteen hardy children, whose numerous descendants enjoy yearly a great family clam-bake in town.
Only in emergencies was it necessary to make any assessment on the members of the Society, as in the case of the depreciated currency or the one hundred pounds settlement paid the minister in the year 1800. But the forced payments to Mr. Thompson after the trouble, in addition to the new minister's salary, drew heavily upon the funds in hand.
The successor of Mr. Thompson was Rev. Thomas Vernon, a native of Newport, R.I., and son of Samuel Vernon. He was born Dec. 20, 1797. He graduated at Brown University in 1816 and studied theology at Andover Seminary. He was ordained over this church Sept. 13, 1826. He found the church prostrate and torn with dissensions: he left it after eleven years of faithful ser- vice, in a large measure healed and united. Only a man of ex- cellent spirit could have done this. He was sound in judgment and judicious in management. He greatly endeared himself to all the people. During his ministry the Sunday-School was in- augurated and a considerable number joined the church. Elijah A. Reed was chosen deacon in 1832, and Sylvester Allen in 1836. Mr. Vernon resided in the Village, in Mrs. Otis Goff's chambers opposite the church.
Mr. Vernon having resigned on account of inadequate support, a mutual ecclesiastical council convened at the house of James Blanding, Esq., Dec. 5, 1836, to act upon his resignation. The churches represented were: Bristol, Rev. Thomas Shepherd, Pas- tor; Fall River, Rev. Orin Fowler; Pawtucket, Rev. Constan- tine Blodgett; Dighton, Rev. Jonathan King; Taunton (Trini- tarian), Rev. Erastus Maltby; and Seekonk, Deacon William
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