USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Ware > History of Ware, Massachusetts > Part 7
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1 As a matter of fact Mr. Rawson was born at Dorchester, Mass.
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THE PARISH
and ungainly,1 a peculiarity of which he was highly sensi- tive. It is related that while at Yarmouth he was told that some of his parishioners were in the habit of making him the subject of mirth, whereupon he preached the next Sabbath from Psalm 69, 12: "And I was the song of the drunkards." Many of his hearers, it is reported, left the house, whereupon he followed this sermon with one from St. John, 8, 9: "And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one." On this occasion no one ventured to retire.
The fact is he was accepting a call to an almost impossible field, as he well knew. It is not easy to picture the people or the difficulties to those who have not gone deeply into the times. Even an impartial judge hesitates to try to repre- sent things as they were.
The settlers were of two different and distinct classes, - the English and the Scotch-Irish. Many had left their homes through the spirit of dissatisfaction, - men of little fortune and of little education. Many could not write their names. Very few could make more than a childish scrawl. Yet all, particularly those of Scotch descent, held strong and even violent opinions in regard to religious matters. They possessed strong individuality, were of ardent temperament, and strong in their prejudices.2
The two classes never got on harmoniously in any com- munity. Not until the second generation on the soil were the best characteristics brought out, and the difficult ones eliminated. Mr. Rawson, an American born, and a Con- gregationalist, could not hope to understand the Scotch Presbyterianism of Ulster County and at the same time satisfy those of English blood. Then, too, the people were very poor. Their poverty became proverbial, and is con- tinually referred to in old documents.
1 Benjamin Cummings's recollections describe him as very tall and homely.
2 The history of the relations between Rev. John Harvey and his people at Palmer where he was minister for many years previous to 1748 is strangely inter- esting. For years his Scotch-Irish compatriots stood by him as against the English, the latter being scandalized at his intemperate habits. He was actually convicted of drunkenness in the Court of Sessions at Northampton. In 1746, when a scandal was whispered touching his conduct of so unsupported a nature that the Presbytery refused to take cognizance of it, his former friends took the sword against him. Temple, "History of Palmer."
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HISTORY OF WARE
At the relations between pastor and people during the first year of Mr. Rawson's settlement we can only guess. They could hardly have been harmonious. That something was in the air is readily inferred from the Town Records. The annual meeting called for March 2, 1752, was adjourned without recorded action until Tuesday of the following week, at which time routine business was transacted, but nothing done in regard to the minister's salary, past or future. I suspect that drastic legislation not specified in the warrant was prevented by the moderator, who was in favor of right dealing toward Mr. Rawson. Within a month seven "freeholders and inhabitants " applied to Joseph Hawley, a Justice of the Peace for Hampshire County, for a warrant for a meeting to be held on May 12; a special meeting, not called by the regular officers of the town. The whole situation indicates that the community was in a turmoil. Joseph Wright, the precinct moderator, Jacob Cummings, clerk and first committee man, Benjamin Lull, second committee man, John Davis, assessor and tithing man, Jabez Omstead, Richard Rogers and Joseph Scott, all enter their dissent against the proceedings. But nothing could stay the enraged and excited townsmen. Illegal and absurd as their action evidently was, after the minister had been installed for a year, they revoked all acts of the town re- lating to the call and settlement of Grindall Rawson, - even to the fire-wood he might have burned the preceding winter!
What a situation! Neither settlement nor salary paid, though both were long overdue. No prospect of collecting either. One way out of the difficulty presented itself. In the records of the Court of Sessions at Northampton we find the following:
The petition of Grindal Rawson of Ware River in County of Hampshire setting forth that he is unable to support himself and praying maintenance being read in Court It is ordered that the parish of Ware River be notified to appear & answer at the next sessions.
At next sessions:
-
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THE PARISH
Grindal Rawson of Ware River in ye County of Hamp- shire Clerk Compts vs. Ware River parish for not paying him his contract as per the Complaint on file is fully set forth. Ordered that Messieurs Aaron Lyman; Abner Smith and Thomas Chapin be assessors to assess the Inhabitants of Ware River Parish the sum of one hundred pounds lawful money being the sum due for his settlements and forty-five pounds being arrears due to sd Rawson ye 9th of May last who are to proceed according to law in assessing the same and to pay cost of assessment to two justices of the Quorum to be paid to Mr. Edward Ayers &c.
It is a pitiful situation. It is doubly so when we realize that the ultimate effect must be, when the order of the court shall have been executed, to rouse the people of the parish even more violently against their pastor.
One more document we have that gives us a glimpse of the minister. It was written in the autumn of 1752, and could have been drawn up by no one but Grindall Rawson. The original is penned in a small, neat, clerkly hand, and we may be sure that the sentiments expressed are genuine.1
To His Honour Spencer Phips Esq' Lieutenant Governor and Commander in chief in and over his Majesties Prov- ince of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. The Hono'rable his Majesties Council; and the Hono'rable House of Representatives, in General Court Assembled. The Prayer of the Inhabitance of a Parish in the county of Hampshire known by the name of Ware-River parish.
As the best of Beings permitts his Creatures to be impor- tunate at his Throne, for those favours that they need; and when they frequently express their dependance upon him, is disposed to grant them the desired releaf: From hence would we take encouragement, humbly to beseech the Hono'rable Assembly to take our Case, in regard to the province tax, once more into Consideration. And oh that our grief were thoro'ly weighed and our Calamity laid in the ballances together! For now it would be heavier than the Sand of the Sea; therefore we cannot refrain our mouths, we must cry, to our Civil Fathers, in the anguish of our Spirits, we must Complain in the bitterness of our Souls. What is our Sin, and what is our iniquity, that the Hono'r- able Assembly will not be pleased to hear our prayer? 1 Mass. Archives, Vol. 13, pp. 333, 334.
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Despise not our prayer we humbly beseech you, for our Eyes are dim by reason of Sorrow, and all our Members are as a Shadow. So great are our difficulties, that our ways are truly fenced up and darkness is set in our paths. To have pity upon us, to have pity upon us we humbly beseech the Rulers of our Land. We humbly pray that our Rulers in mercy to us would remove the tax that was laid upon us last year, wh is not, nor can't be gathered amongst us, and that also which has been laid upon us this present year; and we can't but flatter ourselves that our prayer will not now be rejected; but that all those worthy Gentlemen who go to the Assembly from our County, and the Towns round about us, are Gentlemen of So much Integrity, that they will lay our Case so plainly before our Civil Fathers that they will see that we need releaf, and that we are so far from being able to pay any tax to the province that we need assistance from others to gitt thro' the Charges of settling a Minister, for we now owe our Minister a year and halfs Sallary and all his Settlement, and had we got thro' these difficulties, and if the Land was our own, we should not be so able to pay a Province tax, our Settlements are so new, as Cold-Spring and Quobbin, who are considerably less upon the tax Bill than we are, and their Stocks are vastly larger, and their Mills more profitable. And there is Some places in the County that are under better Circumstances than we are, two at least, that pay no tax at all, this some of our Hono'rable Rulers are Sensible of. And further, many of us are under as bad Circumstances as the Egyptians, without paying any Province tax at all: wherefore we Sincerely hope that our Civil Fathers will so far Compassionate our case as to remove the tax, and we the rather promise our- selves releaf, because we are persuaded that all that belong to the Court this year, that know our case, are Gentlemen of So much Compassion and have such Bowels of mercy, that they will open their mouths and plead our Case in forma Pauperis; and we doubt not but the rest of our Civil Fathers will be ready to shew themselves merciful as our Father who is in Heaven is merciful; and we your supplicants as in duty bound Shall ever pray -
Ware-River Parish
Nov. 20. 1752
Jacob Cummings John Davis Benjamin Lull
Parish Committee in the Name of the Parish
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THE PARISH
In the House of Repves Decr 8. 1752 Read and Ordered that the Prayer of the Petr be so far granted as that the Treasurer be and he hereby is directed to delay sending out his Execution agt the Collector or Collectors of the within mentioned Inhabitants until the further Order of this Court
Sent up for concurrence
T Hubbard Spkr
In Council December 8. 1752 Read and Concur'd
Thos Clarke Dpty Secry
Consented to S Phips
Not only was relief granted as appears above, but the Ware River Parish assessment for the following year drops from £25 to £9.
The execution of the order of the Court of Sessions against the parish had a wholesome effect. A petition was carried to the General Court for authority to depose the old col- lectors, who evidently refused to do their duty, and to ap- point new ones. Men friendly to the minister were ap- pointed, and his salary ordered to be assessed. But hopes of a renewed pastoral relation were not to be entertained, and we are not surprised to find the following:
To the Commite of Ware River Parish, to be commueni- cated to the Parish. you are senseibal that for sum time I have wanted to be realeased from my relations to Ware River Parish, as a minester, and as the mager part of the voters have dismised me from my relation to them as a minester, I gladly accept the oppertuinity of releasing my- self from you, especally as the maigor part of my church have this day invited me to a-compney them into a new settelment of which I have accepted, and their fore I now release you from your relation to me as a minester from this day forward, as witness my hand.1 Janeary the 30-1754. Grindal Rawson.
The depth of the feud between the pastor's friends and enemies is revealed by this letter, but fortunately the exodus was stayed, the coming of spring bringing saner counsels.
1 The atrocious spelling is not to be attributed to Mr. Rawson, but to the parish clerk.
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HISTORY OF WARE
The worthy Mr. Grindall Rawson now disappears from our horizon. In the following year, 1755, he was installed over the church at Yarmouth. The installation sermon on that occasion by the Rev. Ebenezer Gay of Hingham is in existence, and was evidently written with the unhappy experience at Ware River Parish in mind. He dwells upon the relation of pastor and people as sacred. He appeals to the congregation "to forsake not the Levite, their Minister," nor "join with those who say to them, ' Come and let us de- vise devices against him, and let us smite him with the tongue, and not give heed to any of his words.'" Address- ing Mr. Rawson, he says: "You (Dear Brother), cannot, and others (I hope) will not, misconstrue the present Dis- course, as impeaching your Conduct in the Separation which hath happen'd betwixt you and the People, over which you was ordain'd. The Reasons and Grounds of it were exam- in'd by proper Judges, who acquitted you of all Blame in that Matter. And it would be very invidious in any to say unto you, as Eliab did to David, who, by his Father's Order, brought a fresh supply of Provision for his Brethren at the Camp of Israel; Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few Sheep in the Wilderness? As your Dismission from the Care of a little Flock was regu- lar, so your Call to take the Over-sight of this is (we trust) clear." 1
A fairly exhaustive study of the conditions, and of all the available contemporary evidence, has led to certain conclusions.
It was the period of the great Religious Awakening in New England. Mr. Rawson must have been affected by it, coming as he did but recently from Cambridge; while the movement would have made but little impression upon a remote community, many of whose members were recent immigrants. One feature of the Awakening was evidenced by great strictness in religious discipline.
It has caused frequent remark that the Ware church had no confession or rule of faith until the ministry of Ezra Thayer, - an unusual situation for the times. When a confession was finally adopted it was decidedly lax, - the 1 Quoted in "The Manour of Peace," by A. B. Page.
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THE PARISH
"Half-way Covenant" as it was called; and that represented a great forward step for our church.
Now Grindall Rawson had been endowed with the right of veto on church legislation when he was installed. That right "was for several reasons revoted unanimously " before the installation of Ezra Thayer. The laxity of morals even among church members is patent from the records. Thus the situation becomes evident. A minister standing for utmost strictness killing with his veto all lax and easy- going legislation, takes a stand far above what his parish- ioners are willing or able to subscribe, pressing all disciplinary measures until the majority of his people are infuriated to a degree.
Ware River Parish was just the place where an uncom- promising parson would soon find himself in the situation into which Mr. Rawson was plunged. The apparently wanton destruction of Mr. Rawson's records becomes, under this view, wholly explicable.
It must not be forgotten that the Rev. Ebenezer Gay acquits Grindall Rawson of all blame, thereby inferentially laying the blame upon the parish.
From 1755-1760 Grindall Rawson ministered to the church in Yarmouth, but without much success so far as the inter- ests of the parish were concerned. Yet again, the man must have had his good points, for the Ecclesiastical Council called for his dismissal, directed the parish to "recommend him to the communion of any church which he shall desire," and "express their wishes that he may be prospered and blessed in any work and business which Providence may call him to."
Mr. Rawson's feelings toward the town in which his second ministry was passed may be inferred from the follow- ing from Alden's Memorabilia of Yarmouth, in Mass. Hist. Coll. of 1788: "The Rev. Mr. Stone, of Harwich, a grave gentleman, attending a funeral at Yarmouth, and being in the burial place, some years after the death of Mr. Cotton, inquired for Mr. Cotton's grave, but there not being any- one who could show it, he remarked, 'I think it is with Mr. Cotton's grave as it was with Moses, that distinguished servant of God, no man knoweth of his sepulchre to this day.'
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HISTORY OF WARE
Mr. Rawson adds, -'This was the only one of the first seven ministers whose dust was committed to the earth in Yarmouth. Whatever they suffered, the worm did not feed on them there.'"
The Court Records at Northampton show that Mr. Raw- son spent many years trying to collect of Ware men various sums of money due him when he left town. In 1762, while living at Milton, he brings suit against Jedidiah Ayers of Ware, and Ephraim Ayers, late of Ware, for £4 ,, 11 ,, 3, "which they by their note of the 24th of May, 1754 prom- ised the petitioner to pay him." The defendants being publicly called three times made default of appearance, and the court orders that the petitioner recover with costs.
In the same year he instituted a suit against Samuel Sher- man and Thomas Andrews, both of Ware, "to recover £200 which he says they on the eleventh of March, 1762, by their bond, in Court to be produced, bound themselves to pay on demand, but have not paid." In default of appearance of the defendants the petitioner is awarded £118,,16,,10,,3, and costs of court amounting to £3,,4,,8. Execution is- sued Oct. 22, 1763.
Our first minister did not again take up parochial work. His old age was spent peacefully with the family of his son at Dover, New Hampshire, "in quietness and retirement, and his transmigration to the eternal Manour of Peace on Nov. 18, 1794, closed a life exceeding the period allotted by the Psalmist." 1
1 Grindall Rawson sells to Thomas Andrews for £80 in 1759 the lot he received as a gift from the Read heirs, the parish never having redeemed its promise of a house to be built upon it. The original deed is in existence.
Focy
STORRS
MAIN
RIVER
WARE
MUNROE
WILLIAM CTS
CLIFFORD
SOUTH
VIEW
MUDDY
BROOK
MIGA
CHURCH
WAR'S
EAST
18
MAPLE
FINN
CE-1878
V
PARISH LIFE AND GROWTH
THE dismission of Mr. Rawson took place on Jan. 19, 1743. "For a time after his dismission," says Rev. Augus- tus B. Reed,1 "very little interest was taken in the institu- tions of the gospel. The house of God laid waste; the ways of Zion mourned; the people were as sheep scattered upon the mountains, while vice and irreligion prevailed among them." If we add the words "and dissension " after "irreligion " we shall have the whole situation. And in this, though Mr. Reed did not suspect it, lies the explanation of the unhappy ministry of Mr. Rawson.
Unfortunately the records of the church,2 as distinguished from the parish under Grindall Rawson, are no longer in ex- istence. It would appear that they were destroyed inten- tionally, - probably in the interest of peace and harmony. Mr. Thayer extracts from the records the absolutely essen- tial facts, and starts a new book. The past is dead, and he buries it in oblivion.
His extracts which will serve as a recapitulation are as follows: -
May 9, 1751. A Chh was gathered at Ware River Parish, & Grindall Rawson ordained Pastor of it -
June 19, 1754. The Pastoral Relation of the Rev'd Mr. Grindal Rawson to the Chh in Ware River Parish was dissolved -
There follows a List of all the Members that belonged to the Chh in Ware River Parish from ye first Foundation of to June 19 1754 -
Grindal Rawson Jemima Ayers
Jos'h Wright Mary Scott
Edw'd Ayers Jane Wright
1 Thanksgiving Day Sermon of 1830.
2 The parish had charge of the temporalities, the church of the spiritualities. Thus the parish attended to all financial matters, while the church dealt with doc- trine and discipline. Parish and church united in calling a minister.
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HISTORY OF WARE
Jacob Cummings
Mary Allen
Samuel Smith
Meriam Brooks
John Davis
Martha Virgin
Jos'h Scott
Deborah Gilbert
Daniel Thurston
Elizabeth Taylor
Jos'h Wright jun
Mary Brooks
Isaac Magoon
Deborah Davis
Wm. Virgin
Jerusha Merrett
Jedidiah Ayers
Abigail Pike
Eben'r Gilbert
Martha Davis
Isaac Magoon 2nd
Rebecca Rogers
Eben'r Davis
Martha Omstead
Rich'd Fally
Rachel Cummings
David Pike
Anna Fally
Rich'd Rogers
Bridget Huggins
Job Carley
Patience Carley
Jacob Cummings jun
Catherine Magoon
Wait Burke
Susanna Burke
Some of these were dismissed & recommended from other Chhs. & others were never members before admitted by us. -
The above account was extracted from the Chh Records left at Ware River by the Rev'd Grindal Rawson. per Ezra Thayer.
It is recorded that twenty-seven children were baptized by Mr. Rawson.1 Forfive years the church was without a settled minister, but it does not follow that there were no ministra- tions. Each year money was raised for preaching, for boarding ministers and for going after ministers. It could hardly have been easy to induce a man to settle, in view of the general undesirability of the parish, and the heart- rending experience of the first minister, whom they pursued even after his departure.2
By allowances for board of ministers we learn that among the temporary preachers were Mr. Mills, Mr. Craford (Crawford), Mr. Wran (probably Warren) and Mr. There (Thayer). The latter became the selected candidate for permanent pastor.
1 Coburn's "Historical Address," 1851.
2 Town Records, January, 1755: "It was then voted and chouse Israel Omstead and William Brackenridge a commite to take advice of the Lawers, to see if we can recover any part of Mr. Rawson's setelment."
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PARISH LIFE AND GROWTH
In 1758 a double meeting was held of parish and of church, at which it was "Voted by the Chh. to give Mr. Ezra Thayer a Call to settle among us, in the work of the Gospel minis- try." And it was "Voted by the other inhabitants to con- cur with the Chh." For settlement £100 was proposed, part to be paid in land, while the salary was fixed at £40 for the first three years, "and then to add £5 per year, till the whole amounts to £55 annually." In addition, the parish was to cut and draw thirty cords of wood each year; - "He finding the wood standing." Toward the settlement, it was voted to deed to Mr. Thayer the glebe, or parsonage lot, he allowing for the same £66,,13,,4, of which naive performance, more anon.
The patronage of the Read family was not forgotten, and a committee was directed to "treat with Mr. Read to obtain a settlement." As John Read had died some ten years before, John Read, Jr. of Fairfield, Connecticut, was evidently the one meant. The Read heirs proved themselves ready, as heretofore, with assistance, for under date of 17621 we find a deed of fifty acres in fee simple to Ezra Thayer, it being
the Northermost half of the fourth lott of land from the South of the second tier of lotts from the East in the Manour of Peace, so called, sd lott being bounded Easterly by a four rod Highway ... the said fifty acres being the Northern half of sd hundred acre lott . . . Excepting and Reserving about three acres and a quarter of land part of the sd fifty acres where the Meeting House in sd Ware now stands for the Convenience of sd House & Burying place.2
Mr. Thayer gracefully accepted the call in the following letter:
Bretheren and Gentlemen: -
Whereas you have given me a Call to settle with you in the work of the Gospel ministry; These are to signify to you, that I acept of your Invitation, and desiring your
1 Old Hampshire Registry, Springfield.
2 In 1765 Ezra Thayer sells this tract to Solomon Cummings for the goodly sum of £42.
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HISTORY OF WARE
Prayers for me and that our entring into this Solemn Rela- tion may be for God's Glory & our mutual comfort and hapi- ness both in the presant & future Life, I subscribe myself, yours to Serve in the evangelis ministry.
Ezra Thayer.
Ware Dec'r. 19, 1758.
The town appointed Jan. 10, 1759, as the day for Mr. Thayer's ordination. Rev. Messrs. White, Jones, Forbush, Parsons, Frost and Thurston,1 representing the three Brook- field parishes; Hardwick, Western, Coldspring, Medway and Mendon, together with lay delegates, formed the Coun- cil. Rev. David White acted as moderator; Eli Forbush of the Second Church in Brookfield as scribe. The preacher was Rev. Isaac Jones of the first parish in Brookfield.
The council prepared a church covenant, defined the word Congregational, read a Confession of Faith which was consented to by the pastor-elect and by the church, received Mr. Thayer's letter of dismission from the Second Church of Mendon, examined him on his ministerial qualifications, and then proceeded to his ordination over the church and parish of Ware River.
That there was laxity of sentiment in the parish as com- pared with a majority of Massachusetts churches is shown by the unanimous adoption, within a month of Mr. Thayer's ordination, of the Half-way Covenant as follows:
1. That all persons who, upon their own confession may hereafter be admitted in covenant with the church be looked upon as members of the same and to have a right to the special ordinances of the gospel among us.
2. That persons being under any unavoidable scruples in regard to partaking of the Lord's supper, shall be no bar against their being admitted into covenant with this church: provided they promise to be in the diligent use of all proper means to have those scruples removed.
3. That they who, while under these scruples shall be admitted into covenant, be not admitted to partake of the Lord's supper, without first acquainting the pastor, in order to his acquainting the church a week at least beforehand,
1 One other name is illegible.
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PARISH LIFE AND GROWTH
that their scruples being removed they intend now to partake.
Under these rules1 it was intended that unconverted persons might so far become members of the church as to have their children baptized. Accordingly we find by the records that during Mr. Thayer's ministry, near twenty persons were received agreeably to these rules, who invari- ably had their children baptized, but who, so far as can be ascertained, never came to the communion. Besides these, 79 were received into full membership during the sixteen years of Mr. Thayer's ministry; fifty of them within the first five years, and seventeen of these within the first year of his ministry, and no more than four at any one time. The decrease of numbers received towards the latter end of his ministry may have been owing in part to the political agitations of the times, in which the public mind was engrossed as we approach the year 1775, in which Mr. Thayer deceased.
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