USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Westminster > History of Westminster, Massachusetts (first named Narragansett no. 2) from the date of the original grant of the township to the present time, 1728-1893, with a biographic-genealogical register of its principal families > Part 14
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In the company of James Reed, enlisted April, 1759, were Jonathan Stedman, John Martin, Edward Joyner, John Hadley, Benjamin Gould, Benjamin Gould, Jr., Jedediah Cooper.
In James Reed's company, a year later, were Jedediah Cooper, Andrew Darby, Benjamin Gould, Joseph Horsley, Ebenezer Hart, Edward Joyner, William Stedman, Samuel Harris, Jona- than Stedman.
In a company commanded by Thomas Beaman, raised Feb. II, 1761, were John Woodward, Thomas Dunster, Benjamin Gould.
In the company of James Reed, raised March, 1762, were Elijah Sever, Joseph Horsley, Jr., Benjamin Horsley, Joseph Miller, Josiah Sever, William Stedman, Josiah Wheeler.
In the company of the same captain, Benjamin Ruggles' regiment, without date, were Joseph Bailey, Jedediah Cooper, Joseph Chapline, Andrew Darby, Jr., Joseph Horsley, Edward Joyner, Gideon Fletcher, Jonathan Stedman, William Stedman.
103
INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE WAR.
The above are the names of all the men who enlisted into the service during the war under notice, that are to be found in the office of the secretary of the state, at Boston. Very likely there were others who failed of getting a place in the records. No names of impressed soldiers appear at all, though it is known that impressments took place. Of three such soldiers, the following well-authenticated story is told.
In the year 1758, Richard Baker and William Edgell, with others perhaps, were drafted into the service for twelve months. At the expiration of the time, the officer in command for some unexplained reason refused to discharge them. Considering themselves under no obligation to remain longer, the two named, with Thomas Dunster, also in the service, decided to take the matter in their own hands and return home regardless of the military authorities. They were in the neighborhood of Lake George, and the only way to their families and friends was over the Green Mountain range and through dense and extensive forests. The roads were few and far between, and even what there were, they deemed it advisable to avoid, lest, being fol- lowed, they be the more easily found, captured, and made to suffer a deserter's doom. Moreover, it was mid-winter, when a great depth of snow was on the ground, and the proposed journey across the trackless waste was not only dreary but most perilous. Nevertheless, they were determined to undertake it, and, providing themselves with two pairs of snowshoes, all they could secure, and two boards which were to serve for a third pair, together with such supplies of food as were readily accessi- ble to them, they started on their adventurous course. Ere they had gone far they lost their way and wandered about for some days among the mountains, without reaching any settle- ment on the other side, as they had hoped, or any track, or signs of a track, leading to a settlement. Their provisions at length gave out and they seemed likely to die by starvation. In their extremity, they jointly agreed that one of their number should be sacrificed to save the lives of the other two, the unfortunate victim to be determined by lot. Happily, before the time arrived for putting their fearful resolve into execution, the barking of a dog assured them of their nearness to some human habitation, and they were spared the dire necessity of committing the contemplated tragic deed. They soon found food, shelter, and rest for their wearied, famishing frames, and in due time arrived safely at their place of destination. There is a tradition, according to which a large party was involved in this occurrence, but it lacks the confirmation with which the given narrative is sustained, and probably grew out of what is here related.
It is also stated, upon authority deemed reliable, that, during one of the campaigns of this war, Nicholas Dike, whose name appears in the foregoing lists, afterward a leading citizen of the
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
township and a colonel in the Revolutionary struggle, accom- panied by a squad of twelve men, having been detached to pro- cure wood for his camp, was surprised and captured with his entire party by a corps of French soldiery. On the way to headquarters the whole company halted to partake of the con- tents of their knapsacks. In the midst of their eating and drinking, when the captors seemed to have relaxed their watch- fulness somewhat and to be resting quite at their ease, the prisoners, who had been partially unbound for the time being, upon a preconcerted signal from Captain Dike, released them- selves still further, sprung to their feet, seized the weapons near at hand, rushed upon and overpowered their foes before they could rally in their own defense, securing them as prisoners of war and bringing them in triumph to the headquarters of the English commander.
In the campaign of 1759, Timothy Heywood, then of Shrews- bury but afterward a prominent citizen of Westminster, enlisted in a company of the army which was sent under General Amherst to capture Ticonderoga and Crown Point, on the way to Quebec. During the delay at the first-named place, he was taken sick and was obliged to be left behind, when the advance was made therefrom. How he fared and how he finally reached home is indicated in a petition sent by his father, Phineas Hey- wood of Shrewsbury, the following year, 1760, to " His Excel- lency Francis Bernard Captain General and the Honble the General Court" praying "to be allowed £8 3s. 8d. for expense of sending to Crown Point in the Expedition against Canada for his son Timothy who was sick and unable to get home and was found in a pining and languishing condition, being almost pined away to skin and bones," etc. The court gave his request favorable consideration, granting him £3 6s. 8d.
CHAPTER VIII.
ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS-Part One.
EARLY APPROPRIATIONS-THE FIRST MEETINGHOUSE- MINISTRY OF REV. ELISHA MARSH.
THE religious character of the founders of New England, known wherever the Puritan name is mentioned, has been suffi- ciently portrayed in a preceding chapter. The purpose of establishing a pure church on these shores, and an order of civil society in which they could worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, was ever in their minds and shaped their whole policy and career. And their children and children's children partook of the same spirit and pursued the same line of conduct. So thoroughly convinced were they of the essential importance of religious institutions to the pros- perity, welfare, and happiness of any community or people, that, for generations, no assignment of lands was made by the colonial or provincial government for establishing a new settle- ment or township, without making due and adequate provision for such institutions. It will be remembered that the territory of Narragansett No. 2 was granted on the expressly specified condition that those receiving it should, within seven years from the date of the action of the general court, "Settle Sixty families with a learned orthodox Minister," and in dividing the territory, also "lay out a lot for Said Settled Minister and one for the Ministry."
Nor were the proprietors and first settlers on that territory at all averse to, but heartily in favor of, fulfilling that condi- tion to the very letter. They were in full sympathy with the motive and conviction which required it. Those who located here in the beginning were without exception, so far as is known, religious people. They desired what they called "Gospel privi- leges and ordinances for themselves and their children " at the earliest possible date. And their desire in this regard was soon fulfilled. For it had been anticipated, and action had been taken looking to the accomplishment of the object sought, according to the requirements of the grant of the provincial legislature, as has been already partially indicated.
At a meeting of the standing committee of the propriety held Dec. 28, 1733, convened for the purpose of putting the lands, of which full possession had been gained, in proper condition for per- manent settlement, it was ordered that the dividing committee, among the several duties required of them, should "propose a
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
place for erecting a meeting house and then Lay out a Suffitiency of Land for said meeting house, a Training Field and A Burying Place not exceeding Ten Acres, and then proceed to Lay out for the first Settled Minister a Lott and one Lott for the Min- istry,"-that is, for the benefit of the township in the support of the ministry,-and this was accordingly done. On the 9th of July following, this action was approved by the whole body of proprietors, and lot No. 8 was set apart for the first settled min- ister, and No. 95 for a ministerial lot as heretofore stated.
In furtherance of the same object and with commendable promptness, within nine months of the time when the first inhabitant appeared in the township, and when there were only fifteen persons within its borders, on the 23d of November, 1737, the proprietors voted to build a meetinghouse "as soon as conveniently they can," and they also
" Voted, that the said meetinghouse shall be Built fourty-five foot long Thirty five foot wide and Twenty one foot Stud and also that said meeting- house be Raised the out Side covered and the Roof Shingled on or before the first day of June in the year 1739."
Capt. Joseph Bowman, Mr. James Hayes, and Mr. Benjamin Brown were chosen a committee to have charge of the work. A tax of £3 10s. on each right was ordered to meet the expense involved in the votes passed, and Capt. William Richardson, Mr. Benjamin Wellington, and Mr. John Cutting were appointed assessors to levy the said tax. Five persons were also chosen to collect it and pay it over to the treasurer. By later records it appears that Mr. John Damon, probably great grandfather of the venerable Thomas Damon now living, and Nathan(?) Parker, both of Reading, were the contractors for the erection of the proposed structure.
On the 8th of September, 1738, the proprietors made the first appropriation for the establishment and maintenance of public worship. It was in the form of a vote "to allow to such of the proprietors as are Setled and preparing to Setle in Said Township the Sum of Thirty pounds to hire some Sutable per- son to preach the Gosple among them in Said Township from this Time till the first of June next," which was the date fixed for the completion of the work on the meetinghouse, so far as was provided for. On the 20th of the following December an additional sum of thirty pounds was voted "towards the support of preaching the Gospel in Said Township till June next." The religious services thus authorized must have taken place in the little dwellings of one or another of the four residents, or perhaps in each of them by turns, as convenience would allow.
The meetinghouse seems to have been erected and made ready for occupancy as ordered, and on the 6th of June, 1739, was publicly dedicated to God by formal and appropriate exer-
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THE FIRST MEETINGHOUSE.
cises. The sermon on the occasion was preached by Rev. Isaac Richardson of Woburn, who, with others, had previously con- ducted services of worship in the township, his text being taken from Haggai 2: 9: "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts ; and in this place will I give peace." Of other participants in this interest- ing and eventful ceremonial nothing has been learned.
Let us imagine that little sanctuary in the wilderness -not a neat, well-proportioned, commanding edifice, like either of those that now adorn the central village of the town, attracting the worshipper not only by their external appearance but by their well-cushioned slips and elaborate internal conveniences and appointments, but a rude, barn-like structure, scarcely larger than a common country schoolhouse, covered with rough boards and coarse shingles, or what served for shingles, without a pulpit or a seat, excepting plain benches, or what was brought in or in some way improvised for temporary use. A small affair it was to the outward sense, yet it was of great moment to the little settlement and of immense symbolic meaning. It spoke to the inner ear of better things than earth can give, of higher interests than those of time, of grander possibilities and happier destinies than pertain to mortal being here below. The undying soul, the everlasting law, duty, immortality, Christ, God, and heaven,-these were all typified and repre- sented in that rude house of worship mid the wilds of Narra- gansett No. 2.
The building stood on the northerly side of the old common, a few rods west of the brick house, the present residence of Geo. S. Ham, formerly known as the Emerson place. Though at the date spoken of it was so far completed as to warrant its dedication to the uses for which it was designed, and to allow the holding of meetings in it afterward, yet it was by no means in a satisfactory condition ; probably in no wise suitable for occupancy during the more inclement portions of the year.
Accordingly, at a meeting of the proprietors held Oct. 31st of the same year, an attempt was made to have it finished or ren- dered more comfortable, but without avail. A grant of £60 was, however, secured for preaching the gospel till the Ist of May next, and on the 5th of December the standing committee was instructed to provide for the same and to draw on the treasurer for money in payment therefor.
On the roth of September, 1740, the question of finishing the meetinghouse came up in due order, whereupon it was
"Voted, to Build a Pulpit Deacon's Seat and Body of Seats on the Floor, leaving sufficient Room for Pews and Stairs to go into the Gallery.
"Voted to Ciel the Meeting House with lime and boards throughout."
A tax of £100 was ordered for the purpose of defraying the expense of the proposed improvements, and a committee con-
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
sisting of Nathan Parker, Joseph Holden, and Jonathan Weston was appointed to superintend the work. A grant of £60 was made for the supply of preaching till the first of the following June.
On the 2d of June, 1741, the same sum was voted for six months' preaching, and for the payment of about twelve pounds already expended for the same object in excess of what had been raised.
From these several votes and similar ones subsequently passed, it is manifest that from almost the very beginning of the set- tlement of the township, the privileges of public Christian wor- ship were enjoyed within its borders with a great degree of regularity throughout the year. No records of the meetings were probably kept, except, it may be, by those officiating as preachers ; and these, if they ever existed, have all disappeared. No formal list of the ministers has been found. Yet the names of some of them have been ascertained by examining the books of some of the early treasurers, in which there are items as follows : -
" Paid to Mr. Isaac Richardson for preaching £ 3. 0. o. Paid to Mr. Buckman, in part of his Order . IO. o.
. Paid to Mr. Jabez Richardson for preaching & Bording 20. o. o. Paid Mr. Samuel Kendall in part for preaching .
32. o. o. Paid to Mr. Josiah Brown for preaching 3. 10.
Of these several persons who served from time to time as a transient supply at that early period, nothing is known, except that Mr. Isaac Richardson was settled at Woburn, and Mr. Samuel Kendall, the great, great, great uncle of the present town clerk, at New Salem.
The desirableness and importance of having a permanent minister, agreeably to the terms of the grant of the township, at length became so manifest as to prompt to definite action in the matter. Possibly some of the gentlemen named, and others, perhaps, had virtually, if not formally, been regarded as "can- didates" for the sacred office. The first record in regard to the subject appears under date of Dec. 2, 1741, when, pursuant to an article in the advertisement calling a meeting of the pro- prietors, it was
"Voted, to proceed to the Setling a Minister in Said Township as soon as may be with Conveniency.
"Voted to choose a Committee to bring forward the Settleing said minister & Treat with Gentlemen to Preach with them and made choice of Mr. Joseph Holden, Mr. farebanks Moor and Mr. Thomas Stearns."
Eighty-seven pounds were also appropriated to pay a de- ficiency in the previous year's grant, and "to carry on the preaching" to the first of June next, and a tax was ordered to be raised and paid into the treasury before the first of March, in order that said vote might be made effectual.
109
CALL OF A MINISTER FOR THE SETTLEMENT.
The duty of securing candidates for the ministerial office seems to have been properly attended to by the parties to whom that responsibility had been assigned. Among those employed was a young man who had recently completed his studies at Cambridge, where he was still residing, and who seemed to find favor with the people of the place. On the 4th of August, 1742, they made formal choice of this young man, Mr. Elisha Marsh, and preferred a petition to the proprietors at large for their concurrence therein.
At a meeting held by said proprietors on the first day of Sep- tember following, it was
"Putt to vote wether the Proprietors will Concur with the Inhabitance Proprietors in Their Choice of Mr. Elisha Marsh to be their Minister, and it Passed in the affirmative unanamously.
"l'oted to Give Mr. Elisha Marsh forty five pounds Current Money anuely while [until] the General Court Set them of to be a township.
"T'oted to Give Mr Elisha Marsh three hundred Pounds old tenor for his Settlement.
"l'oted that there be £60 granted for the Charges of the ordination.
"l'oted and Choose Mr. Holden and Mr farrbanks More and Elezer biga- low to Provid for said ordination.
"l'oted by the proprietors that the ordination of Mr. Marsh be on the 20 Day of october next.
" T'oted that there be a Tax of 4 pounds Old Tenour Raised on Each Right for the Ministers Settlement and his first year's Sallary."
The actual value of the sums of money offered to Mr. Marsh, in U. S. currency, was about $150 for the annual salary and not far from $125 for a settlement, - a gratuity given at the begin- ning of a minister's work in a pastorate, according to the custom of the time.
At the same meeting it was also
" l'oted that Mr Demmon and Mr Parker be allowed £20 old Tenour for bulding the meeting House in Considering his Lose."
The action of the proprietors in regard to calling Mr. Marsh to settle as minister of the township was immediately commu- nicated to him, eliciting the following favorable reply, the orig- inal of which has recently come to light :
"To the Proprietors of the Township called Narraganset No. Two --- Gentlemen : Having received an Invitation from You to Settle in ye Gospel Ministry wh ye Inhabitants in ye Township abovesd, (said Inhabitants having before given me a Like Invitation.) It is not without Seriously Considering The Same that I now Let you know That I Accept your Invitation. De- pending, Gentlem upon your honor and Generosity further to add to ye Set- tlement and Salary wt will be Sufficient for my honorable Support, and Humbly depending on ye promised presence of ye Great Head of ye Church to Enable me rightfully and faithfully to discharge ye Duties of yt most Important Trust to be Committed to me. And that I may have Grace to Save my own soul and ye Souls of Those yt hear me.
" Harvard College In Cambridge, Sept. 2, 1742. ELISHA MARSH."
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
The ordination of Mr. Marsh took place agreeably to the vote of the proprietors on the 20th of October, 1742. No records of the occasion have been found, but from collateral authorities it appears that the sermon was preached by Rev. William Cook of East Sudbury (now Wayland), and was afterwards printed. Mr. Cook, no doubt, was a personal friend of Mr. Marsh, and it is probable that they were in theological sympathy with each other. It may, therefore, throw some light upon subsequent events in the experience of Mr. Marsh and the people of the township, to state that about this time the tendency to Armin- ian or more liberal views manifested itself in the New England ministry and church in opposition to the sterner Calvinism that had previously prevailed, and that Mr. Cook, a man of more than usual ability, according to the testimony of one of his successors at East Sudbury, belonged to the "new school" of thought and doctrine, much to the horror and grief of his stricter brethren. So pronounced was he in his opinions, and so obnox- ious were those opinions to some of the clergymen of his time that, at his funeral, the officiating minister, one of his oppo- nents in the controversy that had arisen, taking for a text the supplicatory phrase "Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion," began his sermon by saying that " God does good unto Zion by removing ungodly ministers," at which declaration the people, who sincerely revered and loved their departed pastor, were not only greatly shocked, but exceedingly indignant, although the discourse was, on the whole, commendatory to Mr. Cook as a man, and of his work in his chosen calling.
Inasmuch as Mr. Marsh was the first minister of the town- ship and held a responsible position for many years in the com- munity, it seems proper that a brief sketch of his lineage and early life should be given at this point as introductory to a somewhat detailed account of his experience in Narragansett No. 2, and subsequent career. Several distinct families by the name of Marsh came to this country early in its history, all of whom are supposed to have been descendants of one Marisco, a Frenchman, or possibly a Spaniard, who passed over to and settled in England several generations before. Among these immigrants was one John Marsh, born in 1609, who first came to Hartford, Conn., in 1635, and lived there till 1660, when he joined the young and prosperous settlement at Hadley in this state. He married Anne, daughter of John Webster, then gov- ernor of the Connecticut colony. This John had a son Daniel, born about 1653, who married and settled in Hadley, and who had among other children, Ebenezer, born April 22, 1688. Ebenezer married Mary Parsons, of whom was born May 27, 1713, Elisha, the subject of this notice. Little has been ascer- tained of his early life. The registries of Harvard College show that he entered that institution in 1734, when twenty-one years of age, and graduated in the class of 1738. He studied
111
SIGNS OF TROUBLE WITH REV. MR. MARSH.
theology, though with whom and under what auspices is not known, and seems to have been residing at Cambridge, probably that he might share the scholastic and other advantages of the place, when he received the call to settle at Narragansett No. 2.
Mr. Marsh started out in his new field of labor under favora- ble circumstances and with omens of success. He was a young man of excellent heritage, of marked ability, and apparently consecrated to the cause of Christ and the work of the minis- terial profession. He had proved himself acceptable to the people of his charge, who had given him a cordial invitation to settle with them, and had given it unanimously. For a few years everything, so far as is known, went on harmoniously and happily. Year by year the annual salary was voted, though in some instances not as promptly as desirable, and no signs of discontent appeared on any hand.
But there was trouble brewing, nevertheless. The peace of this little Israel in the wilderness, of which the preacher of the dedication sermon had discoursed, became greatly disturbed. Exactly at what date, or upon what grounds, the dissatisfaction between pastor and people first arose, cannot be ascertained. There is known to have been some delay in the payment of the salary, and other annoying circumstances connected therewith. Moreover, the value of money had depreciated, making the sum received, so far as the practical purposes of life were concerned, less than what was mutually agreed upon in the beginning. Possibly this, a matter of considerable importance to Mr. Marsh, was not duly considered by the proprietors, causing him to feel aggrieved and to conclude that he had counted too much upon their "honor and generosity," as expressed in his letter accept- ing the call to their service. That these things existed at a later date and produced some friction between the parties and some bitterness of feeling, the records sufficiently prove. Very likely they were secretly operative long before they appeared upon the surface.
But whatever the grievance on the part of Mr. Marsh, there was grievance also on the other side, and grievance, too, the nature of which can be more readily determined. The people were sorely tried by their minister. He was not the man they had taken him to be. His preaching was deemed faulty in point of doctrine by some of them, and his practice unbecoming an ambassador of Christ. And he was called to account for his alleged delinquences. Mr. Marsh seemed to regard this as an impertinence on the part of the people, and very likely resented it somewhat emphatically, both in word and manner, as such. They, in turn, deemed themselves insulted and abused, and appealed to an ecclesiastical council for redress. This council, composed of ministerial and lay delegates from the churches in Sudbury, Southboro', Marlboro', Sterling, and Oxford, met Oct. 23, 1747. The grounds of opposition to Mr. Marsh may be
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