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 33
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
men in the meekness of Wisdom, to be reconciled to God, urge the Doc- trines of Moral Virtue in an Evangelical Strain in order that you may pre- vail with your People to live as the Grace of God teaches and the Eternal Laws of Reason demand."
To the people of the new minister's charge, the preacher says :
"We congratulate you upon the happy Prospects which this joyful Day opens upon you, - the peaceful Re-Settlement of the Gospel Ministry among you. Behold the Man on whom you have set your Heart and Eye as a Gift of your Compassionate and ascended Savior. Do all that in you lies that he may not labor in vain, that both he and you may live together as Heirs of the Grace of God, and rejoice together in the Heavenly world."
Mr. Rice was unmarried at the time of his ordination, but took to himself a wife on the 26th of the following December. With this event in view and for the purpose of establishing a home for himself and family, he purchased on the 28th of Octo- ber of Joseph Hosley, lot No. 9, adjoining that of Rev. Mr. Marsh on the west, with a street front extending from the com- mon to the line still recognizable near the barn of E. L. Burn- ham's Forbush place. Upon the northeast corner of this lot he very soon began the erection of a dwelling house, which he occupied the following year, and which continued to be his res- idence while he lived. Its exact site was a little east of the present home of Reuben P. Merriam on Meetinghouse Hill.
The salary of Mr. Rice was regularly voted him agreeably to the original terms of his settlement for about thirty years, or until April, 1794, when, upon condition of his relinquishing all his rights in ministerial lands, the amount was raised from £66 13s. 4d. to £90, which sum, or its equivalent in United States money, $300, was continued to the year of his death. No wood was furnished him during his first year's residence in the place, presumably for the reason that himself and wife boarded for that period with some one of his parishioners. Afterwards it was provided for by a special tax, and furnished by persons bid- ding it off at the lowest rates at public vendue, usually in fifteen lots of two cords each.
To give those of the present day some idea of the habits and customs of the earlier times in regard to church affairs, it is in order to state that under date of Jan. 27, 1762, Richard Graves was chosen "a Commity to Dignify and Seete the meeting house" according to "the last valuation of Real Estate." On the Ist of the next March it was "voted to Give Capt. Daniel Hoar, William Edgell, and David Bemis, a Seat in the Meeting house according to Pay." Three years later, having found per- haps that the dignity of the meetinghouse was not determined or secured by basing it upon financial contributions, the rule was so far modified as to have the seating arranged "according to Real and personal Estate upon the three Last years Invoice, Haveing regard to Age and Honour."
269
MINISTERIAL LAND QUESTION.
A misunderstanding on the part of Mr. Rice in regard to the ministerial lands occasioned, early in his pastorate, considerable discussion and very likely some irritation of feeling, though without resulting in any serious inharmony or disaffection. It will be remembered that in the original laying out and dis- tribution of house lots, one of said lots was set apart "for the first Minister" and one "for the ministry." The former, No. 8, had been assigned to Mr. Marsh, who had occupied and dis- posed of it, as he had also of the after divisions drawn upon it,- the whole amounting to about two hundred acres ; he being right- ful owner of the same, according to the design of the proprietors. The latter, or ministerial lot, as it was termed, No. 95, with its after divisions, was still held as common land belonging to the town. Mr. Rice, innocently no doubt, assumed that all these lands were for his personal benefit as minister, and that he had a right to use and improve them as he saw fit. He therefore pro- ceeded to take timber from them or otherwise to make them ac- crue to his advantage, whereupon he was confronted by the town acting pursuant to the following article in the warrant calling a meeting Nov. 15, 1773, to wit :- "To Know the minds of the Inhabitants whether they will take some Effectuall method to prevent Trespass on the ministerial Land." When the matter came up for consideration, it was voted "that Deacon Wood, Esq. Brigden, and Mr. Fosket, be a Committee to Weight on Mr. Rice in the afaire and make Report in one Hower." The committee at once had a conference with the minister and reported "that Mr. Rice Still Continueth his Right of Title in the minesterial Lands but will make no wast of Timber, or dont Intend att present to Improve above twenty or thirty acres of said Right." This was not satisfactory, and the matter was referred back to the committee for adjustment agreeably to the wishes of the town. Nothing, however, was accomplished by them, and two months later, Jan. 10, 1774, they were instructed "to apply to Mr. Rice and Signifie to him that the Town Dis- approve of his Improveing the minesterial Lands without Lib- erty from the Town, and if Mr. Rice will Relinquish his preten- tions to said Land by Clame of Right and Improve under certain Restrictions from the Town then said Committee to Desist and proceade no further, but if he still Continues his Right of Clame, then said Committee to apply to an Experienced attorney and Take the Best advice that can be had and Report to the Town."
But Mr. Rice was not convinced of his error and refused to yield his claim. Whereupon, at the annual meeting, the com- mittee were directed "to reject Mr. Asaph Rice out of the minestearial Land." Whether this extreme measure was car- ried into effect or not, does not appear, but probably there was legal authority for adopting it. Obviously the purpose of the proprietors in assigning lands "for the ministry" was to aid
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IIISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
the town and not the minister as Mr. Rice supposed, and as he still claimed in spite of the opposition raised against him.
Not long after the transactions spoken of occurred, the lands in question were sold, as elsewhere stated, and the proceeds were invested for the town's advantage and help in support of the preaching of the Gospel. But Mr. Rice was still uncon- vinced and dissatisfied. On the 30th of October, 1782, he preferred a formal request that the town "come to a Just and honorable Settlement with me respecting the Ministerial Land, the use and Improvement of which was part of the Encourage- ment given me for Settling in the ministry in Westminster." The town acknowledged no obligation on its part in this particu- lar, and summarily dismissed the request. At several different times during the next ten years did Mr. Rice make a similar request with a similar result. At length, on the 20th of Janu- ary, 1794, the matter in controversy was brought to a final adjustment by the action of the town voting and granting "twenty three pounds six shillings and eight pence as an addi- tion to the Rev. Mr. Rice's Sallery annualy so long as he is able to Supply the pulpit in this Town on Condition of his giving a Discharge to the Town of all Right and Title that he pretends to have or ever had to the ministeral Land in West- minster." This proposition being accepted by Mr. Rice, the long-existing difficulty was brought to a perpetual end.
But though this difference of opinion and seeming clashing of interests prevailed for many years, yet happily for all con- cerned it did not produce anything like bitterness of feeling or open hostility. The people, so far as can be ascertained, held their minister in high regard all the while and treated him with respectful consideration and kindly thoughtfulness. They made due allowance for the changes in public affairs that were unfa- vorable to him, voting him an addition to his salary in times of special emergency, occasioned by an increase in the cost of the necessaries of life, or by a depreciation in the value of the cur- rency. Instances of their kindness and generosity possess a varied interest, illustrating as they do, not only the spirit of the people in their relations to their minister, but something, too, of the state of the times and the difficulties which in the struggle of life then beset both minister and people alike. A few citations will show this.
In May, 1778, as prices rose and the purchasing power of money decreased, the town voted £100 extra salary to Mr. Rice, and in December, only eight months afterwards, £233 6s. 8d. were granted in addition to the stipulated annual com- pensation. In the following July £200 more were voted him, the last two sums belonging to the same parochial year. Dec. 13, 1779 the town "voted and granted £1333 6s. 8d. for the Rev. Mr Rice's Sallery for the year Lately Commenced, In- cluding his usuall Sallery of £66 13s. 4d., and such as shall
-
....
SECOND MEETING-HOUSE, ERECTED 1787.
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NEW HOUSE OF WORSHIP.
Chuse to pay one twentieth part of their proportion of Money now Granted as shall be assessed to them and pay it in the Necessarys of Life, all Sass Excepted, at the current Price sold for in the year 1774, shall have that Liberty and it shall be in full for their said Tax." On the 22d of November, 1780, "voted and granted £4666 13s. 4d. as an addition to the Rev Mr Rice's Sallery for the last Year which ended Last October." This made £6000 for the year 1779-80, which shows how thoroughly demoralized the currency had become at that date. By a fortuitous change in financial affairs the balance of things was shortly after restored and the salary reverted to its former amount.
The Second Meetinghouse. As the smoke and dust of the Revolutionary War cleared away and the people, resum- ing the ordinary duties and obligations of social and civil life incident to times of peace, began to realize what their circum- stances and needs were and what was the outlook for the future, they very soon came to the conclusion that one of the first things to receive attention was to provide enlarged and im- proved facilities for public worship. The old sanctuary of the founders of the town had served an excellent purpose in its day. But its limited dimensions, ample enough to begin with, had been wholly outgrown, although, by increasing its seating capacity from time to time till every available foot of room had been brought into requisition, it had been made to accommodate the greater part of the population. Moreover, it had been for some years much neglected, and therefore was greatly dilapidated and out of repair, necessitating large expenditures at an early day to fit it for continued use. And furthermore, new settlers were coming in to multiply the number of inhabitants and make the insufficiency of the old edifice more manifestly evident. All of which things helped to prove the necessity of a new place of worship and to determine the minds of the people in favor of its erection. The enterprise once started grew rapidly in public favor, and in a brief space of time ripened to its con- summation.
The first movement looking to the result indicated appeared in the form of an article in the warrant for a town meeting to be held Oct. 26, 1784, viz .: "To know their minds whether they will Build a new meetinghouse and what method they will come into with Regard to Building the same." Upon this article it was summarily voted "not to Build a meetinghouse." The same action was taken twice in the spring of the following year, 1785. But on the 6th of March, 1786, when the subject was for the fourth time brought up in due form, it was
"Voted to build a new meeting house, then voted to set the meeting house on this common near this place, [where the old one stood]. Then voted to chuse a Committee to Draw a plan for a New meeting house and Chose Ruben Sawin, Capt Bigelow and Timo Howard [Heywood] and Report."
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
At an adjourned meeting two weeks afterward
" On Debate a motion was made and Tryed to Reconsider the vote with Regard to Building a meeting house and the house was poled on Return of the number for building said house was 63, the number against building was 34, majority for building was 29." " Then a motion was made to see if the Town would Chuse a Committee to assertain the middle of the Town and voted they would not.
"T'oted that the Committee that was Chose the last meeting make Report of the plan of the meeting house.
"T'oted to adjourn the plan of the meeting house Relating to finishing the inside till May meeting, then voted to Except [accept] the bigness of the meeting house which is 60 feet long and 45 feet wide with two fourteen feet porches to stand at the ends and voted to Let out the meeting house to him or them that will Do it Cheapest, then voted to Chuse a Committee of 7 men to Draw up proposals Relating to the meterials for said house, then voted and Chose Capt. Bigelow, Dea. Miller, Col Dike, Lieut. Hoar, Lieut. Nathan Howard, Peter Graves, Ruben Sawin, then voted that the Commit- tee Report on the first Monday of April."
At the time stated, April 3d, the committee reported as directed. The town
"V'oted to Except [accept] of the Committee's Report which is as follows, Viz. ist for the Town to alot out into Small Lotts the wood meterals for sd house and Lett it out att publick Sail to the Cheapest bidder to the amount of 3000 feet of Hewd Timber; and Slitwork to the amount of Sooo feet. Bords 35000 feet and Shingles thirty Thousand. Clabords five thousand and five hundred; the Stone for underpining said House to be lett out in the same manner as the Timber by Lotts, and a Committee of three were chosen to Lott out the abovementioned meterials in quantity and Quality as shall be agreeable to the Town - the above Committee to Dig- nifie and sell the pews at Vandue on Such conditions as the Committee shall Judge best as also to Lot out the wood meterials for sd house in small Lotts and Sel it at publick Vandue to the Cheapest bidder."
Dea. Joseph Miller, Capt. Elisha Bigelow, and Reuben Sawin were chosen a committee to have charge of the matter agree- ably to the recommendation of the report, and were instructed to make a statement of their allotments of material and of the numbering of the pews at an adjourned meeting.
On the 11th of May the town met as per adjournment, and it was voted "that the meeting house stand a little to the west of the old house." This was about midway between the two brick dwellings now seen at the eastern and western extremity of the old common, on the north side of the road, as the older people will remember.
At the same meeting the committee for allotting the materi- al, so that it could be readily let to parties wishing to furnish it, reported, with all necessary specifications, 121 lots of lumber, 6 of stone, and 3 of doors- 130 in all, which was deemed satis- factory by the town. The lumber was to be good and sound and "to be hewed, sawed or shaved in a workmanlike manner." The time of delivering the different classes of material was fixed, the latest date specified being June 10, 1787.
273
ALLOTMENT OF WORK ON MEETINGHOUSE.
The committee also advised that the material be let out as previously ordered "on the first day of June next," 1786, "at the house of Abner Holden, Esq., in Westminster, to begin at 9 o'clock, A. M." The pews were to be offered for sale at the same time and place, the purchaser paying one-third the sum given for them by the last day of June, 1787, one-third by the first day of November, 1787, and the other third by the first day of November, 1788. Fifteen shillings, however, were to be de- posited at the time of sale, or a note of hand for the same amount, to be forfeited in case the pews reverted to the town to be re- sold. Persons furnishing material were to be paid in three equal instalments at the above-named dates. The provisions of the report were accepted and the enterprise proceeded accordingly.
At the adjourned meeting, held June 1, 1786, before dispos- ing of the pews, it was "voted that the pew next to the pul- pit on the Left hand as we go into Sd house be Reserved for a ministerial pew." The sale then went on in due form, result- ing as indicated in the accompanying plan of the internal ar- rangement of the house, all of which was ratified by the town on the 3d of July following.
On this last-named date a committee consisting of Dea. Joseph Miller, Reuben Sawin, and Thomas Knower was ap- pointed "to allot out the framing and finishing of the new meeting house and report to the Town" at a subsequent meet- ing. A vote to build a belfry at the east end of the edifice was afterwards rescinded.
The committee reported the allotment assigned to them, on the 29th of August, as follows :
" I. Framing the House agreeable to a Draft to be provided by the town.
"2. Inclosing and Shingling.
"3. 44 window fraims and 1640 Lights of sashes 7 by 9, 2 Compass Sashes 28 Lights each and one 1-2 Compass Sash.
"4. Priming 1713 Lights of Sashes and Setting the glass.
" 5. Putting up the window Fraims Clabbording and Compleating the outside.
"6. The pulpit and Stairs and Cannipa.
" 7. 48 pews, six seats, and all the Joiner work in the main house below the gallerys floor fit for Lathing.
"8. The breastwork, 24 pews and seats Conformable to the plan and all the Joiner work in the gallery fit for Lathing.
"9. All the Joyner work in the porches with two pairs of Stairs in each fit for Lathing.
" IO. 108 Dozen of Bannesters for the pews.
"11. Lathing and plastering. " 12. Painting and Numbering the Pews."
The report was approved and the same committee were re- chosen to carry its provisions into effect.
At an adjourned meeting, held Oct. 10th, the committee on letting out the material for the building reported the result of their action in detail. The whole is duly tabulated in the
18
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
clerk's records, but would require too much space to warrant a place in this volume. The names only of the contracting parties are, therefore, presented : Joseph Miller, Josiah Conant, Wil- liam Edgell, John Foskett, John Woodward, Jabez Bigelow, Sebez Jackson, Elisha Bigelow, Samuel Miller, Thomas Rand, Stephen Hoar, Oliver Jackson, Isaac Dupee, Samuel Hoar, Reuben Sawin, Nathan Miles, Timothy Damon, Ephraim Rob- bins, Isaac Williams, John Hoar, Ezra Holden, Jonas Miles, Stephen Miles, Paul Walker, Abner Holden, Jonathan Brown, Levi Holden, Joseph Holden, Nathaniel Wheeler, Joseph Smith, John Estabrooks, Jonas Whitney, Edward Jackson, Joel Miles, Nathan Darby, Daniel Sawin, Zachariah Rand, Jonathan Minott, Peter Graves, Elijah Hager, Asa Farnsworth.
The committee also reported the conditions upon which the foundation and doorstones of the building were to be furnished and put in place. Their action was approved, and the work was let to Abel Wood, Deacon Miller, Lieutenant Bigelow, Stephen Hoar, Joshua Bigelow, Captain Seaver, Isaac Williams, Samuel Miller, and Samuel Merriam; the underpinning to be made ready for the superstructure "by the 10th day of June, 1787, and the doorstones to be in position during the same month."
The material for the house having been provided for, as also its foundations, the committee having the matter in charge pro- ceeded to make arrangements for its erection, according to the method already mentioned. The framing was let to Timothy Bacon; the enclosing and shingling to Norman Seaver; the win- dow frames and sashes to Stephen Hoar, who also took the glazing; the putting in the window frames and clapboarding to John Hoar, and also the outside painting ; but no one was found for some time to do the inside work.
On the 13th of March, 1787, a financial statement pertaining to the undertaking was made to the town, whereby it ap- peared that the pews had been sold, as heretofore noticed, for the aggregate sum of £718 16s., that the materials as let out, underpinning, etc., amounted to £153 7s., and the work so far provided for to £190, leaving of available funds yet unappro- priated, £375 9s. A week later proposals for performing the remainder of the work on the house, including the cost of ma- terial, were submitted by a committee chosen for the purpose, accompanied by directions regarding the execution of the same. It was undertaken by Dea. Joseph Miller for £387 9s.,-£12 more than the amount arising from the sale of the pews in ex- cess of the expenditure already made,-and was to be completed in a workmanlike manner, after the style of "the Leominster meetinghouse," by the first day of November, 1788.
At a meeting held May 15, 1787, it was voted to let out the raising of the meetinghouse to the lowest bidder, on condition that the person or persons contracting for the work shall pro-
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NEW HOUSE OF WORSHIP COMPLETED.
cure all needful material and appliances therefor, and also the men, with no claims whatever upon the town in that respect. Under those conditions, Seth Herrington bid off the job for £90, and that sum was appropriated from the uncollected pub- lic taxes. Reuben Sawin, Deacon Miller, and Thomas Knower were subsequently made a committee "to Inspect the frame after it is raised and report to the town whether it is done in a workmanlike manner"; also, "to Inspect the finishing of the House till it is Done."
Provision having now been made for the erection and entire completion of the building without and within, the work went on during the years 1787 and 1788 to its final consummation with commendable rapidity. One fatal accident attended the putting up of the frame, July 31, 1787, marring the pleasures of the otherwise happy occasion, and attaching to it a painful memory in many minds for a long time afterward. Capt. Norman Seaver, an active and esteemed citizen, and a contract- or for a certain portion of the work, by some mischance fell near the close of the day from a high position, sustaining in- juries of which he soon after died.
As the structure drew near its completion, and the time was at hand when it was to be occupied for the purpose of Christian worship, the town voted, Nov. 3, 1788, to dispose of the old meetinghouse, and measures were adopted for carrying that vote into effect. The sale took place on the 17th of the same month, and was made in seven lots, amounting in the aggregate to £28 18s. 5d. The names of the purchasers were not recorded, but it is understood that Rev. Mr. Rice purchased the frame, and used it in the construction of a barn for himself,- some of the timbers of which were put into the more modern building of a similar nature now standing on the premises, where they give promise of good service for many a year to come. At the same meeting steps were taken towards the proper clearing of the common and putting of the grounds adjacent to the meetinghouse in order, so as to give them a neat and attractive appearance.
On the 8th of December, after the house was virtually com- pleted, a new committee of inspection was chosen "to examine the work thoroughly and see if it was done in a satisfactory manner," entitling it to the acceptance of the town. Two weeks later this committee presented a favorable report which was approved, and Thursday, the first day of January, 1789, was fixed upon for the customary services of dedication. No record of those services has been found, but they are presumed to have taken place as provided for, agreeably to the ecclesiastical usages of the time, Rev. Mr. Rice preaching the sermon, and some of the neighboring ministers participating in the other exercises of the occasion.
This, the second meetinghouse of the town, as originally built,
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
was a plain, rectangular structure, sixty feet long by forty-five wide, with a porch at each end fourteen feet square, as already stated. Considerable regard was paid to architectural orna- mentation in the finish of its exterior, the specifications there- for providing liberally for dentals, moldings, "moredillions," and other devices pleasing to the eye and taste, properly distrib- uted and applied. A large door with eighteen panels, flanked by double pillars and heavily capped, broke the monotony of the front at its center, while each porch had two doors, one of nine panels and one of six panels, with a corresponding setting, making five entrances to the interior. The structure had forty- four rectangular windows in its main part, two circular windows in its gables, and a half circular window surmounting a large one of the usual form in the rear of the pulpit.
The interior of the house was arranged and finished accord- ing to the fashion of the time in respect to places of public worship. In the center of the rear part of the main floor stood the high pulpit, over which a broad canopy or sounding board. extended, always the marvel and sometimes the terror of chil- dren who feared it might fall with a crash and produce disastrous results, and in front of which was the deacons' seat, whence those guardians of the church could keep watch and ward of the whole congregation. Next to the walls of the building and entirely encircling the interior space, except at the entrances and where the pulpit stood, was a series of high-partitioned pews, some five or five and a half feet square, thirty in all- the one at the right of the pulpit and adjoining the flight of stairs leading thereto being assigned by town vote to the minis- ter for the use of his family. Similar pews occupied three- fourths of the available space in the middle of the floor, arranged in tiers of three each on each side of the broad aisle which extended from the front door to the pulpit; the other fourth, nearest to the pulpit, being taken up with six long seats, three on a side, reserved for common use, and held as the com- mon property of the town. At a later day four of these long seats were converted into as many pews which, like those already built, became subject to private ownership, leaving the two nearest the pulpit for people who were infirm or deaf. Be- sides the broad aisle mentioned, a narrow passageway made the entire circuit of the house in front of the pulpit and wall pews, and one was also opened from porch to porch through the center, giving easy access to every part of the main floor.
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