History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 203

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 203

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with the fact that the town, only three months pre- vionsly, had voted him his annual salary, without any expressed hesitation or qualification.

To the Brethren of the Church of Christ in Lunenburg :

BELOVEO BRETHREN :- I canaot but think, from what I have heard and also from what I have observed of the transactivos aad behaviour of this people, relating to me and my affairs, that there is not that affectioa borne towards me that there should be from a people to their Gospel minister ; or that there is where a people are likely to profit uader their minister. The consideration whereof has been very grievous and dis. couraging to me, and, therefore, think it hest to separate. I do, there- fore, propose a separation. And if effectual care be takea that my dues be honestly paid me, the first settled minister's lot with its appurtenan- ces put apoa record and attested, and a sufficient pew at the right hand of going in at the great doors of the meeting-house, -I shall be free to be dismissed from my pastoral relation, office and obligation to you, as soon as it can regularly be performed.

From your loving pastor, who wisheth you the Divine direction and blessing and desires your prayers for the saaie to him.

ANDREW GARDNER, Pastor.

In the event the conduct of the pastor had grieved the faithful and either the church or the parish de- sired a separation, no recorded action appears until February 7, 1732, or nearly a year and a half after the suggestive letter of Mr. Gardner.

At this time the town in its capacity as a parish " voted and granted to Rev. Andrew Gardner a dismission from his pastoral or ministerial office, according to his request." At the same meeting the selectmen were instructed to pay Mr. Gardner whatever was his due. Possibly the money was raised with difficulty, but it was not paid until the follow- ing October. The sum paid at this time was three hundred and ninety-four pounds, twelve shillings and three pence, which included twenty pounds due him for a settlement and the amount of his salary from the beginning. It was the first money the poor man had received from the aggrieved inhabitants of Lun- enburg. If it is true, as alleged by Torrey, that he was frequently in pursuit of wild turkeys and other game, it is probable that hunger taught him "skill as a marksman," and that he was oftener compelled by necessity than enticed by a love of the chase. However, the full sum was paid, and the church took the necessary action for the dismissal of their early pastor November 3, 1732.

Rev. Andrew Gardner, the first minister of Lunen- burg, was born in Brookline, 1694. He was a son of Rev. Andrew Gardner, the third minister of Lancas- ter, who began his ministerial labor in that town, 1701, and previous to an installation he was accident- ally killed during an Indian alarm in October, 1704. His widow, Mary, however, became the wife of Rev. John Prentice, the fourth minister of Lancaster. A daughter of this marriage was the wife of Rev. Job Cushing, of Shrewsbury, and the mother of Rev. John Cushing, D.D., of Ashburnham. Rev. Andrew Gardner, Jr., was graduated at Harvard University, 1712, and was ordained the first minister of Worcester in the autumn of 1719, and was dismissed October 31, 1722. After preaching in Rutland, and possibly in other places, he was settled over the church in Lunen-

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

burg, as heretofore stated, from May 15, 1728, to November 3, 1732. While a resident of this town he built a house near Clark Hill, where Martin Jolinson resides, which was considerably in advance of the dwellings of his time, and which, with its quaint windows and after-years of dilapidation, is remembered by many still living. After his dismissal he remained a few years in this town, and was at times employed by the town as " Grammar School Master," the school being held at his honse. In addition to the land granted the first settled minister, he acquired many acres by purchase and apparently maintained close business relations with Benjamin Bellows, Josiah Willard, Edward Hartwell, and his half-brother, Thomas Prentice. He was one of the grantees of Charlestown, N. H., under the Massachusetts charter, which subsequently was vacated. In 1737 he removed to Earlington or Arlington, now Winchester, N. H., where he was a prominent citizen, receiving frequent and honorable mention in the records. Occasionally he was employed as chaplain at Fort Dummer, where he met many of his early associates from Lancaster and Lunenburg. Abont 1746 he removed to Charles- town, N. H. In 1761 his name was first in the list of the grantees of Bath, N. H., and thither he removed about 1765, and became a controlling spirit in the new settlement. He lived between the Central and Upper Villages, and overlooking the scene of his declining years Gardner Mountain perpetuates his name and memory. He lived to an advanced age, but a record of his death has not been found.

At a meeting assembled November 10, 1732, one week after the dismissal of Mr. Gardner, the town chose " Dea. Samnel Johnson, Dea. Ephraim Peirce and Isaac Farnsworth a committee to provide a min- ister, from time to time, to supply the town with preaching." Rev. David Stearns was immediately employed, and that the first impressions of the can- didate were not nnfavorable is found in a record of a meeting on the 4th of the following month, when it was ordered that the committee hire Mr. Stearns to preach two months, after an existing engagement had expired. The conditions attending the frontier settle- ments at this time reminded them that the approach of a winter season would defer the ordination until another spring. A call was extended in February, and the candidate was ordained April 18, 1733. The pastorate of Mr. Stearns was the continued succession of palmy days. The town increased in population, the people were prosperous in temporal affairs, and the church, preserved from any serious contention, was in- creased in membership. The town voted him £300 as a settlement, and a salary of £120 the first year and £5 added yearly, until itreached thesum of £140. In 1736, and a few subsequent years, an additional sum was voted to make good the depreciation of the currency in which his salary was paid. At the close of twenty- eight years of successful labor he died, March 9, 1761.

Rev. David Stearns, a son of John and Abigail

(Fiske) Stearns, was born in Watertown December 24, 1709; graduated at Harvard University, 1728. He married, April 7, 1736, Ruth Hubbard, a daughter of Major Jonathan and Rebecca (Brown) Hubbard, of Lnnenburg. She married (2d), November 9, 1768, Rev. Aaron Whitney, of Petersham, who died Sep- tember 8, 1779, and she died in Keene, N. H., at the home of her youngest daughter, November 1, 1788. Rev. David Stearns was intimately connected with many families of the town. He was a brother of Colonel Abijah, Benjamin and William Stearns, and the wives of Benjamin Bellows, Joshua Goodridge and Samuel Johnson, Jr., were his sisters. His wife was a sister of John and Jonathan Hubbard, Jr., and of the wife of Colonel Josiah Willard. Mr. Stearns lived north of and near the present Methodist Church, where William Howard now resides. There is re- maining evidence that he was a man of good ability, a faithful and devoted minister, a friend of the people, and laborious for the public good. It is the testimony of Rev. Zabdiel Adams, who wrote with a full knowl- edge of his life and character, that " he lived greatly beloved, and died no less lamented."

In 1736 the town " voted and granted all that Room behind ye seets in ye Front Gallery in ye Meeting- House in Lunenburg to Jonathan Wood, Samnel Reed, Phinehas O-good, Ezekiel Wyman, David Page, Stephen Boynton, John Fitch, Jonathan Abbit for to Build a Long Pew or Seet for themselves and wives forever to set in." The vote savors of a pro- tracted meeting, and in it and in other measures of a similar character providing for an enlargement of its seating capacity is read the doom of the first meet- ing-house of Lunenburg, which already was too small for the accommodation of the growing settle- ment. The building of the second meeting-honse was a prolific subject of town legislation. No less than forty-three votes concerning the location, manner of building, appropriations and disposal of the pews were passed and recorded within the space of three years, and doubtless an equal or greater number of motions were made and seriously debated that did not pass and were not recorded. Omitting reference to many votes that were reconsidered at a future meeting, the narrative is abbreviated. May 22, 1749, the town " voted that they will Build a new Meeting-Honse in said Town," and May 25, 1752, it was ordered "that they will meet in the new Meeting-Honse Next Sab- bath day come fortnight to attend the public worship there." It was finally determined that the building should be located "in the end of the lane by the school-house," which was within the limits of the present Common and opposite the residence of the late Sawyer Kimball. The necessary land was do- nated in part by Benjamin Bellows, and the remainder was purchased of Thomas Prentice. It was a spa- cious house, sixty by forty-five feet, having porches on the east, south and west, and containing forty- eight pews on the floor and twenty-one in the galler-

LUNENBURG.

ies. The frame was raised in the summer of 1750, and it was demolished in 1831, and many relics of the second meeting-house in Lauenburg are still pre- served.

Immediately after the deeease of Mr. Stearns Rev. Josiah Bridge, who was subsequently settled over the church in East Sudbury (now Wayland), was employed a few Sabbaths. He was succeeded by Rev. Samuel Payson, a brother of Rev. John Payson, of Fitch- burg. He was ordained September 8, 1762, and died February 14, 1763.

The fourth pastor was Rev. Zabdiel Adams, who was ordained September 5, 1764. He died in the thirty-seventh year of a successful ministry March 1, 1801. Mr. Adams was born in Braintree (now Quincy), Mas -. , November 5, 1739. He was a son of Ebenezer and Ann (Boylston) Adams and a double cousin to President John Adams, their fathers being brothers and their mothers being sisters. He graduated at Harvard University in 1759. He was a thoughtful and impressive preacher, and among the clergy of his time he was held in high esteem. At the inaugura- tion of Governor John Hancock, in 1782, he preached the first election sermon before the Executive and both branches of the Legislature. This discourse was printed. He married, June 5, 1765, Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. David Stearns. Their descendants are numerous and distinguished in many callings.

Succeeding a brief season of temporary supply Rev. Timothy Flint was ordained October 6, 1802. He was a son of William and Martha (Kimball) Flint and was born in Reading, Mass., June 17, 1780. He graduated at Harvard University, 1800. At the time of his ministry bere and often at subsequent periods he was in feeble health. At times there was only one service on the Sabbath, and occasional evi- dence of dissatisfaction is found in the records. He was dismissed June 6, 1814. He removed from this town to Alexandria, La., where he established a young ladies' seminary and subsequently lived and traveled extensively in the West until he returned to his native town, where he died April 18, 1840. Mr. Flint was the author of a geography and of sev- eral standard works of fiction and once was editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine. He married in 1802 Abigail Hubbard, a sister of a later minister in this town.

Soon after the dismissal of Mr. Flint a call was ex- tended to Rev. David Damon, who was ordained with the customary solemnities February 1, 1815. He was born in Wayland, Mass., September 12, 1787, and was graduated at Harvard College in the class with Hon. Edward Everett, 1811. He was a man of great sim- plieity of manner and an equal strength of character. An earnest faithful minister, he secured the respect and love of the church and the parish. He was dis- missed at his request December 2, 1827. Subse- quently he was settled at Amesbury and at West Cambridge (now Arlington), Mass., where he died,

June 25, 1843. The greater part of the time covered by the ministry of Mr. Damon was a memorable era in the religious history of New England. The Trin- itarian and the Unitarian were engaged in a hot dis- pute and many churches were divided. Mr. Damon was a Unitarian, yet his pacific nature invited no cou- tention, and finding a majority of his church and con- gregation were not in full sympathy with him, he withdrew before any serious discussion had begun. The controversy and the establishment of two churches was only deferred. In 1819 and during the peaceful . ministry of Mr. Damon the First Congregational Parish was organized, and after ninety years of loyal service the town was relieved from a further control of parochial affairs. For several years the society was vigorous and prosperons. In 1830 a new meeting- house, sixty-four by fifty feet, was erected and was dedicated December 25th of that year. The cost was nearly three thousand dollars, which was fully met from a sale of the pews. The land for its accommo- dation was presented by Daniel Putnam, Esq., and a bell was procured by subscription. The entrance, with a recess and two imposing pillars, was at the east end, and in all respects it was a fair expression of the archi- tecture of the time.

Rev. Ebenezer Hubbard was the next minister. He was installed December 10, 1828. Compared with the closing scenes, the first three years of this ministry were uueventful, yet in the records appear the mists of a gathering eloud that soon obscured the horizon of their former prosperity. In the rapid progress of events, numerous personal differences developed into open hostility, which, like an infection, spread through- out the town. In the mean time the society suffered in membership. Of one hundred and fifty-eight members in 1831, only forty-two remained at the end of two years. Apparently only the most pugnacious remained, who found a lively exercise and an equal combat in the fighting qualities and skilled parries of their irritated pastor.

An acrimonious correspondence between the com- mittee of the parish and the minister was succeeded by ecclesiastical councils, lawsuits and arbitration. In the mean time Mr. Hubbard continued to preach to a de- creasing congregation, even after the society had voted that they considered his relations with them terminated, and that they would no longer pay his salary. After the door of the meeting-house was locked he regularly went to the steps on the Sabbath, displayed a sermon and continued to demand his salary and damages for the treatment he had received. A full account of this unfortunate controversy, employing all the interest- ing material at hand, would fill a volume. The end was found in a compromise, in May, 1834. Rev. Ebenezer Hubbard, son of Rev. Ebenezer and Abi- gail (Glover) Hubbard, was born in Marblehead, Mass., November 12, 1783. He graduated (as did all his predecessors in the ministry in Lunenburg) at Harvard University, 1805. He read divinity in this

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

town with Rev. Timothy Flint, was ordained over the Second Church in Newbury, May 11, 1809, and dis- missed October 16, 1810. He was installed over the church in Middletown, November 27, 1816, and was dismissed April 29, 1828. After his residence in this town he was engaged in teaching and in farming in Tennessee and in Kentucky. Ile died from a disease of the brain in an asylum near Nashville, Tenn., Sep- tember 2, 1858. Immediately succeeding these troublous times, and possibly hastened by them a considerable number of those entertaining Trinitarian proclivities organized an independent church and so- ciety. Without action on their part, the Unitarians, formerly in the minority, but including families of in- fluence, remained in succession and continued to be the First Parish of Lunenburg. The decade was an era of temporary supply. Rev. Thomas H. Pons and a score of others appear in the list of those who were briefly employed.

May 12, 1847, Rev. William G. Babcock was in- stalled, and was dismissed at his own request, April 7, 1855. During the succeeding ten years Rev. James Thurston, Rev. Charles B. Josselyn, Rev. Jacob Caldwell, Rev. William Farmer, who died in this town June 24, 1862, and Rev. John B. Willard sup- plied the desk, and their ministry completed a chap- ter in the annals of Lunenburg, fragrant of the relig- ion and suggestive of the customs of former genera- tions. The clo-ing act was not long deferred. In 1867 the parish sold the meeting-house to the town, when it was removed about seventy yards north of its original site and remodeled into a spacious and con- venient town-hall.

THE EVANGELICAL CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH was embodied June 10, 1835. The first pastor was Rev. Thomas Bellows, born in Walpole, N. H., Sep- tember 23, 1807, a son of Thomas and Eleanor (Fos- ter) Bellows, and a grandson of Colonel Benjamin Bellows, prominent in the early annals of this town. He graduated at Dartmouth College, 1827, and pur- sued a course of study at Andover and New Haven Theological Seminaries. Succeeding a pastorate in Greenfield, he began to preach in this town early in 1835, and through his efforts a church was organ- ized. On account of failing health he was not in- stalled, and the following year he retired to a farm in his native town. The society connected with this church was organized in May, 1835. It purchased, and for a season occupied, the meeting-house of the First Parish. An influential minority of the old society was dissatisfied with the disposal of the house, and, after a few scenes of boisterous contention, the sale was rescinded, and the meeting-house was re- turned to the control of the First Parish. In the autumn of 1843 the society was reorganized, and while plans for building a new meeting-house were maturing, services were held in the hall of a private house. The present meeting-house was built on land purchased of Daniel Putnam, E q., and completed in 1844.

Early in 1837, and during the time in which ser- vices were held in the old meeting house, Rev. Eli W. Harrington began a successful ministry. He was ordained April 26, 1837, and dismissed, at his request, April 8, 1847. He was born in New Braintree, November 28, 1804, and was a son of Nathaniel and Nancy (Townsend) Harrington ; graduated Amherst College, 1833; Andover Theological Seminary, 1836. Subsequently he preached in Mason, N. H., Roches- ter, N. Y., and in Beverly, Mass. He now resides in Pepperell, Mass. The next pastor was Rev. Asaph Boutelle, who was installed in the spring of 1848, and remained three years. He was a son of Asaph and Anna (Stearns) Boutelle, of Fitchburg, where he was born October 7, 1804; graduated Amherst Col- lege, 1828; Andover Theological Seminary, 1831. Previous to his faithful ministry here he had preached in Ohio sixteen years, and subsequently he was fifteen years pastor of the church in Peacham, Vt., where he died January 12, 1866.

Mr. Boutelle was succeeded by Rev. Edwin R. Hodgman, who was installed February 8, 1852. On account of failing health he asked a dismissal, which was approved by a council, March 26, 1855. He is a son of Buck ey and Betsey (Pratt) Hodgman, born in Camden, Me., October 21, 1819 ; partial course at Am- herst and a graduate of Dartmouth College, 1843; Andover Theological Seminary, 1844. His next pas- torate was in Lynnfield and later in Westford and Townsend. He is the author of a " History of West- ford."

Rev. William A. Mandell was installed January 2, 1856. In an eminent degree he enjoyed the merited esteem of the parish and of the town. He was dis- missed at his request November 16, 1865, and supplied the pulpit until the close of the year. He is a son of Daniel and Eliza (Patrick) Mandell and was born in Hardwick, July 13, 1811 ; graduate Amherst College, 1838; Union Theological Seminary, 1841. He was city missionary in Philadelphia, Pa., and pastor at Dartmouth, Mass., from 1846 until he removed to this town. Since 1868 he has re-ided without charge at North Cambridge. Succeeding Mr. Mandell, the desk was supplied by Rev. Alfred Goldsmith and others about four years. Rev. William H. Dowden was installed February 2, 1870, and was dismissed February 22, 1875. He is a son of Thomas and Eunice (Simons) Dowden and was born in Fairhaven, January 15, 1836 ; graduate Andover Theological Seminary, 1866. His earlier pastorates were in Pel- ham and Carlisle and later he has supplied at East Jaffrey, N. H., and Rowley. Mr. Dowden was suc- ceeded by Rev. Walter Rice, who was installed in May, 1875, and remained about five years. He is a son of Silas and Almira (Corey) Rice, born in Ash- burnham, December 25, 1836; graduate Beloit Col- lege, 1862 ; Newton Theological Seminary, 1865; An- dover Theological Seminary, special course, 1874. He has been a successful pastor in Brandon, Vt., since

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LUNENBURG.

May, 1880. The past eight years has been an era of temporary supply.

Methodist preachers have been stationed here, and a society has been maintained since 1803. The first preacher was Rev. Joshua Crowell, who was followed by the Revs. Thomas Rawling, Hezekiah Field, Wil- liam Stevens, John Tinkham, Benjamin S. Hill, and to the present time about seventy-five names in all. The school-house in which the service was held several years failed to accommodate the increasing congregation. In 1813, and during the ministry of Rev. Barzillai Peirce, a native of this town, a meet- ing-house was built upon a frame of a building pre- sented by Jonathan Peirce. It was situated on the old Northfield road, and beyond the North Cemetery. Previously the building had been used for the storage of bark, and after it had been dedicated to a more sacred use it was called by the profane the "Lord's Bark-house." Under the provisions of recent law a society was organized in 1825. In 1829 the present house was built on land purchased of Daniel Putnam, Esq. It is recorded by George A. Cunningham, Esq., that the frame was raised sixteen days after the first tree was felled in the forest. It was dedicated May 1, 1830. In 1870 it was thoroughly repaired. There were seasons of unusual religious interest-in 1821, when a camp-meeting was held here; in 1857, under the ministry of Rev. John Goodwin; and in 1871, under the ministry of Rev. J. F. Bassett. With hope and with courage this society has been continuously maintained, and sometimes under embarrassments that have overcome more populous organizations. In 1842 Josiah Litch, a native of this town, delivered a series of discourses announcing the second advent of Christ, and Rev. Samuel Heath, the Methodist min- ister, embraced the faith. From the pulpit, with the ardor of a new convert, he began to preach the doc- trines of Millerism. Many of the congregation be- came affected, and while he remained the steadfast attended church elsewhere. The world, however, was preserved, and with it the church in Lunenburg, but it was a season of trial and anxiety to many. William Harlow, in early life a sea-captain, and later a zealous steward of the church, in reference to these events has written : " The Millerite seceders from the Meth- odist Church in Lunenburg, after having worked themselves up to such a pitch as to believe they could not be saved while they remained on board the old ship ' Zion,' and thinking her unseaworthy, jumped overboard at the risk of their spiritual lives, and de- sired to have their names erased from the shipping papers, but notwithstanding their fears, and the storms of fanaticism, the old ship has weathered them all and has since landed many souls in the broad bay of Heaven, and has a full freight of others bound to the same place."

SCHOOLS were established in this town at an early date. From December 11, 1732, when it was "voted that Col. Josiah Willard, Capt. Edward Hartwell

and Mr. Benjamin Goodridge be a Comtte to Provide a School and School-Master for to teach children and youth to read and write," down to the last annual ap- propriation of $1850 for school purposes, the education of the youth of the town has been a subject of earnest legislation. In general features, the recorded history is like that of other places and presents no feature not common to the records of a New England town. In March, 1733, Nathan Heywood, Benjamin Good- ridge, Hilkiah Boynton and Josiah Willard, Jr., were granted seven pounds and one shilling "for keeping of school in said town." There is a tradi- tion that Mr. Gardner, the early minister, was the first school-master. It may be the truth, but his name does not appear in the records as a school- teacher until the following vote, December 31, 1733 : "Voted and chose Mr. Andrew Gardner to be ye School-Master to Keep ye School ye Term of Three months, and voted that y. School shall be Kept at ye House of Mr. Gardner." The following year it was ordered that three schools be held at the honses of Lieut. James Colburn (near Clark Hill), Jonathan Willard (a short distance southerly from the centre) and Edward Hartwell, on Lancaster Road (abont three and one-half miles from the centre), and for this purpose forty pounds was appropriated. In 1735 the selectmen were instructed to provide a school "according to the best manner for the town's safety and interest," and the following year they were instructed " to hire school-dames as they shall see meet." A vote in 1739 directed that one school be kept either in the house of Mr. Dowse, or of John Jennison (at the (entre), and ano her at the old house of Ephraim Peirce. The house of Mr. Peirce was nearly two miles south or southeasterly from the centre of the town. When the first school-house was built is not revealed. In 1740 the town voted to build "two school-houses," but beyond this expres- sion of a good resolution nothing was accomplished ; but soon after there was a vote to build one school- house, to be located near the meeting house. It was built without delay, and probably in 1741. In 1783 five school-houses were built, and in the progress of years the number has been increased to nine. Nearly fifty years ago an academy was sustained several years. The building was erected by Daniel Putnam, Nathaniel F. Cunningham, Thomas Wiley and Dr. Otis Abercrombie. John R. Rollins was the first and a very successful principal, and while a resident of this town was the town clerk several years. He was succeeded by Rev. Jacob Caldwell, a native of this town, William H. Boynton, James J. H. Gre- gory, now of Marblehead ; Charles A. Goodrich, an esteemed citizen of this town, and George E. Don- lap. In 1866 the academy building was sold and re- moved to Fitchburg. The town has a valuable pub- lic library, and one of its institutions is its Farmers' Club, which was organized in 1848.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 203

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1576

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576