History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 141

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 141

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installed on the 27th of June, 1849. During his pastorate the increase of the congregation was such as to require more sittings in the church. To secure that end galleries were constructed in 1851. Mr. Tillotson preached his farewell sermon on the 31st of October, 1852. Meantime he had become a student- at-law and practitioner in the office of Judge Chapin, of Worcester ; but finding the pursuit uncongenial, he resumed his former profession, to which he devoted himself for the remainder of his life. On the 19th of June, 1863, he fell a victim to consumption in the forty -eighth year of his age. His successor, coming in April, 1853, was the Rev. John Greenleaf Adams, D.D. After a highly successful pastorate of seven years he gave place to the Rev. Lindley Murray Burrington, who, after a year and four months, was compelled to resign because of long-continued illness. His term of service closed on the 1st of January, 1862. To him succeeded the Rev. Thomas Elliot St. John, who was inducted into office on the 1st of April in that year. With him began a new departure. The church was reorganized by the adoption of a new Declaration of Faith and a Constitution. This had seemed to be necessary because of changes grow- ing out of " removals, withdrawals and forfeitures." Having put the church on this new footing, Mr. St. John closed his first pastorate in June of 1866 to be- come the pastor of a church in Chicago. After the intervening pastorate of Rev. Benjamin Franklin Bowles, who came on the 1st of October, 1866, and left December, 1, 1868, Mr. St. John resumed his old Worcester pulpit on the 1st of February, 1869, and continued to occupy it till April I, 1879. Within this period the fine new church edifice on Pleasant Street was erected and occupied. After leaving Wor- cester, Mr. St. John pursued his ministry in various places until the autumn of 1881, when he accepted a call to the Unitarian Church in Haverhill, Mass.

His successor, the Rev. Moses Henry Harris, entered upon his ministry with this church on the 5th of October, 1879. Mr. Harris was a native of Greene, in the State of Maine. He was graduated from the Canton Theological School in 1867, and had his first settlement in the ministry at Brattleborough, Vt., in 1870. From that pastorate of nine years and three months he came to Worcester. In 1885 the " Win- chester Confession " was adopted by this church as a Declaration of Faith in place of the Declaration which had been adopted in 1862; the Constitution was also amended and the list of membership re- vised. The church then embraced one hundred and fifty-five members.

All Souls Church .- " In the spring of 1883 a com- mittee was appointed at a meeting of the First Uni- versalist Church to see if a room could be hired at the south part of the city in which to open a Mission Sunday-school for the extension of our church work in Worcester." This was the beginning of the Sec- ond Universalist Church. No suitable room could

be hired; then two friends of the cause, who "could not let the movement die for want of a place, offered the free use of their rooms." Accordingly, at one of these rooms, in the house of Mrs. Martin Russell, No. 10 May Street, the new school was organized on the afternoon of January 27, 1884. On the Wednes- day following, a prayer-meeting was inaugurated ; this and preaching by Mr. Harris, of the First Church, were maintained alternately throughout the winter. The natural result of this devotion to the work was growth ; by spring " more room " was found neces- sary and this led up to thought of building. Money was not abundant, and Mrs. Lucy A. Stone, seeing the need, gave the land on which to build a chapel. Another act of encouragement was the gift of one hundred dollars by the sister of a former pastor of the First Church. As the women had been thus active in beginning the enterprise, so they were relied upon to carry it forward. Accordingly, "at a meeting to form a parish held on the 31st of July, 1884," Mrs. Stone and Mrs. Russell, were appointed to obtain subscriptions for the purpose of building a chapel. The result of their efforts was a subscription of one thousand three hundred and two dollars. By the last of October the building was begun and before the cold weather could interrupt was completed. In just one year from the time the Sunday school had been organized the chapel was dedicated. This was on the 27th of January, 1885. On the 21st of June following the church was duly instituted. During the summer the pulpit was supplied by Rev. Lee H. Fisher, a student at Tufts College. His services proved so acceptable that he was engaged to continue them till the next annual meeting. On the 1st of April, 1886, the Rev. Frederic W. Bailey entered upon his duties as first pastor of All Souls. Mr. Bailey imme- diately set about providing for a church edifice. Through his efforts the sum of three thousand four hundred dollars was obtained, with which a lot on the corner of Woodland and Norwood Streets was pur- chased, and the same was conveyed to the parish on the 20th of March, 1887. How to raise the money tor the building of the church was the next and more pressing question. This was happily solved by Mr. James A. Norcross, of the famous firm of Norcross Brothers, builders, by the gift of fifteen thousand dollars in the name of himself and his wife, Mary E., upon three conditions : 1st, That the parish should raise seven thousand otherwise than by incumbrance on the property ; 2d, That a certain room in the pro- posed edifice should be legally conveyed to Mr. Nor- cross and his heirs ; and 3d, that the following in- scriptions should be placed on the front of the edifice : "In memory of our Fathers and Mothers who are in Heaven. Our hope is to meet them in that heavenly home; " and "All Souls Universalist Church Edi- fice." The exact form of the gift was, "all the brownstone required for the exterior of All Souls Universalist Church cut and set in place." It was

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assumed that fifteen thousand dollars would cover this expense. Mr. Norcross' proposition was pre- sented on the 9th of November, in a long letter full of details. On the 20th All Souls Parish had a meeting, accepted the proposal, unanimously voted thanks to the donors, and took measures to comply with the first condition. The proposed building is of unique design, of bold architecture and studied sim- plicity. The main structure is seventy feet square with a round tower one hundred and fifty feet high on the corner of the streets. The principal audience- room is designed to seat abont five hundred per- sons ; other rooms adapted for all modern church re- quirements are embraced within the plan. It will be a central attraction for the important neighbor- hood in that quarter of the city.

FRIENDS .- " Meeting" and "meeting-house " are characteristic terms among the Friends. The Prepara- tive, or, as it is called in England, Particular Meeting, is the unit. Several of these constitute a Monthly Meet- ing; these in turn constitute a Quarterly Meeting, and several Quarterly Meetings constitute the Yearly Meet- ing. The Monthly Meeting, which is the lowest cor- porate body, takes and holds property through trus- tees of its own appointing, for the benefit of its Pre- parative constituencies. All meeting-houses are so held. The Preparative Meeting exercises no disci- pline over its members. Discipline is administered by the Monthly Meeting upon an overture or com- plaint from the Preparative Meeting. Any party not satisfied with the discipline dealt out by this body may appeal to the Quarterly Meeting and to the Yearly Meeting in the last resort. There is no sala- ried minister, no sacrament, no set singing, no vot- ing, no business official except a clerk. The clerk is the one important and sufficient official. He re- cords no votes, since there are none to record ; but he " takes the sense" or consensus of the meeting, and makes a minute of that. This sense he gathers from what any Friend may choose to say at the meeting. Having made his minute, he reads it, and if it is ap- proved it stands as the sense of the meeting; and so standing, it is as binding and absolute as a vote else- where. In this way the clerk himself is made such. In this way one Friend may become an "approved minister" and another, because of bad behavior, may become " disowned."

From 1816 to 1837 families of Friends residing in Worcester went up to worship at Mulberry Grove, in Leicester. Later on they obtained leave to hold a Particular Meeting in Worcester. The place of meet- ing at first was in a room over Boyden & Fenno's jewelry store, in Paine's block. But in 1846 they built their present meeting-house on land given by Anthony Chase and Samuel H. Colton, two leading members of the Society. After this the Mulberry Grove Meeting gradually diminished and finally died out. The Worcester Meeting became a part of Ux- bridge Monthly Meeting, of which the Uxbridge and

Northbridge Preparative Meetings were the remain- ing constituent parts. The Uxbridge Monthly Meet- ing is held in the three places just named twelve times a year, five of which are in Worcester. In due gradation, Uxbridge Monthly Meeting belongs to Smithfield (R. 1.) Quarterly Meeting, and this to the New England Yearly Meeting, which is now held al- ternately at Newport, R. I., and Portland, Me.

The Worcester Meeting, though small in numbers, bas included some of the best known, most worthy and most prosperous of her citizens. The names of Chase, Colton, Earle, Hadwen, Arnold and others have figured prominently in the past history of the city. Anthony Chase was for a generation the treas- urer of Worcester County; John Milton Earle was known far and wide as the proprietor and editor of that child and champion of the Revolution, The Mas- sachusetts Spy; Edward Earle became mayor of the city. But the Friends of Worcester have special reason to remember the name of Timothy K. Earle as one of the three principal benefactors of the Society. Choos- ing to be his own executor, Mr. Earle, shortly before his death, which occurred on the 1st of October, 1881, made a gift of 85000 to Uxbridge Monthly Meet- ing, to be held in trust for the benefit of Worcester Preparative Meeting. The fund was to accumulate for ten years; then the income was to be used for repairs and improvement of the meeting-house. The surplus above what might be used for this purpose, when it should reach the sum of $2000, was to be set aside as a fund for rebuilding in case of fire. On the other hand, if the meeting should ever come to an end, the deed of gift provided that the fund should be made over to the Friends' New England Boarding- School at Providence. Other gifts from other sources and for other purposes, but of less amounts, are also held in trust for this meeting. The clerk for a quar- ter of a century, first of the Worcester Meeting, and then of the Uxbridge Monthly Meeting, is James G. Arnold, a lineal descendant, through intermediate and unbroken generations of Friends, of Thomas Arnold, the earliest emigrant of the name and faith into the Providence and Rhode Island Plantations. But it must be said that the present prospects of the body do not justify the expectation that the future will be as the past. The number of members reported is about eighty, and this is less than it has been.

SECOND ADVENTISTS .- The Second Advent move- ment in Worcester was made in anticipation of the fateful 15th of February, 1843. On Thanksgiving Day in 1842 a meeting was held in East City Hall, at which a committee was appointed to secure a hall and hire preachers. Thenceforward, for a period of time, meetings were held almost every evening. For a part of the time the " Upper City Hall " was occu- pied as the place of meeting. When the 15th of Feb- rnary came and went and the sun continued to rise and set as usual, the time for the world's crisis was adjourned to a day in April. Disappointment then

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led to further adjournments, but as time wore on and showed no sign of coming to an end, the Advent- ists, who had been gathered out of almost every de- nomination, gradually consolidated into a regular church organization. For the first seven or eight years no records were kept, because it was held to be inconsistent with the fundamental idea of Adventism. The first record appears under the date of April 14, 1850, and the first important thing recorded was the one Article of Association, which served as the basis of organization. This was in the nature of both creed and covenant. "The personal advent aud reign of Christ on the earth renewed," was the dis- tiriguishing belief, and the solemn agreement to be governed by the Bible as the rule of faith and prac- tice was the only covenant. Religious services were held in various halls until the year 1866, when a chapel was built and dedicated. The building was erected on leased land on Central Street, at a cost of $3113.28. The dedication took place on the 14th of June. A succession of elders ministered to the church until the 15th of December, 1870, when Elder S. G. Mathewson was called to serve "one half the time." He remained in charge till October 17, 1875, when he preached his farewell sermon. Of late years preachers have been supplied by a commit- tee chosen for that purpose. In 1883 the chapel was sold, and a hall for religious services secured in Clark's Block, on Main Street. In 1877 the member- ship was one hundred and forty-five, and one hundred and eighty-five in 1888. The amount of money an- nually raised for current expenses and care of the poor of the church exceeds $2000, while contributions are made for missions abroad, and particularly in India.

DISCIPLES OF CHRIST .- The church of which the lamented Garfield was a minister is an exotic in New England. It had its origiu in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio in the early part of the nineteenth century. Thence it spread through the Southwest and West until, in 1888, the number of communicants in the United States was reported to be about sev- en hundred thousand. Six universities, thirty- one colleges and six collegiate institutes provide the denomination with the higher educational facilities, while fifty-nine missions in Japan, China, India, Tur- key, Africa and Australia, as well as other missions in various European countries, attest their zeal in the propagation of their faith. The central principle of the denomination is the union of all Christians on the basis of the Apostolic Church with the person of Jesus Christ as the only object of faith. Hence, dis- carding all sectarian names, they choose to denomi- nate themselves simply " Disciples of Christ." They hold the great cardinal doctrines of the gospel but not in the terminology of the schools. They abjure speculative tenets touching Trinity and Unity but adhere to the "form of sound words" given in the Scriptures concerning the Father, the Son and the

Holy Spirit. Their polity is congregational, but they are not Congregationalists. Their distinguishing tenet is of baptism, but they are not altogether Baptists. They agree with the Baptists as to the mode and sub- jects of baptism, but differ as to its design. While the Baptists baptize believers because they are for- given, the Disciples baptize them in order to secure the promised forgivenesss. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." The state of salvation follows, not precedes, the baptizing as well as the be- lieving. Baptism will not save if repentance and faith are wanting. Baptismal regeneration they deny. Baptism is the only form necessary for admis- sion into the church ; there is no creed nor covenant. No one is excluded from the Lord's Supper, and this is observed every Lord's Day. The New Testament is held to be the sole book of authority ; the Old Tes- tament is helpful, but not now authoritative.

Only one church of this order exists in Worcester. It was organized on the 5th of August, 1860, with two elders in charge of its spiritual interests and two deacons in charge of its temporal interests. There was no parish organization, but the church itself was incorporated with trustees annually chosen to hold the property. Their first house of worship was the old Central Chapel on Thomas Street. But the sur- roundings were unfavorable and they felt hampered in their work. They therefore, in September, 1885, sold that property, and while making ready to build occupied the old Central Church on Main Street as a place of worship. In the next month they purchased a lot on Main Street opposite King, and there pro- ceeded to erect an attractive church edifice at a cost in all of twenty-three thousand dollars. Its dedica- tion took place on the 12th of September, 1886. In the twenty-eight years of its existence, the church has had for its ministers, William H. Hughes, Wil- liam Rowzee, Alanson Wilcox, J. M. Atwater, T. W. Cottingham, Frank N. Calvin and the present minister, I. A. Thayer, who came from New Castle, Pennsylvania, and began his work in Worcester in October, 1887. To none of these do they apply the epithet Reverend, as the distinction of clergy and laity is not recognized. In 1888 the membership of the church was three hundred and seventy-three and that of the Sundayschool two hundred and fifty.

FREE BAPTISTS .- Two tenets-free will and free communion-distinguish the Free Baptists from other Baptists. They might perhaps be named the Armin- ian Baptists and the others the Calvinistic Baptists ; but those names would not mark the radical distinc- tion growing out of the terms of communion. Enough that each has chosen its own name; "Bap- tists," pure and simple, and "Free Baptists." This denomination had its origin in New Hampshire somewhat more than a century ago. Benjamin Ran. dall had been a Congregationalist, afterwards became a Baptist, and then, by adopting and preaching the doctrines of the freedom of the will and free commu-

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nion, became the founder of the Free Baptist denom- ination. This was in 1780. Within the century fol- lowing, churches of this faith multiplied and spread east and west, until now the membership throughout the country is reported to exceed eighty thousand. In the county of Worcester there are three churches. one of which is in the city, The first preliminary meeting here was held at the house of Newell Tyler, on the 14th of September, 1880. Meetings continued to be held at intervals until the 7th of April, 1881, when the church was duly organized with thirty members. It continued to live without parish powers until the 3d of August, 1887, when by-laws were adopted preparatory to incorporation under Chapter 404 of the Acts of that year. On the 1st day of September following the church became a corporation by the name of the "First Free Baptist Church of Worcester." The Rev. A. J. Eastman, who had been the originator of the movement, was installed on the 7th of April, 1887, as the first pastor. and so continued for one year. The second pastor was the Rev. H. Lockhart. His term began on the 1st of May, 1883, and terminated on the 1st of March, 1887. On the 18th of May following the Rev. D. D. Mitchell became the pastor. The place of worship is " Free Baptist Hall," iu Clark's Building, 492 Main Street.

AFRICAN CHURCHES-African Methodist Zion's Church .- This church was organized in 1846. Its first place of worship was the " Centenary Chapel," which had been erected on Exchange Street in 1840, and which, at a later day, came into the hands of Zion's Church. The house was dedicated for this church in the year of its organization. Rev. Alexander Posey was the first pastor. To him succeeded the Rev. Levin Smith, in 1849. The third and most noteworthy pastor was the Rev. J. A. Mars. In 1854 the house was burned in the great fire of that year. In July, 1855, another house was begun, and by the 25th of September was completed and dedicated. A large part of the money for this expense was collected by Mr. Mars outside the society. After him came a succession of pastors whose names were not obtained.

African Methodist Episcopal Bethel Church .- This church was organized in the summer of 1867 in Lin- coln House Hall. Dr. Brown was a leading spirit in the enterprise and continued to manage until a pas- tor was assigned. The original membership of the church was fourteen. The first pastor assigned by the Conference was Rev. Joshua Hale, whose term of service was two years. After him came in succession twelve pastors, whose names were Mr. Johnson, James Madison, Perry Stanford, Ebenezer Williams, Jeremiah B. Hill, Joseph Taylor, Elijah P. Grinage, D. A. Porter, Charles Aekworth, Mr. Grandy, A. W. Whaley, Mr. Thomas and G. B. Lynch. Then in 1887, Rev. J. B. Stephens was appointed to the charge, which he was keeping at the close of 1888. For a number of years their place of worship was at

the corner of llanover and Laurel Streets. But in 1887 that property was lost and since then their place of worship has been at 302 Main Street. The number of communicants in 1888 was twenty-five and the number of families eight.

The Mount Olive Baptist Church was a child of the Worcester Baptist City Mission Board. At first and for some years it was maintained as a mission. But the brethren of the mission having repeatedly asked for organization and recognition as an independent church, the Board at length yielded to their wishes. Accordingly, on the 24th of February, 1885, a coun- cil of the city Baptist Churches convened in the I'leasant Street Church and after due examination of twenty-two persons constituted them a church with the above name. For a long time the Rev. Charles E. Simmons served them in the gospel without com- pensation. Then they set about procuring a pastor. On the 24th of March, 1887, at their request, a coun- cil convened for the purpose of ordaining Hiram Conway, a student in Newtou Theological Seminary, to the Mount Olive ministry. His examination hav- ing proved satisfactory, his ordination and recogni- tion as pastor took place on the 29th in the Pleasant Street Church. In the summer of the same year house No. 43 John Street, with the connected lot, was purchased and fitted for publie worship at a cost of about one thousand dollars. On the 10th of Octo- ber, 1888, a membership of forty-one persons was reported.

The number of persons of African blood in Wor- cester by the census of 1885 was eight hundred and eighty-three; in 1888 the number was thought to be about one thousand.

CHRISTADELPHIANS .- The Christadelphians, or " Brethren of Christ," constitute a small body in Wor- cester. The order had its origin in the year 1832. Its founder was John Thomas, M.D., of New York, who believed and proclaimed that the true teaching of Christ was for the first time discovered iu this nineteenth century by himself. Dr. Thomas became an itinerant, and went through the United States and the British Empire publishing his new-found gospel. Disciples were made and are to be found scattered through this country, Great Britain, Australia and India. Their belief will, perhaps, best be seen by what they do not believe. In their own printed words, then, "Christadelphians do not believe in the Trinity, in the co-equality and co-eternity of Jesus with the Deity, in the existence of Jesus before his conception at Nazareth, in the personality of the Holy Spirit, in the personality of the devil, in the immortality of the soul, in the transportation of saints to heaven and sinners to hell after death, in eternal torments, in baby sprinkling and pouring, in infant and idiot salvation, in Sabbatarianism, in salvation by good works apart from the gospel, in salvation without baptism, in the validity of baptism where the gospel was not understood and believed at the time of its

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administration, in conversion apart from the intelligent apprehension of the Word, in the conversion of the world by the preaching of the gospel. They do not believe that the Old Testament has been set aside by the New, but, on the contrary, they base their faith on the writings of Moses, the Prophets and the Apos- tles comprehensively viewed, and reject everything contrary to their teaching."

To this non-belief they add the belief that " the faith of Christendom is made up of the fables pre- dicted by Paul in 2 Timothy 4: 4, and is entirely subversive of the faith once for all delivered to the saints." They have no pastors, deacons or paid officers, but in the place of them have "serving brethren, presiding brethren and speaking brethren."

The first meeting of the "ecclesia" in Worcester was held in Temperance Hall, on Foster Street, in 1867. In the beginning there were only twelve mem- bers. This number increased iu a few years to abont sixty, then in twelve years fell back to twenty-two. The place of meeting is Reform Club Hall, at 460 Main Street. The sum of one hundred and fifty dollars covers the current yearly expenses.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 141

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464