USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 22
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63
1. Mr. Robbins says of him, " All his writings - for the pulpit, for the mag- azine, for the regular services of the church and for extraordinary occasions,
227
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
Mr. Lunt was the greatest pulpit orator and sermonizer, and the Rev. Mr. Briant the most noted controversialist, that ever adorned the saered desk of the First Church.
After the death of Dr. Lunt, the pulpit of this society remained over three years vacant ; during this interval various clergymen preached as candidates for settlement. At this time the Rev. Mr. Hepworth received an invitation to be settled over this par- ish, but declined the call. In the year 1860, Rev. John D. Wells received a call and accepted. Rev. Mr. Wells was ordained over the First Church, Thursday, December 27th, 1860. The ordina- tion exercises were as follows : Prayer by Dr. S. K. Lothrop; sermon by Dr. J. H. Morrison of Milton; ordaining prayer by Dr. Ezra S. Gannett ; charge by Dr. A. P. Peabody ; right hand of fellowship by the Rev. Rufus Ellis; address to the people by C. A. Bartol, D. D .; concluding prayer by Wmn. Newell, D. D .;
theological, moral, biographical, historical, and literary, rise above the ordinary level. But some of his occasional discourses are almost unrivalled in their de- partment. They are models and will be, long after these granite walls, which echoed his eloquence, shall have crumbled into dust. For vigor of thought, for closeness of reasoning, for acuteness of discrimination, for correctness, dignity, and force of style, for soundness, maturity, and independence of opinion, and for solidity aud earnestness of conviction, they are justly entitled to the high distinction they have already acquired and to an enduring fame. But, in addi- tion to all these features of excellence, there is discoverable in many of his fin- est discourses another quality, so characteristic of himself as he really was, and yet so unlike what he may have seemed to be to those who judged of him only by the surface that I cannot in justice to my impression of him refrain from at- tempting to describe it. It is a certain repressed heat, a pent up fervor underly- ing the thought and style; - as the earth's central fire underlies the calm face of nature, the cool and quiet pastures, the gently curving hills, and the moun- tains with their gray and passionless brows,- the existence of which the reader or hearer might fail to suspect, till at some unexpected moment it would flash out upon him in a sudden flame of eloquence or heave up a majestic sentence. The discourse delivered at the interment of his venerable parishioner, one of America's most renowned sons, one of freedom's most valiant and illustrious defenders, one of history's most honored names is worthy of a place beside of any funeral oration of ancient or modern times. That also in commemoration of the great statesman and eloquent orator whose name is identified with the Con- stitution and engraved upon the arch of our union, has no superior amongst the many enlogies that were pronounced over his grave. The two historical ser- mons preached here on the two hundredth anniversary of the gathering of the First Church in Quincy have earned for their writer an enviable reputation in another department of literature which he cultivated with a lively interest."
1
228
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
benediction by the pastor. Mr. Wells was greatly devoted to his parish, but was more of a pastor than a preacher. During the latter part of his administration he received a greater salary than any other of his predecessors. July, 1864, he enlisted as a private in the regiment of three months men who were stationed in the west. In 1871, being out of health, he asked of the society a vacation of a few months for the purpose of taking a tour to Europe for the restoration of his health. This request was freely granted him by the parish. On his return, with renewed health, he resumed his labors where he continued to minister to their wants until failing health caused him to resign his charge. Mr. Wells delivered his farewell sermon May 28th, 1876, which closed his pastorate with the First Church, after having been connected with the parish abont nine years and five months. Mr. Wells while connected with the church established and carried on quite a large and extensive private school. He graduated at Harvard College in 1854, and from the Divinity School in 1859, and was twenty-five years of age at the time of his settlement here. At the present time we believe he is settled over a parish in Los Angeles, California. Since his resignation the society have been without a settled pastor; during this time the pulpit has been most of the time supplied by candidates for settlement. In the year 1877, they extended two calls to eminent clergymen. The first was to the Rev. Dr. Putnam, D. D., of Brooklyn, New York ; the other was to the Rev. Ellery Channing Butler, of Danvers, Mass., both of which were declined.
Mr. Hancock, in his century sermons, delivered in 1739, page 25, makes the following statement in reference to the first meet- ing-houses erected by the First Congregational Society of this town : " This is the third house, in which we are now worship- ping, that we and our fathers have built for the public worship of God."
Of the time of construction or site of the first meeting-house we can neither find traditional nor recorded evidence. Of the second stone church we cannot find a record regarding the time it was built, although a vane that was taken from this house at
229
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
the time it was pulled down, bore date of 1666, which by some has been considered the time of its construction ; this is very uncertain, and to my mind conjectural. But as to its location we have recorded testimony registered in Suffolk County, which makes it appear that the building stood opposite the present Public Library, in the road, near the corner of Canal and Hancock streets, although tradition relates that it stood a short distance north of this.
The old Plymouth road was laid out in 1640, and when it came to this church it divided and went two rods at each end of it ; from this it would appear that it stood east and west. It was small, but large enough for the times. The precise time the town placed a bell on the old Stone Church we are not able to state ; it might have been when the vane was put on, in 1666. It is very evident that this old meeting-house was supplied with this very necessary appendage to call the worshippers together, and also to be used as an alarm bell. We have said that it was very certain that a bell was on this house from the fact that December 24th, 1694, the town appropriated twenty-five shillings to pay Mr. Thomas Revells for ringing the bell and sweeping the meeting-house the year previous. The bell was small, weighing about 200 pounds, and in 1709-10 had become cracked and un- serviceable ; and Mr. Daniel Legarce, having a strong antipathy to being elected to the office of constable, agreed to repair the bell free of all cost, if the town would agree not to choose him constable.
At the precinct meeting it was voted that, "Whereas the meeting-house bell, by reason of the great crack in it, is become utterly unserviceable, and Mr. Daniel Legaree offering to mend it on condition of his being freed from being chosen constable, as also that he will run the hazard of losing his labor and cost in case he cannot mend it; and further, that if anything should happen whereby it should be melted or broken, that he will return the same weight of the same metal that he receives. It is voted that the bell be forthwith committed unto him upon the condi- tions above said, and if said Legaree shall mend it well and work- manlike, whereby it shall again prove sufficiently serviceable according to its dimensions, he shall either be freed from being
.
230
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
constable as he desires, or be paid for his labor according to its due value."
It appears that Mr. Legaree was not able to fulfil his contract, as Mr. Edmund Quincy was appointed in 1715 to purchase a bell of 250 pounds weight, that had recently arrived from England, for £40; but it was not until 1721 that they were able to procure one of 290 pounds weight. The other bells that were subse- quently placed upon the church were of the following weights : 949, 1500 and 3600 pounds.
By a vote of the precinct in 1715, the custom of ringing the bell at nine o'clock at night was first established.
In 1714, the Old Stone Church went through a general repair. " Then voted, that the walls of the meeting-house be effectually mended and plastered to the plate within, white-washed and painted without ; the lower floor and stairs, with their entry spaces, be repaired, and that any small pieces of ceiling not be- longing to the pews be done ; that the windows be well mended as to the frames and glass, excepting what belong to the pews, and effectually provide gutters for the conveyance of water from the walls; as also to see the platform on the top be sub- stantially mended by the advice' of skillful workmen, and a turret built upon it." It would appear from this vote that there was no spire upon the church, but that the bell was hung in a frame erected upon a platform, and that they were about to build a cupola for it.
The old church was furnished with seats - pews were too ex- travagant a luxury for the common people of that day; but in course of time pews were built by those who desired them at their own expense, and with consent of a vote of the precinct. After 1700 a constant stream of votes for the permission to con- struet pews are to be found on the records. The sexton found it rather a vexations task to seat the congregation, as the records indicate numerous complaints and debates in the precinct meet- ing, on the question that many of them were assigned too low a seat in the synagogue. The women were separated from the men.
The church was without heating apparatus, having neither fire-place nor stove. Foot stoves, so fashionable at one time,
231
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
were not in use. But they preached their brimstone theology with such fervor that it imparted sufficient caloric to keep them comfortably warm in the coldest weather during those long, (and would have been to modern worshippers) tedious services ; long they must have been, if their clergymen's prayers were as lengthy as some of the Rev. Samuel Torrey's of Weymouth, who, upon a public Fast Day in 1696, prayed two hours; and so gifted was he in prayer that some of his audience desired that he might have continued an hour longer.
In 1695 the worshippers, owing to the increase of the inhab- itants of the town, found their church too small, and somewhat in a decayed condition. At a public meeting in November of this year they voted to build a new one, but this vote was not complied with, as at a subsequent meeting " Mr. Caleb Hubbard and Mr. Benjamin Savill were instructed to stop the leaks in the south side of the meeting-house." This seems to have relieved them of their trouble, and satisfied them for thirty-five years ; in the mean time, they had been relieved of a considerable por- tion of their congregation by the establishment of a new society in the middle precinct.
March 30th, 1730, the church was again so out of repair that the town paid Mr. Joseph Parmenter, Precinet Clerk, twenty shillings for clearing cart-loads of snow from inside the church.
At this time the canine race became so imbued with the re- ligious sentiments of their masters, that they began to attend church. This so annoyed the congregation that the town voted to instruct Mr. Parmenter to expel all the dogs out of the meeting-house on the Sabbath day, for which he was to receive twenty shillings.
The society decided to build a new church in 1730-31; the old stone one remained until 1747-8 before it was sold. The first account we find in the town records relating to its sale was to Brackett and Field, September 25th, 1747, on condition that they would build a poor house 1 on the same site for the use of the
1. " September 25, 1747. At this meeting the question of building a poor house for the town's poor came up for consideration, and on the debate of this question it was moved to said meeting that the old stone meeting-house might, in manner, be made to serve in that case by some alteration. A committee being
232
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
town. They were to receive from the town, when the building was completed, all the stone and timber of the old meeting- house, and fifty pounds in bills of credit. From some cause or other this sale seems to have proved abortive.
We have been unable to find any other mention of this church in the town records. According to the precinct records it was sold the latter part of February, 1748, to the highest bidders, Serg. Moses Belcher and Mr. Joseph Nightingale, for £127, old tenor."
The following abridged historical account of the third meeting- house erected by the First Church was written by the Rev. Fred- eric Augustus Whitney, son of one of its former pastors, and published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Reg- ister, 1864.
After they had decided (March 2d, 1731) to erect a meeting- house, Mr. Edmund Quincy, Samuel Tompson, Benjamin Webb, and Joseph Crosby were chosen a committee to solicit subscrip- tions, make a plan, and divide the pews into different divisions
then instantly appointed by said meeting, and desired directly to go and view the same and report again to this present meeting what they should think ad- visable in the affair. The said committee instantly going, returned, and by their report thought it not advisable to improve the said house as proposed, by alteration; but rather to pull down the said stone meeting-house, or make sale of it, and to build another in the same place, as proposed, for to be im- proved for the poor as the town shall think best. And then, after some further consideration and debate thercon, and upon the motion made by Messrs. Richard Brackett and Ebenezer Field to said meeting, 'That, if they would let them have the said stone meeting-house, viz: All the Stone, Timber, with all therein and thereon, and also give them fifty pounds in Bills of Credit of the old tenor, (viz., in passable Bills of Credit equivalent thereto, ) that they would undertake and build the Town a Double House on the same spot where the stone meeting- house now stands, viz: build a house Thirty-six feet in length and Sixteen feet in breadth, within Boards or Studs; They, the said Brackett and Field, to find the Timber, Boards, Nails, and all other material necessary, and to frame, raise, complete, and finish said House, in all parts and respects at the cost and charge of said Brackett and Field, by the first of March next coming; for which ser- vice and cost the said Brackett and Field to have the said old stone meeting- house, with all the Stone, Timber, Boards, Nails, or whatsoever belongs to the said honse in such sort, excepting only so many of the Stone as to stone a small cellar under the House they are to build as aforesaid, and to have fifty pounds in Bills of Credit of the Old Tenor, - or in other passable Bills Equivalent also as aforesaid.' Put to vote, and it passed in the affirmative."
233
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
and prices, as follows, viz : eight pews at twenty-five pounds, twelve at fifteen, eight at twelve, six at ten, and six at seven pounds. The galleries to have twenty pews, eight in the front against the wall at ten pounds, six on each side against the wall at eight pounds cach. The following are the names and amounts of those who subscribed for pews in the new church :
" Edmund Quincy one at £25; John Quincy one at £25; Jos. Crosby one at £25; David Rawson one at £25; John Beale one at £25; John Baxter one at £25; John Ruggles one at £25; Peter Adams one at £15 ; Benjamin Webb one at £15; Joseph Brackett one at £15; Nathan Brackett one at £15; David Bass one at £15; Samuel Tompson one at £15; Samuel Belcher one at £15; Ebenezer Nightingale one at £15; Josiah Adams one at £15; John Spear one at £15 ; John Mills one at £15; John Adams one at £15; Joseph Nealone at £12; Benjamin Neal one at £12; Seth Bass one at £12; Samuel Penniman one at £12; Moses Belcher one at £12; Moses Belcher, Jr., one at £12; Benjamin Baxter one at £12; Stephen Cleverly one at £12; Benjamin Beale one at £10; Pelatiah Rawson one at £10; Samuel Savil one at £10; Ebenezer Adams one at £10; Moses Paine, Jr., one at £10; Wil- liam Spear, one at £10; John Marshall one at £7; John Bass one at £7 ; Samuel Bass one at £7 ; Joseph Pray one at £7; William Field one at £7 ; Ebenezer Field one at £7. And in the gallery, Nathaniel Belcher one at £10; Christopher Webb one at £8 ; Ebenezer Crane one at £10; Thomas Crosby one at £10; Simon Crosby one at £8; Nathan Brackett, for his niece, one at £10.
"The church was raised in July,1 1731, and was dedicated Oct. 8th, 1732. 'The text preached upon at the dedication,' says the minister, Rev. Mr. Hancock, 'was Isaiah, LX chapter, 13th verse.' The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was then admin- istered.
" Madam Norton presented to the church a very handsome velvet cushion for the pulpit.
1. " After considerable debate at the meeting, concerning the raising of the new meeting-house, the question was put whether the committee should pur- chase Bread, Cheese, Sugar, Rum, Sider, and Beer at the cost of the precinct, and it passed in the affirmative. The church was raised July 27th, 28th, 29th, 1731."-Precinct Records.
31
.
EAST.
Dwelle
83 H. Wood.
2 Spear.
& Beale.
Adams
Turner.
- Poor. % Town's
Deacons' seat Table.
$ Spear.
Raw-
son. 50
Deacon
Billings&'
48
Gen. Taylor.
1 Ministry. 24
1 Presidents.
Baxter. 25
47 Glover.
Baxter.
23
2 Greenleaf.
Dea. Spear & N. Bent.
Dea. Veasie.
46 Fenno.
Mayo.
22
3 Nightingale
Baxter. 27
4 Tufts.
Newcomb. 28
Cook. S
45 Glover.
Jenkins. 21
5 Riddle.
Curtis. 29
44
Hall.
Thayer & Brigham.
20
Hard- wiek.
79
43 Souther.
Capt. Bass. 19
7
Judge Adams.
Deacon Savil.
Stove.
42
Savil.
Judge Greenleaf, 18
41
Pope.
S. Spear.
17
Night- ingale. "
40 Green.
Beale.
16
T. Adams.E
39 Apthorp.
E. Spear. 15
10 Quincy.
Quincy. 34
38 Appleton.
Willett & French.
11
Shaw & Chubbuck.
Hardwick. 35
Glover. r N. &H.
Biek- nell. «
72
89
W. Wood & Crane.
Billings
Faxon.
P. Brac-
kett. ~
Judge
Cranch 2
Greenleaf
. James
Bent.
Deacon
L. Bass.
E. Adams
&1. 5
Whitney.
W. Spear
Porch.
1
234
the building in 1805, and when it was taken down in 1828. sents the division of the ground floor after the alterations of
Bass Seaver. & 52 Crane & ingale. L. Brackett. 54 J. Brac- Gi kett. 26 Dr. &Phipps. L. - Baxter H.Hard wick. 31 38 SOUTH. Porch. Keat- ing. 36 MR & E Marslı. Night- 09 W. 69 19 WNew- Bass. comb. 79 Marsh. & Pray. ZAdams. 1 Field & .J. W. Baxter. Hobart. " The following notice from a historical sketch, describes Adams. 3 are supported by four large pillars, which give the house rather floor, and all painted throughout. The galleries, as also the roof, as out, is still very respectable. There are 87 pews on the lower ground, 75 feet. The appearance of the church, inside as well the bell deck, 25 feet; height of ball above the vane from the height of tower to bell deck, 50 feet ; height of cupola from this house are as follows: Width, 56 feet; length, 61 feet; its dimensions and appearance in 1827: 'The dimensions of -
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
NORTH. " The subjoined diagram, abridged from the original, repre- Tower.
Pulpit.
&
86
37 Billings.
Brackett & Newcomb. 13
12
B. & .J. Faxon.
Crane & Nightingale32
8 Briesler.
9 Miller.
Baxter & Wild.
14
J. Marsh,
&
&
&
& J.
69
WEST.
6 Baxter.
Curtis. 30
-
THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL (UNITARIAN) CHURCHI. ERECTED IN 1732; TAKEN DOWN IN 1827.
The plate of the old church here presented has been kindly loaned us by the Rev. Frederick A. Whitney, of Boston (Allston). It was originally eut by Bowen for the History of Quincy, by the Rev. George Whitney, pub- lished in 1827.
235
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
a solemn and imposing appearance. The pulpit is in the ancient style of building-handsomely carved-with one flight of stairs. Below is the communion table, forming the front part of a large pew, according to ancient custom, made for the accommodation of the deacons, or perhaps, for the ruling elders. In front of the gallery for the choir of singers is a handsome clock, pre- sented to the society by two ladies : Madam Abigail Adams, wife of President Adams, Senior, and Madam Esther Black, widow of the late Moses Black, Esq.'
"As the dimensions, when the church was taken down, were sixty-one feet by fifty-six, and, as fifteen feet were added in the width in 1805, the original size was sixty-one by forty-one. At first, the galleries were reached by stairs in the west corners of the church, as customary in early times, and all the pews were square. There were two rows of body seats in front, on which were seated men and women on opposite sides. Behind these were two rows for the singers. When the singers stood, they faced each other, with a partition between them, on which to lay their books. The deacons sat in their place before the pul- pit and lined off the Psalm. Mr. Lemuel Brackett, who was born in 1780, and is of the best authority on these matters of and near his time, informs me that when he was a boy, Mr. Bab- cock, who afterwards removed to Milton, led the singing, using a pitch-pipe.
" It will be remembered by those who recall the old church, that it rested for underpinning on two rows of neatly hammered stone, and that the door steps were of similar material. The church as originally constructed had not this ; but it was added about 1790. The town contemplated putting the hammered stone only under three walls of the church, leaving the back, or east side, in its first rough finish. Now this side of the church looked towards Thompson Baxter's house, in which Rev. Mr. Wibird boarded, and was that which the pastor first approached in coming to his pulpit. He heard of the purpose of the town, and exclaimed : 'Why should not my side be hammered stone, too? It must be ; I will pay for it myself.' And, according to his accustomed liberality, he actually insisted on defraying the cost of that part of the stone. It was not uncommon, as I
236
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES. .
learned from my father, his successor in the ministry, for Rev. Mr. Wibird to look over the list of rates prepared for the pay- ment of his salary, and erase some names saying: ' this man has been unfortunate,'-or 'such an one needs the money more than I do,'-and thus, deductions were frequently made from his stated stipend. The hammered stones above named were used in the underpinning of the houses erected on Cottage Avenue from the materials of the old church.
" When the church was taken down, each owner signed and sealed, and received fifty dollars for a pew below, and ten dol- lars for one above. As owners and occupants could not be described on the diagram, we add a brief notice of each- given from the deed-of the owners on the final disposition of the edifice.1
1. It will be borne in mind that the following list was published in 1864, hence many of the persons herein enumerated have since deceased :
"No. 1. Owner, President John Q. Adams. His oldest son, George Wash- ington Adams, attorney, of H. U., 1821, signs for him. President John Adams, former owner, died July 4th, 1826, in his 91st year. His wife, Abigail, died October 28th, 1818, aged 74. He was never absent from church, forenoon or afternoon, when in Quiney; and was accustomed in the latter years of his life to sit on the short seat across the head of the pew. His son, the President, was as punctual at church ; he died February 23d, 1848, in his 81st year. His widow Louisa Catharine, died May 15th, 1852, aged 77.
No. 2. Owner, Daniel Greenleaf, who came from Boston in 1797; and many years after, bought and occupied both the pew and the large and beautiful estate of Moses Black, - the original estate of Edmund, ancestor of the Quincy family. Mr. Greenleaf died March 25, 1853, aged 90 years, 6 mos. His wife died Jan. 6th, 1839, aged 73. He was a brother to John, of pew No. 70, and cousin of Thomas, of pew No. 18; also, cousin to his own wife Elizabeth Greenleaf.
No. 3. Owner, George Nightingale, formerly town clerk and treasurer; who died Feb. 25th, 1864, aged 77 years, 9 mos. Seth Burrill occupied before him. Asa Pope also occupied.
No. 4. Owner, Cotton Tufts, H. U., 1777, died 1833, aged 76. This family lived in Weymouth, attending constantly here. He was son of Dr. Cotton Tufts of Weymouth, H. U., 1749, and father of Quincy Tufts, who is still a merchant at No. 105 Washington street, Boston, where he has been engaged longer than any other single trader or firm, on the street.
No. 5. Owner, Isaac Riddle of Quincy Point. Nathan Josselyn also occu- pied it.
No. 6. Owner, Anthony Wibird Baxter from the west part of the town, died Sept., 1822. His widow Catharine signs the deed, as execntrix.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.