USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > History of the Clapboard Trees or Third Parish, Dedham, Mass. : now the Unitarian Parish, West Dedham, 1736-1886 > Part 2
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II.
LOCATING THE MEETING-HOUSE.
THE order of the General Court creating the new parish or precinct was passed Oct. 8, 1730; and the first legal meeting was held October 22 at the house of John Ellis, near the present Ellis Station. This house was selected as a place for holding the parish meetings, and for the Sunday services of the parish, probably because it was a tavern and afforded the necessary room for these purposes. At this meeting, John Everett was chosen moderator; James Fales, Jr., clerk; and John Everett, James Fales, Jr., and Ebenezer Healey, assessors. November 8, another meeting was held at the house of Nathaniel Guild, who lived near the site of the present Orthodox church in Norwood, when fifty pounds were voted for preaching, and a committee appointed to secure a minister for six months. The meetings were to be held for three months at the house of John Ellis, and for three at that of Nathaniel Guild, if it could be procured ; if not, for the whole six months at the house of John Ellis. It was also proposed to build a meeting-house at the centre of the parish, to be forty feet in length, thirty-six in width, and twenty feet stud or thereabouts. At a meeting held Jan. 20, 1731, it was voted to procure a surveyor to ascertain the centre of the parish; and a committee was appointed to buy boards, shingles, and clapboards. Although the centre of the parish was ascertained, which was probably a little south of the present Clapboard Trees church, and the work of building a meeting-house begun, not all the people were by any means satisfied with the location. The differ- ences of opinion led to the holding of a meeting in May, when it was decided to have "a loving conference " together June 7. Then it was thought best to leave the decision as to
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LOCATING THE MEETING-HOUSE
the location to the General Court. A committee of the General Court accordingly viewed the situation, and made report that "the people were very unsatisfied among them- selves as to a place for the meeting-house to stand on." The parish had as many as five places under consideration,- " Onion's knowl, Onion's bars, ye southerd corner of ye field call ye rye field, ye south end of ye common land lying between John Cobb's and Doctor Richard's, and ye place where it now stands, according to ye agreement." At a meeting held June 21, at the request of the committee of the General Court, the parish voted to build on the south end of the common land ; and this place was recommended by the committee and ordered by the General Court. A location having been decided upon, a change of opinion seems to have taken place; and, at several meetings held during the summer and autumn, it was voted not to build upon this spot. An attempt was made to give up preaching services until the question of location was finally decided, but this was voted down by the parish. September 6, it was again voted to build on the common land, and a com- mittee of two was appointed to purchase the frame of a meeting-house standing near the houses of Jonathan Onion and Joseph Ellis, if it could be had on reasonable terms, and remove it as soon as possible to the common land. In October, this action was negatived; and it was decided not to raise the three hundred pounds already voted. Decem- ber I, the parish met at the meeting-house near the house of Joseph Ellis, and voted "that preaching be performed in this house ye next quarter of a year ensuing ye date hereof." March 20, 1732, a committee was appointed to build a meet- ing-house on the site selected by the General Court. At a meeting in July two other locations were voted on; but no action was taken. Dec. 5, 1732, the parish met at the house of Nathaniel Guild.
It was put to vote if it be ye mind of ye precinct to grant ye sum of one hundred and twenty pounds of money to support preaching in said precinct for one full year from ye date hereof, that is, such a part of ye time in ye House near ye house of Joseph Ellis in said precinct and no
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THE CLAPBOARD TREES PARISH
longer than such time as ye house near ye house of Benjamin Fairbanks dwelling house set up by James Fales, Junr., Simon Pettee, Ebenezer Dean and Ebenezer Healy be inclosed and a floor be.laid down in it, then ye remainder of ye year that preaching be performed in ye house last expressed, and to choose a committee to procure a minister, and voted in the affirmative.
This location was on what is now Prospect Street in Nor- wood, near Nahatan Street, to the west. Succeeding this, an effort was made to purchase the house near Joseph Ellis, and to use it in completing this house. The General Court was also asked to negative its former decision and to ap- prove of the Fairbanks house.
A majority of the parish being favorable to the house near Jonathan Fairbanks's, meetings were held there, and an effort was made to establish that as the permanent loca- tion. The people at the Clapboard Trees were not satisfied with this action, and carried the question to the General Court. Two meeting-houses had been erected in the par- ish : one near the house of Joseph Ellis, in 1731 ; and one near the house of Jonathan Fairbanks, in 1732. Although these houses were less than half a mile apart, they did not equally accommodate all the people of the parish ; and each locality had its merits to those who lived nearer to it than to the other.
The building of two meeting-houses indicates a strong feeling on the part of the people, and a determination to be accommodated in regard to location. As the precinct could not have two churches, and no compromise being possible, it was necessary to ask for a decision from the General Court. When that body was appealed to, it sent out another committee, which recommended a division of the precinct. According to this decision, made in April, 1734, Joseph Ellis, the two Fishers, Aaron Ellis, and others, resi- dent at the Clapboard Trees, with their estates, were "laid back to the old parish "; while the remainder were formed into the south precinct, which, at a meeting held Feb. 9, 1735, voted money for the settlement of the Rev. Thomas Balch and a salary of one hundred and twenty pounds.
19
LOCATING THE MEETING-HOUSE
Eight persons protested against this action, on the ground that they were under engagement to a minister already settled in the Clapboard Trees parish ; and these persons were, by the action of the General Court, connected with that parish at their request.
The General Court was quite in error, if it thought this arrangement would cause the difficulties to cease. The inhabitants of the Clapboard Trees were not better situated than at first, and they had no purpose whatever of going back to the first parish. What they wanted was a meeting- house of their own, within easy distance of their own houses ; and this they were determined to get as soon as possible. Not only was the distance from the old meeting- house objected to, but there were other causes of dissatis- faction. The minister in the first parish at that time was Samuel Dexter, who was extremely puritanical and ascetic, and who was possessed with little of the spirit of tolera- tion. The first parish was torn with dissensions, and it was in a constant agitation from those who would not submit to its discipline. Some of the inhabitants in the Clapboard Trees remained away from the communion service, and for this they were cited before the church. One or more of the others were guilty of contentious acts, which led to much controversy and the calling of a council. All these causes had the effect of agitating the people and of making them more resolute for having a meeting of their own.
At the very next meeting of the first precinct, after the people in the Clapboard Trees had been returned to it by order of the General Court, held May 14, 1735, an effort was made to obtain permission to worship in the Clapboard Trees meeting-house. The action taken is thus recorded on the first parish records : -
Voted, if it be the mind of the precinct to give them consent that such and no more of this precinct as now meet at the meeting house near Jonathan Onion's may enjoy Gospel ordinances there. This passed in the negative.
In September of the same year, another effort was made to obtain permission to legally use the meeting-house they had
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THE CLAPBOARD TREES PARISH
built, this time asking that two ministers be supported by the parish. The vote is reported as follows : -
A request of the inhabitants of the place called Clapboard Trees desires they might be dismissed from paying anything to the support of the Revd. Mr. Dexter, or otherwise to raise the taxes for the support of both ministers upon the whole precinct. The Society by their vote declared for the negative.
In the mean time, a minister had been secured for the Clapboard Trees meeting-house. Having a minister settled among them, and preaching to them every Sunday, was likely to help their cause, at least with. the General Court. They also brought their demands before the first church, asking for a dismission to form a new church in their own neighborhood. The action of the church can be best under- stood in the words of its own records : -
May 18th, 1735 .- A letter was communicated to the church signed by eight of the brethren who dwell in or near that part of the town called Clapboard Trees, the purport of which was to signify to the Church their intention to be embodied into a separate Church state, and to desire a dismission for that purpose; and that the Church, by the Elder and Messenger would assist them in the performance of said service, and in the installment of the Revd. Mr. Dwight over them as Pastor.
Upon which the following vote was taken : -
Brethren, if it be agreeable to you to give a dismission to our breth- ren Thomas Herring, Nathanael Gay, Jonathan Onion, Lusher Gay, Daniel Fisher, John Bracket, Joseph Ellis and Ebenezar Kingsbury in order to their being gathered into a Church state separate from us - as they have signified it to be their desire in a written instrument which hath now been read to you - please to signify it by your uplifted hands. Passed in negative.
After which it was signified to the Church that their having nega- tived the first request, rendered it needless to offer to them the second ; and it was farther signified to the Church that it was expected that the brethren would prosecute the separation from us, and the intended installment. For which purposes they might have a Council on the spot the next Wednesday.
The church then voted to appoint a committee, consisting of the pastor, the deacons, and three others, to give their reasons to the churches for refusing to dismiss the members
2I
LOCATING THE MEETING-HOUSE
living at the Clapboard Trees to form a new church. The reasons presented by this committee are not given in the church book. Five days later, the church decided not to send delegates to the ecclesiastical council held in the Clapboard Trees meeting-house; but in June the action then taken was recorded in these words :-
A Council of five Churches, viz., the Church of Medfield, the Church of Brookline, the Church of Hingham, the Church of Milton, and the Church of Natick, convened at the Clapboard Trees upon the request of the Brethren petitioners for a dismission; and on the 4th of June they embodied them into a distinct and separate Church, except- ing John Gay, who is continued under the administration of our Church, and Ebenezar Kingsbury, who belongs to the South Church; and four others, that were not in Church fellowship, were allowed to embody with those Brethren; viz., Maj. Joseph Ellis, John Baker, Benjamin Fair- banks and John Richards.
In regard to the action of the first church in calling several of its members to account for not attending com- munion, it is to be remembered that they lived at the Clapboard Trees, and that they were seeking to form a church of their own. It cannot be said that the action of either party to this controversy was justifiable. It is a good illustration of the constant difficulties arising in the New England churches throughout the eighteenth century, owing to the repressive spirit which sought to keep men within the closest bounds. Every act of men was brought under the scrutiny of church or town authorities, and they were subjected to very exacting regulations. At this very time, the selectmen in Dedham were in the habit of ordering all persons coming into the town to leave it at once, if they had any thought they were not of good character or incapa- ble of supporting themselves. This disposition to suppress independent action was galling to many, and was not easily submitted to by not a few. The spirit of political and religious independence was growing, and manifested itself in many ways.
Another source of difficulty in this case, as in many others at this time, was the connection of Church and State.
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THE CLAPBOARD TREES PARISH
The churches were supported by the towns ; and a tax was levied on all persons living in the town, as in the case of other taxes. Not only was this the case, but persons not attending church were fined. These regulations had al- ready begun to be a source of trouble, for there was an in- creasing number of persons who felt them to be oppressive and unjust. As in the present case, they helped to create hard feeling, to make one party oppressive and the other contentious and rebellious, and to rend the churches with the bitterest controversies about matters of trivial impor- tance. On the one hand was felt the need of a strong rule
WHERE DR. CUTLER PREACHED IN 1731.
in behalf of purity and good order, and on the other was manifested a growing spirit of manly independence. Both were right, but they were not brought together in the best manner.
It has been stated by some of those who have written on the early history of the western part of Dedham, that the first religious services held in that part of the town were after the order of the Church of England, and were con- ducted in the house of Joseph Smith, on what is now Sum- mer Street, in 1731. It is quite certain that those church services were not the first gatherings for public worship held in West Dedham. Those at the house of John Ellis
23
LOCATING THE MEETING-HOUSE
certainly were earlier, and those in the Clapboard Trees meeting-house preceded them by some months. It is inter- esting to note, however, that the Church of England services began in this part of the town. They were conducted by the Rev. Timothy Cutler, D.D., a graduate of Harvard College, who was employed by the London Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. He came to Dedham at the desire of a few Churchmen and of some " dissenters willing to be informed," and had a monthly congregation of from forty to fifty persons. He continued his services until Christmas, 1733, and occasionally for a short time longer. Though the Episcopal church began thus early in West Dedham, it never gained any foothold, and was afterwards continued in the vicinity of the first parish meeting-house.
Having secured their meeting-house and minister, and get- ting no favor from the first parish and church, the next step for the people in the Clapboard Trees was to appeal to the General Court. This they did immediately after the instal- lation of their minister ; for their petition asking for a sepa- rate precinct was presented to the General Court June 22, 1735, and appears on the "Journal of the Honourable House of. Representatives of His Majesty's Province of Massachu- setts-Bay in New England," as follows : -
A petition of Jonathan Ellis and Jedediah Tucker, and thirty others, inhabitants of Dedham, and of that part of the Town called the Clab- board Trees, praying that for as much as the Court have set them off from the South Precinct there, as well as the North, that a committee of this Court may be appointed to repair to that part of Dedham called the Clabboard Trees, and in order to adjust matters, and prevent differences between them and the other Precincts, notifying all concerned of the time and place of meeting, and that the said Committee may be impow- red to delineate certain bounds and lines whereby they may be circum- scribed, and that they may be also invested with equal Powers Priviliges & Immunities with any other Precinct or Parish; which accompanied a Petition of Mr. Byfield Lyde praying that his Farm in said Town of Dedham may belong to and accounted as part of the Clabboard Tree Precinct. Read and Ordered, That the Petitioners serve the North and South Precincts in Dedham with Copies of these Petitions, that they may show cause, if any they have, on the first Thursday of the next sit-
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THE CLAPBOARD TREES PARISH
ting of the Court, why the prayer thereof should not be granted, and the Petitions are referred in the meantime for Consideration.
This petition was taken up in the Council November 26, when it was read a second time in connection with the an- swers of the north and south precincts. The Council then
Ordered, That the prayer of the Petition be so far granted as that Joseph Wilder, Esq; with such as the honourable House of Representa- tives shall join be a Committee to repair to the Place Petitioned for to be a Precinct and view the same, and consider the Circumstances, thereof, and hear the Parties for and against the Petition, and report as soon as may be, what may be proper for this Court to do thereon, the Committee to give seasonable Notice of the time of their going, and the Charge thereof to be paid as this Court shall order.
This was read in the House November 30, and concurred with. The committee appointed consisted of Joseph Wilder of the Council, and, from the House, of James Warren of Plymouth and Eleazer Porter of Hadley. After this com- mittee had been to Dedham and attended to their duties, they made report of the conclusion arrived at by them : -
The Committee having been on the Land petitioned for to be a Pre- cinct, viewed the same, considered the Circumstances thereof, and heard the Parties for and against the Prayer of the Petition, are humbly of Opinion, That the Prayer of the Petition be so far granted, as that a Line be run from the House of Richard Ellis Northeasterly to the Center or Midway betwixt the Meeting House in the South Precinct and in the Clabboard Trees, and from thence to the House of Ebenezer Ellis, and from thence to the Crossways so called, and be established as a divi- sional Line betwixt the South Precinct in Dedham and that of the Clab- board Trees, and that the Land lying betwixt that and the Line formerly made and settled betwixt the North and South Precincts, with the Inhabitants thereon, with the Families and their Estates that have been formerly set to them by this Court out of the North Precinct in said Dedham, as also the Family and Estate of Benjamin Fairbank, and such Part of the Estates of Richard Ellis, Ebenezer Ellis and Eliphalet Pond, lying in Dedham, that may fall to the Southward of the first mentioned Line, be erected into a separate Precinct, & have Parish Powers & Priv- iliges granted to them, saving the Families, Persons & Estates hereafter named, that may fall within the bounds of the Parish above delineated, viz. Ebenezer Bracket, Nathanael Kingsbury, Amos Fisher, and Jonah Fisher, who are still continued to the North Precinct in Dedham, to do Duty and receive Privilege, and William Bullard, Nathan Lewis, Samuel
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LOCATING THE MEETING-HOUSE
Farrington, and John Cobb, who belong to the South Precinct, and are still to continue to do Duty and receive Privilege with them as hereto- fore, neither is this to be understood any ways to alter the Order of this Court formerly made, which obliges a Number of Families belonging to the Clabboard Trees, to pay to the South Precinct for a term of Years. The Committee are also of the Opinion that the Petition of Byfield Lyde, Esq; be dismissed. All which is humbly submitted, in the Name and by Order of the Committee, JOSEPH WILDER.
This report was passed in the Council Jan. 1, 1736, and was read and accepted in the House on the 10th. By this action of the House, the report of the committee went into effect on that day.
For a considerable period after its formation, the Clapboard Trees was called the second parish. It was so designated on the records and on the printed sermons of its earlier min- isters. This probably arose from the fact that the church in the west parish was organized earlier than that in the south parish, though the reverse was the case with regard to the precinct organization. By the end of the century, it was designated as the third parish. The parish records, however, used the name Clapboard Trees (so written at first). The village of West Dedham was designated as "the street" or as Cudham, as the south parish was usually called Tiot.
In his History of Norwood, Mr. Tinker says that in 1736 seventy-eight persons were assessed in Tiot and fifty-two at the Clapboard Trees.
III.
REV. JOSIAH DWIGHT, THE FIRST MINISTER.
AFTER so long a struggle, the people at the Clapboard Trees had secured the desire of their hearts, a meeting-house and a church of their own. Now began the process of build- ing up their parish, completing their meeting-house, and establishing their church life. The destruction of the church records by fire in 1879, when the house then used as a par- sonage was burned, makes it impossible to trace the history of the church as a distinct organization. Much might have been gleaned from them about the early history of the church and parish. In a sermon preached on the second Sunday of the year 1801, Mr. Thacher said that "the church records previous to his settlement in this place, were in a very imper- fect state"; but they would have given us much of interest that we can only guess at now. How the church was organ- ized we do not know; but its first deacons were Jonathan Onion and Joseph Ellis, the two men who had been most active in its formation, and who both lived under the very shadow of the meeting-house. Mr. White printed, in an appendix to his Centennial Sermon of 1836, the Covenant of the church, otherwise it would have been lost. It shows a liberal spirit for the time in which it was written, and it con- tains but little of that abstract theology which usually forms the substance of creeds. It is a practical statement of a working Christianity, in the phraseology then common, and has an aim towards righteousness and godly living rather than in the direction of doctrine. It deserves to be repro- duced here as a part of the history of the church, with the names of the original signers : -
We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, apprehending ourselves called of God into a sacred fellowship with one another in the profes-
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REV. JOSIAH DWIGHT, THE FIRST MINISTER
sion and practice of the holy Christian Religion, as a particular church of the Lord Jesus Christ, do solemnly covenant with God and one another, as follows: In the first place, we avouch the Lord this day to be our God, yielding ourselves to him to be his servants, and choosing him to be our portion forever. We give up ourselves to the God whose name alone is Jehovah and is the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to be his people, to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes and his com- mandments and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice, declar- ing our firm assent to the truths and hearty consent to the tenor of the Gospel. We accept of Jesus Christ in all his glorious offices, Propheti- cal, Priestly and Kingly - and depend on him in the way, which he hath prescribed for instruction, Pardon and Eternal life. We profess our serious resolution to deny, as the grace of God teaches, all ungodliness, and every worldly lust, and to live soberly, righteously and piously in the present evil world, to endeavor that our conversation may be, as becomes and adorns the Gospel. We promise, by the help of God's grace, to walk together in all the ways of holy communion, as becomes children in the family of Christ: charitably to support and conscien- tiously to attend the public worship of God in all the instituted duties thereof, and to submit to the discipline of his kingdom, to watch over one another with Christian circumspection, and endeavor our mutual edification and comfort. Furthermore, we dedicate our offspring with ourselves to the Lord, engaging to bring them up in His nurture and admonition, and as far as in us lies transmit the ordinances of God pure and entire to them.
ALL THIS we do in the presence and fear of God, with a deep sense of our own unworthiness to be admitted into covenant with him and to enjoy the priviliges of the evangelical Church State, and our own insufficiency to perform the duties of it. And do therefore rely on, and pray to the God of Grace and Peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, to make us perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in us that, which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. AMEN.
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