USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > History of the Clapboard Trees or Third Parish, Dedham, Mass. : now the Unitarian Parish, West Dedham, 1736-1886 > Part 7
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This Post represents Play-Gravel Frees Fresh on the West Forits no Diathem.
MAP MADE IN 1807.
obtained. Reassembling September 29, the committee reported a plan for a house, and that land could be obtained of Deacon Ellis free of expense. It was voted, however, to reconsider the action in favor of Deacon Ellis's land, and "to build a meeting-house at the centre stake or within twenty-five rods of the centre." Notwithstanding this vote, a committee was appointed "to view the ground and find the most suitable place for a meeting-house." In October,
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the vote locating at the centre was reconsidered ; and it was "resolved that each voter in parish affairs express which of the five places he prefers for first, second and third spot for a meeting-house, viz: where the meeting-house now stands, the rock, the stake, and Fox Hill or the church land." The rock was Deacon Ellis's land, the stake was the centre of the parish, and was near the burying-ground, and the church land was probably south of the old meeting- house toward Pond Plain. At the March meeting of 1807, these places were voted on, with the following result :-
At a meeting of the third parish in Dedham, on a motion to take the sense of the parish respecting a spot to set a meeting-house, 26 appeared in favor of Deacon Ellis's rock or within ten rods of the rock, and 23 against it. On a further motion to set a meeting-house on Mr. Jotham Richards' land, where it was formerly staked out for that pur- pose, 23 appeared in favor of the spot and 33 against it. Again moved to see which spot they preferred, and 30 appeared in favor of Deacon Ellis's rock and 22 for Mr. Richards' land. It was then moved to set a meeting house on Deacon Ellis's land on the westerly side of Onion's brook near the road; 9 appeared in favor and 39 against it. It was then tried to see how many were in favor of Mr. Frederick Richards' rock ; 4 appeared in favor of it. It was then tried for the parish rock, and I0 appeared in favor and 35 against it.
These votes indicated very clearly that the majority of the legal members of the parish were in favor of Deacon Ellis's land ; but the minority were determined not to accept that location. Accordingly, it was voted that, "whereas the parish have uniformly voted to build a decent house for public worship (if they could agree on a spot to set the house on), but upon repeated trials they have been so unhappy as not to think alike respecting the most suit- able place," therefore it would be better to leave the deter- mination of the location to disinterested persons. Elijah Brigham of Westboro, John How of Dorchester, and John Ellis of Medway were invited to act as a committee for the final adjustment of the dispute. The parish voted "that the committee or major part of them agreeing on a spot, it shall be decisive." This committee was asked to take "the roads, houses and all other local circumstances into view,
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and to establish the rock or within ten rods of the rock in Deacon Ellis's land or the hill in Mr. Jotham Richards' land, which shall be the proper place for the house to stand on, and that to be considered by the parish as the only place." This committee met on the 28th of April, at the tavern of Capt. Abner Ellis, and proceeded, according to their report, "to view the dimensions, the several houses and roads of said parish, and the local and relative situation of the inhabitants to each other, and particularly their relative situation to the two proposed places for erecting a new meet- ing-house; and, after hearing the several representations and statements urged for and against the two proposed places, and duly considering the various circumstances, the interest and the right of the individuals who compose the parish, did unanimously agree and determine, that the rock so-called or within ten rods of the rock, in Deacon Ellis's land, near the old meeting-house, be the place for the third parish to erect their proposed new meeting-house."
The parish assembled May 25, and voted "to set the meeting-house on Deacon Ellis's rock." June 22, it adopted a plan for the new house, selected a committee to ask the town to lay out a road from the burying-ground to the new meeting-house site, and voted to raise three thousand dol- lars, to be assessed on the polls and estates of the parish, towards building a new meeting-house. Thirty-four favored raising this sum of money, and twenty-seven opposed it. A committee, consisting of Ebenezer Fisher, Willard Gay, Capt. Benjamin Fairbanks, George Ellis, Capt. Jeremiah Baker, John Baker, and Capt. Abner Ellis, was chosen by ballot "to superintend the building a new meeting-house under the direction of the parish." The road asked for was granted by the town, and Nahatan Street was laid out and built in 1807.
The site selected for the meeting-house was one of much beauty. The rock in Deacon Ellis's land was the highest point on Nahatan Hill, and it commanded a wide prospect to the east and south. To the east, Blue Hill was full in view, and Boston harbor could be seen on clear days. To the
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THE CLAPBOARD TREES PARISH
south-east lay Canton, to the south the second parish, and beyond it Sharon. The high lands of Walpole could be seen a little to the westward, and still farther in the same direction the hills which lay towards Medfield and Dover. From the door of the meeting-house, a wide extending and beautiful prospect stretched out before the beholder. Hills, forests, and villages made up a scene of quiet loveliness that must have charmed all who looked upon it. Those who desired to have their house of worship located on this spot may not have been influenced by æsthetic considerations, but they could not have failed to take delight in the fair scene it presented as they came up to the Lord's house.
The work of building at once began. It was at first pro- posed that Eliphalet Baker should build the new house, and he was afterwards paid fifteen dollars for his loss in relin- quishing the task. The builder finally selected was Capt. Benjamin Robbins, who was not a resident of the parish.
Those who did not favor the site chosen did not become reconciled, as the work of building the new house went on. The feeling which had been aroused was too strong and bitter to be easily allayed ; and in October it took the form of a protest to the parish committee, which was worded as follows : -
To the Committee of the Third Parish in Dedham :
Gentlemen :
We, the subscribers, inhabitants of said parish, request that you would not proceed to assess the three thousand dollars agreed upon for building a meeting-house by a small majority of the parish collected together in June last, and state the following reasons and ob- jections against the assessing thereof :
First. When so many of the inhabitants of said parish have so strong objections to assessing said tax, and proceedings has a great ten- dency to dismember the parish, and will weaken the parish so that it will be in danger of crumbling to pieces.
Secondly. We consider the meeting illegal and without law, which will naturally bring on many vexatious suits, which will, of course, bring on hate and hating one another and evil surmises, which weakens society and that peace and love which the preached gospel is intended to in- culcate.
Thirdly. We consider that there is no collector chosen, nor that the committee have any power to commit the tax (if assessed) to any person whomsoever.
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THE NEW MEETING-HOUSE
To this protest the names of forty-four members of the parish were signed. As the parish collected the tax and went on with the building of the new house, the protestants carried the question of the legality of the tax to the Supreme Court of the State, where it was decided that it had been made in an illegal manner.
At the March meeting of 1808, the treasurer of the par- ish was empowered to borrow one thousand dollars (if neces-
THE MEETING-HOUSE BUILT IN 1808.
sary) for the purpose of finishing the new meeting-house. A protest, signed by twenty-two persons, was made against the action of this meeting, "because the parish has pro- ceeded to make a list of voters on the single rate made by the assessor and committed to a constable, without any legal authority by law so to do, and because the assessors have not been sworn agreeable to law ; by which reasons many of the inhabitants are deprived of their privileges." At an April meeting, a request was presented by Timothy Baker and others "to see if the parish will build their meeting-
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house westerly of the hoop-pole rock (so called) not exceed- ing forty rods." Various changes in the plans of the house were discussed and accepted. Following the records of this meeting, the clerk inserted this note : -
July 25th, 1808 .- At the rising of the sun the people assembled to raise the new meeting-house, and after attending prayers, the raising was begun and finished on the following day.
On the 26th of December, the parish voted a farther tax of two thousand dollars, for the purpose of completing the new house, probably not much more than one-half of the first tax of three thousand dollars having been collected. At this meeting, the parish also
Voted, that a committee of nine be chosen to offer in behalf of the parish, to such as appear dissatisfied with building the new meeting- house, to leave all disputes to disinterested men, with full power to agree on the men and appear before them in behalf of the parish. Messrs. Willard Gay, Deacon Ichabod Ellis, Capt. Jeremiah Baker, Richard Ellis, Joseph Draper, George Ellis, John Baker, Jotham Richards and Samuel French were chosen for said committee.
The parish records give no evidence that this committee was in any degree successful in accomplishing the objects for which it was appointed. Those opposed to the new house had already begun to attend the Baptist meetings in Medfield ; and they were not inclined to accept any compro- mise at so late a date.
The house built was forty-seven feet square, and was planned to contain fifty-three pews on the lower floor. Gal- leries were built on three sides, box-pews were adopted, and the pulpit was very high. On the Ist of March, 1809, the new house was ready for dedication.
Mr. Thacher preached the last sermon in the old meeting- house ; and on the following Sunday, March I, the new house was dedicated. In the sermon on leaving the old house, he complained of the great changes which had taken place in society since it was erected, which had corrupted the moral- ity and the simple habits of the people. "Fastidious orna- ments," he said, "have taken the place of simplicity in dress,
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THE NEW MEETING-HOUSE
language, and the common intercourse of life. Delicacy is substituted for chastity, party zeal for the fervor and fidel- ity of private friendship, a pompous display of verbose elo- quence for the essentials of a good education and of classic literature. It will not be denied that we have progressed in the fine, and in many of the useful arts, in a manner suitable to the increased opulence and population of the country ; but yet a profusion of multiplied luxuries proves our artifi- cial wants and our effeminate habits. In a word, we cannot examine any part of private life without discovering as great an alteration in our sentiments and customs as in our public edifices and private houses. Few traits are seen in these either of primitive simplicity or the manly virtues."
In this judgment, undoubtedly Mr. Thacher was quite too severe on the men and women of his own time; and what he took for corruption was in reality a healthy growth. Many look back on his time as better than ours, just as he thought the time of the first settlers better than that in which he lived. Some of his parishioners complained that he was not as the old-fashioned ministers were, and we often hear precisely the same complaint made to-day. The fact is, that each generation has its own character ; and the part of wisdom is to believe in the present, to look forward to the future and not to look back to the past.
. Of the first settlers of the parish Mr. Thacher said : -
This house has stood for seventy-eight years. Not a head which planned, nor hand employed in building it, but what has long been mouldering in the dust. Very few either in the parish or town now sur- vive who then existed, nor is there a single person now living who was then the head of a family. Of those who signed the first church cove- nant, one only was alive after my settlement in this place. The same has been dead for more than a quarter of a century. Since the above mentioned period, what numbers in this inconsiderable hamlet have been born, formed connections and expired. Families then the most flourish- ing and prosperous in this parish were long since blasted with misery and depression. And though this place be more stationary than any within my knowledge, as to sameness of names and families, houses and inclosures, yet were the first settlers to rise from the grave they scarcely could trace out their former residence and situation.
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He also said a very kind and generous word concerning those who had dissevered their connection with the parish organization : -
Respecting our brethren who have dissented from us in the location of our new place of worship, our heart's desire and prayer to God is, that between us and them there may be, on terms equally honorable and advantageous, a cordial and radical conciliation. I trust and hope that all of us who assemble together will be ready to make any reasonable sacrifice for attaining so valuable an object. Let all bitterness and wrath and severe censures cease from among us. Let us be clothed with charity, as with a garment. We remember with affection many habits of intimacy and friendship which we have enjoyed with many of them ; we admit many good qualities they possess, and the kind offices by some of them expressed. If we should be so unhappy as not to accomplish our desire of christian re-union and association, still let us be ready on our part to express on all occasions the courtesies of life, that interchange of kindness, good neighborhood and friendship due from all citizens to each other, however discordant their local views and their religious opinions.
At the dedication of the new meeting-house, Mr. Thacher preached the sermon, which was devoted to a careful consid- eration of the reasons why public worship should be main- tained ; while the introductory prayer was made by the Rev. Jabez Chickering of the south parish, and the concluding prayer by the Rev. Joshua Bates of the first parish. "Two anthems adapted to the occasion," we are told by the local newspaper, " were performed with much taste and excellence by a large choir of musicians, both vocal and instrumental, and soothed and exhilerated with tones of sweet harmony, a numerous and respectable auditory."
The total cost of the new meeting-house seems to have been about five thousand five hundred dollars. The land on which it was located was given, free of any reservations or conditions, by Deacon Ichabod Ellis (three-quarters of an acre) and by his son Newell Ellis (one-quarter of an acre). Six persons subscribed towards providing the house with a bell ; but their action was anticipated by the gift of a bell from the Hon. Joshua Fisher, of Beverly. The cost of dec- orating the pulpit, nearly seventy dollars, was met by the
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THE NEW MEETING-HOUSE
women of the parish. The materials used for this purpose and in making the cushion, according to the bill now among the parish papers, consisted of five yards moreen, eleven yards fringe, ten yards lace, one tassel, three yards crimson damask, four yards crimson silk fringe, seventeen yards crimson silk lace, three and one-half pounds feathers, one and one-fourth yards tick, and four silk tassels. "I feel myself authorized to declare," said Mr. Thacher, in publish- ing his two sermons, "that the politeness, christian affec- tion and sympathy expressed by the other societies in the town towards us in our present difficulties has excited the warmest gratitude in the minds of all who assemble with us in public worship."
A committee was chosen to sell the old meeting-house, which was bought by Aaron Baker. It was subsequently taken to pieces, moved to High Street, and there rebuilt and used for public worship by those who had withdrawn from the parish. As rebuilt, it was smaller, but almost exactly like the new house in its interior arrangement and exterior construction.
The spirit of reconciliation expressed itself in October by a committee of seven, chosen " to confer with the west side of the parish respecting a settlement with regard to the meeting-house"; and the committee was instructed "to offer them reasonable pay for the expense they have been at in erecting the old meeting-house, on condition that they return and remain with the parish."
In the spring of 1809, Mr. Thacher, in a communication to the parish meeting, relinquished seventy-five dollars of his salary for the previous year, to be devoted to the ex- penses of the new house. He expressed a wish to share that expense with his neighbors, and he said the sum given was more by fifteen dollars than his share of the tax. He also denied the report that he had been influential in secur- ing the location of the house on the land of Deacon Ellis. "I think justice to myself," he wrote, "requires me to say, that I never directly or mediately solicited or influenced any man to vote for setting it on the rock."
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In the autumn of 1809, horse-sheds were built containing twenty stalls. Stoves were probably put into the new meet- ing-house soon after it was built, but the first mention of them in the records was in 1818. The meeting-house had no carpets at this period ; for, in 1816, Darling Trask was paid sixty-two and one-half cents "for sanding the meeting- house floor."
Those who had withdrawn from the parish not only pro- ceeded to erect a house of their own, and to connect them- selves with the Baptist society in Medfield, but they took active measures against being taxed to support the parish within the territorial limits of which they lived. The law required the taxation of every resident of a parish for the support of public worship within that parish, unless he could show evidence that he was a regular attendant upon some other religious services. Accordingly, the following notice was served upon the parish committee : -
We, the subscribers, John Perkins, public teacher of a society of Baptists in Medfield, Ebenezer Clark and Eleazer Perry, having been chosen a special committee of said society to certify who are the mem- bers thereof, and who do usually and frequently, when able, attend with us in our meetings for religious worship, do certify that Phinehas Col- burn, Benjamin Colburn, Andrew Lewis, Jonathan Colburn, David Baker, Abijah Colburn, Benjamin French, Jun., George Colburn, Joseph Ellis 2nd, James Pettee, Joel Everett, Thacher Colburn, Ichabod Col- burn, Abraham Sanderson, Smith Emerson, Isaac Colburn Jun, Benja- min French, Eliphalet Baker, Joseph Draper, Samuel Pettee, Enoch Kingsbury, Eliphalet Colburn, Obed Baker, Daniel Draper, Aaron Baker and Joseph Baker belong to said society, and that they usually and frequently, when able, attend with us in our meetings for religious worship.
Signed, JOHN PERKINS, EBENEZER CLARK, ELEAZER PERRY.
MEDFIELD, July Ist, 1809.
A similar notice certified that Isaac Smith, Abijah Smith, John Ellis, Jr., and Abijah Fisher, residents of Walpole, but included for many years in the Clapboard Trees parish, also attended the Baptist meetings in Medfield. In order to make sure of not being taxed, most of the above-named
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persons in October sent a notice to the assessors saying that it would be of no use to assess them. " They also said, "We neither expect you to help us pay for building our meeting house nor support our public teacher ; neither do we intend to assist you in building and supporting yours." In July, 1810, the parish took the following action with reference to these notices : -
Voted, that the assessors that were chosen in March last be directed to omit in their assessment all such persons belonging to the parish as they shall judge do not consider themselves belonging with our society.
In 18II, June II, the Baptist society of Dedham and Medfield was incorporated by the General Court. A com- mittee from the General Court visited the parish, and a committee from the parish waited upon it; but nothing could be done to prevent a final separation of the two so- cieties. Why there should have been a division of the par- ish it is now difficult to understand. The first cause of a difference of opinion was with reference to building a new house. A considerable number, including Mr. Thacher, thought it better to repair the old house. When it was decided to build, the question of locality was an immediate cause of trouble. The longer it was discussed, the greater became the differences of opinion, and the more bitter the feelings engendered. The determination of the majority to adhere to the spot chosen, and the making of the first tax for building the new house in an illegal manner, added fuel to the flame. The whole trouble, in a word, was between the inhabitants of the eastern and the western parts of the parish, as to which should have the house in their own local- ity. This is plainly indicated by the fact that, of the forty- four persons signing the protest of 1807, thirty-three lived in the western part of the parish. At this time, the roads were so located that either party would have been better accom- modated by the locality it preferred. Had Nahatan Street existed when it was first proposed to build, it is possible that the causes of division would have been prevented. Still another cause of the failure of all efforts at reconcili-
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ation was the fact that the parish officers attempted to en- force by the power of the law the collection of the taxes assessed. Those not paying were carried to jail, and the feeling of enmity was deepened thereby. Tradition has it that one man who was arrested lay down on the ground, and had to be loaded into a wagon in order to his removal to the jail. Another was opportunely engaged in shingling his barn at this time; and, whenever the constable appeared for his arrest, he was very busily employed on the topmost part of the roof. When the constable informed him of the errand on which he had come, the delinquent replied that the officer was at liberty to take him where he was. On several occasions, the constable found it prudent to give up his task .* The majority of the parish undoubtedly pre- ferred the locality chosen, but more of the spirit of compro- mise on their part would have prevented a division of the parish.
When those who had become members of the Baptist church in Medfield were dismissed in 1824 to form the "First Baptist Church in Dedham," an account was given, on the first pages of the church book of the new church, of the causes which led to the division of the Clapboard Trees parish. The writer was perhaps the Rev. Samuel Adlam, the first pastor of the Baptist society. He wrote of the sep- aration as a remarkable instance of the workings of Provi- dence in bringing men to a knowledge of evangelical truth, when they did not desire it. The historical part of this doc- ument is here reproduced, for the sake of the light it throws on the causes of the separation. It too strongly empha- sizes the lack of evangelical preaching in the parish, for Mr. Thacher was by no means wanting in piety and religious devotion. Those seceding from the parish joined the Bap- tists because they were not strong enough to support a preacher among themselves, because they could not be formed into a distinct Congregational parish, and because the Baptist society at Medfield afforded them the only oppor-
* Another of the Seceders, who finally returned to the old parish, said that he remained with the Baptists "as long as he could keep up the mad."
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tunity within reach for connecting themselves with any other religious body.
The origin of the Baptist church in Dedham strikingly illustrates the providence and sovereignty of God, showing how easy it is for him to place his throne in the midst of his foes, and how he lays hold of the actions of men, without their intention or suspicion, to promote his gos- pel in the world. The West parish had for a long series of years heard nothing except it were Arminian or Socinian preaching ; and so firmly was it established that there is no instance known of its truth being doubted, except by some who verged nearer to infidelity than anything else. ... The parish was what would by some be called moral; that is, some attended the meeting house constantly, others occasionally, and others very seldom. Theft, drunkenness and swearing, except the lat- ter, was not common; but then, no one thought religion should occupy too much of their thoughts, and balls and cards were thought innocent for church members.
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