History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 61

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 700

USA > Massachusetts > History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I > Part 61

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selectmen " to labor to purchase a good bell that might be heard through the town." It was obtained in accordance with the vote, but there seems to have been some " irregu- larity" concerning the transaction, for at the March meeting in 1688 the town empowered Enos Kingsley " to sue for the wheat sent down by Mr. Stevens [to pay for the bell], which he pretends was spoiled, and so gives no account of it." At the same time the selcetmen were instructed to raise a rate in money sufficient to pay what was due on the bell.

Full of the Gallery .- A very remarkable accident occurred in this house in 1737. It is thus described in a letter written by Rev. Jonathan Edwards :

" NORTHAMPTON, March 19, 1737.

"We in this town were, the last Lord's day [March 13th], the spectators, and many of us the subjects, of one of the most amazing instances of Divine preser- vation that perhaps was ever known in the world. Our meeting-house is old and decayed, so that we have been for some time building a new one, which is yet unfinished. It has been observed of late that the house we have hitherto met in lias gradually spread at the bottom ; the sills and walls giving way, espe- cially in the foreside, by reason of the weight of timber at top pressing on the braces that are inserted into the posts and beams of the house. It has done so more than ordinarily this spring, which seems to have been occasioned by the heaving of the ground through the extreme frosts of the winter past, and its now settling again on that side which is next the sun by the spring thaws. By this means the underpinning has been considerably disordered, which people were not sensible of till the ends of the joists which bore up the front gallery were drawn off from the girts on which they rested by the walls giving way. So that in the midst of the public exercises in the forenoon, soon after the beginning of the sermon, the whole gallery-full of peuple, with all the seats & tinibers, suddenly & without any warning-sunk and fell down, with the most amazing noise, myon the heads of those that sat under, to the astonishment of the con- gregation. The house was filled with dolerous shrieking & crying ; and nothing else was expected than to find many people dead or dashed to pieces.

"The gallery, in falling, seemed to break or sink first in the middle, so that those who were upon it were thrown together in heaps before the front door. But the whole was so sudden that many of those who fell knew nothing what it was at the time that had befallen them. Others in the congregation thought it had been an amazing clap of thunder. The falling gallery seemed to be broken all to pieces before it got down, so that some who fell with it, as well as those who were under, were buried in the ruins, and were found pressed under heavy loads of timber, and could do nothing to help themselves.

" But so mysteri ously and wonderfully did it come to pass that every life was preserved; & though many were greatly bruised & their flesh torn, yet there is not, as I can understand, one bode broken, or so much as put out of joint, among them all. Some, who were thought to be almost dead at first, are greatly recuv- ered ; and but one young woman seems yet to remain in dangerous circumstances, by an inward hurt in her breast; but of late there appears more hope of her recovery.

" None can give an account, or conceive, by what means people's lives & limbs should be thus preserved when so great a multitude were thus imminently ex- posed. It looked as though it was impossible but that great mnumbers must instantly be crushed to death or dashed in pieces. It seems unreasonable to ascribe it to any thing else but the care of Providence in disposing the motions of every piece of timber, and the precise place of safety where every one should sit & fall, when none were in any capacity to care for their own preservation. The preservation seems to be most wonderful with respect to the women & chil- dren in the middle alley, under the gallery, where it came down first and with greatest force, & where there was nothing to break the force of the falling weight.

"Such an event may be a sufficient argument of a Divine providence over tlie lives of men. We thought ourselves called on to set apart a day to be spent in the solemn worship of God, to Imumble ourselves under such a rebuke of God upon us, in time of public service in his house, by so dangerous & surprising an accident, & to praise bis name for so wonderful, & as it were miraculous, a pres. ervation. The last Wednesday was kept hy us to that end; & a mercy in which the hand of God is so remarkably evident may be well worthy to affect the hearts of all who hear it."

This meeting-house stood seventy-seven years, and three settled ministers preached in it,-Rev. Eleazar Mather, Rev. Solomon Stoddard, and Rev. Jonathan Edwards.

REV. ELEAZER MATHER was born at Dorchester, May 13, 1637. He was the son of Richard Mather and elder brother of Rev. Increase Mather. At the age of nineteen, in 1656, he was graduated at Harvard College. He became seriously impressed quite early in life, and devoted himself to the Chris- tian ministry. Having commenced preaching with favorable prospects in 1658, he received a call from the people of North- ampton, as has already been narrated.

In 1662 the town requested Mr. Joseph Eliot (son of Rev. John Eliot, of Roxbury) to settle as a teacher and to assist in

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HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

the ministry. ITe was voted a home-lot and £80 to build a house. Mr. Eliot's salary was £60, and Mr. Mather offered to contribute £10 toward it, provided he (Mr. Mather) should be " free of his rates for a year." Mr. Eliot assisted in the ministry for several years, but was never formally settled as a teacher.

The labors of Mr. Mather were abundantly rewarded, and many names were added to the church. He was not only a very zealous preacher, but a most exemplary man. Just pre- vious to his death he preached several sermons having special reference to the spiritual interests of the rising generation, which were published in 1671. Mr. Mather married the daughter of Rev. John Warham, of Windsor. He left one daughter, who married Rev. John Williams, of Deerfield, and was killed by the Indians when that town was destroyed by them in 1704. Though 71 names are appended to the cove- nant adopted by the church at its organization, not all of those persons were in full communion. The church records at the time of the death of Mr. Mather contain the names of but 76 persons who are classed as full communicants, though there are 174 other names registered as having been "ad- mitted with parents, baptized, or personally taken the cove- nant."

Mr. Mather died July 24, 1669, at the age of thirty-two, having been a resident of the town about eleven years. Dur- ing the last years of his life he suffered from ill health, proba- bły to an extent that interfered with his pastoral duties, for in March, 1669, the town passed a vote inviting his successor.

Settlement of the Second Minister .- The second minister settled over the church in Northampton was Rev. Solomon Stoddard. At a meeting held March 4, 1669, the town voted unanimously to give him a call. He was offered £100 per year, £100 for building a house, and within five or six years twenty aeres of land " within our fenced field, fit for plowing and mowing." Mr. Stoddard responded favorably, and com- menced preaching the same year, but did not at once accept the terms offered, for the next year a committee of nine per- sons was "empowered to act in all matters in reference to the settlement of Rev. Solomon Stoddard." They determined to offer him £100 worth of meadow-land, £100 a year " for his maintenance," £100 to build a house in two or three years, and the use of £100 worth of the sequestered land till it is paid, and also " a home-lot of four aeres if he pleases." These terms were on condition " Mr. Stoddard doth settle and abide amongst us." A satisfactory arrangement based on these conditions was made, though the installation did not take place till two years after. The church record of his ordination is as follows :

" Sept. 11, 1672 .- Solomon Stoddard was ordained Pastour to the Church at North Hampton by Mr. John Strong, Ruling Elder of that church, & Mr. John Whiting, Pastour to the second Church in Hartford, & Mr. John Russel, l'astour of the Church at Hadley, gave the Right hand of ffellowship in the name of the second church at Hartford, the churches of Gilford, Farmington, Winsor, Hadley, Springfiehl, & Hatfield, whose messengers were present."

On the 5th of the following November the church passed this vote :

" Voted & consented unto by the Elders & Brethren of this church, that from year to year such as grow up to adult age in the church shall present themselves to the Elders, & if they be found to understand & assent unto the doctrine of faith, not to be scandalous in life, & willing to subject themselves to the government of Christ in this church, sball publicly own the covenant & be acknowledged members of this church."

REV. SOLOMON STODDARD was born in Boston in 1642, and was the son of Anthony Stoddard, who was prominent in the early history of the colony, having been a member of the General Court from 1665 to 1684. Having been graduated from Harvard College, in 1662, he was appointed a " Fellow of the House," and held the position of librarian (the first who ever held it) from 1667 to 1674. Intense mental application having impaired his health, he went to Barbadoes, as chaplain to Gov. Serle, where he remained two years. A short time

before the death of Mr. Mather he returned to this country. One of the Boston ministers, having been requested by some person belonging in Northampton to recommend a successor to Mr. Mather, mentioned Mr. Stoddard as better qualified than any other within his knowledge. Mr. Stoddard had de- termined to go to England, had engaged his passage, put his baggage on board the vessel, and was expecting to sail the next day, when the town committee applied to him. Owing to the intercession of the gentleman who had recommended him, he decided to relinquish his voyage and go to Northampton.

Mr. Stoddard was a man of great learning and piety, and probably possessed more influence than any clergyman in the province during a period of thirty years. Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College, a native of Northampton, who trav- eled through New England in 1796, says of him, in a series of letters afterward published : " The very savages are said to have felt toward him a peculiar awe. Once when he was riding from Northampton to Hatfield, and passing a place called Dewey's Hole, an ambush of savages lined the road. It is said that a Frenchman, directing his gun toward him, was warned by one of the Indians, who some time before had been among the English, not to fire, because ' that was the English- man's God.' A similar adventure is reported to have befallen him while meditating, in an orchard immediately behind the church in Deerfield, a sermon which he was about to preach. These stories, told in Canada, are traditionally asserted to have been brought back by English captives."

During his long pastorate of fifty-seven years, Mr. Stoddard enjoyed the respect, confidence, and love of his people. Hav- ing reached an advanced age, and finding himself inadequate to discharge the whole duty of a minister, he requested. the as- sistance of a colleague, and in 1727 his grandson, Jonathar. Edwards, was associated with him in the pastoral office. He lived two years after this event, and died, Feb. 11, 1729, aged eighty-six. He married Esther, widow of his predecessor, Rev. Eleazer Mather. She died in 1786, aged ninety-two. One of their sons, Anthony, was graduated at Harvard College, and was minister of Woodbury, Conn. Another son, John, well known in town affairs as Col. John Stoddard, became eminent as a civilian, and possessed great influence throughout the province.

A spirited controversy concerning qualifications for church membership sprang up between Mr. Stoddard and Dr. In- crease Mather, of Boston, in the year 1700. At that time many of the churches throughout the province regarded the sacrament of the Lord's Supper as a converting ordinance, and believed that all baptized persons, not scandalous in life, might lawfully approach the table, though they knew them- selves to be destitute of true religion. This belief and prac- tice Dr. Mather assailed in a sermon, " The Order of the Gos- peł," published in 1700. To this Mr. Stoddard replied in an earnest and convincing manner. The controversy was re- sumed in 1708 and 1709, and prosecuted on both sides with vigor and ability. A few years later this same conflict of opinion became the ostensible reason for the dismission of his colleague and successor, Rev. Jonathan Edwards. The biog- raphers of Mr. Edwards assert that Mr. Stoddard changed his views on this subject after he had been thirty-two years min- ister at Northampton. It is charged that without the sane- tion of the church he introduced this change, making it the rule of procedure, and prepared, in conformity to his own opinions, " a short profession" for persons to make on admis- sion to membership. This is incorrect. The vote of the church at the ordination of Mr. Stoddard (quoted above) proves that he had no need to change his sentiments. The church be- Jieved as he did when he accepted the pastorate, and it was only to defend his own life-long convictions and the thirty- two years' practice of his church that he replied to Dr. Mather.

Mr. Stoddard, though a close student and an able and faith- ful preacher, was a man of action, and took a deep interest in

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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

all the affairs of the town. In connection with Joseph Par- sons he obtained a grant for the site of the first saw-mill ever erected in town, though he afterward relinquished his claim to Mr. Parsons. In those days the only route to Boston was a bridle-path through the wilderness, and a week was con- sumed in the journey. Mr. Stoddard first proposed that change in it which subsequently reduced the time to two days, and resulted in the construction of the famous " Bay Road," so called because it led to Massachusetts Bay. He had an influence in all the important ecclesiastical bodies of the State that was not usually contested, and that earned him the title of " the Pope of his time." He was a faithful and successful minister. Extensive revivals of religion took place in 1679, 1683, 1712, and 1718. During the fifty-seven years of his ministry 630 persons were admitted to the church. lleld in a high degree of reverence by members of the church, the inhabitants of the town, who had grown up under his ministry, venerated and respected him as a father. Mr. Stod- dard was a voluminous writer, having published twenty-two sermons and pamphlets. Specimens of his manuscript ex- hihit a very minute handwriting ; so small are the letters that it is impossible to read them without the aid of a magnifying- glass. On a page and a half of small-sized note-paper were written all his notes for an elaborate sermon. One hundred and fifty of his discourses are contained in a small 12mo manuscript volume. His home-lot was set off' in the vicinity of Round Hill, and he resided on the homestead now occupied by Mr. H. R. Hinckley. The town gave Mr. Stoddard in all about 33 acres of land.

Third Meeting-House .- After seventy-four years of constant use the second meeting-house became somewhat dilapidated and much too small for the growing congregation. In Novem- ber, 1735, the town voted, by a " very great majority, " to buikl a new meeting-house, " get the timber, frame it, raise, and cover it by the end of the summer." Another vote provided that the house should be about 70 feet long, 46 to 48 feet in width, with a "steeple or balcony" at the end, leaving the exact di- mensions with the building committee. It was also voted to raise by taxation £100 toward buying nails and glass for the buikling. An attempt was made at a meeting held in August, 1736, to change the location of the house and place it on the " sand hill between Moses Lyman's and Jonathan Wright's." The town, however, refused to authorize the change, but voted that the house should be set "partly on the northwest side of the present meeting-house, and partly from thence northeast- wardly, on the ridge of land where Edward Baker's fence now standeth." Three weeks afterward the town reaffirmed the above vote as to location. The following record of the raising of this meeting-house is from a private diary of Deacon Ebenezer Hunt, great-grandfather of Mr. Seth Hunt :

" In November, 1735, we passed a vote to build a new meeting-house seventy feet in length, forty-six feet in breadth, and proceeded to get the timber the winter fol- lowing ; and in the summer of 1736 we framed it, and on the 16th day of Septem- her we laid the cills, it being on Thursday, and appointed to begin to raise on the Monday following, but that proved a wet day; so the town met together and agreed to hire sixty men to raise the meeting-house, and to give them five shil- lings the day, they keeping themselves, excepting drinks, and on Tuesday morn- ing they began to raise, it being the 21st day of said September, and they raised all the posts in the length of the house, excepting two of a side; and on Wednesday, the 224, they finished the body of the house, and put up two beams; and on Thursday, the 23d, we put up all the beans and made some preparations for the raising of the upper part of the bellfree; and on Friday, the 24th, we finished the scaffolding and raised one-half of the bellfree; and the next day, the 25th, it rained till noon, and in the afternoon they finished the body of the bellfree; and on Monday, the 27th of said month, we finished the raising of said house; and we have abundant cause to take notice, with thankfulness, of the kindness of God to ns in protecting and preserving the lives and limbs of all those that were artive in the building of the house, for except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.

"On Thursday, the 21st day of July, 1737, the spire of our meeting-house was raised, with good success, for which we have cause t > be thankful. On Friday, the 5th day of May, 1738, we pulled down our old meeting-house, without hurt either to any man or to the new house."

The building committee consisted of Col. John Stoddard,

Ebenezer Pomeroy, Capt. John Clark, Capt. Preserved Clapp, Ens. Ebenezer Parsons, Ens. Ebenezer Clark, and Joseph Wright. This house stood in the present highway, facing eastwardly. The steeple was nearly on a line with the present edifice, in the centre of the eastern gable. This was the first meeting-house that had a steeple. There were entrances on three sides. When erected it was a plain, unpretending struc- ture, standing in the middle of the street. Additions and alterations were made, however, as the needs of the commu- nity required. In 1769 porches were placed over the southern and western entrances, and the gallery-stairs removed to the belfry and one of the porches, in order to enlarge its seating capacity. The pulpit was at the centre of the north side of the audience-room, canopied by a " sounding-board," on which were the figures " 1735." The pews were all high-backed and nearly square, with seats on three sides, made to turn up to enable worshipers to lean on the top of the pew during prayer- time. In the upper part of the high-backs were nicely-turned little balusters, which children were fond of handling. In 1808 there were 49 pews on the ground-floor, 14 pews and 14 long seats in the gallery. The schedule for seating prepared in that year by the selectmen contains the names of 1036 persons to whom seats were assigned. The building, however, could not accommodate that number of people, and undoubt- edly many names were afterward added as changes occurred in the population, though none seem to have been erased.

At a town-meeting held Feb. 11, 1737, the following votes were passed :

" Voted, to accept of the meeting-house account presented by the committee, with that limitation that the committee reduce those days work or that work that was done in the fall of the year to a proportion as near as may be to the work done in the summer season.

" Votul, that the selectmen or assessors raise money to defray what charge hath arisen, and to pay for what hath been done toward building the meeting-house and other small incident charges.

" Voted, that the meeting-house he completed and finished next year, and that a committee be chosen and appointed to provide materials, and agree with work- men to prosecute that design.

" The committee nominated and chosen to manage that affair were Timothy Dwight, Esq., John Stoddard, Esq., Ebenezer Pumroy, Esq., Ens. Ebenezer Par- sons, Ens. Ebenezer Clark, Sergt. Nath'l Courtis, and Ens. Samuel Clapp.

" The meeting was adjourned an hour and a half, and then the town met and proceeded, and voted that the throat-braces already provided for said meeting- house should be put into their places for which they were provided and made, and proceeded to consider what shall be done with respect to the spire or steeple; and the town voted to leave it with the committee aforesaid to advise with some workmen with respect to the height, manner, and method of building the same, and to act in that affair as they think proper.

" Voted, that in the meeting-honse now building there shall be pews made round the meeting-house, and only seats on both sides the alley. It was also voted with respect to what remains to be done toward the meeting-house, and the finishing the same, to leave it with the committee aforesaid to do and act as they think convenient and proper in all things respecting the same.

" It was also voted that the selectmen or assessors raise three hundred pounds, besides the town debts, toward finishing the meeting-house."

The exact cost of this meeting-house cannot now be aseer- tained. As has already been stated, £100 were voted in 1735, and £300 more appropriated in 1737. In January of the suc- ceeding year the building committee presented their account to the town, and the assessors were ordered to raise money to pay what was due on it. No sum was named, but the town treasurer's account-book shows an expenditure of £3014 0s. 2d. for the new meeting-house, for which taxes were laid. The £100 first voted for glass and nails were used in the following manner :

£ &. d.

"Seth had £63, with which he bought ten Hundred of rods & 22,000 of Gd nails ...

63 00 00

Carting them from Hartford, 50/

To 40,000 of Lath nails & 2000 of 104 mails 20 16 06

To 8000 of 6d nails Bought att Hadley ....

08 16 00

To my time, care, & trouble in buying them. 01 04 00

To £5 12s. 1 Paid Raisers, viz., Cotton, Shelden, and Brown ...

12 00

- - 101 18 06"

Ebenezer Pomeroy was treasurer, and the Seth mentioned was probably his brother, Col. Seth Pomeroy. Several acci- dents occurred during the erection of this building. The town

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HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.

paid Jonathan Strong £3 for " setting his bone, broken while working at ye meeting-house," and £3 10s. to " To ye bone- setter for setting Ebenezer Burt's thy." The sum of 28 was " paid Stebbins for 20 gallons of rum."

There is no record of any formal dedieation of this house. It was used for public worship in 1737, though not fully com- pleted till 1739. In those days the sexes were not allowed to sit together in publie, and when the new meeting-house was first occupied the males were seated at the south and the females at the north end. Special votes were passed in 1737 forbidding " men and their wives" being seated beside each other, though the committee were afterward instructed to allow it " when they incline to sit together." The seating committee at this time were instructed, " Ist, to have respect principally to men's estate ; 2d, to have regard to men's age ; 3d, that some regard and respect be had to men's influence, but in a lesser degree."

A new settlement, afterward Southampton, commenced some years before, had so far progressed when the new meeting- house was built as to have employed a preacher of its own for several years. The proprietors organized the district in 1730, and in 1733 the town "voted to repay five pounds to those persons who advanced the same in recompense for divers ministers who preached at the new settlement over Munhan River." From that time till 1741, when the Second Precinet was incorporated, the town voted yearly to remit to the people at the new town their proportion of the town tax in order that it might be applied for the support of a minister there, the overplus to be used for building a meeting-house. The old meeting-house was taken down in 1738. Some of the pews were put into the galleries of the new one, a portion of the materials used in building a new town-house, and the pulpit and seats remaining were given to the new settlement.

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History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I, Part 61

Author: L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts Number of Pages: 700

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 700