USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Roxbury > History of the First Church in Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1630-1904 > Part 17
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house. The exercises began with a voluntary on the organ. A hymn was then sung. Rev. Dr. Lowell, who in early life was a parishioner of the deceased, read selected passages of Scripture and offered a very appropriate prayer of 20 minutes. Rev. George Putnam, colleague of Dr. Porter, delivered a very judicious discourse of 40 minutes from Gen. xxv, 8, "Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people." So just and discriminating was he in giving the character of Dr. Porter, that they who best knew him and were best qualified to judge remarked that they should not desire the alteration, addition, or suppression of a single word. The services were concluded with a prayer by Rev. Dr. Pierce of Brookline and solemn music from the choir, when a procession was formed to the place of interment by a large number of parishioners and friends.
Two hot air stoves were placed in the meeting house in 1834. For the saving of fuel and to render the House more comfortable during the winter months, those who usually entered the Meeting House at the easterly end, namely, P. G. Robbins, Elnathan Taber, William Bacon, Stephen Child, Humphrey Bicknell, Charles Davis, John Lemist, John Bartlett, Sam! H. Hunneman, Aaron Kingsbury, Aaron D. Williams, William Dove, Charles Grant, Wm Phipps, Edw. Brinley, Aaron Willard, Charles Copeland, H. Cunning- ham, D. A. Sigourney, Sam'l J. Gardner, Moses Whiting, Nath1 Snow, William Fisk, William Patten, consented in November, 1834, to have the Doors at that end of the House kept closed from the first Sunday of December in each year to the first Sunday of March following.
Oct. 20, 1834, John Lowell, Joseph Harrington, S. C. Thwing, Thomas Brewer, Thomas Simmons and the Stand- ing Committee were appointed a committee to ascertain
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whether there was any waste room in the Galleries which could be used with profit to the Parish and to take into con- sideration the expedieney of making a general alteration in the Gallery Pews. In 1835 a plan was agreed upon and the alteration from square pews to long and narrow ones was made, the Committee having charge of it being Thomas Brewer, Joseph Harrington, Thomas Simmons and the Standing Committee.
Putnam Street was built and the Parish lot fenced in in 1836. There was a stove put into the vestry in 1836, and during the same year Samuel J. Gardner Esq., had the Bible presented by him several years ago rebound and Rev. Mr. Putnam presented Pulpit chairs.
For the first time a fixed salary of $2000 was given Mr. Putnam in 1838. Jan. 4, 1841, it was voted that no Pew proprietor should be permitted to vote by proxy and that each pew should be entitled to one vote. At the same time a committee was chosen to warm the church by a furnace.
In January, 1842, a committee was chosen to take into consideration the recent invitation of the Church of the Messiah in New York to our Minister to settle with them, but fortunately for us Mr. Putnam declined.
In 1845 the Standing Committee was directed to adopt such measures as they might deem expedient to keep the carriages to the Westward of the circular walk at the West end of the Church.
Wednesday, July 31, 1850. There were public services in the church on the occasion of paying Funeral Honors to Zackary Taylor, late President of the United States, by the City of Roxbury, when the oration was delivered by Rev. Thomas D. Anderson.
Deacon Thwing in a letter, written June 7, 1852, and referring to the day before says: "It was Communion Sunday
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and this service was the most touching and impressive I ever attended. In the first place Two Brothers who are Twins offered themselves for Baptism - this to me is always inter- esting - when an adult offers himself at the Altar to show his attachment and belief in his Saviour. Then one of them held up his infant child, after which all partook of the Sacra- ment. Before commencing the Services of the Communion, Dr. Putnam stated with a few remarks delivered with great unction the desire of Doctor Robbins expressed on his death bed to have his name enrolled on the records of the Church, to show his belief in the strength and power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to comfort and support him during his pain- ful illness and in his dying hours. Then eight or ten joined the Church, six being young ladies and amongst them Dr. Putnam's Daughter. I think I never attended the service. when the impressions made upon all was so solemn and so great."
In January, 1855, a committee consisting of John J. Clarke, David A. Simmons, William B. Kingsbury, Cushing Stetson and Charles K. Dillaway were appointed to consider the expediency of remodelling the interior of the Meeting House and report at a future meeting. They reported the House very much out of repair and proposed to change the pews on the floor to long pews with four aisles, two by the walls and two dividing the floor into three lines of pews. Reducing the number of windows from 36 small ones to ten long ones. Two of the doors of entrance and exit were kept closed for the purpose of accommodating two stoves which occupied the door-ways: Finally two reports were submitted and after a long debate were accepted and placed on file and then the meeting dissolved without further action.
In 1857, the Society voted to remodel the Meeting House and even went so far as to consider building a stone Meeting
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House. The services during July and August of this year were held in the City Hall. The Baptist Society and the Mount Pleasant Society offered our Society the use of their churches during repairs. The pews were upholstered, the floors carpeted and new iron posts substituted for the old wooden ones which supported the galleries.
When this Meeting House was erected in 1804 it was without the vestry and the "old red" painted pulpit was entered by stairs from the floor at the side. Back of the pulpit were three false windows covered by green blinds, one of which made the door. (This pulpit was similar to that in the Newburyport church, which has since been lowered twice and has had stairs built on both sides.) When the vestry was added in 1857 the stairs were removed and entrance was by a door from the new vestry in the rear. At the same time this pulpit gave place to a small circular one on top of a post with stairs each side, the vestry door, however, remaining.
In August, four new clock dials were placed on the steeple.
In 1857 William Patten sold his pew for $400, and gave the proceeds to the Pastor and Deacons in Trust, the income to be given to the deserving poor, except foreigners. In 1859 Mr. David A. Simmons left one thousand dollars to the Society "which sum is to be safely invested and together with the increase and income thereof is to be applied for and towards the erection of a New Meeting House upon the site of their present place of worship whenever such new structure shall become necessary and for no other purpose."
The Society contributed in 1861, $450 for the suffering in Kansas, and in 1862, $855.58 for the poor and the soldiers, and $994 for the Sanitary Commission. Aug. 31, 1862, after
INTERIOR OF THE PRESENT MEETING HOUSE, LOOKING EAST, 1857.
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the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Church was dismissed to enable all to go home and work for the soldiers, as hospital supplies, &c, were much needed. In 1863 a new clock was put in the tower of the Meeting House.
The celebration of Washington's Birthday in 1864 included services in this Meeting House. The exercises began by the singing of the Battle Hymn by the Choir. Prayer was then offered by Rev. John O. Means, and the Star Spangled Banner was sung. The oration was then delivered by Rev. George Putnam, D.D. Dr. Putnam gave a brief sketch of Washington's career, "to bring him before us - to bring us into this presence - to lift us up in thought and sympathy toward the great light where he stands." The oration itself is too long to print here, but the allusion to President Lincoln must not be omitted as it was received with tremendous applause.
"The nation's banner torn and soiled in battle but with every star and stripe kept, whole and radiant in its fair expanse, shall be brought back to the capitol; and it may well be that he the illustrious civic leader who first flung it to the breeze in the nation's necessity, should be the man whose hands shall be privileged to furl it again in peace, he who sits worthily in the chair that once held Washington: he, so honest and pure in his great function, so wise and prudent, so faithful and firm: God Almighty bless and preserve Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States."
The exercises were closed by the singing of an original hymn and a benediction.
The Society contributed $933 in 1864 for our suffering fellow citizens in East Tennessee.
In 1865 the Society received a legacy from Mrs. Polly Robbins.
A service in memory of President Abraham Lincoln was held April 19, 1865, in this Meeting House by the City Government of Roxbury, the order of exercises being as follows:
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I Dirge, by the Band "Rest, Spirit, Rest." II Selections from the Scriptures By Rev. J. G. Bartholomew III Solo and Quartette . . . Mendelssohn "O rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him, and He shall give thee thy heart's desires."
IV Prayer By Rev. Dr. Thompson V Hymn by the Choir "Peace, Troubled Soul."
VI Address By Rev. Dr. George Putnam VII Selection
'Cast thy Burden on the Lord." Mendelssohn.
VIII Benediction
The address has been published and was listened to in perfect silence by a throng which occupied every seat and settees placed in the aisles.
The church was heavily draped and extra props put in to prevent the galleries from giving way under the crowd which packed them.
In Oct., 1865, the meeting house was entered and about 15 yards of carpet on each of the aisles cut out and carried away.
In April, 1866, a skylight over the pulpit was constructed.
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INTERIOR OF THE PRESENT MEETING HOUSE, LOOKING WEST, 1857.
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Concerning this improvement, James Sharp of Watertown wrote as follows:
"I was today (Sunday, April 22, 1866) one of the few who had opportunity to notice the effect of the "New light" just introduced at the Meeting House of the First Religious Society in Roxbury. Not however without some panes as it appears. And the first gleam which met my eye was the cause of the following impromptu
From church we should not keep aloof, Since by admission through the roof,
The Light of Heaven is clearly shed,
Direct upon the Reverend head.
Light from above can here be sought
To illuminate each pious thought
And lustre new around us shine Of truth and love and grace divine."
During the same year the church spire was rebuilt and the Society contributed $3400 for the sufferers by the fire in Portland, and $730 for the Freedman's Aid Society.
In 1867 the porch of the church was enlarged, and in this year the Society contributed $638.70 for the Poor of the South and $3095 for a Free Chapel in the Easterly part of Roxbury.
April 13, 1868, for the first time, the church was decorated for the Easter services with flowers. Miss Anna Everett and Miss Sarah Gore dressed the pulpit. The decoration consisted of a cross at the back of the pulpit and a few wreaths and Ivy plants around the base.
In the spring of 1871, Rev. Dr. Putnam asked for a leave of absence until October which was granted him and the Society supplied the pulpit during his absence.
In the fall of 1871 the Society contributed $1727.50 for the sufferers by the Fire in Chicago.
In 1873 Rev. Dr. Putnam tendered his resignation as Pastor, but he was persuaded to still keep his position and was relieved of all responsibility.
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In 1875 Mr. John Graham Brooks of Cambridge was invited to become Associate Pastor. He accepted and was ordained Oct. 10, 1875. The order of exercises were: - Reading of the Scriptures and Ordaining Prayer by Rev. C. C. Everett, D.D .; Ordaining Address by Rev. George Putnam, D.D., who gave the Right Hand of Fellowship. Sermon by the pastor elect, and Concluding Prayer by Rev. Wm Newell, D.D., of Cambridge, who had extended the Right Hand of Fellowship to Dr. Putnam at his ordination. Benediction by Mr. Brooks.
In 1876 the building of a chapel was considered and soon built. It was dedicated Saturday evening, Dec. 23, 1876. In the order of exercises were selections sung by children from the Sunday-school, Invocation by Rev. J. G. Brooks, Anthem by the Choir, Prayer of Dedication by Rev. E. E. Hale, Benediction by Rev. Dr. Putnam, besides some addresses and more singing. It was called Putnam Chapel. The Misses Fisher gave the beautiful window of stained glass; Mrs. Franklin Greene, the clock; Mr. John J. May, the busts of Dr. Channing, by Persies, and Dr. Putnam, by Greenough; and Mr. Edward B. Reynolds, the Bible. The cost of the chapel, built and furnished, was $10,527.82, entirely paid for in 1880 through the generosity of the pew proprietors in that year who then furnished the balance of $5,000.00.
In 1880 Rev. Mr. Brooks, our Pastor, made the following report to the Parish: -
The objects of our Society - Christian worship and work - being com- mon to all the congregation, it has seemed to the minister that an annual statement of the condition of the parish, what has been accomplished during the year, what is doing and what should be done, would help us all to a more intelligent interest in the welfare of the society.
It is in the hope of such better and wider understanding, that this report is given. The number of families now connected with the Society is 301; the number of calling places 316. It is the purpose of the minister to call
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once each year upon all. Many special needs, however, such as sickness and death, make much more calling necessary. During the last two years an average of seventy-one calls per month was made. The Society is still widely scattered. Eight families are in Brookline, fourteen in Jamaica Plain, three in West Roxbury, one in Newton, one in Brighton, nine in Dorchester, thirty in Boston. It is yet true, that the situation of so large a number of families makes such visiting impossible, as the minister would gladly make for the sake of that influence which comes from a closer personal connection with the home life of his people. Mostly owing to this condition of the Society, also, the minister often does not hear of sickness until to hear it is an embarrassment; he therefore earnestly asks that he be informed of such events as he would gladly know. The help which, in these days, the minister can render in time of trouble is but little; yet no kinder service is ever done to any minister than when such opportunity is confided to him. Nor does anything so strengthen him in his work as admission to the deeper life of those whose Sabbath worship he directs.
During the year five couples have been united in marriage, three persons were baptized, seven united with the church. The number of deaths ten. The chapel service, begun four years ago, continues during sixteen or eighteen weeks, from November into March. The object has been more especially instruction in the history of the Ethnic, the Jewish and Christian religions.
Rev. Mr. Brooks resigned in the early spring of 1882 and we had no settled Pastor until 1883, when Rev. James De Normandie was called, and he was installed March 14, 1883. The services included the Invocation by Rev. William H. Lyon of Roxbury; Reading the Scriptures by Rev. C. Y. De Normandie, Kingston; Sermon by Rev. James Freeman Clarke, D.D., Boston; Ordaining Prayer, Rev. A. P. Peabody, D.D., Cambridge; Right Hand of Fellowship by Rev. Edward H. Hall, Cambridge; Address to the People and Pastor by Rev. Edward E. Hale, Boston; Benediction by the Pastor; the whole interspersed with music.
In 1883, a new Bible was presented to the Society by the young men of the Parish.
In 1887 a committee was appointed to ascertain the rights of the First Religious Society in Roxbury to the burying ground off Kearsarge Avenue.
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The present pulpit was built in 1888, and it is similar to that in the First Church in Lancaster, built by Bulfinch in 1816. At the same time the church was painted and refur- nished and gas introduced.
The first mention of ushers was in 1889, when the following men served: - William Wells Bosworth, B. P. Cheney Clapp, Nathan S. Robinson, Channing Robinson, William S. Rumrill.
An attempt was made in 1891 to change the name of the corporation to "First Church in Roxbury," but it was defeated.
There is nothing so fitting in closing the account of this Historical Church as a brief description of the services on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Dedication of this House of Worship, which occurred June 7, 1904. Some of the descendants of those who worshipped here in 1804 were present on this anniversary.
The order of service was: - Organ Voluntary; Anthem; Invocation, the congregation joining in the Responsive Ser- vice; Anthem; Prayer by The Rev. Alexander McKenzie, D.D., Minister of the First Church in Cambridge; Organ; Hymn in which the congregation joined. Address by the Rev. James De Normandie, D.D., minister of this church; Anthem; Address by the Right Reverend William Lawrence, Bishop of Massachusetts; Address by the Rev. Edward Everett Hale, D.D., of the South Congregational Church, Boston; Hymn in which the congregation joined; Bene- diction.
There were no formal exercises of unveiling of the memo- rial tablets now in position and seen for the first time, the reference to the men thus honored, which Dr. De Normandie gave in his address, sufficing for such a ceremony. The tablets were those to John Eliot, Amos Adams, Eliphalet Porter, George Putnam of the Pastors, and Thomas Dudley,
INTERIOR OF THE PRESENT MEETING HOUSE, LOOKING EAST, 1900.
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Joseph Dudley, Paul Dudley, William Dudley, Charles K. Dillaway, and John Felt Osgood of the laymen.
One of the Daily papers refers to this event as follows: -
The observance last night of the hundredth anniversary of the dedication of the present house of worship at Eliot Square, Roxbury, the old First Church of that quarter, was one of the most interesting and inspiring events that has occurred for a long time. The history and tradition of which it is now the visible and venerable symbol, are more venerable still, for as Dr. De Normandie said : " For 273 years there has been no interruption of worship on this hilltop."
The church is practically coincident with the history of the colony and stood from the beginning, not only for the strong virtues of the Puritan pioneers, but for the added grace and nobleness of Rev. John Eliot's sympathy for the natives, which neither at that time nor to the present day has been characteristic of Anglo-Saxon colonizations. The glory of the spot is its association with the name and tireless devo- tion of "John Eliot, apostle to the Indians." This alone is enough to insure it a chapter in the annals of early American history, whose glory can never fade.
This feature of its early record was feelingly and beauti- fully dwelt upon in the noble prayer delivered by Rev. Dr. Mckenzie of Cambridge, and that and the addresses which followed seemed admirably attuned to the spirit of the occa- sion. All denominational differences were put aside and the broader interests which the event suggested were merged in common Christian fellowship among those who were equal sharers in their reverence for their great heritage. The church was crowded and the profound silence that reigned throughout the exercises was an eloquent tribute to their interest.
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REV. GEORGE PUTNAM, D.D.
Son of Andrew and Jerusha (Clap) Putnam, was born in Sterling, Mass., August 16, 1807. His early training was in the academies of Leicester and Groton. He entered Har- vard College in 1822, and graduated in 1826. He was plain, simple, and unpretending, one of the youngest in the class, and though thoroughly manly, in no other respect old for his years, the soul of truth and honor, respected and liked by all his classmates, dearly loved by many. He held a high rank in his class, and undoubtedly might have had a higher place if he had striven for it.
After graduating he spent one year as a teacher in Duxbury, and then entered the Divinity School in Cambridge. What his success was there may be inferred from the fact that before completing his required course of instruction, he received an invitation to preach as a candidate for one of the oldest societies in New England and that after officiating but three Sundays he was called, by a very general vote, to become the associate pastor there of the Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Porter. His letter of acceptance is dated May 21, 1830. He was ordained July 7, 1830. Rev. Orville Dewey, D.D., preached the ordination sermon.
This church was then, as it was at the time of his death, one of the largest and most influential congregations in this neighborhood.
In its service Dr. Putnam at once attained the distinction which he ever afterward held, as a thoughtful, interesting, wise, and eloquent preacher.
A careful student, of very wide range of reading, he made everything contribute to the interest of his sermons. The subjects which he treated in the pulpit were of every variety,
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INTERIOR OF THE PRESENT MEETING HOUSE, LOOKING WEST, 1900.
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and before he had been long in the ministry of this Church, the most thoughtful men and women of this community took every opportunity to hear him preach, whether they were or were not members of the same religious communion.
The parish at the time of his ordination, and for some years after, was essentially an agricultural one, a majority of the members being substantial farmers. To this class the new minister's style of preaching, so plain, direct, and impres- sive, so full of illustrations of God's beneficence in nature, was just what they needed. It made them appreciate their calling in its religious as well as secular aspect, and it made them respect each other.
In 1831 Dr. Putnam married Elizabeth Anne, daughter of Rev. Dr. Henry Ware, Hollis Professor of Harvard College. Miss Caroline Porter, Mrs. Richard Ward, and Mrs. B. F. Copeland were the committee who furnished their home at the time of the marriage.
No one who knew Mrs. Putnam can forget the beneficence and beauty of her character. Where she was there was sunshine ever. She had a ready sympathy for all in trouble, and an open hand for their relief. She died March 24, 1866.
Gradually in the course of ten years the agricultural ele- ment in our society disappeared. The increased volume of land, and the estimates of the assessors, drove our farmers to more profitable fields.
The pews they left were soon filled by the commercial class, many of them from the highest mercantile houses in Boston. Some of these, who had not been accustomed to look for business talent and experience in clerical men, were surprised to find that Dr. Putnam could give them wise counsel in mercantile emergencies, when even the oldest among them were in doubt.
No one had a higher estimate of mercantile honor than
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he. No one despised more heartily any deviation from it. Some of his sermons on this theme were of such singular merit that he was requested to publish them, but this, like many other such requests, he generally declined. He had a singular disinclination to publish anything he wrote. His common answer was that after he had preached a sermon at home, and three or four times elsewhere by exchanges, it reached more than would be likely to read a pamphlet.
There was another class in our Society, and not a small one, the professional men, whom he delighted by the beauty of his language and the brilliancy of his thoughts. One trait he had always shown - an intuitive sagacity to seize the master key to a subject, and so easily open all its parts.
He received the degree of S.T.D. from Bowdoin College in 1845.
In 1845 he was offered the chair of the Hollis Professorship at Cambridge, and the friends of the college urged him per- sistently to accept it. The possibility of his leaving our Society of course produced intense excitement. The letters he received from petitioners and remonstrants would make an interesting volume. The real question with him was, "What is my duty in settling this trying question ?" Hap- pily for our Society, and for him too, we think, he decided to remain with us. The interests of the college were always dear to him, and at a later period of his life he had abundant opportunity of showing his appreciation of them. He was from 1853 to 1877 a most efficient member of the corporation. His services in that position were greater than the public knows.
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