USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Springfield > History of the First church in Springfield. An address delivered June 22, 1875 > Part 3
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election to that office at so early a period. But he is spoken of as a deacon in August, 1780, when his daugh- ter was baptized. He continued to hold the office un- 3
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til his death, on the 3d of July, 1814, at the age of seventy-nine years. Ile was by profession a lawyer, and was for many years a judge of the local Court in the old county of Hampshire.
The first record of the church now extant is one kept by Mr. Breck. With the exception of two or three cases of discipline, the entries in it are only of admissions to the church, baptisms, marriages, and deaths. In a female hand, perhaps of his wife or daughter, is entered under date of April 23, 1781. " Died the Revd Robt Breck, Pastor of the First church in Springfield in the 71st year of his age and 49th of his ministry." At his funeral a sermon was preached by Dr. Lathrop, from II. Timothy, 4th chapter. 6th, 7th and Sth verses. It appears that, as early as the min- istry of Mr. Breek, the church made use of two forms of covenant, one for the admission of members to full communion, and the other entitling those. assent- ing to it to baptism for themselves and their children, but not to membership. This last has been frequently called "The half-way covenant." The records indi- cate that no use was made of this covenant later than the year 1795 .* The other continued in use down to the time of the adoption of the present covenant in 1821. An important event during the ministry of Mr. Breck was the building of a new meeting-house. The parish passed the vote to build it in April, 1749. It was erected the same year, or the year following. so far as to be ready for use, although not entirely finished until 1752. It was 60 feet long by 46 wide, and 26 feet high between joints. This house, the third built, was the immediate predecessor of the * Appendix F.
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present meeting-house, and stood directly cast of the ground now occupied. The principal entrance was on the east side, but there was also an entrance through the tower. Some of our older inhabitants remember well this house, with its high pulpit and square pews. There are two or three cases of disci- pline recorded, which occurred during Mr. Breck's pastorate. One of these is somewhat singular in its facts, and interesting as a precedent. A written com- plaint against a rather prominent, but very eccentric, member was presented to the church, charging him with disturbing the devotions of his fellow Christians on the Lord's day, and interrupting the public wor- ship of God, by reading aloud, while they were sing- ing his praise. After prayer for the divine direction, the church found him guilty, and voted to debar him from Christian privileges till gospel satisfaction should be made. Eighteen months afterwards, the offending member desired an opportunity to confer with the church, and proposed the question whether his con- fession would be accepted, if made to the church, in the absence of the congregation. The church voted to adhere to their ancient practice of receiving con- fessions of public offences only before the congrega- tion. Six months more passed, and the member re- newed his proposal to present his confession before the church only. After prayer and consultation. the church decided to comply with his request, provided that the confession should afterwards be read to the congregation by the pastor. After another interval of six or eight months this course was adopted, and the offender "restored to charity."
On the 8th day of November, 1784, the church
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" voted unanimously to choose Mr. Bezaleel Howard to be their minister. On the same day the parish voted to concur in this choice, and to offer Mr. How- ard one hundred and fifty pounds for a settlement, and one hundred pounds lawful silver money annu- ally for his salary, together with the use and improve- ment of the parsonage house and lauds, so long as he should continue in the office of a gospel minister." The answer of Mr. Howard, accepting this call, was communicated on the 27th January, 1785. In the closing paragraph he writes : " In regard to tempo- ralities, the offers you have made for my support, I believe, for the present, are generous and sufficient ; but should any future change of times render them inadequate to that purpose, 'tis the condition of my acceptance that you make such additions as may be necessary for my comfortable subsistence among you. That kindness and respect which you showed your former pastor, and that happy unanimity which at present subsists among you, afford me the most pleas- ing prospect of spending my life in a very agreeable and useful manner among you. The satisfaction with which the new pastor looked forward to his fu- ture residence in Springfield was strongly in contrast with his first impressions of the place. He came here at first an entire stranger to the village and its inhab- itants, sent by the president of his college, to supply the vacant pulpit for six Sabbaths. His journey was on horseback. The road was solitary, and the ap- proach to the town from the east far from attractive. He rode down the hill to the main street, then the only settlement, and looked up and down the street. The buildings were mostly unpainted, and many of them
AN PINCHON
REVIS OSGO ONES
RE . B.HOWARD DD
REV.H.M.PARSONS
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dilapidated. The aspect was chilling to the young minister, and he said to himself that the day when the six weeks of his engagement should be ended, would be a happy day to him. Directly opposite the road by which he entered the village, he saw one white house of a more cheerful aspect. At the door of this mansion he presented himself, and announced his name and errand. "You have come to the right place," replied the proprietor, and at once extended to him the hospitalities of his house. The six weeks were spent pleasantly. The call to settle followed, and in that white house the young pastor found his future wife. It was to him indeed " the right place." Mr. Howard was a native of Bridgewater, a graduate of Harvard College in 1781, where he was afterwards a tutor, and was ordained pastor of this church April 27, 1785. The ordination sermon was preached by Rev. Timothy Hilliard, from Titus, 2d chapter, the last clause of the 15th verse. " Let no man despise thee." I have a printed copy of this discourse, from the title- page of which it appears that it was printed at " Springfield, Massachusetts," by " Stebbins and Rus- sell, at their office near the great Ferry."
The condition in regard to increase of salary. con- tained in Mr. Howard's letter of acceptance, eventu- ally came to be of practical importance. In Novem- ber, 1795, the parish had under consideration the subject of making an addition to his salary, in conse- quence of the high price of the necessaries of life, and voted him thirty pounds. Two years afterwards he sent to the parish a memorial setting forth the losses sustained by him in the matter of interest, by the de- lays in the payment of his salary, and its depreciation
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in value. The parish appointed a committee of eleven, of which George Bliss was chairman, to consider this memorial. The committee afterwards reported a satisfactory arrangement of this difficulty, and at every annual meeting afterwards a committee was appointed " to confer with Rev. Mr. Howard and ascer- tain, as well as they can, what sum of money will be equivalent to his stated salary of one hundred pounds at the time of his settlement;" and such a sum was regularly granted him for the purpose, not always, however, without opposition.
In the year 1803, the health of Mr. Howard failed, and the parish was obliged to provide for the supply of the pulpit by other clergymen. Ilis disability proved to be of a more serious and permanent charac- ter than was at first anticipated, and, at its meeting in April, 1805, a committee was appointed to confer with him, and consider the expediency of dissolving his relation to the parish, and the terms upon which it should be done. At an adjourned meeting in May, 1805, this committee, through their chairman, the Hon. John Hooker, reported that they had made an agreement with Mr. Howard, by which he was to be relieved from pastoral labor, relinquish all claim for his salary, and for the use of the parsonage house and lands, and was to be paid the sum of two thousand dollars in three annual installments. The pastoral re- lation, however, was to continue until the settlement of another minister, and then be dissolved without further terms or conditions. This agreement was duly confirmed by the parish ; and Mr. Howard con- tinued to be nominally the pastor of the church until the ordination of his successor in 1809. It would ap-
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pear from his record that he officiated at marriages, baptisms and funerals, but the services of the pulpit were performed by other clergymen. The ministry of Mr. Howard in this parish does not appear to have been an eventful one. His style of preaching is said to have been smooth and pleasing, rather adapted to instruct and comfort his people than to rouse them to energetie action. He was eminently a social man, gifted in conversation, and fond of exercising the gift. These qualities made him familiar with his people, without impairing the respect which they entertained for him. I have heard it said that in one of his ser- mons he quoted a passage from St. Paul with the words, " as the wise King of Israel said." One of his parishioners, who was in the habit of calling on his pastor frequently to discuss the subject of his dis- course, soon called to see him, and rallied the minis- ter upon his mistaken quotation, with "I never knew before that St. Paul was a king, although I always thought he was fit to be one." Mr. Howard received the honorary degree of doctor of divinity from Har- vard College in 1824, and was usually spoken of as Dr. Howard in the later years of his life. He died in 1837, at his house on Elm street, close by the church, the same now owned and occupied by Mr. Henry Fuller. At the commencement of his ministry in 1785, the membership of the church was one hun- dred and seventeen. At the time of the settlement of his successor in 1809, it was not far from one hun- dred and seventy-seven, showing an increase of fifty in twenty-four years.
The deacons, at the commencement of Mr. How- ard's ministry, as already stated, were Nathaniel
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Brewer, Daniel Harris and Moses Bliss. The vacancy caused by the death of Dea. Harris, in 1785. was filled the same year by the election of William Pyn- chon, Esq., to that office. Mr. Pynchon was a lineal descendant from the original founder of Springfield and from his distinguished son, John Pynchon. He was for thirty years the parish clerk, and most of that time its treasurer. He also held the offices of town clerk and treasurer, and register of deeds. He died March 4, ISOS, at the age of sixty-eight years. Chauncey Brewer, son of Dea. Nathaniel Brewer. and grandson of Rev. Daniel Brewer, was a deacon of the church during the pastorate of Mr. Howard. I have not been able to ascertain the date of his ap- pointment, as no record of any proceedings of the church was kept by Mr. Howard, except of admissions to the church. It is probable that he was elected to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father in 1796. He was a physician, and attained considerable eminence in his profession. He died in March, 1830, at the advanced age of eighty-seven. His venerable form is well remembered, as he appeared when he oc- cupied his pew on the Sabbath, on the south side of the pulpit, in the present meeting-house.
On the 24th of November, ISOS, the church by a unanimous vote, invited Mr. Samuel Osgood to settle with them in the work of the gospel ministry, and Chauncey Brewer, George Bliss and John Hooker ( then the deacons of the church in active service) were ap- pointed a committee to inform him of the vote. This call was given after he had preached here two Sabbaths, and, considering the fact that he was the thirty-seventh minister, who had been preaching here,
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either as a candidate or a supply, since the resigna- tion of Dr. Howard, it was certainly a very compli- mentary vote. Mr. Osgood, or, as he is more fre- quently . called, Dr. Osgood, was born at Fryburg, Me., February 3, 1784. He completed his studies pre- paratory to entering college under the instruction of Daniel Webster, who, in after years, was accustomed, whenever in this town on the Sabbath, to attend this church, and listen to the preaching of his former scholar and life-long friend. Dr. Osgood graduated at Dartmouth College in 1805, having joined his class during its junior year. He at first inclined to the law as a profession, and actually commenced the study in a lawyer's office. He soon, however, abandoned it, and commenced a theological course with Rev. Dr. Harris of Dorchester. Ile was licensed to preach in 1806, and preached his first sermon in Roxbury; his second in Quincy, where he had for hearers Ex-Presi- dent John Adams, and his son, afterwards President John Quincy Adams. He soon after went to Prince- ton, where he completed his theological studies. Re- turning to Massachusetts, he was a candidate in three different places for settlement, including this, toward which the scale eventually turned. He was ordained here on the 25th of January, 1809. His former the- ological instructor, Dr. Harris, preached the sermon from I. Timothy 4: 16; Dr. Lathrop of West Spring- field gave the charge, and Rev. Ezra Witter of Wil- braham the right hand of fellowship.
The ministry of Mr. Osgood commenced under most auspicious circunstances. He was then in the vigor of youthful manhood, with a constitution that gave promise of uniform health-a promise, that had
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a remarkable fulfillment for more than half a cen- tury of his after-life. His mental powers were solid and strong, rather than showy. He had a church of 225 members. His parish (then territorial ) embraced the whole population of the town, from Chicopee river on the north, to Longmeadow on the south, and from Wilbraham line on the east. to the Connecticut river, comprising about 2.200 souls. The officers of the church were men of fervent piety and cultured intel- lect, and held stations in the church and in the world of wide and commanding influence. One of them, Judge Moses Bliss, had reached an advanced age, which disqualified him in a measure from the active duties of the deaconship. Dr. Chauncey Brewer, not vet threescore and ten, was still able to officiate at the Lord's table on communion Sabbaths, and to per- perform other services pertaining to the office.
George Bliss and John Hooker, both men of large . culture, high standing and influence, were then in the full vigor of middle life. Of the times of their elec- tion to the office of deacon the record makes no men- tion. But there can be no question that they held the office at the very beginning of Mr. Osgood's pas- torate, and probably before. They were both of the legal profession, and ranked among the first of its members. Mr. Hooker was for eighteen years the Judge of Probate for this county, and one of the original corporators of the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions.
At the time of Mr. Osgood's settlement. many of the ministers and churches in this Commonwealth were drifting away from Trinitarian Orthodoxy to- ward Unitarian views. Mr. Osgood, although holding
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in the main with those who adhered to the Trinitarian doctrine, was at first regarded as more liberal than many of his ministerial brethren ; but, as the breach widened between those who claimed the appellation of Liberal Christians and those who held to the old Orthodox standards, Mr. Osgood had no hesitation in ranging himself with those who adhered to the tenets of John Calvin. In fact, he was one of the first min- isters in this region who refused ministerial exchanges with the disciples of a laxer faith. To this step he was impelled by the conviction that it was necessary in order to preserve the church true to the faith of the fathers. It was a measure that at once alienated from him many who had been his warm friends. It brought him directly into collision with much of the wealth and influence of his church and parish. It even shook at first the confidence of some of his min- isterial brethren in this region in his prudence and judgment. They thought he was carrying his scru- ples too far. When the old meeting-house was found too strait and too uncomfortable for the congregation, and the parish decided to build the present edifice, the storm, which had been for some time gathering, burst. In August, 1819, about twenty-five members of the church, comprising some of its most respectable and influential members, including the venerable ex-pas- tor, made application for a certificate of their regular standing, and a recommendation to the people of God as in full communion, that they might be formed into a separate church. It was known that there were others who stood ready to join in this movement when it should be successfully inaugurated. The re- sult was a secession, formidable, not in numbers, but
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in the standing and influence of those concerned in it. In the language of Dr. Osgood, uttered thirty years afterwards, " This was a trying time to me and to many of my parishioners. Families, who had long worshiped in the same sanctuary, and who had en- joyed most familiar and delightful intercourse, and some of whom were united in the tenderest bonds of consanguinity, were sundered for a time. If no speeches of recrimination were made, there were bit- ter feelings with some on both sides." In this crisis, it was fortunate for the stability of this church and its pastor that the officers of the church were not only good men, but wise men. They stood firm, and the pastor felt that his hands were strengthened. It was also fortunate that the minister, who was settled over the new Unitarian Society. was a gentleman of peculiar amiability and disposed to peace. The era of ill-feeling gradually passed away, and forbearance and courtesy eventually characterized the intercourse of the parties.
In 1827, Mr. Osgood received the honorary degree of doctor of divinity from Princeton College, and was afterwards usually addressed and spoken of by that title. The active pastorate of Dr. Osgood continued down to May, 1854, a period of forty-five years. At that time, when he had reached the full period of threescore and ten years, he retired from the active duties of the pastoral office, although continuing still to retain the pastoral relation to the end of his life. His death occurred on the Sth of December, 1862. It might have been said of him : " His eye was not dim, or his natural force abated." It is rare that the death of a minister, or indeed of any citizen, leaves so wide
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1 a gap in the community where he has resided, as did that of Dr. Osgood. For more than half a century he had taken a prominent part in the moral and re- ligious movements of this town. No man was so universally known to the people as he. Few had so strong a hold upon their respect and sympathy. He was ever prompt to extend a helping hand to the suffering poor, who came under his observation ; his hospitality was unstinted, although often severely taxed. Occupying, as he did, the position of minister of the first parish of the largest town in Western Mas- sachusetts, at the confluence of travel from every quarter of the compass, his house was pre-eminently a minister's tavern. He was a genial man, social in his tastes and habits, fond of conversation, and ready to take an active part in it. He possessed an im- mense fund of aneedote, with which he was accus- tomed to interest and amuse those in whose company he chanced to be. His own peculiar traits of charac- ter have made him the subject of many anecdotes. Many of these have found their way into the public prints since his death. Some of them, I have no doubt, of an apocryphal character ; such, I am as- sured, is one recently published, which represents him as rescinding an arrangement to exchange with Rev. Mr. Storrs, of Longmeadow, in order to confute an assertion of his brother minister, when they met on their way, that it had been fore-ordained from all eternity that they should exchange pulpits on that particular Sabbath. Dr. Osgood was too staunch a believer in the doctrine of the Divine decrees, ever to have indulged in a caprice of that kind. It may have been true of some other clergyman, but never
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of him. Dr. Osgood enjoyed, to a remarkable extent, the most robust health during the whole of his min- isterial life. In reviewing his ministry at the end of forty years, he claimed, and with justice, that he had never been detained from his pulpit a single Sabbath on account of sickness. His person was manly, indi- cating uncommon physical strength. I have heard it said of him that in his prime he was the most athletic man in Springfield. Many anecdotes are told of him in this regard, some of them quite amusing. In any notice of Dr. Osgood, as the pastor of this church, and minister of this parish, a position affording a field of great usefulness so long filled by him with accept- ance, it is proper that there should be some mention of the invaluable aid, which he derived from his wife. She was indeed an exemplary woman, one who may be safely held up as a model to the wives of ministers all over the land. This parish appreciated her use- fulness in the station she filled here, and, as some ex- pression of its respect for her. continued to her, dur- ing her life, a considerable part of the annuity which had been paid to her husband. She survived him be-
tween eight and nine years. Although Dr. Osgood wrote more than two thousand sermons, some of them of rare ability, and delivered on occasions of un- usual public interest, yet, with only one or two ex- ceptions, none of them were ever published. He had an almost invincible repugnance to having his ser- mons printed. At the close of the fortieth year of his ministry, he preached a discourse from Acts. 20th chapter, 26th and 27th verses. in which he reviewed his ministry from his settlement down to that the. It was a discourse of great interest and power. and
S. Maria
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ยท the church strongly solicited and obtained his consent to its publication.
It has been already stated that the deacons officia- ting during the earlier portion of Dr. Osgood's pas- torate, were Chauncey Brewer, George Bliss and John Hooker.
Dea. Hooker died on the 6th of March, 1829, at the age of sixty-seven. Dea. George Bliss survived him one year, and died on the Sth of March, 1830, at the age of sixty-five. Eight days afterwards Dea. Chauncey Brewer died, on the 16th of March, 1830, at the age of eighty-seven. Owing to his age and infirmities, he had retired from active duty in the office for some years, and, about the year 1822, Col. Solomon Warriner was chosen a deacon to take his place. Col. Warriner was a native of Wilbraham, from which place he removed to Springfield about the year 1800. From Springfield he removed to Pitts- field, and resided there until December, 1820, when he returned to Springfield, and resided here during the remainder of his life. Before leaving Springfield he had been the leader of the choir, and upon his return, he was re-instated in the same position, and continued to preside over the music of this church for more than a quarter of a century. During about the same period of time he held the office of deacon. He was also for many years superintendent of the Sabbath- school .* In September, 1849. he took a dismission to the South Church in this city. Ile died June 14, 1860, at the age of eighty-two. Boardman Hubbard was chosen a deacon, April 6, 1826, thus increasing the number of deacons, performing actual service, * Appendix G.
.
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from three to four. Dea. Hubbard was employed in the United States Armory, and resided on the hill. He united with this church by letter from a church in Middletown, in March, 1824, and was dismissed to the Fourth Church, now the Olivet Church, at some time between 1836 and 1844, probably about 1841. Dan- iel Bontecou and George Merriam were elected dea- cons, March 5, 1833. Mr. Merriam held the office until March 6, 1842, when with thirty-two other mem- bers, he was dismissed to unite in the organization of the South Church. Dea. Bontecou continued . to officiate until May 2, 1845, when he, too. was dismissed to the South Church. He died, November 24, 1857.
To fill the place, vacated by Dea. Merriam, Ben- jamin Eldridge was elected, April 13, 1842, and still retains the office of a deacon of this church, although by reason of infirmity, he has for several years re- tired from all active service. At this period it was the usage of the church to have four deacons, but it was rare that the office was filled by that number. Lay members were very often called upon to officiate at Communion seasons. There being but three in- cumbents in November, 1843, the church attempted to secure a sufficient number of officers by electing three additional deacons, but only one, Elijah W. Dickinson, accepted the office. He held it until he was dismissed to join the North Church. Chauncey Chapin united with the church by profession, May 5, 18444, being then past middle life. Three years after- wards, he was chosen the clerk of the church, and, on the 21st of April, 1848, he was elected a deacon. Both of these offices he held until his death, which occurred May 6, 1851, at the age of sixty-two.
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