USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > History of the churches and ministers, and of Franklin association, in Franklin County, Mass., and an appendix respecting the county > Part 27
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
The Greenfield Gazette of July 16, 1798, says : "Rev. Jesse Townsend was installed June 20, 1798, in New Dur- ham, N. Y., a place where fifteen years ago, no vestiges of eivilized life were to be seen, but which has now become a well populated village ; and sacred services were performed in a decent meeting-house, and in the presence of about a thousand spectators." He was pastor in that place about thirteen years. He preached in Canaan, N. Y .; then in Madison, N. Y., about five years ; then had charge of an
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academy in Utica, N. Y., one year ; about 1816 removed to Palmyra, N. Y., where he preached three years ; in 1821 re- moved to Illinois, and preached there and in Missouri about five years ; returned to Palmyra, N.Y., in 1826 ; and preached in Sodus, N. Y., four years, where a revival of religion was enjoyed under his labors; about 1831 he returned to Pal- myra, N. Y., where he lived till his death, supplying vacant churches in the vicinity.
The following obituary notice of him was published in the New York Observer and Evangelist :- " As a pastor, he was most faithful and affectionate, and unwearied in his efforts for the salvation of his people. His views of theol- ogy were always clear, and though he belonged to the old school of New England divines, there was always a readi- ness on his part to favor such measures of the day, whether new or old, as were instrumental in the salvation of souls.
" During the whole course of his ministry, it can scarcely be said that he had an idle hour. He was proverbially an early riser, and in this secured much valuable time for his study and his pen. It may be to this habit, under God, that we are to ascribe his uniform good health, even to the last years of his life. Beside his parochial duties, he has, it is believed, at all times, had young men under his tuition pur- suing their studies preparatory for college. Of these, the greater part have entered the ministry ; and while some have gone to their rest, others are still laboring in this and pagan lands in the service of their Master. Amid all the varied occupations which engaged his attention, he found time also to write an abridgment of Milner's Church History, which has been extensively and favorably known.
" In 1816 he removed to Palmyra, and after a residence of four years, he again removed with his family and settled in the State of Illinois. Here he also continued his labors, and accepted a commission from the American Home Missionary Society, which he discharged with great fidelity, devoting part of his time to Illinois and part to Missouri. He was, it is believed, the first Presbyterian clergyman resident in those
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States. After a few years' residence, he returned to Palmyra, since which time, though he has not been settled over any congregation, he has most of the time had a stated charge, and continued his labors until near his death.
" In this afflictive bereavement, judgment and mercy have met together. His painful and somewhat protracted illness was borne with patience and resignation. Many and precious were the testimonies which fell from his lips, alike honor- able to religion, and expressive of his confidence in God. It was affecting to witness his frequent renunciation of himself and of his own righteousness. Jesus Christ crucified was all his hope and all his salvation. Well is it remembered with what tones of interest he said, 'Pray for me, that I may have a clear and comprehensive and gospel view of the character of Christ.' At another time he was heard to say, while pray- ing for himself, 'O Lord, keep me from placing any depend- ence in anything but the riches of thy grace manifested in Jesus Christ.'
" His feelings in prospect of death were marked by all the submission and hope which his previous life would be likely to inspire. Never a word of distrust, or doubt, or complaint, is known to have escaped his lips. He longed to depart. ' Hitherto,' said he, ' I have seemed to draw back, but not so in this sickness : I can now go promptly forward, trusting in the precious Saviour.' At times he seemed to be in haste to be gone. 'My soul,' he would say, 'lingers about these mortal shores, and makes a long delay.' Early in the morn- ing of the day when his happy spirit took its flight, in lan- guage almost prophetic of his speedy removal, he repeatedly exclaimed, ' The day breaketh, let me depart ; the day break- eth, let me depart.' The last words he was heard to utter were, 'Jesus has washed my sins away.' Thus he lived, and thus he died."
" The gospel was his joy and song E'en to his latest breath ; The truth he had proclaimed so long, Was his support in death."
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Mr. Townsend had three sons and one daughter, all of whom are living.
3. REV. THEOPHILUS PACKARD, D. D., was settled as the third pastor of this church, Feb. 20, 1799, and Rev. John Emerson of Conway preached the sermon ; and his nominal relation as pastor of the church has continued to the present time, a period of about fifty-five years, though he ceased to perform official duties as a pastor, Feb. 20, 1842, and since 1846 has resided in South Deerfield. He was born in North Bridgewater, March 4, 1769, and at the age of five years removed to Cummington ; graduated at Dartmouth in 1796; studied theology with Rev. Dr. Asa Burton of Thetford, Vt. He has published several occasional sermons. . He received his doctorate from Dartmouth College. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Williams College from 1810 to 1825 ; and one of the overseers of the Charity Fund of Am- herst College from 1821 to 1835, and has been one of the Trustees from 1832 to this time. He represented the town of Shelburne in the Legislature of Massachusetts in 1830 and in 1839. He married Miss Mary Tirrill of Abington, Feb. 9, 1800. He has had eight children, two sons and four daughters, five of whom are living. His oldest son was settled as colleague pastor with him, March 12, 1828.
He is the fourth generation from Samuel Packard, who was the progenitor of the Packards in this country. Mitchell's Genealogical History of Bridgewater says : "Sam- uel Packard and his wife and child came from Windham, near Hingham, in England, in the ship called ' The Diligent of Ipswich, 133 passengers, John Martin, master,' and settled in Hingham in 1638 ; he thence came to West Bridgewater, and died about 1684. In the early records both at Hingham and Bridgewater the name is written Packer, and was here formerly invariably pronounced so. The name on the town records was also sometimes written Peckar, Pecker, Peckard, and Peckerd, but by the family has been generally written Packard."
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In the early part of his ministry, when Academies were few, he instructed students in his family, and prepared quite a number for college. The following is a list of thirty-one students whom he instructed in theology, and who became preachers of the gospel. Their names are arranged in the order of time in which they lived and studied with him :-
* Freeman Sears, in 1805, died in Natick, June 30, 1811, 32.
Noah Cressy,
" 1806, was living in Portland, Me., in 1853.
*John Alexander, " 1807, died in Groton, N. Y., Aug. 28, 1830, 65.
Urbane Hitchcock, " 1808, was living in Ware in 1853.
A. Chandler, D.D., “ 1808, a pastor in Greenfield in 1853.
*Robert Hubbard, Ira M. Olds,
" 1809, died in Canisteo, N. Y., May 24, 1840, 57.
*Jepthah Pool, Rufus Pomeroy, . Byram Green,
" 1809, was living in South Lyon, Mich., in 1853.
" 1809, died in Troy, O., March, 1844.
" 1809, was living in Otis in 1853.
1810, was living in Sodus, N. Y., in 1853.
" 1810, died in Phil., Pa., Dec. 5, 1833, 49,
1810, died in Greenfield, O., Sept. 13, 1842, 62.
*Lyman Barrett, William B. Stowe,
" 1812, was living in Ridgefield Corners, O., in 1853.
" 1813, died in Peru, Vt., May 25, 1814.
*Oliver Plympton, Samuel Parker,
" 1813, was living in Ithaca, N. Y., in 1853.
" 1813, died in West Durham, N. Y., in 1825. " 1813, was living in Elmira, N. Y., in 1853.
*James Jewell, William Goodell, Roswell Hawks,
* Asa Brooks,
" 1814, died in Clarksburg, Va., Dec. 1834.
*Pliny Fisk, Caleb Clark,
" 1815, died in Beyroot, Asia, Oct. 23, 1825, 33.
" 1815, was living in Truxton, N. Y., in 1853. Nathaniel Latham, " 1816, was in Troy, O., in 1849.
Luke Bowen,
" 1816, was in Strongsville, O., in 1853.
*Stalham Clary, Hiram Smith,
" 1823, died in Hopewell, N. Y., Nov. 25, 1831, 49.
" 1823, was living in Castalia, O., in 1853.
" 1823, in Shelburne in 1853.
" 1826, was living in Coleraine in 1853.
Moses Bradford,
" 1826, a pastor in Grafton, Vt., in 1853.
John Eastman, " 1833, a pastor in W. Hawley in 1853.
Josiah D. Crosby " 1833, was in Ashburnham in 1852.
Erastus Dickinson, " 1834, a pastor in Colchester, Ct., in 1853.
The fiftieth anniversary of his ordination in Shelburne was publicly celebrated in the place, Feb. 20, 1849. The sermon preached on the occasion was published.
42
*Ezra Fisk, D. D.,
" 1813, was living in South Hadley, in 1853.
T. Packard, Jr., Horatio Flagg,
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4. REV. THEOPHILUS PACKARD, JR., was ordained as the · fourth pastor of this church and as associate pastor with his father, March 12, 1828, and Rev. Dr. Heman Humphrey, then President of Amherst College, preached the sermon on the occasion. His ministry in Shelburne was nearly twenty- six years. He was, at his request, dismissed from there, Dec. 6, 1853. He was born in Shelburne, Feb. 1, 1802, the son of Rev. Dr. Theophilus Packard ; studied two years at Williams' College, and graduated at Amherst in 1823; studied theology with his father, and in 1824-5 at Prince- ton, N. J. ; and was licensed by Franklin Association, Oct. 3, 1826. Previous to his settlement in Shelburne he preached for short periods in West Hawley, Bernardston, Greenfield 2d Parish, Gill, Wilmington, Vt., Florida, and two months in 1827 in the service of the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society in Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard. While a settled pastor in Shelburne, he supplied, in con- nection with his father, vacant churches in the vicinity for about thirteen years from 1828. They preached alternately more or less in the following places, viz., Bernardston, West Hawley, Greenfield, 1st and 2d parishes, Goshen, Erving, Orange, Whately, Conway, South Deerfield, Plainfield, Cole- raine, Cummington, Charlemont. From December, 1833, to June, 1834, he officiated as Secretary and Chaplain of the Boston Seamen's Friend Society ; and for two months in 1834 supplied Rev. Dr. Codman's church in Dorchester, during his absence in Europe.
Since his dismission from Shelburne, he has supplied the Congregational church at Shelburne Falls.
The church and society in Shelburne have been supplied a part of the time since the dismission of their last pastor by Mr. Joseph B. Johnson of Boston, whom they invited in March, 1854, to settle as their pastor ; but he declined the invitation.
Of the four pastors of this church two were dismissed ;
OF SHELBURNE. 331
two are living ; and the average length of their ministry in Shelburne was about nineteen years.
SECOND CHURCH. The second Orthodox Congregational church in this town was organized at Shelburne Falls, March 6, 1850, with 44 members. The first and present Meeting- house of this people was dedicated on the day of the ordina- tion of their first pastor, Feb. 19, 1851. This people main- tained public worship by themselves for some months pre- vious to the formation of their church, and occupied a hall for this purpose. Rev. Marshal B. Angier supplied them for a short time ; and Rev. George F. Bronson then supplied them, and was soon ordained as their pastor. The amount raised by this people for objects of benevolence in 1853 was $112 79. The number in the Sabbath School in 1852 was 150. The church in 1853 numbered 77. This church has been organized nearly four years, and has been supplied with a settled pastor nearly three years. This church has had but one pastor.
PASTOR. REV. GEORGE F. BRONSON Was ordained as the first pastor of this church, Feb. 19, 1851, and Rev. Dr. Edward Hitchcock, President of Amherst College, preached the sermon ; and after a ministry of about two years and nine months at Shelburne Falls, was dismissed, Nov. 8, 1853. Mr. Bronson was born in Middlebury, Ct., Jan. 21, 1821 ; in preparing for the ministry studied at Phillips Academy, An- dover ; never graduated at any college ; studied theology at East Windsor Hill, and finished his course there in 1849; was licensed by Hampden Association in 1848 ; preached a short time at Bolton, Ct. ; and then began to supply at Shel- burne Falls. He was married to Miss Charlotte M. Holt of Andover, Sept. 30, 1850. Mr. Bronson is at present residing at Waterbury, Ct.
Since the dismission of Mr. Bronson, the church has been supplied by Rev. T. Packard, Jr.
1
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CONGREGATIONAL PREACHERS ORIGINATING FROM SHELBURNE.
1. Rev. Amariah Chandler, D. D., was born in Deer- field, Oct. 27, 1782, and at about five years of age removed to Shelburne. For a further notice of him, see the account of the pastors of the first Congregational church in Greenfield.
2. Rev. Rufus Childs, the son of Dea. Israel Childs, was born-in Shelburne, April 28, 1819; at about eight years of age removed to Waitsfield, Vt. ; never graduated at any col- lege, but pursued classical and preparatory studies at the academies in Jericho, Vt., Montpelier, Vt., Randolph, Vt., and Deerfield, Mass .; finished the regular course of theological study at the seminary in Gilmanton, N. H., in 1844; like- wise spent half a year with Rev. Joel Fisk, then of Essex, N. Y., in theological studies; was licensed at Montpelier, Vt., in January, 1844; and was ordained as pastor of the church at Gilmanton Iron Works, N. H., Nov. 6, 1844, and the sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. William Coggswell. Mr. Childs was married to Miss Pamelia Hobart, daughter of Rev. James Hobart of Berlin, Vt., in October, 1844. He still continues pastor at Gilmanton, N. H.
3. Rev. Daniel T. Fisk was born in Shelburne, March 29, 1819; is the son of Dea. Ebenezer Fisk, and nephew of Rev. Pliny Fisk, missionary to Palestine ; graduated at Am- herst in 1842; finished the regular course of theological study at Andover in 1846; was licensed by the Andover Association, April 7, 1846 ; was a resident licentiate at An- dover about one year ; supplied in Exeter, N. H., St. Johns- bury, Vt., and Williamsburg ; was ordained as pastor at (Bell- ville,) Newburyport, Aug. 18, 1847, and the late Professor Bela B. Edwards, D. D., preached the sermon. Mr. Fisk still remains a pastor in that place.
4 .* Rev. Ezra Fisk, D. D., was born in Shelburne, Jan. 10, 1785, and was the son of Simeon Fisk, and a cousin of Rev. Pliny Fisk. He died in Philadelphia, Penn., Dec. 5,
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OF SHELBURNE.
1833, aged nearly 49. Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green read a bio- graphical account of him at his funeral, in the lecture room of the second Presbyterian church in that city, from which the following extracts are taken :-
" The Rev. Dr. Ezra Fisk, whose mortal remains are now before us, was born in the town of Shelburne, State of Mas- sachusetts, in January, 1785; and in Williams College, in the same State, he received his academic education. He was graduated in 1809; having been, during his college course, one of the little band of pious youths, that met frequently for prayer, with a special reference to evangelical missions ; and of which the well known and much lamented Mills and Richards were leading members. His classical studies pre- viously to his entering college, and his theological studies afterwards, were prosecuted under the Rev. Dr. Packard, the pastor of a Congregational church in the town of his nativ- ity, and for whom he ever retained the greatest love and veneration, as the man whose early instructions had imbued his mind with those principles, and given him those views, which had effectually preserved him from the pernicious errors in philosophy and theology, which have recently ob- tained a lamentable currency. Having preached as a licen- tiate for about a year, he was ordained as an Evangelist in 1810. His labors in this character were principally per- formed among the numerous destitute congregations then in the State of Georgia ; and here, in March, 1812, he entered into the marriage relation with a daughter of the venerable Dr. Francis Cummins. In the autumn of the same year, though debilitated by his residence and labors in the south, he preached as a missionary for some months in this city. In August, 1813, he was permanently settled in the minis- try, at Goshen, in the State of New York ; so that he ap- pears to have sustained the pastoral relation to his beloved people a little more than twenty years. An affection of the lungs compelled him to intermit the greater part of his min- isterial duties in the autumn of 1832, and to seek relief by a
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winter's residence in the more genial climate of Georgia. During his absence, he unexpectedly received the appoint- ment of Corresponding Secretary and General Agent of the Board of Missions of the General Assembly ; which on his return he declined to accept, under a conviction that his health was not such as would enable him to endure the labors, hardships, and exposures of the appointment. He was recommended in May last, by the Directors of the West- ern Theological Seminary, to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church for the appointment of Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government in that sem- inary. After his election to the designated professorship by vote of the General Assembly, he visited the seminary at Alleghanytown, and having inspected its state and prospects, he accepted the professorship assigned him. His separation from the beloved people of his pastoral charge was, both to them and to himself, a most trying occasion. His farewell sermon to his brethren of the Presbytery, of which he was a member, is published, and remains to them and the attached people of the congregation that he left, a memorial of his affection, and the depository of his wise counsels. On his way to Pittsburg, he arrived with his wife in this city on Saturday, the 2nd of November last. The evening of the next day, the Sabbath, he preached his last sermon in the lecture room where we are now assembled. His text was Col. i. 12, "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." From these words, while addressing his christian brethren, he undesignedly drew his own character, and de- scribed the blood-bought inheritance of his Redeemer, of which in a few days he was to be a glorified partaker. A heavenly composure or serenity of soul was vouchsafed him during the whole of his illness. Nor did it in any de- gree abate, when he knew that he was dying; and it left imprinted on his features, after his spirit had fled from its earthly abode, such a sweetness of expression, as I have
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OF SHELBURNE.
never seen in any other countenance after death. For him the king of terrors had no terror. *
" The intellectual powers of Dr. Fisk were of the solid more than of the brilliant kind. His imagination was not the distinguishing faculty of his mind. His imagination was by no means barren-it was fertile ; but its fertility was that of thought, and not that of poetic images and rhetorical figures. His mind was vigorous, penetrating, discriminating and judicious. This was its character. He saw truth with a quickness, perspicacity and depth, that was uncommon ; and hence he could separate and disentangle it from error, with a readiness and accuracy that few possess. His affec- tions were tender and strong, but not violent. * *
* Mod- esty and humility were ever distinguishing features of his character. His integrity was of the most unsullied and unbending kind. He had doubtless adopted the resolution of Job, 'My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.' Hence it was, that he acquired the high estimation which he held in the minds of all honorable men who knew him, and enjoyed the peculiar confidence of his brethren in the min- istry. He was a man, whom all who were acquainted with him intimately, knew where they would find him on every question, in which truth and consistency of character and profession were concerned. It was his integrity, prudence, discretion and firmness, mingled with a mildness of manner, and so far as duty would permit, a spirit of accommodation and conciliation, which gave him the extensive influence that he confessedly possessed. His literary attainments were highly respectable. Of the original languages of the Sacred Scriptures, he had acquired a better knowledge and a greater familiarity, than is possessed by most of the clergy of our country. He loved science in almost all its departments ; and in some not often cultivated, he made a desirable pro- gress. In mental philosophy I do not know his superior in the church to which he belonged. He loved this study. It accorded with that close and discriminating investigation to
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which his faculties were adapted, and in which he delighted. His was the true Baconian system of philosophy, applied to the mind-a system in which facts and fair inductions from facts stand for everything, and hypotheses and fanciful speculations stand for nothing. Such alone was the philos- ophy which had charms for our departed friend. He con- sidered a plain declaration of the word of God as establish- ing a fact, to which all speculation was implicitly to bow and submit, and not to busy itself in perverting, disguising, or endeavoring to explain away the announced fact-a fact resting on the declaration of Him who cannot err. His theology was that of the Protestant Reformation, as embod- ied in the doctrinal standards of the Presbyterian church. In every department of his theology he was an adept. He had carefully examined its foundations and all its bearings. And he was prepared to defend and maintain the system on the ground both of reason and scripture. The piety of Dr. Fisk was truly eminent. It was not a flighty and fluctuat- ing principle in his mind or in his life. It was a deep, solid, consistent, tender and well considered principle, influencing his judgment and his affections, more than his imagination, and it was carried out into all his connexions and intercourse with the world, directing and animating him in every duty. As a preacher, our deceased brother was in a high degree impressive. He sometimes held his audience in al- most breathless silence, and very often melted them into tears ; yet his, in general, was not that showy eloquence in which many delight, and consider as the charm of pulpit addresses. His manner indeed was always free and dignified, and solemn and affectionate. But his preaching was pecul- iarly doctrinal and instructive ; followed in almost every sermon with close application, and sometimes with strong appeals to the conscience and the heart. He was abundant in pulpit labors. * * His preaching was eminently blessed. Few ministers of the gospel have had more seals to their ministry than he. At one period he had a revival of relig-
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ion, which continued with very little fluctuation for more than four years. A most remarkable revival, of which he gave me personally an account, took place among the people of his pastoral charge, not long before he was attacked by the pulmonary complaint, which entirely silenced him for a time, and from which he sought and found relief in the journey to the South, from which he returned but a few months since. The preaching and pastoral services of Dr. Fisk falsify completely the wild notion of those, who think that there must be a resort to new measures and a new mode of preaching, if a minister is to expect a revival of religion among his people. He adopted no new measures ; he dis- approved of them entirely. He used no new modes of preaching. He preached, as I have stated, in the old fash- ioned way, and in maintenance of old fashioned doctrines- the doctrines taught in the Confession of Faith and Cate- chisms of our church. To these he steadfastly adhered ; these he lucidly explained and powerfully enforced ; and these the Lord blessed to bring into his church, not hastily, but after time to examine and prove them, such a number of hopeful converts as are seldom seen to crown the most faithful labors in the service of Him whose blessing alone gives the success. I have been credibly informed, that when Dr. Fisk settled in the congregation of Goshen, the commu- nicating members of his church were in numbers between ninety and a hundred, and that when he left them, they exceeded five hundred ; besides more than two hundred who had been dismissed to join other churches, or had been re- moved by death."
The following extracts are from an obituary notice of him, published in a paper in Goshen, N. Y. : "Dr. Fisk possessed a clear, vigorous and comprehensive mind. Without cul- ture it would have been remarkable for its acumen, strength and power. It was, however, when its capacities were ex- panded by the discipline and nurture of the schools, that it shone in its brightest splendor. There may have been, and
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