USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > History of the town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts > Part 37
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
desired to be set off from Stoughton, and allowed to pay their ministerial taxes to Norton, North Precinct; they, as usual in such cases, alleging that they lived very far from public worship. It is probable that they were gratified in their desire. In 1765 Samuel Talbot, Nehemiah Carpenter, Increase Pond, Elijah Morse, John Sumner, Nathaniel Clark, and others, prayed that they might be set off a township, district, or precinct. They were pacified by the transfer of their ministerial rates. The following year, the inhabitants of what is now Foxboro' desired to be set off as a new town, to be called Royaltown, in honor of Isaac Royall, of
Medford, afterward the famous Tory. This man is not to be confounded with the Isaac Royall who lived under Blue Hill, at Canton. But it was not until 1778, on the 10th of June, that the inhabitants received from the General Court an Act of Incorporation, they now having discarded the traitor's name for their town; and in honor of the defender of the American provinces, they named it for Charles James Fox. For a full account of this matter the reader is referred to the speech of Ellis Ames, Esq., at the Centennial Celebration at Foxboro', June 29, 1878.
In old times there were small tan-yards in the country towns, to which the neighbors carried their hides to be sold or to be cured. Theophilus Lyon was the owner of one just below the dam on Pleasant Street, where Pequit Brook leaves Reservoir Pond. A citizen records in 1777, "Lyon has my horse hide; " in 1782, " carry Lyon five loads of bark." Charles Fenno, in 1778, had a tan-yard, and a load of bark was carried to him, for payment of which twelve pounds of the best sole-leather was to be given. The names of James Endicott, Dudley Bailey, Enoch Dickerman, and Richard Gridley also appear as owners or part owners of tan-yards. In 1785 it was voted -
" That the Town clerk record, agreeable to ye law in that case made and provided, all persons who shall be born or shall die within this town, & that if any person or persons neglect or refuse to comply with ye laws that ye clerk be directed to prosecute them accordingly."
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CIVIL HISTORY.
In 1795 a guide-board was erected at Ingraham's Corner bearing the inscription, "Twenty-one miles to Taunton through Sharon." This year also the taxes, which heretofore had been computed in the old English method of pounds, shillings, and pence, were reckoned agreeable to an act of the Legislature passed February 25. There were 155 voters in what is now Stoughton, and 140 in what is now Canton, about 1, 125 acres of unimproved land in the former precinct, and 622 in the latter.
In 1798 the town sent a memorial to Congress, deeply regretting the unhappy cause of difficulty with the republic of France, and deprecating the horrors of war, the burden of which must be borne by the yeomanry, who could not fail to be the principal sufferers, and our representative was in- structed to use his utmost endeavors to prevent the dreadful calamity of war.
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE THIRD MINISTER.
S AMUEL DUNBAR died in June, 1783. The parish chose a committee to supply the pulpit; and when preachers were not to be obtained, either Joseph Billings, Elijah Dunbar, John Kenney, or Benjamin Gill was author- ized to conduct worship in the following manner: first, a portion of the Holy Scriptures was to be read, then a psalm was read and afterward sung, then "some pious practical discourse," then another psalm was read and sung, and finally the assembly was dismissed by reading an apos- tolic benediction.
In 1784 the church and parish extended a call to Mr. Bezaleel Howard to take the care of the church and congre- gation. Mr. Howard was a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1781. He did not accept the invitation, and sub- sequently was settled in-Springfield, where he died in 1838.
On the 5th of September, 1784, the attendants at the old church were charmed by the eloquence of a young man named Aaron Bancroft. They had been accustomed for years to Calvinistic preaching. The faith since known as Unitarian had not then a name. John Adams says that before the Revolution many lawyers, physicians, tradesmen, and farmers were in belief though not in name Unitarians. Many of the Boston clergymen, prominent among whom was Mayhew, were considered extremely liberal in their theological views ; and in 1768 Hopkins prepared a sermon especially directed to the shortcomings of the heretical Boston ministers. The name Unitarian was not adopted, but those who disbelieved in the Trinity, and were in other respects opposed to the doc- trine of Calvin were called Arminians, sometimes Arians.
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THE THIRD MINISTER.
There was, however, as yet no breach between either churches or communicants. Clergymen of opposing views occupied the same pulpits and preached to the same congregations. That the leaders in what was in Channing's time to be known as Unitarianism desired to maintain the unity of the church, is proved by the fact that in most cases the Calvinists seceded, not being willing to listen to the doctrines of the so-called Arminians; in other instances the change was gradual, often imperceptible, and it was not until the decade between 1815-25 that controversy grew hot, and churches and men took sides.
Young Aaron Bancroft was an Arminian. He preached to the people belief in one good God. Mr. Dunbar had taught them that the Ruler of Heaven was a despot; Bancroft as- serted that man, the child of God, was liable to err, but capa- ble of reaching the divinest summits. Dunbar had taught them that they were totally depraved. Bancroft asserted that there were fresh possibilities in the life to come; Dunbar, that it was an inheritance of doom unless there should be a sacrificial substitute for the penalties of sin. What- ever the good people may have thought of Mr. Dunbar's theology, it is certain that they were very much pleased with the doctrines of one who was in after years to become the first President of the American Unitarian Association.
After Mr. Bancroft had preached for eight Sundays, the church and parish gave him almost a unanimous call to settle over them, and Elijah Dunbar, Esq., Col. Benjamin Gill, Henry Bailey, James Hawkes Lewis, and Lieut. Benja- min Tucker were appointed to wait upon him. This call he declined on November 14. The following letter and petition were sent to him upon the receipt of his non- acceptance : -
To MR. AARON BANCROFT :
STOUGHTON, Dec: 16, 1784.
DEAR SIR, - Agreeable to appointment we take the liberty to en- close you a copy of an address and petition from the inhabitants of the First Parish in Stoughton, by which you are certified of the num- ber, and in some degree the warmth, wishes, and attachment of your
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
friends ; but to be an eye and ear witness to their conversation and behaviour, and to behold the dejected gloom that sets conspicuous on their brows, alone and only can give you a proper idea and evince the truth of their unhappy disappointment. The enclosed will like- wise inform you that the invidious aspirsions breathed against your character by the misled and ill guided few in opposition has been so far from prejudicing the minds of the people against you that it hath operated quite the reverse, by not only establishing your character more firmly in their esteem, but has actually added to the number of your friends. We have also the pleasure to inform you that in those few opposers that remain, one may plainly read in their dejected countenances, compunction, sorrow, and repentance, although that misleading spirit that first seduced them as yet keeps them from a verbal confession ; but such is the force of truth, and such the appar- ent conviction upon their minds, that ere long we imagine they will not only look their mistake, but will with their mouths confess it ; but be this as it may, it is our firm opinion that there never was a people more strongly attached to a preacher than this people are to you, and it will never be in your power, we humbly conceive, to confer greater happiness than you really would on this people, should you be propi- tious to their wishes, and yield to their earnest, sincere, and ardent solicitations But if your objections are such as a sad fatality in their constitution renders them absolutely insuperable, and we must finally loose the man whom the people so emphatically delight to honor, as we have but little ground to hope or expect otherwise, yet we hope our endeavors will not be wholly lost, but effect to re-establish your character in the good opinion of all those who may have been preju- diced against you, by the unprovoked abuse and calumny cast upon you by the malice, ill-will, or ignorance of your opponents, and clear the parish of the reproach of calumniating so bright and illustrious a character, the accomplishment of which will be a sufficient compen- sation for our trouble, and with wishing you health, prosperity, and every happiness you desire, concludes us, Dear sir, your sincere friends and humble servants.
To MR. AARON BANCROFT :
STOUGHTON, Dec. 13, 1784.
DEAR SIR, - We whose names are underwritten, inhabitants of the First Parish in Stoughton, laboring beneath the weight of disappoint- ment, sorrow, and perplexity to which your negative answer to the call to settle in the work of the ministry, given by the church and
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THE THIRD MINISTER.
congregation of this place, hath subjected us, and being anxious to be extricated from such a disagreeable situation, by obtaining still, if pos- sible, the man we so highly and so justly esteem, to testify our affec- tions and to convince you of our willingness to remove every obstacle within our power, have thought fit to further solicit your attention on the subject. We have, sir, in the first place to inform, that, concealing from us the reasons for which you negatived the above said call, not- withstanding they have involved us in great perplexity, hath at the same time afforded an alleviating and consolatary hope that the ob- stacles on which your reasons were founded are within our power to remove ; but as long as your reasons are secreted from us, so long must our doubt and perplexity remain, and till the disease is found, shall never be able to apply a remedy. Permit us, then, with all modesty and submission, to request what those reasons are; but if the particulars are such as would wound the delicacy of your feelings to relate, such as your wisdom will direct still to conceal, you may nevertheless, and we are persuaded you will, satisfy our inquiry and answer our request so far as to inform us whether the obstructions that forbid your acceptance are ours to command. If not, we are not over anxious to know them, but if in our power, should be happy to know, and take a singular satisfaction in removing them. The candor and benevolence of your mind will naturally induce you to overlook our presumption in importuning you on so tender a subject, especially when we assure you it flows from the truest esteem ; and your compli- ance with the request will gratify our wishes, and bind on us a great and lasting obligation.1
In a note to a sermon delivered in Worcester, Jan. 31, 1836, by Aaron Bancroft, D.D., at the termination of fifty years of · his ministry, we find the following interesting narration : -
"In the spring of 1784 I supplied the pulpit in Stoughton, now Canton, for eight Sabbaths. Their pastor, the Rev. Mr. Dunbar, had then recently died. He was a thorough Calvinist, and had sedulously inculcated that system on his people for more than fifty years. Learn- ing that measures were in train of operation to give me an invitation to become their minister, and not being inclined to settle with them, I was disposed to put an end to their movements by a public mani- festation that my views of the doctrines of the New Testament were opposed to those they had been accustomed to hear from their former
1 See Appendix XXVI.
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
pastor, and in which I supposed they were confirmed. I composed and delivered three sermons, liberal to the extent of my faith. The effect was directly contrary to my expectation. The parish gave me a call ; and only five individuals, and these old men, appeared in oppo- sition. I was constrained to give a negative answer."
It may be stated in passing that Mr. Bancroft in October, 1784, received a call to settle at Worcester, which he accepted ; but the town refused to concur with the church, consequently Mr. Bancroft's friends formed a second church, and he was installed as their pastor in 1786, and continued preaching there for half a century. He was born Nov. 10, 1755, and died Aug. 19, 1839. He graduated at Harvard College in 1778, and received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He was the author of a " Life of Washington," and the father of George Bancroft, the historian.
Zachariah Howard was born in Bridgewater, May 21, 1758. He was the son of Robert and Abigail (Snell) Howard. In early life he attended the schools in his native town; and when the war of independence broke out, he enlisted as a common soldier, and served during the whole war with credit to himself, but probably with serious injury to his physical organization. On his return from the army, he entered Har- vard College, and received the honors of that university in . 1784. On Dec. 18, 1785, he began to preach ; and in May, 1786, he was invited by the church in Stoughton to become their pastor. On the 29th of May the inhabitants of the first precinct assembled at the meeting-house and voted to concur with the church in giving Mr. Howard a call to take the pas- toral care of the church. They voted to give him £90 as an annual salary, and a gratuity of £200, to lay a foundation for his comfortable and honorable support, half to be paid the first year and half the second year after his settlement. Ten cords of fire-wood were granted him annually while he remained single, and twenty cords should he have a family or keep house for himself.
The copies of the votes of the precinct, with the call of the church, were duly conveyed to the minister-elect by
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THE THIRD MINISTER.
James Endicott, George Crossman, Samuel Tucker, Henry Bailey, James Hawkes Lewis, and Adam Blackman; and on the 25th day of September, the precinct again assembled, when the following was read from Mr. Howard: -
To the Church and Congregation in y North Parish in Stoughton :
BRETHREN AND FRIENDS, - Having taken under mature and serious consideration ye call which you have given me to settle with you in ye Work of ye Gospel Ministry, thinking it my Duty, I heartily accept thereof, tho' it is not without Fear and Trembling that I think of tak- ing upon me ye Weighty, ye Solemn, and Important Charge. If ye greatest of ye Apostles, while he thought of ye momentous under- taking, was obliged to cry out, who is equal to these things, you must be sensible that an unexperienced youth will not only stand in Need of ye greatest Candor and Friendship from ye People of his Charge, but more especially of an Interest in the Prayers of ye Throne of Grace for Divine aid and assistance. Let me therefore intreat of you to make it your Prayer to Alınighty God, with whom is ye Residue of ye Spirit of all Grace, that I may in every Respect fulfil ye office of a faithful Minister of ye new Testament, that during my Labors among you I might approve myself unto God and ye Conscience of Men to be in Reality a Servant of Jesus Christ, and that I might at all times take such heed to my Life and Doctrines as to save myself and them that hear me. The perfect union and happy agreement that has been and still subsists among you has been a great inducement to my accepting of your invitation. The kindness and repeated marks of Friendship that I have already received from Individuals and y" So. ciety at large flatter me that you will cheerfully contribute everything necessary on your part to my comfortable and honorable support among you. You must not, indeed you cannot, rationally expect to find in me, at present, if ever, a full and complete Reparation of ye great Loss which you sustained in ye Death of your late worthy Pastor. As successor to such a Man, I am fully sensible that I must appear to disadvantage. His illustrious example will be a stimulous to Duty, and, I hope, in many respects beneficial ; but had Nature been impartial in ye Distribution of her Favors, it would require time and much experience to equal his attainments. But as ye great Shepherd of Israel, ye kind Parent of the Universe, requires of each and all his servants in exact proportion to what he hath given unto them, I trust that having an Interest in your Prayers, I shall not neglect ye
.
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
Gift that is in me, but be enabled to improve it to ye Honor of God and Benefit of ye Church ; finally, Brethren, pray for me, pray for your- selves. Let it not only be ye Study of your lives, but your daily prayers that we may each and all of us know what is ye good and acceptable and perfect Will of our God, but ever have an heart and Disposition to perform it; that this Sacred and Solemn connection which we are about to form may be a mutual Blessing, that we might not only live comfortably together' here in this world, but have a joyful meeting at ye Bar of Almighty God, where I must shortly appear to give an account of my ministry, and you of ye improvement you make of it.
Wishing you Grace, Mercy, and Peace in our Lord Jesus Christ, I subscribe myself your devoted Friend and humble servant,
ZACHARIAH HOWARD.
Sept. 17, 1786.
At the same meeting, which was presided over by Col. Benjamin Gill, the answer of the invitation having been read, preparations were at once made for Mr. Howard's ordination, and it was thought best that the council should consist of ten churches. A committee was chosen consisting of Elijah Dunbar, Esq., Col. Benjamin Gill, James Endicott, Esq., Mr. Henry Bailey, and Capt. John Tucker, to provide for the ordination council; and Redman Spurr, George Crossman, Jr., Nathan Gill, Archibald McKendry, John Clark, and Nathaniel Kenney were chosen a committee to secure seats for the coun- cil, church, and singers on Ordination Day. It was decided that the services should take place on the 25th day of the next month. Accordingly, on that day, Oct. 25, 1786, Zach- ariah Howard was ordained as the third minister of the First Church in Stoughton. In the services the following gentle- men took part: The Rev. Peter Thacher, of Boston, intro- duced the solemnities with prayer. The Rev. John Porter, of Bridgewater, preached the sermon. The Rev. Jason Haven, of Dedham, made the ordaining prayer. Rev. Jede- diah Adams, of Stoughton, gave the charge. Rev. Thomas Thacher, of Dedham, gave the right hand of fellowship. Rev. Nathaniel Robbins, of Milton, made the concluding prayer. The following gentlemen assisted at the council : the Rev. Moses Taft, of Braintree, Rev. Joseph Jackson,
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THE THIRD MINISTER.
of Brookline, Rev. Philip Curtis, of Sharon, Rev. Jabez Chickering, of Dedham, and Rev. John Reed, of Bridge- water. After the exercises, covers were laid for one hun- dred and twenty-four persons, most of whom probably were invited guests from neighboring towns. The parish seemed willing to do all in its power to have everything satisfactory at the start: the meeting-house was put in repair; the roof was shingled, and the sides and ends were repaired; the sum of £187 was advanced to Mr. Howard, as the first moiety of his settlement. Mr. Howard bought, in 1787, from Theophi- lus Lyon, the house now standing on the estate of Colonel Higginson, and occupied by the gardener; it was a very old house, originally built by David Tilden. The farm consisted of twenty-seven acres, bounded on the south by Pequit Brook ; to this he added on the north thirty-seven acres, being the land on Washington Street now owned by Mr. Samuel C. Downes. It was a large farm, but Mr. Howard was a good farmer, and thoroughly understood how to manage it.
Soon after coming to Stoughton, March 6, 1787, Mr. Howard was married to Miss Patty Crafts. The writer well remem- bers visiting this lady, when he was a boy. She resided in the same house then that she had occupied in the happy days when her husband was the honored young minister of the town. Her books were around her; and annually she read the favorite poem of her husband, " Paradise Lost." Her kindness was extreme, as was her thoughtfulness for the dumb creatures which surrounded her. She had a small staircase made in order that her favorite cats might have access at all times to the upper story of her house.
A writer in the "Norfolk County Gazette " relates the following anecdote of Mr. Howard: -
" I remember that we then, as we rode on, discoursed of the whip- poorwill; and one of us, Mr. Tucker, related this anecdote of Min- ister Howard of the old church in Canton, whose house is still standing in a sweet valley on Pleasant Street. Mr. Howard was, in his way, a dry joker He was a fair type and representative of the pastors of the latter part of the eighteenth and the beginning of the present century.
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
" ' Mr. Huntoon,' said Elias Tucker, . will tell you that Mr. Howard was a man of good common-sense ; for one night he had been out visit- ing among the neighbors, - ah, how much that meant in those, to us, " old times " !- and on coming home he found his wife very sad and dispirited ; and in his good-natured way, he accosted her with, " Martha, what is the matter?" "Oh, Mr. Howard, something dreadful is going to happen. Why, a whippoorwill came and sat upon our doorstep, and sung since you have been out !" "Oh, if that is all," replied the parson, "don't be troubled, my dear, for if the Lord has any message to communicate to me, he must send a more important messenger than the whippoorwill. I shall pay no attention to it." ' "
In 1787 the church was much excited by a claim for a part of the church land; an action against Nathaniel Stearns, brought by Deacons Dunbar and Gill, in behalf of the church, placed the matter in a way to be amicably settled.
Samuel Briggs excused himself from attending open public worship and communion, " for want of decent apparel; " the church decided that this was an insufficient excuse. In 1790. Henry Bailey was dissatisfied with the method of baptism; but a committee of the church waiting upon and laboring with him, he waived his objections.
In 1805 Mr. Howard addressed a letter to the town re- specting the depreciated state of the currency and his suffer- ing in consequence thereof. On May 6 the town appointed a very large committee to take into consideration the com- plaint, and also to decide the propriety of purchasing a part of Mr. Howard's real estate for a parsonage. The town voted Mr. Howard an addition of $150 for the ensuing four years.
On Feb. 23, 1806, Mr. Howard, dressed in gown and bands, with his braided queue, ascended for the last time the pulpit- stairs and preached all day. He gave the benediction ; then, while the audience remained standing, he passed, bowing to the right and left, down the broad aisle to the door, the elders returning his salutation as he moved on. The next Sunday he was obliged to dismiss the congregation. His work was done. The following Sunday Mr. Crafts preached ;
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THE THIRD MINISTER.
and from this time forward, the place he had filled for twenty years was occupied by his brethren in the ministry, - Kim- ball, Richmond, Gilmore, Harris, -who had been selected by the parish committee; and when no preacher could be obtained, "Deacon Dunbar read to ye assembly by ye desire of ye Committee."
On the 16th of September, 1806, when the inhabitants of Canton were in town meeting convened, it was represented to them that the Rev. Mr. Zachariah Howard apparently was about making his exit from this world. A committee was immediately appointed, who, upon the decease of Mr. How- ard, were to make suitable and honorable arrangements for his funeral, " both as respects our relation to him as a people and also as respects him as our pastor and teacher."
Priest Howard, as he was commonly called, died on the 18th of September, 1806. The committee appointed by the town attended to the duties intrusted to them; they propped up the galleries of the church, knowing that the crowd on the day of the services would be very large. To the Rev. Mr. Babcock they gave a pair of gloves and "a mourning ring," for his assistance at the obsequies.
Mr. Howard was buried in the old cemetery, and half a century later his wife was placed by his side. The following are the inscriptions on their headstones : -
IN MEMORY of the REV. ZACHARIAH HOWARD, who died SEPT. 18, 1806. Æ 48 years.
" Here in the grave, 't is heaven's high behest, Releas'd from mortal toil my flesh finds rest. Here shall I sleep, 'till time itself shall end, And Christ to wake the dead from heaven descend; Then from the dust, death vanquished, I shall rise, And gentle Seraphs bear me to the skies."
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