USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Canton > History of the town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts > Part 9
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THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH.
line from the angle or bend of Neponset River in South Dedham to a point in Dedham about three fourths of a mile northwesterly of the north corner of Canton, where the boundary line between Canton and Milton strikes the Neponset River, and by drawing another straight line from the said bend in the river to Sharon line."
On the 28th of March, 1716, the early settlers assembled for the first time to enjoy their new liberties. Joseph Hewins seems to have had his full share of honors on the occasion. The precinct chose a moderator to preside over their delib- erations; and they selected Joseph Hewins. They chose a precinct clerk to make good and legible records of their doings; and Mr. Joseph Hewins was again selected. They also proceeded to choose three assessors; and of course Mr. Joseph Hewins's name was added to those of Henry Crane and John Fenno.1
The records of the precinct until the incorporation of Stoughton are of no particular interest. The men of those days seem to have attended diligently to the duties which devolved upon them, but these were very limited. At most of their meetings, the common subjects of discussion were: the raising of money to defray the necessary charges of the precinct, and to pay the minister; the choosing of a clerk and assessors, the latter of whom managed the " prudentials " of the embryo town; the question of what title the precinct had to the land on which its meeting-house was situated; and whether this or that man should be allowed to withdraw from them. But in the midst of these minor details, they always looked forward to becoming a township. As early as 1718, they voted to petition the town of Dorchester to
1 Joseph Hewins was the son of Jacob Hewins, of Dorchester, born May 3, 1668. He appears as one of the lessees of Reynolds's Misery in 1705. He resided in what is now Sharon from that time until his death, which occurred Feb. 24, 1755, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. He married, Jan. 29, 1690, Mehita- ble Lyon, daughter of Peter. She was born Oct. 23, 1669, and died Sept. 14, 1733, in her sixty-third year. Mr. Dunbar says "she was a gracious woman, a very peacable, humble Christian." They lived near Meadow Hole Dam, and both are buried in the Chestnut Tree Cemetery. He appears to have been an active man in church, precinct, and town affairs. He was chosen deacon with Benjamin Blackman in 1718, and afterward elder, and was one of the first se- lectmen of Stoughton, town clerk in 1730, moderator and assessor in 1738.
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
set them off as a township, to be bounded the same as the precinct then was. Failing in this, the next year they de- sired their part of the ministerial land and their proportion of the school fund of their mother town. Then the southern part of the precinct became uneasy, and was anxious to be set off a township; but to this of course the northern part objected.
In March, 1721, the inhabitants living "beyond Joseph Tucker's saw-mill " desired that they might be constituted into a township; and the May following their petition was again heard, but was "passed in the negative." A petition was subsequently preferred from the " Inhabitants of Punka- poag " to be a township. On Nov. 8, 1725, however, it was voted by the town of Dorchester " that the inhabitants of the South Precinct and all the lands beyond should be set off a township by themselves, they having their proportionate part of the school lands lying within that part to be set off." This was " passed in the affirmative," - thirty-four to twenty-nine. Preserved Capen, Ebenezer Holmes, and Edward Foster were appointed a committee to draw up a petition and pre- sent it to the General Court; and later, a similar vote was passed, the following change occurring in the phraseology: " The inhabitants on ye south side of Sawmill River in ye twelve divisions," and "that all ye land beyond ye six thou- sand acres, or Ponkapoag Plantation, be set off a distinct township."
The inhabitants of the extreme western part of the Dor- chester South Precinct were anxious to be set off and attached to the town of Wrentham. They resided within three or four miles of the meeting-house in that town; and on town meet- ing and training days it was far more convenient to go there than to Dorchester Village. They applied to the town of Dorchester to be set off; but the town denied them their wish, and they therefore petitioned the General Court on June 19, 1724. A hearing was had. The town of Dorchester objected, but the General Court granted their request; and on Nov. 27, 1724, a large portion of the South Precinct was attached to, and has ever since remained, a part of the town
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THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH.
of Wrentham, as will be seen from the following extract from the records of the General Court: -
Upon the petition of Jonathan Blake, Solomon Hews, and sundry others, Inhabitants of the Westermost part of Dorchester, praying to be set off to the town of Wrentham, as entered June 19th, 1724, -
In the House of Representatives, Read together with the answer of the town of Dorchester thereto, and in answer to this petition :
Voted, that the petitioners and their estates be and hereby are an- nexed to the town of Wrentham, to do the duty and enjoy the privi- leges of the Inhabitants in that town, the School Farm in Dorchester, in the present possession and improvement of Solomon Hews, to be exempted, and that they be freed from doing duty to Dorchester, and they are so to continue until this Court take further order about them.
In Council, Read and Concurred. Consented to, . WM. DUMMER.
By drawing a line on the map of Norfolk County from the southerly extremity of Walpole to a point about two thirds of the way from Angle Tree to the Rhode Island line, the size of this part may be ascertained; and the reader will ob- serve that the territory thus taken from the South Precinct was about as large as one half of the present town of Canton.
The efforts of the inhabitants of the South Precinct to be- come a town were at last to be crowned with success. The last official act of the precinct was to receive and grant the petition of Samuel Bullard, John Bullard, Ebenezer Bullard, Samuel Bullard, Jr., William Bacon, Timothy Gay, Hezekiah Gay, Ebenezer Healy, Samuel Holmes, John Holmes, Simon Pittee, Josiah White, James White, James White, Jr., John White, Moses White, and B. White, all living in the westerly part of the precinct, beyond the Fowl meadows. They said that they had for some time contended with many difficulties and hardships with respect to the enjoyment of public wor- ship, their distance from the meeting-house, and the " diffi- culty of the way." They wished to be freed from rates "so long as we shall hire and maintain an orthodox minister to preach the gospel among ourselves."
On the 14th of November, 1726, Capt. Isaac Royall, Ensign
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
William Billings, Capt. John Shepard, Silas Crane, and George Talbot were appointed a committee with full powers to petition the Great and General Court -
"That this precinct with the lands be yand it, in ye Township of Dorchester, be sett of a distinct Township, with ye one half or propor- tionable part of the annual incom of ye School lands lying within ye south part of s'd Town, according to a vote of ye Town of Dorchester passed at a Meeting of ye Inhabitants of s'd Town, on the eight day of November, 1725."
On the 22d of December, 1726, the South Precinct of Dor- chester ceased to exist; and the old record-book closes as follows: " John Fenno, Peter Lyon, and Joseph Tucker, As- sessors of y South Precinct in Dorchester, now called and formed into ye town called Stoughton."
The creation of a new municipality rendered a change ne- cessary in the manner of supporting public worship. For- merly, all such matters had been transacted in town meeting ; and the calling to account in 1731 of Joseph Tucker, John Fenno, and Peter Lyon, who had been in charge of the pru- dentials since 1726, would seem to indicate that the time had arrived when it was necessary for those who were interested in the church to take charge of it and conduct its affairs themselves. An Act passed in the tenth year of the reign of George I. had given liberty to five or more of the freeholders to petition to a justice of the peace for a warrant. Advantage of this was taken by William Crane, George Talbot, John Shepard, Silas Crane, and Charles Wentworth, who applied to Isaac Royall, Esq., who on the 17th of March issued in due form with a seal his warrant, notifying the freeholders and other inhabitants to " meet at our public meeting house in Stoughton on Monday the fift day of Aprill next att two of the clock in the afternoon." At this meeting, only an organi- zation was effected.
" Whereas five of the freeholders of the first precinct in Stoughton (viz.), William Crane, George Talbot, John Sheppard, Silus Crane, and Charles Wentworth (agreeable to an made In the tenth year of King George Ye first. Chap. the 5) made applycation unto me the
GOVERNOR STOUGHTON.
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THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH.
Subscriber to Issue out a warrent for the assembleing of the free holders and other Inhabitants sª quallyfied to vote in town affairs. These are tharefore In his majesties name to Require you, William Crane, forthwith to notifie ye Inhabitants afforsd, as the Law directs in the afford act, that they meet at our public meeting house In Stoughton on Monday, the fift of Aprill next, att two of the clock in the afternoon, for the Ends and purposes hereafter mentioned : -
I. To choos a Moderator.
2. To choos a Clerk.
3. To choos assessors.
4. To choos a comtee to call meetings for the futer.
Givin under my hand and seal att Stoughton, March the 17th. In the ninth year of his Majesties Reigne, anno domi 1735/6.
ISAAC ROYALL, Fus' peace.
7
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST MINISTER.
JOSEPH MORSE, the first settled minister of the "New J Grant," or Dorchester Village, was born at Medfield, May 25, 1671, and was the son of Joseph and Priscilla (Col- burn) Morse. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1695. After leaving college, he went to Providence, and while engaged in teaching school there, fell in love with and married Miss Amity Harris of that place. In 1701 he went to Watertown Precinct, where he also taught school, and gathered a congregation, who built him a meeting-house; and on July 6, 1702, a call was extended to him to settle over them. But difficulties subsequently arose which could not be settled; the church was not organized, and he was not or- dained. He however continued to preach to them until 1706, when a council of churches, held on March 6, "advise that after a month Mr. Joseph Morse cease to preach at Water- town farms." In January, 1707, he came to the "New Vil- lage," now Canton, and remained preaching here amid all the discouragements of the times for ten years and nine months. At the expiration of that time, a council was held, at which the churches in Dorchester, Milton, Dedham, and the two churches at Braintree were represented. A covenant consist- ing of eight articles was agreed upon and signed by twenty persons, ten of whom were connected with the neighboring churches, and ten non-communicants, whom the council on the 26th day of the preceding June, 1717, had examined and approbated, in order that they might be ready to form a part of the church organization. The following are their names, - the first ten were the members of neighboring churches: Joseph Morse, Richard Smith, Peter Lyon, Sam-
,
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THE FIRST MINISTER.
uel Andrews, Joseph Esty, Isaac Stearns, Benjamin Blackman, Joseph Hewins, George Talbot, John Withington, Benjamin Esty, Thomas Spurr, Joseph Topliff, Robert Pelton, John Wentworth, David Stone, Benjamin Gill, William Wheeler, Edward Bailey, Samuel Hartwell.
The brethren that belonged to Milton Church before the ordination, - namely, Samuel Pitcher, Richard Smith, Peter Lyon, and George Talbot, - not having obtained their dismis- sion from Milton Church before the ordination day, were not "actually and personally in signing the covenant," and in being of the foundation on that day; but soon after, November 12, they obtained their dismissal. They then signed the cove- nant, and came up in full with the rest of their brethren, ex- cept Samuel Pitcher, whom the Lord removed by death, Nov. 23, 1717, the day after the first church meeting. "John Withington, being ill at the time of the ordination, signed the covenant."
On the 30th of October, 1717, the Rev. Joseph Morse was ordained as pastor of the church in Dorchester Village.1 His record reads : " God, in and by His wonderful Providence and favor, did arrive and bring His people into this South Precinct of Dorchester to church gathering and ordination, on the thirtieth day of October, 1717." The Rev. John Danforth, of Dorchester, preached the sermon from Heb. xiii. 17: "Obey them that have the rule over you and sub- mit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as they that must give account." Mr. Danforth gave the charge, and Rev. Joseph Belcher, of Dedham, the right hand of fellow- ship; the latter also managed the votes. Mr. Peter Thacher, of Milton, was invited to be present, but had not returned from Connecticut. His church, however, was represented by delegates. The following ministers imposed hands, - Messrs. Danforth, Belcher, Niles, and Marsh.
At the time of his ordination, Mr. Morse was in the forty- seventh year of his age. Aside from the encouragement he had received from the people who were interested and be- lieved in the church, the inhabitants had taken steps to assist
1 See Appendix VIII.
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
him pecuniarily, as will be seen by the following abstract of a portion of the precinct records : -
At a Precinct meeting legally warned in Dorchester, April the 20th, 1716, Samuel Andrews, Moderator, the same day it was voted that the inhabitants of said Precinct would give to Mr. Joseph Morse forty pounds, annually, so long as he shall uphold and perform the work of the ministry among them. The same day it was voted that there should be fifteen pounds raised by Rate upon the inhabitants and Rateable Estates within this Precinct, and laid out upon the Meeting House, as far as that would go towards the finishing of it.
Five pounds more Rate were voted to defray the necessary charges of said Precinct. A committee, consisting of John Fenno and Richard Hixson, were chosen to receive the money that was granted for the Meeting House, and for other necessary charges arising within said Precinct, and to hire workmen to do the work about the Meeting House, and pay them for their work. At a Precinct meeting held July 11, 1716, Joseph Hewins, Moderator, the same day was voted that there should be four shillings levied upon the poll in the Minis- ter's Rate this present year. The same day it was voted in the affir- mative that the assessors receive and pay Mr. Morse his salerey, and that the constable should make up his accounts with them.
While matters had without doubt gone on smoothly during the decade before the church organization was perfected, the very fact of organization seems to have brought trouble to the pastor and the flock. Scarcely two months had elapsed after the people had been exhorted to obey them that had the rule over them, when a disposition was mani- fested by two members of the church to create a disturbance ; or possibly other members of the church were desirous of testing the strength of the new organization. Brother Peter Lyon was accused of making certain rash and imprudent speeches, and finding fault with the manner in which the brethren approbated by the reverend elders had been received into the church without making "formal relations."
At the first meeting held after the ordination, Nov. 22, 1717, it was voted that the church should keep a book, and record therein all the regular church acts and votes for the future.
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THE FIRST MINISTER.
Committees were also chosen to assist the minister about his firewood, to raise a contribution for the Lord's Table, and to ask Dorchester Church to give something for the same purpose. Dec. 10, 1717, £3 3s. Id. having been received, it was devoted to the purposes above mentioned.
On the 5th day of January, 1718, the celebration of the Lord's Supper took place; and through the goodness and mercy of God the church all sat down at the Lord's Table in peace and unity. Although "many clouds came over us, yet the Lord appeared our deliverer, . . . to whom be glory and praise forever. Amen."
The first child baptized after the ordination was David, son of Shubael and Damaris Wentworth, on Jan. 19, 1718.
At the fifth meeting of the church, held on February 14, the same year, it was decided upon mature consideration that the administration of the Lord's Supper should take place once in six weeks. The question also came up at this time whether those persons who made application to the pastor to join the church in full communion, or only to own the covenant in order to enjoy the rights of baptism, should have their cases "propounded" to the church first, and then to the congregation, or to both at the same time; and with rather unusual liberality for those days, it was decided that they should be propounded, in general, to the church and congregation together. Upon this occasion, two covenants were prepared, - one called "an abbreviation of our cov't," designed for those persons to engage in who desired to be received into full communion; the other, "a brief draft of ye cov't," designed for the signature of those persons "who are desirous to fall under ye watch and care of ye church," and who desired "y y ordinance of baptism may be admin- istered to them and theirs according to y" order of y Gospel of Jesus Christ."
They are as follows. The first, -
" You doe here, in ye presence of ye Almighty God and his people, solemnly take and chuse ye Lord Jehovah to be your God, promising and covenanting with his help to fear him and cleave to him in love and to serve him in truth with all your heart, giving up yourself and
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
your seed after you in cov with God and this Church to be the Lord's Intirely, and to be att his Direction and Disposal in all things, y' you may have and hold communion with him and this chh as a member of Christ's mysticall Body, according to his Revealed will, to your lives' end.
" You doe also take ye Holy Scriptures to be your Rule of life to walk by, whereby you may discern ye mind of Christ, endeavoring to live in ye faithful improvement of all opportunities to worship God, according to all his Gospel Institutions, Taking ye great Imanuel, ye Son of God, to be your Savior and Redeemer in all his offices, prom- ising to afford your attendance upon ye public dispensation of God's Word, ye Administration of ye Ordinances of Jesus Christ, especially yt of ye Lord's Supper, as God in his Holy providence shall give you opportunity.
" You also engage, with ye Lord's help, by virtue of Christ's Death, to mortifie all sin and disorderly or vile and sinful affections, and to abstain from all sin, especially from scandalous sins, as ye Lord shall help you, yt you may not depart from ye living God, But yt you may live a life of Holiness, and obedience to ye Revealed will of God.
"You promise you will peaceably submit yourself to ye Holy Dis- cipline appointed by Jesus Christ in his church, and yon doe now offer yourself up to ye Care, Government, and watch of this church, obeying y™ y' have ye rule over you in ye Lord. Of ye integrity of your Heart herein you call God, ye searcher of all hearts, to wittnesse, beseeching him to enable you to keep this Covenant inviolably to God's glory and your own spiritual good and edification, and where you shall fail in observing and keeping it, you begg ye Lord's forgive- ness and pardon and healing, for ye sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
The second, -
" You doe now take and avouch ye Great Jehovah to be your God, and ye Lord Jesus Christ to be your Great high priest, prophet, and King. You give up yourself and yours to Jesus Christ, to be in- structed, pardoned, justiyed, sanctiyed, comforted, and eternally saved by him.
"You also promise to walk according to ye holy scriptures, Endeav- oring as far as God shall enable you, to abstain from all sin, and to walk in ye ways of Holiness and Obedience to God, and in ye ob- servation of all Duty both towards God and man, as is expected
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THE FIRST MINISTER.
and Required of you by ye word of God, or in ye gospel of Jesus Christ.
" You now promise to walk in ye Regular observation of all such Holy Ordinances as you are now capable off, or shall be capable off hereafter.
"You also cov' and promise to submit to ye watch, government, and care and discipline of this church or of Jesus Christ in it."
At the same meeting it was proposed whether or no the church should proceed to "ye election or chusing of a person or persons to serve as Deacons in ye said church. It was concluded in ye affirmative."
" It was voted yt two persons should be chosen as deacons in sd church.
"As to the method of choosing the persons it was agreed and voted that ' every man should chuse and vote for himself whom God should direct and incline his heart, without any Nomination, and ye That brother that hath ye most votes should be the first Deacon, -and so in like manner we will vote all over a second time, - and he yt hath ye most votes in ye second voting, be ye second Deacon. In this way ye chh voted very peaceably ; and in ye first voting, the vote fell on Brother Joseph Hewins; and in ye second voting, ye vote fell on Brother Benjamin Blackman, who accordingly took ye weighty matter into consideration.'"
It was also voted "that ye Deacons should dispose of ye fragments at ye Lord's Table, either by bestowing them upon ye minister," or in any other way in which they should see fit.
At the sixth church meeting, which was held May 15, 1718, the two gentlemen who had been appointed to serve as deacons accepted the position, believing that in the hearty vote they had received "there was much of the voice of God." At said meeting, -
"It was agreed upon to set apart a day for fasting and prayer by sª Chh, and to hold it in public in ye Meeting House, for to seek the Lord's favor and the smiles of His Countenance to rest on this Chh and Congregation, and that Religion and trew Godliness might be advanced, and ye peace thereof and prosperity of both Chh and Congregation might be continued and enlarged by God Almighty."
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HISTORY OF CANTON.
Accordingly, the 4th day of June, 1718, was so kept; and the congregation joined publicly with the church in its observance.
This year was remarkable for a great deal of sickness among the early inhabitants. About the middle of August it is said there were seventy people sick in Ponkapoag. Mr. Morse says in his record that -
"In the month of September, 1718, was a great sickness in this place. Several died, ye Minister being near Death, but mercifully spared, being absent from ye Lord's House thirteen Sabbaths ; whereof ten of y™ were supplied by ye help of Mr. Mckinstry, - ye congre- gation being without preaching three Sabbaths."
The matter must have been very grievous and serious, not only from the number of persons who died, but from the inability to procure nurses for the sick. The church-mem- bers gathered together in the early winter, after the great affliction, and spent some time in prayer, and made the best plans they could for the future under such disheartening circumstances.
Mr. John Mckinstry, mentioned above, was graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1712, and arrived in this country only a month before the time he assisted Mr. Morse.
No event of importance occurred during the next few years. Children were born; young men and maidens were joined in wedlock; and many of the elder and English-born settlers were carried to their last resting-places. Gilbert En- dicott had died in 1716, and was the first person buried in the cemetery. The church affairs went on smoothly. It was deemed advisable to appoint an elder and another deacon to " assist and strengthen ye church in ye maintaining ye king- dom and encouraging ye interest of Christ among this peo- ple." Deacon Joseph Hewins and Brother Isaac Stearns had been chosen elder and deacon respectively; and they had received the compliment of a large and " clear " vote, Hewins having been raised from the office of deacon, and Stearns made associate with Benjamin Blackman. Minor matters
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THE FIRST MINISTER.
had been attended to as well. The vessels of the Lord's Table had been burnished and cleaned by the good wife of the pastor; the church building had been repaired; and the seating of the meeting-house had taken place.
On Jan. 8, 1721, we find this singular entry in the church records : "Hodie nostra soror Maria J * * * * nostræ eccle- siæ confessionem dedit pro ebrietate."
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