USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Essex > History of the town of Essex : from 1634 to 1868 > Part 15
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164
HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 3.
methods, which God in his Providence may at any time give him opportunity of taking to gain his offended Brethren."
From this decision a minority of six-including three ministers-expressed their dissent as follows :
" As to many main articles of charge exhibited, the aggrieved have real grounds of grievance with their pastor, and it appears to us that these grounds . of grievance do still remain. We cannot concur with the council, that the withdraw of the aggrieved is unjustifiable and reproachful to religion : neither that they have exposed themselves to the censure of the church thereby. And it highly concerns the pastor and the church to remove the stumbling blocks out of the way of the said withdrawing brethren, by that confession and reformation which is their duty, and which may draw them into a re- union with themselves."
Even they, however, add :
" We cannot justify their withdraw in all the circumstances of it; and we think the aggrieved brethren should greatly desire and carefully endeavor a reunion, by acknowledging and putting away what has been unchristianlike in their spirit or behavior, either towards Pastor or Church."
The seceders, however, did not wait for the decision of this body, nor even for its deliberations. The council which they had voted to call, on which, however, only the churches in Boston and Canterbury were represented, met by their invitation on the same day (May 20th), at the house of Mr. Francis Choate. The reasons for the with- drawal which have been already stated were also laid be- fore it. This council justified the separation, assisted in the preparation of "articles of faith and discipline and a covenant," and in its presence these were signed by nine men and thirty-two women, on the 22d of May. Thus was constituted the " Fourth Church in Ipswich." On the 30th, Francis Choate was elected moderator, and Rev. Ebenezer Cleaveland (" our preacher ") acting scribe.
Rev. Ebenezer Cleaveland, the first preacher to this new Society, was born in Canterbury, Conn., January 5th, 1725. He entered Yale College in 1744, but a few months after, November 19th, for the offence of "attending the ministra- tions of a lay exhorter of the Whitefield stamp," though it was in vacation and in company with his parents and was
165
THE FOURTH CHURCH.
1746-1774.]
not known to be in violation of any rule, and for his refusal to acknowledge that he deserved censure for the act, was expelled from College, on the ground that it was a sanction of " measures deemed subversive of the established order of the churches." The government of the College after- ward rescinded the vote of expulsion, and enrolled him as. a graduate of the class of 1748 to which he had belonged. He preached in Chebacco from the Spring of 1746 until nearly the close of that year. The "Fourth Church," after he left them, gave him a "letter of recommendation to the work of the Gospel ministry, " in which it is mentioned that he "did dwell with and preach the Gospel unto us for several months." In 1751 he commenced preaching at Sandy Bay-now Rockport, and in February 13, 1755, a church was organized, of which he was ordained pastor in December of that year. He continued to be its minister until May, 1784. In the French war of 1758, and the Can- ada expedition in 1759, he was a chaplain in the army. He also entered the continental army in the same capacity, in June, 1775, and served about three years. After his dis- mission he preached several years in Landaff, N. H., and then returning to Rockport, resided there the remainder of his life, occasionally preaching in destitute places. His death occurred July 4, 1805. On his tombstone it is re- corded that he was "a faithful pastor and a godly man."
On the 17th of December, 1746, the "Fourth Church " proceeded to the election of permanent officers. Francis Choate and Daniel Giddinge were chosen Ruling Elders, and Eleazer Craft and Solomon Giddinge, Deacons. Sev- eral years later (in 1751), these office-bearers were for- mally set apart to their work by ordination at the hands of the pastor. Still later in its history (November 20, 1765,) Dea. Craft was made a Ruling Elder, and Stephen Choate and Thomas Burnham, Deacons. At the same meeting Mr. John Cleaveland, present by invitation, was " desired to declare his principles," which he did, and was then unanimously elected pastor of the church. In this
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
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action the Society concurred, and the invitation thus ex- tended, Mr. Cleaveland accepted, December 26th.
1747. His ordination took place on the 25th of Feb- ruary following. The council called for this purpose con- sisted of Rev. John Rogers and delegates from the church in Kittery, Me., delegates from the New Church in Exeter, N. H., and Rev. Nathaniel Rogers and delegates from the first church in this town. Other churches were invited but the inclemency of the weather prevented their attend- ance. The council assembled the day before at the North End, at the house of Mr. Francis Choate, (the same as to its frame as that now owned by Mr. John Burnham,) for the purpose of examining the candidate and assigning the parts for the ordination. Rev. John Rogers was chosen moderator, and Rev. John Phillips scribe. An elevated platform was erected in front of the house to accommodate the council during the public exercises, while the congre- gation stood in front of that. The services commenced at ten o'clock. The ordaining prayer was offered and the charge given by the Rev. John Rogers, and the fellowship of the churches expressed by Rev. Nathaniel Rogers. Notwithstanding the severity of the season, tradition says that a large audience were in attendance.
This opening year of Mr. Cleaveland's ministry also witnessed the death of Rev. Theophilus Pickering, after a short illness, on the 7th of October,* at the age of 47. He was the second son of John and Sarah Pickering, and was born in Salem, September 28, 1700. The family had been one of much prominence in olden time in that city, and afterwards some of its members were distinguished in the affairs of State. His grandfather, John Pickering, was born in England in 1615, and emigrated to Salem in 1637. His nephew Timothy was a Colonel in the Revolutionary War, and Secretary of War and afterwards of State, under
* It has been found impossible to account for the discrepancy between this date of Mr. Pickering's death taken from the records, and that carved on his tomb-stone. Both have been correctly copied.
-
167
1746-1774.] CHARACTER OF MR. PICKERING.
the second administration of Washington. John Picker- ing, another relative, was an eminent lawyer of the pres- ent century, distinguished also for his classical learning. Theophilus graduated at Harvard University in 1719, and though he soon after came into possession of considerable property at the death of his father, June 19, 1722, he de- termined to devote himself to the work of the ministry. He was laborious and successful in his pastoral office, and during his ministry about two hundred persons were ad- mitted to the church. As a Christian man and teacher, he had the confidence of most of his brethren in the ministry, and there is no reason to doubt the conscientiousness of his opposition to the course of the Separatists. The esti- mation in which he was held by his own church is plainly seen in the language used respecting him in the "Answer of the Second Church to thie Chebacco Brethren's Plain Narrative :"
" We at Chebacco have (as we verily believe, ) had among us a man of God, a learned, orthodox, prudent, faithful minister of Jesus Christ, though not without failings even as others ; one whom we heard teaching and preach- ing the truths of the Gospel, with pleasure, and we hope, with profit ; and whose memory will, we trust, be ever dear to us notwithstanding the re- proaches that have been plentifully cast upon him."
He was a diligent student, was well versed in theology, and, in the judgment of his contemporaries, was a man of vigorous intellect and of superior ability as a logician and a writer. From a list of his books which is preserved in a collateral branch of the family, it appears that he was possessed of a very valuable library. His genius for mechanism was great. Many specimens of his mechani- cal labors still remain. As a testimony to his learning and abilities, it has been said to the author by some aged peo- ple who remembered him, that Whitefield, after considera- ble debate with him on the cardinal points of Christianity, acknowledged that he was a man of great ingenuity, though he regretted the erroneousness of his views. Mr. Picker- ing was never married. Ilis will, which was dated October
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 3.
4, 1747, begins as follows : " I, Theophilus Pickering, being of sound mind and memory, but laboring under sickness, and realizing my mortality." In it he distributed seven thousand pounds, old tenor, to his sisters and their chil- dren, and gave the residue of his estate to his brother Timothy. His tomb-stone in the old grave-yard contains the following inscription :
HERE LIES BURIED THE Body of ye Revd Mr THEOPHILUS PICKERING, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE Sept. ye 19th, 1747, AGED 47 YEARS.
Three deacons of the church had died during his min- istry, John Choate in 1730, Seth Story in 1732, aged 73, and John Burnham (chosen deacon in 1732,) in 1746. The number of church-members at his death was forty. Four vessels used at the communion service, marked " Ipswich Second Church"-two of them having the date, " 1728," and the other two, " 1732"-are still in the possession and use of the church, venerable for their an- tiquity, and prized for the associations connected with them.
1748. Shortly after Mr. Cleaveland's ordination, Mr. Pickering had published a pamphlet, entitled “A Bad Omen to the Churches in the instance of Mr. John Cleaveland's Ordination over a Separation in Chebacco Parish." This was immediately answered by Mr. Cleave- land, in another pamphlet, entitled “ A Plain Narrative of the Proceedings which caused a Separation of a Number of Aggrieved Brethren from the Second Church in Ips- wich : or, a Relation of the Cause which produced the Effects that are exhibited in the Rev. Mr. Pickering's late Print, entitled 'A Bad Omen to the Churches.'" Mr. Pickering's preparation of a rejoinder he did not live to complete, but his church after his death carried out his purpose in the publication early the next year of " An Answer to the Chebacco Brethren's Plain Narrative-the
169
DROUTH.
1746-1774.]
Pretended Narrative convicted of Fraud and Partiality ; or a Letter from the Second Church in Ipswich to their Separated Brethren, in Defence of their deceased Pastor and Themselves against the Injurious Charges of the said Separated Brethren in a late Print of theirs, by giving a more Just and True account of the things that preceded the Separation." In answer to this, another pamphlet appeared, supposed to have been written by Mr. Cleave- land, entitled "Chebacco Narrative Rescued from the Charge of Falsehood and Partiality." "These pamphlets are all written with great spirit, and show that the minds of the several writers were stirred to their inmost depths."
The Second Church, however, instead of carrying the controversy further, determined to submit the proceedings of the Separatists, subsequent to their withdrawal, to the judgment of others. Accordingly by their desire a coun- cil of delegates from the South, the old and new North churches of Boston, the third church of Salem, the first church of Reading, and the first church of Cambridge, met at Chebacco on the 19th of July, 1748, relative to the set- tlement of Mr. Cleaveland there. On the 30th they met by adjournment in Boston. They concluded "that Mr. Cleaveland's church was not a Congregational Church, and that the first church in Ipswich and the church in Kittery were not justifiable in assisting at his ordination." They advised Mr. Cleaveland's church to be reconciled with the Second Church. The ministers of the council present were Rev. Joseph Sewall, moderator, Benjamin Prescott, Nathaniel Appleton, William Holby and Andrew Elliot.
A drouth of unusual severity is thus alluded to in the records of the "Newly Gathered Congregational Church in Chebacco," and the action of the church with reference to it thus expressed :
" August 7. Whereas the frowns of God are manifestly upon us, not only in his withdrawal of spiritual showers, but also in his withholding the rain of heaven from the dry and thirsty ground, eausing a melancholy drought : we do, therefore, look upon it as a very loud call to us to call a solemn assembly 22
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 3.
for fasting and prayer, to confess our sins and the sins of the land and nation and of the whole earth, and beg mercy for the same, and we do appoint Tues- day next, the 9th instant, to be kept by us as a day of Fasting and Prayer."
1749, January 3d. The second Parish voted to concur with the Second Church in the choice of Nehemiah Porter of the Hamlet Parish in this town to be their minister. Mr. Porter had previously supplied the pulpit for some time. His salary is £500 in Province Bills, to vary ac- cording to the price of certain specified articles, together with the use and income of the parsonage rights. In the list of articles, butter is put down at 7s. per pound, pork at 2s. 6d. and molasses at 20s. per gallon. Mr. Porter was ordained January 3d, of the next year but there is no record of the ordination services.
It was during the session of our General Court this year, that an act was passed to redeem the Province Bills, by paying a Spanish milled dollar for every 45s. of the old tenor, or for every 11s. 3d. of the new emission. As the bills had depreciated, and were no longer in the hands of the first holders, it was insisted that to redeem them at their original value would impose a new tax on the first holders themselves. The money by which they redeemed the bills was the specie remitted to them from the royal exchequer as a re-imbursement for their expenses in the capture of Louisburg.
July 6th. Major Amnii Ruhami Wise, son of Rev. John Wise, died of fever, in Boston, in the sixty-first year of his age. He resided in Ipswich, and was a noted mer- chant, Justice of the Court of Sessions, and representative to the General Court in 1739 and 1740. In 1740 he also commanded a company of troops, in the expedition to the Spanish West Indies.
1750. The Court of Sessions met here about this time for the purpose of opening a road to Manchester, from the corner near Thompson's Island, by the houses of William Low and Amos Andrews. Previous to this there had been a private way from Joshua Burnham's to William now
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THE SIXTH PARISH.
1746-1774.]
Warren Low's, with a gate at each end. This was now made a public road, and carried through the woods to Manchester.
FORMATION OF THE SIXTH PARISH.
1752. As parishes were territorial organizations, all persons residing within their limits were subject to taxa- tion by them for the current expenses of the parish. The members of Mr. Cleaveland's society were, therefore, obliged at first to carry a double burden, from which for a time they had sought release in vain. As late as Janu- ary 19, 1750, the Second Parish, in answer to their memo- rial " that they may not pay a tax levied on them by that body," said " We know no minister of their own regularly called and settled, either with respect to the laws of the Province, or the order of these churches." And although their petition to the General Court for an act of incorpo- ration had been sent in the very next year after the for- mation of the society, it was not granted until the 8th of December, 1752. Opposition to their request had now ceased, and having presented evidence that they had " come to an agreement with the standing part of the Second Parish," it was ordered that "the petitioners, being fifty-seven in number, with their families and estates be made a distinct and separate precinct." This organization took the name of the Sixth Parish in Ipswich, though con- nected with the Fourth Church, because soon after the formation of the latter, Line Brook and the South Parishes had been incorporated.
Joseph Perkins, grandfather of the late John Perkins, was its clerk from its formation until its union with the Second Parish, and for most of that time its treasurer also. Its house of worship was erected this same year on the site of the present edifice of the North Congregational Church. It had the same shape as the second meeting- house, on the common, but had no turret or bell. It was built and owned at first by proprietors, but in April, 1761,
.
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
[CHAP. 3.
was purchased of them by the parish. There is no record of its dedication. The congregation had worshiped in private houses, and a part of the time in William Cogs- well's barn, until its completion. While our fathers and mothers, too, were thus divided in their opinions as to the best mode of conducting the affairs of the church, and had different places of worship, yet, as tradition testified to the author through the lips of the aged more than forty years ago, they were charitable and kind in their intercourse with each other, and such was their respect for the rights of conscience, that often the husband would convey his wife upon the same horse to one meeting, and then ride himself to the other, and when worship was ended, return to take up his conscientious spouse, that they might be one again in the domestic circle.
1753. November 26th, died at Kingston, N. H., Rev. Benjamin Choate, M. A., aged 73. Mr. Choate was a native of this place, a son of John Choate, the first settler of that name, and a brother of Thomas Choate, the first resident of Hogg Island. He was born in 1680, fitted for college in the Ipswich Grammar School, and was graduated at Har- vard College in 1703. He then spent some time in the study of theology, and was chaplain of the garrison at Deerfield for about two years from November, 1704. Soon after, he emigrated to Kingston, N. H., with the first set- tlers of that place, in the capacity of a preacher, and re- sided in garrison with them. There is a record on the town books, as early as 1707, of an agreement to pay Mr. Choate a salary, but the town was so much disturbed by Indian hostilities that he probably did not go there to reside permanently till 1713. He was ordained as an Evangelist before going to Kingston, and acted as minis- ter till 1720, when according to the records of that town, other preachers began to be employed. The church there was not organized till 1725. Rev. Ward Clark was the first pastor. From the' year 1720 Mr. Choate was em- ployed as school-master by the town for many years, and
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FRANCIS COGSWELL, ESQ.
1746-1774.]
his name appears on the town books as moderator of town meetings, and as holding various other offices.
1755. On the 18th of November, between the hours of four and five in the morning, there was a great earth- quake, which threw down stone walls and the tops of many chimneys, and bent the vanes on some of the steeples. It did much damage to many houses in this town. Its moral influence was felt in this place, as Mr. Cleaveland states in a pamphlet published soon after, awakening some to reflect on their ways, and from a con- viction of sin and guilt, to seek reconciliation with their God and Saviour.
1756. January 21st, died Rev. Jeremiah Wise, eldest son of Rev. John Wise, aged 76. He was born in Che- bacco in 1680, graduated at Harvard College in 1700, studied theology with his father, and on the 26th of No- vember, 1707, was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in South Berwick, Me. His ministry there con- tinued until his death. In a "sketch of eminent minis- ters of New England," published about the year 1765, he is spoken of as a man of learning, discretion, and of emi- nent piety-a prudent, faithful and useful minister in his day." Several of his sermons were published.
March 9th, died Francis Cogswell, A. M., aged 58. He fitted for college at the Ipswich Grammar School, and graduated at Harvard College in 1718. March 14, 1728, he was married to Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. John Rogers of Kittery, Me. Mr. Cogswell resided in Ipswich, and became a wealthy merchant. He represented the town in the General Court in 1750, 1751, and 1752. He was also a Justice of the Peace.
A specimen of the newspaper reports of local intelli- gence is found in " The Boston News Letter " of October 23d, of this year :
" Last Tuesday, se'n night, a barn at Chebacco, in Ipswich, was struck by lightning, and consumed, with all that was therein. A young man being at work in the field, observing the squall coming on, ran to tho barn for shelter ;
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HISTORY OF ESSEX.
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but he had hardly got in before it was set on fire. 'Tis tho't he was in- stantly struck dead by the lightning ; and was burnt to a great degree before he could be got out."
1757. An increase of interest in the cause of educa- tion is indicated by the erection of a new and more com- modious school-house in Chebacco. It was built " upon the site of the old one " (near Mr. W. H. Mears' house), was twenty-one feet in length, and eighteen in width, eight feet stud, and contained five windows. Its cost, £250, old tenor, or about $25 in gold, was defrayed by “ a subscrip- tion founding a school-house in Chebacco," made at a meeting held April 5th, at Mr. Joseph Perkins' house (which is still standing near Mr. John C. Choate's), and signed by seventy-four of the inhabitants. The care of the school-house was entrusted to a committee chosen annually by the subscribers or " proprietors." From the very full records of their meetings from this year until 1801, it is ascertained that the teachers of this school were sometimes nominated by the proprietors and ap- pointed by the selectmen of the town, and sometimes chosen by the proprietors' committee, and that the aver- age length of the schools per year during the remainder of the century, was four months. It further appears that Chebacco's proportion of the money raised by the town for schools, and of the income of the school-lands, was expended for the support of this school, and that the session was often "lengthened out" by money raised by subscription. The wages of the teachers per month, so far as recorded, varied from $5.50 to $9.33. The latter sum was paid only when a " Latin teacher " was employed.
That the "proprietors" early appreciated the importance of furnishing to all the children of the place the opportu- nity of entering upon a course of liberal education, is indi- cated by their vote, in 1764, that Latin should be taught in their school ; and by their instructing their committee " to employ as teacher some person capable of teaching it." Pelatiah Tingley was the first Latin teacher, during the
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THE SECOND SCHOOL-HOUSE.
1746-1774.]
Winter of 1764-5, and his successor, for the next two years, was Jonathan Searle, Jr. The use of the school- room, for a weekly singing-school through the Winter, was given by the proprietors in 1764, and for many years following. An evening school was also held first in 1765. Of eleven teachers of this school mentiond in the records, only three or four were natives of the place. One of these, Dea. Thomas Burnham, taught it eight years. Among the others were David Burnham, Jr., and Dr. Russ. After the erection of the first school-house at the Falls in 1761, and the first one on the south side of the river in 1779, the owners of what had been " the school-house in Chebacco" styled themselves "the Proprietors of the North School Division," or " the North School Society in Chebacco."
In 1791 this North school-building was moved to a site near the location of the present engine-house, and con- tinued in use until 1801-forty-four years in all.
1758. Rev. Mr. Cleaveland enters the army this year as chaplain of the "Third Provincial regiment of foot." His commission under the signature of Gov. Pownal and Secretary Oliver, bears date 13th March, 1758. His or- ders were to join his regiment at Flat Bush, five miles above Albany. The whole army under Gen. Abercrombie, nine thousand Provincials and about seven thousand British Regulars, were to rendezvous at Albany, on the west bank of the Hudson. The field officers of his regi- ment, were Col. Bagley, Lieut. Col. Whitcomb, Maj. Inger- soll. The staff officers, John Cleaveland, chaplain,* Richard Sikes, adjutant, Caleb Rea, surgeon, William Taylor, quar- termaster. The fourth company in the regiment was commanded by Capt. Stephen Whipple of the Hamlet, First Lieut. Nathan Burnham, Second Lieut. Stephen Low, and Ensign Samuel Knowlton, all of Chebacco. In a let-
* Bancroft makes mention of him in connection with this expedition of Aber- crombie as one of those " chaplains who preached to the regiments of citizen-soldiers a renewał of the days when Moses with the rod of God in his hand sent Joshua against Amalek."-Ilistory of United States, vol. 4, chap. 13.
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