USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Franklin > History of the town of Franklin, Mass., from its settlement to the completion of its first century > Part 8
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Dr. Smalley's ministry in this town, though following the long and thorough fidelity and renown of Dr. Emmons. was still most pleasant and prosperous. It was confessedly his happiest pasto- rate, and the survivors of his people lament to this day that he did not see it his duty to remain in the country parish where all were so ready to do him honor. His memory is still cherished with tender affection in the families that knew of his suave and gra- cions manners without as well as within the pulpit.
Rev. TERTIUS DUNNING SOUTHWORTH was installed the fifth pastor of the church, 23d January. 1839, and was dismissed 25th April, 1850, after a ministry of eleven years.
Mr. Southworth was son of Rev. James and Mary (Dennison) Southworth, pastor of the Congregational church, Bridgewater, N. Y., and descendant of Constant Southworth, of Plymouth, whose mother, Alice, was wife of the Sir Richard Southworth,
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
knighted by James I, and afterwards wife of Gov. William Brad- ford. He was born in Rome, N. Y., 25th July, 1801, graduated at Hamilton 1827 ; was one year at Auburn Theological Seminary, and graduated at Andover 1829 ; ordained at Utica, N. Y., 7th October, 1832. Installed at Claremont, N. H., 18th June, 1834, and left in summer of 1838 to come to Franklin. After leaving Franklin he spent six months in Lyndon, Vt., then in Whiteluck, Washington county, N. Y. He preached statedly there and at Pownal and Bennington, Vt., for nearly five years, having a school at the same time in his house. Thence he went to Pleasant Prairie, Wis., for ten years, part of the time under commission of the American Home Mission Society, until a rheumatic fever dis- abled him from further service. In 1869 he returned to his early home in Bridgewater, N. Y., where he died 2d August, 1874, and was buried in the silken surplice given him by the ladies of Frank- lin some thirty years before.
Mr. Southworth married Martha, only daughter of Luther and Martha (Niles) Warren, of Weathersfield, Vt. She was born in Haverhill, N. H., and graduated at the Hartford Female Seminary in 1837. She now resides in Springfield, Vt. They had no chil- dren.
Rev. SAMUEL HUNT succeeded Rev. Mr. Southworth as pastor, being installed 4th December, 1850, where he remained until his dismission 6th July, 1864.
Mr. Hunt was a native of West Attleboro, the son of Deacon Richard and Ann (Humphrey) Hunt, born 18th March, 1810. He graduated at Amherst College 1832, and afterwards taught the academy in Southampton, Mass., also in Southampton, L. I. From 1836 to 1838 he studied theology in Princeton, N. J., and, after supplying the pulpit a year in Mansfield, he was ordained in Natick, 17th July, 1839. In May, 1850, was dismissed, and on December 4 following was settled in Franklin. After fourteen years of good service he was dismissed in 1864. He next entered the service of the American Missionary Association, in establish- ing schools among Freedmen. He became associated in 1868 with Hon. Henry Wilson, afterwards Vice-President, and his for- mer parishioner. He was his private secretary, and aided him in preparing his work, "The Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in. America," and edited the last volume after Mr. Wilson's decease.
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Mr. Hunt married first Mary, daughter of Maj. Joseph Foster, of Southampton, L. I. ; afterwards Abigail B., daughter of Willis Fisher, of Franklin ; and third Mrs. Homer, widow of Samuel Homer, Esq., of Boston. He has living a son and two daughters, of his first wife.
Since this page was written Mr. Hunt has died in Boston, 23d July, 1878.
Rev. GEORGE A. PELTON was called by the church, 18th May, 1865, and was installed 9th August, as appears by the records of the church, for one year. But he continued more than a year, until he withdrew for a Western field. The years 1867-9 he spent in Bethel, Ct. Thence he went, in 1869, to Candor, N. Y. ; after four years he removed to Groton, N. Y., where he remained until 1877, when he went to Morrisville, Madison county, N. Y., where he still remains as acting pastor to the Congregational church in that village.
Rev. LUTHER KEENE was the eighth regularly installed pastor of the old church. He was a native of Milo, Me., born 30th January, 1830, and son of Luther and Lydia (Hopkins) Keene. He graduated at Amherst College, 1859, and at Bangor 1862. In October following he was settled as pastor of the Union Congre- gational church, in North Brookfield. At the close of a five years' pastorate he was installed here, 9th October, 1867. His success- ful and very promising ministry was brought to an unexpected close 17th April, 1874, by his sudden and widely lamented death. But his brief labors were marked by several permanent results ; not the least being a nearly doubled membership in the church,. the present commodious parsonage, and the beautiful meeting- house in which the centennial services were held, and which so many visitors admired for its chaste proportions. Mr. Keene left no children. His widow still lives in Bangor, Me., to lament her irreparable loss.
Since Mr. Keene's decease the church has had no pastor. Its pulpit has been supplied by yearly engagements or stated supplies, who can leave only transient impressions on the community and liable to be obscured, if not obliterated, by the next incumbent - a policy which this ancient and influential church can well afford to exchange for the "more excellent way" under which their fathers grew strong in numbers and in stability.
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
THE OLD MEETING-HOUSE
is the center of countless associations, binding every New England child to his home and his youth. In the early days, when there was but one sanctuary in a town, it was the common center for a thousand tender hearts. In it and around it boy friendships were formed, and even deeper alliances were begun. Our towns have lost one unifying power through the multiplication of sanctuaries, by breaking up that central house which once rallied weekly all the sons and daughters as to a common home. Homely and un- comfortable to our ideas it might be, but it treasured the loves and hopes, the griefs and the consolations of all the families of the town.
Of the first meeting-house perhaps enough was said in the ad- dress. Of the second edifice we add a few further particulars.
The question of a new and larger building was raised as early as 1770 ; but such differing opinions obtained and the exigencies of the Revolutionary War were so pressing that nothing effective was done for seventeen years. The frequent refusals of the town to repair the old house indicate the foregone conclusion that a new one is to be built.
In 1784, April 26, £200 is voted to procure materials towards the new meeting-house. But in 1785, October 3d, it is voted that " the constable pay back the money collected for the meeting- house and return the tax-bill into the town clerk's office, and that the town clerk pull off the seal of the warrants and write on the back that they are null and void," and that a committee "view the meeting-house and report what is best to be done to repair it." These repairs, chiefly patching the shingles, supplying glass to the upper windows and boarding the lower, amounted to £6 2s. 10d.
But in 1787, December 3, the new meeting-house party gain the ascendency and proceeds forthwith to work. Samnel Leth- bridge, Asa Whiting, Ens. Joseph Whiting are sent to bargain with Ens. John Adams for the "34-rod spot." They report the purchase of the nine acres of land constituting the present Com- mon. Another committee of thirteen report that "the house be
et long with a porch at each end 14 feet square, and the said house be 40 feet wide, with 50 pews on the lower floor and 10 in the gallery ; the windows to contain 24 squares each, the glass to
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be 8 by 10 inches." A tax of £300 is levied and " the parish " is divided into eight classes with one collector for each class. These eight collectors are to choose a chairman. assign the procuring of materials by a special committee to each class, and affix a price on materials furnished, except shingles ; all materials to be delivered on the spot by the 15th of April next. 1788.
December 31st. it is voted to sell the pews at public vendue to the highest bidder as per plan, and to bid for choices, each pew so sold to be the purchaser's property, his heirs and assigns for- ever. Each purchaser is to pay one-eighth in money on or before April 1 next. and may also furnish three-eighths in material as wanted, giving his note, payable September 1 next, for the bal- ance, with interest after and until paid. It is voted also that the house be clapboarded with the best sawed clapboards, shingled with white-pine shingles, and enelosed with oak and pitch-pine boards ; floors to be of best pitch-pine : shingle-nails of cold iron or wrought ; and Samuel Lethbridge, Peter Whiting, and Dea. James Metcalf are chosen superintending committee. They are instructed "to superintend and take effectual care that a New Meeting-house be built in this town in a manner and form agreea- ble to the rates passed from time to time for that purpose ; and it shall be the business of the Committee to order and direct where the timber and stuff shall be laid, prepair and order the Spot for Fraiming, procure Workmen and Labourers to do the work, take care that good stones be brought and laid for the foundation, make Provision for boarding and Lodging the Workmen. fix upon the time when to begin to frame, and the Day when to Raise the building and make all Necessary provision therefor, and to pro- cure all such Material of every Kind as may be necessary to finish the house, Excepting such as other Com'tces are Directed to pro- cure. And the Selectmen are directed at the Request of sd Com'tee to give Orders upon the Treasurer in favour of sd Com'tee for such sums of Money as may be Necessary for their Expendi- ture in Compleating ye work as above directed, and sd Com'tee shall keep an Exact account of their time and Expenditures of the Money Recd and Expended and for what purpose in a Book for that sole purpose. and May if they think Necessary appoint a Clerk to Assist them who shall have a Reasonable allowance for his Services, and sd Com'tee are Directed to take Receipts for all
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
Moneys paid out where the sum is more then 15 shill, and shall lay there Book Before the Town for inspection at any time when properly called for."
At the next meeting, Jan. 7, 1788, the number of pews was. increased to fifty-five, and the pew next to the pulpit stairs was set apart to the minister's family. The rest of the pews were sold agreeably to a previous vote. The highest price paid was £17 16s. 8d., by Asa Fairbanks, Jr., and James Metcalf. The total sales amounted to £492 6s. 4d.
Photo Electrotype Co
THE OLD MEETING-HOUSE. (From memory.)
July 4. 1788, a vote of thanks was given to Hezekiah Fisher " for his present of the glass to the meeting-house."
December 18, voted to finish the meeting-house next summer, and with banisters to the pews.
June 8, 1789, allowed the building committee to use any part of the old meeting-house in finishing the new.
October 12, a committee is chosen to sell the old house, or if not disposed of within twenty days to pull it down - the latter fate
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probably befalling it, and also a committee " to order where noon houses and stables shall be built, and to mark out the bounds of the Common."
A view of this old meeting-house is inserted on the opposite page. It is drawn from the still vivid picture on our memory, and will revive pleasant thoughts in the minds of our old inhabi- tants of their young days.
The cost of the meeting-house, as rendered by the committee to the town 7th March, 1791, is as follows : -
Lumber at Boston.
£57 19s. 3d.
Carting from Boston.
16 19s. 3d. 2
Rum, Sugar, Molasses & Lemons at Boston.
12 6s. 3d.
Lickquers purchased at home.
3 3s. 4d.
Cost of raising the house.
26 8s. 9d.
Nails and other Iron ware at Boston
15 7s. 5d.
Painting, Tarring & Glazing
73 6s. 5d.
Boards, Clapboards & Shingles at home
33 5s. 0d.
Plastering & Whitewashing
18 4s. 3d. 2
Underpinning the house.
26 12s. 5d.
Boarding the Workmen
81 14s. 8d.
Carpenter's Work.
233 0s. 8d.
Doorstones & Paving round the house.
25 1s. 3d.
Window Weights.
5 18s. 4d.
Cost of the Curtain (behind the pulpit).
3 7s. 3d.
Expenses of the Committee
69 3s. 7d.
£726 3s. 4d.
DONATIONS.
Hezekiah Fisher to purchase the Glass
£29 4s. 4d. 3
Nathaniel Thayer
2 10s. 7d. 3
Jonathan Wales
1 16s. 0d.
Josiah Hawes
14 3s. 0d.
Nathan Man
1 3s. 6d. 1
£35 8s. 8d. 3
Total of class tax
£293 17s. 1d. 1
Received from Sale of Pews.
622 11s. 0d.
Interest on Securities for Pews.
13 17s. 6d.
From the Old House.
13 12s. 6d.
£943 18s. 1d. 1
Total cost of meeting-house
Or at the then value.
£1,054 9s. 2d. 1 $3,514 86
The town seems to have been as much obscured as we have been by these footings, for they demurred at the charges of the com-
home
25 15s. 2d.
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
mittee, and appointed auditors to examine the accounts. In 1794, March 10, they reported as charged to the cost of the house £748 14s. 7d. 3, of which the building committee had received only £730 9s. 2d. 3, while he balance had been charged twice to them. The town voted that this overcharge of £18 5s. 5d. be paid to the building committee with interest for four years, and receipts in full were exchanged. As the cost of the house is given in the records as £1,054 9s. 2d. 1, we suppose . the cost of preparing the land, etc., must be included in this amount.
In 1806 the porch at the east end of the meeting-house was ex- alted into a belfry, to contain a clock and bell which had been presented to the parish. This addition cost $1,462.44. The bell and clock cost $745.
Further than this simple item of cost we have been unable to go. The volume of parish records of the proper date has evaded our search and that of the committee. In some change of clerks it failed of a passage to the office of the new incumbent, and the names of the donor or donors of the clock and bell must remain undiscovered. Though both clock and bell live to tell the hours upon the new church, they do not tick a hint of their history.
The house remained thus furnished and unaltered until 1840. But it passed through an experience with the painters in 1830, which deserves a sentence. While the workmen were painting the belfry the bell became quite seriously bespattered. It oc- curred to some bright genius to complete the accident by covering the bell all over with paint. Of course the sound was fatally smothered. There was supposed to be no remedy but to trans- port it to the foundry in exchange for a new one. Advantage was taken to procure a heavier bell. The bill of Mr. Holbrook, of East Medway, shows the following facts : -
Bell of 1,041 lbs. at 30 cts. and yoke at $6.00 $318 30
Cr. by old bell of 890 lbs. at 20 cts 178 00
$140 30
Dated 28th Jan., 1831.
A subscription of $152.13 overcovered this balance.
That new bell still swings in the steeple of the present Congre- gational church. The old bell, after a slight sweltering, to remove its useless jacket of paint, came forth as good as new, and now
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tells its old tales of gladness and sympathy to the people of Paxton.
The tastes of the people having outgrown the old square pews, and desires having arisen for a good front look at the new pastor, Southworth, a movement was begun in 1840 to transform the inte- rior into modern slips, all facing the pulpit. But as one change frequently involves another, it was decided to move the building itself to a site "about eighty fect" further north (where it now stands) and to change its front to the south, so that none could easily tell whether they had been revolved or no. The work was begun the day following the funeral of the pastor who first occu- pied the house after its dedication in 1788. On the Sabbath fol- lowing, 4th October, 1840, the congregation occupied the hall of the academy. and continued to do so until the completion of the alterations in their sanctuary in January, 1842.
The total expenses of this transformation, as near as can be ascertained, was $2,683.05, towards which the church fund con- tributed $231.36, and individual subscriptions furnished the bal- ance, $1,722 being given by the central school district. In 1856 the interior walls were frescoed.
Upon the completion of the present meeting-house of the Congregational Society, their former house was sold to the Catholic church. The last sermon in it was preached by Rev. L. Keene, the pastor, 31st December, 1871, from II Cor., 4 : 18 and 5:1. In that sermon it was stated, among many other interesting remi- niscences, that $13,362.63 had been expended on the house, and that in its eighty-four years of occupancy there had been 8,736 Sabbath sermons, 584 admissions to the church, and about 900 infant baptisms under the officiating of thirteen ministers -besides. the uncounted other services, joyous and sad, scenes of anxious prayer and of rejoicing in revivals wide and deep, which conse- crate the house of worship and enshrine it amongst our holiest and tenderest recollections.
THE NEW CONGREGATIONAL CIIURCH.
The rapid increase of the town in population and resources dur- ing and after the war rendered the old house, even with its modi- fications, behind the apparent demands of the times. The project of a new house was so seriously agitated and so strongly advo-
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
cated by the new pastor, Rev. L. Keene, that successful measures were adopted to carry this purpose into effect. A site was pur- chased bordering the southeast corner of the Common, and work was begun and pushed to an early completion. The building committee were Messrs. Davis Thayer, Jr., Henry M. Greene, Albert E. Daniels, O. A. Stanley, Dr. George King, E. H. Sher- man, and Frank W. Ray - John Stephens architect, and Hanson & Hunniwell of Somerville builders.
The dimensions of the main building are 100 by 60 feet, audi- ence-room 60 by 80 feet and 29 feet high, chapel attached to the rear, 45 by 55 feet, two wings 25 by 14 feet, height of steeple 164 feet ; whole cost of the house furnished, $36,000. It has 650 sittings in the main audience-room, and 100 in the gallery. The chapel will seat 500, and the dining-hall 400. The edifice was dedi- cated 4th January, 1872, Rev. Mr. Keene, the pastor, preaching from John, 12 : 5. The sermon was afterwards printed in his me- . morial volume.
With the increase of the business of the town came in a rapid increase of its population. Not only was the original sanctuary too small for the growing members, but a diversity of faith and of modes of worship naturally followed with the incomers. Hence came a movement for other houses of worship.
Brief histories of these churches have been kindly furnished by their several present pastors, which are here inserted as given to me, in the order of their dates.
. SOUTH FRANKLIN CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHI.
The scattered families of this section have always found it laborious to attend meeting from two to four miles at the Center. But their fewness forbade a hopeful undertaking of separate wor- ship. But the funeral of a young woman in 1855 called in the at- tendance of Rev. Joseph N. Thayer, of Mendon, of whose congre- gation she was. The interest on that occasion prompted him to appoint a meeting soon after in the school-house. The presence of many seldom seen in any house of worship suggested a contin- uance of appointments through the summer on alternate weeks. A Sunday-school was formed, and a library procured from friends. The interest so increased as to suggest the formation of a church.
A council was called 30th August, 1855, at the house of Wil-
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POV-ELETTRO. THAY:P=
C'O. B.O'S.T.O NIZ
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, MAIN STREET.
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lard C. Whiting. The churches in Medway, North Wrentham, and Blackstone were represented. Rev. JJohn Dwight of North Wrentham was chosen moderator, and Rev. Mr. Tappan of Blackstone seribe, and the council adjourned for two weeks for further deliberation. September 13. the additional churches in Mendon. West Medway, and Franklin, not previously present. appeared, and a church was organized of eighteen members. Oc- tober 5, Artemas Barden and Willard C. Whiting were elected deacons. In March following, subscriptions were started towards building a meeting-house, and $1,500 were seenred. Two lots of land were given, one by Dea. W. C. Whiting, another by B. Fos- ter. The latter site was selected by a majority of one vote, and the first stake driven June 7. September 5. the corner-stone was laid by services from Revs. S. Hunt and. J. Merrill. and an original hymn by Mrs. Luther Dean. The first blow on the house was struck by carpenter Charles T. Shaw, and the house was dedicated 25th July, 1857, Rev. Mr. Hunt preaching the sermon. Deacon Barden died 27th November, 1856 ; James P. Pond was elected 1st July. 1858. On his removal to Medway, Paul B. Clark was chosen in his place, 1st January, 1869.
This church is still compelled to receive aid from the Home Missionary Society and has had no settled pastor, but has been supplied by acting pastors, as follows : Joseph N. Thayer, Wil- liam M. Thayer, J. K. Dewing. Sumner Clark, Dr. Ebenezer Bur- gess, R. Carver, J. N. Walker, J. Merrill.
GRACE CHURCH ( UNIVERSALIST) PARISH.
In September, 1856, a petition was presented to S. B. Scott. a justice in Franklin, to call a meeting in the Town Hall, for the purpose of organizing a Universalist parish. The petition was signed by Alfred Knapp. Goldsbury Pond, Jr., M. D. Lincoln, F. B. Ray, Benjamin Frost. Arnold J. Newell, James P. Ray, and Alfred Clark. A formal organization was effected under this call on October 4th. The parish was organized upon the following
PROFESSION OF FAITHI.
1. We believe there is one God whose nature is love, and the Bible. harmonizing with nature and reason. contains a revelation 7
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
of His character, manifested in our Lord Jesus Christ, who will finally restore all mankind to Holiness and Happiness.
2. We believe that virtue and happiness, vice and misery, are inseparably connected as cause and effect. and that consequently in order to be happy men must do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
To this profession a long list of names were appended, embrac- ing some of the leading citizens of the town. Under the inspira-
GRACE CHURCH, MAIN STREET.
tion of a generous offer from the late Oliver Dean. M. D. - from the first an earnest co-worker with the parish of which he was a mem- ber until his death - it was determined to build a church in 1857. Previous to this time the congregation had worshipped in the Town Hall. This church was erected on the ground immediately in front of the magnificent edifice now owned by the parish on Main street. It was consecrated 5th May, 1858. The cost, in- dependent of the land, was something over $7,000. This house
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ADDENDA.
was occupied by the parish until June, 1874, when it was sold to the Baptists, who removed it to School street, and now occupy it. In 1873 the parish began the erection of its present edifice, called " Grace Church," certainly one of the most beautiful and perfectly appointed houses of worship to be found in any town in New Eng- land. Its cost was about $28,000. A view is given on the pre- ceding page.
There was no settled pastor until 1858. Then the Rev. A. N. ADAMS was called. He was installed on the day the first church was consecrated. His resignation took effect in 1860. Early in 1861, the Rev. N. R. WRIGHT became pastor, and resigned 1862. He was succeeded by the Rev. S. W. SQUIRE, whose pastorate ex- tended from the fall of 1862 to the fall of 1866. Mr. Squire was followed in a few months by Rev. H. D. L. WEBSTER, when, in the fall of 1867, the Rev. RICHARD EDDY became pastor, resigning in 1869. The parish, after being without a pastor for nearly three years, succeeded in obtaining the services of the present incum- bent, Rev. A. ST. JOHN CHAMBRE, Doctor of Divinity in 1878, who was installed 1st July, 1872. Under his administration the par- ish has grown strong, and ranks second to none in the town.
A " church," that is, a body of communicants, was organized immediately upon the accession of the Rev. Mr. Adams to the pastorate, in 1858. This church is now vigorous, having a large number of communicants, to whom the sacraments are duly ad- ministered. There is also a Sunday-school, and all other auxiliary associations which assist in making a living parish, and in advanc- ing the cause and glory of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Between this parish and all other parishes in this village there are the most friendly Christian harmonies and interchange of fra- ternal courtesies.
THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
in Franklin was organized in 1868, with thirteen members, and was recognized the same year by a council from churches within the bounds of the Boston North and South Baptist Association.
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