USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Franklin > History of the town of Franklin, Mass., from its settlement to the completion of its first century > Part 9
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Rev. J. W. HOLMAN, M. D., was the first pastor .. The church at this time held their religious services in the Town Hall. Dr. Holman was a man of kindly social bearing, an acceptable and interesting preacher, and soon gathered a good congregation of
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hearers. His pastorate was brief. Rev. DANIEL ROUNDS succeeded him. During his pastorate, a neat chapel was built on East street. Here the little church for a season gave every evidence of pros- perity in enlarged membership, in both the congregation and Sun- day-school. But unfortunate differences and consequent aliena- tion culminated in the resignation of Mr. Rounds, who had labored hard and faithfully for the establishment and growth of the church ..
BAPTIST CHURCHI.
Rev. GEORGE W. RYAN was called to the pastorate of the church in May, 1873. The year following, the church edifice in which they now worship was purchased of the First Universalist Society in Franklin. The building was moved to School street and altera- tions and improvements made.
CATHOLIC CHURCH.
Previous to the year 1848, there were no Roman Catholics in the town of Franklin. In the year following, however, two families took up their residence here, and shortly after a number of em- ployees of the Norfolk Railroad Company became permanent res- idents in the town.
The first Mass celebrated in the town was by Rev. C. O'RILEY,
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in a house on Lincoln street, now the residence of J. L. Fitzpat- rick, and was attended by only five worshipers. In 1851 the Catholics became more numerous and were gratuitously allowed the use of the Town Hall for Divine services, which were con- ducted monthly by Rev. M. X. CARROLL of Foxboro, until 1862. when he was succeeded by Rev. M. M'CABE of Woonsocket. R. I ..
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CATHOLIC CHURCHI.
who also gave monthly attendance for about a year. From that time until 1872. Rev. P. GILLIc of Attleboro gave occasional at- tendance.
In 1871 the building known as the Old Congregational church was purchased by a few zealous Catholics of the town and deeded
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by Davis Thayer. Jr., to J. L. Fitzpatrick, and by the latter trans- ferred to Right Rev. J. J. Williams, now Archbishop of Boston.
From 1872 until the fall of 1876 the Rev. FRANCIS GOUESSE of Walpole had charge of the parish, but the Catholics becoming so numerous, and all church indebtedness being removed, it was deemed expedient to apply for a resident pastor, who was supplied in the person of Rev. J. GRIFFIN, who came in February, 1877.
Under Father Griffin's care many improvements are being made. A parsonage is in course of erection, and at no distant day the church will have to be enlarged, as it is at present many times . filled to excess.
METHODIST CHURCH.
The Methodist church in Franklin owes its existence largely to the self-sacrifice and perseverance of Rev. E. P. KING. Though not the first Methodist minister who preached in the town, yet he was the first to organize and give permanency to the work.
In the year 1853 a Methodist meeting was first started in the Town Hall by Rev. JOHN M. MERRILL. He came with the intention of building up a church, if possible, and his efforts were attended with considerable success. During the two years that he remained he gathered quite a large congregation. But the work took no very deep root. Only a very few of the congregation were really Methodists, and of course were not specially interested in the founding of a Methodist church. Indeed, there seems to have . been no attempt at organization.
In 1855 Rev. PLINY WOOD took charge of the work. He re- mained one year, and kept the work up pretty well during his pas- torate, though he found some difficulty in harmonizing the different elements of his congregation. In 1856 Rev. M. P. WEBSTER came into the field, and while he seems to have labored earnestly the difficulties of the work so multiplied that he was utterly unable to meet them. Under his supervision the enterprise ran rapidly down, so that the Conference judged it expedient, in 1857, to give up the work.
But in the spring of 1871 Dr. WILLIAM R. CLARK, then Presid- ing Elder of the Boston District New England Conference, and Rev. WILLIAM MERRILL of West Medway again started a Methodist meeting in the Town Hall. In November of the same year Dr.
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Clark sent Rev. JOHN R. CUSHING, a theological student in Boston. to take charge. He organized a Sunday-school and gathered a good congregation during the few months that he remained. In April, 1872, the New England Conference sent Rev. E. P. KING to the town. He aimed from the first to establish a church as soon as possible. On the 9th of September, 1872, he organized a
METHODIST CHURCH.
church of thirteen members (three men and ten women) and pro- ceeded at once to solicit funds for building a house of worship, of which he laid the corner-stone 3d October, 1872. He pushed the work so rapidly forward that he held services in the chapel of the new building on the second Sunday of March. 1873. and offered the house for dedication 25th June. A noted revival began in March preceding and continued throughout the year. Over two
,
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hundred professed conversion, of whom the church swelled its membership to sixty-six and gained a strong hold in the town.
In April, 1874. after two years of successful work, Mr. King was taken to another field, and Rev. J. N. SHour became pastor of the church, which position he held for three years. During that time the church steadily increased in membership and influ- ence, though considerably crippled by the financial embarrass- ments of the country. In April, 1877, Rev. GEORGE W. HUDSON became pastor of the church. He reports a membership of 87, a Sunday-school of 12 officers and teachers, and 120 scholars, and church property of $10,000.
A few persons in town who are of the .. New Jerusalem Church " - Swedenborgian - have held meetings for religious worship con- stantly during the last seventeen years at the house of J. A. Woodward. They are, most of them, members of the Boston Society, and are not yet organized here into a distinct church.
XII. MINISTERIAL FUND.
It was the policy of the fathers at the first settlement of the country to provide for the permanency of the ministry. They set apart land for its support and added special donations from time to time - sometimes by municipal vote, sometimes by private leg- acy. The history of the ministerial fund of Franklin is not fully traceable, but the few scattered facts following have interest, as showing the estimate in which the moral culture of this community was held by the fathers.
In March, 1784, it was voted that . the old Continental money and the new Emission money in the town treasury be appropriated for to raise a fund for the support of a minister in this town for- ever."
May 10 it was voted . to begin to lay a foundation for raising a fund of money the interest whereot to be appropriated for the support of a Protestant Congregational minister in this town for- ever." They also chose a committee of five to receive donations in behalf of the town.
The moneys hinted at in the town treasury seem to have come from several sources. In the partition of Wrentham the old town funds were agreed to be divided between the two parishes according to the latest tax-list. These funds had arisen partly
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from the sale of lands given to the corporation by the proprietors, partly, maybe, from the interest of certain notes held from the Province from the earlier times, and, possibly, in part from the balance of pay to the Representatives of the General Court ; for, with wise economy, the precinct had fixed the 'per diem pay of its representative from time to time, and had ordered him to pay into the precinct treasury whatever he received from the Colony. His pay was at first Gs. per day, afterwards 4s. 6d. What he received from the General Court is not stated.
But the fund so increased by thrifty husbandry that the treas- urer was soon able to present quite an exhibit. The earliest state- ment found is dated 2d March, 1792, and is as follows : -
Bills of new Emission money, $1,091, which is. €327 6s. Note for $400 in new Emission bills 120
One state note consolidated. 10 15s. 4d.
7 years' interest dne 1 April next on sd note 4 10s. 5d.
1 Loan office note, 6 pr et. stock, $227.38 68 3s. 8d. (6 months' interest on sd note pd.)
1 Loan office note for $113.64, interest deferred. 34 28.
1 state note for $54 2s. 6d., dated 1 Jan., 1791, third part pd in cash, together with the interest, 1 Jan. 1792; re- mains dne on sd note, the sum of .. 36 1s. 8d. 24 11s. 6d. Cash on hand, in the treasury
The total is not given in the report and for good reason ; for these State notes and Emission bills gave the town no small trouble, and their fluctuating value prevented any reliable estimate of the amount of the ministerial fund. In 1796 the town pre- sented a petition to the General Court that it . pay the bills of New Emission & the Treasurer's note as promised by Act of 24 April, 1780. & to be redeemed in silver by 31 Nov. 1786." But they had leave to withdraw, not the money, but themselves, and nothing more is recorded of the matter until 1800. June 25 of this year the treasurer reports the full account of the fund to date to be $760.58, besides some interest, also the Emission bills for $1,091, note in new Emission $400 - discount and deficit of $89.92.
A vigorous instruction was given to the Representative, which was ordered to be printed in "Young & Mime's State paper," whatever that was. A report on this new Emission matter was also presented, which says : -
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The General Court in May, 1781, levied a tax of £374.795 8s. 2d. on the towns. Franklin got an abatement of £205 6s. 5d., equal to $684,40. Hard money was so needed that the State ordered Bills to be emitted at 13 paper for one of silver, which bill was. passed a month after the Bills, stopping passing, and therefore were only security for payment. But Government made no pro- vision for payment until 1794, and then at one-quarter the nomi- nal value. while other securities were funded at full valne .* The town received about 1284 paper dollars for 684 of silver, and if their bills were funded according to the funding law of 1794, it would have a note of $321 and interest, and lose $363 and inter- est for 18 years.
In May, 1803, the town sold the Emission bills, State note, etc., to John Whiting for an unmentioned amount, when the fund was reported to be $1,826.63. In May, 1804, it was $1.427.15}. In March, 1806, it was voted to sell all the 6 per cent. stock in the Loan office. Boston.
Upon the separation of parochial business from the town affairs in 1804, the ministerial fund disappears from the records and hides itself almost entirely from sight. Our next glimpse of it is in a deed of " twenty-six acres of land by measurement" lying in Leices- ter, Addison county, Vt., dated 15th June, 1813, and valued at $916. The deed is from John Whiting of Franklin to the First Congregational Society of Franklin, and is quitelaimed to the parish 11th April, 1814, by Joseph Capron of Leicester, Vt. This land proved somewhat of an elephant to the parish. A fre- quent correspondence was carried on between Harvy Deming of Salisbury and H. C. Fisher of the parish committee. The former seems to have been agent for the sale of the land, and finally takes it himself, but the net proceeds to the parish are not distinctly given - they seem to have been about $450.
The records of the church throw some additional light upon this. fund, for the church had been a contributor to the same end.t In 1790. November 25, the church committee is authorized to re-
* The town records refer to Rev. Dr. Hemminway's election sermon of 1784, for its facts and arguments.
t As early as 1761 the first church in Wrentham had given to the second church several acres of the old Dedham lands, viz .: twenty-six acres on Blake's plain: thirty-three acres south of Tare Briel Hill; forty acres east of Millbrook; and eighteen and one-half acres east of Diamond Hill. These lands were some of them exchanged for other lots and finally sold.
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loan its money to the United States Loan office and deliver the securities to the church treasurer. In 1808, September 21, the church votes to sell these securities to private parties. In 1832 a committee of the church report the fund to consist of nine notes, amounting to $617, on interest, and cash on hand $204.40. Total, $820.81. Out of this fund small sums were from time to time appropriated to cases of special need ; for example, $100 was voted, 19th May, 1831, to Rev. Mr. Smalley "to make up the sum proposed to be raised by his friends for his benefit." This was to aid him in building his house. The whole fund was finally dis- posed of by a vote of the church 7th September, 1840, " to fur- nish the First Congregational parish with the funds of the church, amounting to $700 and upwards, to be expended in repairing their meeting-house -to be rented for their current expenses, provided . the parish pay the interest to Dr. Emmons during his life, and a joint voice in the settlement and dismission of ministers and the use of the meeting-house as heretofore." So ended all ministerial funds in Franklin, in securing the use of the meeting-house and a joint voice in ministerial questions.
One idea of the moral history of Franklin will be best rounded out by sundry votes and resolves of the church, and the town passed at divers times upon the
XIII. PUBLIC MORALS.
As the main intent of the original settlement was the gathering of a Christian community, the settlers sedulously watched all so- cial tendencies, and felt it not foreign to their duty to express themselves positively upon the practices of society. So long as church membership was essential to citizenship they could have control, and church discipline could be vigorously administered. Absentees from public worship were called up for self-justification, and all wanderers had to rise and explain. Even the young Puri- tans were sharply looked after. In 1744, September 12, the precinct chose a man " to take care of ye children to prevent their playing in meeting" - an office which lasted within our recollec- tion, and was not a sinecure on summer days.
But the. Revolutionary War greatly aggravated the growing lax- ity of manners, insomuch that a " Society for the Reformation of Morals" was formed in November. 1790, which had its annual
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sermon. Several of these were printed for general circulation,* and not without result.
The town took note of the general tendency of things, as the following votes witness : -
May, 1791, on complaint that divers persons have from time to time behaved in a very unbecoming manner by standing in the porches of the meeting-house of this town on the Lord's day and otherways conducting in a manner not only inconsistent with the purpose for which they professedly assemble, but highly unbecon- ing a person of good breeding or the character of a gentleman ; voted that such conduct ought to be highly reprobated and dis- countenanced by every sober man, and that they will hold them as scandalons and infamous persons, and the tithing-men are to take their names and publicly expose them next town meeting, and post up this vote and the names of all future offenders. i
The public exposure did not wholly eradicate the evil, for in 1794, April 7, it was voted that . all heads of families be re- quested to use their influence and authority to all under their care to pass the porches on the Sabbath with decency and propriety, without standing in said porches and thereby prevent persons from taking their seats in the meeting-house."
One provocative to that evil practice doubtless was the fact that no shade or shelter, save the horse-sheds, existed around the old meeting-house to cover the early comers to church, and the social instinet drew strongly upon those who seldom saw any one during the week to secure the current gossip of the town. The prelimi- nary waiting, therefore, for " the little man in black " to drive up to the front door was spent in retailing the news of the week, and " the porches " were the most comfortable rendezvous. But this is a solution and not an apology.
This outer disrespect was not excluded always, even when the congregation had assembled into its family boxes. The minister did not always control their attention. Indeed. he felt that they needed a sharper admonition than a paper resolve, and he resorted to a rousing experiment. On the Sunday of July 18, 1790, while
* See Emmon's Works (last ed.) vol. v. p. 23 and on.
The town had erected two posts in front of the meeting-house as a perma- nent place for all such notices, warrants for town meetings, etc .- exchanged afterwards for two Lombardy poplars, unto one of which Dr. Emmons always hitched his horse on Sundays.
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the audience were especially inattentive and sleepy, Dr. Emmons closed his manuscript, took down his three-cornered hat, and with- out further premonitions descended the pulpit, passed down the broad aisle and out of the house to his home. August 3, at a church meeting, he explained his conduct ; whereupon the church voted : " 1. It is reasonable the pastor should insist upon having the proper attention of the people in time of public worship. 2. It is reasonable the church should desire and endeavor that proper attention be given in the time of publie worship and discounte- nance all inattention." Some years later, 29th December, 1816, he complained directly in a letter to the church of what he calls "a designed inattention," upon which that body repeats its vote of 1790. The year following, 5th May, 1817, the town adopted the following petition to the State Legislature : -
The petition of the town of Franklin sheweth that we your peti- tioners, seriously impressed with a sense of the indispensible obli- gation of the people in this state to remember and sanctify the christian Sabbath, are fully convinced that some effectual means ought to be adopted and pursued to restrain them from the external and gross profanation of that holy day. We concur in the opin- ions of the respectable Association of ministers in the county of Hampshire, that the present laws respecting the Sabbath need to be revised and amended. We, therefore, unite with our fellow citizens who view the subject in this light, in respectfully and earnestly requesting the Honorable Legislature to pass such aets as they shall deem necessary to promote the dne observance of the Lord's Day throughout the Commonwealth.
On the gravest evil of society, the prevalence of intemperance, the church took early and decided action. Dr. Emmons was al- ways strictly abstemious and among the first advocates of total abstinence. While the bottle of new rum was regarded as a necessary utensil of the hay-field, excessive drinking was confined to a few notorious persons. Even these were gloriously drunk only on occasions like the annual muster, election day, and the town meeting. The earliest temperance lecture we recollect was by a Mr. Frost, who filled the old meeting-house with an enthusias- tic audience and rallied a long file of names to the pledge. But there were earlier movements. Hon. M. M. Fisher says in one of his " Reminiscences," "the Temperance pledge was signed as early as 1825, after a lecture given in the Popolatic school-house
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by a son of Dr. Beecher, who was visiting with his sister Catharine at Mr. Caleb Fisher's. Mr. Fisher and Mr. Elisha Bullard with others signed it, and afterwards declined to furnish liquor in hay time."
The selectmen in those days " posted " the names of inveterate drunkards to whom all dealers were forbidden to sell. The list was sometimes fearfully long. But the zeal of Drs. Miller and Hunting and others secured rapidly a wide change of opinion and practice. so that Franklin became early, and continues to be, a thorough temperance town.
XIV. TOWN INDUSTRIES.
The means and energies of the first settlers of this territory were devoted to the clearing of their wilderness farms. They had neither time nor need in their simple living to turn themselves to manufactures. Corn-mills and saw-mills were their only necessity. These they had to build as soon as possible. The meeting-house first, and then the corn-mill. Body and soul could then be fed for other work.
The first move in Wrentham was to grant twelve acres of land at the ponds for a corn water-mill, which was offered to Robert Crossman, and finally, in 1685, assumed by John Whiting, who built a mill on the site of the present Eagle factory. This mill remained in the line of his descendants for over a century.
But as the population spread into the present Franklin and be- gan to crystallize about a new center, they songht for mill con- veniences nearer their homes. We have not the data for giving the order of progress, but the earliest move towards a mill which we have discovered was in 1713 on Mine brook.
In the " great divident" of 28th March, 1698, "Lott 50 in Michael Willson Sen.'s part, five acres are granted to Daniel Haws jun. on the mine brook below Thomas Thurston & above the falls near Eleazer Metcalf: bounded by land laid out to the Wid. Pond in part northward, and common on all other parts : the Brook running through it." Young Daniel Hawes and his neigh- bor Metcalf associate with others to utilize these falls in Mine brook for mill purposes, and they sign the following contract : -
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WRENTHAM, February the 7, 1713.
We hose names are hereunto subscribed doe agree to build a sawmill at the place called the Minebrook : Daniel Haws none quarter, John Maccane none quarter, Eleazer Metcalf & Samuel Metcalf none quarter, Robert Pond Sen. non quarter.
We doe covenant & agree as followes : -
1. We doe promis that we wil each of us carry on & do our equal proporchon throught in procuring of irones & hueing framing of a dam & mill & all other labor throught so faire as the major part shall se meat to doe till the mill be finished throught and made fit for to goe then to com to a reckoning.
2. We do a gre that all of us shall have liberty for to work out his proporsion of work & in case aney none of us neglect to carry on his part of said mill the rest of the owners to carry on said work till it be done & fit to saw & he that neglects to carry on his part of said mill shall pay half a crown a day to the rest of the owners that did said work.
3. We du agre that said land shall ly for a mill pond soe long as the major part shall se fit. We du all so agre that no non shall sell his part of said mill till he has first mad a tender to the rest of the owners. We du al so agre that no non shal sel his part in the land til he hes tenderd it to the rest of the owners.
Signed sealed & delivered in the presence of EZRA POND JONATHAN WRIGHT his ROBERT + POND mark.
ROBART POND
DANIEL HLAWS
JOHN MACCANE
ELEASER METCALF
SAMUEL METCALF
On the back is the still further agreement : -
to lay out each man's loot as they are drawn - the first loot is to be gin four foot from the upper sil of the streak sil and soe up unto the ind of the sleapers, and to devid it equal in to fower loots & from the sleapers towards the road so as not to interrupt the road.
ROBART POND JOHN MACCANE SAMUEL METCALF
DANIEL HAWS
ELEAZER METCALF
DANIEL THURSTON
March the 7. 1717
The saw-mill so built stood where Joseph Whiting afterwards had a mill, and where one of the numerous felting mills of the Ray brothers now stands.
In the laying out of a surveyor's distriet 29th May, 1736, there are other mills in town mentioned - " the Iron works" (which we
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locate on Mine brook near the foot of Forge Hill), " Benjamin Morse's saw-mill," and "Adams' corn-mill" (which last was at City Mills). But these were hardly manufactories. . Only the arts necessary to farming got any footing in the town until the begin- ning of the present century, when a new industry was introduced which has had an important influence upon the character and prosperity of the town.
The braiding and making of straw into bonnets came from Providence, R. I. Capt. John Whipple had a store in that city, in which his wife, Naomi, had also a small millinery shop. Her bonnets came through New York from Europe. Mrs. Whipple and her assistant, Hannah Metcalf, unraveled a scrap of the braid one day and learned the secret of its fabric. Procuring some straw they successfully imitated the braid, and soon after made and sent a box of her own bonnets to her New York importer. The trade grew rapidly, so profitable was it, and other Providence ladies learned the process. In the summer of 1799 several Providence girls came to a boarding-school in Massachusetts, wearing their home-made bonnets, which created no little excitement. One of them, Sally Richmond, came to Wrentham academy. She knew the art and taught it to the ladies where she boarded. Thus was straw-braiding introduced to this State through Wrentham, and naturally spread next into this town.
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