USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Holland > History of the town of Holland, Massachusetts > Part 16
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7. REV. HORACE ROSCOE GRANNIS became pastor of Holland Church in 1854; and his pastorate ended in 1856. Mrs. L. B. Chase, of Sturbridge, when a girl, acted as govern- ess to the children, and she gives the facts given below. Her impression is that they both had been students of Oberlin Col- lege, Oberlin, Ohio. The children were born in the order given, and about the years given, there being only about a year between each birth. When he left Holland, he went west and engaged in Home Missionary work. Where in the west he went or what his subsequent history, we know nothing.
Rev. Horace Roscoe Grannis, M. Electa Children : Lily b about 1847 Willie b about 1848 George b about 1849 Frank b about 1851
By a letter of inquiry sent to Oberlin College we are able to give the following additional facts :- Mr. Grannis entered Oberlin College in 1837 and graduated, 1842. He then entered Oberlin Theological Seminary, 1842, and graduated in 1845, obtaining also the A. M. degree, 1845. He died at Lodi, Ohio, July 2, 1889.
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8. REV. FRANCIS WOOD came to Holland and began work the last Sunday in March, 1856, and his services for the church ended April 13, 1862. He was, therefore, pastor of the church in the trying period of loss by fire in the spring of 1858. It speaks much for him that he held the people together and rallied them to the work of securing a new building erected, 1859. It proves him to have been a good administrator. His wife was a support to him being a woman of excellent char- aeter, able and tactful she made the parsonage homelike to all who came within its precincts. She made and held many friends, while his work in the pulpit and out of it was eon- struetive and helpful. Where he obtained the training neees- sary for the sacred office we have not ascertained.
9. REV. OGDEN HALL was the ninth minister to be called to the Holland Congregational Church. He was educated in the Distriet school of his native town; before he had reached his majority he had qualified as a teacher and was employed as such at Wallingford and New Haven, Conn., as well as at Natick, Walpole and Barnstable, Mass.
In 1848, he gave up teaching for a time and located at New Haven, Conn. Was one of the first, if not the first, in New England to engage in the making of pictures by the Deguerreotype process. About 1850, he started manufactur- ing Deguerreotype eases and found employment for about 180 persons.
About 1854, he removed to Worcester, Mass., and in 1856 was principal of the Nichols Academy at Dudley, Mass. It was while there that he completed his studies and was licensed as a minister by a Conference of churches at North Brook- field, Mass.
His first pastorate was at Granville, Mass., from there he went to East Hartland, Conn., and it was after a pastorate at Poquonock, Conn., of about two years, that he was called,
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in the early summer of 1862, to Holland and remained until the last of August, 1864. At time of his death, May 6, 1872, he was living at Chatham, Mass.
Rev. Ogden Hall was born in Wallingford, Conn., Septem- ber 13, 1815. His parents were Deacon Josiah and Martha R. Hall, both were lineal descendents in the 4th and 5th gener- ation of John Hall of Boston-New Haven-Wallingford, Conn., who died at Wallingford in 1676.
Three of the sons of John Hall senior,-John, Thomas and Samuel,-signed the 1669-70 Wallingford Plantation Covenant. Deacon Josiah Hall was a descendent of Thomas, and Martha R. of Samuel. Her father was a brother of Rev. Lyman Hall, M.D., who entered Yale College when he was but 16 years old ; he graduated in 1747; Pastor of First Congregational Church of Bridgeport in 1749; praetieing medieine at Dorehester, S. C., in 1752, and with about 40 New England families, the same year, founded the town of Sunbury near the mouth of the Medway river, Parish of St. John, Province of Georgia, and where he was a very successful physician.
In March, 1775, the Parish of St. John voted to wait no longer for the Province to act as a colony, and sent Dr. Hall to represent them in the General Congress at Philadelphia, May 13, 1775, he was admitted to a seat, but not to a vote, when Congress voted by Colonies. In May 1776, Dr. Hall presented his credentials as a delegate of the Georgia Colony ; he at onee took an active part in support of the motion of Hon. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, for Independence and voted for it on July 4, 1776, the day it was signed by John Hancock of Mass- achusetts, the President of Congress, and with his name alone it was first sent forth to the world. After the Declaration, had by order of Congress been engrossed upon the journals of Con- gress, Dr. Hall was one of the fifty-five who 'on August 2, 1776, signed the engrossed Declaration that the thirteen colonies
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were free and independent states. Dr. Hall remained in Con- gress until 1780. When the Georgia Constitutional Convention met in 1784, he was appointed Governor of the state of Georgia.
Rev. Ogden Hall was twiee married. His first wife was Miss Harriet, daughter of Lieut. Josiah and Sally Walker of Natiek, Mass., and a lineal descendent of Samuel Walker, the Woburn courier. By her there were six children. His second wife was Miss Martha Custer, daughter of Capt. Isaiah and Nancy Howes of Dennis; by her there were four children. By his son J. Brainerd Hall.
10. REV. ALDEN SOUTHWORTH, A. M., was born at Thetford Vt., Nov. 4, 1809. He spent a year at Harvard Col- lege and then went to Dartmouth College from which he graduated in 1840. Then he entered Bangor Theological Sem- inary from which he graduated in 1843. He taught school at Woodstock, Conn., and from the record of his life must have been an early pioneer to California, '49-'53. He was back in Woodstock in 1856, and so far as known, made his home there until he began preaching for Holland Church in 1864 and was ordained May 3, 1865. His pastorate terminated in 1868, after which he resided in Woodstock until his death. He died at South Woodstock, Feb. 7, 1889.
11. DANIEL J. BLISS, son of Samuel Hopkins Bliss and Luey Hitcheock, was born in Warren, Mass., near the Brim- field line, Oct. 21, 1833. His early days were spent on the farm, until he became interested in the work of the church and made up his mind to get an education which would make it possible for him to preach the gospel. He was fitted for college at the Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N. H., and graduated at Amherst College in 1858 and at Andover Sem- inary in 1861.
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He was ordained by the Andover Association at Nortli Andover, Feb. 12, 1861; but the Civil War called him away from the work upon which he had set his heart.
He was enrolled in the 34th regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, July 31, 1862, and mustered out of the service, June 27, 1865. He was wounded in the battle of the New Mar- ket, Sunday, May 15, 1864,-the first battle his regiment was in. He wrote an interesting description of his army life in a lecture entitled, "Up and Down the Shenandoah," which he used as a lecture at various times, but never printed.
After the war he stayed at home with his father and took charge of the farm until 1867, when he entered the service of the Congregational churches as minister and pastor. He was married April 20, 1866 to Seraph A. Bemis of Warren. The official record of his work for the churches, as prepared by his son for the Congregational year-book of 1904, runs as follows : Pastor at Triangle, N. Y., Oct. 15, 1867 to April 1, 1868; Hol- land, Mass., May 1, 1868, installed there Dec. 9, 1868, dismissed May 9, 1874; Hamilton, Minn., January to March, 1875; Peru, Mass., Dec. 25, 1875 to April 1, 1880; Harperfield, N. Y., April 24, 1880 to April 12, 1884; Abington, Conn., May 1, 1884 to May 1, 1890; Lebanon, Conn., Exeter church, Sept. 1, 1890 to Jan. 7, 1901. At that time he was obliged to give up his work on account of failing health, and moved to Hockanum, in East Hartford, Conn., where he made his home until his death, April 30, 1903. He fell a victim to the world-wide scourge of cancer, in spite of the X-rays, and the resources of St Luke's Hospital on Morningside Heights in New York City, both of which afforded temporary relief, and the constant care of his devoted classmate, Dr. Horace Fuller, then alive in - Hartford.
The fact of his residence in East Hartford at the time was one of circumstances responsible for the coming of his son Charles to Hartford to finish his Seminary course, after four
(15)
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years work as professor of Experimental Psychology in New York University. This son is now pastor of the Congregational church in Hampden, Mass., where he has been livng with his mother and two sisters, Seraph and Alice, for the past ten years. He is Scribe of the Congregational churches of Hamp- den county, with an interest in all of them-and is working away on the problems of Psychology which concern the work of the churches. By his son, Rev. C. B. Bliss.
12. REV. J. W. C. PIKE assumed charge of Holland church in the fall of 1874, and his labors ended July 1, 1877. He is represented as a good man and desirous of doing good but his home life was unpleasant due to the demands made upon his slender salary, so tradition says. He is represented as a man of family, and that Holland was his last pastorate. Where he obtained the training needful to the pastoral office we have not been able to discover. Tradition has it that he did not live long after his pastorate in Holland terminated.
13. REV. SOLOMON BIXBY, pastor of the church in Holland from 1877 to 1889, was born in Norridgewock, Me. Dec. 9, 1821, the oldest son of Dea. Rufus Bixby, and the second child in a family of fourteen children. He was a direct descendant of Joseph Bixby of Boxford, Mass., who was one of the early emigrants to Massachusetts from England coming to this country in 1638.
He was a graduate of Waterville College now Colby Uni- versity graduating in 1849. He was a classmate of Rev. S. A. Dennen, Hon. Mark Dunnell of Minnesota and Prof. Mitchell of the University of Louisana. It was a class of exceptional men, and was long known in college as the "immortal elass of '49."'
He graduated from Bangor Theological Seminary in June 1852, and settled at once in Henduskey, Me. He married Oet. 11th of the same year, Miss Mary H. Peet, youngest daughter
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of Rev. Josiah Peet who was pastor of the Congregational church in Norridgewock, Me., nearly forty years, his only charge. She died in Holland June 20, 1889, after which he resigned his pastorate there.
He was a faithful, earnest and efficient minister of the gos- pel, fearless in preaching his views of right even if somewhat in advance of his times.
He held various pastorates in Maine, Vermont, New Hamp- shire, and Massachusetts, for about forty years, coming to Holland from Petersham, Mass., where he labored until the death of his wife.
He afterward preached in Horsley, Mass., for a year or two, until blindness compelled his retirement from his beloved work. He was totally blind his last year of life, but cheerful and resigned, retaining an active interest in all that was going on in the world, but waiting with patience the call to the life beyond.
He died April 28, 1900 aged 78 years and four months .- By his son, J. P. Bixby, M.D., Woburn, Mass.
14. We are called upon here to record the unfortunate fate of one of Holland's pastors who was burned to death in the Weeks House, Palmer, Mass. Aug. 3, 1891. The Palmer Journal of Aug. 7, 1891, furnishes us with the best biographi- cal sketch of anything available.
"The body of Rev. Francis F. Williams was found about 8:00 o'clock in the ruins just inside the stone step which had led to the front entrance. It was horribly burned and dis- figured, only the trunk remaining. It is not known why he was not saved, as he was called with the rest, and got up but the probability is that he remained too long to dress and the hall became so full of smoke that he was suffocated in trying to find his way to the second floor balcony, being overcome just as he had almost reached the air. He was a Congregational
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minister and had recently preached at Holland, but was not in good health and was resting from his labors. He was 67 years old, of a retiring disposition, and made few acquaint- ances. The remains were taken care of by undertaker Cooms, and Monday night were taken to Kennebunk, Me., by his brother Henry Williams of Boston. Mr. Williams was born at Kennebunk, Me., in 1824, and was graduated from Bow- doin College in 1845, going from there to the Theological In- stitute of Conn., at East Windsor Hill, now the Hartford The- ological Seminary, where he graduated in the class of 1851. Mr. Williams first preached at Milton, Conn., and was or- dained pastor of the second Congregational church at Man- chester, Dec. 7, 1853, being dismissed in January 1856. From that time till June 1864 he was acting pastor of the churches at Gilead and Shelman, Conn., Rochdale and Scituate, Mass., and Westminster, Conn. From Nov. 1864 to July 1865 he was on duty with the army as a member of the Christian Com- mission. Subsequently he was acting pastor at East Marsh- field, Mass., Lacon, and other towns in Illinios till 1874, after which he preached at Boyleston and Assonet, Mass.
For a time he lived at No. 40 Upton St., Boston, and in 1890 was installed as pastor of the church at Holland. So far as is known Mr. Williams never married, no mention being made of his family in the brief autobiography of him which appears in the Alumni records of Hartford Seminary. He was the author of several published sermons and reviews in quarter- lies." (Favor of Mr. O. P. Allen of Palmer, July 8, 1914.)
The records of the church at Holland show that Mr. Williams was pastor there about a year.
15. REV. OSCAR BISSELL was born December 20, 1822 in Litchfield, Conn. On his father's side it is probable that he was of Huguenot ancestry. He prepared for college in the district and private schools of his native town, and graduated from Yale College in the class of 1849, being a classmate of
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ex-president Timothy Dwight of Yale and ex-president Frank- lin Fiske of Chicago Theological Seminary. Mr. Bissell graduated from the East Windsor Theological Seminary, which is now Hartford Theological Seminary in 1853. His first pastorates were in Westmoreland and Dublin, N. H., where he preached for about nine years. He next preached in Warwick, Mass., and Ellsworth, Conn., spending about a year in each place. He was pastor in Marlboro, Conn., from 1871 to 1877. From there he went to Westford, Conn., where he re- mained for thirteen years, his longest pastorate. His last pastorate was in Holland, Mass., from 1890 to 1896. After leaving Holland, he settled in Brimfield, Mass., on a small farm where he died Jan. 16, 1910. He was twice married, first to Miss Alma Cole of Westmoreland, N. H., May 8, 1860. Mrs. Bissell and an infant daughter Alma died in 1867. He mar- ried Miss Augusta M. Ward of Warwick, Mass., Nov. 1, 1869, by whom he had three children, Frederick, William F. and Alma W. His son Rev. William F. Bissell is now pastor of the church in Vershire, Vermont. In memory of his father, he has this year published a small volume of his father's best sermons. By his son, Rev. Wm. F. Bissell.
16. REV. JOSIAH G. WILLIS is a native of Enfield, Hartford County, Conn. His parents lived in Springfield when he was a child. He acquired his early education in several of the public schools of that city and in schools in other places. Having a passion for writing he spent many vacations in the editorial departments of several daily and weekly newspapers, reporting for prominent papers, while preparing for professional life. One of his poems, called "Golden Rule Religion," appears in a book called "the Poets of Essex County." Being converted he was called of God to the sacred office of the ministry and entered the Divinity School of Harvard University in 1869. He was graduated
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from that institution in 1872. The autumn of the same year he entered the Theological Seminary in Hartford, Conn., where he pursued special studies, graduating with said class in May 1873. He received his license to preach the gospel from the Suffolk North Association in Boston in 1871. His first public sermon afterwards was preached in the historic Old South Church in Boston, of which the late Rev. George Blagden was then pastor. Mr. Willis was ordained as pastor of the Congre- gational church Guildhall, Essex County, Vt., Oct. 10, 1876. He labored as pastor of Congregational churches in Connecti- cut and Massachusetts and did some mission service in New York state. He is registered, possessing a practioner's cer- tificate, a physician of the regular system of medicine from the Mass. board of registration. For many years he has been a member of the Hampden Association of ministers.
Holland was his last pastoral charge. He began his duties there in April 1896 having come from the care of the church in Dana. His pastorate of the Holland church ended in the spring of 1905, and in November of the same year he moved to Wilbraham Centre, where Mr. and Mrs. Willis now have their home; an affection of the eyes compelling relinquishment of all active work. Autobiography.
17. REV. SAMUEL EATON was pastor of Brimfield church when he was invited to serve as pastor of the Holland church also. His preparation for the ministry was largely obtained under the guidance of private instructors, some in England and some in America, his mother was English. He received his degrees from Oskaloosa, Iowa. His knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew was obtained under private tutors. Both churches regarded him as a sincere and efficient pastor. Autobiography.
18. REV. JOHN COLEMAN HALL was born in Wash- ington, Knox County, Maine, March 19, 1859. On his mother's
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side he is descended from the Colemans, Howes, and Winslows, of early Massachusetts families. On his father's side he be- longs to the famous Dover line of Halls. At the age of twelve he entered the public schools of Bangor, where he was fitted for Bowdoin College, entering in the autumn of 1880, he be- came a member of the elass of 1884. Owing to ill health he was obliged to abandon study for one year, graduating in June 1885. Many of his classmates have become famous in their chosen work. Only one beside Mr. Hall chose the minis- try. After graduating Mr. Hall taught as principal of a school in Minnesota and again in Indiana where his scholarly tastes and thorough training gave him a reputation. But his choice of work was the ministry. With preliminary study in Hebrew under Dr. W. R. Harper, and in Greek with Rev. W. H. Bushnell, he entered the middle class of Bangor Theological Seminary and graduated in 1889. Since graduating, Mr. Hall, beside doing pastoral work, has continued his Hebrew and Greek studies, being an earnest advocate of all that is good, In 1902 he was called to be pastor of Bethany Congregational Church, South Portland,Maine. Not feeling equal, on ac- count of health, to so exacting a work, he declined, and ac- cepted a call to the Congregational church of Sturbridge, Mass. Here as pastor in a rural town he served nine years. It was while pastor of the Sturbridge church that he filled the pulpit of the Holland Congregational church. His sermons, as models of lucid reasoning and scholarly thought, are still remembered. Bowdoin College has honored Rev. John Cole- man Hall with the following degrees. A. B. 1885. A. M. 1889. Bangor Theological Seminary B. D. 1913.
19. REV. FRANCIS S. CHILD, was the fourth child and only son of Prof. Francis James Child, Ph.D., A.M., LL.D. and Elizabeth Ellery Sedwiek, his wife. Francis S. Child received his elementary instruction in private schools. His advanced
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studies were pursued at Harvard University, Lawrence Scien- tific School and Bussey Institute. Twenty years a charity specialist, ten years in the ministry as supply and pastor, author of articles on Boys' Clubs, child saving, charities and correction and church work. Now pastor of First Congrega- tional church, Griswold, Conn.
20. REV. MARTIN LOVERING was born at Harvard, Mass., Aug. 15, 1853. His parents were Jonas Lovering born in Sudbury, Mass. 1807 and Rebecca Hildreth (Lovejoy) Lover- ing born in Andover, Mass. 1814. Mr. Lovering received the elements of his education in the public schools of his native town. Subsequently he attended Lawrence Academy, Groton, Mass., Appleton Academy, New Ipswich, N. H., from which he graduated in 1877. From thence he attended Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. one year, graduating in June 1878, with the centennial class of that institution.
He entered Yale College in Sept. 1878 and graduated with his elass in 1882, maintaining a creditable scholarship and drawing the regular A. B. degree.
He then devoted himself to teaching, serving as instructor in Treemount Seminary, Norristown, Pa., and as principal in the public schools of New York state, and for five years was dean of Talladega College, Talladega, Ala. It was during his period of service in that institution that it became a college in fact as well as in name, granting the A. B. degree to students who successfully completed the collegiate course. Mr. Lovering was instructor in Latin as well as dean and the last year had full charge of all work in that language. In 1896 his health demanded a rest for a year, at the expiration of which he began teaching again in the public schools of New York state. In 1910 he applied to the Woburn Conference of Congrega- tional clergymen for license to preach and was examined and
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accepted Sept. 6, 1910. The Lowell Courier Citizen speaks of him as follows:
The Woburn Association of Congregational Ministers held an interesting meeting in Boston on Tuesday, Sept. 6. Martin Lovering, who for many years has desired to enter upon the work of the gospel ministry, but who has been prevented by circumstances from so doing, applied to the as- sociation for a license to preach. The applicant gave a elear, concise statement of his reasons for desiring to enter upon the work of the ministry, and of his belief in the fundamental prin- ciples of Christianity.
After due deliberation in executive session, the association voted unanimously to grant Mr. Lovering the license requested. The members extended to him a hearty welcome into the ranks of the ministry, and expressed the hope that God will prosper him in the great work which he is about to take up.
Mr. Lovering was graduated from Yale University in 1882. For 17 years he was a successful teacher in several institutions of learning ; and, as a professor and dean in Talladega college, he rendered efficient service. During his six years' residence in Carlisle, he has constantly endeavored to use his influence for the right. As a member of the school committee he has rendered the town valuable service. He will be much missed by his many friends, but they wish him success in the new life of usefulness upon which he is entering. Mr. Lovering will enter at once upon his work as a minister of the gospel.
He received a call to become pastor of Holland Congre- gational Church, Holland, Mass., to begin Jan. 1, 1911 which he accepted. He resigned his pastorate Nov. 1, 1913. He re- ceived a call to the Congregational Church, Scotland, Conn., call to begin Feb. 1, 1914, which he accepted and is now at work there.
DEACONS OF HOLLAND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
and date of election of each.
1. Humphrey Cram
Jan. 16, 1766
2. Moses Lyon Jan. 16, 1766
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3. James Frizell
Oct. 25, 1768
4. Sherebiah Ballard
May 20, 1779
5. David Wallis
Sept. 24, 1787
6. Samuel Webber
Sept. 4, 1794.
7. James A. Lynn
Dee. 12, 1818
8. Horace Wallis
May 16, 1841
9. Benjamin F. Wilson
Feb. 17, 1848
10. William A. Webber
Mar. 5, 1863
11. William H. Harris
Mar. 5, 1863
12. George L. Webber
April 7, 1881
13. Freeman B. Blodgett Jan. 4, 1890
14. Wallace P. Moore
Mar. 7, 1907
DEA. HUMPHREY CRAM. From the state archives we learn that Holland began to be settled as early as 1720. Blod- gett, Lyon, Holloway, Belknap, Cram, Nelson, Bond, are the names given as early settlers. By an old deed in Worcester we learn that he bought of Thomas Lechmere about 800 or 900 A. more or less, for forty-one pounds four shillings, lawful money of the province. Date 1759. A rude plan of the pur- chase is also given. Mr. Lyman Moore of Union, Conn. thinks that Humphrey Cram lived where Nehemiah May lived. But when the old road was laid out (1759) from Nehemiah May's to Benjamin Perrin's the wording shows that Nehemiah May was then living there, March 12, 1759. We think that he lived in S. W. district where Jonathan Cram lived later. The his- tory of Union states that when the church at Union was to be dedicated 1741 Humphrey Cram was asked to offer prayer, but James McNall objected, deelaring that no man not a land- holder in Connecticut should have that honor Humphrey Cram evidently had a claim and a home on it prior to the above purchase and that it was in Massachusetts just over the line. When the church above Dr. Dean's was organized 1765, he was elected deaeon Jan. 16, 1766 with Moses Lyon. He had served his country in the French and Indian War, 1755, and that he served the church well is proved by the progress made
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