USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Manchester > History of the town of Manchester, Essex County, Massachusetts, 1645-1895 > Part 15
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placed by another and larger house ; the action of the town betokens earnestness and liberality, joined with a thrifty economy. A vote was passed, Dec. 22, 1719, "to bueld a new Meting house as fast as it can be Dun." This house was to
" be buelt 49 feet Long and 35 feet wied and 20 feet stud," and was to be " planket and not studed." At the same meeting, the Committee were instructed to "agree with a artefeshal workmen to oversee ye workers & to work them- selves as Cheep as they can."
The front door of this house, with its home-made latch and strap hinges, has done duty for many years in the south- ern end of the Foster warehouse ; it is now much dilapidated. The sounding-board, after being built into the ceiling of a house at West Manchester, was secured a few years ago by Dea. A. E. Low and deposited in the Public Li- brary Building. A " pew for Negroes" was built in this house in 1737.
In 1750, the town voted " To Repear the Meeting house." It was at this time that the remarkable action was had:
" Voted that the Proprietors in the Meeting house in Manchester And the Non propritors vote togetherin Town Meeting in the affair under consideration viz for Repear- ing or Inlarging the said Meeting house any Law or Rea- son to the Contrary notwithstanding."1 In 1752, it was voted "To Build a Stephel." It was in 1754, however, that it was actually built " from the ground upward." 1
1 Town Records, ii, 58.
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
In the same year a weathercock was provided by the town.1 In 1785, a bell was purchased weigh- ing three hundred pounds, and costing £58 3s. 7d. This bell remained in the steeple until 1845, when it was replaced by the munificence of a citizen by a much larger one.
In 1809, a new Meeting-house was built at a cost of eighty-five hundred dollars. It is a fine specimen of the church architecture of New England of that period. It occupies about the same site as that occu- pied by the former meeting-houses. It has under- gone but little change in its exterior, the proprietors wisely withstanding any tendency to modernize the historic and venerable structure. It was built of the best materials, and its solid timbers bid fair to out- live another century. The interior of the house was remodelled in 1845 ; the old square pews were re- moved and some other changes were made. The arched window in the rear of the pulpit has rendered a useful service since taken from its original posi- tion, in a small building belonging to Mr. Solomon D. Allen, on Bennett street. An oval tablet which was above the window and bore the inscription, " BUILT, 1809," has recently been discovered in the tower among some rubbish, and has been regilded and now marks the date of erection on the front of the edifice. Another tablet on the front of the pulpit with the ecclesiastical device " I. H. S.," has long since disappeared. It would be interesting to
1 This is the same as still surmounts the tower of the present church, having looked the wind in the eye for one hundred and forty years. Its cost was £7 10s. Sd.
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CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHI.
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CHURCHES AND CHURCH BUILDINGS.
know the history of such an inscription in a church and town of so purely Puritan lineage.
It was not until 1821, that the house possessed any means of warming it in the bitterest winter weather. Our ancestors were content with " foot- stoves,"1 and sat out the long sermons and prayers without flinching. After considerable delay and opposition, and many arguments that the proposed innovation would render the young puny and effem- inate and endanger the health of the congregation, " a heavy cast-iron box stove, absurdly small for the large space it was expected to warm," was placed in front of the pulpit. Mr. Tappan relates an amusing incident in connection with this event:
" The first cold Sunday after it had been placed in posi- tion, the people all went to meeting fully prepared to watch the result of the experiment. Many felt it uncomfortably warm; and two young women were so overcome by the " baked air' they fainted, and were taken to the vestibule where the atmosphere was of a better quality. But the next day it was learned, the wood for the stove had not been received, and no fire had been made; this proved a fatal blow to the opposition, and but little was said upon the subject afterwards."
Times change, but the old meeting-house on the village green still stands, a symbol of the ancient faith.
1 Even these were used only by ladies and invalids.
March 20, 1775, it was voted "that the Saxton be and hereby is ap- pointed & Impowered by the Town to sue for and recover, of any Person that shall Leave a stove in the Meeting House on any occasion whatever, a fine of two shillings and to have the same for his Trouble." This was, no doubt, on account of the great dread of fire.
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
PARSONAGES.
The first minister's house was built, it is sup- posed, in 1685, and stood near the present site of Daniel W. Friend's house, on School street. The land was given by the Proprietors, and is described as " a small parcel of land lying on the north side of the Brook below the Saw-mill, it being about & of an acre lying between said brook and the highway." On the 23ª of April, 1699, this house was sold to John Tarrin, shoemaker, " for the sum of twenty pounds curant money of new ingland. . .. the mony to be Improved towards a ministry hous." The house was afterwards moved, enlarged and finally taken down in 1853, having stood nearly one hundred and seventy years.
At a town meeting, April 23, 1699, a Committee was appointed to build a new Parsonage, " forty-two feet long, eighteen feet wide and fourteen feet stud, to be located near the meeting-house." This house stood near where Capt. John Carter's house now stands, and was occupied by Rev. Nicholas Webster. In 1716, it was given by the town, with an acre and a half of land adjoining, extending to the lot on which the Baptist Meeting-house stands, to Rev. Ames Cheever. This land was given to the town by the Proprietors of the Four Hundred acres, April 6, 1716.
The third Parsonage was bought by the town in 1745, for Rev. Benjamin Tappan. The estate was on the northerly side of Saw Mill brook, and nearly opposite the first Parsonage. It comprised a dwell- ing-house, barn and five acres of land. (Tide Ap- pendix B.)
" Near yonder copse, where once the garden smiled, And still where many a garden flower grows wild, There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose, The village preacher's modest mansion rose."
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OLD RED HOUSE.
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CHURCHES AND CHURCH BUILDINGS.
The fourth Parsonage was built for Rev. Abraham Randall in 1803, the town furnishing the timber from the Parish Woodland. This house is still standing on Union street. It has been greatly altered and modernized within a few years, and is no longer recognizable.
The fifth Parsonage was built in 1811-12, for Rev. James Thurston, the town conveying the lot to Mr. Thurston for the consideration of one dollar (which was paid for him by a friendly parishioner). The house was occupied by Mr. Thurston and by his successors, Rev. Samuel M. Emerson and Rev. Oliver A. Taylor. It was afterwards purchased and occu- pied by the late Thomas P. Gentlee. It is of the style common in the early part of the century, with a hall running through the house and four large rooms in both stories. In front of it stands a weep- ing elm (a variety of the Wych Elm or Wych Hazel, ulmus montana), whose branches droop across the highway in a beautiful and graceful sweep.
The sixth and present Parsonage is situated on a court leading from Union street. This house has had a varied history. It first stood on the street and was used as a barn ; it was afterwards converted into a store, with a hall on the second floor which was used at one time as a chapel or vestry, and also by " Master " Price as a schoolroom. This building, after being moved to the present site, was presented with about an acre of land to the church by Mrs. Sarah Allen in 1853, " for a parsonage forever." It has been occupied by the pastors of the Congrega- tional church, since the time of Rev. Oliver A. Taylor.
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
[A part of this sketch was furnished by the author for the History of Essex County, Philadelphia, 1888, vol. II, p. 1288.]
It is not difficult to picture in imagination, a small shallop bearing down from Salem to Jeffrey's Creek on a summer day, somewhere from 1631 to 1635, having on board Mr. Roger Williams, "teacher," and afterwards "minister," of the First church in Salem, on his way to break the bread of life to the few fisherfolk who lived along the shore, and whose log-cabins began to rise here and there in the woods. There is no historical mention, or even tradition, however, of such a visit; and if the apostle of "soul-liberty " ever stepped on the shores of Man- chester, he appears to have left no footprint behind him.
The history of Baptist opinions in this town it is impossible at this late day to rescue from oblivion; but the history of the Baptish church may be briefly told. There had no doubt been persons in town who held more or less clearly and fully the views of doc- trine and Christian ordinances which serve to differ- entiate Baptists from their fellow-believers. But events waited long for the hour and the man; and the first movement was not in the direction of the formation of a regular Baptist church.
It was in the summer and fall of 1842, that Elder Elam Burnham, of Essex, began to hold meetings from time to time in the room formerly occupied by the Public Library, on School street, on the site of the present Engine-house, and afterwards in a hall
.5
BAPTIST CHURCH.
Space here left for the new Unitarian church until the work went to press.
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CHURCHES AND CHURCH BUILDINGS.
in the Tavern. The preaching gave special promi- nence to the Second Advent of Christ, and, as was common at that time, aroused a good deal of interest, and was met by corresponding opposition. Elder Burnham was a man of strong nature and indomi- table will, and his preaching was with power. A
number were baptized by him, and on April 10, 1843, thirteen men and women met and formed themselves into a church. A few days later, fifty- seven others joined the new organization, making seventy in all. The body called itself a " Christian " church; it adopted no creed but the New Testament, and claimed to be independent of any religious de- nomination ; it was organized, however, on the model of the so-called " Christian Connection."
Measures were taken at once to build a meeting- house, and on Feb. 28, 1844, the building was opened for worship.
Mr. Burnham remained with the church but one year, his gifts fitting him better for pioneer work than for the work of a pastor. He was succeeded by Rev. O. J. Waite, from 1844 to 1848. Rev. P. R. Russell became pastor in 1848, and remained three years. It was during Mr. Russell's pastorate that the church became a regular Baptist church, and on Feb. 28, 1850, was recognized by a Council called for that purpose, according to the usages of the Baptist denomination. Mr. Russell was a man of ability and character, and his pastorate was a means of uplifting the church in the community. During his ministry, he preached a series of dis- courses on the Life of Christ, which were afterwards
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
published ; while not showing any originality or literary finish, they are said to have been highly valued by many who heard them. He also lec- tured and wrote on Universalism and Materialism. Judging from his published works, Mr. Russell's strength seems to have been in handling controverted subjects.
Rev. G. W. Davis served the church in 1851 and 1852. He was followed by Rev. G. F. Danforth from 1853 to 1856. Mr. Danforth is remembered as a man of excellent and amiable qualities, who served in the ministry in the weakness of declining health, until compelled to relinquish his loved work by the disease which soon after terminated his use- ful life. He was a man of the Beatitudes.
Rev. C. W. Reding was the next pastor, from 1856 to 1861. His ministry was a pleasant and prosperous one; he had a large place in the hearts of the people. Mr. Reding is living at an advanced age, in Beverly Farms, loved and revered by all who know him. He was succeeded by Rev. L. B. Hatch, 1863-68, Rev. H. F. H. Miller, 1870-71, Rev. C. D. Swett, 1873-75, Rev. C. T. Holt, 1879-81. For three years the church was without a pastor, and was in a depressed condition. On Jan. 1, 1884, Rev. D. F. Lamson, of Hartford, Conn., began his service as stated supply of the church.
There have been but few Sundays when the meeting-house has been closed for want of a preacher, although there have been several periods when the church was for a considerable time with- out a pastor. During these times recourse was
1
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often had for a pulpit supply to Newton Theological Institution. Mention should also be made of the helpful labors of " Father " Fitts 1 (as he was famil- iarly and affectionately called), at various times, also of Rev. W. C. Richards, whose faithful and tender ministrations are still remembered. Under the labors of the former of these brethren, especially, whose " praise is in all the churches," and during the pastorates of Brethren Reding and Hatch, sea- sons of revival interest were enjoyed, which mate- rially strengthened the church as well as enlarged its membership. During the present pastorate, forty have united with the church by baptism.
The church has never been a strong one in num- bers or in wealth. It has had much to contend with in its early history and its subsequent growth. It has suffered much by removals and deaths; the manner of its formation was peculiar, and after circumstances were not favorable to homogeneous development. At one time, in its earlier days, it was threatened with a formal division; but wiser counsels prevailed, and the church has grown in harmony within, and increased by additions from without.
The church has licensed three ministers of the gospel, Samuel Cheever, Thomas C. Russell (son of Rev. P. R. Russell) and Benjamin F. Tuck.
Mr. Cheever labored chiefly as an evangelist; he retired from the work some years before his death in 1892.
Mr. Russell was ordained at Barnstable, Mass., Nov. 17, 1858; he has had pastorates also in Billerica, Mass., New
1 Rev. Hervey Fitts, Missionary of the Baptist State Convention.
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
Boston, N. H., Leominster, Mass., Mansfield, Mass., Palmer, Mass., Springvale, Me., Swampscott, Mass., Sun- cook, N. H.
Mr. Tuck was ordained June 7, 1871, at Bernardston, Mass .; his other places of settlement have been Belcher- town, Mass., Hinsdale, N. H., South Acworth, N. II., South Windham, Vt., West Sutton, Mass., Amherst, N. II. He is at present on the retired list.
The church and society have been out of debt since 1884, when an indebtedness resulting from a remodelling of the house of worship a few years be- fore was cancelled.
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
A little west of the Masconomo House, on the road to Lobster Cove, stands Emanuel Church. It is on the land of Russell Sturgis, Esq., and its erec- tion is due to that gentleman. It is a churchly lit- tle building, with lych-gate, mantling ivy and " storied window richly dight." It is for the use especially of summer residents, and is open only during the "season," when it receives within its walls more wealth and fashion and culture than are found often in churches of much larger size and greater pretensions. It is viewed, however, rather as an exotic by some of the permanent residents.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
The Roman Catholics have a building on School street, built in 1873. It is a small, neat structure, sufficiently large for the wants of its winter congre- gations, but inconveniently crowded in summer. It belongs to the parish of St. Mary Star of the Sea, Beverly.
EMANUEL CHURCH.
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CATHOLIC CHURCH.
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CHURCHES AND CHURCH BUILDINGS.
THE UNIVERSALISTS.
Members of this denomination have held meetings at different times, in the Town Hall, but have had no permanent organization.
THE UNITARIANS.
In the summer of 1895, a building to be used for Unitarian services was erected on Masconomo street, by some of the summer residents.
The dream of ecclesiastical unity indulged in by the fathers has not been fulfilled in the later history of their descendants. Perhaps the hope of any external and formal union in matters of conscience and religion is a delusive one. But it is to be hoped that denominational walls are not so high but that we can at least see over them, though we may be of less stalwart stature than those who first reared them. We shall do well if, in this age, we can live up to the spirit of the ancient maxim, " In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity."
APPENDIXES.
APPENDIX A.
A SUNDAY IN THE OLDEN TIME.
It is needless, perhaps, to say that in this sketch the author has al- lowed some play to the imagination, and represented some things as syn- chronous which were really separated by an interval of several years. But nothing is narrated but might have occurred in Manchester about a cen- tury and a half ago. The atmosphere is historical, as are many of the names and events. The paper was originally read before the Historical Society, July 7, 1890, and was published in the Magazine of American History, September, 1890. It is here reproduced by request.
THE first rude cabins of the men of the " Dorchester company," and others, who had landed at Jeffrey's Creek, or had come overland from Naumkeag, and had " set up a fishing-stage " and broken the forest here and there, had given place to somewhat more commodious and permanent dwellings. The meeting-house of the humble size of "eighteen feet in length with two gables," which the piety of the early settlers had erected near " the landing," and whose plain appearance aptly symbolized the simple faith of the Puritans, had been succeeded by one of somewhat larger proportions, but of the same unadorned style, where the people gathered on the Sabbath to listen to argumentative discourses and to feed their devotion on long prayers and the Psalms of David " done into metre."
It is a Sunday in May, 17 -. The corn has been planted; the shad bush and wild plum are in flower; the waters of Saw Mill brook, swollen by the late rains, rush and foam through the woods to the sea; the ex- panse of ocean as seen from Image Hill sparkles in the morning sun ; for, notwithstanding the " eastern glint"
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
in the morning, the day proves cloudless; water-fowl wheel their flight slowly through the air; the only sounds are the distant lowing of cattle, the songs of in- numerable birds, the gentle sighing in the tree-tops, the lap of waves on the shingly shore. With the going down of the sun on the previous day, the labors of the farm and the household ceased; the fishing-boat was drawn up on the beach; the clatter of the mill-wheel was hushed; and, after an early supper, each quiet Puri- tan household "prepared to keep the Sabbath."
It is now nine of the clock; the simple breakfast of corn mush or potatoes and milk, with the addition, per- haps, of fish or bacon, has long since been disposed of ; the Sunday clothes taken from the press, carefully brushed and donned, and the serious business of the day commenced. The house-dog wears a sedate look, and plainly thinks that a Puritan Sabbath is no time for frisking and frolic. What is more strange, even the youngsters have an air of gravity, the modern " small- boy " not yet being evolved in the process of New Eng- land development. The bell presented by George Nor- ton in 1695, sounds over the hills to call the little com- munity to worship. Few houses can boast of any other time-piece than a "noon-mark " on some southern win- dow-sill, and the ringing of the bell is not only a matter of pride but a necessity. Soon, along quiet woodland ways, across pastures and over hills, the forefathers and foremothers, with a goodly array of children, some in arms, some walking demurely in their parents' footsteps, glancing now and then at some squirrel frisking across the path or some jay chattering in a tree overhead, gather to the Sunday rendezvous, the village Meeting- house.
There is no laughter or loud talk, only subdued greet- ings and quiet interchange of rural intelligence, as
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APPENDIX A.
acquaintances meet after a week's isolation. The news that Captain Hooper or Captain Leach has got in with a good fare from " Georges "; or that Samuel Morgan, just returned from the eastward, has brought tidings from Pemaquid of the murder by the Indians of the Hiltons, father and son; or that Goodman Bennett's heifer has been found by the " deer-reaves "; or that a son and heir has gladdened the hearts of the worthy household of Malachi Allen, and has been named One- siphorus, for as the father said, " Peradventure he will be to us in our old age a true help-bringer "; - these and similar harmless bits of gossip have just time for expression, but not for enlargement, when the groups gathered on the green observe Parson Tappan slowly marehing from the parsonage-house on the hill toward the Meeting-house. With stately and measured step the village pastor enters the house, gravely bowing to right and left, stopping to inquire of Mistress Lee for the welfare of her aged mother, who has just " turned of ninety," and perchance to pat the head of some trembling and awe-struck urehin, delighted to win " the good man's smile," or to east a reproving glance at some young men of rather light behavior, who had come down the day before on a sloop from Boston, and to look around inquiringly for Goodman Babcock, the " tything- man." The people take their places as they have been " seated " by the Seleet-men. A few of the more dis- tinguished citizens, those who bear the title of colonel, or captain, or squire, - and they are very few in this essentially democratie community 1 - have been per- mitted to "set up " pews; others must fain content themselves with benches. The congregation does not
1 On the Assessors' books of this time is found the name of Honorable Daniel Edwards, Esqr., and in the church records, under date of May 22, 1754, is the entry, " Died the Honorable Judge Marston Esqr." (Col. Benj. Marston?)
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HISTORY OF MANCHESTER.
present so picturesque a sight as in Ipswich or New- bury meeting-houses, in communities of greater wealth and more aristocratic pretensions,
" where in order due and fit,
As by public vote directed, ranked and classed the people sit ; Mistress first and goodwife after, clerkly squire before the clown,
From the brave coat lace-embroidered, to the gray frock shad- ing down."
But all ages are here, from the patriarch with snowy hair to the little babe; quavering voices join in the psalm, and young hearts under kerchief and doublet beat quicker at the thought of the " banns " that are to be "published " next Sabbath. A few Indians and Negroes, and two or three "Frenchmen,"1 complete the congregation, made up for the most part of " free- men " and their families. Only the sick and infirm, the very aged and the very young, are missing ; for is there not a fine of five shillings for absence from public worship ?2 The congregation soon settles itself ; a faint aroma of lavender and southernwood is in the air; the rustle of leaves and the songs of birds float in through the open door, mingling with the breath from the pines and from the sea, and the worship begins.
From the "singing-seats " sounds the " pitch-pipe," 3
1 In the town records for 1757 is the following : " The selectmen are em- powered to let the French men to John Foster for one year for one hun- dren and ten pounds, Old Tenor." These were neutral French (Acadians) who were compelled to leave Nova Scotia after it had been conquered by the English, and were town charges. The forced expatriation of the in- habitants of Acadia by the British, with which we have been made familiar in Longfellow's Evangeline, is frequently brought to mind by references to " Frenchmen," in the Records of the Town. " Little dreamed the village Saxons of the myriads at their back."
2 Mass. Records, vol. II, 208.
3 Jacob Allen, probably great-grandson of William Allen, and grand- father of John Perry Allen, " pitched the tune in the old meeting-house on the Landing, for forty years, without pay."
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APPENDIX A.
and tenors and basses, trebles and contraltos, join in Mears or St. Martin's, Dundee or Old Hundred, making such harmony as they can in voicing one of the para- phrases of Tate and Brady, or of Watts' " Psalms and Hymns." 1 Before the " long prayer " a note is read, " put up " by the family of Captain Leach for his safe return from Bilboa, and another by Nathaniel Marsters, Constable, asking the prayers of this congregation that the Lord will prosper his journey to Boston the coming week.
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