USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Middlefield > History of the town of Middlefield, Massachusetts > Part 24
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As early as 1857 there was some kind of a melodeon or har- monium in the church for Mrs. Julia M. Smith played on it for services at the age of twelve, under the direction of her father, James Talmadge Church, who then directed the choir and was a fine tenor singer. The melodeon and the Mason and Hamlin organ which followed it were gifts of the Church brothers. Other members of the choir then and a few years later were Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Church, Mrs. Huntington, Laura and Mary E. Church, Mrs. Edwin McElwain, Mrs. John W. Crane and the daughters of William D. Blush. In later years Geo. S. Bell, Cooley W. Graves, Mrs. Willis Graves and Deacon Wesley A. Olds have been prominent in the choir. Miss Alice B. Church played the organ for many years. Mrs. W. O. Eames has re- cently been organist. One of the early hymn books was the famous old Watts and Select Hymns, which was abandoned in favor of The Sabbath Hymn Book. A later book was the Plymouth Hymnal.
HISTORY OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN MIDDLEFIELD
For over thirty years after its founding, the Congregational Church was the only church in town, but there were, however,
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persons of other religious views, from a very early period. There were persons of Baptist sentiment such as John Newton and Matthew Smith who never joined the 'standing order" but held aloof until they could find a church to their taste. As early as 1783 the question of the Baptists paying the minister tax arose and Ebenezer Babcock's rates were abated because he had joined the Baptist Church in Chesterfield. The question came up again with new force when fourteen citizens from the southeast part of the town petitioned to be permitted to pay their minister tax to the support of "Rev. Eleazer Rhodes, a Public Teacher of Piety Religion and Morality and of the Baptist Persuasion." A town meeting was called to act upon this petition "to see if the town will abate the rates of those who call themselves Baptists or any part of them. To see if the town will give the Baptists a little span of time to turn themselves to pay their rates in case the town do not abate their rates." The law had been on the side of the standing order and the town voted "not to abate those rates . .. nor give any further time for payment there- of." The Baptists paid the rates but felt that such enforced payment was persecution. The difficulties in settling a minister in the early days of the town and the trouble arising from the "unhappy differences subsisting in said town occasioned by dif- ferent sentiment in religion" were in part due to the influence and opinions of the Baptists.
In 1797 a Baptist Church was formed in Partridgefield West Parish (later Hinsdale) and several of the Middlefield Baptists identified themselves with it. The pastor included Middlefield in his field of labor. John Newton was baptized in 1800 and the following year was made deacon. Matthew Smith was baptized in 1801 and Calvin Smith and Solomon Root the following year. At this time the church voted to hold meetings in Middlefield one fifth of the time. Less than two years later it was voted to hold them one third of the time. In 1805 the same vote was re- peated, Deacon Newton's house being mentioned as the place.
gotas Vevitor
It is said that the house of Matthew Smith was similarly used at times. The original law by which all of whatever sentiment were
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THE BAPTIST CHURCH
taxed to support the Congregational Church was modified quite early so far as those who could produce certificates of actual membership in another church were concerned.
The following is a certificate, certifying to the membership of Matthew Smith in the Partridgefield Church :
"Partridgefield, Sept. 6, 1801.
"We the subscribers, Ebenezer Smith, public teacher of a society of the religious sect or denomination called Baptists, in the West parish of Part- ridgefield and places adjacent, and Joshua Jackson and Hugh Smith, Com- mittee of said society, do hereby certify that Matthew Smith doth belong to said society and that he frequently and usually when able attends with us in our stated meetings for religious worship.
EBENEZER SMITH, Public Teacher, HUGH SMITH, Committee." JOSHUA JACKSON, Committee,
John Newton was a member of the committee of the Hinsdale Church, appointed to sign the certificates of exemption in 1803.
In 1816 a house of worship was erected by the Baptists of Hinsdale. This strengthened the work there and naturally led to the formation of a Baptist Church in Middlefield which move- ment received hearty co-operation from the Hinsdale brethren and the new church was constituted the following year. The record of this important step reads as follows :
"In the Spring of 1817 the Brethren in Middlefield belonging to the Hinsdale Baptist Church, viewing their local Distance and other incon- veniences voted that in their opinion it was best to take measures to be formed into a Distinct Church. Accordingly Deacon John Newton and Matthew Smith applied to the Hinsdale Church in behalf of said Brethren and obtained their approbation by vote that we had their fellowship in being set of as A distinct Church. On the 13th day of July 1817 the Said Brethren voted to send to Chesterfield Baptist Church and Chester and Hinsdale wishing them to send their Elders and faithful Bretheren to Set with us in Council on the 23rd Day of Said July to advise whether it be thought expedient to Constitute them into a Distinct Church or not. Chose Matthew Smith to send letters to said churches."
Delegates were sent as follows: Six from Chesterfield, two from Chester, and three from Hinsdale.
There were twenty-nine constituent members of the church- twelve men and seventeen women. The list which is here given
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
includes many of the foremost families in the history of Middle- field.
John Newton and Martha Newton
Matthew Smith and Asenath Smith
Calvin Smith and Anna Smith
Solomon Root and Mary Root Levi Olds and Lucy Olds Paine Loveland and Phebe Loveland
William Taylor and Priscilla Taylor
Amariah Ballou and Polley Ballou
David Ballou and Mary Ballou
Clark Martin
Asa Acksdel
Asa Ide
Elizabeth Skinner
Mary Ballou
Elizabeth Durant
Lucy Metcalf
Sarah Johnson
Sarah Smith
Sarah Allison
Louis Freeland
Several of these persons, like the members of the Ballou family, lived in Peru and other neighboring towns.
The church thus constituted called as its first pastor Rev. Isaac Child. May 24, 1818, he was received into membership (though he had apparently been preaching for the church since June 5, 1817), and on June 10 of the same year he was ordained, on the advice of a council called from the churches at Chesterfield, West Springfield, Chester, Hinsdale and Becket. As an indica- tion of the brotherly feeling, the council "voted that Elder Rand (pastor of the West Springfield Church and scribe of the council) wait on the Reverend Mr. Nash (pastor of the Congrega- tional Church in Middlefield) and invite him to walk in the pro- cession and sit with us." Whether Mr. Nash accepted the invitation or not is not recorded. When we recall that the Con- gregational churches in New England at that time still felt themselves to be the rightfully established form of Christianity, since they represented the faith of the original settlers who held
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THE BAPTIST CHURCH
the charter of government, it would have been a mark of con- siderable breadth of view, if the pastor of the established church of New England should thus publicly show his approval of a dissenting sect like the Baptists.
The church voted to Mr. Child the sum of $200 per annum for his services. The money was raised by assessing each member what was believed to be his just proportion of the total amount. Three assessors were appointed to make out the tax list, and the contribution of any member was currently known as his "minis- ter tax." Thus even the dissenting church preserved the methods and the vocabulary which belonged to the days when the state church received its revenues from taxation. It was customary first to solicit voluntary subscriptions from those who attended the church but who were not members. Then the remaining amount necessary was raised by taxation, levied upon the mem- bers according to their ability. The method of assessment was occasionally a source of friction and we find in the records that members sometimes appealed to the church to lighten the burden imposed by the board of assessors.
The contributions seem to have been quite often in arrears and for several years the church voted that any one who had not paid his minister tax by a certain date should give a personal note with interest. In 1836 the church "voted the money (for pastor's salary) be assessed according to what each one is ac- tually worth, and that the assessors endeavor to come at the fact as near as possible and make the tax accordingly." Finally in 1860 the following specific procedure was proposed by Samuel Smith and adopted by the church: "Voted that each member pay his share of necessary expenses of said Society by an equality according to each one's ability-this equality to be ascertained by making the Town Valuation the standard, taking from said valuation each one's indebtedness and adding to the same Real Estate owned by Members in other Towns."
An interesting indication of the way in which the pastor's salary would fall into arrears is found in a receipt given Mr. Child. It reads as follows: "Have received of the Baptist Church Society the sum of four hundred and eight dollars in full of all demands against them for services rendered them from June 5, 1817, to January, 1821." Since Mr. Child's salary was
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
$200 a year he would have earned $700 in the three and one-half years. Apparently less than $300 had been paid him until this special effort was made to collect the remainder.
Where the church held its services at first is not known. " The houses of John Newton and Matthew Smith would have been
Matthew Smith
the natural gathering places. There is no mention in the records of the building of a meetinghouse; but such a building must have been provided at an early date, for Mr. Child was ordained in the meetinghouse June 1, 1818. This church building stood on the knoll south of the road leading east from Blossom Corner, just before the turn is made to the cemetery. A granite monu- ment marks the site. It was a plain building without spire or tower, with a semicircular window in the front gable. On en- tering one passed through a vestibule into the main audience room. From the vestibule stairs led up to the gallery, and at either end was a small room which could be heated. There was no means of heating the main auditorium. Committees and small gatherings would occupy these small rooms occasionally, but their main purpose was to furnish a comfortable place in which to spend the intermission between the morning and after- noon services on the Sabbath, for in those days men and women made a business of cultivating religion on Sunday. At ten- thirty came the first preaching service. At the close of this the Sunday School met. Then came an hour for rest and conversa- tion with a luncheon consisting of an apple or a slice of bread for hungry children. At two o'clock came the second preaching service after which tired and hungry Christians drove their hungry horses homeward to satisfy the physical demands of man and beast. In the evening a prayer meeting was held either in the church or in a district schoolhouse.
Mr. Child, the first pastor, remained with the church ten years, adding thirty-five members by baptism, and six by letter, nearly doubling the original membership. His spiritual charac- ter was accompanied by a lack of worldly wisdom which ex- pressed itself in ways very amusing to his practical parishioners. He was a man of little mechanical skill, as likely to put a button
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to fasten a door on the door itself as on the frame, but he was very genial and companionable in his social life, a faithful and earnest preacher of great spiritual power. While pastor he lived in a house on Ridgepole Road, some distance north of where it crosses the road to Worthington. An indication of the affection he inspired was evidenced in the fact that at his death, when his wife was left penniless, the Middlefield Society invited her to make her home with them, which she did, being supported by them as long as she lived. When she died she was buried from the home of Samuel Smith.
The next pastor, Erastus Andrews (father of President E. Benjamin Andrews) was called in 1828 at a salary of $175, which was increased to $200 the following year. In addition to his pastoral labors he taught school in Smith Hollow. He was a man of large and impressive stature, full of vigor, and in his short pastorate of two years received twenty-four new members into the church. He boarded with his parishioners during his stay in town. Though young, talented and ardent, full of fiery zeal, he was not distinguished for sound judgment, and as he did not give his hearers strong meat, those who were of full age welcomed his successor, Rev. Cullen Townsend, in 1831. The church in calling him "voted to raise Three Hundred Dollars for preaching the ensuing year if found necessary." Mr. Town- send's great interest was in home missions, and after a year he went to the "far west," which at that time was western New York. He boarded during his pastorate at Matthew Smith's, in the house now occupied by Mr. Sweeney.
In 1832, Rev. Henry Archibald, a vigorous Scotchman and a zealous preacher and temperance agitator, began his labors. His knowledge of the Bible was profound and his ministry was full of blessed results to his charge. He was clear-headed, sound in Christian doctrine and in common with his countrymen gener- ally, tenacious of his own opinions. Yet he was not overbearing but was found by the pastor of the Congregational Church of that period to be a faithful and agreeable co-laborer in the Christian work. The church "voted to leave it to the committee to make the best contract with him that they can" and the re- sult was a salary of $275. In 1833 the church voted to have the Gleason place, so called for a "parish house." This was doubtless
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
the old fashioned house now standing just north of Mr. Cottrell's dwelling, where Isaac Gleason, Sr., formerly lived. At one time Mr. Archibald lived north of the Center were Mr. G. E. Cook now lives. Neither this house nor the Gleason place seems to have been regularly used as a parsonage, for the next pastor, Orson Spencer, lived in the old Walter Metcalf house, which once stood a short distance east of the meetinghouse, and in the old Emmons place half a mile south of the Center.
Elder Spencer was pastor from 1837 to 1841. He was greatly esteemed and seems to have been exceptionally devoted and con- scientious. He voluntarily reduced his own salary $100 during the hard times of that period, saying that he had no right to a larger income than his parishioners generally received. In 1841 he astonished the church by resigning, stating in his farewell sermon that he had become a convert to Mormonism. The church showed its sense of responsibility for true doctrine by promptly excommunicating him. On August 29, 1841, it "voted to with- draw Fellowship from Rev. Orson Spencer and his wife Cath- erine Spencer in consequence of their embracing Mormonism and joining that seet, which we consider is herisy." So conscien- tiously was this vote observed that when, a few years later, Mr. Spencer returned and lectured on Mormonism, not many of his former parishioners felt it right to go to hear him. The feel- ings of some who did listen to his remarks have been well ex- pressed by the poet of the Middlefield Centennial celebration, himself formerly a member of the Baptist Church, as follows :
"Just why Elder Spencer a Mormon became I never could tell, though his story I heard. But his arguments seemed to me very lame, And they neither my reason nor sympathy stirred."
In 1841 Rev. Foranda Bestor was called at a salary of $375. This salary continued during his stay, although in 1843, the vote of the church authorized the committee to "give him Three Hundred and Seventy-Five Dollars if they think he ought to have that sum." During his stay in town he lived a mile east of the Center in an old house opposite the Harvey Root place now owned by Mr. Frank Chipman.
At this time it became imperative to repair the meetinghouse, but when the matter was discussed, it was decided that the old
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THE BAPTIST CHURCH
building was not worth repairing. So in 1844 plans were made looking toward the building of a new church, William W. Leonard, Timothy Root, Ambrose Newton, Morgan Pease and Samuel Smith being appointed a committee to push the project. About a year later, October 20, 1845, we read in the records that "after much examination, deliberation, discussion, consideration and reconsideration a vote was passed that we proceed to build a
THE BAPTIST CIIURCII 1846-1903
new house of worship in the year 1846, estimated to cost about six- teen hundred dollars, and that it be located on the town land in the Center or near it." Solomon Root, Matthew Smith, Ambrose Newton, Milton Combs and Oliver Smith were the building com- mittee. Subscriptions were made by forty-two persons totaling $1,606.59. The building erected with these funds stood where the horse sheds are now located east of the Center store. A granite monument now marks the site. The entrance was in the center of the front. A vestibule about eight feet wide ran across
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
the end and at either side stairs led up to the gallery which occu- pied the space above the vestibule. A square tower surmounted the roof. Into this new building the church moved in 1847. There is no record of any dedication.
The zeal manifested in the building of the new meetinghouse seems to have been simply one of the many movements for im- provement about this time. In 1844 the church "voted to raise by Tax funds to pay for reviving the singing to be appor- tioned the same as the Minister Tax by the last year's assessors." How the money thus raised was expended is not stated. Henry Hawes was choir leader, and about this time musical instruments were first introduced. Mr. Solomon F. Root played the flute for several years. A little later a bass viol was played by Mr. Cole- man. The choir sat in the gallery at the rear of the church, and often numbered twenty-five or thirty. The frequent singing schools in town constantly brought fresh recruits into the choir. Watt's hymns, sung to the "Boston Academy" tunes, were used in the early days of the church. Later a book entitled Carmina Sacra was introduced.
On May 22, 1850, a new constitution was drawn up and adopted ; but it proved unsatisfactory, and in 1855 it was "voted that the Constitution adopted by the Baptist Church and Society, May 22, 1850, be set aside and that business be transacted as before its adoption." In 1850, also, preparations were made for the building of a parsonage. The money was raised by sub- scription but the church gave instructions that "the proportion of each member be made out on the present year's assessment and presented to each member for their guidance in making their subscriptions for the parsonage." The next year the parsonage was completed. It stood just north of the Congregational par- sonage and remained in the possession of the church until pur- chased by Mrs. Gertrude Pease in 1908.
After the church moved into its new home, it had a series of short pastorates. Volney Church remained only one year, 1848- 49, living as did his successor in the house at the Center which stands east of the main highway, a short distance south of the Town Hall. The eccentric Homer Clark proved unworthy and was disciplined and excluded by the church. Orlando Cunning- ham, John B. Burk and Lewis Holmes each served acceptably
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THE BAPTIST CHURCHI
for from three to five years, living during their pastorates at the new parsonage at the Center. During the fifteen years after the building of the new meetinghouse, the church attained its greatest strength. It numbered among its members the leaders in public enterprise and achievement. Most of the important town officers were usually Baptists. The wealth of the members increased so that $450 and the free use of the parsonage could be granted to the minister. In 1850, thirty-three members were received by baptism; in 1858, thirty-four. The way seemed open for a splendid future for the church. It had over 100 members, many of them influential men of the town.
In 1865, Rev. Joseph M. Rockwood, the last pastor of the church was called at a salary of $700. For twenty-five years his quiet dignity, high ideals, and spotless life exercised a pro- found influence on the community. For about ten years the church enjoyed reasonable prosperity. It was in 1880 that Miss Mary A. Rockwood, the beloved daughter of the pastor, went to Burmah as a missionary, only to succumb to the rigors of the climate two years later. The poet of the Centennial the following year, expressed the affection in which she was held by the community, in the following lines :
"And then I think of one I loved As though she were my child by birth, The maiden rare who crossed great seas For God, and sleeps in Burman earth."'
But in the '70's began that change which has so altered the life of the hill-towns of New England. The great rich farming lands of the West, with cheap railway transportation for crops. made it more and more difficult for the farmers in Middlefield to prosper. The younger generation began to look elsewhere for their life work. Farms which for two or three generations had remained in one family began to pass into the possession of strangers. In 1878 the church was able to raise only $500 for the pastor's salary ; in the next decade it sank to $400. But in the face of these discouragements Mr. Rockwood never lost his serene optimism, never failed to maintain his high ideals, never allowed outer circumstances to conquer his spirit. Finally, in 1890, he resigned, universally respected and loved, a true Chris- tian gentleman who for a quarter of a century had maintained unfalteringly the standard of Christ-like life and service.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLEFIELD
After Mr. Rockwood's resignation the church decided not to maintain preaching any longer. The members gave their sup- port to the Congregational Church and attended its services. For four or five years the Baptist Sunday School was main- tained; but it soon became evident that the Baptists could best serve the cause by uniting in all the activities of the Congrega- tional Church.
In 1900, when the Congregational meetinghouse was destroyed by fire, the Baptists promptly offered the use of their edifice for the continuance of public worship. During this year it was voted to offer to sell the building to the Congregational Church for $500, and to contribute the entire proceeds of the sale for repairing and remodeling the building. But eventually the meetinghouse was finally sold to the Congregationalists for $250. In 1903 it was moved to its present site and joined to the chapel, which had originally been a Methodist meetinghouse. Thus church unity was fitly embodied in the building in which all Christians of Middlefield worship together.
During recent years the church contributed $350.00 to the Belmont Avenue Church in Springfield, which was the church home of several Baptists formerly residing in Middlefield. In 1908 the surviving members of the society erected granite memorials marking the sites of the first and second Baptist meetinghouses, with suitable exercises of dedication, as a re- minder of the devotion and sacrifice of those who formed and supported the Baptist Church in the town. The surviving mem- bers are loyal supporters of the cause of Christ in the united church. Of the few hundred dollars of invested funds, a part was given as a permanent endowment of the evangelical church in Middlefield, whatever its future denomination may be. The remainder was given to the Massachusetts Baptist State Con- vention.
The fact that the Baptist Church was originally organized as a protest against the assumption that all good citizens ought to support the Congregational Church brought out into clear relief a sort of personal independence in religious beliefs which some- times stood in the way of cordial relations with those of dif- ferent beliefs. There existed in the tradition of the church a profound disapproval, amounting at times to a species of con-
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tempt, for "those Congregationlists." At the same time this very positive attitude of independence created a stalwart char- acter and an untiring activity on the part of many of the Baptists.
Among those whose names deserve especial mention are, of course, the leaders in the formation of the church. John New- ton, Matthew Smith, Pain Loveland, and Solomon Root with others believed supremely in the importance of maintaining an honest religious devotion ; and they were willing to pay the price.
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