History of the town of Milford, Worcester county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1881, Part 9

Author: Ballou, Adin, 1803-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Boston : Rand, Avery, & co.
Number of Pages: 1328

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Milford > History of the town of Milford, Worcester county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1881 > Part 9

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THE NEW PRECINCT AND CHURCH.

CHAPTER V.

PRECINCT AND CHURCH DOWN TO 1780.

Principal Acts, Actors, and Events of the Precinct. - Many Minor Details necessa- rily passed over. - Concerning the Settlement, Salary, and Support of Mr. Frost, at first by Rate, and finally by Contribution. - Concerning the Site, Erection, and Slow Completion of the Meeting-House. - Some Curious Par- ticulars. - Concerning the First Burying-Place, our Oldest Graveyard. - The Proceedings. - Names of Precinct Moderators, Clerks, Executive Committee, Treasurers, etc.

Church Affairs. - Brief Narrative of Transactions, Experiences, and Events. - Number of Admissions to Membership, Baptisms of Children, etc. - Its Strict Accordance as to Covenant, Creed, Ordinances, and Discipline, with their Con- gregational Standards. - Later some Relaxation. - Its Complement of Officers. - Its Sore Troubles for a Few Years with Certain Seceders, or Come-outers. - Its Relations with the Baptists. - How it compromised with Certain Preju- dices against using in the Pulpit a Large Bible donated to it. - Its Succession of Ruling Elders and Deacons.

PRINCIPAL ACTS, ACTORS, AND EVENTS OF THE PRECINCT.

H AVING set forth the origin, organization, and establishment of the precinct with its church, as culminating in the settlement of a " learned orthodox Minister," Dec. 21, 1743, I will devote this chap- ter to a sketch of the principal acts, actors, and events of the precinct and church down to the year 1780, when Milford was incorporated as a town, giving the first section to those of the precinct. It will not be expected that I should be able to cover so much ground, and be very minute. I must pass over in silence the mass of minor details, many of which I should be glad to notice, and confine myself to par- ticulars which seem sufficiently important or interesting to require attention in this volume. Happily the existing precinct and church records are quite full, well preserved, and accessible ; so that curious inquirers, who wish to know more than I have space to tell, can easily search it out for themselves.

The chief responsibility of the precinct related to preaching, the meeting-house, and the burying-place. To these there were many incidentals of importance. Occasional specialties, of course, de- manded consideration. They had provided for regular ministrations of the gospel, by the settlement of Rev. Mr. Frost. How was he to have a comfortable home, and be supported from year to year? The

HISTORY OF MILFORD.

original contract between the parties was, that he should have a " set- tlement " of one hundred pounds payable within two years, and an annual " salary " of forty pounds payable in halves on the first days of May and November ; but he was to be paid in the paper currency of those times, which was of rather uncertain value. It is therefore impossible to estimate accurately the real worth of his one hundred pounds settlement, and forty pounds salary. The Province of Massa- chusetts had put in circulation, previous to 1740, not less than three considerable emissions of bills of credit. The first was called " old tenor," the second "middle tenor," and the third "new tenor." Their gradual depreciation was great, and caused much distress among the people ; but Mr. Frost took his chance with his flock. How was the money pledged for his support to be raised? There was a " Ministry Fund " in Mendon, arising from glebe-lands origi- nally set apart for that purpose. The easterly precinct was allowed a portion of the annual income of that fund. Their dividend of this " Ministry Money," some six to seven pounds a year, was regularly turned in to cke out Rev. Mr. Frost's salary. All the rest of their revenue, for many years, had to be raised by direct taxation, i.e., " by rate," as the phrase then was. Voluntary contribution com- menced in 1776, amid the agitations, troubles, and necessities of the American Revolution. Whether Mr. Frost got his one hundred pounds settlement money within the two years, as by contract prom- ised, is doubtful ; but probably interest was paid him on all arrear- ages till he obtained his full dues. This may be inferred from his recorded receipt, dated March 1, 1752, which is thus expressed : " Received of the Precinct Treasurer the full of my settlement and salary to this present date:" His salary continued at forty pounds till May 16, 1748, when the precinct, pursuant to an Act of Gen. Court for the relief of clergymen suffering from a stinted support and hard times, voted him an extra of thirty-five pounds. In 1750 they raised his regular salary to fifty pounds, " lawful money." In 1752 they added to his fifty pounds their share of the Mendon interest accruing on the " Ministry Money." In 1753 they voted him £53, 68. 8d., and their dividend of said interest. In 1755 they raised him sixty pounds, besides that interest ; and after some years they made him up £66, 13s. 4d. This was the height of his support down to 1776. Then, Sept. 16, the record says the vote was " called, whether it be the minds of the precinct to support Rev. Mr. Frost by free contribution the present year, for every one that sees cause thus to contribute to carry such contribution to the Rev. Mr. Frost, and for him to keep the account, and make return to the precinct at the

FINISHING THE MEETING-HOUSE.

expiration of the year ; which vote proved to be in the affirmative." The same method continued till the precinct was merged in the newly incorporated town, 1780. How well it worked, how much the pastor received, or in what articles of value the contributions consisted, is not told. Probably, in those stirring and trying times, his annual income was rather scanty ; but, having arrived at the period when the town superseded the precinct, we will pause and take up the pro- ceedings of the latter in respect to their

MEETING-HOUSE.

At the time of Mr. Frost's ordination, as stated in the preceding chapter, the meeting-house was but a decently covered frame. Its outside carpentry and glazing had been finished in the plain substan- tial style of those times ; but the interior had as yet only a temporary flooring and seating. All the inside work remained to be done; nor had the edifice been underpinned, excepting at the supporting points, nor touched by the painter's brush. I will sketch its subsequent his- tory down to the incorporation of the precinct into a town, - commencing where I left off in the last chapter.

In the warrant of the Executive Committee for a precinct-meeting on the 30th May, 1744, among other articles to be acted on, there was one "To see whether the Precinct will choose a Committee to provide, and go on and finish the Precinct Meeting House to the turning of the key." Nothing having been done, the same was repeated in the next warrant, which was for a meeting Sept. 17, 1744. Then " Voted that the Committee already chosen on the affair of the Meeting House proceed to lay the floor." Jan. 22, 1744-45, " Voted to allow and reserve five feet in width round on the inside of this Precinct's Meeting House for pews, except convenient room for the pulpit and stairs and doors. Voted to leave three feet and a half for an alley from the front door to the pulpit." Declining further dependence on the old committee, " Voted that Mr. Jonathan Howard [Hayward], Mr. Joshua Green and Mr. John Chapin be a Committee to proceed in the affair of the Meeting House, so far as to build a pul- pit, and Deacons' seat, and the body seats ; [also] to build the stairs and lay the gallery floor." March 5 next following, " Voted to raise £80, old tenor, towards finishing the Meeting House." Aug. 30, 1745, " Voted that Ichabod Robinson should be added to the Com- mittee that was chosen to finish the Precinct's Meeting House." "Voted to build one pew for the Minister's family, . . . where the Rev. Mr. Frost shall choose to have it. Voted to give the Elders and Deacons [space] on the floor to build one pew on the contrary

HISTORY OF MILFORD.

side of the pulpit from Mr. Frost's pew. Voted to sell the floor or pew room in this Meeting House ; viz., all that has not been already disposed of by gift. Voted that Thomas Tenney, Jona. Howard, Dea. Daniel Corbett, Lieut. Wm. Sheffield and Daniel Sumner should act in behalf of the Precinct in that affair. Voted that the remains of the finishing of the Meeting House and the underpinning be left to the Precinct Committee, chosen for the finishing of the Meeting House." It will be readily seen that mainly floor-room was sold or given for pews, and that the pews were to be built by individual owners for themselves. This was the general, if not universal, cus- tom of those times.

" March 31, '46 ; Voted to go on and finish the Meeting House, so far as the pew-money shall accommodate in that affair. Voted to raise £100, old tenor, to finish said Meeting House. Voted to ceil the walls, or inside, of this Meeting House with boards so high from the lower floor as to extend to the bottom, or lower part, of the win- dows. Voted to ceil with boards four feet high round in the galleries, from the hinder part of the gallery floors, and from the stairs so high as is ceiled in the gallery. Voted to lath and plaster the walls in this Meeting House, all that has not been already. Voted to ceil with boards, and also to lath and plaster overhead all under the beams, and likewise to lay a floor over all the joists that are in the beams. Voted to build the breast-work round the galleries, and make the seats in the galleries, and cap all the windows, and whatsoever is necessary to finish the inside of the Meeting House, except building the pews." "Voted that the Committee already chosen . . . should go on and finish their Meeting House. Voted that the pews on each side of the pulpit should extend so far forward as the Deacons' seat." So many votes at one meeting seem to have meant business, yet no great haste was made. "Jan. 12, '46-7; Voted to sell the pews in the galleries ; " which was left to the finishing committee. At the adjourned meeting, Jan. 26, this vote was reconsidered, and the gal- lery-pews ordered to continue in possession of the precinct. March 3 ensning, "Voted to sell the pews in the galleries, provided they be sold to the satisfaction of the Precinct. Voted that Capt. Nathan Tyler, Ebenezer Boynton and Dea. Nathaniel Nelson should be a Committee to sell said pews, and to bring the money . . . into the Precinct Treasury. Voted to raise £50, old tenor, towards finishing the Meeting House." Aug. 26, 1747, " Voted to Jonathan Howard 8s., old tenor, for recording a Deed of the land on which the Meeting House now stands." This vote may receive explanation farther along. Nov. 16 following : "Voted to choose Capt. Nathan Tyler,

DEED OF MEETING-HOUSE SITE.

Lieut. Wm. Sheffield, Dea. Daniel Corbett, Mr. Thos. Tenney and Mr. Eben'. Boynton to seat the Meeting House." On the 30th of the same month, " Voted to exchange land with Mr. Ichabod Robin- son ; . . . and that the Bounds of the land that the Meeting House stands on begin at the corner of Mr. Ichabod Robinson's fence, on the north side of said Meeting Honse, then running with a direct line to the southernmost corner, or end of Mr. Robinson's wall, on the north side of his barn. Capt. Nathan Tyler, Lient. Wm. Sheffield, Mr. Jona. Howard, Mr. Thos. Tenney and Dea. Nathl. Nelson, were chosen a Committee to [give] an acquittance to Mr. Thos. Wiswall, and take a Deed of Mr. Ichabod Robinson of the land on which the Easterly Precinct's Meeting Honse stands." From all this it would appear that the precinct first bad land deeded to them from Thomas Wiswall, which was afterwards exchanged under an arrangement made with Mr. Robinson. The first Deed must therefore be the one which Jonathan Howard, alias Hayward, received eight shillings for getting recorded. The following is a verbatim copy of Robinson's deed, so far as concerns its description of the premises, as attested by the Register of Worcester Deeds : -

" A certain tract or piece of land scituate and lying and being in Mendon Easterly Precinct where the Meeting House for the public worship of God now stands, buted & bounded as followeth: Beginning at a heap of stones at the road that leads from Ichabod Robinson's to Sherbourn, being the South- easterly corner; then bounded Northerly upon the road that leads from Sher- bourn road to Ebenezer Boynton - nineteen rod and three quarters of a rod to a heap of stones, being the Northeasterly corner ; then bounded Westerly upon Ichabod Robinson lands eight rod and a half to a heap of stones, being two rod & four feet from the Southwesterly corner of the meeting house where it now stands; then bounded South westerly upon Ichabod Robinson land fourteen rod to a heap of stones by the said road that leads to Sher- bourn; being the Southwesterly corner; then bounded upon Sherbourn road six rod & an half to the first mentioned bounds, & said peace of land being six rod and - half wide where the meeting house now stands and it being fourteen rod from sd meeting house to the road that leads to Sherbourn. The whole of sd peace of land, containing half an acre & twenty four rod be it more or less."

WORCESTER Ss. The above is a true copy of the description in the record of a warranty deed from Ichabod Robinson to the inhabitants of the Easterly Precinct in Mendon, dated by acknowledgment Dec. 17, 1748, and recorded in the Registry of Deeds, Book 27, p. 507.

Attest : HARVEY B. WILDER, Reg".

Probably the specified boundaries of these premises were sufficiently intelligible to all parties concerned in 1748 ; but the subsequent altera-

HISTORY OF MILFORD.

tions of the designated roads have rendered them somewhat obscure to inquirers of the present generation. It would be interesting to know exactly where Sherborn road originally lay in relation to the parish common, and where the road lay that led out of Sherborn road to Ebenezer Boynton's. But these questions need not be discussed here. It suffices to know that the easterly precinct obtained, after some delay, a satisfactory title to their meeting-house site and common.

At a precinct-meeting, Aug. 26, 1748, " Voted to repair the Meet- ing House glass. Voted to color the Meeting House doors, window frames, weather boards, corner boards, eve troughs and the two bot- tom boards." At a meeting on the 16th December, the same year, held by adjournment from the 12th, it seems to be implied that the meeting-house was at last nearly or quite finished ; that the com- mittee had been reckoned with ; and that the precinct felt too poor to allow them any thing for their official services. For it was tried, " whether the Precinct would allow the Meeting House Committee any thing for their trouble serving on that affair; which vote passed in the negative." Then it was tried, " whether the Precinct would allow Samuel Howard [any thing] for collecting the £200 rate; and said vote passed in the negative." So those official servants had to con- tent themselves with their laurels of honor alone.

Nothing more important than slight repairs and alterations took place in the meeting-house for the next twenty years. The only one of the alterations worth mentioning is a mere curiosity; as such I will notice it. March 9, 1758, " Voted to give Mr. Jesse Sumner and Mr. Nathaniel Cheney, provided that they take in three partners, liberty to build a pew over the men's stairs, provided that they build so high as in no wise to hurt the passing up and down said stairs." It is probable that said pew was built, though nothing more is said about it. I have tried in vain to get any trace of that Mr. Jesse Sumner's genealogy. The pew must have been rather unique in some respects. The precinct had, of course, to bear all the incidental ex- penses, as well as more solid cost of their meeting-house, from get- ting its site stated down to the merest repair. They annually chose a person to open, shut, sweep, and take care of it, a sort of sexton, who was regularly voted a moderate compensation.

Thus matters went on till 1769, when it began to be felt by some in the precinct that their meeting-house needed important repairs, additions, or renewal. So, under the warrant for a meeting, Sept. 11, of that year, the question of repairing came up. It was nega- tived, but not allowed to sleep. The next warrant contained an arti-

OLDEST BURYING-PLACE.

cle " To see whether the Precinct will do any thing as to repairing said Precinct's Meeting-House, or make any addition to said House." March 6, 1770, negatived squarely. The next warrant suggested " repairing or new building." Again negatived. The same fate fol- lowed renewed propositions in January, 1771. In March next follow- ing there was a struggle to get an addition voted. It prevailed for a moment, but was recalled. The friends of improvement and their opponents repeatedly contested the question in its various forms, sometimes quite sharply, till at length it was submerged in the great common struggle to get the precinct set off from Mendon, and incor- porated as a town. So the old meeting-house experienced no mate- rial change till after 1780. We will now turn back and see what the precinct did concerning a

BURYING-PLACE.

The following abstract of proceedings will indicate the course of events. Precinct-meeting, March 3, 1746-47: "Voted that Dea. Nathaniel Jones [apply] to Mr. Amos Binney, and get security of half an acre of land for a Burying Place, where several of this Pre- cinct have already buried their dead." This implies a previous nego- tiation or understanding between the parties, in pursuance of which several burials had taken place on the premises. Whether Amos Binney was a resident in the precinct, is doubtful ; but, if so, it would seem that about this time he removed to Hull, where he formerly belonged. It seems also, from subsequent transactions, that he and Thomas Bailey were joint owners of the land whereof the said half- acre was a part. Bailey, too, a native of Hull, returned to that place. Aug. 26, 1748, " Capt. Nathan Tyler, Dea. Daniel Corbett, Mr. Habijah French, Mr. Daniel Sumner, and Mr. Jona. Bond were chosen a Committee to purchase a Burying-Place." But meanwhile Men- don proprietors donated ten acres of their common land to the east- erly precinct for a burying-place. (See proprietor's small record-book, p. 24, date Jan. 30, 1748.) March 1, 1748-49, the precinct voted to sell said ten acres to John Chapin for ten pounds, old tenor, and devote the money to the purchase of a burying-place. This sale was made, and the Mendon proprietors, May 27, 1749, " Laid out for John Chapin twelve acres of land, viz., -ten acres of land that was granted by the proprietors of Mendon to the Easterly precinct in said Mendon for a burying place, and two acres of his own, 11th Division : laid together east from Jona. Whitney's house," etc., near Holliston line. (See small book above referred to, p. 30.) Sept. 11, 1749, the precinct " Voted to buy a piece of land of Mr. Isaac Parkhurst,

HISTORY OF MILFORD.

near the Easterly-Precinct Meeting-House. Mr. Ichabod Robinson, Samuel Wheelock, Jona. Whitney, John Chapin and James Sumner were chosen a Committee to act in that affair." The most diligent search has failed to find any further record or reference to this com- mittee's negotiation with Isaac Parkhurst. For some unaccountable reason the matter fell through, so far as Parkhurst was concerned. Nor can any deed or title to the burying-place be found on record, securing the same to the precinct, except the following : Under date of Oct. 1, 1747, " Thomas Bailey, Cordwainer, and Amos Binney, Mariner, both of Hull in the County of Suffolk," executed a power of attorney giving Rev. Amariah Frost of Mendon authority " to sell, alien, convey and confirm nnto any body that will buy, a certain piece of land lying and being in the Township of Mendon, containing near a hundred acres, more or less." (See Registry of Deeds, Worces- ter, book 23, p. 489.) In virtue of this power of attorney, Rev. Mr. Frost sold the said land to Ephraim Twitchell, jun., and conveyed the same to him by a deed dated Aug. 2, 1748, recorded in the Regis- try of Deeds, Worcester, book 26, page 476. This tract of land constituted all, or certainly a large part, of the Twitchell farm, here- tofore familiarly known among us as thus designated. It included the whole of our oldest burying-place or cemetery, the one under notice. But the deed from Frost to Twitchell made the following reservation : " Excepting out of said lands three-quarters of an acre for a Bury- ing-place as shall be agreed upon most comodious therefor upon Nathel Morse line." It is presumed that the precinct authorities agreed with Twitchell on the situation and boundaries of this burial-ground reservation ; but no record of it has been found, nor any further title save undisturbed possession. The case is rather singular and curi- ous. Aug. 27, 1753, " Voted to buy a funeral cloth," and that Mr. Ichabod Robinson purchase it. Nothing is said about a bier or a hearse, though probably they had at least some sort of bier. But the " funeral cloth " was then and long afterwards deemed fashionably important. It was a large black spread of woollen cloth, often bor- dered and tasselled, and called the pall. At funerals, and especially the more public ones, it was spread over the coffin, and added much to the solemnity as well as dignity of the occasion. At this same meeting it was moved to fence the burying-place, but not carried. The same decision was repeated Nov. 8, 1756. But Aug. 29, 1757, the movers had better success. "Voted to fence the Burying Place with stone wall four feet and a half high, by the 15th of November next. Voted that Josiah Chapin, Dea. John Chapin and Samuel Torrey should be a Committee to take care that the abovesaid work

PRECINCT INCIDENTALS AND ITS OFFICERS.

be done, &c. Voted that there should be one pair of Bars at the east end of said Burying-Place." This first and only cemetery of the precinct never received very extraordinary attention in the way of ornamentation or even necessary care. Such was not then the fashion. Tolerable fencing was deemed sufficient, with perhaps occasional en- deavors to keep down the brush. This last was aimed at in the fol- lowing vote, Aug. 28, 1759 : " Voted to let Eleazer Wight have the use of the Burying Place the remainder of this year ; provided he clears up the under brush well and burns it, &c." It was afterwards offered for rent, but seldom sought for as desirable. So it received few flattering attentions, and in 1780 passed under the superintend- ence of the town.

In the outset of this chapter I allnded to other specialties of pre- cinct responsibility. The most important of these related to a series of measures for bringing about the incorporation of the precinct as a town. I will therefore defer them to another chapter, particularly devoted to the induction and inauguration of our town. It may seem to some minds that I have bestowed undne attention on the history of the precinct, inasmuch as I cannot reasonably give half the amount to younger religious societies. It should, however, be considered that the precinct originally comprehended nearly the whole of our present territory ; that it was long an influential body politic, including nearly all the ancestral population within our limits ; and that it was, in fact, incipiently the town of Milford. In this view, the story of its efforts, experiences, and progress deservedly commands more detailed elabo- ration than any of our comparatively recent religious societies. But these shall not be slighted. The ancient Congregational church, so closely identified with the precinct, requires a few pages of condensed narration, in order to round out this chapter. Before I add these I judge it interesting to give a catalogue of the principal precinct offi- cers from 1741 to 1780, that the present and coming generations may know who were its successive principal actors.

MODERATORS.

Jona. Hayward, Jr., alias Jona. Howard, at 8 meetings ; Nathl. Nelson, at 16; Wm. Sheffield, at 10; Nathan Tyler, at 7; Josiah Adams, at 3 ; Daniel Corbett, at 11 ; Samuel Scammell, at 5; Eben- ezer Boynton, at 1 ; Daniel Sumner, at 1 : John Chapin, at 5 ; Jona. Whitney, at 1; Ichabod Robinson, at 1; Saml. Wheelock, at 3; Jasper Daniell, at 2; Saml. Hayward, alias Howard, at 2; Wm. Jennison, at 12 ; Ichabod Thayer, at 1; Saml. Torrey, at 2; Josiah Chapin, at 1 ; Gideon Albee, at 2; John Ellis, at 1; Saml. Warren

HISTORY OF MILFORD.

at 4 ; Gershom Nelson at 2; Joseph Gibbs, at 1; Josiah Wheelock, at 1; Jona. Jones, at 2 ; Amariah Frost, Jr., at 1. This covers the period from 1741 to 1780.

CLERKS.

William Cheney, Jr., to 1747 ; Samuel L. Scammell, 1748, and his son Samuel L. from 1761 to 1769 ; James Sumner from 1748 to 1759 ; then William Jennison for two years to 1761; then Caleb Cheney from 1769 to 1780.

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History of the town of Milford, Worcester county, Massachusetts, from its first settlement to 1881, Part 9

Author: Ballou, Adin, 1803-1890 Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Boston : Rand, Avery, & co. Number of Pages: 1328

Author: Ballou, Adin, 1803-1890
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Boston : Rand, Avery, & co.
Number of Pages: 1328