USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Palmer > History of the town of Palmer, Massachusetts, early known as the Elbow tract : including records of the plantation, district and town 1716-1889 > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56
Mr. Robert Kilpatrick preached five Sabbaths, at sixteen shillings per Sabbath.
Rev. Mr. Weld preached a quarter of a year, for which he was paid six pounds, one shilling and eight pence.
*Rev. Mr. Benjamin Dickinson preached two quarters of a year, at twenty-one pounds, sixteen shillings per quarter.
Mr. Collins preached one Sabbath, for which service he presented a bill of twenty shillings, which was not allowed, but he was in- structed to look for payment to the person who employed him.
Rev. Mr. John Harvey had preached three years and one quarter, at twenty pounds per quarter, so that his bill August 8, 1733, amounted to two hundred and sixty pounds.
If the ministerial supply had been constant, Rev. Mr. Kilpatrick began to preach the first of July, 1729, and Mr. Harvey commenced his labors in May, 1730. And there is no reason to doubt that these are the true dates, as all the records extant tally with such a conclusion. +
REV. JOHN HARVEY .- It is commonly understood that he was a Scotchman, born in the north of Ireland, and a graduate of the University. Before coming to the Elbows he was employed as a schoolmaster at Londonderry, N. H. It appears from some loose Plantation records that at first he was hired by the quarter, and that at the end of each quarter some leading man of the settlers went round to each house to ascertain their minds whether he should be longer employed.
* Benjamin Dickinson was son of Nathaniel of Hadley, b. Sept. 11, 1702. His main business was teaching, though he occasionally preached as temporary supply. He m. Sarah Scott, and lived in Hadley, where he raised a family of five children.
1 According to Mr. Harvey's final receipt, he began to preach May 11, 1731, which does not tally with his bill for services, for which a public tax was levied. His bill, rendered at the time, is more likely to be correct than his memory.
86
HISTORY OF PALMER.
At the end of his first year a public meeting was called, and it was "Voted that James Dorchester, Joseph Wright and Andrew Farrand be ye men to go to every inhabitant of this place to know whether they are willing Mr. Harvey stays another quarter, and to receive notes of such as are willing to pay their proportion in order to support said Minister. JAMES MACKELWEAN, Clerk."
"Aug. 23, 1731. Voted to hire the Rev. Mr. Harvey quarterly, and to give twenty pounds."
" Voted, that Mr. Mackelwean, John King, James Shearer, Joseph Flamond, James Lamberton, James Dorchester, are the men to collect and pay the Rev. Mr. Harvey quarterly."
The meaning of the word "collect " is seen when we read the following vote : "Voted that what grane Mr. Harvey takes towards his rates, he is to have as follows : to wit-Wheat, at eight shillings per bushel, rye, at six shillings, Indian corn, at four shillings." This " country pay " was " collected " by the Committee and deliv- ered to the minister at his own house. If he turned it into money it was at his own charge. It will appear in the terms agreed upon for his settlement in the ministry that he was liable to receive a large part of his yearly salary in corn or grain.
In the autumn after the organization of the Plantation, the peo- ple took steps for the settlement of Mr. Harvey as their pastor. According to the custom of the time, which required the written opinion and advice of at least three neighboring ministers, a com- mittee consisting of Joseph Wright, Sen .. Samuel Shaw and James Dorchester was appointed "to take advice of ye neighboring or- dained ministers about the settling of a minister in this place." The Committee applied to the Hampshire Association, and received the following certificate :
"Upon application made to Association of the County of Hampshire, convened at Longmeadow, Octbr ye 10th, 1733, By ye people of ye place called ye Elbows, for advice about the settlement of a minister in that Place : The Association Resolved, that, seeing that Mr. John Harvey hath been improved amongst them for some considerable time in Preaching the Gospel, and we knowing nothing concerning him as to his Doctrine, Life or conversation that should Hinder his being imployed in ye work of the Min- istry ; and having seen his Letter of Lycence, and he being by agreement to continue with them till ye tenth of ye next month, We are of the opinion that it may not be amiss for them then to make Tryall whether there can be a good and generall agreement among them further to Improve him in that work.
A true copy
Test JONATHAN EDWARDS, Scribe.
8%
THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
Whatever this "opinion" of the Association, with its guarded and involved phraseology and negative terms, may have been worth, or intended to be worth, it appears to have been satisfactory to the people; and "at a meeting of the Proprietors, Grantees and settlers of the Elbow Tract legally assembled at the house of John Moor on Wednesday the 14th day of November, 1733, Samuel Shaw, moderator, it was voted, 1. That the Rev. Mr. John Harvey have a call to continue and settle in the work of the Ministry in this Place: 2. That one hundred pounds be granted to the Rev. Mr. John Harvey to encourage his settlement in the Ministry with us: 3. That eighty pounds per year be the stated salary for the Ministry in this place: 4. That Steward Southgate, Samuel Shaw, and James Dorchester be a committee to propose the terms of set- tlement and salary to the Rev. Mr. Harvey, to take his answer, and make return to the Proprietors and Grantees for further confirma- tion."
Nov. 28, 1733. The Committee who were appointed to treat with the Rev. John Harvey brought in a report, which is as fol- lows :
" The Report or Return of the Committee appointed to offer the Terms of settlemont and salary to the Reverend John Harvey, to Receive his answer, and make return, which is as follows, vizt. That we the subscribers in the name of the Proprietors and Grant- ees have given the Rev. Mr. Harvey a Call or Invitation to settle in ye work of the Ministry in this Place, and have proposed or offered him a Hundred pounds to encourage his Settlement, or towards building him a house, Provided he will accept the same from the People in work or labor, or in stuff or material for building, as he shall have occasion, at ye accustomed or Reasonable rates, if season- ably provided.
We have further proposed and offered the sum of Eighty pounds for a yearly or stated salary, to be discharged at two payments; the first payment of Forty pounds to take its rise from the tenth of this instant November, and to be discharged on the second Monday of May next ; and the second payment of Forty pounds to take its rise from the said second Monday of May, and to be discharged on the second Monday of November following, and so yearly, and every year during his continuance amongst us in ye exercise of the Minis- try, Provided, and it was further proposed, that any of the People might pay or discharge their proportion of this salary in corn or grain at a Reasonable or market price, or in Work or labor in ye spring or summer season at Reasonable or customary wages.
And upon these terms and proposals the Rev. John Harvey con-
88
HISTORY OF PALMER.
sents to serve us ye people of this Place in ye work of ye Gospel Ministry according to his ability, and as God by his grace shall en- able him and by his Providence continue him therein. But he desires and proposes that ye People of the place will either provide or lay him in his firewood yearly, or grant him a wood-lot.
These offers and proposals have we made, and these we have re- ceived in answer, which we now report for your consideration.
STEWARD SOUTHGATE, SAMUEL SHAW, Committee. Elbows, November 28, 1733."
" Read, and Voted, That this Report be accepted, and recorded, and that the Rev. Mr. John Harvey be the minister of this Place according to the order of the Gospel, and the law of this Province.
" Voted, That the Rev. Mr. Harvey be this year provided with a sufficient stock of firewood at ye charge of the people."
"At a meeting of the Proprietors and Grantees of the Elbow Settlement legally convened at the house of James Shearer, on Wednesday the 20th day of March, A.D. 1733-4, John King mod- erator, it was voted, 1. That the Rev. John Harvey be ordained to the office of the Ministry in this place ; and that the time for his ordination be on the first Wednesday in June next. 2. That the place for ordaining Mr. Harvey be at the house of James Shearer, unless the Reverend Elders, called to officiate in that work, shall see cause (if the weather permitt) to do it abroad, or elsewhere. 3. That the Rev. Mr. Harvey be ordained a Presbiterian Minister in this place. 4. That Samuel Shaw, Steward Southgate and An- drew Farrand be a committee in behalf of this Society to join with the Rev. Mr. Harvey to send and invite such Ministers to perform the ordination, as he shall nominate and appoint."
At a legal meeting of the Proprietors and Grantees May 20, 1734, it was Voted, That Steward Southgate, Samuel Shaw, Thomas Litell, Daniel Fuller and Joseph Fleming be a committee to take care and make provision for the suitable entertainment of the Rev. Presbitery and other Ministers, and others who may be called and sent to the ordination. Voted, That fifteen pounds be granted and raised upon the Proprietors & Grantees, according to the Rules of raising other ensuing charges, to defray the charge of entertaining the Rev. Presbitery & other Ministers who may be called to the ordination of the Rev. Mr. Harvey-to be immediately assessed and collected, and if the charge of the ordination should not amount to the said sum after accounts shall be settled by the committee, the remainder to be appropriated to some other Publick use, as the Proprietors & Grantees shall order."
89
THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
THE ORDINATION .- " On the fifth day of June, Anno Domini 1734, the Rev. Mr. John Harvey was ordained the first Minister of the Church & Congregation of the Elbow Settlement. The ordin- ation was performed by the delegates of the Reverend Presbitery of Londonderry, upon a scaffold made up under a tree, being a great White Oak tree, standing on the Plain on the east side of the meadow called Cedar Swamp Meadow, within Mr. Harvey's lott .* The Rev. Mr. Thomson of Londonderry preached the sermon, and the Rev. Mr. Morehead [of Boston] gave the charge." Proprie- tor's Records. To this account Rev. Mr. Wilson, in his Historical Address, adds: "One other Presbyterian minister was present, though what part he took in the service is not specified. They were all countrymen of Mr. Harvey's. Rev. Isaac Chauncey of Hadley assisted at the ordination, and perhaps other Congregational ministers." From a document preserved in the State Archives it appears that "invitations were sent to the Church of Christ in Northampton, to Rev. Mr. Stephen Williams of Longmeadow, to the Rev. Mr. Isaac Chauncey of Hadley, and several others ; five of them came, whereof Rev. Mr. Chauncey was one, and by their advice and office he [Mr. Harvey] was ordained."+ The invited council, then, comprised three Congregational and four Presbyterian ministers ; but as neither Rev. Mr. Edwards nor Rev. Mr. Williams was present, the actual ordaining council was composed of four Presbyterians and one Congregationalist.
.
Mr. Harvey had a grant of a one hundred acre lot from the Gen- eral Court's committee, which was laid out on the old Brimfield road, about a mile from the old meeting-house. There was also " surveyed and laid out the 'Ministry Lot' of one hundred acres, lying on each side of Ware River, and bounding northerly on Esq. Read's Farm." So that he had the use and improvement of two hundred acres of land, in addition to his "settlement " and salary. He was also provided with fire-wood, or a round sum was granted him with which to purchase the same. In 1734 twelve pounds was granted for this purpose ; the next year twenty pounds was granted, and the year following thirty-seven pounds.
The Ministry Lot, above referred to, did not become the inheri- tance of Mr. Harvey or any particular pastor of the church; but was for the use of each settled minister successively, during his pastorate. A memorial dated Jan. 5, 1759, signed by James Brack- enridge and others, a committee of the District of Palmer, was sent
* The Ordination Tree stood on the old Brimfield road, three-fourths of a mile southeast from where the old meeting-house was built.
+ Mass. State Archives, xii. 71.
90
HISTORY OF PALMER.
to the General Court, setting forth that "in the Grant made to them of their lands in 1733, they were required to lay out for the use of the Ministry and for a School, one Hundred acres each ; that they accordingly laid out such lands in 1735; but they not being conveniently situated for the purposes intended, the inhabitants bought a farm of 150 acres for the use of the Ministry, in a much better situation, which cost them more than both the other lots would sell for : And they therefore pray they may be en- abled to make sale of the two lots mentioned, and apply the pro- ceeds towards payment for the lot they have purchased. The Court Granted the prayer so far as to give authority to the District to make and execute a Deed of the Ministry Lot referred to ; they purchasing lands of equal value in the most convenient place they can, to be held for the same purpose as the land is that they shall dispose of." Under this permission, the District made sale of the Ministry Lot, and purchased the farm of Rev. Robert Burns, then retiring from the pastorate in the place.
" The committe chosen to sell the Ministry Lot, and School Lot, and also to buy Mr. Burns' farm for a Ministry Lot,-we the sub- scribers have acted as followeth :
We sold the Ministry Lot for 106 pounds, 13 shillings, 4 pence : also sold the School Lot for 30 pounds, 13 shillings, 4 pence : also according to our Instructions we bought Mr. Burns' farm for 141 pounds, 6 shillings, 8 pence, and obliged ourselves to maintain Jean Hill's child in behalf of the town.
Palmer, Sept. 21, 1758.
JAMES BREAKENRIDGE, ROBERT ROGERS, NOAH COOLEY, SAMUEL SHAW, JUN., THOMAS KING.
Committee."
This Report was laid before the town for consideration, and was read and accepted by vote. Barnard McNitt, Clerk.
THE TWO PENNY TAX .- As stated in the Report of the General Court's Committe of 1733, The Elbow Tract " is much discommoded by Farms claimed by Particular Grants from this Court, which have taken up the best of the Land." Under the Act establishing the Plantation, these Farms,were not taxable for current charges. And at a meeting of the Proprietors Nov. 28, 1733, Samuel Shaw, Wm. Scott and Steward Southgate were appointed a committe to prepare and prefer a petition to the General Court asking that the assessors
91
THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
of the Settlement may be authorized to levy and assess a tax upon ye said Farms toward the charge of building a meeting-house and settling a minister. The result is thus recorded :
" At a Great and General Court of the Province of the Massachu- setts Bay, and on a Petition of the Proprietors, Settlers and Grantees of the Elbow Tract in ye county of Hampshire-In Council April ye 16th 1734. Read and Ordered, That the assessor or assessors of ye Plantation called ye Elbows, be and hereby are empowered and directed to assess the Farms within mentioned of the contents of two Thousand acres, at the Rate of two pence per acre per annum, for three years next coming, towards the charge of building a Meet- ing-House, and settling and supporting a Minister in the said Plan- tation. And the said Lands are subjected to be sold for the pay- ment of the said tax, in manner as provided in the Act made in the 4th and 5th year of his present Majesty's reign, entitled An Act to subject the Unimproved Land within this Province belonging to Non-resident Proprietors to be sold for payment of Taxes or assess- ments levied on them by order of the Great and General Court.
.
" And it is further Ordered, that the Proprietors' Receiver of the sd Plantation for the time being, be and hereby is vested witlı like powers that Treasurers and Receivers of Towns and Precincts are vested with, in and by an Act made and passed in the sixth year of his present Majesty's reign, entitled an Act for the seasonable pay- ment of Town and Precinct Rates and Assessments.
Sent down for concurrence.
In the House of Representatives April ye 17, 1734. Read and concurred.
Consented to
J. BELCHER.
The amount of the tax on the farms referred to was 16 pounds, 13 shillings and 4 pence per annum-not large in itself, but helpful to the young Plantation. But a very considerable part of these farms was unimproved land, and the owners became restive under the execution of a warrant for enforcing the collection of the tax. Captain Jabez Olmstead, who owned the Hollingsworth grant of 500 acres, sent a petition to the General Court asking for relief.
" December 20, 1734. Petition of Jabez Olmstead of Ware River, showing that the assessors of the Plantation commonly called . The Elbows, under colour of an order of Court for taxing certain Lands not improved, lying near them, at two pence per acre, have assessed the Lands of the petitioner at two pence per annum, and threaten to sell his land to pay it: Praying that he
92
HISTORY OF PALMER.
may be annexed to the town of Brookfield till such time as there shall be a Parish settled between his Farm and Brookfield.
"In the House of Representatives Read and Ordered, that the prayer of the petition be granted, and the petitioner & his farm be and hereby are annexed and accounted a part of Brookfield, to do duty and receive privilege there, until the further order of this Court-The order of the Court within mentioned of the two penny tax notwithstanding.
In Council Read & Concurred.
Consented to
J. BELCHER.
THE CHURCH .- Mr. Wilson, in his Historical Address, says : " No records of the Church are found of an earlier date than 1753. Probably none were made previous to that time ; consequently nothing definite can be ascertained respecting the precise date of the organization of the church or of the circumstances attending its formation." The Proprietors' records are perplexingly ambig- uous on this point. In one place it is stated that Mr. Harvey was ordained "the first minister of the church and congregation of the Elbows Settlement." In another place the contracting party is styled " the Christian Inhabitants of the plantation in town meet- ing assembled." In a paper preserved in the State Archives [vol. xii, p. 65] signed by Samuel Shaw and others, it is stated that Mr. Harvey was ordained, "although in sª Plantation at the sd time there was no gathered church."
A petition dated Dec. 14, 1739, signed by Nicholas Blancher, Thomas Little and others, "in behalf of themselves and the far greater part of the Church of Christ and Christian inhabitants of the Elbows," which was presented to the General Court, appears to establish the fact that a church had been formed and was in exist- ence at this date. But the matter is again thrown into doubt by a record in the Proprietors' Book : "These are to notifie & warn the Proprietors & Grantees of the Elbows, to meet at the Publick Meeting-House in sª place on Thursday, the 18th day of this instant February, 1748, at 10 o'clk A. M., to act upon the follow- ing Articles : 1. To chuse a moderator. 2. To pass order that the Trew Presbiterian Rules of Church Discipline of the Church of Scotland Perswasion be trewly and faithfully kept up and main- tained here in this congregation, agreeable to our profession, and also to our Solemn Ingagements which we are under, in the sight of God and man, as well as we are in conscience & Duty bound to a faithful Discharge of the same. [" The article was voted out."] 3. That there be a vote pas't in order to have a Presbiterian Ortho-
93
THE ELBOW TRACT-A PLANTATION, 1726-1752.
dox minister of the Church of Scotland Perswasion settled and or- dained here in this plantation, as soon as God in his Providence will permit of the same."
Query. If a church was in existence here, what was the need and what would be the force of such contemplated action on the part of the Proprietors of the Plantation ?
And the same query may be raised in relation to the following vote, copied from the Plantation Records :
"At a meeting of the Proprietors & Grantees of ye Elbows legally held March 8, 1748, Voted, We the Inhabitants and members of ye church and congregation of Kingstown, alias Elbows, desire the Rev. Presbitery of Londonderry that they will dismiss the Rev. Mr. John Harvey from any further work of the Ministry among us." The obvious inference is that there was but one body to act on the subject, viz., the Proprietors and Grantees; and this body styled itself " the Inhabitants and members of the church and congrega- tion."
But the action of another meeting of the Proprietors and Grant- ees carries an equally obvious inference that there were two bodies in existence, and that a concurrence of the two was necessary to give validity to a ministerial call. In a warrant for a public meet- ing on April 27th, 1749, was an article " To pass a vote concurring with the call given by the congregation to the Rev. Mr. Boyd." Under this article, "Voted in concurrence with the congregation in regard to the call of Mr. Boyd to the work of the Ministry in this place."
Query. Was primary action, in cases like the foregoing, taken by the congregation assembled for public worship on the Sabbath, which would, of course, have no legal force, and confirmatory action taken at a legal meeting duly warned and held on a weekday ? If so, this custom will afford a plausible explanation of the phrase- ology of the Records.
It is believed to have been an established custom of the Presby- terian Kirk of Scotland of that day that a member removing from one place to another took with him a token or certificate of church membership, and that these tokens were accepted in all their churches, and admitted the bearer to the communion. Could not all the professors at the Elbows who had these tokens call them- selves "in covenant " and church relation, and thus observe the ordinances, independently of a local church organization?
THE FIRST MEETING-HOUSE .- At the date of the incorporation of the Elbows Plantation the people had been supplied with regu-
94
HISTORY OF PALMER.
lar preaching on the Sabbath for four years, but had not built a meeting-house. In the Act of June, 1733, they are enjoined to " erect and build a suitable house for Publick Worship within two years."
The settlers had not been thoughtless on the matter, for even before the passage of this Act-even as early as August 23, 1732, the Records show that "The Inhabitants beaying sencibel of the grat nead we have of a house convenient to worship God, we the Inhabitants in order theretow have asembled and considred the matter. And in order to a regler doing we have chosen nine men to consider where the place should be, and mak Report to the town, viz. John King, Sam11 Shaw, James Mackalain, James Lam- berton, Tomas Littel, Sargt Magoon, Joseph Wright, Thomas Mac- lanthan, Sam" Curtis." This was bad spelling, but a good beginning. And to provide, in the meantime, a place for holding religious services, two days later there was gathered "A mettin of the Inhabaintints to considder where the Poubylick woshep of God should be getthed for a yeare, to wit: the three first Sabath Days is to be att the house of James Dorchester, and the nex three Sabaath Dayes is to be at ye house of John More, and so to con- tinue by call three Sabaths at a change about." After this year they met at the house of Mr. Moore in the summer, and at John Henderson's during the cold season, " provided his house be made comfortable to meet in ; " and sometimes at John King's, Ebenezer Mirick's, Wm. Crawford's (while Mr. Harvey boarded there in 1733), or James Shearer's, where the ordination service was ap- pointed to be held. The meetings for Sabbath worship and for the transaction of public business, for the time being, were held at the same house. In 1734 and '35 the place of meetings was the Crawford house, which appears to have been injured in some way in connection with public gatherings, and the question was raised whether the people ought not to repair it, and it was "Voted that 12 shillings be allowed to Steward Southgate, and 8 and sixpence to James Shearer for boards, nails and work about the house where the meeting for publick worship is held ; and that the same be ac- cepted as a part of their present Rate to the meeting-house."
Immediately after the organization of the Plantation a serious move was made to build a meeting-house. "August 27, 1733, Lieut. Sam. Doolittle, Samuel Shaw, Joseph Wright, Jun., John King and Timothy Mackelwain were appointed a committee to pitch upon and nominate a spot whereon to build a meeting-house, and make report thereof to the Inhabitants for their acceptance." This choice of a location for the house proved a perplexing matter.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.