USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > Jubilee of the South Congregational Church : November the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth and sixteenth, nineteen hundred > Part 10
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The following sketch of Dr. Boynton was kindly prepared by his son, General H. V. Boynton of Washington, D. C.
CHARLES BRANDON BOYNTON, D. D., was born in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, June the twelfth, 1806. He entered Williams in the class of 1827. He studied law, and later was elect- ed to the Massachusetts legislature. While a student of law he be- came converted, and decided to study for the ministry. He was a pupil of the Rev. Timothy Woodbridge, the blind preacher. He was ordained pastor of the Congregational church at Housa- tonic, Massachusetts, in 1840. After three years he went to Lan- singburgh, New York, as pastor of the second Presbyterian church, and in 1846 accepted a call to the Sixth Presbyterian
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church in Cincinnati, Ohio. The opposition to slavery was be- ginning to grow strong in that border city, and under his leader- ship the church adopted the Congregational form of worship in order to free itself from an organization tolerating slavery. This church was known as the Vine Street Congregational. In it was held, in 1848, the first Christian Anti-slavery convention in the West. When it assembled, so fierce had the controversy over slavery become, that one of the leading newspapers of the city advocated mobbing it. Dr. Boynton continued a leader in the anti-slavery cause until the war abolished it. In 1856 he was called to the South church in Pittsfield, but was recalled to the Vine Street Church in 1857. Being compelled to stop preaching for a time by ill health, he again sought an Eastern climate. He was chaplain of the National House of Represen- tatives during the Thirty-ninth and the Fortieth Congresses and pastor of the First Congregational Church in Washington. He was again called to the South Church, and afterward for a third time to the Vine Street Church in Cincinnati. His total ser- vice in the latter position was over 25 years. He died in Cin- cinnati in 1883. He regarded his terms of service in the South Church as among the most delightful years of his ministry.
ROSWELL FOSTER, born Hanover, New Hampshire, June the thirtieth, 1824, studied at Henniker and Hopkinton academ- ies, was graduated Dartmouth college 1849, Andover Seminary 1853. Pastorates: Waltham, Massachusetts 1855-1856, West- hampton, Massachusetts 1856-1859, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, February the second, 1859-January the twenty-fourth, 1861, Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, 1861-1867, Nebraska City, Ne- braska 1867-1872, Fremont, Nebraska, 1872-1875, Winthrop, Iowa, 1877-1879, Independence, Iowa, 1877-1882, Westmore- land, New Hampshire, 1884-1885, Templeton and Baldwinsville, Massachusetts, 1885-1889, Phillipston and Petersham, Massa-
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chusetts, 1889-until his death at Phillipston, of Bright's dis- ease May the seventh, 1892. He served in the Christian com- mission in 1864.
SAMUEL ROBINSON DIMOCK, born Mansfield, Connecti- cut, May the twenty-eighth, 1822, was graduated Yale college 1847, studied theology at East Windsor, Connecticut. Pastor- ates: Valatie, Kinderhook, New York (Presbyterian) 1855-1859, Wilton, Connecticut, 1859-1861, Pittsfield, September the twenty-fourth, 1861-April the twenty-fourth, 1864, Syracuse, New York, 1864-1868, Quincy, Illinois, 1869-1871, Lincoln, Ne- braska, 1871-1875, Central City, Colorado, 1875-1877, Denver, Colorado, without charge, 1877 to death, April the nineteenth, 1898.
EDWARD STRONG, D. D., born Somers, Connecticut, Octo- ber the twenty-fifth, 1813, was graduated Yale college 1838, Union Theological Seminary 1839-1840, Yale Theological Semi- nary and tutor Yale college 1840-1842. Ordained College Street church, New Haven, Connecticut, December the fourteenth, 1842, dismissed July the first, 1862; installed Pittsfield March the fifteenth, 1865, dismissed November the fifteenth, 1871; installed West Roxbury, Massachusetts, May the second, 1872, dismissed July the thirteenth, 1882, without charge there 1884-1888, Pittsfield afterwards. D. D. Hamilton college 1864. Died at Pittsfield of pneumonia, December the thirteenth, 1898, aged eighty-five years, one month and eighteen days.
Accurate information about Mr. Crowther has been difficult to obtain. The following account, however, is believed to be substantially correct:
THOMAS CROWTHER was born in an eastern town of Eng- land, on the coast of the German ocean in 1839. When he was six years old, his parents came to this country and settled in New
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York city. He was graduated at the College of the City of New York. Taught school in the city, served in the South under the Freedman's Bureau, was graduated at Princeton Theological Seminary, became minister of the Congregational church in Mill River, Massachusetts, 1870. Installed South church, Pittsfield, May the twenty-first, 1872; dismissed May the fourth, 1875. Served in Memorial Presbyterian church, Brooklyn, N. Y., 1875-1877; became minister of the First Presbyterian church (new school) 1877; died October the tenth, 1877, of diphtheria, having been in his new church only five months. His eldest child, Thomas, died of malarial fever and diphtheria Sat- urday, October the sixth. On the following Wednesday the father died of the same disease, and in a few days two little girls, Annie, aged two, and Grace, aged five, followed him.
Two former ministers of the church are still living:
THE REVEREND WILLIAM CARRUTHERS of Holyoke, who served this church from January the thirteenth, 1876, until June the twenty-sixth, 1877, and THE REVEREND CHARLES H. HAMLIN of Easthampton, who served this church from May the eighteenth, 1879, until December the sev- enth, 1884.
DEACON THOMAS TAYLOR 1792-1875
SOME OF OUR MEN.
BY MR. WILLIAM B. RICE.
THE FIRST DEACONS.
DEACON THOMAS TAYLOR, the eldest of the three first deacons was born in West Springfield September the second, 1792.
While still a young man he came to Pittsfield, with his bride, Lucy Day, and made himself a valued workman in the finish- ing department of Lemuel Pomeroy's gun shop. In 1837, his health being impaired, an out of door life was thought neces- sary. He therefore left the shop and bought a farm lying off from South street on the borders of the Housatonic river. Here the rest of his life was passed. A lover of nature, seeing "ser- mons in stones and good in everything," the life of the farm was a delight to him. He did not care for the "things of the kingdom" until one day in the midst of the revival of 1827 Miss Nancy Ingersoll rapped at the door of the little yellow house on East street and left this solemn message; "Tell Mr. Taylor, 'Prepare to meet thy God'" The message was heeded. There was a period of deep conviction of sin, of doubt, and even despair, which ended in a complete and final yielding of heart and life to God. From this time, his life, which seemed so quiet and uneventful, was full of exciting and absorbing in- terest in the souls of men and of untiring effort for their con- version. Believing firmly all the doctrines of the time, his
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fervent prayers were for those who were "condemned already," and his labor that the condemnation might be removed. The relation of the soul to God was to him the vital thing in life, and he talked about it so naturally with every one he met that he seldom had a rebuff. It was said of him that there was no one, not even the minister, to whom the timid or anxious could go so freely or from whom they received so much comfort. And not only did they come to him, but he went to them. A char- acteristic incident is told of him in this connection.
Sitting one wild winter night in his comfortable home, he suddenly said to his family, "I feel that neighbor-needs me. I must go to him." No suggestion that there was danger to him- self in the exposure and cold of the stormy night and that the morning would do as well, altered his determination, and he set forth across lots through the snow. Neighbor-did need him. He was in agony under conviction of sin and was longing for Brother Taylor's help. The night passed in prayer and earnest talk, and they did not separate until the struggle was ended and the doubting heart believed. This personal work with individ- uals was Deacon Taylor's specialty.
He became a member of the First church in 1827, was made deacon in 1848, just as the new parish was being organized. Be- cause of Dr. Todd's reluctance to part with so much of his "best timber" at once, and by his urgent request, he remained one year in this office in the First church before severing his connection with it to join the colony which formed the South . church. He was immediately chosen as a deacon of this new or- ganization and served until his death in October, 1875.
What zealous, faithful service he rendered to this church of his love :- in the prayer meeting, from which he never was ab- sent but from compulsion, where his voice was always heard in prayer and exhortation ;- in the Sunday school, where his class
DEACON CURTIS TREAT FENN 1792-1871
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was large and sent a continuous stream of additions to the church ;- in his office of deacon, watching over the flock.
He did all in his power to further Home and Foreign Mis- sions, giving to the latter one of his daughters in the days when "going on a mission" to the Hawaiian Islands meant a voyage of six months with no prospect of a return.
Eager for knowledge, he was a constant reader, a close ob- server of men and things, entering with enthusiasm into all the questions of the time, forming his own opinions, and holding firmly to his convictions of truth and right.
In October, 1875, with a joyful exclamation of surprise, he began the new life in which we believe he is increasingly active in the Master's service.
DEACON CURTIS T. FENN was born in Berlin, Connecticut, January, 1799.He came to Pittsfield when a young man in 1832, and in connection with Col. Samuel Mckay, built the Pittsfield Cotton factory, known in later times as the Van Sickler mill. He married Parthenia Little Dickinson, and they were both mem- bers of the First church, leaving it in 1850 to join the new or- ganization just formed. Deacon Fenn was one of the first three deacons of the new church and continued in that office many years. He was a leading spirit in all church matters, and was thoroughly indentified with all public affairs. He enjoyed the love and esteem of his neighbors in an unusual degree. He died July, 1871.
Mrs. Fenn has been spoken of as Pittsfield's "Florence Night- ingale." Her whole life was given to deeds of love and mercy. She worked for the soldiers of 1812, for the Greek patriots in 1824, and during the Civil war her name was one of those most frequently heard by camp fire and in hospital. She was the or- ganizer and director of the Soldier's Aid Society and devoted al- most her entire time during the war to aiding our boys at the front. She survived her husband several years.
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DEACON JAMES HARRIS DUNHAM, who was the young- est of the first three deacons of the church, was a native of Northampton, and was born in 1803. His early youth was passed in Cambridge, New York, in the family of Nathaniel S. Prime, pastor of the Presbyterian church and principal of Wash- ington academy. In this home he received a faithful Christian education, and was cherished as a son and brother.
When fifteen years of age he came to Pittsfield, and soon after engaged in the tailoring business, in which he continued many years, accumulating a handsome property by his habits of thrift and industry and judicious investments. Although he was always closely in touch with all public affairs, he never held public office.
He was radical in all his views and a strong and active anti- slavery man and did not hesitate to put the injunctions of Jesus above the requirements of the fugitive slave law. He was the first treasurer of the Pittsfield cemetery corporation and long a director of the Berkshire Mutual Fire Insurance company, and for many years he was the oldest fireman in Pittsfield, having been a member of the company organized in 1822. He was for many years a member of the First church and for fourteen years was superintendent of its Sunday school. He was a leader in the organization of the South church and labored with zeal and devotion for its establishment and growth. For seventeen years, from 1850 to 1867, he was the superintendent of its Sunday school. His eldest daughter, who was for a time organist at the First church, was the first organist of the new church and played with rare skill. Her musical talent was inherited, her father belonging to a musical family. Music, both vocal and instrumental, was one of his chief home pleasures. The so- cial side of Deacon Dunham's nature was most attractive. He was a cordial and genial host, and in social conversation was full
DEACON JAMES HARRIS DUNHAM 1803-1890
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of quaint wit and humor. He had a fund of anecdotes and a manner of relating them that was unsurpassed.
Deacon Dunham's interest in and love for the South church never faltered, and until incapacitated by blindness he was the most prominent member of the parish. It has been said of him that whoever else put his hand to the plough and then fell out by the way, the church could always count on Deacon Dunham as loyal everytime. He was a liberal friend to both home and foreign missions. His interest in the American Board dates back to early youth, when the missionary Levi Parsons visited at Dr. Frime's home and his gifts to that organization were large.
Deacon Dunham lived for many years in the brick house which stood where Dunham's block now stands and of which it is a part. This block he built in 1861. He then moved to the house now owned by Mrs. Samuel Cooley on South street. After the death of his parents he moved to the homestead on West street, where he lived until his death.
He was twice married, his first wife was Miss Martha Bliss of Northampton. He married for his second wife, Miss Frances Taylor, daughter of Deacon Thomas Taylor, who survived him. For the last ten years of his life he was totally blind and this terrible affliction he bore with heroic courage and resignation and wonderful cheerfulness. He died October the twenty- eighth, 1890, in his eighty-eighth year. His pastor at his funeral said of him: "Let me simply say out my faith, in words fitter than my own, that here was a man, who lived pure- ly in God's sight and righteously toward his brother men."
The following facts are added concerning men whose names are mentioned with honor in the foregoing pages, in order that the record may be complete.
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DANIEL DAY, M. A., born Lanesboro, Massachusetts, Sep- tember the eighteenth, 1815. Williams college 1834-1837. Teacher, Lanesboro, 1837-1847. Williams college gave M. A. in 1848. Member Massachusetts Legislature 1853. Assistant Treasurer Berkshire County Savings Bank July, 1868, until his death, October the twenty-eighth, 1883. Married October the fourteenth, 1840, Jane Eliza Smedley of Williamstown, who died June the tenth, 1889.
HENRY MULFORD PEIRSON, born Richmond, Massa- chusetts, May the fifteenth, 1825, came to Pittsfield 1849 formed partnership with Dr. Stephen Reed in the agricultural tools and seeds business and in publishing the Culturist and Gazette, 1850, associated with Geo. N. Dutton in the hardware business in Brown's block, where Fenn street now is 1853, lib- rarian of the Pittsfield Library Association 1855, treasurer of the Berkshire Agricultural society 1858-1877, president of the Berkshire Agricultural society 1877, member State Board of Agriculture 1879-1881, special county commissioner 1878-1880, representative to the General Court 1889, clerk of the South church 1861-1870, treasurer of the church 1861-1894, treasurer of the parish 1881-1894, clerk of the parish 1871-1884, dea- con of the church 1871-1894. Married Electa Maria Dresser April the fifth, 1852. Mrs. Peirson died December the six- teenth, 1893. Mr. Peirson died May the eighth, 1894.
DR. STEPHEN REED, born in Cornwall, Connecticut, Sep- tember the twenty-sixth, 1801, was graduated at Yale college, 1824, studied medicine, practiced in Goshen and Roxbury, Con- necticut. Moved to Richmond, Massachusetts, 1831, opened a family school for boys in what is known as the Dwight place in Richmond. 1838. Moved to Pittsfield, 1847, and in partnership with Henry M. Peirson published the "Culturist and Gazette."
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One of the founders of the Pittsfield Library Association, 1850. "He obtained a wide reputation by the discovery of the ice- strewn boulders from the mountains of Columbia county, New York, across the Taconic range and the valley of the Housa- tonic."-History of Pittsfield by J. E. A. Smith, Vol. II., page 681. Married May the seventh, 1833, Sarah Emily Chapin, born December the nineteenth, 1808, died February the third, 1899. Dr. Reed died Pittsfield July the twelfth, 1877.
ALBERT TOLMAN, born Dorchester, Massachusetts, Feb- ruary, 1824, was graduated at Amherst college 1845, tutor at Amherst 1846, Andover Theological Seminary 1847-1848, teacher in Maplewood Institute, Pittsfield, 1850-1855, Taconic Institute, Lanesboro, 1855-1868, principal Pittsfield High school, 1868-1878. Deacon of the South church, 1875-1891. Married Jane Tower, daughter of Justus Tower of Lanesboro, September the twenty-third, 1853. She died September, 1871. Married Mrs. Caroline A., widow of Dr. N. W. Wilson and daughter of Chauncey Goodrich of Pittsfield, August the sixth, 1872. Died August the seventeenth, 1891.
THE FOUNDERS OF THE PARISH.
WILLIAM WHITE WARD was a native of Pittsfield, born in 1793. He became a member of the First Church in 1821. His name heads the list of the founders of the new South Parish. He was the largest contributor to the new church building, which shows him to be a man possessed of comfortable means and gen- erous in aiding this good cause. He was a bachelor and lived on Beaver street, his niece, Mrs. Gauthier, being his housekeeper ..
WELCOME S. HOWARD was born in West Hawley, Massa- chusetts, October the first, 1800. He came to Pittsfield in 1825
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and opened the first shoe store in the village, and continued in the business for forty years. He built and occupied the house now standing on the corner of East Housatonic street and Bart- lett avenue extension. He with his wife was dismissed from the First church at the organization of the new church, and although he left town in 1868, he retained his membership in this church to the end of his life. His last years were spent in Westfield, Massachusetts, with his daughter, Mrs. Bartlett, where he died in August, 1887, leaving a wife with whom he had lived six years beyond the golden wedding day. Another daughter, Eliza How- ard Wood, went as a missionary to India and died there in 1859.
Mr. Howard was devoted to the welfare of the South Church and gave many years of self-sacrificing service to it, loving it to the end.
EBENEZER DUNHAM was born in Northampton October the eleventh, 1806, and died January the fifteenth, 1883. He came to Pittsfield in 1821 and learned the carriage trade of his uncle, Jason Clapp, later going into the business with his broth- er, Harvey C. Dunhamn.
He married Martha Carey in 1832, daughter of Avery Carey, who was also one of the founders of the South Church Parish, and was dismissed with his wife from the First Church at the forming of the new society. The obituary notice published at the time of his death said of him, "He was a man of sound judg- ment, yet very tolerant of the opinions of others, possessing broad and liberal views. In domestic and social life he was court- eous, genial, kindly, not devoid of humor, and a favorite with all."
CHARLES HULBERT was born in Lee, Mass., March the twentieth, 1824. He married Miss Fanny Dunham who was a sister of Deacon James H. and Ebenezer Dunham. Although Mr. Hulbert was one of the organizers of the new parish, cir-
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cumstances arose which led him to feel it his duty to remain a member of the First Church where he was made a Deacon in 1851. He removed to Boston in 1852, where he died in 1875.
HENRY G. DAVIS, like Mr. Charles Hulbert, was one of the founders of the South l'arish, but did not withdraw from the First Church when the new society was formed. He was made a deacon in the First Church in 1851. After his death in 1863 Dr. Todd published a sketch of his life entitled the "Model Deacon."
CHARLES MONTAGUE was born in Sunderland, Massa- chusetts, April, 1819. In 1838 he was publisher of the. Massa- chusetts Eagle in Lenox, of which Mr. Henry W. Taft was edi- tor. In 1842 he removed to Pittsfield and became both editor and publisher of the paper for a time. He sold the paper to Samuel Bowles & Co. of Springfield in 1852, and removed to Hartford in 1854.
He was much interested in the new church and very efficiently aided in its establishment and growth until his departure from town.
DR. OLIVER ROOT was born in Pittsfield, July, 1799. To Dr. Root belongs the honor of making the first effectual effort toward the establishment of the Berkshire Medical College, and Le was for many years one of the trustees of the college. He was secretary and treasurer of the Cemetery Corporation and was an active member of the town school committee. Although he was one of the foundation men of the Parish and one of the charter members of the church, he withdrew in 1858 and returned to the First Church. He died in Pittsfield in 1870.
THEODORE HINSDALE, who was the first moderator of the South Parish, was born in Connecticut in 1771 and died in 1855, five years after the organization of the church. He was the oldest of the foundation men, being in his eightieth year when he with- drew from the First Church to join the new society.
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Mr. Hinsdale was j'or many years a deputy sheriff and a justice of the peace, before whom many cases were brought for trial. He held court in his house on South street. He was a man of great force of character and strong in his religious convictions.
AVERY CAREY was born in West Brookfield, Massachusetts, in 1789, and died in 1834. He came to Pittsfield when quite young and learned the carpenter's trade, a trade which he follow- ed most of his life. Mr. Carey was an abolitionist of the most radical type, and while usually a very quiet man, if slavery was mentioned in his presence he seemed transformed and the whole expression of his face was instantly changed.
He is universally spoken of as a sincere and consistent Chris- tan.
WILLIAM MANNING WALKER, the staunchest abolition- ist of them all, was born in Woodstock in 1810. He married Ann M. Dunham, sister of James H. and Ebenezer Dunham. For many years he was in the jewelry business on North street where Prince & Walker's block now stands, and his home was on West street next to his brother-in-law's, Deacon James H. Dunham. Men like Sumner, Garrison and Phillips were his friends and oft- en visited him. He was a man of strong convictions, courageous in expressing them, and always living up to them. He was an earnest worker in all that pertained to the welfare of the church. He died in March, 1870.
LEWIS STODDARD was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1791 and died in Pittsfield in 1853, two years after the for- mation of the South church in which he took such a deep in- terest and of which he was one of the founders.
He was a contractor and mason by trade, and lived in what is now known as the Webber house on North street. His son-in- law, Mr. Edward Learned, lived in a part of the same house.
WILLIAM MANNING WALKER 1810 -1870
DR STEDHEN REED 1801 - 1877
DANIEL JOSHUA DODGE 1819 - 1893
WILLIAM SHEPHERD KIRTLAND 1826- 1893
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The Pittsfield "Sun" in chronicling his death, speaks of him as "a man eminent in the community for his Christian virtues, for the estimable qualities that never fail to command universal respect."
THE REVEREND WELLINGTON TYLER, the principal of the Pittsfield Young Ladies' Institute, later known as Maplewood Institute, was born in Hartford, Pennsylvania. In 1843 he was admitted to the membership of the First Church and withdrew at the formation of the new church. He removed to Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1856, having disposed of his Institute to the Rev- erend J. Holmes Agnew D. D. He died in Labrador, where he had gone for his health in 1863 and was buried in Pittsfield.
WILLIAM S. WELLS was born in Baldwinsville, New York, June, 1796. He came to Pittsfield when a young man and united with the First Church in 1827, and with his wife was dis- mussed in 1850 to join the new society.
Mr. Wells was by trade a cooper, and he also kept a store on North street. He built and occupied the house now owned by Mr. W. H. Cooley on South street. He is remembered as a devout Christian man, faithful to all his religious duties.
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