USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Lee > Lee : the centennial celebration and centennial history of the town of Lee, Mass. > Part 17
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
.
But it was not altogether by his sermons that Dr. Hyde held the town together. His office itself gave him great strength. The min- istry in those days was a divine institution, and not a mere device to
205
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
help men while away an otherwise idle hour on Sabbath morning. And Dr. Hyde magnified his office out of the pulpit as well as in. Directly or indirectly, he touched all town life and work. All rev- erenced him, all confided in him, all looked to him for sympathy in sorrow, and advice in trouble. In family visitation he came in con- tact with the children, and then " catechised " them in the district schools. And thus, after all, his pastoral work was his great work.
The Sabbath, in Lee, was scrupulously observed. Even those who did not go to meeting, spent it mainly within doors. But almost everybody attended public worship. The modern close-communion buggy, with its little too much room for one and not quite enough for two, had not then begun its devil's work of thinning out the churches. In all the outlying districts some one or more of the farmers had their large-boxed, lumber wagons in which they gathered up their carriage- less neighbors, so that, "I couldn't go afoot," was no excuse when Dr. Hyde-as he was sure to do-came during the week to find out the reason for non-attendance. These side streams of wagons, emptying their drift into the larger channels, and these again into the main river, dashed a flood of worshippers around the old meeting-house at the second ringing of the bell on Sunday mornings. The services which ensued were simple and sober. The psalm or hymn was from Watts' version. The prayer was systematic, earnest, but slow and minute, and therefore long, measured by the modern standard. Spe- cial requests were often interpolated, now for some one sick and nigh unto death, then for some one in trial, and anon for some adventurous family about to undertake the perilous journey to the " Holland Pur- chase " or the far off " Western Reserve." The choir was large and backed by Capt. Lander's huge bass-viol, filled the great room with sonorous melody. Then was Mr. Hollister, the leader, wrapt into ecstacy and his whole person rose and fell with the cadences of the tune, like a waif on the billows of the sea. Sometimes Major Wilson came down from Lenox, and then the old fugue tunes roared and rat- tled, and the different parts chased one another up and down and played tag among themselves in a most bewildering way. Such in- spiriting song ! No wonder the small boy of the period who tenanted the gallery, got excited now and then, and needed to be soothed by a touch of "Uncle Joe" Chadwick's horn-tipped rattan. The sermon was methodical aud unadorned, but clear and pointed; and always closed with some definite instruction concerning the sinner's way to Christ.
After the morning service, the congregation resolved itself into a Sabbath-school. For many years Dea. Nathan Bassett superintended
206
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
· it, and did his work grandly. Old and young, male and female, were formed into classes. My mother was in one, my father in another and myself in a third. Gray-headed men were in one-pew, and spectacled old ladies in another; and all were engaged in a common work. I have never seen another such Sabbath-school since. The half-hour between the school and the afternoon service, was devoted to "dinner " and talk. The Orthodox dinner on these occasions consisted of " cookies " well spiced with caraway seed ; these being about the only kind of victuals that could be trusted in the pockets of the Sunday coat. At this time, also, in Winter, the foot-stove was replenished, its morning fire having succumbed to the length of the sermon, or to a want of draft. Meantime a diligent discussion was going on; some- times of the sermon, sometimes of the Sunday-school lesson, and sometimes of some secular affair of general interest.
The afternoon sermon was usually upon some "lighter" topic than that of the morning; and if the morning discourse was upon a doc- trinal subject we sometimes had the practical use of it set forth in the afternoon. The home-going was done staidly yet cheerfully, and the dinner, bountifully provided for on Saturday, was encountered by an appetite decidedly secular.
I had something in. mind about the two great political Sundays- Fast and Thanksgiving days-which our governors used to give us in the Spring and Fall ; but I pass them by. Great changes, I pre- sume, have come over the town since the times of which I have spoken. Other churches, other ministers, other men and other forces have met and mingled there where the Puritan spirit, and Puritan ideas once reigned supreme and reigned alone. The interior life of Lee has doubtless grown broader and noisier, but I question if it has grown deeper and purer. If my view of it shall seem too rose-colored to be real, I have only to say that perhaps the haze of time may have dimmed the darker hues without shading at all the brighter ones.
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
THE poverty of the people, the sparseness of the popu- lation, the drain made by the war in the early history of the town, were evident obstacles to the religious progress of the community. Various traditionary stories perpetu- ate these characteristics of the primitive days.
" Old Mr. Swift visited the Bassetts soon after their
b P 0
207
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
settlement here, and as he looked around him, exclaimed to his friends, "I think that you are very highly favored in this town." When asked " Why so?" he replied, " I have noticed that ministers and other good men always pray for the desolate parts of the earth, and I have no doubt but that you share in their prayers."
When David Baker left the Cape in 1780, he was a young man, and so desolate was this region then con- sidered, that his pious mother remarked as he left her home, " David is going to Mount Ephraim, and he will never hear another sermon."
The act of incorporation did not require of the inhabi- tants as a condition of enjoying the " power, privileges and immunities " of other such incorporated towns, that they should settle a " Godly, learned, and Orthodox minis- ter within three years." This crowning characteristic of the old Massachusetts town system was long delayed, though it was an almost constant item in the warrants for the town meetings, the business of the church being at that time transacted by the town. This intimate con- nection of church and town continued through the first. half century of the town's history, and as most of the inhabitants were Congregationalists, no other church being established at the Center till after the death of Dr. Hyde in 1833, no apology is necessary for the promi- nence given to the Congregational Church in the early annals of the town. The history of the one is inseparably interwoven with that of the other.
The first sum of money which the town voted to raise was "for preaching the Gospel." The whole business transacted at the second town meeting 1778, January 8, was the vote " to raise the sum of £30 lawful money, to be laid out in preaching the Gospel. Voted, to choose three men for a Committee, to employ a preacher, and to pay him the above money that is voted-Jesse Bradley,
208
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
Oliver West, and Job Hamblin." The first religious meeting was held in Deacon Oliver West's barn, which stood where a barn now stands upon the old Wakefield place, near the burying-ground. The hay-mow consti- tuted the orchestra. That old barn echoed in sweetest melody, with the divine songs sung by that choir in which the children of Jonathan Foote were the principal performers. In view of this fact, Nathan Dillingham, the then poet of Lee, perpetrated the following :
" David and Ase sing bass ; Jonathan and Fenner sing tenor ; 'Vice and Sol beat them all."
1780, April 7, the town was in favor of securing a " Prispeartering Minister, and voted to settle Mr. Fowler, offering him £50 yearly for a " sallery," and £180 for a " settlement," not to be paid in coin, however, but in " country produce," prices to be good as money was in 1774. June 15, 1780, a committee was chosen to hire preaching for three months. It was "voted to raise £24 silver money, or the equivalent value thereof in Continental money to be assessed, and paid in before August 1, next, and if any man refuses to be assessed, he is to apply to the assessors, and they are not to assess him." It must be remembered that this was during the very darkest period of the Revolutionary War, when the people seemed almost wearied out with a fruitless strug- gle, and no hope of speedy and triumphant issue had yet begun to dawn. There can be no doubt of the "liber- ality" of the religious sentiment that was ready to pass such a vote. There must have been from the great variety of origin and character in the first settlers, a great variety of religious sentiment.
A Congregational Church was organized 1780, May 25, very independently, as appears from the record. No
209
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
council seems to have been called. "The Professors of religion in the town of Lee, met and formed themselves into a church, the Rev'd Mr. Daniel Collins of Lanes- borough being present at their request to assist in form- ing them." They numbered 38 members, 14 men, and 24 women. After being organized, they appointed a committee to invite a council to attend the ordination of Mr. Abraham Fowler, as Pastor, June 8. The churches invited were Sheffield, Egremont, Stockbridge, Lenox, Pittsfield, Lanesborough and Williamstown. But the church was doomed to a great disappointment, from which it did not apparently recover for a long time. So many in the town enlisted in a remonstrance against Mr. Fowler, that the council refused to ordain him.
1780, December 27, the town voted to raise money for preaching to be paid Mr. Catlin. 1781, May 18, £40 raised to pay Mr. Kirkland for preaching. A vote passed in April, 1780, "to exempt all the Churchmen and Baptists, and the Quakers from settling and supporting a Presbyterian minister in town," was renewed at this time. It indicated the heterogeneous character of the com- munity, and the difficulty of united action in religious matters in the town meetings. 1782, February 5, a com- mittee was chosen to " apply to Mr. Elisha Parmelee to come and preach to us." November 29, voted to hire preaching till March 1, and the committee were instructed to apply to Mr. Catlin, if he could not be obtained " to use their Dischression." 1783, May 12, when the ques- tion was put in regard to granting the request of a peti- tion against supporting Mr. Parmelee, 19 voted in favor of doing this, 39 against it. After a few records of ad- mission and baptism we read, " 1783, July 3, Mr. Elisha Parmele was ordained to the work of the Gospel ministry and pastoral charge of this church." A paper protest- ing against this action and signed by 21 persons was
27
210
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
presented to the council, but Mr. Parmele's views in regard to future punishment were pronounced scriptural and right. The objections made by believers in universal salvation were adjudged to be groundless, but the council thought best to ordain him. July 5, £60 voted to hire preaching.
1784, May 18, the church voted leave of absence to Mr. Parmele, whose health had failed. He proposed to take a journey to Virginia. It was mutually agreed that Pastor and church might enter into new engagement if opportunity offered. Mr. Parmele was sound in the faith, amiable in his manners; highly respected for his piety and talents. But from the failure of his health, his ministry was of short duration. While traveling in pur- suit of health, he met death with hardly a moment's warning, when in Virginia at the country-seat of Col. Abraham Bird, August 2, 1784, when nearly 100 miles short of the place he intended to reach. He was only 29 years old.
For eight years the church was without a pastor ; many candidates employed ; many attempts unsuccess- fully made to settle some one as pastor.
1784, November 23, the Committee were instructed " to agree with Mr. Storer to preach as long as he will agree for." 1785, March 28, Mr. Hatch was to be em- ployed still longer, six Sabbaths if possible. ££60 voted to procure preaching. 1785, August 14, Mr. Kirkland preached. 1785, October 30, Mr. Lord was " applied to," to preach. November 17, those present at the meeting were equally divided as to whether he should preach longer. 1786, March 13, the Committee were instructed to apply to Mr. Warren. 1786, June 25, Mr. Monson, the minister of Lenox, preached. July 14, it was proposed to send to Mr. Haskell, but no vote was taken. July 18, Dr. Beebe was invited. July 31, Mr.
C
t
E
211
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
Haskell was asked to preach " while he conveniently can." September 21, when the vote was taken, there was a division of opinion, 56 being in favor of Dr. Beebe, 23 in favor of Mr. Haskell. November 1, Dr. Beebe was asked to preach " a spell longer." November 20, Mr. Haskell was invited to preach 4 Sabbaths. 1787, September- the Committee was instructed to send for Mr. Mills. September 25, they were instructed to secure Mr. Calvin
White " as long as they can." November 30, the town voted to unite with the church in giving a call to Mr. White. 1788, February 11, the Committee were to apply to Mr. Collins "to preach with a view to settle." April 6, Mr. Avery preached, the minister of Alford, and after- wards of Tyringham. May 7, £50 voted for preaching. 1788, September 8, the committee were to apply to Mr. Holt. This application resulted in the town's voting 50 affirmative, 1 negative to concur in calling Mr. Holt. The terms offered were ££80 yearly salary, and £200 settlement.
In January, 1789, the town voted to apply to Mr. Wil- liam Miller. March 1, there was a unanimous call voted to Mr. Miller as also by the Church March 16, on the same terms as those offered to Mr. White. 1789, May 11, either Mr. Pratt, was to be engaged for six Sabbaths more, or Mr. Crocker of New Haven. 1790, January 4, Mr. Lee of Salisbury was to be asked to preach. May 4, Mr. Mead, after his journey to Boston, was to be secured to preach. 1790, September 23, the town appointed a committee to treat with regard to making some altera- tions in the Church covenant-a most unusual instance of a town's interference with what is now considered the special province of every church or society. 1790, Sep- tember 27, in answer to a communication from the town, the Church voted to " give up or lay by their covenant, and take the Bible alone for their rule of government,"
212
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
but voted also, that " grace is a necessary qualification for communion." The Church had excommunicated Deacon Bradley, 1788, June 26, for denying eternal punishment, and sent a committee, 1790, July 29, "to converse with Mr. Penoyer respecting his ideas of all mankind's being finally happy." 1791, March -, Mr. Abel Jones was called, on the same salary as had been offered to others. July 25, Mr. Stephen Williams was engaged for four Sabbaths. A vote to give him " a call " was passed, 76 for it, 5 opposing. The salary offered was £60 the first four years, then ££80. A settlement of £200 was to be paid in grain, cattle, or bar-iron. Or he might have £100 a year with no settlement. Or, he was offered, £90 annual salary, with the improvement of a parsonage containing convenient lands and buildings within a suita- ble distance from the meeting-house, so long as he shall continue to be our minister. It may be noted here that Dr. West of Stockbridge, in 1775, had a salary of £80, yet such was the pressure of poverty, that during the war he was one year not paid at all.
1791, December 19, it was voted, 82 affirmative, 3 negative, that the Committee should apply to Mr. Hyde to preach longer. He had been introduced to the peo- ple by Rev. Mr. Williams of Dalton, at whose house he was visiting. 1792, February 23, the Church met and voted unanimously to give Mr. Alvan Hyde a call to the pastoral charge. 1792, March 5, the town voted to call Mr. Hyde, "85 to 29 neuters and against, including other persuasions;" £200 settlement was offered, £50 yearly for four years. £60 salary the first year to be increased €5 yearly till the salary should reach £80. May 8, William Ingersoll, Esq., Dea. Oliver West, John Nye, Levi Nye, Nathan Dillingham, Capt. Josiah Yale, were appointed a Committee " to provide articles for the ordination of Mr. Hyde." June 5, the council met. Dr.
0
C
213
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
West of Stockbridge was moderator, Dr. Backus of Som- ers preached the sermon. It would seem that the Church was not suitable or not large enough. The rec- ord reads, "June 6, 1792, the council proceeded to a convenient stage erected for the purpose, and solemnly consecrated Mr. Hyde to the sacred office."
The Committee above named, were requested to con- sult Mr. Hyde on the subject of purchasing land for him. With the advice of this Committee, the young pastor bought of Mr. Abraham Howk 54 acres, and commenced building the house which he occupied during his long pastorate of forty-one years. His salary of £60 ($200) would not seem to justify the enterprise, but he had se- cured the affections of the people, and they encouraged his building, and contributed liberally in lumber and other material. Capt. Nathan Ball said to him, "We will all help you, and I will bring you a little honey every year," a promise which he never failed to keep. Money was a scarce article in those days, and a little went a long way. The house was not completed for several years, and when he moved into it with his bride in 1793, his bed-room was well ventilated, as it was open up to the rafters.
It is painful to any one who has familiarized himself with the early history of our New England towns, to see how much of the time of ministers and people was spent in unpleasant controversies. While the Congregational polity fostered independence of thought and feeling, its freedom from ecclesiastical rubrics opened wide opportu- nities for unreasonable and fractious spirits to hinder what they did not wish to help. When, as was the case in Lee, there was no community of sentiments and of in- terest, the wonder is, not that any unity of action was so long delayed, but that any united action was at any time possible. The young preacher had no flattering pros- pects before him, when he began his work as pastor of a
214
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
feeble church and a heterogeneous community. But with God's blessing, discouragements and difficulties were overcome. Patient continuance in well-doing brought about at last a different condition of affairs. The church and the community felt the gentle, steady pressure of the moulding hand. "We have been very Shaysy here," said Mr. Cornelius Basset to the young pastor, "and you'll have to be wise as a serpent to keep the peace among us." Peace, however, was maintained between pastor and people, and the dissensions among the latter gradually decreased. Mr. Hyde preached the truth in love, and a powerful revival of religion soon after his or- dination, greatly strengthened the church, and tended to harmony in society generally. This was the beginning of a series of revivals, which continued all through Dr. Hyde's ministry, and made his church at the time of his death, one of the largest in Western Massachusetts. The little " meeting-house " soon became too strait for the in- increasing congregation, and in 1800, the large and, for the times, beautiful church edifice, which lasted till 1857, was erected. A more particular account of the church cdifices is given elsewhere.
Dr. Hyde's father was Joseph Hyde, a farmer in Frank- lin, Conn., originally called Norwich Farms. He was born in that town February 2, 1768. His mother died when he was six years old. When he was 14 years old he began to . prepare for College. His pastor, Rev. Dr. Nott, was his teacher. He entered Dartmouth Col- lege in 1784, and graduated in 1788. In 1786 he united with the College Church. He taught school one year in Northampton, and then commenced the study of theology under Rev. Dr Backus at Somers, Conn. He was li- censed to preach by the Tolland County Consociation, June, 1790. Part of the two following years he studied theology under Rev. Dr. West, of Stockbridge. He was
0
1
0
215
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
ordained pastor of the church in Lee, June 6, 1792. He was married April 25, 1793, to Miss Lucy Fessenden, of Sandwich. She was a sister of Mrs. Nathan Dillingham, of Lee. When some rumors of the approaching marriage began to be whispered, one of the sisterhood in the church undertook to inquire of Dr. Hyde whether the report was true. "I know it's none of my business," she began, " but I should like to know." " If it is not your business," was his reply, "why do you make it your business ? "
The first year of his pastorate here was a general revival of religion, and 110 were added to the church. This brought into the membership most of the leading men in the town, and throughout the forty years of his ministry, the weight of social influence was on the side of the church. There were 21 male members at the time of his settlement. From being small and feeble and divided, the church grew to be one of the largest and and strongest in this part of the State. He died, as he had desired to do, in the midst of his usefulness. After he had preached a Thanksgiving Sermon, November, 1833, an attack of pneumonia prostrated him, and he never entered the pulpit again. His illness made rapid progress, and December 4, 1833, " he fell asleep," aged sixty-five years, ten months, and two days.
Years before he died, Dr. Hyde was commonly spoken of as "venerable." He was naturally sedate ; in tem- perament, a marked contrast to his life long-friend and neighbor, Rev. Dr. Shepard, of Lenox. His whole de- meanor conveyed the impression of eminent spirituality and sanctity. He was a prudent man in his measures, and of well balanced judgment. As a preacher, he was not oratorical, but simple and solemn. When the truth he uttered was evidently taking effect, he would say, "I pause "-and many a sinner has had solemn thoughts
216
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
during these pauses. While not demonstrative, he was searching. In the times of special religious interest, which were frequent under his ministry, his pungent di- rectness brought the truth very close to his hearer's con- science. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Dartmouth College in 1812. He was invited often to attend ecclesiastical councils, where, as in the ordi- nary association meetings, his opinion was valued as the expression of a discriminating and deliberate judgment.
He was several times urged to stand as a candidate for the Presidency of Williams College, and to take a pro- fessorship of theology. But his sympathies and his judg- ment bound him to the people and the pastorate in Lee. Between thirty and forty young men pursued their studies for the ministry under his care. Both young and old were strongly attached to him, regarding him with loving reverence as one worthy of all respect and confidence. He was of medium height, and of substantial build, in his countenance and demeanor conveying an immediate im- pression of solemnity and benignity, which became the abiding impression of all who knew how affectionate and sympathizing was his heart, what propriety and consist- ency there was in his conduct in all his domestic and social relations.
1834, May 2, the church voted to call Rev. J. N. Dan- forth. The council for his installation met June 17. Rev. Dr. Shepard, of Lenox, was chosen Moderator, and he also preached the sermon. Rev. James Bradford, of Sheffield, was the Scribe. The council met on Tuesday, organized, and then examined the pastor elect. Wednes- day morning they met for a season of prayer, and in the afternoon the installation services were duly performed. This custom of taking two days for the installation of a pastor, was kept up in this part of the state, and was the arrangement when Dr. Gale, in 1853, was installed.
217
THE HISTORY OF LEE.
When Mr. Danforth was installed, the charge to the Pas- tor was given by Dr. Field, of Stockbridge ; the Right Hand of Fellowship, by Rev. Edwin W. Dwight, of Rich- mond ; the Address to the People, by Rev. James Brad- ford, of Sheffield. Soon after Mr. Danforth's installation, and agreeably to a vote of the church, an eight days' pro- tracted meeting was held, October 16-24. That was a new measure in those days, as novel an arrangement as the Tabernacle meetings of Messrs. Moody and Sankey in Boston. The strong Calvinistic expressions of the old creed of the church, seemed to some to require modifica- tion and the 11th article in which the grace of God, which was described originally " as a free, unpromised, sovereign gift," was, to meet their wishes, amended by the omission of the epithet " unpromised." After a pas- torate of four years, Mr. Danforth resigned, 1838, March 7, and was dismissed with cordial testimonials to his fidel- ity and success, by a council which met 1838, March28.
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.