USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Natick > Manual of the first congregational church, Natick, Mass. > Part 3
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Natick > Manual of the first congregational church, Natick, Mass. > Part 3
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
Apostle of the Indian, Eliot, wrote His Bible in a language that hath died And is forgotten save by thee alone."
Our noble poet seems for once to have been mistaken in two or three lines of the above, for while the Sonnet
* Dr. Convers Francis' Life of John Eliot, in Sparks' Library of American Biography, Vol. V, p. 229. 1873.
+ Letter from C. K. Dillaway.
* Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. X, p. 242.
36
First Congregational Church.
was published in the March number of the Atlantic Monthly (1877), in the following May number of the same periodical, James H. Trumbull, LL.D., of Hart- ford, Conn., translates the same into veritable " Massa- chusee." I have room but for a single line, and its lit- eral translation back into English-the fifth line of the Sonnet, beginning, "With some mysterious gift ": " Monchanatamwe iänantoowaongane aninnumoadtuonk kuttaihe "; translated back, "A wondrous gift of speech in divers tongues is thine."*
It will be noticed, that thus far at least, Natick was a Foreign Missionary field, mostly secluded from the white population, and under the fostering care of their good apostolic missionary. He was supported chiefly by his own church in Roxbury, though in part by the Missionary Board before alluded to. In 1657, he re- ceived £50, and in 1660 the same amount, it being "for his salary this year." Thus aided, the work greatly prospered. Beside Eliot's labors at Natick, he travelled extensively among other Indians, mostly on foot, going through the wilderness, visiting Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard, besides towns in Worcester County and else- where, preaching the gospel in the Indian language wherever he went. He once preached the gospel to King Philip, who received it with disdain, and taking Eliot by a button of his coat, told him "he cared as little for his gospel as he did for the button on his coat."# Though often opposed by powerful sachems, he feared them not, but told one of them, "It was God's work in which he was engaged, that God was
* See Vol. XXXIX, pp. 293 and 623.
+ Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. X, pp. 189 and 245.
+ Memoir of Eliot, pp. 45, 46.
37
Historical Sketch.
with him, and that he feared not him, nor all the sachems in the country, and that he was resolved to go on, do what they might."*
Just before King Philip's war, in 1675, the whole number of praying Indians has been estimated at three thousand six hundred, of whom three hundred belonged to Natick. Before this date, Mather says, "There are in this colony seventy-nine gathered churches."t As the war opened, the English became jealous, lest on hearing the old war cry, the praying Indians would join the enemy in their native thirst for blood, and the gov- ernment would now have destroyed them, had not Eliot and General Gookin, Superintendent of Indian Affairs from 1656, stepped forth in their defence. Many of them, however, were compelled to go to Deer Island in Boston Harbor, as the following records of the Court testify. "Oct. 13, 1675. It is ordered that all the Natick Indians be forthwith sent for, and disposed of to Deare Island, as the place appointed for their pres- ent abode."# "Nov. 3, 1675. None of the said In- dians shall presume to go off the said Island, volun- tarily, upon pain of death." §
At the end of Oct. 1675, Capt. Prentiss, with a party of horse, and five or six carts, arrived at Natick, and made known the order of government. Sadly, but pa- tiently, the Indians submitted. Two hundred men, women and children were made to get together all they could carry, and marched from their comfortable homes to the banks of the Charles River in Watertown. Here,
* Memoir of Eliot, p. 45.
1 Old Indian Chronicle, p. 148.
# Massachusetts Records, Vol. V, p. 57.
§ Ibid, p. 64.
38
First Congregational Church.
at a spot called "The Pines," near where the United States arsenal now stands, Eliot met them, and they gathered around him to hear his words of comfort, as he exhorted them to meek patience, resignation and steadiness of faith. The scene was exceedingly affect- ing, as the white-haired pastor addressed his dark- skinned, newly reclaimed children about him, clinging to him for consolation, but neither murmuring nor struggling, only praying and encouraging one another. It reminds one of the scene at Delft Haven, when the Pilgrims were taking leave of their pastor, and he of his flock, for this new world. Captain Prentiss and his soldiers even, were deeply touched, but at midnight, when the tide was high enough, three large boats bore the Indians over to Deer Island. Several other settle- ments were deported to the same place. The Court ordered further, that "the country treasurer take care for the provision of these Indians, sent down to Deare Island, so as to prevent their perishing by any extrem- ity."* That winter, however, proved terribly severe. December 10 the snow was four feet deep, and great suffering ensued. That month Eliot and Gookin visited them, then numbering five hundred, and found them undergoing many privations, but still patient and re- signed.
Some of the Natick Indians were engaged in the war, for we learn that eight of Eliot's Indians were taken prisoners and condemned to die. Meantime Mr. Eliot and Captain Guggins (General Gookin) plead so hard for them that the Council knew not what to do ; but so it was, that by one and two at a time, most of them were let loose by night. " The Council heark-
* Massachusetts Records, Vol. V, p. 64.
39
Historical Sketch.
ened to Mr. Eliot for his gravity, age and wisdom, and also that he had been the chief instrument the Lord had made use of in propagating the gospel among the heathen, and was their teacher till the time that some Indians were brought up in the University to supply his place."*
After the close of the war, on the death of Philip, the Indians on Deer Island were allowed to creep back to their old settlements as best they could ; but greatly weakened by sickness and many deaths, only four of the fourteen towns of Christian Indians in Massachu- setts remained, and the progress of civilization and Christianity was greatly retarded in such as survived. The Governor and Council must have deeply regretted these results, for having had good experience of the faithfulness and valor of some of these Indians about Natick in King Philip's war, they afterwards employed two hundred of them to quell the riotous Indians in Maine, and with good success. Eliot bears this honor- able testimony : "For the greatest part, the praying In- dians have been kept steady in following their profes- sion, and witnessing to the excellency of the gospel by much faith, patience, self-denial and courage. They have honestly acquitted themselves during this war, though their temptations and trials have been great. Since the English have abated their fears about them, and employed them in their war, they have had most manifest proofs of their fidelity and valor, and withal have had the blessing of many successes, in which the Christian Indians have had their share." t
Eliot was now advanced in years, and most anxiously
* Old Indian Chronicle, p. 151.
+ Ibid, p. 285.
40
First Congregational Church.
employed in revising his second edition of the Indian Bible, the former edition having been exhausted. Such were his discouragements by delays in means to com- plete the work, that he feared he should not live to see it accomplished. But, said he, "I shall depart joyfully may I but leave the Bible among them, for it is the word of life."* In 1680, he revised the New Testa- ment, and the Old in 1685, when both were finally bound together in an edition of two thousand copies, one of which is now in the library of the Morse Insti- tute, and though it passed through our great fire in January, 1874, it is still in excellent condition, and is valued variously from one to two thousand dollars, an object of deep and rare interest.
From 1674 to 1688 Eliot had been without a col- league in his own church at Roxbury, and yet revising that great work, amid all his pastoral and other duties, at the age of eighty years or more. In October, 1688, he was relieved by the settlement of Rev. N. Walter as colleague, but the time of his departure was drawing near. It is recorded of him that he sometimes used to .say, pleasantly, that "he was afraid some of his old Christian friends, who had departed before him, espe- cially John Cotton, of Boston, and Richard Mather, of Dorchester, would suspect him to have gone the wrong way, because he remained so long behind them." t After having spent nearly sixty years as a minister and missionary combined, toiling faithfully so long, and ac- complishing so much, yet speaking of his own "doings," he exclaimed, "Alas! they have been poor and small doings, and I'll be the man that shall throw the first
* Dr. Francis' Life of John Eliot, p. 230.
t Ibid, pp. 332-3.
41
Historical Sketch.
stone at them."* His wife is said to have had such care of his temporalities, that "he did not know even his own cows." She died March 22, 1687, only about three years before her husband, "a woman of much active benevolence, and of exemplary piety, prompt to share with her husband the works of charity." As an illustration of his great benevolence, I may abbreviate a single anecdote. His treasurer, aware of his liberality, often beyond his means, tied up his annual salary in his pocket handkerchief, in so many hard knots that he might not be able to open it before he reached home. But calling on a poor, sick woman on his way, and find- ing her and her family in a suffering condition, he began attempting to untie the knots to give her a portion, but finding them so hard and numerous, he gave up, saying with a trembling accent, " Here, my dear, take it, I believe the Lord designs it all for you."
Eliot died at Roxbury May 20, 1690, aged eighty-six years. His last words were, "Welcome, joy." When at length he thus went to his joy and rest, " all New England bewailed his death as a great calamity." The Indian church at Natick wept, refusing to be comforted, and for years after, "what Mr. Eliot had directed or ap- proved was their law."# He was buried in the minis- ter's tomb in Roxbury, where he has a monument, on which the names of all the ministers of the First Church are placed.§ Eliot has also a monument at South Natick, erected by a few leading citizens in the vicinity, in October, 1847, at a cost of between two and three
* Dr. Francis' Life of John Eliot, p. 335.
t Memoir of Eliot, p. 126.
# Nonantum and Natick, p. 313.
§ I have the above, and several other items of value, from Charles K. Dilla- way, a thorough scholar of Roxbury, now Boston Highlands.
42
First Congregational Church.
hundred dollars. Also, " a handsome memorial to the ' Apostle to the Indians,' and the pastor for fifty-eight years of the First Church in Roxbury, has been erected in the picturesque Forest Hills Cemetery, Roxbury." *
We may here add the following testimonies to this remarkable man. Mather says: "We had a tradition among us that the country could never perish so long as Eliot was alive." Said Thomas Shepard, "We can never love and honor this man enough." The sainted Baxter said of him, "There is no man on earth I hon- ored above him ; I am now dying I hope as he did." Says the late Governor Everett: "Since the death of Paul, a nobler, truer and warmer spirit than John Eliot never lived." Another observes : "The amiable qual- ities of the disciple that Jesus loved, and the zeal, for- titude and perseverance of the first Apostle to the Gen- tiles, have perhaps never been united to a greater de- gree in any one since the first attempts to propagate our holy religion."
A relic of our Apostle has recently been brought to notice. "John E. Eliot, of Clinton, N. Y., has recently presented to the Memorial Hall of Hamilton College, a clock two hundred and fifty years old, still a good time-keeper. It was brought from England by the Rev. John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians, and was landed in Boston, from the ship Mary Lion, November 3, 1631. The donor of the clock is the eighth son in the line of de- scent from Rev. John Eliot, and the old time-piece came into his possession through the hands of John Eliot's son, Joseph, one of the representatives of the other generations, Jared, John and Edward."} Another relic
* English Cyclopædia, Biography, Vol. II, p. 753.
+ Boston Journal, January 23, 1876.
43
Historical Sketch.
-
in the form of a maxim is worthy of notice: "Poor Sabbaths make poor Christians," a maxim needing to be revived. 1
REV. DANIEL TAKAWAMBPAIT AND OTHER IN- DIANS, 1690-1721.
After the death of Eliot, Daniel Takawambpait be- came the sole pastor of the church in Natick, and it would seem continued such until his death in 1716, probably supported, in part, at least, by the Board of Commissioners. As already seen, the Natick Indians suffered with other praying towns, by the late war with King Philip, and thus we are prepared to find in Ma- ther's Magnalia (Vol. I, p. 382), that "in 1693 the Indian Church at Natick, since blessed Eliot's death, is much diminished and dwindled away. But Mr. Daniel Gookin has bestowed his pious cares upon it." Mr. Gookin was then pastor of the church in Sherborn. Still later, in 1698, Rawson and Danforth, after visiting several Indian plantations, report : "At Natick we find a small church, consisting of seven men and three women. Their pastor (ordained by that reverend and holy man of God, Mr. John Eliot, deceased,) is Daniel Takawambpait, and is a person of good knowledge. Here are fifty-seven men, fifty-one women, and seventy children under sixteen years of age. No school-mas- ter, and but one child that can read."* These brief records show, indeed, a sad decline, and the need of another Eliot to encourage and guide the flock, though the war, and it may be other causes, perhaps unavoid- ably hastened to this result. The grave of this Indian pastor is still marked by an humble stone, near the Unitarian meeting-house, an object of deep interest. * Bigelow, p. 41.
44 First Congregational Church.
The following is the inscription : "Here lies the body of Daniel Takawambpait, aged sixty-four years. Died September 17, 1716."
After his death the church was supplied for a time, by another Indian named John Neesnumin, as we learn from the town records. An important vote was passed May 11, 1719, incorporating Abraham Speen and nine- teen others, as "the only and true proprietors of Natick to whom the rents of the money of the Maguncoge lands shall be paid," etc. This John Neesnumin is the last on this list, against whose name is written, "If he live and die in the work of the gospel ministry in Natick." That he did not long so continue is evident from the following record : "The town of Natick had agreed with Josiah Shonks to imply him of preaching at Natick of six months, and begin said work, 19th of December, 1720, for five pounds."*
These imperfect records show an unsettled state of the church and ministry in Natick at this time, and pre- pare us to learn that this feeble church became extinct soon after, about 1721. The first meeting-house, having served several excellent purposes, also perished, the exact date not known, but probably in connection with the expiring church, and as a natural consequence - the soul having departed, the body perishes.
According to the vote, passed May 11, 1719, the twenty proprietors of the town had each sixty acres assigned them, laid out as their respective lots, and recorded in the second book of Natick Records. In the midst of these, between the 8th and 9th lot, itself unnumbered, is the following: "The Ministerial hun- dred acre lot, laid out as ordered, beginneth at the
* Bigelow, p. 27.
45
Historical Sketch.
south-easterly corner of Mr. Baken's stone-wall of his field, [east of John A. Whitney's present house], and so runneth partly south one hundred and seventy-two and a half (rods) to a marked stake, [on or near Pond street], then making an angle running east cross a shading knoll [now Miss Martha Loker's residence], eighty rods to another stake [near the south-east corner of the common]; then turning parallel with the first line till it comes to Needham line [by Deacon J. O. Wilson's house] ; then turning west down hill eighty rods [on Grove street] to a stake at the corner of the wall first mentioned, so yielding a hundred acres, with allowance for necessary highways." By brief calcula- tion it will be seen that these dimensions give only eighty-six and one quarter acres. Where is the error ? A record without date, but supposed to be fifteen to twenty years earlier than the above, speaks of the Indians in relation, doubtless, to this very lot, thus : "They have a fair lot laid out for the maintenance of the ministry in that part adjoining the Dedham land (Needham Leg) eighty rods in width, and of length sufficient to make a good one hundred acres, upon which is much timber, a brook running through it, (Pegan), and a fine spring of water, [now under Leach's block, probably,] on the hill side."* This confirms the original one hundred acres and more, but where was the remainder in 1719? Upon a preserved fragment of a leaf of the Natick town records, without date, but evidently of this period, in the midst of many other lots described, is the following :
" Ministerial Lot, 2 - 0 - 28 + p. 4, Zurviah Abraham, 4 - [ - 27 + P. 4, 7 -2-24 + p. 4."
* Paper in the possession of Austin Bacon.
46 First Congregational Church.
making a total of fourteen acres, no quarters, and thirty-nine rods, which added to the above eighty-six and one-fourth acres, gives one hundred acres, one quarter, and thirty-nine rods-a good one hundred acres. Records which thus dovetail into each other can hardly be erroneous. The record of May II, 1719, would seem to refer to the original one hundred acre lot, as then diminished by the three lots, sold to Zurviah Abraham, taken off at the southern end.
It is scarcely necessary to say that this ministerial hundred acre lot embraced what may now be called the heart of our present village, the present new Congrega- tional brick church being near its southeasterly corner. The sale of most of this lot, near a century later, reserving the church and cemetery lot, created the present ministerial fund .*
REV. OLIVER PEABODY, 1721-1752.
The second meeting-house in Natick was built about the year 1721, on the spot where the former house stood. Oliver Peabody, born at Boxford, May 7, 1698, graduated at Harvard College 1721, was requested by "the Board of Commissioners for Propagating the Gospel in New England," to repair immediately as a missionary to the Indians at Natick, where he preached his first sermon August 6th, of that year. At that time, it is said, there were only two white families in the place, probably those of John Sawin and David Morse. Mr. Peabody married Hannah, a daughter of Rev. Joseph Baxter, of Medfield. Early devoted to the cause of his Redeemer, he embraced the religious
* See further account, under Rev. Freeman Sears' ministry.
47
Historical Sketch.
principles of the Puritan Fathers, was bold and zealous in the cause of truth, aiming to promote the glory of God in the best good of his fellow men. He labored thus for eight years without an organized church and before his own ordination. Referring to Eliot's church, he says, " After my most diligent inquiry and search, I can find no records of anything referring to the former church in Natick, nor who were members of it, or bap- tized, till my coming to town."*
"June 24, 1728, voted that Rev. Mr. Peabody, dur- ing his continuance in the work of the ministry, in Natick, have the sole use and improvement of the Ministerial Lot."" November 25, 1728: "Voted that there be a contribution for ye Rev. Mr. Peabody, the last Sabbath in every month, and Lieut. Wamsquan to hold the box." ¿
October 21, 1729, the honorable commissioners, by a committee, visited Natick to consider what was proper ; and agreeably to their advice a new church was gath- ered, December 3, 1729, consisting of three Indian and five English male members. Rev. Mr. Baxter, of Medfield, preached the sermon on the occasion. Mr.
Peabody was ordained at Cambridge on the 17th of the same month. The year following, twenty-two members joined the church; and in 1743 he wrote to a conven- tion of ministers assembled at Boston, July 7, saying, "Among my little people, (I would mention it to the glory of the rich grace, and of the blessed Spirit of God), there have been very apparent strivings and op- erations of the Holy Ghost, among Indians and Eng-
* Rev. Martin Moore's Hist. Ser., 1817, p. 11.
t Bigelow, pp. 31-2.
# Town Records.
48
First Congregational Church.
lish, young and old, male and female. There have been added to our church of such as I hope shall be saved, about fifty persons of different nations, dur- ing the past two years, whose lives witness in general to the sincerity of their profession." * This was during the period of " the great awakening " under the preach- ing of Edwards and Whitfield, 1734-45.
During his ministry, Mr. Peabody took great pains to suppress the ruinous vice of intemperance, even then prevalent, and not without success ; greatly improving the condition of his flock. January 3, 1745, Natick was erected into a precinct or parish, by an act of the General Court .; February 19, 1746, Mr. Peabody with his church was invited to assist in the ordination of Rev. Matthew Bridge over the First Church in Framing- ham. June 16, 1749, there were one hundred and sixty- six Indians belonging to Natick, forty-two being on the south side of Charles River. A plan of the town, drawn that year, marking the situation of the houses, the red spots denoting English, and the black spots Indian, shows about forty black spots and fifty red ones, indicating that the white population now ex- ceeded the Indian.
Under these circumstances the following votes are significant. "January 25, 1749-50, voted to accept the Rev. Mr. Oliver Peabody as the Parish Minister, upon condition he will come to the center of the parish to preach, and so long as he preaches there." "Voted to grant Rev. Mr. Peabody £300 salary, old tenor, yearly," on the same conditions § As Mr. Peabody
* Rev. Martin Moore's Hist. Ser., pp. 12-13.
+ Bigelow, p. 41.
# Ibid, p. 43.
§ Records, p. 21.
49
Historical Sketch.
did not probably accept these conditions, at another meeting an article was inserted, "To see whether they agree to take Rev. Mr. Peabody, the Indian Pastor, to be the Parish Minister," and the vote stood, "twenty- four said, no ; and six said, yes." * A sad struggle thus began, partly, perhaps, between the races, and partly between the two sections of the town, (the locality of the meeting-house being far one side,) which continued through half a century and more.
Naturally slender, after thirty years of faithful toil and self-denial, Mr. Peabody's health became impaired, and, falling into a decline, he died February 2, 1752, having just uttered the heroic words of Paul, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course," etc. 2 Timothy iv: 7, 8. The Indians having tendered him every service in their power during his sickness, now mourned for him at his death, as for a parent. He was buried at South Natick. A stone, with a Latin inscrip- tion, marks the spot.
During his ministry, he baptized one hundred and ninety-one Indians and four hundred and twenty-two English, while thirty-five Indians and one hundred and thirty white persons were admitted to his church. Dur- ing the same period, two hundred and fifty-six Indians died, one at the age of one hundred and ten years. These numbers show that he was not only "the Indian Pastor," but also the white man's "minister," however stood their votes. "The oldest son of Rev. Oliver Pea- body bore his name, was graduated at Harvard College 1745, and ordained Pastor of the First Church, Roxbury, November, 1750. He built the house now occupied by Charles K. Dillaway, opposite Dr. Putnam's church." t
* Records, pp. 23-24.
+ Rev. S. D. Hosmer.
50
First Congregational Church.
Two of Mr. Peabody's printed sermons are still extant ; one, an Artillery Election sermon, "preached before the Honorable Artillery Company in Boston, June 5, 1732," text, II Samuel i: 18; being "an essay to revive and encourage military exercises, skill and valor among the sons of God's people in New England ;" the other, in substance, "delivered at the evening lecture, at the new North Church in Boston, June 8, 1742;" both showing him to have been a man of distinction.
REV. STEPHEN BADGER, 1753-1799.
POPULATION OF NATICK IN 1764 WAS 450 WHITES, 185 INDIANS, AND 24 BLACK, (THREE OF WHOM WERE OWNED AS SLAVES). TOTAL, 659. IN 1776, 535; IN 1800, 694.
Rev. Stephen Badger was born in Charlestown, 1725, graduated at Harvard College 1747, and ordained by " the Commissioners for Propagating the Gospel in New England," March 27, 1753, as a missionary over the Indians in Natick. "Rev. Dr. Appleton preached the sermon ; subject : 'How God wills the salvation of all men'; charge by Rev. Joseph Sewall ; Right Hand by Rev. Hull Abbott." *
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.