USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Watertown > Memorial history of the First Baptist Church : Watertown, Massachusetts. 1830-1930. > Part 9
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J. Mervin Hull.
George Loring Thurlow was born in Lynn, Mass., May 25, 1886. He was educated at Somerville Latin, Colgate University and Newton Theological Institu- tion.
During the latter part of this educational period he was a member of the Watertown Church, where he was held in the highest esteem.
In September, 1911, he was married to Dorothy Brayton Anderson, daughter of Professor Frederick L. Anderson, and was ordained October 30, 1911, at North
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Scituate and served this church until 1916. The next five years he led the Baptist forces at Lexington, Mass.
During the World War he held a chaplaincy at Camp Taylor, Kentucky, and saw Y. M. C. A. Service in France.
From 1921 - 1926 he was pastor of the Federated Church, Skowhegan, Me., where he rendered notable service. In 1926 he was called to the leadership of the Congregational Church at Easthampton, and in 1929 he became pastor of the Trinitarian Congregational Church, Concord, Mass. This church is now finishing a beautiful Colonial Church Building to be dedicated in the fall of this Centennial Year.
In the prime of his young manhood, we congratulate and speed our former member who has helped so vital- ly to make our church influence felt in an ever-widen- ing circle.
Rev. George F. Rouillard was graduated from Har- vard University in 1894 and from Newton Theological Institution in 1897. He was ordained at Kennebunk the same year and for a quarter of a century guided with honor the Baptist churches in Maine and New Hampshire entrusted to his care.
From 1909 - 1911 he was assistant to Rev. F. B. Haggard, Home Secretary of the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. In 1924 he was compelled to seek rest from full pastoral duties but served as an Interim Pastor. During the major portion of the past six years he has been identified with the Watertown Church and shared with it, in helpful ways, his fine qualities of mind and heart.
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He married Miss L. M. Gooch, sister of Deacon W. D. Gooch, of Shattuck Road, and two sons are hon- oring their parents. One son is engaged in business in Boston and the other son, a graduate of Bowdoin Col- lege, Maine, is assistant in the Department of French at Harvard University.
Rev. Frank E. Eden. Nova Scotia contributed one of her sons to world endeavor when Frank E. Eden came to Watertown, Mass. He was baptized into the membership of the First Baptist Church, April 23, 1905, by Pastor James Grant. He graduated from Rochester Theological Institution. In 1922, during the pastorate of Dr. Day, he was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry. He was dismissed to the fel- lowship of the Millard Baptist Church, Chicago, and later became pastor of the Broadway Baptist Church, Denver, Colorado, where he progressed steadily in his profession and did a notable piece of work.
He was recently selected as a member of the speak- ing staff, by the General Board of Promotion, and made a tour of the New England churches at their mid- winter association meetings. Many of his old Water- town friends renewed their acquaintance when the Bos- ton North Session was held with the First Baptist Church, Cambridge, Mass.
Pastor Eden is now in charge of the Immanuel Bap- tist Church, Rangoon, Burmah. Easter Sunday, 1930, the church held an Easter Dawn Service with baptism at 8 A. M., and an Easter Eventide service when the twilight came. Watertown is in living vital touch with the life of the East.
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Herbert F. Bent is one name to conjure with in writ- ing this memorial volume. He represents the Bent family and to have known the Bent family, in the flesh, is to have had an unbroken, vital contact with the Watertown Baptist Church from its conception in 1827 to its Centennial in 1930. Such contact has been the good fortune of the historian and he therefore injects the personal element into this brief biographical sketch.
In a rambling old structure, built over Mill Creek, next to Rogers' Fish Market, was housed Luther Bent and Son Furniture Emporium. This building was later moved to Main Street and changed into a modern store.
For two years, outside of High School hours, we worked for "Luther Bent and Son" and they kept us busy. Robert Burns once wrote : "The Mother with her needle and shears, gars (makes) auld claes look amaiest as weel's the new." "Luther Bent and Son," with sandpaper, new screws, glue and varnish, made "auld furniture look amaiest as weels the new." We func- tioned in the sandpaper phase of restoration - no easy job.
When this firm became the sales agent of the chairs and carpet, in Pastor Capen's beautification program, they helped to make an "auld vestry look amaiest as weel's the new". Their cheerful merchandise was first class in quality and fair in price.
In the old barn on the Bent Estate, with the assist- ance of the competent women folk, we acquired the art of harnessing and caring for horses and, thanks to our wise training, we emerged unscathed from physical in- jury when our apprenticeship was over. Once a week it was our rythmic duty to make a stiff force pump, after
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several hundred strokes, fill a large attic tank with water. "Cleanliness was next to godliness" in the seven- ties, but not so easy to secure as in 1930.
These duties at the home brought us into daily con- versation with Mrs. Luther Bent née Emerline C. Wheeler, who shared, with Eunice Brigham and the Tucker Sisters, the conduct of the first Baptist Sunday School in 1827.
Here in this home we met Ella Bent and her sister, Mrs. Evelyn Stiles, our instructors in correct livery methods. Both were ardent and versatile workers in woman's work in the Watertown Church. Here, also, we met Mabel Stiles, Priestess of Neitha in the his- toric Cantata of Moses. Almost daily we were cheered and inspired by the suggestive cooperation of these christian women.
It was Herbert Bent who enlisted our musical sup- port of the Haymakers' Club in Newton with its yearly series of fine concerts in Eliot Hall. From him we received cordial and constructive aid when we served as General Secretary of the Watertown Y. M. C. A.
Mr. Bent was deeply interested in Bible School work. We have been his guest at church functions in the old wooden church in Newton, the brown stone edi- fice that replaced it on the new site near the Eliot Con- gregational Church, and later in the Watertown Church.
He knew how to inject life into religious enterprises and make them look "amaiest as weel's. the new".
At the seventy-fifth anniversary of the church we lis- tened with deep interest as our former employer pre-
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MRS. E. A. CAPEN (Helen Thomas)
Watertown Baptist Church
sented his valuable historic paper. To us, at that time, it was a motion picture reel of realistic events and their review has been ever since a pleasant memory.
Mr. Bent was a genuine Christian and among the many infallible tests here are two gathered from New Testament letters: "Be in debt to no man." Wages for service rendered were promptly paid "by Luther Bent and Son". "Let your talk always have a saving salt of grace about it." This was invariably true of the Bents when correcting their employees' mistakes and assigning fresh duties to perform. Such men in the business world are helpful moulders of life.
Two sons, Laurence and Winthrop, came to gladden the Bent household. The name of Laurence appears on the Roll of Honor of those who served in the Great World War. Since the armistice he has answered the Roll Call on High. From the home of his son, Win- throp, in Vermont, in May, 1920, Herbert F. Bent went to live and labor in the City of Everlasting Peace. The program of service in that city is beautifully in accord with the dominant interests of his earthly life.
A companion, beloved for her character and conse- cration, abides with us still and was about to add a new chapter to her life story of golden deeds, but a health crisis has arisen and she will take a long rest among the Vermont hills.
In this Centennial year may she find there the rest that is rest indeed.
"No man has come to true greatness who has not felt in some degree that his life belongs to his race, and that what God gives him He gives him for mankind."
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PASTORS
Rev. Peter Chase 1830 - 1831
Rev. Nicholas Medbury
1832 - 1844
Rev. Edward D. Very .
1844 - 1845
Rev. Charles K. Colver
1845 - 1850
Rev. B. A. Edwards
1850 - 1854
Rev. William L. Brown
1855 - 1860
Rev. Alfred S. Patten .
1861 - 1864
Rev. William F. Stubbert
1865 - 1868
Rev. Granville S. Abbott
1869 - 1877
Rev. Edward A. Capen
1877 - 1900
Rev. James Grant .
1900 - 1905
Rev. Charles H. Day
1905 - 1923
Rev. Charles L. Seasholes
1923
"Living sermons of the truth they taught."
"Good men are the stars, the planets of the ages wherever they live and illustrate the times."
Ben Johnson.
DEACONS
Josiah Stone Apr. 19, 1833 - Jan. 22, 1958
Jesse Wheeler Apr. 19, 1833 - Jan. 25, 1882
John Coolidge Apr. 19, 1833 - July 8, 1878
Newell Brown Feb. 7, 1860- Jan. 13, 1888
Royal Gilkey . June 9, 1871 - Dec. 7, 1906
Sept. 8, 1871 - Jan. 26, 1917
Joseph H. Stone . Delano March Dec. 14, 1878 - Sept. 22, 1882
William E. Farwell Dec. 14, 1878 - Dec. 13, 1928 Henry Richardson . May 30, 1884- Feb. 21, 1904 S. Henry Coombs . May 30, 1884 - May 9, 1908 William H. Pevear . Mar. 20, 1899
William T. Macurdy Mar. 20, 1899 - Jan. 15, 1909
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Watertown Baptist Church
William E. Macurda Mar. 20, 1899- Jan. 15, 1909 George H. Wiswall . Nov. 6, 1908
O. W. Halladay . . Nov. 6, 1908- Dec. 1, 1911
Edward K. Bacon . June 4, 1909
Fred S. Pillsbury . June 4, 1909 - April 4, 1916 Harry V. Meyer . June 4, 1909 - Nov. 5, 1915 Jan. 22, 1912- Jan. 19, 1924
T. W. Spencer
W. Harvey Lucas . Jan. 19, 1914
William T. Macurdy Jan. 17, 1916
William E. Macurda Jan. 17, 1916
Harry A. Crawford
Jan. 20, 1919 - Sept. 25, 1923
Adolph C. Ely . Jan. 9, 1924
Henry Johnson Jan. 9, 1924 - Jan. 4, 1928
Charles O. Chase . Jan. 14, 1925
Walter A. Cooper . Jan. 14, 1925
William D. Gooch . Jan. 14, 1925 - Jan. 12, 1927
Calvin D. Crawford Jan. 14, 1925
Miles E. Hooker . Jan. 12, 1927
W. W. Norcross, Jr. Jan. 12, 1928
"Truer, nobler, trustier hearts, more loving, or more loyal, never beat within a human breast."
- Byron.
"Of all those arts in which the wise excel Nature's chief masterpiece is writing well." Sheffield.
CLERKS
James Bishop . July 18, 1830
Rev. Peter Chase
Dec. 2, 1830
Jessee Wheeler .
Aug. 23, 1831
Rev. Nicholas Medbury
Nov. 30, 1832 ·
Joshua Coolidge
.
Oct. 1, 1835
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Jessee Wheeler .
Aug. 31, 1838
John Tucker, 2d
July 16, 1844
Royal Gilkey
June 1, 1847
H. M. Wiswall .
June 19, 1855
Jesse A. Locke .
May 1, 1857
Wm. E. Farwell
Sept. 21, 1858
John Tucker
April 14, 1863
Wm. E. Farwell
Jan. 10, 1865
W. A. Blodgett .
Sept. 14, 1869
Joseph H. Stone
April 9, 1875
George H. Wiswall
April 21, 1890 ·
W. T. Macurdy
Feb. 8, 1892
George H. Wiswall
Feb. 8, 1897
Orlando W. Halladay .
Jan. 20, 1908
A. H. Melvin .
Jan. 15, 1912
Edward K. Bacon
Jan. 18, 1915
"To those who know thee not, no words can paint! And those who know thee, know all words as faint! Hannah Moore.
What more need be penned in order to emphasize the richness of character contributed by the Water- town Church to the forces of righteousness that have moulded the most dynamic century of human history?
Time would fail us to record the extent of such christian influence as that exerted by Grace H. Macurdy, baptized by Pastor Capen in 1881, a Vas- sar Alumna of culture, identified with the Department of Greek at her Alma Mater for thirty-five years and now its honored head.
Deacon W. T. Macurdy, her devoted brother, now laid aside by failing health, has helped to keep untar-
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·
·
·
REV. JAMES GRANT Pastor 1900 - 1905
Watertown Baptist Church
nished the reputation of a century old Watertown firm, while his judgment and cooperation have been "above par assets" of the Watertown Church.
Think of Henry R. Skinner, a Watertown boy, a member of the First Baptist Church, High School ora- tor, Brown Alumnus, trustworthy lawyer, dependable town official and representative to the General Court.
We must not forget George S. Turner, now in his eighties, Grammar School Master, honored by Catho- lic and Protestant alike; old schoolmates still make an annual pilgrimage to his living shrine; Superin- tendent of Watertown Baptist Sunday School, Presi- dent of the local Y. M. C. A., diligent Bible Student, winner of souls and lover of the appearing of his Lord.
Not all can be mentioned in this historic sketch. Like the writer of the Hebrews we are embarassed by our wealth. But those who have been named have quietly, loyally and with enthusiasm, fitted into God's program for their life.
"Therefore, with all this host of witnesses encircling us, we must strip off every handicap, strip off sin with its clinging folds, to run our appointed course steadily, our eyes fixed upon Jesus as the pioneer and perfection of faith."
People of the next one hundred years will need moulding and the coming historian should be able to record of Watertown Baptists that they accepted from God, a progressive revelation of service and wrought for God progressive achievement in the redemption of life.
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A SHEAF OF INTERESTING STATISTICS.
Membership by Decades
1830
44
1870
275
1910
623
1840
238
1880
267
1920
604
1850
231
1890
353
1930
831
1860
178
1900
422
Gains the Last Decade
1921
652
1925
656
1929
816
1922
692
1926
666
1930
831
1923
673
1927
723
1924
634
1928
781
Money Raised by Decades for All Purposes
1870.$40,096.00
1900.$56,387.33
1920.$136,029.15
1880. 47,594.00
1910. 98,309.98
1930. 158,690.00
1890. 49,340.25
Total. . $586,446.71
Money Raised by Decades for Missions
1890. . $1,479.24 1910. . $14,070.97 1930. . $51,486.00
1900 . . 17,861.93 1920. . 20,772.08
Total, $105,670.22
These figures are taken from the Annual Reports to the Association of which the Watertown Church is a member.
Money raised for all purposes not stated in Reports until 1861.
Money raised for Missions not seggregated until 1889.
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COMPARISON OF ADDITIONS, 1869 - 1930.
Pastorate
Baptism
Letter
Otherwise
Total
Rev. G. S. Abbott [7 Yrs. ]
68
41
2
111
Rev. E. A. Capen ([23 Yrs.]
334
143
18
495
Rev. James Grant [5 Yrs.]
119
110
9
238
Rev. C. H. Day [17 Yrs.]
351
285
18
654
Rev. C. L. Seasholes [7 Yrs.]
196
180
13
389
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CHAPTER VIII
THE CHURCH FACING THE FUTURE.
T HE present minister of the First Baptist Church, Watertown, is not listed among the "Later Prophets" because he occupies a strategic place in the on-going Kingdom of God. His is an over-lapping term of service unique and constructive; he faces the future as the First Prophet of a new century of church progress.
His father, Charles Louis Seasholes, who died De- cember 3, 1919, was a graduate of Newton Theological Institution, Class of 1892. His brilliant career as min- ister, author, and lecturer is written large in these fields of cultural leadership.
Charles Lyon Seasholes, Newton Class of 1923, took up the mantle of the home-going prophet and has used it with signal power. To his care has been entrusted the destiny of the old church in the new century and he is setting high standards for his associates. Seven years of varied testing have proved his right to this trust. Endowed by nature with a winning personality this virile leader is making it count for righteousness in the larger life of the church.
He has been honored with an election to many of- fices and his gifts of good judgment, broad outlook and fine spirit have been appreciated by his colleagues. He is an active member of the Theological Circle; he has served as President of the Boston Baptist Ministers' Conference ; Director of the Greater Boston Federation of Churches; Special Lecturer and Seminar Leader in Preaching at Newton Theological Institution, and
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is the present Recording Secretary of the Massachusetts Baptist Convention. These elections are not mere gifts for the asking, they are the rewards of work well done.
Mr. Seasholes was received by letter, from the First Baptist Church, Newton Centre, June 1, 1923.
He was ordained June 14, 1923, in the First Bap- tist Church, Watertown. The Ordination Program follows :
Ordination Sermon, Rev. Prof. Woodman Brad- bury, D. D.
Hand of Fellowship by his Pastor, Rev. Charles N. Arbuckle, D. D.
Prayer of Ordination, Rev. Prof. W. N. Donovan, D. D.
Charge to the Church, Rev. Prof. John M. English, D. D.
Scripture Lesson, Rev. Prof. Richard M. Vaughan, D. D.
On June 18, 1924, in the chapel on the hill at Newton, he was married to Elizabeth Farr Bradbury, daughter of Rev. Prof. Woodman Bradbury, D. D., of the New- ton Faculty.
Two daughters, Mary Lyon Seasholes, and Anne Bradbury Seasholes, are the joy and inspiration of an ideal home.
The present church program of the Watertown Church has been marked by a steady, upward trend.
At the annual meeting in 1925 Deacon Lucas re- ported a gift of $500 from the estate of the late Nellie C. Edgecomb. This sum with interest accumulations
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was placed in the "Parsonage Fund" with the under- standing that it might be used at any time for the en- largement of the present church building, or for the purpose of purchasing land and the erection thereon of an addition to be used for educational and social purposes.
At the same annual meeting it was voted : "That the income of the Household Fund may be loaned in the discretion of the deacons of the church, to young men and women who are members of this church and who are students in colleges or in Theological Institutions, provided no more than one hundred dollars be loaned to any one person in any one school year, a note or other written obligation to be taken for each loan so made."
April, 1925, the Church Clerk was requested to make a record of the gift of $1,000 to the "Household Fund" from the estate of the late Katherine A. Russell.
At the Annual Business Meeting of the church, held January 13, 1926, Deacon W. H. Pevear presented a recorded deed to the Church Treasurer. This deed conveyed a certain parcel of land in Watertown and described as follows, to wit: "Beginning at corner of Oscar S. Creeley and running northerly along First Baptist Church land thirty-eight and three-tenths feet to land of Fitz, thence westerly eighteen and nine- tenths feet along Fitz land to land of Robinson, thence southerly thirty-six and three-tenths feet along land of Robinson line to land of Creeley, thence easterly along Creeley's land seventeen and three-tenths feet to point of starting-contains six hundred and sixty-one square feet, more or less." The deed was recorded January 7, 1926. The donors of this land were W. E. Macurda,
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W. H. Pevear, T. W. Spencer, H. A. Crawford and W. W. Rugg. A vote of thanks was extended the five members for their fine generosity.
May 19, 1926, the following committee was ap- pointed on "Additional Building": Theodore John- son, Miss A. L. P. Bowlby, C. E. Hess, L. W. Buckley and W. H. Lucas.
In 1927 the church held a "Two Weeks' Campaign of Visitation" under the leadership of Rev. Raymond Cooper.
During the closing five days of the campaign ending Sunday, February 20, 1927, thirty-five couples visited over one hundred homes, containing over five hundred persons, making a definite appeal for church member- ship by baptism, or letter.
Sixty-six signed cards for membership by baptism and thirty-four signed cards for membership by letter.
In 1927 the church voted to secure a part-time Direc- tor of Religious Education and Mr. Albert W. Derby- shire, a student at Newton, was secured for the posi- tion.
Mr. Derbyshire had previous experience at the First Church, Medford, and the First Church, Arlington. He is now associated with Rev. Maurice A. Levy, D. D., in the leadership of the growing church at Pitts- field, Mass.
At the annual business meeting held in 1928 the fol- lowing interesting and fine-spirited letter was author- ized. It is worthy of historic record.
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Dear Mr. Coburn :
At the Annual Business Meeting of our Church, held Thursday evening, January 12, 1928, the pastor told the members about your experience and your desire to become a member with us. Our By-Laws regularly required a candidate for membership to appear in per- son for testimony and immersion, but because of the unusual circumstances of your illness, the church voted, unanimously and joyfully, to have the pastor and clerk write a letter recognizing you as in intention a member of our church. We rejoice with you in the assurance of your own heart that you belong to Christ.
Fraternally yours, CHARLES LYON SEASHOLES, Pastor. E. KINGSBURY BACON, Clerk.
In December, 1925, with an elaborate and fitting program, the church celebrated its Twenty-Fifth an- niversary in the New Building. During the month large audiences gathered to mark a quarter century of prog- ress and greet their former pastors, Rev. James Grant and Rev. Charles H. Day. Rev. Charles W. Gilkey, of Chicago, added a third notable address and honored the old home church with his presence.
March 7, 1928. On the recommendation of the Beneficence Committee the church voted: "To desig- nate $800 a year of its Beneficence Funds for the sal- ary of Miss Linnie Holbrook [a missionary in Tura, Assam], and $200 to the Newton Theological Institu- tion with the understanding that both of these amounts will be credited to our quota of the United Missionary Budget."
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The church school acorn, from which a sturdy church oak has grown in one hundred years, has been described historically in Chapter II. "The Birth of the Church." This story of beginnings is one of vision, consecration, opposition, fidelity and victory. The founders and propagators of the school on Mill Creek wear an unfading crown of honor.
Some of the early records are not complete in all details, but from 1834-1930 more than a score of able and devoted men have served the school as superintend- ent. Those whose term of office exceeded five years each, were Jesse Locke, Royal Gilkey, William Blodgett, Fred Crawford, George Wiswall, William Pevear, William Rugg and Henry Johnson. Superin- tendent Rugg holds the record for length of service and his achievements have been starred in Chapter VIII: "Some Moulders of Life in the Century".
From 1834 - 1930 there have been many changes in the make-up of the school. The first constitution of the school was adopted in 1834. This was revised in 1835, amended in 1857, and "New Constitution" was drawn up in 1864. This was revised and accepted in 1887 and the end of revision has not yet appeared.
The hour of meeting has not remained stationary. Early morning, afternoon, noon, and a return to morn- ing have been successively the choice of the school.
At its genesis it was called a Sunday School, then it became a Bible School and now it is listed as a Church School. If the demands of a new century require fur- ther adjustments, wise leadership will meet them cour- ageously and constructively.
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"New occasions teach new duties, Time makes ancient good uncouth, They must upward still and onward, Who would keep abreast of truth."
Among the lay teachers who have influenced the most lives the names of Sarah Stone and Helen Capen stand out conspicuously. For more than a half century these two consecrated women led the Infant [now Begin- ners] and Primary Departments with rare success. They made the teaching hours for the hundreds en- trusted to their care a veritable "Gate of Heaven".
David Kinsman, B. W. Duncklee and Emma Dav- enport, with impressive devotion to their Lord, made the Old and New Testament courses of study for adult life a dependable chart for guidance. No seeker after truth was ever left in the fog in the class circles where this devoted trio expounded God's word. Facing the future it is imperative to inquire: "Has the Baptist Church School of Watertown maintained a 1930 hold on modern youth and is it alive to the demands of the new religious order?"
Most emphatically the answer must be an affirmative one. No one can associate with Supt. Henry Johnson and his corps of helpers in character building without feeling the tug of a new day in Church School activi- ties.
Teacher Training Classes-Programs of Worship in the Church School - Vacation School cooperation in the summer with the Watertown Federation of Churches - school financing of teacher representation at the Ocean Park School of Methods - Department-
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al work under paid, trained leadership - careful missionary instruction. A definite committal of an ever increasing number to the challenge of Christian Stew- ardship - are these dead issues? Are they out-grown forms of religious education? Are they signs of look- ing backward? An expert survey would present this terse answer: They are signs of school vitality that cannot be refuted.
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