USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Necrology, 1890-1900 (Andover Theological Seminary) > Part 40
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Mr. Kelly was married, May 21, 1835, to Mary Marsh, of Haverhill, daughter of David Marsh and Sarah Colby. She died April 23, 1885. One child died in infancy; a son and a daughter survive, Hon. David Marsh Kelly, of Boston, and Miss Sarah Marsh Kelly, of Haverhill; also, an adopted son, Samuel Marsh, of New York.
Mr. Kelly died of psoriasis, at Haverhill, August 16, 1898, aged ninety years and eleven days.
CLASS OF 1838.
Charles Selden Sherman.
Son of Josiah Sherman and Hannah Jones (and grandson of Rev. Josiah Sherman, of Woburn, brother of Roger Sherman); born in Albany, N. Y., April 26, 1810; studied at Albany Academy and under Rev. Samuel Center, a private teacher ; graduated at Yale College, 1835; studied in this Seminary, 1835-38 (but winter term of 1837-38 in Yale Divinity School, and licensed to preach by "The Association of the Western District of New Haven County, Nath'l W. Taylor, Moderator," December 6, 1837) ; graduated here September 5, 1838, his Commencement address being on "Love to Christ the Christian's Ruling Passion." He was ordained as foreign missionary, at Woburn, Mass., November 30, 1838 (at the same time with Leander Thompson, his classmate and lifelong friend), but supplied the church at Pepperell, Mass., until April, 1839; under commission of the American Board sailed from Boston for Smyrna, July 17, 1839, and arrived at Jerusalem, October 24, laboring there until May, 1842. Compelled by ill health to return to the United States, he preached at Naugatuck, Ct., 1843-44; was pastor of the First Congregational Church, New Britain, Ct., 1845-49; at Naugatuck, Ct., for twenty years, 1849- 69; agent of the Systematic Beneficence Society of Connecticut, residing at
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Naugatuck, 1869-70; pastor of Presbyterian Church in Nassau, N. Y., 1870-75; resided at Nassau, without charge (except supply of Lutheran Church at East Schodack, N. Y., 1877-78), 1875-84; resided at Manchester Green, Ct., from 1884 until his death.
His only publication was a Historical Discourse at the Centennial of the Congregational Church, Naugatuck, Ct., 1881. Rev. George Sherman Mills, of Belfast, Me. (Class of 1895), a grandson of Mr. Sherman, sends the following tribute : " My own relation with him was a peculiarly affectionate and sympa- thetic one. As a boy I revered him; in later years his character has been a chief molding influence in my life. I have no more precious memories than of hours spent with him in conversation upon sacred things. To sit at his feet and listen gave comfort and inspiration. To visit him for a little meant a return to work in college or seminary with a quieter spirit and stronger resolu- tion - with a new birth of faith and hope in the soul. Two traits, it seems to me, accounted in large measure for my grandfather's influence over all who knew him. He was a remarkably well-balanced man, devoid of any slightest twist or eccentricity. His character had symmetry and poise. He was strong on the side of the minor virtues. His spirituality was perfectly natural -but he was spiritual. And this was the other chief characteristic - his vivid sense of the invisible world, his certainty of conviction regarding Christ and the life to come. He had vision, and walked in the light of it every day. Nothing ever disturbed the serenity of his faith. Add to this an openness towards new truth, a willingness to change his mind on sufficient evidence, a tolerant, pro- gressive spirit, and you have his capacity for influence. Although not a great man in the accepted sense, his goodness was with great power."
Mr. Sherman married, June 11, 1839, Martha Esther Williams, of New Haven, Ct., daughter of Cyrus Williams and Martha Wheeler. She died July 2, 1846. He married, second, July 1, 1847, Esther Woodbridge Pitkin, of Man- chester, Ct., daughter of Dea. Horace Pitkin and Emily Woodbridge. She died July 11, 1893. Two sons died in childhood; one daughter, the wife of Rev. George A. Mills, died in 1890; one son resides in New York City, and a son and a daughter in Manchester.
Mr. Sherman died of old age and exhaustion, at Manchester Green, Ct., January 3, 1899, aged eighty-eight years, eight months, and eight days.
OLASS OF 1839.
Parker Pillsbury. (Non-graduate.)
Son of Dea. Oliver Pillsbury and Anna Smith; born in Hamilton, Mass., September 22, 1809; the family removed to Henniker, N. H., in his infancy ; he attended district schools there in winter; in Lynn, Mass., 1829-32, engaged in driving express wagon between Lynn and Boston ; returned to the Henniker farm; was commander of the West Militia Company in Henniker; studied in Gilmanton (N. H.) Theological Seminary, 1835-38; and in this Seminary for part of the year, 1838-39 (in the Senior Class); was licensed to preach by the Suffolk North Association, April 23, 1838, meeting at the house of Rev. Seth Bliss, Boston ; preached at Loudon, N. H., 1839-40. At this point he left both the ministry and the church and engaged in the anti-slavery movement, asso- ciating himself with the most radical agitators in that reform, and as editor and
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orator continuing in it, with terrible earnestness, until his own frequent predic- tion that slavery would "go down in blood " was finally fulfilled in 1865. He was an agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society; edited for a time the Herald of Freedom at Concord, N. H., and later the National Anti-Slavery Standard in New York. In 1853 he visited England, and spent two years and a half there delivering lectures and giving " parlor talks." After the abolition of slavery he was an advocate of woman's suffrage and kindred reforms, editing for two years, in connection with Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony, the Revolu- tion in New York, and serving as lay preacher of different free religious socie- ties in the West. He published in 1883 a reminiscent volume, Acts of the Anti- Slavery Apostles. Ecclesiastical and Civil Authority, Things New and Old, Popular Religion and What Shall be Instead, God and the Federal Constitution, and many other pamphlets, had been previously printed. His residence from 1840 was at Concord, N. H., with the exception of two or three years at Milford, N. H., previous to 1847. As characterization of the fiery and effective eloquence of our former student, quotation may be made from Lowell's poem, Letter from Boston, written to the Pennsylvania Freeman in 1846, in description of an anti- slavery convention in Faneuil Hall :
Beyond, a crater in each eye,
Sways brown, broad-shouldered Pillsbury, Who tears up words like trees by the roots ;
A Theseus in stout cowhide boots,
The wager of eternal war Against that loathsome Minotaur,
To whom we sacrifice each year The best blood of our Athens here.
A terrible denouncer he ; Old Sinai burns unquenchably
Upon his lips ; he well might be a
Hot-blazing soul from fierce Judea, Habakkuk, Ezra, or Hosea.
As explaining why Mr. Pillsbury is registered as a " non-graduate " student, it may be well, now that that historic conflict is in the distant past and both sides of it are well understood, to preserve a part of his own letter, written to the com- piler of the General Catalogue of 1880: "The catalogue of 1838-39 has my humble name in its Senior Class. A little before the close of the winter term I left it for the higher, holier ministry of preaching ' deliverance to the captives ' - our millions of American captives, not prisoners, but ' chattel slaves.' Ando- ver at that time was educating slaveholders and the sons of slaveholders to the Christian ministry. Dr. Woods strongly urged us of the Senior Class to go into Missouri, a slave State, and read us a most powerful appeal from that State to come at once after graduation. You see what gospel my class must have carried to the slaveholders and slave-breeders of Missouri, had we accepted the proposal of Dr. Bullard, so earnestly seconded by our venerable professor, Dr. Woods. I was the first who entered [at Gilmanton], and was there several weeks alone. One professor, Rev. Heman Rood, and myself composed ' Gilmanton Theological Seminary,' when as such it was first intro- duced by the newspapers to a wondering world. I was licensed to preach by the Suffolk North Association in the spring of 1838. And though happily never ordained, my license was withdrawn or revoked by the same august
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authority, a year or two afterwards [February 23, 1841, on complaint of the Hopkinton (N. H.) Association], my crime being contumacy. But having obtained help from God, I have lived in all good conscience to this day, and have perhaps preached to more people by pulpit, platform, and editorial chair than have any, if not all, my Gilmanton classmates ; and have seen slavery abolished, in spite of Andover and Professor Stuart, some growth in the tem- perance reform, and woman suffrage already marching on from conquering to conquer, completely, in due time."
Rev. Franklin D. Ayer, D.D. (Class of 1859), for thirty years pastor in Concord, N. H., writes : " Parker Pillsbury came of a strong, clear-minded stock. There was in him the heroism born of quick sympathies, strong will, and absolute sincerity. He was easily a reformer and had the courage of a real iconoclast. His best mettle was shown in battle. When he had formed an opinion he had great confidence in it. When he set a goal he never wavered, but struck for the end with all his power of word and deed, of logic and sar- casm. He never turned out for anything or anybody that opposed his convic- tions. His convictions were so clear and certain to himself that he could not understand how any one else could think otherwise. He therefore failed to give full justice to the opinions of those who differed from him, and the edge of his sarcasm was sometimes so sharp that it cut beyond the opinion and reached the man who held it. His earnestness, sincerity, and self-sacrifice made him impatient of delay, sometimes unwise in methods and unkind in words, and to throw away some of the very helps that he and the cause he made his own needed. He so hated slavery that he could not tolerate any seeming excuse or hesitancy. He assailed the church, for he thought her fearful and halting; the ministry, for he regarded it servile and afraid; he nearly surrendered the Bible itself, because the men who believed it were not more outspoken in denouncing human bondage. When the great conflict had passed in which he had been so active and efficient, his peculiar mission seemed ended. He was the man for the real fray, and seemed to be laid aside when the issue was won. No one who knew him could doubt the depth and sincerity of his sympathy, the purity of his motives, his forgetfulness of fame and power and money for himself, his constant devotion to the cause of the oppressed, and his self-sacrifice for the weal of the unfortunate."
Mr. Pillsbury was married, January 1, 1840, to Sarah Hall Sargent, of Con- cord, N. H., daughter of Dr. John L. Sargent and Sally Wilkins. She died March 8, 1898. They had one daughter, Mrs. Helen B. P. Cogswell, of Concord.
Mr. Pillsbury died of old age, at Concord, N. H., July 7, 1898, aged eighty- eight years, nine months, and fifteen days.
OLASS OF 1840.
Worcester Willey.
Son of Darius Willey and Mary Pulsifer; born at Campton, N. H., Sep- tember 1, 1808; fitted at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H., Rochester (N. H.) Academy, and Phillips Exeter Academy; graduated at Williams Col- jege, 1835; studied in this Seminary, 1835-36, and 1838-40, having charge dur- ing the intervening years of Ashby (Mass.) Academy; licensed to preach by the Andover Association, meeting with Rev. Samuel C. Jackson, Andover, April
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13, 1840; graduated September 2, 1840, speaking upon " The Influence of Mis- sions upon the Pulpit." He was acting pastor at South Wellfleet, Mass., 1840- 41 ; principal of Holmes Plymouth (N. H.) Academy, 1841-43; acting pastor at Hardwick, Vt., 1843-44; ordained as missionary at Campton, N. H., October 3, 1844; and labored among the Cherokees -at Dwight Station in the Indian Territory - with the exception of two visits to New England, 1852-55, and 1859-60 - until the discontinuance of the mission by the American Board in 1860. He remained in the Territory until 1870, and afterwards lived, without charge, at Andover, Mass., but visited his old field in the Cherokee country, 1891-92.
Mr. Willey came of a sturdy Puritan family, which emigrated from Con- necticut to New Hampshire before the Revolution, and struggled with the hard- ships and privations of pioneer life in the wilderness. The ten children all became earnest Christians in youth, all united with the church, and all belonged to the church choir. Their intense love of music is shown in the incident related of the subject of this sketch, that when at rare intervals some white man, fond of Christian singing, came to the missionary station in the Cherokee Nation, Mr. Willey would sit up with him nearly the whole night, singing hymns and playing on the bass viol. The five sons all prepared for the minis- try, one of them dying while at Williams College. The youngest and last sur- vivor of the family is Rev. Samuel Hopkins Willey, D.D., of San Francisco. Mr. Willey was one of the original members, in 1834, of the college church at Williamstown, and retained his relationship with it for sixty-one years, trans- ferring it to the Free Church at Andover in 1895, on his eighty-seventh birth- day.
Rev. Charles C. Torrey, of Harvard, Mass. (Class of 1854), who was a mis- sionary among the Cherokees for several years, writes : "Brother Willey had the courage of his convictions beyond any man I ever knew. What he deemed right he would follow to the death, as evinced by his remaining at Dwight dur- ing the civil war, although the mission had been closed and the other missiona- ries had returned. He endured untold hardships and sufferings, both in his own person and in his family, obliged to be in hiding much of the time, living like the worthies of old, in dens and caves of the earth, twice made prisoner by the rebels, and many times narrowly escaping death. He was a man of great physical force and endurance, and though frequently robbed and spoiled, was enabled at length to make his escape to the protection of government troops at Fort Gibson. The tact, courage, and sufferings of his daughter Adaline, and her care for her younger sisters, were stranger than fiction and beyond all praise. As a missionary Mr. Willey was enthusiastic and optimistic to the last degree. But he had not the material to work with, and did not sufficiently dis- count the obstacles which opposed his labors. He was by no means a student and not an impressive preacher, but he performed much manual labor, and endeared himself to many of his people by his sympathy and help."
Rev. James D. Butler, LL.D., of Madison, Wis., the last survivor of the Class of 1840, sends this reminiscence, comparing Mr. Willey with the gifted and lamented William B. Homer: " Worcester Willey, the last of my class- mates to die, stood in a marked contrast to Homer, who was first to enter the cloud. Homer was the youngest, Willey the oldest; the one was alert in mind and body, the other somewhat heavy; the one well to do, the other poor ; the former well prepared, the latter ill prepared for our curriculum. In criticising
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sermons in the class room all praise was forbidden, as it was supposed that the world itself could not contain the laudations that would be spoken. The merri- ment of free criticism was heartily enjoyed, and not least by Homer - but by Willey never. When I chanced to say that between one thing and another there was ' a great gulf fixed,' he rebuked me sharply for such irreverent tri- fling with Holy Writ. Indian chiefs, when I have encountered them among their tribes, have reminded me of his exceeding gravity, and so proved to my mind his fitness to be a missionary to that fated race, those 'prisoners of despair.'"
Professor Park recalls vividly one incident of the Seminary Commence- ment, though nearly sixty years ago, as showing Mr. Willey's tender heart and strong emotions. The "Hymn of the Parting Class " was one written by Dr. Nehemiah Adams for his own class (1829), and contained this among other stanzas :
Scenes of love and sacred friendship, We will bid you all farewell ; O'er the earth's wide face we wander, News of Jesus' love to tell - We forever Now must part, and say, Farewell.
Willey, although so fond of singing, broke down and wept like a child.
Mr. Willey was married, October 18, 1844, to Mary Ann Frye, of Andover, Mass., daughter of Samuel Frye and Mary Richardson. She died at Dwight, September 23, 1850. He married, second, Anna Sears Chase, of South Den- nis, Mass., daughter of Sears Chase and Ann Knowles. She died at Dwight, January 27, 1862. Two daughters died in childhood in the Indian Territory. Adaline L. Willey died while a teacher in the Creek Nation, in 1890. A son lives at Fort Gibson, I. T., and three married daughters live respectively in New Mexico, Missouri, and New Hampshire.
Mr. Willey died of cystitis, at Andover, Mass., March 31, 1899, aged ninety years and seven months.
CLASS OF 1842.
Samuel Colcord Bartlett, D.D., LL.D.
Son of Samuel Colcord Bartlett and Eleanor Pettengill ; born in Salisbury, N. H., November 25, 1817 ; studied at Salisbury Academy and completed his preparation for college at Pinkerton Academy, Derry, N. H .; graduated at Dartmouth College, 1836; was principal of the Caledonia County Grammar School, Peacham, Vt., 1836-38; and tutor in mathematics, Dartmouth College, 1838-39; took the full course in this Seminary, 1839-42, his address at Com- mencement, Sept. 7, 1842, being upon "The Exclusion of Philosophy from Christianity." He was licensed to preach by the Andover Association, meeting with Dr. Justin Edwards, Andover, April 12, 1842; and was ordained pastor of the church at Monson, Mass., August 2, 1843. He remained there three years ; was Professor of Intellectual Philosophy and Rhetoric, Western Reserve Col- lege, Hudson, O., 1846-52; pastor of Franklin Street Church, Manchester, N. H., 1852-57 ; pastor of New England Church, Chicago, Il1., 1857-59; Pro- fessor of Biblical Literature, Chicago Theological Seminary, 1858-77; president
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of Dartmouth College, 1977-92, and lecture: on "The Bible and its Relations to Science and Rel gion " afterwards until his death.
He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Dartmouth College in 186E, and that of Doctor of Laws from the College of New Jersey, 19;r- He was a trustee of Dartmouth College, 1377-92, and of New Hampshire College of Agriculture, 1579-92. He was a corporate member of the American Board from 1550, president of the New Hampshire Missionary Society from 1577 20 1593, and member of several nasineal councils. Dr. Bartlett's contribosoca to Literature, both in periodicale and io books, were numerous. His more impor- Det volomes were : Sketcher if the Missions if the American Board ; Life and Detth Exermal ; Future Punishment ; From Egyg: io Palestine ; Sources of Her- tay in the Pombaleuch; Veracity of the Hexatench. Besides a volume of pub- Tshed Auweervery Adirctors, be also published klis orations a: the centennial or the battle of Bennington. 1877, at the two hundred and iftieth anniversary of Newburyport, 1565, and at the dedication of a statue to Daniel Webster in Concord, V. H., 18 6. He was one of the editors of the Congreg sommal Her Me, Chicago, and wrote muny articles for the North American Review, BANisters Sarra, New Englander, Prisitim Review, Forum, and Homiletus! Monthly, as well as for the weekly press. His last written wor'k was for the Dirtmmati Literary Mowekdy on the "" Early Life of Daniel Webster."
Rev. F. W. Fisk, D.D., LL. D., president of Chicago Theological Seminary (Class of 1853), writes of Dr. Bartlett's commection with that instrution ; " He entered on the duties of hiv profes orstip at the opening of the Seminary. Octo- ber 6. 185, and cuetineed to occupy, with eminent ability and success, his chair of instruction doring manereen years, outil r87 ;. Throughout all those early years of the Seminary, when its financial resources were scanty, its students few, and only ;bree of jes chairs of instructions iled, Professor Bartlett was a tower of strength to the young insatsen. He came to 1: with a reputation of wide and exact scholarship, especially in the sacred Scriptures, and he entered on his doties as . Professor of Sacred Literarare,' with an enthusiasm that made kim an attractive and inspiring teacher Giving instruction in the literature and bwcerpretation of both the Old Testament and the New, he taught in each wirh equal exactness and range of scholarship. His papuis admired his learning relied on his judgment, and trusted his concisions. He labored strenuously bn secure funds for the pressing needs of the Seminary and permanent endowment for its chairs ali instructivo, contributing generos'y free his own scanty salary. His aduence was widely felt thrunghout the Seminary's constituency. He was regarded as an able preacher and wise counselor, and his services on importan: occasions were highly appreciated. He was known to be a man of decided con- victions, of Arm faith = the great: verities of Christianity, and a stanch defender si what he believed to be the truth. Chicago Theological Seminary will Not sood forget nor cease to be grateful for the eficient services rendered and tibe generous sacrifices made through nearly a score of years by Professur Bartlet."
From the funeral address of President Wiliam J. Tucker. D.D., LL.D. Class of 1366 . in the college church at Hanover, the following extracts are Made: " I do not know of a subject which of'gh: claim the attention of waken The Voterest of a man of thought, or of affairs, which was foreign py ils thinking ne with which his mind did mot make intelligent etact. It has been wo easy task for a man to keep himself interested, informed, intelligent, during these
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past eighty years, to follow with due appreciation the enlargements of science, the struggle of reform, the spread of Christianity. Dr. Bartlett kept abreast of the world to the last. Within three hours of his death he called for the day's report of the negotiations with Spain. His scholarship covered a wide range, but wherever it went it was scholarship. He was a theologian, but his theology was not an abstraction. It sent him out into the field to identify him with the moral reforms of his time, anti-slavery, temperance, and civic purity. ... Dr. Bartlett was to me an optimist, a thorough-going and radical optimist. I think that I do not go too far when I say that he was a man of sanguine temperament, exact and practical as he was. When I first knew him I was not aware of this quality, and therefore did not fully understand him. It gave him, as it seemed to me, the power to transmute a great deal of thought, purpose, and hope into action. He was able to capitalize the future into the present. He wrought all his work under the stimulus of a great hope, which became more and more a great certainty. Sometimes one could follow the unspoken working of his mind: This is something which ought to be, therefore it must be, therefore it will be; and before he was aware of it he was almost saying to himself, it is. Here was the basis of his religious faith, the ground of his abiding interest in missions, especially in foreign missions, and the source of his confidence and assurance concerning the affairs of the country. I never heard him speak the language of doubt, much less of despair. He had not outgrown the world in his own wisdom. He was able to see that the world was growing wiser and better. His faith in God was not a 'faith against appearances,' but a faith quickened by insight and enlarged by vision. . .. And the charm and beauty of it all was that whatever he did, he did by the consent and enjoyment of his nature, and not under protest. We have witnessed the inspiring spectacle of an advance into age, which satisfies our thought of its possibilities. The ripen- ing of character, the softening and mellowing of the nature without loss of power, the fruitage of the spirit while the life is yet fresh and strong - all this we have seen and rejoiced in, and now acknowledge in grateful testimony."
Dr. Bartlett was married, August 16, 1843, to Laura Bradlee, of Peacham, Vt., daughter of Nehemiah Bradlee and Elizabeth Chamberlain. She died December 1, 1843. He married, second, May 12, 1846, Mary Bacon Learned, daughter of Rev. Erastus Learned and Sophia Bacon, of Canterbury, Ct., and adopted daughter of Hon. Orin Fowler, of Fall River, Mass. She died April 2, 1893. He left four children : Prof. Edwin J. Bartlett, of Dartmouth College ; Rev. William A. Bartlett, of Lowell; Rev. Samuel C. Bartlett (Class of 1894), missionary in Japan; and the wife of Rev. Henry A. Stimson, D.D. (Class of 1869), of New York City. A son and a daughter died in infancy.
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