USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Royalston > Reflections on Royalston, Worcester County, Massachusetts, U.S.A > Part 28
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Mr. Hazen's health was delicate from the beginning of his pastorate, and grad- ually failed; but he worked earnestly and faithfully to meet his obligations. The church building was destroyed by fire on the morning of Jan. 15, 1851. Mr. Hazen was buoyed up, perhaps, by his great interest in the erection of a new building; he preached the dedicatory sermon of Jan. 15, 1852,-the anniversary of the destruc- tion of the former building, and he occupied the pulpit on the next four Sundays; but before another Sunday came, on Feb. 13, 1852, his life ended.
Although I was born in the house in which Mr. Hazen was living and was nearly 4 years of age at the time of his death, my memory does not bring me any- thing about him. But from those who knew him the narration always described a gentle, tender, loving and lovable man. One said he was "the meekest man" he had ever known. Mr. Bullock, in his Centennial address, said: "I knew him some- what, and can freely say that his term here seemed a constant triumph of the spiritual over the mortal. The appeal of his life was a continued pathos, and the pathos of his death was greater." And Albert Bryant, in his admirable Centen- nial poem, paid this tender tribute to his beloved friend and teacher:
"One pale-browed and gentle preacher some of us cannot forget, On the Sea of Glass now singing, where the wild waves never fret;
. To the tree of life he led us, underneath its healing leaves,
And his farewell smile goes with us till we come with many sheaves."
Mr. Hazen married Martha Vose, and they had 3 children. One only lived to maturity, John Vose Hazen, who was born in Royalston in 1850, and soon after the death of his father was taken by his mother to her former home in New Hampshire, where he acquired a good education, specializing on mathematics and civil engi- neering at Dartmouth College, and later holding professorships in that institution on those branches in which he had become proficient. He was employed on many important projects, and was often called as an expert on court cases. He married, and had 4 children.
REV. EBENEZER W. BULLARD'S FAMILY.
A residence in Royalston covering all of the 18 years that Rev. Ebenezer Waters Bullard served as pastor of the First Congregational Church enables me to tell his story largely from personal knowledge; and this is supplemented and rein- forced by information about him and his family found in the History of Sutton, described on page 163, and copiously quoted from on succeeding pages. Some in- formation has also been secured during my residence of nearly half a century in Fitchburg, where Mr. Bullard was pastor of the Calvinistic Congregational Church for about 14 years; and from the monuments over the graves of 7 members of his family, in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Fitchburg.
Rev. Ebenezer Waters Bullard was born in Sutton, Nov. 9, 1809, and was the 6th of the 10 children of Dr. Artemas and Lucy (White) Bullard. Apparently he was named after the father of his father's deceased wife, Ebenezer Waters, Esq., a prominent, public spirited and influential citizen of Sutton. Dr. Artemas Bullard established an extensive practice in Northbridge, but in 1805 he was induced to purchase the extensive and beautiful farm of the father of his first wife, Esquire Ebenezer Waters, in West Sutton, and from that time "his attention was divided between his profession and his farm," until his death as the result of an accidental fall, in 1842. His wife (the mother of Rev. E. W. Bullard) died Dec. 15, 1869, at the age of nearly 92 years. Of their 10 children, 3 sons became ministers, 2 sons were physicians, and the 3 daughters became wives of professional men; the first married Judge Ira Moore Barton, of Worcester; another, who was twin sister of Rev. E. W. Bullard, married Rev. Lot Jones, and they were the parents of Rev. Henry Lawrence Jones, who was rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Fitchburg for 11 years; the third became the wife of the brilliant and distinguished Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. One of the sons was not married and his life ended at the age of 32, when a vessel on which he had embarked for the Sandwich Islands was lost in the Bay of San Francisco, in 1851. The other 9 children were all married; all had families of children, ranging from 5 to 10 in each family, and totaling 59,
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including 2 sets of twins in the Beecher branch; and all were possessed of superior natural abilities and were indefatigable workers.
Rev. Ebenezer Waters Bullard was at Amherst College for 3 years, and com- pleted his collegiate course at Miami University, Ohio, in 1834. After his gradua- tion he entered Lane Theological Seminary, at Walnut Hills, Ohio; but his health became impaired, and he was obliged to give up his studies and return to Massa- chusetts. In August, 1837, according to the inscription on the marble at his grave, or in July or August, 1838, according to several historical works, he became pastor of the Calvinistic Congregational Church at Fitchburg. Both statements may be correct, perhaps, if he began as supply in 1837, and then was officially ordained and installed in 1838.
It is settled beyond all dispute that Mr. Bullard's pastorate with the First Con- gregational Church at Royalston extended from 1852 to 1870, as told on page 112, covering about 18 years; notwithstanding that the official historian, Mr. Caswell, with disregard for both facts and good mathematics, said in his book that Mr. Bullard "was installed Sept. 2, 1852," "was pastor of the Royalston Church for 16 years," and "was dismissed from the Royalston Church Nov. 9, 1865." And some one had it inscribed on the marble at Mr. Bullard's grave that his pastorate at Royalston was "20 years, " and at Hampstead, N. H., 5 years.
A new (1924) "History of Worcester County" states that the term of Mr. Bul- lard's ministry with the Royalston church was from 1852 to 1866. Where those historians get so much misinformation it would be difficult to tell.
Regarding the termination of Mr. Bullard's service as pastor of the First Con- gregational Church. I had supposed that the records of the church would give the date and some mention of the formalities attending that event. But all that the Clerk could give from the records was that Mr. Bullard "closed his year's labor July 17, 1870," as told on page 112.
As my home was in Royalston at that time, I will try to give a few facts regarding the matter. Mr. Bullard tendered his resignation late in 1869, reading it from the pulpit at the close of a Sunday's services. Details cannot be given, but it may be fair and safe to say, in a general way, that he apprehended that the time had arrived when it would be best that his relation as pastor cease. He had been very active, perhaps a leader, in the movement which resulted in the abolition of the school-district system in 1867, mentioned on page 101, and for reasons there given, the warm friendship of some of those who felt that they had been injured by the change, had cooled. In 1868 he had been dropped from the School Commit- tee, on which he had served for the previous 10 consecutive years, as well as 3 years earlier. Perhaps he did not care to serve longer; but it is reasonable to suppose he would have been glad to have had an opportunity to help in the management of the schools under the new system which he had worked so effectively to introduce. Mr. Bullard did not mention these matters, but undoubtedly they had an influence on his decision to resign. One thing he mentioned was that while the conditions brought about by the Civil War, 1861 to 1865, had doubled and in some respects trebled the cost of living, and the incomes of many of his parishoners had been correspondingly increased, his salary had been allowed to remain at the pre-war rate, which I think was $700 per year, although it might have been but $600.
I heard that remark, and was in a position to note its effect on a part of the audience; and I am not using very extravagant language when I say that some of those who paid the largest amounts towards Mr. Bullard's salary, almost jumped in their seats from the shock they received. Probably it was the first time that the matter had ever been brought to their minds; otherwise they would certainly have started something to rectify the wrong.
As I attended church regularly and also attended the annual parish meeting held in April, 1870, which I believe was the only one held before Mr. Bullard termi- nated his relation with the Royalston church, I think it can be truthfully said that no action was ever taken regarding the acceptance of his resignation, either by the church or the parish. The matter might have been mentioned at the parish meet- ing, but no vote was taken, nor was one proposed. Some of those who were sup- posed to favor acceptance did not attend the parish meeting, and no one brought the matter to that point. Those who wished to have the resignation withdrawn made no move to secure a vote to that effect. Both elements evidently sought to
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avoid anything like an unpleasant discussion or "clash." After the meeting a few of those present visited Mr. Bullard, presumably to exert some influence on him to withdraw his resignation. But he did not withdraw it, and "closed his year's labor July 17, 1870," according to the records, probably without the usual formality of the approval of a council. Before he removed from Royalston the people went to his home and gave him and his much beloved family a farewell visit.
Mr. Bullard's oldest daughter, Mrs. Harriet M. (Bullard) Bullock, in writing to thank me for what she was pleased to mention as "the tribute to our father, given so earnestly and gracefully," in an article on Royalston affairs which I was asked to furnish for a newspaper, in 1915, said, relating to her father:
"In thinking over the years of his work there, I know he gave the best that was in him, and that his ideals were high and progressive. One of his pet plans for the schools was the centralization of all the districts,-a plan now so almost universal, but then, what a storm it raised ! A clergyman had much better keep out of school business."
Mr. Bullard willingly and faithfully performed all his duties as a pastor and a citizen. He was not in the slightest degree a sensational preacher, but confined his sermons entirely to religious topics, and for that reason was not considered so entertaining a preacher as one who would tell stories, discuss public events, and comment on current fads and foibles. His only exceptions to this rule seemed to be on Thanksgiving or Fast days, or some other day than the Sabbath, when he might discourse on some matter of popular interest, not strictly ecclesiastical, but always from a religious viewpoint. On occasions of bereavement he was always ten- derly sympathetic and consoling.
Perhaps he furnished more variety in his pulpit than almost any other minis- ter, for he quite frequently "exchanged" with the pastors of other churches, not only at South and West Royalston, but in many of the towns around,-Athol, Phil- lipston, Orange, Templeton, Gardner, Winchendon, Fitzwilliam, and others. He had a number of relatives who assisted in his pulpit when on visits to his family,- Rev. Asa Bullard, a brother; Rev. Henry Bullard, a nephew; Rev. Henry Law- rence Jones, a nephew. He was in someway related to Rev. Dr. Lewis Sabin, of Templeton, who frequently preached from his pulpit. And there were Rev. Dr. Ariel Ebenezer Parish Perkins, Rev. Albert Bryant, Rev. Daniel Shepardson, Rev. John Shepardson, Rev. Charles Louis Woodworth, Rev. Jesse Kendall Bragg, and others, who were asked to preach when they visited their relatives in Royalston; while the representatives of various missionary organizations added more variety to the pulpit exercises. The brilliant and distinguished Henry Ward Beecher mar- ried one of Mr. Bullard's sisters, but it is quite certain that no member of that family ever visited in Royalston.
Mr. Bullard, in addition to his religious and civic duties, found much time for work as a practical farmer. He owned a tract of a few acres of land on the road leading northwesterly from the Common, on which it was said that he had a nice pine grove, a small pond, an orchard, pasturage, and mowing and tillage land on which he raised larger crops of hay, grain and vegetables per acre than the aver- age thrifty farmer. He kept a horse, several cows, swine and poultry, and prob- ably raised most of the cereals, vegetables and fruits required for food for his family and his animals. He was an expert horticulturist, and sometimes assisted the farmers in grafting and caring for fruit trees.
Rev. Ebenezer Waters Bullard married, first, Margaret P. Smith, of Hadley, Sept. 6, 1838; she died Dec. 2, 1841, aged 28. On the marble at her grave in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Fitchburg, is the inscription: "Erected by the Sabbath School connected with the C. C. Society." Mr. Bullard married, second, Harriet N. Dick- inson, of Hadley, Aug. 15, 1843; she died at Stockbridge, probably, Oct. 4, 1883. On the marble at her grave it is inscribed that she was born March 5, 1818, and that "she lived 65 years 7 months;" while on the central monument in the lot it is inscribed that she "died Oct. 4, 1883, aged 67."
Mr. Bullard's pastorate at Hampstead, N. H., began soon after the closing of his service in Royalston; after about 5 years of labor there, on account of failing health, he was obliged to resign his pastorate. He then made his home in Stock- bridge, where, as told in the History of Sutton, written apparently about 1878, "in the society of his accomplished wife, and of a goodly portion of his family, and
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enjoying much needed rest from labor, he bids fair to survive many years, preaching by example, if not by precept, to all those who come within the sphere of his genial influence." After the death of his wife and two daughters at Stockbridge, he made his home with his remaining daughter, at Killbuck, N. Y., where, his time occupied with horticulture, in which he delighted, and other useful work, his daugh- ter reported that he was as cheerful and happy as he had ever been in all his life. He died at Killbuck, Feb. 4, 1898, aged 88 years.
As stated elsewhere, Mr. Bullard served on the School Committee for 10 years. He was chairman of the Centennial Committee in 1865, President of the day, and chairman of the Historical Committee which prepared the "Royalston Memorial" for publication. He was Royalston's most outspoken advocate of summary meas- ures to put down the Rebellion, in 1861. He served as Representative to the Mas- sachusetts Legislature from the district of which Royalston was a part, in 1864.
Rev. Ebenezer W. and Harriet N. (Dickinson) Bullard had 5 children:
1. Harriet Marguerite Bullard, born Nov. 28, 1844; married Charles Stuart Bullock, at Royalston, Oct. 4, 1870; he died at Killbuck, N. Y., Sept. 15, 1918, and she died there, Nov. 14, 1918. They had 3 children:
(1.) Marguerite Elizabeth Bullock, born at Hampstead, N. H., Sept. 3, 1872; died in 1891.
(2.) William Stuart Bullock, according to the History of Sutton, or Stuart D. Bullock, according to Caswell's History of Royalston, born at Arlington, Mass., Sept. 22, 1875.
(3.) Hugh Bullock, born June 22, 1880.
2. Caroline Bullard, born Feb. 6, 1847; married Ferdinand Hoffman, at Roy- alston, Dec. 25, 1867; he was born at Suhl, Prussia. Their home was in Stock- bridge, where she died, probably before 1900. They had 4 children, all born in Stockbridge:
(1.) Walter Hoffman, born Dec. 23, 1868.
(2.) Ralph Hoffman, born Nov. 30, 1870.
(3.) Friedericke Hoffman, born Jan. 17, 1873.
(4.) Bernhold Hoffman, born Nov. 10, 1874.
3. Lucy Ann Bullard, born, according to the inscription on the marble at her grave, Aug. 31, 1849; while the family monument bears the inscription, "died Oct. 8, 1877, aged 27,"-another discrepancy, as the dates given make her age more than 28 years.
4. William Ebenezer Bullard, born Jan. 23, 1852.
5. Edward Dickinson Bullard, born Sept. 20, 1853.
Information regarding the two sons is quite indefinite. I believe it was told that William studied medicine with Dr. Hanks, a former Royalston physician, at New York, and that Edward studied law. Mrs. Bullock, their sister, in the letter to me previously quoted from, said, in 1915: "My oldest brother, Will, is at Larch- mont, N. Y .; the youngest in San Francisco. My sisters are both gone." I intended to have asked Mrs. Bullock for more detailed information relating to her brothers, but delayed doing so in order that the data might be brought down as near as pos- sible to the time of publication; with the result that both she and her husband passed beyond the reach of my inquiry, in 1918. The latest information, at this writing in 1924, comes from a newspaper item which stated that the brothers were in Royalston calling on former acquaintances, about 1916. Probably they did not find more than 15 to 20 people living in Royalston whom they knew there in 1870.
SHORT TERM PASTORS.
During the 23 years following the long pastorate of Rev. E. W. Bullard, the First Congregational Church had 5 pastors. The official terms of their service are given on page 112, but some of them occupied the pulpit longer than the times there stated, as they preached as "supplies" or "on trial" before beginning their formal engagements, and perhaps some supplied the pulpit after their terms had been officially ended.
Rev. John P. Cushman was installed a few months after the close of Mr. Bul- lard's service, in 1870, and remained a little more than 2 years. He was married,
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and had a child born in Royalston. The family occupied the former home of Mr. Bullard, which had become the property of Joseph Raymond, who lived on the place adjoining, and who later occupied the Bullard place.
Rev. Wilbur Johnson was installed in 1874, and remained several months more than 9 years. It was during the first year of his term that the old former Lee parsonage, and afterwards tavern, was removed, and the new parsonage erected in its place at the head of the Common (see page 114), which became the residence of Mr. Johnson, and probably of all the pastors since, except Mr. Pond.
Rev. Milton G. Pond was ordained and installed in 1884. A young, unmarried man, fresh from the theological school, he acquired a high place in the esteem of the people, but his promising career was ended by death before he had served a full year.
Rev. Judson Wade Shaw was ordained and installed in 1887. After he had served for a time objection was raised that he was preaching doctrines not in ac- cord with the creed of the church. He tendered his resignation, and was released after a service of a little more than 2 years.
Rev. Augustus M. Rice began his service in 1890. I have been told, on what I consider the best of authority, that he was not formally installed. His term of service was 3 years, and he was engaged by the parish, either for the whole term or year by year. Born in New York state in 1842, he removed with his parents to Minnesota in 1854; enlisted in the Minnesota cavalry in 1862, and served in the Civil War for more than a year; graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1870, and from the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1873. He was ordained in Little Compton, R. I., where he remained 7 years, and served later at West Tisbury and Dover, Mass. From Royalston he went to Sturbridge, Mass., for a term of 9 years, and then to Dunstable, Mass., for 7 years. His first wife died in 1895; he married, Aug. 17, 1898, Isabelle E. Brown, daughter of Benjamin Hammond and Nancy Lord (Wood) Brown, of Royalston. They made their home in Royalston in 1911; and after several years of declining health, he died Oct. 13, 1921.
REV. FRANCIS J. FAIRBANKS.
Rev. Francis J. Fairbanks was the 10th pastor of the First Congregational Church in order of service, and the 4th in length of his pastorate. He was a native of Ashburnham, son of Emory and Eunice (Hayward) Fairbanks, and a lineal de- scendant of Jonathan Fairbanks, who settled in Dedham in 1636, and of William White, one of the Pilgrims of the Mayflower.
Before entering college, Mr. Fairbanks took the course in the Westfield State Normal, School, and taught for several years in the public schools of Massachu- setts, in Ashby Academy, Young Ladies Institute, Jersey City; and he has aided several young men in their preparation for college. He graduated at Amherst College, class of 1862, and pursued his theological studies at Princeton and Union Seminaries.
Mr. Fairbanks was ordained and installed pastor of the church in Westminster, Vt., Aug. 31, 1864. The list of his pastorates includes Westminster, Vt., 7 years; Ayer, Mass., 2 years; Paxton, 312 years; West Boylston, nearly 8 years; Seymour, Conn., 1 year; Amherst, Mass., 7 years; First Congregational Church, Royalston, 16 years; Second Congregational Church, South Royalston, more than 11 years ;- a total of more than 55 years,-nearly half of it with the Royalston churches.
The statement, on page 112, of Mr. Fairbanks' service with the First Congrega- tional Church, while correct as to the official dates, does not tell the whole story, for his first sermon there was delivered on the last Sunday in September, 1893, and he closed his service on the last Sunday in September, 1909, making a term of fully 16 years. And I was misled in taking Mr. Caswell's statement that Mr. Fairbanks' service with the Second Church began in 1908, which was not correct; his service there began with the second Sunday in October, 1909, and ended with the first Sunday in December, 1920, making a term of more than 11 years. He supplied the pulpit of the Second Congregational Church for some time in the spring and sum- mer of 1894.
Mr. Fairbanks has rendered much public service in the communities in which he has been located, aside from that connected with the churches and religious
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work. He served many years on the School Board and as Supervisor of Public Schools in Paxton and West Boylston; on the School Committee in Royalston for 6 years; and as one of the Trustees of the Public Library for 24 years. He was the first president of the Royalston Old Home Week Association, and the first president of the Fairbanks Family in America. He has been active in historical work; his historical sketch of Westminster, Vt., was published in the Vermont Gazetteer, in 1885; in 1906, on the 140th anniversary of the First Church in Royals- ton, he delivered a historical sermon; numerous special sermons, reports of com- mittees and boards on which he has served, and a large amount of correspondence and articles from his pen, have appeared in the press.
Rev. Francis J. Fairbanks married Abbie Smith Russell, May 1, 1865, who for more than 56 years was a most faithful and efficient helper in his work. She died Nov. 1, 1921. They had 4 sons, one of whom died in childhood, and a daughter.
Ernest Hayward Fairbanks graduated at Worcester Academy, Worcester Poly- technic Institute, and Columbia University Law School, Washington, D. C., and is a member of the firm of Wiedersheim & Fairbanks, solicitors of patents and patent attorneys, Philadelphia.
Herbert Stockwell Fairbanks, a graduate of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, is a patent attorney, and connected with the above-mentioned firm in Philadelphia.
George Stevens Fairbanks graduated from Amherst College in 1895, in the class with President Calvin Coolidge, and was a classmate of Attorney General Stone in the Amherst High School, who graduated from Amherst College in 1894, and who was one of Rev. Mr. Fairbanks' parishioners in Amherst. George Ste- vens Fairbanks was a young man of fine ability and full of promise. He had served on the staff of the Philadelphia North American and the Public Ledger. He died Nov. 10, 1909.
The daughter, Alice Russell Fairbanks, was educated at the Amherst High School, and Smith College, Northampton. She became the wife of William A. Frye, of Royalston, July 10, 1899. They have had 2 sons: Richard Fairbanks Frye, born Sept. 7, 1900, and William Russell Frye, born April 5, 1906.
This Frye family occupied the old Perkins place on the Common for many years. In 1921, after Mrs. Fairbanks had received a serious injury as the result of a fall, they went to the home of Mr. Fairbanks, at South Royalston, and have re- mained there up to the time of this printing in 1925.
REV. CHARLES G. FOGG.
Rev. Charles G. Fogg, was born in Maine, in 1868; graduated from Bridgton Academy in 1886; was in mercantile business in Boston for several years; gradu- ated from Bangor Seminary in 1894, and from Bowdoin College in 1896. In De- cember, 1896, he became pastor of the Congregational Churches at Port Mills and West Fairlee, Vt., where he remained for 3 years, and then served the Congrega- tional Church at Uuion, Conn., for 312 years. In 1903, he and his wife engaged in home missionary work at Outer Long Island, in Penobscot Bay. He was pastor of the Congregational Church at Staffordville, Conn., from 1905 to 1908, and then served at West Tisbury and Martha's Vineyard. His pastorate with the First Congregational Church at Royalston extended from 1910 to 1915.
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