USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Standard history of Essex county, Massachusetts, embracing a history of the county from its first settlement to the present time, with a history and description of its towns and cities. The Most historic county of America. > Part 33
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Good old Bray Wilkins, one of the former pillars of the church, died at the opening of the year 1702, and his pastor thus affection- ately records it in his diary :-
"1702, Jan. 1. Cold. I at study. Bray Wilkins dyed, who was in his 92 year. He lived to a good old age and saw his children's children and peace upon our little Israel. 2. The church here kept a day of prayer for ye outpouring of ye spirit of God upon us and ours. Lord hear us. Old William Buckley dyed this evening. He was at ye meeting ye last Sabbath and dyed with ye cold (I fear) for want of comfort and good tending. Lord forgive. He was about 80 years old : I visited him and prayed with him on Monday and also ye even- ing before he dyed. He was very poor, but I hope had not his portion in this life."
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
This Mr. Buckley was one of the many sufferers by the witchcraft delusion. His wife and daughter had been imprisoned during the prosecutions of that awful time, and the old man and his family had been impoverished by the costs of the court, unjustly laid upon them.
The Rev. Mr. Green's pastorate covered a period of eighteen years, and he died among his people, while still in the exercise of his duties as their spiritual guide and friend. He passed away on the 26th of November, 1715, being forty years and two days of age.
More than a year and a half elapsed before the dead pastor's place was filled, - the pulpit being supplied in the interim by candidates. On the 7th of August, 1716, a call was extended to Mr. Peter Clark. Negotiations followed, and it was not until June 5, 1717, that he was ordained
Mr. Clark was a native of Watertown, a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1712, and was about twenty-five years of age at the time of his settlement. He married Deborah Hobart, of Braintree, Nov. 6, 1719. The father of the lady, Peter Hobart, moved to Salem Village some years later, or about 1730. He purchased land of Robert Hutch- inson, and occupied, perhaps for a time, his house. But soon after, and using, it may be, portions of the old building, he put up upon Hobart Street, which is named for him, the house now owned and occupied in part by his descendants, the family of Perley Clark. The wife of the late John Hook, Jr., and the family of Benjamin Millett are also among the descendants of the Clark and Hobart families by this marriage.
Mr. Clark continued in the ministry in this parish for more than half a century, his pastorate covering a period of almost exactly fifty-one years to the day of his death, June 10, 1768. IIe differed strongly from his predecessor in character, and was yet well suited to his people. His mind was sharp and vigorous, and he had a taste for theological discussions, which led him into the field of religious litera- ture. He has left a large number of published discourses.
The first church bell in the village was placed in the "turret" of the meeting-house in 1725, the cost being defrayed by subscription. It weighed 326 pounds. The bell-rope came down from the " turret" above to the middle of the broad aisle, where the bell-ringer stood. This bell continued in use almost to the close of the century.
The year 1727 was marked by the occurrence of a very violent earthquake, which shook the town of Danvers to its centre, and of which the Rev. Mr. Clark makes the following record :
"On ye 29th Day of last October, Being Lord's Day, at night, between 10 & 11 o'clock, yre happened a very Great Earthquake, accompanied with a terrible Noise and Shaking we was greatly sur- prising to ye whole Land. ye Rumbling Noise in ye bowels of ye Earth with some lesser trepidation of ye Earth, has ben Repeated at Certain Intervals for Divers weeks after." A great fear appears to have fallen upon all the people, and a special day of prayer was held. The circumstance became the occasion of a revival, and many were added to the church.
The people at " Wills Hill" withdrew, after some little opposition, from the Danvers brethren, and organized the first church in Middle- ton, Oct. 22, 1729. " Wills Hill" and its vicinity had been incorpo- rated as the town of Middleton the year previous, 1728. Mr. Andrew Peters, the first pastor of Middleton church, was ordained Nov. 26, 1729. An addition was made to the ministry house in 1734.
Mr. Clark was very much enfeebled by age in his latter years ; his death occurred in his seventy-sixth year. His wife had died three years before, and his remains were interred by her side, in the Wads- worth Cemetery.
The parish was without a pastor for four years after the death of Mr. Clark. A call was extended to Mr. Amos Sawyer, of Reading, which Mr. Sawyer declined. A second invitation was extended to him, couched in somewhat different terms, which he accepted, and a a call was issued for a church meeting to be held early in September,
1769, to arrange for his settlement. There was a minority in the church opposed to his coming, and the people were not entirely har- monions in acting in the matter. In the midst of their consultations and disputes in regard to the settlement, Mr. Sawyer suddenly died.
The population had more than doubled at Mr. Wadsworth's settle- ment, and there were one hundred and fifty families in the parish.
Mr. Wadsworth was born in Milton, July 18, 1750. He graduated with distinction at Harvard, in the class of 1769; he taught school for a year, then studied theology at Cambridge, and was licensed with Mr. Williams, of Weymouth, to preach, in 1772, and ordained in Dan- vers in the same year, while he was yet in the twenty-third year of his age. He married Mary Holson, of Rowley, and took for his see- ond wife Mary Carnes, of Lynn, who survived him. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity, from Harvard University, in 1816.
In 1786, a new meeting-house, the third occupied by the parish, was erected, pursuant to a resolve of the year before. It was used during the subsequent winter, but was not finished until the spring of 1788. This house was sixty feet long, by forty-six feet wide, with posts twenty-seven feet high. It had a well-proportioned steeple at the northern end, which was fourteen feet square at the base. At the opposite end was a porch, twelve feet square. This house was paint- ed; its cost was £1,606. The interior was supplied with pews, built under the direction of the parish, and sold at auction. Prior to this, it had been the custom for persons who desired, to construct their own pews. There were sixty-three of these pews on the ground floor, and twenty-five in the gallery. The old bell of the former meeting- house was hung in the steeple of the new building, but was exchanged in 1802 for a bell weighing 674 pounds, and costing $299.50, for the bell alone. This meeting-house was destroyed by fire, on the morn- ing of the 24th of September, 1805. It was discovered to be on fire before daybreak, and soon burned to the ground. The fire was be- lieved to have been set by one Holten Goodale. He was arrested and tried before the next term of the Superior Conrt at Salem. He was adjudged non compos mentis, and was committed as an insane person.
Eight silver cups, of the value of twenty-five dollars each, belong- ing to the communion service, were lost by this fire. One of these was presented by Judge Lindal, for whom Lindal Hill is named, and the others by different members of the church. A small amount of sil- ver, though, Dr. Wadsworth says, not sufficient for one cup, was found in the ruins ; a circumstance which renders it probable that the church was robbed by some unknown persons, before it was fired. Judge Timothy Lindal, who gave the cup before mentioned, lived at the foot of the present Lindal Hill, at about the middle of the last century, in the house now occupied by Richard Flint. He frequently had repre- sented Salem in the General Court, was Speaker of the House sev- eral times, and was also a Justice of General Sessions and of Common Pleas. He died, Oct. 25, 1760.
A brick edifice, with " tower and dome," succeeded the structure which was burned. It occupied the same site, but was made to face in a different direction from its predescessor, fronting, as the present building now does, upon " the great road leading from Andover to Salem." The corner-stone was laid, May 16, 1806, and the building was occupied, November 23d, of the same year. It cost nearly $12,- 000, including the expense of a new bell to replace the one which had been melted. This new bell weighed 1,116 pounds, and cost $444.75. No attempt was made to heat the house, and it was not until 1821, that stoves were introduced, they being furnished by sub- scription. There were seventy-six pews in this house, on the floor, and thirty in the gallery. The dimensions of the building were sixty- six feet by fifty-six. Height to the caves, twenty-eight feet. The tower, as stated by Dr. Wadsworth, was "sixteen feet, four inches square at the base, having two wings, crowned with a cupola, and ter- minated with a vane ninety-six feet from the foundation."
In the winter of 1805-6, the inhabitants of the New Mills, or Dan-
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
versport, incorporated themselves with the First Parish. Under the old regime. they had formed a part of the South Parish, or " Middle Precinct "; and as long as the parish taxes had been levicd on the inhabitants of the New Mills, as members of the Sonth Parish, they had found it difficult to transfer themselves, although some of them had worshipped in the house which was burned. At this time, how- ever, the South Parish raised its funds by taxes on its pews, and not on the inhabitants : and the people of the New Mills availed them- selves of the opportunity offered, to withdraw their connection. They were transferred, by Act of the General Court. March 8, 1806, " for so long a time as the Act empowering the South Parish to tax its pews. keeps in force." The first temperance movement in Danvers, origi- nated during the latter years of Dr. Wadsworth's ministry. Intem- perance had become a serions evil ; and in 1812, the first society in this State was formed, to take steps to check this curse. Dr. Wads- worth, and Judge Holten, of Danvers, were both members; and, through their efforts, an auxiliary society was formed, in Danvers, in 1813. Dr. Wadsworth delivered an address before this society in 1815.
In 1818, a Sabbath school was organized, in connection with the First Parish Church. Dea. Samuel Preston was its first superin- tendent. Dr. Wadsworth closed his long ministry on the 18th of January, 1826, the day of his death. He was seventy-five years and six months old, and had been pastor of the church for fifty-three years and twenty-six days, ontranking his predecessor in this respect. The Rev. Sammel Dana, of Marblehead, preached the funeral sermon on this occasion, and the remains were interred in the Wadsworth bury- ing-ground. Dr. Wadsworth was a man of fine personal appearance, and of great bodily vigor.
Milton Palmer Braman, son of the Rev. Isaac Braman, of New Rowley, now Georgetown. succeeded Dr. Wadsworth in the ministry of the First Parish. He was born, Ang. 6, 1799 ; graduated at Har- vard, in the class of 1819, and at Andover Theological School. in the class of 1824. He was ordained. April 12, 1826, and. November 15th of that year, married Mary, daughter of John Parker, of East Brad- ford, now Groveland.
The "Halfway Covenant," before alluded to, was abolished under Dr. Braman's ministry, as also the old method of raising money, by levying money upon all the inhabitants of a parish. From early times, each parish had had its special territory, and all persons living within that territory, had been obliged to contribute to the general parish expenses, and for the maintenance of preaching. This arrangement had caused no trouble in the days of its origin, for the people were all of one faith ; but, with later years, other settlers came. who de- sired to contribute to other sects than the dominant one, or to none at all, and the parish tax soon became a grievance. Abatements were made gradually, but they became more frequent and more gen- erons in their provisions, and near the close of the last century, there was no serious legal obstacle in the way, to prevent a person from paying his assessment where he chose. The parish rate, or tax. how- ever, continued until 1828, when the last one was laid. In 1838, an Act of incorporation was obtained, and that which had been known as the North Parish, the old First Territorial Parish, became the "First Religious Society in Danvers."
In 1831, the society entered into negotiations for a parsonage, and began to take steps to secure the dwelling and estate formerly owned by Dea. Nathaniel Ingersoll, situated north-west from the meeting-house. The property had passed through many hands, until, in 1802, it came into the possession of Ebenezer Goodale, known in later years as Gen. Goodale.
He mortgaged the property to Elizabeth Williams, of Salem ; and as he could not fulfil the conditions of the deed, she foreclosed and took possession. This was the opportunity that had been waited for, and the place was deeded at once, May 26, 1832, to Moses Putnam, Samuel Preston, Gilbert Tapley, and their associates, for a parsonage.
From Mr. Tapley comes the modern name of Tapleyville, applied to that section of the town in the vicinity of the present carpet factory.
The old house of Dea. Ingersoll was standing in 1733. The present mansion was probably built twenty years later on the same site. This second house underwent extensive alterations and repairs, upon its coming into the hands of the parish. An addition was made along the whole length in the rear, by which the width of the main building was increased. The repairs and improvements having been completed, the house was first occupied by Dr. Braman, Jan. 8, 1833, and has sinee furnished a home for the parish minister.
Jesse Putnam, Samnel Preston. William Preston, Nathaniel Pope, Peter Cross, Daniel F. Putnam, and John Preston were chosen as a building committee for a new ediffice. A year later, Nathan Tapley was chosen to till the vacancy caused by the death of Daniel F. Put- nam. Levi Preston was the master carpenter. The work was done by the day. The new building was eighty-four feet in length by sixty in breadth, and its cost was about twelve thousand dollars. The pulpit, as originally built, was high, and enclosed in front. It was lowered and remodelled in 1864. The new house was built with a basement story, in which was finished a large room for a Sabbath school and other public nses. This was named Village Hall. The designation, though still in use, is growing somewhat less familiar than in former days. The house was dedicated November 21, 1839, Dr. Braman preaching the sermon from Titus i. 3.
In 1840, Dr. Braman asked for a dissolution of the pastoral relation on the ground of ill health, but he was persuaded to take a leave of absence in Europe. He returned. with restored strength, at the open- ing of the period of the great discussion npon American slavery. He declared that he regarded slavery as an "atrocions system, -an abom- inable system of oppression and mischief." -" one of the heaviest curses that ever afflicted man or provoked Heaven," to quote his own lan- guage. He did not approve, however, of the particular measures that some advocated for its removal. His course in declining to give cer- tain political notices from the pulpit at this time cansed the passage of the following endorsement by the society in 1841 : -
"Resolved, that our ordained minister does, and of right ought to stand before his people in the discharge of the duties of his office in a free and independent pulpit ; that we approve the stand he has taken in the communication read to us yesterday, so far as relates to the giving of notices, and that we adopt the same as the rule by which we wish him to be governed while God shall spare him to labor amongst ns " The resolution was adopted, by a vote of forty-three to five.
On the 25th of March. 1844. the inhabitants of the " Plain," having long desired a church of their own, organized the "Third Orthodox Congregational Society in Danvers." The meeting for organization was held in the school-house at the " Plain," and Benjamin Turner, Samuel Brown, and Nathaniel Silvester were chosen as the standing committee. Moses J. Currier was chosen treasurer and collector. A meeting-house was erected during the same year on the site now oecu- pied. The first meeting was held in the basement, then called Granite Hall, Nov. 4, 1844, and the house itself was dedicated Jan. 22, 1845. A permanent church organization, with forty-two members, had been formed Dec. 5, 1844. The Rev. Richard Tolman. the first pastor of the church, was ordained Sept. 17, 1845. He resigned Nov. 8. 1848. The Rev. James Fletcher succeeded June 20, 1849. The church suffered seriously in the great fire of 1845, and on the 10th of July, 1850, was burned by the act of an ineendiary. A young man, who was con- victed of the crime, was sentenced to the State Prison for life ; but nine years subsequently, on the petition of members of the society, he was pardoned. *
Measures were taken immediately to rebuild, and on the 17th of September, 1851, the present edifice was dedicated. In 1854. a clock was placed in the tower. In 1857, the term "third" having
+ The authority for this sketch of the First Parish is taken from the Rev. Charles B. Rice's "History of the First Parish in Danvers."
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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
lost its appropriateness by the division of the town, the present title of the " Maple Street" Church and Society was adopted. Mr. Fletcher resigned May 21, 1864, and the Rev. William Carruthers was installed as pastor April 18, 1866. A revival was in progress at his settlement, as a result of which eighty persons became members of the church. Mr. Carruthers resigned March 28, 1868. The Rev. James Brand was ordained as his successor on the 6th of October, 1869. The Rev. W. E. C. Wright succeeded Mr. Brand in 1874.
In 1860, Dr. Braman prepared again to resign his pastoral relations with his people of the First Parish, but it was not until the last Sabbath of March, 1861, that he elosed his ministry. He retired with the . strongest expressions of affection and esteem from his parishioners, mingled with regret at his going. Strong efforts had been made to dissuade him from his purpose, but without success. He was minister of the parish but a little less than thirty-five years.
The present pastor, the Rev. Charles B. Rice, preached here, for the first time, on the 24th of May, 1863. He was called, with unanimity, by church and parish, during the next month, and was installed on Wednesday, the 2d of September, 1863. He is a native of Conway, Mass., and had been pastor of the church in Saco, Me., for two years ending with December, 1861.
In 1864, a large part of the parsonage land was sold. Included in it was the original gift, by Joseph Holten, for the use of the ministry. No part of this original "ministry land " is now owned by the parish, it is believed, saving only a narrow lane just beyond the house of Mr. John Roberts, running into the north-east from the main road toward the site of the first parish, or ministry house, and, perhaps, also a small strip at the north-eastern corner of the present parsonage land. The portion thus sold lay mostly to the north-west of the land now belonging to the parsonage, though a part of it was to the east, extend- ing in that direction to Forest Street.
On the 8th of October, 1872, the two hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the First Parish, at Salem Village, was appropriately observed by the society.
The Baptist Church at Danversport is the second, in point of age, in the town. The society was formed Nov. 12, 1781. The Rev. Benjamin Foster was invited to preach for the society, which he did for about two years. A meeting-house was built in 1783, and while Mr. Foster was still in the place. After his removal there was no resident minister for nine years, though there was preaching for most of the time, The church was organized, with thirty-six mem- bers, July 16, 1793, and the Rev. Thomas Green became, at the same time, pastor. Mr. Green resigned his pastorate, Nov. 26, 1796, and the church was without a settled pastor till 1802.
In May, 1802, the Rev. Jeremiah Chaplin, afterward president of Waterville College, in Maine, became pastor. His ministry lasted six- teen years. Dr. Chaplin resigned in 1818, and was succeeded by the Rev. James A. Boswell, who remained only till April 25, 1820. The Rev. Arthur Drinkwater was installed, Dee. 7, 1821, and remained until June 26, 1829. In 1828 a new meeting-house was erccted and the old building was sold. It was subsequently removed to the Plain, where it is now used as a eurrying-shop, by Mr. John A. Learoyd.
The Rev. James Barnaby succeeded to the pastorate in July, 1830, remaining until May, 1832. The Rev. John Holyrod followed hin, and continued until his death, Nov. 8, 1837. The church prospered under his charge. The next ineumbent was the Rev. E. W. Diekin- son, who held the pastorate from May, 1838, to Oet. 26, 1839. The Rev. John A. Avery succeeded, from February, 1841, to April, 1843. Several members of the church and society withdrew at this time, to form, at the Plain, "what was styled a Free Evangelical Society." The Rev. J. W. Eaton followed in the pastorate, from July, 1843, to August, 1849. The meeting-house of 1828 was burned, Sept. 6, 1847, the people losing heavily thereby. The present house was built in 1848. The Rev. A. W. Chaffin was ordained April 24, 1850. He remained the pastor until he resigned, April 26, 1862.
The pastoral succession was continued as follows : The Rev. Foster Henry, from Dec. 5, 1862, to May 1, 1865; the Rev. Charles H. Holbrook, from Nov. 14, 1865, to Sept. 2, 1870; the Rev. J. A. Goodhue, from Nov. 22, 1870, to May 1, 1872. The Rev. G. W. Mc Cullough was ordained June 20, 1873.
The Universalist Society was organized in 1829, although there had been a partial organization from 1815, with only an occasional service. Meetings were held, for two or three years after the organization, in the old Baptist meeting-house, after its sale and before its removal. A meeting-house was begun in 1832, and made ready for occupancy by June, 1833. The present church, with " Gothic Hall" in the base- ment, was built in 1859. The pastors have been : the Rev. F. A. llodsdon, 1831-32; the Rev. D. D. Smith, 1833 ; the Rev. W. H. Knapp, 1834-35 ; the Rev. Samuel Bremblecom, 1836-39 ; the Rev. Asher Davis, 1840-41 ; the Rev. D. P. Livermore, 1842; the Rev. S. C. Buckley, 1843-45 ; the Rev. J. W. Hanson, 1846-48 ; the Rev. J. P. Putnam, from 1849 to Nov. 30, 1864, the date of his death ; the Rev. H. C. Delong, 1865-68; the Rev. G. J. Sanger, 1869-75 ; the Rev. H. P. Forbes, in 1875.
The first Catholic service was held in Danvers Nov. 1, 1854, at the house of Mr. Edward MeKeigne. The officiating clergyman was the Rev. Thomas H. Shahan, then pastor of the Church of the Immacu- late Conception in Salem. Regular services began soon to be held in Franklin Hall, and subsequently in a chapel which stood on the south side of High Street, near the old cemetery. In 1859, the house, first built by the Universalist Society, was purchased, and after an occu- pancy of several years, this building having been greatly enlarged and remodelled, was dedicated anew by. the Right Rev. Bishop J. J. Williams, of Boston, April 30, 1871. Prior to 1864, pastoral duties were performed by clergymen from Salem. Oct. 13, 1864, the Rev. Charles Rainoni was settled in charge of this parish, and also of the Catholic parish in Marblehead, having his residence in Danvers. In 1872 he removed to Marblehead, the parishes being separated, and his place was taken by the Rev. Mr. O'Reilly ; to whom succeeded, in April, 1873, the present pastor, the Rev. Joseph Haley.
The church is known as the Church of the Annunciation. The Catholic parish of Danvers ineludes the towns of Middleton and Tops- field, and it embraces a population estimated at more than 1,500.
Episcopal services were first held in Danvers, in the hall in the bank building, June 28, 1857; the Rev. George Leeds, then of Salem, officiating. The church was organized under the title of Calvary Church, April 14, 1858, the Rev. R. T. Chase being ordained as rector. The church building was consecrated by Bishop Manton Eastburn, of Boston, May 25, 1859, and the parish was incorporated in October of the following year. Nearly the whole cost of this building was borne by Joseph Adams and E. D. Kimball, and to their liberality the parish owes its possession free of debt. Mr. Chase held the pastorate about four years, the Rev. S. J. Evans about three years, and the Rev. W. I. Magill entered upon his duties in June, 1872.
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