USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Hanover > The Church and Cemetery Records of Hanover, Mass. > Part 5
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REV. JOSEPH FREEMAN.
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ence, in the hope that it might be the "beginning of better days." In March, 1859, we find again the complaint of the pastor as to the low state of religion. At the close of public services Sabbath, June 12th, a letter missive was read from the Second Congregational Church, in this town, and Deacon Cook was chosen delegate with the pastor to attend a council for the purpose of installing Rev. Mr. Aiken as pastor. In the spring of 1860, the pastor was afflicted with a short illness, and on March 4th, the Lord's Supper was administered by REV. MR. HOWLAND, of Abington. The Pilgrim Conference was held in South Plymouth, and Deacon Cook and Brother S. S. Church were chosen delegates. In recording the communion season of July 3d, the pastor speaks of it as a good season, and also states the fact that three young persons had recently been converted. July 16th, the pastor records the death of Widow Celia Judd. He says :
"She was received to this church August 5th, 1827, by Rev. Ethan Smith, pastor. She walked with the church till within a few years. She has been allured away and become interested in Spiritualism. Because of her feeble old age and broken state of mind, the church bore with her with long suffering and charity. She ever said to her pastor and others that she did not give up her faith in the Bible, nor her hope in Christ, nor her love to the church. Her accounts are with God and sealed. It is our hope that her error and inconsistency may have been forgiven, and that it may be well with her."
At the preparatory lecture September 13th, 1860, there was a good attendance of the sisters of the church, but none of the brothers were present. In the spring of 1861, Deacon Cook, and Brothers S. S. Church and Francis Chamberlain were chosen delegates to attend the Pilgrim Conference, and also in the fall, Brother M. Stoddard being chosen instead of Brother Chamber- lain. The regular church meetings were held and attended as in previous years. The church and society having contributed five dollars for books and tracts for the soldiers in the army, received the following note of acknowledgement:
DESTRUCTION OF THE THIRD MEETING HOUSE. 43
CAMP BARNES, HALL'S HILL, VA., Oct. 4th, 1861. -
To the First Congregational Church, Hanover, Mass .:
In behalf of Company G, 18th Regiment, I wish to tender to you our sincere thanks for the books and tracts received through Colonel Barnes for this company, and which I intend to distribute next Sab- bath. Hoping they may do the good which you intended,
I am, your obedient servant,
WM. B. WHITE
Captain Company G, 18th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers.
In the following spring, April 15 and 16, 1862, the Pilgrim Conference met with this church, and Deacon Cook, Brother S. S. Church and Brother Francis Chamberlain were chosen delegates as usual. We have no record of the proceedings. In the fall, the conference met at Halifax, and Deacon Cook, with Brothers S. S. Church and E. Thayer were chosen delegates. In November a letter missive was received from individuals in Chiltonville, and Brother S. S. Church was chosen to attend as delegate with the pastor a council for the purpose of organizing into a Congregational Church. Deacon Cook went instead of Brother Church. November 25th, Brother Church was chosen delegate to attend a council in Plympton, with the pastor, for the purpose of ordaining Mr. Stevens. At the beginning of the year 1863, January 18th, the meeting-house was burned. The fire was discovered less than an hour after the congregation had gone. It is supposed that the fire in some way or other was communicated from one of the stoves. The most valuable part of the furniture was saved. The next Sabbath, meeting was held in the parsonage, and REV. MR. WALKER, of East Abington (now Rockland), preached on exchange. The follow- ing Sabbaths, meetings were held in the house of Widow Sam- uel Stetson, where the people met for public worship in 1726. July 5th was a memorable day. Four young persons were re-
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FOURTH MEETING HOUSE.
ceived, one of them being the son of the pastor. The pastor and his wife also united with the church by letter from the Congregational Church, Stockton, Maine. At the communion September 6, there was a full attendance. The pastor says:
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"Good season. Foretaste of the sweet communion of the church in Glory."
October 11th, after public services, Deacon Cook and Brother S. S. Church were chosen delegates to the conference to meet in Plymouth. The following Sabbath a letter missive was read from the Fifth Church in Chiltonville, and Deacon Cook was chosen delegate with the pastor to attend a council for the pur- pose of ordaining Mr. Alexander Fuller, Jr., over the church. After the fire, the society began to plan for rebuilding, and November 22d the congregation worshipped for the first time in the vestry of the new church, -the present building, - being the fourth building of the kind on the same site. November 26th was observed by the church as Thanksgiving Day. A good number assembled to bring offerings of praise before the Lord and present them for His great goodness and mercy. It was a good meeting. Sermon was on the text, I. Chron. 16, 36:
"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel forever and ever. And all the people said Amen, and praised the Lord."
The day was clear, mild and pleasant. APRIL 27TH, 1864, THE NEW CHURCH WAS DEDICATED to the worship of Almighty God. The order of exercises was as follows: 1. Anthem by the choir. 2. Invocation by Rev. B. Southworth, of Hanson. 3. Reading of Hymn by Rev. S. H. Hayes, of South Wey- mouth, 132d Psalm, beginning with 4th verse. 4 Reading of Scriptures, Psalms 95, 96 and 100, by Rev. Samuel Cutler, Rec- tor of St. Andrew's Church, Hanover. 5. Prayer by Rev. James Aiken, Hanover. 6. Reading 141, Select Hymn, by Rev. Mr. Edwards, of South Abington. Singing. 7. Sermon by pastor. Text, Psalm 96, 8th and 9th verses. 8. Conse-
THE NEW CHURCH.
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crating Prayer by Rev. Mr. Walker. 9. Anthem. 10. Bene- diction by pastor. The pastor records:
"The weather on the whole was favorable and the house was filled. We record our gratitude to God for His great goodness, and for a new sanctuary in which we may worship Him, and enjoy as a people the communion and fellowship of the Lord Jesus Christ."
In the following June, however, we find the record :
"Preparatory lecture. Few present. Religion low. People are busy in worldly affairs."
After public services, July 17th, a letter missive was read from the church in Carver, and Deacon Cook was chosen dele. gate with the pastor to attend a council for the purpose of ordaining a pastor. In the fall, the Pilgrim Conference met with the Fifth Church, Chiltonville, and Brother S. S. Church was chosen to attend as delegate. In the year 1865 Fast Day was observed by this church. April 13th, Deacon Cook and Brother Church were appointed delegates to the conference to meet at Kingston, the 19th inst., and to represent the church in respect to a national council to be held in Boston on the 14th of June, and to vote for the sending of messenger's from the conference to that council. In the fall, Brothers Church and Chamberlain were chosen delegates to the Pilgrim Conference at South Plymouth. October 12th, 1865, the parish met with a severe loss in the death of Melzar Hatch. He was a constant attendant on public worship in all kinds of weather. Though he was not a professor of religion, he had great reverence for religion and religious ordinances. It grieved him to see them neglected habitually by men, or to witness the desecration of the Holy Sabbath. He was a man of public spirit, and his influence and work may be seen in many things. He was a strong friend and patriot during the great national conflict, ready and willing to aid, to provide liberal things for the sol- . diers, for the suffering, without distinction of color or national- ity. He did much in aiding improvements in the cemetery.
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FOURTH MEETING HOUSE.
His funeral was attended by a large gathering of people. After the communion November 5th, 1865, the church granted letters of dismission to Rev. Mr. Duncan and Almira Estes, who wished to unite with the Congregational Church in Free- town ( Assonet). At the beginning of the year 1866, the church was called upon to sustain a great loss in the death of Deacon Isaac Cook, who died February 2d, peaceful and happy. The pastor enters the following record concerning him:
"He had been declining a long time. He had been a member of the church 39 years; deacon, 37 years; superintendent, 30 years. He was a good man and faithful. He loved the cause of Christ. He could say, 'I love Thy kingdom, Lord.' He loved the church. Her interests were dear to him. He remembered them as he drew near to death. He was a man of more than ordinary ability, well-informed and discriminating mind, clear and sound in his theological views, able to speak unto the edification of the brethren and sisters in the church, and of men of the world. He was ever ready and willing to do all he could for the support of the Gospel ordinances, and the comfort and support of the church and its prosperity. He rests from his labors, and his works do follow him."
March 28th, the church met in conference and made choice of Brother Samuel S. Church and Brother Francis Chamberlain as deacons. They accepted the office and were consecrated by the laying on of hands. It was an interesting meeting, and the pastor expresses the wish that the "blessing of God may follow it." Deacon Francis Chamberlain was chosen superintendent of the Sabbath School. During his pastorate, Mr. Freeman faithfully records the deaths of the members as they occur, with some remarks concerning them. So we find the record of one who for many years was a great sufferer. "July 15th, Widow Elizabeth T. House died in peace, and entered the promised rest. She had been in failing health for several months. Rev. Mr. Southworth, of Hanson, officiated at her funeral during the absence of the pastor."
"January 2d, 1867, Mr. Samuel Barstow died. He was a social, cheerful and obliging man, and had many friends, who mourn his
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RESIGNATION OF REV. MR. FREEMAN.
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death. He was not a professor, but was an habitual attendant on public worship, an active member of the parish, and one of the most liberal supporters of the Gospel. He gave $200 to the Parish Fund for the support of public worship."
January 14th, we find the record of the death of a prominent member, Mr. Elisha Bass.
"He died an easy and peaceful death in the blessed hope of Heaven. He was a grandson of Rev. Benjamin Bass, the first set- tled pastor. He was a well-read, sound, faithful, influential Chris- tian. He was fluent, clear, logical and conclusive in thought, remarks and appeals. He was a pillar in Zion. He came to the grave in full age, like a shock of corn cometh in its season."
April 14th, after public service, Deacon Church was chosen delegate to the Pilgrim Conference. After the preparatory lec- ture, November Ist, ten persons being present, Deacon Church was again chosen to attend the conference, and it was voted to make contributions to the A. B. C. F. M. This church had not contributed to that Board for many years, but had sent to the A. M. Association instead. They also voted to accept the resignation of Deacon Chamberlain as superintendent of the Sabbath School. In the spring of 1868, Deacon Church and Brother E. Thayer were chosen delegates to the conference. But little is recorded during this year. In the year 1869, July 26th, we find a record of the death of Widow Lydia Stock- bridge. She was found dead in her bed, as she had fallen asleep. "She had been a member for nearly half a century. She was a good woman, and prepared for her change when it came.
'So He giveth His beloved sleep.""
So we come to the end of the great many records recorded by this faithful pastor during the fourteen years and more of his ministry. Now the time has come when he feels it his duty to resign his pastoral charge. Accordingly, he tendered his resignation of the pastoral office July 11th, 1869, and called for
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REV. CYRUS WILLIAM ALLEN.
a mutual council. This. was granted him by the church and society, and a council was called July 26th, at 10.30 o'clock. July 18th, letters of dismission and recommendation were granted to Rev. Joseph Freeman, Sarah H. Freeman and Willis H. Freeman at their own request, to unite with the Congrega- tional Church, in York, Me., from which church he had received a call to become their pastor. The following churches were in- vited to be represented in council: North Scituate, South Marshfield, Kingston, Hanover, Second Church and Hanson. The council was convened at the time appointed, and Rev. Alexander J. Sessions, of Scituate, was chosen moderator, and Rev. E. Alden, of South Marshfield, scribe. The following persons constituting ecclesiastical council held this connection : First Church, Scituate, Rev. A. J. Sessions, Deacon Israel Cud- worth; Second Church, Hanover, Brother J. M. Wilder, dele- gate; Church in Hanson, Rev. B. Southworth, acting pastor; First Church, Marshfield, Rev. E. Alden, Jr., pastor. By this council, Rev. Mr. Freeman was regularly dismissed and well recommended to the churches. During his ministry 24 persons were received into the church, and 18 adults and children were baptized. The church lost by death 20, and a few were dis- missed to other churches. In the pulpit Mr. Freeman was dignified, commanding and solemn. He was a sound, doctrinal and practical preacher, not given to flowery flights in his style, nor to too large liberality in his sentiments. He was serious and earnest in his important professional work, and did much also for the improvement of the schools as a superintending committee. He was held in high estimation in the community generally, and among his ministerial brethren with whom he associated. After an interval of about two years, in which the pulpit was supplied for the Sabbath merely, or for a few con- secutive Sabbaths by the same minister, REV. CYRUS WIL- LIAM ALLEN was engaged as a permanent supply. We find this record of the event: April 9th, 1871. The commit- tee of the church and parish agreed with Rev. C. W. Allen to
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PRESENT PARSONAGE, BUILT A. D. 1855. THE RESIDENCE OF REV. JOSEPH FREEMAN, REV. CYRUS W. ALLEN, REV. SAM'L E. EVANS AND REV. W. H. DOWDEN.
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supply the pulpit of the First Congregational Church for one year for $550 and use of parsonage from May Ist, 1871, to May Ist, 1872. Samuel S. Church, committee of church, Lemuel Dwelley and Daniel Barstow, committee of parish.
Mr. Allen began to preach to this church March 26th, 1871, and became permanently engaged May Ist, and continued until July 12th, 1879, when he was released from further service at his own request. Mr. Allen was the ninth minister of this church and society. He was the son of Joseph and Betsy ( Woodward ) Allen and was born in Taunton on the 28th day of October, 1806. He was graduated at Brown University, (R. I. ) in 1826, and at Andover Theological Seminary in 1829. In the same year he was licensed to preach by the Andover As- sociation on the 22nd day of April. After leaving the seminary he spent the first five years of his ministerial life in Missouri and Illinois, as an agent of the American Tract Society, New York, as a missionary of American Home Missionary Society, and as a minister at different places, in which latter service be received $160 a year. He was ordained by the Missouri Pres- bytery in St. Louis, October 6th, 1833, St. Louis then being only a village. He was settled in Norton, Mass., July 8th, 1835, and dismissed by council March Ist, 1842. He was installed at Pelham, N. H., February Ist, 1843 ; at Coleraine, Mass., Febru- ary 28th, 1849; at Hubbardston, December 29th, 1852, and was settled without installation in East Jaffrey, N. H., April, 1863. When he began labor in Hanover he was nearly 65 years of age. In his historical record delivered to this church April 27th, 1879, he speaks of his pastoral relation to the church and society. He says that he sustains
"the relation of what is called a stated supply, or an acting pastor. It is a relation which implies and requires all the duties and all the privileges of the real pastor, excepting merely the formalities of an ecclesiastical council, called for the purposes of installation and dismission. Such a minister can come and become a minister of a particular church and society, and can leave the same without such a council. "
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50 REV. CYRUS WILLIAM ALLEN.
His wife, Mary (Folger) Allen of Nantucket, was a daughter of Gideon and Eunice (Macy) Folger, to whom he was married June 6, 1835. While at Norton he taught Latin for a while in the recently established Wheaton Female Seminary. His work brought on ill health, and after closing his pastorate at Norton he spent a year at Nantucket, regaining his health.
At Hanover was his last pastorate. When in 1879, increas- ing years and failing strength compelled him to relinquish his active connection with parish work, he retired to his son's house at West Roxbury, where he died from apoplexy, April 11th, 1875. He was a staunch defender of the faith of the fathers. His preaching was marked by little embellishment, but set forth his ideas always logically, always forcibly, yet simply and to the point. The best sermon he ever preached was his own everyday life. No one knew him but to love him. The Spirit of the Master spoke every day from the absolute self-forgetful- ness of Mr. Allen's life.
He was a member of the school committee in each of the towns of Coleraine, Pelham, Hubbardston and Hanover. His wife survived him after a long, helpful and happy married life. She bore him the following children :
Dr. George Otis Allen, born in Norton, October 25, 1838, now deceased.
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Rev. Rowland Hussey Allen, born in Norton, August 13, 1840, now deceased.
Henry Folger Allen, born in Norton, September 2, 1841, now a successful merchant residing in Boston.
Rev. Laban Wheaton Allen, born at Pelham, December 11, 1843, who died August 23, 1875.
Mary Abby, wife of George F. Sylvester of Hanover, born at Pelham, June 19, 1845.
Eliza Katherine Allen, born at Coleraine, 1850, and died at three years of age.
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REV. MR. ALLEN'S CHILDREN.
Williams Cyrus Allen, born in Gardner, Mass., who died at the age of 21 months.
Fanny Florence, wife of John F. Simmons of Boston, born at Hubbardston, April 25, 1855.
The foregoing is mainly in the words of the writer spoken of in the preface. Further than this I have not gone, because, at this point I approached Mr. John Tower, the editor of the North River Pioneer, and the faithful recorder of our local history, hop- ing he, as an authority on the history of the country around, would help me out on many perplexing details. He informed me that he was about publishing a History of Hanover, bring- ing Barry's History down to the present day and adding much new matter to the old, and correcting some of the latter. It was too late to stop my work; some of it was already in the press, so I present only what I had already secured, and leave the balance to be recorded by THE searcher among searchers of our local history, in his forthcoming valuable book, which every man, woman and child will anxiously wait for and cer- tainly secure.
SHIP "CRONSTADT" ASHORE ON FALSTERBO REEF .- See Hist. No. River.
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CHAPTER II.
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"OF THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH, ORDINATION AND CHURCH MEETINGS."
FROM THE ORIGINAL BOOK OF RECORDS.
T THERE are several years of records missing which no one is responsible for excepting the different ministers whose duty it was to keep the records. I have endeavored to follow the original style of spelling, etc., changing only the arrange- ment.
The different methods of reckoning time, as is seen in some of the records which have two dates, is best explained in Don Gleason Hill's Book of Dedham Records, and which I give be- low :
The length of a year is the space of time required for the earth to revolve around the sun, namely : 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 49 seconds and seven-tenths of a second ; but for convenience it has been found necessary to lump the fractions together so as to make up a day therefrom. As early as 45 B. C., Julius Caesar, by the help of an Alexandrian philosopher, introduced the present arrangement of making the year consist of 365 days, with the addition of one day every fourth year, to absorb the odd hours. At the time of the Council of Nice, A. D. 325, the Vernal Equinox ( the time when the days and nights are of equal length in all parts of the world ) fell correctly on the aist of March. But the addition of a whole day every fourth year was found to be too much by 11 minutes, 102 sec- onds, so that the beginning of the year was constantly being moved ahead of the point at which it was in the days of Julius Caesar. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII undertook to reform the Calendar. He found that since the Council of Nice there had been an over-reckon- ing of ten days, so that the Vernal Equinox fell on the 11th of March. To correct the past error he decreed that the 5th day of October, .
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METHODS OF RECKONING TIME.
1582, should be reckoned as the 15th ; and to keep the year right in future, the overplus being 18 hours, 37 minutes, 10 seconds in a century, he ordered that every centurial year that could not be di- vided by 400 ( 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, etc., ) should not be bissex- tile or leap year, as it otherwise would be; in other words, that the extra day should be dropped three times every four hundred years. The following rule has been made to determine in all cases the num- ber of days in each year under the Gregorian method.
Every year whose number is divisible by 4, except those divisible by 100, and not by 400, consists of 366 days, and all others of 365 days.
The Catholic uations in general adopted the Gregorian style, but the Protestants were too much inflamed against Catholicism to re- ceive from the Pope even a pure, scientific improvement. A bill to reform the Calendar was brought before the British Parliament in 1585, but was not passed, and for nearly 200 years the British peo- ple endured the inconvenience of the old style rather than adopt the. Gregorian calendar. It was at length adopted in Great Britain and her colonies in 1752, when it became necessary to drop eleven days. But the Protestant populace of Great Britain were even then violently inflamed against the statesman who carried the bill through Parlia- ment. They believed they had been defrauded of eleven days of their destined lives. It is said that for some time afterwards a favor- ite opprobrious cry to unpopular statesmen in the streets was, "Who stole the eleven days?" "Give us back the eleven days !"
The act of Parliament provided that after the second of Septem- ber, 1752, the next ensuing day should be held as the fourteenth, and that three of the four centurial years should, as in Pope Gregory's ar- rangement, not be leap years. From 1582 both styles continued to overrun the true time in the same proportion until the year 1700, which was leap year under the Julian method, and gained an extra day, but under the Gregorian method came within the exception and dropped the extra day. In changing the dates in this volume, prior to September 2, 1752, so as to correspond with the new style, it will be necessary to add ten days to the date given in the record for all dates on or before February 29, 1700, and eleven days for all dates on and after March Ist of that year, where double dates are given.
Previous to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, the year had different days of beginning at various periods in the same and differ- ent countries. In England, in the 7th and as late as the 13th century, the year began on Christmas day, but in the 12th century the Angli- can Church commenced the year on Annunciation or Lady Day, March 25th, as did also the Civilians in the 14th century, and this continued until the adoption of the new style ; but for a long period prior thereto, the historic year, so called, had commenced on the first day of January, so that at the time our records begin, and for a
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DIFFICULTIES OF COMPILATION.
considerable period prior thereto, the two modes of reckoning the com- mencement of the year existed in Great Britain and her colonies- the civil, ecclesiastical or legal year with March 25th, and the histor- ical year with January Ist. Boston almanacs made the change from March to January, in 1687, and the Boston News Letter in 1717.
The same act of Parliament which struck off the eleven days in September, 1752, enacted that the year should thereafter begin with January Ist. The two lines of introduction to the first book indicate that here "the year is accounted to begin the first day of the first Mo. called March. " At first the months were more commonly called by their numbers than by their names. 1 Mo. for March, a Mo. for April, 3 Mo. for May, and so on; the months named from the Latin numerals, September, October, November and December, are fre- quently written 7ber, 8ber, gber and rober. To prevent confusion, the same practice was very early adopted here as elsewhere in the colony of double dating, i. e., giving both years to all dates between January ist and March 25th ; as, for instance, February 10, 1721-2, meaning February 10th of the year 1922. which began January Ist, and of 1721, which began in the preceding March, and this practice of double dating continued until the adoption of the new style by Parliament, September, 1752.
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