USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Boxford > The history of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts, from the earliest settlement known to the present time: a period of about two hundred and thirty years > Part 14
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The church when at first incorporated consisted of mem- bers dismissed from the First Church in Boxford, and the First Church in Bradford. The following, who signed the covenant when the church was embodied, were dismissed from the First Church in Bradford, viz. : Cornelius Brown, Nathan Eames, Daniel Wood, Stephen Runnells, Luke Hovey, jun., Joseph Hovey, Jonathan Sherwin, Ebenezer Sherwin, Caleb Brown, Jonathan Cole, John Crooke, Mary Eames, Sarah Eames, Sarah Wood, Dorcas Hovey, Mary Sherwin, Hephzibah Sherwin, and Judith Cole ; and the fol- lowing were dismissed from the First Church in Boxford, viz. : Luke Hovey, John Hovey, Zebadiah Foster, John Kimball, Nathan Kimball, John Woster, James Scales, Mehitable Chadwick, Margaret Foster, Sarah Porter, Eliz- abeth Tyler, Sarah Spofford, Elizabeth Tyler, Elizabeth Kimball, Sarah Kimball, Ruth Tyler, Mary Woster, and Mary Scales.
Jan. 23, 1736-37, John Chadwick, Samuel Spofford, Richard Tyler, and Samuel Tyler were admitted as mem-
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bers of the church upon their dismission from the First Church in Boxford. The same day Jeremiah Eames was admitted a member of the church upon his dismission from the First Church in Bradford,
The original covenant of the church was as follows : -
"We whose Names are hereunto Subfcribed apprehending our- selves called of God to join together in Church-State, and to Embody ourselves In Order to become a particular Church or Flock of ye Lord Jesus ; (acknowledging our unworthiness of Such an honor & Privi- ledge) We do profess & declare our serious Belief of ye Christian religion, as Contained in ye Sacred Scriptures, and as expressed in ye Confession of Faith, Commonly received by ye Churches in this Land, heartily resolving to Conform our Lives to ye Rules of that holy religion as Long as we Live. And therefore
" We do now in ye presence of God himself, his holy Angels & all his Servants here present, give up ourselves unto ye Lord Jehovah, who is ye Father, ye Son & ye holy Ghost, and avouch Him this day to be our God.
"We give up ourselve to ye Lord Jesus Christ, relying on him as our Priest, Prophet & King ; promising by ye help of his Grace to glorify God in all the Duties of a Godly Sober & righteous Life; and very particularly to uphold Family & Closet worship, and to attend ye Publick worship of God, the Sacraments of ye New Testament the Discipline of Christ's Kingdom, and all his holy Institutions in Com- munion with one another, & Carefully avoiding all Sinfull Conten- tions.
" We do give ourselves one to another in ye Lord, Covenanting to walk together as a Church of Christ according to ye Rules of God's holy Word, promising faithfully to watch over one another in Broth- erly Love and to Submit ourselves to ye Discipline & power of Christ in his Church, and Duly to attend ye Seals and Censures, or whatever ordinances Christ has commanded to be observed by his people, So far as ye Lord by his word and Spirit has or shall reveal unto us to be our Duty.
"We also present, this Day, our offspring with us unto the Lord promising to give them a Christian Education, and avouching ye Lord to be not only our God but also ye God of our children, Esteeming it a very high favour that ye most high will accept of us, and our children with us to be his People.
" And now, that we may keep this our Covenant with God & with
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one another, we desire to Deny ourselves and to depend wholly on ye free mercy of God, and ye merritts & Grace of Christ Jesus : and wherein we shall fail to wait on God for Pardon thro' ye name of Christ, beseeching ye Lord Jehovah to own us as a Church of Christ that He would take delight to Dwell among, and that his blessing may be upon us & on our families, and his glorious Kingdom be advanced by us. Amen."
Mr. Cushing was paid, in the early years of his minis- try, one hundred and forty pounds in money, and twenty- five cords of wood, annually. His settlement fund was three hundred pounds. In 1748 his salary was increased to three hundred pounds. In December of that year the parish voted "to give ye Revd Mr Cufhing 400 & Twenty pounds old Tenr for his Salery for ye year Ensuing."
It was voted, Feb. 4, 1736-37, to purchase for the observ- ance of the Lord's Supper "proper and sufficient uten- sils," consisting of two flagons, four tankards, and two dishes, together with suitable table-linen ; also, a baptism- basin. The church was presented shortly after with four tankards by the wife of Ephraim Foster, two dishes by the wife of John Foster, a baptism-basin by the wife of Nathan Eames, and another tankard by the wife of John Woster.
The deacons were chosen Feb. 28, 1736-37. The first deacon was John Woster, and the second, Caleb Brown. The sacrament was to be administered on the first Sunday of each odd month (January, March, May, &c.). Ebenezer Sherwin was voted to "tune the Psalm;" in 1748 Luke Hovey, jun., was chosen to that office.
The General Court, June 13, 1740, ordered the families of David, Ephraim, John, and Moses Foster, Joseph Rob- inson, Joseph Robinson, jun., and Samuel and Timothy Sessions of Andover, with their lands, to be annexed to the Second Parish. During the following five years several more Andover families were annexed to the parish : some of them who were subsequently annexed to the parish were
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the Barkers, Merrills, and Lacys. These families have continued to belong to that parish, the present parish-clerk being an Andover man.
After this date (1735) the town ceased to have any voice in church matters. Each parish afterward separately con- ducted its ecclesiastical affairs.
The first meeting held by the East Parish was on Monday, Nov. 17, 1735, at which Thomas Redington was chosen parish-clerk. He held the office until 1742, with one exception, in the year 1737, when Joseph Hale filled the position. For a number of years, commencing 1743, Amos Perley was the clerk.
In 1736 Josiah Batchelder, on recompense of three pounds and ten shillings, surveyed the parish for the purpose of finding the centre, in which they proposed to set their new meeting-house, to the building of which none were now opposed. Oct. 5, 1736, it was voted that, when the parish erected their meeting-house, it should be set on the hill behind Mr. Rogers' residence, - where the old one stood. It was also voted that it should be built thirty-eight feet wide, forty-eight feet long,and twenty-four feet stud ; " the meeting-house shall be studded and boarded, and clapboarded on the stud on the outside, and lathed and plastered on the inside, both on the ends and sides and also overhead under the beams ; and that there shall be a fashionable roof, well finished, the boards pointed with lime, and good decent windows, agreeable to the quality of the house." Toward defraying the expense of erecting the meeting-house the parish granted six hundred pounds.
Nov. 10, 1740, the parish voted that their meeting-house should stand on "the northwardly corner of the pasture that was purchased of John Buswell, deceased, a little to the south, or south-west, of the place where Mr. Batchelder declared the centre of the parish was." It was ultimately placed in front of the present meeting-house. Whether
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this is the spot designated by the above vote, or not, we do not know. At the same meeting it was voted to " repair the old meeting-house, so that it would be tight and warm till the new one should be ready, in the following manner, viz. : to shingle the foreside of the roof, clapboard both ends and the foreside, make new doors, new window-frames and casements, reset the glass, and, where the glass is broken and gone, to put in new panes."
June 12, 1744, it was voted to " plaster the meeting-house under the beams and down to the sills, and under the galleries." It was also voted " to have an alley made, lead- ing from the fore door to the pulpit, the width of the door ; and a row of seats each side of the alley, and a convenient alley elsewhere." The whole was to be " underpinned well and pointed with lime." Feb. 13, 1745, it was voted that there should be twenty-one windows in the meeting-house, to be arranged in two tiers, one above the other. Those in the lower tier were to contain twenty-eight, and those in the second tier twenty-four, panes each, each pane to be seven by nine inches. The pulpit was lighted by a win- ' dow ; one was also placed in each gable. A large " sound- ing-board" was placed directly above the pulpit. Its dimensions were so great that it seemed as if the slender rod which held it in its position in the air would give way, and it would come dashing down on the parson's head.
The meeting-house was so far finished * that the sale of the pews took place Sept. 17, 1745, at an average of about twenty-seven pounds apiece. They were bid off by the following persons : I. Robert Andrews ; 2. John Symonds ; 3. John Peabody, jun .; 4. Francis Perley ; 5. Nathaniel Symonds; 6. Joseph Hale, jun .; 7. Thomas Perley, jun. ; 8. Thomas Andrews, jun .; 9. widow Martha Dorman; IO. (was not sold); II. Amos Perley ; 12. Asa Perley ; 13.
* On a timber in the frame of the old edifice were engraved the figures " 1742." This was probably the year in which it was raised.
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Oliver Andrews; 14. John Wood; 15. Jonathan Bixby ; 16. John Hale; 17. Jeremiah Perley and Thomas Red- ington ; 18. Aaron Kimball.
The meeting-house was accepted by the parish Dec. IO, 1745. Its entire cost was about fifteen hundred pounds. The old church continued to be used until the first Sunday in January, 1747, when religious services were first held in the new meeting-house. Probably the reason of this was that no regular services were held in the parish, in consequence of the dissolution of Mr. Rogers' ministerial relation with them in 1743 ; after which for many years the church was kept in a complete hubbub.
What the cause of Mr. Rogers' dissolution of his relation with the church was we have not been able to determine. Perhaps the sketch of the life of his son, Rev. John Rogers, jun., may throw some light upon it, although it might have been from secular causes, or he might have wished to retire from the ministry altogether, which he did. The house and land that had been first owned by Rev. Mr. Symmes had been conferred upon Mr. Rogers, under the same conditions. After his dismission, according to the agreement, he should have given up the house and land to the town; but he refused to do it, and therefore the parish were very wroth against him. They tried all possi- ble persuasions to have him do as they wished; but he remained stubborn, and would not give in. Charges were also instituted against him, but he would not quail to them. What these charges were has not come to our notice.
Mr. Rogers removed to his son's in Leominster just before 1750. After his removal several letters passed between him and the society, regarding the charges, &c., laid to him. One, dated Jan. 8, 1751, is all that we have found entire. It contains some very spicy clauses, and is withal very interesting. We insert it in full :-
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" Beloved brethren : In yours of Dec. 21, 1750, you say 'we should be glad to be informed what council you esteem to be regular,' &c. I will make you glad. Such a council is one chosen, the one half by you, the other by me, according to the platform of the Word of God, and, as in such a case as this, there must be a concurrence of each party ; so the business of a council in general is to judge of the Chris- tian conduct of the members or officers of a church : to receive and forgive the penitent, to eject obstinate offenders or heretics after the second admonition, they to be esteemed as heathens or publicans. Ecclesiastical council is not as a civil court about seculars, but spirit- uals, of a church. Not coërcive by mulcts corporal or pecuniary but suasory and directive, to the unholy and profane, &c. See I Tim. i., 9, 10 verses, &c. I desire you may have the preëminence to choose first for you are many. I will take your leavings to fill up the council, to be held in Boxford when and where you please. But send me a letter to inform me in the affairs : what you have done. As to the charges,* I don't think it hard for you who are rich to bear them, but it would not be prudence for me, who have little, or nothing, to prom- ise to pay till you pay me, &c. Nor do I see any reason for the poor accused to oblige himself to help the potent accusers to defray the charges of their prowess against him. Some, it may be, will say 'if you will not join with us in bearing the charges as well as the result of the council, we will have none.' But, I say, where then is your zeal for purging out the OLD LEAVEN, for the reclaiming or punish- ing the scandalous brother. But, if you had used the previous steps which our supreme Lord has prescribed to gain a brother, you should have seen upon due conviction his confession, free and public, enough. But seeing you love to skip or stride over to the council I am willing they should hear all those things my visible accusers lay to my charge, and if the accusations be proved by authentic, impartial, unbiased witnesses, I will bear the reproof due to me, for 'if the righteous smite me it shall be a kindness,' &c. They may show me my transgressions and the error of my ways more clearly and fully than I have yet known, to my further humiliation and repentance. I believe in the future judgment, about which I have more concern than any human, and know I must ere long appear before a far more awful and strict tribunal to give an account of all the thoughts, words, and actions of my whole life, my principles, motives, ends, and man- ner of my conduct in the sight of God and man; 'for God will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or
* Charges or expenses of the council.
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evil.' The Lord enable us to live in the exercise of repentance toward God, against whom we have sinned, -oh, how many ways, how griev- ously !- and that we may live in the exercise of faith on our L. J. C.,* by whom we receive the atonement and consequently love and new obe- dience and patience that we may be followers of those who through this faith and patience are now inheriting the promises, always looking to Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, &c. In a word my constant prayer is, that we may be found in him, not having on our own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. Amen and amen.
"JAN. 8, 175I.
"P.S. Though I would pay due deference to your letter of the 21 of Dec., 1750; yet I must be excused if I say such is my dulness of apprehension that I see not the least shadow of reason to alter my opinion expressed in my letter to you of Dec. 1, 1750, concerning yours of July 10, containing your articles of charge."
We cannot find that any council was held, and do not think there was. Their disagreement was continued year in and year out, neither party coming to terms. Mr. Rogers would not give up his title to the house and land until the parish paid him the balance of his salary, and the parish was as contrary the other way. The parish-clerk says, "our long perplexed and distressed circumstances " were settled in March, 1752; but the acknowledgment of settlement is dated Sept. 7, 1761. Mr. Rogers died in 1755, leaving the matter unsettled, which was continued by his widow, the executrix of his will ; and after her death, which happened two years later, it was carried on by her executors, her sons John and Nathaniel Rogers of Leo- minster, who settled for the sum of £210, and gave a paper to the parish, of which the following is a copy, for the acknowledgment of the receipt of the money, which ended the trouble.
"This may certify that we, the subscribers, John Rogers of Leo- minster, in the County of Worcester, in the Province of the Massa-
Lord Jesus Christ.
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chusetts Bay, in New England, clerk, and Nathaniel Rogers, of the same town, county, and province, gentleman, have, as executors of the last will and testament of Susanna Rogers, late of said Leo- minster, deceased, received of Thomas Perley, Thomas Andrews, and Solomon Wood, a committee and agents for the First Parish in Box- ford, the sum of two hundred and ten pounds, lawful money, which we acknowledge is in full for all the demands we have upon the First Parish in Boxford as executors of the will of said Susanna Rogers, or as heirs to the Rev. John Rogers, late of Leominster, deceased, formerly the pastor of the said First Parish in Boxford, respecting any contracts between the town of Boxford and the said John Rogers, originally their pastor, respecting his salary, or on account of any votes passed by the said First Parish in Boxford, touching salary, or maintenance, and the arrears of salary, or on account of any de- mand, real or personal, either upon the said town or First Parish in Boxford, from the beginning of the world until this day, either upon account of heirship, or executorship, to the late said John and Su- sanna ; for which consideration we do by these presents finally acquit and discharge and covenant to indemnify the town and First Parish in Boxford of and from all demands, as well real as personal of the said John, his heirs, executors, or administrators of what name or nature soever. Sealed with our seals, and dated at Leominster, Sep- tember the seventh, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-one, and in the first year of his Majesty's reign.
" Signed, sealed, and delivered " In presence of " JOHN ROGERS. SEAL
" JONATHAN WHITE, " THOMAS WILDER."
" NATHLL ROGERS.
SEAL
Rev. Mr. Rogers was son of Jeremiah Rogers of Salem, who belonged to a family which claims the distinction of descent from "the martyr," "the first of that blessed company who suffered in the reign of Mary," and which is really entitled to the renown of having furnished to the New-England churches, through five generations, some of their most able, faithful, and godly ministers. One of our John's descendants has a Bible which is claimed to be the one which his ancestor bore to the stake at his execution. It is partly burnt.
Felt says that Mr. Rogers' parents seem to have been
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in humble life and indigent condition. (Felt's Annals, p. 380.) He graduated at Harvard College in 1705, and four years afterwards was settled over the Boxford church, which was probably the only place where he was ever settled as a pastor. He married Susanna Marston of Salem, March 24, 1710 (?), who survived him two years, he dying in 1755, and she in 1757, in Leominster. Nine children were born to them, viz .: Susanna, b. June 28, 17II ; John, b. Sept. 24, 1712 (see his biography) ; Benja- min, bapt. Oct. 24, 1714; Mehitable, bapt. Aug., 1716; Nathaniel, bapt. July 8, 1718; Lydia, bapt. Aug. 7, 1720; Eunice, bapt. Aug., 1724; Lucia, bapt. Feb. 5, 1727 ; Samuel, bapt. July 5, 1730. The eldest child, Susanna, married, Feb. 18, 1735, Dr. Jacob Peabody, a physician in Leominster for many years ; Benjamin married Alice (Per- ley) Foster, and lived in Boxford; Lydia married Abijah Smith; and Nathaniel married Rebecca Symonds, and lived in Boxford and Leominster.
During the thirty-four years of Mr. Rogers' ministry here two hundred and two persons were admitted to the church. More persons were admitted, on a yearly aver- age, than during the ministry of any other clergyman that was ever settled in Boxford. Mr. Rogers was very forcible in his speech, and earnest in its application to the desired end. The cause of his falling out with the church was probably his bluntness or frankness in preach- ing, which characteristic will always produce enemies even in the pulpit. We know of nothing against his moral or Christian character, but rather the reverse.
CHAPTER VIII.
I730-1770.
OVERSEERS OF THE POOR. - DEER-REEVES. - SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS. - PEARL'S MILL. - THE "WOOD-SPELL." - TROUBLE IN THE SECOND CHURCH. - MILITARY MATTERS. - FRENCH WAR. - CAPT. ISRAEL HERRICK. - FRENCH NEU- TRALS. - FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. - CAMPAIGNS OF 1759 AND 1760. - REV. ELIZUR HOLYOKE SETTLED OVER THE FIRST CHURCH. - COVENANT OF FIRST CHURCH OF 1759. - NEW SINGING-BOOKS INTRODUCED INTO THE CHURCHES. - EMIGRA- TION .- DEATH OF REV. MR. CUSHING. - HIS MINISTRY AND LIFE. - ATTEMPT TO SETTLE ANOTHER MINISTER. - HERRICK'S SAW-MILL. - TAILORS. - A POEM OF SOLOMON WOOD'S. -- FISH TROUBLES. - SUNDRY BUSINESSES. - POTASH MANUFAC- TURED. - PROPERTY IN BOXFORD IN 1768.
NTIL the year 1732 the selectmen were what we now term overseers of the poor. They took 00 entire charge of the paupers, furnishing them with every thing needed for their comfort. May 22 of that year the town chose a man to officiate in that duty separately, to take the whole care upon himself. This man was Deacon Timothy Foster, who thus became the first overseer of the poor in Boxford. The practice of " boarding-out" town paupers was still continued.
At the period of which we are writing the wild animals of the larger varieties were not at all scarce. Game, as the population increased, began to decrease, and the town found it expedient to do something for its protection. The General Court, in May, 1739, passed an Act to that effect ;
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and the town chose John Wood and Thomas Peabody to see that the law was enforced. Deer being the principal variety of game, these officers were called " deer-reeves."
Up to this time bears were frequently found in the woods ; but they very soon became scarce, and the last one known to have been seen within the limits of the town inhabited the swamp in the rear of the residence of Mr. Charles A. Spofford. Discovering her retreat, some hunters took away her cubs : on returning to her den the old bear pursued the hunters to the highway, where, with her fore-paws placed upon the top-rail of a pair of bars, she gave utter- ance to a prolonged and disconsolate howl, after which she immediately made her way to the Merrimac River, which she crossed, and, entering the wilds of New Hampshire, was never seen again in her old retreat.
Some discussion was carried on, in 1738, about building some schoolhouses, the want of which was very much felt. At a town-meeting held in the following spring, May 14, 1739, it was accordingly voted that the town would divide into five parts, each part to provide its own schoolhouse. Whether this vote was carried into effect, and the school- houses built, or not, we do not know; but a clause in the school-report for 1764 has led us to think they were not, although previous to 1765 a schoolhouse stood in the new part of the cemetery, near the present Third-District school- house ; and in 1774 another stood near the house of the late Moses Kimball. In 1779 four hundred pounds was raised for the support of schools that year. A Mr. Page was hired to teach school in 1740; Mr. Persons taught in 1742 ; John Tucker subsequently taught here for several years ; Mr. Lesslie for several years, about 1748; Mr. Varney in 1750; Hon. Aaron Wood during 1752 and spring of 1753; Mr. Butler in spring of 1754, and Mr. Brown the rest of the year ; and in 1776 Moses Putnam was school- master.
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Richard Pearl * removed from Andover to Boxford, and built the house owned and occupied by the late George Pearl, Esq. (Richard's great-grandson), in 1738. Near his residence, on the stream that connects Mitchell's Pond with Parker River, he shortly erected a grist-mill, which was the first ever built in the West Parish. This ancient mill was gone before 1824; and on the same site John Pearl and James Carleton founded a saw and box mill about 1848. Mr. Carleton sold out his share in the mill about four years later, to Deacon J. T. Day, who sold it about 1865 to Daniel Pingree, who now owns it, Pearl having sold to him the share which he possessed.
The "wood-spell" was recognized as one of the few holiday seasons of our ancestors. This was the time of getting together the minister's supply of wood, which then formed part of his salary. With shouts of the youngsters, and the hoarse voice of the drivers, the farmers came into the yard, bringing their share of the supply ; and, after un- loading, entered with their neighbors the back-room of the parsonage, where, in the fireplace which the present gener- ation knows so little about, a huge fire, supplied by a verita- ble yule-log, was kept burning. The season of the year was winter when this grand turn-out took place, and the parson would have " something to take" all smoking hot; for such was the custom of those days, and the "good old New-England rum" was a reputable drink. Chatting and sipping the liquor, they would sit there all through the long forenoon, - the people of those days arose early, -
* Richard Pearl was born in Bradford (in the portion of that ancient town that is now included in Groveland) 20 May, 1702, and died in Boxford 20 Dec., 1793. His father was John Pearl, a native of Skidby, Yorkshire, Eng., who was a miller by trade. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Holmes of Rowley. Richard Pearl, in company with another man, built the original mill that occupied the site of Hale's factory in South Grove- land. Richard Pearl was also grandfather of Peter Pearl, whose long life was passed and filled with public offices in the town.
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