USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 28
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
Tisbury, 26th January, 1727.
NATHANIELL HANCOCK."1
The townsmen, gratified at last to have him come to a favorable decision, sent him a letter of thanks and caused all the correspondence to be spread on the records.
The ordination of Mr. Hancock took place in the follow- ing July, and the ceremonies on that occasion are thus dis- cribed by a contemporary writer :-
July 30 1727. Being Lords day Mr Handcock preached both before and afternoon from James 2. 23 And he was called the friend of God: the discourse was not very animate yet hope it may be useful. Lord follow thy word and ordinances with a blessing. The day was fair clear and hot. On Wednesday last, being the 26th instant, Mr. Handcock was ordained Pastor of the Church in Tisbury. I preached the ordination sermon and Mr Russell and I imposed hands on him, for there was none other minister there. Mr Russell made the first prayer and I gave the Charge and made the second prayer, and Mr Russell gave him the right hand of fellowship2
From the remark made by the diarist as to the absence of other ministers it is supposed that reference was intended
'Tisbury Records, 90.
2Diary of Rev. Wm. Homes in Maine Historical Society Library.
84
Annals of West Tisbury
to the Rev. Samuel Wiswall of Edgartown, whose failure to join in the ordination may be variously interpreted.
Again the town tried in the year following, May, 1728, to secure from the General Court "some assistance toward the Suport of the Ministry," and Jabez Athearn went to Boston for the purpose, but it is not known what were the results, if any, of his mission. The young pastor had now attained the object of his affections, and on July 16, 1729, was married to Sarah Torrey, with whom as consort he presided over the church affairs of the town for the twenty-seven following years.
THIRD MEETING-HOUSE.
The new pastor stimulated the town to provide a new house of worship, and in January, 1733, "it was voted that a New Meeting house should be built," and a committee of seven was appointed to "Determin the bigness of the meeting house & the manner of the Seats Pews & Alleys, Doors, stairs windows & Pulpit." The committee "considered & agreed upon the following Scheem :- "
The Meeting house is to be 35 foot in length & 30 in breadth 18 foot between Joints a Double Doore on the fore side of four foot wide & a doore at Each End of 3 foot wide with forteen Pews around the walls of five foot Extent from the walls with an Alley of 3 foot wide around within the Pews: Not allowing any alley in the middle of the body of seats but allowing four Pews behind the maine body of seats of five foot forward from the Alley to be equally divided; with a Convenient Pulpit & Deacons seat: and in the Gallery four Pews in the hinder part of the front of five foot Extent from the Walls: with Suitable Stairs & Windows.1
Samuel Cobb was employed to construct this building in accordance with the specifications for the sum of £320, of which amount £20 was credited as the value of the old meeting house in part payment. The frame was "raised" probably in June following and the town provided an entertain- ment of "good wheaten cake, good Beere & Rum & Sugar," for those participating in this curious religious custom adopted by our forefathers.2 Three men of Chilmark were chosen
1Tisbury Records, 95 .
2Ibid, 97. It faced the south, having an area in front separating it from the fence. Its west side made a part of the cemetery enclosure and its east side was parallel with the road, a board fence finishing the east side of the cemetery, partly to the front and partly to the rear. It must be remembered that the road continued along its east side to the Scotchman's Bridge road, instead of turning an angle to the west as laid out about 1872.
85
THIRD MEETING-HOUSE, 1733-1833.
PULPIT
Deacon's Seat.
F
FLOOR PLAN OF MEETING-HOUSE, 1733.
86
Annals of West Tisbury
as a committee to arrange the delicate question of allotments to the pews and the assessments therefor. For thirty-five years this building served its purpose as a meeting-house until the growing population had need of more room.
In 1768 it was voted "to Cut sd house in the middle and Enlarge it 15 feet and to Inlarge it 2 feet on the Back Side and to Finish all the wooden work and to Shingel the Rooff with new Shingles and to Remove the Pulpit back and to Lengthen the Galerys," and the next year it was painted "with Tarr and Oker to Preserve the Shingles." In 1771 it was plastered. In 1788 six pews were added to the accom- modations for the worshippers by a rearrangement of the floor plan. Thus altered, this third house survived exactly a century as a meeting place of the religious people of the town.1
The pastorate of Nathaniel Hancock terminated in an ecclesiastical quarrel, the underlying reasons for which do not appear, because of the loss of the church records covering the services of himself and his predecessors also, from the beginning.2 His salary, originally £50, was raised to £80 in 1744 and in 1747 it was made £150 old tenor, because "the fall of money & Riseing of Goods made his Sallery of but little value." The fluctuations of currency during his pastorate made continual trouble between him and the town to adjust an equitable settlement. In 1755 "severall agreved
brethren of the Church . obtained a Seperate Coun- cell against their Reverend Pastor" and secured an opinion adverse to him. In February, 1756, the town voted "not to Desire sd Pastor to take a Dismission," but four months later, probably by reason of Mr. Hancock's insistence on a severance of the pastoral relation, the "Majr Part of the voters then present" (June 22) voted "to Concur with the Advice of the Late Venerable Councell." In July the church
1Tisbury Records, pp. 194, 270.
2The church records of the Torrey and Hancock pastorates were in the possession of Rev. Mr. Hancock in 1760, four years after his dismissal. The church voted that "Deacon Athearn should go to Mr. Hancock and desire him to give a record of the transactions of the Church during the ministry of the Rev. Mr. Torrey and also during his ministry" (Oct. 30, 1760). The Deacon reported that Mr. Hancock refused to give them up. What became of them is not now known, but it is traditional that they were destroyed because of the minutes they contained regarding offences com- mitted by members of the church and the action of the officers against the offenders. The Rev. Mr. Damon began a new record book in 1760 which he continued for twenty years, but this also has disappeared, although in 1850 it was in existence. In that year, fortunately, the late Richard L. Pease made a copy of all the baptisms, marriages and funerals, and abstracted a portion of the business records. This is the only knowl- edge we now have of that period of the church annals, and that copy has been used by the author in the preparation of this history.
87
History of Martha's Vineyard
passed a vote of censure on Mr. Hancock as a result of the quarrel and this ended any further prospect of harmony.
The dismissed pastor continued his residence in town, but kept aloof from the services of the church for sixteen years, as a mark of his resentment against the vote of censure. In 1772 he petitioned for a restoration of privileges as a member. He wrote :--
You know the terms on which I stand with respect to this church of which I am a member. I have withdrawn myself from the communion of this church now for a number of years. You have passed an act by which you have suspended me from church privileges. I own the justice of your proceedings and am desirous of being restored to your Charity. I am sensible that I have missed it greatly in withdrawing and have no other excuse to make for my conduct but this, that it has been a time of difficulty and temptation with me, which I hope the church will make due allowance for. I desire the Christian candor and forgiveness of the church.
The church on March 24th of that year, voted to accept his confession and restore him to full communion. Mr. Hancock was then over seventy years old, in poor health, and did not long survive. He became a judge of the King's Bench in 1761, sitting as a member with John Newman, who had been dismissed from the church in Edgartown. He continued to be prominent in civil affairs until his death, which occurred on September 10, 1774, in the 74th year of his age. He lies buried in the old cemetery, near the last resting place of his predecessor.
MINISTRY OF JOHN RAND.
A successor was found the next year in the person of "a Yong Gentlman as a Candidate for the Ministry, viz. Mr John Rand." He was an alumnus of Harvard in the class of 1744 and had been the college librarian (1753-5) before his coming to Tisbury.1 At this time he was thirty years of age. On Jan. 24, 1757, a formal call was given him by the church, with the concurrence of the town, to become their pastor. A settlement of £750 and an annual salary of £350 old tenor was voted, but the candidate proposed other terms which the town thought "Rather too hard to Comply with at Present." He accepted however on May 20th, but
1He was born in Charlestown Jan. 24, 1726-7, the son of Jonathan and Millicent (Estabrook) Rand of that town, and related to a family of this name already resident here.
88
Annals of West Tisbury
his ministry for some reason was exceedingly brief, scarcely three months. On August 12th, that same year, the pastoral relations were formally severed. He removed to Lyndeboro, N. H., and later preached at Derryfield and Bedford in the same state. He died in the latter town on Oct. 12, 1805, where he had lived for over a quarter of a century.
MINISTRY OF SAMUEL WEST.
For the two ensuing years Samuel West (55), son of Dr. Sackville West of Yarmouth, Cape Cod, a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1754, supplied the vacant pulpit, and during all this time the town, church and candidate were "dickering" about terms of settlement. He was then a young man of twenty-six and at first said "that he should Incline as Willingly to Preach at Tisbury as any other place;" but that he was not fully qualified to hold the office of minister and preacher, but "hoped with submission to accomplish that end in about the space of six weeks." Various offers were subsequently declined by him, as he insisted on the use of a parsonage.1 This the town could not agree to, "relating to our ability" as the record reads, and matters hung thus until March 22, 1759, when he made the following reply to their last formal call :-
I have a Tender Regard for your Spirituall & Everlasting wellfare (and) am therefore Willing to serve you as far as Godd shall enable me: But Considering the great Averseness my own Parents have Manifested about my settling here, together with my own Bodily Infermities which very much unfitt & Indispose me for studiing: for these and some other Reasons I shall be willing if the Town pleases to be Dismist from the Call you gave Me, yet if Providence should so order that the Discouragements I now labour under be Removed I shall be Ready to settle among you, In case you are not better Provided for.2
Although the town and church voted not to dismiss the call this reply ended his relations as candidate, and nothing further came of the negotiations. This clergyman removed to Dartmouth, Mass., shortly after, and there for nearly a half century achieved widespread fame as the pastor of the church in that place. He was a man of great intellectual ability, of marked individuality bordering often on eccentricity and in the annals of the pulpit at that period he was easily
1Tisbury Records, pp. 159-169.
2Ibid., p. 170.
89
History of Martha's Vineyard
a leading character. He died Sept. 24, 1807, at Tiverton, R. I. After the departure of Mr. West the town sought the services of Rev. Zachariah Mayhew of Chilmark, the mission- ary, but he declined the call and Mr. William Whitwell, Jr., "now Resident at Mr Zachariah Mayhews," was asked in September, 1759, to fill the vacancy, but beyond preaching for a few weeks the negotiations were dropped.
MINISTRY OF GEORGE DAMAN.
Early in 1760 the usual committee on candidates reported a success in their search for a new minister, in the person of George Daman of Dedham. He was the son of John and Elizabeth (Metcalf) Daman of Dedham, where he was born July 7, 1736, and had just graduated in the class of 1756 at Harvard College. On June 16, 1760, he was given a unanimous call by town and church to become their pastor. This he accepted on July 30th following, "not for the sake of Filthy Lucer," as he replied to them, but because he felt the call was "the Mind & Will of Christ the Great Head of the Church."1 Mr. Daman was ordained as pastor Oct. Ist of that year. In the terms of settlement the town agreed to pay him a gratuity of f1000 and a yearly salary of £400, and at once set about providing a parsonage for his use. The town bought for this purpose of Samuel Cobb, a tract of land on the west side of Old Mill brook, with an old house and buildings thereon, now known as the Whiting homestead. The house was repaired, broken windows glazed, rooms plastered, the barn shingled and the premises made ready for the new minister, under an agreement that the settlement of £1000 should be relinquished by him in con- sideration of the use of a parsonage.2
His ministry covered the troublous times of the pre- Revolutionary period, and lasted throughout the war, when the financial situation was so greatly affected, and the people of Tisbury, like all other towns on the Vineyard, suffered from the business depression as a result of the struggle for inde- pendence. His salary was often in arrears, and payments were made in the depreciated currency of the times. In 1767 efforts were made to increase his stipend and enlarge and
'Tisbury Records, 175-6. He was dismissed from the church of Dedham on Sept. 14, 1760 (Records, First Church, Dedham).
?Tisbury Records, 177-8. This property was valued at {2000 in the depreciated currency of the time. It was made ready for occupancy in 1762 and he signed a waiver in that year (ibid., p. 182).
90
THE WHITING HOMESTEAD, WEST TISBURY.
Annals of West Tisbury
repair the church, but both proposals failed. This created discontent on his part and a committee was chosen "to goe and Treet with the Revend Mr Damon Consarning his un- eseness." Ten years later, 1777-8, arrearages had again piled up and a compromise was made upon partial payment, and the town further agreed to "Cut and Cart Ten Cord of Wood to sd Mr Damans Dore for his fireing the Ensuing Winter."1 This temporary shift was repeated the next year and he offered to relinquish his salary for one year if the town would give him title to the parsonage and guarantee payments for the future. This was not favorably received by the townsmen and various alternative offers were made by them to pay his salary in Spanish milled dollars, silver bullion, "or in other specia." He was also to be allowed to preach in Edgartown "one Quarter Part of the year for his Own profitt," and another quarter in the Homes Hole district, until the time when his stipulated salary should be regularly paid.2 The remainder of his pastorate was a repetition of the same finan- cial deficiencies, continually growing larger and at last a committee of Chilmark and Edgartown men were chosen by himself and the town as referees "to Settle what Mr Daman should have Considering him a Sufferer with his People since the war by reason of the fall of monney." The arrangement effected by this arbitration appears to have been satisfactory, and might have resulted in his indefinite retention, but at this juncture the new society of Baptists had been formed at Homes Hole and they refused to pay their share of the ministerial taxes. This was the "last straw" and on the 2nd of March, 1781, he made formal request to the church for his dismission from the pastoral office. In his letter he recited the difficulties of his position for several years past as above related, claiming that "he did not in six years and a half scarcely receive his usual small support for one year and a half." He added that "nearly one half the town always appeared opposite to every thing that was proposed and some of them some of the foremost men for ability.">3 The church on March 28th voted his dismission, and gave him a hand- some "letter of recommendation." He removed to Wood- stock, Vt., after his dismission and died there in December, I 796, aged 60 years. His wife was Dinah Athearn (47), whom
'Tisbury Records, 226.
"Ibid., 230.
3Church Records.
9I
History of Martha's Vineyard
he married here Oct. 14, 1762, and by whom he had three sons and four daughters.
The town concurred with the church in his dismission and then spent several months in a contest with him over his unpaid salary for past services. They voted "to Hire out the Personage to the Highest bidders" and instructed a committee "to Treat with the People of Chilmark about Hireing Some Person to Preach by Turns as they shall agree." What arrangement was finally made is not known, but re- ligious interest was evidently at a low ebb in Tisbury at this time. For three years the records are silent on all church subjects.
MINISTRY OF ASARELAH MORSE.
This clergyman became a candidate for the vacant place in July, 1784, and in the fall of that year he was formally invited to become the pastor. He was born Jan. 27, 1745, a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1767, and had held a pastoral charge in Nova Scotia at Granville and Annapolis, about 1771; and at the time when invited here he was a resi- dent of Harwich, Cape Cod.1 Mr. Morse was at that time forty years of age with a family, his wife, Hepsibah Hall, being a member of the church in East Yarmouth, Cape Cod, at the time of her marriage. He accepted the call Oct. 26, 1784, and was ordained as pastor December Ist following.2 His salary was fixed at £70 yearly with the use of the parson- age, after it should be repaired for his occupancy. His min- istry continued till the close of that century and was character- ized by uninterrupted harmonious relations between pastor and people. During his term of service the important subject of the support of the clergyman by taxes levied on the town had become acute, beyond amicable settlement. The Bap- tists of Homes Hole had continued to refuse payment of their share and in 1793 the town offered as a compromise that Mr. Morse should preach in that precinct "in proportion to the taxes they may pay towards the Minesters Sallery." This ecclesiastical shuffle was not satisfactory to the Baptists, who wished for preachers of their own doctrines, and in 1794 the town agreed to join with the inhabitants of Homes Hole,
'Tisbury Records, 251. In 1790 Mr. Morse petitioned the County Court for naturalization, as he had "moved out of the jurisdiction of the state into Nova Scotia some time before the late war" (Dukes Court Records, Oct., 1790).
?Church Records.
92
Annals of West Tisbury
in a petition to the General Court, that all residents east of Savage's Line be incorporated as a separate parish for purposes of church taxation.1 This was the beginning of the final settlement of an important and exceedingly delicate re- ligious question which had vexed the people of the two extreme sections of the town and marked the separation of church and state matters in Tisbury. In the last year of the century, Mr. Morse asked and obtained his dismission from the pastoral office, after about fifteen years' service.2
SUCCESSION OF PASTORS, 1800-1900.
After an intermission of two years the Rev. Nymphas Hatch was elected to fill the vacancy, and on Oct. 7, 1801, was ordained. He held the charge for eighteen years, and on June 26, 1819, received his dismission. At the close of this pastorate the flock had become almost decimated through secessions to the new sects, the Baptists and Methodists.8 In asking for his release after years of depression and discord, due to the numerous withdrawals, he wrote: "You have long witnessed and no doubt with much regret, the great diminution of our church by deaths, by emigration and by seceders. You are my witnesses of the opposition and may I not add variegated discouragements which I have had to encounter during my ministry."4 Five male members only remained loyal to the old organization to consider this solemn situation - Joseph Look, Jonathan Smith, Malachi Luce, Timothy Athearn and Ephraim Luce-and they granted his request.
He was followed by Josiah Henderson in 1822, who re- mained four years. His agreement included the "use of the Parsonage, for Feedage and Tillage and $100 for one year, together with all that may be obtained by subscription, con- tribution or otherwise." The line of succession as given below includes all those ordained or installed, and those who supplied the pulpit for a year or more: -
1Tisbury Records, 274, 299.
2Mr. Morse died April 25, 1803, four years after his dismissal.
3Not less than forty persons withdrew during Mr. Hatch's pastorate to join the Baptist society alone; how many became Methodists is not known.
4Church Records. About 1817, during his ministry, assessments ceased and voluntary contributions became the method of supporting the ministers.
93
History of Martha's Vineyard
Joshua Payson, 1827-30; Timothy Davis, 1831-32; Wil- liam Marchant,1 1834-35; Ebenezer Chase,2 1835-42; John Walker, 1843-47; Henry Van Houton, 1849-50; Lot B. Sullivan, 1851-52; Samuel Cole, 1852-59; William H. Sturte- vant, 1859-77; John W. Hird, 1878; Frank L. Bristol, 1879; John H. Mellish, 1880-82; A. M. Rice, 1882-86; J. R. Flint, 1887-89; Richard T. Wilton, 1889-92; Horace Parker, 1892- 98; R. C. Moodie, 1898-1904; Haig Adadourian, 1904-07; Charles G. Fogg, 1907 (present incumbent).
FOURTH MEETING-HOUSE.
The old meeting-house, which for a hundred years had resounded to the preaching of Hancock, Daman, Morse, Hatch, Payson and Davis, reached its limit of usefulness in 1833 and was considered beyond repair or remodeling. A new structure was authorized by the church and completed that year. The old building was torn down and the fourth meeting-house erected on the spot hallowed by the associations of the past. There it remained until 1865, when it was re- romoved to its present location, next Agricultural Hall, and the site previously occupied by it became a part of the old cemetery enclosure.
METHODIST CHURCH.
1
The development of this denomination in old Tisbury dates from about 1815, when the itinerant preachers, assigned to the Vineyard, with station at Edgartown or Homes Hole, visited the western part of the island in search of converts. The earliest follower of this sect was Mrs. Mary (Chase) Lambert, and about 1820 she invited Rev. Eleazer Steele, then at Edgartown, to come to this part of the island and preach the new religion. This he did and succeeded in form- ing a "class" at the North Shore. Among the first converts was Captain Thomas Luce, who had lost his sight at sea, while using the spy-glass against a bright sun; David Nicker- son, then a young man residing in West Tisbury,3 and George
'The church records speak of him as "a missionary now here."
2" Reformation" John Adams, the Methodist parson of Homes Hole said of Mr. Chase in 1842: "his note preaching I think has been a lullaby" (Autobiography, 495).
3The following story of a "remarkable Providence," which happened to young Nickerson is related by the chronicler of this denomination: He was accustomed to read his bible after retiring to bed; the weather being cold, and he having no ac- commodations for a fire in his room. One night he dropped asleep without extinguish- ing his light. What was his astonishment on awakening, to find that his candle had burned down, having somehow caught his bible and burned the cover to a crisp, caught the bed-clothes and burned them and the bed all round his head. The fire had then gone out of itself, without so much as scorching a hair of his head. It was considered a miraculous preservation.
94
Annals of West Tisbury
Weeks, who afterwards became a noted preacher, exhorter and assistant on the circuit.
The services were held in the houses of the members of this denomination, for they were few in numbers and unable to support a regular ministerial supply or to build a house of worship. Among the earlier preachers to this "class" at the North Shore before 1850 were, William Barstow, Caleb Lamb, Mark Staple, "Reformation" John Adams and Micah J. Talbot. In 1845 the present existing chapel at Lambert's Cove for the use of this sect was built and dedicated, and has been a regular station in the Vineyard district ever since.
The following list of ministers represents the successive assignments to this society by the Southern Conference since 1857. Prior to that date the ministers of Chilmark or Homes Hole were given oversight of this mission.
L. C. Mckinstry, 1857; Joseph Hunt, 1858-9; Benjamin Haines, 1860; Jason Gill, 1861-2; Isaac B. Forbes, 1863; David Cook and G. A. Silfverston, 1864-5; James Dixon, 1867-8; Wm. T. Miller, 1869-70; Lawton Cady, Wm. A. Cottle and R. F. Macy, 1871; R. F. Macy and C. G. Downing, 1872; Moses Brown, 1873; Charles Stokes, 1874-5; T. B. Gurney, 1876-7; A. B. Bessey, 1878; E. H. Hatfield and J. B. Hamblin, 1879; J. B. Washburn, 1880-2; J. S. Fish, 1883-5; J. B. Washburn, 1886-7; James A. Wood, 1888-90; C. P. Flanders, 1891-3; F. D. Sargent, 1894; Walter A. Gardner, 1895; Chauncey W. Ruoff, 1896.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.