USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1734 to the year 1800 > Part 45
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The committee consisted of Rev. Mr. Allen, Elder Rathbun, Elnathan Phelps, Eli Root, and Woodbridge Little; and, at the adjourned meeting in April, the following report, signed by Rev.
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Mr. Allen "per order of the committee," was submitted and adopted : -
" The committee appointed on Mr. Rathbun's motion, respecting those people in town called and known by the name of Shakers, beg leave to report, -
. "That they have attended to the object of their commission, so far as they imagined in duty and prudence they ought, and that they have reason to apprehend that those people called Shakers are, in many instances, irregular and disorderly in their conduct and conversation, if not guilty of some high erimes and misdemeanors. The committee therefore recommend it to the town to direct their selectmen to take such cognizance of all disorderly and idle persons in the town, and of their families, as in prudence and by law they may and ought; and, further, that the town give particular instructions to their respective grand jurors to be chosen for the next courts to inquire into all the conduct and practices of said people which are contrary to law, and make due presentment thereof, particularly all blasphemies, adulteries, fornications, breaches of sabbath, and all other breaches of law, which they may have been guilty of; and that all tithing-men and other persons use their best endeavors, according to law, to suppress all disorders and breaches of the peace of every kind ; and also that the town direct their town-clerk to inform the commissioners, or other proper authority in the county of Albany, that great and manifest inconveniences and dangers arise from the corre- spondence and intercourse subsisting between the people of Niskeuna [Watervliet] called Shakers and some people of this town and county disposed to embrace their erroneous opinions, and that they be requested to co-operate with us in endeavoring to prevent such intercourse and corre- spondence by all possible ways and means.
"PITTSFIELD, April 2, 1781."
" THOMAS ALLEN,
" Per order of the Committee.
Mr. Rathbun did not succeed in leading back to the Baptist fold all who, with him, had wandered from it; some even of his own kinsmen adhering firmly to the Shaker faith : but he recovered, in a great degree, the confidence of community and of his co-re- ligionists. He resumed his pastorate; and the church which, after his return to it, continued for seventeen years under the charge of its founder, was not unprosperous for the greater portion of that time, although doubtless weakened by the unfortunate lapse of 1780. In 1781, the Shaftsbury Association, comprising the Baptist churches within a wide circuit around that place, was formed ; and in its ranks Mr. Rathbun's flock held at least a respect- able position, reporting, in 1786, twenty-four members, of whom seven had been admitted during the year.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
In 1790, as has been stated, the committee of the town, who manifestly were not inclined to enlarge the Baptist borders, re- ported twenty-one tax-payers indisputably connected with the society (besides Mr. Rathbun himself, who was exempted from taxation as a public teacher of religion), and several others whose claims to membership were disputed. This would indicate a still more numerous communion than in 1786; but in 1798, whether from the revival of old difficulties, or the engendering of new, the church had become so much reduced, that Elder Rathbun, with one of his deacons, appeared before the association, and requested that its name might be dropped from the rolls.
Mr. Rathbun immediately left Pittsfield, and settled at Scipio, N.Y. Whether his removal was the cause or effect of the decay of his church does not appear; but he maintained his reputation as a sincere Christian in his new home, and from him are descended some of the most respectable citizens of Western New-York, as well as of Pittsfield and the Valley of the Mississippi.
The church was re-organized in 1800, under the eldership of Rev. John Francis, who had been one of the early members of Mr. Rathbun's flock.
The manner in which Shakerism was introduced into this vicinity has been incidentally related above. The Pittsfield converts, or a portion of them, formed the nucleus of a family which established itself near the clothier-works of Mr. Rathbun, on the site still occupied by their successors. In their first days, they were charged with gross immoralities, or, as the more char- itably inclined framed their indictment, indecencies. If there was any ground for these allegations in their conduct under the first excitement of an ill-regulated zeal, it was soon reformed ; and, in 1790, the Shakers were recognized as upon an equal footing with other dissenting religious bodies, so far as regarded the pay- ment of taxes for the support of public worship; and, by their industry and scrupulous morality, they have since won a high place in the estecin of their neighbors, although the Commonwealth has steadily refused to incorporate them.
The Methodist-Episcopal Church first obtained adherents in Pittsfield in 1788, through the preaching of Rev. Messrs. Lemuel Smith and Thomas Everett, who were then travelling the Stock- bridge Circuit, and formed a class in the East Part.
Another was formed in the West Part by Mr. Smith, who preached
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his first sermon in 1791 at the house of Col. Oliver Root. With true Methodist zeal, these gentlemen held meetings in school- houses, private dwellings, barns, in the groves and the open fields, wherever two or three could be gathered to listen to their fervid words; and not without fruit.
Methodism was formally established in Pittsfield in 1792, by Rev. Robert Green, who, on his way to New Lebanon, was detained by a storm at the house of Capt. Joel Stevens, on the eastern base of the Taconic Mountains, and there made excel- lent use of his time in preaching, and organizing the Pittsfield Circuit.
The first local preacher was the eccentric and eloquent Lorenzo Dow; and, under a succession of faithful pastors, the denomination flourished throughout that century, as it has continued to do in this. In 1798, the Methodists built a meeting-house forty-two and a half feet long by thirty four and a half feet wide on the main street, west of Lake Onota, - the old black meeting-house of later years, dilapidated, but hallowed in many hearts by the memory of fervent prayer, and exhortation to repentance. Deacon Josiah Wright, one of the Revolutionary patriots most trusted for his hearty zeal tempered with sound discretion and practical judgment, was a leading member of the denomination; and his associates were distinguished for exemplary Christian deportment and warm devotion.
The Episcopalians were few in number, and had been loyalists of the Revolution ; and perhaps sympathy with England insensibly inclined them to her church. But Mr. Van Schaack, educated in the Dutch Reformed creed, early became an Episcopalian, after much study and reflection. Four of the six tax-payers reported among them in 1790 were men of substance; while Henry Van Schaack, their chief, with the position and character ascribed to him in a former chapter, was well qualified to lead the dis- senters of Pittsfield in their resistance to the assessment made upon them for the crection of the meeting-house of 1790. And upon him, indeed, fell the whole brunt of the battle, although he was supported, so far as their support was of avail, by all the Baptists and Episcopalians. The Methodists were not yet as sufficiently organized to take part in the legal contest; and the Shakers probably declined to appeal to the tribunals of the world's people.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
The vote to build the meeting-house, the reader will remember, was passed in November, 1789; the first assessment of taxes to defray the expense (£500) was voted in March, 1790; and £250 additional followed in August of the same year.
The first recorded opposition by the dissenters was made at the last-named meeting, when the following spirited protest was entered, but secured no notice from the meeting, further than a vote that the taxes for the building of the meeting-house should be assessed separately from those for ordinary town-pur- poses : -
" We, the underwritten persons, beg leave to state to the town that the Presbyterians, being the most numerous sect of Christians in the town of Pittsfield, have of late obtained several votes in town-meetings for building a place of religious worship, and have, in some of those meetings, made various appropriations of town-property for erecting the same. And as the subscribers to this paper are freeholders and inhabitants of the town afore- said, differing in religious sentiments with those for whose use the said place of worship is building, they do in this public manner disclaim any right or pretension to the same, under the idea that it cannot, in any construction, be considered as a town-building, but merely for accommodating a particular denomination of Christians; and that as we, in our several stations, contrib- ute a share of our property voluntarily to the support of the gospel, accord- ing to our religious professions, we do claim it as our right to be exempted from any assessments, or other burthens, that have been, or which may be, imposed by any town vote, or otherwise, for building the place of worship aforesaid, or any other in the same predicament.
" Furthermore we do, in justice to ourselves and the Christian denominations we belong to, protest against any town-vote that now does, or which hereafter may, operate so as to assess or burthen one religious sect of Christians for building places of religious worship for another, or that any part of the town-property shall be applied for purposes but what are actually for town- uses. Contrary doctrines, it is conceived by the undersigned, tend to subor- dinate one sect or denomination of Christians to another, in direct violation of the Constitution of this Commonwealth, and contrary to the practice of Christians in general, in the United States of America.
" Dated and signed in Pittsfield, at a town-meeting held the - of August, 1790.
JOHN BRANCH. ANDREW LANGWORTHY. JOHN JEFFERDS. DYER FITCH. H. VAN SCHAACK.
VALENTINE RATHBUN.
JOHN BAKER.
ASA BRANCH. SAXTON RATHBUN.
STEPHEN JEWETT.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
Protests and appeals having proved of no avail, occasion was found by the next town-meeting to promise indemnity to the asses- sors for the costs and damages which Henry Van Schaack might recover in the suit which he had commenced against them. John C. Williams and Dr. Timothy Childs were also appointed to aid the assessors with council and advice.
In December, 1791, and again in March, 1792, Mr. Van Schaack sent communications to the selectmen, stating, that, in the arrange- ments for " seating " the new meeting-house, a part of a pew had been assigned him, with the evident intention of giving counte- nance to the idea that he was to be considered as belonging to the " Congregational persuasion," and therefore liable to the collec- tion of the oppressive taxes levied to build an expensive house of worship, beneficial only to the Congregational Society, and dedi- cated to God on principles of religion different from those which he professed. He therefore disclaimed in December all right and interest in the building, and reiterated his disclaimer in March, under seal and attested by witnesses. He states, in those papers, that he supports his own mode of worship in a neighboring town, Lenox,1 and therefore considers that "to compel him to maintain that of another denomination bears an aspect too unfriendly to the sacred rights of conscience secured him by the Constitution, and therefore is an imposition not to be submitted to." IIe denies that the meeting-house was built in accordance with a town-vote, and asserts that the action regarding it was that of the Congrega- tionlists alone.
In the December communication, Mr. Van Schaack demanded that it should be made part of the business of the next town- meeting, -
" First, That those who are not of the Congregational persuasion may have an opportunity publicly to give their reasons for disclaiming any right to seats in the new meeting-house ; and that those objections might be lodged in the town-records.
" Second, That the town would call upon the committee appointed nearly two years ago to sell the school-lands, for a report of how this property has been disposed of, and how the avails have been appropriated."
1 " The Episcopal Religious Society of Lenox, Pittsfield, Lee, and Stockbridge " was incorporated in 1805, Henry Van Sehaack and Tertullas Hubby of Pitts- field being corporate members ; but religious service in the Episcopal form had been previously held in Lenox.
·
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The effect of Mr. Van Schaack's persistence, and of his appeal to the court, began now to manifest itself; and the town, March, 1792, appointed a committee to ascertain the names of those persons who had really been dissenters on the 1st of November, 1789, - when the building of the meeting-house was undertaken, - and still continued to be so.
The limitation as to time was due to the fact, that the religious opinions of some persons began to be seriously affected by the expectation that dissent from Congregationalism would exempt them from the meeting-house tax.
The committee selected for this delicate inquisition into the religious faith of the tax-paying community was John C. Williams, Woodbridge Little, Daniel Hubbard, Timothy Childs, Thomas Gold, John Baker. They reported in April the following list ; which was accepted by the town, with the exception of the name of Stephen Jewett, who, in spite of his professed submis- sion to Episcopal rule, was solemnly adjudged an Independent Congregationalist, - orthodox enough, at least, for taxation pur- poses.
DISSENTERS FROM CONGREGATIONALISM LIABLE TO TAXATION AS RESI- DENTS IN PITTSFIELD, Nov. 1, 1789 : -
Episcopalians. - Jonathan Hubby, James Heard, Henry Van Schaack, Esq., Eleazer Russell, Titus Grant, Stephen Jewett.
Shakers. - John Deming, Ephraim Welch, Josiah Talcott, Rufus Coggswell, Dr. Shadrach Hulbert, Joshua Birch, Daniel Goodrich, Hezekiah Osborn, Samuel Phelps.
Baptists. - John Baker, Solomon Deming, Saxton Rathbun, Benjamin Rathbun, Noadiah Deming, Ezekiel Crandall, John Francis, Josiah Francis, James Rathbun, Charles Lamb, John Branch, Asa Branch, David Ash- ley, John Jefferds, Andrew Langworthy, Williard Langworthy, Moses Merwin, Hubbard Goodrich, Jonathan Chadfield, John Remington, John Bryant.
Other tax-payers claiming that their dissent from Congregation-
--- alism had been unjustly disallowed, it was voted, at a subsequent meeting, to re-open the lists. What the result was is not recorded ; but we may gather the character of the inquisition into the faith of individuals from the following paper filed in the town-archives, as -
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Names of Persons who wish to be exempted from paying a Minister's Tax.
Robert Franeis, - pleads conveniency.
John Francis, -
Charles Lamb, - a Churchman.
Dyer Fitch, - rather a Baptist in sentiment.
Uriah Betts,-a Baptist in sentiment, but can attend other meetings without injuring his conscience.
Walter Welch, - a Baptist by education, &c.
Augustus Crandall, -a Seventh-day Baptist, but now attends Mr. Rath- bun's ; never attended any other meeting.
Moses Wood, - a Baptist by profession.
Seth Janes, - a Baptist, as much as any thing, and now supports Mr. Rathbun on Sundays.
John Weed, - a Baptist in sentiment; ditto.
Daniel Rust, - profits most by hearing Mr. Rathbun ; chooses to attend there from principle.
Abijah Wright, - a constant attendant on Mr. Rathbun.
Timothy Hurlbert, - an attendant on Mr. Rathbun.
David Ashley, -thinks it not right to support Mr. Allen by a tax.
David Ashley, jun., -an attendant on Mr. Rathbun's meeting from a child, and chooses to attend there still.
John Phelps, -thinks the Baptists to be most right.
Abiather Millard, - brought up a Baptist, and thinks it not right to sup- port a minister by a tax.
Caleb Wadhams, -cannot attend on Mr. Allen, because he thinks it not right to support a minister by a tax.
Seth Dickinson, - can't pay his debts.
I do truly and absolutely believe in the Baptist persuasion. May this be recorded. - Seth Janes.
. Nathan Davis, - a Baptist in principle.
Israel Miner, - never heard Mr. Allen, and can teach Mr. Allen, and thinks he ought not to pay his rates to him, and is a Shaker as much as any thing.
The March meeting, besides taking measures to ascertain the names of those " who were of a different denomination of Chris- tians from that which is most prevalent in this town," had appointed a committee to consider whether the taxes of such persons should be abated in whole or in part.
The committee were Daniel Hubbard, Woodbridge Little, David Bush, John C. Williams, and Timothy Childs. Their report was in marked advance of previous action.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFIELD.
They acknowledged that it would be unreasonable and absurd for the town to dispute the equitable and constitutional rights and immunities of the dissenters; but that it ought, on the contrary, publicly to disclaim all wish or idea of compelling the payment of the tax assessed upon them towards building the meeting-house or the support of a public teacher in the town, to any use contrary to that which they had a right to request.
The committee, however, were quite as clearly of opinion, that it would be unsafe for the town, and repugnant to the undoubted intent of the Constitution, to abate the taxes of dissenters, and, indeed, that it had no right to do so ; yet as, on account of some expectation of that kind, there had been delay in the collection of taxes, and as there "appeared to be a happy spirit of conciliation and a general disposition to peace, unity, and friendship prevail- ing," and a manifest unwillingness to take any undne advantage of the neglect or laches which had arisen, the committee advised "that the collection of taxes of dissenters should be suspended for three weeks, in order that they might have an opportunity to lodge with the treasurer a written request for the pay- ment of the sums assessed upon them to the support of their respective teachers or elders ; and if, previous to the collection of said taxes, any of the dissenters should produce to the treasurer an order, receipt, or discharge from such teachers, then the treasurer should give his orders to the collectors in accordance therewith; but, if no requisition for a different disposal of the taxes of any person should be filed within three months, they should be applied, in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution, to the support of the public worship of the standing order.
The committee did not touch upon the appropriation of the common property of the town, including that dedicated by law to the support of schools, for the benefit of a society composed of a portion of its citizens only. Its object seems to have been to lay the taxes for religious purposes equally upon all persons ; but, while those of the Congregationalists were divided between the building of the meeting-house and the support of the minister, those of the other denominations were all to be paid to their respective minis- ters for their support: so that an inducement might not be held out to any to attach themselves to the denomination which sup- ported its establishment in the cheapest manner; and, on the other hand, that religious societies might not be tempted, by the hope of
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securing this class of converts, to employ cheap and consequently ignorant preachers. It is probable that this was among the motives of the town from the first in its attempt to assess the meeting- house tax upon dissenters.
The difficulty was one inseparable from the interference of the State in religious matters, which in many respects operated to the injury of the apparently favored sect as well as of others.
The disposition of the matter recommended by the report to the April meeting was probably as fair as any thing which could have been devised, so far as taxation was concerned.1 But the committee proposed no removal of one main cause of complaint; and for this, as well as perhaps for other reasons, it was unsatisfac- tory to the dissenters. Mr. Van Schaack therefore continued his legal proceedings, being encouraged to persist by letters from Bishop Seabury of Connecticut; Rev. Dr. Parker, afterwards Bishop of the New-England diocese ; Rev. Dr. Stillman, an eminent Baptist divine of Boston, Gov. Eustis, and others.2 He was non- suited in the Common Pleas, -" laughed out of Court; " but he at once carried the issue to the Supreme Bench, being sustained in his determination to do so by the opinion of Bishop Parker, that, " in spite of the horse-laugh of Judge Paine," the court of final resort was certain to pronounce in his favor. In the mean time, the town instructed the collectors not to " distress " any of the dissen- ters, recognized as such in the previous year, for their meeting- house tax ; nor for the minister's previous to the second week in October, unless they were about to leave town.
In the first week of October, the case was decided by the Su- preme Court in Mr. Van Schaack's favor.
In the warrant for the town-meeting of November, 1792, an article was inserted, probably at the instance of some dissenter, "to ascertain the sense of the town, whether, in case Mr. Van Schaack should recover damages and costs in his suit against the assessors, they were to be indemnified by a charge upon all ratable polls and estates, or only upon such as were of the Congregational persuasion."
No action is recorded upon this ; but the meeting of November,
1 The course recommended was that generally adopted at the east, in conse- quence of a decision of the Supreme Court in favor of the Baptists of Cambridge, in a suit against that town, which had also been sustained in other cases.
2 Letters in the collection of Henry Van Schaack, Esq., of Manlius.
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1794, directed the Committee on Accounts to ascertain the expense of the Van Schaack suit, and the amount paid by each dissenter to- wards it, and to give them credit for it in the next town-tax, which was correspondingly increased for the Congregationalists.
At the same meeting, it was voted to raise £125 for public wor- ship; of which Mr. Allen was to receive £110, he furnishing his own wood : the remainder to go to the dissenters.
The system of accepting the certificates of their several pastors in discharge of the taxes assessed upon dissenters from Congrega- tionalism for religious purposes continued until 1799, when the laws in regard to the support of public worship had, by a multi- tude of enactments and judicial decisions, became 'so vague and conflicting, that it was necessary to remodel them.
The new act required every town, precinct, or parish incorpo- rated for religious purposes, to maintain a public teacher of mo- rality, piety, and religion, - the designation then given to ministers of the gospel, - and conferred upon each of those corporations the power to tax its members for the support of a minister and the building of a suitable house of worship. By this law, every inhabitant in a town was presumed to belong to the original parish, unless he annually procured a certificate signed by the pas- tor of some other parish, and also by its committee specially elected for that purpose, that he commonly and usually, when in health, worshipped with them.
Under this system, the people of Pittsfield, in common with those of the rest of the State, lived until the amendment of the Constitution in 1834. Some amendments of the law were, how- ever, made in 1811, which had a local as well as a general interest. Up to the year 1810, members of unincorporated religious socie- ties were supposed to be entitled to the same privileges in the dis- posal of their taxes, and their pastors to the same exemption from assessment, with those of incorporated parishes. In that year, a judicial decision overthrew the commonly-received opinion, and an intense excitement was caused at the east, where scarce one dis- senting society in ten was incorporated. The legislature of 1811, elected under the influence of this agitation, made the law to con- form to the old practice, and further advanced one or two points in a liberal direction. Where two parishes of the same denomination existed in a town, members of one were permitted to transfer their connection to the other in the same manner as to one of a different
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creed ; and non-resident tax-payers dissenting from the faith of the town-parish were granted the same right to direct the disposal of their taxes which residents possessed. The two latter clauses were of interest in Pittsfield, where a second Congregational parish, divided from the first upon political grounds, was springing up, and was favored by wealthy non-resident proprietors, including Oliver Wendell.
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