USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Pittsfield > The history of Pittsfield (Berkshire County), Massachusetts, from the year 1800 to the year 1876 > Part 43
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of course only the gentlemen named in the first list taking part. The following officers were chosen: Theodore Hinsdale, mode- rator ; Merrick Ross, James H. Dunham, and Welcome S. Howard, prudential committee; Dr. O. S. Root, clerk ; Curtis T. Fenn, treasurer ; Theodore Hinsdale, collector.
On the 10th, Wellington H. Tyler, O. S. Root, Avery Carey, James H. Dunham, were appointed to procure a place for a church- edifice ; and W. H. Tyler, Avery Carey, Ebenezer Dunham, Lewis Stoddard, Amos Barnes, and Calvin Martin, were chosen a build- ing-committee.
Plans were reported and accepted on the 12th of June, and the building-committee were instructed to advertise for proposals from contractors. On the 9th of July, this committee reported that the lowest proposals received by them exceeded the means of the society to the amount of one thousand or fifteen hundred dollars ; and Rev. Dr. Humphrey, Theodore Hinsdale, W. H. Tyler, O. S. Root, C. T. Fenn, and J. H. Dunham were requested to solicit further sub- scriptions. On the 16th, they reported that they had obtained three hundred and seventy-five dollars.
From the last-named date until April, 1850, by some neglect of the clerk, there is no record of the doings of the parish. Neither is there any record of the measures taken, previous to this date to procure means for the erection of the building.1 From other sources, however, it appears that after the organization of the new parish, several of its members and friends, and among them Rev. Dr. Humphrey, still favored the purchase and enlargement of the old South-street lecture-room, which was offered to them for seven hundred dollars. It was finally decided to submit the question of accepting this proposition for building a new house to the test of a subscription-paper, which resulted in favor of the latter plan.
The subscription reached the amount of about nine thousand dollars. The old lecture-room was purchased for the sake of the land on which it stood, and which was included in the sale, for fourteen hundred dollars, of which Mr. Pomeroy gave one-half. The site was not so large as was desired, and at the request of the First Parish, it was enlarged by the gift from the Trustees of the
1 This statement is to be understood as referring to the official parish record. Mr. W. S. Howard kept a full record of the proceedings of the committees, but we have not been able to obtain it, Mr. Howard having removed from town.
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Ministerial Fund, of a strip thirty feet wide from the northern edge of their parsonage-garden.
The new meeting-house, which was designed to be a handsome structure of wood, with a graceful spire, was commenced, and had well advanced towards completion, when the old lecture-room, which had been removed a little northward, and was used by the carpenters as a work-shop, caught fire early on the morning of September 15, 1849, and both edifices were entirely consumed. Thus ended the Union Parish meeting-house of 1811-17; scarcely less noted in later years as the "lecture-room;" and in which also the Episcopal Parish of St. Stephen's had its first home. Its companion in misfortune soon arose from its ashes.
Their fellow-citizens of all denominations, and particularly the members of the First Parish, warmly sympathized with the loss and disappointment of those who had expected to soon occupy the new house of worship. This feeling was manifested in many ways, and to give it more full and practical expression, a public meeting was held, at which appropriate resolutions were passed and a committee, consisting of Julius Rockwell, O. S. Root, M. H. Baldwin, Amos Barnes, and James H. Dunham, was appointed to solicit the necessary aid for the re-erection of the burned church.
Some delay arose from the necessity of first ascertaining what sum would be needed, beyond the means at the command of the society ; but about the first of November the new building-com- mittee-Calvin Martin, W. H. Tyler, Amos Barnes, Avery Carey, Ebenezer Dunham, and Lewis Stoddard-reported that a new contract had been made with Mr. R. B. Stewart, which would require the sum of twelve thousand dollars, of which the parish was able to furnish nine thousand, leaving three thousand to be raised by subscription. In appealing to the people of the town to supply this deficiency, the citizens' committee said :
We are quite aware that the chief reliance must be upon those con- nected with the Congregational denomination ; but the generous sym- pathies and truly Christian feeling, manifested by our fellow-citizens of other denominations, convince ns that it will be proper to make our application open to all ; in accordance with the friendly relations which so happily exist between all our religious societies and their members. * * We think it is the general wish of our citizens that this addi- tional fountain of religious instruction should be opened withont unnec- essary delay. We shall deem it our duty to apply particularly to those
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whose means have not been burdened with other enterprises of a like kind. But we respectfully ask the attention of all, and shall in behalf of this object, be happy to receive such subscriptions and donations, large or small, as any of our fellow-citizens may be disposed to give.
The Baptists and Methodists had just rebuilt, or were rebuilding their churches, and that of St. Stephen's Parish had been remodeled at large expense. The contributions from these sources were there- fore small. What response was made by the Congregationalists, we cannot, owing to the defect in the record, now ascertain. But the rebuilding of the meeting-house was commenced at once, and it was completed and dedicated November 13, 1850, the sermon being preached by Rev. Dr. Peters of Williamstown.
The church was organized November 12, 1850, by one hundred and thirty members who had been dismissed for that purpose from the First Church. The first pastor, Rev. Samuel Harris of Con- way, was installed March 11, 1851 ; Rev. Nehemiah Adams, D. D., of Boston, preaching the sermon. Doctor Harris was a graduate of Bowdoin College, and of the Bangor Theological Seminary, was a man of eminent ability and of the noblest character. His pasto- rate was in the highest degree successful ; but was terminated in August, 1855, by his acceptance of a professorship in the Bangor Theological Seminary.
Doctor Harris was succeeded in June, 1856, by Rev. Charles B. Boyington of Cincinnati, who was dismissed in July, 1857. Rev. Roswell Foster of Huntington, was installed April 2, 1859. Rev. Samuel R. Dimock was installed September 24, 1861, and dis- missed April 24, 1864. Rev. Edward Strong, D. D., of New Haven, and a graduate of Yale College, was installed March 15, 1865, and dismissed November 15, 1871. Rev. Thomas Crowther was installed May 22, 1872, and dismissed May, 1875. Rev. William Carruthers was installed in January, 1876.
The deacons chosen at the organization of the church in 1850, were Curtis T. Fenn, Thomas Taylor and James H. Dunham.
The growth of the church and parish since their organization has been uniform, and their history presents few incidents to be noted.
In 1859, the spire of the church was blown down by a violent gale, which also injured the spire of the Baptist Church so badly that it was necessary to rebuild it. The spire of the South Church was restored at a cost of thirty-five hundred dollars.
55
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In 1873, a new and excellent organ was purchased, and the church so remodeled as to locate the organ and choir in the rear of the pulpit. This change greatly improved the architectural appearance of the interior ; and was effected at an expense, includ- ing the cost of the organ, of over five thousand dollars. The com- mittee who had charge of the work, were William B. Rice, H. H. Richardson, E. F. Humphrey, W. K. Rice, and James H. Dun- ham.
SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
In the year 1846, the Second Congregational Church was formed, consisting entirely of people of color. Rev. Dr. Todd, Hon. E. A. Newton, and other gentlemen took a deep interest in the new organization, and with their aid, a neat church was built. Rev. Dr. Garnett of Troy, and other colored clergymen, assisted by preaching and otherwise in gathering a congregation. The first pastor was Rev. Samuel Harrison, who was ordained in 1850, and has been pastor ever since, with the exception of intervals, in which he preached in Springfield, Mass., Portland, Me., and Newport, R. I., and another period, during which he was chaplain of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment.
CHAPTER XX.
CHURCHES AND TOWN-HALL.
[1812-1875.]
First Baptist Church - Methodist Episcopal Church - Wesleyan Methodist Church - St. Stephen's Church -Town-hall - St. Joseph's Church - Church of St. Jean Le Baptiste - German Lutheran Church - Synagogue Ansha Amonium - Shaker Society.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
F YOR nine years after the death of Elder Francis, the Baptist Church was without a pastor, and severely felt the depriva- tion, in the backsliding of some of its members. Still it steadily grew, and the records report many "precious interviews" and " solemn seasons," in the school-house on West street - beyond Lake Onota - to which the Sabbath services had been transferred.
Elder Leland and other neighboring clergymen, often officiated at these meetings ; but they were generally conducted by the officers of the church. The people were not insensible to the value of a settled ministry, and the scantiness of their means was painfully apparent in their efforts to obtain it. An examination in 1819, showed that there were only nine members of the church who held property - meaning, probably, real estate - " on which money .could be raised for the future, " viz : Sylvester Robbins, $1,700; Simeon Lewis, $800; Samuel Root, $4,500; Luke Francis, $2,000; Josiah Francis, $2,500 ; Oliver Robbins, $4,500; Sylvester Clark, $100; Daniel H. Francis, $1,500 ; Noble Strong, $4,500. Total, $22,100.
No member of the society was rich; but none were needy, except Backus Boardman, a colored brother, who was supported by the church. The first recorded action for the supply of the pulpit, after the death of Elder Francis, was in 1819,1 when
1 Some may, nevertheless, have been made, as the clerk between 1816 and 1819 made no records.
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Elder Otis was invited to preach once a month at one dollar per day. He declined. The church next looked to Elder Le- land; but he was bold and original, in thought and expression, to a degree which startled some of the more conservative mem- bers, and it was voted in September, "on account of the tryals in some minds, not to invite Elder Leland to preach with us at present." The vote was soon rescinded ; but Mr. Leland did not accept the call, being absorbed in the revival of religion which was going on in northern Berkshire. He, however, preached in Pittsfield four Sundays in the year 1820.
In March, 1822, the churches in Lanesboro and Pittsfield engaged Elder Augustus Beach to preach in the two towns on alternate Sundays, the Pittsfield church agreeing to pay him on their part, one hundred dollars, and "provide a place for his family." This arrangement continued until 1827, Mr. Beach receiving thirty dollars per annum in lieu of house-rent. About half the pastor's pay was raised by assessment upon the church- members ; the remainder by subscription among the members of the society.
Mr. Beach was educated at Williams College, although ill health compelled him to leave at the end of the sophomore year. He was a man of marked character in his profession, being a revivalist in religion and a reformer in morals. Well qualified for a leader in the church-militant, he was ever ready to assail, not only cvery form of wrong which presented itself, but all which he could seek out ; a warfare which, as his people thought, he made too broad, to the neglect of home-duties. But his eloquence being powerful from its carnestness, as well as by its logic, he did not lack success. As a preacher of the gospel, he of course combated indifference, irreligion and sin, in their ordi- nary manifestations, with all his might; and his achievements as a revivalist were great, resulting in large accessions to his own as well as to other churches. But, as we said, he set himself against all the evil that is in the world; and, as intemperance was then the special wrong to whose enormity reformers were striving to awaken both the church and the world - he made himself a devoted champion against that vice. It was he who first persuaded the friends of temperance in Pittsfield to make total abstinence from wine, beer and cider, as well as from dis-
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tilled liquors, the corner-stone of their creed. Afterwards he was an equally zealous opponent of slavery. In his later years - long after his removal from Pittsfield - he was, for a time at least, a believer in the near approach of the second advent of the Savior. The reader will hardly fail to note a general resem- blance in his character to that of Elder Valentine Rathbun.
Mr. Beach appears to have been the man needed by the Baptist Church when he became its pastor ; but for two years it received no accession by baptism, and only four members were added between 1822 and 1827. During the three years next preceding, the religious interest which pervaded all northern Berkshire, extended to Pittsfield, where twenty-three persons joined the Baptist Church ; and it may have been that the barren years of Mr. Beach's pastorate were due to reaction. It needed, perhaps, that the field should lie fallow for awhile. But, how- ever that may be, the fruit of the remaining years of his min- istry, which extended to September, 1834, fully compensated for those early years of patient waiting, labor and prayer. During the twelve years and four months of Mr. Beach's ministry, the church received one hundred and eighty members by baptism and forty-two by letter. Thirteen died; thirty-seven were dis- missed, and thirteen excluded, leaving a net gain of one hundred and fifty-nine. When he resigned its charge it numbered two hundred and forty members.
The pastorate of Mr. Beach was marked by some interesting events. It was upon his motion that several of the Berkshire churches, in 1821, withdrew from the Shaftsbury Association ; of which the History of that body gives the following account :
In 1826, Elder Beach, in behalf of some of the Berkshire churches, asked leave to form a new Association, which was granted, although but few of the churches improved the liberty for several years. Only the Adams, Cheshire, Pittsfield, Savoy, Sandisfield and Williamstown churches had left the Shaftsbury Association in 1831, when the Berkshire Association contained fourteen churches. * * * In 1828, corre- spondence was opened with the Berkshire Association, and Elders Keach, Olmstead, Savory and Marshall appointed delegates to its next session at Pittsfield in May. Thus did the mother give her blessing to the young daughter in her settlement ; and finally bequeathed her the whole Baptist territory of Berkshire county as her dowry; though it was a number of years before all the churches in that county could
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leave the embraces of the mother, even to stay in their own mountain home. It was like the parting of Naomi and her daughters.
" The circular of this year (from the Shaftsbury Association) 'on the Christian Sabbath' is very well written, and is, we suppose, from the pen of Elder Augustus Beach, of Pittsfield, Mass."
In 1831, probably out of regard for the missionary-spirit of the pastor, the sittings in the church were made free; but the experiment did not long continue.
But the most important event in the history of the church during the pastorate of Mr. Beach was the erection of its first meeting-house. The growth of the Baptist denomination in the town, before 1827, rendered a permanent house of worship -- and that in the central village -- indispensable. As early as the spring of 1825, the town voted to grant a lot of land in the old burial-ground for a site, and appointed the following com- mittee to select the location : John Churchill, Josiah Francis, Jr., Joseph Merrick, Henry Hubbard, Oren Goodrich, Daniel H. Francis, Oliver P. Dickinson.
This committee made choice of a lot, in the north-west corner of the burial-ground, having a frontage on North street of forty- eight feet, and a depth of fifty-six feet. For this selection they gave these reasons to the town : "First, It was best for the town, as it was the least valuable ground on the west line of the burial- ground, and would give an additional value to the remainder,- over and above what any other practicable location would - equal to that of the land given. Second, That, being the most elevated spot in the ground, it is the most eligible as a building-lot ; and, being at the greatest possible remove from all the public build- ings facing the common, will not increase the danger from fire,1 or occasion any interruption of any public meeting. Third, The location would require the removal of only two grave-stones, and one of them on an infant's grave. "To be sure," they add, "there are graves without monuments, on this site, but not so many as upon a lot of the same size further south. And as a very general practice formerly obtained of burying the dead under churches, and was only discontinued on account of those who assembled in them to worship, we think that this circumstance can form no objection to the location on that account."
1 The dread of fire is noticeable in all the action of the town regarding the disposition of the old burial-ground, from 1796 to 1850.
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This reasoning seemed good to the town; the grant was made accordingly ; and the first Baptist meeting-house was built with a crypt under it, instead of a cellar. The dead were not removed until the building of the new church; which saved them two changes in reaching their long home.
During the summer, a subscription-paper was circulated to obtain means for building the house; and Eldad Francis called a meeting of the subscribers, at the town-house, October 17th, for the purpose of choosing a committee to propose a plan, fix the location, and superintend the erection of the house. In the record this is described as "a meeting of the Baptist Church and Society, duly notified." Luther Washburn presided,1 and Daniel H. Francis was clerk. The meeting chose the following com- mittee for the purposes named in the call: Eldad Francis, Luther Washburn, Benjamin F. Hayes, Charles B. Francis and Josiah Francis.
This committee were instructed to further circulate the sub- scription-paper; which they did to so good purpose, that, on the 28th of November, they were able to report the amount offered as one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three dollars, and a promise of one hundred dollars from Joseph Shearer, Esq. Upon this, they were authorized to proceed to the erection of the house either of brick or wood, at their own discretion ; finishing the outside and laying the floor, or "as far as their means would permit." They were also empowered to assign the proportion and class of material to be furnished by those who had made subscriptions, to be paid in that way. After an inef- fectual attempt to purchase the old Union Parish meeting-house of Lemuel Pomeroy, the committee proceeded to erect a brick- church sixty feet long by forty-five wide, with a well-propor- tioned tower and spire. It had sittings for four hundred and fifty persons. Two of the committee, Benjamin F. Hayes and Charles B. Francis, were experienced builders, and under their direction the work was well done. By the terms of the subscrip- tion, the material was to be on the ground by April 1, 1825, and the building was completed and dedicated June 13, 1827.
The dedicatory exercises were of a peculiarly interesting char-
1Luther Washburn had then recently removed from Lanesboro to Pittsfield. He was an able lawyer, a prominent citizen, and a member of the Baptist Society, although, at least in 1825, not of the church.
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acter; and at their close, the large and attentive audience pro- ceeded to the river-side, where fourteen persons received the rite of baptism by immersion.
After the resignation of Mr. Beach, the pulpit was supplied for several years by different ministers, among whom Elders John Leland, S. Remmington and Orson Spencer were prominent. This was a period of great depression with the church, so far as its numbers were concerned. The business of the town was prostrated, and a spirit of emigration to the West prevailed throughout Berkshire. It was at this time that a missionary from the West made known the need in that great region of Christian emigrants to help mould its character, and there went out from this church in one year more than one hundred of its members.
Rev. Edwin Sandys became settled minister of the church in May, 1838, and resigned in December, 1841. Mr. Sandys was born in Worcester, England, December 25, 1798, and was edu- cated at Bradford in Yorkshire. He came to America in 1826, and in 1830 he married Miss Mary Francis, a nicce of Elder John Francis. He was a scholarly, pious and discreet preacher ; but during his pastorate only four members were added to the church by baptism and eighteen by letter; while eighteen were dismissed and eight excluded, leaving a net loss of four. "The church," says Dr. Porter, " was troubled with many of the delu- sions which at that period agitated the whole religious com- munity. Perfectionism swept in and bore off some of the most valuable members." In the year after the resignation of Mr. Sandys, however, although there was no settled minister, the church received thirty members by baptism, and seventeen by letter, while only three were dismissed; a net gain of forty-four. Others had entered into his labors.
Since 1842, the story of the Baptist Church has been one of almost uniform progress, with few incidents to be specially noted. Rev. George W. Harris was pastor from January, 1843, to April, 1844; Rev. A. Kingsbury, May, 1843, to December, 1845; Rev. Bradley Miner, April, 1846, to December, 1850. At the close of the year 1847, there were about two hundred members of the church, with a proportional congregation ; and the necessity of a larger house of worship began to be apparent. At a church- meeting, December 20th, a committee was therefore appointed to
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circulate a subscription-paper, and it was resolved to build a house, if the sum of six thousand dollars should be promised. In April, 1848, the committee reported that the required sum had been subscribed, and the following building-committee was appointed : James Francis, George N. Briggs, O. W. Robbins, Olcott Osborne, Robert Francis, S. V. R. Daniels, Henry Stearns, Henry Clark. The committee chose Rev. Mr. Clark chairman.
On the 12th of May the committee reported the plan of a house "sixty feet wide by eighty-three feet deep, containing six rows of slips ; supplying, with the slips on each side of the pulpit, a hundred and twenty seats, or six hundred comfortable sittings ; also, a singers' gallery, to seat one hundred persons." The com- mittee also recommended that the basement of the house should be so constructed as to admit of two stores in the front, eighteen feet wide by forty deep, and a vestry in the rear of about thirty- seven by fifty-six feet.
On motion of Deacon James Francis, the plan of the com- mittee was amended so as to dispense with the stores, and con- struct a front with columns and a recess, and to have a properly graded yard in front. In August, the committee presented a design for a church which was estimated to cost eight thousand five hundred dollars ; and, after some efforts to reduce the cost by adopting inferior plans, it was determined to build upon that estimate.
This building was of brick, sixty feet wide by eighty-two long, and had a steeple a hundred and sixty-six feet high, surmounted, on the suggestion of Governor Briggs, by a large gilded cross.1 It was dedicated January 10, 1850, Rev. Rollin H. Neale, D. D., of Boston, preaching the sermon.
Up to this date the church, although acting in the capacity of a parish, had been unincorporated ; but, the increasing importance of its business-acts rendering it expedient, it regularly organized under the general statute regarding religious parishes, on the 27th of December, 1849; retaining the name of the First Baptist Church of Pittsfield.
Rev. Lemuel Porter of Lowell, became pastor of the church April 1, 1851, at a salary of one thousand dollars, that of his predecessor having been five hundred. During his residence in
1When the spire was partially overthrown by a gale, in 1859, a belfry with somewhat smaller cross, was substituted for it.
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