USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Westborough > The history of Westborough, Massachusetts. Part I. The early history. By Heman Packard De Forest. Part II. The later history. By Edward Craig Bates > Part 15
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Abijah Gale.
George Andrews.
Capt. Edmund Brigham.
George Andrews 2ª.
Solomon Leonard.
Phineas Haskell.
Samuel Bellows.
Daniel Warren.
Asa Forbush.
Timothy Warren.
Abraham Beeman.
The Work House.
The school house to stand at the Great road, at the End of Asa Forbush's Lane.
THIRD SQUADRON.
Jonathan Forbes.
Thomas Twitchel 2d.
Capt. Jonathan Fay.
Shadrach Miller.
Lieut. Joshua Grout.
Daniel Robbins.
Joseph Grout.
Phineas Brigham.
Enoch Greenwood.
John Fay.
Lieut. Benjamin Fay.
Elijah Whitney.
Jeduthun Fay.
Daniel Nurse.
Eli Whitney.
Jonathan Child.
Elijah Hardy.
Aaron Sherman.
Thomas Twitchel.
Widow Brigham.
The school house to stand between the end of Elijah Hardy's lane and the top of the Hill toward Lt. Grout's.
197
OLD SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
FOURTH SQUADRON.
Ensign Rufus Forbush.
Isaac Adams.
James Miller.
Stephen Bathrick.
Joseph Harrington.
John Ball.
John Harrington.
Martin Pratt.
Benjamin Ball.
Lt. James Bowman.
Benjamin Bowman.
The school house to stand at the end of Mr. Bowman's lane.
FIFTH SQUADRON.
Lieut. Thomas Morse.
Aaron Fisher.
Capt. Seth Morse.
Butler & Mellen.
Eben Miller.
David Morse.
Ensign Aaron Warren.
Asahel Biglow.
Elisha Forbes.
Widow Biglow.
Benjamin Harrington.
Moses Pike.
Stephen Cook. Phineas Forbes.
The school house to stand at the end of Lt. Thomas Morse's lane where it meets the Upton road, between Mr. Eben Miller's and Ensign Warren's.
SIXTH SQUADRON.
Phineas Gleason.
Thaddeus Warren.
Ezra Beeker.
Capt. J. Godfrey.
Eleazer Rider.
Samuel Fisher.
Isaac Cody.
Lt. Isaac Parker.
Joseph Green.
Ebenezer Maynard.
Samuel Fay.
Jonathan Maynard.
Gershom Brigham.
John Beeton.
Amasa Maynard.
Capt. S. Maynard.
Elisha Rice.
Beriah Ware.
Samuel Rice.
John Fessenden.
Lt. Joseph Bond.
Benjamin Warren.
Edward Cobb.
The school house to remain where it now stands, between the top of the Hill and the River.
198
EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
SEVENTH SQUADRON.
Lieut. Antipas Brigham.
Jonathan Bathrick.
David Brigham.
Solomon Bathrick.
Abraham Bond.
Samuel Forbush.
Richard Barnes.
Ebenezer Forbush.
Richard Barnes Jr.
Thomas Andrews.
David Bathrick.
Lieut. Solomon Maynard.
Daniel Wight.
The school house to stand between Mr. Abraham Bond's and Jonathan Bathrick's.
1
FLANDERS SQUADRON.
Samuel Bellows.
Joseph Belknap 2d.
Stephen Belknap.
Seth Woods.
Daniel Chamberlain.
Nathaniel Fay.
William Johnson.
Reuben Bellows.
Elijah Snow.
Eben. Chamberlain.
Adonijah Rice.
Daniel North.
The above Report being accepted, the Meeting was dissolved. (Signed) ELIJAH BRIGHAM, Moderator.
A new phase of the pauper question occurred in 1790, when the workhouse, built in 1767, was sold; and for the next quarter of a century the paupers were disposed of by being annually set up at auction, and knocked down to the lowest bidder. This saved the town some money, but was not particularly creditable to its humanity. Subse- quently they were all kept by Mr. Levi Bowman, who lived on the Upton road, until the Daniel Chamberlain place was purchased for a town farm, in 1825.
During the six years following the death of Mr. Park- man, both town and church were continually agitated in regard to securing a successor. The town had voted, two weeks after the funeral, to provide £16 12s. Id. to pay for
199
SEEKING A NEW MINISTER.
the funeral expenses, and " to continue the Salary of our late Rev. pastor deceased for nine Sabbaths after his decease," if the pulpit is supplied by the neighboring ministers. At the same meeting it was voted "that the Committee be directed to provide Sum person of a Good Carracter to preach the gospel to us in this town." A fast was held to pray for a minister on the 20th of March fol- lowing, and in August it was voted "to give a privelege to all that is 21 years of age to vote for the choice of a min- ister." This was a step of more importance than at first appears, for it was the death-knell of the old and tenacious custom of requiring church membership as a qualification for voting in town affairs. And it is also worthy of note that the church, at a meeting the next October, voted to discontinue "the half-way covenant," - a measure which had been adopted as a compromise by the churches of that day, to allow some who were not ready to become members of the church in full standing to have a pseudo- relation to it which might give them a voice in civil matters. The effect of it had always been disastrous to the church, and the disuse of it was a long step forward, both for church and state.
Meantime the town was taking measures to secure a new minister after a manner peculiar to the time. On the 20th of July, 1783, Adoniram Judson, afterward settled in Plymouth, where he is buried, preached in the West- borough meeting-house. The town thereupon voted to hear him longer "on probation."
Thereupon for two months the young man stood up Sunday after Sunday, to be scanned and listened to with critical intent. That ought to have been long enough, one would think; but at the end of the probation, Septem- ber 22d, the town, liking the sport, voted "to hear him
200
EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
four Sabbaths more." That ordeal was over at last, and he might have hoped for an issue to all his trials; but the vote in October was simply "to hear him farther," with the somewhat sarcastic addition, "with a view to settle- ment." It must have looked like a dissolving " view " to him, and how long he held himself as the target for the indeterminate shafts of criticism is uncertain. He did preach two Sundays in the following February, and a church meeting was called for March 16, " to see if they will call him." Nothing came of that, however; but the following week at another church-meeting, at which thirty were present, he was called by a vote of twenty-two to eight, and a committee was appointed to wait on the selectmen and ask the town to call a meeting to see if it would concur. This began to look as though the nine months' trial might bear fruit; but the town-meeting held April 12 not only failed to concur in calling him, but added the unnecessary odium of passing over the article.
Meantime, on the 20th of October, 1783, the church had introduced the question whether any future minister should have the veto-power; and though the article was passed over, - perhaps out of regard to the feelings of the Park- man family, - it was becoming evident that it would not do for any younger man, who would be a stranger among them, to aspire to that position of authority which they had tolerated, though not without protest, in their old minister.
The next candidate for the vacant pulpit was Edmund Mills, who began to preach in May, 1784, and at a meet- ing of the town, August 20, was invited "to preach eight Sabbaths more, with a view to settling." On the 26th of September a fast was held by the church in relation to the subject of a minister, at which the churches in Shrewsbury,
201
THE CALL OF THE SECOND MINISTER.
Grafton, Upton, Hopkinton, and Northborough assisted. Mr. Mills was consulted with regard to his opinions con- cerning the subject of the ministerial veto and baptism, with a result that was satisfactory. The church called him . on the 2Ist of October by twenty-nine votes; there being thirty-four present, and no one voting in the negative. On November 8 the town concurred by a strong vote, and offered £270 as "settlement," and £90 in silver money, at the rate of six shillings per ounce, as salary. But this time it was the candidate who was unwilling, and Mr. Mills declined to come. The town was very desirous of securing him, and voted, November 28th, to ask him to supply the pulpit still, and to settle, if he could be persuaded to do so; but without avail.
Col. Moses Wheelock and others then tried to put for- ward Mr. Judson again, but did not succeed in persuading the town. Thus matters stood for nearly a year longer ; when in the summer of 1786 Mr. Judson was hired as a supply, and on September 6 the church again called him ; but the town refused to act, and so the matter ended, and the case of Mr. Judson was finally disposed of.
To the four years already elapsed since the death of Mr. Parkman two more were added before the vacant pastorate was filled. But at length, in the summer of 1788, Mr. John Robinson, who came from New Haven, preached with general approval; and having, as they fancied, learned wisdom by experience, the people did not wait so long as heretofore, nor require so long a candidature, but made a leap in the dark which they afterward had con- siderable leisure to repent of. The church called him September 29, and the town unanimously ratified the call on the 13th of October. The salary was fixed at £80, - a portion of which was provided for from the interest of
202
EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
the "Parsonage Fund," -together with twenty cords of wood a year. £200 was granted as a " settlement." On the 30th of November his answer accepting the call was read to the church.
Thereupon the people, with an eagerness whetted by six years of waiting, and by the fact that there had been no such notable occasion in the town for sixty-four years, proceeded to make preparations for an ordination. First, the town appointed Jan. 14, 1789, as the great day. Two days later the church confirmed the action by call- ing a council for that date, and appointing Dea. Benjamin Wood, Elijah Brigham, Dea. James Hawes, Abijah Gale, and Joseph Harrington a committee to make the arrange- ments. It was now the middle of December, and the preparations went on apace. The town, in view of the fact that something stronger than water would flow with unusual freedom on such an occasion, deemed it wise to appoint a strong committee of fifteen, headed by the con- stable, in all the dignity of office, to "keep the doors of the house, and see that there is no disturbance," and an- other to see that the house, likely to be crowded to its utmost capacity, is "properly propt up." The " body seats on the women's side" were reserved for the council, and "the men's body seats " for the church. Further, not having quite the modern conveniences of mails, the town voted "to send to New Haven for Mr. Robinson's dis- mission from that church, and the selectmen to procure somebody to go as soon as may be."
On the day appointed the council met, and proceeded with its duties. It was composed of the following churches :
The Church of Christ in Shrewsbury, the Rev. Joseph Sumner.
The Church of Christ in Upton, the Rev. Elisha Fish.
The Church of Christ in Milford, the Rev. Amariah Frost.
203
INSTALLATION OF JOHN ROBINSON.
The Church of Christ in Northborough, the Rev. Peter Whitney. The Church of Christ in Marlborough, the Rev. Asa Packard. The Church of Christ in Southborough [vacant].
The Church of Christ in Grafton [vacant].
The Church of Christ in Hopkinton [vacant].
The Church of Christ in Franklin, the Rev. Nathaniel Emmons, D.D.
The Church of Christ in Yale College, the Rev. Mr. Wales. The Church of Christ in Medway, the Rev. David Sanford.
The Church of Christ in Berlin, the Rev. Reuben Puffer.
The Church of Christ in Mendon, the Rev. Caleb Alexander.
The Church of Christ in Southington, Ct.
The Church of Christ in Lebanon, Ct.
After the usual preliminaries the services of installation proceeded. Mr. Alexander, of Mendon, made the opening prayer ; Dr. Emmons preached the sermon; David Sanford offered the ordaining prayer ; Mr. Fish, of Upton, gave the charge to the pastor; Mr. Sumner, of Shrewsbury, gave the right hand of fellowship; and Mr. Puffer, of Berlin, offered the closing prayer ; " and," says the record, " Mr. Robinson was ordained." That meant much; but fortunately the good people as yet were ignorant how much.
Mr. Robinson was given possession of the farm now known as the Whitney place, which he afterward sold to Mr. Josiah Bond, and he, in turn, to Major John Fayer- weather. Here the parson settled down for what was then expected to be a life-long residence, and the ecclesiastical machinery once more settled into its routine.
The beginning of a new ecclesiastical administration was to some extent fruitful, as is usual, in changes of method. The first indication of this was in the regular appointment of the communion service, which had hitherto been a varia- ble feast, for the second Sunday of each alternate month, beginning with February. The length of the intermission
204
EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
on Communion Sundays was fixed, in 1791, at two hours. There was some improvement on foot in the singing also. The Tate and Brady collection had been in use since 1771, with some fugitive hymns of Watts. Since 1781 there had been, as we have seen, something like a choir. In 1789 there was an article in the warrant for the March meeting " to see if it Be the minds of this Town to have Dr. Watts' Psalms sung in the town," and the town voted " to have Dr. Watses Salms & Hymns sung in the Congrega- tion." In 1791 the church nominated to the selectmen certain persons to lead the singing, and requested them to insert an article in the warrant in regard to encouraging singing by hiring a singing-master. Some years before, in 1784, the space in the meeting-house allotted to the singers had been enlarged, the men to have'" the women's front gallery," and "the women singers the side gallery as far as to the ally that goes out at the east door." No change was made at this time in regard to this arrange- ment; only the singers were requested "to attend public worship seasonable."
The old custom of lining out the hymns was still in vogue here. Worcester had dispensed with it in 1779, though at the cost of a struggle. The Sunday after the church there had voted to discontinue the custom, it is re- lated that Deacon Chamberlain, to whom the duty of lining out had fallen, went to church resolved to die hard. When the hymn was given out, he read the first line, as usual. The choir sang it, but made no stop after it. He raised his voice and read on. The choir sang on; and they having the advantage of numbers and volume, he was soon overpowered, and seizing his hat, left the church in tears. The worst of it was that the majority could not be content with their victory, but must needs put the poor deacon
205
CHANGES IN CHURCH USAGES.
under censure, and suspend him from the communion for a long time, for " absenting himself from the public services of the Sabbath !"
Westborough, more conservative, kept the custom till 1804, but dispensed with it then by vote of the town, without any serious convulsions following.
Another change, agitated, but not carried out in 1791, had regard to the reading of "relations " of experience and belief by candidates for admission to the church. Thus far the church, in common with most others in New Eng- land, had propounded no creed to its candidates for ad- mission. They had, presumably, been instructed in the catechism, but farther than that they had only to assent to the covenant prepared by Mr. Parkman. But at a later period, perhaps only since his death, they had been re- quired to write out something like an individual confession of faith. One of these recitals of belief, dating from that period, has been preserved, and may be of sufficient inter- est to students of the growth of forms in the churches of New England to warrant us in bringing it from its sacred privacy to the light of day. It is as follows: -
I desire to bless God that I was born in a land of Gospel light, and have been favored with a preached gospel ; but I would lament the mis-improvement I have made of my time and oppor- tunities. And I desire to bless God that He has been pleased to shew me that I am a sinner, and that the name of Christ alone is to be trusted for salvation. As to the Articles of my Faith,- I believe there is one God in three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; and that the Scriptures were given by divine in- spiration ; and that all men are enslaved under sin, being fallen from God, and are justly condemned by His holy law. I believe Jesus Christ was constituted by the Father to be a Saviour to all believers ; and that the ordinances are of divine appointment ; and that the Supper was instituted to be a standing memorial of the death and sufferings of my Blessed Lord. And I desire,
206
EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
with a penitent and believing heart, to wait on God in His Ordi- nance, and to bless God that I was born of Christian parents, by whom I was early dedicated to Him in Baptism, and now would take my baptismal engagement on myself, and desire admit- tance to full Communion with the Church of God in this place ; and ask your prayers to God for me that I may be a worthy partaker at the table of the Lord.
(Signed) ANTIPAS BRIGHAM.
WESTBOROUGH, October 16, 1785.
In 1793 Mr. William Johnson was granted "land for a noon-house, fifteen feet long and two rod wide; s'd land is beyond ye pound." The pound stood near the present site of Bates's straw-factory. Here was built a small house, octagonal in shape, with a generous fireplace in it, where those who came to church from a distance could eat their dinner and warm themselves after the long, cold service in a church without a fire. It seems to have been removed afterward, perhaps in 1815, to the site of the blacksmith's shop across the railroad, and was taken down in 1818, after the need of it had ceased.
This brings us to the close of the eighteenth century. We have seen the town grow from its first beginnings to comparative prosperity and an honorable position among the towns of the county. If it has had less share than some of the coast-towns in the political events of the cen- tury, it is only because of its position in what was then a remote interior. When its expression of opinion in regard to the pressing issues of the times has been asked for, it has been expressed with no uncertain sound. When action or sacrifice has been called for, it has responded with an alacrity and a devotion to the common weal that need fear no comparisons. In the counsels of the formative period that followed the Revolution it has been cool and wise, and has stood fast by the principles of civil liberty.
207
PERIOD OF TRANSITION.
If the church has seemed to be the most prominent insti- tution of the town throughout the preceding pages, it is only because it was so in fact and in the thoughts of the men and women of that time.
We come now to a period of more rapid progress in material affairs. The coaching days are just at hand, and the railroad is not far off. The old church, which has been so large a part of the town, is soon to have its rivals. New institutions, the institutions of the nineteenth century, are coming; business is to find its entrance to a wider sphere ; and rapid changes will transform the Puritan town into the New England village, with its surrounding farms. The period which it has been most desirable to embalm in a permanent record, has been already treated. The more modern life may be told in briefer form, for the greater part of it is not beyond the reach of living memories.
CHAPTER XV.
ITEMS OF PROGRESS. - ECCLESIASTICAL TRIALS. - THE BEGINNING OF MODERN IMPROVEMENTS.
T 'HE beginning of the new century saw some improve- ments in the equipment of the town. Samuel, the twelfth child of the Rev. Mr. Parkman, went to Boston and entered mercantile life there. He prospered well; and in 1801, when he was fifty years old, he remembered his native town by the present of a bell. Thus far no spire or tower of any kind had risen above the humble roofs of the village. In 1722 the town had voted, evidently in a some- what spiteful temper, not to build a steeple on the meeting- house, and not to do it even without expense to the town. But now the time had come when the building of some kind of tower was not merely a matter of vain ornament, distressing to the Puritan soul, but a sheer necessity ; and without more discussion the town voted, May 4, 1801, " to build a belfry, or steeple, to be set at the west end of the meeting house." At the same meeting a vote of thanks to Mr. Parkman was passed. In the following November rules were adopted for the ringing of the bell, as fol- lows: " On Sabbath day morning the bell to ring at 91/2 o'clock; second bell at twenty minutes past ten o'clock, to ring five minutes; then stop from three to five min- utes, or till the minister is in sight; then toll till he gets into the pulpit." This tolling of the bell, which is now a mere customary form, was then the measured accom-
1
E.S. Nowese
MEETING-HOUSE as it appeared from 1801 + 1836
209
NEW FEATURES IN THE MEETING-HOUSE.
paniment of the minister's approach to his pulpit, and the announcement to the congregation, at its beginning that he was on the way, and by its cessation that he had arrived and the hour of solemnity had actually begun.
It was six years after the present of the bell, - in No- vember, 1807, - that the town voted leave to certain indi- viduals to ring the bell every night at nine o'clock at their own expense; thus originating the custom that has come down to contemporary times. This same bell is now in the belfry of the Baptist church. In 1837 the old meeting- house passed into private ownership, and the bell, which really belonged by gift to the town, was sold with it. The same year it was loaned to the Baptists, and about 1849 they purchased it.
In 1806 a clock was procured by individual subscrip- tions and presented to the town. This also went with the old meeting-house when it was sold, but was purchased by the town in 1842, and put in the new town-hall.
In 1809 there began to be talk about a church organ; and at length, in November of that year, the town voted " that Guardner Parker be allowed to place the organ in the meeting-house on the following conditions ; viz., that said Parker be allowed to cut the ends of the seats in the front Gallery so as to let the organ in, and leave room for people to pass into their seats; and to repair the same decently; the organ to remain there six months; then if the Town does not like to have it remain there any longer, said Parker is to take it away, and to repair and make good every part of the meeting-house that he has altered, the same as before any alteration was made as aforesaid." This was a very early introduction of the organ as an aid to church music, and Westborough was never afterward without one.
210
EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH.
A military company was organized about the same time, which afterward attained to some local fame, and con- tained in its ranks some of the cream of the community. The war with Great Britain, commonly called the War of 1812, began soon after, and the company was ordered to Boston. It was still in camp there in 1814, and some im- portant church meetings had to be postponed on account of the absence of prominent members who belonged to the company.
The necessity in 1810 of purchasing a new burial-lot is a way-mark in the growth of the town. The one lying between South and School streets was bought in that year, and was the principal one in use from that time until 1844, when the present cemetery was opened. Thus far the only burial-ground for the later Westborough, or for the south parish of the old town, had been the one now oppo- site the town-hall. This dates back to the early part of the seventeenth century. For a long time the dead were borne to their resting-place on a bier. The first hearse, and the first building to keep it in, date from 1801. While Northborough and Westborough were one, there was a common burial-spot, situated near the present North- borough road, on the first cross-road leading to the right beyond the Westborough line. It is now wholly grown up with trees and underbrush; but a few names of the earlier settlers can still be read. These are : Mr. Adam Holloway, Sr., who " Decd June ye 7th, 1733, in ye 80th year of his age;" Joseph Wheeler, his wife Elizabeth, and their son Aaron, all of whom were buried in 1747 and 1748. It is a pity that this old burial-place should be left to the rapid obliteration of time and neglect. It is in the territory of Northborough, it is true; but Westborough has a vital interest in it, and by the action of the two towns some
21I
ECCLESIASTICAL TRIALS.
fitting care might be given to it, by which its preserva- tion to future generations would be insured.
The other old cemetery, opposite the town-hall, has had its vicissitudes. A powder-house was built in the corner of it in 1818, and stood there till 1849. Another building, originally the school-house of the first district, has been erected within its limits, and its original boundaries have been changed in other ways. Not far from the time of the building of the powder-house it was proposed to cut down the oak-trees for firewood; but Mr. Charles Parkman earned the thanks of succeeding generations by purchasing the trees himself, and giving them as a sacred legacy to posterity. At a later day many of the old stones were removed from the graves they marked, and piled up in the rear corner of the lot, -to the great regret of all good citizens. The recent formation of an Historical Society in the town is the best assurance yet presented that all such valuable relics of the past shall have due respect paid them in the future.
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