USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Woburn > The history of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass. from the grant of its territory to Charlestown, in 1640, to the year 1680 > Part 31
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Extract rom Pooltion of First Parish Committee to General Court, dated June 3, 1747, and subscribed by Sunul Kendall, William Tay, and Nathan Richardson.
9 First l'arish Records, Vol. I., pp. 252, 207.
to Mrs. l'lympton.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
only pastor was Rev. Mr. Josiah Cotton, a brother of Col. Roland, who had previously been a settled minister at Provi- dence, Rhode Island. He was installed at Woburn, July 15, 1747 ; and the following brief notice of the solemnity appeared the next day in the Boston Weekly News Letter. " Woburn July 15. This Day the Rev. Mr. Josiah Cotton was installed Pas- tor over the 3d. Church in this Town. The whole Affair was carried on with the utmost Peace and Decency."
A vote was passed (it will be recollected) by the First Parish, September 26, 1745, to build a new meeting-house, and to raise £1,000, Old Tenor, for the purchase of materials. This vote was not then carried into execution, in consequence of the order issued by the General Court, December 18, following, in answer to the prayer of the petitioners for the Third Society : which order suspended for the present "all Proceedings with respect to making Parish Taxes." Still, however, that design was not forgotten ; and as soon as the separation of the Third Society was fully accomplished, and the excitement which it had occa- sioned had subsided, it was revived, and again made a subject of public consideration. At an adjourned parish meeting, October 19, 1747. in regard to an article in the warrant, To see whether the Inhabitants of the Parish would build a new meeting-house, agreeably to their former vote, or repair the old one ? it was voted, to build a new one, the front of which should be set " about the middle of the place where the old meeting- house now standeth." A committee of nine, also, was chosen, viz : Mr. Joshua Thornton, (a master carpenter, then recently moved into town,) Lieut. Samuel Kendall, Dea. Samuel Eames, Mr. David Wyman, Licut. William Tay, Mr. Benjamin Richard- son, Capt. Timothy Brooks, Mr. Isaac Snow and Mr. Nathaniel Brooks, "to take care of and carry on the building of said house "; and this committee was instructed to draft a plan, to be submitted to the parish at some future meeting.11 And, at a parish meeting, the following month, November 20, 1747, It was voted to proceed immediately with the building of a new meeting-house :
11 Parish Records, Vol. I., pp. 264, 265.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
the plan presented by the building committee was approved, except in regard to the porch, which was reserved for further consideration ; the building committee was authorized to provide all the necessary materials, to be in readiness the following spring; and £1,000, Old Tenor, was raised to defray the expense. 12
But now began to be manifested a difference of opinion in regard to the spot where the projected house of worship should stand. It was at first determined (as has been seen) to ercet it on the site of the old house on the Meeting-house Hill. But, soon a large and increasing number appeared in favor of build- ing it on the Common, west of that hill. And hence, though it was voted the following spring, April 5, 1748, " that they would not reconsider their former votes respecting the setting (of their New Meeting House," yet this vote was carried but by a bare majority ; the minds of the people being very nearly equally divided on the subject. And, hence, at an adjournment of that meeting, three days after, it was mutually agreed by both parties to leave the question of the place for the meeting-house to be decided by lot. The lot was cast : and proving in favor of the Hill, the spot originally agreed upon, it was " concluded to a man," say the Records, by a subsequent vote, that the Hill should be the place, agrecably to their former votes. It was resolved, likewise, to take down the old meeting-house, as soon as they were ready to frame the new one; the building committee were directed to provide materials, and go on with the work as fast as possible ; and another tax of £1,000, Old Tenor, was voted to defray the charge of building.13
But notwithstanding this seeming expression of unanimous resolve in favor of the old site for the new meeting-house, there were many still who could not be cordially reconciled to that location, or long disguise their opposition to it. And the num- ber and influence of these dissentients appear to have been con- tinually increasing ; so as to cause embarrassment and delay about demolishing the old meeting-house, and proceeding to build the
13 Parish Records, Vol. I., p. 267.
13 Parlah Records, Vol. I., pp. 251, 252.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
new one upon its site, agrecably to vote of the parish. And at length, at a meeting, October 10, 1748, it was voted by the parish, that " notwithstanding all their former votes, (they) would set their new Meeting House on the Knoll on the Train- ing Field on the West side of the Country Road, as near the road as it can conveniently be set." It was also voted as a desire of the parish, that the Selectmen would call a town meeting, to see whether the town will let the parish set their new meeting- house in the place that was last determined on. And direction was given their Building Committee to provide all the mate -. rials that were yet wanting, and to proceed to frame their new meeting-house as soon as they could with conveniency.14 Agree- ably to the desire of the parish just expressed, a town meeting was called October 26, 1748, when the town granted the First Parish the liberty requested, to set their new meeting-house on the spot which they had recently decided upon ; and also liberty " of digging the Meeting House Hill so called, that is on the Easterly side of the Country Road, so much of said hill as is sufficient to straighten the aforesaid Road." 15 From these votes, both of the town and parish it would seem, that the Common in Woburn Centre must have then exhibited a very different appearance from what it now docs. Then, on the casterly side of the hill, east of the great road from Wilmington and Billerica to Medford, instead of abruptly terminating almost perpendicu- larly as it does now, must have sloped gradually toward the road; and on the Common west of the road, where it will be recollected by some that the third meeting-house of the First Parish stood, there must have been then a knoll or sinall rise of ground, instead of the level which we see there now.
The permanent settlement of the question, Where the pro- posed meeting-house should stand ? seems to have given a fresh start to the enterprise of erecting it. While the minds of the people upon this subject were not made up, a whole year rolled away, and little or nothing was done at framing the timber which had been ordered and collected. But now that this question
14 Parish Records, Vol. I., pp. 284, 235.
15 Town Records, Vol. VII., p. 543.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
was set at rest, the work of framing went on so rapidly, that about the last of November, 1748, preparations were com- meneed for raising. To aid in this important operation, Mr. Zebadiah Wyman was appointed to procure tackle from Boston ; and to ensure energy enough to make the tackle work briskly, (according to the notions of those days,) he was likewisedirected to provide for the occasion two barrels of cider, twenty gallons of rum, and one-fourth cwt. of sugar to sweeten it with, at the expense of the parish : and Capt. Timothy Brooks was charged with the care of these stores. At the same meeting, also, and at successive adjournments, the parish voted, that the raising of their new meeting-house should be commenced on Thursday, December 1; that Tuesday, December 6, should be the raising day; and that a committee of three then chosen (viz: Capt. Timothy Brooks, Lieut. William Tay, and Mr. David Wyman) should provide a public entertainment on that day for Mr. Joshua Thornton, their master carpenter, and for all strangers attending the raising, that were not invited to private houses. 16
The meeting-house was, doubtless, raised December 6, 1748, according to appointment. But the work of building and finish- ing it proceeded with a singular slowness; so that more than three years from that date had passed away before the house was fully completed. This delay appears to have been occa- sioned, at least in part, by the difficulty found in collecting a tax for the support of the two ministers which had been voted by the parish to raise in September, 1745, three months before the petition for the incorporation of the Third Parish was presented to the Court. It was not till March 22, 1749-50, above a twelvemonth after the raising, that a committee of three was chosen to draft a plan for seats and pews on the lower floor and in the side (end ?) galleries ; and more than two years had elapsed from that date when such a plan was presented at parish meeting, and accepted, January 22, 1751. At the same meeting, and at an adjournment of it, January 28, the parish voted not to raise any money on their seats and pew lots, but to
16 P'arish Recorda, Vol. I., pp. 257, 288.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
distribute them among those who had borne the expense of the building, after the following manner :-
A committee of five was chosen (viz : Dea. Samuel Eames, and Messrs. Nathan Richardson, Josiah Johnson, Isaac Snow and Edward Walker) to draw up a list of what sums cach per- son had been assessed in the £5,000, Old Tenor, which had been raised for building the new meeting-house. The person that should appear from this list to have been assessed the most, in this amount of taxes for the meeting-house, upon his real and personal estate (allowing but one poll to each estate) should have the first choice of a pew lot, or of a seat, as he might prefer ; the person taxed the next highest should have the second choice, and so each one should choose successively, till all the pew lots were taken up. Every person that chose a pew lot in prefer- ence to a seat was to build a pew upon it, under direction of the parish, at his own cost. He must also finish it, and dis- charge all his dues upon what he had been taxed towards defraying the charge of building the house, by the last of Sep- tember 1751, or forfeit his lot to the use of the parish, unless the parish by vote should grant him further liberty.17 Such was the plan adopted by your fathers for disposing of the accom- modations of this their new house of worship. But many obsta- cles were found in the way of its speedy execution. It was not till July 9, 1751, that the committee for drafting the list of each one's taxes above referred to reported. Their list was imme- diately accepted, and a committee chosen to " line out the Seats and Pew Lotts "; and July 23 was appointed as the day for the people's choosing their several seats or pew lots, according to their respective taxes.18 Only a few, however, made their choice on that day. Opportunities for doing it were given August 28, and at subsequent times. And when at last all the pew lots were selected, the owners were slow to build on them. Money was scarce; many appear to have been owing for their meeting- house assessments, and consequently were unwilling, under such circumstances, by finishing their pews as they were required to,
17 Parish Records, Vol. I., pp. 322, 323.
18 l'arish Records, Vol. I., pp. 329, 330.
27
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
to risk the forfeiture both of their lots and all the cost they had laid out upon them. And hence the parish was obliged repeat- edly to lengthen out the time agreed upon, for delinquents to pay up their respective assessments, and complete their pews. And yet, by a parish vote passed so late as November 21, 1751, it appears that all the pews were not then built, and probably were not till January 22, following, 1752, the farthest day agreed upon by the parish to allow delinquents to fulfil what was required of them. 19
This third house of worship for the First Parish in Woburn, as it was, after being enlarged, during Rev. Mr. Sherman's min- istry, and when burnt in Rev. Mr. Chickering's, is doubtless recollected by some still living in the town. But as it was origi- nally, when it was built, and before its enlargement, there can be none in Woburn now, who have any remembrance of it. Aided however, by the reminiscences of an aged and very intelligent citizen, now deceased,20 concerning this house as it was in its latter days, I have been able to deduce from the records the fol- lowing description of its original structure and accommodations, reserving for a future occasion some account of the enlargement that was afterwards made in it. It was an edifice fifty-eight feet long, forty-two feet wide, with twenty-four feet post, and painted without, or within, or both, by this token; that after it was finished, the parish voted to give £10, Old Tenor, to Mr. John White, in consideration of his hard bargain in painting their new meeting-house.21 It stood on the east side of the common, in the centre of the town, having its east end close to the road from Wilmington to Medford, very nearly opposite to where the post-office is now kept (1867).21 It had doors in its east and west ends, and in its south side. To the last named, which was its front door, it was proposed in the original plan, to erect a porch; but the parish, after having had the matter some time under consideration, decided by vote there should be none.22
The pulpit, with the deacon's seat in front of it, was on the north side, in the centre; and apparently without any other orna-
19 P'arish Records, Vol. I., pp. 330, 310.
20 Mr. Bartholomew Richardson, Senr.
" l'arish Records, Vol. I., pp. 310, 347. 12 August 17, 1749. l'arish Records, Vol. I., p. 305.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
ment or furniture than the cushion from the old meeting-house, for which shortly after was substituted a new one, bought on pur- pose for it by Capt. Timothy Brooks. The broad aisle leading to the pulpit was four feet wide; and diverging from this, near the front door, were two narrow aisles, one on each side, running by the wall pews all round the meeting-house, and meeting before the pulpit. In the body of the house, fronting the pulpit, were seven rows of high back seats, on each side of the broad aisle, whence they were entered ; and back of these seven rows of seats, and at their east and west ends, was a single row of pews, which, from the circumstance of their compassing the seats on every side but in front, were called border pews. The wall pews were raised ten inches, and the border pews five inches, above the floor of the house. 23 And the walls of cach pew throughout the house were to be built three feet and nine inches high ; and ordered to be finished with balusters or " bancsturs," as those little pillars at the top of the pews were then called, of which our fathers were universally so fond, as serving in their view for ornament at least, if not for use, in their houses of worship. 23 The Front Gallery contained four rows of seats running the whole length, except where crossed by an aisle in the centre, by which they were entered. The galleries at the cast and west ends contained two rows of pews each, with a narrow aisle between each row. The whole number of pews on the floor was forty-three, viz: twenty-seven wall pews and sixteen border pews: and the pews in the east and west end galleries were twenty-six in number, viz: six front and seven back pews in each gallery. Pew No. 27, next to the pulpit on the west, was reserved for the Ministry; and accordingly was built by the parish, and appropriated by vote to Rev. Mr. Jackson, one of the ministers for the time being, so long as he should carry on the work of the ministry among them.24 All the other pews above and below, sixty- eight in number, were appropriated to the individuals, who made choice of the lots on which they respectively stood,
23 Parisb Records, Vol. I., p. 331.
2 Parish Records, Vol. I., pp. 348, 349.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
according to their taxes, and built on them according to order of the parish. Mr. Francis Johnson, for instance, having been taxed the highest toward the meeting-house, had the first choice of a pew lot therein; and he chose No. 2, the next but one east of the pulpit by the wall, and there built his pew, and the same was confirmed to him by the parish, and put upon record. So likewise the three foremost of the seven rows of seats on each side of the broad aisle, on the floor of the house. calculated to contain thirty persons in all; and the foremost row of seats on each side of the aisle in the front gallery, reckoned capable of accommodating eighteen persons, were the private property of those who made choice of them. The hindmost seat in the front gallery was the place assigned to the negroes to sit in. The remaining four rows of seats below, on each side of the broad aisle, and the two middle rows of seats in the front gallery, were common property, intended for the accommodation of any persons belonging to the parish, who had no particular pew or seat of. their own. There was a singular exception to this remark however. For some reason now unknown, the parish voted at a certain meeting, that " Mr Josiah Parker (should) have his seat in the fourth seat on the lower floor of the "New Meeting House on the one side, and his wife (should) have her scat in the fourth seat on the other side." 25
This meeting-house was probably finished about March 1752; for in a warrant for a parish meeting, March 24th, of that year, one article was, " To see whether the Parish (will) accept the New Meeting House at the hands of the Committee chosen by the said Parish to build the same; Provided their Accompts shall appear just and reasonable when adjusted." To build it, the parish had raised by tax .£5,000, Old Tenor, in five equal assessments. A portion of this amount, however, appears from the records, either to have been never collected, or to have been diverted to some other purpose. The whole cost of the meeting- house (exclusively of the pews, which were built at the charge
35 l'arish Records, Vol. I., pp. 331, 333.
317
HISTORY OF WOBURN.
of their owners) did not probably exceed £4,500, Old Tenor, a sum equal to £600, lawful money ; or $2,000 of our present eur- rency. There is no evidence that it was ever dedicated by any special religious ceremony, or service on a week day, as is now customary. The Episcopal Churches of Rome, and of England hold to the holiness of particular days and places ; and hence the religious observance by Christians of their communion of Christ- mas, Good Friday and Easter; and hence the consecration of their churches and burial grounds by certain solemn rites and ceremonies of religion. But our Puritan fathers acknowledged no holiness in times or places for which they had no express or clear warrant in the word of God; and hence they denied the religious obligation of observing Christmas, Saints' Days, or any other day as holy except the Sabbath, which they regarded as a permanent divine institution ; and hence too, they called their houses of public worship not churches or houses of the Lord, but meeting-houses ; houses for men to meet in, whether for the offices of religion, or for the transaction of municipal affairs. And accordingly, when they built a meeting-house, they set it apart for the worship of God, and the dispensation of His word and ordinances, by no other solemnity, than by the preaching of an appropriate discourse by their stated minister on the first Sah- bath it was ready to be opened, after its completion.
The old meeting-house in Woburn, crected on the hill cast of the common in 1672, continued to be used for town and parish meetings some time after the completion of the new one: but at a meeting May 20, 1754, the parish voted to give their old house to the town, provided that the town would erect a convenient town house, and [or ? ] a house for their poor to work in, within two years time.26 The town took this offer into con- sideration : and at a meeting in October of that year, they appointed Mr. Isaac Snow, Capt. Timothy Brooks, and Dea. Timothy Winn, as a committee to see what could be done with the old meeting-house advantageously to the town.27 This committee seems to have reported at May meeting, 1755, when
36 Parish Records, Vol. II., pp. 6, 7.
17 Town Records, V.1. VIII., p. 138.
27*
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
the town chose Mr. David Wyman, Capt. Joseph Richardson and Mr. Benjamin Richardson, as a committee to agree with some mechanic to take down the old meeting-house, and to erect out of the same, and on the same spot, a town house, thirty feet square, with twelve fect post, to be finished within six months.28 In pursuance of this their commission, the committee con- tracted with Mr. Thomas Underwood, a carpenter then resident in the town, to do the work. According to engagement, Mr. Underwood took down the old building, (which, it will be recollected, was forty feet square,) and reared up out of its materials the walls of another, of the stipulated dimensions for a town house. But discouraged, not improbably, by the failure of the committee to furnish him with money from time to time, as he needed it, in consequence of the exhausted state of the trea- sury at that day, and the burdens of the French War which then pressed hard upon the country, Mr. Underwood did not go on to complete his undertaking with the spirit with which he com- menced it. Impatient at his neglect, the town, at March meeting, 1757, two years afterwards, directed the building committee to sue his bond at May Court, unless he should finish the town house before. But the committee, thinking perhaps that nothing would be gained by such a suit, omitted, it seems, to prosecute as ordered. At May meeting, the following year, the town voted that their negligent committee should exert themselves, and urge the finishing of their town house as quickly as pos- sible.23 But without money, the mare can't be made to go by a town vote; and the town house still remained unfinished.
After waiting three years longer for the committee, to no pur- pose, the town determined to take the matter into their own hands, and see what they could do. At May meeting, 1761, they voted that they would go on and finish their town house as soon as it could possibly be done.33 But now the town too was found lagging behind its own resolution. In about seven months after passing the last cited vote, so expressive of their haste and impatience for the completion of this favorite project,
28 Town Records, Vol. VIII., p. 157. » Town Records, Vol. VIII., p. 230. 30 Town Recorda, Vol. VIII., p. 314.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
the inhabitants voted, December 22, 1761, not to proceed to finish their town house so called ; but appointed a committee of three (viz : Mr. Benjamin Wyman, Capt. Benjamin Johnson and Lieut. Joshua Walker) to reckon and settle with the committee for building it, and with Mr. Underwood, the contractor, and then sell the building for the most it would fetch, for the benefit of the town.31 And by way of amendment of this vote, the town, at an adjourned meeting, March 9, 1762, authorized their auditing committee to sell their town house for £4 ($13.33), provided they could obtain an acquittance to the town from all further responsibilities in this affair.31 Accordingly, this commit- tee obtained a receipt of this description from Mr. Benjamin Richardson on behalf of himself, and the rest of the building committee, April 3, 1762. Whether Mr. Richardson took the town house, as it was called, in compensation for the labor and expense which had been bestowed on it by the building commit- tee (of which he was one) ; or whether the auditing committee sold it to some one else, and satisfied him out of the proceeds of the sale, does not appear. The building continued to stand, though in a neglected condition, many years after. In the Rev- olutionary war, it was used as a place of deposit for fish and military stores.32 Mr. Zebadiah Wyman used it for some time as a barn.32 At length it was sold, it is believed, to Colonel Loammi Baldwin,32 who took it down. The materials were dis- persed ; but one stick at least of its solid oak timber, cut down in the forest nearly two hundred years ago, was recently to be seen on the premises of the late Mr. William Fowle, deceased.
In 1752, about the time the new meeting-house was completed all Woburn was thrown into consternation by an event which affords melancholy proof of the virulence of the parties, into which the town was then divided; and of the iniquitous means to which some men, otherwise deemed respectable, will some- times resort for the sake of accomplishing their party purposes, or gratifying their party feelings .. A Mrs. Keziah Henshaw, (or Hincher, as the name was then commonly pronounced,) widow
31 Town Records, Vol. VIII., p. 333.
32 Zebadiah Wyman, Jr., Esq. Informant.
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