USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Truro > Truro-Cape Cod; or, Land marks and sea marks > Part 13
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of the Town Treasury, and the selectmen are hereby ordered to add to the next town rate so much as they shall come to.
Voted by said town.
Attest, THO : PAINE.
Town Clerk.
The third reference is nearly two years later : -
February the 12th and 13th we laid out a road from ye northeast corner of ye meeting-house, to go near northeast through ye woods and to come into the road that leads through Tashmuit neighborhood, where the Rev. Mr. Avery, with the advice of Mr. Cook and the gentlemen of the neighborhood, shall think it most convenient.
THO: PAINE. Town Clerk.
The next three cover six years .-
At a town meeting at ye meeting-house in Truro, June 23, 1712, Captain Paine ye Town Clerk, being absent, the town then made choice of Thomas Paine Jr., to serve as Clerk, to serve for the day, and he did serve accordingly.
At a meeting, May 22, 1713, voted that the selectmen should take care to have a convenient piece of ground cleared on the north side of the meeting-house in Truro, for a burying-place, and the charge be paid out of the Town Treasury.
March 31, 1718, at a town meeting in Truro, said town agreed with Isaac Cole to sweep the meeting-house one year next ensuing for sixteen shillings in money, to be paid to said Cole out of ye town treasury.
The following is the last reference, and closes the known history of the first Truro meeting-house : -
At a town meeting convened and held for the choice of town offices and other business notified in the warning for said meeting in March 23, 1719, said town granted liberty to Nathaniel Atkins, Thomas Smith and Jeremiah Bickford, and such others as shall go in with them, to build upon their own cost and charge, three galleries in the meeting-house, in said town, over the old galleries, and for so doing to be admitted to the same privilege in the whole house with the first builders.
Witness, THO: PAINE. Clerk for the time.
These several references incontrovertibly establish these facts :- That a convenient meeting-house was built as early as 1709 - that additional furniture was added in 1710 - that the house was located southwest from Tashmuit (which
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proves the original locality), and that the graveyard was on the north side. That in 1713 (which is the earliest date found on any gravestone in the yard) it was cleared and pre- pared for making interments. That a sexton was employed in 1718 at a fixed salary, and that in 1719 the people had so far outgrown the original house, that it was deemed necessary to enlarge by building galleries.
From these facts and the general history, it seems evident that the first house was built quite soon after the settlement, and that the preaching of the ministers referred to from time to time on trial and otherwise, was in this house, and that it was here Mr. Avery was ordained.
No further reference is made to the " new galleries," but at a town meeting, October 3d, 1720-
Said town agreed to build a meeting-house in said town of Truro, twenty-two feet in the height of the walls and forty feet in length, and thirty-six feet in breadth, said house to be built and finished within the space of one year next ensuing, in order whereinto said town made choice of Captain Thomas Paine Esq., Captain Constant Freeman, and John Snow, a committee to make propo- sitions for said building as soon as may be with conveniency, and also to agree with workmen in behalf of the town to frame and finish said building.
At same meeting said town gave orders to the selectmen to make a tax or assessment on the polls and estates of the inhabitants of said town, of three hundred and fifty pounds to pay the charge of the above said building, said rate or assessment, by the last of October instant, and to be paid into the above said committee or agents, one half of it by the first day of April next, and the other half by the last day of September next.
While the records so carefully refer to the new building, it will be noticed that no reference is made to the site, which is conclusive evidence that the house of 1720 was built on the original site, or where stood the first house.
August 14, 1721, the town voted that all the money paid for the privilege of building a pew, should be improved towards the building said house. The pew room, however, not to be sold less than thirty pounds, nor more than forty pounds. Voted, to proceed now to sell the sites for pews in the new meeting- house.
No. I. At the right hand as you
go in at the door to Captain
No. 2. At the left hand to Jno. Snow, 5.00
Constant Freeman for £5.10 No. 3. To Michael Atwood, 3.05
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No. 4. To Jona. Paine, £3.15 No. S. To Thos. Smith, 2.15
No. 6. To Jno. Myrick, 2.15 No. 9. To Michael Gross, 2.15
No. 7. To Thos. Paine, 2.15 No. II. To Jed. Lombard, 3.15
The town voted liberty to Mr. John Avery to build a pew in the new meeting- nouse, on the left hand of the going up of the pulpit stairs.
Voted, that all the room below (except the deacons' seats and minister's pew) be filled up with pews by such persons as will be at cost of the room and build- ing said pews.
The committee for the sale reported August 23d, the three other plots, or places, whereon to build pews have been sold as follows :
No. 5. To Phebe Paine, £1.15 No. 10. To Joshua Paine, 1.15
No. 12. To Jona. Vickery, £3.05
Total amount for purchase of pew room, £39.
September 25, 1721, the town agreed to take its part of the fifty pounds in Bills of Credit, issued by the Province, and "to improve the same towards building of the meeting-house now begun-excepting such part as belongs to the inhabitants of Cape Cod, which part we agree to let the said inhabitants have, provided they give sufficient security for the same." Mess. Jeremiah Bickford, Nathaniel Atkins, and Jona. Vickery were appointed trustees to receive the town's proportion of the said Bills of Credit lodged in the hands of the Province treasurer. To the above appropriation Mr. Thomas Mulford dis- sented, giving as a reason that he thought it not agreeable to the Act of the Court.
In 1765 it was voted to enlarge and remodel the meeting- house. The pews in the new house sold as follows : Pew Number
I. To Benj. Collins. It being lo- cated immediately on the right side of the front door. £ 193
2. To Joseph Cobb, left side front door. 183
3. To Jos. Atkins, westerly side of pulpit. 214
4. To Rd. Collins, it being the old minister's pew. 182
5. To Isaiah Atkins, next lower end of the men's front seat. 170
6. To Gamaliel Smith, next lower end of women's front seats. 174
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FIRST CHURCH IN TRURO.
7. To Thomas Cobb, next to No. 5. £136
7. To Anthony Snow, next to No 6. I 39
9. To Josh. Knowles, next No. 7 118
IO. To John Rich, next to No. 8 118
II. To Gamaliel Collins, at lower end of men's hindmost seats. 100
12. To Rd. Stevens, at lower end of women's hindmost seats. 103
IF These 12 pews on the lower floor were to be finished at the town's expense.
The spot for a pew over men's stairs sold for £11 to Zacheus Rich Jr.
The spot for a pew over women's stairs to the gallery to Joshua Atkins for £16
In 1792 more seats were required in the meeting-house, and it was ordered that additional pews be built in the gallery.
Sept. 25, 1721 the town voted " that contributions be regularly taken up as soon as the new meeting-house is finished, and that the inhabitants as often as they contribute, enclose the money so contributed in a piece of paper, with his or her name written thereon."
It was also ordered " that the trustees of the town's fund of bills of credit. pay to Mr. Samuel Eldridge £177, and that said Eldridge return to the inhabi- tants all that they have paid over one half of what they were rated for the build- ing of the meeting-house; he to return the balance to the agents or undertakers of the building."
So deeply seated in the Puritan heart was the sentiment that "God's altars need not our polishing," that the sensuous elements of religion, beginning with the glory of the taber- nacle, the golden mercy-seat, the cunning work of purple and scarlet, belonging to the cherubim, committed by God to Moses amid the thunders and lightnings of the holy mount, with the clustering treasures of four thousand years, were cast out and despised as Aaron's golden calf. Instead of temples for the worship of God, they built rudely-constructed meeting-houses, barren of beauty or comfort, and banished instruments of music as a saturnalian device. In all this they sinned not, neither did they do God service. Their simple forms of worship were surely much more convenient and available in their wilderness homes ; and, all things con-
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sidered, the change was perhaps advantageous. That it has not been sanctioned by the spirit of the age, witness the · adoption one by one of these rejected forms, till little remains outside of proscribed sacerdotal usages. It could well be said of their plain meeting-house: "The architecture was con- fined to no historical period, although possessed of a certain dignity and comeliness of its own." From the attractive decorations and worshipful forms of the Church of England, to the bare walls and simple devotion of the Puritan, "the bald simplicity of Geneva," were quite diverging imitations, to human appearance, of the Christ life. But the difference was often more apparent than real. The Book of Common Prayer, composed by the saints of the early Church, and never excelled by uninspired pen, was and is a precious aid to devotion. The rites and ceremonies, stripped of the access and superstition of Rome, were full of spiritual emo- tion and holy emulation. Men and women, saints of the Most High, have in all ages blossomed with Christian graces, and clustered with the fruits of the spirit, under these agencies of the Church of God.
How full the words of the old creed are of rich meaning. How the heat of the hot controversy in which they were born, has passed out of them, and they are deep and clear and. cool as wells that draw their water of refreshment from the unheated centre of the eternal rock .- Rev. Phillips Brooks.
CHAPTER IX.
1709 - REV. JOHN AVERY. - 1754.
The first settled Minister of the Church of Christ in Truro. Thoreau. The Old Min- istry. Good History. Great Battles. Town Vote. Acceptance. Agreement. Ordination. First Members. First Baptisms. Family History. Harvard College Line. Truro Family. Water Springs. Tashmuit - Shawmut. Salary. Dr. Freeman's Eulogy. The Parsonage and Smithy. Canterbury Tales. Records. Moving Cautiously. Advance in Salary. Old Tenor. An even-spun Life. Draw ing to a Close. Assistant. Turner, Upham and Angier. Economy. Preparations for Ordination. Death of Mr. Avery. Gravestones. Last Will and Testament.
T HOREAU says, "The readable parts of town histories
run into a history of the Church of that place, that being the only story they have to tell, and conclude by quoting the Latin epitaphs of the old pastors, having been written in the good old days of Latin and Greek. They will go back to the ordination of every minister, and tell you faithfully who made the introductory prayer, and who delivered the sermon, who made the ordaining prayer, and who gave the charge, who extended the right hand of fellowship, and who pronounced the benediction, also how many orthodox coun- cils convened from time to time to inquire into the orthodoxy of some minister, and the names of all that composed them."
All of which we promise to do, and regret that the scant material left on record will not allow us to tell more of such men. If the lives of the godly and learned ministers of early New England are not good history, we know not where to find it. They belong to the country by virtue of their good- ness, learning, patriotism, and sterling worth. They fought some of the great battles of the world without bloodshed,
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and conquered many a peace. Wellington said : "The next worst thing to a defeat in battle is a victory." No such grinning spectre hovered over victory in the wars Ecclesias- tical of New England. The olive branch and laurel entwined crowned victor and vanquished.
Farther on, Thoreau's honesty compels him to say : "Let no one think that I do not love the old ministers. They were probably the best men of their generation, and they deserve that their biographies should fill the pages of the town histories." .
In a previous chapter mention has been made of several ineffectual efforts by the young Church to secure a learned minister. Both Messrs. Eells and Cotton, after preaching some years, declined to be settled.
The name of Mr. John Avery is first introduced in this connection :
At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Truro, Feb'y. 23, 1709, in order to take care about a settlement of ye public worship of God amongst them, it was unanimously agreed upon and voted to invite Mr. John Avery (who had for some considerable time been employed in the work of the ministry among them) to tarry with and settle amongst them in said work of ministrie, and for his encouragement and support in said work it was also agreed upon and unanimously voted to offer him sixty pounds per annum, and twenty pounds towards his building when he shall see cause to build himself a dwelling in the said town, and a committee was chosen to inform Mr. Avery of the town's desire and offer in the matter, who accordingly forthwith went and delivered their message to the aforesaid Mr. Avery, who gave good encouragement of his acceptance, but left the result till he had advised with his friends.
Attest, THO: PAINE. Clerk.
At a meeting of the proprietors of Truro, convened and held at Truro May 8, 1710, it was agreed by said proprietors, that if Mr. John Avery shall proceed to the now proposed agreement of the inhabitants into an orderly and regular settlement and ordination in the work of the Gospel, and shall so continue for the space of ten years next ensuing, after settlement and ordination, he shall have five and thirty acres of land at Tashmuit alias Clay Grounds.
THO: PAINE.
It was voted at the same meeting that there should be an addition made to the thirty-four acres of land at Tashmuit, formerly laid out for the minister.
The same date Mr. John Avery was admitted an allowed inhabitant of the town of Truro, provided he settles and continues in the work of the ministry in the said town of Truro. Attest, THO: PAINE. Clerk.
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REV. JOHN AVERY.
At the same meeting May 8th, 1710 : -
Whereas, it was agreed upon by said proprietors that they would give to the first minister settled in the town of Truro, six acres of meadow on the north- easterly side of East Harbor; it was agreed that four acres more to make up ten acres, which is reserved to be given to Mr. John Avery, provided he settle in the work of the ministry. Attest, THO : PAINE. Clerk. ---
At a meeting of the inhabitants of Truro May 29, 1710, in order to take some further care about Mr. Avery's settlement in the work of the ministry in sa :: Truro, at which meeting the said inhabitants did again and unanimously man. fest their desires of Mr. Avery's settlement in the work of the ministry in sat. Truro, and the said Mr. John Avery being then present, did accept of said call- ing, whereupon said town chose Thomas Mulford, John Snow, and Thomas Paine for a committee in their name and behalf, to draw a covenant of agree- ment with the said Mr. Avery, pursuant to the propositions made on Feby. 23, last past and to sign the same in the Town's behalf : voted.
Attest, THO : PAINE. Clerk.
0
At the same meeting the town ordered the selectmen to make a rate or assessment for defraying the charge of the ministry, and other necessary town charges arising within the said town, for the present year as soon as may be convenient. Attest, THO: PAINE. Town Clerk.
May 29, 1710, Thomas Paine, Thomas Mulford and John Snow were appointed by the town a committee to draw up an agreement with Mr. Avery, and to sign the same on the town's behalf.
AGREEMENT.
Whereas, The inhabitants of the town of Truro did, at a meeting of said town convened and held at Truro, February 23, 1710-11, by unanimous vote, did call and invite Mr. John Avery to a settlement in the work of the Gospel Min- istry among them : and for his support and encouragement in said work, did offer him sixty pounds a year salary, and twenty pounds toward his building, when he shall see cause to build him a dwelling-house in said town, and sent by a Committee to inform the said Mr. John Avery of their desire and offer in that matter, as by a record of said town, bearing date February 23, 1710, may more fully appear; but the said Mr. John Avery deferred his answer until another meeting of said town convened and held for that purpose, May 29, 1710, where said town did again show by unanimous vote, their earnest desire of the said Mr. Avery's settlement among them in the work of the Gospel Ministry ; and the said Mr. Avery being then present, did accept of said call : Where. upon, said town chose Thomas Mulford, John Snow, and Thomas Paine, a Com- mittee, in the name and behalf of the town of Truro, to make a full arrangement
.
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with the aforesaid Mr. John Avery pursuant to their vote at their meeting, Feb- ruary 23, 1710, as by the record of said town, dated May 29, 1710, may more fully appear PURSUANT WHEREUNTO, June 21, 1710, the aforesaid Mr. John Avery, for himself and the above named Committee, in the name and behalf of the town of Truro agreed as followeth : that is to say, the- above named Mr. John Avery doth agree for himself that he will, God assisting him thereto, settle in the work of the Ministry in the said town of Truro; and the above named Thomas Mulford, John Snow and Thomas Paine, in the name and behalf of the aforesaid town of Truro, do agree with the said Mr. John Avery, to allow him for a yearly salary during the time of his continuance in the work of the ministry, in the aforesaid town of Truro, sixty pounds per annum in money as it shall pass from man to man in common dealing (or in other mer- chantable pay as it shall pass with the merchant in common traffic) at or upon the twenty-ninth day of March annually; and twenty pounds of like money, toward his building, to be added to his salary, on that year, that he, the said Mr. Avery, shall see cause to build himself a dwelling-house in the town of Truro, aforesaid. In witness whereof, the above named Mr. John Avery for himself, and the above named Committee, in the name and behalf of the town of Truro, have hereunto set their hands.
SIGNED. JOHN AVERY, THOMAS PAINE, THOMAS MULFORD, JOHN SNOW.
Committee.
June 27, 1710.
August 13, 1711, the town granted ten pounds to defray the expenses of enter- tainment of elders, messengers, scholars and gentlemen, at Mr. Avery's ordina- tion, and Lt. Constant Freeman, Hez. Purington and Thos. Paine were appointed to superintend the arrangements, and agree with a meet person to provide. It was also ordered that Mr. Thomas Paine shall have three pounds to reimburse him for money spent in securing the Act of Incorporation, and the services of a minister.
Mr. Avery was ordained November 1, 1711. The order of services follow : The charge was given by the Rev. Mr. Nathaniel Stone of Harwich; the right hand of fellowship by the Rev. Mr. Ephraim Little of Plymouth, who was prolo- cutor; hands imposed by Mr. Stone, Mr. Little, and Mr. Joseph Metcalf of Falmouth ; the ordination sermon was preached by Mr. Avery, from "That text 2d Cor. 2-16, who is sufficient for these things." It was then the fashion for the learned Orthodox ministers to preach their own ordination sermons. Why not ? The male members who that day united in embodying a Church, were Captain Thomas Paine, Lieutenant Constant Freeman, Mr. John Snow, Mr. Hezekiah
JOHN AVERY.
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REV. JOHN AVERY.
Doane, Mr. Benjamin Smalley, Mr. Hezekiah Purington and Mr. Thomas Mulford ; seven besides the pastor. Around these eight men centred the moral power and influence of the new town. Mr. Hezekiah Doane was chosen deacon and ruling elder, being nominated by the pastor and accepted by the Church. He served faithfully in these offices till his death, 1718. January 1718, Mr. Constant Freeman and Mr. John Snow were chosen by the Church to proceed in the deaconships. Mr. Freeman served faithfully till January, 1726. Mr. John Snow for some irregularity, was never proved in the office as a ruling elder. Mrs. Ruth Avery, the wife of the pastor, was the first admitted to the church. The first baptisms were November 11, 1711, John, the son of the pastor, November 18, 1711, Elisha, son of John Snow, and Solomon, son of Josias Cook.
Rev. John Avery, the first minister settled in Truro, was born in Dedham, February 4, 1685-86. He was the son of Robert and Elizabeth Lane, and the grandson of Dr. William and wife Margaret, who emigrated from England 1650. He graduated at Harvard College 1706. Married first, November 23, 1710, Ruth, daughter of Ephraim and Mary Little, of Marshfield. Married second, 1733, Ruth, daughter of Samuel and Mercy Knowles of Eastham. Married third, 1748, widow Mary Rotch of Truro, or Provincetown, who died 1755. He had five sons and four daughters, all born in Truro.
We here present the John Avery Harvard College Line :
I. John Avery, b. 1685. Grad. H. C. 1706, d. in Truro, Apr. 23, 1754, as above. 2. Son John Avery, b. in Truro, Aug. 24, 1711. Grad. H. C. 1731, m. June 13, 1734, Mary Demming of Boston, three dau. and two sons, d. 1796. A Boston Merchant. 3. Son John Avery, b. in Boston, Sep. 2, 1739. Grad. H. C. 1759, m. April 28, 1769, Mary, dau. Hon. Thomas Cushing; was the first Sect'y of Mass., continued in office thirty years. Eight daughters, two sons, d. June 7, 1810 4. Son John Avery, b. in Boston Feb. 13, 1775. Grad. H. C. 1793, m. Apr. 9, 1799, Harriet, dau. Henry Howell Williams of Noddle's Island. Both lost at sea 1801. Left an only child. 5. Son John Avery, b. Jany. 5, 1800. Grad. II. C. 1819, m. Mch. 6, 1828, Sarah, dau. Samuel G. Derby of Weston. Had dau. and son. 6. Son John Avery, b. in Lowell, Jan. 5, 1830. Grad. H. C. 1850, m. Anna Corinne Hodges. Civil Eng., now living in Yonkers, N. Y. Three sons. 7. Son John Avery, b. Sept. 11, 1870.
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There is no portrait of the first Truro minister. The excellent engraving on the other page is of his son, the second John Avery, the Boston merchant. Ephraim, 3d son of Rev. John, b. in Truro, Grad. H. C .; settled in the ministry in Pomfret, Ct. Dau. Ruth m. Rev. Jona. Parker of Plympton. Abigail m. Elisha Lothrop of Conn., afterwards judge. Eliz- abeth m. John Draper, a printer of Boston. Robert moved to Lebanon, Ct. Job inherited the estate in Truro; d. there at 62, having been a useful and quite prominent citizen. His family will appear in the general connection.
The name is nearly extinct in the male line in Truro and Provincetown. John Avery has always been well repre- sented in the family connections -at present by Captain John Avery Paine, a retired master mariner, lately port warden, and John Avery Hughes, retired, both now of Som- erville, Mass .; mothers were both Avery. There may be others.
Dr. James Freeman in his description of Truro, pays the following tribute to Mr. Avery : "The inhabitants of Truro that personally knew Mr. Avery, speak of him in very respectful terms. As a minister he was greatly beloved and admired by his people, being a good and useful preacher of an examplary life and conversation. As physician he was no less esteemed. He always manifested great tenderness for the sick, and his people very seriously felt their loss in his death."
From the best evidence we can gather, he was a good man, a tender, watchful shepherd of his growing flock, a wise councillor, and an excellent citizen. As pastor, doctor, lawyer, smith, and farmer, he must have led a busy life, and had but little time for speculative philosophy or other outside interests. I have found no record, excepting a few Church entries, nor a scrap from his pen. All the records are scant, touching his long active life. I find he was a subscriber in 1729, for Prince's Chronology, a popular and expensive work of that time, patronized only by men of learning or wealth.
At a meeting of the town of Truro, May 7, 1718, leave was granted to Mr. John Avery to move his fence that stands in
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the watering place at Tashmuit, provided said Avery makes as good and convenient a watering place between the former watering place and the dwelling house of Josiah Cook. The watering place to which this record refers is still used for the same purpose as in 1718. It was on account of this never- failing spring and others near by, that supplied the Indians in summer's heat and winter's cold, that all this neighbor- hood was called by them Tashmuit. In the dialect of the Mashpee Indians, ashim signifies a spring. In the bounds of Sandwich and Falmouth there was an Indian village, Ashimuit, or Shumuit, where was a large spring held in great esteem by the natives, and is still used by the inhab- itants. Shaum - river -is the old Indian name of Sand- wich. There is a spring near the rock, and another near the source of the river, or brook, that passes through the village. We have also in Mishamuit, a great spring, and in Shawmut, fountains of living water. Words of similar origin and appli- cation could be multiplied from these fertile sources, as, Ashim, and Multaleshumuit, which contain the compound ideas of spring and drink. Hence the derivations : Tashmuit, Ashimuit, Ashim, and Shawmut ; all meaning a spring. Shaw says in 1800, Blackstone's Spring is yet to be seen on the westerly part of the town near the bay. Dr. Shurtleff tells the history of the old spring in Spring Lane in his late work. When the eastern section of the post-office foundation was laid, living fountains of pure water were uncovered, which were supposed to be the same. The workmen drank from the unfailing supply till the time came to close it again. Who shall next roll away that stone and when, is not written.
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